#tql

Ira paced back and forth. Where was Lupita? They’d wanted to meet up more than an hour ago. Lupita had been late before, sure, but never this late!

She barely even noticed that she kept changing forms, from human to degu and back again. What if something had happened? Ira couldn’t just sit around here, waiting. She had to figure out what was keeping Lupita away. See if there was trouble.

As it was, degu form was better suited for this task. Picking up smells and sounds was far easier as a degu, and Ira didn’t want to miss a single clue.

 The search started at Lupita’s home. No hint where she might be. It smelled like her, but everything around here did. Next up were her favorite places; the river, the small glade, but nothing. Finally, in the tree branches—far too high above ground to be comfortable for Ira, truth be told—she found something. It just wasn’t the lead Ira had hoped for.

The vibrant green leaves were stained with rusty brown spots, the smell of which told Ira that if she’d come earlier, she’d have found them bright red. Blood. Blood that smelled far, far too much like Lupita.

Ira’s instincts would’ve told her to run, but she’d have just told her instincts to shut up; she had to investigate this.

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When the bullet struck her leg, Lupita was in shock for a second, more confused than scared as she saw the blood spatter the branches around her.

Then the pain hit.

She roared and jumped down, but didn’t even reach the ground before a net surrounded her. She tried breaking free, but all she did was tangle herself more and more in it; swiping at the humans who’d attacked her only served to make her unable to try again. She was stuck.

“Oh, this is a big one!” One of the humans said, grinning. “Gonna fetch us a nice price.”

Lupita fixed her eyes on him. Was he the leader?

Another one, younger than the rest, appeared not quite as excited. “Are you sure about this?” He looked at Lupita. “I heard that shapeshifters live here…”

The leader shrugged, the proud grin on his face unbroken. “So what if there are? You scared, kid?”

“No, I just…”

“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this. Don’t worry, the net’s got some silver in it, stops them from transforming if we end up catching one.” He and a few other hunters grabbed the net and heaved it into the back of his truck.

Lupita felt the vibrations when they started the car, but she was too tangled to free herself. She let out another roar, crying for help, but the car moved fast—if anyone heard her, they wouldn’t be here in time.

When the humans finally released her from the net, she was behind metal bars, far too thick to break. Her cage reminded Lupita of the enclosure in a zoo, big enough to walk around in. There even was a formation of rocks—fake rocks—that might give her a tiny bit of privacy.

Other than that, though, her cage was barren. She didn’t know what the humans had planned for her, but she doubted it’d be pleasant. She had to find a way to escape.

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While Ira had a surprising amount of stamina for someone her size, she was panting when the forest around her grew thinner, and downright exhausted by the time she reached human buildings. Lupita’s scent was getting stronger here, though, giving Ira another boost of power. She was almost there! Following the trail further led her past the buildings themselves, to a big cage—and in the cage, she spotted a very familiar jaguar.

Ira trilled excitedly when she saw Lupita. Finally! Without hesitation, she scurried over to her; the bars that kept Lupita in were more than wide enough to fit Ira through.

Lupita chuffed at her, composed as always, and waited for Ira to calm down a little; once Ira stopped chittering, Lupita stood up and led her to the rocks. Ira quickly hurried after her, but not without noticing that Lupita was limping. Her fur bristled, making her appear almost twice her admittedly small size.

Once the bars were out of sight, Lupita turned back into her human form, visibly grimacing from the pain. Ira followed suit, and promptly wrapped her arms around Lupita.

Lupita patted Ira’s back, and for a moment, they almost forgot where they were and why. But only for a moment.

“So, what happened?” Ira asked right after she let go. She impatiently tapped her foot—not to hurry Lupita up, just because she wanted to find the culprits as soon as possible.

Lupita nodded, took a deep breath, and explained what the hunters had done.

 “So? What do we do?” Ira crossed her arms. She knew what she’d prefer.

But Lupita shook her head. “There are too many of them, love. A head-on fight would be too dangerous.”

Stealth wasn’t exactly Ira’s favorite course of action, but she nodded. “Fine. So I’ll have to break you out without anyone noticing.” Her voice was a tad sharper than she meant to, but Lupita didn’t seem to mind.

“Try and find out where they keep the keys. I can create a distraction.”

Ira took a deep breath to calm herself down and nodded again. “I’d still rather fight them directly. Give them what they deserve.”

“I know, love.” Lupita took one of Ira’s hands and squeezed it gently. “But I don’t want you to get hurt. It’d be easier if we could do this without a fight. Let’s just focus on getting away safely.”

Ira hesitated, but finally nodded. As much as she’d love to make the hunters pay, knowing Lupita safe was more important. For now. They could discuss this once more when she was free again.

Lupita smiled. “Thank you.” She gave Ira a quick kiss. “I’ll wait until sunset, so we can hide in the dark. And I hope that’s long enough for you to find a key, and for me to figure out how to distract them.”

“You’ll find something.” Ira didn’t want to leave; she hated the thought of Lupita being all alone, especially in a place like this. But if she didn’t, Lupita would remain trapped here, and that was even worse. Ira hesitated for a moment, then gave Lupita a quick hug before she turned back into a degu and went to look for the key.

