The Tiger Inside

Chapter 4|Mate

When Flaw woke up, she sensed someone's presence.

"Who's there?" She called out into the darkness of the cave.

"Only a tiger such as yourself, may I ask what your doing in my cave?" A male voice responded

"It was raining last night and I needed some shelter. Do I need to get out?" Flaw asked while being concerned

"No," the tiger stepped out into the light to show Flaw how incredibly beautiful he was,"You dont have to leave if you don't want to. Plus winter is coming shortly and the cave gets cold when no one occupies it very often."

"Oh, I thank you for your generosity." Flaw said respectively

"No problem. One question. Do you have a mate?"

Flaw quickly responded,"No but I'm trying to find one"

"Oh, I am too."

Flaw got excited, but she wanted to know this tiger first,"I'm not mating until the middle of the winter. So I have to find a mate by then." Flaw said while sounding bored, wanting to hide her happiness

"Oh,I'm planning on getting a mate by the middle of winter." The male said matter of factly.

"Oh, that's cool. I'm Flaw"

"I'm Code. And I would like to get to know you."

"Ask away."

For the next couple of hours, Code asked about Flaws cub life and asked about her family. Flaw answered the best she could without showing her weakest side. Family.
But somehow, Code understood. He told her that after all of his mother's cubs were old enough to drink water, she left. Their father left with her but not as willingly. He fought and argued until she said she would leave him for good if he didn't come along. And that settled it.

Flaw then understood that they were both quite different in looks, but the same by heart. And she started liking Code little by little. They both wanted to mate with eachother, but they both wanted it to be real love. And that's why it took them two weeks to finally fall into the pit of love completely.

One day when Flaw and Code had come back from mate searching, Code needed to talk to Flaw. And Flaw hoped it was about them. And sure enough it was.

"Flaw? I have something to tell you."

Flaw told herself to stay opened minded, just in case he was telling her to move out,"Yes? Have you found a mate yet? If you have I don't mind leaving, considering you need privacy and..." She mumbled on

"No, I have found a mate," Flaws hopes went down,"And it's you." Code was nervous about her reaction but soon relised that she felt the same way

"I thought I was going to leave! Gosh I'm so happy we're mates. I fell in love with you after our third conversation."

Code was happy that he had found his mate. And Flaw as happy she had gotten the one she wanted after all the troubles. And she was also happy that her and Myu didn't mate because they didn't have the same cub hood. (That made her feel better (the excuse) )

Soon, winter came around, and Flaw wanted her cubs to be a large size by spring so she asked Code about it,"When do you think it's a good time to have cubs so there big by spring?"

Code loved Flaw so much that he took the question to heart. And he didn't respond until he had come up with the best answer he could think of," It's a good time whenever your ready for us to properly mate. It could be tomorrow or it could be in four winters. It's your choice and I'm not ever going to rush you in anything until your ready for it."

Flaw totally understood what he was saying, and she liked that she had a mate that cared that much about her.

"I think tomorrow would be good. I want the cubs big by the time spring comes around."

"Whenever your ready Flaw. No need to rush." Code said with love in his voice.

"Oh, I know. I'm not rushing. If I change my mind, I'll be absolutely sure to let you know. I'll sleep on it." And with that, Flaw fell into a nice sleep. Think about how her kittens would look.

In the morning, Flaw woke up too see her beautiful mate sleeping next to her. And that made her happy. She knew they were going to mate today and she was happy to have such a great mate to do it with.
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(Myu and Rose had already mated) Myu woke up to see his mates stomach very large and he knew she was going to give birth in about a week or two. He had to hunt extra for his mate, himself, and the (hopefully) seven cubs that were inside of Rose. Myu went outside his cave and stretched his sleepy body, ready to hunt.

As Myu walked twards the river, he couldn't help but notice that Flaws scent was very old, at least four days old. He passed the thought that she had left to a far away place, hoping that he was wrong. As Myu walked past the river he hoped that Flaw was ok and that she was still there. He was so distracted about Flaw that he ran into her.

"Oh!" Flaw said as she crashed into Myu

"Sorry." Myu said with his head down not wanting to see who he rudely bumped into

"Myu!" That made him look up

"Flaw! Oh my gosh I'm so happy to see you!"

"And you! Have you found a mate yet?" She questioned

"Yes and her name is Rose. Have you?"

"Oh yes. He has almost the exact same cub life as me and we get along so well! He's overly handsome, not as much as you, and he's loving, not ever wanting to hurt me. He's great." Flaw said with a sigh.

"Sounds amazing,"Myu replied with obvious sadness in his tone

"Myu what's wrong. You seem quite sad."

"I was just thinking how my mate isn't as good as you. But that's nothing to worry about," He said adding a skip to his step,"Let's just hunt for our family and hang out for the day. I'm guessing you were hunting to suprise your mate?"

"I was! And yes that's a great idea. After fall leaves we will be stuck with our families until spring. So yes let's go." And with that they went to the jungle to hunt and catchup on each other's lives.