by Sky Winters
“Didn’t it occur to them that it was odd for a tiger to be roaming the streets of Liverpool?”
“Yes, but they assumed it was escaped from a zoo or a traveling circus. Of course, even if it had, no one would have laid claim to missing one that had committed such a horrible atrocity.”
“I imagine not.”
“I left the orphanage after that. I was frightened to be around people who couldn’t protect themselves from an animal like what I had become. I lied about my age and joined the forces. In the course of my military career, I learned that my abilities came in quite handy, though I was careful not to reveal them to anyone. After a while, I got tired of running from who I was and decided to try to find out what I could about my origins.”
“That sounds like a very lonely life,” she said.
“It has been. I’ve never felt safe with anyone and holding onto such a secret, I’ve only made casual acquaintances.” He looked at her. “That is, until now.”
Tabitha couldn’t help but note how he looked at her as he said the words. Despite the short amount of time they had spent together, she could see that he had feelings for her. In fact, it was shocking, considering how rough their start had been. Then again, could she deny that she didn’t feel the same?
“I guess it was hard for you to hide it from me considering what happened,” she replied.
“I was going to tell you anyway, believe it or not. You’re the first person I’ve ever met that I felt I could tell the truth, other than a very small number of people I’ve managed to locate who are like myself.”
“Then there are more of you? The tigers you were talking to, were they shifters?”
“No. I’ve yet to run into any other shifters here, surprising though that is. I’m able to communicate with the tigers because I am one of them, of sorts. They don’t really understand my words, but they can read my thoughts and my body language. They can smell my inner nature it seems.”
“What about the others, the shifters that you’ve found?”
“I keep in touch here and there, but most are like me, hiding in the shadows and not getting close to anyone.”
“And were they able to help you with your origins?”
“No. It seems they don’t know where they came from either, for the most part. However, I met an old man here that instantly knew what I was. He wasn’t a shifter, but had known them and knew their legacy. He told me that I was chosen and that my children would be born as leaders that would unite the tiger shifters that had grown apart. He said they would usher in a new age when our pack would be reunited to protect one another, as well as our non-shifting tiger brothers and sisters.”
“That seems unlikely given your solitary nature.”
“It’s not so unlikely at all anymore,” he said with a smile, his hand reaching up to touch her cheek.
Tabitha’s skin felt like it was on fire. She had only just met this man and he was talking about having children from the sound of it, children that could shift into tigers at that. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been put off by things moving so quickly between them. Instead, she felt only a deep desire for him and all he had to offer. Perhaps a different life was what she had needed all along. Hadn’t that been why she had accepted this assignment? A chance to do and be something different?
“What makes you think that I am interested in any of that?” she asked, her voice trembling despite herself.
He looked at her with a serious expression, taking both of her hands in his. “Tell me you aren’t and I’ll walk away and never bother you again, but you should know that you’ll be breaking my heart in a way that I’ve never experienced before.”
“You know that I can’t say I don’t want you. I fear that I have no secrets from you. Do I?”
“No. Not really. I can’t exactly read your mind, but I know what you’re feeling. I can sense happiness, fear, confusion…love.”
Her heart thudded wildly in her chest. “So, you’re telling me that I love you?”
“I’m telling you that I love you. I will wait for you to tell me that you love me when you are ready to admit it.”
“If you weren’t completely right about the fact that I do love you, I would call you cocky.”
“Whew! That could have been embarrassing if I’d been wrong,” he said with a smile.
“So, what do we do now?”
“Well, I have something else I need to tell you. You might want to remain sitting for this one.”
“Oh boy.” She couldn’t imagine what else he could possibly say to her at this point that would be more shocking than what he’d already said. “What? Are you going to tell me that you’re an alien or a god of some sort?”
“Well, I am a god, obviously,” he said with a laugh.
“A legend in your own mind?” she teased.
“Something like that. The truth is that I’m scared all the time. I just hide it better than most.”
“Is that what you needed to tell me? That you’re vulnerable?”
“No. I need to tell you that you’re pregnant,” he said, watching her face as he said the words.
“You are a funny guy,” she said uncertainly.
“I’m not being funny. You’re going to have a baby, well two babies, actually.”
“That’s impossible,” she said.
Her mind raced wildly, she and her ex had been very careful about such things and even though she’d been reckless with Matt, there was no way he could possibly know that she was pregnant so soon after they had had sex. Then again, she reasoned, he talked to tigers, turned into one, and could sense her feelings. Should this really be a surprise? She wondered what he was sensing from the gamut of emotions she was currently feeling.
“Tabitha?” he said gently as she stared at him in shock.
“I won’t have kittens, will I?” The words tumbled helplessly out of her mouth. It was all she could think of in her current state of shock and she still wondered how he could possibly know so soon.
Matt was suddenly lost in a fit of laughter, pulling her close and hugging her against his broad chest for a moment as he tried to regain control of himself between chuckles.
