Taken for the Tiger

by Annabelle Winters

  A tunnel to the Darkness.

  “No!” Everett shouted, feeling the change in energy wash through both of them, a vision of those grinning bears sticking in his head as he held onto his mate as they turned and twisted in the air like feathers in the wind.

  “Everett! What’s happening?!” Tracy screamed, her arms tight around his body. But it didn’t feel like her arms, Everett realized after a moment. It felt like . . . claws! Her bobcat’s claws!

  He roared in surprise when he realized they’d both Changed to their animals . . . Changed without knowing it, Changed without controlling it. He roared again, stretching his tiger’s body and reaching for his bobcat mate as she snarled and hissed in surprise.

  They landed on what felt like firm ground, and Everett crouched in front of his mate in a protective stance as he tried to get his bearings. It was pitch black where they were, darker than the darkest night he’d ever seen. He stayed quiet and listened, his tiger’s big ears pricking up as a slew of distant sounds grew louder and louder until it was a cacophony of cries that seemed to come from everywhere.

  “What is this place?” Tracy screamed, her bobcat turning around and around as the sounds of what felt like a million animals came closer and closer. “Everett! Where are you?!”

  “I’m right here,” Everett growled, dread rolling through his fearless tiger as he realized that he couldn’t smell any of these animals. He could hear them all, sure: Bears, wolves, leopards, and everything in between. And now he could see their dark shadows whizzing through the blackness around them. But no scent. Strange as hell. Perhaps this was hell.

  “Hello!” came a voice from somewhere above them, and Everett looked up and squinted through the darkness. “Hello! Hello! Hello!”

  It was the two Bear Shifters, Everett realized as he made out the shadowy figures peeking down from what looked like the edge of a cliff far above them. They were both in bear form, and as Everett sniffed the air, he realized he could pick up their scent. He could smell his mate too. But the other animals . . . nope. Not a whiff of their natural musk! What were these creatures? Demons? Spirits? Ghouls? Goblins?

  “Animals,” came the answer from Mama Bear, her big bear’s head looking down at him.

  “Shifter animals,” added Papa Bear, furrowing his furry brow.

  “They have no scent,” Everett shouted back up at them even though he suspected he didn’t need to shout. These bears seemed to know exactly what he was saying, what he was thinking, what he was . . . feeling?

  He glanced over at his mate as he wondered what she was feeling. Her bobcat was close to its tiger-mate, looking around skittishly as those semi-visible animals got closer and closer, their cries sounding like a jungle gone mad.

  “We need to get out of here, Everett,” whispered Tracy through her bobcat, and for the first time Everett sensed fear in this feisty cat. Real fear. Fear that was different from what he’d seen in her when the she-dragon had stabbed and swallowed them.

  “I know,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm. “We will. I just want some answers from these bear shifters first.”

  “Answers about what?” screamed Tracy through her cat as the wails and roars of the dark animals got closer. “This place? It’s hell, Everett! It’s hell, plain and simple! And we’re in it! What did I do to deserve this? What sin did I commit to be sent here!”

  “Stop talking crazy!” roared Everett, feeling himself begin to lose his nerve as the cacophony in the darkness grew louder, closer, like those animals were almost on them! There was nowhere to run, and Everett wondered if he’d be able to protect his mate down here! As a Tiger Shifter he’d been scared of nothing on Earth. But this wasn’t Earth! This was somewhere else!

  “It’s you! You did this!” Tracy snarled, turning to him in the darkness, her bobcat’s eyes blazing gold with anger. “We were in heaven, a resting place for souls! But you couldn’t stop thinking about your body, about my body! And I . . . I gave in to temptation! Everett, we were in heaven and about to . . . to . . . to fuck! No wonder we’re in hell now! You’re a demon! You’re the devil himself!”

