Feral High, Ch. 8 (Patreon)

Sullen huntress eyes watched the pair of lovey-dovey, unconventional, could-not-be-less-different high schoolers as they talked and laughed more and more.    A claw fidgeted with a salt dispenser, tipping it halfway over and allowing it to resettle again and again.  The furry chin was planted across the opposite wrist atop the food court table.  The vinyl figurine in her bag was of little comfort.

"Ash."

She didn't respond.  The lioness barely even registered what she was doing or where she was right now.  They looked happy.  Unfairly happy.

"Ash?"

She saw Anon shyly reach up and brush a lock of Kenzi Heen's bright-pink, currently deflated mohawk out of her face and up behind a tufted, usually piercing-festooned ear.  The Hyena snapped playfully at his fingers and he jerked back, only for her to grab his hand and nibble right on the tips without actually hurting him.  They laughed more.  The way they looked into one another's eyes...

Something wet and cold bumped her nose.  "Hello, Ahn-Home to Ashleigh?!" called a voice.

Ash sat up in alarm, blinking.  A fountain drink of some red-slushy liquid sloshed in a see-through cup in front of her.  Large size.  Bubbles fizzed in-between the more solid chunks of the iced drink.  Strawberry freeze and Sprite.  A favorite of a local store here.  She glanced up from the drink to see who had brought it to her.

A heavy-set Lion male grinned down at her.  He had a fluffy beginnings of a mane-beard, his ruff spiked up into combs above his ears, and his nose had a swipe of black across the otherwise pink tip.  Wade's nose had once upon a time made her endeared to him.  Now, she just saw him as he was.  And what he was right now was shyly staring down the front of her shirt.

She sat up, taking the cup and leaning back in her chair to sip at it.  At least it tasted good.  "Thanks," she murmured up at her childhood 'sweetheart'.

The jock grinned, looking even more of a meathead than he usually did.  He sat down beside her, linking an arm over Savanah's shoulders as the other lioness had also just returned from the bathroom, alongside Effie.  The pride of teenage Leonids crowded around their favorite table.

Savanah, a trim, athletic, and gymnastically-built girl, snuggled into Wade's arm with a rumble but she had eyes only for Ash's distracted gaze.  Like Ash, she had her hair cut rather short save for a small swoop over one eye, bright golden hair catching the light.  She had a beaten up, spiky, leather jacket on over a red shirt, straining over modest breasts, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.  She was an intense girl, but the look was a more recent fad compared to her usual attire. It doesn't quite suit her yet, in Ash's opinion.  The punk-rock Lioness had a severe cast to her face, which matched her antagonistic personality.

"What's eating you?" she demanded.

Ash glanced at her friend and then away.  She leaned her furry cheek on her big paw and sipped more at her drink.  Effie, a chubbier, thickly-haired girl with dreadlocks hanging to her shoulder and partially across her eyes, looked at her too, but with more concern than anything.  Her artist clothes, white shirt and blue jean overalls, stained all over in splotches of various colors, clung to her modestly, although she was perhaps the curviest of the group of girls.  She was the quietest of the Pride too, but her look spoke volumes.  'What's the matter'?

Ash waved them away.  "Nothing.  Headache."

Wade, not the brightest bulb, just settled into his padded seat more.  His letterman jacket hung from the back of it.  "You wanna go somewhere to relax?" he asked, raising a thick eyebrow above one brown eye.  He might have been asking entirely innocently, but his eyes told a different story.  He never looked at the others like he did her.  In a weird, and once charmingly understandable, way, it made sense.

Ashleigh was an Alpha, and thus bigger in every way compared to most girls her age, even some boys.  More specifically, on a scientific term, she had a physical condition known as Alphism, a recessive gene of Anthros that dated back thousands of years to the Peacekeepers.  Supposedly, it tied her back to the mysterious leaders of the ancient clans.  Ash had never been good at history.  All she knew about her gene was that she had been over a foot taller than others in Elementary school, and that shopping for clothes that fit was occasionally a challenge.  It was supposed to level out her growth when she reached adulthood.

