Richard Van Direstag nervous knelt by his wife's side. She lay unconscious and with some clear wounds from an attack from a mundane Mountain Lion. The wounds were enough that Rose was bleeding and might need stitches, and while he might have gotten to her in time to save her life, Richard was too panicked by finding Rose unconscious and with the Mountain Lion over her to know what to do or how to treat her wounds. He dealt with the Mountain Lion and then roared for help... for anyone to come and help his wife. The best he could do was hold one of Rose's hands and being careful with regard to his claws.
His roars did attract some attention and he could hear footsteps moving through the woods, and his rounded werelion ears pivoted to focus on each sound as they approached toward him. Richard had to assume that these were weres coming to answer his roar, as the steps were fast and quick and ultimately paying little attention to concealing their steps, something that a human would do. A were would be much the same. Eventually they came into view. One was another werelion, by his scent, but was in his human form at the time the other was transformed weredog. They looked down to Rose and then up to Richard.
"What's going on?" the werelion asked and then narrowed his eyes at Richard, "you! Did you do this?!"
"What?!" Richard stood up.
"Easy there, Elijah," the weredog said as he came between the two of them, "the roars were for help for "my wife," as it were. I doubt this guy attacked her."
"I didn't... we'd only just moved to Moon Lake," Richard managed as he looked between the weredog and Elijah.
Elijah was in his human form and had short and curled hair that framed his face and ears. His skin was a dark brown, like chocolate, with his darker eyes still focused forward on Richard and the still unconscious Rose. The look, even from a werelion in his human form, was enough to shake Ricard between protecting his wife and his actions and feeling guilty for the mistakes that had lead to Rose getting attacked. With that, he simply began to blurt what had happened.
"We'd had a bit of an argument... mostly because I was afraid," Richard admitted, "and Rose... Rose wanted to stay and urged me to come out into the woods to find a were to talk to... to make me feel better. But it didn't work out so well. We stumbled onto a Sheila Wiggleston... me quite literally. That ended up leading to me... changing... and... well, I then let some instincts get away with me, and that upset Rose and she stormed out. I chased after her... but it was dark and she must have gotten lost and wandered to around here, trying to find our home. Instead she'd only found a Mountain Lion and it jumped her. I arrived in time to save her from it... but I don't know what to do... and... and... I shoulda been smarter."
"Right," Elijah said firmly, "for most normals generally don't come wandering into the woods at night. Some weres might be having a good time together or hunting deer in the area. And from time to time that does attract mundane predators."
Elijah then looked past Richard to see the Mountain Lion laying dead against a tree behind Richard. He then looked to the weredog, "Scott... I'm going to call the 911 for an ambulance and the police. Make a quick check on the Mountain Lion. Make sure there's no frothing at the mouth."
"What?!" Richard protested at the word "police" and took a step back, "I didn't attack my wife!"
The man held up a hand with one finger while he pulled a flip phone from his front pants pocket. The weredog, Scott walked around Richard and moved to take a closer look at the dead Mountain Lion and took a close look at the dead animal's mouth. While doing so, Elijah quickly dialed the number.
"Moon Lake 911, what is your emergency?" came a voice from the other side.
"This is Elijah Hunter, I have to report a wild animal attack," Elijah reported, "the victim is a female normal... got roughed up by a Mountain Lion. She is located about thirty five yards behind my home at 567 Wild Street."
"Normal or..." the voice fell off.
"The Mountain Lion was a normal Mountain Lion to me... looks rather young, but still normal," Elijah answered, "I can't say on its health. It may be best to have the police pick up the body to turn over to Fish and Game, just in case of Rabies."
"I don't think it was Rabid," Scott spoke up, "there doesn't seem to be any drool around it..."
"And the Mountain Lion is dead?" the voice asked.
"Yes... a rather NEW lion got it, and appears to be married to the victim... and appears rather distraught," Elijah answered.
"New... any chance of a Statute 1A violation?" the voice asked, "or is a pride in your area conducting an induction ceremony that this Mountain Lion busted up?"
"From the way he describes it... I would think it was more a fluke accident," Elijah answered, "though his induction is of less importance right now. The victim will need some medical care."
"Can you state the victim's condition?" the voice asked again.
