FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A/N: Hey guys, well there is only seven chapters, including this one, till all of you have to wait for me to be rid of my writers block. I hope all of you will still remember me and my story, if you don't I'll be really sad and might not continue it. well until then enjoy the next two chapters.

Chapter 21

The world was blurry and pounding blob.

A dull throb made his vision pulse with it, his brain painfully shut off. His body was numb, snow nipping irritably at him, almost telling him to get off. Rustling pines almost deafened him, wind snapping at his face. From what he could tell, snow partially covered him, shocking him that he wasn't in a coma from hypothermia. It must have snowed while he was out.

Katsu struggled to sit up with trembling arm, white powder shifting and gently falling from his limbs. An audible pain and exhausted filled exhale escaped his open mouth, vision finally beginning to sharpen but still blurred in and out. The other two wolves were still unconscious but he really didn't care. He was too busy trying to gather his thoughts.

With an extremely throbbing filled shake of his head he was able to rid himself of the numbing snow in his hair. He managed to slide his knees under him and succeeded in sitting up. One hand clutched his aching head, neck even hurting and creaking with every movement.

He finally took notice of a blurred back shape a few yards from him.

He blinked, frowning as his vision began to sharpen. It looked like hind legs of some sort of animal but he didn't see the front anywhere near it. Movement made his brain pulse as the end of a black furred tail flicked.

Fur. There's what the black was. It was all fur. But... the upper body...

Air slammed into his lungs as he gasped, eyes wide. He opened his mouth to roar but the creature disappeared. Black exploded in front of his eyes and pain in the back of his scull. He couldn't remember much else.

Barex and Ludus entered through the back but the sheer amount of blood on Moku gave them away. Questions were thrown at them, females trying to look at the boy, questioning if it was an animal and if yes, what kind? Was it safe for the little ones to go out? Should a hunting party go after it?

Barex started to get frustrated and tried to shy away from the group, backing into a metaphorical corner. Ludus quickly handed the sleeping Moku over to his uncomfortable friend and said that he would take care of it. Barex felt instantly relieved. If anyone could make up a story, it was Ludus.

But regret immediately overwhelmed the wash of relief as he heard, "There was twenty of them, huge, fanged, claws dripping with blood. Naturally, I had to stand against them alone, Barex trembling behind me."

The wolf walked down the passages, heading towards Derek's cave. The closer he got, the louder he heard arguing. He entered the room, seeing his leader standing, claws flexed and teeth bare, threatening a very timid, but still firm, Ethan.

"For the last time, get out of my way!"

"Please, Derek! You have to wait until you completely heal!"

"IT'S GOOD ENOUGH!"

Barex coughed obviously. "Ahem. Do you mind? He's asleep."

Both wolves gaped at Barex and Moku. A dull thud filled cave as Derek collapsed back, grey eyes wide and body trembling. His breathing was audible, gasping as unimaginable pain filled him. If he ever thought seeing Moku like this would hurt so badly then he would've killed himself the moment he started to develop feelings for the boy. He wanted to scream, cry, roar in agony. He wanted to hold the boy tight and never ever let go. His heart felt like it was going to explode, rip out of him. His whole being seemed to want to lunge towards the boy and do something. He didn't know what but it was overwhelming.

"Where do you want me to put him?"

Derek snapped out of it and back into action. He stood, not sure how he was able because of the trembling that overtook every limb. He walked slowly over to the two boys, grey eyes never leaving the blood covered one.

"I'll take him." His voice was nothing more than a whisper, a hushed wind of defeat. Barex gently handed over the precious bundle, unsure how to take Derek's actions.

"I'll go get some water to help wash him off." Ethan said, leaving them. Barex followed, eyes studying the way Derek cuddled Moku's limp body one last time.

The Prince of Cats stalked through the forest, wind nipping at his exposed skin. Gold eyes studied the ground, his new found knowledge tumbling in his mind over and over. He didn't know what move he should make next. He wanted to forget all about Kadell and concentrate on his mission but he desperately didn't want to. He missed the wolf, he longed for his touch. He painfully remembered their time trapped in the cave, the time during Kadell's heat. His neck tingled with memory but he blamed it on the cold wind. He wondered if the stir in his loins could also be blamed on the freezing weather.

