Enter the Cat Chapter 1

Chapter 7

I watch Rosy stretch out in the shade, her tail flicks lazily as she makes herself comfortable on her side.

"Rosy," Edwin calls enticingly.

Edwin is standing over his kill, his front feet poised on the shoulders of the beast. The sun strikes him from the side leaving much of the evidence of his messy feeding in shadow.

"Leave my sister alone," Sam growls back as he gets to his feet. He moves forward to stand at the edge of the shade, glaring at Edwin.

"Rosy, come, eat," Edwin calls. "I’m not angry with you."

"Piss off," Steven calls back, a long coughing sound that betrays his annoyance.

"Rosy, I’ve kept a lot of the best pieces for you," Edwin calls in low tones.

"You after trouble Edwin?" I demand as I kick the dirt up with my hind feet in warning.

"Huh," Edwin’s snort comes out disdainfully.

"Leave my sister alone," Sam repeats as he lays his ears back in annoyance.

"Yeah, piss off," Steven grunts.

"Rosy eats from my kill," I state angrily. I don’t want Rosy being influenced by Edwin. She is head strong enough without any encouragement from him to disobey me. I glance at Rosy where she had been resting in the shade to find her watching the exchange with interest. She is on her feet stretching; the sun highlights the inky rosettes beneath her dark coat drawing attention to her.

"Rosy, come here with me," Edwin calls softly. "Come with me."

I watch in disbelief as Rosy walks towards him. Edwin rushes towards her, purring and extending his nose to sniff at the corner of her mouth. He is grunting with excitement and purring softly as he faces her. He raises his tail high over his back as he humps the air slightly. Fury burns through me as I realise he is trying to seduce her in front of me.

"No you don’t," I growl angrily as I rush forward.

Rosy is highly aware she has been in serious trouble and may just yield to him in an effort to please someone. I feel my chest strike the side of Edwin’s shoulder heavily and he is sent tumbling to the ground. I see Rosy slinking away uneasily, and then I am focusing on Edwin as he leaps to his feet and faces me belligerently. I rush him, giving him no chance to gather himself properly, and deliver a nasty swipe to his side as I go by. We circle each other cautiously and I leap forward grabbing him as I wrestle for a good bite hold. Edwin leaps away, then darts back in an attempt to surprise me. I take him down expertly, dealing several hard punishing bites before he yowls in pain and flees from me.

I watch him retreat to the shade of some trees a comfortable distance away before pulling myself up to my full height and roaring my victory. There is a frightened screech and I look around to see Rosy racing away from us. Her body seems to melt down into the top of the grass, only the top half showing as her speed seems to increase. If she had the tawny colouring of an African lion, or it was a moonless night, she would be nearly invisible as she runs. I take off after her instinctively and it only takes me an instant to realise this is no attempt to tease or tantalise. I can smell her fear on the faint breeze that wafts back to me as I chase after her. I am left wondering if it was the fight or my roar of victory that has her speeding across rough ground at a dangerous pace. I strain to keep her in sight, barely aware of the cats behind me. Slowly she begins to pull away from us and when the fence comes into view, I am sure it will force her to stop.

Rosy changes course slightly so she will end up running nearly parallel to the fence. I don’t see what she has planned until she changes course sharply. She runs at the fence line and I am shocked when I see her leap high, grabbing frantically at a tree trunk as she scrambles wildly. She manages to climb up to a branch and starts to rush along it, but it breaks under her weight leaving her sailing through the air towards the fence. A shriek of fear comes from Mitchell who is running shoulder-to-shoulder with me as we watch Rosy hit the top of the fence netting. She seems to hang there a fraction of a second before plunging sharply to the ground. She skids along on her face or neck before spinning in a summersault end over end. She is up quickly and flees into the surrounding bush, just before she is out of sight I see her falter slightly as she seems to miss a stride.