Letting her body move with Morvan's, Jynxe focused her mind on other things, besides the here and now and the fact that the moon was on the horizon and they were still surrounded by people. But it was easier for her than it must have been for Katana; Jynxe was older, and had been in similar situations before. Besides, Morvan had a calming effect on her.
"At this point, birds sound just fine," she muttered, closing her eyes for a second, wishing that everyone would just disappear.
He could feel the moon calling his beast, and the beast was responding. He was sweating with the effort of holding back the change. The three of them were clear of the beach, clear of the crowds, when Katana doubled over.
Morvan had just enough time to throw off his leather jacket, and kick off his boots before he joined her. He let his beast slip through his body, rolling him inside out. He savored the sensations, marveling at the feeling of his flesh shifting.
He stood, casting aside the ruins of the t-shirt. The jeans were in shreds as well. Only the waist was intact, and it circled him like some bizarre harness. He swept it aside with a single claw, cutting through the denim like paper.
Morvan sniffed deeply, making sure they were safe, before he surrendered to the hunger. "This way," he said, his voice as warm and tawny as his flesh. "Let us hunt together."
As katana doubled over, she felt something snap under her. A blood curdling snap but being in too much pain she paid little attention to it. For Morvan who loved the change Katana hated it. So much pain for someone so young it was a hard thing to bear. By the time it was over there were no clothes left. They were all in shreds from her scratching at her crawling skin. As Morvan spoke the surprisingly large leopard turned around with an ear to ear grin.
Out of the corner of her mouth was a frog minus one leg that was being held in her mouth. A kill was a kill right? Even if you fell on top of it while changing. She pranced over to Morvan all happy and placed it down before him. She rubbed her body along his legs with her head and did the same with Jynxe trying to grab her attention to come see the frog.
I must be a masochist, Jynxe thought as her hands and knees hit the sand. The pressure building inside of her body finally broke loose, and she could feel her flesh rolling as if from the inside out. But being so used to it, the pain of bones shifting and organs moving and flesh stretching wasn't as bad. In fact, it was rather enjoyable. It was like being on a roller coaster, right before a big drop: the beginning of the change was like the adrenaline rush before the coaster plunged down.
, Jynxe thought as her hands and knees hit the sand. The pressure building inside of her body finally broke loose, and she could feel her flesh rolling as if from the inside out. But being so used to it, the pain of bones shifting and organs moving and flesh stretching wasn't as bad. In fact, it was rather enjoyable. It was like being on a roller coaster, right before a big drop: the beginning of the change was like the adrenaline rush before the coaster plunged down.
The tickling over her skin let Jynxe know that hair was beginning to blanket her limbs. And then the full blown senses of the leopard kicked in. Scent and smell and hearing amplified, and she loved it all. The hunt, the Kill, the Pard.
Opening her amber cat eyes, Jynxe looked down her lithe form. Shit, she thought when the realization that she hadn't remove her clothing kicked in; her clothing were in tatters and the low rise jeans she had just bought...
And I liked those, too! Ah, oh well...
"This way," he said, his voice as warm and tawny as his flesh. "Let us hunt together."
Those words had the effect of an electric shock down Jynxe's spine. Her eyes focused on her alpha, and she felt her heart rate increase tempo with anticipation. That's when Katana rubbed up against her legs, purring like a little kitten. Jynxe looked at the ground in front of Morvan's forepaws and smiled. It was so sweet, when a young one would feel such bliss over such a little victory. Jynxe had known kittens like that as she traveled across the North American Continent, living on the fringes of Pard society. But this was much better, and Jynxe didn't ever want to leave them.
Jynxe rubbed her muzzle against Katana's, and then bumped foreheads with the little she-leopard. "There will be more victories, lit- uh, Katana. Many more. Come; let's go."
Morvan nodded and led the two females down the beach, Katana still walking with a little prance and a bounce in her step. Jynxe smiled. She had reason to be proud; a kill was a kill, no matter how small, and if that frog had been Katana's first kill, then it was cause for delight.
Morvan looked down at the frog at his feet. He slowly knelt, and lifted the tiny creature in his claws. "Come," he said. "Katana honors us with her kill."
It was difficult to divide the frog into three pieces, but Morvan did an admirable job. He laid the pieces out, one for each of them. "We must honor her efforts to feed the Pard."
If the tone had been mocking, it would have been an insult to Katana's efforts, but his voice was steady, almost solemn. He looked at Katana, and nodded. "For one who has been alone for so long, you think of the Pard first. I think you will do well with us."
A low rumble came from him, and took a moment for Katana to realize it was a laugh. "Give the usual size of a Pard, and the usual size of a first kill, we are actually getting more." He tossed his portion of the frog into his mouth, and crunched loudly, savoring the taste of the still warm blood.