As a result, Ash was left at a towering height of almost 8 feet tall, compared to her friends who maxed out at about 6 and a half.  She wasn't curvy like Effie or lean and limber like Savanah who had once been a cheerleader.  Instead, Ash was a powerhouse of a Lioness.  The only person she wasn't so much bigger than was Wade, even if she was still a few inches taller.

Wade was an Alpha too, but he hadn't shot up quite as she had.  Rather than working out to compensate for his rapid growth, Wade had allowed himself to become heavyset and bulky  Admittedly, it made him a star of the Wrestling team and the Football team.  Everyone seeing them growing up had always expected that, as was the norm for Alphas, that they would end up a Mated pair.  Their parents, longtime friends, had even gone around, often introducing them together as if they were fated to be as one.  They meant nothing ill by it.  Everyone approved.

No one had ever asked Ash if she did.  She'd never had a reason to disapprove, really.  But over the last year, with the girls trading off who dated him, she'd lost more and more interest.  Their early attempts at romance had led to disheartening, fumbling, and awkward sessions.  Wade wanted to move fast.  Ash did too, but it never felt...right.

She caught his roving eye and, without meaning to, her lip rolled slightly up.  Her tail twitched.

The entire table responded to it.  Their nostrils flared.  Effie shrunk a bit, a passive type who rarely ever had bouts of Aggression.  Savanah leaned forward a bit, eyes narrowing to slits.  Wade balked.

"Got a problem with something?  Or did you get a burr under your tail?" the punk girl asked.  Her expression was harsh and confrontational.  She and Savanah had been arguing a lot lately.

Realizing she had unintentionally turned on her Aggression, Ash sighed and looked away, out across the mall food court, and desperate to find something else to calm her down.  She saw Anon and Kenzi just then coming out of a store.  Anon gesticulated rather wildly and Kenzi laughed.  The Hyena cackle carried to her ears easily.  It wasn't a grating sound but a happy one.  Secret sparks shone from the Misfit's leader's eyes.  Ash's own burned abruptly.�

She stood up, putting her drink down.  "Bathroom," she abruptly stated.  She needed to clear her head.  Why was she feeling this way?  Her Pride called after her but she didn't respond.  She just needed some time...

***

As they stepped out from the photo booth, Kenzi smiled secretly to herself as she and Anon split the double-pair of pictures between them.  They had pulled all sorts of expressions and used a ton of filters.  She'd never had fun like this before.

She quickly covered one specific picture of her intentionally flashing her bra at the camera and blocking Anon from viewing it.  Anon seemed legitimately annoyed by that, furrowing his brow and pouting as she grinned cheekily.  It was great to see him finally opening up and being more confident.

"No spoilers," she told him.

Anon huffed.  "How's that fair?"

"Whoever said I was fair?" she challenged him, growling.  She pushed her nose firmly against his, towering over the little human.  He wilted only a little bit but she could smell how much he liked it when she got all growly and dominant.  "Besides," she eventually said, winking once.  "You'll see them soon enough."

Anon's eyes went wide at that and he stammered.  "I w-will?!"

She winked again and nipped him on the nose gently.  "Maybe.  Maybe sooner than you dreamed."  Without him looking or noticing, she slipped the said photo into his back pocket.  Something came to her nose then, a stronger scent than before and she rolled her lip happily at it.  He squirmed in front of her.  "Problem?"

"Just..." he muttered then furiously blushed.  "Visuals."

She raised an eyebrow.  "Oh yeah?"  He nodded.  She chuckled.  "Dweeb.  Such a virgin."  When he looked crestfallen, she leaned down to whisper into his ear.  "Makes it hard not to wanna fix that right here right now."

He furiously wrapped his arms around her and she hummed as she just held him there until his raging scent faded, as did the modest pressure against her leg from how they were standing.  She loved doing that to him.  Eventually they stepped back from one another.  He forestalled her casting a lustful eye down his front by quickly stating.  "I need to go to the bathroom."

