Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing {Open}

[Alana Vox]

The night was warm and slightly humid. Something this kitty did not particularly like. She was so used to the snow. She lived in it majority of her life. The environment change was definitely a shock to her system. But, she had made the choice to move. She was trying to remember her roots, remember what it was like to be human. She had been stuck so long in leopard form that she could only remember snippets of what it was like to be a human.

In the thick of brush, something whizzed by quickly. The feral eyes honed in on what had moved. She wanted to play with it, chase the creature. Her feet hit the ground swiftly, carrying her as gracefully as her cat form towards the fleeing animal.

It smelled like possum. She wasn’t hungry or she would go into leopard form to attack her prey. Nah, she felt like playing with it, is all.

She crashed through a line of trees, her wild, blonde tresses flaring out behind her. The clothing she wore didn't cover much of her. She really disliked being hindered down by it all. She had on some skimpy jean shorts and a tank top, but no shoes on her feet. She liked to feel the soft grass beneath them, tickling her toes.

To her astonishment she stumbled upon a great lake. It was surrounded by the forest. The moon’s glow shown down on it, reflecting beautifully, and she looked up at the stunning sight. It was nearly full, and it was almost calling her.

She didn’t get to see the moon so much in the thick of the snow. The sky was usually dreary and overcast, so seeing it in this form was amazing for her. She could barely take her eyes away from it.

Her hands reached up. The rings on her fingers and bracelets on her arm glitter under the night sky. She thought if she reached any higher she could touch it. She let out a little laugh of excitement. She wouldn’t mind bunking out under this beautiful sight. Her eyes traveled over the surrounding area. She lifted her nose to the air to see if she smelt something or someone near the area. She wanted to ensure her safety before she camped beneath this glowing bulb in the sky.

A smell hit her nostrils. It brought her head reeling in that direction. Her blue eyes narrowed and she let out a low growl, coming from the pit of her stomach.

One wrong move from whatever she smelled and she was going into her leopard form to attack. She was quick, very quick. It would happen in such a flash that she would have her perpetrator pinned before they knew what had happened.

Crouching down, while still growling low, she slowly moved towards the smell that had drifted to her from the breeze in the air. Her hands pressed down into the grass, moving so slowly that she barely made a sound. The only sound coming from her was the warning growl.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

Jacob was plagued by his reveries.
So much so that each evening he would awaken from nightmares; images of that night when hell literally broke loose and he slaughtered half of his tribe without so much as lifting a hand. The nightmares left him trembling and in a cold sweat, and he couldn’t force his eyes to close for fear he would have to relive the dream all over again.

And so the man did what he always did no matter what the time. He tugged on the pair of jeans hanging from the end of his hotel bed and pulled a crumbled white tee-shirt over his head, slid into a pair of sneakers and grabbed his sketch pad.
It was awfully muggy despite the early hours of the morning, but since the Native American had grown up in the swamps of Florida, this was something he was accustomed to.

Jacob kept his head low as he walked down the sidewalks still busy with people. He avoided eye contact with the locals and tourists that staggered drunkenly around the active down town area, hoping to evade any one that wanted to bend his ear. You see, the man was what you would call painfully introverted; he avoided any contact with people if at all possible.
But it wasn’t -all- shyness that kept Jacob from trying to make acquaintance with people.
He did it to keep those strangers out of harm's way; the man himself being the harm he hoped to keep them from.
The spirits that lived inside him and took form on his skin in the shape of several tattoos were malicious and protective. They saw humans as a threat to their host whether there was any real danger or not. They had no souls and so slaying innocent people was a sport to them. It was the only way they could feel alive. Jacob could barely contain them at times.

One would think that the man would simply have these tattoos removed; problem solved. He had on several occasions taking a blade to his own skin to get rid of them; but the ink was everlasting; sinking, it seemed, all the way down to the bone.

Jacob was determined to learn command of them, and if it meant spending years in perpetual solitude, then so be it.

The park was quiet this time of night as it usually was. Humans didn’t often wander into the dimly lit park unless they wanted solitude in order to do things they didn’t want others to see; having relations with a partner that wasn’t really theirs; sparking up a cigarette that had less that legal filling… Jacob had seen a lot, but who was he going to tell.

And so the Seminole found a huge Magnolia with limbs stretching up to the sky and settled at the base of the trunk. It was a very good spot. The large silver moon hung low and fat in the midnight blue sky which provided him with adequate light with which to draw.
And draw he did.
It was with an almost fevered eagerness that he moved the charcoal pencil across the crisp white paper; a scene of tranquility he wished he could feel within his own soul.

The man became lost in his drawing, only pausing when the sound of rustling grass and leaves drew his attention away from the sketch pad.
Following the shuffling sound came a low growl, and he narrowed his onyx eyes in order to focus on the noise. It sounded like an animal…but…different.

