The phone wakes Richy.

"Richy, it's Margie. Were you still sleeping?"

"Yeah," Richy answers groggily.

"That's not like you. You're usually up with the sun," says Margie.

"Bad night," responds Richy.

"Well, I'm sorry, sugar, but duty calls. We have a domestic dispute at the Wilson place. Apparently, Cougar's been up drinking all night."

"I'm on my way," says Richy climbing out of bed.

"See you there, doll," and Margie ends the call.

A few minutes later, Richy is rushing out his front door. He pauses to see if Talia's still in the tree house. She's still there, still a mountain lion and looking back at him.

"I have to go," Richy calls to Talia-mountain lion. "I keep the kitchen stocked. Feel free to help yourself."

As Richy turns the law enforcement vehicle around, Talia retakes her true form. She hops down to the ground, runs to the driveway and watches as the law enforcement vehicle with the words Bayberry Falls Sheriff stenciled on the back pulls away.

"Talia Marie Devonshire," she tells herself, "get a grip." She runs her fingers back through her hair trying to focus when what she wants to do is run after Richy. She spent half the night pacing back and forth as Talia-mountain lion fighting the urge to go to him, knowing she was welcome, but thinking she should be running off into the forest heading back to her own area. But she couldn't make herself leave.

Richy's night hadn't gone any better. He climbed out of bed several times only to force himself back to bed. It wasn't fair of her to turn into a mountain lion when he didn't possess that ability. He glances in the review mirror in time to see Talia standing in the driveway staring after him. He hopes she'll still be around when he gets back home.

Talia stands there for a while after Richy's vehicle has disappeared out of sight. She finally turns and faces the house. It's a sturdy solid brick house with a solar roof. She spotted a wind turbine not far from the house. It probably pumps water up from a well for the house as it also helps provide electricity. The front door is red, the trim is black and the shutters as well as the garage door are the same red as the front door.

Talia slowly steps into the house through the front door. Beneath her feet is a cool hard bamboo wood floor. She scans the room. There's a fireplace with trophies on the mantel and a trophy case with more trophies next to it. She notes that the throw rug isn't anything you could buy at a rug store. It's handmade and its design screams Water Tribe. The throw pillows on the sofa say the same thing. The coffee and end tables are real wood. No wonder he's so comfortable here. He's surrounded by handmade things of natural materials. There were only a couple of rooms in her grandfather's mansion where her grandmother had decorated in this fashion with things made by herself and her people. Talia and her grandmother had spent most of their time in the rooms where her grandmother had done what Talia thought of as homey touches.

The pictures on the wall show a loving happy couple. Richy's father was a light skinned tamed male. What once would have been called Caucasian. The man had kind light brown eyes, a good square jaw and chestnut brown hair. But Richy obviously has his mother's eyes, same slanted shape and same shade of deep dark brown. His hair is a much darker brown than his father's, a deep dark, dark brown that is almost black with his father's smooth texture. His mother has the look of what once would have been called Hawaiian.

Human beings once classified themselves by what they called race which was largely based on skin color. Talia had learned this in her history classes. It seemed a silly way to divide and define people and downright stupid to fight over. Now there are tamed humans and wild humans. Both the survivors of a meteor shower that reshaped the earth as it caused tidal waves, triggered immeasurable earthquakes, destroyed most major cities all over the world and left pockets of survivors cut off from the rest of the world.

Some survivors had access to the means for rebuilding society. For others the only choice was to survive by relearning long lost survival skills. For others it was a chance to reclaim long lost tribal lands and return to their old way of living in harmony with nature. Wild humans firmly believe in living in harmony with nature. But tamed humans have gotten better at being less damaging to nature. They were no longer dependent on fossil fuels. Richy's law enforcement vehicle, like nearly all vehicles, is solar powered yet still capable of speeds up to one hundred-fifty miles per hour.

Talia moves through the dining area into the kitchen. The dining table had looked like an old family heirloom capable of seating up to eight people. The kitchen table was newer, but Talia could tell it didn't come from a furniture store. It's handmade, round with four handmade chairs. Wilds are skilled enough to make such things. But they usually aren't made for themselves, but for trading or as gifts.

