Reindeer Are Better Than People

Taiga had been resting, curled up in a snow drift. Though she was a lioness, she wasn't of the desert variety. Where she came from, lions had to be fit for both heat and cold. Caves were frigid things and that was where her family had called home. They lived and hunted in the deepest of snows, so the northern reaches of this land were nothing to the giant cat. It was simple for her to just curl up in a drift and let sleep carry her away. She had hunted earlier and so her belly was warm and full. Now she just needed to sleep it off. Fat chance with a herd of silly herbivores around her, right?

A chill wind brought the bleating call of Oscar into the woman's sleeping ears. Ruby eyes opened just in time to see Kyren prance off into the oncoming storm. The feline wrinkled her pink nose. What was Oscar doing out in a storm? With a yawn and a stretch, the lioness pulled herself from the drift, shaking the excess snow from her charcoal pelt. It was then that she heard the lowing sound of a bear in the distance. That explained it. Fuck.

The giant cat ran headlong into the storm. The harsh winds whipped at her face and the flakes of snow felt sharp as they collided with her nose and eyes. With the swirling winds, it was difficult to smell where her herdmates were and the curtain of snow made it almost impossible to see. The wind whistled, making the feline's hearing less than reliable. She stilled, searching with all of her senses for any sign of anything. Through the shrieking wind, she heard the grunt of a bear and the thunder of hooves. Ruby eyes shifted back and forth, looking for shadows in the snow. There.

Planting hind paws, Taiga rocketed forward, cutting through the curtain of snow. The lioness passed the fleeing forms of Oscar and Kyren. A larger shadow could be seen through the wall of wind and snowflakes. Taiga launched forward, massive claws extended and maw wide as she collided with the white bear. It hadn't been expecting her at all and she could see its eyes go wide. The lioness slammed hard into the bear, knocking it from its feet with the force of her leap. The bear released an odd squeal of alarm and began thrashing, trying to rid its big body of the clinging cat. Taiga released her claws from the white pelt, leaving spatterings of blood as she pushed away. The bear, a young bear now that she got a good look at it, spun, hind end low to the ground, as it ran as quickly as it could away from the mutant lion that had attacked it.

Once she was sure that the bear wasn't going to turn and try again, Taiga turned and made her way back in the direction that Oscar and Kyren had run in. The spotted cat growled and sighed. "Can you stop trying to get eaten, please?"

WC-512
Total-1606

"Taiga"