Guardian I
#1 of Guardian
The beginning of the Guardian trilogy...
Guardian I
(Don't read this if you're not allowed to or you think it may disturb you. This is a sexually explicit story, and it is not, nor is it intended to be, appropriate for children. If you chose to continue to read after this, then I can't accept any responsibility for your actions.
Everything is copyrighted, to me. If you want to use it, let me know, unless it's for commercial purposes, in which case, don't bother, because the answer is no... unless you're able and willing to pay me like a million dollars.)
(Re-upped, better than ever. Enjoy, and read chapter two, as well as three, when it's out. Have a blast.)
The more people care about you, the safer you are.
Think: if one person cares enough to dedicate their life to you, yo will always find protection in their presence; no matter what demons you have to fight, you won't have to fight them alone. Or, if a thousand people care about you, if just a little, you can find at least some safety wherever you go. But regardless: whether it's one beloved, faithful person taking a bullet so that you can live on, or a hundred friends showing up to help you deal with the loss of a loved one... the more people care, the safer you are, the more capable you are to live, and the more full of a life you may live.
But what if no one cares?
The youth gritted his teeth, refusing to let any further emotion show on his face: by now, he should have become accustomed to the harsh "justice" that his parents often seemed to show him. His permanently tanned cheeks flushed with effort, and his thick, short-cut black hair didn't flounce at all as he move faster.
"If you don't pass the next test, we will disown you."
He shouldn't have cared, after all, they weren't paying for his tuition. No, that burden was his alone to bear, a fact that they'd made quite clear to him the moment he expressed an interest in post-secondary education.
And yet... they were his parents. He had to care about them, after all, they'd raised him to become the man he was now. Forget that he could never recall them saying that they loved him, and that he could quite painfully recall being the vent that they often poured their anger into--they were his parents.
"Crap," he thought, starting to increase the pace of his jog, knowing that if he missed this walking light, he'd never make his teacher's extra study session on time.
Such was his desperation that he ran faster and faster, missing the fact that the light changed, just as his foot was about to leave the curb, a car already racing around the corner--
He should have died. He should have taken one, or perhaps two steps, then be smashed into the next world. He should have heard no more, felt no more, and died instantly.
But suddenly, Alex ran into something. Not vice versa. He stumbled, bouncing off of the long, furred limb that stretched out in front of him, then felt the pressure from the air around the car that zoomed by hit him, followed by the squeal of its tires.
Time seemed to stop. He looked around in front of him. Then, he looked down, and swore that he saw something. Like a shadow, almost, like a weak replacement of the real thing. But it was an arm. Not a human arm--it was lightly built, and ended in a fisted, strangely feminine paw. It was as white as snow, this, he could see despite its ethereal nature, with black stripes crisscrossing it.
Instinctively, his head jerked up to look to his side. He could swear he saw a furred head shake at him, as if warning him to be careful, and a flash of teeth, before suddenly, the strange, trance-like sensation ended, and the car continued to zoom on.
He looked around again, but whatever it was, it was gone. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. When the lights changed again, he made sure to look to both his left and his right before crossing the road.
It wasn't the first time that something like this had happened. As he rushed to the classroom where the study session was being held, he thought back on the years. No, strange things like this had happened before. It's just that this time... it really had saved his life.
"Sir... sorry I'm late," he panted, finally bursting through the doors to the room, looking at his professor meekly. "I, uh... was delayed."
"Oh, no skin off of my nose," the white-haired man said, gesturing to a nearby seat; few people did poorly enough in this class to need extra help... but then, it was a junior-level class, and this youth was a freshman.
"So... what do you need to know about Advanced Thermodynamics, Mr. Alex?"
The session had been successful. Oh, he wasn't looking forward to a 100%, or anything like that. However, perhaps an A grade wasn't beyond his reach.
However, now, it was late. Alex had neither a watch nor a cell-phone, but guessing by the height of the moon in the smoggy, night sky of the city, he'd guess that it was about one or two am.
It was chilly, so he adjusted his cheap, vaguely baggy hoody to contain as much of his body heat as possible. He spun on his heel at the sound of a howl behind him, but saw nothing.
To distract himself, he started to think... specifically, on what had so nearly happened earlier that day.
"I wonder what it is."
Alex was eight or nine. He'd come home with a heavy heart... and a C on his latest math test.
He knew what to expect. Scoldings, some sort of punishment, perhaps being forced to stand in a corner for a few hours, or being made to clean the entire house. But he couldn't expect for his father to suddenly push him to the ground, and undo his own belt.
"No, Dad, please!" the kid had yelled, cowering into a small ball on the ground, expecting the bitter taste of the harsh leather on his back or side.
"Shut up! Do better in school, you bastard!"
Alex whimpered, and braced himself, certain of his fate now. He'd never been beaten so badly... this was going to hurt.
He saw and heard the belt's edge race through the air, and closed his eyes, clutching himself tightly--
But no blow fell upon his form. His father seemed to have frozen, or at least slowed down, and the kid looked up, towards his feet.
Something was standing there. It... no, she was female. She wasn't overly tall, or strong... and yet the aura of protection, of safety that she seemed to place over him was unlike anything he'd known before. He didn't get a good enough look at her to tell what she was... but he saw her tilt her head slightly, turning back to look at him. Their eyes met, and then she... whoever, or whatever she was... vanished.
Alex's father then yelled in protest, as his belt left his hand. It twisted, writhing, as it flew through the air... then squarely hit the large, framed picture of his late wife.
Both humans had jumped up at that, and, as one, raced to fix it as best they could. Alex was out of danger for the moment... but he still had to go without food that night.
"Who is she? ..._What _is she? And how... why_... does she protect me?"_
Alex continued to walk along back to his dorm. He had a part-time job, that helped to pay the bills. Still, he wasn't able to afford much--and it didn't help that while the classrooms and more expensive dorms of his school were located in the upper-class part of the city, his dorm, several blocks off, was... not.
He'd seen dogs in this part of the city before. And he knew how to deal with them. Ignore them.
However, the boy turned at a growl... and couldn't quite ignore the pack that was starting to threateningly move towards him.
He almost froze up. After all, the sight of so many fangs, some dripping with drool, others yellowed from grime or reddened with blood was a rather fearsome sight. The apparent leader of the pack, a mangy-looking German Shepard, started to run, glaring, barking at Alex.
