After heading out after dinner, Ben was quick to trot into the woods that stretched out behind the Anderson and Twist homes. In some places the woods had plenty of deciduous trees, some that Ben had figured had been deliberately planted when the town was founded, as many of the Oak and Cottonwood trees that were there weren't native to Washington State. But these trees were intermixed with the native Pine, Spruce, Fir, and even some small Redwood trees. It wasn't a typical forest, as they generally had trees of a singular type being dominant with only a few small trees of other types in areas were the dominant trees couldn't grow... or hadn't grown. The fact that it wasn't typical, though, sort of suited Moon Lake, given that its were-beast population wasn't typical by the standards that Normals had about the world.
He made his way through the night air and easily dodged trees, fallen logs or trees that had fallen, and even a large rock here or there as he moved. Normally it made for good exercise to keep in shape and so on and to be prepared for when the pack went hunting, but of late things were a bit different and as he arrived at a fallen log near one of the small streams that ultimately fed into the lake that the town was named for he was reminded of that.
"Well, hello there," a voice called down from a nearby tree as Ben came into a nearby clearing. He looked over to see a sleek yet muscular female form climb down out of the tree. It was Kenya, and Ben did recognize her by her voice. Her furry body was definitely feline but clearly different from Martha's werecat form and his mothers' werecat forms. Kenya stood about as tall as he did, her musculature was larger and well developed. Her fur was shorter, and while it was all black, at times he thought he could see a leopard's rosette-shaped spots in her fur. Her ears were rounded and her pupils were also round, which showed how wereleopards/werepanthers were based on the big cats and not the smaller cats. In a way, Kenya was a smaller version of his classmate, Sarah, in terms of basic size and build, which made sense. Leopards were smaller than Tigers.
"Hello," Ben answered with a weak smile, "sorry if I'm late."
"No... you're probably on time," Kenya gave a smile, her whiskers lifting on the sides of her muzzle as she did so, "I'm just early."
"Sorry if I kept you waiting then," Ben offered.
"It's okay," Kenya smiled again, "it just gave me time to think over some things for us to do tonight..."
Ben lowered one ear as he looked to her. For the most part the two of them had talked and enjoyed a game of tag/hide and seek so far based on their interaction. It wasn't typical for were courtship and relations. Ben had long known this, as he had been sexually active with other members of the pack when there were pack meetings, though those interactions had never been serious. His pack members were sexy, but then that could really be applied to ANY were, regardless of their specific were species. He was on good terms with them, but there was no personal bond or desire for actual dating with his pack members. Though, even among weres that were in a real relationship, sexual activity was still high even while they were just getting to know each other, as Ben had seen between Nate and Alex. That high libido, which seemed to run for all were-beasts, helped encourage that. But, so far, his relations with Kenya hadn't.
In a way, it was both good and puzzling. Good in that he had learned a lot about her with regard to the things she enjoyed, how her family had adapted to Moon Lake since they all became wereleopards/werepanthers during the summer, as well as his own interests and where he typically exercised while in wolf form. It made for good conversation and let him know about her and let know about him. It was puzzling in that both had held back from engaging in sexual activity together. Ben knew that he did have some interest in it, as while Kenya wasn't a werewolf, that didn't mean she wasn't sexy, and as a typical teen male, there was a great deal of interest in that that wasn't related to a were's libido. Yet, Kenya hadn't responded in any similar way and left him puzzled, for she was a were and would surely have the pull of a were's libido. Of course there were some obvious differences. He was a high school student and she was a college student. Perhaps she was concerned over legal issues due to their respective ages, or perhaps she knew who his mothers were and didn't think that Samantha or Frances would approve of her.
"You can relax," Kenya smiled to him as she noticed Ben's lowered ear, "it'll be nothing naughty... at least not right now..."
"That's actually something I've been curious on..." Ben said slowly.
"Ohhhh... you'd like a romp with me?" Kenya gave a very playful response, "I'm sure that's in the future... and I will want to see just how good you are..."
"But...?" Ben said slowly.
"But there's no need to rush into anything," Kenya answered, "being easily aroused and willing is fun... I'll admit that... and my folks do enjoy it together and have been supportive with me..."
"Even though you're in college," Ben interrupted.
"You'll find, that you'll NEVER stop being your parents' baby," Kenya chuckled, "your moms may have adopted you... but if your family life has been as good as you told me... the image of you as a child and all the moments they had with you will always be with them. It's the same for my parents with regard to me. And on some level... I don't want to make it seem to them that becoming a wereleopard has turned me into some sort of slut."
"Aren't you a werepanther?" Ben asked.
"Leopard... Panther... both work," Kenya smiled, "My all black fur is the result of a genetic rarity that occurs in leopards... just like your tigress friend has a recessive gene that results in her fur being white with dark brown stripes."
