Romance: Menage Romance: The French Quarter Hostages (Paranormal Action Shapeshifter MFM Bear Shifter Romance) (Fantasy BBW Taboo Interracial Love Triangle Werebear Mates Short Stories)

by Jessica Miller

  “STOP, NOW!”

  I couldn’t figure out if he was yelling at the tiger or if he had found the officer lurking in my house, but I was happy he had shown up.

  “CHANGE YOU COWARD!”

  Change? Change what? Jacob was very confusing, but I needed to trust him, he had come to save me. All there was in response to him was more growling, but the tiger was no longer clawing my door, it had vanished somewhere in the upstairs hallway. All of a sudden Jacob was growling back at the beast.

  “Jacob! Run, get out of here, it’s going to hurt you!”

  I tried to warn him, but I must have distracted him instead because the tiger had managed to attack him, I wasn’t sure how badly Jacob was injured but I could hear his scream of pain before I heard a second tiger growling in the hallway. I still don’t know how I could tell it was a second tiger, but I was positive it was. My body began to shake as I listened to a wild fight, the two tigers attacking each other, growling, and making awful sounds that were filled with pain and fear. I continued to hide under the bed, shaking and praying for everything to stop, and for Jacob to be ok for what seemed like forever. It wasn’t until all of the growling disappeared that I crawled out from underneath the bed, I continued to crawl towards the door and pressed my ear against it, figuring I’d hear movement if anything was still out there. When I heard nothing I called out for Jacob, but there was no answer. I slowly opened the door, still crawling across the floor, and called out for Jacob through the open door. There was still no answer, so I opened the door fully and discovered two tiger bodies, bloodied and still laying in my hallway. I pressed myself hard against the door frame, worried they were still going to attack me, but then I noticed only one was breathing, and its breathing was very shallow. I decided to wait a few moments to ensure it wouldn’t attack me if I moved any closer, and while I waited their bodies started to change. Their fur started to fall off, and their paws shrunk in size, their noses shrinking against their face, and their bodies were shaking. I gasped in horror as the dead tiger turned into the officer that had broken into my house, laying there dead with gashes all over his body. I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to muffle my scream as I turned my attention onto the second tiger, it was going through the same change but instead of a stranger, the tiger turned into Jacob.

  “Oh my god.”

  Once in human form Jacob was able to lift himself up at least half way, kneeling on the floor, gripping his stomach where he had a large claw mark going across his body.

  “Tabitha…”

  He seemed out of breath and in pain, but I couldn’t get past the fact I just watched him change from a tiger into himself.

  “Oh my god…”

  “Tabitha, let me explain.”

  He was gasping and coughing up small bits of blood, and I just pressed myself harder into the doorway, trying to keep as much distance as possible between us.

  “You’re…you’re a…”

  “Tiger.”

  “Monster.”

  “No please, Tabitha. Let me explain.”

  I scrambled back into the bedroom and pressed myself against the far wall but I had forgotten to close or lock the door, so Jacob dragged his injured body across the floor to join me in the bedroom.

  “Tabitha, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “He…He…”

  “He wanted to kill you, yes.”

  Jacob was coughing again, having a hard time speaking, yet he tried to explain everything to me anyways.

  “You…Him…Monsters.”

  I was going into shock, but Jacob still tried to reach me with his voice.

  “Tabitha, you’re safe now. He’s dead. Nobody else is going to try and hurt you.”

  “Why? Why did he…why did you?”

  “He thought you already knew, wanted to make sure you never talked. Agh.”

  Jacob shook and groaned, clenching his stomach together as blood formed around his fingers.

  “Go…get out. I don’t…I can’t…”

  “Tabitha, please. Don’t make me go.”

  “GET OUT!”

  I screamed at him, my heart was racing and I was scared there was still danger in my house, I needed Jacob as far away from me as he could go. He groaned and grunted, trying to rise to his feet, he moved a little better once it seemed the blood had stopped leaking from his wound. He stumbled his way out of my bedroom, looking back at me one more time before he walked out.

  “I only wanted to protect you.”

  He sighed and left, I could hear him stumbling down the stairs and heading out the front door.

  *****

  My mind forgot what I did for the several hours between when Jacob left and when I was finally able to move from my small ball on the floor. I uncurled myself and rose to my feet, I walked out of my bedroom and gasped at the dead body still in my hallway. I moved around it and headed downstairs, I grabbed my purse and went towards my car. I slid into the driver’s seat and just sat there, I had planned on spending the night at Maggie’s, I didn’t feel safe staying all alone. I wanted to call her first so I dug through my purse for my cell phone and pulled it out, I noticed I had a text message so I decided to read it before calling Maggie.

