The Animal Within

by Jisa Dean

  Once we both reach climax one more time and my mate's nails are digging into my back causing me unspeakable pleasure I roll so that she is lying over me. I can tell by her breathing that she is taking this time to rest. I stroke my hand down her back and marvel at the silkiness of her hair. She is so soft and so small. My hand covers her whole back. I am aware it must not have been easy for her to take me, especially since she was a virgin.

  Out of nowhere, I get the impression of her working hard to save herself, dodging grasping hands of her mother's boyfriends and buying and installing a lock on her door herself when she was no more than a child still. I can't suppress the angry rumble that comes from deep inside me.

  "What is it? What's wrong?" my love's head is up and her eyes are watchful. She can feel that I am upset but she's not picked up the habit of diving deeper to take a peek inside yet. And this is one time I am glad she can't. I don't want to remind her of the times she had to guard herself. I am so proud to call her my mate, this fierce little fighter.

  "Nothing, mate. I am just thinking of protecting you and what the best way to keep you safe would be." Wonder explodes in her mind at my words. She has never had someone that wanted to keep her safe before. It is foreign to her but deep inside she hopes that I'm not lying to her.

  "Let's go make sure your friend is alright." I sit her up so that she is straddling me. I never took my cock out of her so she is still surrounding it with her soft heat. I take her by the hips and pull her up and down on my dick until both of us are reaching orgasm. This mating is not the deep mating of a breeding. This is because I love being inside of her, I love the feel of her around me, and I just love her. Once we are done I stand her up and glory in her shaking legs. I did that to her, I caused my mate to find so much pleasure she can hardly stand.

  "Um, what are we going to do about...stuff?" she waves her hands in front of her and I reach behind me to grab the shirt I was wearing when I left the lab. She will have my scent on her no matter that I'm not in her.

  She pulls it over her head. "Damien. That's your name. How do I know that?"

  "The same way I know you like it a little rough." I rumble in her ear as I nuzzle her neck and take a quick sniff of her hair and the wonderful scent that belongs to my mate alone.

  She blushes the prettiest shade of pink before she speaks to me again. "Damien, what about the other stuff?"

  "What other stuff?" I could look and find out what she's talking about but I love the sound of her voice.

  "I'm, um, I..." she widens her eyes and pushes her thoughts harder to me. She's worried about how messy she is between her legs. How wet she feels when she rubs her thighs together. I lean closer and give her a purr that sends a shiver down her body.

  "Little mate, that is going to stay on you so everyone within scent distance knows that you are mine. Besides, you have to have me on and in you until we breed."

  "What?" her voice is soft and breathy but not in the sexy way. Fear slams into her. Breed is the word that keeps echoing in her mind but it is followed closely by the thought of having to need someone to feel good. She likens it to a drug and that scares her the most.

  "My kind, ancient creatures, have but one mate. I don't carry diseases or sicknesses like a normal human because I have never been nor ever plan to be with someone other than you. Once we find our destined mate we have an overwhelming need to...breed her." I try to make the words as light as possible knowing that this is one of the things she finds so scary.

  "Breed her?"

  "Yes, my mate." I see the color drain from my mate but before I can worry too much about her she takes off running for the nearest door. She's not really thinking right now her body is going on instinct as if she is facing something frightening. And for her this notion is a frightening one.

  I reach my hand out to stop her and pull her close to me so that her back is to my front. My big palm is splayed across the belly that will swell with my child. Her whimper lets me know she picked the image of herself full of my cubs out of my mind.

  "Why does this word scare you? I have spilled my seed inside of you over and over again. I have been inside of you more than enough times to start your ovulation. Hell, at this point your probably so fertile I could lay my pants next to you and get you pregnant."

  "No." devastation blazes through her mind.

  "Why do you think I would leave you? Why would I leave especially if you are heavy with my child? That doesn't promote the guaranteed continuation of my species. Why would anyone do this?" In nature, my kind are not monogamous but this cat is, and I will not be running off when my mate is so round she 'can't see her toes anymore'. I am not just tiger, I am other. Metamorph. Different and one of a kind even to my animal kin. I am too human for them to fully trust me as tigers are not a trusting lot. My human side is not enough to make me one of them in their eyes. All I have are my brothers and now my sweet mate, even if she doesn't want to be with me. She has no choice just like I have no other choice but to love only her, only the one who was made just for me.

  "Get out of my head." She's snippy and I love it. She's mercurial like a cat, and I am in love. She is my Queen.

  "If that bothers you so much you will really not like the fact that you will need me, my seed, inside of you until the deed is done." Better to get it all out upfront instead of letting anything linger and fester.

  "What happens if I don't have you?" I see the deviance in her. She is thinking of running from me so that I can't find her.

  "You will grow...itchy, agitated and uncomfortable." She shrugs a shoulder like that isn't so bad. But my mate is impulsive and did not wait for me to finish. "You will burn for me and your body will ache as if you have a fever. You will become delirious and eventually slip into a coma. It is very hard to pull someone from this state once they have sunk so low. It’s why we follow one another into death once it comes for one of us.