The boy remained motionless for a split second longer. Then he bolted.
He wasn't a great runner, however. And the darkness of the alley didn't help. He almost slipped, once, on an unseen puddle, and heard a the growls of the pack come closer.
He shrugged off his backpack, and heard a yelp, as a smaller dog was struck in the face by the heavy bag. That didn't help him much, though, the rest of the pack was closing in, and Alex couldn't think of any way to get away. He panted, in a cold sweat, and looked behind him.
Bad idea.
This time, he really did slip. Alex's eyes widened as he felt himself fly through the air--
Then every bone in his body rattled as he hit the ground, bouncing once, then skidded to a halt. Half the flesh on his face was ripped off, peeled away by the unyielding gravel of the ground. He groaned, seeing stars, and braced himself as the pack closed in. Blood clouded his vision, and he didn't even try to fight back.
Suddenly, however, there was another growl. A different one--and this one didn't scare Alex. The dogs, however, stopped in their tracks.
The boy looked around, desperate, praying to see that strange, ethereal being that seemed to protect him when he really needed it, and froze again as the German Shepard sniffed into the air, then lowered his head, growling at Alex again.
"No... no... no..." he began to whimper, pushing at the ground with his feet, struggling to get away... she wasn't there.
"You can protect yourself."
That thought wasn't his--it couldn't be. Alex wasn't an assertive guy. When slapped, he turned the other cheek. He never, ever fought back, or spoke up for himself.
He felt something rise in him. A sort of strength, a determination to take a stand against his aggressors. His eyes fluttered for a moment, their brownish shade changing, as if infused with an icy jolt of blue.
"GET BACK!" he yelled, and, strangely, even Alex could hear something of a roar in his voice.
And it worked. The dogs scampered away, yipping in fear.
Alex picked himself up off the ground a moment later, and touched his face once, tenderly. He hissed in pain, and limped over to his backpack--he'd landed hard on his hip, and it was smarting some.
But he was a lot better than he would have been if he didn't do anything.
"...That wasn't me, though," he thought to himself, as he made his way back to his dorm slowly, "that was her. She did it... I don't know how... but I think she gave me her strength. She wants me... to be able to stand on my own two feet."
He paused.
"...I don't know if I can do that."
Alex had a hurt hip. So it was mere coincidence that he fell down after thinking those words.
It wasn't a bad omen.
Right?
Several weeks later, Alex still hadn't figured out the mystery of the... entity... that seemed to protect him when he really needed it. In fact, his little "investigation", in other words, a trip down memory lane to see if he could remember any other strange instances in which he'd managed to avoid injury had only raised more questions in his mind.
"I wonder what she is. Why she does this. For me."
He sighed, and shrugged his backpack over his shoulder as he approached the airport. He'd been given an assignment, about two weeks ago, and now, when most students went on winter vacation, he was going to complete it.
"I guess I should be happy. It's not every kid that gets an all-expenses-paid trip to Olympic National Park."
He got through security with no difficulty, thankfully, and boarded his flight after puttering around the terminal for only half an hour. As he entered the plane, he took a deep breath, buckled his belt, and opened his notebook, to check the details of his assignment one last time.
He'd be staying there for the entire winter break... about a full month. The school had a cabin reserved for him, and it was equipped with running water, electricity, and good satellite Internet and phone service.
Alex's eyes traveled up and down the page, as he paid no attention to the fact that the plane was taking to the air. He was supposed to go out every day, and look for black bears. He was to collect every imaginable bit of data on them--how many there were, their gender, their age, apparent size, and more. The cabin even had a tent, in case there were too few near the cabin itself.
He wasn't too too worried about his safety, he'd been made to take a wilderness survival course as part of the preparation for the trip. He'd even learned to fire a rifle, and there was a gun at the cabin as well. However, Alex didn't really plan on bringing it around--it was heavy and cumbersome, and there were almost no bear attacks on people in the park at all. Still, it would be comforting to sleep with it at arm's reach... it might protect him, because this time, he couldn't even hold the hope that someone else might.
By the time the flight started its descent, Alex was peacefully snoozing. He was dreaming, a little bit, just vague wisps of his thoughts that seemed to occasionally clump together, then vanish. However, images of his unknown protector seemed to come to him more than anything else...
He rubbed his eye, and awoke just before the plane's front wheels bumped against the ground. He stretched his 6'1", slim, yet vaguely muscled frame, and sighed once, taking the opportunity to rest now, while he could... he needed to get on the job as soon as possible, there was no time to wait around.
Alex had gotten out of the airport with little hassle. Security had given him some trouble; apparently, the duffel bag he used to transport the majority of his effects was so suspicious that they'd felt the need to check it again.
"It's your job to protect me... here. But once I leave the airport, my safety is in my own hands... and no one's going to have any reason to give a good fuck about what happens to me. ...I wonder why she does."
Time was meaningless to Alex. He had no idea if it was five o'clock in the morning or five o'clock in the evening, or something in between, as he exiting the airport. It was going to be a bit of a pain to lug his heavy duffel bag with him to the cabin... but it couldn't be helped. The car his school had rented could get him to within five miles of it, but after that, he was on his own.
The driver was late, by about twenty minutes, and when he did come, he reeked of cheap vodka, cigarettes, and general lewdness. However, he looked at Alex with such intensity in his eyes that the youth didn't dare say anything... despite the awakening of the same feeling that had arisen in him when the dog pack nearly attacked him...
The plump, overweight man did nothing but watch as Alex loaded his own luggage into the trunk of the car. He merely took another drag from his cigarette, and pulled away just after Alex go into the back seat.
Alex kept his eyes pointedly at the floor of the car, or the headrest directly in front of him for the duration of the ride. There was no conversation--occasionally, the driver would mutter something about the road, his job, or teenagers. Alex ignored all of these comments, but the driver seemed to take no offense.
Finally, about an hour later, Alex really woke up as the driver glared at him until he got out of the car, and retrieved his luggage. It pulled away, covering him in the fumes of exhaust as it zoomed away. Alex didn't even have to try to calm himself, to tell himself not to yell... he was used to having people leave him behind once they no longer had any need for him.
