Cougar's Gift: Pacific Northwest Cougars: (Shifter Romance) (17 page)

S
tryker took
Libby home that night even though it pained him to do it. He didn’t want to leave her. He wanted her safe in his bed.

Libby clung to him on the front porch of her house. She rubbed her head against his chest trying to soak him in. She didn’t realize that’s what cats did and it thrilled Stryker.

Libby had gone inside giving him a little wave, then closed the door. Stryker parked his bike down the road a ways and spent the night sitting, watching her window. He couldn’t leave her.

The next day they both had work, but he was waiting for her with a good morning kiss and breakfast from the diner. He didn’t have time to feed it to her as he had a blown head gasket coming in.

But he planted a, ‘I missed you, I want to fuck you, I hate being apart’, kiss on her that left her glassy eyed and gasping.

In between jobs he’d stand at the edge of the driveway to the shop facing the library. He couldn’t see her, but if she happened to look for him he hoped she’d see him.

Lunch came and he was across the street like a shot. Lucky for him she was waiting as the door swung open and she smiled a devastating smile at him. “We’re all alone,” she announced.

Stryker swept her up into his arms and took the stairs two at a time to get her to the second-floor storage room.

There on a small table, normally used for wrapping books in protective plastic, Stryker ate her out and fucked her senseless. He kept a hand over her mouth so the neighborhood wouldn’t hear her screams as she came.

He watched her eyes flare for a minute when he’d placed his hand over her mouth then they got sultry. Fuck him, she liked it.

He came in her just as hard as he had yesterday. He’d thought it was because it was the first time with his mate.

Apparently it was going to be the new norm for him to fucking erupt whenever he was in his mate. He wasn’t complaining. He wouldn’t admit it, but making love to his mate left him fuck drunk too.

“Shit, we forgot to eat,” Stryker said as he was helping her right her clothes.

“I’ve got emergency stashes now, remember?” she said. “You want some?”

Stryker grunted, he wasn’t a huge junk food fan. He liked his protein.

“I’ll order something from the diner,” he said. “How am I going to see you tonight?”

This was a serious concern as she’d told him her parents thought she was out of town yesterday. Not that she was ashamed of being with him she assured. Just that she didn’t want them interfering in any way.

“You’ll be happy to know I told them last night that I was going on a date with you tonight. AND not to wait up,” she said smiling.

“How’d they take that?”

“Not well at first, then I reminded them I wasn’t in second grade and that I was a grown woman and could make my own decisions. I also threw in that if they couldn’t accept my decisions I was ready to move out to my own place. Needless to say, that was not what they wanted to hear.

So they both put on their game faces and told me to have a good time. I figure maybe a few dates and then I can tell them I’m staying over. You know, ease them into it,” she said with a grin.

“I’d like to ease something into you, mouse,” he growled.

“Stay on task, mister. So pick me up after work and you’ve got me for hours.” She cuddled into his chest wrapping her arms around him. Man, he was fit. She loved feeling his muscles, they always jumped under her hands when she touched him.

“What can I do with you in a few hours? It’s not long enough, I need more time.” He wanted her to realize that if he had his way she’d be moving in with him today. No more time apart, he’d quit his job to just sit with her at the library if she’d let him.

Libby knew what he meant. She’d missed him so badly last night. It felt like part of her was missing, that a hole in her heart had opened up that only he could fill.

She wanted to spend the night with him, heck she wanted to spend all her nights with him. But she could only imagine the scandal if she was to shack up with the new biker mechanic that rode into town. They might try to have him booted with some sort of town referendum. Banishment for improper coercion of the town librarian.

“We are still new. My parents are adjusting, let’s keep it easy for them to accept us by not shocking them, huh?” she suggested.

Yes, it was her life. And yes, she was an adult, but she still cared about her mom and dad’s feelings. They were being good sports so far. Their quiet introverted non-dating daughter bringing home a rough, practically non-verbal biker was a big change.

“Or you can teach me all about the art of blow jobs. You know, teach me how to deep throat your big cock,” she purred. Yes, she was being a tease, and no, she wasn’t sorry.

Stryker let out a low rumble, it was a sigh and moan at the same time.

“Woman,” he growled, then sighed.

He knew she was right. She was going slow with giving her parents the full truth just like he was trying to slowly tell her about himself. He couldn’t fault her for doing the same.

