The Blind Tiger: An Unusual Paranormal Romance

by Dawn Steele

  “Yes.”

  She mused, “Adeline Petrovski and Daryl Boone.”

  “Yes.”

  “So do I call you Noah or Daryl?”

  “Daryl. It’s who we are now, Adeline.”

  “I guess so.” In so many ways, it was sad. “Are you really a writer?”

  “I am. But I’m an e-book, self-published one. I publish from anywhere in the world without the fear of anyone tracking me through an editor or publishing house. I make plenty of money.”

  He smiled at her, and she could swear that there was a twinkle in his blind eye.

  She laughed. “Sometimes, I have trouble believing that you’re really blind in your human form.”

  “Oh, I am. But there are other ways of seeing, Adeline. Just as there are other ways of hearing, sensing, touching, tasting, and doing everything that we do in our daily lives.”

  “And what do you see for us in the future?”

  His smile broadened.

  “I see a new beginning.”

  BALI

  It took a long time, but Adeline Petrovski and Daryl Boone finally landed in Bali. Karen was bone exhausted. Noah had slept through most of the flight. He needed sleep to heal his wounds, she knew. But she had difficulty sleeping on a plane. She had never flown for more than three hours before.

  When they finally landed, Noah roused himself.

  “Oh, good. We’re here.”

  “Have you been here before?”

  “Yes. Once. That was when I went backpacking around the globe after college.” He smiled wistfully. His jaw wore rapidly growing stubble that she found very attractive.

  “Did your brother come along?”

  “No. We didn’t get along. We never did.”

  Karen was an only child, so she had always wondered what it was like to have a sibling. Having one like Kyle Fisher sounded extreme, however.

  “Was Kyle always this competitive?”

  “I think he was born competitive.” Noah gave a short laugh. “He was certainly born a bully. When he was three, he was beating up on all the kids in our kindergarten.”

  She looked at the people in the cabin around them. They were seated by themselves by the window. Nevertheless, she lowered her voice.

  “Do you live normal lives as shifters?”

  “As normal as we can. We can blend in easily with humans. But we tend to stay close to the woods.”

  “How long have shifters been in existence?”

  “As long as man has been present. There’s a myth that goes back to Biblical times about how we were created.”

  “You mean shifters are in the Bible?” She was astonished. Not that she had ever really read the Bible.

  “No.” He laughed. “Not in your Bible. Our myths are perpetuated by stories and songs carried through the ages. There’s a very old story about a woman who was cast out of her village for adultery. She wandered around the forest for days, foraging nuts and fruits for sustenance. One day, she was attacked by a pack of wolves. The wolf king came to her rescue and took her as his mate. Their union resulted in the first wolf shifter.”

  Honestly, it sounded like a myth. But it could happen, she supposed.

  “After that, when the other animals saw and learned that this could be done, the fiercest and cleverest among them also took other human women as mates,” he continued. “These perpetuated other shifters, and they lived in harmony with ancient man and the other creatures of the forest – the sprites, nymphs, and wood fairies.”

  “Do those exist, too?”

  “I don’t know, honestly. I’ve never seen any, but maybe they stay hidden from us shifters as well as everyone else. Or maybe they died out, like so many species that went extinct with deforestation and the advance of humans into our former territories.”

  “But the shifters never went extinct.”

  “Oh, believe me. Our numbers have been hugely decimated. But we learned to survive by integrating with humans and becoming more and more like them.” He paused. “My mother is human.”

  She smiled.

  They passed through immigration – the second time in twenty-four hours. Karen tensed. Although the forged passports looked authentic in every way, she was afraid of the chance that someone would spot something amiss. But they passed through without hassle.

  “It’s a tourist class hotel for us until we find somewhere permanent to stay,” Noah told her as they lined up for cabs.

  “That’s all we need,” she assured him. “As long as we have each other, right?”

  He smiled. She thought he was missing something. Then she realized what it was.

  “We definitely have to get you a new stick,” she declared.

  “Absolutely. But first, there is something we need to do.”

  *

  The tourist class hotel was as modest as Noah promised. Their bedroom was small but comfortable. Once the door was closed, she suddenly felt shy.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, turning towards her.

  She had only ever been with one man before – Zach. And she would not consider that a normal relationship in any way. Zach had been the one who led her at every step – guided her, commanded her, punished her when he thought she deserved it.

  She studied Noah. She gazed into his melting and unseeing molten chocolate eyes, at the rugged stubble on his chin. His thin nose. His high cheekbones.

  A frog bottled up in her throat.

  “I-I’m not sure what to do next,” she said.

  “You don’t have to do anything, Adeline. Let me lead. It will be different because I’m not Zach, I promise.”

  “Alright.” She had to smile at the way he called her Adeline.

  With that, she relaxed as he kissed her. His kisses were slow and gentle this time. They had all the time in the world now that they weren’t running anymore. He caressed her shoulders, her arms, her back, and her waist. All his movements were languorous and careful. His hands danced across her skin as though she were porcelain. The pads of his fingers soaked in her essence, seeming to see her with senses that transcended sight and touch.

  It was magical.

