Petting Them: An Anthology of Claw-ver Tails

by Tate James

  What kind of home would three tigers have? A nest of grass? Maybe a cave?

  “We have food and drink,” Dharius said in that incredibly low voice.

  My stomach immediately growled like I hadn’t eaten in weeks. Though there was no way in hell I’d eat a bloody hunk of raw meat.

  Marak huffed out a laugh and wrinkled his nose, evidently a tiger smirk. “At least your stomach is in agreement. We can begin this story as we walk. Or you can ride one of us, if you’d like. Though our home isn’t far.”

  Ride a freaking ginormous tiger?

  Um.

  YES.

  When would I ever have the chance to ride a tiger again?

  “Sure.”

  Marak’s eyes flared wide and his mouth sagged open, revealing his huge fangs again. But this time I wasn’t scared. I actually laughed. I couldn’t help it. His reaction was too comical to be alarmed.

  “Me,” both Dharius and Kazhar said at the same time.

  I half expected them to start wrestling and fighting, but they stared at each other over my head for several long moments. Long enough for me to look at one and then the other and back. To my surprise, the bigger one looked away first.

  Kazhar stretched out low to the ground so I could climb on his back. “My lady, be my guest.”

  “Why don’t I get a chance?” Marak grumbled.

  Even though the tiger was lying flat on the ground, I had to hop up on my stomach and wriggle around until I could sit up on top of him. The fur on his back was sleek and not as long as the fluffy belly hair, so I couldn’t really hold onto much.

  “Because she slept on you,” Kazhar retorted as he carefully stood up.

  I still started to slide off, but the bigger tiger stepped closer and braced his head against me, nudging me back into place.

  The tiger’s back was surprisingly wide. He really was the size of a horse, or at least what I imagined a horse would feel like. He slowly started walking, and the other two tigers took up position on either side of us. Hopefully if I slipped, they’d catch me again.

  The trees closed in on us, blocking out the colorful strange sky. It was dark and cool beneath the trees, even though they’d said it was midday. I was glad for my thermal pajamas. How embarrassing would it have been to wake up buck naked surrounded by tigers?

  “Dhalmaria is primarily uninhabited thanks to swampy and inhospitable conditions,” Marak began on my right. “But the largest land mass is inhabited by four tribes of Tygers.” He emphasized tiger like it was a special name. “Millenia ago, the four tribes agreed that one representative from each tribe would be selected to rule Dhalmaria. They would be co-mates and whatever children they had would continue to rule so that all tribes were included. The first rulers were two males and two females. Both females had several cubs by the males and formed the primary royal family of Dhalmaria.”

  “They’re called the Primes,” Kazhar said. “Primes continued to rule for generations, though new blood was often invited into the mating to keep the blood fresh and ensure all the tribes felt connected to the ruling families.”

  Marak glanced at me and I swore he rolled his eyes, if tigers did such a thing. “If you couldn’t tell, Kazhar is damned proud of being a Prime.”

  “So should you,” Kazhar retorted beneath me. “There are few enough of us left now.”

  Oh shit. Not only had I somehow magically transported myself into Tigerland, but I’d also managed to find two princes…? “Wait, so you’re both royal?”

  “Dharius too,” Marak said. “And…” He gave me a sideways look. “You are too. At least, that’s what we believe.”

  I twitched so hard that I started to slide off Kazhar’s back, and Dharius had to nose me back up into position. “What? That’s impossible. In case you missed it, I’m a fucking human, not a tiger. I’ve never heard of Primes, or Tygers, or Dhalmaria!”

  “Yet you’re here, where no humans have ever been before,” Dharius said gently despite his deep, growly voice. “How else did you come to find the last three Primes of Dhalmaria?”

  “You’re skipping too much of the story,” Marak said. “Let’s back up a few generations. So the Primes ruled Dhalmaria and everything was great, right? The Primes had many cubs, and the royal families became a sort of tribe all of their own.”

  “And that’s where things went to shit,” Kazhar grumbled.

