Edited by KitWulf                                       12-12-2020

*

The pain had gotten worse now that the adrenaline had almost entirely left her body. Her chest was burning as she slowly got back up onto all fours when she heard something or someone approaching the cave she was hiding in.

She hadn't gotten far when the pain became too much, forcing her to find a place to lay low and assess her injuries. Nathan had done a good number on her; the gashes in her face were deep, her left shoulder had sustained some major damage, but it was hard to tell if things were broken, torn, or just bruised, and her ribcage was another matter. Azura knew she was lucky one of her lungs didn't collapse when Nathan had collided with her. For the rest, there were mostly bite marks and scratches varying in depth and length over her body. The more shallow ones had already started healing but it would take a while for all of them to heal over. Azura chuffed in dismay as she found a bald spot on her tail where Nathan had managed to pull out all the fur. It would all grow back though.

As the noise grew closer she knew she'd be discovered, although she hadn't expected anything else. Azura turned to face the entrance and lowered herself on her haunches while puffing up her fur. She opened her muzzle slightly and without much trouble, felt the flames stir up again in her mouth. Her left shoulder started to hurt but she kept her pose, ready to attack if needed. It didn't take long for another snow leopard to appear at the entrance. He was about to move in when he noticed her, flames dripping out of her mouth, ready to strike. She growled, warning him to stay away and she noticed the slight hesitation as he stared at her. In response to her growling, he started to chuff. A sound that was normally made to make sure others know he wasn't a threat. Azura stopped growling and carefully examined him before a familiar scent hit her nose.

Lucas.

Relief washed over her and she immediately dropped her guard. Lowering her head straight away, the flames disappeared and she chuffed back to let him know it was okay to enter. Azura still stood her ground though as he walked in. Every other normal day she would've gone all excited over him finally being in snow leopard form but now that all seemed irrelevant. She just observed him as she had observed Nathan. Assessing his fitness, strengths, and weaknesses. Despite not doing it on purpose, she had pinpointed his biggest weakness almost straight away; he was not comfortable in this form. Biggest strength; his size.

Even though he was a bit smaller than Nathan, he was still a lot bigger than she was. Her heart was racing as he stood before her. She knew he would not hurt her, but she couldn't shake that tiny voice in her head claiming he was angry at her. She had been foolish by taking off the ring and exposing herself. Let alone the fact she still felt unsure about them spending the night together. All she knew was she messed up everything.

Right as she wanted to look up he placed his forehead against hers and emitted a low purr. The purr resonated through his body and she could feel herself calm down instantly. Through it, she felt his steady and calm heartbeat and noticed her heart was calming down, following the same rhythm. They stayed like that for a few minutes before he removed his head from hers and proceeded to lick her muzzle and head, cleaning off some of the blood that had dried in her fur. He would sometimes stop licking and simply rub his head against hers showing his affection to her. Her muscles went rigid with his actions, trying to comprehend what he was doing. This was something she had never experienced. Wolves would only lick each other's muzzle as a sign of submission, but he was doing everything except that. He was doing it to gain her trust and socialize and somehow she had recognized it.

She flinched as he gently touched her shoulder with his head. If he had noticed, he didn't let it show as he moved next to her and stroked past her side. Azura yowled softly as a sharp pain erupted in her chest. Her ribs were heavily bruised, maybe one or two even broken. She tried to hold it back, not wanting to show that she was actually hurt, but failed as the sharp stab of pain made her stumble to the side. She managed to stay upright but Lucas had noticed and stepped away from her.

He cocked his head to the side as he examined her with his eyes. The green of his eyes almost seemed to illuminate the cave. It was so bright Azura could hardly take her own eyes away. Chuffing softly, Lucas laid down next to her and nudged her to do the same. When she obliged he started to shift. The cracking of bones had Azura yelp in surprise as she had not expected him to do that. Eyes wide, she watched the transformation of the man before her from wild cat to human happen in less than a minute before she got herself together and prepared herself to shift back too.

"Don't shift!" His voice still a bit strained, he coughed right after he said it.

Azura bared her teeth at the naked human before her for scolding her but he ignored it as he sat down next to her and carefully examined the deep scratches on her face and other visible wounds. It wasn't long before he started to shiver from the cold and Azura noticed. She wrapped her tail around him and focused to try and create a heat shield around them.

"I don't know what you're doing but it works." He smiled at her as he felt the comfortable warmth embrace him.

