by Sky Winters
“I’m not leaving you. I’ll be back very soon. Don’t die, okay? Just don’t fucking die on me,” she said as tears fell down her face.
Running to the vehicle, she wasn’t surprised to find it was locked. She fished around for a hidden key and found none. Her stomach lurched again as she realized what she was going to have to do. She made her way back into the woods and found the badly shredded body of the man that had seemed to be in charge. Digging her hands down in his pants pocket, she pulled free a set of keys. Stuffing them down in her own pocket, she struggled to pull one of the tigers off its gurney.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she told it, suddenly feeling much more in tune to these animals than ever.
Pulling the gurney toward where Matt lay, she found that her heart was racing wildly. Though she would ordinarily be concerned with how she was going to get out here, all she could really think about right now was taking care of him. She needed to get him out of here quickly. There were maps in Matt’s bag she could follow. She’d have to grab it on her way back past the horrible scene on the other side of the trees.
“Okay. Let’s get you out of here,” she said as she rounded the tree where she had hidden, but there was no longer a tiger there. Instead, she was surprised to see Matt sitting against the tree. He was drenched in sweat and pale from the loss of blood, but he seemed to be managing to hold the t-shirt up to his side to staunch the flow of blood.
“Tabitha,” he said weakly.
“Matt, my God. You turned into a tiger,” was all she could manage to say.
He chuckled and flashed a feeble smile at her. Tabitha watched as he began to try to stand, faltering for a moment and then grabbing hold of the tree to pull himself up.
“Matt, you’ve been shot. Let me help you. We’ve got to get you to a doctor,” she told him.
“No. No doctor. I’ll be fine,” he said as he held onto the tree to steady himself.
“You’ve been shot, for God’s sake! You won’t just be fine,” she said, worried sick at how he looked and afraid that she might not be able to get him out of here before he bled out.
“Trust me. I will be. I just need to rest. We should put some distance between us and this mess I’ve made so no one asks questions. We need to head down to the ranger station that’s just south of here and then bed down for the night.”
“Can you walk? Their vehicle is just beyond the trees. We can use it to get somewhere safe,” she said.
“Spectacular.” He grimaced, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and letting her help him out of the woods. They paused briefly to grab his pack on the way past the men. She noted that he avoided looking at them as much as she did. It seemed to take forever just to get from where they had been to the door of the SUV.
“Tell me which way to go,” she told him once they had him settled into the passenger seat and she had started the vehicle.
“Just follow the tree line this way,” he said, pointed toward the direction they had been headed before they had encountered the men.
“How will I know when we get to where we need to be?” she said. “You might pass out.”
“I won’t, but if it makes you feel better, you’ll know because you’ll see the buildings that make up the ranger station. I don’t recommend driving far enough for them to see this vehicle though. We’ll need to dump it out of sight and walk in as if nothing happened.”
“Got it,” she told him, wondering how he was going to make it when he’d had to hold onto trees just to get out of the wooded area they’d been in.
Tabitha put the SUV into gear and headed in the direction he had told her. Though he didn’t pass out, she wasn’t sure he was entirely still with her either. His skin was beaded with perspiration and his face twisted into a grimace. She became alarmed as he suddenly reached for his side and dug his fingers into it.
“What are you doing? Are you okay?” she screeched, wondering if he was having some sort of hallucination and injuring himself further or what.
Matt didn’t respond. Instead his body twisted in the seat as he fished around. A growl seemed to emanate from deep within him and she wondered if he was going to turn again. What was she going to do if he morphed into a giant, injured tiger in the front seat of the vehicle she was driving? She was about to stop dead in their tracks, and was braking to slow down when he suddenly pulled bloody hands free and held up a small metal object for her to see.
“Got it,” he groaned, obviously in pain as he gasped between the words.
Tabitha stopped the vehicle and looked at him in shock. Had he really just dug a bullet out of his side with his bare hands? What was she dealing with here? First he turned into a tiger and killed eight men and now he was performing makeshift surgery on himself with his own fingers. What exactly was Matt Helford? Was he human? Was he an animal? Was he something else entirely?
“Did you really just dig a bullet out of your side?” she said.
“Yeah. How cool is that?” he said with a grimaced smile.
Tabitha stared at him, not knowing what to say. He was smeared with blood, looking like some sort of macabre antihero from a horror movie at the local cinema. Yet, she could still feel everything for him she had felt in the early hours of morning when he had held her and made love to her. This was the man she had given herself to last night. Now, her only question was whether that had been a mistake.
“We need to get going, Tabitha. Can’t afford to lose time. It’ll be dark soon and tigers might eat us,” he said, still smiling at her.
“Unbelievable,” was all she managed before putting the SUV back in gear and continuing wordlessly on toward their destination.
“Stop here,” he told her after a while.
Tabitha was concerned with how he was going to walk into the camp with his injury and looking like he’s just committed a mass murder, which in a sense, he had. Still, she did as he said and pulled the SUV into a break in the forest beside them. Grabbing their packs that she had retrieved on their way out of the woods earlier, she walked around to help him out of his side, only to find him opening the door and stepping out on his own.
