Snow Leopard (bxb)

Chapter 3- Visitor

[Leo ^]

We had made it back to our new house and we all walked back in. Even though most of the doors and windows were open it was suffocating hot for me in here and I quickly tried to escape out the patio door to find a cool spot. Our mother was in the front room unfortunately and stopped us from going our separate ways. She took in Otto's different clothing and lack of shirt and sighed.

"We had a run in with a small pack, me shifting was enough to get them to back off." Otto calmed our very protective mother but she still frowned.

"Lukas!" she called out our fathers name and he came out of the kitchen wiping his large hands with an oil stained rag.

"Yes dear?" he asked in his deep rumbling baritone, affection and warmth in his voice.

"The kids had a run in with a pack on their walk." she worried, fiddling with her fingers on her lap.

"It wasn't a big deal ma, they didn't seem happy about us being here and told us as much, Jasper as always said something he shouldn't and the dominant went to confront him, I shifted and they backed off and left pretty quick." Otto tried to reassure her. Our father frowned at Otto's recount of what happened.

"I'll have a talk with their leader tomorrow Elode." he promised and our mother nodded, seeming to relax a little after that. "How are you faring kiddo?" he asked me.

"Still warm." I admitted and tugged at my loose shirt that clung to my clammy skin with annoyance.

"Want me to dig out the sprinkler?" he probed and Jasper started bounding around with excitement at the word and was soon a white tiger instead of a man and was loping out of the patio door. "Take that as a yes." our father chuckled and went to find the water spraying contraption. I let out a breath and began to slowly strip before letting my body morph into my fluffy shift. I shook out my extremely thick fur and flicked around my small, rounded ears and plodded out of the patio door after my elder brother. Emelia groaned and went to head upstairs, not the biggest fan of water. Otto wasn't bothered either way but was a lot more mature than Jasper and simply stayed in his human form and sat on a plastic chair that had been put in the corner of the small patio and sat back, sunbathing. 

I padded over to an over exited Jasper and he chuffed in affection as I approached and knocked our heads together before bouncing around the small area of our new garden, unable to stay still and I snorted in amusement at his childish nature, such a big kid. Dad came out not soon after with the hose and connected the sprinkler attachment that was designed for pet dogs and laid it on the floor. Jasper hopped from paw to paw with impatience and excitement. Dad walked back into the house and a few seconds later cold water sprayed out of the contraption and Jasper ran about under the spray and rolled on the dampened floor, chuffing and moaning in happiness. I flopped down on a wet patch and let the cool water seep into my fur and lower my temperature. I let out a contented sigh and spread out on my side, so good.

My mother padded out, shifted into her lioness and laid down next to me before starting to groom my incredibly dense fur, I purred in response and closed my eyes in contentment. The sprinkler was the only way I would shift during the summer, I avoided shifting for no more than a few minutes otherwise, just so I remembered how, my fur made me hot real quick. During the winter I would stay shifted when it snowed and practically lived outside in the white powdery substance. I wasn't the biggest fan of water but it cooled me down so I tolerated it, unlike Emelia who hated the stuff with a passion. 

A knock at the front door and my short reprieve was shattered and I looked up quickly, suddenly feeling very weary. My mother calmly looked over at the door and watched as my father walked over to open it. I sank back down and hid behind my mother's larger shift, only my ears and eyes peaking over her shoulder. The door opened to reveal a man. I sniffed deeply, trying to figure out what he was. Hmmm, lion? My father and the man talked for a moment before he invited the man in. I growled quietly as the unknown man came onto our new territory and mother gave me a look, telling me to relax. I huffed but stopped my growling, still lying low, watching the man approach with caution. My ears twitched and flicked and air came out of my wide nose in loud puffs at my deep sniffing. Father and the lion walked into the garden and my ridiculously long tail swished and slapped the pavement with weariness.