Chapter 6 White Lion Doesn’t Make it Home

An excerpt from The White Lion Unicorn Series Book 1: A Colony of Tiny Nekos

Black Wolf slept outside. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He knew he wasn’t going to get what he wanted from her. So why bother sleeping in the same room with her? Why pretend? He told himself he didn’t care. He would soon take off. There was no need for him to do anymore cleaning.

He couldn’t see why she couldn’t do all the housework. She was a woman. It was her job. If she really wanted to be his wife, then she would understand that. He slept without any dreams and was awoken by more urgent messages. He dealt with them as best as he could.

But time was running out for him.

Inside the trolley, Silver Moon was lying on her bean bag chair. She couldn’t sleep. She knew something had happened to White Lion. But she sensed he was okay for the moment. Still he wasn’t there with her. She didn’t know where he was. That was the whole problem.

She heard Black Wolf’s phone beeping on and off. She knew he would leave soon and there was nothing she could do about it. But perhaps it would be better that way. He had stopped cleaning altogether. He gave no reason as to why. He didn’t even tell her what he wanted to eat anymore.

She was puzzled why he would suddenly act the way he was now. She heard him talking on his phone. She sat up. She couldn’t understand much of what he said, but she waited. She kept sensing her son and his wavering that he was in trouble and not safe, but among friends. That puzzled her as well.

She heard Black Wolf disconnect the call. She stood up and walked to the back porch of the trolley. “Black Wolf?”

“Yes?”

“What’s going on?”

“Uh…”

She sighed. “Well, White Lion is in trouble again. He should have come back by now.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Do you know what happened to him?”

“No.”

“Really? Then why have you been acting the way you have lately? What’s happened to you?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“No, really, you wouldn’t.”

“So you just want to keep it from me and quit cleaning?”

“Well… yes!”

“I see. You better not harm my son.”

He stared at her with new eyes. “So he’s more important to you than I am?”

“Why are you making me choose between you?”

“I’m not, but you have chosen him over me. That’s not fair!”

Silver Moon looked puzzled.

“How can he even be your son? He’s half cat, half human, and you’re an elf! It’s just not possible.”

“It’s by adoption.”

“Oh, yeah? Then where’s the paperwork for that?”

She said nothing as she continued to stare at him.

“So it’s not even legal! Wow, that’s such a shock. Good, sweet, innocent Silver Moon kidnapped a neko and claimed him as her son.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Sure it was. Who are his parents?”

“I don’t know. I found him and I took care of him. I didn’t know how young he was at the time. He could have died if I didn’t take care of him.”

“You can’t know something like that.”

“There was no one else around! He was all alone! You really expect me to just leave him where I found him? What the hell is wrong with you!”

“Nothing! It’s you! Not me! You! You’re so frigid! You’re never going to sleep with me! You haven’t tended to my needs at all! Just his!”

“What?”

“Yeah, you heard me. Why don’t you put out? Hmm. What’s wrong with you?”

Silver Moon shook her head and shook uncontrollably. “Why are you doing this? I thought you understood…”

“Yeah, well, you took too long. I don’t need to stick around and wait for something that won’t happen. You’d make a terrible wife for me. The housework is supposed to be your job! Not mine! There’s no reason for me to do any more cleaning!” He shapeshifted into a wolf and took off running.

Silver Moon watched him go and cried. She couldn’t even focus to figure out where her son could be.

**********************

Many of the nekos were still hissing and growling. Claira Jaen was recovering. She opened her eyes and looked up at White Lion. She smiled.

“Hi, little brother.”

He smiled back. “Hi, big sister.”

“Do you remember me?”

He shook his head. “No, but I believe you. I doubt mama will have a hard time accepting you as my sister.”

“That’s good. She seems like a good mama to me.”

“I only remember mama and no one else before that.”

“You were pretty young. That’s probably why you don’t remember me or our mom.”

“Oh?” He was still puzzled by the insistence of another mother.

“He probably won’t be back for quite some time. Will you help me to learn to read while we wait?”

“Well, I’ll try. I’ll teach you the alphabet first.”

White Lion taught Claira Jaen how to sing the alphabet and he showed her what all the letters looked like. The other nekos listened and started to sing along as well. Many came over and asked that White Lion show them the letters again and again.

The scientist heard the nekos singing and he hated it. He covered his ears. Then he realized they were singing the alphabet of all things. “Nooooo!” he screamed. He stormed to the lab and was met by hissing, growling nekos with claws bared.

He stepped back. Too many of them had claws on their hands and feet. He needed a weapon to fight through them. He ground his teeth and then spun around and went to his private room. He threw himself down on his bed and ranted and raved.

The nekos relaxed once they heard him in his room. Then they resumed their reading lessons. They didn’t care how loud they were. They all wanted to learn. Even the adults who had children wanted to learn how to read. The little ones enjoyed the fun of the singing and recognizing the letters.

White Lion used the computer to teach them to read children’s books available online. The stories were silly or simple, but no one cared. They were having fun reading.

The scientist could hear the nekos in his room. He pulled his hair. He screamed. He blamed the Guardians. “What went wrong with my creations? They shouldn’t want to read! They don’t need to read!” He jumped on his bed.

The nekos didn’t stop with the lessons. They were too fun and He hated it.