Lost and Found

Twelve

To say that the animals engaged in a fight would be quite comical. After a few well-planned and strategic attacks from Dem and the panther, only one rogue remained alive, panting heavily before them and with two deep gouges in its side. These rogues were obviously not combat-trained and had attacked wildly and without thought. Even the way they defended themselves showed that they were amateurs. It almost felt wrong to kill them so easily.

As they stalked the remaining rogue, its fear was palpable. Just as Dem was about to lunge for the kill, an extremely high-pitched whistle stopped him in his tracks. He cowered, lowering his body to the ground, as did the other rogue and the jaguar. A man dressed in a long, navy blue robe with gold stars stitched into the fabric jumped out from the bushes next to them. He held a whistle tightly in his lips, which then dangled from a cord around his neck after he pushed it out of his mouth with his tongue.

“Alllll right,” he chuckled.

His voice was raspy, almost as if he needed to clear his throat, and he dramatically pulled back his hood with one hand, revealing a sad and splotchy attempt to dye his floppy hair blue. There were obviously spots missing the dye, and other parts that were darker blue than the rest.

“Three of my toys. All gone. All broken. Mean, mean puppy,” he spat at Dem, glaring at him with his brown eyes. “But, I’m willing to overlook. Forget.”

Without wasting another moment, Dem transformed back into Zane.

“Oooo!” the man practically squealed, his eyes now gleaming with curiosity. He clapped his hands together gleefully.

“What are you doing in my woods with these rogues?” Zane snarled, furious.

“Your woods?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “You mean, their woods.”

Zane took a threatening step forward. “My. Woods.”

Shaking his head, the man put up his hands. “These woods speak. These woods are owned by no one person. These woods control themselves.”

Losing his patience, Zane lunged at the stranger; however, mere seconds before his fist could connect with the other’s face, the man waved his hand in the air, throwing Zane’s body into a nearby tree.

“Not nice. Mean, mean man to go with a mean, mean puppy,” the man tsked.

The panther took advantage of the distraction, jumping towards the stranger herself, but with another blow of the whistle, but was sent to the ground once more from the pain.

“Now, now, little kitty. I was just getting to you. You are interesting. You are unique,” the man said, reaching out a hand towards her.

She hissed in warning.

“Also not friendly. Hmm. Not time yet.”

Zane groaned and rolled over in order to stand. Blood dripped from a cut on his side. He gave a menacing look to the stranger, which held a murderous intent.

The man tsked again and seemed to mutter to himself, “Not time yet. Meeting you too soon. Try again.”

Scrunching his face up in confusion, he asked, “What? What are you talking about? Who are you?”

The man seemed to think for a moment before smiling and replying, “I’m the one who is going to be.”

“What?” Zane questioned incredulously.

“I will help reclaim what was and put things back where they belong,” he continued, his eyes resting on the leopard.

Feeling an overwhelming wave of need to protect Tessa, Zane dove for the man, hoping to catch him off guard. The man, though, was quick to react and moved his arm in a forward manner. Zane immediately was forced backwards, and his entire back and head slammed into the same tree trunk as before, creating a loud, crunching noise. His body dropped to the ground and landed in a heap. He had been knocked out, and a red stain marked where he had hit the tree as well as a large splintered c***k in the bark.

The man shook his head, murmuring to himself about this first meeting not going well. He then walked over to Zane’s body, took out a jar and a small pair of scissors. He clipped a piece of hair off the alpha and shoved it into the jar, which he promptly stuffed back into his robes. The stranger’s full attention then turned to the large cat.

“Soon, my dear little kitty. Soon, very soon indeed. We shall meet again. Fix mistakes. Fix the past.”

Blowing a different tune on the whistle, the rogue appeared by the man’s side and the two seemed to disappear as they walked deeper into the forest.

Once the panther was sure they were gone, she jumped to Zane’s side, licking his face. There was no movement, but she could see his chest rising and falling. Gently, she took one of his arms into her mouth and pulled so that he was lying across her back. Feeling him to be as secure as she could get him, she made her way back to his pack. She did her best to ignore the blood that was dripping and seeping onto her back and down her legs as she carried him.

It took a while to get back to the pack, as carrying the giant alpha was strenuous, but as soon as she was spotted, things happened quickly. Felix and Bre ran out to meet them, taking Zane from her and rushing to the hospital.