A shiver tore up his spine and his hair stood on end.

He came to an abrupt halt.

He could sense something more than smell or hear it. In fact, he knew he couldn't smell or hear it. The thing he sensed was too good to be so easily located. It took decades to sharpen this skill of sensing this type of creature and he never regretted it.

What he had sharpened wasn't the ability to know when this creature was near, it was the emotion and feeling it evoked in him. It was the ripple up his spine that signaled his hackles rising. It was the dilation of his eyes. It was the defensive instinct to flex his claws. It was the impulse to run. It was the feeling of being hunted.

And he did just that.

He broke out into a sprint, knowing that it was futile. He leapt to the trees, fleeing as fast as he could. But he knew, always knew, that this creature was too good to be out run. This creature would track him and probably had been tracking him for months now. He was scented. It's the only way to explain the sudden fear of being hunted that overcame him seconds ago. It was only a mater of time before this hunter caught up.

Derek carried the fragile boy over to his bed, slowly and careful lowering both of them to the soft furs. His back leaned against the wall, keeping Moku draped over his lap. The boy's head tucked under his chin as he hugged that fragile body, desperately holding back the burning tears that threatened to sear down Derek's face.

"It's okay now. I'm going to take care of you. No one will ever harm you again."

He raised his head to look into Moku's face. It was odd. Everywhere else on the boy's body was caked in dry blood but his face. There were half healed claw marks and his lip was split from a fist but there was no blood coming from or around it. It was like it had been carefully cleaned off.

The full blood let out a small whine, nuzzling Moku's face, hoping the boy would wake up before giving the side of his bruised face a long lick. He paused, his tongue tingling with a strange taste. He swallowed, brows furrowing. He licked the boy again, tongue slowly sliding over the battered flesh.

Someone else's saliva was on the boy's face and it wasn't Ludus' or Barex's. It wasn't even wolf demon.

There! A shadow flashed in his peripheral vision. Oh no.

Liolyn dived down from the top branches of the trees, landing into the snow in a shower of white. The sheer amount of powder momentarily blinded the shadow as it dove down too, giving Liolyn enough time to do a one eighty, heading straight towards the mountains. He heard the shriek after him but dutifully ignored it.

His eyes were pure black from his dilated pupils and everything was in slow motion. He could see tree trunks before they actually came into sight. He could see animals fleeing before even nearing them. His breathing echoed in his ears but the pounding of footsteps hunting him deafened him. His nostrils flared, every scent unnaturally sharp. The pines stung, the cold making in his nose dry, but the acute scent of the predator pricked.

Another person's breathing sounded almost in his ears but he knew it was farther back. He couldn't feel the moist heat of breath but his tail tingled in fear as it trailed behind him. He tried momentarily to flick it around his waist but the wind from the speed he was running at prevented it.

Instinctively, he wanted to go back to Kadell's cave but he knew that that was not a haven. The hunter would follow and nothing would prevent it from entering. He was trapped with no where to go. He was a rabbit on a frozen ocean, almost running in place in his blind fear.

The scent of wolves became sharper, more acute. He was entering the pack's territory but the hunter was right on his tail, literally. He felt the tips of claws swipe at it.

A groan escaped the boy's throat as he began to wake, aching body shifting. Derek watched as blue eyes blinked open, eyes dilating to fit the level of light. He sat perfectly still, in the corner, one leg tucked under him while the other was bent, forearm propped against it. His chin rested on it, almost glaring at the boy. His expression was dark and he didn't even try to hide his smoldering fury.

Moku blinked, looking around, trying to recognize his surroundings. He painfully sat up, his bandaged left arm clutching his wrapped up right shoulder. He could smell Derek but couldn't spot him.

"Derek?"

The voice stirred both the urge to attack and comfort him. Derek's own voice didn't hide his dark thoughts. "I'm right here."

Blue eyes shot to him and the boy visibly flinched back. Something about Derek must have frightened him. The boy looked like he was going to say something but was too afraid to.

So Derek did it for him. "Katsu attacked you?" Both knew it wasn't a question meant to be answered. "He roughed you up pretty bad."

