Uncaged

Chapter 14

(y/n) and Ethan began searching the area for something to eat, though it proved to be a lot more difficult than they first thought. She felt defeated. Why couldn't she have ended up with a carnivorous hybrid, rather than a harpy who's diet consisted of berries, and nuts. During her time in the lab, she had come to the conclusion that Ethan's biology better fit an omnivorous bird species, rather than an herbivore, which she found to be strange, given his lack of appeal towards meat, or fish. She deduced that Ethan's disliking towards meat may have been due to a dietary preference of his, rather than his nature, which she personally found to be strange. Maybe Ethan was more human than she thought he was. She started to feel guilty for treating Ethan as a lesser being than her, like a pet almost, though she figured wasn't given much of a choice, and in a way, was as much of a victim as he was.

She stayed close to the harpy, feeling unsafe. She was away from home, away from the lab, away from any shelter that would provide a roof over her head. She shivered, missing the heat that her home provided, and wrapped her arms around her chest in a sad attempt to preserve her warmth. Ethan turned his gaze towards (y/n), and halted their searching for a moment. Ethan
draped his arm around her, in turn, allowing his wing to wrap around the girl, using it as a makeshift blanket so she could preserve her warmth. A slight flush enveloped her cheeks, not expecting such an action from the boy. Despite her initial impression of him, Ethan seemed to be kind, a bit of a pacifist even. Against her better judgement, she stood on her tip-toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek.

Ethan's cheeks flared up, not used to receiving such an affectionate gesture given his.. negative experience with others while in captivity. He didn't really know what the gesture meant, though he was eager to reciprocate her affections, tightening his grip around the girl and pressing his forehead against hers, emitting a purring noise of sorts. (y/n) chuckled at his actions, he reminded her of a cat almost, using head butts as a display of adoration.

She really had grown attached to the boy over the time she'd gotten to know him, possibly even more so than Alexis. Although Alexis was her friend, there was an undeniable power dynamic between the pair, and she technically had taken (y/n) hostage when they first met. Even so, she found Lexi's efforts to protect her admirable, and was starting to develop genuine trust in the woman. As for Clarissa, well, (y/n) wasn't sure where she stood with her, but she had much more important things to worry about.., like not starving to death. She was quickly alerted by a shrieking noise below her and looked down, only to see a rabbit with a broken leg, blood trailing behind it.

"Wow, we seriously got lucky, guess that covers dinner for tonight"

(y/n) pointed at the rabbit, not trusting in her own hunting ability, hoping that Ethan would take the hint. He may have been used to life in captivity, but surely he had some hunting instincts left over. Ethan leaned down and picked up the rabbit, but made no move to kill it, instead pressing his hand on the rabbits wound, trying, and failing, to stop the bleeding. (y/n) sighed, Ethan seemed to have qualms about harming innocent creatures, which would definitely be a problem out in the wild. She figured he would be able to handle such a task, given his brutal killing of one of the guards at the laboratory, though she supposed that was necessary for his, her own, and the other girls survival at the time. Maybe he's gone soft from his time in captivity, since he has no reason to hunt for his own food while being provided for. (y/n) sighed and grabbed the rabbit from Ethan, ripping off a piece of her lab coat and wrapping it tightly around the bunnies leg.

"Here. This way it won't bleed out. The rabbit probably won't survive out in the wild while in this condition though"

(y/n) stated, preparing to put the bunny down only to be interrupted by a growl in the distance. Ethan's ears perked up, and his feathers began to puff, trying to intimidate whatever it is he heard in the near distance. This clearly did not work, as a coyote began to approach, following the trail of blood the rabbit left. (y/n) held the bunny close to her chest, slowly backing away. Although she knew the bunny would make a good source of food for the group, she chose to respect Ethan's previous wishes, protecting the small creature. The bunny was shaking with fear as the coyote readied itself to pounce at her...

Right as the coyote leaped at (y/n), Ethan swerved in from the side, sending both the coyote and himself rolling on top of each other before Ethan wrestled the coyote to the ground. The coyote snarled and snapped upwards at Ethan, it's jaw mere inches from his face. (y/n) resisted the urge to run over and help Ethan, clutching the bunny close to her chest as it scrambled to get away. She sobbed quietly, terrified, birds were not predators, and regardless of Ethan's size, she was unsure he would be able to survive such an attack. As his hold on the creature began to loosen, Ethan clutched the coyote from the side with both of his talons and started to ascend into the air with little effort, putting all his strength into flapping his wings. (y/n) bit her lip, confused by the man's actions. She could only watch as he flew higher and higher into the air, nearly out of sight, before she saw something quickly descending towards the ground. The bunny, nearly petrified with fear, scratched at (y/n)'s face with its claws, causing her to loosen her grip, allowing the bunny to scramble away, though it couldn't get far with its injury. The shape falling towards the ground grew closer, and closer, until she heard a splat. On the ground lay the coyote, who hadn't taken the fall well. The predator landed on its head, which was now caved in and looked similar to a smashed watermelon as it lay limply on the ground. Ethan followed soon after, swooping towards the ground at a quick pace before landing gracefully on the ground across from (y/n), his eyes closed and a satisfied smile on his face, though when he opened his eyes and gazed at the scratch on (y/n)'s face, it was quickly replaced with a glare. Ethan looked towards the bunny, the obvious culprit, and scooped it up with his claws. The poor bunny couldn't even take a single breath before Ethan's talon wrapped around its neck and squeezed the bunny with all his might, strangling the creature in under a minute. Ethan than rushed back over to (y/n), mimicking her action from earlier and peppering her cuts with kisses to her horror, before licking her blood off his lips. Returning to the nest with the prey that Ethan captured for them, Ethan refused to leave (y/n)'s side, afraid she would get hurt again, and (y/n) made a mental note to -never- to go hunting with Ethan again.