The Mating Season: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (18 page)

Kim looked at Junior as she reached her front door. “Hey, thanks for the walk home and thanks for trusting me enough with all that.”

Junior choked back another round of tears, the internal wound still raw from the lancing. He had found an ally in Kim, and he was grateful. Maybe soon he’ll be treated like a human being instead of a waste of space by the band.

She opened the door and saw Tony standing on the other side, smiling warmly. He looked at Junior and nodded. “Thanks for walking her home, son. It’s much appreciated.”

Junior smiled at Tony’s praise. Tony was one of the few people in the village that had treated him like a human being instead of a burden. When Junior wasn’t working at the store, Tony was always giving him small jobs in the police station to tend to; mostly filing paperwork and whatnot, but it was more than just menial labor.

Kim put her hand on Junior's and smiled warmly right before she stepped into the house. “Thanks again, really. Stay safe out there, please?”

Junior waved her concerns off as he started down the driveway. He was a big man, towering well over six feet seven inches tall, his shoulders were as broad as a linebacker’s and he was muscular like one, too, due to his life of physical labor in the general store.

He walked down the streets, unable to hear the songs the crickets played for one another. He couldn’t hear the alarm call of the great grey owl as a slender shape slunk through the shadows.

He did, however, feel the vibrations of the light footsteps through the soles of his thin shoes. Out of habit, he shifted into his mountain lion form. The large black and white mountain lion padded through the village square, sniffing the air and feeling for any kind of vibrations through his sensitive paws, to alert him to the intruder. He might not be able to hear, but his other senses were developed to the point of unearthly clarity. Junior sniffed the air some more and caught a whiff of rank unwashed human.

He curled his lip and let out a silent growl as he recognized the stench. It was Smiley. For some reason that man had not left town after he had burned down the general store. Maybe he was hoping to catch Kim unguarded for once, and carry out his sinister plan of ending her life, once and for all.

Junior caught the horrible man’s disgusting scent trail and decided to follow it. If he could find where that psycho was hiding, he could tell Tony and finally remove this pall that has been hanging over his village once and for all.

Some might think Junior foolish for tracking the unstable human on his own, but this is where he excelled. He didn’t need to rely on his hearing. He could feel the vibrations of any movement through his large paws, and his nose was second to none. Not even the most highly trained police canine units were able to match him. Due to his unusual coloration, he blended into the night much easier than the rest of the villagers in their tawny and silvery coats. He might look like a tuxedo patterned house cat, but his dark fur blended into the night perfectly.

He followed the horrific scent from around back of the burnt out general store, almost losing it in the overpowering smell of burnt plastic that lingered around there. He padded into the bushes where the smell of gasoline lingered and picked up the sour scent of Smiley mixed with the accelerant.

He silently slunk through the bushes, padding carefully so he wouldn't snap any branches, something that was instinctual to the cougar part of his brain. He followed the scent trail further through the woods. He didn’t feel any bipedal vibrations as he followed Smiley’s disgusting trail. He noted a few weasels out and about and the thud of an owl as it landed silently on a rodent of some kind. He smelled the slightly acrid scent of a poison ivy plant and managed to avoid it as he moved stealthily through the bush.

After stealthing through the woods for roughly half an hour, Junior came across a wide clearing in the woods. He took a cautious sniff and noticed the scent of wood smoke from a recently doused camp fire mixed with the sour scent of the man he was tracking. This is where he was staying, Junior thought to himself.

In the dark clearing, he could make out the outline of a small one man pop-up tent, a four wheeler, and a strung up deer. Junior’s mouth watered at the smell of a fresh kill, but he shook his head and kept his game face on. He was here for Smiley.

He originally planned to just relay the location of Smiley’s hide out to Tony, but figured one lone human versus a rather large predator shouldn’t be a problem for him. A problem for Smiley, yes, but not for Junior. If anything, he could put a good scare into the man to the point where he might make a mistake and finally get captured. Junior was feeling pretty rash after the evening’s events. He felt he needed to prove to everyone he really was worth something.

