To Love a Stray

Chapter 10

I lay stretched out in the shade my stomach full from the cow that Micah killed. I don’t stir when someone walks by me on their way to their own section of shade. I have become accustomed to sharing kills that one or another of the toms has made but I still prefer venison to beef. It has been three weeks now since Edwin left to work elsewhere and in that time the bonds I have formed with the other toms has strengthened steadily. I still don’t change in the same room as them but I have become fairly used to them deciding to change in the room I am in, the main offenders being Micah and Steven. I still often share Chris’s bed and we indulge in oral sex but so far I haven’t been comfortable enough to let him go any further.

Jazzy walks over and plonks herself down beside me crowding me into the sun and I get to my feet to move into the shade. Donovan and Jazzy are regulars on our hunts now. After the second hunt Wade and Marissa have allowed them to come with us without their presence. I barely bother to open my eyes as Micah walks over to nose and sniff both Jazzy and me. I flick my tail as his whiskers brush my ear but refuse to do more in the heat of the day. I wake as the day starts to cool and instead of returning to the kill and eating my fill again, I trot off into the trees without a backward glance. In the shadows I stop to check that Jazzy and Donovan aren’t following me before I break into a lope.

The water hole I head for is edged with green grass and I pause as I check carefully for any livestock before heading to the waters edge to lap thirstily. I stop and check no one has followed me before I change back to human form and walk into the water. I strike out for the far bank and swim lazily for a while before I hear the first demanding call from Micah. I head back to shore and change to cat form before heading back towards the kill site at a fast run. I burst from the trees at full speed and see most of the toms lined up defensively between the two youngest members of the clan and me. I turn and streak off around the perimeter of the clearing at a fast pace and I am delighted when Micah and Steven break formation to chase me. They have the inside run of the huge circle I make and soon both of them are fairly close. I break away and head for the trees weaving in and out of them as the two toms follow. I race across the small clear patch between trees and I can hear both toms still close. I do a sharp turn and they race past me as I speed back the way I have come. I track their progress by the noise of their chase and I am aware that they are taking a short cut across the clearing to try to head me off; I kick in with more speed and manage to keep ahead of them as our paths converge.

Slowly but surely Micah is making up ground beside me and when he comes level with me his shoulder presses against mine and I am turned in a circle until I slow down. He growls and lays back his ears as he approaches where I have stopped while Steven looks on. I extend my head and sniff his nose before screeching and streaking away once again. This time Micah and Steven realise it’s a kind of game as they race after me. After another two times of allowing them to catch up to me, I finally slow and come to a stop. Both toms come over to sniff me thoroughly but I jump away when they spend too much time sniffing around my hindquarters.

I return to lay in the shade once again while the others eat but I have no desire to eat the now cool meat. I stretch out on my side and watch the others eating and when I become bored I drag myself along on my side before rolling and jumping up to kick leaves and twigs wildly. Both Micah and Steven stop eating to watch me and I move to where there are more leaves and twigs to kick those up as well. Both toms leave the kill and walk over to where I dragged myself along the ground to sniff at the mark with interest. I trot past where Jazzy and Donovan are wrestling while Mitchell watches them and stop to scratch claw marks in the trunk of a large tree. I stop and listen as I hear the rustlings of a mouse and with one quick snap of the jaws it becomes a tasty mouthful. A slow lizard goes the same way and I glance out of the corner of my eye to check on the two toms following me. Steven comes up to sniff at my muzzle and I snort and slap the ground with my paw. He huffs at me and his tail starts to twitch as he senses another game. I slap his shoulder with a soft paw before darting in among the trees. I use the trees to hide behind as both Micah and Steven chase me.