(no subject)
Title: Wild Thing (You Make My Heart Sing), Chapter 7c
Author: cherryscott and queen_kiwi
Fandom: SPN RPS, on crack
Pairing: cheetah!Jared/wolf!Jensen
Rating: R for the whole chapter
Summary: The help of the humans comes at a price.
Disclaimer: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, along with everybody else anybody recognizes, are not furry animals of any kind or living on a reserve. No profits are being made off this work of fiction.
The way up the river is dark, twisty, with loose rocks and branches underfoot and steep hills cresting to sharp drops along the path. The trees crowd in close, night animals chittering through the underbrush as the leaves rustle overhead.
The human habitat--a complex of buildings a few stories high, fenced in by gates and covered in dull black solar panels--lies some miles north of the river, near the highway. The lights are off in the building except for a few windows, and vans with the blue pawmark idle in the driveway. There's a signpost up in front with the same logo and some weather-beaten, faded scratch marks--human language.
Fear strikes Jensen low in his belly when he sees the buildings, the impact of what he's about to try and do hitting him hard. They've fought so long and hard and he's about to end it all, to get Jared sent away, to ensure that they'll never see each other again.
But he'll be safe, he tells himself, creeping carefully out of the woods towards the buildings.
It takes him nearly an hour to dig a hole underneath the fence and squirm through, taking pause as he wonders if they'll have guns, if they'll just shoot him before he has a chance to take them back to Jared. Slinking up the stairs to one of the buildings with lights on, he drops his tail between his legs and crouches low, one paw lifting to scratch at the door, ears low in a submissive, non-threatening gesture.
One of the researchers, Cassie, is working late at her desk with the lamp turned on, typing at the computer keyboard, when she hears the scratching at the front door. Getting up with keys in hand, she bustles over to unlock the door and draw the latch--and stops dead as it swings open.
Jensen whines softly, flopping onto his side and rolling over to expose his soft underbelly--a sign he hopes even a human will recognize as proof that he means no harm.
He doesn't speak her language, but if he can get her to follow him, Jensen thinks everything will be okay. He whimpers again, pawing a little at the air, looking up at her from where he lies on his back across the doorstep, hope burning in his chest.
"Hello, boy," says the researcher softly, crouching down by his side. When Jensen doesn't move, she gently extends a hand to give him a belly rub, scratching at his fur and up behind his ears, as quick eyes flick him over for signs of hurt. "Good dog... good dog..."
Nosing at her hand, Jensen gives her a lick and another soft whining sound before he rolls and crawls on his belly back in the direction of the stairs he'd climbed up to get here, tail between his legs and head turning back to look at her. He crawls forward another few inches and looks back at her again, whimpering once more, trying to get his message across: we need help, please come with me.
"What's that, Lassie? Tim's fallen in the well?" Cassie says aloud, but she's already getting her coat and stuffing the keys in her pocket, fishing around for her boots and yelling over her shoulder for John to follow her.
Relief floods through Jensen like a wave and he lets out a short bark, standing back upright as he trots down the stairs and glances back to make sure the humans are behind him.
He's back under the fence and waiting for them on the other side, whining and shifting restlessly back and forth on his paws, ducking down low and dropping to his belly, rolling over and pawing at the air until he's sure they've caught on.
Starting back towards the pack's sleeping grounds, Jensen has to keep his pace much slower this time so the humans can keep up, constantly stopping to make sure they're still there as he leads them back the way he came.
The wolf pack is settling down after their meal, some chasing each other about in the snow and some lying stretched out with full bellies, when the humans come crashing through the bushes.
Sam recoils instantly, scampering backwards on his feet; Jo barks frantically and Ava grabs her pups close to her. "Quiet, quiet," Dean is urging, as Cassie and John trail at Jensen's heels.
When they get on their hands and knees and peer through the shelter, Cassie's eyes go wide and John swears: "A cheetah," the woman breathes, reaching out her hand to tentatively touch spotted fur. "He's not moving..."
"It's the one that escaped from the zoo down south, you remember from the news," John is saying as Cassie flips open her cellphone. The humans confer in low voices as Chris crawls out, looking grim, and heads up to Jensen's side.
Jensen butts his head against Chris's and crawls through the doorway into the den, whining low and pathetic as he drapes himself over Jared and nuzzles into his nape, eyes cast out towards the humans as though maybe he can make them understand.
He reaches out, teeth pulling the deer skins closer, dragging them over Jared like blankets, tongue laving in long strokes along his mate's neck and ears, whimpering softly all the while.
"I'm sorry, Jay," Jensen mutters between licks, "I'm sorry, I...I had to. You're sick and I had to, Jay, I'm sorry."
Jared stares up at Jensen with huge terrified eyes in silence, unable to breathe, feeling his heart freeze to ice inside his chest.
Then the van pulls up and all the wolves are barking at once and there's flashing lights everywhere, and someone is looping a collar around Jared's neck and hauling him out, and they've got a stretcher laid out where a gloved researcher--not Cassie, not John, who stand by in the glare of the headlights--sedates Jared with a quick professional dart of the needle, moving before any of them can react.
The van is loaded up, the engine gunning, and the tile tracks trail away--dirty-slushy wet, black lines of muck through the snowfall--as the wolves re-emerge from their hiding places.
Jensen just collapses into the snow, nose pressed against one tire track, pushing deep into the filthy snow as though maybe he can catch a hint of Jared's scent there.