He felt a vibration in his paws as a two-legged creature approached. The sour stench of unwashed body wafted towards Junior’s sensitive feline nose and it was everything he could do to not sneeze out the offensive scent and alert Smiley to his presence.

He saw the glow of a lit cigarette approach the clearing and bob up and down as its owner strode to the log near the camp fire pit. He sat down on the log and began to fiddle with some kindling in the darkness. Junior saw the spark of a lighter igniting and the steady glow of a flame from Smiley’s direction. Soon the fire began to sputter to life, filling the clearing with the healthy scent of burning pine logs.

Junior felt this was his chance. He crouched down almost to his belly, coiling his legs like springs underneath him in preparation for a leap. The fire hadn’t caught very well yet so the light in the clearing was still pretty dim. Smiley wouldn’t know what hit him.

Junior uncoiled in one lithe movement and leapt towards the unsuspecting man. The tightly coiled cougar covered the length of the clearing in one elegant leap, and landed on Smiley causing his head to bounce on the loamy ground.

Smiley let out a strangled scream as the giant cat pinned him to the forest floor. Junior’s tail thrashed in anger as he looked down at the man who decimated the general store, and for the time being, the livelihoods of all those who lived in Predator Springs.

The man’s flight or fight instinct short circuited so all he could do was freeze in a panic. Junior lowered his large head down towards Smiley’s and took a couple of sniffs of his greasy head.

Without missing a beat, Junior placed his thoughts directly into Smiley’s head. “You better get going. If you don’t, you won’t live to see the next full moon. Consider this your first and only warning.” With that, Junior turned just as swiftly and bounded off back towards town.

Kim closed the door as Junior started down the driveway. Tony walked up behind her and gave her a warm hug. “So how did it go?”

“I learned quite a bit actually, and some stuff after the girls went home,” she said, visibly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to tell Tony about it. He probably already knew, but it was just one of those things she felt the need to keep close to her chest.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it,” Tony whispered as he gently stroked her dark hair. “What’s important is, did it answer any questions?”

Kim smiled. “Yeah, it answered quite a few questions actually, and sparked a few more.”

“That’s good,” Tony said while bending down to nuzzle her neck. “Would you like some company tonight?” he asked as he nibbled on her tender earlobe.

Kim felt sparks of arousal jump through her body as she felt Tony’s hot, insistent mouth on her soft flesh. “Mmm, that would be nice,” she responded as she leaned into his lithe body. She inhaled deeply and was taken away by his musky scent. The pull wasn’t as insistent now that she was pregnant, but it was still a very pleasant sensation.

She moaned as his nimble hands reached under her shirt and found her perky breasts. Her nipples were incredibly sensitive, and even the lightest touch sent shockwaves of desire through her body. Tony knew to be gentle so as not to hurt her, so he gently teased her breasts through her lacy bra.

Kim turned around and wrapped her arms around Tony’s shoulders and drew him down for a deep passionate kiss.

Tony growled as he felt Kim’s velvet lips meet his. His rough tongue darted out and eagerly sought admittance to her sweet mouth. He was pleased as she admitted him and caressed him with her own soft...wait rough? Tongue. Tony was taken slightly aback by the new sensation but didn’t dare mention it to her. If anything, it caused his desire to become more insistent.

Kim fiercely kissed Tony as an animalistic demand for release swept over her body. She gently bit down on his tongue and looked him in the eyes with a challenging glare, daring him to take her right there and then. Tony’s eyes went wide as he saw Kim’s blue eyes change into the vertical pupil eyes of a cat.

This was the first time he’d ever been with a woman from the outside who was pregnant with a shifter child. There was a theory that the unborn child could release stem cells into the mother’s body to repair damaged tissues, so maybe that was what was going on with Kim. Tony grinned a feral grin and decided to go with it, despite his better judgment. Kim had never shifted in her life, and edging her towards doing so during lovemaking might get her stuck, but Tony missed that kind of encounter, he craved it. His feral nature demanded it.