Katana's cat face had a huge grin if cats did grin that is. She chewed loudly on her frog portion then stood up and pranced around some more. She did a few half summersaults and began to kick her chin with her massive back paws almost wanting someone to play with her. When no one came she rolled over and yawned, her large white fangs glistening in the moonlight. Then something caught her eye. She crouched down low with her butt high in the air. It wiggled back and forth as she watched what had caught her eye. With a large pounce she pressed her large front paws down but felt nothing between them she lifted one up to look under when the moth flew into the air quickly. She chased after it swatting with almost every step. For someone who hated being called little one or kitten in a pure leopard form it was very apparent that she was all though the body was larger for a kitten almost twice the size someone in her human form should have but none the less she couldn't help but chase the tiny moth around until Morvan told them to move on.
Jynxe took the piece of frog up between her claws and licked at its flesh daintily. Then she scarfed the meat down, swallowing and licking her chops, looking like a pampered house cat snug with a bowl of warm milk. Katana's sudden movement made her blink in surprise, and Jynxe had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Gods, she's so cute, the she-cat thought. I wonder if I was ever that playful when I was a Kitten?
Jay stretched her lithe body out and rolled her shoulders, loosening up. If the continued hunt required a run, she wanted to be limber.
Morvan watched Katana with a bemused look on his face, not unlike the expression in Jynxe's. And there was that protective element in his gaze, something unique to a were Alpha. He loved them...Jynxe liked the assurance in that thought, that nothing would happen to her or Katana without Morvan having a say in it. It was a safety net that she hadn't been able to depend on in a long time, and now that Jynxe had found a place that felt like home, with a Pard, if not small and slightly broken, she realized that she had missed that element of protection in her life as a drifter.
He watched as Katana played. She is so young. How can she have been one of us for two years and never known the joys of this. It will be like watching a flower blossom, or a butterfly take flight....
"Come, Katana. Now we hunt as a pack. Smell the scent of our prey. Tonight it is birds, but there are many things we can prey upon. Rabbits. Deer. Stray dogs." He chuckled as said the last. "Remind me to tell you about my neighbor's Rottwieler some day."
He moved through the patch of trees, his feet making no sound. The others followed. He paused at the edge of the cover, listening to the shrill cry of the sea birds settling into their colony for the night.
"Pick your prey," he said, his voice a low rumbling whisper. "We must all go at once, because if we do not, the first to break cover will alert the birds, and we may not get the chance to bring any down. Katana, you take that one, the limping one. His crippled foot will make him slower to get into the air. Do not think I am giving you the sick, because I do not think you can hunt. Your instincts will not fail you. I give you that task of the predator, to weed out the old and the sick, so the flock can stay strong."
Katana nodded. She sunk into a crouch, her entire body quivering with an excitement and an anticipation she had never felt before.
Morvan looked at Jynxe. "You have yours?"
She nodded. "Far left."
"Then I shall take the right. Ready? Now!"
Katana took off from the brush like a lightening bolt after her given target. It swerved from her as she clipped its good foot with her claws. It began to take flight when she jumped up into the air ripping it wind to pieces. It fell to the ground and squawked loudly while trying to escape from under her paw. With pressure she stepped on its head squeezing it like a juice box. Blood and brains squirted out. The other birds finally tuned back to her ears as she watched them squawk and fly away. She noticed Morvan and Jynxe still going after there's after all hers was easier to take down. She picked it up in her mouth and pranced back to the bush where they were hiding a few minutes before. When she returned she could smell something that she didn't smell before leaving the dead bird on the side of the bush and leaving her tiny Pard she followed the smell intrigued. She stalked through the bushes following the smell as it got stronger just up ahead she could see movement. The large thing was chewing on what looked to be a bird when a twig snapped under Katana's foot. The large thing turned quickly to look at her with large yellow eyes. Katana slowly began to back away as it began to approach. She really didn't know what to do she had never seen anything like it before. The only thing running through her mind was to get back to Morvan and Jynxe without provoking the thing to case her.
Digging her claws into the ground underneath her, Jynxe rocketed off after her target stretched out and low to the ground. As she crossed the open area between herself and the bird, she felt an eerie tingling on the back of her neck-animal instinct version of Spider Sense. Whatever had alerted her had just come closer to the small Pard. But then her molten gold eyes landed on the bird, which hadn't turned its head yet from scratching its wing. And Jynxe could tell that at her speed and the rate at which she was closing in, the poor little birdie would never know what hit him...
She had an advantage, being one of the black leopard variety-also called panthers. So Jay was able to pass almost invisible in the night, save when the full moon shone down on her...
The bird looked up. He blinked, turned back around and started to make a running start, preparing to fly. Jynxe coiled her hind legs like steel springs and launched herself long and low over the sand. Her bird flapped into the air- and he made it about half a foot off of the ground before her claws raked out and pinned his wings to the side of his body, then penetrated his sides and pierced his lungs. And if that didn't kill him, her slightly bovine weight as she landed on top of him, crushing his fragile body against the hard parched earth most certainly did.