“No, love. You won’t have kittens. I promise you won’t find yourself nursing a litter of tiny fur balls. They’ll be perfectly normal children until they get into their teens and I will prepare them for what will happen to them then. I’ll prepare you for it, as well.”
“Prepare me for it? Will it be that bad?”
“Well, boys will be boys and boys that shift into tigers will be more than a handful, but if they’re brought up to understand what they are and what it will mean to so many that will come to depend on them, it will be tempered with a reason that I did not possess. I would say that I might have been more, accomplished more, had I understood things sooner, but I don’t think that’s how it works. I don’t think I was ever intended to do anything more than meet you and bring the boys that will make the biggest difference into the world.”
“So, they won’t be out killing neighborhood dogs or anything,” she said, still in a state of shock. “Wait, boys? They’re boys?”
“I can’t promise anything about the dogs if they cross them, but yes, both boys.”
“Fantastic,” she said with a slow smile. “I don’t know what else to say. What to ask. This is too much to comprehend, especially after today. What you did to those men was disturbing. I’m sorry to admit that, but it frightened me.”
“I can understand that. Not everyone sees something like that and especially not when it’s at the hands of someone you know. All I can tell you is that it is not something I would have done if I had known any other way. I would have preferred to have taken those men in, to see them tried for their crimes. I would have liked to have questioned them to find out who they were working with, but we were outnumbered and all I could think about was you and what they had done to my brothers who lay on the ground beside them.”
“I know.
Like I said, it’s just a hard thing to see. All of this really, it’s just a little hard thing to understand.”
Matt pulled her to him again, holding her tightly for a while as what was happening to her slowly sank in. It was frightening, but she couldn’t say she was unhappy about it. Wasn’t this what she had wanted when she had planned her fateful wedding not so long ago? She had wanted to be with someone who loved her as much as she did him, to have a family, to grow old together. Matt was more than she would have ever anticipated as a potential partner. He was handsome, smart, strong and exotic in a way that no other man could be. There was no doubt that he was the perfect match for her. She finally felt like she was at home, though in a place she would have never expected to find her place.
Chapter Eight
“Tabitha, this piece is amazing. I didn’t know how you would do with an assignment that was so different from your usual work, but it’s incredible,” Sam told her the following week when she returned home.
“Thanks. I enjoyed it more than I can say,” she replied.
“It shows. You look so much happier and healthier than when you left here. I’m glad of that. You deserve that. So, what would you like to do next?”
“Well, that’s the thing, Sam. I’m here to turn in my resignation, effective immediately.”
He frowned at her, his eyes widening in surprise. “What? Why? Is it about money? I can find a way to bump up your pay if that’s what you need.”
“No. It’s not about money at all. I’ve just found out what I really wanted to be when I grew up and I’d like to pursue that.”
“Should I ask what that is?”
“No. Probably not, but you’ll be seeing my name. I promise you that.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but what can I do. Keep in touch and if you ever change your mind, you know I will welcome you back with open arms.”
“I appreciate that. Take care, Sam,” she told him, standing to leave.
Tabitha was careful to keep her rapidly rising midsection covered with the sweater she had draped over her arm. She had been alarmed to discover that shifter babies develop at an alarming rate of speed and that she would give birth in roughly three months’ time, which meant she had already started to develop a slight baby bump even though she was barely more than a couple weeks along. She said her goodbyes and cleaned out her desk before returning to her place.
“How’d it go?” Matt asked as she came in the door.
“It was fine. How did your errands go?” she asked.
“Very well, thank you. You ready to get started here?”
“I certainly am.”
“Then, let’s go,” he said, standing to take her hand in his and walk back to the door with her.
Opening the door, she found Janet standing there with a key in her hand, getting ready to insert it into the keyhole.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were back!” Janet told her. “I’ve been taking very good care of Siniy.”
“Yes, you have and she appreciates it very much,” Matt replied from behind Tabitha.
Tabitha smiled and winked at Janet, who looked around her to see Matt and then smiled happily back at her.
“Janet, this is Matt. We’re headed out and will be gone again for a few days, so please continue taking care of her until we get back,” Tabitha told her.
“I will!” Janet said happily. “Do you mind if I stay a while and play with her now?”
“Not at all,” Tabitha told her, letting her in as she and Matt stepped out the door. As an afterthought, she stepped back inside and whispered softly to her. “Do me a favor when you leave. Take that wedding dress with you and do whatever you’d like with it. I won’t be needing it anymore.”
“You got it,” Janet told her with a broad smile, watching them as they stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind them.
They made their way across town to the small chapel where they had made arrangements to be married. It was a simple ceremony with only them, the officiant and the witness he provided for them. It was a far cry from the elaborate wedding she had planned not so long ago and yet, it was more magical than she could have ever imagined.
