It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 1

< A Cat, Adopted into a Wolf Family? >

One

“I don’t need stray cats in my territory stealing food. Throw them over the fence.”

A cynical voice echoed from above. I knelt down, rubbing my palms together frantically as I begged,

“Jerian, please, just this once. Mom was only hungry…”

“Quiet, Kittia. I only spared your life because your mother begged me to.”

“Jerian!”

“If you want to live, never appear before me again!”

As soon as Jerian, the ruler of the cat territory, finished speaking in his cold voice, his henchmen, who had been waiting in the corner of the warehouse, lifted me up.

My mother, who had lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor, was dragged out of the warehouse like mere baggage.

She was already unconscious, and the magic that maintained her human form had dissipated. Her body and tail drooped powerlessly.

I followed them, shouting urgently,

“Please, sirs, be gentle with my mother. She’s pregnant…”

“Shut up, Kittia. Your mother’s reached her end anyway. Why did she have to touch Jerian’s food storage?”

Jerian’s henchmen lifted me up with one hand effortlessly. They probably didn’t think I was heavy since I hadn’t eaten properly for days.

“Please, sirs…”

Tears welled up and streamed down my face. But they didn’t hesitate to throw me away.

Thud!

With a dull sound, my back slammed into the ground. I spat out blood, and a few broken teeth came out.

My head was spinning as if I had been hit by a large carriage, but I clenched my fists.

It would be a disaster if I lost consciousness and reverted to my cat form.

Even in human form, I was only six years old, but as a cat, I wouldn’t be able to catch my falling mother.

“Mom!”

I looked up and saw my mother, who had been thrown after me, falling. I should be grateful that the warehouse wasn’t too high. I barely managed to catch her.

She should have been heavy, having been thrown from a height, but the starving mother cat was light enough for me to hold.

It was a cold night, with moss even dried up. Thus, my mother and I were banished from the territory of the cat beastkins [humanoid creatures with feline features].

“Mom…”

Hiding in the bushes, I stroked her body as diligently as she used to do for me when I was sick.

However, even as I stroked and caressed her neck along her mottled fur, she didn’t respond. Fear grew as dark as the night.

“Mom…”

I reverted to my cat form and licked my mother’s cheek diligently. As I rubbed my gray and white fur against her, I heard a faint breath.

“Kitty… my soft paw.”

“Mom!”

“I’m sorry. You too, because of me…”

I quickly shook my head. My pronunciation was slurred because of my broken teeth.

“No, it’s okay. You have siblings growing in your belly. It was inevitable to eat someone else’s food after starving for days. But…”

I looked at the blood soaking my mother’s tail. Even I, a child, could tell that something bad was happening to the little ones in her belly.

“I’m sorry, Kitty. It seems the siblings… Ugh!”

“Mom!”

I fidgeted anxiously and desperately licked my mother’s face. Her already precarious breathing became increasingly rapid, and I heard a voice that seemed about to break.

“Kitty… I don’t think I can make it. You should leave here quickly before the cats start patrolling…”

“Mom, let’s go together. Huh?”

“No, I’m already too late. Leave this place and go far away. Yes, to the wolf territory…”

Wolf territory? I couldn’t understand why my mother was saying that.

“Mom, you’re bleeding. Don’t talk!”

“Kitty, I’m sorry. If I had known this would happen, I would have told you sooner… Our Kitty has a special power…”

“Huh?”

My mother placed her paw on my right hand. A warm, mysterious power flowed through my soft paw.

Something complex flashed through my mind and disappeared in an instant.

“Mom, what is this?”

“You’ll… find out eventually. Our Kit… ty is… as brave as the wolves, so you’ll do well on your own…”

Thud.

My mother’s paw, which had been touching mine, fell to the ground. Her rapid breathing suddenly stopped. All I could do was keep calling out to her.

“Mom, Mom…!”

My head was spinning, and I couldn’t figure out where things had gone wrong.

Was it when strong beastkins fought and the cat beastkins were pushed into the shadows? Or when my dad and brother suddenly died in an accident?

“Mom… I don’t know anything. Not what power I have, or what to do in the future…”

I no longer felt any movement from my mother’s chest. I was afraid of her body, which had grown cold without even giving me time to grieve, and my throat choked up.

How much time had passed?

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, little ones. I’m sorry, Mom…”

I hugged her already cold body tightly, then reverted to my human form and buried her deep in the ground.

My hands bled and my nails were torn from digging the frozen ground with my bare hands, but my chest was so heavy and sore that I barely felt the pain in my hands.

I covered it with moss and patted the ground so that no one would dig it up, and it really hit me that I had become a lonely baby cat.

“…I already miss you, what should I do, Mom?”

