“I’ve been looking it up on your computer. It’ll be harder, I think, than just walking like I am now.” He said she’d be walking on four feet instead of just the two. “I’m also to understand that I’d be able to be sneaky too. I think I’d like that.”
“Sneaky, is it? Who do you have to be sneaky to?” She told him about his brother Houston hiding behind corners and jumping out at her. “Yes, he loves to do that to me as well. Or anyone else that he can catch off guard. But never our parents. Mom would brain him, and Dad would knock him out. If he lived that long.”
They were laughing as they made their way out into the yard. It was getting chilly out, and as soon as she set the lock, a computerized one, he told her what to do when she was ready.
“Just close your eyes and think of her. You might want to be naked, however. When you shift with clothes on, you shred them. The cat will be much larger than you are.” She looked at him. “I swear, Rogen. Watch me.”
He let his cat take him and felt the tear of his clothing. Thatcher didn’t care. They were at home and getting into the house was easier now that they had a basement entrance. As he stretched out in the grassy yard, he let his claws extend, his fur stand up. It was a wonderful feeling being able to be his other self and not be scaring someone.
“You’re beautiful. I know that I’ve said this before. But you’re much too pretty to be such a beast.” He told her that he loved her. “Why?”
What do you mean, why? She said that she didn’t know him that well, and he didn’t her. You’re my heart, Rogen. All that I could have ever hoped for in a mate. Someone that I want to show everyday how much I love you. Every day I want to tell you that you’re beautiful, because you are. And most importantly, I love you because you will someday, soon I hope, love me back.
Instead of saying anything to him, Rogen let her cat take her. He couldn’t move. Her beauty was incredible. She was beautiful as a human, but as a cat—his cat—she was the most beautiful being that he’d ever seen.
When she took off running, falling more than getting very far, he sat down and watched her. Once she got the hang of walking, she was bouncing like a cat, jumping up and down like she was playing with a ball of yarn.
Aren’t you coming out to play? He said that he was enjoying the view. But I want to run with you. Do you have any idea how much fun this is? How everything feels now? The things that I can see? Oh my God, Thatcher, I think I do love you.
She was running through the trees when what she’d said hit him. She loved him. Rogen had said that she loved him. He chose to ignore the think part, and enjoyed the part where she had said it.
Taking off after her, he was nearly to her when he saw that she had stopped running. Rogen was poised, her right front paw stopped in mid motion, her ears up and her tail still as death. He didn’t move either except to look in the direction that she was. That was when he saw the big bear. And he wasn’t a shifter.
Don’t move. Rogen said that she wasn’t. He’s not a shifter. I don’t know where he came from, but he could be dangerous.
The big bear roared but didn’t move. He had to be able to see them both. If nothing else, he could smell them. Thatcher called for his family, all of them. This was more than he thought he could handle by himself.
There is a brown bear, not a shifter, in our woods behind the house. Rogen and I are here, and he’s just staring at us. They all, almost in unison, said they were on their way. Then the bear dropped and charged at Rogen. Shit, too late.
The bear ran right at her and she still hadn’t moved. Thatcher wasn’t sure if she was frozen in fear or if she knew something that he didn’t. Before he could get to her, the bear simply dropped. Even from where he stood, Thatcher knew that he was dead.
Thatcher didn’t know where to look to see what had happened to the bear. But when a man dressed all in black with a mask on appeared, Thatcher noticed that he had a rifle over his shoulder. He nearly shit himself when Rogen ran at the man, knocking him to the ground.
Tigers came out of everywhere while he made his way cautiously to Rogen. She had her mouth over the man’s neck, as well as her claws digging deeply into the man’s cheek. He noticed in an abstract way that his body armor was no match for a pissed off tiger. Thatcher’s mom came to stand by the rest of them, near the man’s head. Mom cleared her throat before speaking
“Young man, did you shoot that bear? Blink once for yes and twice for no.” He blinked once, his eyes wide with terror. “Rogen wants to know, and I’d make sure to not move when you answer me, if you thought the bear was going to attack her before you moved into his sight. Rogen, honey, why don’t you lessen your grip on his throat so he can speak to me for you.”
