Talia loves living wild. That's what her people call it, living wild or the wild life. She has lived tamed. That's what her people call the way ordinary people live, tamed, tamed living or tamed life. She was raised tamed my her mother's parents, graduated from high school and earned a master's in mathematics along with her law degree. She worked full-time at her grandfather's firm, but found a tame life just too stressful: alarm clocks, traffic jams, schedules, deadlines, grocery shopping, clothes, shoes, hair and makeup.
As a child Talia had longed for summer vacations when she would get to live wild with her mother and father: no alarm clocks, no schedules, no clothes if she didn't want to wear them, running, hunting, swimming with her parents, her people and the animals as her human self or in animal form if she chose. Her affinity is with mammals, but she can call birds to her too. But she prefers to spend most of her time with wolves and bears.
Talia was raised this way because her parents believed it best if she could live in both worlds. Because learning to live tamed was difficult after one had been raised completely wild. And while it was thought completely impossible for ordinary humans to live wild, ordinary humans and her people have managed to find each other, like her maternal grandparents had. But her grandmother had told her it had been very hard for her to learn to live tame in order to have a life with the man she loved.
The decision to live wild was a difficult one because Talia had what ordinary humans considered a privileged and successful life. She worked full-time in the accounting department. She could live on her own in the city, but she had a guest house to herself on her grandparents' estate. She had a nice car and most of her work could be done at home on her laptop. The commute to work was a two hour drive one way and once or twice a week was more than enough for her.
Yet the decision to live completely wild was made during a dinner party at her grandparents' estate. The dinner had been eaten and the tame young man that had been courting her had put her on the spot by getting down on one knee and proposing marriage in front of everyone.
"Talia, will you marry me," asked Lance, who came from an affluent family, but they were tired of bailing him out of trouble.
Talia must have stood there and just stared at the engagement ring for a full minute before she did an about face and walked out of the ballroom. Her grandparents found her standing on a second floor balcony staring at the forest and the full moon. A wolf howled in the distance and Talia returned the call. Her grandmother stepped up behind her and put comforting hands on her shoulders.
Talia said to her grandmother, "That idiot doesn't love me. He loves grandpa's money. Does he really think I'm that stupid?"
Her grandmother held her hands as she told her, "He's just that stupid. But I know there's someone out there for you somewhere."
"Don't worry about him," her grandfather told her. "The little kiss ass will just have to marry someone else for money."
"I can't do this anymore," Talia confessed to her grandparents. "I can't. I feel caged."
"You don't have to explain," her grandmother told her understandingly. "It's alright. We'll always be here for you."
"Talia, we love you and we want you to be happy," her grandfather told her.
Talia had hugged both of her grandparents. And smiling with tears in her eyes, hopped over the railing landing in a crouch on the ground below the balcony. Then she ran off into the forest.
Many things had changed since that night she had run off into the forest. Her grandparents were dead and so were both of her parents. She now owned the estate and her grandfather's law firm. But she leaves most of the running of the firm to her great uncle and grandfather's partners and she's seldom at the estate.
Talia spends most of her time living wild by herself with the animals. She doesn't spend much time with her people because she spent so long living tame that she doesn't fit in anymore. And living wild is a dangerous way to live. Her mother was shot by deer hunters and her father was killed in a rock slide. She only has one sibling, an older half-brother, Roar. Roar's mother hemorrhaged to death after giving birth to him. The only mother he'd ever known was Talia's mother, Doe, who her father had officially chosen as his new mate when Roar was three. Their father was the chief, but that didn't guarantee Roar or Talia would succeed him. Roar had to defeat anyone and everyone who challenged him in hand-to-hand combat to become chief. And anyone with the balls to challenge him still could challenge him. But after Roar accidently killed the last challenger by snapping his neck, no one will. Out of respect for their father, who was a good and fair chief like Roar, and out of respect for Roar, the people of their tribe tolerate Talia when she comes to visit.
