Her Tiger Twins

by Bonnie Burrows

  Grant might have thrived in the fast-paced life of the city, but Mabel’s struggle to embrace big city living had led her to Barnes Point. While the rest of the world raced towards the future, the residents in her small town enjoyed a much quieter, simpler existence. Sure, they had smart phones and other gadgets that were the staple of modern day life, but there was something simple and laid back about Barnes Point that Mabel had been unable to find anywhere else.

  Coming around the last bend before Samantha’s house, she caught sight of the extra car and slowed. Did Samantha have company? She looked down at her heavy basket, weighing how heavy it would feel if she turned around and went all the way home after walking this far. Too heavy.

  She pressed on, deciding that Samantha’s guests wouldn’t mind if she dropped off the veggies.

  Maybe it’s her publisher, Mabel thought, more than a little excited at the prospect of meeting the man in person. She hurried, eager to unload the heavy basket and meet Samantha’s visitor.

  She knocked on the back door, calling out to Samantha when the unlatched door opened from the force of her knock. She stepped into the house, calling out again and wondering what had happened. It wasn’t like Samantha to leave her door ajar, even if she was expecting visitors.

  The house smelled faintly of bacon and biscuits, and another soft, pleasant scent that Mabel couldn’t identify.

  At least she ate breakfast, Mabel thought, aware that Samantha often forgot to eat when she was deep into a novel.

  She called out one last time, hoping that she wasn’t intruding.

  Following the delicious scent of the meal, she walked into the kitchen and set the basket of vegetables on the counter. The breakfast dishes were washed and in the dish drainer, another thing that was out of the ordinary for Samantha. She was many things, but tidy wasn’t one of them.

  The dishes were dry, meaning that Samantha had been up quite early and left more than an hour before Mabel had showed up; maybe even two hours before. Mabel resisted the urge to put the dishes away. She didn’t want to intrude.

  It was odd, because Mabel spent a lot of time at Samantha’s house and she’d never seen her use the fancy set of plates she’d purchased when she moved in. She usually ate off the same plate, washing it and leaving it to dry alongside her cup and silverware in the dish drainer.

  But there were three plates dry in the sink, plus a mat set out with washed serving bowls drying on the opposite side of the sink.

  “That’s weird,” she muttered to herself.

  Had Samantha had guests over for breakfast? And if so, who came that early to visit?

  Mabel was starting to worry. Was it possible that someone had come to visit Samantha under false pretenses and then harmed Samantha?

  You’re being dramatic, she thought.

  Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look around and make sure that her paranoia wasn’t warranted. She hurried through the hall and into the master bedroom, tiptoeing quietly through the doorway after she peeked in to make sure the room was empty.

  The sheets on the bed were tousled, but she seriously doubted that Samantha was the type of person to make her bed daily. Creeping even closer, it was obvious that she hadn’t slept alone. Did Grant come back to Barnes Point last night and spend the night with Samantha? She thought back to the car in the driveway. It was pretty nice, though its elegance was more understated. Grant usually favored flashy cars, but maybe he owned one vehicle that didn’t stand out and that’s why he’d brought it up the mountain. It made sense, and there were certainly times that blending in would be beneficial.

  She nodded her head in agreement with herself, satisfied that she’d found the answer. Grant was obviously trying to blend in, and maybe even hiding from Mabel how fast things with Samantha had gone. He had to have realized that Mabel would frown upon things getting physical so soon; not because she was a prude, but because she had high hopes for their relationship.

  Mabel stepped into the bathroom, glancing in the bathroom trash as she walked by it. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the contents.

  “At least they protected themselves,” she said out loud. “More than once even, awesome.”

  Her tone was more than a little sarcastic as she rolled her eyes. There were things she didn’t want to know about her brother and her best friend, and how many times they’d done the deed the night before was on the top of the list.

  She left the master bedroom, making her way back through the house. She checked the office and the guest bathroom, but Samantha was most definitely not home.

  I wonder where they went, she thought, standing in the hallway, wondering why she still felt uneasy, even though she’d all but worked out the events of the last twenty-four hours.

  The plates! Why would Grant and Samantha need three plates? Something wasn’t right, and she needed to get to the bottom of it. Samantha and Grant’s lives might depend on it.

  “Okay, now you’re being dramatic.”

  She heard footsteps on the front porch and saw a dark shadow pass in front of the window by the door. Mabel turned on her heel, sprinting down the hall and out the back door. She leaped off the porch, making a beeline for the wooded area to the north of the property. From this direction, whoever was on the front porch wouldn’t be able to see her running for the forest. Once she was shielded by the dense line of trees, she would run parallel to the property until she could see the porch and the hulking figure in the window.

  Her heart was racing, her lungs burning as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She considered shifting, but by the time she shifted and ran the last hundred yards or so to the forest, she’d get there in about the same time as she would on foot.

  She wasn’t even sure if she still knew how to shift; she’d hidden that part of herself for so long, and shifting – like any that took strength – required practice. She didn’t trust herself to be able to shift quickly and she certainly didn’t want one of their neighbors looking out the window and seeing a lion running through a field like a scaredy cat. Mabel reached the tree line quickly, ducking into the woods a few yards before she found a small animal trail that ran parallel to the forest’s edge to follow.

