“I do. You just made this old man so much more proud of my son than I’ve already been. He did do that, didn’t he? That’s what we do. We help out others that might need a hand up. It doesn’t matter to us why that happened so long as they’re not thieves or cutthroats. We, as a family, do what we can no matter what. Thank you for telling me that.” She nodded at him. “I’m thinking you’re confused. I don’t blame you none. I don’t. But you’re a good girl, and we’re mighty glad to have you as a part of our family.”
“Thank you. I think I’m mighty glad to be a part of this family too.” They both laughed, and Buck felt pretty good about the girl. She was a beautiful woman too. One that would keep his son on his toes, no doubt about that.
He was right proud of his boys when they showed up. Buck and Sara had wanted them to be boys they could let go in the world and not have them embarrass them any. When they met their new sister, each of them treated her with the respect she deserved and even managed to get her scent while they were at it. There wasn’t a better family around as far as he was concerned.
When they were set to sit down and have some food together, he nearly wept when they stood up until their momma sat down. He also knew as soon as dinner was over, each and every one of them would go into the kitchen and clean up without nary a thought to letting their momma do it. Yes, sir. Buck was right proud of his children.
Chapter 6
The house was much larger than he thought they’d need. With each room they went into, the more he thought Piper was overwhelmed. Coming from living in a camper for such a long time, being in this much room would make anyone feel lost. Finally, she turned to him.
“I’d like to go to the kitchen, please.” There was desperation there. Fisher thought even Peter could hear it. Nodding, he took her hand into his and moved toward the stairs. “It’s very beautiful, isn’t it? I mean, the house is like everything I’d ever dreamed of living in.”
Fisher could almost feel the relief from the faeries. They scattered then, taking flight to different rooms to no doubt decorate them to whatever they found in her mind. It was funny to him. He’d been living in an apartment for so long it had taken him a minute or two to get used to the size of the house. He couldn’t imagine how bad it was for Piper.
Once in the kitchen, she didn’t sit as he’d thought she would, but fussed around the kitchen, from making a cup of tea, which he knew she didn’t drink all that often, to looking in the cabinets then closing them up.
“This is really freaking me out.” Fisher told her he could see that. “I love this house. Everything about it. But the fact that it’s everything I thought of in a house is sort of like having someone in my mind all the time. Is that how they knew what I’d like?”
“Yes. They didn’t mean to be intrusive.” She said she knew that. “Good. I don’t know when they’ll start decorating the rooms—I’d say they’re doing it now—but they’ve gotten ideas straight from your head. Are you going to be all right with that?”
“So if I were to think of a pool in the back yard, I’d only have to go and look, and it would be there?” He nodded and got up to look out the window over the sink. Seeing the pool there, he sat back down. “I don’t want to look. I’m sure it’s there, but I’m not going to look. I love to swim. As a cat, do you hate the water?”
“No. I actually love swimming too. Even my cat enjoys it. Are you all right?” She told him she wasn’t sure. “Yes, I can see that. Just take a deep breath and tell me what you want to do about the faeries. They only have your best interest at heart. You know that, don’t you?”
“I do. And it’s so sweet that they want to please me like this. Are they going to change things around every time I have a different idea about a room?” Fisher laughed and told her he didn’t know for sure. “Yes, well, we might have to talk to someone in charge about that.”
“You do realize you’re in charge of them while they’re in the house, don’t you?” She just stared at him. “I’ve overwhelmed you again, haven’t I?”
“I feel like I’ve been tossed the best things in life, and I’m not sure if someone is going to come along and tell me it was all a joke and that it’s not real. It is real, isn’t it, Fisher? I mean, just because I’m a little stressed out, it doesn’t mean you’re going to tell me you don’t love me, are you?” He told her he’d never do that. “I’m happy to hear that. Because I’ve fallen in love with you. I don’t know when it happened, but I only just realized I’ve been in love with you since you spoke to me in the middle of the night.”
“I have loved the thought of you since I was old enough to realize I’d have a mate at some point in my life. But since meeting you, holding you, I’ve realized that none of my thoughts about what it might be like were ever close to the real thing. You are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me.” She came to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I love you, Piper. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” He sat her down on the table and got down on one knee. “Oh, I so love your parents right now. For teaching you the correct way to woo a woman, and to be the most romantic person I’ve never known.”
He pulled the ring out of his pocket. Aurora had helped him put the beautiful amethyst into a ring. Not only was the gem on the top, but she had fashioned a band to go with it that had the gem circle it in a beautiful pattern of alternating diamond and the dark purple of the stone itself.
“I don’t know what will come with this ring. The others got magic that surpassed what they already had. Then again, there might not be anything more with it than my undying love.” He put it onto her finger, pushing it up to her knuckle. It fit around her like it had been made to fit on the first try. “I love you with all of my heart. I will keep you safe and from any harm for the rest of our lives together.”
Looking up at Piper when she moaned, he saw her body stiffen, her head thrown back as great spikes of light came from her. The color wasn’t white, as he had expected, but every shade of purple that he could have imagined. When she looked down at him, her eyes were bright too. The color of the amethyst on her finger paled by the new color of her eyes.
