Abby's Call

by Nichole Finley

  The tiger growled and poured through him. What should’ve been a seamless flow from on form to the next, as it had been for years, sent pain rolling through him in a flood of burning heat as bones grew or shrank to fit their new homes. Sweat broke out from every pore. The pain forced the air from his lungs until they seized and his chest screamed in panic from not breathing. Kyle shivered violently as the temperature in the room plummeted, turning the room into an icebox.

  The warmth that coated him moments later was a blessing and with that, everything began to ease. The burning blinding pain nothing more that a dull ach over his body. As his breathing came back, Kyle held still, waiting for Jason to react and his body to calm further and allow him to shift back. Something heavy pressed along his side. Something far large than Jason was. Kyle tilted his head in curiosity and turned to see what it was.

  Kyle blinked. Then blinked again. Laying against him was a pale orange Bengal tiger, looking back at him with Jason’s blue eyes and a hint of reflective gold.

  He’s another tiger! Hurt him, Kill him. He’ll try to take our mate from us, his tiger growled. The growl spilled out of Kyle’s mouth as he jumped away from Jason. Kyle was too stunned to follow his tiger’s words. Jason was a shifter…had been a shifter all this time.

  Jason titled his head as he continued to watch Kyle, his body stayed relaxed. Kyle shook his head needing to dislodge his tiger’s thoughts and control before something else happened. The energy around them was calming, Kyle’s body was calming, it wouldn’t be much longer before he could shift back.

  When did Jason become a shifter? How did I not realize it? What does that mean for Tay’s baby? The questions filled his mind.

  Finally, Kyle could feel the energy around them again. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and pulled it around him. A few feet away he could fell Jason doing the same. The energy fizzed against his skin, tickling. When it finally broke over him, he welcomed the shift.

  The transition went much easier this time, now that Kyle wasn’t fighting it, and his tiger form melted into his human one. Unfortunately, his clothes hadn’t survived the change from human to tiger. The simple t-shirt and jeans lay where he had, seams torn. Somehow, his shoes made it, but there wasn’t much point in just putting them on.

  Kyle sat on the floor, naked and still as erect as ever. The position was awkward to be in with his cock hard and he reached down to adjust it, but without clothing, his cock did what it wanted. Jason cleared his throat drawing Kyle’s attention and Kyle realized Jason was watching him. Kyle gave him an unfriendly look. Jason smiled, shook his head and dropped his eyes to the floor.

  Giving up on any comfortable position, Kyle set his hands on the floor and leaned back. It put his cock on displace as it jutted out from him, but he wasn’t in the mood to care. He watched Jason grab, blindly for his clothing, which had made it through the change and lay in a pile not far from him. As he found his jeans and started putting them on, he glanced over at Kyle then back at his task.

  “So…uhmm…”

  The click of a doorknob, Kyle’s head whipped around to the door. Unlocked, the word whispered through him. He started to move, to rush the door, but stilled. Wait. The door opened and Tay stepped backward from the room. Kyle gasped, barely able to breathe through the pheromones that left the room. His balls tightened in pleasure his head falling forward giving him a view down his body as his cock pulsed, flicking violently back and forth as if he’d orgasmed, and a clear liquid beaded at the head only to run down the side.

  “Kyle,” Jason said, his voice full of warning.

  He raised his eyes enough to see Jason was watching him again and a slow smile worked its way over Kyle’s lips. Kyle pushed to his feet and had Tay around the waist before Jason even came close to grabbing him. He didn’t have to hold back now.

  Tay gasped and fought as he held her, his naked body pressed against hers. Jason stilled. Kyle smiled and kissed Tay’s cheek. “Sorry blondie,” he whispered. Tay stopped fighting and Kyle shoved her just hard enough to send her into Jason’s arms then turned. He was through the door before Jason had righted Tay. Kyle slammed the door closed, locked it and set his weight against it, ready for the back lash.

  Chapter 20

  She had one foot out the door when someone grabbed her around the waist. Confused, she glanced down at the arms holding her, not Jason. Tay yelped and tried to kick the male’s holding her, and it was definitely a male holding her. The tight press of his front to her back made that clear as the hard length of his cock pressed into her lower back.