Chris comes creeping up to him, nosing against the back of his ear, but Jensen doesn't move, just stares off in the direction that the van disappeared.
"I'm never gonna see him again, Chris," he whispers, voice cracked and dry and shattered. "Tell me I did the right thing, 'cause I...I feel like I'm dyin'."
Chris doesn't reply, just lies down beside Jensen and noses against him, breath whuffling into his fur as he leans heavily against him.
Dean drops down nearby, settling close by; he nuzzles protectively at Chris and rests his chin over the nape of Chris's neck, whispering softly into the rich black fur. Sam turns and walks away; Jo's ears flatten back and Max's shoulders sag in silence.
The wolves huddle closer together that night, lying against each other's sides and curling up in the middle of the clearing.
---
There's a lot of noise and colours and smells going past Jared, in blurs of awareness; he slides in and out of consciousness, his dreams fuzzy as he sleeps. He doesn't know how much time passes.
Then colours form shapes, form outlines and figures--humans, cages, walls and rugs and tiles--and everything solidifies again, hardening and tightening up, and he aches all over as he lifts his head.
Sun pours through the window nearby; snow is drifting down in huge fat flakes, casting shadows on the pane. There's a beep from a phone in the next office. He's got the same tag on his ear that Jensen and the others have...
Jensen. Jared's claws dig into the plastic mat at the bottom of his cage and he hisses through his teeth, struggling to get to his feet. The bars rattle and a human in pink and blue furs comes in with a dish in hand. She slides it through the slots.
It's food. He takes a bite, tentatively, then crunches and swallows the whole thing in two gulps and sees her smile.
They feed him twice more, clattering the dish before the slots. Someone with plastic gloves comes in to paw over him, kneading his belly and checking his pulse; there's a lot of chatter, loud babbling noise like geese clucking overhead. Jared sits obediently and lies meekly, patient and still, and waits.
Then--finally, after the sun has risen and set twice since he woken up--someone comes in with another collar. Wearing their big heavy boots.
This is it, now. This is his chance.
The collar loops around his neck and he's led outside, padding through the hallways. They open the door for him and he's hustled down the steps; the biting cold air freezes in his nostrils and mouth, and he sucks it down greedily.
Yowls with all his lungpower, fur bristling back, and yanks forward and twists away and jumps.
The fence gates crash, clanging, as he scuttles up and over, claws clicking and scrabbling against steel. There're loud shouts and screams as he tears off down the hill, legs flying out, tail streaming back-fast enough to whip up leaves and blow down trees and blast the clouds out of the sky--and dives towards the trees.
The forest closes in around him and he rockets through it, sending up sprays of snow in his wake. The pain in his ear is throbbing and he skids about, sliding sideways to a halt as he ducks into a grotto.
When he concentrated hard enough, back in his cage, he could wedge in a claw underneath his electronic tag. He wriggles up his paw now, panting hard, and then sucks in a deep breath and tugs.
The tag falls to the snow, half-buried in the thick white drifts. With blood running down his ear Jared smoothes the snow over it methodically, stamping it down, and picks himself up again.
Flattening out, stretching out his paws to a dead run.
Title: Wild Thing (You Make My Heart Sing), Chapter 7d
Author: cherryscott and queen_kiwi
Fandom: SPN RPS, on crack
Pairing: cheetah!Jared/wolf!Jensen
Rating: R for the whole chapter
Summary: Finally cured, Jared makes his way back home.
Disclaimer: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, along with everybody else anybody recognizes, are not furry animals of any kind or living on a reserve. No profits are being made off this work of fiction.
Chris brings him food, makes him eat, but Jensen's lost track of time and he's thinner than before, colder, constantly chilled because he's abandoned the shelter he shared with his mate, unwilling to lie in his misery among the fading scent of the cheetah on the furs Jensen spread out there.
The other wolves don't even bother trying to get him up anymore, though occasionally, a pup will bound over and tug at his ears or tail, or whine and press a nose against his before padding back to Ava. Jensen doesn't move, just lies staring down at white snow that's covered up the tracks left by the van, staring, wondering if Jared is all right.
Chris is worried and Jensen knows it, but he doesn't even feel guilty anymore because Chris has Dean and he'll be okay. Jensen has nothing left and all he can hope for is that Jared is healthy again, wherever he is, that he's safe.
---
It happens when Chris is out with the pack on a hunt. The pack has spread out, nosing across the ground and following the scent trails; Chris has his snout buried in the snow, padding silently through the trees.
He opens his ears and listens to the noises in the forest, the soft muted sounds: the faint flutter of birds' wings, the leaves stirring above, the dripping of icicles in the sun.
The rustling of the bushes just up ahead.
He doesn't break his stride. Doesn't even look up. Just walk a few steps and then crouches and springs, one liquid-smooth fluid movement, landing with a solid thud on top of the form with his paws splayed out and teeth bared.
"I really don't like you that much, Chris," Jared says wryly, muffled from beneath him.
"Holy fucking shit," Chris yells, scrambling away, and then yells again and tackles Jared, rolling him over, and by the time the pack catches up with them Jared is sneezing up snow and Chris is digging it out of his ears and they're both laughing like lunatics.
Dean welcomes him with a bark and a playful cuff, face stretching wide in a canine grin. Even Sam smiles, ducking his head a little.
Jared's never felt so warm in his life.
"You gotta quit this disappearin' shit, Jay," Chris teases, head-butting Jared in the shoulder. "Jen's gonna starve himself the next time and then I'll totally have to kick your ass next time you show up."