The youth looked around, and at last, it hit him that he wasn't at home anymore. He still had no idea about what time of day, or night it was... but it made little difference. It wasn't raining, but it was cloudy--the dark, almost churning sky lent a certain gloomy nature to the masses of trees that he surveyed. His stomach growled, but he ignored it. There was food in the cabin. His discomfort could wait.
It always did.
Alex trudged through the forest in a stupor. He felt something inside him changing, as it had for the past few days. He'd always been of the feeling that something was... missing from his life. He didn't know what it was. But he'd pushed it out of his awareness: out of sight, out of mind, and it had ceased to bother him for years.
But now it was. Again. It was like a giant hole in him that threatened to suck away the facade of calm, quiet stability that he showed to the world, and reveal the sad, lonely, need person that he was. And then he thought of his unnamed protector... and the hole seemed to fill.
"I've got to stop thinking about her. Whatever she is, she's going to leave me behind someday too."
That depressed him some. But he didn't care. It was best to face the cold, hard facts of life than to live in the delusion that there was someone out there for everyone, even him. Because, he believed, that there wasn't, that there never would be. Hope wasn't something that his life had given him.
His booted feet plodded on through the forest. Alex occasionally paused to catch his breath, or marvel at the raw, untouched wilderness around him before moving on again. His feet crushed twigs and foliage underneath them, and though he kept an eye out for them, he didn't see a single sign of bears.
Not good.
But then, he was moving in a practical line. He wasn't checking out areas that were more likely to be frequented by bears. He had a few marked out in his mind for later review, but for now, he had to get to the cabin.
It was hard going, and by the time he did arrive, Alex was exhausted. He had a map in his pocket, but he hadn't accessed it. It wasn't necessary--the cabin was located on the eastern side of a stream, and Alex had smelled and heard the stream for the past few hundred yards. And once he'd reached it, it had been a simple matter to follow it northwards before he found what would be his home for the next few weeks.
It wasn't anything lavish. But there was a certain air about it that appealed to Alex. Maybe it was the vines that creeped over its exterior like long, spindly fingers, or the tough slab of wood that was its door... but there was something about it that just spelled "home" to Alex.
He had to stop himself from knocking on the door--it was an instinct that he'd learned over the years. He knew, on an academic level, that he had every right to the cabin. And yet, if someone else was in there, and told Alex to go... what would he do? ...He'd probably amble on back to the main road, then find a pay phone, then call his school, and have them deal with the problem.
"I don't know how to deal with people."
He opened the door, and let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. No one was there... good.
Alex stepped inside, then nudged the door shut, and bolted it. He peeled the bag off from his shoulders, with difficulty, it had dug in, creating something of a furrow in his flesh that was raw and painful as he ran a finger over it.
He sighed, sitting his luggage down at the side of the small, but cozy bed, and looked around.
There wasn't much, but then, he was only one boy. He didn't need much.
There was a kitchen with a wood-burning stove, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a pantry. Alex had been told that it had been stocked before he arrived, and it was. There were a few sacks of beans and rice, and in the fridge, there was a nice leg of venison, probably shot by the man who took care of this cabin. Also, in the pantry was the rifle. It was nothing special, a Mauser 98 with some sort of scope. Alex picked it up, weighing it in his hands, and sighting through it. He operated the bolt a few times, noting that it had been stored empty, though a few clips of ammunition lay in a corner of the pantry. Alex set it down again, he had no use for it.
There was an electrical outlet next to the bed, and it powered a clock and lamp that lay on a rough wooden nightstand. Alex looked at the clock's digital display, and grinned. Apparently, it was now 6 pm. He didn't really have a sleep pattern, however, so he wasn't bothered.
Still, he yawned. It had been a tiring trek, and he could afford to sleep. Soon.
There was a chest of drawers in front of the bed, and Alex piled his clothes into that. The bathroom was thankfully clean, and Alex thought, then disrobed as he stepped into it for a shower.
The hot stream of water sprayed onto him for a few minutes before he lathered himself, then washed the soap suds away, then toweled himself off. It wasn't anything special for him, like a poetic cleansing of his soul... no, he was merely removing the dirt and grime from his body that he'd collected from the hike.
Finally, the only thing left to do was to check his notebooks and the school's laptop. Alex rummaged through his backpack for a moment, then removed the computer, and powered it up. It was working, and picking up the satellite Internet signal just fine. Perfect.
Alex started a new Word file, and typed a few words into it. Nothing special--just the date, time, and that he'd safely arrived at the cabin, after seeing no signs of black bears. He saved the file, then exited it, then turned off the computer.
He stretched out over the bed, hearing its springs squeak once or twice as he did so. Then... silence.
He wasn't used to it. He was a suburban boy, born and raised, and he went to college in the city. He was used to hearing soft, distant sounds, and falling asleep to them. But here, there was nothing. Just the beating of his heart, the occasional, ominous animal sound from outside... and nothing more.
Finally, as he heard another sound, a growling, hissing, scratching sound, perhaps of the distant fight between a pair of raccoons, he broke down, and went into the pantry to get the rifle. But then, as he bent down, the door to the pantry shut, and Alex stopped.
He stood there for a moment, then sat. Easing himself into the corner, he managed to convince himself that the additional protection offered by the pantry door was worth the relatively insignificant decrease in comfort that it offered. And then, there was the rifle that he now crossed his arms around, as if he was hugging it.
"If I get attacked out here, no one could even do anything if they wanted to. ...No one's gonna protect me but me. ...And maybe she will too...."
Alex swallowed, then rested his forehead against the barrel of the rifle. Maybe she would protect him... but he couldn't rely on it. Life hadn't taught him that relying on people was a good way to keep living.
Still, in that strange world between sleep and consciousness, Alex swore that he felt a soft, fluffy, furred cheek rub up against his own... and then he slept.
Alex's eyes opened.
He shifted slightly, and swallowed, before carefully standing up. He knew where he was instantly, but that didn't make him any less nervous. He nudged the door of the pantry open with the muzzle of the rifle, holding it at his hip...
But there was nothing in the cabin, and he sighed, relieved.
Then, he ran a hand through his hair, and set the rifle down. He stretched once, yawning, and then walked over to the clock, to check the time.
Eight a.m. Dawn would come soon. Alex had just enough time to dress, wash his face, and get ready for the day.