  “The Primes were the richest and the most powerful in the land,” Marak continued. “Some of the tribes didn’t like that.”

  “Especially when dharzonite became the galaxy’s hottest commodity,” Dharius added. “Coincidentally, the only known crystal mine was on land claimed by the Primes.”

  “War broke out among the tribes. The Prime Alpha at the time didn’t handle the uprising very well…”

  “That’s the understatement of the year,” Kazhar muttered. “He had some rebels publicly tried and killed for treason, which only made the rebellion more determined to overthrow him.”

  “Eventually, with the help of the Sitti, the rebels overthrew the Primes and took over the mine.” Marak paused the story at the edge of what looked like a disgusting brown lake of mud and sludge. It smelled like a thousand-year-old cesspool, though the tigers didn’t seem to notice. He lifted his nose off into the distance, pointing to something on the other side of the lake.

  I shielded my eyes and searched the horizon. The trees parted on the opposite side and it looked like there was a tower or skyscraper in the distance. Maybe. Without my glasses, I couldn’t be certain.

  “What the rebels didn’t realize was the Sitti wanted the crystals for themselves. Without the Primes, the tribes didn’t have enough power to fight back. Many were killed or enslaved as war spread across the land. As city after city fell, the Primes realized something had to be done to save as many of us as they could, so they sent our children into hiding. More and more of us were killed or died without having cubs. Fewer cubs meant fewer mates for the next generation, a vicious circle that we couldn’t stop. Our proud Tyger tribes are nearly extinct now.”

  “Meanwhile, the Sitti killed every Prime they could find,” Dharius said, his voice solemn and heavy. “But we didn’t give up hope. The Prime Alpha foretold that four Primes would unite the tribes once more and overthrow the Sitti. They’d help us take back Dhalmaria and right the wrongs done to our tribes.”

  “But the Sitti heard the same whispered stories that were quickly becoming legend.” Kazhar turned away from the stinky water and we walked along the shoreline. “So they hunted the Primes even harder. The last Prime Alpha feared for her cub—”

  “Wait,” I interrupted. “The Prime Alpha was a woman? Er, female?”

  “Yes,” Marak answered. “Not every time, but often. Is it not this way on Earth?”

  I snorted. “Hardly. Women rarely even make as much as men for doing the same job. We still haven’t had a female president yet. That’s the equivalent of Prime Alpha I think.”

  “Without her foresight, the Primes would have died out this generation.” Kazhar paused, allowing Marak to push some bushy branches out of the way. “Then there would be no hope for the surviving Tygers. We’d lose our homeworld to the Sitti forever.”

  “We’ve been alone for years,” Marak said as we passed. “But we had the Prime Alpha’s promise that eventually you would return.”

  I jerked around to stare at him. “What?”

  “We believe you are the Prime Alpha’s cub.”

  I blinked, trying to follow along. “That’s impossible.”

  “Why? Did you know your mother? Your family?”

  My throat tightened, and I shook my head. “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. Lots of kids grow up in orphanages and foster care. It’s shitty but you do what you need to do to survive. That doesn’t mean anything. I can’t possibly be this Prime Alpha’s daughter.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m human,” I said slowly, trying not to call him a fucking moron, th
ough my tone probably conveyed my assessment of his intelligence by the way he smirked. “I’m not a tiger. An animal. I mean, you can talk, sure, but…”

  His head cocked, and he huffed out a low cough, a tiger laugh. “Ah. I think I see the difficulty.”

  Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head back around and a large dark-skinned man stood beside the tiger I was riding. He was tall and muscled like a linebacker, thick and stocky and extremely powerful. A person. Finally! “Who are you?”

  His brow wrinkled, and he gave a concerned look at Marak over my shoulder. “I’m Dharius, my lady. Do you think she was injured on her way to us? She didn’t think much of the treefall, either, and I have to admit, I expected more of a reaction.”

  I’m sure my mouth was hanging open.

  Dharius. The tiger. Was also a large, extremely buff man. But…

  I turned back around and gasped. Marak the tiger had been replaced by another man. He wasn’t as tall as Dharius but had to be well over six feet with long sandy-brown hair. He bulged. Everywhere. Bronzed skin taut over solid muscle.