"Female... in her early forties, I think," Elijah answered, "it doesn't look like the Mountain Lion got to anything critical... but her ankle, forearms, forehead, and one shoulder look like they've been scraped up pretty good. At present she's unconscious and I would guess that one of the blows she took knocked her out, though I can't say anything on the full nature of the attack... from some of the leaves rustled around, it's possible the cat jumped on her... but I didn't see the attack and the husband arrived to save her after the attack."
"Okay... we'll have an ambulance dispatched Mr. Hunter," the voice responded, "please have the new lion dressed and ready as quick as you can."
Elijah nodded and then hung up his phone and looked to Scott. The weredog nodded as there were other footsteps coming through the woods. This left Richard a bit lost as he looked between the two.
"She'll be fine," Elijah assured him, "It looks like you got here before the Mountain Lion could get a bite in on her and it just clawed her up a bit. She might need some stitches to pull everything together... but that would be about it."
"But..." Richard began.
"But because you're a new were and killed the animal that attacked your wife, there will have to be some police involvement and a record of the attack," Elijah told him, "it'll likely be written off and reported as a young cat attacked your wife and was killed by an older larger cat that in turn ran off when you approached. It'll protect the were secret that way... as our police will have to report it to the state's game wardens. But you'd best be in human form for it... and I have some clothes you can borrow."
Richard turned an ear, as by now he could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance and they were getting a bit louder. He almost bit his lip, worrying over that there was something he could do for Rose. He could see that she was still breathing, but it did look weak. Elijah noticed this.
"The faster we get you dressed... the faster you can go with her," Elijah spoke, "and Scott will keep an eye on her."
"Okay," Richard said slowly and hesitantly and began to follow Elijah away and toward the street and the houses that faced Wild Street. They made their way out and came onto a fairly modest one story home with a fenced compound across the street with what looked like a trailer set up for its office. Richard followed Elijah in and ignored the landmark that was across the street. He stepped into the area just inside the backdoor and let Elijah hustle in to get some clothes while Richard tried to focus on his human form and turn back. The process didn't hurt as his fur retreated back inside his skin and his tail was pulled back into him. He staggered a little bit as his feet shorted back into plantigrade human feet, but eventually Elijah returned with a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and a pair of sandals. Richard normally wasn't a sandals person, but given that he was presently naked in another man's home while his wife lay injured in the woods, he wasn't going to complain.
At the same time, the sirens had grown louder and he could even see the red and blue flash of lights as they approached. He'd just gotten the pants on as the ambulance pulled in front of the home and its siren now off but the flashing of red and blue remained at a steady flash of alternating color. He heard a knock at the door as he pulled the shirt on and Elijah moved to answer the door. From there it didn't take him long to slip on the sandals, which might still be slightly big on him, and followed. He arrived to find two EMTs and two uniformed police officers that was with them. Elijah was just finishing up on the best directions to get to Rose.
"This the new lion?" one of the policeman, who smelled like he was a weredog, asked.
"Yes... Richard Van Direstag... please... help my wife," Richard interjected and hoping to avoid any further trouble for Elijah and hoping he could explain that his transformation was an accident and more his fault than anything else. His mind still raddled with guilt.
"We will," the EMTs answered as they moved to take a stretcher around the house with Elijah leading and Richard taking up the rear.
The officers said nothing to him as they made their way back into the woods, where they found Rose was still unconscious, though a few more weres had arrived, including Sheila. She looked down nervously at Rose and then to Richard as he approached following Elijah, the EMTs, and the two officers.
"Has she..." Richard asked spoke nervously as one officer moved to clear some of the gathered crowd and the EMTs moved to look Rose over. The other officer meanwhile went over to look at the dead Mountain Lion, and even conversed with Scott a little. Richard's focus was on his wife.
"She's still unconscious," Sheila said nervously, "though... it would appear she's gone in the opposite direction from where you said your house was."
"Some of the others might have gotten started a bit after I transformed," Richard said weakly to her, "and in wanting to avoid stumbling onto anyone and another accidental transformation... ended up here... and got attacked."
The officer that was nearby did overhear, but for the moment kept giving some of the others the urge to step back while the EMTs looked over Rose. She was still breathing, but not really responding to much at the moment. They quickly fitted gloves over their hands and wiping away leaves and dirt from the wounds that were visible on Rose's body before applying a covering to help provide some pressure, though it looked like the bleeding had actually stopped... or at least slowed down.