Leaving the sketchpad on the ground at his feet Jacob stood, balling his hands into fists and willing the tattoos to remain in their apparent slumber. He would handle whatever animal approached like a man. He didn’t want his nightmares to come to fruition this eve…

[Alana Vox]

Alana – this poor soul – had forgotten how to act around humans. She had lived as a leopard for so many years that the time spent with her real family felt like eons ago. She could see their faces, but she couldn’t make out the muffled sounds that came from their mouths.

The girl could be mistaken for a mute. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand some things people said to her but not everything. Her speech was still much like a young child. She couldn’t even recall things taught to her. The language seemed all a blur, except for some words here and there. She could say her name that was for sure, which was important to her. It was one small piece of the puzzle that she did recall from her human days.

She was not afraid of being alone in the wild, but the last ten years in Alaska had been spent living with other snow leopards. A small pack of them, but they had taken her in when she appeared only as a cub, so young, afraid, and wild. She had lived among them for so long that they had become an extension of who she was.

Deep down she knew her human side was still there, even after many years of staying in her leopard form. The human side of her was wild and a little reckless. It was being alone that she didn’t like. There were no leopards in the area to become close with, but that was partly why she was here. She was trying to access her human roots again, and the farther away from that other life she could get from, the better.

At this moment, she seemed to not understand the first thing about approaching a human. The wild had taught her to warn other creatures that crossed her path, which is what she was doing to this human that stood just on the other side of the bushes and trees.

He stood, making it easy for her to see him through the small cracks of leaves. Her blue eyes focused on his, watching him so intently. Her nostrils flared slightly as she continued to pick up the man’s scent. All the while she continued to crouch and growl, seemingly close to shifting into her leopard form.

But, she didn’t want to scare the man. He didn’t look all that dangerous from her perspective. There was something different in his scent, but she wasn’t sure what that was. He still smelt very much human to her.

She stood up as he looked around. Bringing a hand out, she pushed a branch aside and peeked through before stepping out from behind the foliage. Her blonde tresses were like a veil over one eye. She took one cautious step out towards him, not wishing to scare the man away. One bare foot moved after the other, moving with the feline grace that was imbedded in her.

With the sleekness of a predator heading for its prey, she honed in on her subject, except this one she didn’t want to eat. Nah, she just wanted to sniff him out then maybe play with him a little. She did love to play.

Then, abruptly and quite swiftly, she darted towards his backside. Her nose hit his shoulder then up to his neck and up through his hair. Her fingers brushed along the back of his scalp quickly as the leopard in her drank in his scent. It stuck heavily to the back of her tongue.

She followed the line of his shoulders until she was in front of him again. A hand came up to her chest, “Alana.” Then she brought that hand out to him and pushed against his chest, maybe a little to roughly, trying to get him to tell her his name.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

There wasn’t much Jacob was afraid of.
Animals especially caused the male the least amount of worry, for he lived with four of them trapped in his body.
The tattoos weren’t truly animals so to speak, but they took corporal form as such. A snake, a black panther, a scorpion, and a raven. The spirits had no bodies of their own, so when they felt threatened or felt the safety of their bodily host was in endangered, they became feral and uncontrollable with blood lust.

Pray you never saw them, for it wasn’t likely if you did that you would survive their wrath.

Jacob honestly just expected a raccoon, or at the very worst, an alligator. What he did not expect was the untamed female that pounced from the foliage; her roaming hands and face moving over his shoulders and the back of his neck, and up into his hair, drawing a quiet moan from him. She was like a blind woman trying to ‘see’ him through her nose and fingers.

The reticent male tensed at first, startled by her invasive fondling, and then as her hands tangled into his dark hair, he found himself oddly aroused by it.
His brow was etched deep with discomfiture when the blonde came around to his front and pounded her chest as she offered her name. If he had seen the movie Tarzan the resemblance to one of the opening scenes probably would have brought a chuckle from him, but as the Native American was raised in a purely traditional tribe, and had never even heard of the film, it caused him to frown instead.

“Jacob.” He answered huskily, a tentative hand going to his own muscled chest were her touch had seared him. He shifted back a step, nervous to keep such close distance lest she hear the thunderous pounding of his heart.
A notion struck him then, as he’d witnessed this kind of behavior once before when he was a little younger. The elders had called the woman a ‘simple child of the earth’, for even when she had gray hair she comprehended no more than a four year old.

“Are you lost? You shouldn’t be out here alone like this. It’s too dangerous.” Jacob glanced around the isolated woodland and then back to the female, taken aback when her azure eyes caught the silvery light of the moon and appeared to glow.
He cleared his throat and looked away, his cheeks tinting pink despite the dark tawny skin.
“Um…do you know where you live?”