The man did nothing but keep his eyes wide, so mom asked him again if he thought the bear would have attacked if he’d not moved. Thatcher couldn’t tell if Rogen had done what his mom asked, but apparently she had. The man answered.
“I thought he was coming for her.” The low growl from Rogen wasn’t very encouraging. To any of them, Thatcher thought. “I might have made him attack. But I have never seen a black bear before and was worried— Holy mother fucking Christ, don’t kill me.”
“Young man, your language please.” Thatcher laughed. Here was his mom, scolding a young soldier on his language when he had a large pissed off Bengal tiger at his neck. “She wants to know if you are aware of shifters.”
“Yes, my wife is a wolf.”
Mom nodded. “Did you know if that bear was a shifter or not? Were you completely sure that he was just a bear and not some little boy’s father, a husband to someone out there that is going to wonder if her husband is coming home tonight? That’s a wonderful thought, Rogen.”
“I knew. I can tell what is what with paranormals.” Rogen let him go, but the man didn’t stand or even sit up. “I swear to you, Ms. Rogen, had that been a man, I would have only wounded him, not killed him. I swear on my own son’s life, I wouldn’t have killed him unless he harmed you.”
Rogen looked at Thatcher and made her way slowly to the house. The soldier finally sat up but didn’t stand. He looked at him, and Thatcher could see that he had no badge on and there was blood on his neck. Looking at his vest, he could see blood there too.
“I’ve upset her, haven’t I? I’m sorry, Mr. Thatcher. I was told to keep her safe at all costs, and I did.” Mom translated for Thatcher and told the young man that he’d done a good job. “You might think so, but she doesn’t. And no offense to you, sir, but she’s my boss.”
Thatcher thought the men on their property worked for Winnie, or even Donaldson. He’d not realized that she had this sort of pull. After telling his mom to tell the man to clean up and get his wounds looked at, he went to the house. Shifting, Thatcher went in search of Rogen. She was at one of the many desks working, and he sat behind her and waited.
“I want you to do something for me. Will you teach the others what a shifter looks like as opposed to what a real animal is?” He said he’d do that and asked her if she was all right. “I don’t know yet. I was willing to kill that man for shooting that bear, and I’m still pissed off that he did it. He was magnificent.”
“He was more than likely sick. Bears, black bears, do not come around humans unless they are.” She said that they were shifters. “We were, but we weren’t the only people out there. Not counting the men that work for you, there are any number of us, as humans, that go out there and walk around. He could have smelled that at any time.”
She turned to look at him, and he glanced at the screen she was working with. “I was so enthralled with him that I would have let him kill me. I have to go and talk to that man. I think I hurt him.” Thatcher said not yet. “But I did hurt him.”
“You did. But you also made him pay attention to what he was doing. Yes, he did what he had to do to keep you safe. But he also knew, which was your point. You wanted him to be aware he might have killed a person with a family. But family or not, if he had touched you, wha
t the bear got would have been nothing compared to what I would have done to him.” She nodded and looked at the monitor. “What is it you’re tracking?”
“My parents. They are being evicted from their home soon, if not already. And no, before you ask, I didn’t have anything to do with it.” She turned off the monitor. “I want you to learn how to run this down here. Perhaps not as well as I can, but you need to know how to look a person up, and also be able to zero in on them to see what they’re doing.”
“Why would I need to do that? I’m not saying I don’t want to learn—I’d very much like to see what it is you do. But why do you think I’d need to find someone?” She told him. “You want me to be able to find your parents and see if they’re on their way. Where will you be when I’m doing this?”