She eyed him now suspiciously.  "You better not be trying to run off and take care of that on your own."

He shook his head, eyes white-rimmed and his face red.  "W-what?  I would never!"

She rolled her own eyes, chuckling again.  "Not without me sneaking in after you, you wouldn't."  He blushed more at that and she finally relented.  "Fine."  Together they stalked over to the bathrooms, her arm slung about his shoulders possessively.  She let him go, reluctant to do so.

Anon disappeared around the corner of the tiled wall and she sighed.  Again, she tried to tuck her paws into her pockets but couldn't given what she was wearing.  So she just leaned up against the wall and plucked out her phone as she waited.  She spent a minute or so checking her accounts, bored, before an idea came to her.  Smirking, she typed out a message to Anon.  'Check your back pocket,' she wrote.  She had just pressed send, not noticing a brushing past her of someone rather big.  A new scent came to her suddenly, an angry and aggressive smell.  Shadows loomed on either side of her.  She looked up.

A pair of Lions were staring at Kenzi. They were both female, each as tall as her or almost, lurking on either side of her; one a curvy gal, dreaded-hair pulled over her face, and the other, a punk like she was but a horrific poser at doing so. Her studded leather jacket was fake and she had designer logos on her 'ripped' jeans.

Immediately the scents they were putting off made her hackles rise. Her lip rolled up and she shrunk back a step, or tried. She was firmly pressed up against the wall. Her natural instincts flared. No amount of discipline training or breathing exercises given to her would help right now.

"What?!" she snapped immediately. She held onto her phone firmly in one paw. She wasn't dressed for combat.  Her nerves screamed at her that this was quickly lining up to become one.

The lions growled, both of them already on edge. The athletic lioness in the jacket was loudest of them. "What did you and your Gaff do to our friend, Breeder?" she demanded.

Kenzi met her eyes. She was taller than the Lioness but not by much. Even so, she was more muscular. She rolled her shoulders back and stood up as much as she could. This caused her straining shirt front to stretch even more. The Lioness seemed to notice and her Aggression climbed even higher. No doubt she was jealous.

"I don't know your friend," Kenzi growled, bristling. "And don't call him that. Now back off."

"This won't end well if you don't answer me, Spots," she growled right back at the Hyena.

Kenzi bristled. The slur was a common one used by pure-pelts like Leonids. "What won't end well is if you don't get back out of my space. I'm having a good day but I won't hesitate to..."

A lightning fast paw flashed toward her side and she flinched. Not fast enough. Her phone had been plucked out of her paw effortlessly. She lunged for it but the Lioness, the angry one, had already backed off with it, already scrolling.

"Give that back!" snarled Kenzi. Her Aggression brimmed at the back of her throat, making her voice become low and primal. Spit flicked the back of her fangs, stained by the acrid taste of her overproduction of the chemical. The other lioness blocked her way. Artsy and curvy she may have been but her growl was as real as could be. They even looked to be on the same weight class.

A disgusted sound came from the other one. "Oh Spirits, it's worse than I figured. You really are a Breeder." She legitimately made a gagging sound.  Her paws rapidly began to type something out.

Kenzi could barely believe what she was seeing.  The audacity, the sheer hate in those eyes.  It made her stomach bunch up.  "What the hell did you just do?  Who the hell did you just text on my phone?!" she demanded.  Cold was beginning to leak into her veins.  Her vision was sharpening.  Her mouth felt sticky.

"I did you a favor," the lioness snapped back.  She threw the phone at Kenzi underhanded and she barely caught it.

Her eyes locked onto the message she had sent to Anon.

The other lioness backed away as the second one crossed her arms smugly.  "What's the matter, Spots?" she jeered.

Kenzi's eyes slowly lifted back to face her.  The smug, self-satisfied expression fell off of the Leonid muzzle.  Actual fear shone there.  Kenzi barely had time to acknowledge what was happening as her vision abruptly went red.  There was no thought.  There was no emotion.

