“You’re asking me?” Abby screeched and threw herself back against the bed. How was she supposed to know what to do?
“Well…it’s your Heat,” she explained. “Just because it’s about your tiger being ready to mate doesn’t mean you have to be. The mating dream will have to take a backseat to this for right now so we can get you through the Heat.” Abby groaned and pulled the pillow over her face. “There are a few ways it could go: your body could…overreact, demand sex, but if that’s not what you want, we need to make sure you stay home and away from certain phallic objects.” Abby rolled her eyes and gave a growl at the attempted joke. “Or it could only drive you to act sexually, but not drive you to complete the act, which could be things as simple as dancing provocatively, grinding, or raising your body temp until you strip down to nothing trying to get cool. Given your age the raising body temp and need to grind is the most likely thing to happen.” Tay paused and sighed. “And if…you decide you want to go through the three to five days with…someone, remember they don’t have to have the genetics of a were-cat to get you pregnant.”
Abby nodded. Their sister, Shannon, had a two-year-old boy from her first Heat and the father was human.
“The only male I’m interested in is the one in my dreams,” Abby said into the pillow.
“I was the same with Jason,” Taylor told her, grinning. “So…tell me what you’ve seen of him.”
Abby sighed and pulled the pillow away from her face. She described what she could of him, but tall, toned, dark to black colored hair, and a circular scar on the chest didn’t give them much to go on. Taylor stayed silent for a moment, her brows furled as if she was trying to remember someone like that.
Could his nearness have triggered her Heat? Was it just that they were meant to meet in such a way because he wouldn’t have noticed her or would she have rebuffed him under normal circumstances? “Tonight…is there any way to find him?” Abby asked. “Will my Heat bring him around?”
“So you’ve decided to go that route?” Tay asked seeming a little sad. Abigail nodded. “How long have the dreams been going on?”
“A while…” she offered. This was the part about telling her sister she dreaded the most. The part where, for some reason, she’d been dreaming about him since her fourteenth birthday.
“A while… Three or four weeks?” Taylor questioned.
Abby curled over into a ball and pulled the pillow back over her head. “More like six.”
“Six weeks,” Taylor stated frowning.
She shook her head and the pillow shook with her. “Six years.”
“Six years! And…you’re sure you haven’t seen him in that time?” Taylor asked skeptically.
“Yeah,” Abby said and lifted the pillow enough to see her sister. “Why?"
Taylor had her face scrunched up and was worrying at her lip. “It’s just…the stories about having the dreams for long periods before meeting your mate, they’re bedtime stories. Of…of everyone I’ve talked to about it, mom’s was the longest time from start to finish. And that was only seven weeks; other tigers I’ve told were surprised it was that long. Even mine was only a month.”
Abby growled and gave Taylor every detail of the dream. But she had a feeling Tay wasn’t going to take it too seriously. The mating dream was relatively the same for every were-cat out there, other than the male or female that was opposite them, so it wouldn’t be that hard to make up one.
“Just…help me. I’m done with these interrupted dreams. Of knowing he’s near but never finding him in a crowd,” she said. And she’d looked too, but he either wasn’t there or the fact she didn’t know his face hindered her ability to locate him.
Taylor closed her eyes and sighed. Abby shook her head. So much for sisterly advice.
“There might be a way. If you really had the dream and he’s close enough…you might, just might be able to send a Call out to him. With you being in a true Heat he wouldn’t be able to resist, but that’s also creates a problem. There’ll be no way to stop him from…” Taylor paused. “If you Call, he will take you, throughout this Heat. He’ll do what his body demands of him…which is get you pregnant…no matter what that means for you.”
“My soul-bounded mate…would rape me?” Abby frowned at her sister.
“If you resist after sending out the Call? I would count on it,” Taylor answered. “This isn’t something to mess around with, Abby. You’re basically going to scream ‘come fuck me’; you’re showing this male you’re ready, in every way, for him. So you really need to think about it before you do it.”
Abby took a moment and looked down at herself. Was she ready to meet him? Was he ready to meet her after all this time?
Taylor nodded and pushed off the bed, but Abby grabbed her hand.
“How…do we start?” She whispered.
Sighing, Taylor sat back down. “I’ll tell you everything tomorrow afternoon when you’re fully into your Heat. We’ll send it out and…if he’s close enough, he’ll be drawn to you.”
Abby buried her head into her pillow again and screamed in frustration, she still had to wait until tomorrow night? “I already feel like my skin is on fire, can we please do it tonight?” Abby pleaded.
“I don’t think so and there isn’t much that will ease that feeling, try a cool shower.” Taylor turned her face away at the next suggestion. “Or you can play with yourself.”
“Tay!”
“Well it’s true. Orgasms lessen the burning feeling and the pressure to mate.”
“I want to Call to him now.”
“It will be weak if you don’t wait until you’re fully in Heat. The Call along with the scent of your pheromones will be powerful enough to force his attention, no matter what he might be doing.”
“So there’s no way to speed this up?” Abby groaned and flopped back on her bed.
“You could…change into your tiger. It might speed it up,” Taylor finally said after a full minute of silence. “But, don’t be surprised if the burning gets worse once you do.”