[Alana Vox]

The woman felt the tenseness in Jacob’s shoulders as she passed by his backside, but it was normal behavior by most humans, something that she understood. She knew more about body language from other animals and humans more than she understood what they were trying to say. It was their language and culture that she hoped to better understand or maybe one day her memories of her childhood would come rushing back.

The scent coming off of Jacob was very intriguing to her. He smelled good. She liked it. The leopard in her did as well.

When he said his name, she tried to speak his name as well. “Jaay…cub.” Most of the time she butchered things that she tried to repeat, but she thought she had pronounced his name right. It was a fairly easy name to say. It only had two syllables. It was the words that had four or more syllables that she really battled with.

His questions though had the girl tilting her head with a confused look. She wished he could speak leopard. The conversation would be simple and easy for her, but that was why she uprooted herself. How else was she to learn her human side again? It was going to take some time and effort.

Out of every word he spoke she did understand one thing. Live. She lifted her hand out to grab his and pulled him towards the woods, indicating in that direction where her home was. “Live!”

Then she tugged him through the foliage towards the lake that was hidden behind it. The moon still shone just as beautifully on it. She lifted her silvery blue eyes towards it and gaped in awe at it.

Letting go of Jacob’s hand she ran over to the lake and crouched down next to it. “Live!” She said again, showing him that she had abundance of water to sustain her there as well. Then she spoke the next word that seemed more fitting, maybe to give him a better understanding. “Home.”

One leg dropped down to the ground while still in a crouched position. She swiveled on it to turn and look at the man. He was a very good looking human. She was over swept with desire, something she’d never felt before. It seemed to make her feel confused. Yet, it made her feel a little on the playful side.

She shot up, ran what little space between them and pounced onto the man, bringing him to the ground. Her cheek rubbed up against his, letting out a soft purr then pressed her nose against his neck. She was back to sniffing him again. Her tangled locks fell over his face, engulfing him in them.

It was really comforting for her to finally meet someone. Hanging out in the woods alone with no pack was very lonely for her. There had been times that she wasn’t always with her small pack back home, that she considered as her leopard family, but majority of the time they were always together. Each night they all slept in a huddle like any feline family would.

She wondered what it would take to get the man to snuggle with her under the stars. It would be nice to have the extra body heat while she slept, not to mention the comfort of home from having another warm blooded figure next to her.

Even if she did want that she had no way of expressing what she wanted. Though, she came up with this bright idea that if he tried to leave that she’d show her dominant leopard side and keep the man pinned. That should keep him there.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

You've got your ball
you've got your chain
tied to me tight tie me up again

who's got their claws
in you my friend
Into your heart I'll beat again

Jacob searched Alana’s face for any sign of recognition, but found none and his heart sank like that big blue diamond in the ocean. She was worse off than he had originally assumed; seemingly unfamiliar with even the most simple of statements.
The words lost and dangerous meant nothing to her, and from the way she’d all but thrown her arms around him, the female was probably thrusting of any stranger she came across. Despite the way it softened his heart, it was -very- bad news.

Ever since arriving in the bayou town, Jacob had found New Orleans to be a virtual melting pot of different sins. There was blatant fighting on the streets outside of bars, people stumbling around (and in some cases driving) so intoxicated they couldn’t see, women on the corners selling their ‘wares’ to the highest bidder, and more than a few shady characters that would assault a helpless female to take her money and leave her bleeding out in a damp alley.
Not that Alana likely had any money. From the looks of her tousled hair and clothes and dirt smudged cheek, the woman probably hadn’t seen the inside of a bank in years, if at all.

That wasn’t even touching on the eerie sense of malice he felt blanketing the city at times; as if a tremendous evil lurked in every shadow…

But when the blonde suddenly understood what he’d said, tugging the male deeper into the great park, Jacob found himself some what reassured. She -did- understand him and she -did- have a home.

That feeling of reassurance was short lived when they approached the bank of a glistening lake that Lana referred to as her home.
Her beguiling face lit up like the brilliant sun; the corners of her lips curving up a pretty mouth that Jacob found something of a wonder; -her smile-.
It was a sight that easily compared to the beautiful seraph statues that stood ever silent in the St. Louis Cemetery he was so fond of sketching.

For a moment the man was speechless, not quiet understanding how to help, but desperate to do something for her.
The thought occurred to Jacob that the authorities could help. Maybe if he took her to the police station she would appear on some missing persons list. Maybe somewhere a mother, a father, or a sibling was still hopeful that their loved one would be found…

Jake’s thoughts were interrupted when Lana suddenly came crashing into him, knocking him to the ground.
Her intimate nuzzling of his cheek and neck were almost animalistic in nature, and though his first instinct was to throw her off, Jacob froze, clenching his jaw as a wave of heat surged through him. Unbidden, the male’s body hardened, and a low moan was torn from his throat as he clenched his fingers around her hips and let his head fall back against the dewy grass.

It was…wrong!