“Let me look at this wound really quick before we head out on foot,” she told him, not sure what she could do about it, but wanting to see how bad it was now that some of the bleeding had been perhaps stifled.
Matt looked at her thoughtfully as she pulled her flashlight from the carabiner that held it to her pack and shined it on his side in the interior of the dimly lit forest. To her surprise, there was nothing but a jagged pockmarked area where there had been a hole. It was red and angry looking, but it was already closed up.
“I don’t understand. How is that possible?” she asked, a brief flash of the missing scratches on his back reappearing in her mind.
“I’ll explain a lot to you when we get settled, but there’s no time right now. That’s why I had to get the bullet out when I did. I didn’t want to have to open the wound back up to do it,” he told her.
“Right,” she said, completely baffled by all that was happening today. “Well, let’s get going then, tiger.”
“Yes. Let’s do that, princess,” he said with a smile, leaning down to kiss her softly on the cheek before they began walking toward the ranger’s area where they could settle in for the night. Along the way, he fished a clean shirt and some sanitary wipes from his bag and cleaned up the best he could so as not to alarm anyone that might be at the station. Dark was beginning to fall as they stepped out of the forest and into a clearing.
“It’s all dark,” she said, noting the absence of any lights.
“Yes. This isn’t the main station. They’ve probably all gone home for the evening. Not every station is manned twenty-four hours a day. We can still use the showers and hole up in one of the shelters. In the morning, someone will be here and I’ll get them to flag the rangers to delay their pickup for a day so that we can finish what you came here to do. Plus, I have some other things to deal with.”
&
nbsp; “I’m pretty sure that I can manage with what I have under the circumstances.”
“Nonsense. You came here for the full tour and the full tour is what you will get. In a few days, they’ll find the bodies of the men with the tigers, but we’ll be long gone by then. In the meantime, I intend to finish getting you what you came here for.”
“Will they come looking for us?” she asked, not having considered that more men might come to retaliate for what had happened back there.
“Looking for who? Those men killed three tigers that will be found lying among their bodies. It is apparent that another tiger didn’t appreciate it and repaid them for their actions. Anyone who comes to look for their killer will be looking for a wounded or at least bloody tiger. They won’t be finding one.”
“But, your wound,” she said. “You should rest rather than worrying about my tour.”
Matt pulled up his shirt to show her his side. To her amazement, there wasn’t even so much as a hint of a scar where he had been shot. Even the puckered red splotch that had been there before was completely gone.
“Yeah, I know. We have a lot to discuss. Let’s get cleaned up, find something to eat and then we’ll discuss who or—more to the point, I guess—what I am.”
“Yes, I think that is definitely in order.”
‘I know,” he said thoughtfully, taking her hand and leading her to a small block building that was open on one side.
Inside was an outdoor shower. Dropping their bags outside the entrance, they stripped down and stepped inside. Tabitha felt a bit exposed out in the open in the nude, but she supposed they were alone out here and so it didn’t matter. The water was only tepid, but it felt nice to wash off some of the grime she had collected since they’d embarked on their little adventure into the wild.
“I wish the water were hotter. I am so sore from walking and being dragged around,” she groaned.
“Here, let me help you with that,” he told her, rubbing her shoulders with his hands.
“No. You don’t have to. I know you have been through worse than I have today. I’ll be fine,” she replied.
“Nonsense. I’m just fine,” he told her, kissing her neck beneath the flow of the water.
“Mmm,” she moaned, enjoying the way his fingers felt on her wet skin.
She leaned her head forward, his hands massaging her shoulders and her back before roaming softly down her arms. He was pressing against her from behind, and his growing excitement was becoming more and more apparent. She smiled in the near darkness, their shower area lit only by the moon and stars above them in the desolate ranger station. Folding her arms across her breasts, she leaned back against him. His hands slipped around her waist to pull her closer to him as his teeth sank into her neck and then kissed the same spot.
Slowly, he pulled away from her, turning her around to face him. His lips met hers in a kiss that spiraled throughout her being and sang along every nerve ending, exciting her even more. Reaching behind her, he dug his fingers into her ass, lifting her up to wrap her legs around him. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders, sticking to her wet skin. It hung forward, partially covering her face, but not her closed eyes. She was biting her lip in anticipation of his entering her as he took his time exploring her skin and kissing her.
Her nipples rubbed against his chest, the friction driving them to harden. It was different being at this level with him, his height usually creating such a disparity. Opening her eyes, she looked into his and saw that he was watching her as she smiled to herself and partially bit her lip.
“Fuck me,” she said, feeling bold and brazen out here in the middle of nowhere with such an incredible man.
He grinned. “I’d love to.” He moved to push her up against the side wall, bracing her there as he finally entered her. His thumb found its way to her clit, massaging it roughly as he drove into her deeply, his strokes gaining momentum as their cries of passion increased.