  Her bobcat leapt at him before Everett had a chance to reply, and his tiger roared in surprise as Tracy slashed him across the chest with her claws. He could feel his pain, smell his own blood, hear his mate’s sharp claws and teeth rip away at him like she’d gone crazy. But more importantly, he could feel his mate’s pain, her fear, her . . . her shame? Did she really believe they’d committed some horrible sin by giving in to their needs, to their desires, to their . . . love?! God, he didn’t know this woman at all, did he? He knew she was his mate, but there was so much more he needed to know, so much more he yearned to know!

  Everett covered his face with his mighty paws as Tracy continued her attack. She couldn’t do any serious damage, he knew. Tigers were some of the fastest healers of all Shifters. One wound would close up almost before her quick cat could open up another on his thick tigerskin. As for the pain . . . hah! It was nothing compared to that pain he suddenly felt deep inside, in his heart, in his damned soul! It was a yearning like he’d never felt before! A deep need to roam the beautiful earth with his mate, getting to know her, getting to know the woman in her! Yes, there was a need to claim her in the flesh, to take her the way his lust demanded, the way nature intended. He was part animal, and that was how an animal claims its mate.

  “But for a man to truly claim a woman, he must know her heart, not just her body,” Everett muttered out loud, blinking in the darkness. Were those words from some old book he’d read during his years as a lofty-minded graduate student at Cambridge? Was it divine understanding coming out of the ether itself? Perhaps it was those strange Bear Shifters, who seemed oddly poised at the threshold of good and evil, darkness and light, life and death. Like gatekeepers.

  Everett stared up at those two lonely bears once again, and he frowned when he saw that they were smiling down at him.

  “Now the tiger is getting it,” said Mama Bear, folding her big paws across her chest and nodding. “He sees that mated Shifters can travel back and forth between the Light and the Darkness.”

  “Yes,” said Papa Bear, rubbing his snout as he peered down. “He can see it, but he can’t do it at will. One kiss was not enough to bond them fully. They can move between Light and Darkness, but without control. What a shame.”

  “Yes, shame,” whispered Mama Bear, glancing at Tracy and then back at Everett, her eyes trying to tell him something. “The bobcat carries too much shame in her soul.”

  Papa Bear grinned. “And the tiger does not carry enough shame in his!” The Bear Shifter opened his snout wide and laughed, clapping his big paws together once. “What a shame.”

  “Shame, shame, shame,” whispered Mama Bear, her eyes once again focusing on Tracy. “Shame. Shame. Shame!”

  5

  THIRTY YEARS EARLIER

  DENVER, COLORADO

  Shame! Shame! Shame!

  Tracy blinked as she looked down at herself. Then she gasped when she looked up and saw the gaggle of schoolkids staring at her, pointing, laughing, jeering, mocking. It took her a moment to remember what had happened, and when it came back to her, she screamed and began to cry.

  She’d Changed to her animal in the playground during recess! She’d Changed, but only for a moment. A flash of a second! Her young bobcat had burst forth and then almost immediately retreated back. Of course, even that instantaneous Change was enough for little Tracy to rip through her clothes, and before she knew it she was naked on the school playground, trying desperately to cover herself as the other kids pointed and laughed, howled and hooted, teased and tormented!

  “Shame on you, Tracy!” came a teacher’s stern voice, and Tracy peered up to see the school principal herself pushing through the throng of kids. “What’s the meaning of this? Did you need to go to the bathroom? You’re old enough to go by yourself, a
ren’t you?”

  “Leave my sister alone!” came Lacy’s voice, and Tracy felt the relief wash over her when she saw her twin sister stand in front of her, hands on her chubby little hips, defiantly looking up at the principal. Tracy could feel Lacy’s cat snarling and hissing inside her, and for a moment she wondered if their two twin bobcats would just burst forth and shut everyone’s mouths for good. “I said leave her alone!”

  “Shame, shame, shame!” chanted the kids.

  “Tracy’s gonna pee on the playground!” someone squealed.

  “Tracy’s gonna take a leak on the lawn!” someone else howled.

