Chapter 35 - The Cat's Out

-W-

    I could hear the panic in my human's voice. I smelled the salt of tears in the air. When I crept around the corner to make sure he was alright, there were two humans holding him tight. My first instincts had a snarl forming in my throat, my lips curling and baring my teeth.. but as I stared at them it didn't seem like he was in pain. In fact he was patting at the other male's back lightly. They were hugging him, embracing him as I had done before. These were not enemies.. then why was my human crying?

    The strange male's eyes flicked up and stared directly into my own. My muscles tightened and my body froze.. I was not supposed to be seen. I had simply poked my shrouded head around the corner.. but the shrewd human saw me. I tugged my head back quickly, but it was too late. I had made a mistake. The human had seen me, speaking out loud on that fact. 

    "I just saw something watching us, right over there. Like, right there in that alley. No I'm serious"

    My back pressed right to the cold, squared stone wall, wrapping the blanket around myself not to stave the cold off but to hide my furred frame. My ears swiveled and listened as the three of them spoke. My human seemed to be insisting that it was nothing, lying to the other two. The female was trying to keep the peace between the two males as their voices got louder and more insistent.

    "Wait wait wait, stop!"

    Heavy panic in my human's voice had my fur rising under the cloth, my claws digging into it as I held tight and listened.. were those footsteps?

    It was too late to move, I should have moved earlier.. Still I tried to slip along the wall and towards the back alley. Then the other male's voice shouted out down the alley at me.

    "Hey, you! Wait! Why were you watching us?" 

    The human's shout made me pause, uncertain what I should do now. I could hear and smell all three of the humans behind me.. they could see me. The large blanket concealed my fur, I kept my tail tucked in as best as I could and faced away from them.

    "James, stop.. we seriously aren't going down some creepy alley to chase some homeless guy.. Ow, hey" It sounded like someone hit my human, albeit lightly.

    "Be nice.. He's not just some homeless guy. Sir? Are you okay?" The female's voice was pleasant and calm, like she was changing her tone to be more gentle, compared to the other stranger's.

    My heart pounded slowly in my chest as I looked further ahead.. I could make a dash for the corner and disappear behind the buildings.. but the humans would likely see my tail and legs. Connor had not told me what to do if I was seen, he had only told me not to be seen in the first place. I had failed that task.

    When I didn't respond, the other male stepped towards me.. I instinctively let out a warning growl. I didn't mean to, but the encounter was growing more and more tense. 

    "What..? Did you hear that?.. I knew I saw something weird.. What are you? No, Joelle stay back.. It's not normal. It's not human, I saw it's face."

    "Guys, please.. let's just go. We shouldn't be back here, come on, leave him alone. It's just some guy" Connor pleaded.

    Then I felt it, a hand on my arm. The small female. She tried to tug gently at me, to get me to turn. I ordered back over my shoulder slowly, looking past her at my human. His face sank.. The other male's eyes went wide. The female took a step back and gasped.

    Connor's hand moved in a flash, cupping over the other male's mouth and throwing his weight against him, pinning him to the wall softly and stopping him from speaking out mid-word. The female just stared at me, in shock, her mouth hanging open as she took another step back.

    "James, James chill.. Don't scream. Joelle you too, please.. It's okay." He was trying to reassure them, though.. the female didn't seem to need his reassurance.

    She was smiling, her smile kept growing as she looked at me and stopped stepping back. She surprised both me and the other humans as she even stepped closer to me again. I froze entirely, shooting a glance at my human, unsure of what to do now, how to proceed. The small female was reaching out for me again, touching the blanket, touching my arm. I hadn't seen many humans, this one had darker skin than the ones I had seen so far.

    "Agh.. hey, let go. Dick. Joelle, get back, what are you doing?!" The one called James was struggling a bit with my human, pushing at him with a hand and trying to get to the one called Joelle.

    "If I let you go you gotta keep quiet and listen alright, he's fine, he's friendly"

    "Oh wow.. he's so big!.. Look at you.. You're so fluffy, what are you?.. Connor what is he?. Oh my god is he like, a werewolf?.. Is it someone we know? Is he a he or a she? Wait, it's not that girl you were going out with is it?"

    The female was gently pulling the blanket back, peeking under it. I let her. Slowly I turned to face them all, a bit defeated that I had been found out. Her eyes grew wide as I turned and showed them all my full size and height.

    "Oh nope, definitely a boy. Eeee he's so fluffy, can I pet him Connor? I'm gonna pet him" 

    There was no waiting for my human to answer as she reached out to push her fingers into and under the thick fur of my belly. My tail began to move some on its own, even as I stood there a bit perplexed by the odd female's behavior, looking to my human for help.

    "Joelle!" The other male shouted in a hushed tone at her.