Five minutes later, Alex was spitting out the foamy toothpaste that he'd brushed his teeth with. He turned on the water faucet, then splashed it onto his face, toweling it off a moment later. The vague taste of leaves remained in his mouth... this water wasn't as disgustingly pure as what he got in the city. He could deal with that.
Alex pulled on a simple pair of jeans, and tossed on a shirt, and the same loose, worn-out but comfortable hoody that he always seemed to have. He didn't look at himself in the mirror before he put a notebook, pencil, and some extremely basic wilderness gear into his backpack--a compass, a box of matches, and a first aid kit.
"It's more likely that another animal will need it than me," Alex thought, mostly to convince himself.
He took a deep breath, placing a hand on the knob of the cabin's door. Memories of the previous night aroused great fear within him, but he dashed them away.
"She'll protect me."
Alex pushed the door open, and stepped into the chilly forest.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Alex leaned back up, then drew a careful sketch of the pug mark he found in the wet, muddy ground of the forest floor. It wasn't especially large or dug-in, but it squared with the size of a female... possibly a mother.
"I'll have to be careful. She'll be hibernating soon, and now, she's probably busy fattening up."
The youth suddenly groaned... the trail abruptly ended. He straightened out from his kneel, and looked around... she couldn't be far...
He suddenly realized that, in fact, she wasn't far. She wasn't far at all. In fact, she was so close that Alex could smell her rank, dirty odor.
Alex froze again. The black bear had stood up on its hind legs to make itself as intimidating as possible. And at its height of about six foot five, it was succeeding.
Alex immediately felt himself start to sweat, and moved slowly, backing away. He froze again, his heart racing, as the animal growled, and started to back away a little faster.
She started to walk towards him, and Alex backpedaled, quickly. His heart hammered in his chest, and he felt an obstruction in his throat, signaling panic. Then, he managed to calm himself slightly, and felt that same powerful strength overtake him.
His flesh seemed to crawl, and he stood his ground. The bear kept coming, and so Alex shouted at it, attempting to scare it off. This time, even in his anger, with adrenaline coursing through his system, he certainly heard a catlike roar in his voice. But it didn't help.
Alex saw the bear roar back, then charge him. He didn't even have time to raise a hand in his own defense as its heavy paw smacked the side of his head.
He went down, hard, and saw stars. His vision blurred in and out of focus, and his ears rang as he spat some of the dirt, leaves, and twigs that had entered his mouth on his fall out. Alex braced himself for the bear's follow-up attack, and turned slightly, try to dislodge a painful rock at his side.
He saw the bear's paw come down again, and closed his eyes. His hearing started to return, and he heard another growl... and opened his eyes. This growl was different.
Alex's vision wasn't completely normal yet. He put his fingers to the side of his skull, and felt a warm, wet liquid... blood. But still, the sight going on in front of him made him ignore that fact entirely.
His protector was female, he was certain of that. She wasn't wearing any shoes, but practical cargo pants and a simple gray shirt seemed to be her apparel. She wasn't tall, perhaps her height was five foot ten or somewhere in that area. She was the purest shade of white, and it almost hurt Alex's eyes to look at her... and as his vision cleared, the black stripes that broke up the monotonous tone of her fur made it obvious to him that he was looking at a white tigress.
Her tail lashed about as she held her stance, blocking the bear's paw with her forearm. He couldn't see her face, yet... until she turned, to glance at him, making sure that he was, for the moment, alive. She didn't wink at him, in that annoying, teasing manner that most girls seemed to. She merely nodded, as if telling him to hold on...
Then, as Alex waned in and out of consciousness, she exploded into action. The boy couldn't see what she was doing, very well, but she was using her claws, and jaws, and even her feet to batter, pummel, and cut his assailant in every way. She didn't even take a single injury in the effort...
Finally, she came away from the bear, her paws and muzzle blood. Alex cringed away from her at that, as she started to bend over to help him up, and she stopped, licking herself clean.
"It's okay... it's okay..." she whispered, and Alex seemed to calm slightly.
"Who... what..." he started to say, his voice groggy from his injury.
"Ssh... later..." the tigress said, and put a single, furred digit on his lips. "You'll be okay... I promise..."
Alex seemed to accept that. And the tigress noticed that. So her fur bristled once, and she got down on all fours... and suddenly, Alex was looking at the same tigress, though now, she was no longer bipedal... she was the normal kind of tigress. Feral, and incapable of speech.
Alex didn't feel threatened, however, and even allowed her to rub her large, furred head on his shoulder as she started to move around him. However, his eyes suddenly widened, and he lashed out--
The tigress jumped away, teeth bared at the human. Couldn't he see that she only wanted to help? ...And then she froze, back arched, ears perked up.
His boot met the bear's nose, kicking it down, where it lay, finally, hopefully dead or unconscious. She took note of how the animal's paws fell...
"He protected me."
Alex groaned, and she suddenly padded over to his side, fearful that that exertion might cost him his life. But even as her ice blue eyes looked into his, he spoke, and reached up with a shaky hand to strok through the fur at her cheek.
"I'm glad... you're okay..." he coughed. Then slumped over.
Alex's vision blurred in and out of focus again. He didn't know where he was, just that he was totally limp, and moving, his legs trailing against the ground. The neck of his hoody felt strangely tight at his neck. Or at least, the front of it.
He groaned, and started to move. Then he turned his head slightly, looking up, and suddenly yelped.
There was a growl as his flailing hand cuffed whatever was carrying him by the back of his hoody on the face, and Alex felt himself being dropped to the ground. He groaned again, and managed to roll over.
He panted, and, with effort, managed to sit down, opening his eyes. He froze at the sight of the tigress for a full minute... then, remembered...
"You... protected me?" he asked.
She was still in her feral form, but she seemed to understand him. At least, that's what Alex was lead to believe, as the white tigress nodded, looking at him disapprovingly, somehow.
"Th... thank you..." he managed to gasp, as he felt the side of his head again, then yanked his hand away, the slightest touch caused him pain.
"No, be careful!" she said, and suddenly, Alex felt his hand held still in the powerful, yet very feminine paws of the tigress.
She looked into his eyes again, and Alex felt, for the first time in his life, safe... protected. Warm, even.
"Who... are you? What are you?" he asked. "And... why are you doing this? ...You don't have to. No one cares about me."