"Hey, are you three doing okay?" called a muted Male's voice from nearby.

"Just fine, Officer!" answered the walking pile of meat in a sweet voice.  "Just some friendly banter."

Kenzi couldn't think.  There was only one word in her brain now as it flooded with a drowning wave of something far darker and worse than just Aggression.  The Fury had come to swallow her up.  It wouldn't just take her with it.

She obeyed the mental command pounding in time to her heartbeat as the whole world fell away.  This lioness had hurt her.  She had hurt Anon.  There was only one response to that.

Kill.

***

Anon sighed as he splashed water into his face.  He stared at his reflection, flushed and tightly pinched.  How the heck was he going to survive dating Kenzi?  He rubbed at his damp cheeks and forehead, sighing again.  A small, dumb smile stretched his mouth and he hid it behind the same hand.  She really was...something else.  He reached up to the paper-towel dispenser and pulled out one to dry himself off.

He turned to go, blazing reactions to Kenzi's teasing having faded after his short break and actual need to use the bathroom.  He immediately ran into someone big, very big.  He stumbled back and almost fell, catching himself on the sink.  "Sorry!" he immediately shot out with.

Normally, an Anthro running into a Human would have extended their paw to help him up.  This wasn't the first time he'd done this.  He had to start paying more attention!  Anthros, despite being so scary, were often so kind and attentive, calm and understanding.  They were so much better than Humans.  However, this time no paw was held out.  He looked up.

A massive male Lion towered over him.  His letterman jacket clearly showed that he was also a student at Feral High.  He had logos for both wrestling and football emblazoned there on each shoulder.  His fierce expression was ruffled and stern, belly round but his arms and legs thicker around than Anon's chest.

Anon righted himself warily.  The scent of latent Aggression hung quite powerfully in the air of the bathroom.  "Sorry," he repeated.  "I didn't mean to run into you."

"I know," the guy rumbled.  Even his voice was big.  "You go to Feral High, right?"

Anon nodded.

"How do you know Ash?"

Blinking, the human had to furiously try and sparse out what that meant.  Then it clicked.  "Oh, Ashleigh?" he asked, actually smiling but remembering not to show teeth.  "She's a friend of mine!  Incredibly nice."

The male didn't look pleased.  If anything, he looked more annoyed.  "Yeah well, for whatever reason, she looked really upset earlier, watching you and your..."  He rolled a lip in disgust then.  Anon's nerves tightened in a sudden and never before felt sense of dread and danger.  "Other friend."

"You mean...Kenzi Heen?" he asked.  He saw the Leonid twitch an ear in response.  "She's my...she's my girlfriend."  He drew himself up a bit.

This was the wrong reaction.  "Whatever you say, Gaff," he growled.  "I don't care what you call each other.  Sick is what it is, but that's not my business.  What you and your Breeder do is none of my concern.  What is my business is that Ash is my Mate."  He paused then.  "Or at least she's supposed to be.  And for whatever reason, she's been all growly and Agg'ed up today ever since she saw you.  I notice she looks at you a lot at school.  Just some advice.  Back off from her."

Anon took a long, hard look at the Lion.  His jaw began to firmly set.  "D-don't call her that," he muttered.

"What you say?" the Lion growled but Anon didn't back down.

"Don't call her that.  I don't know what Gaff means, everyone calls me it, but I don't care.  I've been called names plenty.  But I know Breeder is a slur towards Anthros who like being around Humans."

"It means Skin," the bigger guy snapped.  His eyes had narrowed, tail lashing, and his mane and beard were ruffling.  "As in you don't have fur.  As in your kind used to Skin us back in the War.  The Old War.  Or you enslaved us.  So you can keep your weird perversions towards Anthros limited to your Agg-Disabled Hyena girl, and the hell away from Ash.  She's got no reason to hang around something like you."

Anon bristled even more.  "I...I have never...my ancestors never...I..."  He was starting to breathe more shallow and harsher.  "And don't you dare call Kenzi that again!  She has a condition!"