She said his name twice before he was able to stand. Whatever was happening to her, it was doing the same to him. Reaching blindly for Piper, filling his hands with her flesh, in a passing thought, he realized that her skin wasn’t hot as he had expected it to be, but cold. Like the frozen ponds he’d skated on as a child.
Fisher woke in bed. It took him several minutes to remember what had happened and how he’d gotten here. Sitting up slowly, his body aching in a way he’d not felt for a very long time, he looked at the woman beside him. Piper seemed to have weathered better than he had. He told her how sore he was.
“I am as well. I was just lying here thinking about getting up to pee, but my body tells me it’s not ready for that sort of movement.” He laid back down. “You have a streak of white in your hair. I don’t remember seeing that before.”
He looked at her. “You do as well. It’s bright white. Not gray, but a shiny white.” He touched it with his fingers and smiled at her. “It’s soft. Like silk running through my fingers. Or even a waterfall that comes from a high mountain top in the middle of summer. We have one, by the way—a watering hole. As cats, we can go there and play around. There isn’t any worry of anyone being around, so we might end up there all day.”
“I think it’s a tad cold for that now, don’t you?” He wouldn’t care if there was a foot of snow on the ground if she had wanted to go now. Fisher would have given her the world if she asked him for it. Leaning down, he was so close to kissing her when she stopped him. “If you kiss me now, I’m going to strip you down and rape you. I’ve had enough interruptions and people coming around asking for shit to last several lifetimes.”
“Are you telling me you want me to kiss you, or are you telling me you don’t? Right now I feel like
you’re telling me you do, but I don’t want to assume—”
She pulled him down to her and kissed him deliciously. Touching his fingers over her breast to her belly, he told her how to be naked for him. As he made his way up to her throat, she was naked beneath him. Fisher thought the same thing and felt his cock touching her thigh. It took all his control, willing himself to slow down and not take her right this second.
“I’m betting there are all kinds of things I’m going to learn from you, aren’t there?” Fisher asked her what she meant just before taking her hard nipple into his mouth. “What did I ask you? I suddenly can’t remember.”
Laughing a little, he took her nipple into his mouth again and then suckled it as hard as he dared. Her fingers raking through his hair had him rolling until he was settled between her legs, his cock hard and pulsing, ready to take her as quickly and as hard as he could. But he knew he’d have to pleasure her first.
She was so responsive to everything he did to her. Touching her flesh would have her moaning loudly. Running his tongue over and around her nipple would make her breathe hard. Even when he slid his hand down to her knee, she cried out, telling him it was too much, then asked him for more as it hadn’t been enough.
Fisher had the same effect from her touches. He thought her greedy at one point, then too slow to touch him in the next breath. When she wrapped her warm hand around his cock, it was all he could do not to come in her hand, spewing his cum all over her belly and breasts.
“I need you, Fisher. I don’t just want you, but I need you inside of me.” Happy to oblige her, he slid into her heat when she removed her hand. She guided him to her warmth and took him into her. “Yes. That’s it, that’s what I needed.”
He didn’t move, fearful he’d come too quickly, spoil her fun of riding him. Rolling to his back, Fisher helped her over him, his cock deep inside of her. Holding her hips until she hit her stride, he watched her face as she rode him. There couldn’t have been anything more beautiful, all-consuming than Piper riding his cock, Fisher thought.
When she leaned down to his chest, he held her to him. Her tongue rolling over his nipple was more than he could handle. Barely able to hold onto his own needs, Fisher lost all control when she bit down on his nipple.
“Christ, yes.” He filled her with himself, surging upward, over and over, until he thought he’d die from the pleasure. Even after coming before her, Fisher needed more, wanted to watch her face as she came with him. Rolling her over, pressing her into the mattress as he fucked her, he cupped her ass tightly in his hands to be as deep inside of her as he could. “Come for me, love. Come with me, and I’ll be yours forever.”
Piper didn’t just come, she exploded. Her body stiffening under his was all the warning he got when suddenly her nails dug into his shoulder, her legs wrapped around him like a tightly pulled string. As she screamed out her release, screaming to him that she was in love with him, Fisher watched her face and was enchanted with her beauty once again.
His own climax took him nearly to unconsciousness. It swept over him like a fast moving storm. Holding onto Piper was all he could do so he’d not fly apart, not break into millions of pieces like the stars that were behind his eyelids. Coming a third, then a fourth time, Fisher dropped down on top of Piper even as she closed her eyes too.
Opening his eyes, he could see the room was darker than before. Untangling himself from Piper was hard to do—he never wanted to leave the warmth of her arms. He got up and looked out the window before he closed the curtain.
Fisher stared hard at what he was seeing to try and make his mind make out what he was actually seeing. When Piper came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, he pulled her around to stand in front of him, facing the yard.
“Tell me I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.” Piper laughed, then started for the door. “Piper, you’re naked.”
He dressed himself and left too, noticing that before she opened the front door, Piper had finally dressed. Not that he didn’t enjoy seeing her naked. But they were headed to the yard, and there was no telling who else might be out and about this evening.
