I ran through the woods, darting and dodging the tree trunks and bushes frantically trying to escape my attacker. Well, not attacker exactly but they were after me nonetheless. I was probably being mistaken for a deer, but either way they wanted me dead. There had been a lot more poachers in the area lately, said to be hunting the rare black panther recently spotted around these parts. I knew the panther, or I had helped her anyway. When she was drowning , trapped, and left for dead. Why would anyone want to kill such a beautiful creature?

"umph"

I tripped over a rock, too caught up in my own thoughts to notice it blocking my path. My camouflage kicked in like a reflex. I barely had to try anymore. The poachers were confused looking at the trail of blood I had made from the cut in my arm. It led right to me. They didn't know that.

How could they though? Any normal person would look at me and find nothing. As the hunters were getting closer, trying to figure out why the trail stopped, there was a loud roar in the distance. The equivalent of that of a wolf makes exempt this was a feline. A cougar. Could it be her old feline friend? She hoped not.

There were two reasons why. 1, the hunters would kill her at first glance and 2, the feline had seemed ready to bite my head off if she felt the need. Sure she was tame for a panther, but any sane person would be frightened being that close to the massive beasts jaws. Even someone who's friends with wolves.

Thankfully, the cougar sounded far enough away that the hunters couldn't catch up.

Then, to my dismay, there was another roar louder this time as if the creature was coming closer.

This got the hunters attention and they looked in her direction.

There she was. Now in sight, to me at least. The poachers, even while looking straight at her, were oblivious to the sly cats arrival. My camouflage dropped. I looked at her, and she looked back at me with recognition in her eyes. Recognition of an animal far more intelligent than any wild creature should be.

She seemed to know what I was thinking and pounced on the poachers striking blows to their stomachs and arms. Nothing deadly of course, but meant simply to scare away the threat.

That's odd, she's not trying to kill them. This creature truly wasn't wild. Any wild animal would would have them dead in seconds. And she could have, but she didn't want to.

The hunters panicked, picking up their fallen guns and running back the way they had chased me.

The feline collapsed to the ground with exhaustion. I studied her when she lay there, curious as of what she would do if I stroked her beautiful pelt.

Cautiously, I reached my hand out, the seconds feeling like minutes. She watched me, no hint of the animal I just saw in her eyes. I knew she wouldn't bite me. She wouldn't hurt me.

As I was reading the look in the large cat's eyes, my hand reached its destination.