His phone pinged just then.  He glanced down at it in his pocket then away.  It pinged again.  Distracted, he pulled it out and saw two messages.  They were from Kenzi.

The phone's preview mode was only open to the second of the two and it was a long one.  The opening message only said, "It's over."

Eyes wide, Anon abruptly forget all about the Lion getting aggressive with him.  He stared at the phone hard, clicking onto it to read, now deaf to the Leonid's posturing.  His stomach lurched as he saw the words on his screen.  They didn't make any sense.  Kenzi didn't talk like this, even as rough as she was she was always on point and concise, not even mentioning the horrible slurs and names 'she' was calling him.  He had to get to the bottom of this.  Someone had taken Kenzi's phone.  That was the only answer that made sense.

Abruptly he was worming his way past the lion.  He felt claws snagging at the back of his shirt but he scurried away and out of the grasp and toward the bathroom door.  There was a massive amount of shouting coming from outside the hallway that led to it.  The tiled walls had muted it.  They grew to echoing cacophony as the door swung open.

"Hey!" snarled the male, stomping after him.  "I'm not done with you yet!"

Anon didn't care.  He wanted to know what the hell had just happened!  He emerged from the bathroom once again.  He ran smack into another Anthro.  He looked up in alarm just as the male followed after him.  He heard the man's growl fall away instantly.

"Ash?!" he heard the guy say.

Ashleigh stared down at the pair of them in surprise.  Her gorgeous eyes were slightly red.  Her makeup was splotchy.  She looked as if she had been drawn outside by the noise when Anon had run into her.  She looked behind him at the other Lion.  Her expression tightened.

Before she could say anything, a furious snarl broke their concentration and all three peered around the corner to see what was causing all the noise.  Anon's blood ran cold.

***

Three pairs of paws held back a slavering, foam-mouthed Kenzi.  She was up on the tips of her paws, reaching with one burly arm for the downed lioness who had just stolen her phone to send Anon a break-up text message along with a bunch of hateful words and slurs at his species.  The guilty female cowered on the ground, ears flat against her skull, eyes wide, teeth bared.  The other lioness was trying to shield her.

The guards holding onto Kenzi struggled and strained.  "MAAM!" called one of them, voice tight.  "I won't tell you again!  Calm down!"

Kenzi open-mouth snarled down at the man, teeth flashing.  He flinched back, almost losing her hold on her.  She pointed condemningly down at the Lioness.  She tried to speak.  She couldn't.  Her tongue felt numb.  Her mouth was stinging and tasted of blood and acrid chemicals.  All she could think of was to latch her fangs onto that prissy, wannabe rocker girl's throat and rip it out.

"What the hell is going on?!" called another voice, a female.  She almost thought she recognized it.  "Savanah?!"

A third Lioness surged into view, an Alpha from the size of her.  Her hair was shaven close to her skull in a way Kenzi could never have pulled off.  Their eyes met.  Ashleigh stared hard at her, then at her friend on the ground who was growling and whining up at her.

Kenzi had attacked her, no doubt she was saying.  It was true.  At least, she had tried to.  Guards had been quick to arrive.  No blood.  Not yet.

Kill.

A male Lion came into view then too.  Ash turned her livid expression upon him.  Upon the two girls.  There were so many voices.  Some familiar.

"What the hell did you two do?!" she thundered at them.

Kenzi, even in the throes of full on Fury, paused.  The guards holding onto her took that chance to muscle her to her knees.  She struggled and snarled but she was being restrained now.

Kill.

Maim.

Kill.

Protect.

Protect?

Protect Anon.

Anon?

Anon!

His voice cut through the clamor of the onlooking crowd.  A small, normally timid Human was trying to get the guards to let go of her.  His eyes were stricken with terror and tears.  He was saying something.  Something important.  She had to get free, to get her heart to calm down.  There was so much Aggression racing through her that she wanted to vomit.  The foam in her mouth was nearly choking her.  It was getting so hard to breathe.  She had to relax, breathe, like her mom had always taught her to do.  She stopped fighting against the guards for just a second.