Dean laughs and cuffs Chris behind the ears.
"How'd you get out? We figured they'd take you back to the zoo," he says, eyes flicking between Chris and Jared. "Nobody figured they'd just keep you here and fix you up."
"They didn't," Jared grins back rakishly, baring all his pointed curved teeth, and flicking the torn ear towards them. "I crashed down their gates and escaped--wandered around a ways to throw them off, got the thing out of my ear and buried it a few miles from the river. If I lay low for a few days, don't hang around the clearing, I should be okay..."
"You look better though," Chris points out, nosing at Jared, inspecting him to make sure. "Are you better? Not sick anymore?"
Dean beams and paws playfully at the snow, leaning over to bite at Chris's shoulder and bat at Jared's tail.
"Jensen's going to freak out," Dean says, and Chris just laughs.
"Yeah," he agrees. "But at least he'll quit mopin' around on us. Maybe we'll all get more to eat now that the pussycat's back. Jensen'll hunt again and that's good for everybody."
"Not sick, completely better, ready to take down anything you've got," Jared confirms, face spit in two with his smile, whisking his tail about to thwap back at Dean's paw, then nudges Chris with his nose as he follows the pack back to the scent trails. "Jensen hasn't been hunting?"
Dean's grin falls away and he looks between the rest of the pack and Chris, then back at Jared, but it's Chris that cuts in.
"Jensen hasn't left the spot he lay down in the night they took you, Jay," the wolf says quietly. "He hasn't moved, barely eats, doesn't do anything but stare off where the van disappeared with you in it. It's been even colder than before a couple of nights but he won't go inside, won't do anything but lie there. Even had to brush snow offa him a few mornings because he just..."
He trails off, ducking his head a little. "He wanted to do right by you but he misses you too hard when you're gone, Jay. He felt better about you bein' safe, but being here without you was gonna kill him."
Jared has to stop at that and catch his breath. He feels like he's just stepped off the edge of a cliff and fallen upwards instead, and when his heartbeat catches up with him it's pounding like mad.
"I," he begins, his throat closing up, then, "is the hunt over? Can I still run with you?"
"We've just started," Dean says. "Tracking some deer that way."
He points with a flick of his nose in the direction they've been traveling, trotting up to Sam's side, leaving Chris nudging Jared with a small smile.
"You're more than welcome to run with us, Jay," he says softly. "Bet it'll feel good to really stretch those legs after being all penned up in a cage. And hell, maybe if you catch somethin', Jen'll eat it and quit lookin' like somebody just skinned his momma to wear her for a hat."
"Maybe if I catch something?" Jared teases back, rubbing his cheek up briefly against Chris's before flicking away, darting up through the trees and tossing a bright smile over his shoulder. "Just try and keep up, puppy dog..."
Chris ends up making the best catch of the hunt, easily bringing down a buck--with his fluid, smooth-moving grace--to the approving yelps and howls of the pack. Jared does pride himself, however, on catching two plump rabbits, and boasts about triumphing over evil all the way back until Jo leaps on him and wrestles him to stop.
Dean makes it first into the camp, dragging his share of the catch, with Sam following behind; both are grinning, and wagging their tails hard.
Jensen doesn't lift his head when he smells the pack's return, not even at the sound of happy yips and playful barks, just lets out a sigh and blinks snow from his eyes, vision blurred as he continues to watch the distance as though maybe, if he stares hard enough, the van will return and Jared will come home.
Chris comes bounding up after dropping his share of the meat by his sleeping spot, paw ruffling Jensen's fur.
"Brought a couple things back for ya, Jen," he grins.
"Go away," is Jensen's less-than-enthusiastic response, nose burrowing underneath one of his paws. "Eat my share, Chris, or give it to the pups. I don't want it."
"I don't think Chris is going to eat any part of me," Jared announces, coming up behind Chris. He's melting and shaky and dizzy inside with joy, but he manages to shrug as he deposits the rabbits on the ground. "Or give me to the pups. But if you don't want me, I'll go take my rabbits somewhere else..."
Scrambling to his feet and whirling around to face the direction of that voice, Jensen stares, eyes huge and disbelieving, legs unsteady and weak after endless days of disuse.
"Jay?" He blinks, shaking his head hard just in case he's seeing things, a desperate whine curling up through his throat. "How did...what are..."
And then all at once, he flings himself at his mate, tumbling Jared back into the snow, teeth biting at the soft fur of his throat.
"They took you," Jensen rasps. "I saw them take you, I thought...I thought I'd never see you again."
Jared rolls with an 'oof' and pins him down, snow flying everywhere, tongue and teeth and nose all over his mate, deliriously breathing him in and laughing into his fur and smiling against his muzzle--warm and ecstatic and gleeful and healthy. "Told you I wouldn't be brought down by three inches of white stuff on the ground, Krypto..."
Jensen growls but he's grinning, play-snarling and biting at the cheetah as he wrestles with him, pawing at him and looking alive for the first time since the humans took Jared away.
"Mmm, maybe," he agrees, "but I was the one who got 'em to come make you better, pussycat. You'd probably still be sneezing up a storm if I hadn't gone to the human habitat." Which, Jensen thinks, isn't quite true. He isn't sure Jared would've lasted much longer without help from the humans. "But either way, it doesn't matter. You're home and you...you smell like cages and medicine but that's okay, 'cause I'll have you smellin' like me again in no time," he promises.