Although since their time together yesterday his cougar had not stopped. He finally let him run this morning because he was tired of hearing him complain. Having a cat that obviously didn’t speak but shared space in your mind, trying to get his point of view across was exhausting.

Clearly he wanted his mate bonded, having been so close during sex and not getting to bite, was maddening. And he let Stryker know it.

“Yeah, mouse, I get it. I just can’t stand being away from you. It physically hurts,” he admitted.

“I feel like a part of my heart was missing last night, does that make sense?” she asked.

Stryker figured there was one thing he was ready to be honest with her about. “Libby, I love you,” he said, watching her eyes bug out.

“I don’t care how soon it is, but I do, baby. My heart was bleeding for you last night. I know exactly how you felt. You’re my girl, my One.”

He pulled her into his arms and felt hers slide around his hips and squeeze him, hooking her fingers in his belt loops. He didn’t need her to say it. If she didn’t love him she would eventually. He’d do whatever it took to convince her.

He felt her shudder once, then again. He realized she was crying, little sniffles into his shirt.

“Baby, don’t cry.” Shit, what do you do with a crying female? His cougar was telling him to put a stop to it, like it was so easy.

“I…I’m sssorry,” she stuttered into his chest.

“Mouse, look at me,” he said, pulling her away from him to see tears streaking down her cheeks. He started wiping them away with the pads of his thumbs. “Why are you crying?”

Libby took a ragged breath and said, “I’m sssoo happy.” Then burst into breathy sobs.

“Fuck me, baby. Those aren’t happy tears,” he said, worried she was going to hurt herself crying like that.

“Yyyess….they….are,” she wailed.

“Fuck me,” he repeated, pulling her back to his chest.

He kept hearing sniffles and snorts and she continued to cry. “Libby what can I do? I don’t like seeing you cry. Really, how do I make it stop?”

Libby heard him and started laughing and crying then. He wanted to know what button to push to turn off her tears. That was funny.

“Libby, I take it back. I don’t love you. Nope, must have confused that feeling with something else. Acid indigestion or food poisoning. Nope, no love here,” he tried lamely.

This caused her laughing and wailing to get even louder. Stryker was seriously concerned now, she was hysterical for fuck sake.

He decided his talking was not helping the situation so he just started rocking her in his arms and repeating, “Shhh shhh.” Hopefully that wouldn’t get him into any more trouble.

Libby knew she had to get her crap together or she was going to scare him away forever. She focused hard on getting the laughter under control then the tears.

When she was finally just sniffling with the occasional hiccup she looked up at him. Her eyes red and puffy, her nose probably too, she thought.

“You can’t take it back,” she whispered to him.

Stryker was confused, which part?

“You can’t say you love me, then take it back. It’s against the rules,” she explained.

“There are rules?” He asked this with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, you say you love me then I say I love you too,” she explained.

Stryker saw the words coming out of her mouth, but he wasn’t sure if she was saying them or just explaining things to him still.

“Do you? Love me?” he asked, a little worried about the answer. He could take a no as long as there was a ‘Sure do like you though’ thrown in there. That was at least somewhere he could start working from.

“I do love you, Stryker. I think I fell a little in love with you the first time I saw you. I fell a little more the day I saw you get all confused at the trashcans on the street.

And I really fell in love with you when I saw inside you yesterday. Your eyes told me everything I needed to know.” She said this and watched him think back to how long she’d really liked him.

“Those trashcans are ridiculous,” he commented.

“Baby, you’ve made me so happy.” He pulled her back into his arms picking her up so she swung her legs around his waist.

“We need to make plans. I don’t want you spending money to move out just so we can be together without you having a curfew.

I didn’t plan on staying in that cabin long term. But I’d love for you to be there with me now.” Stryker figured tell her what he wanted and he might get lucky and she’d agree.

“Oh, Stryker, I don’t know if I can do that to my parents yet. I would totally move in with you, I really would. But I can’t just abandon them yet,” Libby explained.

Her heart was already packing her bags, but she knew her folks needed the slower transition.

“How about I start mentioning moving out just to get them used to that. Then I’ll let them know I’ve already found a place. With you!”