Though the pressure of her body against his and the sensation of the affectionate invasion felt more ethereal than anything he’d ever experienced before, Jacob knew he couldn’t let his desires rule his actions. She was innocent…didn’t know what she was doing to him…it was something he had to stop NOW.

Tightening his hands around her waist, he gently pushed up until he was sitting and was able to shift her beside him. Running a trembling hand through his black hair, Jacob shook his head and let out a ragged sigh.
“What are you doing, Lana…you can’t do that…” He drew in a breath and forced himself to stand, cocking his head toward the way they had come. “Come with me. We’re going to find someone that can help you.”

[Alana Vox]

The petite female was content to stay where she was, snuggled up against this man, taking in his scent and heat, and from his initial reaction she thought he had felt the same way. The groan that fell from his lips had her pushing her nose behind his ear, purring softly. That was until he was sitting up and pushing her aside. It was an unexpected motion that had her looking at him with a perplexed look.

His words had her tilting her head, yet again. She couldn’t make out everything. She understood the words come and help. It wasn’t until he mentioned help that she was pursing her lips with confusion. What exactly did he want to help her with? She couldn’t ask, and she couldn’t quite understand everything he said.

She rolled to her feet quickly and leaned down to take his hand. This woman was probably as pure as they came. She had lived among leopards for so long that she didn’t understand her human side. It made it difficult for her to understand the English language, but some words she did mange to pick up. Like come and help.

She didn’t know what he wanted to help with. Food? A place under the stars? A comfy sleep partner for the night? That was right up her alley. She loved to snuggle. It was the feline part of her.

She tugged him up off of his feet. Her mouth shifted into a small smile, a show of trust to allow him to do whatever it was he wanted to help with. That was how she was. She would completely trust him until that trust was destroyed. Trust was something hard to come by with this little leopard, but once someone gained it they had a pal for life. She was that loyal.

If she knew he wanted to take her somewhere to try and find her family that trust she had in him right now would be undeniably lost. She didn’t want to be found, not until she learned the human part of herself. Plus, if he took her to the police in this condition they would send her off to a lab to be tested on. She didn’t want that. That would be pure torture for someone as free spirited as her self.

But, she didn’t know that that was what the man was thinking, so she held his hand and would let him lead her to wherever it is he wanted to go. She was naïve in her human form, but in her leopard form she knew all the rules and ways of the land.

Her fingers tensed in his hand briefly as she waited for him to move. Once he got them to wherever or whatever then she might understand what he wanted to help with, but until that point she had no clue what he was going on about.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

Shes a wild one with an angels face
A woman-child in a state of grace

Jacob swallowed thickly, not wanting to get up from the cool ground lest the blonde see just how stimulated the sensual stroking had made him.
There hadn’t ever been a woman that had done that to him. No women had ever even been as close. Having been so withdrawn, the females in his tribe had always kept an arms length…out of reverence or, perhaps out of uneasiness. Jacob wasn’t always the easiest person to have a conversation with.

But when she held her hand out to him as if in assistance, the male knew it was too late to turn back. He had been the one to suggest they leave, and so he stood, dropping one hand in front of the straining zipper, and taking the one that was held out to him, casting an uncomfortable glance the way they had come to avoid her eyes.
He cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, finally lifting his obsidian gaze to her guileless face.

“It’s late but I’m sure there’s a place where we can get you something to eat…okay?” He asked diffidently, lifting his hand to rub absently at the back of his neck. “That is if you’re hungry…which…you’re probably hungry…” As the blonde merely stared at him as if he was speaking another language, Jacob continued out of need to fill the silence. Her unfathomable azure stare was so intensely childlike that it made him ashamed of the way his body had reacted to her primal investigation of him.
“You’ll be able to use the restroom there to get cleaned up. Then we’ll eat and get you to the police station to see if anyone is looking for you…which I’m sure there is.”

The Native American tugged her gently back whence they came; pausing for a moment to pick up the sketch pad he had dropped before. Tucking it under one arm he continued to guide her until they were back out on the bustling city sidewalk where the harsh street lamps further emphasized her wild appearance. “How long have you been lost?” He wondered out loud as his onyx orbs took in her tousled hair and clothes that were tattered and soiled.

The all night all-you-can-eat Mexican food buffet was located only a few short blocks from the park, and was a place that Jacob had taken advantage of quite a few times since arriving in the city. It was easy on the wallet, especially for a man who had more fuzz in his pockets than he did bills.
He furrowed his brow and tugged absently at his bottom lip with his teeth when he realized she wasn’t wearing shoes, but shrugged, deciding it was so dimly lit in there they wouldn’t even notice. Besides, whether he wanted to admit it or not, the revealing tank top and shorts the female wore presented such a great distraction, he was sure they wouldn’t be looking at her feet.