He knew he had to stay gentle so as not to cause her to lose the child. So he put his animal self under strict control.

Kim broke the kiss by releasing Tony’s tongue from her sharp teeth. She felt her teeth growing with her desire. She felt a strange animal awareness take over her brain as her own human consciousness was shoved, for lack of a better term, to a back seat.

Kim shoved Tony back onto the futon and straddled his narrow hips. He was wearing tight jeans and a black button up shirt, which she promptly tore from his lean, muscular torso, without breaking eye contact. Buttons flew everywhere, one even landed in a half-full glass of water sitting on the coffee table.

Tony’s expression was one of cocky bemusement. He knew exactly what was happening and was going to take full advantage of it. He was in full control of Kim and her feral self at all times, playing her half-shift like a fine violin for his own pleasure.

She felt her body hair growing as she ground her pelvis into Tony’s rock hard manhood that was straining through his jeans. She bent down and bit the juncture of his neck and shoulder as she whimpered with arousal while she stimulated herself through their clothes.

Suddenly, Tony lifted her up and flipped her on to the futon. His eyes went cat-like as he ripped her shirt off her body. He growled as he reached under her back to undo her bra, but gave up, using his lengthening claws to cut the flimsy material from her flesh, scoring it in the process.

Kim jumped as a mixture of pleasure and pain surged through her body as Tony’s claw nicked the soft flesh of her back. She growled and reached for the button of his jeans, wanting to free his manhood.

He would have none of it; he was the one in control. He looked down at the prone, feral Kim, her beautiful face made even more so, to him, as it was shifting into a feline form. The challenge was still in her stare. Her pink tongue darted over her lips suggestively as he grabbed both her small wrists in one of his long hands, and pulled them over her head. With the other hand, he removed the belt from his waist.

Kim rumbled in pleasure as Tony bent down and teased her exquisitely sensitive nipples with his rough tongue. Surges of pleasure washed over her body as he drew each one into his mouth and suckled on it gently. Kim bucked up, mashing her soft, fuzzy chest into his face, wordlessly demanding more.

Tony alternated between breasts, suckling on one while gently tweaking the other. Kim’s arousal grew more and more insistent as she fell deeper into her feral mind. Growls and purrs erupted from her throat with each deep pull on her breasts. Her silk panties that were still covered with her skinny jeans were soaked with desire. Her sex was throbbing, demanding to be filled with Tony’s hot, hard member.

Tony moved his hands down to the waist of Kim’s jeans and ripped the button off. Both Kim and Tony were half shifted now. In the state of both human and animal, strength and senses heightened, but still locked in with somewhat human anatomy. He tugged the pants down around her round hips and threw them to the ground. He took one claw, cut the waistband of her black silk panties, and deftly whipped them off her. He brought them to his sensitive nose and drew a deep breath, savoring the sweet and spicy scent that was uniquely Kim, this time it was laced with the scent of pregnancy hormones, which drove Tony even wilder.

He bent down and nipped Kim on the shoulder, she yowled as the pain and pleasure mixed in her brain. She felt his hot, agile fingers probe her sopping wet womanhood, gently stroking the inner folds and teasingly avoiding her erect pleasure pearl.

She bucked her hips up, trying to guide his fingers to that place on her body that gives such exquisite pleasure, but he wanted to tease her a bit longer. He wanted her true animal lust to come out.

She let out another yowl as Tony took one of her sensitive nipples back in his mouth and gently stroked her dripping folds at the same time. She sunk her claws into his shoulders, drawing rivulets of blood from his tawny fuzz. He brought one of his long, sensitive fingers up to the juncture where her erect clit laid and gently began stroking it while drawing her nipple deep in his mouth, using his raspy tongue to stimulate it further.

Kim felt the surge of orgasm begin to take over as Tony’s expert ministrations of her body continued. Sweat dampened her white fur as her orgasm began to swell in her abdomen. All of a sudden, Tony’s mouth released Kim’s perky breast and began to move down her body towards the juncture of her legs.