  Tabitha. I’ve realized in the short time I have known you, I have fallen in love with you. Please don’t call me crazy, I know how it sounds. I really need to talk to you, and I hope that even after I tell you, you will feel the same. Meet me at the bar tomorrow night.

  Jacob had sent that to me before I was even home from the bar, my heart sank when I realized he must have been talking about the tiger changing thing. I sighed and rested my forehead against the steering wheel, trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. I knew I should go over to Maggie’s like I had originally planned, but I kept repeating the text message over and over in my head. He admitted to being in love with me, and before the tiger thing I was ready to say it right back to him, I had fallen in love with him too. I banged my forehead against the steering wheel a few times to see if I could talk some sense into myself, but it was no use, even as my head was screaming for me to go to Maggie’s and forget the crazy tiger man, my heart was screaming louder, and it screamed that it didn’t matter. I already loved him. I started the ignition and headed out towards the bar, unsure of exactly what I was going to say once I got there, or even how I would find Jacob. I only knew that the bar was close to where his ship was docked, so that had to be where he was headed. I took me no time at all to reach the bar by the docks, I’m fairly certain I was going twice the speed limit the entire ride, but I was determined to get to Jacob before he disappeared for ever. Once parked I climbed out of my car and headed towards the dock, only to be confronted by a group of naval officers, all standing at attention with their arms crossed across their chests. The one in the middle arched an eyebrow at me and gave me a very menacing glare.

  “Can we help you miss?”

  “I’m looking for commander…”

  “He’s not here.”

  “I didn’t even give a name.”

  “He’s not here, and you are not welcome.”

  “If he’s not here, why are you guarding the dock like that?”

  “It’s our duty ma’am.”

  “Where’s Jacob?”

  “Not your concern, ma’am.”

  ‘It is my concern, he’s injured. Where is he?”

  “He’s been looked after, you can go now.”

  I could tell by how the officers were trying to get me gone that Jacob was on the other side of the man barricade. It actually pissed me off that they were so certain Jacob wasn’t my concern, he had been injured protecting me, and I was desperate to apologize for screaming at him and for sending him away.

  “I need to pass. SO excuse me.”

  “No can do, ma’am.”

  “Let me pass, NOW.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  I can’t explain what effect I thought it would have, but I reached up and slapped the of
ficer clean across the cheek and glared at him, standing my ground as our eyes locked together.

  “Let. Me. Through.”

  “I said I can’t do that ma’am, now walk away.”

  I raised my hand to hit him again, this time I was planning on punching him but he caught my wrist and held it up in the arm, forcing me to stand on my tip toes.

  “Do not try and hit me again, ma’am.”

  “Let her pass Rodgers.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The officer immediately let go of my wrist and stepped aside, creating a small space for me to walk in between the wall of men. Standing on the other side was Jacob, almost fully healed, but still painted in blood.

  “You’ve healed already.”

  “A perk to being a monster. What do you want?”

  I swallowed a lump that was stuck in my throat, I could see the hurt in his eyes as he said the word monster and I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

  “I wanted to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  “For the things I said. I was in shock, and scared and…”

  “And?”

  “And I’m in love with you.”

  Jacob blinked at me, closing his eyes and shaking his head before looking at me again, as if he couldn’t believe his ears or eyes.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I’m in love with you. Despite everything that happened, even though I don’t understand how or what you are. I have fallen madly in love with you Jacob.”

  Jacob ran up to me and scooped me up into his arms and kissed me hard. His lips have never devoured me like they had in that moment, as if his mouth was claiming all of me and not just my lips. He twirled me around and squeezed me against him until I was gasping for breath, my lungs threatening to collapse against his tight hold. He let me drop to the ground, but refused to let go of me, his hands still gripping my hips as he stepped back to let me breath.

  ‘Sorry.”

  I gasped and coughed.

  “It’s ok.”

  I smiled up at him, reaching my hand out to caress along his stubble covered cheek.

  “I’m sorry I called you a monster.”

  “I’m sorry I got there too late, if I had made it before he did…”

  “Shh, it’s ok. I’m a big girl, I’ll get over it.”

  Jacob smiled and let go of my hips, his hands moving to caress along my cheeks, his thumb running across my chin and lower lip.

  “Come with me, I want to show you something. Men, you can go get some rest.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Jacob laced his fingers in between mine and led me further down the dock, the men creating the wall with their bodies separated and all headed towards the ship. Once Jacob and I reached the end of the dock, he pulled me down to sit on the dock, our feet hanging over the edge, barely not touching the water. I wrapped an arm around his and interlaced both hands into one of his, rested my head on his shoulder and took a deep sigh.

  “I know you probably have a lot of questions now, about me, about everything.”

  “I do, but I don’t want to ask them tonight. I don’t think I could process anything else tonight, it’s been… a long night.”

