Tay looked up from the floor and stared at her, seeming just as stunned for a moment. Her eyes roamed and landed on the bruises Abby had seen forming on her arms then Tay’s eyes met hers again. Tears touched her sister’s eyes and she reached for Abby. Angry, Abby backed up and frowned at her. Tay’s hands fell to her sides as she shook her head.
“I’m so sorry Abby,” Tay muttered. “I never should have let you go out during your Heat alone.”
Abby felt her frown deepen. “Tay, what are you talking about?”
Tay took a step back and looked her over again. “Kyle…he told us about the two males in the alley.”
“Oh, that,” Abby said. Had Kyle remembered her from their encounter all those years ago. She’d changed, grown up since then so she didn’t see how, but if he’d called Tay…wait why would he call Tay? He’d seemed more than eager to be with her, calling Tay in would ruin that. “But that still doesn’t explain— “
How badly did they hurt you when they…they…”
“Those two Half-bred assholes?” Abby asked.
“Half-bred?”
Abby nodded. “They were only able to do my arms. Kyle showed up right after they cornered me in the alley. They didn’t get a chance to do anything.” Abby paused and shook her head, but Tay started talking before she could explain any further.
“Are you sure? Maybe you’re blocking it out. That happens when very bad things happen to people… even those of us who shift,” Tay pointed out.
“Yes I’m sure nothing happened with the Half-breeds. Now, how did you find me?”
Taylor frowned at her hard and put her hands to her hips. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they leave just because Kyle showed up? Two half-breeds were more than enough to take him on and then take you.”
Abby laughed as Tay paced a few steps, worry covering her face. She looked at Abby when she started laughing harder.
“What are you laughing about?” Tay asked.
“Those two went down in less than a minute,” she told Tay, who stilled at those words. “Kyle knocked them both out cold.” When Taylor stayed silent she asked a final time, “Tay, how did you know I was here?” Abby’s tiger was demanding that she fight this tiger before her or get a very, very big apology. Abby didn’t see either of those happening.
“Jason…my Jason called me about his older brother acting out over some in Heat female, so I rushed over here to help him,” Taylor responded finally. “Kyle’s…Kyle’s my Soul-bonded’s brother.”
An ach started in Abby’s abdomen and she rubbed it with her hand. “So, the Kyle you were lovers with and your…brother-in-law Kyle are the same person?”
They bother jumped as something heavy hit the door, threatening to cave it in as it shook and rattled on it hinges. “Get…Off…Me.” Kyle’s voice bellowed from the other side of the door, or at lest Abby thought it was Kyle. The voice was deeper and baser than she’d heard it before.
“Holy shit,” Abby whispered as someone roared.
Tay turned back to her, slowly. “How did you know about Kyle and me?”
Abby blinked at the question and refocused on her sister. She sighed and explained how she was Kyle had met…six years ago.
“If you met him back then it’s possible that’s why you shifted a year early. It probably put him on the edge of changing, especially since you said you were drawn to him…” Tay seemed to think a moment. But just meeting him, are you sure nothing else happened?” Tay asked.
Abby shied again from the question.
“Abby?”
Abby huffed. “Ok…” She met Tay’s eyes. “We…kissed.”
“Kissed? Kyle kissed you when you were… fourteen? After spending the night with me?” Tay asked hurt and confusion playing in her voice.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t like he kissed me, kissed me,” Abby tried to explain. Tay frowned. “It was after breakfast, before he sent me out to the bus. We got to talking about…some crappy band and I got him to laugh. It felt good to hear someone laugh. Everyone in our family was so sad because of Mom and Dad, it just…I hugged him. I guess he knew I needed the hug because he didn’t pull away or just stand there he hugged me back. That’s when I felt him lean down like he was going to kiss the top of my head. You know, like Shawn does all of us because he towers over us. But I tilted my head up at the last moment and we kissed.” Abby’s stomach clenched hard and she closed her eyes until it subsided. Why is it hurting now?
