Igniting Sparks

Chapter 36.

Edited by KitWulf                                            6-3-2021

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"Hello, Floyd. Good to see you again."

Azura flashed an innocent smile at the brown wolf before her. She still felt on edge and it seemed like her skin was crawling; like it had when she had first met Nora, but she dismissed it and pulled up a facade to hide her nerves. Behind Floyd, the smaller gray wolf quickly disappeared into the forest.

Floyd was a shade darker than Nora used to be, his eyes rimmed with a fine white line, and around his snout, the hair almost seemed black. He had trained hard these past years as he seemed more muscular than when she last saw him. He sized her up as if he were making up his mind if she truly was the same person who had left years back.

She didn't approach him, instead, waited for him to move. Floyd moved his huge head towards Lucas and seemed to observe him for a while. He sniffed the air and licked his lips. He was judging Lucas's scent. She knew it was different from hers even though they were both werecats and was unsure how he would react. Most likely not in a good way since Lucas was with her. He'd probably never smelled it before since Floyd hadn't been attending Greenwood college like Nora and herself and he had not been around when Lucas had been on campus. The moment seemed to last forever and she noticed the normal bustling forest around them had grown quiet.

Finally, Floyd slowly stepped closer. Azura was glad Lucas had been paying attention to her lessons and he stood his ground while not looking away. Slowly, Floyd walked all around Lucas, observing and sniffing. Lucas remained quiet and still and seemed pretty unfazed by the giant wolf that sometimes bumped into him softly. Suddenly Floyd let out a low growl and jumped away from Lucas staring at him intently. He bared his teeth and let out a snarl while pushing his ears flat against his head.

"Stop with the bullshit already, Floyd!" Azura barked at him and walked towards Lucas. She positioned herself so she stood between them with her back against Lucas. She felt how tense he was and hoped he would keep it together a little bit longer.

"What's your problem? You knew we were coming."

"Floyd thinks he smells weird. He smells...off..." Behind the large brown wolf, a young bulky boy walked out of the forest wearing only a pair of pants. He didn't look any older than twenty yet. Like most of the pack, his skin was dark and he had dark brown eyes like Nora used to have. His hair was cut short; almost military style. Azura blinked a few times and started smiling when she recognized the boy.

"Kaenan? Look at you! You have changed! You look good, mature." He flashed Azura a smile back and turned his attention to Floyd. For a while, they remained quiet and Lucas took the opportunity to snake his hand around her waist and pull her against him. He softly whispered in her ear.

"Are they actually communicating right now?"

Azura looked up over her shoulder and nodded.

"Yep. Probably talking about ways to kill you." She tried to lighten his mood a little. "Maybe we should just tell them already you're a snow leopard. I'm guessing that's one of the details you never told Andreas right?"

"Yeah... One of the details, alright. Also, the fact you can set things on fire and can produce some pretty big wings." Lucas gave her hand a quick squeeze as Floyd's and Kaenan's attention turned back to them.

"Floyd, Kaenan, Lucas here smells off because he's a werecat like me. He's from a different region and thus his scent is not the same as mine. It's not a smell you guys know. That doesn't mean he's a bad guy. So please calm down, Floyd."