  Jacob nodded and leaned his head to the side, kissing the top of my head before resting his cheek on it.

  “It has been, but I’m glad you came to the dock. You have no idea what a sense of relief it was to see you again.”

  I squeezed his hand.

  “Probably just as much as a relief it was to see you not dead.”

  “You thought I was going to die?”

  “The amount of blood, the fact the other officer died…I was scared.”

  “Is it strange I find it comforting that you were scared for me, and not of me?”

  “As strange as anything else tonight, I suppose.”

  We both laughed and snuggled against each other tighter, we stared up into the sky at the glowing moon, enjoying each other’s warmth.

  “The ocean looks so peaceful.”

  “Yeah, you should see it further out, it’s peaceful all day and night, except for when the ships are speeding through.”

  “Not a lot of ships disturb it around here.”

  “No, but over on the other side of the coast, man there is a lot of action. Me and the boys will go days without seeing a calm water.”

  I could hear the happiness in his voice while he spoke about the water and the action his team would see, and then reality came crashing down and I pulled my hands out from between his.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Jacob turned to me, his face looking just as concerned as when I discovered his tiger secret.

  “You’re leaving.”

  “Not forever.”

  “But you’re leaving. You’ll always be leaving.”

  I went to stand up but he gripped my hand and kept me from leaving the floor of the dock, holding both my hands and gazing into my eyes.

  “I am never going to leave you. Not in mind, not in heart, not in soul.”

  “But in body…”

  ‘We’ll figure that out. Maybe I can stay landed for a while.”

  “Do you promise?”

  “I promise we’ll figure it out, together.”

  I nodded and sighed, curling up against his side and rested my head into the crook of his neck. We continued to stare out onto the calm, cool water, watching the small waves rocking against the dock and the night fish peeking up to snatch bits of food from the surface. I was still worrying about the days to come when it would be time for Jacob to go back out to sea, but in that moment, for that night, we had each other and everything seemed perfect.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 14 of 20

  A False Depiction

  Professor Danteridge stands at the podium, his face blank as he clicks through our portfolios. The photos are projected for us on the large pull-down screen, and the current photo is an extreme close-up of a flower. It’s part of another student’s portfolio, a series on flowers, and this one is white, its petals open wide like a parachute, its center true orange.

  “A bush mallow, how nice. Where was this taken, Hector?” Professor Danteridge asks the photographer.

  “In Santa Margarita, Professor,” Hector replies.

  “Superb collection,” Professor Danteridge says. “Simple and elegant as always.”

  Although I enjoyed the pictures of Hector’s flowers, the way each extreme close-up attempted to give the plant a face of its own, it is still nothing I haven’t seen before.

  “And up next we have Vylette’s collection from last week,” Professor Danteridge continues.

  My cheeks instantly prickle. I hate having my work exposed in class, especially when it was so hard for me to even find a topic. I wish I could skip the whole thing entirely, because frankly I feel like my collection is a waste of the other students’ time. I don’t have the opportunity to go to Santa Margarita, or anywhere else scenic for that matter, so I have to work with what is around me in Los Angeles.

  I look away from the screen to avoid seeing my photos. I wonder if the guy next to me hears me groan. There are probably sixty other students in this crowded classroom, and I’ve barely ever spoken to any of them. USC is a huge campus, and even though there are so many creative people here, I can never get up the nerve to ask someone to collaborate. I know I should branch out and try to network or even do some kind of volunteer work, but it’s hard when I have to work all the time to pay for school.

  The little room we’re in feels sterile—just another cookie cutter room with white walls, wobbly tables and chairs that leave streaks on the floors. This is not the place I envisioned myself blossoming as a photographer when I was working at Olive Garden in Detroit. I pictured developing photos from film in a dark room, and tasteful or historical architecture that inspired creativity. Instead, I moved across the country for a room with a generic PowerPoint projector.

  The white screen flashes with a click
from Professor Danteridge and the first photo of my collection illuminates all the faces in the classroom. My heart races, my gut drops. I can’t believe I actually went through with it. To my surprise, nobody says a word. I look around and their expressions—some of them have their lips curled in curiosity, others with a single eyebrow raised controlled surprise.

  Professor Danteridge clears his throat before saying, “Well, Vylette, this is a very interesting…” I finally face the screen while he searches for a description. There it is, a photo of me, sitting on the ground naked, my arms curled around my knees and my face buried between them. In the photo I am sitting in profile to the camera, my body facing the left side of the frame. My sepia brown skin is now just another shade of gray—separate from the walls and the floor, darker than my short, copper hair. Professor Danteridge brings me back to the moment when he clears his throat again, finishing his description. “…Self-portrait?”