Stryker didn’t want to waste another night apart from her, but he’d do it her way to make her happy. He’d suffer in relative silence on the topic. But anything he could do to hurry it along he was going to try. Maybe a visit to her dad’s office would be a good place to start.

“Fine,” he said gruffly.

“Grumpy bear,” she teased.

“Not a bear,” he said even rougher.

“Oh, of course not, it’s just a saying silly,” she said giving him a teary kiss on the lips.

Little did she know, Stryker thought. He carried her out of the storage room and set her on her feet at the top of the stairs. It wouldn’t do to see the sweet librarian in the arms of the rough biker mechanic. They walked down the stairs together and said their goodbyes.

“Love you, Mouse,” he said.

“Love you too, Stryker,” she returned. Libby loved how it sounded. It was perfect, saying you loved someone instead of a simple goodbye.

Libby watched as he made his way across the street. The view of him coming was best but she didn’t mind the view of him leaving either.

A
fter work Stryker
picked her up and took her back to his house. They ate cheeseburgers and fries from the diner that they picked up on the way home.

They spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening together making love in front of the fireplace and then Stryker drove her home in the SUV since it had started to rain.

Stryker made sure he poked his head in to say hello to Freedom and Primrose.

“Stryker, dear, how are you feeling today?” her mother asked him from her pampas chair in their living room.

She was working runes at the moment thinking that might give her some insight on Stryker’s little problem.

“Good,” he grunted to her.

Her mother made a tsking sound and went back to her runes. Her father gave Stryker a chin lift, apparently whatever book he was reading way more interesting than his daughter’s boyfriend.

Libby walked him back out and they kissed passionately, both not wanting to let go.

“I’m picking you up, here. Tomorrow,” he said when he finally let her up for air.

“But I walk to work, you know that,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, but that’s ten minutes I could spend with you. I’ll take any spare seconds you have,” he explained.

Libby couldn’t fault him, she didn’t want to waste any time away from him either.

“Okay,” she agreed. There really wasn’t a good reason to say no. She leaned up for another kiss and whimpered when she had to pull away.

“Night, mouse,” he said softly.

“Night, Stryker, I love you,” she whispered back.

“Yeah, baby, I love you too,” he said then kissed her on the forehead before turning towards the car. He was in it and the motor started before Libby remembered to wave goodbye.

She felt like crying which was silly. It’s not like she wouldn’t see him in a few hours. She was a grown woman for pete’s sake. Sniffling over her boyfriend going home was silly.

Turning back into the house she got ready for bed never knowing that Stryker barely made it down the street before turning around and parking so he could see her bedroom window.

It was going to be a long night. Stryker felt like he hadn’t slept in days. Aside from the cat naps he got when she was in his arms he’d been on watch.

Realizing he had a call he really needed to make he checked the time and grabbed his cell. He dialed Everett’s number and listened to it ring.

“Baby bro, how they hanging?” Everett said as he answered the phone.

“Low and to the left,” Stryker grunted.

“Hey same here. You still in Oregon?”

“Yeah,” he grunted.

“Wow, that’s the longest I think you’ve ever stopped moving. What’s so great about Oregon?” He knew that his brother felt something was up. They weren’t physic or anything, but they knew each other and on some level were connected.

“I’m staying here,” Stryker replied.

“Ahh, would a woman have anything to do with that?” Everett was fishing, it was a game he played to make Stryker talk more even when he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, my girl,” Stryker answered.

“Your girl, as in your mate? Is she shifter? Did you meet her outside a prison? What the hell man, YOU found your mate? I knew you had something big, but man I thought maybe you pissed off the mafia and needed a place to hide for a while. Shit me, your mate,” Everett sputtered.

Stryker made another grunting noise. “No, human.”

“Wow, congratulations man. Mom is gonna flip,” he replied.

“No Lilibeth,” Stryker barked.

“Hah, you know I wouldn’t tell her. But she will eventually figure it out, man. I’ll give you all the time in the world. Have you bonded yet?”

“No.”

“Have you had sex with her?” Everett kept fishing.

“Yes.”

“So she knows about you, right?”

There was silence for a second or two.

“Stryker? You’ve told her about you being a shifter?”

Silence over the phone again.

“Stryker, man. She needs to know. She deserves that. She…..” he didn’t get to finish.

“Libby,” Stryker said into the phone. He didn’t like his brother referring to her as ‘she’.