“Well, Mrs. Helford? Are you ready to begin your new life?” he asked.
“Absolutely, Mr. Helford,” she said with a smile.
The two of them headed to the airport for a quick trip to Hawaii, where they spent several days just basking in the open air and splashing playfully along the beaches on their honeymoon. Tabitha had no regrets or doubts about their whirlwind romance. It felt like she was finally in the right place with the right person and that was worth more than any amount of time spent getting to know the wrong person might be. Matt felt right and that was all that mattered.
“Isn’t this place incredible?” she said, looking out the window of their bungalow later that evening.
“Wherever you are is beautiful,” he said, walking over to kiss her, his arms wrapping around her waist so that his hand was resting on her growing belly.
“How can you possibly be so sweet all the time?” she asked.
“I’m not sweet all the time,” he replied, brushing her hair to one side and kissing her neck.
“Yes, you are.”
“Yeah? How about this? Does this feel like sweetness?” he asked, biting her shoulder.
“Mmmm, no. You’re right. That’s not sweet at all. It’s incredibly harsh.”
“You like it when I’m harsh too.”
“I like a mixture of the two.”
“Yeah? So, you like it when I kiss you and then bite your breasts?”
“I more than like it. It feels like ecstasy to me.”
“Ecstasy, huh? Let’s just see how that sounds,” he said, reaching between her legs and slipping his fingers inside of her.
She moaned as he explored her wet folds, looking down at her with a wicked grin. She noted how his blue-green eyes seemed to get even darker when he was excited. It was a turn on, just like everything else about him. If there had ever been a perfect man, he was certainly that man. Every day she only found that she fell in love with him a bit more. Her thoughts were interrupted by her own passion, a gasp escaping her lips.
“That’s my girl. Let me feel you drip across my fingers,” he said, slipping in and out of her softly with two digits until she was nothing more than weak putty in his hands. It was the effect he always had on her, which was perfectly fine with her.
Stripping her of her clothes, he removed his own before laying her across the bed. Leaning over her, he held her wrists down with his hands, taking his time to kiss his way up one side of her neck and then down the other before letting go of her arms and moving downward to kiss her legs from toe to thigh. She drew in her breath as his lips found their way to her center, lapping softly at her pink folds as she tangled her fingers in his hair.
He took his time with her, touring her body slowly and gently. His kisses were soft and warm as he planted them on her thighs, teasing her clit and pussy as he passed from one leg to the other. Then he focused on her core, dipping his tongue inside of her, sucking at her clit and probing her with his tongue. Her hips arched upward towards him, aching for more of him as he teased her.
“Please, I want you. Make love to me, Matt,” she begged.
“Not yet. I want to make you squirm. I love watching what you let me do to you,” he breathed against her skin.
“I love the way you make me yours over and over, each and every time,” she moaned, barely able to get the words out as he stroked her clit with his thumb.
“You are mine. Just like I am yours,” he told her, stroking her pussy in all the right places until she couldn’t hold back. Her body contorted as her need built up inside her, her legs shaking wildly as she exploded against his tongue. He lapped at her swollen folds, the effects of her pregnancy already showing in subtle ways.
“Please, Matt. I want you so much. Please,” she begged.
Moving upward, Matt came
face to face with her, looking deeply into her eyes. His fingers traced across her lips, her own scent floating behind them. It was intoxicating.
“I love you, Tabitha. You are everything in this world I have ever wanted,” he told her.
“I love you too,” she replied, feeling like the luckiest woman alive.
Burying his hands in her hair, he leaned in to kiss her, his mouth hungry against hers. She moaned as he entered her, his cock throbbing heavily against her aching folds. Wrapping her legs around his back, she met each thrust with reckless abandon, pulling him further and further into her with each stroke. Their bodies bounced back and forth against one another in the throes of passion.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, driving into her until he couldn’t hold back anymore.
His body convulsed as he exploded inside of her before collapsing atop her, his cock still filling her as their passion faded into peaceful silence.
Later, Tabitha lay in the darkness with her head on Matt’s chest, listening to him breath quietly as he slept. Soon, they would return stateside to finish packing her things and have them shipped to their new home in the heart of India, where they would continue what was now their collective mission. Matt would work to protect the tigers as he always had and she would begin a series of freelance exposés that would show the world just how serious the dangers to both tigers and those who chose to stand by them really were. It was the natural order of things and she had nothing but high hopes for the future of both them, their unborn children, and the tigers.
Epilogue
“Matt, we have to go,” Tabitha said.
“Go where?” he asked, not really looking up from the map he had been studying.
Over the course of the past few months, the two of them had been steadfastly growing closer to exposing the network of rangers, local officials, and poachers that worked in tandem to kill off a great number of tigers.
“To the hospital,” she said.
“They’re coming?” Matt was up like a shot from his chair and by her side in a matter of seconds.