"No mom, I was not out with the cat, I really wasn't."
"Then why do I smell two of them on you now, not one but two?"
"Because his mother came to see him up from the dojo, that's why. Come on mom, do you think I'm messing around with this guy? He's a cat, what would I see in a cat?"
"I have no idea what you'd see in a cat. But you haven't seemed to see anything in every single guy in this den. So tell me, do you see anything in this cat or not?" Her mother gave her that. Mother knows all and sees all look.
"No mom, I see nothing in him except as a teacher. Why are you so worried over all of this?" Zenah threw up her hands and walked past her mother and in through the front entrance.
"You stay right there, young lady. I am not finished with you yet." Her mother ran to catch up with her, then to get in front of her. "You attacked one of your pack mates in broad daylight, for no reason..."
"He was following me." Zenah growled. "I don't need that jerk's protection. How many times have I told him that? This time I told him with my knee instead of my voice."
A flicker of a smile darted across her mother's face, but she quickly cleared it away. "That is not the point, he was just worried about you, we all are."
"You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine." Her voice cracked, and she sagged against the wall.
"Honey, are you okay, what's wrong?"
"Nothing mom," she broke into tears. "Everything I can't tell you."
Her mother gathered her into her arms. Stroking her cheek, she flicked a couple of strands of her long black hair out of her daughter's eyes. She guided her through a nearby door into an unoccupied room.
Sitting on the edge of a well made bed, Zenah let her head fall into her hands. How could she explain this to her mother without getting both her and Zach killed? She never was very good at beating around the bush, so she decided to go for broke.
"Mom, there is something I need to tell you. But before I do, you have to promise me you won't tell another soul about this, and I mean no one else. If you can't then I keep it to myself." She spoke without lifting her head from her hands.
"But honey, you know I don't keep anything from your father." Zenah's head came up so fast her mother flinched.
"NO! You can't tell him, especially him. Mom please, I have to tell someone, I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't. But I'm afraid of what will happen if I do."
"Oh honey, what could have happened to you, you're shaking like a leaf. I won't tell anyone, I promise, not even your father. Just tell me what's going on, please."
"I'm bonded to someone." Zenah didn't lift her head to look at her mother, just sat as still as a stone.
"Oh honey, then why are you so sad. You should be happy. Who is he, we should be celebrating, not sad? Your father will be so relieved."
"He's the tom everyone is so worried about." Her mother came to a dead stop, not trusting her ears.
"What did you just say?"
"My mate's the tom I'm being trained by. The one everyone's so worried about."
"But that can't be true, we can only bond with our own species. You can't be bonded to him, you can't." She was speaking as if her words would cast a spell and make them true.
"Then we're the first. But I assure you I'm right, weather any of you like it or not." Zenah raised her tear filled face to look at her mother.
Her mother looked at her daughter and sighed. She looked so much like the little girl she'd seen grow up into a strong, confident young woman. But this couldn't be, the bonding was something that only wolves could do, cat's bonded with nothing and no one. She looked down at Zenah again, she was crying so hard her shoulders shook, her black hair was matted to her face.
"How do you know that you're bonded to him?"
Zenah gave her mother a 'are you clueless look.' "Mom, why did you ask that question? Do you think I'm joking? I'm his, and he's mine. Every time I see him I want to rip his clothes of and, and..."
"Okay, I get the picture." She shook her head. "But you know your father will never approve of this. If he finds out, he'll do his best to have him killed."
"Why do you think we've been keeping this a secret? I will not let him hurt Zach, I won't." The steel in her tone and the fire that came to her eyes told Zenah's mother all she needed to know.
"What's he like?" Mary asked with a sigh, knowing her daughter was going to explode if she didn't tell someone soon.
"Oh mom, he's wonderful," she watched Zenah's eyes wander to some place only she could see.
"He's tall, and handsome, and mom, he knows Taekwondo." She squealed like a pup with a new toy. "His kicks look soooo much better than mine." Zenah turned to her mother, her heart wanting to spill out everything she'd been holding in.
So for the next half hour Amy sat with her daughter and listened, just listened. Her daughter gushed over Zach like a high school girl over her first crush.
"Oh honey, I'm so glad for you. He sounds wonderful, but how is this going to work? You know you can't stay away from him for very long, it's not safe."
"That's why I joined the Taekwondo class. He wanted nothing to do with me at first, I thought he hated me so I joined to force him to be near me."
"He didn't want to be near you? Why not, I'd have thought he'd be the one wanting to be all over you? After all, he is male." Her mother had a gleam in her eye when she said it.
"Then you don't know Zach. He wanted nothing to do with me because he knew what would happen if dad found out and he was trying to protect me. Once I found out, my heart melted. He was willing to give me up to protect me, even though he wanted me just as much as I wanted him."
"He was trying to protect you." Her mother's voice held a hint of awe.
Shaking her head, she asked. "So, when do I get to meet him?"
"You want to meet him? I thought you'd hate him."
"I don't like the fact that he's a cat, I won't lie to you." She wrapped an arm around Zenah's shoulders. "But I've seen your eyes light up more in the last half hour than any time in your life. And now I want to meet the man who came put that big of a smile on my daughter's face."
"Oh mom, thank you, thank you, thank you. You won't tell dad will you?" Zenah's eyebrows dropped.
"My lips are sealed. If he finds out it won't be from me."
"Thanks mom, you have no idea how much this means to me. I mean, I was going to explode if I couldn't tell someone." Zenah hugged her mother and got to her feet.
"I'm heading to bed, I know it's not late but I'm tired."
"You still haven't told me when I can meet him."
"We do have class again tomorrow. You could come to watch, to keep an eye on me. That way dad wouldn't be able to complain."
"I thought you didn't have another class until next Monday?"
"I'm a special student." Zenah smiled at her mother, a twinkle in her eye.
"I'm sure you are." Mary smiled and got to her feet. "I'll take you there then, when do we have to leave?"
"About nine fifteen, that way we can stop for coffee."
"Oh good point, can't forget the coffee."
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