"You saved my life," Jared says simply, reaching up to tug on Jensen's ear and lick over his muzzle, nuzzling over his cheek, unable to get enough of his wolf. "Whatever you want, whenever or however it is, I'm yours."
"Don't you know by now, Jay? That is all I want," Jensen murmurs back, shivering at the pull on his ear and chuffing soft sighs against Jared's throat. "Just you, pussycat, just you, that's all I ever want. All I need." Biting at soft fur, Jensen chuckles softly, chest feeling tight. "We should go inside our den," he says. "The pups'll be traumatized if we stay out here much longer."
"You're making me wait for two seconds to have you?" Jared returns plaintively, eyes glimmering with laughter. He licks over Jensen's throat with a long stroke, murmurs into Jensen's ear, "Two seconds and no longer, Jen, can't stand it," and jumps back, on his feet with his paws splayed out in a playful dance.
"We've just gotta make sure you don't get sick again, pussycat," Jensen says, growling playfully as he pounces at his mate, biting a spotted shoulder and herding Jared towards their den where a mound of skins wait, warm and inviting. Chris has been adding more with every kill the pack's made, trying to coax Jensen back indoors, but even though it hadn't helped, Jensen's grateful because now it means more warmth for Jared, less chance of him getting sick again. "Need you, Jay," he rasps, squirming through the doorway after his mate and crawling on his belly towards the pallet. "Thought I'd never be with you again."
Jared's purring, a low husky growly noise that stiffens into a whimper as he pins Jensen down to the pallet, nosing into the soft skins and rubbing down against him with his entire body--paws to cheek to tail--licking and nuzzling against that fur until Jensen is relaxed and limp, until every last bit of tension is gone, and then lifts himself up over Jensen.
"I woke up and I had the thing in my ear," he says into Jensen's ear, teeth closing around it as he lets out a hot breath, hips thrusting, "and I thought of the first time I saw you again, on the reserve. And I remembered what you looked like, with the light on your fur and the way you walked forward, all easy and graceful, and I couldn't breathe but I couldn't look away, never wanted to stop looking. And there was that metal thing on your ear, that stupid, ugly, painful, fucking metal thing--and I told myself that if I had to kill a human, if I had to tear down every last one of their fences, I'd get back to you. And I tore it out nearby the stream and buried it, when I escaped, and if they come back I will kill every last one of them. I'm not leaving again, Jensen. This is where I stay."
A low whine tangles in the back of Jensen's throat as he writhes underneath Jared, back arching, head tilted back to lick and bite and nip at every piece of his mate that he can reach.
"If you get sick again, I'll find them again," he mutters, soft whimpering howl echoing through the den. "I love you, I need you here, always need you here with me, Jay, but I'm not going to let you die." Jensen arches up again needily, paws scratching at the pallet beneath him, tail flicking against Jared's. "I need you healthy and safe more than I need you with me," he breathes. "You gotta understand that, pussycat. S'why I went to the humans in the first place."
"I do," Jared says softly, panting, thrusting harder. "I do. You saved my life, Jensen. I can't even begin to repay what you've done for me. I love you--I'm insane over you--and as long as you want me here, sick or healthy, there is nothing that will keep me from you."
Jensen buries his face in the skins, arching, twisting, writhing hungrily, desperately as he moves with his mate, tries for more, please, harder, yes. "Forever," he rasps, throat dry and voice thin and ready to break. "Want you here forever, Jay, don't ever want you to go."
Jared's words are lost in a hard whine, his voice breaking apart into a hoarse shuddering yowl as he digs his claws and teeth into Jensen, breath hot against his fur, pleasing knifing through him as keen as pain. He noses into the nape of Jensen's neck, behind his ears, into the crook of his throat, and gasps his mate's name over and over again.
Jensen's fairly certain the entire reserve hears him when he throws back his head and howls, long and loud and sharp, cutting through the cold air that surrounds them. Jared's name comes next, pleading and soft and repeated in the spaces between Jared's chant of his name, pleasure burning through him until he's shuddering and shivering and completely spent.
Jared has plans, one day, to see if he can make Jensen do that twice--three times--but now he shudders and dissolves against his mate, too wrung out and mindblown to do anything but gasp and hold on. He slides over to Jensen's side and buries his face in the crook of Jensen's neck to feel his heartbeat--the warmth of Jensen's body against his, his heady scent making his head spin, the rhythm of his breathing--and settles back into himself, very much head over heels and unwilling to ever get up again.
"Missed you so much, pussycat," Jensen mumbles, nose buried in the skins once more, voice coming out muffled and ragged as he starts to come back down, to find his regular heartbeat and breathing rate again. He snuggles into Jared's warmth, curling around him, holding him close and breathing him in, trying to stay awake just in case this is all some hallucination that will disappear once he's slept and woken up once more.
" 'm here," his mate says softly, in the darkness of the den, "I'm not leaving, never," and rests his cheek against that steady rapid heartbeat pounding in his ears, listening as if it were a secret language just for him. "Love you, Fido."
"Love you too, Jay," Jensen mutters back, nosing at his mate, snuffling a little and settling his chin atop the nape of Jared's neck as they curl together, pressing close with a soft sigh. "Glad you're home where you belong, all safe and healthy and..." He trails off with a yawn that ends with a soft whine, endless days of next to no sleep weighing down on him now, along with hunger that rumbles in his belly.
Jared's laughter chuffs in his ear. "Get some sleep, Jen," the cheetah says affectionately, voice gentle. "The pack wants you to start hunting again when you wake up--but I want to see if I can make you howl again first."