His voice cracked slightly at that, but that might have been because the tigress had taken to rubbing her head on his hand. He extended his fingers from the fist that they'd been in, and allowed her soft, luxurious fur to travel in between them...
"I care, Alex... I care about you..." she said, and Alex nodded, feeling an unfamiliar wetness in his eyes.
"I... can't walk back to the cabin..." he said, guiltily, a long moment later, as she continued to nuzzle his hand, caressing it, holding it tightly against her, so that his forearm rubbed up in between her breasts. "...Can you help me?..."
She nodded, and released his hand. Alex felt it cool down the instant it was out of her protective embrace... but felt that same sense of safety, even belonging, as she wrapped an arm under his shoulders and helped him up.
He found himself looking at her for the remainder of the walk to the cabin. She was shorter than him, yes, but apparently stronger, and more focused--because her eyes remained pointedly ahead, causing Alex to eventually sigh, and look ahead as well.
"Hey..." he said after a while, and felt the tigress look up at him, even as she continued to support him, "...thanks."
Alex looked down, and despite the blood still intermittently flowing from his head, smiled at her. She was taken aback, and blushed... she'd been watching over him for years, now, and hadn't ever seen even a remotely happy expression on his face.
"...You look kind of cute when you smile," she said. "You should do it more."
Alex looked down at her, noting that she'd returned her gaze to the trail in front of them again.
"...I... thank you. I'll... try..."
"I know, Alex," she said, and smiled up at him. "You always do."
Alex was laying out across the bed. He'd told her about his first-aid kit... but she brushed it off, and said that she had her own way to heal him.
"It's a bad wound..." she thought, removing her paw from the back of his skull, sadly, seeing that that had had no effect. "I'll have to..."
Alex heard the sounds of cloth being manipulated, then falling on the floor behind him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, and started to turn.
"Don't worry!" she said, almost sharply, and Alex froze, as if stung. "Just... face forward. You'll be okay, I promise..."
He nodded, and shut his eyes, guessing what was going on... though he couldn't for the life of him understand why she was disrobing.
"Okay..." he heard her voice say, with a palatable amount of embarrassment in it. "Take off your clothes."
"Wha--why?" Alex asked, eyes opening, then widening.
"Don't ask questions... look, I told you you'll be okay, right? Just trust me..." she said, and put a comforting paw on his shoulder.
"Yeah... but... just don't look, alright?" he said, and sat up, still facing away from the tigress.
"I won't," she said comfortingly, her own nervousness vanishing with the need to care for Alex.
So the human steeled himself, and pulled off his shirt, careful to maneuver it away from his injury. He started to unbuckle his pants, and felt her own bare back rest against his, as if telling him that it was alright... she had the same feelings of embarrassment.
Alex nodded, though neither of them had said a word. He then unzipped, and pulled his pants, then boxers away, shoving them to the ground. He looked down, and held his arms around himself... it was surprisingly chilly here; at least, for him it was, he wasn't used to the coldness of the Northwest, especially in an unheated cabin.
"Okay... lie down..." she said soothingly, and Alex complied, resting on his side on the bed, eyes still open, wondering what she was going to do.
He felt her soft, furred paws wrap around his chest, clasping themselves just in front of his sternum. He hesitated, then placed his own very human hands on them, and felt her wet, cool nose touch his spin, then rub to the side, as her furred cheek took its place. Alex then felt two soft mounds press up against him, and his breath rate increased slightly.
"What... what are you doing?" he asked, as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Ssh... hold still..."
Alex started to nod, then stopped himself. He felt the tigress hug him, holding him tightly. She managed to squeeze a few tears from his eyes, and Alex held her paws just as tight--
A flash of light as white as her snowy fur seemed to surround the human, yet he didn't feel threatened. It felt warming, and welcoming, like the tigress's embrace.
And then, as quickly as it had overtaken him, it ended. Alex noticed that she'd stopped holding him... that his arms were wrapped around himself. He felt at the side of his head... and didn't flinch--there was no longer any sign of an injury. He turned around to thank the tigress--
But she was gone.
Hardly registering that he was somehow wearing his clothes again, Alex's eyes widened as he shot to his feet, and proceeded to check every nook and cranny of the cabin for his unknown savior.
But she was nowhere to be found. Alex was alone, again.
This time, however, he wasn't sure if he could stay that way, after having a brief taste of... something. Something that Alex couldn't understand or explain. But something that, now that he knew it existed, he knew that he needed...
"No... no..." he moaned, resting his forehead against the shower wall, the last place he'd checked for the tigress, clutching at its slippery surface with a trembling hand. "No... please... come back. I need you, please, don't leave me..."
His helpless whimpering continued for another few minutes. The human could swear that he felt the tigress looking at him, and, perhaps, longing to be with him, to comfort him. But she never came.
All at once, his pain grew too great to bear, and something inside of him snapped. He clenched his teeth, and his fist, and allowed one tear to leak from each of his eyes. His face shook as it twisted into an expression of utter hopelessness, and then calmed as he resigned himself to his fate.
Then, Alex suddenly stepped away from the shower, kicking at his suitcase as he made his way to the pantry. He felt around in the darkness for a moment, hissed curses flowing freely past his lips until his hands felt the strangely comforting coldness of the rifle's barrel.
The human took it into his hands, feeling a sense of desperate pleading that he knew wasn't his own. But he merely bit down against his own teeth, working the bolt of the rifle, swearing loudly as he fumbled, then placed its muzzle against the roof of its mouth.
"If you care enough... come and stop me."
Alex waited for a few seconds. But nothing happened.
"I should have known better. No one cares."
The human closed his eyes tightly, and stuck his toe inside the trigger-guard of the rifle. Then, sparing only a moment of thought of pure hate towards every being in the world that had done nothing for him, especially that accursed tigress... he pushed down.
The roar of the gun was loud, as he expected. But he didn't expect to hear it die down, even through the ringing of his ears, and he certainly didn't expect for his front teeth to hurt as if they'd undergone an attempt to bash them out, from the inside, and he certainly didn't expect to see clearly as he opened his eyes.
"Don't do that," a familiar voice said to him, though in a tone of mixed anger and relief. "You could have killed yourself."
"I know," Alex said, looking down at the tigress again, though this time, his eyes were as hollow as they might be if he looked at, well, anything else in the world, "...that was sort of the idea..." he muttered, looking at the ground.