"You saw my talk with Sarah?" Ben asked, thinking back to his jog after Yvette's capture. He ran into Sarah, who was out walking and letting her dad burn off steam with regard to his anger at Yvette's actions and his failures to protect the college from Yvette's actions, and shortly after she left he ran into Kenya.
"Kinda hard not to when I dropped in on you a few minutes after she left," Kenya answered, "Thought she might have something for you..."
"We've been friends for ages... but never any more than that," Ben answered.
Kenya gave a shrug, "anyway... as I said... I do wish to prove to my folks that becoming a were didn't make me a slut."
"Makes sense," Ben admitted.
It was something that he had always noticed with his mothers. While they did tease, kiss, and even grope each other fairly openly, it was always in an area where they weren't in public and where they felt secure. Ben had also noticed that when his mothers engaged in it, with each other, or more recently with Martha Anderson at times, they also included a good many statements of their own emotional bonds of love between them. In that way, the life/mateship bonds that were known to werefoxes existed in some sense with every were-beast species. They simply varied with each species.
"So... what do we do tonight?" Ben asked, "Please don't tell me that you're giving tree climbing lessons..."
"With claws as dull as yours, you'd likely have to destroy the tree just to get traction," Kenya laughed, "what gave you the idea that I'd try to get you to climb trees?"
"A dream I had... and that when we've met... you've come down from a tree," Ben gave a weak chuckle.
"That's just my habit," Kenya laughed, "I wouldn't force it on you. Just as I'd hope you wouldn't force to do something wolf-like... I don't know... howl at the moon..."
"Wolves and werewolves don't howl at the moon," Ben answered instinctively, "Howling is to contact other pack members when we aren't all in close proximity."
Kenya only smiled but didn't say anything more. She then playfully ran a finger along the lanyard that Ben wore around his neck and ruffled some of the fur on his chest as she did so.
"As for what we'd do for tonight..." Kenya commented, "I was thinking you'd give me a tour of the area at ground level. See all the little things that might be missed from the trees. Nothing naughty."
"I see," Ben commented, "Well... that could work, I suppose."
The two began to quietly walk along as Ben prepared to show Kenya around the area that his pack essentially claimed as its territory. It might be interesting to see on how the pack's territory overlapped Kenya's family's territory and how that worked. Were's might not need to hunt every night, but often when weres did hunt to kill, they preferred natural prey and ate what they caught. It made wildlife conservation pretty important for Moon Lake, and had lead a couple of werecattle and werehorses to pool resources together to actually farm deer, elk and moose... the sorts of large game that predatory weres might hunt. The project generally worked well, though Moon Lake's weres didn't always get to eat them. Some got hit by cars, some wandered off in other directions and were killed by Normal hunters, and some ended up being killed by normal animals in their own battles for survival. It did make him somewhat curious over how weres really looked at the concept of territory and how they overlapped.
After they'd gone a little ways, Ben spoke on a slightly different topic.
"Also... for a heads up... my moms have some interest in meeting you," Ben spoke up.
"Oh?" Kenya responded, "They know about me?"
"They did catch your scent on me," Ben answered, "now... they couldn't tell you're a wereleopard werepanther... or any real detail, since we haven't had sex..."
"But since we've hugged, wrestled, and held hands they could catch on," Kenya finished, remembering her family's meeting with Samantha Twist when they moved to Moon Lake. She'd felt that the werecat Town Chancellor was okay and rather friendly, but then that had only been with regard to welcoming new people. It wasn't as a parent meeting the person dating her baby.
"Yeah," Ben nodded.
"Would she accept me?" Kenya asked as they walked along.
"I'd hope so..." Ben answered, "but I have been a bit nervous... with regard to introducing you... I mean... I'm only sixteen... you're... eighteen or nineteen at least."
"They might not accept me because I'm older?" Kenya asked.
"More that I've been fearful that they'll think me some kind of pervert for dating someone older," Ben admitted.
"You don't strike me as a pervert," Kenya answered, "and I'm on the pill... and we haven't had sex yet..."
Ben nodded, "True... but that doesn't necessarily remove the fear."
Kenya nodded, "but they do want to meet me..."
"That's what I was told," Ben answered, "particularly if things get serious..."
"Well..." Kenya said slowly, "I suppose we could do that... you could introduce me as a friend. If they're okay with me... I can ask for permission to date you and we can see what comes after that."
Ben nodded and figured to let things go from there. It might work, and Kenya's idea might work, since neither of them had had sex with each other. He might be nervous, but Kenya's idea was a good one. He nodded and they resumed the tour while waiting for the alarm that would be his alert to return home.