The Tiger's Baby: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (6 page)

She didn’t even flinch when his fingertips reached over the lip of her panties and pulled them down as well. Working with studious effort he found another set of towels and tossed them into the microwave for thirty seconds. Kristen made a cooing sound as he wrapped them around her legs and abdomen. His face was grave as he stoked the fireplace in the corner again and started to boil water for tea.

Despite the circumstances, it was relaxing to watch him work. Her anger at him had not subsided, but it had been put aside for the time being.

“Here, drink this,” he said, helping her up with a strong hand flattening against the small of her back. His hand was like a warm kindled fire, and she wished he’d hold her closer. She didn’t feel like drinking but made every effort to swallow down the hot lemony tea. “How do you feel? A little better?”

“Better,” she confirmed, “but tired.”

“Finish the tea,” he urged, cupping it toward her. She felt impossibly frail in his arms, but did as she was bid, enjoying the fragrant citrus of it. It seemed to waken her, enliven her senses, and the memory of the stranger in the rain returned.

“I have, have to tell you,” she murmured quietly, and he touched her forehead.

“No,” he said, “no, I have to tell you, Kristen. The reason that I wasn’t at Oso when I said I’d be, I haven’t been completely honest with you. You asked me what it was like to grow up here, as the only Shifter of my kind. That’s not entirely true. I wasn’t lying when I said I’m the only Shifter in Nelson now… but it wasn’t always like that.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, putting the tea down. Some of the color had returned to her cheeks, and even Nancy had crawled out of her favorite hiding place and settled herself on the other side of the couch, purring.

“When I was younger, I was…” Rodney tried to search for the word, and reluctantly continued, “…I guess, I was a delinquent. I never knew my father or mother, but another Shifter took me in, an old Tiger named Craven. He took all of us in, my brothers and me, other Tigers and Panthers that had been abandoned, or had run away from home. We all had different stories; it didn’t matter. Craven was like a father to us, taught us how to survive.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this?” she shook her head.

“I didn’t want to scare you. And it’s not who I am anymore, I thought I’d put it in my past, where it belonged,” he shrugged, aware that it wasn’t really an excuse. “We settled here, or rather on the north shore. Craven had a farm there, and we all did our chores. It was a good life, but rough… especially for me, being one of the younger ones. But Craven protected me from the others – he liked me, because I was smart, clever. I could figure things out better than the others. We spent hours every day in Form, running up and down the paths behind the house, sometimes going for a week at a time, hunting when we needed to. It was… it was liberating, Kristen, to be able to be a Tiger, in Form, for days at a time. I loved it.

“Then one day Craven died. It wasn’t really a surprise to us. He’d been sick for a long time, and for us, death wasn’t a particularly foreign concept. But it meant we were alone, all of us. One of my brothers, the oldest of us, Theo, took over. We all followed him without thinking about it.”

She could see that it was taking a toll on Rodney to recount his story, and touched his cheek. His eyes were still distant, reliving a memory he had been avoiding for too many years. He put an arm on her shoulder and struggled through the rest of his narrative.

“We stole from surrounding houses, things we needed. It was easy to break in, and easy to break out, especially for us. When we were hungry, we’d terrorize the town, and there was nothing they could do to stop us. They brought in animal control officers, as if they could contend with Shifters. We were fools, all of us… for following Theo,” he said, “but it only got worse. He ordered us to kill the livestock from the surrounding area – we needed meat, and he wanted to make the farmers afraid of us. They’d always shunned us anyway, and he wanted revenge. But one day, things got out of hand. I was off on a raiding expedition, and didn’t learn the facts until later.

“Theo had tried to attack one of the banks in town. A security officer had pulled a weapon on him, and fired. The bullet had only grazed Theo, and he could have run away, no harm done… but he was always angry, always temperamental. The security officer didn’t have a chance, he bled out from a dozen wounds on his chest.”

“Rodney, my god,” Kristen said, bringing a hand to her mouth.