"My God... I've been watching him all this time. How could I not see that he's only been pretending to cope with his life?"
"...I'm guessing you know my name..." he murmured, and glanced up for the briefest second, just quickly enough to see the tigress nod, and set the rifle down on the cabin floor. "Well... what's yours?"
"...I'm Alexandra..." she said softly, leaning over slightly, trying to meet the human's eyes again, looking hurt as he refused to let her do so, and straightening up with an expression of pain on her face.
"I'm supposed to protect him. And after all this time... he's become precious to me. But I should have guessed that since, until now, I've never been able to show myself to him, that I... don't mean anything to him at all. Just another oddity, another mystery in the world..."
"Alexandra..." the human said softly, and very slowly, before the tigress watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, continuing to look at the ground, albeit with clenched fists and probably closed eyes.
"Alexandra..." he repeated, as if gathering his nerve, and pausing before he finally spoke.
"...I don't know how you haven't noticed this... if you've been watching me for as long as I think you have, you should know," he sighed, then started again a moment later.
"I'm hurting, Alexandra. ...I'm hurting a lot. I... don't know how to fix it, don't know how to ignore it... all I know is that I'm hurting, and the only time it stops is when you... when you protect me. When you care... because no one else does. No one cares, except for you. You... take my pain away, Alexandra... and I need you. Not for just a few seconds after you save me from... whatever. But I need you with me, always... please, don't leave me again," the tone of his voice alone begged the tigress to stay.
She had long since closed her own eyes, mostly to hold back tears at the desperation of his words. But as she opened them, and looked up, she saw that he was looking at her, a deep sense of need in his eyes, a need for love, for companionship, for affection, for care, that only she could satisfy.
"Alex, I... I don't know what to say. I... don't know what I am, any better than you do. I came into this world, kind of, when you did. I've watched you, Alex, every minute of every day since you were born. ...The only thing I know is that I can't stay, I can't; I can only be with you when you really, desperately need me..."
The human's face fell when Alexandra started to speak... but he seemed to recompose himself, and looked up slightly, his eyes leveled at the tigress's midriff.
"Then... I guess I must really, really need you now..."
"...Yes..." the tigress said softly, and finally, their eyes met.
"Can... can you hold me?" Alex asked in a tone even quieter than the one she'd just spoken in. "...I liked it when you did, earlier..."
"...Of course..." the tigress said, and stepped closer, feeling the human seize up as she'd always observed him to whenever someone got too closer.
"Life hasn't prepared you to be close to others..." she thought, wrapping her arms around him, closing her eyes, and allowing herself to purr softly, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "I promise, I'll fix that..."
"Thank you..." the human whispered, eventually resting his head on her shoulder, holding her just as tenderly as she was to him. "Thank you, Alexandra... for everything. Thank you," he whispered.
"Alex... it's okay," she said, looking up to kiss his cheek in something of an older sisterly fashion. "You're worth protecting."
"Really?" he asked, and felt a tear run down the side of his face, only to be licked away by the tigress. "No one's ever said that to me before."
"I know," Alexandra said sadly, "but I'm saying it now. And that's all that matters..."
Alex looked down at the tigress, having no words to describe his feelings. And so, on a whim, he reached down, and touched his lips to hers.
It came as no academic surprise when she backed away sharply... though the human felt himself unconsciously step towards her, one hand outstretched as if to keep her from disappearing again.
"I--I'm sorry," he said, voice almost cracking before he realized that, somehow, she hadn't left, at least not yet.
"...Don't be..." Alexandra said, blushing, looking at the ground, feeling her lips with two fingers, as if checking that his had just been there. "Alex... you need me. But... I think that somehow, I need you too. It's been hard," she sighed, looking away, so that the human could see the youth in her face that had been somewhat sapped by what she'd been doing for years, now, "to have to watch you struggle through life, alone. And to only be able to help you when you might literally die without me. And... through all that time of caring for you, only for you... well, I guess I've come to..."
She then looked down, and mumbled something so quietly that Alex could only guess at what it was.
"What was that?" he asked, stepping a little closer, not daring to believe what he thought he'd heard.
Now it was the tigress's turn to gulp anxiously, before she looked up, meeting the human's eyes, then running a paw against his cheek, before moving it behind him to rub the back of his neck.
"I said... that I love you."
Alex couldn't say anything, because he literally did not believe his ears. He blinked, and seemed to give himself a mental shakedown.
"What did you s--"
"I love you, Alex..." the tigress said, looking up at the human, stepping closer, so that they were only inches apart.
"...I... guess I love you too, Alexandra. No, that's not what I mean," he appended quickly, as the white tigress's ears flattened. "I mean... I've never loved anyone before. Not even a little bit. ...How do I know that I really love you... that I'm not just grateful, or lonely?"
Alexandra smiled, as Alex stepped closer to her still, so that they were just hairs from physical contact.
"You're so thoughtful, Alex... but just stop thinking, and act. You'll know if it's real..." she said, and reached up to stroke his arms; slender, with a hint of muscle, yet, to her, very desirable indeed--capable of holding their own, but manageable.
"Stop thinking?" he asked, looking to the side slightly as she stroked him. "...That doesn't make sense..."
Alexandra laughed, and Alex felt himself calm, his last worries and insecurities washing away.
"That's love... take it or leave it."
"...I'll... take it."
Suddenly, the human deftly stepped forward, taking the tigress into his arms, and kissed her again. This time, however, he allowed all the pent-up passion that he'd collected over the years, with no way to express it, to flow into her. His arms wrapped around her smaller form tightly as he leaned over, closing his eyes, practically lifting her off her feet.
Alexandra was taken completely by surprise, and her paws floated uselessly in the air, at the human's sides for a few moments before she managed to wrap them around him, clutching at him tightly as the kiss continued. The soft fur on her lower underbelly pressed up against the human's abdomen, and her breasts, not unnaturally large, yet pleasantly rounded enough to please, rubbed against his chest.
"Alex..." she murred, as he broke off for a heartbeat, covering her maw and neck in quicker pecks, "Alex..."
"Ssh..." he said, nibbling at her neck, causing the tigress to nearly melt in his embrace. "This is love... doesn't make sense..."
