The Love Between Us

The Chase

They found me in my cave as the sun was reaching it's peak in the sky. The werewolves, that is. The local pack must have finally noticed my wereleopard scent in the area. Unfortunately, no amount of tangled paths can fool a Tracker Wolf, a wolf with nearly double the smell power as the others. This one picked out my path and followed it to my temporary home, my, surprisingly warm and homey, cave.

Now I am trapped in said cave with no escape. Already in my leopard form, I snarled and spat at the five huge werewolves steadily moving into my home. Their huge heads were carefully lowered, eyes trained on me, teeth bared and ready to catch me should I make a run for it. One stayed near the mouth of my cave, brown eyes glazed over in an obvious sign that he was contacting the others of their pack.

One of the wolves, a blue-eyed male with dark brown fur, darted forward to knock me down. As soon as he was within reach, I slammed my heavy paw against the side of his face. This time, I was careful not to let my claws graze him in case the other wolves saw it as an attack, but I wouldn't promise the same for next time. The wolf yelped and retreated, leaving the other three to deal with me. Two of the remaining three, both females with brown eyes and golden-tan fur, growled at me for having hurt their packmate. The last wolf, a male with blue eyes and light grey fur, continued to steadily decrease the distance between us. For every step he took, I shrunk back another until I hit the stone wall.

Right as my back touched the cool, grey rock, a new werewolf appeared in the mouth of the cave. He was in human form and , oh geez, clad only in a pair of small, black shorts. His skin held a beautiful tan that could only come from hours spent outdoors, and the tone was only complimented by his emerald green eyes. Messy, light brown hair reached down to his chin, the chin itself sporting a day's worth of slightly darker stubble.

Without realizing it, I completely ignored the three wolves in front of me in favor of staring at his six-pack. His tan, perfectly formed six-pack that looked on the verge of being called an 8-pack. I was brought back to reality when one of the tan females lunged at me and tried to pin me to the floor. Yowling my annoyance(she HAD just ruined my ab-watching), I quickly and smoothly slipped out of her grasp, spun around, and landed a big, fat paw-smack across her muzzle.

" Gregory, Tanya, Jaycee, stop advancing," the man stated calmly in a smooth, chocolatey voice that made me want to melt in a puddle. He then turned to me and said with that same smooth voice," Would you shift, please? I would like to discuss the situation we find ourselves in."

I barely restrained myself from shifting on his words, but the threat of five patrol wolves retained enough edge that I refrained. My human form is weak and ill, something that does not crossover to my wereform. So I shook my head at the man, assumedly the Alpha, and ran into a mini-cave that was in the back of the main cave. I heard a spoken curse and a couple of surprised woofs behind me but I didn't stop until I had reached the pile of blankets and pillows that I called a bed. There was at least 35 blankets and twice as many pillows, all gathered from the Goodwill and Salvation Army drop off bins. Most were soft from the years of use, others rough and/or stained from years of misuse. Most fell into the latter category, as I knew that the second-hand stores would be less likely to sell those ones as opposed to the nicer, well-kept blankets and pillows.

I made use of this Mount Pillowmanjaro by burying myself before the wolves entered the designated sleeping cave.

"Come out of the bed peacefully. I don't want to use force, but will if need be." The Alpha said. I hissed from within my mountain in answer. "Well, then, I guess force is the way we are taking.

My mountain quivered as he started tearing pillow after pillow, blanket after blanket, out from the mound. I dug down deeper, until I hit the stone floor. He had demolished half of my pile, and was well on his way to finding me in it, but I wasn't giving up quite yet. My sleeping cave was a small one, and he had just spread nearly 15 comforters, quilts, and afghans across the tiny space, leaving only where he and the other wolves stood clear spaces. I carefully slid against the floor until I was under the next comforter closest to the exit. Another pillow was flung and hit me on the side, but I just continued my slow, careful pace, hoping that no wolves noticed the slightly moving blankets.

As luck would have it, I made it the exit without notice. I hesitated before running full tilt out of the cave. Shouts and howls of outrage followed me, along with the sound of those lovely, thigh-hugging shorts being ripped as the Alpha shifted and gave chase. I knew I couldn't outrun them nor could I out-maneuver them. So I made the best of my speed and headstart and ran across the clearing just outside my cave, making way to the closest tree. I stopped right under the tree, bunched my legs, and jumped....

.....and was tackled mid-air by the Alpha.

He pinned me to the ground at the base of the tree and growled. I snarled back but didn't bother to struggle. The amount of strength I could feel him pinning me down with was impressive. He shifted back, never letting the pressure change, and smoothly said, "That was fun, but I already had my morning workout. Now, little leopard, since you didn't comply with my reasonable requests, we will be escorting you to –" He didn't finish his sentence, nor did I care. With him this close, we finally got a whiff of each other's scents. And when I smelt his smoky, musky scent, my instincts screamed MATE.