A sudden sting in her side made her whip around, teeth flashing.  The needle was extracted.  All at once, the world became hazy.  Everything slowed down.  She sank towards the ground as darkness rushed up toward her.

Anon?

***

Once Kenzi Heen was fully knocked out by the sedative, the guards hurriedly began to haul her up and half-drag, half-carry her away from the scene.  Anon shouted frantically after them.

She was being dragged away.  The crowd all had their phones out, recording the feral Hyena as she continued to weakly snap and growl at her oppressors.  Ash held onto Anon as he struggled in her grasp.  She kept him from racing after them.  The damage was done.  He didn't need to get in trouble too.

"No, you have to stop!" he called for the fifth time that minute.  "It's just a misunderstanding! Kenzi!"

Ash crushed him against her hard, halting his breath slightly.  He stopped talking.  She leaned quickly down, meeting his eyes.  They were pretty.  "Breathe," she told him firmly.  He was nearly hyperventilating.  "Breathe!" she repeated.  She showed him how.  He slowly began to resume normal breath patterns.

A paw was abruptly grabbing at her arm, trying to pry her grip off of him.  She whirled on the aggressor with a furious snarl.  Her lips pulled back savagely and her ears pinned back against her head.

"BACK OFF WADE!" she thundered.

Wade's eyes had gone wide in shock.  He let go of her, paws up.  Her Pride stared at her.  A lot of people were staring at her.

Ash put them out of her mind.  They didn't matter.  She looked back at Anon's tear-stricken face.  "Tell me what happened," she cajoled him softly.

"What happened was-" started Savanah, sounding as if she had recovered from Kenzi almost mauling her.

"I wasn't talking to you!" snapped Ash.  "I don't want to hear a word out of your stunted muzzle until Anon tells me the truth."

Her oldest friend stared at her in open-mouthed amazement at her tone and words.

She turned her gaze back to the Human now trembling in her grasp.  He was so much smaller than her, fragile too, and trembling like a reed.  "I-I was in...the bathroom," he choked out.  "I ran into...him," he pointed at Wade.

"Gaff..." snarled Wade.  Ash cut him off with a single look.  Alpha wasn't just size; Alpha was attitude, authority, and presence.  She was Alpha.  Wade was just Male.

"Go on," she told Anon.

"He...started telling me...telling me leave you alone, I don't understand why.  Then he...he started insulting Kenzi!"  He fumbled for his phone.  "She texted me but it wasn't...it couldn't be...!"

Ash read the message on the tiny, quivering screen, his hand shaking so badly that it wasn't easy.  Her stomach lurched, knowing how much those acidic words must have hurt.  Only one person she knew could spew that kind of vitriol.

Huntress eyes fell again onto Savanah.  Her friend bristled from head to tail.  "He's lying," she snapped.

Ash focused her gaze squarely on the female.  Her tail twitched.  Her Aggression rose.  Her vision sharpened around her friend's outline, almost highlighting her like she was lit up in spotlights.  Her muscles coiled on instinct.

"He..." Savanah murmured more weakly now.

"Ash, look," began Wade.  She fixed him with the same look.  He paused, then his own Alpha air seemed to return to him and he swelled in both posture and mane.  "Just forget it.  He's Gaff.  His Breeder almost went frenzy on Savanah!  You just going to ignore that?  You protect your Pride!  I protect the Pride!"

"Protect?" Ash growled softly.  "Pride?"  She turned slightly more toward the three of them.  Effie lurked in the back, completely cowed.  "You knew that Kenzi Heen has a condition.  The whole school knows.  You riled her up to make her attack you.  HAD can kill, you furless raven-starvers."  Her voice had become a hissing brand.  The insult cut the Leonid trio to the core, reserved only for the most base and low of Anthros.

Anon stiffened beside her.  "I-it can?!" he squeaked.