Growling her triumph, Jynxe stood and picked the bird up in her teeth, not noticing the huge colony taking to the sky around her. The flurry of wings and the sad cries of the sea birds meant little at this moment, not just because blood was pouring into her mouth and cascading over her tongue, but because she was sensing that other presence again. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it had 'shape shifter' stamped onto the small amounts of aura that made the hairs along Jynxe's spine stand on end. Looking around, the she-leopard saw neither Morvan nor Katana, and that had her ever so slightly worried. Thinking they may have moved back into the line of foliage from where they had planned their strike, Jynxe jogged in that direction. She came close in time to see Katana backing tail first out of the brush. She was almost tempted to ask what was wrong, but Jynxe never made a habit about asking questions that she knew the answers to. Instead she moved to stand next to the Kitten, startling the young one a bit.
"What kind of were is it?" Jynxe asked Katana after she had set her kill down at her feet. It was moving in the shrubs, and although whatever it was, it was close. She still couldn't tag a species name on how it felt.
The werewolf stalked forward, its legs stiff and its head low. Katana didn't need instruction to realize that this was an aggressive stance, a prelude to a potential attack. It growled low in its throat, and Katana could feel the beast within it gathering for the attack.
When the other shifter growled, Jynxe felt her hackles rise again. Just fucking great, she thought. A werewolf. Oh that's lovely.
Peering into the brush, Jynxe watched as the wolf stalked forward, preparing to attack. Looking to the side at Katana, Jynxe was almost at a loss. This kitten surely didn't have the strength to take on a wolf, nor the skill for that matter. And she had doubts about whether or not she could dispose of this threat by herself.
Jynxe subconsciously slipped into a defensive stance, ready and waiting for what the werewolf would do. Katana wisely did not rush in to attack, and for that Jay was grateful. That would have been the absolute worst thing that could happen right now...unless there were more wolves.
Shit! Jynxe thought, sniffing the air and stretching her senses for other weres. Where ever there was one wolf, it was more than likely that another two or three were somewhere close by...
Katana walked backwards, low to the ground. Almost submissively, not knowing what to do. But regardless of how she tried to look submissive, she knew all too well that the wolf didn't care. The wolf lunged from the bush attacking her. There was a blood sickening whelp as the wolf bit into Katana's shoulder.
Just as Jynxe was about to step in another pair of yellow eyes emerged from the bushes glaring at her. Another wolf emerged from the bushes almost as if to block Jynxe form getting into the fight.
Katana managed to knock him off but was lying on the ground on her back as he jumped back on top of her. Her back claws raise high and dug right into the wolf's lower stomach. She raised her legs high as he snapped at her face and tried to bite her neck. The wolf's paws moved quickly across her front arms as she tried to protect her face. The Blood splattered and shimmered in the moonlight as he cut into her more. She lowered her legs just a bit and then pushed with all her might throwing him off and into a near by tree trunk. A loud thump echoed as the wolf hit the tree and feel to the ground on its side. Before it hade a chance to get up Katana was already in there taking jabs at the lower stomach again the weakest part of any animal. Yep she was fighting dirty and it was surprising how good she was at it. Her many years on the streets may have caused her mental trauma but she knew how to fight those bigger and stronger then her at least until the cavalry arrived.
There was a flash of tawny fur, and suddenly Morvan was on Katana's wolf, his fangs in the back of its neck. With a heave, he threw it aside. Great gobbets of meat torn from its flesh splattered the ground.
"If you seek blood, seek it here, hunters of children!" he snarled. "Or do you fear that it will be your own you find? Go. Find your pack. Seek your prey elsewhere. I protect these two, and if you would harm them, you must first kill me, and you are not beast enough to do it."
There was no question as to whose beast was stronger. Morvan's beast, aroused into a rage by the threat to his Pard was reaching out in a wave that was almost visible, a heavy, smothering aura. The wolves pulled back, scrambling to get away from the ferocity of the wereleopard Alpha. They fled into the trees, silent until they were well away. Then their howls filled the night.
Morvan looked at the other two. "We must go. They will be back with others. I would have killed them both, but that would have brought the fury of the entire wolf pack against us. We need to get further south. They won't risk hunting us through the crowds of humans. Jynxe you lead. I'll bring up the rear, in case we're pursued. Katana...." He stopped, and moved over to the kitten.
He looked at her for a moment, and then ruffled the fur between her ears. "You fight well."
Katana's face light up with a grin and went to prance but found herself falling on her face. She struggled to her feet and found her right front leg having a sharp white bone covered in blood protruding from her skin. Her nice yellow coat of fur was stained and sticky with blood. Her shoulder bite still oozed out blood a little as it slowly and painfully began to heal. But with a broken bone with it would need to be reset before the skin and muscle could heal properly. So she rolled overlaying on it forcing the bone to press into her arm yet again. It worked at least to the point the bone could start to heal but that was going to take a lot of energy and time something she didn't have. She pushed her bloody body up against Morvan thanking him for protecting her and Jynxe and then limped off after Jynxe surprisingly still with a happy bounce in her three legged step.
