The Animal Within

Chapter 5 - The Night

While Chiron had hinted to Percy how brutal and violent a Hunt could get, Percy was determined to avoid the worst. From the sounds of it, a lot of alphas were straight-forward and arrogant in them. Percy wasn't, so he wasn't going to be.

For two hours, he lay sprawled over a few seats in the Council chamber, eyes fixed upon the omega whom completely ignored him. Kronos – in the form of the same big cat as when he'd launched himself at Percy the day before – was curled in his nest, taking in the scents amongst the nest. Percy was entirely certain that Titan scents were the vast majority, though he was rather irritated to smell Luke too.

And then Kronos abruptly rose up, stretching his front paws out and yawning before rather unsteadily making his way towards the door. Percy stirred, lifting his canine head. His form was slightly larger height-wise than Kronos', though seemed to be about the same length, and Kronos looked only a few kilos heavier.

Percy padded behind Kronos, following him as a distance as he fled the UN compound. Where Kronos' claws could retract, Percy's couldn't so they scraped against the ground as he ran.

Then, around them, mortals started stirring. Percy stopped and stared as a woman woke up at the wheel of her car, and promptly screamed when she saw him standing in front of her in the road. His hackles rose – really, Kronos? – and he raced after the quickly-disappearing Titan before she could run him over.

To be fair to her, a wolf standing in the middle of the road wasn't a common sight in Manhattan.

When Percy caught up to Kronos, he was sprawled out at the bank of the pond in the south-east corner of Central Park. Nothing but a dark shape next to the still lake. Percy padded closer, stopping when Kronos' ears pulled back and he let out a soft and lazy growl.

Percy huffed, taking a moment to decide before he inched closer. He could spend the entire time simply lying down and watching, but the idea was to be able to mate by the end of the night – and Percy would be doing so.

Kronos seemed to have a different idea.

As soon as Percy got within hitting range, Kronos batted at him with a large paw – claws fully extended – and making it significantly clear exactly what he thought of the alpha. Percy danced back, more than aware that those claws could now do him a lot of damage. A direct hit to the face could rip half of his face off. He didn't back up completely, but enough to give Kronos some space.

The black jaguar bared his teeth threateningly at Percy, but when the alpha didn't move other than to flop down where he was, he grumbled and turned his head away. A dozen feet away from the omega, Percy took the time to look him over. Sprawled out beneath the moonlight and next to the lake, heavy head raised up to the stars and his tail flicking slightly from side to side as he kept half an eye on Percy, Kronos – with his smooth black coat in which Percy could just about see the classic markings of a jaguar – looked every bit the proud Titan he was.

Unable to simply lie there watching, Percy made to inch closer. Kronos' gaze flicked back to him and he chuffed before rising to his feet and loping off. Percy grumbled to himself as he watched him disappear into the trees. Was he really just going to be following Kronos around Central Park all night? He hoped not. Nevertheless, Percy leapt up and trotted after him.

Kronos' scent led him into and through Central Park's Zoo and then across to Sheep Meadow where Percy found him actually rolling in the grass with happy little growls. For a moment Percy just stared and watched as Kronos rubbed himself against the grass, realising that while Kronos had a ridiculous amount of control, he was still an omega and he was still definitely in his heat.