  Tay nearly lost her dinner as the male turned around too fast, having her face Jason. Her eyes darted over the room, where was Kyle? How had this male gotten passed them both? Smooth, burning hot lips pressed to her cheek then to her ear. “Sorry blondie,” the male whispered.

  Tay stilled at the rough sound of Kyle’s voice, far more growl than words, and at the nickname he’d only ever used to tease her. What is he… she screeched out a cry as Kyle shoved her at Jason, her feet completely leaving the ground for a moment before she stumbled two or three steps and fell. Tay never hit the ground. Jason had grabbed her under the arms keeping it from happening. Sighing, she struggled to her feet with Jason’s help.

  Wind blew her hair slightly and the door behind her slammed shut. The lock clicking in place as she met Jason’s eyes. Tay spun, took those few steps separating her from the solid wood door, raised her fist…and pounded it against the door. Rattling the thing on its hinges much as they had done earlier.

  “Open the door Kyle, you don’t understand,” she stopped pounding to demand. When no response came she kicked the door. “Kyle!”

  She jerked as another set of arms wrapped around her, but this time she knew who it was. Jason used the hug to lower her arms to her sides. “Leave them be Tay,” Jason’s voice deepened as he spoke and began to pull her away from the door.

  She shook her head; she couldn’t do that, not with her baby sister involved. Kyle would devastate her for life if she let this happen. Taylor spun in his arms pulling away as she did. She had to get Kyle away from Abby, just had to.

  Jason’s hold loosened, but the pain-filled hiss that left his mouth stilled her. Taylor turned her head to look where her hand pressed against his chest and gasped, drawing her hand back so she could look at it better. The skin around the center of his chest had bloomed a vibrant red and at the very center sat a bruise so dark purple it was almost black. She blinked trying to understand how Kyle could have managed to land a blow like that on Jason. Tay looked up to ask him about it only to find more evidence of how physical their fight was.

  Jason’s right eye was barely open, swelling from the bottom up, in a few minutes it would likely shut completely. A cut high on her cheek, just over the highest point of his cheekbone, was black and purple and still dripping blood down his face. His bottom lip, think from some hit he’d taken. The hit had split his lip, but the cut only welled with blood nothing spilled over.

  “Kyle did a number on you, huh?” She asked, still wondering how Kyle had managed this kind of damage against Jason.

  Jason tried to smile, but winced and sucked in his lip. He shook his head and let his lip find its place as blood started to slowly flow again. “Aha, it’s just a few lumps,” he said waving off her concern.

  Tay frowned, her mind trying to process what she was seeing. A noise from behind her jerked her attention back to Abby. “We need to hurry,” she pulled away from Jason. “Need to get him away from Abby.”

  “It’ll be fine, Tay. Kyle won’t shift on her like I thought,” Jason told her as he held her to him.

  She frowned harder. “You know as well as I do that he will. First time shifters— “

  “That’s just it, Tay,” Jason interrupted. “He’s not shifting for the first time.”

  Taylor stilled and studied his face. “Why do you think isn’t his first shift now? How do you know?”

  Jason closed his eyes as if struggli
ng with something before looking back at her. “He shifted here in the living room a few minutes ago and he only looked surprised to see me as a tiger.”

  “But…” Tay shook her head. “Your parents said…” Memories surfaced of the night Kyle learned his parents had died. He’d come to her, his emotions all over the place. They’d spent the night in her bed, either her holding him or letting him forget his pain by making love to him. It was different than any other time with him. Before and after that night it was always just sex but that night…it was more. She’d attributed the difference to the fact that her first Heat was already affecting her and fully took her over only an hour after he’d left. But if…if Kyle was already a shifter… Taylor closed her eyes and tried to remember.

  With her mild Heat she’d triggered for Jason, she’d experienced the barbs male’s carry engaging. She needed to know…had she felt that with Kyle and told herself it was something else? Was that plus her Heat what made that night so different? Over whelmed, she couldn’t think.

  “He must have gone through the change early or after he left home,” Jason told her.

