Fall (LGBT) ✅

Part 1

1.

Jeremy had always been one to listen to his parents, so when they'd told him in his youth not to cross the pride territory boundary at the edge of the woods, he'd very carefully stayed on their own lands. The young cat shifters and their few human companions had all of town and the fields as their playground, but the forest was wolf territory, and as a bobcat—the smallest of the big cat shifters in their pride—Jeremy had never been tempted to cross it.

But Jeremy's little brother had always pushed at the boundaries, unable to accept any rule without testing it out himself.

It was why Lydia, who was normally so cool and composed, had burst into the park and made a beeline straight for him. He knew it was because of Callum but he'd been optimistic, despite experience telling him that he shouldn't be.

"What did you say?"

"It was just boys being boys," she said, some of the worry dissipating already in his presence. "But then Callum took it too far and ran into the woods. We tried to find him but we couldn't figure out where he'd gone."

Jeremy nodded, shoving his course books at Duke. "When was this?"

She checked her watch. "Five minutes ago at most. I went looking for help as soon as we realised we'd lost him."

"Okay, I can work with that." He got up, brushing grass from the back of his jeans. "Duke, can you make sure Lydia gets home safe?"

"Yeah, sure," Duke said, gathering up their books, "and I'll avenge your death, too, if you like."

"I don't plan on dying," he said, flashing his teeth. "Callum, on the other hand..."

Lydia made a small noise in the back of her throat.

He glanced over at her, speaking reassuringly. "Don't worry, Lyds, I know he isn't dead because I'm going to bring him back and skin him myself. Duke, you've always said you like my fur, haven't you?"

Duke grinned. "I would love you forever if you made me a bobcat rug."

And Jeremy briefly contemplated the idea because he was fairly sure Callum deserved it before deciding he'd leave that thought for later, after he'd found his brother. He took off in the direction Lydia had come from, catching her scent which was still fresh and slightly sour with concern, following it to where he found a group of teenagers. They were restless and pacing, telling him all he needed to know.

"You haven't found him?" he asked anyway.

"No, it was all too much in there," one of the boys said, gesturing over at the trees. "We're waiting for him to come back, because he has to, he's got nowhere else to go."

He hummed. "You're fifteen, right, the same age as Callum?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then I've got a more developed nose than you. Yowl if he comes back, I'll hear it." He shucked his clothing quickly, too old and too confident to feel self-conscious, and shifted into his other form with a practiced ease. Pausing for a second to sniff the air, he caught the familiar scent of his brother—something he chased after far too often to be healthy—and darted off to follow it.

He'd never been past the woods before, due to a combination of reasons, with the first and foremost being that he didn't automatically challenge everything their parents told him. Callum had never subscribed to that thinking, though, and no consequences had ever swayed his mind, so Jeremy was definitely going to be having words with Callum later, and would be entirely justified if he boxed his ears. And after the fifth bush deposited burs in his fur, he figured he might also feed him raw rabbit for the next month. Callum hated rabbit.