 It was easy to stay unseen in this shape; people rarely paid attention to something so small. And almost every building had a few openings, too small to allow a human through, but more than big enough for a degu. It was convenient, to say the least—but if it had been Ira’s choice, she’d have forced her way in anyway.

The man with the key was easy to find; just follow the sound of someone giving out orders. The only problem now was getting the key without being spotted. The man carried it on his belt, and even a little degu would be noticed if she tried climbing on someone.

Ira could, of course, take the key by force. As long as it was only one human, she could take him on. But if she wasn’t quick enough, didn’t manage to surprise him, he might scream for help—and as much as she hated having to wait, right now she needed to be careful. She wasn’t worried about herself, Ira was sure she could win a fight. But if they found out she was here for Lupita, they might hurt her in retaliation. Better not to take that risk.

So she waited, carefully following the human around. If only he’d take off the key… But he didn’t. Of course he didn’t, not even when he entered his office.

He just finished making a cup of coffee when a blood-curdling noise ripped through the silence, something between a roar and a scream.

Ira’s fur bristled; she knew that sound. Lupita wasn’t one to anger quickly, but when she did, her fury was terrifying to behold—and beautiful, if you asked Ira.

Understandably startled, the man jumped up, spilling his coffee everywhere. If Ira had any chance of getting his key, it was now.

She leaped upwards, transforming into her battle form just before she hit the man. Though she was much smaller than shapeshifters with other shift-animals, her battle form still made her into a bipedal mountain—well, maybe a hill—of muscle. The force of her impact knocked the man down, and before he could scream or fight back, a well-placed punch knocked him out.

Ira looked down at the key. It was too bulky to be easily carried around as a degu; she’d have to use her human form, and be careful not to be seen.

She was panting already when she took it. No matter how much practice Ira might have, the battle form always took a lot of energy. But she had what she needed.

Now she only had to get back to Lupita.

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The screeching noise of her claws against the metal bars keeping her trapped hurt Lupita’s ears, but that meant it was working. It meant it was loud, loud enough for her captors to investigate what she was doing.

Especially once she roared. Not because she was startled or crying for help; this time, it was a challenge. To come fight her if they dared. And they wouldn’t, not in close quarters. In her battle form, Lupita towered over even the tallest of them, and the bars bending was proof of her strength.

As expected, the humans started gathering around her cage. All eyes were fixed on Lupita. Good. Hopefully, that’d give Ira the chance to take the key—and quickly.

Right now, the hunters seemed unsure what to do. Lupita roared another challenge, and they backed off a little, just in case the bars didn’t hold after all. They had rifles, but they wanted to make money off her, for which they either needed her alive, or her hide intact.

They hesitated just a little too long. A shrill squeal told Lupita that Ira was back, and she dropped on all fours to sprint to the now open gate. The hunters had chosen to focus on the roaring leopard, so nobody had noticed one young woman sneak just a little too close. Their mistake. Lupita could smell fear among the humans, no doubt worried she might attack them.

But if she did, they would fight back, and fur and muscles were a poor match against bullets. Her leg already burned like fire, and she could feel a trickle of blood run down to her paws; not the ideal condition to fight.

Ira, already in her battle form, fell in beside her, trying to support Lupita despite being barely half her size. She could hear the humans yell at each other, arguing about what to do. The longer they took to decide, the less danger for them.

Until one of them stood right in front of them, his rifle raised. The younger man, the only one unhappy about catching Lupita.

The two shapeshifters stopped, their momentum making them slide forward a little further than they’d thought. As long as it was just one human, they could take him—assuming that wouldn’t cause the others to shoot.

Lupita locked eyes with him, and for an endlessly long heartbeat, everything was quiet. Then, slowly, the man lowered his rifle.

Lupita nodded and started running again, pushing Ira a little to the side so they could dodge the human; if she hadn’t, Ira might’ve jumped at his throat anyway. But as it was, she simply stayed by Lupita’s side.

The burning in her leg grew worse, but Lupita knew she couldn’t slow down, not yet. She focused on her breathing, on her heart beating like it was about to burst, on Ira’s soft fur right at her side—everything to keep her going just a little longer.

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At dawn, just as the sky turned from inky black to pale blue, they decided to rest. Once the buildings had been out of sight, they’d switched their battle forms for their human ones; those took far less energy while still allowing Ira to support Lupita. Walking was slow, especially since Lupita was still limping, but what they lacked in speed they made up for with endurance. By now, they were back in familiar regions—And just by chance, their resting place happened to be the very lake at which they’d first met.

Ira helped Lupita down to the shore, where she sat, exhausted from the journey. Ira herself was too anxious to settle down just yet, switching to degu form to listen for potential pursuers.

Silence.

She turned back into human shape and knelt down in front of Lupita. “Are you okay?”

“I will be.” Lupita gently took Ira’s hand. “Thank you.”

Ira shook her head. Of course she’d gone to save her beloved! That wasn’t something that would require thanks.

Lupita giggled. “I know, I know. It’s obvious you came.” She squeezed Ira’s hand. “I’m still thankful for it.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t go back? Make them pay for what they did?” Ira would’ve clenched her hands to fists, had Lupita not held one of them.

Lupita shook her head, her face calm but decisive. “No.” She waited a moment to give Ira a chance to react, then laid a hand on her cheek and gently made her face her. “What I want right now, my love, is to have you by my side, and to go home with you. Not to have you risk your life.”