Felt something near. White-man! But was not white-man. Was lynx. Lynx had jumped too. Looked at Cat. Lynx made hissing sound. Lynx raced away. Bobcat landed near. Bobcat spat and hissed and raced into woods. Cat raced into woods.
Heard white-man-noise.
Looked back. Saw white-man with white-man-gun. Charles. Would kill white-man-Charles. Laid careful trail away from place of cages. Many cat paw prints in snow. Watched for good ambush place. Was hungry, but did not hunt and eat. Saw good tree hanging over small water place. Stopped and drank good cold water, no metal taste. Then walked through water upstream. And leaped from water into tree. Climbed up to limb and jumped to next tree. And next tree, moving back to spot where Cat entered stream. Last tracks. Picked best limb. Crouched. Waited.
Smelled white-man-Charles. Heard white-man-Charles. He moved through snow, white-man-paws noisy to Cat-ears. Charles followed cat paw trail in snow. Went to water edge. Cat waited. Patient.
White-man-Charles bent over prints. Cat gathered self. Leaped. Front claws caught head and neck of white-man-Charles. Body landed. Shoved white-man-Charles into water. And under. Was shallow. Cat caught white-man-Charles neck in fangs and started to shake. Was killing move.
But white-man-Charles rolled over and pulled white-man-claw-knife. Said strange noises. “Kill you, you Beast.”
Watch out for knife!Wesa shouted in head.
Cat swiveled body.
White-man-Charles hit Cat with claw-knife. But caught only loose coat. “Kill you, Beast! Die!”
Cat ripped out throat of white-man-Charles. Jumped back.
White-man-Charles bled and thrashed and died.
Cat drank blood and ate meat. Was good. Tore through clothes-pelt and ate heart and liver and lungs. Was good. Lay beside kill and licked own wound made by white-man-Charles. Was not bad. Was not deep. Would heal.
Tore off good thigh meat from white-man-Charles. Carried meat into woods and up into tree. Left meat there for food. Went back to carcass and tore off more good thigh meat. Saw lynx and bobcat. Turned away, tail twitching. Little cats could have carcass of white-man-Charles.
Carried thigh meat into hills, far away. Climbed tree far away. Leaped from tree to tall pile of rocks and found place free of snow, like small den. Curled into rock. Watched sun rise. Ate more white-man-Charles meat. Thought.Cat is best ambush hunter.
No, Wesa thought.White-man-Charles called us Beast. Cat and Wesa are Beast. Beast is best ambush hunter and best human-kit-get-out-of-cage. Together are Beast.
Better than Cat?Cat snarled in threat.
Yes. Better than Cat. Beast got out of cage. Beast killed and ate white-man-Charles. Was good meat. Wesa and Cat are Beast.
Cat who was now Beast thought more. Sun made day warmer. Brighter. Asked Wesa,What other words did white-men say?
Do not know white-men-language.
Beast chuffed with disgust.Beast knows all cat languages. Knows all dog and wolf and fox language. Why does Wesa not know white-man-words?
Would have to be with white-men long time to learn white-man-language and understand white-man-words.
Beast watched world grow brighter. Thought at Wesa,Wesa should take human-kit-shape and be human and learn white-man-words andwhite-man-language. Can kill many white-men if we have words and language.
Wesa thought at Cat.Want to—
—
Beast lunged and fell. The landing was brutal. It knocked me away from the memory. She took down the small juvenile buck, claws and killing teeth buried in the back of the buck’s head. Brute leaped on his thrashing hindquarters. The buck squealed and screamed and thrashed. The does darted away and were gone. The buck died.
I waited. Thought.
—
We were back at the inn and winery I had purchased when I was looking for property when I ran away to die. I entered through the oversized cat flap by the front door. Brute followed. I was nice and clean, while his white coat was stained with brown dried blood. He’d be getting a bath, which my Beast found amusing. Brute hated baths.
Before she could stop me, I took control of her body and padded us to Alex’s office, off to the side of the kitchen. I put our front paws on his desk and rose up until we were standing with our weight on our back paws, our heads level.
“Hey, Beast,” he said absently.