Talia inhales deeply. There's stew cooking in a large slow cooker. Judging by the smell, Richy started it last night. But there were no breakfast smells. He had rushed out without eating a thing and the thought made Talia sad. She found herbal tea in a cabinet and set about to fixing herself a quick breakfast. He was over stocked food wise for a bachelor who lives alone. But the scents tell her he gets frequent visits by members of his tribe, all the more reason to have an up-right freezer in the pantry full of frozen meats.

After eating breakfast, Talia begins to explore Richy's home. Across from the pantry is the laundry room. She strips down and tosses her clothes in the washing machine and selects small-quick wash. From the laundry room, she steps into the garage where she finds a vintage vehicle and a motorcycle. The clean burning synthetic fuel for such a vintage vehicle is very expensive. The motorcycle isn't vintage like the car, but also requires the same expensive synthetic fuel. The other side of the garage has a work area with an assortment of power tools, Black N Decker, Talia's favorite. It was one of the few companies to survive the meteor shower all those centuries ago. Centuries where some humans were shaped and refined by survival of the fittest and natural selection, and during this process developed some extraordinary abilities to aide them in their survival.

Talia heads back to the living room to take a closer look at the trophies sitting on the fireplace mantel and in the trophy case. Richy and his brother had both played little league baseball, soccer and football. Richy seems to have participated in nearly every sport in existence including ice hockey and excelled at everything. Talia hadn't been overly interested in sports, but had participated in and excelled at figure skating and gymnastics. But while professional teams are delighted to recruit players with wild blood, athletes with wild blood aren't permitted to compete in the Olympics because they are considered to have an unfair advantaged like someone using steroids. Talia had found this very frustrating because she had wanted to compete in the Olympics. She still hadn't figured out how any person's natural God given abilities and talents were an unfair advantage.

Talia checks out the lower lever of the split behind the living room. It's a family room with a second fireplace. It's setup for relaxing and hanging out in front of a huge micro-thin digital television. There's a bedroom that's being used as an office by Richy with two walls covered in law and sociology books. A guitar sits in one corner of the office. Then next to the office is a full bath.

Talia heads up to the upper level of the split. On one side are two modest sized bedrooms that share a full bath. Across the hall she finds the master bedroom, Richy's bedroom. Her nose is flooded with his scent. Her nipples harden, the blood rushes into her groin as her belly tightens in response to his scent. Talia releases a sigh.

Richy's bed is queen size and lacks a traditional headboard. Instead, there's a Water Tribe tapestry hanging at the head of the bed, and a cedar chest sits at the foot of the bed. A Water Tribe rug decorates the floor. But there are no dressers in the room, just a nightstand on each side of the unmade bed he slept in with his delicious scent wafting off of it.

A tremor vibrates trough Talia's body, and she moves away from the bed. She opens the door to the walk-in-closet and finds it very neat and orderly. There are several uniforms hanging in a row ready to grab and go, a couple of suits, plenty of shelves and drawers. But it's not over flowing with clothes. He's focused mostly on what he needs: an extra pair of sturdy work shoes, steal toed boots, good running shoes that look rarely used, a pair of sandals and a couple of pairs of well-used flip-flops.

Next Talia steps into the master bath. There are two sinks. The one he uses has his toiletry items sitting neatly by it: his comb, razor and shaving gel. He hung his towel up and his dirty clothes are in the hamper. It's a nice bathroom with an oversized water jet tub. There's a urinal too which seems a wise idea to her. She's heard tamed women complain about sharing a bathroom with a man. A coworker had told her how she warned her husband that if she sat in his piss again, he wasn't going to love her anymore. He had laughed at her and not taken her seriously. And the next time she sat in his piss, she walked out of the bathroom without pulling her pants or panties up and without having wiped herself to where he was sitting watching TV in his boxers and proceeded to wipe her piss covered ass on his lap. The marriage ended in divorce.