  She began to breathe in and out deeply. It was like having a massage that aroused all her five senses.

  He kept kissing her. They were searching kisses, which were steadily becoming infused with more and more hunger as they progressed.

  Slowly, he removed her clothes. He peeled off her tee, revealing her breasts. She still did not possess a brassiere that covered her breasts entirely. Both of them would have to shop for clothes tomorrow.

  He knelt down before her to undo the buttons on her jeans. He seemed to know where everything was.

  She slid out of her jeans, and she was naked. She didn’t have time to buy proper underwear yet either – ones that were not crotch-less or bra cup-less. She knew that he could not see her, but his nostrils were certainly flaring. He could smell her. And oh, she was sweaty and she hadn’t washed down there –

  Her hands went down to cup her pussy.

  “I need a shower,” she began.

  “No,” he said huskily. “I like you the way you are.”

  He peeled the two halves of her pussy so that her quivering clit was exposed. Then he began to lick her clit and the insides of her labia. His tongue flickered back and forth, just as his fingers had – dancing over her ultra-sensitive flesh. Exquisite tendrils of pleasure ran all across her mound, causing her toes to curl and her back to arch.

  Zach hadn’t done that to her a long, long time – so long that she couldn’t remember. He said that it demeaned him.

  You’re my slave. I’m not yours.

  She was not going to be able to stand much longer at this rate.

  “Ohhhh,” she moaned. She parted her thighs.

  He pushed her onto the bed, which was still covered with an old but clean bedspread. He spread her legs wider so that he could have better access. Then he speared her vagina with his searing tongue. Paroxysms of pleasure coursed throug
h her. Nerve fibers that she never knew existed screamed in ecstasy.

  “Oh, oh, oh,” she could only moan with heat. Her fingers dug into his hair and she caressed his scalp.

  If only he could see her.

  He licked her copiously. He ran his tongue up and down her clit, and sideways. He parted her labia and sucked those voluptuous wedges. Her creams practically poured from her pussy, and he lapped at this as though it were nectar.

  He licked her clean.

  “I’ll never hurt you,” he repeated.

  Then he gently bit her clit with the flesh of his lips.

  That was when she climaxed. Violently. She arched her back and shuddered pleasurably. He tongued her even as she clutched at his hair and shoulders and back so that her orgasm would continue, tripping into each shudder in a domino effect.

  “Ohhhhh . . . Noah,” she moaned, scarcely aware of herself. Her clit was a heated throb of ecstasy.

  Her muscles continued to contract and relax in waves until she rode her climax through. Her chest heaved and she panted. It had been so long since she had been made to feel like this.

  When her shudders finally subsided, he said, “You’re beautiful, Adeline.”

  “Karen.”

  “Adeline,” he insisted.

  He mounted the bed and straddled her thighs. He seized her hands and placed them against his chest. He was still clothed.

  “You’ve seen me naked,” he said. “I want you to undress me.”

  “But are you well enough to make love to me?”

  “Undress me and you’ll find out.”

  She sat up and took off his shirt. She had taped each bullet wound with gauze. All the gauze pieces were bloodstained.

  “Take off the gauze,” he urged.

  “But we haven’t bought any more.”

  “I’ll take the risk.”

  Gingerly, she peeled off one of the taped gauzes. The revealed flesh was pink and fresh – a fully closed wound that was just growing new skin. She was half-expecting this, but the reality still caught her by surprise.

  “Told you,” he said smugly.

  “Showoff.”

  She removed the rest of the gauze. Every wound was the same – pinkish, round and healed.

  “Will you have scars?”

  “No. After a while, these will go, too.”

  “You’re a god,” she said in awe.

  “I’m only a shifter.”

  He kissed her again. Then he clasped her hand and moved it down to his crotch.

  “Feel me,” he whispered.

  He was very hard.

  He began to remove his pants. She had seen his cock earlier in her house, but it had been flaccid. Now it sprang up – thick and hard and long. He was not as big as Zach, but he seemed to be better made to fit her.

  “Let me suck you,” she said.

  “No. You’ve had enough of sucking.” He held her shoulders.

  She winced, thinking of the scene he had been subjected to back in her dining room. A scene he had felt, not seen.

  “Let me make love to you instead,” he said.

  He gently lowered her down so that she lay flat on the bed. Then he folded her legs so that they were bent at the hips against her torso.

  “I love you,” he said, gazing at her intensely with his unseeing eyes.

  This was what she missed – the love in the sexual act. Noah/Daryl was making love to her, not merely fornicating with her.

  He penetrated her. Because of the angle, his cock went in swiftly and deeply.

  “Oooooh!” she gasped.

  He smiled. “Do you like me inside you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now I’ll take it slow. I want you to enjoy every moment of this.”

  He was as good as his word. He took his time to let her savor the girth of his cock inside her vaginal tunnel. Then he slowly began to move, grinding his hips against her.

  “I love you,” she said, gazing up at his beautiful face.

  “I love you.”

  As he pumped his cock in and out of her, he kissed her lips.

  “I love you,” he kept repeating, reassuring her over and over, as though he knew that she had never heard it enough – all her life. “I love you.”