  She circled around to the front of the house, sucking in deep breaths and willing the pounding in her ears to quiet down so that she could hear the woods around her. She walked quickly and carefully, setting her feet down deliberately to avoid making any sounds.

  The man was probably still on the porch, but if he’d caught a glimpse of her somehow while she ran, it was possible that he’d rushed into the woods ahead of her to intercept her while she had been focused on the forest behind the house.

  I’ve gotta quit reading Samantha’s stories, she thought, it’s making me paranoid.

  She almost laughed at herself, but decided against it. There was a chance, however slim, that she wasn’t being overly cautious, and that her fears were rooted in reality. Until she knew for sure, she would operate under the assumption that she was right.

  She crept along until she could see the front porch, and the large, blue Ford Transit parked in front of the house. She crouched down in the bushes, afraid that he might see her, even this far away. A large man was getting back in to the van, which was still running. He backed up and turned the wheel and it was then that she saw it.

  C & C Florists.

  “You’re such a ninny,” she admonished herself.

  She looked across the distance to the porch and could just see the rather large floral display sitting on the porch in front of the door. Of course, it was a delivery and nothing more alarming than that.

  She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was just flowers.

  Mabel stood slowly, working her way through the dense brush towards the house when movement caught her eye to the east. Somebody was in the trees, heading for the entrance near the back of Samantha’s property. Mabel couldn’t make out who it was, but she could definitely tell that it was at least two people; possibly more.
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br />   “This just gets more and more interesting,” she said quietly.

  She hoped it was Samantha, but she couldn’t be sure. Just in case, she stayed hidden in her spot, eyes fixed on the trailhead in the distance, waiting for whoever it was to come out of the forest.

  *

  Samantha’s eyes were half-closed, her lips parted as she leaned into kiss Jacob. She was tentative at first, feeling bold for making the first move, and a little excited. Jacob responded to her touch, shoving his hands into her hair and cupping her face.

  She pulled back, searching his eyes, wishing she knew what he was thinking. Deciding that hearing the truth might be painful, she decided against asking. They didn’t owe her anything, and they hadn’t come into this looking for more than a bed buddy. And neither had she.

  She turned away, looking off into the distance and the giant peak of Mt. Olympus in the distance. Jacob’s hand was on her cheek in an instant. She leaned into his tender touch, sighing heavily.

  “What?” Jacob asked softly.

  “This place is just so beautiful. I’ve never been this far up the mountain before.”

  “Is that all?” he pressed.

  He turned her head, giving her no choice but to look in his eyes.

  “I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “Is it something you want to remember or that you’re trying to forget?”

  “A little bit of both,” she laughed. “It’s complicated.”

  “What if we give you something to remember about this day, and this moment? Would that help?”

  Boy, would it ever, she thought.

  “That would be wonderful,” she said, and meant it.

  Having something to take her mind off the not too distant future was exactly what she needed.

  “Good. Because I saw something not too far from here, and I thought it would be fun.”

  Jacob’s eyes twinkled merrily. Samantha was intrigued.

  Jacob grabbed her hand, tugging her up out of the grass and pulling her along behind him as he ran along the stream. Samantha caught Dylan’s eye, but he just shrugged, jogging easily beside his brother. He smiled at Samantha and winked, apparently unperturbed by being left in the dark about Jacob’s plans.

  The sun warmed them as they ran across the meadow, each twin holding one of Samantha’s hands. The tree line narrowed around them, until the open space was less than half of what it was at its widest point. About a hundred yards ahead, the trees appeared abruptly from below, creating the illusion that their tops floated freely in the air.

  She heard the crashing water before she saw it, the tiny outcropping of rocks that welcomed the stream into its arms. The trip stopped just short of the edge of the grassy meadow, and Samantha gasped at the beauty below them.

  The stream rushed down stone smoothed by time, forming a natural slide right down the middle of the stones that rose on either side. At the end of the slide, the water tumbled no more than ten feet into a deep, clear pool of water before spilling over and continuing its journey down the mountain.

  “Have you been here before?” Dylan asked.

  “No, but I know what it is. It’s the Hidden Pool. The local legend is that you can never find it twice.”

  “I bet you I could,” Jacob said, pulling his shirt over his head and kicking off his shoes.

  He bent down, testing the smoothness of the rocks before kicking off his jeans and tossing them aside.

  “I’ll go first,” he declared, stepping into the stream and sitting down on the top of the natural slide.

  He grabbed a boulder on either side of him, launching himself down the chute, the speed of the water propelling him even faster. He was flung off the end and into the air, where he tucked and executed a perfect entry into the water.

  “Does he always do everything so perfectly?” Samantha joked. “He made that look easy.”

  “Are you scared?” Dylan asked, undressing quickly and taking his place at the top of the slide. “If you’re scared, you can ride on my lap.”