Yet other tribes aren't always so tolerant. But that didn't mean there weren't wild males that didn't want Talia. You don't have to choose a permanent mate to mate and have children. Roar has two sons by two different women. He hasn't officially chosen a permanent mate because he won't commit himself to a woman that can't accept his family and Talia is his baby sister and he adores her, understands her and respects her. That's why there's no taking by force rule for their tribe.
Their people don't understand the concept of rape the way Talia does. But for their people, their tribe and other tribes, it's not uncommon for a male to kidnap a female and make her his mate by force. Of course there hasn't been a male bold enough to try to kidnap Talia and make her his mate.
The other females don't understand her. In a society where virginity is lost during or right after puberty, Talia is an anomaly. Most wild females Talia's age are someone's mate and have two or three children by two or three different males while Talia is still a virgin. Talia was being raised tamed while she was going through puberty. It was a very difficult time for Talia. Behavior that would be normal in wild life was totally inappropriate in tamed life. Offering ones ass up to be mounted by an available male was not acceptable behavior in tamed life. Her grandfather had to pull her out of school, hire female tutors, and didn't raise the flag for her parents to come get her for the summer out of fear Talia would return pregnant.
Puberty was a difficult time for Talia. She would suddenly feel like she was on fire, but she had no way to put that fire out. Talia had to learn to ignore that fire. And her grandfather would only raise the flag for her parents to come get her for the summer after she promised to remain a virgin until after she started college.
Mating is a social activity in wild society. This promise to remain a virgin has made her an anomaly because for years she had to refuse every male that made advances toward her until wild males finally stopped trying to seek her favor. And because of her grandfather's material wealth in tame society, she has yet to meet a tame man that is truly interested in her. All they seem to see when they look at her is dollar signs.
One of the only males that continues to pursue Talia is Fjord, chief of the Water Tribe. He's only two year older than Talia, so he's a young chief like Roar. But he's not a good chief like Roar. Talia has no respect for Fjord; even though, he's learned to be more careful in front of her. Talia was not impressed by his attempt to impress her with his sexual prowess by shoving a young low ranking female over a table, mounting her without any preamble, and fucking her violently all the while staring at Talia.
Then when he got ready to cum he said, "This low bitch isn't good enough to bear my child." He pulled out of the low female's vagina and shoved himself fast and hard into her anus, which the woman obviously didn't enjoy as he fucked her there even more violently and came in her anus. Then he unceremoniously pushed her aside and dumped her to the ground. Two other women rushed to the low female and took her away.
When Talia stood after Fjord's display, the smell of her anger was so strong, Roar was afraid she would get violent. He didn't want a war with Water or any other tribe for that matter. A tribal war might attract the attention of tamed authorities. Wild folks didn't need trouble with tame folks. Many tamed folks didn't see wild folks as truly human. And in some parts of the world, wild folks were hunted into extinction. Tame males still came into the forest under the guise of deer hunting looking for wild females to take advantage of. Wild females were sometimes kidnapped and forced into prostitution.
Wild folks are very free sexually after going through puberty and aren't susceptible to most of the diseases that plague tame people. But they have no use for tame people's money. Money seemed to be a thing that brought out the worst in tamed people. There were tamed males out there who were willing to pay for sex with wild females, and there were people out there who thought of themselves as tamed or civilized that would find a way to provide what they wanted. What Roar thought was really stupid was wild females would willing have sex with nearly any male they liked. You just had to be nice to them. You only kidnapped a female if she was from another tribe to make her your mate.
Fjord didn't seem to know how to be nice. And Roar was relieved when Talia didn't get violent. She simply walked up to Fjord and said, "You disgust me. I could never accept a male as my mate who takes pleasure in abusing his people." Then she walked away. The scent of her anger was so strong, it caused some wild folks to cringe away in fear.