“Ah…there’s the bathroom.” Jacob pointed out the door with the little stick woman in a dress sign hanging on it, and then nodded to the tables. “I’ll go ahead and get us a booth.”

Not waiting to see if the woman knew what to do with the bathroom (because who didn’t know what to do in there) Jacob went on toward a booth at the back of the joint.

[Alana Vox]

Alana was far from oblivious to the emotions going through Jacob. She could smell it on him, but to say that she understood it was whole different story. She had never been attracted to anyone before, so even as she felt her first stirrings of desire towards this man she didn’t quite understand it all. It was foreign for her. She didn’t mind the feelings so much either. It reminded her that she was still part human.

Her silvery blue gaze shifted over his face, trying to understand what he was saying by looking at his facial expressions, but nothing gave hint to what he was trying to explain. The only word she understood was eat, so she nodded with a happy smile. The rest of what he was saying about the restroom and getting cleaned up meant nothing to her. She, frankly, didn’t understand any of it, but hopefully that would change down the road.

He tugged her towards where they had met to grab something. She leaned forward and peeked at the sketch pad with an intrigued gaze. She didn’t know what it was and tilted her head as he tucked it under one arm. Then he was off tugging her down the street again. Her eyes traveled all around, taking in different sights. It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen it all when she came to the park to have a place to sleep, but she had lived in the wild so long that it was still taking some time to get used to all the buildings and the cold concrete beneath her feet.

Her eyes traveled down to look at her feet as she walked, thinking it felt unusual this straight slab of rock beneath her feet. Her eyes traveled over Jacob’s shoes and all the way up to his head. He was so clean and immaculate, nothing like how she must look. It made her feel out of place. As he voiced another question she didn’t understand, she just looked at him with this confused look.

When they came to a building, she was tugged inside. Her eyes went wide with astonishment. There were tables all around with people eating. The smell of the Mexican food hit her nostrils and her stomach growled in protest. She acted as if it wasn’t even there. It was not unusual for her to go days without eating, so she knew how to cope with hunger pains.

Still holding his hand she looked towards the door he was pointing at. What was that? Did he want her to go in there to…sit and eat? She let his hand go and headed towards the door, which took her a minute to even figure out how to open. Once inside she blinked at what was there. What was this stuff? She went to the sink pressing and touching things, until she figured out how to turn on the water. When the water gushed from the faucet she let out an excited glee. Then she went to every sink that lined the wall and turned the water on full blast. This was amazing.

To follow after would be the sounds of flushing. It all was turning out to sound like some strange watery musical as she went from stall to stall just to flush each toilet. There was toilet paper pulled from the rolls, which she found extremely fascinating, for some reason. It kept rolling all this paper onto the floor.

It was when the door opened and someone walked in giving her an incredulous look. Alana got excited and pointed at the toilet, flushing it again. She was so excited by the contraptions inside that she wanted to show someone. The woman stepped out and called out to the manager that he might want to go get the crazy woman out of the bathroom.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

Jacob felt a little pang of guilt as he made his way to a booth in the back corner of the dive. Leaving the child-like woman to her own devices seemed like a bad idea, but what was he supposed to do? Follow in after her and cause a scene with the possible women that might be in there? Or maybe take her into the pee-stinking men’s room so that the other males could gawk at her state of undress. No way. Just the thought of Lana’s bare feet on the sticky floor made him queasy, especially when he passed by the steaming buffet table of Mexican food.

The male shuffled into the hulking leather booth and plucked the plastic menu out from behind the condiment bottles, letting his eyes wander over the vibrant colored images. His stomach growled and let his hand fall down to it, embarrassed over the gaseous noise even though there was only -him- there to hear it.
When a petite dark haired woman appeared beside the table Jacob jumped a little in surprise, his cheeks flushing slightly and a mortified smile crossing his face.

‘You would like a drink?’ She asked in broken English, starting to remove the extra silverware that was opposite him.

“Uh…yeah. Water please.” He answered sheepishly, reaching out to place his hand over the next set of fork and knife the waitress was about to take. “And you can leave that. I’m waiting for someone. I mean, I’m with someone…I mean…she’s in the bathroom.”
The male brought the hand up to his forehead in embarrassment, letting out a heavy exhalation. “Can you bring her a water too?” He finally said, unable to look the little woman in the eye.

‘Si, senor. There are plates at the buffet.’ The Spanish woman let out a little snicker as she made her way back to the kitchen, and it was only then did Jacob finally lift his eyes from a sticky spot on the table. Damn it. Why did his foot always get stuck in his mouth? It wasn’t like she was trying to goad some secret out of him. She was just taking his drink order for Heavens sake!

Resting one elbow on the table and his head in his hand, Jacob decided the best thing to do was get this over with so he could go back to the safety of his solitude. There had been -way- too much human interaction for his liking and it was getting harder and harder to deal with.

