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Honey had wandered very far afield on this hunting trip. It wasn't that prey was all that scarce closer to the Maestros lands. He just wanted a change of pace, something outside his normal routine. An adventure, of sorts, but nothing life-altering.

It was that his absence would be noted, but as long as he had the good sense to return in something resembling a timely fashion he would not be treated as a deserter. He was a hunter, after all, and hunting was not always a matter of stalking prey for a few hours. There was more to it than that.

At any rate, Honey was enjoying his little vacation.

She wasn't supposed to be outside of the 'Nera lands, particularly not during this time of strife, but Imbra's father, the former Right Hand of the former Boss Lady, still had a number of the privileges of that rank accorded him and had used his influence on her behalf, earning her a half day away from the tension-filled pride.

Imbra had been gone like a shot, promising over her shoulder to return by nightfall. She would be back because to not come back when she promised to do so would lose her the right to go out again, and without that she often felt she would go mad in the pride's stiflingly hostile atmosphere.

The only question remaining was how she would spend her free afternoon.

As Honey lounged idly in the tall grass he heard the rustling sound that meant someone else was moving through them. It took a practiced ear to distinguish the sound caused by movement from the sound caused by the wind, but Honey had always been a very good listener. It was one of the reasons ladies liked him so much. Most of the other reasons had to do with the killer good looks and charm which he had in abundance.

As he watched and listened a lithe, muscular cheetah emerged from the tall grass and narrowed her sky blue eyes at him. In the face of automatic hostility, Honey's immediate reaction was always to form an acquaintance and friendship instead of remaining enemies.

"Somebody wi' yer eyes shouldn't frown. Ye're too beautiful fer life to make ye miserable."

Imbra had never told anyone how bitterly disappointed she was with the way her life had turned out. Her dreams of becoming a Right Hand like her father had been dashed pretty thoroughly, and so she had thought to become a skilled fighter and then a bodyguard to royalty, but as it turned out her father's blood and loyalty to Lady Nyoka actually worked against her.

"There's no way you could possibly know that," she said sharply to the golden cheetah with the warm brown eyes. "Please keep your erroneous suppositions to yourself, rogue."

Honey smiled. She wasn't declaring them best friends, but she had spoken to him, and she had stopped frowning. She was warming up to him, as he had known she would. Practically everyone did.

"I'm a pirate, love, not a rogue. An' I'm right. Tha's why ye're bristlin' so."

He didn't have to speak in the pirate cant most of the members of the Maestros used. He knew how to speak better, and had been raised speaking so. Nevertheless, Honey liked to use it to needle people who were too uptight.

"Could it be ye're the rogue?"

Imbra started to scowl again but she stopped herself. Scowling would only earn her more teasing, she suspected, and she hated to be teased. She was a cheetah who liked to always be in control, and being teased did not make her feel like she was in control. It made her feel like she was being belittled.

"I'm not a rogue," she told him. "But I can't tell you about my home, either, unless I decide to take you there and keep you there forever. You'll understand if I don't want do that, I'm sure."

Honey's smile changed subtly and then he was no longer smiling, but doing something else, something more seductive. There was an intensity in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Actually, I dun see why ye wouldna want t' do tha'. It might be I could be th' tha' makes ye happy in yer secret pride."

He was only teasing her, of course. Flirting was second nature to him, and most of the time he didn't even realize he was doing it, or doing something that would seem like flirting to people who didn't know him well.

"I'm called Honey," he said. "What's yer name, love?"

Imbra blinked.

"I'm Imbra," she said a little dazed. People in the 'Nera didn't try to seduce her, even in jest. They knew who her father was and they stayed away. It had been hard for her even to find people to train with when she was learning to be a fighter. She didn't know how to respond to it.

"And I don't think that taking a pirate into my pride would cause anything but trouble. Though...I get the feeling you like to cause trouble, don't you?"

She was trying to regain her footing. She was not going to be swept away by this pirate who couldn't even speak properly. And what kind of a name was Honey?

Her defenses were down, Honey observed, and he had caught her off-balance. That surprised him a little, not because he doubted his own abilities when it came to putting people at ease, but because she didn't seem accustomed to being flirted with, and a cheetah who looked like she did ought to catch every eye.


"Aye, that I do," he agreed. "But ye seem like ye're good with trouble. Ye wouldna find me any more trouble than ye can handle, I think."

This was actually Honey backing off. He didn't want to drive her away. There was potential, he felt, for something between them if he could manage this first encounter correctly.

"I'm a fighter," Imbra agreed. "But I don't think that's the kind of trouble you represent for me."

No. Trouble with him would come in another form. It would come with his warm brown eyes and easy manner, and the charm she couldn't quite resist. There were cheetahs like him in the 'Nera, too, but they were also unlike him, and not just because of the way he spoke.

"Rather than invite trouble into my home, I think it would be better if I bid you good day and goodbye."

This was not running away. It was not fleeing. She simply didn't want to waste her time in the rogue lands on this stranger.

When she started making noises about leaving, Honey tried quickly to persuade her otherwise saying, "Th' sun be high in th' sky yet. Are ye in such a very great hurry t' be away from me?"

"Don't run away, love," Honey said, standing up to forestall her if necessary. She did look like a fighter, and he could imagine attempting to keep her against her will would not go well. So he would just have to convince her she wanted to stay. "I'll not do a thing ye dun want. Ye've my word on't."

Imbra's resolve weakened. She couldn't believe a sweet voice and deep brown eyes could have this effect on her. Her hormones were betraying her, she felt, and she resented it. She reminded herself that she was a fighter and that part of that was being disciplined. She would not give in to any physical temptation if she stayed with him. It was as simple as that.

"My time is not limitless, pirate," she informed him. "I must return home before dark, and it is likely I will be watched. My pride is very fond of surveillance, and I have a snotrag of a sister would would spy on me even if that wasn't the case."

"I've several sisters, love, so I know how tha' can be. But it seems t' me if ye've a pride o' spies, ye'd want t' get away from't. I've not been in th' area long, but I think I ken a place ye could get away for a while."

He didn't know why it mattered to him so much that she like him. He liked to be liked, but he rarely had feelings as strong as the feelings he had about Imbra. She could be important, though he didn't know how, as yet.

"I'll not even ask ye t' break yer curfew, now how 'bout tha'?" he said with a grin.

Imbra finally smiled back at Honey. She was growing accustomed to the way he spoke, falling into the unfamiliar cadence and finding to her surprise that it was actually pleasant to listen to.

So far he was upfront and honest, compared to the people she was used to, and that was refreshing. This afternoon was supposed to be about getting away from all the things about the 'Nera that had been making her unhappy and dissatisfied lately. Maybe Honey and his openness was just what she needed.

"All right. Show me this place. And know that if you try anything I don't like, I'll kill you."