"But I bested Samuel," complained Cole. "She's mine."
"We don't work that way here, Cole. And she doesn't want you. You don't like the rules? Try and take me and if you win you can make your own."
Lee did let his purr out. His Mate. So beautiful. So brave. So fine.
Jenna growled low. "And you did not best me. Or Kat."
"What?" snapped Cole.
"Our females mate with who they want to mate with, Cole. We're more than just beasts. We don't forget that."
After a long look at Rex, Cole backed off, hanging his head. Rex petted the kit's head and his belly.
Lee and Jenna shared a long look, then she shifted, padding over to nuzzle at him. He licked her face, easing her aggravation and, hopefully, starting a spark in the kit. Jenna wanted Cole, but the kit would have to prove he wanted her.
Rex said something more to Cole, patting him on the belly one more time before morphing and coming over to them. His Mate growled softly and nudged Jenna out of the way none too gently.
He purred, eyes meeting Rex's dark ones. Oh, there was another spark started...
Jenna complained with a growl of her own and Rex headbutted her, growling getting louder. The message was clear. Mine.
He met the new kit's eyes over Rex's shoulder, rubbing his cheek along Rex's jaw, marking his Mate. Mine. Cole turned away and headed for the stairs. Rex was oblivious, nudging him toward the pile of pillows by the window. Lee almost resisted, almost until he saw Jenna take off up the stairs, rumbling. Oh. Oh, good.
His purr was deep, needy, tail swishing seductively as he moved. Rex's growls were continuous now, warm and needy instead of warning and angry. He licked Rex's chin, nipping, daring, playing. Come get me, Mate.
He could hear Samuel's growl, Kat's happy cry.
Oh, yes. Come get me.
Rex growled and pounced him, sending him down onto his back and following. His paws batted the air for a second before he slid away from the beast, offering his Mate the vulnerable belly and throat of a man.
Rex purred and began to lick him, rough tongue sliding over his skin.
Lee moaned, twisting at the mixture of ticklish and arousing. "Rrrrrrrrrex."
Rex rubbed their checks together and then went back to licking, grooming him with long strokes. His hands found Rex's pelt, scratching and smoothing, finding all the spots his Mate couldn't reach. Loving his Mate. His. Rex just kept purring, kept loving on his skin, eventually lying with that heavy head on his belly, tongue licking lazily at his hips, his thighs, his cock.
"My Mate. Love you. Love you." He was purring, moaning, lost in his Rex.
Rex morphed, a soft kiss sounding against his navel before Rex answered. "Love you, Lee, my Lee."
"Yes. Yours. Kiss me." He tugged Rex up, purring as Rex moved. "So strong. So beautiful. So brave. My Rex..."
"Mine." Rex's mouth closed over his, cutting off his litany with a hot, wet tongue.
He moaned, growling into the kiss, heated all through. He arched up, rubbing his shaft against Rex's, showing his need. Rex growled back, hips grinding down into him. He cradled Rex in between his thighs, pushing, letting the kiss deepen. Wanting. Baiting the beast. Rex growled, shifted, shaft hot and hard and insistent between his legs. He met those eyes, baring his teeth. Then he reached up, started tweaking Rex's nipple, pinching the hard skin. Rex bent and bit at his neck as that long cock pushed into him.
Yes. Yes, Mate. Good. He didn't cry out, didn't have the words for it, but he snarled, voice low and desperate, echoing. Rex's breath was hot and heavy against his neck, his Mate's cock pushing into him over and over again with hard thrusts.
Lee turned his head, meeting Katrina's dark eyes as she panted, moving with Samuel. He roared, proud, strong, sure. His Mate was strong, beautiful. His. Rex's mouth closed over his neck, teeth sinking into his skin, marking him as Rex's own. The sensation pushed him over the edge, seed spraying between them, his cry feral.
Rex humped a few moments longer and then roared, filling him with heat. He leaned up, fastening his teeth against Rex's throat, biting deep. Rex whimpered and shuddered, cock jerking inside him.
"You have a good Pride, Mate. A strong Pride." He lapped at Rex's throat, purring.
Rex nodded. "My Mate did a good job building it."
"I would stand beside you forever, here, with our Pride." Yes. Theirs. Their home. Their family.
"Yes, Mate. Stand with me forever." Rex purred, licking at the marks on his neck.
Lee nodded, chin lifted as he purred. He could smell Katrina and Samuel, could hear the kittens below. Yes. Yes, Mate. "Forever."
Rex purred, slowly morphing, heavy, solid on top of him as the rough tongue began to lick him.
Forever.
It was a good word.
A real word. A Pride word.
He curled beneath his Mate, their tails twining.
Their word.
End.
In the Heart of Tigers
by Julia Talbot and Sean Michael
~Chapter One~
He would never chase the pretty winged ones again.
Never.
Never ever.
He swore on his tail and his claws and his stripes.