Tay shook her head. “So…you knew who you went home with from the alley?”
“Not at first. I always remembered Kyle after that, but I haven’t seen him since. It wasn’t until I saw the graduation photo of you and him, but before he just seemed familiar. Like someone I’d stopped and talked to one time, but couldn’t place,” she told Tay.
“Abby…I don’t think your going to get to mate with Kyle this first time. He…”
“Why?” Abby stared at her sister. She was not about to walk away from tonight simply because he and Tay had been together at some point in that past or to save Tay’s pride.
“I’ve known Kyle for eight years nearly, and have never sensed or smelt shifter on him. When I found out Jason was my Soul-bonded I asked about his family, about why Kyle didn’t smell like a shifter. He told me that Kyle is a…Kyle’s a kitten,” Tay sighed. “Abby…he’s never shifted before. That’s what had Jason so freaked out over the way you two came into the house.”
Abby took unsteady steps to the bed and sat down. “That…that doesn’t seem….” She shook her head. Tay had known him longer and more intimately than she did and if his brother had never seen or smelt him then… “He’ll shift while or just before we…” Her head fell to her hands, her elbows propped on her knees. “But he…he couldn’t have brought on my tiger’s reactions like he did without…there’s no way he hasn’t shifted before.”
Tay knelt before her, hands on Abby’s thighs. “What are you talking about?”
“My tiger, she…really likes Kyle,” Abby answered.
“Your tiger likes him?” Tay asked cautiously. “How…how much do you think she likes him?”
Abby’s face flamed and she was grateful that her hands were over her face. “She said for me to let him have us,” more heat rose to her face, “she wants him enough that she had me jump him at the door. The tiger is…determined to be with him.”
“When you two were touching, when Jason interrupted, did it bother you when he stopped?”
She let her hands drop enough for her to see Tay clearly. “I almost demanded he continue touching me, but I was afraid of having a second male so close by after the alley. Neither of them said he was mated or taken or anything.”
Tay seemed to think for a moment. “So both you and your tiger…want him after he’d touched bare skin.” Abby stared at her. “He does match the male you described to me this afternoon. Kyle is definitely tall and dark haired. You said slight but well-built…swimmer or runner kind of body. Kyle was a track star for a while both in high school and for the first three years of college. So the body type fits him perfectly.”
Abby nearly swung a fist at her sister for the look she got. She a mated female and was dreamily talking about another male’s body, her male’s body.
Taylor petted her head and she seemed to think of something. “He’s also acted protectively toward you, fighting even when he’s always been against it. But…you said the male in your dream had a scar on his chest. Last time I saw him shirtless he didn’t have any scars on his torso.”
Abby sighed in frustration and pain at her sister and at the heavy cramp hitting her. As she took in a deep breath she realized she was starting to smell her pheromones again. “And he was able to stop himself when we were in the alley.”
“Stop himself?”
Abby nodded. “After the fight, all the adrenaline and the pheromones he…we were against the wall, my panties…” she looked to the bathroom. “He stopped before he got inside me. If he was the male…
if he was my mate he shouldn’t be able to do that.”
Tay frowned. “What happened right before he stopped?”
“I…accidentally used the Call and asked him to be gentle, you know with…getting inside me. I realized he might not be able to hear me and started to say it out loud so he’d know that I said it…but he backed away before I could,” Abby told her.
Tay nodded. “In the alley things between you two got intense fast, went from zero to penetration in less than a minute?” Tay smirked and Abby couldn’t help smiling at her sister’s choice of words as she nodded. “He might even have gotten a bit rough with his touch?” Again Abby nodded, not really seeing why Tay was asking all this. “There’s only two reasons for a female to ask for a male to be ‘gentle’ when things have gotten that intense that fast, they’re virgin or they’re not use to having sex. He realized it and it probably was why he offered to bring you here.”
Abby thought about it. “So you think he heard me?”
“It seems that way,” Tay told her. “And if that is the case he’s likely to have a fit when I take you home.”
