“I don’t want to worry you, but I need to talk to you about something.” Rufus said when he walked back in.  Despite saying that he did not wanting to worry me, I was starting to get worried. Maybe he was finally going to kick me out.  Maybe Carson told him something bad about me or talked some sense into him about not keeping an unstable cat shifter around a bunch of wolves.  Whatever it is he has to tell me, I will take it with a strait face, then I will walk out and leave him alone.  I am not going to make this harder on either of us than it needed to be.  With that decided, I put on my game face and sit up in bed. 

“What’s going on?” I manage to ask.

“Ok, please don’t be mad,” he starts out, “but I kind of asked Carson to look into the events surrounding your capture. There were just too many suspicious details that were not adding up quite right.”

All I can do is blink at him.  This came so far out of left field that I could hardly process what he just told me.  Rufus didn’t think it was an accident that I was captured?  What!?  “Ok…Was Carson able to find anything out?”  I ask skeptically.  Surely, he was wrong, it was just an accident that those hunters were out on the same night that I was hunting.  Purely coincidence… right?

“Well, Carson was able to do a little bit of digging, and it seems that someone gave those hunters a tip that a wild panther that could be found in those woods.”

I could feel the dread start to creep in. It couldn’t be right? There was no way.  No one would purposely try to hurt me.  I don’t know anybody.  I don’t have any enemies.  Well, none expect him, but last I heard he was still in prison halfway across the country.  So it couldn’t be him. I was starting to convince myself that it was not him, but the next words that Rufus said, shattered my world. 

“Does the name Leo mean anything to you” 

Leo, when ever I think of that name, all I can here is the sound of a gunshot, and in incredible pain that followed that sound. 

Leo, the man who took advantage of an orphan and an outcast.  He made me think he loved me, but he just wanted to use and control me. 

Leo, the man who apparently now wanted me back.  He will be coming after me.  And if he finds me with Rufus, he will be coming after Rufus.

With that thought, I shot out of bed.  I could not let him hurt Rufus.  I had to get away, I have to protect him.  I began making my way around the bed and towards the door.  At first my movements were slow, but as the panic set it, I began to hurry.  I saw a hand come out to grab me.  “NO! I have to leave, I can’t let him hurt you.  I must get away from here.  Get away from where he can't find me with you.”  I haven’t really rationalized the words that just left my mouth, but I skirt around Rufus and dash out the door. 

Running down the hallway, I see that I am on the 5^th floor, so I head toward the nearest stare case.  I start hurdling down the stairs at a mad pace.  I slip on the step, but shift into my cat form to catch myself.  I see the signs pass, 4^th floor, 3^rd floor, 2^nd floor.  At the door to the first floor, I run out, looking for one of those exit signs that are hung above doors. 

As soon as I spot one, I know that I was too slow.  Not because of anything that Leo has done, but Rufus.  In front of every exit I run past, there is at least one big wolf shifter standing in front of it.  A couple of the people chase after me, but being in my cat form, I quickly out pace them. 

Starting to loose hope of escaping so that I can protect the stubborn wolf alpha.  With wolves still coming after me, when I see an empty hallway, I turn it down it without thinking.  I quickly realize my mistake when I see caution tape and construction scaffolding set up, which brings me up short.  This inner hallway of the hospital is under construction, and there are not exits anywhere.  I've got to think for a second. Maybe if I hide down here, Rufus will think I did manage to escape and start looking outside of the hospital, and then I can make my escape. 

Deciding on my course of action, I begin looking for a good hiding spot.  I spy a small closet with no lights on, so I’ll blend in with the darkness better.  Looking inside, I decide to climb up on the top shelfs. I have always loved to climb, and I naturally feel safer when I am out of easy reach to someone.  I use my claws to pull the closet door as closed as I can get it, and then I climb up to the top and curl myself up in the furthest, blackest corner that I can get to. 

Once I get settled in, I realize that my muscles are screaming at me.  I haven’t used them in over a month, so I am going to be sore when I try to move again.  But I had to get away.  I cannot let Leo catch me around Rufus.  He would use Rufus against me, and I could never resist.  While I have not known Rufus long, I know that there is some connection between us, and I will do everything in my power to not let him get hurt.  Even if that mean that I have to leave. 

I am really tired, and before I know it, I am drifting off to sleep.  If I has know what was going to follow, I would have tried harder to stay awake. 

“I knew it! I knew you were sneaking around without my permission.  Are you cheating on me? Is that what you do when you sneak out while I’m at work.  Who is it? Actually I don’t care, know that it ends now, and if I find anyone claiming to be your lover besides me, I will kill them.  What do I need to do in order to make you stay more loyal to me, huh?