Never.
If his Raj would just come now and help because the mans had him in a hard box, a very hard box with tiny sticks that hurt his teeth and shoulder and he wanted Out.
Out.
Outoutoutoutout!
"Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alik!"
His roar was loud as he could make it, his fear so big inside him that it took up everything. He wanted his Rock, his Tree, his Raj. He wanted out to run and pounce and not stay by the badhotbright burning fire and the smelly mans.
Rishi wanted fresh water and running and hunting and grooming and purring.
Oh, he wanted purring so bad.
"Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alik!"
"Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alik!"
Please, Raj. Please hear.
"Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alik!"
The biggest, smelliest meanest man ever came and poked him with a stick and he snarled and swiped and broke the stick before it hurt him. Mean man.
Ugly man.
It was not Right and Good that he be in a box.
Not.
Not at all.
Ever.
"Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alik!"
Oh, Malik. Love. Home. Heart.
Please.
Please hear your Rishi.
~Chapter Two~
Lynn curled up, arms around his legs, face buried in his knees and rocked in place.
He was going to die.
Lord Ledringham was gone.
Not just gone but eaten.
Eaten.
At least that's what the guides had said before they'd fled, the two guards going with them, leaving Lynn alone to bury the remains, such as they were.
He'd been unhappy when Lord Ledringham had first suggested going into India and capturing several animals for the London Zoo. Even more so when his Master had made it clear that he would be going along.
India was hot and humid and his fears and unhappiness had not improved when they'd left the overcrowded city for the wide open spaces. Indeed, he was as trapped by his servitude as that poor tiger was in his cage.
Oh, sweet Lord. The tiger. When was the last time it had been fed? Watered?
He wiped his eyes and stumbled up, finding his Master's machete and stumbling over to the antelope they'd killed. Disgusting. There were flies everywhere and the stench of rotting meat was unbelievable. He chopped a leg off the carcass and dragged it back to camp, throwing it into the cage.
The young tiger just kept roaring, the sound so constant that Lynn could ignore it now. Surely it would tire of caterwauling at some point and give him some peace.
He went down to the river and stood in the water, cleaning the blood and dirt from his hands and then filled the two skins with fresh water. He used one to fill the tiger's water bow
l.
He watched the beast pacing and roaring, wishing it would stop, just for a moment or two. He'd let it go if he wasn't sure it would attack him the moment the gate was open.
He went and sat by the tree again, watching the tiger, trying to ignore the grave of his Master. There wasn't even a proper headstone, but the ground was disturbed there, dry grasses dug away.
He supposed he should dig his own next to it, if he wanted a proper burial. Yes. That would be something to do at least. Taking up the broken bowl he'd used as a shovel, he crawled over to Lord Ledringham's final resting place and began to dig next to it.
His hole was a foot deep and three wide before Lynn realized the clearing was quiet. The tiger had stopped roaring. Blinking, wiping the sweat from his brow, he turned.
At the mouth of the clearing, where the trees swallowed it up, stood the first man he had seen since the native guides had all run off in fear. This man gave native a whole new meaning, as he was nude but for a bit of cloth about his waist. The man watched him intently, saying not a word.
"Oh sweet Lord, preserve me," he murmured. He stood, limbs not quite steady, weak as he was from hunger and exhaustion. He was almost too worn out to be afraid, but the man's stare was quite frightening in its intensity, in the way it didn't seem quite... human.
Perhaps it was the man's looks. Tall, muscular, the fellow had skin the color of beaten copper, and a shock of thick hair that looked dappled in the half light, dark brown warring with bright orange, fading to almost white. The eyes that stared right through him were the most startling thing, however. They were bright blue.
"He..hello." His voice was a croak, barely more than sounds and he cleared his throat and tried again. "Hello?"
The tiger was making the oddest sounds -- almost barking, almost speaking sounds. He shivered, half-stepping toward the man, taking a path that would keep him away from the tiger's cage.
The man spared a glance for the tiger, tilting his head briefly, and the animal quieted once more. "Hello."
He nearly began to cry again, managing not to by biting his lip hard. "Oh, hello. Hello." He took a few more steps toward the man, moving slowly so he wouldn't stumble. "Did the guides send you back for me? Are you here to take me..."
He was going to say home, but really, with Lord Ledringham quite dead he didn't exactly have a home anymore, did he?
The man did not even seem to blink, watching him so carefully. "I am Malik. I will help you get back to the man's city."
The voice was different from the guides and guards, lower in pitch, the cadence different. The tone was more guttural, much less nasal.
"Oh... oh thank you." He started to shake. It was all too much. "What about the tiger?" he asked. "We can't just let him go -- he'll eat us. We can't leave him in the cage though -- it would be cruel."
He was responsible to properly finish Lord Ledringham's task now.
The man, Malik, frowned at him. "I will help you, but for this I ask of you two things."
