“Your father insisted on checking up on you himself,” Rohini said. “I told him it was dangerous, that he wasn’t a young Cat anymore.”
“But I was fine,” Sree interjected. “Scared those canine bastards off good, all by myself.”
Karabi couldn’t help but laugh and soon all three of them were giggling at the table.
“So, I’m curious,” Karabi asked. “What did you think of Rao?”
“Useless and pathetic,” Sree said. “Not worthy of your time.”
“I’m surprised you did not like him at least a little,” Karabi said. “He was Indian. And he wanted lots of babies.”
“He was human. And now he’s a rabid Werewolf, if he survived. We heard he led Werewolves to the encampment in Starved Rock and got himself bitten. A failure all around.”
“I thought he was okay,” Rohini said. “Just far too clingy. But so is some other Indian man I know.” She winked at Sree and he dismissed her with a hand. “But why talk about Rao anyway?” Rohini continued. “You were never serious about him. Not like you are about Alex.”
Karabi spit a pea back out onto her plate. “How in the world would you know that? I didn’t even know that.”
Rohini shrugged. “It’s simple, really. You were seeing Rao for two years, and we had to spy on you to find that out. You brought Alex here to meet us after just a month or so.”
Karabi snorted. “I didn’t bring him home to meet you, I brought him here because he needed help!”
“You went to the Pride because he needed help,” Rohini said. “When for ten years, you wouldn’t even go to the Pridefor yourself. And then when that failed, you brought him here. When again, you wouldn’t have even come here for yourself.”
“I personally don’t care why you brought him here to meet us,” Sree snorted. “The fact remains, you finally brought someone here. Someone you obviously care about as much as he cares about you. That’s good enough for me.”
“I know you’re not asking for our approval, dear, but we approve of Alex,” Rohini said. “I wouldn’t have suggested he go down to the zoo and apply for a job if I didn’t already think he’d be a good match for you in the first place, you know. Just don’t play games with this one like you did all the others.”
Sree chuckled. “See, Karabi, this is why I always told you that a smart Indian child would let her parents pick out her spouse for her. Good parents will always know how to find the right match for their child.”
Karabi sat in her chair, staring back and forth between them both. Dumbfounded. “Who are you people, and what have you done to my parents?”
“No, who are you, woman? And whatever did you do to my quiet, soft-spoken, obedient little angel?” Sree said with a cheerful grunt. “You became a teenager and suddenly you wanted to challenge us all of the time, on everything. You’re the one who changed.”
“Our little girl grew up, that’s what happened to her,” Rohini said, her face aglow with happiness. “Maybe we weren’t ready for it yet. It just took all of us some time to get used to seeing each other through a different perspective. All that matters now is that our family is whole again.”
Karabi smiled and shook her head. A different perspective, indeed, she thought. What else have I been looking at wrong?
* * * * *
Alex rolled around in a beam of sunlight that came through the tops of the trees. Never in a million years would he have imagined himself having this much fun outside, frolicking in the dirt and grass. When he was done sunbathing he licked his paws and used them to clean off the back of his head. The one thing he still couldn’t quite grasp was how easily cats made cleaning themselves look. In reality that shit was hard, and it required a hell of a lot of flexibility to reach one’s own back. Finally being able to lick his own penis and testicles turned out not to be nearly as fun as he’d thought it would be either.
Thinking about licking himself made him think of the last time he was licked by someone else. Karabi. A month and a half had passed since he’d last seen her and she’d turned him down for lunch. Damn, he missed her so much. Not just sexually but in every way. Never had he met a woman before who challenged him so thoroughly yet also submitted herself to him at the same time. He was used to being the one playing Captain Hero but Karabi was a woman who was just as capable of rescuing him as he was her. How many times, and in how many ways, had she saved him? Changed him? Challenged him? Soothed him?
She’d also hurt him. Sure, he knew that he had been pressing her buttons with all of that talk about commitment, family and the Pride. But he hadn’t been able to help it. He wanted what he’d wanted and he couldn’t hide it from her. Didn’t want to. But in the end she’d felt just as smothered by him as she’d felt about everything else. And if there was one thing he’d learned during his brief time at the zoo, it was that a caged tiger still dreamed of running wild.