Author: cherryscott and queen_kiwi
Fandom: SPN RPS, on crack
Pairing: cheetah!Jared/wolf!Jensen
Rating: R for the whole chapter
Summary: The help of the humans comes at a price.
Disclaimer: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, along with everybody else anybody recognizes, are not furry animals of any kind or living on a reserve. No profits are being made off this work of fiction.
The way up the river is dark, twisty, with loose rocks and branches underfoot and steep hills cresting to sharp drops along the path. The trees crowd in close, night animals chittering through the underbrush as the leaves rustle overhead.
The human habitat--a complex of buildings a few stories high, fenced in by gates and covered in dull black solar panels--lies some miles north of the river, near the highway. The lights are off in the building except for a few windows, and vans with the blue pawmark idle in the driveway. There's a signpost up in front with the same logo and some weather-beaten, faded scratch marks--human language.
Fear strikes Jensen low in his belly when he sees the buildings, the impact of what he's about to try and do hitting him hard. They've fought so long and hard and he's about to end it all, to get Jared sent away, to ensure that they'll never see each other again.
But he'll be safe, he tells himself, creeping carefully out of the woods towards the buildings.
It takes him nearly an hour to dig a hole underneath the fence and squirm through, taking pause as he wonders if they'll have guns, if they'll just shoot him before he has a chance to take them back to Jared. Slinking up the stairs to one of the buildings with lights on, he drops his tail between his legs and crouches low, one paw lifting to scratch at the door, ears low in a submissive, non-threatening gesture.
One of the researchers, Cassie, is working late at her desk with the lamp turned on, typing at the computer keyboard, when she hears the scratching at the front door. Getting up with keys in hand, she bustles over to unlock the door and draw the latch--and stops dead as it swings open.
Jensen whines softly, flopping onto his side and rolling over to expose his soft underbelly--a sign he hopes even a human will recognize as proof that he means no harm.
He doesn't speak her language, but if he can get her to follow him, Jensen thinks everything will be okay. He whimpers again, pawing a little at the air, looking up at her from where he lies on his back across the doorstep, hope burning in his chest.
"Hello, boy," says the researcher softly, crouching down by his side. When Jensen doesn't move, she gently extends a hand to give him a belly rub, scratching at his fur and up behind his ears, as quick eyes flick him over for signs of hurt. "Good dog... good dog..."
Nosing at her hand, Jensen gives her a lick and another soft whining sound before he rolls and crawls on his belly back in the direction of the stairs he'd climbed up to get here, tail between his legs and head turning back to look at her. He crawls forward another few inches and looks back at her again, whimpering once more, trying to get his message across: we need help, please come with me.
"What's that, Lassie? Tim's fallen in the well?" Cassie says aloud, but she's already getting her coat and stuffing the keys in her pocket, fishing around for her boots and yelling over her shoulder for John to follow her.
Relief floods through Jensen like a wave and he lets out a short bark, standing back upright as he trots down the stairs and glances back to make sure the humans are behind him.
He's back under the fence and waiting for them on the other side, whining and shifting restlessly back and forth on his paws, ducking down low and dropping to his belly, rolling over and pawing at the air until he's sure they've caught on.
Starting back towards the pack's sleeping grounds, Jensen has to keep his pace much slower this time so the humans can keep up, constantly stopping to make sure they're still there as he leads them back the way he came.
The wolf pack is settling down after their meal, some chasing each other about in the snow and some lying stretched out with full bellies, when the humans come crashing through the bushes.
Sam recoils instantly, scampering backwards on his feet; Jo barks frantically and Ava grabs her pups close to her. "Quiet, quiet," Dean is urging, as Cassie and John trail at Jensen's heels.
When they get on their hands and knees and peer through the shelter, Cassie's eyes go wide and John swears: "A cheetah," the woman breathes, reaching out her hand to tentatively touch spotted fur. "He's not moving..."
"It's the one that escaped from the zoo down south, you remember from the news," John is saying as Cassie flips open her cellphone. The humans confer in low voices as Chris crawls out, looking grim, and heads up to Jensen's side.
Jensen butts his head against Chris's and crawls through the doorway into the den, whining low and pathetic as he drapes himself over Jared and nuzzles into his nape, eyes cast out towards the humans as though maybe he can make them understand.
He reaches out, teeth pulling the deer skins closer, dragging them over Jared like blankets, tongue laving in long strokes along his mate's neck and ears, whimpering softly all the while.
"I'm sorry, Jay," Jensen mutters between licks, "I'm sorry, I...I had to. You're sick and I had to, Jay, I'm sorry."
Jared stares up at Jensen with huge terrified eyes in silence, unable to breathe, feeling his heart freeze to ice inside his chest.
Then the van pulls up and all the wolves are barking at once and there's flashing lights everywhere, and someone is looping a collar around Jared's neck and hauling him out, and they've got a stretcher laid out where a gloved researcher--not Cassie, not John, who stand by in the glare of the headlights--sedates Jared with a quick professional dart of the needle, moving before any of them can react.
The van is loaded up, the engine gunning, and the tile tracks trail away--dirty-slushy wet, black lines of muck through the snowfall--as the wolves re-emerge from their hiding places.
Jensen just collapses into the snow, nose pressed against one tire track, pushing deep into the filthy snow as though maybe he can catch a hint of Jared's scent there.
Chris comes creeping up to him, nosing against the back of his ear, but Jensen doesn't move, just stares off in the direction that the van disappeared.