  “Tracy doesn’t know how to go to the bathroom!”

  “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

  Tracy hugged herself on the ground, tears streaming down her face as her sister stood over her protectively. But Lacy was just a kid too, and Tracy could feel her older twin beginning to lose her nerve, lose her temper, just straight up lose it!

  A moment later Tracy felt herself say screw it, and then both sisters’ animals burst forth in a blur of movement! The two young bobcats leapt up at the school principal, their tiny claws out, their sharp little teeth bared. Tracy heard the principal scream, and she wondered if her cat was going to kill the woman! But then she realized that she had more control over her animal than she’d thought, and she laughed in delight when she and her sister landed on all fours and looked up at their handiwork.

  “Shame, shame, shame!” squealed Lacy through her bobcat, and Tracy squealed too when she saw that the principal was standing there in a state of shock, gasping, hyperventilating, panting, sobbing . . . and completely naked, her clothes lying in tatters and shreds around her trembling feet!

  “Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Tracy asked as the kids began to scream. “Aren’t you old enough to go by yourself?

  “Shame, shame, shame!” hissed Lacy, bouncing up and down on all fours as the schoolyard descended into absolute chaos.

  And then the principal fainted, collapsing on the soft playground with a little sigh, her eyes rolling up in her head, her mouth twisting into something that looked like a delirious smile.

  “We should probably go, sis,” whispered Lacy, sniffing the principal as if to make sure she was alive. “I don’t think school is gonna work out for us.”

  6

  THIRTY YEARS EARLIER

  CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND

  Everett blinked himself back into focus as the gasps and giggles rose from the audience of college students who’d been bored out of their minds thus far—until they’d looked up and seen that their teacher—a handsome young graduate student—was now standing naked before them like one of those Greek Gods from the mythology he’d been droning on about.

  “Bloody hell,” Everett grunted, scratching his thick long hair as he looked down past his long cock and heavy balls, down at the torn clothes lying by his feet. He loved saying “Bloody hell.” It made him feel more British, and he’d always liked the authority projected by his stately accent. Of course, he knew full well that a British accent only sounded authoritative because the damned Brits had colonized a good chunk of the world, including America and India, which were now two of the three largest countries on the globe. He shouldn’t be celebrating that. Shouldn’t be perpetuating that history.

  Besides, saying “Bloody hell” right now was the understatement of the century, Everett thought, frowning as he tried to remember what had happened. A part of him suggested that perhaps he might think of covering his crotch, hiding his shame from the twenty-year olds who were staring wide eyed as if they weren’t sure this was really happening.

  Everett stood there in silence for a long moment before he realized that he must have Changed to his Tiger and Changed back almost instantaneously! A flash-Change, if you will! Had his students even seen the tiger? Perhaps it had happened so fast it hadn’t registered! After all, no one was screaming or running. In fact, everyone was . . . was . . . clapping! Clapping and cheering!

  Everett broke into a wide smile as he placed his hands on his hips and then shrugged as his students gave him a standing ovation, whooping and whistling like this was the goddamned circus and he was the feature act! Or the feature freak!

  “Thank you,” he said in his regal accent, which sounded perfectly appropriate as he strolled past his lecture-podium and turned so everyone could see his muscular arse. He knew he’d just lost his place as a PhD student, and he was probably going to be arrested. And shouldn’t he feel ashamed?! Wasn’t there even a shred of shame in him?! Nope—though he did feel oddly guilty about not feeling shame!

  “Stay in school, chaps,” he said with a grin as he finished his twirl just as the classroom door burst open and three security guards rushed in. “I need to run.”

  Then with another shrug of his muscular shoulders, Everett let his tiger burst forth. A moment later he’d crashed through the window of the ground-floor classroom, racing across the manicured lawns with blinding speed, disappearing into the English countryside.

  7

  Everything seemed to disappear for a moment, and Tracy screamed as she felt herself being pulled into what seemed like nothingness. Then suddenly she could see, and she realized she was back inside the dragon!