He carefully moved his hands across her ribcage trying to find out how bad the injuries were. The claw marks on her face were deep but would heal without leaving a scar probably. The same went for the shoulder where claw and bite marks were present. As he finished his quick examination he sat down next to her and gently leaned against her body.

"You'll live. You're going to be black and blue for a while though."

He scratched the top of her head which resulted in her starting to purr softly. Lucas let out a chuckle as he felt her body start to resonate.

"Now that you're relaxed... We need to talk. Well, I'll do the talking, you just listen and try not to bite my head off." She flicked the tip of her bushy tail in his face. He just carelessly wiped it away and continued as if nothing happened though his voice took a more serious tone.

"I really don't know where to begin so bear with me. First of all, how on earth did you never tell me about this?" He looked at her from head to toe while moving his hands around in the air pointing at her. "I know Nicolai told you to keep it a secret but still. You confided in me with everything else." He remained quiet for a second while Azura had placed her head on her front paws while keeping an eye on him.

"Wait... I know what you want to say... I never asked," He exclaimed with a heavy sigh as his fingers absentmindedly combed through her fur. "The same lame excuse I used with you."

He facepalmed himself and shook his head. "Even if you can't talk back you still win. Apology accepted, miss." She growled and hit him in the face again with her tail making sure he knew she didn't agree with his methods. He let out a short laugh and crawled against her body a bit closer. Azura made sure to keep her eyes either on his face, or anywhere else to avoid staring at his very naked form. Yes, she had seen him before naked, but that had been different and she was still at odds with herself about the whole subject. As soon as he relaxed again he continued speaking.

"So second topic. You're terrifying. Stunning when the Phoenix showed itself but terrifying. I think you surprised everyone with that little act and I'm very glad you managed to control yourself enough that you didn't snap his neck. To be honest, I believed you'd be a goner the moment I saw you down there. I was convinced Nathan would either kill you, or you would kill him which would result in you being killed off as retaliation. It scared me... You scared me." Lucas gulped as he repositioned again. "You have no idea how important you have become in my life, Azu. As a friend or as..." She raised her head in surprise and felt her body stiffen as he did not finish the last sentence. He avoided looking at her directly and just stared at the entrance as he remained silent for a while. As he spoke up again, his voice sounded a bit blander.

"We should get going. Topic number three can be discussed later plus that one might be easier if you can actually talk back. Ben, the mayor of the city, wants to see you. He's not such a bad guy even though you probably don't like him very much now. He didn't say when he wanted to see you though, so I suggest we go home and get some rest. You need some time to heal anyway. Do you think you can walk?"

As soon as she closed her eyes and slowly got up, he shifted back to his snow leopard taking her standing up as a signal she was good. Her tail flicked from side to side in agitation but if he'd seen it, he again didn't show it. The male snow leopard walked out into the sun and waited for her to join him before setting off.

Lucas had to hold back on his tempo as Azura was slow to follow. She had a slight limp but she mostly didn't want to walk right next to him. The way he had avoided that what was on her mind the most made her feel worried. It didn't match with the physical signs he had given her. Hell, he had just sat beside her naked talking and touching her as if it was the most normal thing to do. She kept her head down all the way as she followed him back. Every time he would move too fast, she yelped at him so he slowed down or stopped so she could catch up.

When they reached the top of the cliff Lucas was glad to see Rose had done what he had asked her. There was a bundle of clothes for Azura and next to it, were his clothes neatly folded with his keys on top. Everyone was gone, but if you looked down, you could still clearly see the spot where Azura had fought Nathan. Azura was right behind him and was looking at the two piles of clothes. With a shake of his head, he joined her and shifted back to human form. Azura had turned around and he got dressed. As he was done he called out to her and spoke up.

"Please be-" She shifted. "-careful when you shift." She screamed, clutched her ribcage and had bitten the inside of her cheek.

She spat out some blood as she tried to breathe. She'd managed to stay on her hands and knees but it didn't come easy. It had felt like her bones had broken themselves and realigned in their new positions. Every rib in her body had cracked and repositioned itself as she had changed form. It normally wouldn't hurt, but now that she was beaten up, it had. And it did not feel like anything she had ever experienced before. Even if some ribs weren't broken before, now they would be. It was hard to breathe, every intake of air burned, every time her chest would expand it felt like it would explode. Black spots started to dance in front of her eyes. She coughed, more blood spattered on the snow below. Which part of her body gave out first was unclear to herself as her arms wavered and her mind just blanked out.