Talia is an independent woman with high ideals. Yes, many of those ideals were shaped by the tamed education she received, but they are good ideals, and Roar respects Talia all the more for it. Yet Roar fears Talia will never find a mate, because she can't seem to find a male with similar ideals. Plus, she spends most of her time by herself. He knows she checks on the estate and the firm every new moon, but she doesn't live tame. And when she's living wild, she's usually alone or with the animals because their people are uncomfortable with her because she's so well spoken, has never mated with any tribe males and has no children.
Talia loves children and adores her two nephews. Her father wanted Talia raised tame so she would be able to help their people when they needed to deal with tamed people. Wild people have been taken advantage of in the past by tame folks because they couldn't read or write, and now the area they have to roam free in is limited and shared with many other tribes, some from very far away regions. Talia had even managed to get back some of their land. Yet, Talia is a very alone wild person. She can smell what the people are feeling. So she keeps her visits short. Likewise, Roar can smell how sad it makes Talia. Thank goodness for Talia's strong affinity with animals. Her favorite thing is to run wild with the wolves, usually as a wolf.
Talia is doing what she loves best, running with the animals. She is racing a deer which is a real challenge when you are doing it on two legs. She leaps over a fallen tree and they're rounding a mature tree when a noise startles her and the deer.
The deer freezes with its legs splayed listening as a man pushes threw a thick cluster of bushes. Talia is so surprised, shocked and frightened she turns into a bear. Not a very big bear because Talia's barely five feet tall. But a bear nonetheless and the deer doesn't appreciate that and takes off running scared of Talia-bear.
The man starts to smile at Talia as she roars a warning. Then another man comes crashing through the bushes with a gun in his hand. The second man points the gun at Talia-bear.
The first man yells, "NO!" as he pushes the gun in the air as it fires. Talia darts away as the bullet lodges in the tree behind her.
Talia runs for her life. She knew things like this happened, that ordinary humans sometimes accidentally shot people like her while they were in animal form. They weren't close enough to see the eyes were still human. It was how her mother had died, shot while hanging out with the deer.
Talia hears the second man yell, "That was a damn bear, Richy!"
"No, Al," the first man replies angry at the second man. "It was a beautiful woman."
The word beautiful causes Talia to slow in order to listen better.
"You mean a wild woman," says Al, the second man. "It would have been an accident, not like anyone would care."
"I care," states Richy angrier. "We're peace officers. We took an oath to protect and serve. I take that oath seriously. If you don't take it seriously, I'll be looking for a new deputy."
Talia stops to catch her breath. She had seen the uniforms, but she had been so startled it hadn't registered till just now.
"That won't be necessary, Richy," says Al remorsefully. "I take my oath just as seriously as you. It's just thatā¦ wellā¦ I heard they're not really human."
Talia hears what sounds like muffled crying in the distance and picks up the faint scent of fear and hopelessness. She turns into a wolf to be able to track it better.
"You don't believe everything you hear do you, Al," ask Richy.
"No of course not," answers Al feeling stupid.
"Besides," says Richy looking off in the direction the woman-bear ran, "she could help us. She probably knows the area real well and her sense of smell will be way better than mine. The bloodhound from Socum won't be here for another hour and it'll be getting dark on top of it."
But Talia doesn't hear what Richy just said. She's hot on the trail of the fear scent and honing in on the crying. She can smell that it's a female child. And a few minutes later, she spots the child lying curled up at the base of an old oak tree, half crying and half asleep.
Talia retakes her natural form and approaches the child slowly. She doesn't want to startle the child, who sits up slowly as she focuses on the slowly approaching woman. To the sleepy eyed little girl, Talia looks like a fairy princess with her log flowing raven hair, tawny-tan colored skin and white dress, which is actually a tank top and knee length skirt. The clothes on the bear hadn't registered with Al. He just saw a bear.
Talia gets down on one knee about a meter away from the little girl who looks to be about six years old and is very dirty. "Hi, my name is Talia. What's your name?"
"Jody," the little girl answers with a sniffle.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself, Jody?"
"I was supposed to take a nap. But I saw a bunny and I wanted to pet it."
"Did you get lost following the bunny?"
