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Therian Dreaming II

Chapter Seventeen

© Cederwyn Whitefurr

5th May 2023

All Rights Reserved.

Pete and Patrick talked the rest of the day, until at last agreeing on a plan – a half-baked, ill-advised one, but a plan all the same.

*

Standing next to his vehicle, the Vet nervously glanced over to Kelsie, who lay cuddled up around Fawnie, staring at him with almost ink-black eyes.

“I can not promise anything - “ Patrick spoke quietly, keeping his voice low and body language as calm as he could. “They won't send more than two...people – I imagine the... well, you can guess the rest. Is there somewhere, anywhere you can send Kelsie and your fawn? It will go after your fawn, she is the...”

As Kelsie rose, her body quivering, Patrick shuddered, realizing just how acute her hearing was – and what a risk he was taking.

“I'll do what I can, I got ways of...masking my scent. One advantage you have is your speed and agility. Whitetail's are small deer, but quick. It's probably been starved, tortured and gods know what else – it'll be well, mindless almost. Driven mad with blood lust and rage, use this to your advantage! Fight somewhere where you have something at your back – but leave yourself an exit. I won't pretend to know everything about your kind – Kelsie will know more than I ever would, so please, talk to her, listen to her... It might surprise you Pete, but stag's come and go – Kelsie, as a Doe...”

“What about me...” Come Kelsie's quiet voice beside him, making Patrick jump, as he'd never even heard a hoof step.

“You'll grow up and become the Matriarch of your herd – the dominant leader. Amongst Deer herds, the oldest Doe is their leader, her word is their law – Stag's come and go, deposed or driven out...”

“I'd never let my mate go...” Kelsie whispered, taking another step closer, her dewlaps curling.

Patrick swallowed nervously, the adrenaline surging, but he did his best to not run – he knew if he ran, Kelsie's razor-thin control would shatter like spring-thaw ice.

“It...happens with wild Deer; and your kind – I don't make the rules, please believe me – I want to help both of you, now they know where you are, it's a matter of time before they come for you... you've witnessed the barest hint of the iron gauntlet beneath the velvet glove...”

Kelsie stepped even closer, her dewlaps curled right back as she snarled at him like a savage guard dog.

“I'm not lying to you – Pete told me... That was a small team – a mere glimpse of what they can bring down upon your necks! They're... global – you think they're just some bunch of upstart 'boys club' who hunt your kind? No, they've been doing this for centuries – all over the world, they have... There is nowhere you could run and hide – that through their connections and such, they wouldn't find you – eventually.”

Kelsie's hackles down her neck prickled and she stepped even closer, backing Patrick up against the door, leaving him nowhere to move.

“Kelsie, please – listen to me! I can help you, protect both of you – only if you let me...”

Pete looked at Kelsie, who stared at Patrick, her eyes dark and almost soulless – like she was not listening at all anymore.

“Why...” Kelsie's low, threatening voice was barely heard, her ears going flat. “Would I ever trust you...”

Patrick swallowed, then maintaining eye contact with Kelsie, he put all the force and dominance he possessed into his voice.

“Because I'm your only hope...”

Kelsie stared at him; before her eyes swirled back to their normal brown and she took four steps backward, bowing her head in acquiescence.

“If Pete trusts you, I will extend the same courtesy – but I swear to you on my life, you try to betray us... There will be nowhere you will be able to run and hide...from me...”

Kelsie glared at Patrick; before she returned to Fawnie and led her sobbing fawn inside the house.

“I – apologize - “ Pete whispered, watching Kelsie and Fawnie leave, then shuddering. “I've never seen - “

Patrick exhaled and shuddered. “I have... she will grow up to be a dominant, assertive Doe in time. What I said is true, you know this – we haven't got much time left. You've got next to no idea I imagine – on how to fight in you...”

He gasped as Pete's eyes instantly went over to almost pure black in less than a heartbeat.

“He doesn't,” Come a low, menacing voice. “I do... Go...now...”

Swallowing nervously, Patrick almost leaped into his vehicle, before he reversed up with a spray of gravel and dust, then drove like the hounds of hell themselves were after him...

*

Pete walked into his shared home, his eyes returning to their normal brown; before he shook his antlered head and sighed softly.

“Kelsie, my love... it's alright, he's gone...” Pete called out, carefully navigating the hallway.

Kelsie's scent led to the bedroom, where she lay on the floor, the trembling Fawnie nursing from her teats. Kelsie looked up, then shuddered and glanced away.

“I know you...” Pete began, then a quick ear flick from Kelsie silenced him. “We'll talk later my love.”

Pete awkwardly climbed onto the bed, then lay down on his side, muttering and grumbling to himself, his antlers proving more frustrating than he'd realized.

“In a few months, they'll fall off - “ Kelsie spoke quietly. “You'll get used to them, or so I believe...”

“My inner self agrees with you, but – never-mind my love, how's Fawnie?”

Kelsie gently nuzzled their fawn, gazing down at her lovingly. “Hungry, scared and confused. To be expected, she... do we share some - “

Kelsie sighed and trembled involuntarily. Pete rolled over and awkwardly turned himself around, to look down at Kelsie and Fawnie.

“I don't know my dear, sweet Doe – I've never...well – been this before – its terrifying to me! I know that other side of me – of us – that we must control and never take our eyes off...”

Kelsie sniffled and looked away, her trembling growing exponentially.

“How we were – well - “ Pete sighed and rested his chin on the edge of the bed, confused and lost.

“Never give in to it my mate,” Kelsie whispered, gazing up at him. “I would rather - “

Kelsie opened her muzzle, showing her fangs, then closed them again. Pete shuddered and understood in that simple gesture, exactly what Kelsie had meant.

“As I would for you, my love – I swear. I do wonder though – about Fawnie. Does... is that inside her? Asleep or...aware and struggling or...”

Kelsie shuddered and nuzzled Fawnie again.

“My ancestral memories, they're just images, feelings, and occasionally, I can capture one to focus on it. I think; it sleeps until adolescence, within us. Maybe the changes from fawn to adulthood – trigger it? The emotional and physical changes – something like that...”

Pete frowned, pondering Kelsie's words for many minutes, his eyes gazing lovingly at Fawnie and Kelsie.

“I have no...memories, nothing to draw from – to help me to understand or...anything. My inner one is...”

“Never,” Kelsie whispered, as she nudged Fawnie, whose suckling eased to sporadic slurps as she started to nod off. “Turn your back Pete – it may seem acquiescent inside you – but it will always seek a way to overcome, to crush you – the sweet, gentle, lover and human I fell in love with? You'd be gone forever... Trapped in your own mind, powerless and helpless – beholden to its whims and desires – yet fully conscious of everything it did... and to who it did it...”

Kelsie's last words sent chills rippling down Pete's spine as he swallowed nervously and come to an unhappy conclusion.

“I will never turn my dear, sweet Kelsie, I promise – I would die to protect you both...”

Kelsie sniffled and looked away, before she rested her head on Fawnie's flank, her eyes closing as she tried to blink away the hot, salty tears that threatened to flow.

TO BE CONTINUED...