“After that, I saw Theo for who he truly was – I knew I had to get out. But he wanted to control us. Still, the police were now getting suspicious and he knew we couldn’t stay at the farm. He took the others north, but I chose to stay… I couldn’t be a part of his gang, not after that day.”

“That’s why you became a paramedic,” she said solemnly.

He nodded. “I know it can never make up for what I’ve done but-”

Kristen reached out and touched his cheek, and the towel fell away from her body. Her left breast touched his elbow and he closed his eyes. “You didn’t kill anyone, Rodney. You did the right thing, you left – and whatever you might’ve done, you’ve made up for it by saving all the lives since then. Look at me,” she pleaded.

“I should have told you. But I had to be sure,” he hesitated. “These recent killings, with farmer’s livestock, when I first heard about it, I had hoped it was just a rogue animal. But the more I’ve seen, and the fact it’s continued… I had a feeling, maybe Theo had returned. Today I visited the old farm, on the north shore, to make sure there were no Shifters present.”

“What did you find?” she pursed her lips, even though she knew she was stalling for time.
I have to tell him about the stranger;
she felt the tug of it like a fish-hook under her collarbone.

“Nothing,” he said, “at least, nothing to suggest Theo and his gang had been using it for a very, very long time. But I can’t shake the feeling.”

“Tonight, before you found me,” she cut him off, and her words were like a warm knife entering a cold piece of butter, bearing down on its yellow core, “I was attacked. It wasn’t a mugger, or some crazy… he… he knew your name, Rodney! He told me you were going to pay… that you needed to meet him at the ‘old place’… or something.”

Rodney stiffened like a statue, and his eyes sunk back into his head, mortified. His hands tightened on her naked shoulders and she was reminded of the steely grip the stranger had planted on the same place and flinched. He noticed and quickly let go of her, holding his hands in front of him as if discovering them for the first time – as if they didn’t belong to him at all, but to some beast within.

“What,” he had to stop and take another breath, “what did he look like?” She tried her best to describe the figure that had threatened her, and as she did, Rodney’s face grew darker and darker until he finally held up his hand. “It’s him,” he said solemnly, “but… I don’t know why, why he’d come back after all this time. There’s nothing for him here. And revenge on me is hardly worth the effort, we were children back then.”

Kristen pulled her legs up under her so she was hugging them and felt her stomach again, just below her navel. Theo had threatened her, but more than that he had threatened the life of her child. She felt another jolt of fear wrack her body, but could only pull her knees tighter against her. Rodney put a hand behind her neck, and kissed her head again.

“Listen to me,” his voice was low, gravelly with the cold rain that had soaked through his clothing as well, but he hardly seemed to notice it. He had put all his focus, all his attention on his mate. “I don’t know what Theo wants, but he will
never
touch you again,” Rodney promised.

Maybe that’s all she needed – just to hear the words, to feel his breath against her. She collapsed against him again, more out of exhaustion than anything else, and Nancy made a jealous meowing sound as she jumped off the couch and scooted away. Outside, the rain started to come down again, ricocheting off the metal roof. The explosion of their drops was like a continuous shush across the lake outside.

She reached toward him, slipping her hand up his shirt. Her fingers enticed the muscles of his abdomen, and slid slower, until two of her fingers were hooked on the top of his jeans. He took her meaning, but his face was still etched with concern

“Are you sure… that’s a good idea? You still look weak,” he said, although his voice had lowered to that frequency which suggested he was already captured by her sexuality.

“Who you calling weak?” She smiled. “Say that again after we’re finished.”

She drew him down towards her, and only Nancy seemed to be in opposition, hissing from under the kitchen table again.

CHAPTER SIX

The blanket fell away and opened like a present, and inside Kristen threw up her arms. Rodney leaned over her, his shirt already half open, and caressed her breasts, massaging them. She was used to his touch now, and let out a gasp as her nipples straightened, bristling under his rough palms. His mouth sought out her chest, and he began to kiss her, arching lower and lower as his hands gripped her pelvis. His fingers wound under her buttocks, and she scooted up the couch so she could look down at him.

