Beauty and The Beasts: Rain

Epilogue 1.

Hello everybody.  Here is the promised epilogue chapter featuring mostly Rain and Winston.  I hope you all enjoy.

     Winston felt the earth under his claws give way. He ran at full speed towards his prey. He flanked it and guided it using swift strikes at its hind legs while avoiding its powerful tail. A screech from high above caught his attention. They were nearing their destination. The real challenge lay ahead.

     Winston drove the herbivorous colossal to the edge of the cliff. Sensing its predicament, the colossus turned around to face the threats. Winston carefully circled, looking for any openings to strike at. His prey was guarded, but at a disadvantage. Still, he wasn't hasty. He knew that cornered prey was the most dangerous kind.

     Winston locked eyes with the powerful beast. He was fully capable of taking it alone, but Rain's parting words echoed in his head, "Your highest priority is to come back in one piece." Winston felt the warmth in those strict orders and intended to follow through.

     Brice saw that the colossal's attention was fully on Winston and dived. He aimed for the beast's eye and gouged it with his talons. The beast roared in pain and struck at Brice who nimbly dodged. Brice alighted to an unreachable height as Winston pounced on the massive creature. He caught a hold of it's neck and sank his claws and teeth into it. The colossal sprinted forward at high speed and tried to shake the tiger off its back.

     Winston tore at the tough skin that parted easily for his powerful attack. The colossal reached back with his long and flexible neck and went to bite Winston. Brice dove down and attacked the same eye as Winston ripped through its vertebrae.

     The colossal fell and Winston finished it. He stood above his prey and searched it's body for the green colored crystal. Once he found it, he and Brice ate what they could of the prey and moved on. They would rest before they found their next target.

     After four weeks of hunting, Winston and Brice gathered nine clear crystals and three emeralds. They had met their objective and would return home to their family. Brice had reached the peak of strength as a third striped beast and earned his fourth stripe. He was excited and wanted to show his mate as soon as possible. He could almost picture her irritated expression and hear the snippy congratulations.

     Their family had grown and required more protection. Winston had put him through hell to grow stronger over the last five years. It paid off and now he was Rain's second mate of four stripes.

     Vern and Rain were still years away from earning another stripe. They had been busy raising the cubs and had less time to train. Winston had focused his efforts on training Brice and Asher. Asher took less than two years to reach his fourth stripe, so he was tasked with protecting the family while the two of them hunted colossus.

     The duo headed home quickly and made it back after a few days. Rain greeted and inspected them for wounds. She naturally noticed Brice's newly earned strength and nodded in approval. She too wished to improve her strength, but she could not hunt yet.

     Her colt still required milk and she had yet to fully recover from the difficult pregnancy. Rain settled down as her large cubs came to greet Winston and Brice. The leopard cubs that she birthed over six years ago, had grow tremendously over the years.

     Rain noted that Snow's, Isabella's, and her own children grew rapidly. Her sons were able to fight cubs double their age on even ground. She was naturally proud of her offspring and helped them train herself. She wouldn't be surprised if they had two stripes by the time they matured. Her two hawk children were the same. Even her female hawk chick was strong, though, not as much as her brother.