Abby nodded then frowned and looked to the door. “They’ve gone quiet.”
Tay nodded and turned on her heels toward the door. “That…could be a good thing,” she said. “Stay here on the bed and I’ll check on our boys. Then I see how I can get you out of here.”
“I don’t want to leave him…”
“He seems like he’s your mate, but Abby…that doesn’t change the fact that he hasn’t shifted before. Kyle will shift tonight…most likely right before you to start having sex or right after he’s inside you. At that point, between the first rush of strength and your pheromones playing havoc with him, there’ll be no way for even me and Jason combined to get him away from you.” Tay hugged her and sighed. “It’s not safe for you to stay…I’m sorry.” Tay stood and went to the door, leaving Abby alone once again.
Chapter 19
Kyle took a running step toward the door, if he could get his foot wedged between the door and the frame before Tay could shut it, he would be able to ‘muscle’ his way into the room without either Tay or Jason noting anything out of the ordinary…other than his serious determination to be with this girl.
But he never made it that far. Kyle wasn’t prepared for how quick Jason would react. Jason, true to his years of football, wrapped his arms tightly around Kyle’s hips and used his own forward motion to push Kyle to the floor, tackling him before he was even close to the door. Kyle’s hands when out to catch himself but they didn’t make it. Air rushed out of his lungs in a great whoosh as his chest hit the hardwood. The first breath he managed to take, many moments later, was heavy with Abby’s pheromones. The scent had escaped as Tay had opened and shut the door. It was stronger, more concentrated than before, and his body responded just as it was meant to.
Pressed between the floor and his own body, his cock kicked violently. His balls tightened and wetness touched the head as pre-come leaked out. The need to shove himself into Abby, to have her under him, was so overwhelming he ground his hips into the floor, hoping for some relief. Kyle groaned as his cock pulsed again and there was finally some pleasure involved, but it was pushed aside as his tiger growled. Reminding him there was still and enemy holding him down.
Anger burned through his veins, building energy around him. It crashed over him, sending the hair at his neck on end and goose bumps marching along his skin as his tiger rolled and pressed against his skin from the inside, threatening to roll over him. Threatened to force him to shift.
Kyle gasped at the feeling and forced it down. He needed to get away from these humans, before he did something stupid. Jerking his leg up and to the side, he freed his leg and promptly slammed it back at Jason. The hit landed low on Jason’s side, just above his hip. Kyle’s long legs gave him power a shorter person wouldn’t have.
Jason grunted, but didn’t let go.
Frustrated, Kyle growled and twisted his upper body, swinging his close fist back as he did. This side of his fist connected solidly with Jason’s cheekbone.
Jason cried out this time, his grip loosing. Kyle took another swing decking Jason’s ear as they struggled.
Jason hissed. “Damn it Kyle, stop fighting me,” Jason said struggling to keep his hold. Kyle kicked down, hard, taking him high on the side, hitting ribs. “Fuck!” Jason’s hold fell away. “What the hell happened to you being a pacifist?”
Kyle scoffed as he scrambled to his feet. Like he could let his little brother, his human brother, beat him into submission this night. Never submit to another before our mate, his tiger confirmed the decision. Kyle didn’t have time to think on the choice of words his tiger used. Jason was right behind him, already on his feet.
Instead of going for the door, Kyle turned on Jason, hands up. The cocky smile that touched Jason’s lips was short lived as he barely managed to block the punch Kyle threw. Kyle’s right fist came right on it’s heels, just as Jason lowered his arm from the first hit. He put his weight behind it, but not his full strength.
The blow landed straight across Jason’s mouth sending him off balance, head knocking back. Kyle swept his legs and barely contained the roar of triumph as Jason landed on the floor in a heap. He shook his head as the taste of copper tinted the air and turned to the door. That should take care of him for a few, he thought and headed for the door.
A hand wrapped around his right wrist. Kyle has a second to turn his head enough to see Jason’s shoulder as he turned it into Kyle’s back.
