Hissy Fit

by Tilly Pope

  I know it’s illegal, and dangerous, to run on the freeway, even at this time of day, and yet I can’t think of anywhere else to go. I just want to get away from him.

  I look over my shoulder when I hear someone breathing heavy behind me, edging closer with every stride I take. It’s Connor. I dig deep into the very depths of my energy bank for the run ahead. As I power up the ramp, I’m surprised by the number of cars speeding by. It’s so different to the quiet streets just a few hundred feet away, but it doesn’t matter. More cars means more chaos, and, hopefully, that’ll slow Connor down and give me more time to get away from him.

  The exit sign is just a small square in the distance, but I’m laser focused on it, the rest of my thoughts falling away as I rush toward my target. I don’t think about Connor. I don’t think about my sister. I just run.

  My left leg starts to cramp as I near the sign, but I ignore the pain and keep going. I can’t hear Connor anymore, and I’m oblivious to everything else. All I focus on is the beating of my own heart; a steady, fast rhythm in my chest.

  I’m so in the zone, I don’t realize what’s happening when my foot slips from under me. One minute I’m running, and the next, I’m instinctively breaking my fall with my hands and I’m on the ground. Pain shoots up my wrists and forearms and when I look over my shoulder, I see a car flying through the air, and the huge tail of a snake dropping to the asphalt.

  HUGE Like science-fiction Godzilla man huge. Or maybe I’m just falling…Oh God, it hurts.

  I’m dizzy, my whole world becomes black and I’m vaguely aware that I’m losing consciousness.

  8

  Alana

  Beeping wakes me. Where am I? Heart monitor? The blood rushing through my head. God, what happened?

  I barely open my eyes, wondering what the hell I’m doing at the hospital with Ted Chan sitting in a chair at my bedside.

  He has a mug in his hands, and he’s staring into the cup like he’s waiting for it to tell his fortune. He looks worried, tired, and upset. How long has he been sitting there, I wonder? How long have I been lying here?

  “Ted?” I say, my voice raspy. I try to pull myself up but the pain in my wrists won’t allow it. I look down and see that both of my hands are wrapped in Ace bandages.

  “Alana! You’re up!” Ted says and jumps up so fast that some of his tea spills onto his powder blue scrubs. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me. Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t remember what happened.” I think back to Connor’s appointment. Where did I go after that?

  I close my eyes and try to think. I’m still groggy from whatever they gave me, and my thoughts are hazy.

  In the midst of all this haziness, it comes back to me. Connor’s eyes were like snake eyes. Weird. Then my freak-out, running onto the freeway, him running behind me. The car flipping through the air, and a huge snake tail.

  Is Connor the snake I saw on the freeway? It’s all so confusing. I’ve heard rumors about shifters in the area, but thought it was fake news. God, I need answers.

  “Alana? You okay?” Ted asks, reaching over and touching my shoulder. I look over at his hand, then up at his face. “I don’t know, Ted. I really don’t know.”

  I honestly don’t know what the fuck I’m feeling. It’s a combination of emotions, all negative mind you, and it makes me want to cry and scream at the same time.

  But I’m still in a haze. Where’s Connor?

  I don’t know what, or who he is, but the eyes I saw in Dr. Patel’s room, and the way Connor freaked out scares the shit out of me. I’ve spent years studying snakes, and I still see them in my dreams, even years after my sister’s death. They haunt me and seeing them in my lover’s face was almost as bad as losing Hannah. The trust, the safety I’d felt with him all disappeared the moment that gauze came off.

  But why? Why didn’t he tell me?

  I think I love him, but I dread seeing him again, since I know the emotions I’m feeling will increase tenfold the minute he’s near, but I need answers. I can’t go on without them. If I’m going to lose him, I deserve to know why.

  “Ted, I have to go,” I say, throwing off the blanket covering me and unhooking the blood pressure cuff. I’m surprised I don’t have an IV hanging out of my arm.

  I ignore the pain shooting up my arm and look for my shoes. I still have my clothes on, though they’re a little dirty. Spotting my shoes by Ted’s chair, I slip me feet into them and peek out from the curtain surrounding my bed. The hall outside is quiet, and I see through the window that it’s already dark outside.

