Whiskers

Watch Your Words

(This will be the last update for donations, as Theory is very tired and needs a break lol. Thank you to everyone who donated, we made a great dent in the fundraiser :) Also, happy birthday to my little nut job, Racket. She turned 1 yesterday.) 

It felt like only a few minutes had passed when Jamie felt someone nudging at his shoulder. 

Eighty more minutes...

When he felt a wet, hot tongue slobber all over his face, he took in a deep breath to growl at Palace, who had to have been the one to do it since his brother knew better, but the moment he took in that breath, he gagged. 

Dear god, what did you eat? 

Of course, as soon as he thought the question to Palace, he could sense the man snickering in his head. 

Liver, heart, and kidneys, first. Intestines after that...

Jamie squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to wretch. He'd eaten wild animals plenty of times before, but the scent that had come from Palace's mouth had been absolutely vile. 

Intestines are disgusting, Palace. 

When he got no response, but heard a loud splash, Jamie blinked open his eyes to see Palace dragging another unfortunate alligator out of the water. There were several following him, nipping at the now-dead lizard's tail, trying to get a morsel of their buddy, but they didn't dare come too close when Palace brought it over to him. It dropped to the ground with a thud, making Jamie jump and scoot away. 

"Why the heck did you catch another one?" 

Eat the intestine. 

Before Jamie could reply with a very clear hell no, Knight walked over and gave Palace at gentle pat on the head. 

"We need to get going so that Jared can get back and get his injuries treated. Do you want to come, or wait here?" He asked.

Palace sniffed at the alligator and mouthed it a few times, but didn't really do any extra damage. After a moment he lifted his furry head and twitched an ear. Jamie was wondering if he was talking to his brother through their connection, and got his answer a minute later when Palace stalked off into the underbrush and Knight turned to him. 

"He's going to come with us, but probably remain in the woods outside of town." He said. 

That plan made sense. If Palace showed up again, he definitely wouldn't go unnoticed. His face, and his wolf, were all over the news, so it would be much safer to just stay away for a while. 

"Alright." Jamie replied before walking over to his brother. 

He was still in his lion form, which he normally defaulted to whenever he was hurting. 

"How you feeling, bro?" Jamie asked as he started walking alongside Jared's lion. 

Not the greatest, but I'll be okay. I'm just glad that you're safe. 

"Well, I'm not happy that you hurt yourself, then insisted on coming out here just to find me." Jamie replied, getting a grumble from his brother in response. 

They walked in silence for the better portion of the trip with Knight disappearing off and on with Palace to race through the forest, or in Knight's case, above it. 

"They really look like they're enjoying themselves..." Jamie said, more to himself than to his brother as he watched the two. 

They've been locked up for so long, I'm not surprised that they're taking some time to just run around together.