To Catch His Mate

Prologue Hungry. I was so hungry. And scared. I felt so alone in this place—wherever it was—and helpless. Everything was too loud, the smells too strong. The birds in the trees, the rustle of the wind, it was all too close to be comfortable. I purred and growled at the animals I came across, trying to communicate or lure them to me, but they ran away. Instinct said I knew how to hunt. I tried and failed, constantly. I was lost. The human part of me shrank away from fresh kills, but the beast…The beast was starving. Eventually, I’d have to eat more than worms and roots. The rodents made my stomach turn, but soon I knew I’d be too famished to care. When I had awakened—whenever that was, I had looked down and seen little hands—human hands. And then, in the blink of an eye, my hands had become huge white paws with sharp claws. I’d turned into a kind of cat-like creature, and I had no memory of how I’d gotten here. Where was I? Why had I been abandoned? I continued to paw at the ground as I went along, hoping to find…something. Anything. I whimpered and mewled, stomach rumbling as I prowled deeper into the dense growth. I shifted back and forth between human boy and…creature. What was I? And then suddenly, I smelled a human presence, and smoke. The human was cooking meat! I growled, a sound weak to my own sensitive hearing. Heading in the direction of the scent, I hoped for the chance of a decent meal. At the edge of the woods, I peeked through the trees and saw a man sitting by a campfire. The meat was pig flesh, I was sure of it, though I didn’t know how. Taking a desperate chance, I slowly made my way forward, praying the human wouldn’t hurt me. He smelled harmless. I hoped that would be the case. When I loped into the light of the flames, the man looked up at me and froze. We watched each other for a few minutes, until I groaned and fell on my side, hunger making me almost pass out. That spurred him into action, and he moved to cut a piece of meat off the spit. The human walked over to where I lay and cautiously offered the food to me on the end of a knife. Slowly, I lifted my head and opened my massive jaws. He dropped the meat into my mouth and moved back quickly. As I chewed, I shifted back to human boy, naked and shivering in the cool night air. The man, though shocked at my transformation, recovered fast and beckoned me toward the heat of the fire. “You want more, boy?” he asked as I crawled on hands and knees toward warmth and a chance of food. I understood him, so I nodded, unable to speak from sheer exhaustion and hunger. I wasn’t even sure I could talk, actually. “Here,” he said, cutting more pork and handing it to me. I devoured everything he offered. I ended up eating most of the meat, to my shame. I hoped he wouldn’t be mad at me. Exhausted, I curled up by the fire and fell asleep, feeling safe for the first time in long while. When I woke up, I was in a soft bed. I could smell the human on the sheets, but he was not there. Eggs. I could smell eggs, and toast, and bacon. Maybe pancakes, too. Obviously, I was familiar with this kind of food from…before, but I had no memory of why. I got up quickly, and, seeing the clothing on my bed, put on a T-shirt twice my size, a pair of shorts that I tied up at the waist as best I could, and followed my nose. The human was at the stove, cooking. “Hungry?” He glanced at me over his shoulder, where I stood nervously watching him. I nodded. Soon, there was a plate filled with food on the table, and I sat quickly, grabbing a pancake with my hand. The human slapped my fingers, causing me to growl at him, while my fangs descended. He ignored my reaction. “See that?” He pointed to the fork beside my plate. “Use it to eat. Understand?” I looked at it, then up at him and shrugged as I picked it up. I was a little clumsy at first, but I got the hang of it pretty quick. Once the meal was done, the human leaned back in his chair. “You got a name, boy?” he asked, arms crossed. I shrugged again. “Okay.” He thought for a minute. “I’ll call you Felix. How about that for a name?” he asked. I c****d my head to the side, thinking about it for a minute. I nodded. “Good. All right, son. You may be part beast, but you’re human, too. So, wherever you came from, you’re gonna have to learn how to survive in this world as you are. People don’t like folks who are different, and you’ll learn that. Not that there’s anything wrong with you, but this world can be a scary place.” He studied me. “You probably already know this, since you were all alone out there in the woods.” I stared at my plate, sadness overwhelming me. I had been abandoned, and I didn’t know why. Probably never would. A hand came into my line of vision and patted my head. I looked up at the human again. “My name’s Ben Cotter, and I’m gonna take care of you from now on, okay?” I contemplated my savior. He looked sincere, smelled of truth. How had I gotten so lucky? I said the first word that I’d used in a long time. “Okay.” I was home.