“Okay, Libby needs to know about you. It’s her decision to make. You’ve already had sex, what if she starts having feelings for you and then finds out you’ve been lying? I’m guessing if she’s your mate she’s probably pretty tough and can handle the truth.”

Obviously this is all Stryker had been thinking about. Having his brother and his twin verbalize he was not only being stupid, but an asshole was just compounding the guilt he was already feeling.

“She loves me,” Stryker said in the phone, his voice not so harsh now.

He heard Everett sigh. “Shit, man. I’m sure she does. And you love her more than your own life. But she’s got to make this decision. She needs to choose you. All of you.”

“It’s complicated,” Stryker said.

“It always is, man. Human or shifter,” Everett wisely stated.

“She was a virgin,” Stryker shared

Now it was Everett’s turn to be silent.

“Damn, man. I haven’t been down that road before. I see your hesitation in overloading her. But man, you got to grow a pair and tell her. This is just twin intuition, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess she doesn’t know about the money either, huh?”

“No,” Stryker said with a sigh this time.

“Fucckkk. Seriously man, you have to tell her the truth. All of it. Just sit her down, lay it out for her and deal with whatever reaction comes.

She loves you, she’ll work her way through it. And if she’s your mate she has to be pretty tough. What is she, a bartender? Tattoo artist? Bounty hunter?”

Stryker had no idea why his brother would think she would be any of those things. “She’s a librarian, she still lives at home.”

This was not at all what Everett expected.

“Shit man, you do know how to pick em’,” Everett said with a laugh.

“I didn’t pick her the fates chose her for me. She’s perfect,” he said with a hiss since his cougar was so close.

“Settle down tiger, I’m just saying that sounds like you need to lock her down fast. Besides that, your need to complete your bond is only going to get stronger and more aggressive. Not that I would know that, but Dax told me when he was courting Effie that it almost drove him mad.”

“Yeah,” Stryker sighed again.

“I am happy for you man, don’t want to rain on your parade. I can’t wait to meet her. I won’t tell mom, but I’ll tell Layla. Can’t keep anything from your mate.”

This was something Stryker knew but was still somehow managing to deny with Libby.

“How is Layla?” Stryker asked, he liked his sister-in-law. She was perfect for his brother, she was bossy and totally loved his geeky habits.

“She’s amazing, man. She misses you and your grumpies as she calls them,” Everett said with a laugh.

“Yeah,” Stryker said. He’d met Layla at his brother’s wedding. Layla was a bad ass cougar shifter that was very take charge. She didn’t make him talk either. He liked that.

“I’m here for you brother, you know that. Does Dax know?” Everett asked.

“Yeah, sorry called him first.” He didn’t mention he’d called him days ago.

“No worries, Alpha first, I got it.”

“I’ll call you, let you know how it’s going,” Stryker said.

“Fine, I’m here for you, man,” Everett said. Knowing his brothers stoicism was legendary, but he’d call him if he needed.

“Bye,” Stryker said and hit the end button.

Now both of his brothers knew about his mate, and neither thought he was handling it right. He knew he wasn’t, his cougar knew he wasn’t.

But now he’d gotten himself in so deep he was terrified of losing his mate. Humans didn’t have to stay. It wasn’t like with another shifter. Two shifters wouldn’t ever leave each other. Their animals would never allow it.

Humans though, they had to choose. They could walk away from someone they loved. With shifters there was always only one.

Stryker looked up to the dark window that held his mate. He wanted to see her. Stepping out of his SUV he took in the outside. The quiet neighborhood was asleep.

He walked quietly over to the side of the house that held her window. There was a large tree that stretched out over the eaves of the house. Stryker stripped out of his clothes and let his cougar push out of his skin. His body shifted in a spark of color as he stretched in his fur.

His cat was happy to climb the tree. As he made his way to the highest limb that would hold his weight he settled in on a long branch. His vision was good at night and Libby had left a small desk lamp on that cast a glow into the room.

She was lying on her side in bed tucked under the covers with a book in her hand. Every once and a while she would smile or frown, then turn another page.

Finally, he watched as her eyes would droop then flutter closed a few times before she’d force them awake. Eventually sleep won out and the book dropped onto the bed, her head falling to rest on her folded arm.

Stryker spent the night in the tree, his big cat keeping a watch over their mate.