Wolf and the Cat

Chapter 5

Tigress woke and looked around. She saw Raymond still sound asleep but as she kept looking around, Aera was not in sight, and as she continued to search outside of the burrow, there was still no sign of her. Tigress then went back down to wake Raymond so they could find the wolf.

"Raymond, I can't find Aere anywhere, you have to help me find her." she said nudging the fox.

"Ok ok, calm down Tigress, I'll find Aera no problem as long as she's still here in the dead wood." Raymond replied with a yawn.

The two got up and made their way out of the burrow and Raymond looked around searching for clues as to where Aera was.

"She is probably hunting right now because the path she took leads to the hunting grounds." he said taking Tigress down the path that looked a little roughed up.

The two walked down the path making their way to the hunting grounds. Meanwhile, Aera was stalking her prey.

Quietly moving through the grass following the hare. As she slowed down to where the hare she prepared herself for the attack, ready to jump in front of the animal and strike it down.

She chose her time carefully and leapt out in front of the hare biting down on it and lifting it off the ground. She held in the air a few minutes to make sure it was dead then set it Jack on the ground.

"Hopefully your soul goes somewhere better than your vessel." she said as she picked up the dead body and carried it back to where the path she took here lay to be greeted by Tigress and Raymond.

She laid the hare down and greeted the two as they drew closer.

"Hey Aera, Tigress got a little worried about you, so I had to reassure her you where fine." Raymond said, greeting the wolf.

"Oh yeah I'm fine just getting a meal for you Tigress." Aera told the cat nudging the hare closer.

"You know I like to hunt for myself and next don't just make me think you went off and left me again." she said back as she picked up the hare.

The three started back to the dead wood with Raymond in front to direct Tigress through the thicket once more. As they exited the path, Aera stood still for a moment. Her ears perked up as she heard something the others hadn't heard. She slowly stalked forward ad looked around searching for the source of the noises she heard. Only a few moments passed before another animal jumped on Aera from the side sending her rolling back. She caught herself and stood back up looking at who had just attacked her.

Her attacker was a male lynx with dark yellow eyes and soft brown, he also had on him a small travelers pack on. She studied him for a few more minutes before realising who she was staring at.

"About time you remembered me big sis." the lynx said before relaxing his tense muscles and walking to Aera and nuzzling her.

Aera nuzzled him back and a few tears rolled down her face, "Pantera, where have you been, I thought I'd never see you again."

"I've been searching for mom, but that's not important right now. What is important is that I found you again, and you are still okay." Pantera said. "Also, one of your lovers has followed me here, they started following me when I left the edge of the world."

The edge of the world was a mountain range visible from any part of the local forest area, and it spanned for an eternity. The name had come from it having one side so steep that it was complete suicide to try and get down it.

"One of my exes? No, it can't be one of my exes, none of them lived or moved to anywhere near the edge of the world." Aera replied somewhat puzzled.

"You sure? It was a feline that followed me from the mountains, so I assumed he knew you." Pantera questioned.

Aera looked towards Tigress and then her eyes widened a little as she saw the look on Tigress's face. Only moments later the cat jumped out of the bushes surrounding the area only to have Aera stand in front of him.

"Who are you and why are you here cat?" she asked growling quietly.

"My name is Pyro, and I'm only here because he invited me along for the trip." Pyro said backing up a little bit.

"You smelt her trail from the Blood Forest didn't you, didn't you?" she said back with a louder growl this time.

"N-n-no I didn't smell anyone and you are really scary." Pyro said shaking a little bit.

"Keep lying and I'll get a whole lot scarier than I am right now." Aera said moving closer to the cat.

"Okay! Okay! I smelled Tigress and I followed her scent to here, yes, but I just wanted to apologise to her for being so mean before." Pyro said after collecting himself.

Tigress came out from behind Aera and looked over to Pyro. She looked back at the ground and Pyro started towards her but was stopped by Aera.

"Listen wolf, I'm not going to hurt her, but I will hurt you if you keep me from talking to her. I need to tell her how I feel about her." Pyro said unsheathing his claws and threatening to hurt Aera.

Aera put her paw on Pyro and forced him to the ground and kept him pinned and said, "You will not be hurting anyone and you will not be talking to Tigress without her consent."

"Aera, don't hurt him to much please, he is being sincere but if you feel it's nessicary to hurt him, then you may." Tigress said.

Aera nodded and let the cat up only to push him back with her paw.

"Listen Pyro, you two are not going to be a thing for a long time. If you want to run away now that would be great, but if you don't leave my forest, I'll force you out myself." Aera said.

"Fine, I'll leave this time but you will see me again, and I won't take no for an answer." Pyro said as he turned away and ran off into the thicket and left.

"I'm always going to protect you Tigress, you are my responsibility, and a guest in my forest, so it's my job to guard it from any type of harm." Aera said looking at Tigress, smiling slightly at her.

Tigress looked up at Aera and nuzzled her cheek, and purred and thanked Aera.

"Heres some food you two lovers." Pantera said as he and Raymond walked up behind them and dropped some food for all of them to eat.

As the four ate, they all talked and laughed a little at some jokes. As the night drew nearer, the four calmed down, Raymond asleep and Tigress, curled up against Aera.

"So you've been looking for mom all this time Pantera?" Aera asked the lynx who was laying next to her.

"Yeah, the trail has gone cold and I can't find anymore clues, all I have is a short note on some paper I got, but I doubt I'll figure it out." Pantera said as he showed Aera the note.

Aera studied the note for a while before smiling.

"So mom is still there after a this time. After tomorrow we head to the badlands." Aera said as she laid her head down and went to sleep for the night.