After a few minutes of idly sketching in his pad the waitress returned with two glasses of water and Jake realized Lana was taking much longer than he thought she would. How long did it take to use the bathroom and wash your face and hands?
Panic struck his dark eyes when he overheard a woman leaving the toilet call the manager over for intervention. It seemed as though Lana was making some kind of commotion in there.
Immediately he shot up and hurried towards them, stalling the supervisor just before the man went in.

“Wait, she’s fine…she’s just...” He blinked, struggling for an excuse for the wild woman’s behavior. “She’s not feeling well.” Yeah, okay…that didn’t sound too bad.
“Let me get her. She just needs to eat something. She’ll be fine.”

Deciding not to wait for an answer from the male that was eyeing him like he was the crazy one, Jake pushed through the swinging door and grasped Lana’s hand, pulling her out and towards the buffet.
“I guess you’re worse off than I thought.” He said more to himself than to her. The man picked up one of the warm white porcelain plates and handed it to her, taking one up for himself and starting to make little piles of food on it. “The quicker we eat, the sooner we’ll get you some help. You like enchiladas?”
He asked her as he paused with the spatula over the oozing cheese tortillas.

[Alana Vox]

The shifter was so intrigued by the bathroom that when Jacob came in she pointed excitedly at the toilet, trying to get him to look at these marvelous contraptions. Her finger kept jabbing at the stall for him to come and look. His hand came down onto hers to lead her out, but she faced the bathroom, pointing at it as he tugged her out. It had been so fascinating that she didn’t want to leave. When she looked back at his face, she looked at it with a confused expression. He didn't look as excited. She was reading it as more of a frustrated expression, but she didn't know why.

Her bare feet padded against the floor. She looked down at the cool stone then back around her. She didn’t know what to make of this place. The buffet table was not something she understood. Her blue eyes stared down at the food, unsure of it. That was nothing she’d ever seen before. She was used to catching her food in the wild.

She looked up at Jacob with a shocked expression. She had no idea what he was saying, but this place he had brought her to was definitely strange. Her fingers grasped the warm plate, staring at it with a fascinated look. She twisted the plate around trying to figure out how and why it was so warm.

One good thing, she was capable of understanding and learning. She watched Jacob put food on his plate and followed him, stacking some for herself. Her stomach growled at all the wonderful smells. This was truly going to be quite an experience for her.

She didn’t wait to taste it though. Her fingers grabbed a pinch of rice between them and put it in her mouth. It was something she’d never tasted before. Her eyes went wide with shock and she grabbed for some more. He was asking her about enchiladas, which she had no idea what he was speaking of. Her eyes followed to where he was grabbing one though, and she shoved her plate out to him.

When they made their way to the table, she sat down right next to him, squeezing up close to him on the booth. She tilted her head, watching him use his utensils. She grabbed the fork like he did and spun it around, unable to identify the object. Her blue eyes stared at his hands and try to follow him, but have trouble with it as she stabs the fork into the food. When it comes back empty she stabs the fork at it again. She does this a few times before slamming the fork down onto the table with a clang while a frustrated look came across her face. She disliked feeling incapable of taking care of her self.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

Jacob was relieved that Lana had a handle on what to do at the buffet. Initially he’d been afraid that she would go monkey-style and start flinging food at people sitting across at the other booths, but she caught on quick, copying his every move (unless they had the EXACT same taste in Mexican foods) and then following him like a good girl back to the table.

She slid in beside him, too close in fact, and the reticent man scooted up to the wall as much as his big body would allow, his cheeks flaming from the close contact with the under dressed and overly affectionate female. He did his best to ignore the way her smooth thigh rubbed his jean clad one, and the occasion brush of her breast against his arm. Instead he focused on the steaming cheese enchilada on the plate before him, shoveling it into his mouth without even taking a second to blow on it.

Hot! Hot! Too hot!

Jacob coughed and spat the food back out, downing half of his water and then groaning at what a mistake he’d made thinking tonight would be nice and quiet and without incident. So far he’d been molested by a mentally challenged woman and gotten a hard-on from it, almost gotten thrown out of an all-you-can-eat buffet, and now the top of his mouth was going to be blistered. What was next? If it started raining acid he was totally going back to his hotel and was locking the door for the next week. Maybe more.

Jake sank down into the cushy leather seat a bit and started moving the food around his plate as he blew across it. When the steam seemed to have dispersed he began forking different dishes, a low moan of pleasure escaping him at how rich and delicious it was.
He didn’t even notice the trouble the blonde was having at first; that is until she slammed her fork down with an exasperated expression across her pretty face.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” Jacob blinked, tilting his head to the side a little as he looked at her untouched food. It took him a minute to register that she might not have the hand eye coordination it would take to feed herself, but once he had, his tan face flushed again, and he rubbed the back of his neck absently.

