Feral

Chapter 31

"Not a bad idea darling. It's certainly something to consider so we don't stay virtually locked up in our room."

Levi pulled him closer against his firm body, making Adrian release a low purr and lean into the man's chest. "Plus, Fiona will be excited to see if it actually works."

A low hum escaped Adrian, eying a few of the Ferals he could see. While he knew that both himself and Levi were still in their Rut, he was surprised on the lack of response from the other shifters.

Beside a slight twitch of their nose and a quick aversion of their gaze, there was hardly any response. None of them were as bold as the lioness that had basically presented herself to Adrian when she was in her Heat cycle.

"Is this-" Adrian motioned towards the people they spotted, or rather their lack of response, "due to our mating?"

Levi grinned, licking his lips. "Partially. The components in your pheromones, well, our pheromones have changed." The Elephant motioned between them as he explained "While other shifters can smell that we're in our Rut cycle, but it's nothing more than a vaguely pleasant scent to them."

"Secondly, besides yourself, both Darius and myself are strong shifters. There are very few animals who would dare to try anything out of fear of our shifts lashing out."

A sense of pride flittered through Adrian's body as he barely bit back a smirk. It did make sense that those with weaker shifts were more wary of competition, especially certain herbivores.

Shifters like deer, horses and other herbivores were known to be more flexible in their choice of mates. If another, better potential mate presented themselves, they might be more inclined to break the bond and form a new one with their mate of choice.

However, those shifters would also be wary of predatory shifts like Adrian and Darius. Not to mention there was no chance that a horse could stand a chance against an angered elephant bull, protecting their mate.

Plus given the fact that Adrian and Darius were extremely dangerous predators, none of the other carnivores would even consider making a move against any of trio.

In fact, it would be more likely that other carnivores would be more protective of their mates.

"Hey." Levi nudged Adrian in the side before grinning, eyes sparking teasingly. "Race ya."

And then he booked it, sprinting away from a flabbergasted Adrian, who barked out a laugh before giving chase.

Without prompting his shift, Adrian felt his clothes tear off his body as he darted after and then past Levi, who shouted a frustrated "HEY! CHEATER!"

Adrian's caw of amusement bounced over the clearing, drawing attention to the group before he heard more tearing clothes.

And much to his surprise, the charging elephant bull was actually keeping up with the stunned raptor! The low trumpeting matched Levi's strides, trunk latching onto one of Adrian's legs and pulling him over before the elephant charged ahead and won their little race.

The young raptor shook out his feathers, looking back from where they came from and huffed. Finally seeing Levi fully shifted made Adrian realize that while he might be a predator, that didn't make him the biggest creature around.

In fact, while Adrian was about 7 feet tall, maybe 8 if he tilted his head fully up, Levi still had him beat with a staggering 10 feet tall.

It was his first time being around a shifted Feral that was actually bigger than him. Well, at least on all fours. Adrian had a sneaky suspicion that Willem's massive polar bear would also tower over him, if the bear stood on its hind legs.