Point of View

Forrest

I dodged Axel before he struck me and went under him to flip him to his back. He recovered incredibly quickly, going after me again. He's fast, probably faster than me. That's what got him going this long, not only is his body fast but now his mind too. We've been going at it for 4 hours now.

He jumped, I immediately turned around to find he wasn't there, I used my scent and at that exact moment he struck me.

Everything slowed down.

My eyes were wide, and so was his. I felt both shocked and thrilled as his paw struck me, and I could tell he felt the same way. I stumbled by a lot, but quickly regained my posture in a panic. I looked up to his paralyzed frame.

"I did it...", he muttered under his breath, "I finally did it!".

He was still taking a moment to absorb all of this. What he meant was that he finally struck me when I wasn't holding back. I morphed back into my human form, making him quickly morph too. I wasn't as tired as he probably felt, so I decide on a break. All that we're focusing on are his fighting and hunting training, healing was accomplished about a week ago.

I went over to hug him, "That strike was amazing. I'm so proud."

I was sure he made that shy, grinning face as he hugged me back, then he asked, "Does that mean I'm on the same level as the rest of the pack?"

I chuckled as I pulled back, massaging his shoulders, "Real close, Axel."

He giggled.

I looked at the sky, it was probably around 9:00 am by now. We had plenty of time. Then my phone rang, taking the both of us by surprise. I quickly answered it.

"Hello."

"Forrest, just letting ya know that I'm returning your fishes, along with their new friends."

"Uhh..."

"No objecting, they're already in your room. Also guess what I got at the back of the house!"

I remained silent.

"Oh my fucking god you boring motherfucker...never mind! Everyone has the rest of the day off, so go fuck around. Also, Forrest?"

"Yeah?"

"...uhh, have fun..."

I smiled, "Thanks."

She hung up.

I put my phone away. I turned to Axel who quickly looked away. I furrowed my eyes in confusion before realizing he was probably looking at my phone while I talked to the Alpha. A thought occurred to me.

"Hey,", he looked up at me, "wanna go shopping?"

~•~

We first dropped by his house where he went to get only his backpack.

"What's in it?", I asked curiously. It looked ready to explode.

"My money.", he replied naturally. I stared at him dumbfounded. He caught me staring and asked if I wanted to check. I made my way behind him to open the backpack.

"Uhh, careful when opening it...it might burst..."

Sure enough the backpack was completely filled with money. All in which were twenties. This was probably a couple thousand.

"How did...?", I was beyond surprise. How could he have so much!?

"Oh, I get 20 every month cuz like I get lots of tips. So, it works out for both me and Mr. Owner~"

"W-wha...H-how...w-why do you never spend it?", I was now trying to close the bag without getting any bills caught.

"I don't really go anywhere else besides the camp and here, plus I'm not really comfortable going anywhere else, everywhere is filled with humans. Only when I need food or other stuff."

I finally closed it. Axel turned to face me, "I was kinda happy when ya asked if I wanted to go shopping, cuz I kinda need another backpack."

I face palmed, "No no no, I have a much better idea."

~•~

We got out the cab, at the sight of too much people everywhere, he clung to my arm. This is downtown, many shops here. I placed an arm around his shoulder and he instead clung to my shirt. So. Adorable.

He began to relax more as he was distracted by what each shop contained. Before we went in the shops, we first headed to get him a new phone. I forgot about his backpack full of money, and bought him one instead. His expression was conflicted with both extreme happiness and an annoyed look.

"Thanks, but, like, I have a lot of money ya know..."

"Haha, I know."

We headed to a shop just filled with random accessories for young adults. There I allowed him to look around and he didn't buy anything, except for a wallet and piggy bank I suggested he have. The piggy bank he picked was intentionally large in a humorous way, but with how much Axel earns it may be a perfect one. I just hated how this piggy bank more resembled a kitty bank.

"Uhh, I already have this cat money holder, why do I need this wallet?"

I looked at him amused, "You're not going to carry that kitty bank whenever you go shopping are you?", I meant it as a joke, but then I realized he was serious.

"Ah, ok no. A wallet is for holding the money that you're going to take around with you. This bank will just hold the rest of your money at home."

He 'oh'-ed in understanding and he bought the items. Afterwards we just looked around. He bought a whole bunch of clothes, and from it I learned that he was very in love with knitted sweaters. Axel didn't like the sweaters too thick, since they were annoying when he morphed.  He bought more sandals (werewolves with shoes have to take them of before morphing as a wolf), since they're much easier to take off. By now, he was no longer frightened by the crowds of humans and I kind of missed his frightened self clinging to me for protection. He held my hand, guiding me to the store he wants to go to next.

Then all of the sudden he stopped, but only for less than a second. Then he walked faster away from the shop. I looked to see what he was looking at just now and I became red in the face. It was a jewelry store, specifically for engagement rings. When we fully passed the bright store I turned to look at the back of his head, his hand still leading me. I wonder what he thought of just now...