Talia turns on the shower and slips underneath the water. She washes herself thoroughly concentrating on the areas Richy scent marked on her. As she climbs out of the shower, she realizes she was unsuccessful at washing away his scent marks. It's stubborn as if he marked her with special glands. Yet Talia knows it's impossible for Richy to have marked her with special glands. Only males like her older brother, Roar, who inherited the gift have scent marking glands located on each side of their jaw line.

"What the hell," says Talia confused because his scent marks should have washed off. She takes a deep breath and exhales resigned to the fact that she'll just have to wait for his scent marks to dissipate on their own. She grabs his towel because she doesn't see the need to dirty another towel. Or at least that's what she tells herself as she's toweling off. She rehangs the towel on the towel rack and heads down to the ground level to the laundry room where she tosses her clothes in the drier.

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The stairs leading to the room over the garage are next to the drier, so Talia decides to check it out. In the room over the garage she finds four different futons and two armoires. Inside the armoires, she finds that whoever comes from the Water Tribe to visit has clothes stored here. There are clothes for at least two different females, a male and children.

Finding the women's clothing bothers Talia. She can't help wondering if Richy is intimately involved with one or both of the women. The thought that he may be intimately involved with one or both of these women upsets her. Although she's not sure why it should bother her. She's not his mate. And even if she was.. She pushed the disturbing thoughts away.

A few minutes later, Talia finds herself back in Richy bedroom staring at his bed wondering how many women he's bedded in it. She can't stop herself from leaning over and sniffing, but only smells him. She leans in closer to the mattress and sniffs more closely. She actually climbs onto the bed and sniffs nearly every inch of it. She finds herself very relieved not to have detected the scent of another woman in his bed as she rolls over on to her back on his mattress satisfied that the only scent she detected was his and falls to sleep.

Talia wakes up more than an hour later partially wrapped in Richy's sheets with her body thoroughly saturate in his scent. She feels much better than when she laid down. She smiles to herself feeling silly because she likes Richy's scent. And she definitely likes being covered in his scent and decides she's not bothered by his scent marks either.

Talia goes down to the laundry room, takes her clothes from the drier and gets dressed even though she was perfectly comfortable walking around Richy's house naked. And somehow she was sure that Richy wouldn't mind her nakedness. She spends some time looking through his family's photo albums. His parents have a wedding album.

It's typical for tame couples to have a wedding ceremony with the works. And while wilds love to party, there are very few official or formal ceremonies for wilds. But Richy's parents had a ceremony, probably to help facilitate his father's side of the family's acceptance of the woman he'd chosen to spend his life with. They were beautiful pictures where you could easily discern the bride's side of the family from the groom's side, even though the bride's family had worn their finest. Wild folks have a very different and colorful sense of style than tamed folks.

Richy was an extremely cute little boy, simply adorable, he and his brother both were. They had a happy family. But one album was completely devoted to the memory of his deceased older brother. The first thing in it was an article from the local paper: Local Boy Struck by Drunk Driver with what must have been his last school photo. The album chronicles Rain's life in reverse. The obituary gave his full name as Rain Cloud Griffin. He was just a couple of years older than her brother, Roar. But the family had pushed forward with their lives.

Richy's childhood wasn't too lonely after the loss of Rain, because cousins from both sides of the family had visited often. Talia surely didn't know any of his tame cousins. But some of his wild cousins looked familiar to her. She may have met and played with them during a summer tribe gathering when she was a child, before she had become an outsider among her own people.

After going through his family albums, Talia investigates the property around the house. Richy has a generous stack of firewood behind the house which made sense because both fireplaces in the house are wood burning. There's a set of stairs to the outside entrance of the room over the garage that are sturdy and well made. Instead of a poured concrete deck landing outside the sliding glass doors of the dining area, it was pieces of sandstone fit together like a jigsaw puzzle in a foundation of sand. On it sat a long gliding rocker of bamboo. A bamboo swing hung from a strong tree limb. There's a fire pit with large sitting stones around it like you would find at a tribe's home base. Talia finds several different types of fruit and nut trees on the property set up in circles. Inside each circle is a garden. Richy has tomato plants growing in one, yellow squash and zucchini in another.