    "Joelle..!" Connor did the same, "He can understand you, he's smart.. and no he's not someone you know.. he's not really a werewolf, at least he doesn't turn human.. Uh, can you stop petting him for a second? James, don't worry she's fine.. he's not going to hurt her."

    Joelle nodded at my human's request and ignored it entirely to continue idly rubbing at my belly and looking me over in wonder. My human slowly released his friend and let him stand back up straight, the male brushing himself off some and giving Connor a soft punch in the arm. 

    "Dude.. What. The. Fuck. That's a werewolf.. A real, damn werewolf? Where did he come from.. why are you roaming the city at night with a werewolf?..." He was shouting again, but as quietly as he could.

    "Well I wouldn't bring him here during the day.." Connor mumbled out and looked around the alley, keeping watch. 

    "I am going to smack you.. You know what I meant, what. How. Why… When?!" The other male sounded flustered.

    "It's a long.. weird story, but let's get somewhere more private cause anyone could walk by right now"

    He began to push and urge us all to move deeper into the alley and out of sight, getting us all around the corner. My shoulders relaxed a little more when we were somewhere a bit less exposed. The female was as giddy as I had ever seen a human.. even more than the small human pup had been in the window, and this female was older. 

    She was bouncing a bit and looking me over, her face twisted in a big and cheery smile, as what I assume now was her mate tried to urge her away from me.

    "Joelle.. That is a werewolf.. Will you stop petting him like he's a puppy?.." James hissed out, pleasing with her and squeezing her shoulders.

    "But look how cute he is.." She practically growled out at him through her wide smile.

    Connor and James both rubbed their foreheads in the same way, an odd mirrored gesture as they stared at the short human petting me, both letting out a sigh and gesturing to her with their hands. They each gave the other a nod and shrug, then moved on, accepting that the female was not going to stop petting me, much like I had already resigned myself to such a date. There were worse fates. 

    "Okay so I don't have time to explain everything, I really don't. Especially not here and now, but that big fella there came out of me and.."

    "Came out of you? What, did you cough him up like a hairball? Did you get him wet and feed him after midnight?" The one called James interrupted him.

    "No, shut up, and no. If it makes it easier for you to picture then fine.. but he came out of me after mom passed. Then he got shot in the woods, and I had to let go of him so I could tie him up and roll him over." James and Joelle shot each other looks. "And because I let go of him this cat got out"

    "Oh no, Sawyer got out? Is she okay?" It was the female's turn to interrupt this time, with immediate worry in her voice.

    Connor's face sunk.

    "No she didn't get out.. but umm.. no she's not okay. I don't want to talk about it right now. There's this other cat, big furless fucker like those egyptian ones"

    "Sphynx cats."

    "Yes, thank you, Sphynx cat.. except he's like my wolf here, two legged and big. He is out here in the city somewhere and we need to find him"

    My head swivelled slowly between the three of them as they talked amongst themselves like I wasn't there. James kept glancing at me nervously, like he didn't entirely trust me. Joelle trusted me entirely too much, stroking through my fur and pressing in closer. At one point she was hugging me and her mate had to pull her arms away.

    "Aww, there's a big ol were-kitty too?" The female, of course.

    "No no, this is not some cute kitten.. This is a monster Joelle, this one is dangerous and he's loose in the city. We're trying to hunt him down and bring him back."

    "This is a lot to take in dude.. I'd call you a liar if.. He.. wasn't standing right there. Joelle stop petting him.."

    The female looked up at me, ignoring him and patting at my belly, "He's such a big sweet boy, what's his name?"

    That seemed to stump Connor.

    "Oh.. Wolf I guess? He doesn't really have one"

    It looked like he insulted the short female, her mouth fell open as she scoffed at him, "You cannot just call him wolf.. that's not a name"

    "Did you not just hear what he said about the whole cat situation? Focus please.. Connor, this is all weird as shit. I'm waiting to wake up or come off some mushroom trip.. but if this is real and you are serious should we call someone for help?"

    "Who? The police? Animal control? They are going to laugh me off the phone if I tell them the truth.. and if I'm vague about trying to catch some big cat I'm going to potentially endanger people. This is my fault, I accidentally unleashed this thing and we just need to get it back without anyone finding out. I don't want to end up strapped to a table being studied by scientists, while he's caged and poked and prodded. I highly doubt they'd just allow a big werewolf to walk free, no harm done if they found out about him."

    My human was trying to protect me, I could hear it in his tone, see it in his eyes when he looked at me. He didn't want others finding out about me for a reason. He feared for me. The fact that these two knew about me now was already bad.. but he seemed to be friends with them. He seemed to trust them.

    "Well then, how can we help?" Joelle's softer voice spoke up.

    "Yeah.. We're not just going to abandon you to do this yourself, I'm your best friend dude. I'm in for the long haul, whether you are insisting on climbing a rickety water tower like a dumbass or.. chasing after a werecat?.." James groaned out quietly, rubbing his forehead again. 

    "How can we help?"