Moku nodded, knees drawing up to his chest, eyes not meeting Derek's glowing silver. "Please..."

"Did he rape you?"

Moku visibly flinched, getting as small as he could. "Derek, please." He didn't know what he was pleading for but he was desperate for it.

"Did he rape you?" Every word was enunciated, giving it the utmost importance.

"Derek." The name was almost sobbed out. All Moku had thought about was getting back to Derek, to be comforted by someone who loved him. He wanted the gentle Derek that had told him that he was beautiful. He wanted the Derek that had tenderly kissed him. He didn't want this Derek. This Derek made him tremble and want to die. "Please!"

"Please what?"

"I don't know..." Moku's face was buried in crossed arms. He wondered if he said that he was raped then the Derek he liked would come out and love him. "Just stop being like this."

"Being like what?"

"This!" Moku shouted, gesturing to the other and flinching as he did so. "Just stop! You're... you're being a bastard! Just stop. Please... Don't be like this."

"How do you want me to be like?"

A sob escaped Moku's mouth. He didn't know which Derek was the real Derek anymore. He felt so lost and confused. Loneliness was creeping up on him. He wondered why he even resisted Katsu. The Derek that had saved him was gone to be replaced by this thing.

"There's a taste on your face."

Moku froze.

"I know that sounds strange." Derek was grounding out words through clenched teeth now. "But I found it weird that you came back covered in blood but somehow there was none on your cut face. I licked you and someone else's saliva is on you."

The cat demon had cleaned his face. Derek must have tasted him.

"Now, if it was Ludus' or Barex's, I can understand that or another wolves' but this was a strange, extremely unfamiliar taste. So tell me, Moku. Who cleaned you?"

Moku didn't move, his breathing shuddering from his tears. The salt stung the cut on his lip but his licked it up. Derek was jealous. "It doesn't matter."

Derek snarled and in a crouch faster than Moku could blink. "If course it does! Someone touched you that was not a wolf!"

Moku remembered the cat's words of him not being full wolf. Derek's stung something inside him. "Again, does it really matter? Some one cleaned my face. Big deal."

"Did they only clean your face?"

Moku glared at the enraged wolf. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean..." Derek's expression went darker. "If I was to search your body, I wouldn't find that taste again? At all?"

Moku stood with great difficulty. "You're being blinded by your own insecurities. I'm going to ignore what you just said for your own good."

The artic wolf began to limp towards the exit, whole body tense in case something happened. But it did him little good.

A strong hand snapped around Moku's wrist and spun him around. Blue eyes widened momentarily before glaring into silver. "What are you doing?"

"Strip." Derek growled out his words.

"What?!"

"You heard me. Strip."

"Why?"

"I'm going to check to see if it licked you anywhere else."

"No!" Moku tried to break his wrist out of Derek's strong grip. "Derek!"

Moku yelped as Derek's other arm reached up, grabbed the collar of the shirt Ethan had put on the boy while he slept, and ripped it half down. "No!" Moku snarled, immediately rearing back. Derek expected this and tripped the boy. They tumbled down onto the furs, Moku crying out in pain.

Derek was up first, straddling the smaller wolf's thighs, hands trying to undo the other's pants. He was deaf to everything, Moku's screams just an echo underneath his own rapid pulse. Those hands trying to move his were nothing but an obstacle. He was on a mission. He had to find out for himself.

"DEREK!"

Arms were wrapping around him, pulling him off. He roared, striking out. His fist made solid contact with something and he came back to his senses. He was panting, eyes wide, staring down at Barex, blood drizzling out of the corner of his friend's mouth. His arm trembled and he could hear sobs behind him. He didn't want to turn and look into the tear filled eyes.

But he was in the right. He was just trying to look after Moku. He had to make sure no one else would ever defile his pure body anymore than it already was. It was all for Moku's own good. If only the stupid boy would answer his questions and do as he said then there wouldn't have been a problem.

Right?

"Moku...You should've just done what I asked."

He turned to face the boy but a weak punch, obviously from his left hand, slammed into his noise. He fell back, clenching it as his eyes watered up and pain exploded. "Shit!"