  “Everett!” she screamed, turning around and around as she looked for her mate. She was in human form again, naked again, and she screamed again as that memory of her childhood shame came roaring back like it had grown more powerful over the years. She couldn’t understand why that memory had popped up again. She couldn’t understand why it was having such an impact on her. Yeah, at the time it had been kinda traumatic. But it had also been fun, hadn’t it? She and her sister had disappeared into the mountains of Colorado, living as bobcats, hunting for food, roaming the hills like free animals. There’d been some news articles about what had happened in the schoolyard, but it had sounded too fantastic and hokey to be taken seriously. Some kids swearing they saw two girls turn into cats? A teacher who couldn’t be sure what had happened?

  And what had happened, Tracy asked herself as she forced herself to calm down. She was alone in this dragon’s belly, and somehow she knew that she’d been pulled back here because of that childhood memory. She was alone here, and her mate was alone somewhere else. Was he still in that dark pit of hell? Back in the beautiful landscape of heaven? Was the dragon’s belly some kind of in-between space? Purgatory? Was any of this real?! Was she even real?

  “Lacy,” she whispered, sinking down to her knees as she felt a deep yearning to talk to her sister. There was too much going on. She needed her twin. She needed that part of herself back. “Lacy, where are you? I need you. I can’t do this alone. Lacy! Lacy! Lacy!”

  8

  Lacy! Lacy! Lacy!

  Lacy saw the words spinning through the universe like they were physical objects, and she squealed in delight as she and Darius spun through space and time like it was an amusement park ride! She could see the bond between her and her mate like it was a golden rope tethering the two of them together, her and her lion, the King and Queen of the jungle!

  She sighed as she twisted and turned, feeling herself smile wide as she looked over at Darius. Somehow she could see the man and the lion all at once, and although that was impossible in the world of flesh and blood, in the world of spirit it somehow made perfect sense!

  “This is awesome!” she squealed, spinning around like a snowflake, that golden rope connecting her to her mate like an indestructible anchor. She looked below her, gasping when she saw John Benson’s office in Abu Dhabi, saw her own body on the floor, her mate’s body holding her in death. Her friends were gathered around, frozen in the image like it was a painting. The image was still like a snapshot, but somehow it was full of life, and Lacy realized she could see the emotions of every person in that room! There was fear, horror, and grief. But there was also faith, hope, and gratitude! Tho
se other Shifters understood that Lacy and Darius could never die, were travelers through space and time, able to traverse Light and Dark by virtue of their fated bond.

  She could see Magda the Witch, her eyes narrowed in concentration. The witch was trying to use her magic to reach out to Lacy and Darius. She was seeking the power to bring them back to the world of flesh and blood, and Lacy sighed again when she saw it so clearly: Magda was connected to magic that came from Light and sorcery that came from Darkness. The two sides were flowing through her like rivers, but the rivers were raging, in disharmony, sometimes the Light rising, sometimes the Dark flooding through.

  “Are you seeing this?” Darius asked as the two of them floated above the scene. “Can you see our Shifter friends? Lacy, I can see the animal and the human in each of them at once! It’s . . . it’s crazy! Do you see that too?”

  Lacy nodded. “Yes. And I can see how every Shifter in the room is connected to both Light and Darkness: Their human connected to the Light, the animal to the Darkness! It’s so beautiful!”

  “So are you,” Darius growled, turning to her, the lion and the man looking at her in a way that sent cosmic ripples through her bobcat and her woman and every other part of her spirit! “Come here, woman. You need to be taught a lesson for attempting to leave me.”

  Lacy squealed as the two of them whirled away from that scene of their seemingly dead bodies. She whizzed through space—or whatever this was—with a quickness that was exhilarating, feeling her lion chase after her like they were animals at play. In that moment she understood that it was all a big game, a big play, that they were all actors on the universe’s stage, playing their roles as the universe played with them.