"Yeah," Jody answers nodding as fresh tears make tracks in the dirt on her chipmunk cheeks.
"It's okay," Talia assures picking Jody up. "I found you. You're not lost anymore. I'll take you back."
"You promise you're not a bad stranger," Jody ask with her bottom lip poking out.
"I promise," answers Talia smiling warmly as she heads back in the direction she came from carrying Jody. "It's good you know strangers can be bad. Did your parents forget to tell you, you shouldn't try to pet wild animals?"
"I guess," answers Jody. "But I wouldn't try to pet a lion or a tiger."
"That's because you're smart," Talia tells Jody. "But even wild bunnies have teeth and can bite."
"Really," ask Jody.
"Really," answers Talia. "Just because it's not big and scary doesn't mean it can't hurt you. Even small pretty animals can be very dangerous."
Talia's steps become slow and cautious as the two peace officers come into view. When they turn toward her and the child, she pauses underneath the weight of their stares. It gives Talia a chance to take a good look at both men.
The first man, the one the second man called Richy, is tall with a nice build. He has the physique of a man who carefully balances cardio and weight training. His hair is a dark, dark brown that's almost black like Talia's. His eyes are just as brown as her own with a slight slant while his stance is Alpha confident. He's simply a beautiful work of art.
The second man, Deputy Al Talia thinks, lacks the confidence of the first. He's not an Alpha male. While taller than Talia like most people, he's just barely average height and Talia probably outweighs the scrawny man by a good twenty pounds. Talia wants to buy him a cheeseburger, large fries and an extra thick milk shake.
The tall devastatingly handsome Richy gives Talia a head nod along with a dazzling smile as he greets her. "Howdy, ma'am, I'm Sheriff Richard Griffin and this is Deputy Albert Jones, Richy and Al at your service."
Talia slowly closes the distance between herself and the two men. She stops a meter away from them, directly in front of Richy. "I'm Talia and this is Jody. She's lost her way."
"I know," responds Richy smiling brightly. "Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, are worried sick." He reaches for Jody, but she crushes herself against Talia and clings tightly to her neck.
Talia looks at Richy and shrugs as she rubs Jody's back.
"Miss Talia, would you be so kind as to accompany me and Al in returning Jody to her parents."
"That would be fine," answers Talia. Then she steps around the two men and continues back the way they came. Richy doesn't take his eyes off of her. Talia gets a whiff of his arousal for her and it makes her smile. He and Al follow about three meters behind her.
"I never met a wild woman before," Al whispers to Richy. "I heard wild women were exotically beautiful, but I had no idea just how beautiful one would be. I hear they're nymphomaniacs. Do you think I've got a chance?"
"No," Richy whispers his answers to Al because Al is whispering. "And I think you should know, besides having an excellent sense of smell, they possess excellent hearing too. Ain't that right Miss Talia?"
Talia heard every whispered word. She looks back and smiles at Richy as she answers, "That's correct Sheriff. And if ever I was a nymphomaniac, meeting you cured me Deputy Al."
Richy stifles a laugh out of respect for his friend's bruised feelings and ego. Many people that think of themselves as civilized and well educated are ignorant when it comes to wild people, and they don't take the trouble to learn the truth. Richy is the type of man that seeks out the truth and then shares it.
There's silence behind Talia for a long time, but she can feel the weight of both men's eyes on her as the little girl sleeps with her head on Talia's shoulder. Both men are admiring Talia's shape. For boney awkward looking Al, his look is a bit envious. Talia's legs and arms are well muscled, but not to the point of appearing masculine. He's most envious of her thick well defined calves. Richy has been studying her heart shaped bottom. It's on the thick side, but Richy has always preferred thicker women. He can't stand a boney woman who thinks she's fat. And every so often the wind shifts, allowing him to catch her scent. It's the pure clean scent of a woman without any artificial enhancements: no implants, no liposuction and no makeup. Some women need a little makeup, but Talia doesn't. She's all natural just the way Richy likes.
