Maya's Promise

Part 3

The leopard forced herself to run for a full twenty four hours before deciding it was safe to rest and find something to hunt. Prowling quietly through the surrounding trees, she kept her mouth slightly open taking in the scents in the air, quickly finding the scent of a small mammals are birds around the area. After a few minutes of searching, a small squirrel made the mistake of crossing right in front of her path. She launched forward, her jaws clamping around the animal before it even realized what had happened. The leopard laid down to enjoy her meal. 

The miniscule amount of meat on the squirrel did not fully sate her belly that had been forgotten for a week, but it was enough for her to decide to take a short nap. She padded around the trees surrounding her, trying to find one that was sturdy enough and tall enough for her to be out of harms way. About thirty feet from her leftovers she found an older oak tree surrounded by bramble bushes and thick vegetation. Knowing this was going to be the best she could find she took a running start and jumped over the foliage, her claws expertly digging into the bark and assisting her in climbing to a sturdy branch that was high up and hidden by the green summer leaves. The leopard curled up at the thick base of the branch, closed her eyes and fell into dreams of the cub she left behind. 

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The snapping of a twig close by made her eyes spring open. She stayed completely still, her ears and nose twitching, her eyes scanning her surroundings to look for any possible threats. A soft growl rose up from the ground, sounding like it was located behind where she was located. The leopard stood to its paws silently keeping her claws tucked in as far as they could go to avoid any possible noise they could make scratching against the bark. Her head turned to look over her left shoulder where she had a clear view of the ground. A large gray wolf was sniffing the brambles that she had jumped over, and she watched the creature look up at the tree bark clearly taking not of the large claw marks she had left behind upon her landing. Her body tensed as their eyes slowly rose until their amber colored eyes met her emerald cat eyes. 

The wolf continued to just stare at her seemingly in disbelief as she arched her back and hissed back, trying to seem as undesirable and dangerous as possible. She prayed this being was just a normal, wild type wolf. But luck was not on her side as the wolf took a few steps back and its body morphed into that of a human man. 

"Are you wild? Or are you a shifter?" he yelled up at her, "I promise I wont hurt you, but you are on pack lands and I have to take you to my Alpha if your a shifter." 

She refused to shift back into her human form, but she did flash her blue human eyes down at him to show him she was not wild. 

"Come on down kitty cat." 

She carefully scaled down the tree, obliging to his request as she knew she could not take on a fully grown wolf and knew she'd be for sure dead if he had to call for back up from his pack. Landing on the ground in front of him, she looked up to find her looking over her leopard form with a look of concern. 

"You don't eat much do you kitten?" he asked, and she just hissed in reply. She was starving, the squirrel she had eaten last night doing nothing at this point to curb her starvation. He threw his hands up before turning to walk away, "Touchy, I get it. Just follow me, kitty." 

They walked for several miles with her always staying at least 20 feet behind him just incase he turned around to hurt her. They finally came upon a large field, both of them stopping at the tree line to take in the small village that had been built here. Small homes, businesses all laid parallel to each other down a small path that lead to a larger three storied building. The pack house, she thought as they pushed out of the woods and headed straight for it. 

"I can find you some clothes once we get inside. The Alpha will want to speak with you in your human form. Plus your nails will scratch the floors," he smirked down at her on the last sentence and she just shook my head and kept walking towards the opened double doors of the pack house. 

A woman met them at the doors, a long piece of black fabric hanging from her hands that could only be a dress. The leopard shifted quickly in front of the woman, grabbing the dress and throwing it over her head before too many people could see the state of her body. She herself was disgusted by it and what had been done to it over the past few years she was held captive. 

"Hello, my name is Monica. And the jerk who found you is Mason, he is the Beta of the pack." the woman reached her hand out for the leopard shifter to shake, but she refused to reach her own bony hand towards the woman. "What is your name?" Monica asked. 

She cleared her throat, thinking of giving them a false name but no one had said her true name is so long she gave up, "My name is Maya." 

Maya's throat was sore and cracked from her lack of water, and she was shocked any sound come out at all. Monica gave her a worried glance before looking at Mason over her shoulder. 

"Alert the Alpha of her arrival, but please let me get her something to eat and drink before she speaks with him, Beta Mason." 

He must have nodded his head at her, as she smiled warmly before motioning Maya to follow her through the house. Maya adjusted the way the dress fell down her body absentmindedly as she followed, already smelling the glorious food that must be cooking in the kitchen. Monica led her through a set of open French doors, where they were met with a small army of women who were lining up a counter top in a buffet style filled with breakfast foods. They moved in sync, clearly having done this a million times before. 

"Ladies, do you mind if I steal a plate for my new friend?" Monica approached the group slowly, still staying out of their way as they continued to run around them. 

A few of the women stopped what they were doing to stare of Monica and especially at Maya. One of the older woman said nothing, just grabbed a plate and immediately started to pile it high with food while another grabbed a large glass of ice water. They placed it on the island in the middle of the room and motioned Maya forward. 

When she made no motion she was going to move forward, Monica approached her and pushed a small hand in her back, "Go on. You can eat freely here. That plate is yours and no one else will take it away from you." 

Maya gulped audibly before moving forward and taking a seat. After that it took her less than three seconds before the fork was in her grasp and she was shoveling the hot food into her mouth. She gave no notice to the temperature of the food and only took breaks to drink hearty gulps of the water beside her that a woman kept coming by to refill for her. Maya could not remember the last time she had a meal such as this, even when she was locked in that cage pregnant with her cub. 

When she was finished she finally took the time to look around the room, suddenly self conscious as everyone in the kitchen was watching her, concerns and some amusement locked in their gazes. 

"Thank you," she said quietly her voice now stronger and much smoother than it had been thanks to the copious amounts of water she had drank. 

The women smiled and continued to work around her as the older woman finally waved a wooden spoon around with ordered spewing from her lips. Monica smiled at her before motioning for her to follow. 

"The Alpha will want to speak with you now," Monica spoke quietly as she led them away from the kitchen and down a long, narrow hallway. "The Alpha's office is down here at the end of the hall."

They approached a pair of double oak doors that stood proudly against the pale color of the walls and wooden floors. Monica knocked politely before opening the doors and walking in first. With a deep breath, Maya followed not knowing what she was walking head first into.