She stared at the retreating figures, feeling the exhaustion creep over her. She hadn’t realized just how much energy she’d expended. Her body landed on the ground before her brain fully registered the command for her legs to bend and slowly lower her to lay on the gravel. Not moving felt nice. Not moving felt really nice. Her eyes drooped before fully closing all the way, and she fell into a much-needed slumber.

Sometime later, Tessa found herself waking up surrounded by familiar, white walls. The sharp smell of isopropyl alcohol hit her nostrils and jolted her into being wide awake. She noticed Leo in the chair next to the hospital bed. His eyes were closed as he leaned back in the chair, arms loosely folded across his chest. She watched his chest rise and fall a few times before realizing that there were no beeping sounds or really any sounds of any kind in her room. Her arm wasn’t connected to an IV drip or a heart monitor.

“Um, Leo?” she whispered, reaching her hand out to just barely touch his arm.

In the matter of a few seconds, his eyes bolted open while he jumped from his chair, the legs screeching against the floor as he did so, and he grabbed onto her outstretched arm, crouching into a protective stance.

Tessa’s mouth opened in surprise as they stared at each other.

“S-sorry,” he stuttered, letting go of her hand.

Unable to resist, Tessa let out a chuckle, smiling ear from ear. “What was that?”

Leo joined in her laughter and gave a light shrug of his shoulders. “Reflexes, I guess. Guess I’m more on edge than I realized.”

“Did something happen?”

“Uhh, yeah.”

Her heart began pounding faster and fear crept into her. “Tell me,” she breathed.

“N-no, no,” Leo then said, shaking his head and gently taking her hand in his. “That’s not what I meant. You and Alpha came back in such a sorry state that it really caused a stir within the pack. Alpha was pretty messed up, and when I found you after getting the word that you both had made it back, you were just laying on the ground covered in blood. I just about died from that sight.”

Tessa looked down at her hands and arms and saw streaks of blood. “Ohh,” she murmured.

She then noticed that instead of being in a hospital gown, she was in another mauve blue, oversized shirt that smelled like Leo. Her cheeks reddened on their own accord. Had he seen her naked and put his shirt on her? Again?

“Umm, do you know, like, how I changed back into being human?”

Leo shook his head. “I don’t, sorry. When I found you, you had already shifted back.”

“You’re, uh, the one who found me?”

Giving her a reassuring smile, he nodded. Her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink. She was mortified at how many times this had already happened.

“Thank you, um, then,” she mumbled, staring at the thin blanket over her legs.

“Don’t mention it. I’m happy to have found you and that you were totally fine. No cuts on you, at least, not anymore if you did. What even happened?”

Tessa nodded. “Is Zane alright?”

“He will be.”

She let out a sigh and then slowly said, “It was, um, really weird.”

“How so?”

Her eyebrows scrunched up into a frown, and her fingers began to absent-mindedly play with the blanket’s edge. “I remember feeling really overwhelmed, and then I was running. I don’t know how long I ran for or even where I was going, just that I had to get out of that room.”

Leo nodded. “Yeah, we watched your big cat form tear off for the forests. We were all pretty worried about you.”

“Sorry about that,” she grimaced.

“It’s alright.”

“And then, um, I saw a big wolf, which scared me. I started stalking it because I was curious about it as much as I was afraid of it. But, suddenly, it was falling, and then there were other wolves, though much smellier.”

“Rogues.”

Tessa’s eyes briefly met Leo’s before darting off once more. “If you say so.”

“What happened next?”

“We fought the wol–rogues until there was only one. Before we could finish it off, a man popped up out of nowhere and began talking to us. He didn’t make a lot of sense, but he was hurting Zane until he lost consciousness. Then, I carried him back.”

Leo frowned. “A man? Do you know who he was or what he wanted?”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

His frown deepened and he pursed his lips. “That’s not good. Can you take me back to where everything took place?”

“S-sure. Why?”

“I have a hunch, and not a good one. At the very least, we should clean up the rogue bodies. I don’t want to attract any unwanted attention,” Leo replied. “Can you take me now?”

Though Tessa felt tired still, and her legs hurt, the look in his eyes told her that it was extremely important. She didn’t want to be a barrier in the way of whatever it was that Leo needed to check, and so, she nodded, removing the blanket from her legs to get up. Both stared in horror at the sight before them. Her legs were covered in large welts and boils.