The Woods ✔

The Princess

Not looking another predator in the eyes was usually enough to avoid an aggressive encounter.

There were rules in the woods, rules which made sure that the balance was kept, rules which decided if you would see another day or die.

This was one of them. Don't look them in the eyes.

The woods had taught Caden everything he knew, had to know. Yes, they had lived in a cabin but Michael had been just as much of a feral animal as he himself and hadn't hesitated to make him back down with a swipe of his paw, showing him that he either avoided infuriating him or he fucking learned how to dodge.

Along with the instincts that were deeply rooted in every molecule of his body he knew damn well how to survive.

However Willow Creek wasn't the forest.

Willow Creek was hostile territory filled with different rules and humans without any proper instincts. They didn't take a step back if he bared his teeth at them, instead they grinned like fools right back at him and babbled nonsense while he was ready - and capable - to rip their throat out.

So, no, avoiding eye contact didn't save him from an encounter with Mayor Barings.

"Hello, Ajax and" He looked at Caden with a quizzical expression. "I don't think we were formerly introduced."

"Caden," he forced out after Ajax had squeezed his hand.

"Oh, yes, Ajax' friend from Canada," Barings chuckled and Caden had to refrain from hissing at him. Instead he averted his eyes and grumbled quietly.

"Do you like Willow Creek?" the man asked with a friendly smile though Caden knew what it meant. He had intruded into the human's territory without announcement and showed no signs of leaving soon. Now Barings had to make sure Caden knew exactly who the Alpha male was.

"It's nice," Caden forced out, revealing his fangs in the process.

"Glad to hear that." Barings tightened his hold around his wife's waist, clearly roaring 'Mine'. She wore a long coat and a thick scarf, her blonde locks cascading down over her shoulders. The smile seemed to be plastered to her face and he wondered if she was anything else than a pretty doll hanging on the Mayor's arm.

"Daddy, I'm bored."

Now his eyes snapped downwards to the girl whose rabbit he had killed. She pouted up at her father, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She had her mother's blonde locks and her father's scowl.

"Go play with the other kids, Princess," Barings suggested softly but she only rolled her eyes at him.

"They're stupid," she huffed and looked at Caden and Ajax the same way she probably looked at bugs.

"April," her mother chided her sharply. "Don't say such things!"

"But it's true," she whined and stomped her little leather boots on the ground. "They only play stupid games."

"Either you behave until Mommy and Daddy are finished or you go play with the other kids, Princess." Her father ruffled her hair and shrugged apologetically when she swatted at his hands and glared at the ground.

Caden looked at her closely. April really was the exact image of her parents though he hoped that she wouldn't grow up to be as quietly submissive as her mother or as overly dominating as her father. Kids became who their parents wanted them to be. Maybe not intentionally because no parent wanted their child to be a brat but with every word and every gesture they set the base for their kid's future self. Perhaps she would learn to respect others as much as she wanted to be respected by them. Over time she would learn the rules. Or she would drown in this world that was equally as dangerous as the woods.

"Did you see any carnivores lately? Your house is pretty close to the forest," Barings asked, his gaze directed at Ajax who broadened his stance.

"Just the usual raccoons," he answered evenly. "No cougars."

"I'm not sure if there's really one out there," the Mayor voiced his doubts.

"I know what I saw!" his daughter snapped offended and pointed in the general direction of the woods. "A rabid cougar ate Snuffles."

Caden was pretty sure that he was not rabid. And hadn't been when he had fetched that rabbit which obviously had been named Snuffles.

"It was probably just a stray dog," Ajax interjected and the small girl glared heatedly at him, something not everyone dared to do even if they didn't know that Ajax was the Alpha male of a lion pride.

"It didn't bark," she argued stubbornly.

"Dogs that bark don't bite. You're lucky it didn't bite you," the lion retorted flatly and the girl blanched before she grabbed her mother's hand.

"Sorry, she's quite a handful when she becomes tired," the woman apologized, her cheeks slightly red not only from the cold.

"There's no point in hunting something that didn't exist in the first place. Even if it was a cougar it's most likely miles away from our town by now because of all the hunters in the woods. I've planned a public announcement to tell the people that there's no longer any danger," Barings told them with a serious expression. "I'm sick of the headlines about big cats in Willow Creek."

Caden lowered his head to hide his grin but April noticed it and stared at him suspiciously. He pulled his lips back so she could see his teeth - blunt but still a little more pointed than a human's, a little more sharp, simply more animalistic - and she flinched back, hiding behind her mother's arm.

He wasn't afraid that she would rat him out, in the eyes of the adults she was a child whose imagination was running wild ninety percent of the time.

"Don't you think you scared her enough?" Ajax whispered in his ear, chuckling quietly and nipping at the sensitive lobe.

Caden hummed quietly, rubbing their cheeks together.

Maybe it would help her learn the rules.

Someone called the Mayor's name and he left them with a smile in their direction, his wife and daughter following him dutifully. Caden relaxed against his lion and sucked in a deep breath.

"Does that mean he no longer wants my head on a stake?" he wanted to know with his head cocked to the side and Ajax wrapped both his arms around his waist so he could pull him flush against his body.

"Seems so," he confirmed and kissed the tip of his nose.

"Good," Caden mumbled into the collar of his jacket.

"Do you miss living outside?" Ajax asked, a serious expression on his face. Caden looked at him, at the freckles dusted over the bridge of his nose and cheeks, the golden flecks swimming in a sea of stunning green and the tiny scar on his lip. It was one out of many and he had spent countless nights tracing every scar until he knew them by heart, like a map that revealed the greatest treasure on earth to him.

And Ajax had done the same, had ran his fingers over Caden's body - first making him squirm and giggle but then calming him - and kissed the anomalies, worshipped them with his hands and lips.

"Yes," he answered honestly and saw a flash of hurt and fear in Ajax' eyes. Fear that the woods would beckon Caden back into their familiar embrace and leave him heartbroken.

"Sometimes I miss the peace out there, the simplicity, but" Caden paused and looked down at his feet. "But I want to experience new things, see new places, learn. And I want to do that with you."

"I'll show you the world," Ajax promised with one of his rare smiles and swept down to kiss Caden in front of everyone, not caring about any stares and whispers because they were together, they had each other, and nothing could stop them.