"Was there any injury to the head or neck when you arrived?" one of the EMTs asked to Richard, "other than the shallow gashes here on the forehead?"
"I don't think so... I mean, all I saw was that my wife was in danger and I HAD to save her," Richard slowly, "other than that... I don't know."
"Did you roll her at all?" Scott asked as he began to approach with the other officer and pointed to a spot to Rose's right. There some of the leave's looked disturbed, like they'd been grabbed or pushed as something rolled through them.
"No... she was already on her back when I arrived," Richard spoke.
"Then it looked like she did fight with the cat and rolled on her own," the second officer deduced, "as it doesn't look like the Mountain Lion stepped there. Thus she did something to fight and rolled to fight more..."
"Rose is strong... but not THAT strong," Richard spoke nervously, "I... I shouldn't have let things get to me... if I'd... she... wouldn't..."
Both officers noted this while the EMTs looked down at Rose.
"Well, she's lucky that you got to her in time," the first EMT said to Richard, "we can't see any bite marks and the deeper claw marks are in spots where major blood vessels aren't present... She's still going to need some blood and stitches and the wounds more appropriately cleaned. With no head, neck, or spine injuries we can move her and get her to the hospital with little risk... Though beyond that, we'd have to wait until she regains consciousness."
"When will that be?" Richard asked.
"For the moment... we don't know," the second EMT spoke, "a lot of that will depend on how much blood she's actually lost. Her pulse seems a bit elevated from the attack... but for the moment, not enough to be in immediate danger."
With that, the two EMTs set the stretcher down to the left of Rose so that it was under her shoulders and hips. While the officers then steadied it, the two EMTs then carefully lifted and slid Rose onto the stretcher. Richard thought he heard a pained "oh" escape his wife's lips but she didn't seem to wake up, and that still left him worried. By this time some of the other onlookers that had arrived began to move away. The only ones who stayed were Elijah, Sheila, Richard, and Scott and they began to follow after the EMTs as they lifted up the stretcher and began to carry Rose out of the woods on it. The two officers stayed closest to Richard and Sheila and began to address Richard first.
"Now... Mr..." the first officer began.
"Van Direstag, Richard Van Direstag," Richard answered, "my wife's name is Rose."
The officer nodded, "So... can you tell me what you two were doing out here alone in the woods... I mean, you are a were, I could understand that. Even male werelions go hunting from time to time. But your wife would have only come along if she was already a were..."
"We'd only just moved to Moon Lake... until tonight, I'd been a normal human being... now... other than being a were... I don't know," Richard spoke.
"So was this part of some game for her conversion?" the second officer asked, "I mean... some married couples do that... particularly when they get to induct their partners..."
"No it was nothing like that," Richard said weakly, "My transformation was an accident and both Rose and I should be human... we should both be at HOME... but I... I was stupid."
This got some attention from Elijah and Scott, even if it was a repetition of what he'd said earlier. And from there Richard began to explain his concerns and worries about the Mandatory Were Law and the plan to escape Moon Lake before anyone lost their humanity in his family. This in turn lead to the argument with Rose in that she felt he hadn't bothered to learn anything about Moon Lake while Richard didn't tell her about dreams of losing her to some were orgy was the real reason. The argument then lead both of them out into the woods to force Richard to learn by meeting a transformed were. That ended with the run in with Sheila, who they'd found masturbating, and Richard tripped over a rock or a tree root just as she came and managed to get a mouthful of what lead to his becoming a werelion.
"And then when I became a werelion... I did precisely what I feared would happen... and may have lost Rose as a result," Richard finished, "she must hate me..."
"I wouldn't think so," Elijah spoke up, "Moon Lake can present some surprises for new residents... and werelions in particular. Largely because, like mundane lions, werelions are by nature polygamous with regard to who we're with. We'll only breed with ONE person, but a male werelion may be with many females and werelionesses may pair with multiple males. Even married werelionesses will be with male werelions other than their husbands. In this... it's something of a natural "swingers club," and many normals that come to Moon Lake with firm monogamous marriages aren't always ready for all that that comes with werelion nature. And I'd suspect that because you're new that some of those werelion instincts hit you harder than you were prepared for and responded instinctively, likely hoping that your wife would join in... and in surprise and shock, she couldn't go that far."
