The Rare Feral

Chapter 4

(Y/n) sat in the tree watching Victor. With her leading the wolf pack away, the feral had hunted successfully. And the smell of roasting black tail was now filling the clearing where Victor had made camp. It had been days since he had had a proper meal. The fish he had been able to catch from the stream were never enough to sate his appetite. So, the meat would be more than welcome.

(Y/n) knew she shouldn't be this close. That keeping her distance would make far more sense. But this man had something. Made her feel something that she had never felt before. And it was something that made her forget about some of her father's rules. Despite what her father had told her about this Victor Creed, she had to admit that there was a rugged handsomeness about him. His snarl had made her heart leap. And his smell, oh his smell proved to be doing the most wonderfully awful things to her insides. Filling her mind with thoughts that she had never had the time, or the inclination to have before.

She had met many a man while she and her father had travelled from town to town. Yet none of them had made (Y/n) feel like this Creed did. One night, when his scent had been at its strongest, she had thought about leaving her hiding place and making her way to his camp, so that she could surrender to the need inside her. But she fought it, instead making her way to the waterfall and standing under the water. The freezing liquid doing little to cool her over heated skin.

When she had seen him remove some of his clothes so that he could jump into the river, (Y/n) was sure that she was going to burn up from the inside out. His muscles rippling in the most pleasing way possible, as his skin seemed to glisten, when the droplets of water trickled down them.

"(Y/n)! Stop it!" (Y/n) chastised herself. Knowing that she had to make sure that her mind stayed clear. Just in case he tried to come after her.

"He's not that nice. Not really............I mean......." (Y/n) tried to persuade herself. Her voice drifting off to a soft, pleasant hum as she continued to look at him from her lofty perch. A small smile coming to her lips as she watched him stand up and survey the dark forest.

"I know ya there, kitten. Why don't ya come and join me. There's enough here for both of us. And if ya come down, I can tell ya who sent me, and why." Victor called out. Knowing that she was watching. And hoping that if nothing else, the smell of cooked meat would persuade her to join him.

Victor had to admit that he was thankful to her. Not as though he really ever liked knowing that he owed someone something. Like James, he was happier relying on himself for everything. Not usually letting anyone close enough to either become attached to them, or to start trusting them. Yet she had shown him kindness when she had no reason to. Even though she knew that he was after her and despite what her father had told her about him, she had helped him get food. And Victor wanted to know why.

One of the other things that interested him, was the fact that he still hadn't smelt her. He had figured out what she was doing to disguise her own scent. The feral knowing that it was an old hunter's trick. And one that her father would most certainly have taught her. He thought that he had caught something on the wind, once or twice. The beautiful odour making his mouth water, and his ardour harden. And he would give anything to find out if that scent that had clouded his mind, belonged to her.

"There's a whole leg here, just for you. All you have to do is come and join me, sweetheart." Victor called out again, as he continued to stare into the all-consuming darkness that surrounded his camp.

(Y/n) had to admit that it was tempting. The sight of the large slab of cooked meat in Creed's hand, made her stomach growl. She had eaten well since she had arrived in the national park. Though given the fact that she had never dared light a fire, just in case it revealed her location to anyone else that might be after her, she had had to survive on raw meat and fish. And even though her physiology meant that she could live perfectly well like that, there was something pleasant and homely about the idea of cooked food.

"No. I'm fine thank you. I can image that you've over cooked it anyway. You don't look like much of a chef to me, and I like my meat medium rare." (Y/n) called out, despite knowing that she shouldn't.

"If there is one thing I can do well, kitten, its cook meat. Ya pops should have told ya that. I roasted a Pangolin when I was in the bush with your dad in Vietnam. And he never complained." Victor replied, as he dropped back onto his coat, that he had laid out on the floor next to the fire.

"My dad likes his meat, well done. Its always tougher than a pair of old leather slippers, and drier than the Sahara. So, believe me, a recommendation from my father about your culinary prowess, wouldn't be one that I would take." (Y/n) told the feral. The tigress unable to stop herself giggling as she heard the big man huff. Victor himself doing his best to cover a rare real smile.

"Ya have a point there, sweetheart. I've seen old Easy Ryder chew on things that would break my teeth." Creed shouted out. Finding himself chuckling as he heard (Y/n) laugh again.

"I always call him an old goat. I swear that he could eat tin cans if he had to." (Y/n) called out once again. The female feral actually liking being able to talk to someone after all that time alone. Someone that was like her.

"The temperature is going get to below zero tonight. Ya should come join me at the fire. I don't know how you've survived so long out here. But its gonna start getting harder. Any time now, the winter frosts will start coming through. Fishing won't be as easy. Everything will get tougher. Ya ready for all that? Ya ready to survive an Alaskan winter?" Victor asked her. Once again hoping that he could say, or offer her something, that would persuade her to show herself.

"How stupid do you actually think I am, Creed? You think that if you offer me a little cooked food and a warm fire, I will just come out into the open so that you can catch me?" (Y/n) questioned, even though she must admit that she did like the idea of both.

She had planned on moving on from the forest before the worst of the weather hit. Hoping that she could make her way back into the world and find her father. But Creed's presence had made her stay longer than she should. And now she had two choices. Leave and possibly never see Victor again. Or stay, and possibly freeze.

"I tell you what, sweetheart. Have you ever heard of the Christmas Truce in World War One?" Victor enquired, praying that this last ditched attempt could draw her out from her hiding place.

"You mean, the one where the hostilities stopped in some places on Christmas Day. And men from both sides went into no man's land and swapped gifts and played a game of soccer? Yeah, I know about that. Why?" (Y/n) asked, as she cautiously climbed down from her tree, and moved a little closer to the tree line. Victor not surprised that she knew of the famous ceasefire, especially as her father had been involved in that war too.

"Well, what say we have our own truce? I promise not to try and take you back, if you come out and eat and sleep by the fire." Victor replied. The feral's eyes growing wide as he saw a figure appear from the darkness. His heart pounding violently in his chest as she came into the light of his campfire. Victor now able to see the full extent of the female feral's beauty.

"Deal, Creed. Now make with the food....................."