Axel then squealed. I quickly snapped out of it to see he found the pet shop. We went in and he completely ignored the puppies, immediately heading for the cats and kittens. He was in his own cat filled heaven. I stayed away from that hell aisle, and looked at the dogs.

Hi! Hey! Hi! Hey, guess what! Guess what! Guess what!

They continued to annoyingly yelp. I shuddered before heading to the fish section. I watched in satisfaction at the silent beauty of the fishes. They're just so mesmerizing! There's no way to understand them, and it saddened me to see them contained in a small space. Though it saddened me, I couldn't help but enjoy having them as pets. I was in such a daze that I didn't realize Axel had been watching me.

"Why do you like fishes so much?", his head rested on my arm.

"I don't know. They're just so mysterious, silent, and beautiful..."

He chuckled at that, "Just like you!"

My eyes widened, head snapping to look at him. "You're blushing! Haha, oh my god that's adorable!", he laughed.

"W-whaa...-never mind. Let's go!"

He smiled to suppress his laugh and he clung to my arm as we walked out. I then noticed his hands were full of bags. I carried them all. We just continued our shopping, walking down the busy streets, until another shop sparked his interest: an art gallery/store. We just looked at random paintings and drawings, then a question popped up.

"Do you want to buy a painting?", I asked curiously.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I've kind of been...uhh, interested in art after looking at your drawings over and over again."

When I didn't speak, he turned his head a little to peek at me. Seeing I was still looking at him, he refocused his attention at the painting before us.

"I like how you see things..."

I stared at him in surprise.

He looked at me, a bit embarrassed, "...What?"

I smiled and pulled him to me gently, kissing the top of his head before saying, "I'd like to see how you see the world too. I bet it's beautiful."

We stayed like that, much to my surprise. Wasn't this moment cheesy? Oh well, it didn't matter what the moment was, it was ours. Axel seemed frozen, but after a few seconds he hugged me back.

He sighed and just pressed his forehead to my side, and that's when I knew I did something. Not a bad thing, just something that brought us closer.

~•~

Axel

I was having so much fun in the place I least expected it. The amount of humans didn't bother me as much. In fact, I didn't even know why I was so terrified! I'm half human for goodness sake! When we came to the end of the gallery, there was the art store. Forrest bought his own things, since he needed to restock his art supplies. I just followed him around, occasionally leaving his side to look at some odd thing. I didn't do it out of interest, but a test. It's unhealthy for our relationship to rely on each other's presence. We can't always be side by side. Though I admit it was beyond fucking adorable when his eyes would glance at me in worry for a moment, when he was pretending not to be bothered by it.

We went to the front for him to purchase his items. That's when I kinda realized how full our hands were.

"It's alright, it's not heavy. You can give me those bags too.", Forrest said, sensing my worry.

My eyebrows furrowed stubbornly, "I can carry my share!"

He chuckled. We continued looking around, and when there was nothing left that really interested me we headed back. We didn't talk, we were comfortable in each other's silence, just enjoying the bright lights and the talking crowd. Then a familiar light caught my eye: the ring store.

I couldn't stop staring at it until we completely passed the whole shop.

Rings.

Aren't those the human mating bonds? It was so weird seeing such an important thing being represented with an accessory. I mean, yeah there's those kinda things in our culture, but it didn't represent a mating bond. It was just like a claim or a promise. Why do humans even need them? They're just blindly bonding themselves to others. They don't know if that's their mate. So why bother?

"What are you thinking about?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, immediately meeting Forrest's eyes.

"You know, before, I couldn't see your expression after you saw the shop, but now that I did, I'm curious as to why you look so troubled."

We stopped at the place where we waited for the yellow cars.

"I don't know, it's just weird, isn't it? Humans can't find true love yet they still pretend it is with rings."

Forrest sighed and looked away, "Well, if you look at it that way...maybe you should talk to a human about this. We're probably missing something about it."

I looked at him wide eyed. I wasn't expecting such a satisfying response.

"Huh, I guess..."

It didn't bother me anymore, and I was back to enjoying the day to its fullest. Well, night. I looked up at the stars. Today went by faster than I thought! I was in such I daze it took Forrest whispering in my ear to jolt me back to reality. He laughed as I looked at him all flustered.

"FORREST!"

He laughed as he opened the door for me. I looked away shyly, getting into the car. I didn't make it the ride back. I fell asleep, head on his shoulder. Not knowing until the car stopped that Forrest fell asleep with an arm over my shoulders and his head resting on mine.

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WHOOO!! Sorry, Lemon Sponges! I know it's been awhile, but I've been quite busy with other stuff. Thanks fer all the votes and veeeerrryyyy heart warming comments.

Shout out to:

@sometimesiwonder

Fer pointing out that the Savanah is actually the largest domesticated cat, not a Maine Coon.

Y'all are already surprised by Waffles' size, imagine a Savannah, LOL!! Umm, please comment yer thought on the story and what ya want fer it, so that I may consider them. I kinda already have an idea fer Beta's lover but I doubt a lot of ya gonna like it xD

Last thing, please check out my profile in the conversation section fer stuff I need answered fer Finally. I wanna know y'alls opinions!!