Tony relished the feel of her snow white fuzz on his cheek as he kissed her flat abdomen on his way down to her sex. As his tongue dipped into her dripping well, a half human, half-animal cry rose from Kim’s lips.

Kim bucked her hips upwards to meet Tony’s seeking mouth. The sensation of his rough tongue on her most soft and sensitive area was almost too much for her to handle. She gripped the duvet in her strong clawed hands and began to rip at it as Tony lapped up her juices. His tongue darted across her sensitive nub as it made its way back down into her well, then back up to her clit.

She then felt Tony’s hot mouth enclose the sensitive nub and draw it in with a deep pull. His rough tongue dancing over it while he sucked was driving Kim mad with lust. She felt two of his long, sensitive fingers enter her eager passage and push upwards on her g-spot as he suckled on her folds.

Kim’s mind couldn’t handle it anymore. A climax so strong ripped through her body causing her juices to pour forth from her eager womanhood. Her human brain switched off from the intensity, leaving nothing but the feral mountain lion brain in control.

This was exactly what Tony had wanted. He grinned as he felt her grab him by his long dark ponytail and drag him up to her face. He took in her ice blue eyes and feline cast with adoration as he bent down to kiss her.

While they kissed, Tony wriggled out of his jeans and boxer shots, freeing his manhood. The eight inch long member had fleshy like protrusions on either side of it, made more prominent in the half shift Tony was holding.

Kim opened her legs eagerly while clawing at Tony’s tawny back. He positioned his manhood at the entrance of Kim’s eager womanhood and filled her with one thrust.

As Kim felt herself being filled with Tony’s turgid member, she let out a feline like yowl. She clawed at Tony’s back harder as he moved deep inside her with long, gentle thrusts. She wrapped her legs around his slender waist and met him stroke for stroke as she bucked her hips in time with his.

Another climax began to build deep inside Kim’s womb as Tony rocked deep inside her. The exquisite feeling of the most perfect release was at hand for her. The crescendo welled up as Tony began to thrust harder inside. He thrust harder and faster, rubbing up against Kim’s g-spot as he built towards his own climax. Kim let out another growl as her second orgasm washed over her, causing her body to spasm with pleasure as the electrical feeling jolted her synapses.

Tony felt his own release growing closer as he felt Kim’s warm folds envelop him. He couldn’t hold back any longer as he began to pick up the pace. He started thrusting hard and fast as Kim’s hot well gripped him with an inhuman strength. The pressure built at the base of his spine as one more spasm from Kim gripped his rigid manhood and he felt his barbs flaring...he couldn’t hold it anymore and with a loud yowl he released his seed deep inside of Kim’s eager body.

As her desire ebbed with satiation, she felt herself become human again. Her teeth shrunk down to normal, the fur she had grown retreated back into her body and her claws went back to being her perfectly manicured nails. She lay on the futon panting heavily as Tony lay on top of her, his human nature coming back at the same time hers was.

“Holy shit,” Kim said. “What happened? Like, I’m not complaining or anything, but it felt all different, surreal even. Almost like I wasn’t there, but I was.”

“Yeah it happens to us sometimes,” Tony explained. “See, now that you’re pregnant with a shifter child, you might have developed shifter powers of your own. We won’t know for certain if it’s permanent until you have the baby, but for now, let’s just enjoy it.”

Kim sat up. “Really? That seems...”

Tony put his hand on her warm, smooth thigh. “Don’t worry about it. It could just be the baby influencing you. If anything, it means the child will be a very strong shifter, and maybe even be the next head shaman of the village. Lord knows Rusty is getting tired.”

Kim swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah.” For some reason she couldn’t help but worry. She still didn’t know who the father of her child was, so the choice was still up in the air. She did know that if she had half transformed with Keith, he might have lost his shit and stopped the sex before it even started. Tony seemed to be more accepting of certain things than Keith, apparently.