“Oh, I get it.” He told her and chewed his bottom lip. “Here…like this...”
The man proceeded to pull her plate towards him, lifting up one of the soft tacos she had showing her how to fold it up so the meat didn’t fall out and lifting it to his lips. “And then you angle your head a little like…” Jacob tilted his head so that the taco was just so that if the filling did fall out it would land in his mouth. “And then you bite.”
He finished with a fake chomp on the rolled tortilla before putting it back on her plate and pushing it towards her, shoveling her spoon across the beans and tucking it onto the edge. “And the spoon is a lot easier than the fork.”

[Alana Vox]

Alana looked over at Jacob as he started to cough, hacking his food back out. Her eyes went wide and she leaned down, sniffing her plate of food. She thought that maybe it was bad or it could have been poisoned! She had seen in the wild many traps that human’s had left with food they had poisoned. It had always made her wary of what she was consuming.

She watched him curiously as he sunk down and started blowing on the food. Her blue eyes shifted back to her plate that was still untouched. The moan that escaped his mouth had her peering back at him again. The pleasure was apparent as he took another bite of food. Her mouth watered for the food and him, except she was still unsure what was making her body react so differently towards him.

When he looked over at her, after being completely exasperated with trying to use a utensil, she turned her eyes away from him. She felt weak in his world. Maybe the wild was her calling. When he asked her what was wrong, she gave no reply as she knew not what he was saying.

She had just come to the conclusion that she was going to shovel the food in her mouth by hand when he spoke again. She glanced over at him as he pulled her plate towards him. Her eyes were intent on watching him lift up the taco to his mouth without losing its contents. Then he showed her how to use a spoon, which she thought looked simple, but everything looked simple until she tried it.

With an exasperated sigh, she tugged her plate back towards her and grabbed the taco as he instructed. She folded the shell around the meat and brought it to her mouth, taking a small bite. The taste was amazing. It was nothing she had ever experienced before. Her eyes shot open and she nearly lost that careful hold on the taco as she shoveled it into her mouth hungrily.

After the taco was gone she used the spoon to shovel some beans and rice into her mouth, until she was full. The spoon had made the task a lot easier. She sat back with a satisfied look and stretched her arms above her head, giving a feline sounding yawn. After such a filling meal she would have passed out wherever she slept for the night.

Scooting a little closer to Jacob, she dropped her head to his shoulder and let her eyes fall shut. Her arms slid around his middle as she snuggled close, completely invading his personal space, yet again. She didn’t know any better. Touching was a natural thing felines did between one another.

[Jacob Blackfeather]

Jacob couldn’t help but smile when Lana bit into the taco, and her face lit up like the sky during a lightning storm. It was if she had never tasted spicy Mexican food before, which, really, he hadn’t either until about a month ago. The male watched in amusement as she proceeded to finish the rolled meat filled tortilla in a few bites, and then went on to shovel up the rest of her plate with the enthusiasm of a kid opening wrapped packages on her birthday.

Letting out an amused chuckle, Jacob shook his head and went back to his own food, which thankfully had cooled enough it wouldn’t burn the roof of his mouth further. It was strange; sitting in silence and sharing a meal with a female he’d met less than an hour before, but oddly enough, the usually tentative man began to feel more comfortable with her.

When he’d eaten to his fill Jacob leaned back in the leather back booth to digest the meal. A soft mewing sound from the blonde brought another smile to his face, which was quickly replaced with an uncomfortable frown when she decided to use his shoulder for a pillow and wrap her arms around his middle. Gods! Who was this quixotic woman?!
“Uh…Lana?” He whispered awkwardly, stiffening when he heard her breathing slow as if she had truly fallen asleep. Blinking his wide coal black eyes in confusion and discomfiture, the cursed human wasn’t exactly sure how to react to her cuddling. It only reminded him that he needed to get her to the police station, and fast, before she did anything else that made him this uncomfortable.

Shifting a little, Jacob meant to shake her awake, but the sound of gentle snoring took him by surprise. Without thinking better of it he snaked his arm around her body, holding her against him while he listened curiously to the sound of her breathe. It was…altogether disturbing as much as it was strangely relaxing. This woman who knew no boundaries actually brought on an odd sense of peace within the man.

When the waitress came to refill their glasses the tiny Spanish woman gave Jacob a flabbergasted glare. She shuffled quickly back to the kitchens, stopping to gossip with another waitress, who looked at back at the booth in incredulity as well. Chewing on his lower lip, Jacob gently jostled the blonde female until her eyes fluttered open, and then used his body to coax her out of the booth. “Sorry Lana…you can’t sleep here. I know a place they’ll probably let you nap while they look for your family, okay?”