Jason twisted Kyle’s arm, using it as leverage, and ran them both into the door. It shook and rattled at the hit and Kyle worried their weight might be enough to topple it. A low growl boiled out of Kyle, that was it. He was done taking it easy on Jason simply because he was human. If he was going to come at him like this, interrupt him with his mate during her Heat and break down doors in his home, he deserved the beating he had coming.
“Stop and listen for five fucking seconds,” Jason spoke a few inches from his ear.
Kyle held back a hiss. He’s in our way, hurt him make him run from us so we can mate our female, Kyle’s tiger demanded of him. The tiger’s thoughts were too clear too close to the surface. His vision blurred and his skin turned hot. “Get…off…me,” Kyle roared the words and pushed off the door. Jason stumbled back with him, their feet tangled. Kyle cursed as he fell. Somewhere in the fall, Jason released his arm and he was able to land to the side instead of on top of him.
Kyle rushed to get on his feet first and whorled around to face Jason, as he straightened, already getting his feet under him. Jason watched him closely; his movements slow as if he weren’t a threat or had been hurt. Kyle felt himself sneer, he knew better. Jason was a threat and through blood dripped from a small cut just under his eyes and at his mouth, he wasn’t hurt. So he stood still, waiting.
“Kyle,” Jason said his hands out in a gesture similar to trying to calm a scared dog. “All this…” he gestured to the door and to Kyle “was supposed to happen years ago.”
Kyle wasn’t paying any attention to his words, he just watched him waiting. Jason continued toward him saying something about a fifteenth birthday.
“Just…calm down a minute so I can explain before you black out,” Jason insisted.
Kyle blinked at that. “Black out? I wasn’t even drunk enough for that at the bar. I’m not going to black out now,” he informed Jason.
Jason gave a sad smile and shook his head as if he knew something Kyle didn’t.
Kyle smiled as will. Jason closed his eye when he shook his head. Kyle turned and planted his foot in Jason’s chest. Jason’s hands flew to his chest as he achieved air. The coffee table cracked, the legs snapping in two and the center gave under Jason’s weight when he landed on it.
Knowing Jason wasn’t going to back off until he made him, Kyle stepped forward. Jason growled and was rushing him an eye blink later. Stunned at the quick recovery, Kyle didn’t have time to brace fo
r the hit. Kyle’s back met the floor, hard. Jason fell with him landing on top of him.
The back of Kyle’s head smacked against the floor and his vision blurred again. The hit took too long to recover from as he fought down his tiger. By the time his vision was back Jason had moved to hold him to the floor. Kyle lifted his wrists up, but they didn’t move enough. He stared up at Jason and lifted again. He couldn’t allow Jason to do this.
Panic crossed Jason’s face as his arms shook and strained to keep Kyle pinned to the floor. Kyle’s own arms strained with the effort even as he used more of his shifter strength.
“Stop fighting me, please,” Jason pleaded. There was fear in those words.
Good make him fear us, the tiger prompted. If he fears us he will run from us.
Kyle felt his skin tighten before he realized what he was doing. The energy that had swam around them finally crashed in a warm pulsing wave. Something pulled inside of him and that was it.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Jason cursed, his hold falling away, but it didn’t matter now.
Bones began to slide, muscles contracted or expanded as they moved to other places under his skin. How could he have been so stupid, letting his tiger egg him into a fight and allowing his tiger to manipulate his emotions? Kyle groaned as he tried to force his tiger back down before he fully shifted.
He let go of us, good. He’s afraid now. He will go away, he will leave our mate alone, his tiger pointed out.
A rush of fear flashed through Kyle. He didn’t want Jason to fear him, not really, and he damn well didn’t want to explain shifters to him. Kyle held his breath as he fought and slowly the powerful energy started to reseed. Then something spilled energy over the room and he was too close to it. Hot shifter energy covered him, sending chills over his skin. It was enough, his tiger swam to the surface.
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