  Her eyes are bright with horror, liquid pools of fear. Her mind races from one bad thing to another but most revolve around her mother and her 'problem'.

  "You are not like your mother. You will not be addicted to something purely to be addicted to it. Your need for me is the same as the need for air or food or water. Not this other darker thing you fear."

  She is hopeful that I am right, I don't have to read it in her mind either, it's there in her eyes. "I don't like you being in my head. You need to stay out of it, kitty."

  Kitty. She just likened me, an ancient warrior brought to life in a modern day body, to a house cat. Not even a cat but a little mewling kitten. Oh! She wants a smacked ass and a dick up her tight backside.

  She gasps and I have to chuckle. Serves her right for trying to look into my mind while telling me to keep out of hers. Like that is ever going to happen.

  "Let's find your sister." She stops so fast she jerks her arm in my hold. A quick look tells me why, "Now because she has mated my brother as I have mated you she has become your sister. It is a deep bond that only others with shared experience can have with one another."

  She's pleased with this, the thought giving her a warm feeling in her heart. I step out into the hallway and listen for the sounds of Lucian and his mate. Even if I don't mind being dick deep in my mate I do not want my mate looking at another. When I don't hear the sounds of mating I allow my love to walk in ahead of me. She is immediately wrapped in the arms of a dark haired woman I know to be my brother's mate. He stands much like I do - not too far away.

  III

  The Beginning of the End

  Misty

  Seeing Keke walking around and acting normal, well, as normal with the circumstances the way they are, calms me and makes my stomach unknot. I was so worried about her when I heard her scream. Both of us have our arms wrapped around the other, and we're trying to talk at the same time, but we say the same things.

  Are you okay? What happened? He didn't hurt you, did he? When we realize we are saying the same things we break into a small laugh. It is a much-needed one
. This has been the strangest night of my life. My insides are still shaky and I can't find solid ground. I keep looking up to see if Lucian is still close to me. I need to know where he is and that he is close. We start talking in hushed whispers about what we are going to do now that we have been...mated. It's hard to think, let alone say.

  Both men seem relaxed and talk to one another in much the same fashion that me and Keke talk. This is Lucian's brother. I can tell by looking at some of his memories and thoughts of his brothers that they mean a lot to him. I stare at the big blond and try to figure him out. I want him to like me. I don't want to cause Lucian grief or make his life more complicated. He deserves to be happy damn it, he grew up in a fucking lab all his life.

  He chuckles behind me. "Mate, my heart is bursting with happiness knowing that you want the best for me. Damien will love you as the sister you are to him now that you are my mate. We are family."

  "Damien. That is your name." the man looks at me with arctic eyes that make me want to shiver. There is something dark and dangerous about him and yet, I think he will be perfect for my friend. She needs that kind of dangerous to keep her safe from all the shit she has to deal with in her life.

  "Yes, Misty. May I call you Misty? My brother is lacking in his social graces and didn't introduce us as humans usually do." He tsked at Lucian who threw his arm around Damien's neck and tries to wrestle with him. The easy relaxed play the brothers engage in helps me and Keke calm down.

  When the brothers suddenly stop playing and stand alert, I stiffen, and out of the corner of my eye, Keke does the same. They hold their noses up in the air. They smell something that we can't with our human noses. Lucian looks to Damien and the big blond man nods. It makes me wonder if the brothers all share the same ability mating with Lucian gave me. Lucian gathers both me and Keke behind him while Damien gracefully glides across the floor to presumably check on what caused their sense to be alerted.

  I can't stop the urge to reach out and touch Lucian's broad back. He somehow had clothes that he rushed to put on as we were both running down the stairs. He took them off again when we made love in the living room but as soon as we were done he stood both of us back up and dressing us both, so we could wait on Keke and her mate. God, it sounds crazy to even say it but, deep inside I can tell it's the truth. Lucian is my mate and I suspect that Keke feels the same about Damien.

  I give up trying to be braver than I really am and twist my fingers in the back of Lucien's gray shirt. His scent comforts me. I look over to see Keke staring intently at the door that her guy just left through. She looks agitated, more so than just being worried but I can't quite put my finger on what is happening.

  Lucian relaxes a second before the door opens and I realize he is talking to his brother through their unique bond. Damien walks in and behind him are two men who look identical. They are followed by a young woman with bright blonde hair and big thick-framed glasses and an older lady who has streaks of gray and white in her dark hair. She's dressed in a lab coat and that scares me. What also scares me is how quickly Lucian went from relaxed to on guard when he sees the lady too.

  "Easy brother, the twins have assured me she means us no harm." Damien's deep tiger voice growls out and once again Lucian's tension eases but not completely.

  Damien doesn't allow the lab coat wearer to come between him and his mate either. The two men with the women seem very relaxed and at ease. Both are sandy-haired and light-eyed and tall. All of these men are so tall that I wonder what the other brother's look like or if he even has other brothers besides the three with us now.

  I have two other brothers besides Damien and the twins. We had another brother but...