I sobbed and wandered around nearby for a long time. But I saw the lights of the patrol from afar, so I couldn’t linger any longer.

I wiped my face with my dirt-covered hands and spat out the blood that had pooled in my mouth. And I clenched my fists.

‘Bad Jerian… Mom, I’ll become strong and avenge you.’

I started moving my reluctant legs little by little. I didn’t understand everything, but Mom’s last request was for me to be brave even in a distant place.

If I stayed here and got caught by the cat patrol, I wouldn’t be able to avenge my mother.

I kept taking trembling steps, just like Mom used to do when she buried Dad and my brother’s belongings.

“Mom. I’m okay. Kittia is a cat as brave as a wolf. So, Mom, please rest in peace.”

I turned back for a moment and said that, then forced myself to move my feet. I was desperate to escape the area patrolled by the cats without even deciding where to go.

Plop, patter.

Raining drops started to fall from the dark sky where neither stars nor moon could be seen.

I wanted to turn back several times, worried that the soil would wash away and Mom’s body would be exposed among the mud, but I barely managed to resist.

‘Mom would want me to be happy.’

But I didn’t know where to go to be happy. Could I be happy without Mom? I stopped walking for a moment and lowered my head.

A young girl crying was reflected in the puddle at my feet. With tangled gray hair, a dirty body, and so skinny, it didn’t seem like anyone would take me in unless they knew me.

‘But I don’t have any cousins or acquaintances outside the cat territory…’

Just as I was about to collapse, I sensed a presence. I quickly hid in the bushes and watched the procession of beastkins heading somewhere.

“Young masters. You mustn’t come out this far to play ball. Other beastkins will be surprised.”

A large man grabbed two boys covered in grime from rolling in the muddy water and put them in the carriage. Their glossy gray hair clearly marked them as wolves.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘Wait. Wolves have gray fur, and I have gray fur too, right? Besides, wolves are very close to each other…’

I remembered something Mom had said once. Baby animals all look similar until they grow up to some extent. Before their features become prominent, they are distinguished only by their fur color.

Besides, the last place Mom thought of was the wolf territory.

‘At this rate, I might starve to death before I can even get revenge. If only for a little while…’

The Gridwolf family, who ruled the wolf territory, were very wealthy and were said to be generous to other wolves.

If they found out I was a cat, I might be bullied or kicked out, but fortunately, beastkins, unlike animals, were rational beings. This meant that they didn’t just catch and eat others simply because they were of a different race.

‘I don’t know what will happen if the beastkins go crazy like they did a few years ago, but…’

Even though it was a dangerous attempt, it was better than staying here and dying.

I trembled in the bushes, staring intently in the direction the carriage disappeared.

* * *

A few days later. Theo and Deon, the two sons of the Gridwolf family, the heads of the wolves, were sprawled on the sofa, muttering listlessly.

“That darn ball went over the fence again.”

“I’m getting tired of this ball game too.”

“Why don’t we have a younger sister? We could spoil her.”

It was then that the clear sound of the doorbell rang. The two wolves, who hated being disturbed during playtime, answered with sullen faces.

“What is it?”

Then, one of the knights of the Gridwolf mansion, who was guarding the door, said with a troubled voice.

“Young masters, I apologize. It keeps loitering around…”

“Who?”

As Theo and Deon looked behind and beside the wolf knight, they heard a cute voice from below.

“Over here. A little lower!”

“Huh?”

Hearing the faint voice, the eldest brother, Theo, lowered his gaze. There was a skinny, bite-sized cat beastkin.

Her dirty hair, tattered clothes, and chapped hands and feet were so pitiful that it was suspicious.

“Who are you?”

The younger brother, Deon, growled. The cat beastkin, visibly startled, tried to calm her surprise and opened her mouth.

“Um, is this the Gridwolf’s mansion?”

“Yeah. So?”

“I’ve come to the right place!”

The cat sparkled her eyes and rejoiced. Because her emerald eyes sparkled like glass beads, Theo and Deon couldn’t bring themselves to chase her away, even though they didn’t know her.

Kittia calmly said as she had prepared in advance.

“Hello? I’m Kittia, a young but brave wolf. I heard that Gridwolf provides jobs for poor wolves without families…”

A cat smell was wafting through the stench, yet she claimed to be a wolf. Besides, she was looking for a job, but her teeth were missing, and her pronunciation was slurred. The two wolves exchanged glances in disbelief.

‘Bro. Should we fatten her up and roll her around instead of a ball? As punishment for lying to us.’

‘That sounds good. Cat fur is soft, after all.’

“Do you want to come in for now?”

“Kyaa! Thank you so much!”

Not knowing that the evil wolves had finished exchanging opinions, Kittia smiled brightly and stepped into the wolf’s den.