Her eyes fell back onto him and they softened for only a second.  She blinked once, a feline sign equivalent to a nod.  "Blinds them with Aggression," she explained.  "Drowns them in it.  They either go Fury or they choke to death."  She put a paw on his trembling back.  "She's been sedated so she will be okay.  Physically."  She turned back to glare at her Pride.  They had been muttering amongst themselves.  They stopped again with her gaze firmly fixing them in place once more.  She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

Wade cleared his throat once again.  His fur quivered but his mane remained deflated again.  "Look, Ash, we're sorry," he said lamely.  "Let's just..."

"Calm down?" she finished for him.  "Did you plan this?  Why?"

"Because you kept staring at them.  We figured they had done something to bother you.  Pride sticks up for one another.  Not that you'd care," answered Savanah, now sounding irate and angry.  Even Ash's glare didn't silence her.  "You've been moody and antisocial for weeks now.  Ever since that..." she looked at Anon.   "Showed up.  You barely hang out anymore.  You ignore our calls.  We're your Pride, Ashleigh.  Family."

"No Family of mine would do this to someone," she snarled.  "I was moody because...because it's my business!  You took the safety off a loaded gun, you idiot!"

"She's a HAD-Head! All we did was rile her up!  She tried to tear my face off!" snapped back Savanah.

"Y-yeah," added Wade, trying to seem friendly and supportive.  "It was just a...joke..."  He realized this had been the absolute worst thing to say.

Ash bunched up a paw, ready to deck the Purists.  "She's sick!  Anyone who passed third grade Health knows that Anthros with HAD can't control themselves!" she roared at her oldest childhood friends.  "Getting her thrown in jail for public Fury is your idea of a joke?!  And for your information, Anon!" she flicked her tail back at the human who was half-cowering behind her from awkwardness.  Everyone around was staring.  "Is my friend!" she finished.

A new voice cut through the crowd.  "Ma'am?" asked a male voice, sounding hesitant.  "Could you please stop shouting?"  She whirled to see a uniform-clad guard had approached during all the shouting.  He held up a notepad and pencil.  "I'm...assuming you know something about the incident?"  She nodded firmly.  "I'll need a statement."

Anon surged forward.  "Where's Kenzi?" he demanded.  "Where did you guys take her?"

The guard, a tall Canine, raised his paws.  "Easy, kid," he grunted.  "She's been sedated and taken off downtown.  She's the police's problem now.  You involved?"

"Yes!"

"I'll need a statement from you too."

"Officer," growled out Wade, stepping forward and putting on a gallant smile.  "I can explain what~"

Ash whirled on him, lifting a paw and flexing.  Her claws sprang out.  He jumped back immediately.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the guard.  She looked back at him.  He had one paw on the handle of his taser.  "Young lady, we've already had one display of Fury, I do not need another!  Claws!  Down!"

She complied.  She took a deep breath and then stepped forward with Anon.  "I can explain what happened," she told him.  She threw her Pride a withering glare.  "Those three instigated the incident.  The girl is a school mate of mine.  Mackenzie Heen.  She has HAD."

The man's eyes went wide up at her as he realized she was an Alpha and quite a bit bigger than himself even being a full grown adult.  He furiously began writing down.  "HAD?" he confirmed.  "No wonder.  And you say those three started it?"

"They sent this guy a flame text and provoked her," Ash went on.

"You saw this happen?"

She shook her head.  "I know how they are.  Anon, show him your phone."  Anon did.

The guard read the message.  With Anon's permission, he scrolled up a bit to see some of Kenzi's other texts.  Even he seemed to catch on how much the styles of writing didn't make sense.  He jotted that down too.  "That doesn't change the fact that she went full Fury in a public area.  People could have been hurt.  Anyone knows that known HAD cases are wild cards.  Why wasn't she wearing some kind of identification?  EPD doesn't work on them, so medical information like that has to be made available in cases like this to avoid reactions."  He looked suddenly more worried.  "Oh...crap she got sedated didn't she?!"