Al finally breaks the silence by asking Richy, "How does she know where she's going?"
"We should ask her," says Richy, and he trots up alongside her so he's walking next to her and Al follows him.
"Miss Talia," Richy asks, "would you be so kind as to explain how you know where you're going?"
"Mostly scents, Sheriff," explains Talia. "Jody's trail is erratic, but I've got the direction she came from so I don't have to stay exactly on the trail she left. Plus, I have the trail you both left. It follows Jody's pretty closely. And then there are other signs: broken twigs and crushed grass. It all actually creates a pretty clear trail."
"Kind of like a bloodhound," says Al.
"Not like a bloodhound," says Talia insulted. "I don' need to put my nose to the ground like a dog. A bloodhound would have to follow the trail closely. And if he lost the scent, he couldn't make an educated guess on the most logical place to pick it back up. A bloodhound wouldn't think to look for disturbed foliage."
Talia is relieved to step into the clearing and see the two peace vehicles, an SUV, picnic table and tent. It's gotten dark. The little girl's parents stand up from the picnic table as they approach.
"Jody," both of her parents call in unison.
The little girl wakes up as Talia hands her over to her mother, "Mommy!"
"Baby, Mommy was so scared."
"Thank you, thank you so much," the father says gratefully hugging his wife and child to him.
"We're just glad to get her back to ya fine and dandy," says Richy smiling his best good old boy smile. "Al, there's the guy from Socum with the bloodhound. Let him know we found the girl."
Al gives Richy a nod and walks away to talk to the peace officer from Socum.
The little girl's mother gives Talia a long critical look up and down and Richy doesn't miss it. He sees the woman focus on Talia's bare feet for a very long moment.
Talia doesn't miss it either, but focuses on the little girl's needs, "Jody is probably quite hungry and thirsty."
"Don't you people feed the children you kidnap," the woman snaps at Talia.
"Excuse me," responds Talia shocked. She wasn't expecting to be accused of kidnapping.
"Filthy wild animals," the woman says glaring at Talia with cold blue eyes. "Everyone knows you people are baby snatchers." Then she tells her husband, "I told you we shouldn't camp here near the wild baby snatching animals."
"Now hold on there," says Richy. His smile has disappeared. "That's not true."
The little girl gets upset, "I just wanted to pet the bunny. I tried to catch it so I could pet it, but I got lost and couldn't find my way back. But the nice fairy princess lady found me and brought me back. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get lost. I just wanted to pet the bunny."
"It's OK, sweetie," the father says assuringly as he takes her from his wife and rubs her back. "Thank you for finding our daughter."
"You're welcome," says Talia ready to be on her way before the mother says something else ridiculous and crazy. "I just happened to be out and about when the Sheriff and Deputy happened upon me. Shortly after that, we found your daughter."
"Why don't you take Jody over yonder and get her some water," Richy suggest to the parents putting his good old boy smile back on. "I need a moment with Miss Talia."
"Yes, thank you," agrees the husband giving his wife's arm a gentle tug.
When the family is out of earshot, Richy takes Talia's hand and apologizes, "I am so sorry about that."
"That wasn't your fault," says Talia solemnly. "These things happen sometimes."
"That should not have happened," responds Richy still holding her hand. "I know after that you're anxious to get back to your mate and childrenā¦"
"I don't have a mate and children to get back to," Talia informs Richy.
Richy gets a genuinely happy look on his face. "I've got to do a few things here for my report. But if you can hang out here a few minutes, I'll give you a ride where ever you need to go."
"Thank you," says Talia. She likes his scent. His arousal gives it a tang. "But I don't need a ride." She tries to pull away, but he holds tightly to her hand.
"Can you come to Bayberry Falls tomorrow," asks Richy, "stop by my office so I can take a statement for my report."
Talia nods yes and he slowly releases her hand. Then he watches her slip back into the forest. She just seems to disappear.
