Pride discussion

This river runs between the two territories and acts as a natural divider between the prides.

Mercy sat in her work out clothes that consisted of short black spandex shorts and a loose white off the shoulder belly shirt that showed off her tanned and toned stomach. A sparkly diamond sparkled in her belly button and the shirt showed the hint of her side tattoo. Mercy was sitting on a flat rock, stretching her legs. Scout and her were about to start their five mile night run then go swimming in the river.

Scout was wearing something similar to her cousin but her shirt was neon green and her shorts were white. she stood in front of Mercy, silently picking at her purple nail polish.

Striker saw the two girls in the distance, so Scout was true to her word. He liked that. Though he wondered how Mercy was going to feel about this. He didn't know whether he should walk up to them or not, but he supposed it was better than standing around like a stalker. He walked up to them more nosily than he normally would, he didn't want them to shift and try to attack him for sneaking up on them. His eyes traveled over his mate's body, he tried to control his thoughts. Her outfit left little to the imagination, and hugged her body in all the right places. He shook his head, trying to get his mind focused on getting her to accept their bond. He stopped a few feet away from them, "Hello Scout...Mercy.." His voiced sounded somewhat pained at the mention of his mate's name from his lips.

Mercy's leopard had informed her of her mates presence before he had even showed himself. Envy's blood shot eyes from crying so much earlier looked up at him from her spot on the rock and they slightly narrowed. Why was he here? Wasn't he upset about her running...twice. Mercy could feel the tears building again and she quickly looked down and pretend to be tightening her laces on her tennis shoes.

"Baby-doll! Look who's here!" Scout said, her cheerful personality showing through. She always used Mercy's childhood nickname. So did most of the pack. Mercy was tiny and was given the nickname when she was a small child and looked like a cute blonde baby-doll.

"Baby-doll?" Striker asked clearly amused, it suited her...well somewhat. She was much too fierce to be a baby-doll, though with her looks he could see it. She however, didn't seem to like her nickname at all. When Mercy glanced up at him, he saw her blood-shot eyes. His heart plummeted into his stomach, he wanted to rush to her side. But he didn't...he didn't think that she would want him to. He had forgiven her from running from him, after Scout left he thought about things from her view. He could see where it would have been a bigger shock for her than for him. He decided to just forget about it, and give her the benefit of the doubt.

"It's because I looked like a baby doll when I was a kid.... I was really small." Mercy told him as she stood up. She glances down at her frame, "Well I guess not much has changed. " she shrugged and pulled her light hair up into a ponytail.

"Well, you aren't as chubby as you were a few years ago...I, uh, I mean," Striker raked his fingers through his hair sheepishly, he couldn't believe he had just told her that. "I remember you from before I left..." He shifted on his feet awkwardly.

Mercy bit her lip to keep from laughing at his awkwardness. "Like I said Earlier, You've been gone for a while. Things and people change." She said as she shifted back on her feet. Her leopard was mad and pouting at her because she wouldn't go over and touch him again.

"Yes, that they do..." Striker remembered his past and how he had changed. He used to be quite the man whore, he slept around a lot. Then one day it changed, he met a girl, Emily and they fell in love. They dated for about a year, before she was killed in a battle against the Broken Shadows Pride. She was a maiden, she just got caught in the middle of the fight. That was the reason he left, he couldn't stand to be around here after her death. So he went to Rome, and stayed with his sister Tempest...until a few days ago. His father called him freaking out about losing Alpha Damon as an ally.

Since Alpha Damon left and created his own Pride it left the Prowling Moon, well weakened. The Broken Shadows Pride now outnumbered them, and they couldn't afford to lose Alpha Damon as an ally. Striker hated that Tempest was going to be mated to Damon's son Tiberius. Apparently, Damon found out that Tempo looked like their grandmother and her twin and demanded that she mate with his son to keep the alliance. Poor Tempest...she didn't even know yet.

"Wow, someone just disappeared and went to lala land." Mercy joked with Striker and jumped down from the rock she was standing on. She stretched her back in a very cat like way then rolled her shoulders.

"Race you too the waterfall Baby-doll." Scout said nudging her cousin's shoulder before taking off. This was the rule, Scout got a ten second head start. That way it way a fare race. Mercy was the fasted were cat in the area and had to give people head starts when racing.

Striker snapped back to reality when he heard Mercy's voice, his gaze shot to her. He smiled as he realized that she had been joking with him. He liked that, it made them seem like a normal soon to be mated couple. At Scout's words she took of running, he hardly thought that was fair. She didn't even give Mercy a chance to get ready before she took off. He continued to think that until he seen Mercy start running, she was fast. Striker was impressed with his little mate.

Scout and Mercy didn't race like normal people. They jumped and flipped over boulders and fallen trees. Mercy ran straight for a large rock and slid across the top of it, passing Scout but also cutting her leg up in the process. Mercy didn't even notice that she had been hurt, the adrenaline of running and jumping blocking the pain.