Anon burst forth with information.  "She has a bracelet on her arm," he explained.  "Diabetics for Humans do the same thing!"

"A bracelet?" the guard asked, writing that down too.  "One second."  He reached for his walkie and clicked it on.  "Control, this is Nunez.  That Fury case, the Hyena.  When you tagged her, did she have a bracelet on?  She did?  It means she's HAD.  Yes, HAD.  She'll need meds and an alert sent to the police station we sent her to.  Rodger."  He looked back at the pair of them, clicking off his comms.

Anon was shivering now against Ash.  She put a paw on his back comfortingly.  "Is...she going to be okay?" he asked, voice shuddering.  Everyone's eyes rested on the lone Human in the middle of the common area.

The guard's eyes softened.  Nunez leaned down a bit to look evenly into the human's eyes.  "Yeah, kid.  She will."  He nodded.  He looked up then and growled softly.  "Don't be going anywhere you three.  I think we need to have a talk."

Ash watched Nunez corner her Pride and begin grilling them.  More phones and recording devices were out and catching the whole spectacle.  There was no stopping it now.  The lioness looked down at her human friend who seemed exhausted and still trembled.  She hugged him to her side.

"It's gonna be okay," she whispered.  He shivered more.  "Can I help?  Somehow?"

"More than you already have?" Anon asked in a hushed, strained voice.  He looked up at her, eyes shining with gratitude.  "C-Can I...ask you for a ride?"

"Where to?"

"The police station."

She nodded immediately, having suspected that was what he had been about to ask.  "Soon as we can.  Pride's Honor," she promised.

More guards showed up.  Her Pride was surrounded and sheepishly marched off towards security.  Nunez paused at their side.  "We have the report," he stated.  "I'll see it gets to where it needs to be."  Ash nodded gratefully.  He bared his throat to her out of decency.

"Hold up!" called Wade suddenly.  The guards growled all around him as the bulky Lion muscled his way toward her and Anon.  She stepped in front of the Human again.  He paused, noticing her paw balling up again, stopping just out of her range.  "What's this supposed to mean, Ash?" he demanded.  "You going to let your Pride get taken in?"  Behind his bluster, the big idiot looked genuinely worried.

"Yes.  I am.  You could have gotten Kenzi killed."  Ash's eyes had no room for sympathy.  Anon quivered again.

"C-can't you talk to your dad?" Wade pleaded suddenly.  "If I get arrested for this, my record could suffer!  Come on, Ash, it was just a joke."  He tried to get around her to Anon.  "Look, Gaff, you know we didn't actually want to hurt your friend-"

Anon stepped forward and around Ash before she could stop either male.  "Her name," he snarled up at the Lion, stunning everyone.  "Is Kenzi.  And I'm Anon.  She's my girlfriend."  Wade's ears had gone fully back.  A lot of people had actually gasped.  Anon was trembling with anger again.  "You're just a bully."

Wade tried to smile, to laugh it off.  A guard tugged at his shoulder and he took a step back, attempting to comply but also remain in the conversation.  He looked at Ash one more time.  "Ash?" he asked.  He was honestly and truly scared now.  The Guards were starting to pull him back to join the other two.  "For the Pride?  Please?"

Ash met his eyes, her own as cold as ice.  "You're all no Pride of mine," she growled softly.  Tears brimmed her eyes at the pain in the three other Leonids at those grim, final words.  They were escorted away.  Her paw shuddered and she looked down at Anon after taking a deep breath.  "Let's go.  My car's out back."

Anon followed her wordlessly.  She plugged in the address for the nearest precinct into her phone and they drove off from the mall in short order.  She had no regrets.  She only wished she had done this sooner.  She saw how much hurt Anon was in.  No one deserved that.

She would have killed to have a boyfriend like Anon.  All of this was her fault.  This was the least thing she could do to try and make it right.

Pride's Honor still meant something to her.  Even if she was only a Pride of one now.