It's the way wild folks farm out in the wild. They don't clear away trees. They utilize the natural clear areas between the trees for gardening. The shed has a big riding lawnmower attached to a solar charger and a push mower that requires a cord. Also sitting in the shed are various rakes and hoes along with weed killer and fertilizer. Talia has a good idea how Richy spends most of his spare time, gardening. She also finds the path his Water Tribe visitors use and the River they cross when they come. It's a bit shallow right now, only about knee deep in its deepest area and it's fed by a small waterfall that isn't much higher than she is tall.

Talia makes her way back toward the house. She finds a couple of tire swings near the tree house and a jungle gym. She runs her hands over the wood of the jungle gym and the metal bars as she wiggles her toes in the soft sand beneath it. She hears Richy's vehicle coming down My Street and runs to the tree house. She's back up in the tree house by the time he is pulling into the driveway. As Richy parks the vehicle, Talia notices a familiar looking man sitting in the back seat.

Richy lets the familiar man out of the back seat and opens the truck. The man grabs a duffle bag out of the trunk. The man is wearing faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He's barefooted and his walk alone tells Talia he's wild.

Richy glances up at Talia in the tree house and walks over to talk to her with the man following lazily behind him. "I'm glad you're still here," Richy tells her relieved. "I was afraid you'ld leave."

Talia shrugs as if it doesn't matter, "Thought about it."

"But you're still here," Richy points out as his scent tells Talia he's relieved. "Why," he ask her. "Why didn't you take off," he ask glad she didn't because he would have just gone after her.

Talia suddenly looks and smells frustrated as she answers, "I don't know."

"Did you have a good day," Richy ask changing the subject hoping she'll relax.

Talia nods yes as her eyes flick to the other man who smells of stale beer and deep sadness. But she has his scent and realizes she knows him.

Richy didn't miss her looking at the other man. "This is Cougar. His domesticated mother-in-law would love it if I locked him up and threw away the key. But caging free people like ourselves is cruel and unusual punishment. So, he's stuck out here with me until his mother-in-law's visit is over."

Talia looks at Cougar and cocks her head to the side as she says, "Hello Cougar, son of Wildcat." She remembers him clearly. It's been years since she's seen him.

Cougar responds slightly slurred, "That's me." He looks up and recognizes her.

Talia nods to him. He has his father's hypnotic blue eyes. And even a bit blood shot, they're as beautiful as she remembers.

Cougar says, "Tali.. Long time no see. How've you been?"

Talia shrugs as she answers, "Better than you apparently." She remembers Cougar son of Wildcat very well. They were extremely close once, perhaps too close. His father is a valuable and highly respected elder for her tribe. Roar always listens closely when Wildcat speaks. Wildcat is one of the few people in her tribe that's always happy to see her. And Cougar had always been extra nice to her and happy to see her, even after the incident.

"I'm going to take Cougar inside," Richy inform Talia, "set him up in one of the guest rooms. You're welcome to come inside."

Talia gives him a nod as she says, "I know."

"My cousin and aunt have some extra clothes here," Richy wants Talia to come inside. "I know they wouldn't mind if you borrowed a couple of things if you'ld like something different to wear."

Talia's staying put for now. "Cougar looks sleepy. Better take him inside."

Richy nods his agreement as he gives Cougar's back a pat. Then the two men head into the house. Cougar follows Richy to the upper level of the split and into the first of the two spare bedrooms.

Cougar drops his duffle bag onto one of the two twin beds. He says to Richy, "When you mentioned on the way over here that you had a free woman out here from my tribe, I couldn't image who it was. I'm impressed."

"I've never met a woman like Talia before," Richy tells Cougar. "She's dominant and doesn't lack confidence, yet there's this vulnerability to her. Just try not to screw this up for me. She's skittish as it is."

"That's because she's only been with domestic men," Cougar assumes. "You don't know exactly who you have out there, do you? You've met her at least once when we were kids during a summer tribe gathering."

