Wings of a Feather

Chapter 5

Heather was rendered into a state of absolute shock.

Here she was, still shaking after a near-death encounter with a pack of freakishly large wolves, only hours after discovering that she had fucking wings attached to her, only to be jumped by a half-cat looking boy in the middle of the forest.

Heather was having a strange week.

A threatening hiss ripped through the silence of the trees, and Heather's body stayed frigidly still as the cat-boy lunged at her at tiger-speeds.

Heather, being a normal teenage girl (aside from the wings, still hanging out of her back in plain sight), was easily bowled over, wincing in pain as she was slammed into the ground under the weight of her much larger adversary. She could only stare with wide eyes as the boy leaned in closer, letting out a low, furious hiss as he stared her down with narrowed yellow eyes.

Heather couldn't help but wonder if she was going to die now, ripped apart by the fangs of this mysterious feline guy. Would she finally be at peace? Would she finally get to stop running? She doubted it. Knowing the hunters that have been after her, they would probably continue chasing her even after death.

A pained yelp escaped Heather's lips as a sudden shift in the weight on top of her, crushed her wings underneath their weight, the still tender muscles in her wings aching in protest.

At the sound of her unexpected pain, the boy's eyes glanced over at her wings with an almost animistic curiosity. It was a complacent sort of intrigue, much like a cat closely watching the light of a laser pointer.

With her shoulder blades throbbing and her head spinning, Heather was truly expecting the worst. Maybe it was her newly discovered bird-like instinct, a flurry of panic churning in her stomach at the sight of an obvious predator pinning her down. Or maybe it was just the dreadful thoughts of her being torn to shreds by the boy's sharp teeth, that most anyone would probably encounter if in her position.

So you can imagine her surprise when the boy suddenly jumped off of her.

Heather's head snapped up at the sound of an amused chuckle, her vision instantly locking in on where the boy was calmly standing a few feet away from her, all traces of aggression seemingly nonexistent.

"Well," The boy spoke expectantly, amusement brimming in his eyes. "Are you just gonna lay there all day?"

Heather stood on shaky legs, still recovering from the shock of not only finding someone possibly as strange as her, but also from being attacked by him a split second later.

"Wh-what the hell are you?" She stuttered out, her eyes staring widely at the strange new boy in front of her.

The boy's cat ears twitched, and he wrinkled up his nose with an offended look on his face. "Like you're one to talk." He glanced pointedly at her wings, and they instinctively furled up behind her so they were no longer in sight.

Now, to get them to do that on purpose....

"N-no! I didn't mean it like that!" She added hurriedly, nearly stumbling over her own tongue in the process. The last thing she wanted to do was give the guy another reason to attack her.

The boy only rolled his eyes, making it obvious that he had only been joking. He casually leaned back against a nearby tree with his arms crossed, looking at Heather with observant yellow eyes, the kind that didn't seem to miss even the slightest detail. They made Heather feel rather self conscious.

"Sorry." Heather went on, feeling a blush threatening to rise on to her pale cheeks. "I've just never met another person..... Like me."

His eye brows furrowed at her words, confusion momentarily outweighing his curiosity. "Really?"