"But what does that say about me?" Richard asked, "that I'm to easily lead by my equipment? Rose is the only woman I'd ever loved."
"And she'll likely remain the only woman you'd truly love," Elijah answered, "as I said... werelion culture is a bit different from what most people are used to and outside of those who are really into the king of the savannah… most that become werelions are those who actively are swingers already. The romantic bond with your wife doesn't diminish... the rest is simply sex, nothing more... and some werelions can and will resist that at times, particularly if they've fallen for a different were-species that might be less inclined to swinging... it just takes time. Things seemed to have caught you and your wife completely by accident and before either of you were ready. I'll see if I can make some calls with the Talbots... I'll take you on as my coalition partner in my pride here on Wild Street and help you get a better grip on things and perhaps explain things in a way with Rose that wouldn't come off as though you're responding to an increased libido and asking for sex..."
"Coalition..." Richard said slowly.
"Part of how werelion prides are organized," Sheila spoke, "one male werelion could support the sexual needs of up to six werelionesses. They'd have to take turns, obviously, but that's with that base number of organization. With more than six lionesses, the pride would then organize a coalition, usually a more experienced male, like Elijah, who was born a werelion, and a more inexperienced male... like you. Elijah could then help you get used to things as a male werelion and see on where you stand on things..."
"Though pride meetings and when all werelions of every pride come together for either a grand hunt or just conversation... things can still get rather hot and heavy," Elijah added, "but Sheila is right... and once you're used to things, that pride under our coalition could then be split with you and your wife taking what you can support as your own pride... or we could stay as coalition partners and hold that responsibility... and it wouldn't all be about sex. There could well be other requirements that would relate to things Moon Lake's werelions as a whole will do."
"I see..." Richard said slowly.
"And our initial concern was that something in your transformation wasn't on the level," the first officer spoke, "that either Ms. Wiggleston forced something on you or that you'd deliberately drove you wife to where she could be attacked."
"Neither seems likely at the moment," the second officer spoke, "but Moon Lake takes forcing a transformation on someone very seriously. The only crime worse than it would be murder."
"What happened was an accident... and I should have been paying better attention," Richard answered.
"You shouldn't have been considering fleeing in the first place," the first officer spoke, "given the interests in protecting the were secret, patrol officers will drive by new residencies at times while on patrol, just to make sure no one is threatened or... is trying to run. If caught, the city would reserve the right to see to your whole family being transformed as punishment for refusing to abide by the Mandatory Were Law."
"It's still a bad law in my opinion," Richard grumbled as they came out toward where the ambulance and the police car was parked.
"That's a different issue," the second officer spoke, "and you may be able to argue for it be changed to something more acceptable. But storming out into the woods wasn't going to help you, either. You learned about weres, yes, but not in the way you and your wife intended... and with it being nighttime and Moon Lake's place in the wilderness in the mountains... things like what happened tonight can happen... particularly when wild animals and weres do not get along well."
"I know that now," Richard said looking down, "and I'm sorry..."
"I'm sure everything will be fine," the first officer said slowly and opened the back door on his car, "your wife survived... you saved her... and while she will need a trip to the emergency room, she'll make it. I can give you a ride down to the hospital with the ambulance before coming back to remove the Mountain Lion's body and place it where it may be turned over to the game wardens. How fast they can get tests done to confirm whether or not the Mountain Lion you killed had Rabies will be up to things we can't confirm... though it would be quick... not instant, but within the next three days."
"Rabies... can..." Richard began.
"Weres seem totally immune to that virus," the first officer assured him, "and your wife may get the vaccinations anyway... just to be on the safe side... so everything SHOULD be fine there. But in the meantime, we should get going."
Richard slowly nodded and climbed into the back seat of the officers cruiser and buckled himself in. The officer then shut the door and it wasn't long before they were on the road again and driving back toward the center of Moon Lake and then heading south on the way to the Moon Lake hospital as they followed the ambulance. He had some legal assurances and even some were assurances from Elijah, but the only thing that would really make him feel better would be seeing Rose awake, smiling, and being perfectly healthy.