At the sound of my boyfriend, Leo’s voice, I cringe and shy away.  He was supposed to be at work.  Why was he home? I, of course, was not cheating, but I simply liked to get out and take a walk every once and while, and since I was never allowed to leave the house when he was home, I had to do it while he was at work.  “I’m not cheating, I promise.  I was just getting some fresh air, that’s it.  You don’t need to do anything else, I promise.” 

“Well lucky for you, I have a solution to make sure that you won’t ever be cheating on me.  You are mine, and mine alone, you hear that!”  I watched as he grabbed a bag off the counter, and then grabbed my arm and dragged me to the bedroom that we shared.  “From here on out, you will stay in the bedroom when I am not home, and then you will only be allowed out when I let you out.  Now, be a good boy and put this around your left ankle.” He said while throwing a metal cuff attached to a length of chain at me. 

I let out a whimper as I caught the cuff.  “Please Leo, I promise I won’t leave again.  You don’t need to chain me up!” I begged him with tears freely running down my face. 

He attaches the other end of the chain to one of the legs of the bed before looking at me.  “I said, put that on.  Don’t make me come over and do this myself.  This is for your own good.  It is a dangerous world outside these walls, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”  Resigned to my fate, I put on the cuff, hoping my cooperation will show him that it is unnecessary to keep me chained up like an animal. 

I might have miscalculated, actually I definitely miscalculated.  It has been over eight months since I have seen sunlight.  Rufus always keeps the blinds drawn, and the one time he caught me trying to open then, he left me chained for a month straight, and made me go without food for a week.  The only time that he does unchain me is so that I can cook him dinner and clean the house.  All the while being closely monitored by him, of course. I was living in a nightmare, and I had to find a way out soon, or I was going to die, still chained up to this bed. 

One night, Leo got really drunk, and passed out before he remembered to chain me up again.  I decided that I was going to take the opportunity and escape, but I must have waited too long to make up my mind, because he roused himself and caught me trying to sneak out.  Being furious, he threw me to the ground stunning me for a moment.  Next thing I knew, Leo was standing over me with a gun pointed at my leg. He muttered something about wanting to keep me from running again.  I kicked at his leg, trying to knock him off balance, but he fired at the same time as I kicked. BANG!

I woke with a roar! 

All I can hear is the sound of that gunshot, and all I can see is Leo's face standing over me. 

I begin to hyperventalate, and I can't seem to be able to catch my breath, I uncurl and stretch a little.  As I move, reality sets in, and I know that with as loud as that roar was, I am sure that I just gave away my hiding location, so I have to move.  

I am just about to jump down from my shelf, when the closet door flies open, revealing Rufus.  He looks around for a second, and then spies me in the top corner.  I slink back a little, but that doesn’t do me any good, since I already was in the corner to begin with.  My only option for escape is to wait until Rufus is in the closet more, and then jump over him.  So I start to prepare to pounce as Rufus slowly walks forward, but he must have seen what I was planning on doing because he stopped walking. 

“Felix don’t.  That won’t work and you risk hurting yourself. Please just talk to me.  I didn’t mean to scare you, but I’ve gotta know what’s going on if I'm going to be able to help you.  The pack can protect you.  I can protect you.”  He sounded like he was pleading, but all I could think of was, 'yeah maybe you can protect me, but who will protect you'?  So, I waited as he slowly got closer.  Finally, when there was enough room for me to jump over him, I leapt.

Well, at least I tried to. Right as I went to leap, the muscles of my back leg cramped up, and I toppled forward.  I had no control, and, as Rufus predicted, this was probably going to get me hurt, because I was falling from around 12 feet, and there was almost no way I would land right.   As I almost hit the ground, I felt hands grab me.  They didn’t stop the fall entirely, but it was enough to slow my momentum and right my trajectory, then when I landed, it was not on my head.  As I hit the ground, I felt Rufus fall will me, and we rolled together on the floor in a heap.  As soon as we stopped moving, I tried to run away again, but Rufus has landed on top of me, and when he felt me move, he pinned me down.  As he got closer to me, all my instincts screamed at me to just curl into him.  But I continued to try and fight. 

“Felix, stop!”  Rufus’ voice was stern and commanding.  He picked me up and held me to his chest.  “I know you are scared, but running away won’t make it any better, so stop fighting me and just give me a chance to help you.  Please.” His last words sounded too desperate and pleading, that I finally relaxed into his grip and let him carry me out of the storage room.