When they stood, Jacob pulled a few crumbled bills from his pocket and left them on the table top, picked up his sketch pad and then grabbed his water. His mouth was dry as a bone, most likely from nervousness, and he downed the icy liquid in two seconds flat.
Putting a hand to the blonde’s back to lead to the front of the restaurant, he stopped to pay the cashier, and then continued on until they were back outside.
He narrowed his eyes as he took in the street names; trying to remember which direction he’d seen the station. A light of remembrance lit his onyx gaze when he suddenly recalled, quickly guiding the woman on foot two blocks over.

The police station was quiet save a few women dressing more shamelessly than Lana, who were making a commotion as two uniformed officers led them inside. Jacob followed quietly behind them, shuffling past to make his way to the front check in desk.

“Hey.” He said awkwardly to the male behind the counter, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. “I ah…found this woman in the park. I think she’s either suffered some kind of head injury or is…you know…” He leaned in to whisper so not to offend Alana, “Mentally Handicapped or something. She says she lives in the park and acts like she’s never used a public restroom before. Maybe you can help her find her family or where she really lives?”

[Alana Vox]

Alana had just gotten comfortable, or so it seemed that way to her, when Jacob jostled her awake. She let out a small yawn, still wrapped comfortably near the man. He had an arm around her now, which made her want to go back to sleep. Her eyes started to drift back closed when he nudged her upwards while trying to get her out of the booth. She slid out with a tired wobble and lifted her arms up into the air with a huge stretch.

She brought her tired gaze back onto Jacob as he guzzled down a glass of water. Suddenly her mouth watered for a sip of the cool liquid, but her thoughts were interrupted when Jacob brought a hand onto her back and lead her to the front where he stopped to pay the cashier. She looked down at the green bills he gave to the woman, unsure what it was they were exchanging.

Then they were back on the move. She stepped outside and brought her hands up for another tired stretch. She thought they were going to go back to the park. That was where she slept. She had nowhere else to go, but he continued to coax her down a different path.

In what seemed only minutes they were entering another building. Her eyes darted around the interior, but her instinct to run rose as soon as her nose was hit with a variant of smells. The strongest one that worried her the most was the smell of gunpowder. She had been shot at many times by humans. Immediately she pictured all the police officers as hunters. It put her completely on edge.

Jacob spoke to the officer behind the desk. She didn’t know what he said because she was too frightened to try and understand the words being passed between them. She turned a panic look towards Jacob as the officer at the front desk came around to speak with her. Of course, it started out simple to Jacob and the officer. He started asking her many questions, as well as contact info from Jacob.

“What’s your name?” The officer asked her. Afraid of what would happen if she didn't tell them, she replied meekly. “Alana.” He grabbed her finger to press it against an ink pad and ran a scan on her fingerprint. He waited a few moments as the database scanned for any known matches. “Hmm…” He stared at the computer screen. “She isn’t coming up anywhere in the system.”

Alana pulled back from the officer, staring down at her inked finger. She did not want any of these hunters knowing a thing about her. Shit started to go down when the officer reached out to grab her by the arm, trying to keep her near him. He gave a smile to Jacob, “We’ll take it from here. We’ll contact you if needed.”

The poor shifter was on full panic mode at this point. She turned to jerk from the officer. “Jacob!” She reached for him. Her hand came down on Jacob's to grasp it, but the officer brought both his hands onto her shoulders and gave her a nudge towards a separate room behind the front desk to question her and try to figure out where they should place her.

The frantic woman couldn’t take it any longer. She lunged at the officer and it sent them both to the floor. The sounds of clothes ripping as well as a loud roar echoed through the station as Alana shifted into her leopard form. She was harmless, usually. The only time she had ever attacked a human was when they had tried to kill her, even then she didn’t kill. She would let them free in hopes that they had learned their lesson.

The sounds of officers yelling penetrated her thoughts. She leapt from the man she was on, straight over the counter. Another sound echoed through the station, the sound of a gun firing. Alana yelped as the bullet hit her flank and sent her roughly to the floor with a loud thud. Slowly, she wobbled back to her feet and growled while limping her way to the exit. The screams and smell of fear had her even more panicked. She had to get out of there.

The snow leopard turned her blue eyes onto Jacob, pinning him with them. He looked completely frightened of her, or maybe it was just the general gunfire inside the station. Her eyes looked at him sadly. She felt betrayed by him. It was enough with the looks though. She had to get out of there before another shot was fired at her, but luckily the officers were too worried about shooting other humans in the process.

She was almost to the exit when a sound rang through the air, something similar to gunfire, but it wasn’t. Something sharp penetrated the same flank that the bullet had. She yelped again and tumbled to the floor on her side. A whimper sounded from the leopard’s throat. She tried to get up again, but her body felt heavy. Her eyes started to droop as the tranquilizer started to take effect.

There was heavy footfall all around her as the uniformed officers started to swarm her. As she slipped into unconsciousness her body slipped back into her human form. The wounded woman lay on the floor in the nude.

One of the officers yelled back at someone to call the lab and pick this one up.