Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

but he didn't always stay in his feline form, and when he took the form of a man, there were some tools that made life infinitely easier. He had scattered the packs throughout his territory for convenience, but he hadn't thought he would ever use one to benefit some trespassing human.
    The boy was sitting up again, and the initial fear at hearing his approach dissipated again with his appearance through the trees and vines. He set the pack down, and when the boy reached out for it, he growled. The boy probably didn't even know what to do with the contents. He spent a few minutes clearing the area and took out two containers and a pair of stones. He looked up at the sky and sighed. The sun was quickly setting, which meant their shelter would have to be simple for the night. The boy's eyes were on him most of the time, but he ignored him for the moment. He smeared a circle of semi-solid resin into a dip on a flat piece of wood and struck the two stones against one another until a spark ignited the resin. Building the fire was easy after that, and the scent of resin and wood smoke filled the area.
    He spared a glance to the boy, who shifted closer to the heat of the fire with an odd combination of fear and awe in his eyes. The movements were awkward, a bit uncoordinated, and by the hue of the boy's skin, he suspected the boy had a fever. It meant another trip into the woods for a few herbs and barks, and he huffed his annoyance, pointing to a pile of larger sticks, which the boy handed to him when he held out his palm. He brought the boy lake water in a wooden bowl from the pack and set to making a proper shelter with a large piece of thick fabric which he tied up over the low-hanging branch of a tree right next to the fire. He used a vine to secure the middle of the fabric above them so they would be protected from rain in the night.
    Just as the shelter was finished, the boy shifted away again. He only managed a couple feet before another bout of retching began. He sighed and pushed his own hair back from his face. It was going to be a very long night.
    ****
    He hadn't managed any sleep by the time the night was half over. The boy's foolish appetite for poisonous mushrooms had seen to that much. Thanks to frequent bouts of vomiting, neither the vine's antidote nor a mash of herbs and bark to help the fever actually stayed inside the boy long enough to take full effect. By all things good and natural, he'd sired cubs that were less trouble! At least the severity of the vomiting was slowly tapering off. He had laid down a proper bed of broad leaves and fronds for them, but it was useless if the boy wasn't able to rest.
    After a particularly unpleasant round of diarrhea from the boy that he had to bury—much like the vomit—the boy settled against him. By the lake, the air was cooler, and in his sleep, the boy shivered. He huffed a little, annoyed, and stood, changing his shape again from man to leopard. It was his preferred form, anyway. He was more leopard than man, and wearing the skin of a man was uncomfortable. At least as a leopard, he could keep the boy properly warm. He curled around the sleeping boy and licked at his shoulder and arm. The boy whimpered in his sleep, and then cuddled closer. He rested his head on the boy's filthy hair, and then fell asleep.
    It was a pretty decent sleep until a scream woke him. The boy was on his feet, a dozen steps away from their shelter, and the sun was just beginning to warm the water. He stood up and growled. He was tired , and the boy was inconsiderate. He'd been quiet through the night, kept the boy warm. How dare the boy repay his kindness with screams and fear? If he'd wanted, he could have eaten the boy by now! Their fire had sputtered in the night, and his own belly rumbled with hunger. Fine. He would leave the boy to panic while he fetched food for them. Safe food.
    Stupid screaming human.
    He leaped from the clearing and headed into the thickness of the jungle. It took him a few hours to bring down one of the female peafowls, and even though he wanted to eat it immediately, he simply shifted back to the form of a man and picked up the dead bird. Another hour, and he'd managed to find mangoes, some bael fruit, two cashew fruits, some more of the antidote vines, and several tamarind pods. He thought he saw some palms that he could come back to later when the boy's stomach would be able to handle the more fibrous hearts. He returned with his bounty and found the boy