"I'm never gonna see him again, Chris," he whispers, voice cracked and dry and shattered. "Tell me I did the right thing, 'cause I...I feel like I'm dyin'."
Chris doesn't reply, just lies down beside Jensen and noses against him, breath whuffling into his fur as he leans heavily against him.
Dean drops down nearby, settling close by; he nuzzles protectively at Chris and rests his chin over the nape of Chris's neck, whispering softly into the rich black fur. Sam turns and walks away; Jo's ears flatten back and Max's shoulders sag in silence.
The wolves huddle closer together that night, lying against each other's sides and curling up in the middle of the clearing.
---
There's a lot of noise and colours and smells going past Jared, in blurs of awareness; he slides in and out of consciousness, his dreams fuzzy as he sleeps. He doesn't know how much time passes.
Then colours form shapes, form outlines and figures--humans, cages, walls and rugs and tiles--and everything solidifies again, hardening and tightening up, and he aches all over as he lifts his head.
Sun pours through the window nearby; snow is drifting down in huge fat flakes, casting shadows on the pane. There's a beep from a phone in the next office. He's got the same tag on his ear that Jensen and the others have...
Jensen. Jared's claws dig into the plastic mat at the bottom of his cage and he hisses through his teeth, struggling to get to his feet. The bars rattle and a human in pink and blue furs comes in with a dish in hand. She slides it through the slots.
It's food. He takes a bite, tentatively, then crunches and swallows the whole thing in two gulps and sees her smile.
They feed him twice more, clattering the dish before the slots. Someone with plastic gloves comes in to paw over him, kneading his belly and checking his pulse; there's a lot of chatter, loud babbling noise like geese clucking overhead. Jared sits obediently and lies meekly, patient and still, and waits.
Then--finally, after the sun has risen and set twice since he woken up--someone comes in with another collar. Wearing their big heavy boots.
This is it, now. This is his chance.
The collar loops around his neck and he's led outside, padding through the hallways. They open the door for him and he's hustled down the steps; the biting cold air freezes in his nostrils and mouth, and he sucks it down greedily.
Yowls with all his lungpower, fur bristling back, and yanks forward and twists away and jumps.
The fence gates crash, clanging, as he scuttles up and over, claws clicking and scrabbling against steel. There're loud shouts and screams as he tears off down the hill, legs flying out, tail streaming back-fast enough to whip up leaves and blow down trees and blast the clouds out of the sky--and dives towards the trees.
The forest closes in around him and he rockets through it, sending up sprays of snow in his wake. The pain in his ear is throbbing and he skids about, sliding sideways to a halt as he ducks into a grotto.
When he concentrated hard enough, back in his cage, he could wedge in a claw underneath his electronic tag. He wriggles up his paw now, panting hard, and then sucks in a deep breath and tugs.
The tag falls to the snow, half-buried in the thick white drifts. With blood running down his ear Jared smoothes the snow over it methodically, stamping it down, and picks himself up again.
Flattening out, stretching out his paws to a dead run.
Title: Wild Thing (You Make My Heart Sing), Chapter 7d
Author: cherryscott and queen_kiwi
Fandom: SPN RPS, on crack
Pairing: cheetah!Jared/wolf!Jensen
Rating: R for the whole chapter
Summary: Finally cured, Jared makes his way back home.
Disclaimer: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, along with everybody else anybody recognizes, are not furry animals of any kind or living on a reserve. No profits are being made off this work of fiction.
Chris brings him food, makes him eat, but Jensen's lost track of time and he's thinner than before, colder, constantly chilled because he's abandoned the shelter he shared with his mate, unwilling to lie in his misery among the fading scent of the cheetah on the furs Jensen spread out there.
The other wolves don't even bother trying to get him up anymore, though occasionally, a pup will bound over and tug at his ears or tail, or whine and press a nose against his before padding back to Ava. Jensen doesn't move, just lies staring down at white snow that's covered up the tracks left by the van, staring, wondering if Jared is all right.
Chris is worried and Jensen knows it, but he doesn't even feel guilty anymore because Chris has Dean and he'll be okay. Jensen has nothing left and all he can hope for is that Jared is healthy again, wherever he is, that he's safe.
---
It happens when Chris is out with the pack on a hunt. The pack has spread out, nosing across the ground and following the scent trails; Chris has his snout buried in the snow, padding silently through the trees.
He opens his ears and listens to the noises in the forest, the soft muted sounds: the faint flutter of birds' wings, the leaves stirring above, the dripping of icicles in the sun.
The rustling of the bushes just up ahead.
He doesn't break his stride. Doesn't even look up. Just walk a few steps and then crouches and springs, one liquid-smooth fluid movement, landing with a solid thud on top of the form with his paws splayed out and teeth bared.
"I really don't like you that much, Chris," Jared says wryly, muffled from beneath him.
"Holy fucking shit," Chris yells, scrambling away, and then yells again and tackles Jared, rolling him over, and by the time the pack catches up with them Jared is sneezing up snow and Chris is digging it out of his ears and they're both laughing like lunatics.
Dean welcomes him with a bark and a playful cuff, face stretching wide in a canine grin. Even Sam smiles, ducking his head a little.
Jared's never felt so warm in his life.
"You gotta quit this disappearin' shit, Jay," Chris teases, head-butting Jared in the shoulder. "Jen's gonna starve himself the next time and then I'll totally have to kick your ass next time you show up."
Dean laughs and cuffs Chris behind the ears.
