Chapter Seven

 

 

Jane stepped out of the shower, carefully drying herself with the towel Peter had given her. Her hands stung from the impact of going down hard on the asphalt. Tiny pieces of gravel had clung to her blood-soaked hands while Peter gently pulled them out with tweezers.

Steam covered the mirror and she wiped a section free to get a closer look at her haggard state. She’d been in shock most of the car ride to his place. Her eyes unwilling to comprehend what her mind was sure that she saw.

“Are you doing okay in there, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine.” She called out. “Just give me a couple of minutes.”

“No problem. Take your time.”

Running the brush through her hair she did her best to look presentable despite the dark rings under her eyes.

She wasn’t sure which were more frazzled. Her nerves, or her hair. Not that it mattered much. She didn’t want to be alone. And even more, she didn’t want to think what might have happened if Peter hadn’t come along when he did.

With a large t-shirt hanging on her body, she walked out to the living room where Peter waited for her.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked, but I figured you could use something to take the edge off.”

She took the glass of wine he handed her. “Thank you.”

“Sure.”

Taking a drink, she looked out the living room window, staring at the faint look of city lights as they twinkled in the distance.

“Hey.” Peter came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently brushing her hair to one side. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” She turned to face him.

“Why does that not sound so convincing?”

“To be honest,” she shook her head, “I’m not sure what to think. I’m not even sure what I saw. I mean… I think I know what I saw but, my mind… I just can’t wrap my mind around it.”

“I know. Honestly, me neither.”

“So, it’s not just me? I’m not crazy? You saw… I’m not even sure if I want to say it aloud.”

“Well, I will. It looked like a Bigfoot. A Sasquatch. Whatever the hell they’re calling it, that’s what I saw.”

“But,” she searched his eyes, trying to find a rational explanation that would explain away something that she found unexplainable.

“I know. I’m part tiger and I never even believed they were real. But,”

“But?”

“Well, we’ve been building on undeveloped land for months now. Trees have been cut down. Areas that were once overgrown with brush and rock are now wide-open spaces. If there was a time for a creature like that to come out of hiding, this would be it.”

“Why do you think he attacked me?”

“I don’t know. Fear? Dominance? When I shift, sometimes my predatory ways take over. Whether I mean for them to or not. Sometimes it’s so deeply embedded in our DNA that we can’t stop it.”

“So, does that mean that you could –.”

“Hurt you? No!”

She was glad by his quick response but, after the night she had, she wasn’t entirely sure about anything.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I want to believe you. It’s just… How do you know?”

“Jane,” he took her wine glass and set in on the coffee table. Then with a gentleness, he cupped her face and leaned closer to her before whispering. “I just know. As sure as I know I’m a tiger, I know I could never hurt you. I can’t prove it to you. But, if you’ll let me, I can show you.”

She nodded in reply. “Okay.”

“Come here.” He pulled her over to the couch and sat beside her. “Tell me exactly what happened. From the moment it started.”

“Well,” she took a calming breath. “I was walking to my car. And I had this bad feeling. Like I was being watched. It wasn’t like… when I saw you the other night. It was different. Almost what it was like before I saw you the other night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was more than a little freaked out that first night I saw you. I don’t know if it was the darkness or the fact that it was so quiet. But, I –.”

“What do you mean, quiet? Weren’t the crickets and other animals making their usual noise off in the forest?”

She looked at him for a moment, thinking about his question and taking her mind back to that night.

“You know what? No…” shaking her head, she continued, “they weren’t. As a matter of fact, I remember thinking to myself that it was too quiet. Almost like an eerie kind of quiet. I didn’t realize it at the time but, I think I was being watched. By someone or something. I remember the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, prickling my skin and almost paralyzing me with fear.”

“Oh, Jesus. You must have been terrified.”

“I was. That’s just the thing. I think ever since I started my job at Covington I’ve been having these feelings. I tried to rationalize it by my lack of experience with different people and shifters. That wasn’t it though. At least I don’t think so.”

“Hang on. Let’s take this one thing at a time.”

She sipped some of her wine, relishing in the soothing warmth the grape infused drink provided.

“When did you start working at Covington?” he asked.

“Umm… four, five weeks ago.”

“And where did you see the listing? A website? A recruitment office? A –.”

Her mouth hung open with the realization that his question gave her.

“What is it, Jane?” he asked.

“I didn’t apply for the job. I had been out of work for two months. The job market in the city is horrible. I was down to my last bit of savings when I realized I was going to have to take whatever came along, no matter how little it paid.”

“I don’t get it. If you didn’t apply for the position, then how did you get it?”