“It’s snow.” He laughed as she laid down in the quickly deepening stuff. “I’ve never seen it before. Look how soft it is. Oh, I can make a snowman. I’ve never made one of those either.”
Fisher didn’t bother going to her but sat on the steps leading to the wraparound porch as she played like a child. His cat was itching to play with her, and suddenly Fisher thought what the hell.
He’d never known a time when he felt so good, not just because he was in love with Piper but because he actually did feel free. Standing in the snow, he let his cat take over, letting him be the cat he was. As he started leaping and pawing at it like Piper was, Fisher laughed along with Piper.
They were both glad for the full moon. It let them play in the yard for longer than he thought they might have had it been anything else. Even after Piper tired of her antics, his cat seemed to enjoy himself even more. Rolling around in the light stuff, his cat seemed to be like a cub rather than the thousands of year old cat he really was.
“Your white streak is more pronounced than it was when you were a man. It might just be the snow all over you.” He moved toward her, her laughter making him smile. “I know you can’t change me. I’ve been talking to the other women about this and that. Will making love with you be like that every time?”
Christ, I hope so. But then again, we might be testing our immortality if it is. I thought you’d killed me a couple of times. He laid his head on her legs and closed his eyes when she started scratching him behind the ears. I thought you’d be afraid of me. I mean, I’m not exactly a small little kitten.
“You are to me. When you were playing just now, all I could think of was that you’re acting like one.” She touched her finger to where he knew the white streak was. “It is more pronounced. I think it might be wider as well. Who do we speak to about this?”
I would think Aurora. The ground around them shook a little, and the faerie queen was standing in the yard with them. Aurora was a beautiful woman, but now he could see she looked exhausted. We must have summoned you. I’m sorry, my lady. I’m sure you’re very busy right now.
“No, I came to the two of you with a purpose. And you could never call to me when I would not come to help you. You are, after all, my black tiger. I’ve come to tell you what you have received with the gem I gave you to share with Piper.” She touched her fingers to his fur, and the warmth of it settled over his body. “You will have this for the rest of your lives. It will be the mark that will open doors for the two of you. I didn’t know if it would come to you, but I’m ever so glad it did. The two of you will have great magic too.”
“Excuse me, but I think I have more than I can handle now.” Aurora laughed at Piper. “I don’t think I like where this is going. Seriously, I’m having enough trouble trying to figure out my moving home, much less figuring out magic that is going to make me fearful of hurting someone.”
“I understand that. I can help you with that, however. Both of you.” He laughed when Piper asked her what that entailed, her concern showing enough suspicion in her tone there wasn’t any way Aurora could have missed it. “I only need to touch you at the same time, and it will make it so every bit of magic you now have will be explained to you. Something like accelerated lessons.”
“Isn’t that the same as more magic?” Aurora laughed again. The worry lines that had been there were all but gone. “Your laughter reminds me of bells. Tiny ones that tinkle rather than chime. I’m sure you’ve been told that before.”
“I have not. People are afraid to tell me what they think of me. I believe it stems from my ability to destroy whatever comes around.” Piper asked her if she meant kill. “No. If I have to take something out, I will destroy it in a way that nothing remains. Nothing of their line or their story.”
“That’s a great deal to be scared about. I think I’d piss myself too if you were pissed with me. You’re not, are you?” Aurora assured her she was not. “Good. One less thing I have to worry about right now. As for the lessons, I would love to know what I have and what to do to use it. If Fisher doesn’t mind.”
He didn’t and told them both he would like to know too. Then before she touched him, he asked if he had to be man or beast. Aurora smiled at him before she answered, telling him his cat needed to be there.
Fisher wasn’t sure why, but he was slightly nervous by her look. Then she touched them both on the head. Fisher knew it was the streak she was touching. After her touch, Fisher knew why she wanted him to be beast.
~*~
Piper sat on the couch after Aurora left and didn’t move. Fisher had joined her at some point, but he too seemed to be shell shocked by what had happened in the yard. It was difficult for her to be upset by the chain of events, but Piper was reasonably sure that if she laughed right now, she’d never be able to stop. She’d be committed and never see the man she loved again.
“I could always hear extraordinarily well, but I’m sure I can hear a mosquito buzzing around a room several hundred miles away.” Piper laughed at Fisher’s comment, then put her hand over her mouth, stilling it before it got out of control. “Do you really think what she said about my tiger is true? That I’m twice the size I was before?”
“Yes. I saw you before and after.” He nodded but didn’t say anything more. “Fisher, what did she mean when she said we’d have several litters? I’m a person, not a cat.”
“I don’t think you’re either one now. Do you? I mean, we were given some very powerful magic. I’m doubting even my brothers have this much if you were to bundle it all together.” Piper asked him if he was all right. “No. I don’t think I am. I have this loop going on in my head that keeps telling me I’m powerful. And that I’m the queen’s protector. I don’t even know how to protect you all the time, much less a queen that is all over the place.”
Fisher: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 8