RILEY
The morning after the party, Riley woke up to Brenton, still in bed, on the phone with State Patrol. She curled into his side and he wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her hair.
“Yes, Officer, I know,” Brenton was mild, professional. Like he was bored. Riley wondered if it was the act or if Brenton was bored with the conversation at nine in the morning.
“You know then, Brenton, that these guys are furious about the amount of dead bodies left over,” the voice on the line said, impatient.
“What did they expect?” Brenton snapped. “Thirteen people walked into my home to kill my family. They should have known not all of them would walk out. I won’t have you bringing my pride in like criminals because those fucks committed the crime.”
“We don’t want to drag you in like criminals. We want you guys to come in and verify one more time what happened. From the diner burning and the rest. Plus, one of these guys says that girl-”
“Riley, her name is Riley,” Brenton growled.
“Yes, Riley killed two of their guys nearly a couple weeks ago. Anything you want to say about that?”
“We’ve never seen those guys until they walked into our house.” Brenton’s lie was smooth. “They burned down the diner and then attacked us.”
Riley swallowed. She definitely killed those two hunters; but at the time, they decided to do a cover up on it, not realizing the scope of the problem was. She didn’t regret it, but it seemed like it would catch up to them this time. She looked up to Brenton, who put a finger over his lips.
“Fine,” the guy on the phone sounded annoyed. “Oh, your home will be free for you to clean up by Wednesday. We’re moving as fast as we can.”
“Thank you. We’ll be staying in Denver until it’s livable again,” Brenton sighed. “Officer Weis, I’m going to let you go. My girlfriend is just waking up and she is more important than you.” Brenton hung up while the officer tried to say something that wasn’t ‘have a nice morning’. Brenton put his phone back on the bedside table.
She smiled into him and ran her hands over his abs. They were wonderfully defined and maintained. Brenton purred under her touch. She bit her bottom lip and watched him get hard.
She moved herself onto his lap, straddling him as he laid back, propped up on the pillows and headboard.
“Riley…” Brenton groaned as she rubbed on his cock.
“Brenton,” she smiled, “I think it’s your turn for a good morning.”
She lowered herself onto him, and he didn’t complain about her taking a small amount of control. He was tired, and she just wanted him to relax for a moment. He didn’t always need to be rough and in charge.
His hands found their ways to hold her hips, and he helped her find a pace they both liked. It was leisurely, and they kept going as Zachary walked in, looked at them, then went back to whatever he was doing.
“Breakfast is ready when you two are,” he called, closing the door.
Riley laughed, and Brenton flipped them over. They finished quickly after Brenton’s stomach growled.
“We should join the real world again, beautiful,” he groaned into her neck after finishing. She nodded, resplendent in the aftermath.
By the time she and Brenton made it downstairs, the guys were just milling about, staring at the food.
“Alright,” she laughed. “Eat, you fools.” She waved her hands at the plates of eggs, bacon and other goodies placed out. With a quick look, she saw they’d cleaned up everything already and the condo was back to its pre-party state. No one would have known they’d had a massive party the night before.
Coffee was her first objective. She was tired and waking up was never the easiest thing to do, not matter what great sex came with it.
“So, what are our plans today?” Riley looked around at the guys, who all shrugged, including Brenton.
“Monday is the zoo. We’ve got a connection there for all the backstage stuff. Figured you might like that…” Zachary smiled, a piece of bacon sticking out of his mouth.
“I think I would,” Riley laughed, sitting down to eat. It was Saturday, so they were going to have a couple of lazy days while they waited for the zoo trip. Gabe was working nonstop at his computer, researching a guy called Abel Cartona, Brenton’s cousin. He was also working on some loose ends he wasn’t comfortable with in terms of the hunters and the information they had on the pride.
On Sunday, Riley finally asked a question that had been bugging her.
“How did they not know I’m a cheetah?” Riley was tapping a pencil to her lips, sitting in the living room as the guys watched a game. “The hunters.”
“No one must have told them,” Brenton shrugged. “Keep it that way. No reason to give hunters any reason to think you are important or special in any way. Cheetahs are rare.”
Riley knew that last part. Over the course of her time learning about shifters, she was told that the rarer the actual cat was, the rarer the shifter was. Cheetahs had small numbers, and she was an African cheetah. She wondered if there were any Asiatic cheetah shifters, who were on the brink of extinction.
If a cat species went extinct during one’s lifetime, then that shifter would have children that would be a different type of cat. No one was sure why, but it was something all the shifters dealt with. Brenton told her that his family members were actually Barbary lions once but when they went extinct in the wild, the next generation were all African lions.