  Naked muscle.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and did a mental rewind to confirm that yes, Dharius was naked too.

  Oh crap. And I sat on the third tiger. Third… man. If I was following along. Though my brain definitely chugged and rattled like an engine that’d dropped the transmission a few miles back.

  Meanwhile, my tiger mount kept walking like his buddies hadn’t just done the epic reveal of the century. He stepped out onto a narrow peninsula that led straight into the smelly water. I tucked my nose into my shirt, but I could still smell the thick, fetid odor of rotting vegetation. The strip of land narrowed more and more, until it disappeared into clumps of reeds and grass that surely wouldn’t hold a tiger of his size.

  Someone scooped me up from behind, making me squawk until I realized it was Dharius. He shifted me against his chest like I weighed nothing at all and then started walking through the disgusting water. Or rather, he stepped and hopped from clump to clump, holding me so carefully that he barely jarred me at all.

  Kazhar made a gigantic leap past us and landed lightly on the outcropping of solid land. Sitting back on his haunches, he eyed me carefully and gave a slight nod at Dharius as he set me down beside him. “Not a drop of mud. Very good, my friend.”

  “I didn’t think she’d be able to hold on if you made the leap.”

  “I could have made it,” I insisted. “I could have laid down and wrapped my arms and legs around you…”

  “Mmmm,” Kazhar purred, giving me a heavy-eyed, hungry look that a predator gives his dinner before settling down to feast. “When your arms and legs are wrapped around me, it won’t be so we can jump the swamp.”

  Gulp. My cheeks exploded in fiery embarrassment when my brain actually connected my words with the sexual innuendo in his, while two very large, attractive—and naked, very naked—men stood on either side of me.

  Holding my gaze with his gleaming gold eyes, Kazhar started to shift. It was… breathtaking. Magical. His tiger sort of rolled up and slipped back inside, leaving behind another very handsome, very naked man.

  I wasn’t surprised by the fierce slant of his eyebrows that gave him an aggravated look. Nor the shaggy dark hair that was streaked with gold and bronze. He was the shortest of the three men, but he radiated power and command. He must be their Prime Alpha. I’d believe it.

  I was surprised by the pulse of heat deep in my core. I’d had several sexual partners over the years, some better than others. But I’d never wanted to jump on a man I’d just met. I wasn’t a let’s-fuck-in-the-alley kind of girl. Not that I looked down on one-night stands, or women who had sex for fun. I just hadn’t ever met the man who’d make me want him so desperately that even a filthy, smelly trash-strewn alley wouldn’t be able to curb my lust.

  Until now.

  Because here we stood by a smelly swamp, where even on land, mud still squelched between my bare toes, and I was thinking about pulling him close. Wrapping my arms around his neck. My legs around his waist. While he smashed me beneath him. Right here.

  In fact, I’d never wanted anything more.

  Embarrassed, I dragged my gaze away. Up, so I didn’t accidentally ogle one of the men again. The pink and orange sky made my brain flinch away, looking for something else to stare at. Something familiar. I turned away, intending to walk a few paces by myself…

  But my gaze fell on the most amazing structure I’d ever seen in my life. Though structure, or even building, wasn’t the correct word.

  A gigantic tree shot up into the sky, thick and tall like I’d imagine a redwood sequoia to be, though I’d never seen one with my own eyes. Roots bulged up out of the ground and arced across the swamp to form natural bridges. Thick moss hung from the tree’s branches and roots. A waterfall rushed from a dark hole several stories up the massive trunk to cascade down to pool among the roots.

  And there, rising up from the rocks and roots, was a stone archway that lead through the tree. The passageway was big enough that I could see more stone walls and paths on the other side, though without my glasses, everything was blurry.

  Not a cave. Not a nest of grass.

  But a fucking palace carved out of a massive tree.

  “Wow.”

  Dharius laughed softly. “There’s the awe I was hoping for. Did you not see the treefall before?”