Scout three fourths of the way threw stopped running and bent over, trying to catch her breath, "Damn Baby-doll, we are going to have to bump up the head start time." she huffed as she walked towards the water fall where Mercy stood, not even breathing that hard where as Scout sound like she was dying..."Need.Oxygen.Can't.Breath." Scout half joked.

Striker smelt blood...Mercy's blood and he freaked out. He was at her side before anyone even seen him move, he passed Scout with ease. Her cut wasn't that deep but it was long, and would easily get infected, even with their healing. "You're hurt." He stated the obvious in a disapproving tone. He brought her leg closer to him, he had always heard that mates could heal each other. Something about the properties in their saliva. It was one of the reasons why mating with someone other than your true mate was frowned upon. Regardless, he was going to try, he used his tongue to trace the form of her wound. As he pulled back he seen it healing, he smirked up at her, pleased with himself.

Mercy jerked back slightly when he grabbed her leg. She winced when the pain finally got to her. She was about to pull her leg back to he when he licked her cut, "Eww! Don't do that Striker! You have no idea where this leg has been!' She shrieked but too late he was done and her wound was healing, "Dude where were you when a I got in one of my car accidents?" She half joked as she watching her leg heal before her eyes.

"One is the key word in the statement." Scout said as she finally joined them. "She has flipped and crashed five times and that doesn't include the motorcycle accident or the other many random accidents."

Striker growled, not liking that his mate tried pulled away from him, nor the fact that she had put herself into danger too much. "Five? Five wrecks? Do you have a death wish?" He started, but then other words caught his attention, "No idea where this leg has been? What does that mean?" It had better not have meant what he thought it meant. The thought of someone else touching her made his blood boil. She was his! His. No one else, no one else should be touching her but him.

"No I'm just accident prone." Mercy defended herself looking way up at him, "And seriously? You have a reputation as a serious man-whore and you're getting mad at me because you are making assumptions about what I said. I didn't mean I had my leg wrapped around some naked man's waist. I meant in places in general." She crossed her arms and glared at him, her tiny but mighty attitude showing.

Striker chuckled, it was a low and dangerous sound, "I'll have you know that I haven't whored around in years not since..." He stopped he didn't want to talk about Emily, least of all not with his mate. "Regardless of the reason, I haven't had a girl wrap her legs around my naked waist in nearly five years." He threw her words back at her, not liking the direction that their current conversation was headed.

Mercy's eyes narrowed slightly when he didn't finish his sentence. He was hiding something. Mercy even if she was attracted to him...a lot, she did not like him very much at the moment. "Well looks like you'll be waiting another five years." She snapped. This was great, just how she always pictured her first night with her mate.

"Gladly." Striker snapped back, his little mate sure had a big attitude problem. He shook his head, she was so infuriating. First running away from him, then running from him yet again. Now she was pissed because of his past, he couldn't change it even if he wanted to.

A low growl built in Mercy's throat as she started at her ass of a mate. "This is never going to work you know that right? One of us will end up killing the other." she told him walking towards the pool off water where the waterfall was. The moon reflected across the surface beautifully and she could wait to get in a swim.

Scout got a message from one of the healers from their pack. Sophie, a nine year old cub, who had brain cancer and was slowly killing her wasn't doing well. The healers have done everything they could do. The cancer was slowly starting to take over all her body and shutting down organs. They had even taken her to human doctors and they too couldn't do anything, it was too strong of a cancer. The healer told her that Sophie wasn't doing well and it would be soon. By soon he had obviously meant that Sophie was going to die soon. The thought brought tears to her eyes. "Baby-doll....It's Sophie." Just her name had Mercy turning around faster than lighting, "It'll be soon..." Mercy and Sophie had become close since the diagnosis two years ago. Mercy used to babysit for the girl and considered her a sister.

That was all Mercy had to hear before she let out a pained cry and sprinted towards her cabin where she had allowed Sophie and her family to stay for a while. She jumped over a boulder and at the same time shifted. Her sleek leopard body shot through the woods. She needed to be with Sophie. She had promised she would be there when it was time.

Scout watched her cousin run off, "This is not going to be good." She said out loud. "This will ruin her." She started walking back to the cabin, motioning for Striker to come along...well only if he wanted her too. (view spoiler)[This is what could bring them together:) sad but it could work. (hide spoiler)]

Striker felt his heartbreaking at the sound of his heartbroken mate. He didn't know what to do...how could he help her deal with something like this. He didn't like that he was willingly going on enemy lands, but he would be there for Mercy. Without a word he followed Scout.

"Sophie's a nine year old girl with brain cancer. It spread all over her body." Scout tried to explain, "Mercy and her have taken a liking to each other and now Baby-doll thinks of her as a little sister. It's gonna be hard for her to let go." She said sadly.

Striker didn't say anything, what could someone say to that news. It was horrible, something that made him hate how cruel that life could be sometimes. How could something like that happen to some poor child that didn't even deserve it?

((Post them at Mercy's cabin?))

((Sure. Would you mind posting at the woods?:)))