Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

voices. The voices were joined by the sound of metal impacting the ferns and trees. The humans had weapons, then. Large ones, from the metallic clangs that raked over his ears. He growled low in his throat as he sat and waited downwind, shifting only to track their path.
    It was perhaps another hour before they did as he feared they would, moving along the same path the poachers had taken into his territory. He would have frowned if his feline face were capable of the expression. Why were they following that path so closely? It was almost as if they weren't tracking prey at all, and that was odd for poachers, odd enough for him to creep closer for a better look at the party.
    He was careful, remaining downwind as he silently aligned his path with theirs, glimpsing them through the trees and vines. His eyes narrowed as he took in the appearance of the group. They were clothed appropriately for the forest, but weren't armed to the teeth like poachers. They had devices he had never seen before, and they didn't reek of blood and anger. If they had hunted, they had done so carefully, or infrequently enough, for it to have been only for food.
    It took him a minute to identify what he was looking at, but the realization finally hit him like a blow to his sensitive belly. This was a searching party. They were probably looking for the poachers' remains, perhaps even looking for Deshi. His tail drooped a bit at that thought, and he felt a pit begin to form in his gut. If they were looking for the boy, then the kind thing to do would be lead them to him. Deshi might have begun learning to take care of himself, but the deep wilds of the jungle were not Deshi's home. This was his home, his world, and the boy had just fallen into it with those poachers. This was Deshi's chance to return to his own world, maybe even to his family now that he was free of the poachers.
    The thought of losing Deshi nearly stopped him in his tracks, nearly sent him running away from the party of humans, but he couldn't just leave the humans to wander. They would find nothing, and eventually give up and return wherever they came from, but could he live with himself if he forced Deshi to stay? Could he live with himself if he selfishly kept the knowledge of this search party to himself?
    He deftly moved through the jungle again, this time, he intentionally made noise. It took the idiot humans several minutes to catch the sounds, to begin following his trail. They would call out after every noise he made, but he kept leading them along. Any other beast would know it was being led, but not the humans. They believed themselves to be the top of the food chain. If they'd seen what he'd left of the poachers, maybe they'd be a little more wary of sounds in the jungle. For now, their arrogance served his purpose, and he made sure his tail and paws left markers behind for the humans to follow.
    The closer he drew to the copse of fig trees, where Deshi's scent was strongest to his nose, the doubt began to claw at him. Did he truly want to give the boy up? Deshi was his, wasn't he? He'd taken the boy in, ensured he'd survived, even taught him about the food and forest itself here. Yes, should Deshi return with the humans, his life would return to the pattern it had, protecting the leopards as a leopard once more, but... was it enough anymore? He loved the leopards, loved the jungle, but Deshi... did he also love Deshi?
    It didn't matter. The jungle wasn't the boy's place. Deshi should be with his own kind, thriving with a wife and children, working fields and growing old in the safety of a village. The forest was unsafe, and he needed to protect the leopards; Deshi made it difficult for him to think of anything other than Deshi. He growled softly the minute the boy came into sight, and the smile Deshi offered him—his arms full of ripe figs—nearly broke his heart. The humans weren't far behind, and he had to make sure they found the boy.
    "Kaanan!" Deshi rushed to him. "Figs all over."
    He chuffed and looked over his shoulder as he heard another shout from the humans. The boy's head snapped up, his brow furrowed as he looked out into the jungle.
    "Kaanan?" Deshi asked, dark brown eyes darting to him.
    He couldn't explain, but padded around Deshi and gave him a hard nudge with his head.
    "Humans." The boy turned around. "Humans coming!"
    He chuffed again and nodded as best he could. Yes, humans were coming. They were coming for Deshi. The boy glared at him, and