Lycanthrope

Hi, I'm Jackie and this is me sort of testing the waters before jumping in :)

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Over head blurs of green, yellow, orange and peaks of crisp clean blue decorated my vision. Flying under my feet was the welcoming ground of browns covered in darker greens, yellows, and oranges from above. I felt free, no boundaries. The earlier chilled wind felt like a warm embrace as I raced through the maze of beauty around me. Everything seemed to have a hazy effect to it, smoky and kind of shiny around the edges.

As I ran, it was silent. There wasn't the distant sound of little animals scampering for safety. My breathing wasn't labored from the steady speed I was going at. I heard my heart pounding and the dull sound of my feet thumping on the solid ground under me. That was it and it felt better than anything I'd ever felt before; to just get away from it all and just feel me for a little while.

I kept running. Running and not caring about anything around me. I let another part of me take over; let it dodge and zigzag through the tall trees while I felt my body. I connected with myself, understood me as I was now unlike anyone else that thought they knew me. I knew that I was lonely; my life seemed to be going in useless circles like the familiar large path I was running on.

Coming back from my reverie, I heard something faintly. It wasn't a dangerous or terrifying sound. It seemed to be a continuous joyful sound like a human humming but not from a human's mouth. I soon discovered my direction going off my usual path, towards the new sound. I stopped moving and everything around me stopped: the wind that rustled the leaves, my pounding heart, my breathing, even the soft melody I had heard. The world seemed to be holding its breath as I strained my ears to hear the pretty sound once again. I need to hear it again.

 As that sentence flowed through my mind, it was like the world lived again and I could hear a new sound; the gurgling of a small water fall. I head to the sound of water, sniffing the air as I went. My nose was suddenly hit with a deliciously musky scent that soon turned to black berries in my mind. I crept through the trees and low bushes. Even though, all I wanted to do was let out a loud roar and rush to the beautifully exotic creature that had released such tasty sounds and smells upon this undeserving man.

I got closer to the sound of a bubbling stream wanting to hear the adorable sound from before. Through the bushes I got glimpses of a serene meadow with a stream running through the middle outlined by rocks. On the side of the stream opposite of me was a big old oak-like tree. There was a large boulder sitting on my side on my side of the stream, closer to the mini water fall than the tree, framed perfectly by vibrant green grass. It looked like it had grown there and was never meant to be anywhere else. The stream came from a far off mountain in the background. Throughout the lovely meadow, I did not see a single thing that could have made the sound I heard not minutes before.

Sensing no danger I slowly crept out into the open grass after I passed the boulder. My muscles stayed taunt and alert as my belly was brushed by tiny blades of grass. My eyes flicked about to the surrounding trees and the only other two hiding places. I felt vulnerable not being in my natural habitat. My honey brown fur stuck out like a sore thumb against the green of the ground.

I got to the boulder and instantly remembered the sweet smell that I'd been blocking out so I could think straight, so I could think about my safety. I let down the wall slightly and almost fell as my knees went weak. Trying to stay under control, I let my beast come to the surface a little more. My lion knew how to get what he wanted and look for danger.

We crept past the boulder at a faster pace than I used to get there. We leaped over the stream with a little more strength than needed to get over it. We landed around two and a half meters (about 8ft) away from the oak tree. Our head was tilted up to the long branches we were almost under. We didn't know why though, we hadn't heard anything up there and the smell was all over the meadow. So, why did we feel a tug to this tree?

We kept looking up there as we slowly sat on our hind legs. My lion took over protecting us using our ears and nose as I used our eyes to search through the tree branches. I started circling the tree from a far. I circled it a few times and was getting frustrated. I trusted my instinct so my creature was hiding from us. At that thought my lion let out a low growl. I pushed him away as I heard a tiny sort of laughing sound. I whipped my head up to the sound that came from right above me and was ecstatic to see a bright flash of lilac. Oh, what a color!?

I felt a wide grin take over my lion shaped mouth. It might have terrified my lovely had they had their beautiful purple eyes been open. I felt a tad regretful I could not shift back to a form where I could talk to my sweet. Though seeing as I did not want to scare them by being nude, I would stay in my lion skin. I made a small noise, hoping to grab the adorable creature's attention. Much to my utter joy, my cutie made a similar noise back. I slowly advanced to the trunk of the tree keeping an eye on the moving branch.

I already think of this perfect creature as mine! As I climbed onto the intended branch, I strain my ears as I hear a soft purr of satisfaction. My face was all smiles as I crawled lowly on the thick branch. As I moved toward my love, the smaller jaguar-like cat moved toward me, a step for a step. When we were close enough to feel each other's breath, I stopped causing the petite jaguar to stop. I soaked in the berry smell, the shocking sight of the bright lilac against the dark black fur, and the warmth radiating off the sleek frame mixing with my own heat.

My goofy grin still in place, I meet the sparkling eyes in front of me. I was about to take that last step when my perfect jaguar pounced on me with a happy growl. We fell from the low branch and landed, rather softly, onto the ground below. On my back I stared up at the cat face above me. Everything about the view in front of me was crystal clear. My lion licked the black furred face in front of us and their mouth let out a giggle; a sound that was too human to come out of this animal.

Turning over to lay on our stomach using our elbow to hold us up, my lion and I looked down at the smaller creature that was curling into our side. The jaguar grabbed our larger paw and wrapped it around their torso. We pulled them tighter into our side and laid our head against them letting the scent of them take us higher. Never-mind, this was better than anything I'd ever felt before, forget stupid running.

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A/N

I'm putting this as a short story for now because I can leave it like this and you can just imagine what happens between the were-lion and the were-jaguar.

 This took a while to write and I'm not sure where I'm going with it. I won't be continuing this for now but if you have an idea of what should happen or what you want to happen next tell me!

I like this chapter but I want to hear from you guys. I haven't had anyone read it yet so if you spot a mistake or a place where I can improve throughout the book, if I continue, please tell me.