Of course Talia didn't disappear. She just put herself out of sight of the clearing. The challenge was getting out of eye, ear and nose shot of Sheriff Richard Griffin. His senses aren't as sharp as her own, but much more sharp than an ordinary human being's. His scent told her that someone in his family, at least one of his parents was part wild. Yes, Talia could discern that from his scent. It's like eating meat. Domesticated animals have a different flavor than wild game. And so the scents of tamed folks and wild folks differ in the same way, even though tame folks can't smell the difference.
Talia has stretched out on the thick limb of a mature tree. She can see into the clearing. And when the wind shifts just right, she catches pieces of conversation and their scents. Jody's father is quite annoyed with his wife's behavior.
Talia pulls her cellphone from her skirt pocket and dials a number. Unlike other wilds, Talia always has three things with her: her mobile-phone, driver's license and ATM/check card. Most wilds don't even have one of those three items; most don't even have a birth certificate.
"Hello, Talia," greets a mature male's voice after the second ring. "How's my favorite niece?"
Talia smiles as she responds, "I'm your only niece Uncle Bob. I'm sorry to disturb you at such a late hour."
"It's not that late," responds her Uncle Bob. "It's always a pleasure to get a call from you. It's not possible for you to disturb me."
"Well, I won't waste your time," Talia tells him. "I need a favor."
"No problem," answers Bob. "What do you need?"
"See what you can find out about a Sheriff Richard Griffin of Bayberry Falls for me," request Talia.
As he writes, Bob repeats, "Sheriff Richard Griffinā¦ Bayberry Fallsā¦ Is this guy giving you a hard time?"
"No, Uncle Bob, nothing like that," Talia doesn't like her loved ones to worry about her unnecessarily. "I just met him and I'ld like to know more about him. I like the way he smells."
Uncle Bob is her deceased maternal grandfather's younger brother. And as a tame man he'll never know what Talia's smelling that he's not, but he trust her nose more than he does his own gut instincts. He doesn't hire anyone without introducing them to Talia first. They might be able to fool him with nice clothes and good manners, but they can't fool Talia's nose. Sometimes he doesn't even have to wait and ask Talia if she didn't like their smell. Sometimes their reaction to Talia alone is enough.
Talia doesn't mind wearing clothes, but she hates shoes. So long as the weather isn't too cold and snowy, Talia is barefooted. Her feet aren't odd looking or unusual. Yet seeing a woman standing barefooted inside the most prestigious law firm in the world often throws people off, which allows their true colors to shine through.
Uncle Bob smiles as he tells her, "I'll make a couple of calls in the morning. Then I'll call you with what I learn tomorrow."
"Thank you, Uncle Bob," says Talia appreciatively.
"No trouble, Talia. Love you, have a goodnight."
"Love you too, Uncle Bob. Goodnight." She ends the call and tucks the phone away back into her pocket.
In the clearing, they have helped the couple pack up their campsite and vehicles are pulling away one-by-one: the SUV with the reunited family, the Socum emergency vehicle with the unused bloodhound and Deputy Al in his peace car leave Richy standing there in the dark next to his Sheriff's vehicle. He takes a few steps in Talia's direction and sniffs the air.
"Miss Talia, are you still there," ask Richy in only a slightly raised voice.
Talia hears him and sees him. Yet instead of answering, she holds tightly to the tree limb. The urge to call out and go to him is strong and hard to fight, especially since he looks so sad and concerned. But he's a stranger, so she's not going to him and she's not answering.
"It's okay, Miss Talia," Richy says in her direction. "You have no reason to trust me. But please stop by my office tomorrow." He turns and as he's walking back to his vehicle the wind shifts and Talia gets a good whiff of his scent.
In his scent she smells his sadness, loneliness and concern. It makes Talia's heart ache and a tear glides down one of her soft tawny cheeks. As Richy pulls away in his vehicle, Talia let out a small sob. A stranger was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing. And she falls to sleep on that tree limb with thoughts of Sheriff Richard Griffin swimming in her head.