  “Alana, wait. Come on, you can’t leave! You’re in no state to…” Ted says, but his voice fades as I run from the room, ignoring the soreness in my legs.

  I unwrap the bandages as I scurry down the hall, tossing them in the trash. I pass the desk on the way out and a nurse tries to stop me, but I run past her. I know her, too—she’s new, and will probably be reprimanded for letting a patient leave the hospital without being discharged. I feel bad, but I’ll worry about her later.

  Miraculously, my phone and wallet are still in my jacket where I’d left them along with my car keys. I manage to hop into my Jeep, still parked in the employee lot, and get on the road to Connor’s house in a matter of seconds.

  I’ve been to his house quite a few times now, and the twinkling lights that Brodie strung up in the bushes outside catch my eye, and I come to a stop just past their mailbox. I’m at their door seconds after I take the key out of the ignition and pound on the hardwood door.

  “Connor! Connor!”

  The door swings open so quickly, I almost stumble through it and fall straight into Connor. He catches me, and I quickly jerk myself out of his arms. I don’t want to touch him right now.

  “Alana,” he says, “Are you okay? I wanted to—” Dammit, I still love the sound of his voice, even now, but I shake my head and hold up my hand, gesturing for him to shut the hell up so I can talk.

  “No. I talk first, then you. And all I want you to do is answer these simple questions,” I say, and then I rattle off the confusion that’s been going through my head, over and over, since I left the hospital.

  “Are you snake or human? Are you dangerous? Why didn’t you tell me?” I’m almost out of breath as the questions come flooding out. “What have you done? What happened before I went in the hospital? Did you hurt me?”

  “Alana! Alana, calm down,” he says, opening the door wider and gesturing for me to go in. “Come in, sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  I wrap my arms around my body, not sure if I want to sit down. Are his brothers all coiled up in the corner waiting to strike? Or worse?

  “Please, sit down. This is going to take a while,” he says, so I finally sit down on the couch still clutching myself. I’m not sure how I feel right now. Connor lets out a long sigh and begins.

  “I’m a werecobra. A snake shifter. It’s genetic. Passed down through my dad’s side, and no, I’m not dangerous. Not to you, anyway.”

  I nod, relieved. “So, what does it mean? You being a shifter and all?” I ask incredulously. My heart is breaking with every word. How can I love someone who isn’t fully human?

  “It means I have to live by the rules of The Federation. A covert agency that takes care of shifters. Me and my brothers aren’t the only shifters around. There are thousands of us, but not all are cobras. There are bears, wolves, dragons…all kinds of shape-shifters.”

  ”Like, in my romance books?” I let go of myself, placing my hands on my legs, and sigh. This is too much to process and I sit for a few minutes in silence, thinking about it all while Connor just watches me. My breath hitches and I say, “So why didn’t you tell me? Did you think you couldn’t trust me?”

  Connor sits next to me on the couch and his face falls. I realize I’ve asked these questions in a pretty aggressive way, but I’m afraid of his answers now. I’m afraid he’ll tell me he can’t trust me. That he didn’t tell me,
because he wasn’t serious about us. If I’m honest with myself, I’m not sure I can deal with his rejection, even now after everything I know about him.

  I have to let him speak, and he looks uncertain, like he doesn’t even want to open his mouth.

  So, I lean over and take his hand.

  “Tell me.”

  9

  Connor

  Alana looks just as uncomfortable as I feel, or she does at first, but I tell her the truth, starting with my childhood, all the way up until now, and she slowly relaxes into the cushions.

  By the time we finish talking, it’s after ten. My brothers aren’t home yet since I sent them a group text asking them to make themselves scarce. After what happened this afternoon, I needed some time alone and I prayed that Alana would come and see me. I’m glad they found other places to lay their heads tonight. I don’t want them barging in.

  Not tonight.

  Not when I can see Alana’s anger slowly diffusing, and a look of understanding taking over her beautiful face. She’s close to forgiving me, I can feel it.