  “What? Oh.” Tay shook her head and let Jason’s words drag her back to the present before she got an answer.

  Jason sighed and hugged her to him. “Come on,” he kissed the top of her head and pressed his hips into her side.

  She smiled. Jason was hers through and through, but like with any group the Winter girls all had similar scents. Being in the room with Abby had covered her in a layer of pheromones that were nearly identical to her own and Jason’s body was responding nicely to them. “Where are we going?” She teased.

  “My room,” his voice gravely as he spoke. Jason took a deep inhale. “I need to wipe Kyle’s scent from you and,” another deep inhale of the pheromones, “that girl’s scent is…her pheromones…” He stilled for a moment and lean back far enough to look her in the eye. “Wait did…you called her Abby.”

  Tay nodded. “I keep forgetting that you haven’t met my baby sister.”

  Jason chuckled. “Then we definitely don’t want to be right here when they get going. Knowing Kyle has sex is one thing, hearing him is another.”

  She smiled at his attempt at humor and let him lead her to his room, on the other side of the house.

  “So…we’re back to normal?” Tay asked as he closed his door, nearly afraid of the answer she’d get. “I’m forgiven?”

  Jason’s fingers were already unfastening his jeans when he turned from the door. “I haven’t had time to think on you being with Kyle.” The jeans fell to the floor. Jason stilled before her, naked and fully erect. “What I know,” he started to her, “is that you’ve had to accept how much I slept around before us.” He stopped before her and jerked her shirt over her head. “I’ve told you the number.”

  Tay nodded. She’d been shocked by the triple digit he’d given for number of females he’d been with by age twenty-four.

  “But, you’re my mate, Tay. I’ve loved you from the moment I realized that. So…I can’t ask you to accept my past…without doing the same,” Jason said and pulled her to the bed.

  Tay’s heart raced and her body began to warm and sing for him.

  “Just…no more names. I can’t know who they are.”

  She nodded.

  “Good. Now,” Jason dropped to his knees, his hands making quick work of her jeans. “Let’s have some fun while you still smell like you’re in Heat…” his eyes burned gold when he looked up to her, “and so I can drown out Kyle’s scent with my own.

  Chapter 21

  She watched Tay walk to the door from her seat on the bed. Her thoughts whirling with the information Tay gave her about Kyle.

  No, Abby shook her head in denial. She’s wrong, he would’ve said something. Horror stories of late first shifts were too prevalent for anyone to ignore. Yet Tay thought Kyle would. She shook her head again. The male that saved her in the alley might’ve forgotten in that first rush between them, but he’d had time to tell her on the way here and he hadn’t said anything about being a kitten. He’d even seemed offended when one the half-breeds had called him that.

  The sound of the door opening jerked her attention from her thoughts and into action. Either Kyle was completely in the dark about what he was and what was happening to him, unlikely since he’d know enough to identify the creeps in the alley for what they were, or Taylor and Jason somehow didn’t know he’d already shifted. Whichever was true, it needed to be sorted out…now.

  Abby huffed, her plan set in her mind, and pushed to her feet. The chill of the hardwood sent a sudden small pleasure up her legs and she stilled, letting the coolness have her for a second. A scream lodged in her throat as she fell to her knees, hands at her stomach. Her insides convulsing, pouring pheromones out into the room. Barely able to breath passed the pain, Abby could only watch as Tay stepped from the room and hope this wave was short lived.

  The pain grew sharp and she closed her eyes against it. Stop, please stop, she repeated over and over. Abby nearly cried as her body began to listen, after what seemed hours of hurt. Taking an un-pained breath, she eased up from the floor just as the room flooded with light from the hall, blinding her before she could look away. The door slammed closed and a lock clicked into place. Abby blinked, trying to recover form the sudden burst of light in the room and return to darkness. When she thought she could see again she turned to the door, shook her head and blinded a few more times.

  Kyle leaned heavily against the door. Naked. The muscles along his back thighs, and…ass showed underneath his skin with the tension in him, as if he expected—

  Bam, bam! Abby shrieked at the sudden impact. The door visibly shook with the force of each hit. “Open the door Kyle, you don’t understand,” Tay demanded from the other side.

