Pride Month Flash Fiction Post #3

TBC Publishing Pride Month Flash Fiction Challenge, 3 of 30

Title: Taking Shape

Author: R. Scott Tyler

Genre: Fantasy

Word count (500 max): 481

Jag hoisted herself into the treehouse, drank water, and crawled into bed with Leo. She snuggled his ear until he started to giggle and then growl.

“Can’t you tell when a guy wants to sleep?” Leo said, turning away from her and backing into a spoon with his hairy arms covering his face.

“I can,” she replied with a grin, wrapping her soft hands around his hairy belly, “and I’m not convinced.” She bit the back of his neck and started licking his ears.

Both of their eyes opened, and they listened carefully to the cracking, grunting, and huffing coming from the base of their tree.

“Karth is home,” they said together, and Jag jumped up to check the opening coming in from below. She saw Karth climbing the tree and threw the hatch open just before he crawled in and flopped onto his back on the floor. He was panting and scratched up. His lower lip was bleeding, and it looked like his nose was a bloody mess.

Jag immediately started tending to his wounds and checking the rest of his parts to ensure they were all still there (and working).

When it was apparent that Karth would recover, Leo asked the obvious questions. “What the hell happened to you? And where is dinner? I thought this was just a hunting trip.” He crossed his arms and sat back on his heels, awaiting an answer.

His questions were harsh, but Jag knew Leo was, in truth, worried about Karth.

She asked him more gently, “What did happen, Karth?”

He turned his head to her and answered, “He’s back.”

Jag’s eyes flashed with anger, and she replied, “Who? You cannot mean Bags? We drove him to a watery, hellish grave.” Her look challenged him to tell her she was wrong.

“He may have gone over the big falls, and we might have watched as his body was carried away down that killer waterway, but I swear it was him,” Karth replied, running his hands through his hair.

“I wouldn’t have escaped if I didn’t get help from my old pack. They never did like that tiger,” he rolled toward Leo and transitioned back to wolf form.

Leo transitioned to his leopard shape and dragged the big wolf to him, gently licking his wounds.

Jag opened the hatch and jumped straight down. She was a jaguar before lightly hitting the ground and slinking into the brush. The two boys looked after her, but they could do nothing to control their alpha. She would do what she must and what she thought best, hang the consequences, as they well knew. She returned within the hour, to their surprise, dragging a young gazelle in through the hatch with her.

“Okay, boys, let’s eat and then get a good sleep. We have a lot of planning ahead of us tomorrow,” she told them.

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