This is the first place we made love
, she thought, and instinctively bit down on the corner of the blanket as Rodney’s progress licked over her navel. She squirmed against him and cupped her own breasts, pulling on her nipples harder. Part of her could hardly believe the woman she had become. She remembered hours ago in the office, she’d been dreaming of this moment. It wasn’t just lust, she realized, but a heightened sense of wanting to belong.

“Lower,” she murmured, tilting her head back and pressing both breasts together.

Rodney was already on his way there, and his hands firmly held her groin in place, even as she tried to wiggle away. Although they’d practiced many different positions, it was the first time he had eaten her out, and she was literally tingling with the excitement of a new experience. She closed her eyes tighter, imagining his tongue trailing over the small mound of pubic hair.

Kristen opened her legs wider, allowing him a better view of her own sex, and lifted one knee up. Rodney let out a satisfied sigh as his nose touched her pubis and his tongue plied apart her labia, looking for the inner warmth of her cavern. When he found it, she let out a silent scream again and tried to wriggle free. His tongue was like fire, moving up inside her and she groaned and splayed her fingers through his hair as he went to work.

“Yes, oh god, yes… like that, like that, Rodney,” she said, guiding him over her.

He lifted up one of his hands and inserted it, twisting it against her vagina until she yelped. His mouth went higher and found the inflamed nub of her clitoris, a tiny red eye slipping out of its sheath. She felt her whole body convulse as he wrapped his lips around it and sucked hard, causing her to lift her stomach outward.

“Mo-more… make me cum,” she pleaded.

Rodney’s finger began to penetrate her harder, and she looked down and heard the squelching sound of her own orgasm approaching. She was soaking wet, and Rodney’s chin and lips were drenched in her own fluids. She could smell it, an earthy scent that bored into the air. Both of her inner thighs were sweating with the effort.

In a final gesture, he shoved in two fingers, and her pelvis lifted away from him, tightening around it as her climax struck with all the force of a lightning bolt. She made a low moaning sound, her mouth opened and white teeth flashing, and both her arms curled up as if she didn’t know what to do with the flood of sensation. Another gush of hot flood pooled at her vagina, and Rodney came up and kissed her hard as he massaged her vulva.

“Unh, thank you,” she said, still twisting her muscles.

“You don’t have to thank me,” he whispered.

Her hands were already fumbling blindly with his pants. Again, she surprised herself. It was like she was insatiable. She couldn’t tell if it was because of the pregnancy, the influx of hormones, or if it was due to the traumatic experience she had only just undergone. All she knew was that she wanted him, desperately.

Rodney struggled out of his pants and she slid her feet over the side of the couch and pushed him down. His eyes were wide with surprise – he had known about the passionate nature of Shifters, and most especially Tigers, but it was quite another thing to be face to face with a naked Tigress. She held both his shoulders and let out a low wild growl as she clambered onto his lap, straddling him. His penis was fully erect, a throbbing pillar flattened against his own abdomen. She reached down, sliding her hand over the slick organ, and he grunted with uncertainty.

“I want you, Kristen,” he murmured, “I want you.”

She grinned and directed the tip of his member toward her, and exhaled loudly as it jutted against the divot in her legs. He reached out, stroking the fur of her pubis, and found it still damp with her own excretions. Kristen opened her mouth in a plaintive look of pleasure as his penis slipped into her, stretching against her vagina.

“Then have me,” she murmured, balancing on him. She began to gyrate her hips against him, lowering herself further. She was incredibly tight, even now, despite both of their combined lubrications, and Rodney reached out to take hold of her thighs.