"How'd you get out? We figured they'd take you back to the zoo," he says, eyes flicking between Chris and Jared. "Nobody figured they'd just keep you here and fix you up."
"They didn't," Jared grins back rakishly, baring all his pointed curved teeth, and flicking the torn ear towards them. "I crashed down their gates and escaped--wandered around a ways to throw them off, got the thing out of my ear and buried it a few miles from the river. If I lay low for a few days, don't hang around the clearing, I should be okay..."
"You look better though," Chris points out, nosing at Jared, inspecting him to make sure. "Are you better? Not sick anymore?"
Dean beams and paws playfully at the snow, leaning over to bite at Chris's shoulder and bat at Jared's tail.
"Jensen's going to freak out," Dean says, and Chris just laughs.
"Yeah," he agrees. "But at least he'll quit mopin' around on us. Maybe we'll all get more to eat now that the pussycat's back. Jensen'll hunt again and that's good for everybody."
"Not sick, completely better, ready to take down anything you've got," Jared confirms, face spit in two with his smile, whisking his tail about to thwap back at Dean's paw, then nudges Chris with his nose as he follows the pack back to the scent trails. "Jensen hasn't been hunting?"
Dean's grin falls away and he looks between the rest of the pack and Chris, then back at Jared, but it's Chris that cuts in.
"Jensen hasn't left the spot he lay down in the night they took you, Jay," the wolf says quietly. "He hasn't moved, barely eats, doesn't do anything but stare off where the van disappeared with you in it. It's been even colder than before a couple of nights but he won't go inside, won't do anything but lie there. Even had to brush snow offa him a few mornings because he just..."
He trails off, ducking his head a little. "He wanted to do right by you but he misses you too hard when you're gone, Jay. He felt better about you bein' safe, but being here without you was gonna kill him."
Jared has to stop at that and catch his breath. He feels like he's just stepped off the edge of a cliff and fallen upwards instead, and when his heartbeat catches up with him it's pounding like mad.
"I," he begins, his throat closing up, then, "is the hunt over? Can I still run with you?"
"We've just started," Dean says. "Tracking some deer that way."
He points with a flick of his nose in the direction they've been traveling, trotting up to Sam's side, leaving Chris nudging Jared with a small smile.
"You're more than welcome to run with us, Jay," he says softly. "Bet it'll feel good to really stretch those legs after being all penned up in a cage. And hell, maybe if you catch somethin', Jen'll eat it and quit lookin' like somebody just skinned his momma to wear her for a hat."
"Maybe if I catch something?" Jared teases back, rubbing his cheek up briefly against Chris's before flicking away, darting up through the trees and tossing a bright smile over his shoulder. "Just try and keep up, puppy dog..."
Chris ends up making the best catch of the hunt, easily bringing down a buck--with his fluid, smooth-moving grace--to the approving yelps and howls of the pack. Jared does pride himself, however, on catching two plump rabbits, and boasts about triumphing over evil all the way back until Jo leaps on him and wrestles him to stop.
Dean makes it first into the camp, dragging his share of the catch, with Sam following behind; both are grinning, and wagging their tails hard.
Jensen doesn't lift his head when he smells the pack's return, not even at the sound of happy yips and playful barks, just lets out a sigh and blinks snow from his eyes, vision blurred as he continues to watch the distance as though maybe, if he stares hard enough, the van will return and Jared will come home.
Chris comes bounding up after dropping his share of the meat by his sleeping spot, paw ruffling Jensen's fur.
"Brought a couple things back for ya, Jen," he grins.
"Go away," is Jensen's less-than-enthusiastic response, nose burrowing underneath one of his paws. "Eat my share, Chris, or give it to the pups. I don't want it."
"I don't think Chris is going to eat any part of me," Jared announces, coming up behind Chris. He's melting and shaky and dizzy inside with joy, but he manages to shrug as he deposits the rabbits on the ground. "Or give me to the pups. But if you don't want me, I'll go take my rabbits somewhere else..."
Scrambling to his feet and whirling around to face the direction of that voice, Jensen stares, eyes huge and disbelieving, legs unsteady and weak after endless days of disuse.
"Jay?" He blinks, shaking his head hard just in case he's seeing things, a desperate whine curling up through his throat. "How did...what are..."
And then all at once, he flings himself at his mate, tumbling Jared back into the snow, teeth biting at the soft fur of his throat.
"They took you," Jensen rasps. "I saw them take you, I thought...I thought I'd never see you again."
Jared rolls with an 'oof' and pins him down, snow flying everywhere, tongue and teeth and nose all over his mate, deliriously breathing him in and laughing into his fur and smiling against his muzzle--warm and ecstatic and gleeful and healthy. "Told you I wouldn't be brought down by three inches of white stuff on the ground, Krypto..."
Jensen growls but he's grinning, play-snarling and biting at the cheetah as he wrestles with him, pawing at him and looking alive for the first time since the humans took Jared away.
"Mmm, maybe," he agrees, "but I was the one who got 'em to come make you better, pussycat. You'd probably still be sneezing up a storm if I hadn't gone to the human habitat." Which, Jensen thinks, isn't quite true. He isn't sure Jared would've lasted much longer without help from the humans. "But either way, it doesn't matter. You're home and you...you smell like cages and medicine but that's okay, 'cause I'll have you smellin' like me again in no time," he promises.