Her nails dug into his back, dragging across it as he fucked her wildly. Her legs quivered as she exploded against him, sinking her teeth into his shoulder to stunt the scream that welled up in her throat. She pulled away as he whispered to her.
“Don’t hold it back. I want to hear it,” he said.
Pulling away to look him in the eyes, she watched his face, the way it twisted slightly as he thrust into her, driving into her center heavily each time. His pace quickened as she continued to watch his face and then he was a whirlwind of activity, fucking her harder and faster with each thrust until she let go of a scream that seemed to come from her very center. It seemed to only excite him more. She let go completely as her body bounced up and down the length of his cock as if she were weightless.
“God, it is beautiful to watch you, to hear you lose control,” he breathed, grabbing a handful of hair and kissing her as he plunged into her once again.
“Harder, fuck me harder,” she begged.
Matt was more than happy to accommodate her request, pulling her upward to bite at her breasts as he drove into her fiercely. His mouth trailed upward toward her neck, biting into it harshly as she continued to moan and squeal with utter delight. Their lovemaking was heated, frantic. He drove into her hard, causing her to whine with pleasure. This felt so good, so right. She came again, her juices running down his cock along with the water that flowed across their naked bodies.
“I’m coming. God, I can’t hold back any more,” he groaned.
His fingers dug into her thighs as he sank deep inside her and unleashed all that he had been holding back. The knot of his cock exploded inside of her, filling her before melting away from their fire. A loud moan resounded from his core as he came. Then, he pulled free, sitting her carefully down on the stone floor beneath them.
“I know it’s been a rough day, but I’m glad you’re here with me. I could think of nothing back there with those men but what would happen to you if I didn’t get you away from them. I know that what I did wasn’t pretty to see and maybe it changes how you might have felt for me, but it was the only way I knew to keep you safe.”
“I understand that you did what you felt needed to be done,” she said.
“Those men, they wouldn’t have settled for killing us. They would have hurt you and they would have punished me by making me watch what they did. I could feel their thoughts. I knew what they were planning to do to you, to us. We would have both suffered and then we would have died when they were ready to move on with their next poaching operation.”
“I know. I could see it in the eyes of the one man. I was terrified,” she admitted.
“If nothing else, at least now you understand why you are safe with me. No one will ever hurt you as long as I draw in a breath, Tabitha. I promise you that.”
“I believe you,” she told him, kissing him softly on the lips and stroking the side of his face with her hand.
“Let’s get some sleep,” he told her. He stood, helping her to her feet before taking her hand and leading her outside to pull on some clothes and head for one of the empty shelters.
Chapter Seven
Clean and settled into the shelter, they sat side by side nibbling on the jerky and dried vegetables in their packs. They shared a bar of chocolate as Matt began to talk about himself and try to give her answers to the questions running rampant in her mind.
“My parents were killed in some mysterious accident and I was sent to an orphanage when I was just a baby. I was fifteen before I realized something was different. I was angry, always angry with everyone and the nuns at the orphanage were harsh, which didn’t help my attitude at all. Plus, I was big for my age, towering over everyone around me. I was a bit awkward, believe it or not.”
She giggled. “I do find that hard to believe.”
“It’s true. I felt sorry for the smaller boys that would get picked on by the more ruthless kids and I tended to step in to defend them, so I got pegged by the nuns as being a troublemaker and punished for it along with those I put in their place.
One day, I had taken on a group of boys that were attempting to beat up a frail little boy who had just arrived and was scared of his own shadow. I fended them off, but that night, they came in the dark and tried to gang up on me.”
“They hurt you.”
“No. Very much the contrary. Something happened. They had me pinned down and were threatening to do some very not nice things to me and then the same to the other boy I had protected to show me how to mind my own business. One of them cut my pajamas off of me and told the others to hold me as he undid his pants. I don’t know what happened after that. I felt something horrible that seemed to be rippling beneath my skin. It felt like my bones cracked and my muscles pulsed with life.”
“You were changing,” she said, feeling the depth of the horror he must have felt in that moment.
“Yes, but I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t see myself. I could only feel this power and rage as I tore free of them and began fighting back. I heard screams coming from them and then from the nuns that came running into the room. I backed away, looking at the dead bodies scattered all over the floor, frightened. A caretaker came in with a gun pointed at me and I ran, jumping out a window. I knew it would be my death, but I was a monster. To my surprise, I landed on my feet.”
“Like a cat.”
“Not like a cat. Just a cat. I caught a glimpse of myself in a nearby window and stood there looking at myself. I was a tiger and not just any tiger, but the most massive one I’d ever seen. I didn’t know what to think about what I had become or what I had done. I heard voices yelling, coming for me and I ran until I was far out in the woods.”
She reached out and held his hand. “They never looked for you?”
“Yes, and they found me, curled up in a naked ball with blood all over me. They took me back to the orphanage, thanking God that they had managed to save me from the horrendous tiger that had taken me into the woods.”