“Yeah, but people out there do know what I am,” Riley shrugged. “I just wonder how the hunters didn’t figure it out.”
“Only shifters know what you are and not even that many. Out of the ten people who kidnapped you, only one is still alive and Jessie is underground. She won’t say anything. And they must not have told many people.” Gabe grinned up from his laptop. “So, word is spreading really slowly or not spreading at all.”
That was the end of the conversation, and Riley went back to sketching as the guys cheered at a play on the screen. She didn’t watch football or understand it, so she put it out of her mind. If they were home, she would have been painting in her room.
By Monday, Riley was pumped for the zoo. She dressed to get dirty, since the guys said they were seeing the back: old jeans and a Disturbed tank she’d had for years. She threw a hoodie on over it and grabbed tennis shoes.
The boys were dressed similarly, even Brenton. He was wearing jeans, such a rare sight. He wore suits every day, leathers only when they went out on the motorcycles, but jeans were not a part of his regular wardrobe.
Just the thought of the motorcycles made her miss the fact that her own wasn’t ready yet. Troy and Gabe had been working on it in secret. She knew the make and model, but that was it.
“Ready to go?” Troy threw a casual arm around her shoulders, and she nodded, nearly jumping up and down. She hadn’t been to a zoo since her dad took her when she was nine.
At the sudden memory, she deflated a little. He had been normal then. He was a Navy Seal who took a training position after Lily Stern ‘died’ so he could raise her. By the time she was twelve, he was thinking of finally retiring and just raising her. Then at sixteen, he was gone. He had gone a little weird those last few years, paranoid about people. He was always looking over his shoulder, and yelling at his brother, her uncle, and other people on the phone. He would disappear for weekends and she had no idea where he went. It was during those two years that she started listening to rock and planning to get tattoos. She became a bit of a punk, which later proved helpful when she found herself in foster care.
“What’s wrong, pretty girl?” Troy noticed as they walked to their ride.
“Thinking about my dad for a moment,” she took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s not important.”
They all stopped and looked at her. Gabe was frowning and looked over to Brenton.
“We could find him, you know,” Gabe directed at Brenton. “I could.”
“No,” Riley kept shaking her head. “I don’t want to know where he is or what he’s doing. He left me. It doesn’t matter anymore. We’ve got more important to things to worry about, right now.”
“Alright,” Brenton was frowning now, too. “Let’s get to the zoo for you.”
When they got there, they were found by a zookeeper. A quick sniff told Riley that the older gentleman with graying hair and bright blue eyes was a bobcat shifter. He was only around five feet five and gave them all quick handshakes.
“Here to do what I think you’re doing?” He laughed, studying Riley around Brenton’s massive shoulders.
“And what might that be, Mike?” Brenton smiled. “We have always followed all the rules set forth by the zoo.”
“Sure, you have…” Mike patted Brenton’s shoulder and turned to Riley. “Since you are new here,” he took her arm in his and began walking. She laughed. “I shall give you the tour and let them follow us around looking lost. How’s that sound?”
“Wonderful,” Riley turned and stuck her tongue out at her pride, who all rolled their eyes.
Mike took her everywhere, to see enclosures and the working areas. The elephants ignored her, but all the other herbivores ran or got aggressive.
“Do they know what we are?” She asked Mike quietly.
“They know we are predators. They know we aren’t like other humans.” he pointed to the animals. “I would guess we smell wild to them and a bit like the animals we are in here.” He pointed to his chest over his heart. “Keep that in mind.”
Riley was getting excited. Mike held off all the big cats until the end. They saw the Amur leopard first. She put her hand on the glass and jumped when the leopard hissed and struck the glass.
“You aren’t supposed to touch the glass,” Mike chuckled. “But really, he’s mad that there are so many other big cats here. Big males like Brenton and Zachary tend to put them on edge.”
“Oh, really?” Riley looked to Brenton, who shrugged.
“You’ll see it get worse when we go see the lions,” Mike chuckled as she was pulled along. They saw the tiger next, who roared at Zachary when he stepped too close.
“If Zachary were in his animal form, our tiger would have a decent shot at taking him out.” Mike winked at her.
“What?” Riley laughed. Zachary grinned.
“Yeah, their male tiger and I have never really gotten along too well. I get along better with the girls who are…”
“At the vet.” Mike patted Zachary’s shoulder. “General checkups and such. Both are pregnant by this one.”