He blinked. Oh, dear. He didn't seem to have much choice in the matter -- well he did actually -- he could do whatever this Malik asked of him or he could go and finish digging his final resting place.
"W..what?" he asked, voice wavering.
"The tiger must be let go. And when you go back to the man's place, you must tell the Eenglish who will ask that the other man, who you put in the ground," here Malik waved a hand at Lord Ledringham's grave. "Tell them he was not killed by a animal."
"What do I tell them then? That he was eaten by ants?" His voice rose shrilly.
Malik's voice remained perfectly calm. It was maddening. "To my tribe, the tiger is sacred. If you tell the men your Raj was eaten, they will hunt tigers. Tell them he drowned in the river, or tripped over a root and broke himself."
He thought hard -- the men who had run away would contradict him if he said something like that. "I guess I could say he was poisoned by a snake." He nodded to the tiger. "But he's going to eat me if we're still here when he gets out."
"He will not." Malik smiled, and made a low sound, much like a purr. "I will let him out now. You will see."
Before he could even protest, Malik went to the big cage and opened it right up. The tiger ran out, twining around the man's legs, growling and snarling and... nuzzling? Nuzzling? Tigers didn't nuzzle. Malik squatted, taking the big cat's head between his hands and rubbing their noses together. The tiger rumbled, their cheeks rubbing together, slowly, surely.
He was obviously hallucinating now. Probably the heat and the shock of recent events catching up with him. He sat down hard. The man probably wasn't even real. He wasn't even sure the tiger was anymore. He closed his eyes. He thought maybe sleep would be a good idea and thought maybe he could sleep now. Or at least pass out.
***
Malik tried not to be very, very angry with Rishi. It was not the young one's fault that the men caught him. The young one only did what was his nature, and if that was chasing winged bugs, how could Malik fault him for it?
No, it was the men who upset the balance, who made things wrong by catching tigers and putting them in cages. Not that the one that had just crumpled to the ground with a small, soft sound was so bad, Malik supposed. Grudgingly. He had given Rishi food, and water, and was willing to release him.
For now, the man was not his worry. Rishi was, and he ran his smooth man-cheek along Rishi's familiar one, sharing their scents, comforting his frantic mate. Rishi shook and shuddered, panicked little sounds filling the air -- sounds of apology, of need, of faith, of fear, of pain.
He shushed, petting and scratching, nuzzling Rishi's face. He knew he needed to take Rishi off, needed to become his real self and let Rishi lean on his strength, but he could not so long as the man was there.
The wind blew and the cage rattled, sending Rishi spinning around with a furious roar and attacking the cage, leaping and raking at the hated box.
Oh. His poor Rishi. He let his young one vent the rage on the box, vocalizing in soft purrs. Sooner or later Rishi would calm, and Malik would be able to tell him the plan. Which Rishi would not like, as it involved him leaving Rishi in the jungle to take the man to the city
He heard the man, making a soft noise and stir behind him.
"Rishi." He made his voice hard, knowing the young one had to calm. Rishi stopped, whimpering softly, turning to look at him with sorry, sad eyes. "Shhh. You have done nothing wrong. But you will scare the man." Malik held out a hand. The young one slunk up to him, nudging his hand with his nose. Poor, sweet one. Malik purred and stroked, soothing.
"Oh dear Lord, I'm still dreaming."
Rishi growled, shaking, moving closer to him.
"I am dreaming, aren't I?" There was a plaintive note in the man's voice.
Malik kept petting Rishi, but he turned to look at the man. "No. I told you he would not eat you."
Rishi rumbled, lip curling, exposing his teeth. The man whimpered, scooting back until his back hit the tree.
Malik sighed and thumped Rishi's nose. "Be easy, young one." He stood, and made his way to the man. "He will not hurt you."
Rishi began to pace, rumbling, worrying about him being so close to the man.
The man looked past him, keeping an eye on Rishi. "Are you sure? He looks like he wants to eat me."
"He does." The man squeaked, eyes going wide. A low snarl agreed with him, Rishi's head swinging. "But he will not, for I can command him." Malik decided to impress the man with what would surely be believed to be native magic. He turned back to Rishi and held out a hand, growling a short signal to come. Rishi whimpered, eyes flashing from him to the man, but the young one came, pushing at his hand. "There, you see? He comes when I call, and he will not eat you by my order. Even though your men put him in a box."
The man swallowed. "I had nothing to do with that. Really."
"I know that. But does he?" Malik hid a smile. The man was very brave, to talk so when he smelled so strongly of fear. "How soon can you be ready to
leave?"
Rishi went still, listening, trying to understand the foreign man-tongue.
"Leave? Oh. Yes. Now? Can we go now?" The man glanced at Rishi and swallowed again.
"Yes. We may go as soon as you have your things together." Malik absently scratched Rishi's ears. Rishi purred, the sound almost happy, almost right.
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