“Working with Jamie. Grocery store. Out to lunch. Any number of things could keep me from finding them on my own. What if, say, I’m having lunch with your mom, who has invited me several times, by the way. But if we’re having lunch and I see someone that looks like them, you can tell me if I’m full of shit or not.” He told her he’d never tell her that. “You might think it, however. Thatcher, what happens to the bear now? I mean, we can’t just leave it out there, can we?”
“No. But you’ll be happy to know that the pack has taken it off the land, and they’ll get rid of it. I’m not sure how, but there won’t be a trace of it after they’re done.” She asked him if they would eat it. “Not if he was sick, no. But they might eat a great deal of him if he wasn’t. Does that bother you?”
“It would have bothered me more if he’d just been wasted out there.” She looked back at the monitors, then back at him. “I do love you, Thatcher. I love you very much.”
“And I love you too, Rogen. And I would like to marry you. Soon.” She asked him if he wanted her money. “Do you have any? Not that it matters. I have plenty enough for both of us and Jamie. Plus, any children we might have. Would you like children?”
“Oh yes, very much so.” She went to him, sitting across his lap facing him. “Thatcher, will you take me to bed? Make love to me until the sun comes up? Or down again, I guess? I need you to make me yours.”
“Gladly.”
The sun was coming up when they were headed up the stairs. He carried her, not wanting her to wear herself out before he got the chance to. She nuzzled his neck, kissed his throat, and before they were in the bedroom, she had his skin so hot and his cock harder than he’d thought it had ever been.
~*~
Lisha was beginning to worry. It was nearly light out, and the bulldozers were all lined up at the end of their street. She had a feeling that they were going to start at nine right on the dot, but then she saw one of them back away. Maybe she was going to be able to keep her house.
The big silver camper came strolling in like it owned the place. The new truck had her wishing just once they’d had the money for something like that. But when it stopped in front of her house after turning around in the neighbor’s yard, she stepped out on the porch to see who it was.
“Jimmy? Where did you get that thing?” He told her to get in and to shut up. Knowing that they were in trouble, she moved to get the suitcases, and he finally got out to help her. “I could only find one of the set of luggage we found a while back. And there really isn’t much that we can sell off, I don’t think.”
“It doesn’t matter. Just shut up and act like this is an everyday thing for us. Just leave it all behind. You’ll understand when we get going.” Always trusting Jimmy, she got into the big truck, needing his help to climb in, then they were let out again by the big dozer and were on their way. The truck was brand new. It even smelled new. “When we get down the road, we’ll pull in someplace and I’ll show you what we got. I tell you, Lisha, people are sure stupid with their things. I never had it so easy as I did getting this rig for us.”
She turned in her seat to have a look at the monster. Lisha had never been camping a day in her life. Not if you didn’t count the times they’d had to live out in the open when they’d not had the money to get home. Lisha asked him what they were supposed to do with this thing since neither of them knew the first thing about camping.
“Lisha, honey, you wait until you see the inside of this thing. It’s a fucking mansion. And I did us right by it, too. I did steal it, yes, I’ll tell you that. And the truck. But the truck was out on the lot running and there wasn’t a soul around. I tell you, I drove it round for about two hours before I went back to the mall.” She asked him if that was where he got it. “I got the plates at the mall. And I was pretty smart about it too. I took the plates off the back of one that looked like it could be this one’s twin. And the camper, it had plates already. It was just sitting there in front of this big pretty house. I did the same thing with it. Found me one that looked just like it and swapped out the plates for it. Lisha, I couldn’t have gotten us a better ride either.”
When he finally pulled over, she was almost too excited to join him. Getting out of the truck had been easier, but she still bumped her knee badly. Lisha thought even if the place was a dump inside and nothing worked, she was so glad to see Jimmy excited and moving around that she would have stolen it herself.
Once he had the door opened up for her, stairs for her to get in just slid out like they were on some kind of machine. Jimmy told her that they were, and that was only the beginning. Once she was inside, Lisha just stared at it all. It was beautiful. So very beautiful.