Richy just looks at Cougar, so Cougar continues, "That's Talia, Roar's little sister. Her father was Chief Black Bear. She's beautiful, intelligent and untouchable. But I almost nailed her once.. There was a summer she didn't spend with the tribe. And when she returned the next summer, boy, had she blossomed. There wasn't a young man in the tribe that didn't want to try her out. But she was telling everybody no. They'ld make a pass and she'd shake her head no. I just figured she was nervous about that first penetration because they know it'll hurt a little.. So there was a bunch of us skinny dipping. She shook her head no to a couple of guys, got out of the water and sat on a blanket with her knees to her chest. I bowed down at her feet and begged for a taste, just a little taste, that wouldn't hurt or anything. She bit her bottom lip and nodded yes, let me push her knees apart and I watched her face as I lowered my mouth to that sweet spot and she liked it. When she relaxed and let her guard down, I moved up to her breasts and used my finger to take over the work of my tongue.. When that first orgasm hit her, she collapsed back and I slid over her and started kissing that amazing mouth of hers. I was lined up to drive myself home when her father yanked me off of her and tossed me into the river. He yanked Tali up by her hair, forbid her to go naked and sent her to her mother. Then he forbid all the males from touching her for like the next half dozen summers.. She was different after that. Word among the tribe is she thinks she's too good for a tribe man. She had a long-term boyfriend she started dating after college. I heard he even asked her to marry him"

This is what Talia thinks of as the incident. Her father only tossed Cougar into the river, but he punished her. He had never treated her like that before. Wilds usually don't even spank their children, and she was never the same after that.

Richy gives Cougar a stern look as he tells him, "Don't get any ideas."

Cougar puts his hands in the air and steps back, "Happily married man here."

Richy steps into his own bedroom to change clothes. He's always happy to take off his shoes. He inhales deeply as he's removing his uniform and smells.. Talia. He follows her scent to his bed. He puts his nose close to the mattress and gets a good whiff of Talia. He smiles because she was in his bed. In his bathroom he finds her hair in his comb and her scent on his towel. He's pleased that she came in and made herself at home while he was gone.

Talia hears footsteps approaching the tree house. It's Richy smiling brightly. He's barefooted and shirtless, wearing an old pair of comfortable blue jeans and carrying two bowls.

He lifts one bowl up into the opening of the tree house, "I brought you a bowl of rabbit stew."

Talia accepts the bowl, "Thank you, Richy."

Richy sits on the ground at the base of the tree to eat his stew. "Why don't you come inside tonight? You could use the other guestroom or the room over the garage, where ever you're comfortable at."

Talia would like to be in his bed, "I'm fine here," preferably with him in it with her.

Richy finishes his bowl of stew and stands. "Are you sure you won't come inside?"

Talia hands him her empty bowl. "Thank you, Richy. It was very good."

Richy accepts her empty bowl and turns to head into the house.

"Richy.." Talia calls sadly.

Richy turns around and looks her in her beautiful big brown sad eyes.

Talia tries to explain, "I've been alone a long time. Not many want my company."

Richy shares, "Cougar told me your tribe believes you think you're too good for a tribe man."

Talia hadn't known that rumor was going around and her feelings are hurt by it. "I'm no better than anyone else."

Richy smells her hurt feelings so he lets her know, "I want your company, Tali."

"I want to keep you company," Talia admits. "I just.. need some time.. Okay?"

Richy nods. "Okay, Tali."

With Talia's scent in his bed, Richy sleeps much better than the previous night. And with Richy's scent on her, Talia also sleeps better than the previous night. Yet she still wakes at dawn even though she's well shaded. There's no movement in the house yet. So she decides to pay Richy's kitchen a visit.

Richy wakes up feeling refreshed. He almost hated to shower and wash off Talia's scent, but was grateful for the towel with Talia's scent still on it. He hangs up a fresh towel for Talia. And after he steps out of his bathroom freshly showered, he notices the smell of food. Richy expected Cougar to sleep until noon after the drinking binge he had been on all night the previous night. He didn't expect him to be up with the chickens making breakfast.