Abigail nodded and waited until Taylor left the room before forcing herself into her tiger form and stretching out for the duration.
Chapter 3
The rest of the day was a bust. Images and certain truths were finally taking root in his mind, and he hated it. He and Tay had never really been a thing, but he’d always hoped that she’d start to see him that way. It had left him unable to concentrate on the rest of his classes and finally decide to skip the last one and head home.
The walk back wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the run to his first class. As he walked up the drive to the three-bedroom brick house, he took a moment to realize he was going to be alone for the night. Jason’s little Miata wasn’t parked in its place.
He frowned as he opened the front door and looked around. Inside, the house was quieter then it usually was for this late in the day. It was late enough in the day that Jason should have been home, but there wasn’t a trace of him. No gym clothes or practice equipment in the living room floor, no loud music from his room. No one met him at the door asked when dinner would be and what they were having. Kyle rubbed his eyes as he remembered. He’s having dinner with Tay tonight. Sighing, he locked the door and headed to his room. Maybe I should take my bike out for a last spin before it gets too cold, he thought. His motorcycle needed to be put up for the winter. It was already late September and most days were too chilly to ride it. Kyle shook his head. Going for a ride would only leave him alone with his thoughts. A few hours of distraction and maybe a nap would help far more.
Kyle pushed open his bedroom door and leaned against the jam as he surveyed the mess. Papers and books were scattered all around, forming a misshapen ring around his bed. The queen-sized bed lay unmade, pillows flung around or piled up against the headboard where he read. And the week or more worth of clothes in the corner, told him it was past time to do laundry.
Setting his things on top of his desk, Kyle picked up the papers and books stacking them n
eatly on his nightstand. He took one look at his sheets and pulled them from the bed, tossing them in with the clothes. Kyle grabbed clean sheets from the hall closet and made the bed. The sheets and clothes were next, gathering them up, he headed into the kitchen and loaded the washer. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to get everything straight and the clothes to washing, but, as he went back to his room, he was unsure what to do next. He wasn’t in a state of mind to work on his research; making reading pointless.
Maybe a movie, he fell back on his bed and grabbed for the remote, but a glance at the TV Guide Channel let him know he wasn’t going to find anything to distract himself. Kyle turned the TV off and rolled onto his side. He needed something to do. He sighed and closed his eyes for a minute to think.
The haze flooded his mind again and sucked him right back into the dream. Kyle cursed as he edged to the bed, reaching for her again. Something was going to interrupt them, but…no one was home. The alarm wasn’t set and there was no reason for anyone to phone him.
He inched closer to the bed and nothing stopped him. I’m here, he whispered. Kyle frowned as his own words distorted, but eased onto the bed, sitting there on the edge.
You’ll come for me tonight? She asked.
Kyle’s heart beat faster. He could hear her. The words were as distorted as his own had been but he’d heard her.
Who are you? He asked her, reaching for the covers she held to her chest. Just like the other times something or someone decided then was the perfect time to interrupt. His fingers barely touched the covers when, between one blink and the next, the bed was empty.
Kyle sat straight up in his bed and groaned in frustration. His heart was still racing from the dream, pumping blood down his body and filling his cock with it. “Damn this fucked up dream!” He yelled out. Now he was talking to the imaginary girl. He shook his head. No, not tonight, he told himself. Tonight he was going to be too exhausted to do anything other than sleep. No dreams for him tonight.
Taking a quick moment to see if he was still alone in the home, Kyle went to his closet and grabbed up two changes of clothes (a set of gym attire and a set of clean clothes for afterward), his iPod, and stuffed them in a book bag. Kyle could feel the subtle need to move, to run…to fight stirring in him and nodded, that was something he knew how to deal with. He didn’t want to be home when Jason walked through the door with the big ‘news’. He didn’t want to see his first reaction to knowing he would be a father.
Jason would ask him for an opinion, as he always did when he had a problem; then he'd verbally bash the person he had issues with, no matter what advice Kyle gave. As much as he loved his little brother, he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back from beating the selfish ass into the ground at the first hateful thing he said about Tay. No, it would be better if he wasn’t here until Jason had a few hours to think about it, being here would just…slow that down.
Slinging the bag over his shoulders, he hurried out the door, and ran the thirty-six blocks to one of the local gyms. It was the closest off campus gym and one he knew neither his brother nor his friends visited. Kyle scanned the open floor anyway, just to be sure, then headed to the locker room. A change of clothes later and he was ready to get the rest of his run out.
Hopefully after all this, my mind will blank for a few hours, he told himself and found an open treadmill. He popped ear buds in his ears, clipped the iPod to the waistband of his shorts, and jumped into a decent run. It wasn’t three minutes into his run the redheaded girl running beside him waved her hand to get his attention.
Kyle pulled the ear bud from the ear nearest her out and glanced over at her. She was running at a fast clip, her tight ponytail swaying behind her with every step.
“Yeah?” he asked, making the word clipped. Maybe she’d get the point. He wasn’t in any kind of mood to deal with anyone tonight.
“You shouldn’t start out like that, you’ll tear something,” she informed him. “I mean you didn’t even bother to stretch, warm up or ...anything.”