  “Oh, Connor,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry. I had…I had no idea.”

  “How could you? I kept it all from you. I was afraid of losing you, of you running away from me when you found out what I am,” I confess, my emotions flooding my voice. “When you freaked out at the hospital, I thought I’d shifted. That’s why I checked my arms in front of the mirror, but it was only my eyes that had changed. Maybe because they’d been bandaged for so long, I’m not sure, but as you can see, they’re back to normal now.”

  She nods and gives me a small smile. Now that I can see her clearly, she really is beautiful, inside and out.

  “So, what happened on the freeway? Did you save me from getting hit by that car? Was that you?” Alana asks.

  I let out a long, slow breath. “Yes, I chased you to talk to you, but you freaked out, and I had to keep you safe. That car was headed straight toward you and I instinctively shifted and knocked it out of the way. It’s okay, no one was hurt.”

  “Wow. So, when you shift, you get superpowers or something?” Alana asks, her eyes as big as dinner plates as she takes it all in. I can only hope she understands me.

  “Ehh, not really, but maybe to humans I do. Like, I can’t fly like Superman or anything,” I say, and laugh. “When I get excited, or afraid, my cobra comes out. He’s in here,” I point to my chest, “all the time, but my human keeps him at bay. I’ve been meditating and learning more about myself, so I don’t shift prematurely and freak someone out. Like I did you.”

  I’ve never felt so full of…everything. Anger, love, hope, sadness. I want to burst into laughter and cry at the same time. It’s weird, and uncomfortable, but it’s also good. I like feeling emotions again. It makes me feel human. It reminds me that I’m not a monster.

  Alana climbs onto my lap, straddling my thighs, and her eyes meet mine. It feels good having her heat against me, feeling the curves of her body on top of me. The need to reach out and touch her is instinctive, but I resist. It’s not time. Not yet.

  “I’m not leaving. I’m not running. Not anymore. I’m sorry I did in the first place. I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” she says, cupping my cheek. I close my eyes and turn toward her touch, feeling the soft silk of her hand on the rough stubble of my face. It’s a contrast, the light and the dark, the good and the bad.

  “I get it. After what happened with your sister, it makes sense that you’d be afraid of me and what I represent. I’m not going to hurt you., ever,” I say, then Alana presses her finger against my lips, stopping me from speaking anymore.

  “No, you aren’t,” Alana says. Her words are powerful, and her eyes are locked on mine as she speaks. “You aren’t that cobra. You could never hurt anyone, or anything, Connor. You’re sweet, and kind, and generous, and wonderful. I’m not afraid of you. I could never be afraid of someone I love so much,” she says.

  Love. She said love. Alana loves me. It’s been the strangest, most dramatic day, but right now as I kiss Alana, I barely even remember any of it. All I focus on is the feel of her lips on mine, and the way my hands feel as they reach up to her shoulders, caressing her skin. She’s so soft. Feminine.

  I need to see her, feel her, experience the body I’ve spent so much time thinking about. As if she’s reading my mind, she gets to her feet and pulls off her top and unclasps her bra, revealing the most perfect breasts. My cock twitches in my jeans when she smiles at me as she licks a finger and circles her hard nipples with it, making them stand out even more.

  “Let’s get to it, snake man,” she says with a wicked grin as she sheds the rest of her clothes. My cock responds immediately, straining hard against my boxers as her panties hit the floor before she kicks them away. This is the Alana I know. The one I fell in love with.

  On hearing her sinful invitation, I jump up from the couch, pulling my t-shirt over my head and tearing off my own clothes as fast as I can. She puts one hand around my neck and pulls me to her, kissing me while she strokes my dick with the other. Heat radiates from her skin as I slide my hands around her waist and grab her ass.

  Suddenly, she breaks the kiss and pushes me back onto the couch then pounces on me like a wild animal with fire in her eyes as she straddles me again. Before I can do anything, she lowers her slick pussy onto my rock-hard, eager cock, and all rational thought leaves my mind. I groan involuntarily at the most pleasurable sensation of her tight, wet cunt enveloping me.