Run wild, that’s what Alex needed to do to clear his head. There was no use in depressing himself thinking about Karabi right now. The private grounds outside Forest Gardens included almost four acres of thick woods, surrounded by a wall six feet tall. Alex sprinted through the grounds as fast as he could for a short distance, bouncing and leaping over obstacles in his path, just for fun.
When he stopped to rest, a scent in the air snagged his attention. He recognized it but only vaguely. He was still getting used to how different his sense of smell was now without the Werewolf toxin in him. He followed the opposite direction the wind was carrying it and found himself at the tall, thick tree that he’d left his clothing near. Looking up, he spotted a cheetah relaxing on one of the branches, her long, spotted tail dangling lazily. For a second he thought he knew this cheetah. Could it be—
Alex raced up the tree to get a closer look and sniff, careful not to actually go out onto the limb with her, certain that it would break with his added weight. This cheetah was wearing a collar like one from the Pride’s Claiming Ceremony. It couldn’t be who he thought it was.
But then he blinked and when he opened his eyes, Karabi Minstry was there in place of the cheetah. Nude and glorious and grinning at him deviously. The collar with the Leo zodiac pendant that was on the cat was now a necklace on the woman.
“What are you staring at, tiger?” she asked. “Haven’t you seen a cheetah in her natural habitat before?”
Alex sat himself on the branch and then shifted to a man. “Um, no I haven’t, actually. This is my very first time seeing a cheetah in the wild.”
Karabi wiggled her butt in the air at him. “Do you want to come investigate me further? You’re welcome to take a whiff.”
Seeing her lying on her stomach like that, naked, outside, in a tree, wiggling at him—Alex’s cock immediately started to stir. He chuckled. “I had no idea cheetahs could be so provocative.”
“I feel the same way about tigers,” she said. “Can we talk?”
Alex looked down and then back up at Karabi with wide eyes. “Mind if we do it on the ground? Where it’s safe?”
Karabi laughed. “Still a big baby, I see! Come on, tiger. It’s not warm enough yet to be sitting out here in human form naked, anyway.”
They shifted and climbed down the tree. When they got to the ground Alex had a hard time not staring at the claiming collar she was wearing. He shifted and got dressed, watching her curiously as she did the same.
“So what brings you here?” he asked her.
“I live here.”
Alex felt both of his eyebrows shoot up. “You do? Since when?”
“I just moved into the last unit on the east end on Friday.”
“Really?” he said. “Does that mean that you’re talking to your parents now?”
She smiled and nodded as she pulled up her jeans. “Yeah. I am.”
“Wow.” Alex was incredulous. “What brought that on?”
“Maybe I got a little jealous that you were spending so much time with them, when I wasn’t.”
“That’s all it takes, huh? I’m glad
to hear it, though. Hmm. Maybe I need to find a chick to spend time with, in hopes that you’ll get jealous and come back to me?”
“That won’t work if the girl is really hot,” Karabi said. “There’s a risk that I could become jealous of you, instead of her.”
“Gah, I didn’t think about that. Tricky bisexuals.” They both laughed. But then Alex saw that pesky necklace she was wearing and he turned solemn. “Who’s the lucky Cat?”
“What?”
“You’re wearing a claiming collar,” he said. “Who’s the lucky Cat?”
“Well, the truth is…” She blushed visibly and paused to bite her bottom lip, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him.
Alex took a deep breath to brace himself then swallowed hard. He tried to tell himself it would be okay if she’d moved on. It’d hurt like hell but it was cool. But he opened and closed his mouth a few times and no words came out. Something about Karabi prevented him from being able to lie to her. Not even when his heart was breaking.
After a moment of awkward silence she walked toward him with her head down low. When she finally looked up at him again there was so much emotion in her eyes, his heart clenched. He’d been through so much this past five months. He wasn’t sure he could take another blow.
“Karabi, don’t—”
“Wait, listen to me, Alex. Please. I have to say this. I wasn’t thinking clearly and fully about my life when I was with you. I was lying to my boss and the people I work with. Sneaking out of the office. Begging the Pride for help. For a moment I was even seriously considering thinking about collaring you and having your babies,for a moment, when we were in front of the Pride Council together. None of that was me. I felt as though I was losing myself.”