Moku ran passed him, ran passed Barex, and out the door to only god knows where.

Raklyn sat on his makeshift throne in his lair in the way back caves where no one dared to enter. His fingers were laced and his face rested against them, elbows on knees. He glowered at nothing in particular. The rest of his faithful followers cowered against the wall, not daring to disturb their leader.

Three wolves entered, two of them dragging the unconscious third one.

Raklyn turned his glower from the innocent floor to his pathetic second in command. "Wake him."

Water was dumped onto Katsu and he woke violently, gasping and eyes wide in surprise. "Raklyn!"

"You've failed me."

Katsu shook his negatively. "No. Never. We found the brat and roughed him up like you said. But he was being so fucking difficult!"

Raklyn's hard stare turned to the slices that ran down Katsu's face. "He wounded you?"

Katsu bowed his head in shame and anger. "That little bitch caught me off guard. It won't happen again."

"I would hope not. But still. He got away?"

Katsu looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. "When we went to leave a 'scent' on him something attacked us."

"What did?"

"I don't know. I didn't get a good look at it. Gordon warned me but it was too late." He shot the wolf to his left a venomous scowl as if this was his fault.

Gordon gulped. "I didn't get a good look, sir. All I saw was a flash and these... gold eyes."

Raklyn frowned. "Gold eyes? Do you mean Sire?"

The wolf shook his negatively. "No, not golden brown. It was like they were pure gold. They were... beautiful but frightening." He quickly dropped to his knees in a groveling, bowing position. "Please forgive me, sir! It happened so fast that I couldn't get a good look."

Raklyn went perfectly still, his thoughts in a tumbling whirl. "Odd."

Liolyn dodged a tree, sensing the hunter dodge on the other side. The forest ended and he saw an extremely large cliff and lake. He could see rock reaching out over the lake and another rock overlapping that reaching out rock, leaving a crack. A cave.

He was out of options.

His legs burned but somehow he used the last bit of energy to surge forward. The shriek behind him almost deafened him and the hunter dove at him. It was a sheer miracle and pure luck that he was able to dodge it.

He hurtled into the cave, tripping over two wolves exiting. They tumbled with him, surprised snarls and growls of a hundred wolves meeting his ears. He leapt up onto a ledge, eyes seeing a different type of light and nose smelling a way not so heavily populated with wolves. He tore through the cave and into that passage, ducking a couple of wolves that recovered from shock enough to try to attack him.

The passage was long but he broke through the end and met blaring sun. He was on the other side and panting heavily, adrenaline and fear at what incredibly stupid thing he just did overwhelming his burning lungs and limbs.

He took off in the direction of familiar mountains, fear guiding him. He ignored sense or logic or his own pride. He just escaped near death. He wanted Kadell. He wanted Kadell right now.

Raklyn stood as he heard a commotion. He ran out of his lair, down the intricate tunnel system to the main den.

"What's going on?"

"Raklyn!" Adrex panted. "A cat demon! A cat demon just fucking sprinted through here, leaping over Sire and Ferdare and dodging three of us. He just sped through here in a blur and went out the back way!"

"What?" Raklyn was in shock.

"I know! It was... so strange! He entered our den and just... holy fuck!"

Raklyn was in shock and disbelief. And then something clicked. Actually, several things clicked. "Adrex. You go and take as many hunters as you can and track him down. Leave half of them here, though. Cats are tricky, devious creatures. From what you just described, it could be trying to lead us into a possible ambush or wanted a look or count of how many of us there are or it was fleeing something. It would be best this way." He quickly told Adrex who to take, the shocked wolf not realizing the only wolves that stayed behind would be of Raklyn's group, and Adrex set off.

Raklyn whispered to Katsu. "I've found a way for you to redeem yourself."

Moku walked through the back caves, trembling and hugging himself. He was so alone now. Derek was acting out of control and it scared him. He had no one left.

Arms snapped around him and he yelped, struggling madly. His injuries screamed and there was little he could do. A blind fold tightened around his head and his arms and legs were bound.

He whimpered and growled but froze as hot breath whispered into his ear. "It's pay back time, pup." A gag tightened around his mouth, silencing his call for help.