Learning to Pounce

Chapter 2

      I woke up. I was in mom's rusty old van, so she must have wanted to let me sleep, but wanted to get on the road.

Where are we going? I have no clue. When I ask  my mom, she says: "We will go where we will be safe, even if that means in another country or out in the wild, Trevor."

I laid my head back onto the rest with mixed emotions. I looked over at mom and she had her hands tight on the steering wheel, obviously tense and grim for what will become of us criminals.

I felt bad, because I didn't even get to say goodbye to Matt. Yeah. Just Matt. I didn't have any other friends, so no one probably missed me that much. That made me smile.

I probably fell asleep again, because I woke up in a forest setting due to a sound. It was my mom growling, since our car was stopped. She hit the steering wheel hard. "What's up, mom?" I was worried.

I noticed her eyes had bags under them when she turned in her seat to look at me. They were also bloodshot. She sighed. "Trev.. the car broke down. We are going to have to leave it here and run instead."

I leaned over and hugged her, and she hugged me back. I noticed her eyes had tears in them. "I understand, mom." I choked out, trying to be mature.

We got undressed in the car, then shifted. My mom was a huge pitch-black wild cat with large yellow eyes. My panther was a little lighter and smaller with piercing green ones.

With our clothes in our mouths, we headed into the forest beside us. Once I set one paw in the leaf-mulch, new smells came rushing in. Trees. Different kinds of birds. Other animals like foxes, squirrels, mice, and.. uh-oh.. wolves. Just by one tree-marker, I could tell we were in wolves' territory. I could tell they were Grey wolves.

This was bad. If they caught us, we were most likely dead meat. Or dead cats.

Then a new scent hit me. These wolves were shapeshifters. Maybe they wouldn't mind, but what I've heard about werewolves is that they are very territorial.

I shuddered, if panthers can shudder. But I stood strong and prowled along the forest border with my mom.

.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-.

     A few hours later, my mom says we should head deeper into the forest, because cars started to appear more often.

Being a wild cat, I agreed with her and we padded deeper into the possibly-hostile werewolf territory.

My eyes sifted and my ears perked up at every small movement that caught my eye or ears. But, still we didn't find any signs of fresh werewolf border markings.

We continued on our way, and a few times I complained to my mom about where we are going. She ignored me in regular panther fashion and kept on walking, quickening her pace and perking up her ears.

She flicked her tail in a motion that meant: "Possible danger. Stay alert." Then a few moments later, another that says: "Get behind me, I'll protect you"

Only female werepanthers use the tail signals for their cubs,  and I was annoyed, because I was 15. Definitely not a cub.

But I obeyed and I drew out my claws and bared my teeth, because I also heard the faint ruffle of fur in the wind on all sides of us.

Then I realized we had strayed very deep into the werewolf territory, and I gulped. This was not good. Even though werepanthers have a stronger bite force than werewolves, (Mine is 1030, and a full grown wolf is usually only 750) we were obviously out-numbered in a fight.

Still, my powerful jaws and sharpened claws could take down a few wolves easily.

We both tensed, waiting for the attack to begin.

Author's note: This is just the second part. More will be on the way!