“There are two bedrooms in this sucker. One in the back that you and me can use, and one in the front so if I’m feeling poorly I can move in there. The bathroom is bigger than ours was at home, and look at this, Lisha. I’m telling you, I hit the jackpot.” He opened the door to a little place, and it was filled with food. “We can eat off this for some time, if we’re careful.”
There were luncheon meats and cheeses. Milk and eggs. Bacon and sausage, and those pop open biscuits. She touched the yogurts that were lined up, along with several bottles of water. When she opened the freezer part next to it, there was enough food in that to last them an entire month if they were careful with it.
She moved to the back of the camper, opening closets and other places as she passed. There was a bathroom with a shower in it, a toilet, as well as a pretty set of towels that were folded up and put in a cubby hole. Lisha felt like she was in a dream. All this, and it was theirs to use.
“I’m thinking that the people might have been leaving for someplace far away, and that’s why it’s ready to go like this. There are clothes in there too that you can wear. Not me; nothing that little for me.” Yes, Lisha had forgotten how much weight he’d lost over the last few weeks. “And this will be fun for us. We can pull up in Ohio and find Rogen in style now.”
“How did you know how to hook things up like this? I mean, it looks like you’d have to be pretty strong or something.” She felt concerned that he’d taken it to the people and asked them how to hook up his stolen camper. Then he sat down at the little table like he was exhausted. “Jimmy, you didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
“No, but being this excited, it does take a lot out of me. Lisha, honey, you’re bleeding.” He got up again after making her have a seat. It was a bad cut, she saw, and might need some stitches. She asked him what to do. “Well, if it doesn’t get any better in a couple of days, I’ll take you to some kind of clinic and have them fix you up. But I think between the two of us, we can get you bandaged up. Don’t you?”
“I do. Thank you.” While he worked on her wound, they talked about the things that he’d discovered in the big rig, he called it. “We might be able to do this, honey. Don’t you think?”
“I do. And I’m going to find us a nice place to pull in, and we’ll sleep good tonight. I’ve been up all night, so I think I could sleep for a week, but this will be good for us both. When I get tired, I can just pull over, snooze in the back for a while, and move on. We’ll make good time, you’ll see.” When he put the first aid kit b
ack, he brought up something else he’d found. “It looks like one of those bank bags. Holy Moses, Lisha, what do you think is in it?”
It was huge and heavy, so she had to find herself a sharp knife to get it open. There was a lock on it, but she wasn’t able to pick it. And while she was getting the knife, Jimmy worked on it and got it open. Lisha had been afraid that it was going to pop out some kind of blue shit, but all it did was spill money all over the table.
“There must be hundreds of dollars here.”
Nodding to Jimmy, she asked him if he could write down numbers and she’d count them. She did know her numbers and counted out to ten wrapped stacks. Then she had Jimmy add up the numbers so they could tell. There were twenties and tens and a lot of hundreds in the bag. Also ones, but only about two wrappers of those.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you what we have and then I’ll add them up.” The numbers that she’d given him were written in huge lettering. Lisha carefully told him the count that she had for each kind of money. When he had them, he started multiplying the bill times the amount that they had. She got up to check out the food in the big freezer.
There were steaks and roasts. Red meat was something that they didn’t have a great deal of. There were frozen loaves of bread and rolls. Also some frozen fruit. The fridge was filled with things like the meats and cheeses that she’d seen before, but also salad fixings, small bottles of orange juice, and grape juice. When Jimmy cursed, she just knew that the money was all fake.
“There is almost a million dollars here, Lisha. Nine hundred and five thousand, four hundred. We’re rich, baby. And I think this is from some kind of bank robbery or something. So you know what that means? Nobody is going to report it missing. Who in their right mind would do that? Call the police on money that they stole to report it stolen? No one. We’ll be all right now.” She hugged him and he hugged her back. “But we have to keep moving. And stay in cheap camping places. Get gas not on the highway, but in a town.”
Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 6
