envenoMATE

17. That It Is

“I’m not doing it, Caroline.”


“Please, Tiger,” she begged for the umpteenth time.


“No.” He said stated, shaking his head. “No.” His mind ran over what she wanted him to do, but no matter how his inner beast tried to justify the action, all Tiger’s mind could do was say, “No.”


“Gah, you really don’t love me then. I knew it.”


Tiger whirled around so he faced Caroline instead of Adina’s mini blue car. “Oh no, you don’t get to play that card on me anymore, babe.”


Caroline pouted and wiped a stray bang from her forehead. The winds appeared to be picking up in the gravel parking lot. Fighting the chill, Caroline was desperate to begin their run, but if Tiger was going to trail Adina, he first needed to catch a whiff her scent.


At the moment, the only source for her scent lingered on the inside of her locked car. Caroline knew Tiger’s strong arm could easily break in one of the windows, but the stubborn man was determined not to.


“Let’s just go for our run, okay?” Tiger consoled, rubbing his large hand up and down Caroline’s back.


Caroline growled, causing Tiger to smirk. He liked that he was rubbing off on her, it filled his body with pride. Caroline stomped over to the car and jerked on the handle.


“Open up you--” Her voice immediately stilled. The driver’s door had easily opened. Inspecting carefully, Caroline noticed that the car had not been locked.


Frowning, Tiger walked over and saw Adina’s wallet and cell phone in plain view. “Wow. She really is naive,” he commented.


Caroline pursed her lip and tried not to pass judgment on her friend. After all, when you live in a small town in Montana, you may not have to worry about theft.


But surely Adina had to know the rest of the world wasn’t so good. Surely she knew she was in the real world now. Caroline was scared to find out what other dangerous things Adina might do in ignorance. She was playing with fire.


“I’m actually kind of worried for her now,” Tiger commented with awe in his voice. “I mean, she is really, really blind to the way the world works or man, is she stupid,” Tiger continued.


His protective instincts alerted him to many small dangers most humans missed, but golly, even a ten year old knew to lock doors and hide valuables.


Caroline swatted Tiger’s arm with her mitten covered hand. “Don’t insult my friend, Tiger. I told you, she’s young and from Montana. Just . . . just find her scent, okay! I’m cold and hungry . . .” Her voice broke off when Tiger lurched back with a feral gleam in his eye. “No!” she commanded. “Food and my stomach can wait. Don’t make me regret saying something, Tiger. Let’s find Adina first.”


Tiger growled and stuffed his head into Adina’s small car. He felt squashed and was surprised that his broad shoulders could even fit. Pressing his nose into the worn, grey blue fabric of the driver’s seat, he inhaled deeply.


Gravy? Adina smelled like gravy? Tiger coughed and cocked his head. Okay. He had smelled odder scents before, but that one caught him off guard.


“Let’s go,” he ordered, locking the car on the inside before shutting the door.


Caroline smiled and grabbed Tiger’s hand as they walked over to the start of the trail. Tiger paused at the entrance and inhaled deeply.


This would be so much easier if he were in his tiger form, but the number of cars at the parking lot told him they weren’t the only ones on this trail. Innocent hikers did not need to see a pregnant woman running after a tiger.


Allowing part of his face to shift and contort in a release of his other half, Tiger’s sense for smells, sight, and hearing increased. He found Adina’s lingering trail in the midst of other scents, and focused upon it. Step by step he broke into a run, and followed his prey.



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At the impatient knocking at their cabin door, the two brothers looked up at each other suspiciously.


Sitting at the round, wooden breakfast table, the younger brother clutched his small mug of coffee. His yellow green eyes flicked past the body of his brother to the bedroom door at the edge of the hallway.


The older brother ran his tongue of his teeth before letting it slide past his lips. He tried to scent the unwelcome visitors through the walls but could not discern much. He only knew that the number of people waiting was two. He cocked his head toward the front door and let his navy blue eyes glide over the worn wooden thing.


“Anybody home? Hello?” a male’s voice shouted.


Standing as a unit, the brother’s eyes met each other’s  again and both males gave a small nod of understanding.


The younger brother glided to the bedroom and slipped inside, moving toward the beauty sleeping restlessly in the bed. Sitting gently beside her, he brushed her dark brown bangs back from her sweaty forehead. He did not deny himself the pleasure of leaning forward and rubbing his head appreciatively against hers, reveling in the warmth.


Kissing a bead of sweat off her cheek, he following the salty trail up the side of her head with his tongue. The young man smiled to himself as his captive groaned. Didn’t her body understand it was fighting a losing battle? The venom had taken root. The victory was his, and her suffering would end only when she quit resisting. The sooner the better, for the both of them.


Gently raising her hand, he only half paid attention to the conversation between his brother and the unwanted guests.


His focus was on his prey and prize. Remembering their initial meeting, the young man kissed two little bite marks on the backside of her soft hand. His beautiful bounty panted in discomfort, but the male could not stop himself.


Two teeth sharpened, saliva shifted form, pupil’s slid into slits, his jaw stretched, and he bit. Gently, ever so enjoyably, and just for a moment. Just long enough to tease himself and allow a bit more . . . persuasion to enter her blood stream.


The binding process took awhile, this was true and unavoidable, but the male did not want to wait longer than necessary. He was ready to start and finish the unifying process, the mating, but his love needed to be awake for this.


At least, he preferred so.


“Chester?” a smooth voice called him through the gap in the bedroom door.


The male perched up, back stiff and a defensive hiss on his lips when he heard his named called. Listening carefully, he relaxed when no footsteps were heard approaching, a good sign.