He shook his head, keeping pace; not liking that she was watching him so closely. “I live a few blocks away, so I did the warm up part of my run on the way here,” he informed her.
“So how far is your warm up?” She asked, her words more curious than questioning.
Kyle nodded and grabbed the ear bud, ready to replace it. He was done talking to her. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’ve run here at least four times a week for the last six years. I know what I’m doing, I know how hard to push myself, I know how much my body can take and I know when to stop, but thanks anyway.”
“Your funeral then,” she shook her head and stopped her run, coming around to stand in front of him. He frowned at her as she stepped up onto the front of the treadmill, she looked really familiar, but then as much as he was at this gym that wasn’t surprising. “You’re rude, you know that,” she stated. “It’s not like I’m…oh, I don’t know, wearing the gym’s trainer gear and wanted to help.”
Sure enough, the redhead was wearing the gear all the in-house trainers did. Kyle huffed out a breath. “Not meaning to be…sorry. I have had a rough day. Need to burn myself into exhaustion.”
She studied him for a minute, her eyes drifting over him, then she leaned over the display on the treadmill showing off her breasts, just enough for him to question if she’d done it intentionally; either way he’s eyes were drawn to the movement. “Is this all you do, run?” she asked.
“No,” he answered. “Five miles like this, one to slow down, if I’m not dead by then, free weights.” Red stared at him. Guess six miles seems a little much to her, he realized. “I run a lot of marathons,” he prompted. It was his go to line if anyone questioned his mileage. “Donation runs and stuff like that.”
She nodded and looked him up and down again. She needed to stop doing that. “So you’re not going to…fall off and hurt yourself on my watch?”
Kyle shook his head.
“You know, if you’re interested…I could help you burn yourself into exhaustion in a much more fun way. Plus, it’s a full body workout unlike the mill,” she said. The faint scent of female arousal drifted to his nose and he had to shake his head to clear it. There it was, an offer for a different kind of distraction. But something about her kept him from agreeing, she just looked too familiar.
He shook his head again. “I’m not interested, but thanks.”
The girl looked down at herself as if looking for a flaw then back at him…with renewed interest. “I get it. Too rough of a day…what happened? Find your girl cheating on you?”
His foot nearly missed a step. She was really starting to bug him. “If I said I was gay would you leave me alone?” He breathed.
“Not after I saw you eyeing my chest a minute ago,” she said still smiling.
Kyle sighed. “It’s hard not to look when you purposely show them off. You harass all customers like this?”
She shook her head. “Nope, only the ones I’m actually willing to sleep with,” she told him with a smile.
That’s when it clicked, that smile; he knew where he’d see her before. Panic shot through him. “Shannon?”
Red’s eyes lit up and her hand went to the strap of her tank top, but confusion quickly took hold. “We’ve met before?”
“Yeah. You’re one of Taylor Winter’s younger sisters.” Like he needed any more drama.
“Oh my God…” Shannon’s hand went to her mouth, covering her surprise as recognition hit her as well. “Kyle? Tay’s Kyle?” He nodded, rolling his eyes at being called Tay’s. “I think…I’m gonna…” she pointed behind her, face nearly as red as her hair, and fled.
Kyle huffed out a breath and replaced the ear bud. It would figure, on a night he needed to avoid all things Taylor he’d run right into one of her sisters. He hadn’t even known Shannon worked at the gym. Kyle shook his head and let the music drowned out everything around him and tried not to think too much about her offer. After the second mile, his bod
y took over, switching to autopilot.
Chapter 4
Jason unlocked the door to the Winter family home with the key Tay had surprised him with earlier. He’d been to the house a number of times, but to have a key, that was something. His stomach growled loudly. The smell of roast cooking filtered through the kitchen doors and out into the hall as he closed the door behind him, but then he caught something else in the air, something familiar, yet he couldn’t name it. He took a deeper breath; it was coming from upstairs.
Frowning Jason turned and headed for the staircase.
“Hey,” Tay said.
He looked up to find her coming down the stairs in a hurry.
“Hello sweetness,” he greeted her back, smiling as he watched her descend. Her short cropped white blonde hair bobbing with every step. Jason had to hold himself in check as his eyes wandered over her. Despite the chilliness outside, she’d chosen to wear a form-fitting pale pink dress. The hem barely touched mid-thigh and thin little straps over her shoulders held the top half in place against the bouncing of her unbound breasts.
Tay reached the bottom step and launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. Jason’s smile widened as he caught her around the waist and pulled her against his chest. His mouth met hers and he groaned at the first tasted of her kiss.
That’s when his brain finally caught up and realization hit him. The other scent he couldn’t name—someone was in Heat. He took another deep breath of the heavy pheromones letting it fog his brain. Jason turned them and pressed Tay against the wall, his fingers running up her thighs to raise the dress.
“Excited much?” Tay asked, breaking away from the kiss.
Unfazed, he moved his kisses down her neck. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Jason asked and pressed his hips into her a little more. “You should have said you were getting close to a true Heat. We could have waited it out. Instead of trying with a mild Heat.” His hunger for food forgotten as his body hardened and made demands.
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