The Witch And the Beasts

Chapter 15: Predator's Instincts!

Everyone fell silent, not knowing what to say, or they were too afraid to say something, so Sofia broke the silence.

- So, um... the training and the hunting... how is going to work?

- It's too early for you to hunt.

- I had hunted before.

- Let me guess, rabbits, right? But not once a hare, right?  Do you think some rabbits are nutritious enough for an adult jaguar?

- How do you know that?

- Males are born into their beast form, but females don't, so I guessed that you start shifting after you become an adult.

- Um... yeah?

- That means that you lack cub skills, control of your instincts, lack of nutrition from raw meat, use all of your senses, and many more.

Sofia was frozen like a statue when she heard all of this, Indeed she didn't know any of these.  The plot was focused only on the love story of the female lead, not the difficulties of the males, so the education of male cubs was also unknown.

I really wonder, was any one curious about what the cubs have to learn from their fathers?  She decided to ask about the cubs' education, it was not a secret that she grew up on the isolated Snake Island, so no one found it strange, since she was supposed to not know the high position females have.

The education was no different from the normal animals, by playing the cubs learn how to fight and use their other senses, later when they can eat meat they watch their fathers how they hunt and they use it on smaller prey.  By growing their prey becomes bigger too, and the father corrects their hunting and fighting skills.

The most difficult part is when is close to adulthood, under the excuse of "hunting" the father and cubs leave into a solitary place until the cub turns into their human form and the father teaches them how to walk as humans and how to use their hands.

- Oh! So, does this mean... it's too late?

- You are the first female who can shift, so I don't know either, but we can try.  For start, I think you should adapt to your beast form first, to control your predator's instinct and sharpen your skills and senses.

Sofia agreed, so she went back into the hollow tree removed her clothes, and shifted.   When she came out the eagle guards who had never seen a female beast before tensed up, probably because of the aura of a predator not because of beast pressure.

Lars told her to watch tomorrow's hunt in her beast form, in case it would help awake some of her instincts.

He admitted that he didn't know if this method would work or not, and that is why she had to stay in beast form as long as possible.  He was ready to try other methods too, but he didn't know what other methods could help.

At the same time, Gregory and Harper think that Lars is the only one who can communicate with Sofia, and they wonder if this is a coincidence or a plan from the start.  However, his suggestion was a logical.

Oskar notices the Eagle Guards move further from Sofia.  He couldn't blame them, his instinct also told him to be wary. She may be a female, but she was a female jaguar beast, much stronger than him.

No predator will mess with a stronger opponent. Lars was naturally unaffected since he is a strong male jaguar who was bigger, stronger, and had much experience from her.

- You will get used to it, for now, be wary since she doesn't know how to control her instincts.

Everyone nodded at Lars's words, Indeed if she loses control she may kill them. Everyone knew about the jaguars' jaw's strength, so a jaguar who didn't know how to control her strength was a more dangerous one.

The next day everyone was awake early in the morning, excited to see the hunt of the royal hunters live.   Unfortunately, Lars informed them that most of them could not blend into the environment because of their light colors, but they really wanted to watch it closely not far above the sky.

Oskar then proposed to them to cover themselves with mud to blend, at first they didn't like it since eagles don't like their wings to get wet but in the end, they had no other choice.

Sofia however could follow almost behind Lars into the shadows of the trees while Oskar was above them on the branches for the ambush attack. 

They were getting closer to the boars' holes and waiting until one of them came out, soon after one came out cautiously sensing the environment, and we stopped waiting for the boar to feel safe.  After a while, the boar started moving again, Lars told me to stay there and watch him.

His eyes never left his prey while slowly and quietly approaching, until he got close enough and jumped on the boar, his teeth locked into boar's spine and in just seconds the boar was dead, soon after a roar from above was heard.

It was Oskar who jumped from the tree to another boar who was close by, his jaw locked into the boar's neck suffocating it. It would take a couple of minutes until the second one died, Lars didn't waste time at all, he ran into the hole of the boars and started digging, and soon after another one was caught.   The first hunt ended, with three adult boars and and five young ones. 

The smell of blood was making Sofia hungrier and hungrier, her predatory instinct was starting to take control more and more.  

The others were busy with the adults' board transportation with the Eagles, She took the chance to jump from her spot and took one of the cubs, by instinct she hid in the hollow tree and started devouring her raw meat.

This was their plan all along from Lars, he wanted to see it firsthand, as he was informed by Gregory before.

Lars and Oskar got closer to her, but she gave them a warning roar making Oskar stop and lie down, but Lars was getting closer but stopped at a safe distance looking at each other.

Both of her mates were close by watching, and they both knew that if she attacked only Lars could immobilize her. 

Lars lies down at a safe distance but his eyes clue on Sofia to make her use his presence but Sofia starts hissing him angrily.