“I was in a coffee shop dropping off an application when Jerry came up to me and asked if I had any sales experience.”

“Jerry?”

“Yeah, Jerry.”

“Our project manager?”

“Yes. He was there at the shop. He said he was looking for someone with sales experience in real estate. And when… oh God.”

“What?”

“No.” she shook her head. “This is too much.” Getting up from the couch she paced the living room. Back and forth she walked while trying to make sense out of everything.

“Take it easy. You’ve had a rough night. Come here and sit down with me. Tell me what you remembered.”

With another drink of her wine she continued her story, “When he approached me, I told him I didn’t have any sales experience. Unless he counted working in a drugstore when I was sixteen. He said it didn’t matter. He said I had the right look. He said people would find me approachable. I took it… as a compliment.”

She looked down, almost in disgust for her gullibility.

“Hey, look at me.” Peter crooked her chin up with his thumb and forefinger, delicately swiping at her lip. “This. Whatever this is, it’s not your fault. Something is going on. What it is, I’m not quite sure of yet. But, we’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now, other than those beautiful little hands of yours, are you hurt?”

“No. I don’t think so. I was more scared than anything.”

“We got sidetracked, what exactly did he, or it do?”

She shrugged. “It all happened so fast. I was walking to the car. Like I told you. I had this feeling that I was being watched. I tried to write it off as my imagination. I even tried to tell myself to relax because maybe it was you. But, the next thing I knew I smelled something foul. It really made my stomach roil. I turned around, and this gigantic eight-foot, heck, nine foot, or bigger creature was standing over me. His hand, which was oddly human like grabbed my arm and began pulling at me. I yanked my arm back, it let out some sort of howl or growl and then I fell to the ground. It was the single most scary and almost unbelievable experience of my entire life.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Look at you, you’re shaking.” He wrapped his arms around her.

His warmth and comfort were exactly what she needed. She didn’t know what happened. But she was sure that whatever it was that she’d seen, it couldn’t hurt her. Not as long as she had Peter by her side. And tonight, that was enough.

“Shh.” He kissed the side of her neck, trailing his mouth along the column and down to her shoulder. “Don’t think about anything. Just forget about it all.”

His soothing words would have been enough to calm her but, his mouth and the things he was doing with his tongue were causing an opposite reaction.

“Peter…” she whispered to him.

He splayed his hands across her body, feeling her, touching her, making her melt by the feel of his fingertips.

“Shh… I know baby. Just let me make you feel good.”

She dropped her head back as he trailed his tongue down between her cleavage. Her damn hair all but sizzled against her back as her temperature rose.

Gently, he pushed her down on the couch, hovering over her as he moved down until his face was between her thighs.

“Peter, I –.”

Her words were stolen by the flick of his tongue against her clit. A surge of electricity shot through her body, creating quakes and quivers in her thighs.

She reached down, clutching his hair between her fingertips as he dipped his tongue past her slip and into her wetness.

Her head jerked from side to side as she fought against the ecstasy that was making her crazy.

He reached underneath the t-shirt, pinching her nipples and squeezing her breasts while he continued to feast off of her pussy.

Hot.

Unrelenting.

Forceful swipes.

He was taking possession of everything that she had.

At that moment, she couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to.

She was surrounded by fire.

A deep, treacherous fire that only grew hotter with every lick.

He brought one hand down and flicked his thumb against her clit. Her body jolted and for a brief point she felt dizzy.

She could hear herself moaning, begging him for more. Still, the words sounded like they were coming from somewhere else far away.

He began moving against her. His mouth now suddenly back on his neck and the feel of his hands spreading her thighs apart.

He whispered, “I want you.”

She didn’t reply.

Biting down on her lower lip, she braced herself once she felt the tip of his cock push past her entrance.

He thrust into her quickly. Burying himself in her wetness, shuddering as he continued to flick his thumb across her sensitive and swollen nub.

She wasn’t going to last. It was too good to stop it. Too good to even want to try.

“Pete –!”

She shouted his name, screaming into the echo that filled her mind. She felt her warmth spread from her pussy.

He muttered words. Ones that she couldn’t understand.

Then, reaching his hands down underneath her ass, he lifted her slightly, pivoting her body, taking more than anyone has ever taken before.

Reaching parts of her that she didn’t even know existed.

Floating, riding the wave of her orgasm, she heard his shout and spill his release inside her.

Moments later she felt his arms, cradling her in a bed.

She had no memory of how she got there.

She didn’t even care.

She just closed her eyes, succumbing to the sweet veil of comfort that pulled her under.