Page 163 of Unforgivable

We take off together. We run and run, letting Rhet lead. Unlike our first run, this time, we stay together, running as a pack.

My Heat is deepening. All three males are nipping at my flanks. My hussy she-wolf is flashing herself at them, tormenting them.

Now, they need to compete for her attention. She demands her harem perform for her.

Rhet is the first, leaping over a chasm that makes my heart stutter, but my she-wolf's heart proud. He lands, twirling around on a dime, growling, and then barking for approval.

My she-wolf sniffs and turns her head away slightly. Less than impressed.

Rhet's wolf cocks his head to the side but takes off again, leaping and diving and rolling. He's so large but dexterous and agile.

Nothing compared to Ezra. He joins his brother, weaving to and fro in a dance of predators. My she-wolf watches, her attention not wavering until Thjis starts to drag a limb in front of her nose.

Correction; it's a tree. A massive tree.

My she-wolf can't giggle, but I can. I know my mirth must shine out of her eyes as Thjis proudly drops his hefty prize in front of me. His tail wags, but she just sniffs again.

She needs the absolute. She wants to know that these males will provide and protect. It's a primitive need for survival eons old. Males provide and protect. Females reproduce.

The three males tear off as one. My she-wolf follows at a distance. I can smell the mountain lion. An actual cat this time, not a wolf playing a trick.

Our wild cousins would never attempt to attack a mountain lion. To be honest, I don't want or need a predator-kill. A deer would work just fine. Hell, these three could bring me a squirrel, and I would take it with pride in my clever males.

But, my she-wolf is a Luna. She demands the best.

And I refuse to doubt in my males' abilities, even if this hunt makes me uneasy. They are wolves of the highest order. Between them, they must weigh nearly eight hundred pounds. They will best the mountain lion.

It is at least an hour of chasing, lulling the predatory cat into making mistakes, becoming tired, bringing it out of it's known territory. I only see flashes of the hunters and the hunted but follow with my nose for miles and miles.

My males track the panther to a cliff face. He's cornered himself on a rock, about ten feet off the ground on a protrusion from the rockface. The cliff is only about thirty feet high, easily scaled by the cat, and quickly climbed by Rhet and Ezra.

Thjis acts as bait, growling and snarling at the cat from the cliff's bottom as his brothers sneak around to the top of the cliff.

Climbing up is more challenging. The cliff becomes steeper just after the jutting rock the mountain lion is crouched on. The cat doesn't want to make the attempt. Instead, he hisses and spits, yowling threateningly at the wolf below. The cat is outweighed by nearly a hundred pounds by my Bear, an intimidating sight even to a mountain lion.

Thjis fakes a lunge, making the mountain lion startle. He can't get too close to the cat, or he will simply leap right over Thjis' head.

Thjis takes another step, barking, when Rhet leaps down and tumbles the cat to the ground. Thjis jumps in immediately, taking bites, causing the mountain lion to whirl between the two brothers. He tries to retreat, but Ezra is there, smaller, but with deadly claws and teeth, nonetheless.

Hemmed in, the cat screams as the three wolves bait and bite until he's exhausted. A leg bit, then the tail, another leg, sending the mountain lion whirling helplessly against the coordinated attack.

One final play for survival, and the mountain lion charges at the weakest wolf, my Sunshine.

Rhet leaps on his back, one last, strong bite to the back of the neck, bringing the mountain lion crashing down, twitching in the throes of death.

I feel a spark of sympathy for the beautiful, deadly creature, but my she-wolf feels nothing similar. She is bursting. This is a prize worthy of her.

Rhet walks to her first, his dark muzzle black from the cat's blood. My she-wolf examines him, taking note of the strength, the health of this wolf in his prime. A good provider, this one. Thjis and Ezra follow, and she takes her time with them, too. She likes what she sees very much. They will give her healthy pups. She will have an easy time raising a litter with these males as hers.

She then saunters over to the kill. A sniff of the cat reveals that he was healthy, a young male who was just young enough to be stupid enough to fall into a wolf trap, but old enough to be an impressive kill.

It's a good prize. She settles in as Rhet tears open the chest cavity and allows her to have the first bite. She eats part of the heart before licking off her maw.

She doesn't have much time for the courting meal. The carcass can wait. There are more important things to do. She rises from the kill and starts to rub her body along her males, just like she had done when they were on feet.

Tail held high; she offers herself like the queen that she is.

And they take, and take, and take... and so does she.

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