The two of them began to rock against each other like undulating waves, their flesh mingling in a passionate embrace of ecstasy. Despite the hunger that fed both of them, neither was in a hurry. Both of them wanted the moment to last as long as possible. Kristen began to gyrate harder, lifting herself off of him and back down again, forcing him deeper inside. His penis brushed against her G-spot and her nails dug into his shoulder blades.

Rodney reached up, fondling her breasts, and let his hands move lower, until he found her clitoris and pinched it between two fingers. It was almost too much for her and she quivered, leaning back so that her chest gleamed in the firelight of the stove.

“Unnhh,” she bellowed.

But it was Rodney who came first this time, his hands tight as vices on her hip bones, and he bucked up into her with a series of short staccato grunts. She felt his seed erupt against her, as he had done the first time they made love, and it was just as exhilarating this time. She struggled to stay on his lap, even as he came in a perpetual flow that was almost agonizing in its ecstatic warmth.

Her legs shook as her second orgasm came, strong and vivid, a pulsing, like a star in the farthest realm of her mind. She gasped and fell forward onto Rodney, her black hair a messy mask again, betraying the Shifter underneath only through the steady panting of her breath.

Gently, Rodney leaned down and kissed her again. It was his tendency, and something that seemed preternatural, almost idiosyncratic, to the rest of his nature. There was a gruffness to him, an exterior hardness that appealed to every woman he met but it was only in these intimate moments when a sincere gentleness revealed itself, like a fallen leaf touching the surface of a pond without disturbing a ripple.

Kristen slid off of him and turned around again, letting him wrap his arms around her chest and stomach, and cooed pleasantly with the feeling of touch. She remembered back to the day when she had first told him that she was pregnant, how she had prevented him from saying those three words that had caused her to fear getting close to someone. They didn’t seem so scary now.

“I love you,” she finally whispered.

Perhaps Rodney was surprised by the confession, but he only kissed her neck again. “I love you, too,” he replied, “but you already knew that.”

“Yes,” she said, smiling a Cheshire grin that would have put Nancy to shame.

***

The morning came in the form of great discernible shapes of cloud roiling off the hills, Leviathans that plummeted over the steep green summits and lost themselves in the lake. Here and there, patches of blue seemed to promise sun, but it was a very hesitant light that managed to break its way through. The huge rainstorm the previous night had caused flooding, and as Kristen and Rodney huddled over their toast and coffee and watched the news report, a montage of different parts of Nelson displayed on the screen. Some houses had been flooded entirely, there were pictures of rivers streaming down the roads, and the wind had torn the roofs off of some buildings, brought down tree branches on others.

“Guess we got lucky,” Rodney said, checking his pager.

“No emergencies last night, though?”

“Well, I wasn’t on call… but even so, I didn’t hear any sirens,” he set his coffee cup down and wrapped an arm around her. “You feeling better? I thought for sure I was going to have to perform CPR on you if you went hypothermic on me.”

“I could use some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,” she joked, pointing to her lips.

Rodney pulled her close and kissed her, and she giggled. On the TV the news report suddenly changed, and the Kristen had to pull away from him to overhear what they were talking about.

“-missing since yesterday. She was found on one of the bike paths near the top of town by the cemetery. Police say she was unconscious, and was suffering from multiple lacerations and bruises. She is currently in acute care, and any information regarding her assault should be brought to the proper-”

Kristen let out a gasp and almost spilled the huge teapot on the counter. Rodney reached out with viper quick reflexes and caught it before it crashed. When he looked up at the TV he saw what had alarmed her. A still photograph of Gloria was plastered on it, smiling her perfect smile.

“Gloria, no,” Kristen said, standing up. She was still naked under her blanket and stampeded upstairs, rifling through a fresh pair of clothes by the time Rodney had managed to catch up with her. “No, no, no!”

“Wait, Kristen, settle down…”

“I can’t settle down!” she almost screamed.
Gloria in the hospital?
She felt panic overtake her as she looked around the room, stuffing spare clothes into her backpack. “I have to go see her, right now.”

