A Leopard’s Discovery

Chapter 3

7 Years Later

“Ugghhh!” Charlie hit the mat with a loud thud. “Damn, Tone! Why do you hit so hard!” She whined, laying flat on her back staring up at Tone’s smirking face. 

   Her sunglasses reflecting the grimace forming on Charlie’s full lips. Charlie jumped into a crouch, shaking her head full of black bouncy twists that grown past her shoulders.

    “That’s right, shake it off. Your going to be kissing the ground pretty soon anyway.” Tone grinned while putting a blunt between her soft brown lips and leaning back wrapping her long arms around the boxing ring ropes that sat in the middle of Tone’s private gym.

      Charlie looked up admiring the way her guardian/mentor looked so at ease all the time. It always seemed like nothing got under her skin and she never took her sunglasses off. 

     *Like ever.* Charlie finished that thought. *Even when she taking a shower or sleeping, Mama Tone never takes off her sunglasses.* Keeping that “Mama Tone” inside her head, Charlie never calls her that, well except when I’m in trouble or really emotional, but that rarely happens since her training started about seven years ago. 

 Things have changed since that fateful meeting between Tone and Charlie. 

     For one, Charlie grew and grew until she was almost 5’11 with lean muscles and into a size b-cup. Seeing Mama Tone struggle to find the right bra size for her was hilarious because Mama Tone never had to care for a fast growing Mondalla child before.

       Instead she gave up finding clothes for her and instead showed her how to be responsible with money, letting Charlie pick out her stuff with her own debit card, encrypted of course, so nothing would show up in her account of what exactly she bought, considering the type of business Mama Tone was in. Auntie Trace provided all the cool looking gadgets and tech stuff that Tone needs. Charlie would be getting some cool looking stuff too, once she actually gets her first target.

      Mama Tone was rough around the edges but always had this cool, smooth laid-back vibe with her, kind of reminding Charlie of Snoop Dogg with how he acts through his music. Charlie tried to act smooth and suave like her mother figure but Charlie just had too much energy and was always rushing head long into trouble. 

     Thinking back on how she got into a fight with one of the full grown male werewolves that tried to pick on her and she was winning until his pack mates arrived. 

      Charlie shook her head again trying to dispel that memory, which happened a year ago. Shivering at the one time she saw Mama Tone got so angry, her eyes glowed behind those sunglasses. She took one look at Charlie’s swollen black eyes and busted lip as she limped towards Tone with a broken leg, whimpering that rare “Mama Tone” and finally letting her tears fall as she searched for the signs of disappointment.

     Tone flicked her blunt letting it hit the wall into a nearby trash can, turned on her heel and left the apartment. 

      Later that night, as Charlie was curled into bed, her and her beast licking their wounds and even more wounded pride, Tone walked into her room covered in blood with a big black trash bag tossed over her shoulder. She slammed the bag on the floor as the heads of every pack mate and the Alpha himself of the werewolves that attacked Charlie rolled out on the gray concrete floor. Charlie literally felt her mouth open in shock and awe at the numerous heads in the trash bag and on her floor.

     “Now, that’s how you deal with f*****g Weres’.” Tone smirked as she slipped out and went to her room to take a shower. Charlie looked at the dead eyes still opened in shock and fear, faces frozen in horror in their last moments before facing their deaths.

      *Mama Tone was really pissed..* **Yes she was, we must never piss Mama off and we have to get stronger.** Beastie growled in agreement. 

      Sensing Mama Tone swaggering into her room again, freshly showered in loose black sleeping trouser and a loose white t-shirt, she crawled into bed cuddling Charlie to her chest and brushing back her kinky curly hair with her hand, murmuring that no one will ever hurt her little one again and that they all suffered a painful death. 

      After that night, Charlie woke up to the most intense training she ever encountered during her stay with Mama Tone.

      “Your distracted again.” Tone murmured behind Charlie as she stiffened realizing what’s about to happen. A sharp hit from the back of her head had her seeing stars as she moved to slow to dodge.

      “Owww!!” Rubbing the back of her head frantically as she ran to avoid another hit from Tone’s “love taps” as she calls them. Facing her mentor, who had a cocky smirk on her face, Charlie pursed her lips. 

      Using her speed, she rushed Tone trying to grab those never wavering sunglasses but instead ended up kissing the ground, again. Charlie got up and tried again and again trying to even get close to the precious sunglasses but Mama Tone was too fast and Charlie ended up hitting the mat more than fifty times. 

Charlie blew a stray twist from her face as she looked up at the ceiling, taking in the industrial lights that dimmed a faint yellow glow in the room.