CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
First he smelled her, then he heard her. Lupine-boy had been coming back often to Topanga Canyon where he first met her. He hoped he would soon find the young She-Paw in heat. On this night, he quickly picked up her invitation—a scratching containing the pungent promise of sex. Luckily, he did not pick up any scent of Big-Paw, his rival, her master. So, he followed the primordial obligation of his species and began his pursuit of her. Reaching a ridge overlooking the canyon, he heard her call. It was a caterwaul, a much louder version of the same call he heard his small cat cousins make from the yards of the two-legs.
Like a simultaneous cry and scream, it shot sharp through the canyon mist and echoed against the rock ledges like a dozen shedevils. She-Paw advertised her readiness and location, and he knew it was meant for him. He would answer the call.
He moved quickly down the ridgeline, along a dry creek bed, and into a dense wooded area. Then he saw her; sitting near a stand of sycamores. She-Paw recognized him and let out another caterwaul, this one with an even higher-pitched vibrato. Feeling the impulse in his loins, Lupine-boy jumped at her. She snarled and reared back like she did when they first met—a warning snarl that surprised him. Even though Big-paw wasn’t near, she gave him a message of fear.
He approached her again, this time more cautiously, anticipating they could rub heads, or maybe he would even be allowed to lick her face. She gave him a low growl and then moved back nervously and bent down into the crouch of female submission. He pounced on her back with the furor of an attack, held her with his forepaws, and rammed his hindquarters into hers. In less than a minute, his jaws firmly—but carefully— grabbed at her neck, and he growled at the climax of his first conquest.
Resting for a few minutes still atop his lioness, he entered her again, this time more powerfully than before. She let out some growls as her body shuttered from his pounding. Lupine-boy remained faithful to his species that day and continued his short but frequent and vigorous couplings. He was now Lupine-lion.
Lupine-lion became more familiar with his new partner over the hours, but She-Paw still did not take to his instinctual attempts at neck rubbing and licking during rest periods. She would snap and snarl and even produce an ‘ouch’ sound whenever he attempted foreplay. She communicated with Lupine-lion in cougar language and he desperately tried to understand her.
When he was on top of her, he certainly could smell Big-paw on her fur. But Lupine-lion could also smell something more, something strange below the clutch of fur. Were his animal instincts—passed down to him for thousands of years by his ancestors—telling him that he must act in a way to preserve his species? For the moment, Lupine-lion only acted upon the immediate instinct to mate, and he did that with total abandon. Lupine-lion did not perceive, in his current single mindedness, that the sounds and smells of mating awakened the acute senses of another male cougar. Still miles away but moving fast, Big-paw was on his way to recover his possession.
Early on the second day of their affair, following a few hours of deep sleep, She-Paw was startled awake by what can only be called a sixth sense. She couldn’t have smelled her old master’s arrival who approached silently upwind from the couple. But she alerted Lupine-lion with her defensive hissing alarm call.
Jumping into a fighting stance with his heart beating fast, Lupine-lion saw Big-paw. The old master stood on a hillock only 50 lion-lengths away. The low morning sun was at his back, giving the animal the golden glow of a forest god. Although Big-paw stood perfectly still, taking in the situation and his line of attack, his shadows moved ominously, wrapping around the trunks of the sycamores, and surrounded the pair.
She-Paw slowly moved away from Lupine-lion while hissing and twitching in fear. Lupine-lion, though, no longer felt fear. He had taken the female from the old lion and now she was his. That’s when he ‘heard’ a simple and direct command from his paternal ancestors: Prepare to fight and prepare to die. He let out a loud yowl, a message that announced, “This is my territory, and I dare you to take it.”
Big-paw yowled back, bared his teeth, and began to march toward the young lion. When he got within 10 lion-lengths, he moved to the left and toward the female so the offender could get a good look at him. Lupine-lion could now see the big cat’s assets. His fighting weight was at least a 50-pound advantage. His paws were huge, his claws were long. His head and body were covered in scars from previous battles that he had no doubt won. Then there was the swagger; Big-paw paraded back and forth as if he could bluff the young cat into not taking him on. Lupine-lion stood his ground. He faced and followed his enemy, hissing at him as if to say, “YOU should be afraid.”
By this time, both males were in full view of the female. Her maternal instincts compelled her to view the competing males and select which one best fulfilled her obligation to the species. She had to choose (or be chosen by) the strongest, most vital male who would pass along good genes to her kittens to help ensure their survival. She knew her old master well, having already fathered their offspring. He had proven his strength in battle. So, there must have been a much more powerful knowing that caused her to make her next move.
Out of blind fear, or perhaps out of blinding courage, she snarled at Big-paw and moved around behind her young savior.
Her decision was also decisive for Big-paw. He snarled slowly and paced menacingly back and forth in front of the transgressor looking for the best way to take him down. She-Paw continued to make the multitude of snarls, growls and yowls she did when she first spoke to the young suitor. Lupine-lion remembered her previous message of fear; now it was clear and strong. He now knew why she smelled as she did. Her message was “you must fight.” Even though he knew She-Paw was his daughter, Lupinelion had to kill Big-paw.
Lupine-lion struck first. With the coil and speed of a high jumper, he leaped and aimed for Big-paw’s neck, his claws popping out of their sheaths. Big-paw reared up to meet Lupine-lion headto-head; Big-paw’s weight held, and he pushed the young lion down and immediately went for his jugular.
Lupine-lion quickly slipped under him, and in a flash was on the big lion’s back. Big-paw twisted his head around, snapping, and they locked jaws. Lupine-lion had the upper hold on Big-paw’s nose, piercing and locking hard. Big-paw lifted and turned his head free, bleeding profusely. A brief second passed before they both leaped at the same time, claws ready to end the fight. Lupinelion was faster and got in twice the rips for every one of his foes’.
The howls and screams from both animals filled the canyon like devils burning in hellfire. Lupine-lion’s claws were sharper than the older male’s and he was able to tear one of Big-paw’s eyes almost completely out of its socket. Lupine-lion hooked his canines just below the old lion’s ear and tore a huge gash only inches from the vein that meant sure death.
From that point on, it seemed to be the young lion’s fight to lose. The older, heavier lion had the disadvantage of having travelled all night to meet his foe. The young lion did not let up, biting hard at Big-paw’s face with his young sharp teeth. The worn canines of his enemy could barely penetrate his hide.
Lupine-lion charged again at Big-paw’s neck, and this time caught his worn tracking collar with his teeth and twisted it off. Panting for breath, Big-paw backed away trying to rub his bloody torn eyes and focus on his now blurry enemy’s next move. Perhaps it was then when he sensed Lupine-lion’s superior skills and passion. Perhaps, he simply felt defeated in his body, but he backed up and started hobbling away. Big-paw, unlike his young competitor, was no longer willing to die for She-Paw.
Next, and perhaps more surprisingly, Lupine-lion did not go in for the kill. The victor sensed that he had mortally wounded the old master, and the young lion watched as the vanquished male trailed off into the bush. Lupine-lion turned to his partner, finding her a short distance away. She had witnessed the whole battle. Despite his wounds and exhaustion, Lupine-lion immediately mounted her and copulated several times in as many minutes, each time ending in a roar and a neck bite.
She-Paw purred through the pain. The two were different now. At rest and lying together, she licked his bloodied face and rubbed his scratched and swollen head with her head. For the next three days, the sex acts continued like clockwork, but in between there was conversation. He caressed her gently. She-Paw provided her new partner with a constant series of soft growls, kitten-like chirps, and lazy mews. There no longer seemed to be fear in her voice. She was pleased with her new master. She now would bear him the strongest kittens.