  “Fuck,” I cry out as she grinds her hips against mine, sliding up and down my entire length, and it’s pure heaven. I can’t speak. Grunts and groans are the only sounds I make as we kiss, our bodies moving together, rhythmically.

  Alana breaks our kiss and cries out, panting heavily as I caress her breasts, tweaking and lightly pinching her stiff nipples. She squeezes her hips against mine and I feel her pussy grip tighter around my cock. I sense she’s about to come and I meet her every movement, thrusting my hips against hers, and rubbing my cock against her swollen clit. Her gasps become quicker, her moans louder as she tightens her grip on my shoulders with every push.

  “There, Connor. Right there. I’m gonna… I’m gonna… fuck!” she cries out. Her pussy clenches around me as I feel her warm, slick juices trickling down my shaft and over my balls. I can’t hold back. I feel my orgasm coming and I grab her ass with both hands. I pull her hard onto my engorged cock as I buck my hips hard against her, my come flooding her pussy in hot spurts. “Yes, Yes! Come with me,” she cries out as she bounces furiously up and down on my dick, her hips grinding on me like a wild animal.

  Suddenly, I see lights flash in my eyes and feel my hood expanding, but all I can feel is her wet pussy around me as my thumbs and forefingers pinch her wickedly hard nipples. I grip tighter, palming her tits, then she moans loudly, and I feel a rush of her warm juices covering me as she comes again.

  Oh shit, no! What’s going on with my scales! Fuck, am I going to shift? I’ve never had sex so raw and unfettered with anyone. Is this—?

  With a gasp, I open my eyes to find our foreheads pressed together. Thank fuck I’m still in human form, but I’m dizzy. Something happened. I’m not sure what, but I feel it. Alana squeezes me tighter, our breaths ragged as we gaze into each other’s eyes.

  With a roll of her hips, my cock hardens again. “Connor, snake man, I fucking love you.”

  She loves me. The human and the snake. The good and the bad. I never thought I’d have that. I never thought I’d ever be this happy.

  “I love you too.” I reply. I can’t believe I’ve found my mate.

  For life.

  Epilogue

  Alana

  Two Months Later

  After a twelve-hour shift at the hospital, I drive up to our new home. Living with a shifter is… interesting.

  It’s not as scary as I thought it would be. I worried his Cobra tendencies might start to annoy me, but they haven’t. He’s still the hottest man alive. Totally cute
and delicious.

  I get out of my car and Connor is standing on the porch, looking good enough to eat in his gray sweatpants. What is it about those pants? The whole outline of his cock is right there, front and center. My mouth waters just looking at him.

  How did this happen? A few months ago, I was just an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life.

  All of that has changed.

  Our house is a small two-bedroom on the outskirts of Pythos, but it has a huge yard and all the desert Connor needs for his Cobra life. I know he goes out at dusk while I’m working and goes after his prey.

  “Hey, babe,” he says with a huge smile. “You hungry?”

  “Famished.” I say, I hadn’t had any time to eat at work, and my stomach growls.

  “Good, because I made snacks.” He chuckles, and wraps a strong arm around my waist, pulling me against him then kisses me. Ooh, I love his kisses, his tongue, his scent. He steps back and guides me into our bright yellow kitchen.

  At first, I thought I’d get in trouble for dating a patient, but since Pete the Prick has moved on to a different hospital, things are different. I actually love my job, and I’ll sign any disclaimers, or speak to the medical board, or do whatever I have to do to be with Connor.

  I sit on a barstool and Connor places a platter of meats, cheeses, fruit and chocolates on the counter in front of me.

  “I have something to ask you,” he says with concern in his eyes.

  “Yeah, what?” I say and pop a grape into my mouth.

  Connor walks around the bar and instantly, I’m concerned. What happened? Why is he so somber? I haven’t seen him like this since his eyes have healed.

  “Alana, darling,” he says, running his hand through his thick hair. “I love you and I have never felt about anyone, the way I feel about you. My cobra loves you.” Connor grabs my hands; I don’t know what to think about this. Is he going to send me away? Is his cobra too much?

  “What’s going on?” I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.