Turning back to his captive, his mate, Chester tucked her hand back to her chest, and pressed a feverish, sealing kiss to her parted, gasping lips. Her was body desperately resisting the transformation his venom was forcing, but change was inevitable. She would eventually give in.


“Sleep and receive my gift, my captive. I will be back soon, as soon as these pests are driven away,” he scowled in a slick whisper.


Standing from the bed, Chester smoothly ran his soft fingers through his silky hair. His face was cut into a furious frown, but his movements remained slick and watery. Grabbing a random shirt from the floor, he pulled it over his naked chest as it exited the bedroom.


With his narrowed eyes, messy hair, and sweat pants, anyone could easily assume he had just awoken. Closing the door to the bedroom, he walked toward the cabin’s door with a groggy frown.


“Hamilton? What’s going on?”


Chester ran his tongue over a pointed canine as his eyes caught sight of the two guests: one male and one female, both dressed in the usual forest ranger garments.


“Sorry to wake you, young man,” the male officer started with an apologetic nod of his head. “We’re just going around to each of the cabins looking for a young girl.”


“I told them we had been inside since arriving late last night, but they’d still desired to check with you,” Hamilton clarified for his brother. His annoyance did not go unnoticed.


Chester nodded his head with a curl of his lip. Rubbing a strong hand over his chest, he willed his possessive nature to remain inside. They would not take her from him.


“Of course, sir,” he drawled the word with no sense of honor. “Anything I can do to help find a little girl. Her parents must be terribly worried.”


“Actually, she’s more of a young woman. Nineteen years of age. Five foot six. We have a copy of a photograph. Do you recognize this girl or the name Adina?”


Chester swooned as if he had been kicked in the side of the head. Hamilton grabbed his younger brother’s shoulder to help steady him, his blue eyes roaring curiously and in warning. Chester barely noticed.


Adina. Her name was Adina. Chester’s blood began to heat. His breathed increased. Adina. Closing his eyes, he could see her. Adina.


“Are you alright?” the female ranger asked, perplexed by Chester’s odd reaction.


Chester nodded as he slowly opened his eyes. He could not expect two humans to understand the overwhelming weight of emotion he felt at hearing his mate’s name for the first time.


Putting it to the side of his mind, Chester stepped forward and allowed his eyes to roam the poorly made duplicate. He traced a finger down the side of her face, noting that the photo held only a trace of the beauty his captive held in real life.


“She’s beautiful,” he whispered longingly, wanting nothing more than to go back into the bedroom and claim her.


“But no, I’m afraid I haven’t seen her. What was her name again? Adina?” He knew it, he just wanted to say it, the syllables sliding seductively along his lips and tongue.


With a look of compassionate confusion, he looked into the officers’ eyes, trying to show a willingness to help, even though he felt like doing anything but. She was his. That was that. And it was really time for the nuisances to be on their way.


The rangers sighed and shared a look. “Adina,” the male confirmed. “Thank you for your help, and don’t worry too much about it. There’s a chance she may not even be missing. We just have some worried friends and a disgruntled boyfriend with a bad feeling.”


Chester’s blood flashed white hot. He clenched his hands, trying to avoid grabbing the ranger by his little, fragile neck. Boyfriend? Venom leaked inside Chester’s mouth.


Instinct was demanding he go back and bury his teeth deep within Adina’s throat, binding her even more thoroughly. He could mate with her right now. He did not have to wait. He would show her. He would show her boyfriend.


“That’s perfectly understandable, Ranger Grierson,” Hamilton replied smoothly while wrapping his arm warningly around his brother’s shoulders.


Switching his eyes from the older gentlemen, Hamilton met his brother’s furious, uncontrolled gaze. “We understand the importance of relationships, don’t we, Chester?”


“Better than most,” Chester gritted out in a reply, tightening his legs so he did not run to the back bedroom to finish claiming his territory.


Squeezing his eyes shut and bidding his aggression to remain hidden, for now, Chester turned to the rangers. “I would hate to see what kind of animal I turned into if my girl was ever taken from me.”


“Ranger Grierson, Ranger Peters, this is Hardy. Are you hearin’ me?” a stiff voice cracked on a radio attached to Grierson’s slim hip.


“Excuse me,” Grierson nodded to the brothers before walking to the edge of their cabin’s small porch. “We’re here. What do you need, sir?”


“We finally just got to Adina’s car, hoping to get a scent And it appears her wallet and cell phone are missing. If you haven’t found anything important yet, I want you to come over and start investigating the robbery while Dan and I search for the lady herself.”


The rest of the orders were lost to the brothers when Ranger Peters stepped in front of the two young men. “Thanks for your time. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”


With a saddened nod she turned back to her partner, hoping she wouldn’t have to find a dead body her first week on the job.


“Anytime,” Hamilton whispered as an afterthought, passing another look at his brother. With a tilt of their head to each other, they closed the door and sighed as they heard the crunching sound of the rangers jumping off the porch and running down the path to their destination.


“Did you steal from her car?” Hamilton hissed, bringing his head close to his brother’s. “Do you realize her scent is on it and you can lead them to us!”


Chester rotated his neck, cracking the joints with an irritated groan in his throat.


“I didn’t steal anything.” His green yellow eyes looked back to the bedroom as he stretched his tight jaw. “Nothing that didn’t belong to me in the first place. Someone else must have taken her belongings. Any dog the rangers have will follow the thief, not us. We’re safe, I promise.”


“Good,” Hamilton spat, before his lips curled into a cruel smile. “I’d hate to move so soon. I’m surprised to say it, but I actually like this place. The hunting is good.”


Chester grinned wickedly, licking his lips at the permeating, fresh scent still remaining from the rangers.


“That it is, brother. That it is.”