Chapter Text
Max shivered as he padded through the forest, holding his tail tight for some much-needed comfort. His left ear flicked around to try and listen for danger, but his painful right ear was pretty much useless, making Max even warier.
He cried out softly, meowing for his father, but he knew Jos had already left. He had been punished before, left outside when he was bad, but never had Jos left him in a forest and drove away from him. He wasn’t sure if his father would come back. Really, deep down he was already sure his father would not.
“Daddy?” Max cried out timidly, shivering in the cool air. His feet hurt from the rough underground, the pads of his paws bleeding a little and Max desperately meowed again, hoping for his father to return.
It was starting to rain, and Max hid under a chair, still close to the road in case Jos came driving back.
But there were no cars.
Max let out a pitiful meow, tears coming to his eyes. He was scared what his dad would do if he came back, but being with his dad was still better than being out here alone. He curled up under a tree, crying softly as he held his tail as tight as he could, pretending it was one of the teddies his dad had taken away from him.
He had been so busy hugging his tail and stifling his sobs that he didn’t hear the car stop, or the Alpha get out of it. For a split second, he expected his dad’s rough voice telling him to get in and be quiet.
But instead a flashlight shone in his face and a raspy Alpha voice asked if he was okay. Max hissed as loud as he could, scrambling up and running away as fast as he could. He felt the Alpha’s hand graze his shoulder, but he was too quick for the Alpha to catch him.
He rushed away as fast as his hurt feet caught him, until he stumbled from the forest onto another road. He saw houses, smelled and heard more people, and panicked even more.
He hid in the first garden he reached, in between a shed and a BBQ set. He listened as closely as he could to see if the Alpha had followed him. He heard a car again, and smelled the scent he had when the stranger had approached him. He looked like a policeman, but Max’s dad had said the police could not be trusted, so Max stayed where he was.
The sky darkened after, and Max must have dozed off for a little bit. When he woke up again, it was storming, the wind howling around his hiding spot as rain came down on him hard. Maxy shivered. He couldn’t believe he didn’t even hear his dad looking for him.
His attention was grabbed by the window nearby. Looking in, he could see a tiger Omega settled on the sofa. For a moment, he seemed to be alone, but then Max realized there was a small pup with fluffy ears snuggled on the tiger’s chest.
The tiger was holding the pup, soothing the pup.
Max had never had something like that.
He had gotten so cold that he knew he had to find a better place to hide. He scurried closer to the house, still watching the pup and momma enviously, before scurrying onto the porch. There were some blankets there, and Max quickly hid under them, gasping in surprise when he felt a source of heat under them.
He dared to purr, dared to nuzzle further into the warmth.
For all Max knew, it could be the last comfort he would have in a long time…