#!predatory

I open my eyes.  Glancing around, I find that nothing has changed in the slightest—I’m still seeing the same, foreign area that I’ve been trapped in for weeks, now.  The trees here are not tress and the grass is not grass; the ground is strangely firm yet it is also giving and soft.  The cave walls are massive, multi-coloured and its surfaces are immaculate, smooth.  They have deceitful openings in them that promise and boast a view of the outside world I cannot reach.  I do not understand.  Why have I been brought into this wasteland?  It is torture and it is cruelty.  I am being held captive by a pride of creatures, though I know not what they are.  They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and their behaviour confuses me.

These other animals are loud, large and slow.  They stomp around with their enormous, elongated limbs and disgusting faces.  Their coats are not like mine; they change shape, colour and texture as they se fit and discard them like snakes shed their skin.  They leave them on the ground for the alpha female to retrieve.  She does not appreciate this and while I cannot understand their vocalizations, I can see that she is never pleased with her offspring or her mate.  Her mate is the largest of them all.  He is the scariest.  He is rarely here.

I do not like them.

Especially their young.

These strange lands are not completely familiar but I am learning and learning fast.  I slink out from underneath an elevated boulder that is at the same time comfortable as well as treacherous.  Treacherous because it is the boulder that I have seen the alpha’s mate return to frequently when he has decided to invade the area with his presence (and his size).   I have successfully usurped the boulder and it is mine.

The alpha does not oppose me.

The ground is soft under my paws.  It feels nice—nice like when I dig my claws into the soft boulders that are gathered around the cavern.  I shred and destroy parts of it in a display of my strength.  The alpha’s mate does not like me.  He is enraged when I assert my dominance; he is threatened that I will become the new alpha and overthrow his mate.  The alpha, however, is never cross with me. She must have the ability to recognize my greatness.  After all, it is my destiny to rule these beasts once I am fully-grown; I am certain of it.

The tunnel to their individual sleeping caves is still dark.  They haven’t summoned the slaves who tend to the mini suns for illuminating their cave yet.  All is quiet and all is peaceful; the offspring have not woken yet.  I am safe for a little while longer.

I make my way to the alpha’s cave.  The entrance to their chambers are sometimes blocked by tree bark but this time, there is a crevice I can sneak through so I do so.  I know I am still very small, but I am impatient.  This cannot wait.

Today, I shall kill her and take her place.

I find them, covered by large, white leaves on their giant, flat boulder.  The alpha is still sleeping and her mate is curled up beside her.  I scale the side of their bedrock while my laws sink into the stretch of long, white softness.  My tail swishing against it makes a pleasing sound—almost as pleasing as the sound of ripping through their precious cave-things.

The alpha stirs and I freeze, staring her down from the other side of the bedrock.  Her eyes are not open and I am convinced that the opportunity I was presented with had slipped away.  Her mate does not move.  Perhaps he is also a boulder.

I coil myself up, hind legs tensed and ready, tail sweeping back and forth while I sit there in anticipation.  My gaze does not leave her form.  I am ready, I am waiting.  She settles with a loud breath and does not move again for a few moments.

This is my chance.

I spring forward and land on her chest.  Her eyes flutter open and she looks surprised.  I dig my claws into the sheet that she’s draped over herself, hoping that it’s is enough to tear through to her flesh.  It must be so; I feel something give way under my paws.  It is squishy and I imagine that I have just found the foul beast’s heart.  In a few moments, I shall prevail and triumph; I will become their alpha and this current one shall be no more.

But she sits up and looks at me, with an expression that is neither pained nor enraged.  Clearly, she is not dead, maimed or even bleeding in the least and I cannot fathom an explanation.  Why?  Why have I not killed her?  How did I fail?  What had gone wrong?

I am tiny, so tiny that when her limbs come out into view, she traps me in those giant paws that are bigger than my face, longer than my whiskers.

Oh, no.  This is it.  She will kill me instead because my attempt was unsuccessful.

I shut my eyes, patient patiently for my demise, hoping that the alpha will be mercifully quick.

The only thing I feel are her claws behind my ears, on my head and along my back but it does not hurt; her touch is feather-light.  It feels nice.

I sneak a glance at her and she is staring down at me, without any malice or any trace of predatory intent.  I am confused.  So very, very confused.  Her mouth is open and sounds are being emitted and still, I am not able to comprehend their vocalizations.  The sound is not obnoxious like her offspring’s.  Instead, it is a soft one and it is gentle, soothing.

I try to let my frustration be heard.  I bare my fangs at her, letting out the most guttural of all cries that I could muster.  She does not seem impressed or even phased.  She continues to administer affectionate strokes to my lumbar.

I have been defeated, conquered and shamed.

Our fierce battle has roused her mate from his slumber and he glowers at me.  I glare right back, snarling at him with all the inherent ferocity that I possess.  He does not look afraid, much to my dismay; he only appears annoyed and this displeases me.

I sit there, grudgingly accepting the alpha’s guileful tactics.

One day, alpha.

I shall defeat you.