“I know,” Rodney said, clamping a hand on her shoulder. “I know. I’ll take you.”

She had never been in the hospital before, and was a bit daunted by the huge automatic doors and the off-green fluorescent lighting that droned everything in a terminal glow. The smell of antiseptic was ubiquitous, and even in human Form it was almost overbearing. When she entered, she realized she didn’t have any idea of where to go, but Rodney pulled ahead and chatted up the main secretary behind the desk.

“She’s on the fifth floor. I don’t know if we can see her yet, but I’ll try to get you in,” he promised as they entered into the elevator and it started to hum. Her fingers found his, and he squeezed them.

Gloria’s room was nearly empty, save for another elderly patient who was dozing quietly. She was unconscious when Kristen crept into the room. Rodney vied to stay outside to make sure she wasn’t disturbed. Her footsteps seemed perilously loud as she crossed the tiles to where her best friend was hooked up to an IV and had an oxygen tube attached to her nose. The window blinds were open, giving a view of the park below.

Kristen choked, and tried to keep herself together as she took a seat and held Gloria’s hand. It was cool to the touch, like she’d held her hand out the window of a moving car. There were a number of cuts on her face, and one eye was bruised shut.
What the hell happened to you?
Kristen thought. She felt guilty for not having called her earlier, for not checking up on her when the storm had hit. If Rodney were there, he’d tell her it wasn’t her fault and that she had nothing to fear.
It doesn’t change the way I feel
.

Gloria stirred suddenly, her eyes squinted like she was following some nightmare into waking, and her eyes opened weakly.

“K-Kristen,” she breathed, confused.

“Yeah, yeah! It’s me, hey, don’t speak so much, okay?” Kristen looked up and saw Rodney through the window of the door nod and disappear, looking for a nurse. “How you feeling, Tiger?”

“Like… like hell,” Gloria said. “Wh-where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, dear. Someone found you… on a bike trail, above the cemetery. You were unconscious, hurt. Do you remember what happened?”

Gloria looked at the ceiling, her one good eye trying to relive the events, but they were blurry. She sniffed. “I… I was in Form… don’t look at me like that; it was perfectly… safe. No one was there and the trails are abandoned. But… it was, a good place to turn into a Tiger, to stretch my legs. I remember clambering over some rocks.”

“Did you fall?”

Gloria shook her head. “No, no,” she groaned, “there was another smell, something… something familiar, but still alien. I followed it, curious. You… you know me.”

“I know you,” Kristen said, wiping away a tear and stroking Gloria’s forehead.

“I… I remember coming over a small knoll. The smell was strong, and I heard…” her eyes suddenly widened and her hand snaked out and grabbed Kristen’s in an icy snare, “…I saw them, Kristen! There were too many… too many.”

Kristen felt a lump grow in her throat, something she couldn’t swallow around. Gloria was shaking again, and she had to pry her fingers loose from her wrist. “Shhh, it’s okay, now… you’re safe,” she said. She looked back at the window, saw one of the nurses preparing to come in. “Just tell me… what was it, what did you
see
?”

Gloria’s gaze was like Medusa, and it froze Kristen’s blood. “I saw
them
,” she muttered, with a newfound coherency, “a whole pack of Tigers. Tried to get away.” Gloria shook her head and fat tears began to roll over her round cheeks and she closed her eyes, settling back down into the sheets. It was as if the memory had deflated her, and she passed out again.

Just then the nurse came in and gave Kristen a fiery gaze. Rodney stood at attention behind, until she finally pulled away from the bed and buried her head against his chest.

“I know what happened to her,” she said in a voice only Rodney could hear, but when she turned to look at him he was looking at someone he didn’t recognize. Her face was hardened, carved into an expression of tempered hate and vengeance. The smooth lines of her cheeks had become angular, and her eyes were narrowed to spear heads. “It was Theo,” she muttered “She accidentally stumbled on where he was hiding, and they tried to kill her for it.”