  I'm in his head. I know what he is leaving unsaid. His other brother is dead. Not only did he lose a brother but the woman standing in front of us is the person who 'put him down'. What the hell?

  The woman looks me and Keke up and down, or she tries to but both men step in front of us, so she can't take a clear look. She doesn't try further instead taking a step back and raising her hands in a sign of defeat. The men Lucian keeps calling 'the twins' share a look with one another before speaking.

  "Hear her out guys. I know you think something happened that didn't. She was as much a prisoner as we were in that lab."

  "Really, they did fucking experiments on her? I had no idea. For someone who’s been dissected while still breathing she performed remarkably well when they told her to kill our brother." This from Damien. He seems more passionate, or more effected, by having this woman in the room.

  "Raven isn't dead." She has a very cultured voice, soft and gentle, but the words she said landed in the room like a piece of lead the size of the house.

  Damien and Lucian both look at one another like they are teaming up to ferret out the lie this woman is saying. I spare a glance at Keke, and she is clutching the back of Damien's shirt with something akin to a death grip, sweat dotting her brow. She doesn't seem nervous, she seems like she is in pain.

  "If you'll sit down I will try my hardest to explain," she searches for the right word maybe as she pauses, "everything. From the very beginning for your mates, so they can better understand who you are."

  A silent battle is fought between the two men standing in front of us and the twins standing on either side of the newcomers. I can tell the second something has been decided, Lucian moves to sit on a couch and pulls me into his lap. Damien does the same with Keke right beside of us. The men are so big there is no more room for anyone else to sit beside us. The trust lines have been drawn and Lucian and Damien have each other's backs. The woman steps forward and takes a wing-backed chair that I can testify to the uncomfortableness of. It is my least favorite seat in the living room but the lady sits so primly on the edge of it that she makes it look refined and easy to sit ramrod straight in the hard-ass chair.

  Before the woman starts talking I’ve already made up my mind that I want to be more like her. She seems so in control of herself and her surroundings, and she still maintains the classiness that you can only be born with. "My name is Doctor Ann Bridgewater. I have several degrees in science including ones in anthropology and bio-engineering." She takes a deep breath before moving on. "I am the reason these men exist."

  Keke looks more and more upset. I am seconds away from asking what is going on when Damien stands with her still in his arms.

  "My mate has needs that must be met. If you'll excuse us, we'll skip the history lesson but when we come back I want the truth woman."

  Doctor Bridgewater inclines her head in a silent acknowledgment that she won't go into too much detail before Damien and Keke get back.

  "Is she going to be alright?" I wait to ask until they are no longer in the room with us. My voice is thin and barely a whisper. This night is starting to catch up with me, and I am nearly swamped with a deep sense of tiredness.

  "She will be fine, Mrs. Vrkah. She's mated to Damien, a tiger," like that is supposed to explain everything to me when I'm utterly overwhelmed with all that has happened in such a short time. "Tiger reproduction is very...finicky. When they mate, the female of the pair doesn't have to be ovulating for the pair to produce offspring. The tiger's reproductive organs..."

  "Oh! Hey, no, you do not have to tell me everything. In fact, you can stop now. Please." Damien is like a brother to me, I do not want to understand anything about his organs. I must have made a face that says as much because a round of laughter moves around the room.

  "Of course," she thinks for a minute before going on, "she will need to be with him, sexually, every so often so the breeding can be successful. If she doesn't, it could be very painful for her."

  "So, she needs him and what? He doesn't have anything happen to him other than he's guaranteed sex?" Even though he's like a brother Keke is my best friend.

  "Goodness no, because of the mating bond the male can feel everything the female does. In fact, with this particular type of pain, it will be acute to both."

  "B
ut he's going to help her right? He won't let her be in pain? Mates can't leave one another in pain." I have no idea how I know the last part. I look to Lucian, and he is giving me a little nod telling me I am right.

  "Correct you are, Mrs. Vrkah. He is...handling the situation as we speak if I know my mated pairs." She seems happy about it too.

  "You keep calling me Mrs. Vrkah. Why?"

  "Because that is Lucian's last name and as his mate that is now your last name as well. And I don't know what else to call you, dear." She bunches her shoulders and gives a quirky look that makes me want to laugh with her. She's not a monster in a lab coat at all. She's a dork just like me.

  "Misty, my name is Misty. Please." I give her the go-ahead to use my first name. I turn to Lucian, "You said that word meant wolf."

  "Yes, it was the last name given to me by the scientists in the lab. We all have different last names that tell what we really are."

  "What you really are is not a wolf or a man. You are more and that is all that needs to be said about who or what you are." The doctor seems passionate about getting this idea across to Lucian. "I thought it would be better for the psychological health of the men to have first and last names, a sense of identity instead of just numbers on a tag. I 'explained' to the General that it would come in handy if they were going on secret missions and had to fit in with the 'normal' world."

  I can tell by the air quotes and the snarl in her voice that she is not a fan of this General guy.

  "We chose ancient names, Sanskrit. You see I was the one who discovered the temple where their DNA was found. And I was there every step of the way from the time they were birthed to the time they escaped."