  Treefall. A tree that had a waterfall passing through it. I loved it. I loved everything, and I hadn’t even seen what was on the other side of the gigantic tree. “You live here? And no, I didn’t see much without my glasses.”

  Dharius tucked my arm around his, his skin incredibly warm beneath my fingers. “This is my tribe’s treefall, the Grimalkin. This is the last surviving treefall that we know of. The Prime treefall in the center of Dhalmaria was destroyed to provide easier access to the mine.”

  My heart sank at the thought of an ancient, huge tree like this being chopped down just so people could dig some crystals up out of the ground.

  We walked across a natural bridge of thick, sturdy roots and through the heart of the mighty tree. Kazhar and Marak followed, making me re-think my assumption that Kazhar was the Prime Alpha. If this was Dharius’s tribe’s home, then surely he was the leader.

  I reached out and trailed my fingers along the wooden walls arching above us. The walls were smooth and polished, but the tree was still alive and apparently healthy. We stepped out into a cobblestone courtyard that was shaded by the thick, hoary branches that swept out like a green, mossy ceiling above us.

  The building we approached wasn’t exactly a palace, though compared to my dump of an apartment, the sprawling two-story house was a mansion. The stones were uneven and rough. The roof was thatched, dotted with flowers and vines. I couldn’t tell how far back the building went, but part of it looked like it bumped up right against the huge tree trunk.

  The building looked more like a place a hobbit or elf would live than a prince.

  Which was exactly why it was so quaint and perfect.

  A man—thankfully clothed—waited at the door, dressed in simple woven pants and a loose, white shirt that billowed around him. He inclined his head for Dharius and pushed the thick bark-covered plank open that served as a door.

  “Tygress,” he whispered. “Welcome.”

  I started, glancing quickly at Dharius. This was his house. His palace. His tribe. Surely…

  “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you’re mistaken. You’re all mistaken. I’m just a waitress from St. Louis.”

  He straightened, and I was stunned to see tears streaming down his lined, weathered face. “She promised you’d return someday. She promised.”

  Tears burned my eyes. “Who?”

  “Your mother.”

  3

  Nothing made sense. I couldn’t wake up from this amazing dream. I pinched myself hard enough I winced, and looked around the warm, homey room.

  I sat in a comfortable chair
in front of a stone fireplace, warmed by a crackling fire and a mug of tea. Stone walls and open windows without central heat and air made me feel like I’d stepped into a medieval renaissance festival, but then something alien would catch my eye. Like a large gleaming crystal on the wall that cast a soft, pearly light better than any halogen bulb. The cup of tea had come out of some kind of machine, rather than anyone heating water in a kettle, and it hadn’t looked like any automatic coffee maker I’d ever seen in my life.

  Yet, there was this fireplace. And, the simple stone and wood house with a thatched roof.

  Bizarre, and yet incredible.

  Very incredible, I decided, as the three tigers, now men, entered the room. Since they were now clothed, I could at least look at them without blushing.

  Dharius was the biggest and tallest of the three men with a thick, stocky frame to carry all his muscle. His hair was short and tight to his skull, and his eyes were a beautiful silver gray.

  Good gravy. The man was built like a weightlifter had a baby with the Hulk.

  A skin-tight white silky shirt made sure I noticed every ridge and valley of his pecs, and abs. His biceps were huge, gleaming pitch-black skin, tight over bulging muscle. Loose gray pants still managed to hint at tree-trunk thighs. He wore a heavy gold chain with chunks of crystals around his neck, and more large crystals in his ears. They weren’t diamonds, either, because they glowed, just like the large crystals on the wall that provided light for the room.

  Marak was just as drool worthy. He wasn’t as tall or quite as buff, but he was still one of best-put-together men I’d ever seen in my life. Tawny gold hair tumbled about his face. His blue eyes sparkled and danced with mischief. He wore a loose, flowing tunic and pants in silver and baby blue that made his eyes even bluer if possible. He didn’t wear a necklace or earrings like Dharius, but he did have several rings on both of his hands with gleaming chunks of crystals.