Alexandra purred, vibrating the human's lips as he continued to kiss her neck, lower and lower, before she pushed him back slightly. Alex complied with her motions instantly, meekly wondering if he'd done something wrong, but then felt the tigress wrap her legs around his waist, so that he had to straighten up, and clasp his hands underneath her, groping and rubbing at her rump, feeling her tail lash around faster than ever as he did so.
"Where do you want to do it?" the tigress whispered, pressing his head into her neck with her paws, purring again. "The bed? The shower? Somewhere else?"
"Let's go with the shower..." the human said, breaking off, only to feel Alexandra kiss him hard again, using her tongue, so that he had to stumble forward, towards the general direction of the bathroom.
"Wait..." he said, holding her back, slightly, though she still managed to give him a long, seductive lick from his neck to his nose, feeling the stiffness in his pants rub against her more, "we have to take off our clothes."
"That so, big guy?" she asked, reaching in despite his efforts to nip at his ear, feeling him shiver in delight at that, "...Why don't you... undress me?"
The tigress gave her hips a thrust, rubbing herself up against Alex, hearing him moan slightly, before allowing him one final grope at her firm rump before she got off of him, and strolled into the shower, looking back over her shoulder, giving her hips a wave so that the male followed with little delay.
"Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong," he said, as the tigress pressed her rump against his crotch, then leaned back to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down into another kiss. "I've never done this before," he panted, as his hands found their way to her hips, automatically.
"Me neither..." the tigress managed to murr, as she reached down to use her paws to guide his hands to the fringes of her shirt, "but I like how you're doing so far..."
"Thanks..." the human said, and started to kiss her again.
The tigress returned his motions wholeheartedly, and felt his hands run up into her shirt to rub at her soft, luscious underbelly. Her eyes closed, and she made soft moans of pleasure into his mouth. To give him some pleasure as well, she reached around behind him to grab his rump, giving it something of a squeeze, before pushing her own rump against his crotch harder.
One of Alex's hands found its way onto her breast. He squeezed and kneaded it, lustfully, and yanked her bra away halfway to rub it more directly. She moaned louder at that, and the male took advantage of the brief separation of their lips to pull her shirt off.
"Whoa... wait... slow down..." she murred, gasping as he gripped her breast one last time.
"How come..." he breathed, and the tigress's eyes rolled to the back of her head in pleasure as she felt his soft, dexterous lips travel over her shoulder, marveling at her soft, white fur, before enveloping themselves around her already hard, pink nipple, giving it a brief, hard suckle.
"We'll come to the shower... but I want to get started off on the bed..." she said, and Alex's lips left her, hesitantly, before she turned around, standing on her tip-toes to kiss him again.
"You just take a seat at the side of the bed... and I'll be with you in a minute," she murred, tracing his chest with a finger, before nuzzling him tenderly again.
"...Alright. Just... don't keep me waiting too long, okay?" he asked, and heard, and felt, the white tigress giggle at his chest, giving him an opportunity to wrap his arms around her for a brief squeeze.
"I won't, Alex... you've been waiting long enough," she said, looking into his eyes again.
They shared another kiss, then a nose-rub, before his arms released her, slowly, as they trailed away, stroking her sides, then hips, then arms, then paws... before he turned. As the male went to sit down on the bed, as she'd instructed, he swore that, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of what the tigress was doing...
"I'm going to make this special for him. For both of us."
"I'm going to make this special for her. For both of us."
Alexandra shut the bathroom door behind Alex, peeking out to see him meekly walk to the bed as she'd asked for him to.
"He's so sweet..." she thought with a sigh, sneaking a final glance at him before shutting the door, and glaring at herself in the mirror. "I don't know if I deserve him. But I swear, I'll do my level best."
She adjusted her bra so that it covered her again, and paused. She closed here eyes, concentrating, and seemed to shimmer. And seconds later, she was donned in a simple bikini the exact same shade of her eyes. Looking at herself in the mirror, the tigress blushed.
"Is this really good enough for Alex?"
She looked around, then rolled her eyes.
"Of course he doesn't have a hair band."
She closed her eyes, and, a second later, the tigress was fixing her hair into a simple, but practical ponytail, so that her hair, black, with white stripes, the inverse of her fur, splayed an inky backdrop across her face and shoulders.
"Can I really make him happy?"
Alex sat down on the bed, and immediately felt nervous. But he took a deep breath, which he let out in series of rattling hisses, scarcely calming himself. He closed his eyes, gulping nervously, then opened them, and rubbed at the obvious tent in his pants.
"I hope I can make her feel good... she already has, so easily... I hope I can do the same for her."
"Something on your mind?" he heard a voice from the bathroom door say, and looked up to see Alexandra, clad in a sheer bikini that scarcely covered her feminine assets, blushing, and looking at the floor as she closed the door.
Even from where he sat, Alex could see her tail lashing around behind her, and despite the growing tension in his pants, felt himself calm slightly.
"She's nervous too."
"N--no..." the human stuttered slightly, but her giggle calmed him again.
Then, she made his arousal increase even more, as she turned around, resting her forearms against the bathroom door, bending over slightly--
Suddenly, the door opened, and Alexandra fell through, landing on her paws, and knees, barely.
"Shit... sorry," Alex said, standing instantly, seeing the tigress's tail lash around quicker than ever. "It doesn't have a bolt..."
"It's okay, it's okay..." she said, almost cooing, as she looked over her shoulder at the human, calming him. "Sit back down."
"...You sure?" Alex asked reluctantly, close enough now that Alexandra's tail wrapped around his ankle for a second.
"Yeah..." she smiled, and watched until the human sat back down on the bed, watching her intently.
The tigress remained where she was, on all fours, blushing heavily, knowing that when she was like this, she appeared to be utterly submissive to Alex...
"He's so sweet, though. I don't think he'll want to dominate me, and I don't think I want him to. I want to see him as an equal... but I want to show him that I'll gladly do whatever he asks me to."
Even from where she was, blushing, eyes closed, tail lifted to show off her rump to... her mate... the tigress heard him stifle a gasp, and smiled. Alexandra then took things a step further, after gathering her nerves, and gave her rump a slow wiggle from side to side, then up and down, so that he could see every inch of her curves that were, in his opinion, completely perfect.
She wriggled herself for a few more moments, then turned, starting to crawl towards him, still too nervous to look up as she continued to blush more with every step she took closer towards him.