  He winked at her, but didn’t wait for her to answer before he took off. Samantha watched him go. Laughing heartily when he shot into the air and curled into a tight canon ball, hitting the water with a resounding splash.

  Samantha was still giggling as she undressed, eager to join in the fun. She had a moment of fear, but she pushed it aside, grabbing onto the sides of the rocks and pulling herself forward with every ounce of her strength. The rushing water whipped her down the pipe, and before she was ready, she felt the bottom drop out and she was sailing through the air.

  She couldn’t see the water below her, only the clear, blue sky overhead. She panicked flailing her arms and squealing as she tumbled towards the water. She took a deep breath an instant before her feet hit the icy water, and she struggled not to gasp.

  It was forever before her body slowed and her frantic kicks towards the surface finally sent her in the right direction. She could see the sun above her, and knew she couldn’t be too far. Lungs burning, still kicking with all her might though she hadn’t broken the surface yet, she felt a strong arm wrap around her wrist and yank her up. She breathed deeply when the air hit her face, sputtering and laughing when one strong arm closed around her waist and pulled her close.

  “The water’s deep and there’s a hell of a drag,” Dylan said, holding her steady for a moment before he let her go to tread water beside him.

  “That was crazy. I felt like I was kicking forever. But it was fun.”

  “We thought you might be panicking,” Jacob said, treading water just behind Dylan.

  “I did, for a moment. I just wasn’t prepared for how high I was, and not being able to see the water on the way down didn’t help. And it was so cold when I first hit it.”

  “But you loved it?” Dylan asked, swimming towards the shallower water.

  She followed him, breathing an inward sigh of relief when her feet finally touched bottom. The water was still up to her shoulders, but at least she could touch the smooth rocks along the bottom.

  “I totally did.” Samantha smiled at him and Jacob. “This has been the most amazing twenty-four hours.”

  She trailed off, not knowing what else to say. She wished it wouldn’t end.

  “We’re not done with you yet,” Dylan said.

  His hand brushed her hip beneath the water, grabbing her and pulling her towards him.

  “Not done?” she repeated.

  She watched Jacob moving around behind her, but Dylan’s hands were already on her, distracting her. Running his hands up and down her hips and waist beneath the icy water felt decadent, the heat of his body in stark contrast to the water surrounding them. She felt Jacob move up behind her, his naked body pressed against her, arms, wrapping around her and under her arms.

  “We don’t have protection,” she muttered.

  “We don’t need protection,” Dylan said.

  “This isn’t for us, it’s just for you,” Jacob whispered in her ear, kissing her neck and earlobe.

  She shuddered in his arms, her flesh covered in goosebumps. Head falling back on Jacob’s shoulder, her body floated so that most of her hovered just below the surface, but in plain view. She caught a glimpse of Dylan’s smile before she closed her eyes, giving herself to the moment and whatever they had planned.

  She felt safe in Jacob’s arms, the moments of panic from earlier completely gone in their presence. Never before had she felt so protected; it was exactly what she’d envisioned in her fantasies about being taken by a shifter.

  Exactly.

  Samantha’s legs floated on either side of Dylan’s hips, his rough hands stroking the length of her bare legs slowly, working the last of the tension out from their love-making the night before. Within minutes, her legs felt limp and useless, her body so relaxed that she was on the verge of drifting off to sleep...until Dylan’s hands slid up between her thighs, parting her legs to reveal her heat. She moaned softly when his fingers dipped into the folds of her sex, qu
ickly finding the hardened nub between her legs and working it in tiny, unhurried circles.

  Jacob, still holding her from behind, had slowly worked his way to her breasts without her noticing until his thumb raked across her tender nipple, bringing it to a hardened tip and drawing another moan from Samantha’s lips.

  The pair of them worked her in unison, strumming her sun-warmed body until she was writhing uncontrollably in their arms. She whimpered, her need too much for her. She was so close, and every time her body felt like it was about to fly apart, they backed off, letting her heat cool for a moment before they worked her up again.

  They were teasing her, expertly teasing her towards the brink without letting her fall over. Her breath was coming in quick gasps now, her soft pleas just gibberish tumbling from her mouth in soft whispers so that even Samantha had no idea what she was saying.

  Dylan stroked her roughly, pushing her to the edge once more, but this time, he wasn’t able to hold her back. Samantha cried out, bucking and trembling in their able hands. Head thrown back, dark tresses floating in the clear water behind her, her body felt as if it were on fire in spite of the icy water surrounding her. Jacob’s hands squeezed and played with her breasts while Dylan stroked the last of her orgasm out of her. She collapsed against them, floating freely in the water, the sun’s rays deliciously warm against her bare skin.

  She drifted off to sleep for a moment, feeling entirely at peace with the world.

  Soft lips at her temple woke her, and with a start she realized that Jacob had guided her into shallow water.

  “We have to get going,” he said.

  He kissed her cheek and pulled her against him so that her feet set on the bottom. They were just above waist deep, near the gentle slope that made its way back up to the meadow. Dylan was already halfway up the slope, headed straight for the pile of clothes they’d left beside the back pack.