*

Her right arm swayed gently from side to side in unison with his steps. Her head rested on his chest as it slowly bobbed up and down. He approached the city with Azura in his arms. She softly groaned and her eyelids started to flutter. Lucas looked down with a small smile on his face, happy to see her slowly waking up again. She opened her eyes and groaned again as she felt the pain in her ribs again. Although now it was a whole lot more bearable than it had been when she had shifted.

"Welcome back."

Hearing his voice snapped her out of her world of pain and into reality. She was wearing clothes and being carried. Confused she looked up at Lucas who just grinned at her.

"I tried to warn you, but I guess you were done listening to me. Shifting when injured is something else alright. My guess is you haven't done it often otherwise you would have known."

She just grunted in response and started to struggle a little, wanting him to let her go. He just grabbed her tighter and picked up the pace.

"Stop struggling. You're not fit to walk on your own." With a sigh, she did as he told her and stopped struggling.

She rested her head against his chest again and closed her eyes not wanting to talk just yet. The motion made her drowsy and it was getting hard to stay awake. She tried counting his steps and sometimes opened her eyes to check out where they were. It wouldn't be long before they would be home. He'd taken the backroads so he would approach the house through the land that came with it.

When they reached the house Lucas stopped and gently let her down and helped her on her feet. He had been right; she was not fit to walk. She could barely stay upright and quickly grabbed onto the doorpost as he opened it. As soon as it was open he put her arm around his neck and helped her in and sat her down in the kitchen on a high stool. Lucas rummaged through some closets and grabbed a small jar which he placed on the counter.

"Lift your sweater." He demanded. With a slight hesitation, she lifted it, exposing her abdomen and the first part of her ribs. "Higher." He ordered this time.

She looked down. If she lifted it any higher there wasn't much left for the imagination. "I already dressed you up so I know what you look like right now and let me tell you, it's not pretty. That's why you smear this on it." Lucas continued.

He gave her the jar and she carefully peeked inside. It was just a silky white cream but her nose scrunched together the moment the smell hit her. It looked home-made and the smell was not the best, to say the least. Azura scowled as she met his gaze again. Placing the jar beside her, she refused to take off her sweater and kept staring at him with a defiant look in her eyes.

"You really want to do this?" Placing his hands on his hips he kept his gaze locked with hers much like a staring contest. She scowled and bared her human canines at him in response.

"Whatever. I'm going to start a fire. In the meantime, you better put that stuff on your ribs. It will only help you so quit being a stubborn cat." Breaking the eye contact, Lucas turned around and walked off to the living room where he indeed started rummaging with some blocks of wood at the fireplace.

When she was sure he was gone, Azura scraped her throat a few times before trying out her voice. "Fine. Fuck it." It was still hoarse and she could not suppress a painful cough straight after.

With a loud groan, she pulled the sweater off and tossed it next to her. She then grabbed the jar and put some of the ointment on her hand. Looking down at her own body, she could not suppress a small gasp. Lucas hadn't been kidding when he said she didn't look pretty. There were several large hemorrhages on her side varying in color from red to deep purple. She cringed at the sight of her herself and quickly started to smear the ointment on herself. As soon as she was done, she reached for her sweater again and put it on, not wanting to expose herself like that any longer.

Taking as much air as she could, she prepared to speak once more. "Lucas?" She spoke as she put the lid back onto the jar. She waited for him to re-enter the kitchen before her messed up voice filled the room again. "What did you mean by topic number three? And you never finished your last sentence back in the cave." Lucas didn't answer straight away, but grabbed the jar and put it away again before turning to her.

"You know what it is about," He replied briskly, "Something that happened last night but feels like a lifetime ago."

Mustering up all her courage she looked him straight in the eye and asked him the one question that had been lingering in the back of her mind for a long time.

"Do you regret it?"

She had caught him off guard, but he didn't look away from her. He tried to read her face, seeing if there was anything in there that could help him come up with an answer but as he realized there was nothing, he gave up and just answered straight up.

"No. Not one bit." It almost sounded like he was relieved.

She had planned to get off the stool gracefully, but that didn't happen. As she planted her feet on the ground and took the first step, her knee gave way and she almost tripped over her own feet. Quickly she recovered, her face red as a tomato, while Lucas just watched her, highly amused by her little show.

"What about you?" He asked when she stood upright and stable. She didn't answer. Instead, she walked up to him and placed her lips on his.