  Abby fought the urge to cringe at Tay’s tone. Tay was pissed. Most of the time she rushed to comply when Tay used that tone on her, but Tay has also raised her for early half her life. Kyle didn’t have the connection to Tay that she did. Instead, he remained silent and tense against the door.

  “Kyle!” Tay bellowed as another hit landed. The door creaked and cracked in protest.

  She held her breath, waiting for it to give under the next assault. Her body tense as Kyle’s in anticipation…nothing. Frowning, she stared at the door. Tay wouldn’t just give up like that.

  So, why… An answer formed quickly and Abby rushed the door, deciding in that second what she wanted. She was staying with Kyle. She wouldn’t let Tay and Jason force her away.

  Abby set her shoulder against the door as Kyle had and waited. The second ticked by in silence. The only thing she could hear, her own racing heart.

  Headlights shown through the windows as a car crept quietly by. Then the silence continued.

  Beside her, Kyle shifted his position and she looked up, tracking the movement. He pressed his ear to the door and stilled. Abby didn’t try to listen along with him, adjusting her position might distract him. Kyle sighed and turned around. The tension in him, fled as he settled against the door, this time facing her.

  At fist Abby thought his eyes were closed, but then his lids fluttered down and reopened to the same slivers. Heat crept up her neck, but she didn’t reach up to cover her breasts as his gaze continued to stay trained on them. She relaxed, as much as she could, and leaned her body toward him. Inside, her tiger knelt down offering herself to his tiger, and she shivered at the imagery.

  A grin worked at the corners of his mouth and his eyes lifted to meet hers. The sharp gold glow held her still, but his eyes didn’t stay on hers long. Abby felt his gaze move down her. She licked her lips and let her eyes wonder from his face as well. Her breath hitched as she took in the sight of his chest.

  Abby reached out, her fingers brushing over his left nipple. Kyle made a small sound, but she had another interest right then. Her fingers played over his hairless chest, moving just over his heart. A space, barely larger than a half dollar, was slick to the touch
. A burn? She questioned, but there it was. The scar Tay said he didn’t have.

  Kyle gave a small snort and took hold of her hand, flattening it against his chest right over the small scar. “Fireworks,” he said flatly.

  “Fireworks?” Abby frowned up at him.

  Kyle nodded. “You asked if it was a burn, it is. Shot from a damn roman candle,” he explained and shook his head.

  Abby shivered as a soft pulse of pheromones issued from her pores just as she felt Kyle’s chest expand under her hand as if he meant to sigh. Wetness gathered between her thighs and her inner walls clenched.

  The hand holding her tightened as the sigh turned into a groan and his eyes closed. His head tilted to the side, resting on the door as he swayed slightly. Fingertips brushed the hem of her skirt before dragging their way up along the side of her body. Kyle’s hand came to rest on her hip, tension vibrated from it and through her, as if straining against his next action.

  Abby smiled at the effort and the restraint he showed and went up on the tips of her toes. His lips were warmer than before, hot even and he jumped slightly at the unexpected touch of her lips. The hand at her hip gripped her tightly, just this side of bruising, while the other dropped away. The space between them disappeared a second later, her body melting against the hard line of his. The taut length of him, pressed firmly into her stomach, pulsed in excitement.

  She reached up clasping the back of Kyle’s neck, allowing her nails to scrap lightly over the skin. Her tiger let out a sound Abby hadn’t heard before, something between a chuff and a roar, but she knew what it meant. The tiger wanted more. Pulling back a little, she licked his bottom lip, then nipped him when he seemed to stop breathing.

  A soft growl rolled out of his chest as he jerked her back into the kiss. The press of Kyle’s mouth against hers forced her to open for him. His tongue thrust into her mouth, tasting her, exploring her. Abby gasped, stunned by the sudden impact of her back to the door. Kyle pinned her to the door, using his entire body to hold her in place and ground his hips into her abdomen. Fingers worked their way under her camisole and up her sides, raising her shirt along with her desire.