“That’s great news,” Zachary chuckled. “Congratulations.”
“Now, on to the lions,” Mike led them over. They went straight to the back. The lions weren’t out today, refusing to leave their indoor space. Stubborn, like Brenton.
There were three females and one very large male. Some cubs ran around. Riley knew Denver’s zoo had cubs last year and thought they were adorable.
But the male knew the moment they walked in the room and began prowling around the room.
“Hey, big fella,” Mike mumbled. “No reason to be mean to the guests.”
Brenton walked closer, his hand out. The male snarled, and Brenton sighed knowingly.
“There was a time when this guy thought I was his dad,” Brenton chuckled.
“I remember. The previous male for the pride had to be separated from the cubs, who couldn’t stay with their mothers. So, you would come play with them. But he’s all grown up now, Brenton.” Mike gestured to the cat. “It’s nice being a shifter in the zoo. We can smell their moods and find the best way to make them comfortable and happy. Easiest with cubs, who don't recognize the difference between our animal forms and them.”
“We have one more stop,” Andrew reminded Mike. “You know the one.”
They pulled Brenton out and Riley didn’t miss the wistful way he looked at the big cats. He’d played with them, played father while some of them grew up. Her heart swelled. She could only imagine any of these guys as a dad, how wonderful they would be at it. She wasn’t ready for children but…
“Have all of you done that before? Met the real cats,” Riley looked around and saw them all nod.
“Troy went to the wild for two months in his secondary form. Met wild snow leopards, fought for territory, the whole thing. Gabe went to a zoo in a different state. Zachary here always got along with the female tigers, though the male hates his guts,” Andrew informed her, smiling.
“And Andrew runs into cougars at least once a year just out on a hike,” Troy laughed, elbowing Andrew.
“That’s so neat.”
“They know we are the same but different. We rarely get into fights, since we shifters know how to stand down, back away from the instinctual.” Brenton was walking with Zachary in the back. “And it’s… distasteful to kill your own kind. And they are our cousins in a sense.”
She nodded, lost in thought as Mike brought them to the last stop. She wasn’t paying attention until the smell hit her nose.
“Did you know that cheetahs are fairly calm cats?” Mike whispered to her. “Since they aren’t fighters, they tend to judge a threat level and just go about their business. It’s why humans have such close encounters with them out in the wild.”
“Like when they use vehicles as viewing spots,” Riley confirmed, nodding.
“Yup, so I have a feeling our males here will quite like you.” Mike patted her hand. “They are cuddlers, anyway.”
She stopped, and her eyes went wide. Gabe walked into the back of her and they both grunted.
“Well,” Mike laughed. “Come on!”
She hurried in and saw them both. Twin males. Cheetah males often grouped for life, helping them find females who were solitary. She couldn’t stop herself from walking closer, leaving the group behind.
One of the males looked up and eyed her. When the second stood, they both moved towards her. They had amber eyes like her own, fiery and gorgeous. She put her hand out between a gap in the bars and gasped when one rubbed his body down it.
“They are so beautiful,” she whispered. She’d only seen pictures. She suddenly knew why Brenton was wistful and called them cousins. She could feel it in her heart. These guys were part of her and she was part of them. They were kindred spirits, the fastest land animals on earth and highly specialized for the task.
“Yeah,” Zachary whispered.
She knelt down and continued to pet the cheetahs through the bars. They were both purring, and she smiled at that.
“Can... can I go in?” She looked back to Mike, who thought about it for a long time.
“We can try,” Mike said carefully, leading them to the entrance. “No one else though. The boys will spook with you all trying to enter their enclosure.”
“They won’t hurt me,” Riley mumbled.
“We know,” Brenton smiled.
Once she walked through, both males trotted to her and began to rub their sides on her like big house cats. She laughed and sat down only to get headbutted by one of them, while the other laid down beside her. She was in heaven.
She played and hung out with them for nearly an hour but never shifted. She didn’t think it would be okay to be a lone female cheetah in a room with males. Her pride had agreed with her.
“Alright, boys,” she mumbled as she got up to leave. It made her heart ache a little to leave them. “I have to go now. I’ll come back though.”
As she left, she watched Troy exhale.
“I thought we were going to lose her to the cats,” he laughed and kissed her gently.
As they left, Brenton’s mouth grazed her ear.
“Have fun?” His voice was low and husky, sending shivers down her spine.
“Yeah,” she smiled brightly at him and his glittering gold eyes, “I did.”
“Good.” he kissed her cheek and they headed home.