  They made love this way until they both climaxed, and their bodies and souls were suffused with rapture for each other. Then they spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms.

  *

  Three weeks later, after many nights of making love and a gradual return to peace, Noah asked her, “Will you marry me?”

  She didn’t hesitate this time. “I never thought you’d ask.”

  “Even though you know I’m a tiger?”

  “Especially because you’re a tiger.”

  “Aha, you just want me for my genes,” he joked.

  “You’re a tiger where it matters most.”

  “In bed?” He grinned at her.

  “In your heart.”

  “Damn, I was hoping for the ‘in the sack’ response.”

  “That, too. But I have to careful not to shower you with too many compliments lest you get bigheaded.”

  “I’m already bigheaded. Have you seen me as a tiger?”

  She laughed.

  They kissed, long and lovingly.

  He said, “When I first met you, I knew that you were the one for me.”

  “I knew that you were the one for me, too.”

  It was true. It was as though their fates had collided for them to find each other.

  They embraced happily, ready to start their lives together.

  THE WEDDING

  It was a low-key Balinese wedding, and it happened exactly four weeks after they had arrived.

  Karen had never known that Bali was such a hot wedding destination. There were so many wedding packages to choose from – from the ostentatious to the modest. There were beach weddings, jungle weddings, cliff weddings, and weddings in large, spacious villas. Some went for as low as $US1000.

  They opted for a modest beach wedding.

  It was just the two of them in front of a priest and a floral arch. The waves crashed gently upon the pristine white sand. The air was salty. There were no guests or observers amid the coconut trees.

  Karen was in a simple white dress with a boat-shaped neck. The neck and hem of the dress were studded with delicate white flowers. She looked resplendent and beautiful. Her only regret was that her groom couldn’t see her.

  Noah was in a white cotton suit. He did not wear his dark glasses.

  The priest said, “Would you like to exchange your vows to each other?”

  Noah said, “Yes.”

  He faced Karen. His eyes were shining.

  “Adeline Petrovski, I promise to love and care for you, and I will try in every way to be worthy of your love. I will always be honest with you, kind, patient and forgiving. I will always protect you with my body and spirit. I am completely yours. I love you.”

  Karen had tears in her eyes.

  She said, “You are my protector and friend, my playmate and confidant. You are my greatest challenge and the love of my life. You make me a better and more courageous person that I’d ever thought possible. I am truly blessed to be part of your life. I am completely yours, my partner and lover. I love you.”

  They exchanged rings – simple gold bands carved with each other’s initials and the date of the wedding.

  The priest said, “By the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  Noah’s unseeing eyes were filled with love, as were hers. They embraced and kissed, with their only witnesses being the priest and the sky.

  THREE YEARS LATER

  THE BEACH

  Could life be any more blissful? Karen wondered as she gazed out at the sea with its gently rollicking waves.

  She laid her hand on her swollen belly. She was pregnant again, and deliriously happy. Her firstborn, a delightful little toddler they called Kitty, had learned to
walk with a vengeance and was happily tottering all over the sand.

  Kitty went to a group of older children building sandcastles. The tourists flooded the beaches of Bali at this time of year. They were mostly from Australia, but there were Europeans, Asians and Americans as well.

  Kitty struck down a carefully built sandcastle. The other kids immediately raised a ruckus.

  “Hey!”

  “Stop that!”

  “Go away!”

  Whoops.

  Karen got up as hurried as she could, clutching her pregnant belly.

  “Kitty!” she called. “Now that isn’t nice.”

  Kitty chortled with glee. She was a dark-haired child, one-and-a-half years old and as destructive as they came at that age. She hadn’t manifested any tiger shifter traits yet, thank goodness, or she would really be a handful. But Noah had said that shifter traits usually manifested at puberty.

  “Besides, she’s only one quarter shifter,” he added. “She might not even display the trait at all.”

  Karen lifted the little girl up. “Now what did I tell you about destroying other people’s things?”

  “Bad,” Kitty agreed. “Bad things.”

  “That’s right. It’s a bad thing to destroy other people’s things. Especially when it took them a long time to build those sandcastles.” Karen felt guilty for not getting up sooner, but she really was fat and unwieldy.

  Well, I’m a big, beautiful woman again, she thought. Just as nature intended.

  “Now you have to say sorry to these nice children.”

  She put Kitty down. Kitty stuck her thumb into her mouth.

  “Say ‘sorry’,” Karen prompted.

  The other kids waited.

  Kitty shook her head.

  Karen sighed. Well, she would have to work on that.

  “Sorry,” she said to the kids.

  “Sheesh.”

  “Take better care of her next time, will ya?”

  Yeah. Easier said that done.

  *

  After a nice lunch, they went home.

  Home was a lovely bungalow in Ubud, a prosperous and touristy sector of Bali island. Noah made quite a lot of money from his writing, and the US dollar went very far in Indonesia. Karen supplemented the family income by doing taxes and some contract accounting work for some expatriates. It was strange to think that accounting was what she was trained for, because she never had a job in the field for very long, until now.