Panthera Spelaea Ch. 41-50

When we'd eaten our fill, Art asked to see my cat. I agreed, but I wanted to see his bear as well. "We may as well sniff butts and get the introductions over," I told him.

"Not here. We'll go into one of the canyons so any boaters coming by don't see." We hiked up a trail overlooking the beach and down the other side. "Here is fine. We have crew members stationed around us to make sure we aren't disturbed."

"Girls, stay back with the others," I told them. "I don't know how my cat is going to react to another switcher."

"I'll go first so it doesn't surprise him," Art said. He pulled off his swimsuit and moved away from me before switching.

His bear was HUGE. He stood over ten feet tall on his back legs, thick and heavily muscled. Even after he dropped his front paws down, his head was level to mine. I had studied the Cave Bear, especially the frozen specimen recently found, in my degree studies. Seeing the real thing was awe-inspiring.

Art's bear didn't move towards me; he sniffed the air, looking around at the others. I overcame my initial fear and approached him slowly, hands open and low. He sat down and looked at me, letting me touch his neck and scratch his ears. "Anna, Lana, you have to feel this," I said.

The girls approached just as slowly, and Art sniffed them before they started to scratch at his thick fur. "He's so BIG," Anna said. "How much do you think he weighs? Eight hundred kilos?"

"Pretty close; 787 kilos last time we checked," one of the crewmen told us. Damn, that was over seventeen hundred pounds, more than a ton. He was almost twice my weight! Between his big teeth, powerful limbs, and claws the length of my hand, he was a fearsome predator.

"Time for my cat," I said when I felt my lion's mood turn from wary to curious. "Stay back so he doesn't decide you're in danger."

The girls backed off, and I tossed them my swim trunks and sandals. Focusing inward, I switched into my lion and looked at the world through his eyes.