Except Richy doesn't find Cougar in the kitchen cooking, he doesn't find anyone in the kitchen. But someone was cooking and left a pot of herbal tea steeping in the center of the kitchen table with honey, sugar and fresh cut lemon wedges. On the stove he finds a platter with a sticky note on it. In feminine writing it says, "You left without eating breakfast yesterday."

The note warms Richy's heart. Talia hadn't just come in, nosed around and taken care of her own needs. She paid attention as she familiarized herself with his home. She had noticed that he had run off to work without breakfast and was concerned, concerned enough that she came in early and made breakfast. He lifts the lid from the platter and finds a generous stack of whole wheat pancakes, turkey sausage links and scrambled eggs. Richy smiles to himself. He's never had a woman other than his mother make breakfast for him before.

Richy decides to go outside to ask Talia to join him for breakfast when Cougar, sleepy eyed and scratching his balls, sloths into the kitchen. Well, there goes that idea.

"Dude," Cougar goes from scratching his balls to scratching his butt, "I smell food. You cook?"

"Not me," answers Richy, "Talia. I was gonna see if she'll come in and eat with me."

"You want me to go get her," ask Cougar.

"No," answers Richy wishing Cougar didn't have any history with Talia. "I want you to get your naked ass out of my kitchen and get a shower because you reek. You smell like stale beer. And put on some damn clothes before you sit down and eat at my table."

Cougar makes a disgruntled face and sloths out of the kitchen. He doesn't know what Richy's problem is. It's not like Richy to be irritable.

After eating breakfast, Richy dresses for work and seeks out Talia. He spots her sitting in a tire swing slowly swaying back and forth. When she sees him approaching, she nearly falls getting out of the swing.

"Are you alright," Richy ask her.

Talia flips back her hair and straightens her shoulders as she answers, "I'm fine, thank you."

Despite the haughty look on Talia's face, Richy smells her anxiety. But he's not going to call her on it. "I just wanted to thank you for making breakfast."

Talia shrugs as if it were nothing. "You rushed off without eating yesterday and breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Richy smiles at her in the most charming and disarming way causing Talia to loosen her death grip on the tire swing between them. Richy pushes the tire swing away, grabs Talia away from it and against himself. He buries his face in her neck and inhales her scent. He makes the greeting more intimate by licking the jumping pulse in her neck and kissing her jaw.

The feel of Richy's tongue causes Talia breathe to hitch and she shudders against him. She returns the greeting adding a quick flick of her tongue, a quick nip and a gentle press of her lips.

Richy holds her tightly as he whispers in her ear, "I'm going to have you, Talia."

"I know," Talia responds breathlessly.

"I don't understand what's happening between us exactly," Richy says as he rubs his jaw against her hair. "I just know I have to have you."

Talia nods, "You best get to work. You don't want to be late."

Richy tears himself away from Talia. As he looks at her beautiful face, he sees she has tears in her eyes. He can smell her fear, but she's not trying to run from him. He wants to kiss her beautiful full well shaped lips. But he knows if he does, that he won't stop there and he's already running late.

"I may be late tonight," he tells her.

"I'm not going anywhere," she assures him.

"And stay away from Cougar," Richy orders her. "His wife wouldn't appreciate it if I killed him."

Richy meant that. Talia smelled the truth of it. If Cougar seemed to be getting in his way in his pursuit of Talia or showed too much interest in Talia, Richy would get violent with him. Talia watches Richy drive down the road.

Cougar is sitting at the kitchen table eating. As Talia walks by, he grunts a greeting. Talia responds with a sneered growl. Cougar doesn't know what he did wrong, just that Talia isn't any happier with him than Richy was before he left for work.

Talia goes up to the room over the garage and returns a couple of minutes later carrying several items of clothing. She stands across from Cougar and narrows her eyes at him.

"I didn't know you could cook," says Cougar forking up some scrambled egg.

"I didn't know you were capable of monogamy." She holds up an off-the-shoulder top to herself. "Do you think Richy would like this on me?" >

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