“I know, and you didn’t like that.”
“But I was wrong,” she said. “I wasn’t losing myself. I was uniting with you.”
“And that scared you, right? Because you felt as if you were bending to someone else’s will, and that’s against your principles.”
“But that’s a dumb principle to have,” Karabi said. “Especially if it meant I was fighting my own will.”
“What are you saying?”
She pulled another necklace from her pocket and held it up to him. “I’m saying that I love you. And that I’d love for you to let me claim you. I know we’re not Pride members right now but there are plenty of Pride members who live here, and I want them to see that you are taken. I am taken.”
“Wait—so I’m the lucky Cat?”
“Only if you want to be.”
He picked her up, held her in his arms and she came crashing down onto his lips. He willingly caught her by the mouth, eager to taste those strawberry-flavored lips again. His fingers were in her hair and her arms were around his neck as they kissed, no—marked each other with their mouths. He felt her place the necklace around his neck, her fingers working the clasp. When she pulled away to catch her breath she fingered the charm on his necklace tenderly. “You have been claimed. You’re mine now,” she said.
Alex threw his head back and laughed heartily. “Damn, woman, when you make up your mind, you make up your mind.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, smiling. “And it feels really good.”
“I love you, Karabi.”
“And I love you, Alex.”
His heart swelled. He’d already known it. But it was another thing altogether to hear her acknowledge it. To admit it out loud. “You do?”
“Didn’t you already know that?”
“I knew it. But I didn’t know you knew it.”
“Apparently, everybody knows it. Even my parents know it.”
“They do?” Alex blinked. “So, um, do they approve?”
“They approve. They practically consider you part of the family already. They’re already plotting what our children will look like.”
He grinned. “Does this mean I can knock you up now?”
“Whoa, slow down, tiger!” Karabi laughed. “Let me get used to things here at level one first. Besides, Papa would not approve of you knocking me up without a traditional marriage first.”
“Gah. Who knows how long I’ll have to wait before you’re ready to marry me?”
She smirked. “You’ll just have to find out, won’t you? In the meantime, we can still practice making babies.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “How about we start that now?”
“Like right now?”
“Why not? No way you can still try to say you don’t want me.”
“True. I do want you.”
“Here?”
“Here.” She kissed his mouth. “Here.” She put his hand on her breast. He squeezed it eagerly. “And here.” She spread her legs, letting his erection press against her crotch, dry humping him ever so slowly.
When he spoke, his voice was heavy and thick with lust. “That’s pretty much everywhere.”
“Sure is.”
“Good god I missed you.”
“How much?”
“Let me show you how much,” he said. He slid down her jeans and underwear and put his face between her creamy thighs. He lapped, sucked and stroked her sex inside and out with his tongue, over and over, basking in her scent, savoring her flavor. As she moaned and humped against his face, he ate at her more deeply, more passionately. He slid his hands under her shirt and bra, fondling her breasts while he fucked her with his mouth. When she finally orgasmed he groaned against her pussy as he swallowed every last drop. At long last he knew fully who and what he was. He had a good-paying job. He had a community he felt he belonged in. He finally had what already truly felt like a family. And he had his perfect mate. As he drank Karabi he felt as if he were drinking all of these things that made him happy, that were all possible only because of her.
And it tasted like heaven.
About Tatiana Caldwell
Let’s see, what should I tell you about me? I’m an IT geek who happens to also be a vixen with an overactive imagination. I will write anything from programming code to smoldering erotica, so long as it involves brains or sex. Preferably both. ;)
I’m a published author of erotic romance in several sub-genres, including paranormal, fantasy, futuristic and science fiction. I believe love can happen not only any time or any place, but with anyone, and so my stories feature a diverse cast of characters.
When I’m not writing or working, I can be found reading; playing video games of all kinds; watching movies, anime and sci-fi television shows; exercising; spending time with my husband and children; or making complex spreadsheets.
Tatiana welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Tatiana Caldwell
Cat Out of the Bag
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Cat on the Fence
ISBN 9781419992278
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Cat on the Fence Copyright © 2014 Tatiana Caldwell
Edited by Beverly Horne
Cover design by Allyse Leodra
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Electronic book publication May 2014
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