"You saved my life," Jared says simply, reaching up to tug on Jensen's ear and lick over his muzzle, nuzzling over his cheek, unable to get enough of his wolf. "Whatever you want, whenever or however it is, I'm yours."
"Don't you know by now, Jay? That is all I want," Jensen murmurs back, shivering at the pull on his ear and chuffing soft sighs against Jared's throat. "Just you, pussycat, just you, that's all I ever want. All I need." Biting at soft fur, Jensen chuckles softly, chest feeling tight. "We should go inside our den," he says. "The pups'll be traumatized if we stay out here much longer."
"You're making me wait for two seconds to have you?" Jared returns plaintively, eyes glimmering with laughter. He licks over Jensen's throat with a long stroke, murmurs into Jensen's ear, "Two seconds and no longer, Jen, can't stand it," and jumps back, on his feet with his paws splayed out in a playful dance.
"We've just gotta make sure you don't get sick again, pussycat," Jensen says, growling playfully as he pounces at his mate, biting a spotted shoulder and herding Jared towards their den where a mound of skins wait, warm and inviting. Chris has been adding more with every kill the pack's made, trying to coax Jensen back indoors, but even though it hadn't helped, Jensen's grateful because now it means more warmth for Jared, less chance of him getting sick again. "Need you, Jay," he rasps, squirming through the doorway after his mate and crawling on his belly towards the pallet. "Thought I'd never be with you again."
Jared's purring, a low husky growly noise that stiffens into a whimper as he pins Jensen down to the pallet, nosing into the soft skins and rubbing down against him with his entire body--paws to cheek to tail--licking and nuzzling against that fur until Jensen is relaxed and limp, until every last bit of tension is gone, and then lifts himself up over Jensen.
"I woke up and I had the thing in my ear," he says into Jensen's ear, teeth closing around it as he lets out a hot breath, hips thrusting, "and I thought of the first time I saw you again, on the reserve. And I remembered what you looked like, with the light on your fur and the way you walked forward, all easy and graceful, and I couldn't breathe but I couldn't look away, never wanted to stop looking. And there was that metal thing on your ear, that stupid, ugly, painful, fucking metal thing--and I told myself that if I had to kill a human, if I had to tear down every last one of their fences, I'd get back to you. And I tore it out nearby the stream and buried it, when I escaped, and if they come back I will kill every last one of them. I'm not leaving again, Jensen. This is where I stay."
A low whine tangles in the back of Jensen's throat as he writhes underneath Jared, back arching, head tilted back to lick and bite and nip at every piece of his mate that he can reach.
"If you get sick again, I'll find them again," he mutters, soft whimpering howl echoing through the den. "I love you, I need you here, always need you here with me, Jay, but I'm not going to let you die." Jensen arches up again needily, paws scratching at the pallet beneath him, tail flicking against Jared's. "I need you healthy and safe more than I need you with me," he breathes. "You gotta understand that, pussycat. S'why I went to the humans in the first place."
"I do," Jared says softly, panting, thrusting harder. "I do. You saved my life, Jensen. I can't even begin to repay what you've done for me. I love you--I'm insane over you--and as long as you want me here, sick or healthy, there is nothing that will keep me from you."
Jensen buries his face in the skins, arching, twisting, writhing hungrily, desperately as he moves with his mate, tries for more, please, harder, yes. "Forever," he rasps, throat dry and voice thin and ready to break. "Want you here forever, Jay, don't ever want you to go."
Jared's words are lost in a hard whine, his voice breaking apart into a hoarse shuddering yowl as he digs his claws and teeth into Jensen, breath hot against his fur, pleasing knifing through him as keen as pain. He noses into the nape of Jensen's neck, behind his ears, into the crook of his throat, and gasps his mate's name over and over again.
Jensen's fairly certain the entire reserve hears him when he throws back his head and howls, long and loud and sharp, cutting through the cold air that surrounds them. Jared's name comes next, pleading and soft and repeated in the spaces between Jared's chant of his name, pleasure burning through him until he's shuddering and shivering and completely spent.
Jared has plans, one day, to see if he can make Jensen do that twice--three times--but now he shudders and dissolves against his mate, too wrung out and mindblown to do anything but gasp and hold on. He slides over to Jensen's side and buries his face in the crook of Jensen's neck to feel his heartbeat--the warmth of Jensen's body against his, his heady scent making his head spin, the rhythm of his breathing--and settles back into himself, very much head over heels and unwilling to ever get up again.
"Missed you so much, pussycat," Jensen mumbles, nose buried in the skins once more, voice coming out muffled and ragged as he starts to come back down, to find his regular heartbeat and breathing rate again. He snuggles into Jared's warmth, curling around him, holding him close and breathing him in, trying to stay awake just in case this is all some hallucination that will disappear once he's slept and woken up once more.
" 'm here," his mate says softly, in the darkness of the den, "I'm not leaving, never," and rests his cheek against that steady rapid heartbeat pounding in his ears, listening as if it were a secret language just for him. "Love you, Fido."
"Love you too, Jay," Jensen mutters back, nosing at his mate, snuffling a little and settling his chin atop the nape of Jared's neck as they curl together, pressing close with a soft sigh. "Glad you're home where you belong, all safe and healthy and..." He trails off with a yawn that ends with a soft whine, endless days of next to no sleep weighing down on him now, along with hunger that rumbles in his belly.
Jared's laughter chuffs in his ear. "Get some sleep, Jen," the cheetah says affectionately, voice gentle. "The pack wants you to start hunting again when you wake up--but I want to see if I can make you howl again first."