Then, all at once, she paused, and raised her eyes in an almost mischievous manner to Alex.
"I hope this doesn't feel too perverted... I just want to excite him as much as possible, before I..."
She gulped, and shook her head before licking her lips, then finally speaking.
"Mm... do you like what you see?" the tigress murmured, then giggled, leaning over to sit down with her back arched, pressing her breasts forward almost aggressively, still blushing heavily, seeing that Alex was torn between wanting to look her in the eyes and stare at her breasts, her nipples poking into little indentations in her bikini.
Alexandra reached up, then took her chest into her paws, jiggling her breasts up and down, allowing a soft moan of pleasure to escape her lips.
"Ahhn... I'll show them to you... mmmh, yeah..." she murred, as her bikini top simply fell away, to lay at her side, forgotten already.
Alex wasn't sure if he was supposed to speak, or just listen to his partner speak. So he compromised, and allowed a contended sigh to roll out of him, feeling it uplift and calm the tigress as it flowed past her.
"Mmm... heh heh..." she chuckled, causing the male to swallow nervously, before looking at her again. "There's more..."
The tigress's paw had fallen to her thigh, to toy with the fringes of her thong. She checked Alex's reaction carefully, and decided that that was best left for later... which was just as well. Alexandra was reaching the limits of her nerves.
She saw him shift once, and leaned forward again, on all fours once more.
"Mmm... stay put... let me come to you..." she purred.
Alex nodded once, curtly, nervously, and gripped at the bed tightly. He watched as Alexandra took her time to crawl over to him. Her breasts hung freely, so that the male could see their every curve, and as the tigress got closer, he was able to look at the upper half of her rump to for a moment.
Then, he shivered slightly, nervous, as Alexandra put her paws on his knees as she scooted up, resting on her own knees. Alex's eyes met the females, and both calmed, slightly, as he reached out to run his fingers through her long, soft, fluffy, luxurious fur. But as the human stared to draw his hand away, the tigress caught it in her paw, blushing, looking down for a moment, gathering her nerves.
She nuzzled it once, then carefully used her other paw to extend a lone finger from Alex's hand. She folded the other fingers up, and the male tensed, guessing what was about to happen.
"No more dirty talking?" he asked, as Alexandra looked up, opening her maw slightly, so that Alex could see her long, sharp teeth, though to him, her maw was soft, warm, wet, and inviting.
The tigress blushed, and shook her head, her hail lashing from side to side as her tail twitched on the floor as if with a life of it's own.
"That's okay..." Alex said, very quietly, as the tigress ran her tongue over his finger.
It wasn't scratchy, as a feline's tongue might be expected to be. Alex seemed to tilt his head at that, even though his breath and heart rate tangibly increased, and as he way of explaining, Alexandra paused for a moment, and gave his finger another lick, this one was scratchy.
"Oh, I get it..." he thought, watching with wide eyes as the tigress started to take his finger into her maw.
She suckled on it, running her teeth across it so that vague, nervous tingles ran up and down the tiger's spine before she started to bob her head up and down. Alexandra's eyes never left her mate's, and she almost lost control of herself, opening her mouth a little wider to take his entire hand into her maw, nipping at it gently, sliding her tongue all over it.
The male wasn't complaining, and with the way his free hand started to tenderly stroke her fur, Alexandra knew that she hadn't done anything wrong.
"Mmmr... did you like that?" she breathed, starting to rub her head at Alex's inner thighs.
"Nnh... yeah..." he gasped, as he watched the white tigress blush, then start to nuzzle at the obvious bulge in his pants, causing him to shift his hips in anticipation.
The white tigress blushed more, and looked up, taking his hips into her paws.
"I want to taste your cock in my mouth... is that okay?" she asked, nosing his groin once before starting to lick her own finger, practicing, hoping that he'd be agreeable.
"Really... will you?" Alex asked, taking the tigress's padded paw in his very human hands, before pulling it up to his own face.
He then gave it his human equivalent of a nuzzle, rubbing its smooth fur with his cheek.
"Yeah.... I want to..." she said softly, then, after her heart had melted sufficiently at his motions, she allowed her paw to fall from his grasp.
Alex's hands supported himself on the bed, to the sides of his person. His breath caught slightly, then released, as he felt the tigress's fingers dance of the bulge in his pants before carefully undoing his belt, sliding it out and away. Now, Alexandra looked up at him, and he didn't break eye contact even as she unbuttoned, then unzipped his pants, before pausing at his boxers.
Alex didn't think she wanted to strip off his pants entirely, otherwise she would have motioned for him to get up or something. But she did pull them down, slightly, causing his boxers to slip, his now throbbing member just held concealed by its elastic band.
"This is really going to happen."
The tigress paused, and took a moment to blush, then give a short gasp of surprise as she realized the full extent of the male's girth. Alexandra then looked up, meeting Alex's eyes, seeing the anticipation, lust, but mostly, the affection that he held for her, and started to ease his undergarment away.
Alex blushed as his member flopped out, and watched as the tigress seemed to gather her nerves. He was about to tell her that it was okay if she didn't want to do it, as he closed his eyes and tilted his head down, but the feeling of a wet, smooth tongue at the head of his cock stopped him.
And then, by the time Alex looked up, he was greeted with the incredible sight of Alexandra swiveling her head, licking his member all over. He moaned softly, once, giving the tigress the confidence she needed to go on.
Alex's breath caught in his throat for a moment as the tigress nervously started to take his member into her maw, only about an inch or so, just enough to suckle gently at his head. Her eyes fluttered up, half-closed, to look into the male's. She saw his desire for her there, and suddenly became more aggressive.
It was all the human could do to keep from cumming right then and there as Alexandra bobbed up and down on his entire length.
He groaned, and couldn't stop a hot spurt of pre-cum from sliding into his partner's maw, only to be quickly lapped up, and swallowed. The tigress seemed to sense his desire to ejaculate, and wrapped a paw around his member as she started to suckle and tongue at his head again. Her eyes met his, and the human gave one loud, final groan--the combined efforts of her paw and maw were too much for him to resist.
He felt another trickle of pre-cum leave his member. The tigress sensed his imminent ejaculation, and pressed her muzzle down over him, bobbing up and down once or twice, powerfully, as she closed her eyes, her nose rubbing up against his groan. Alex's member then emptied its load into her mouth, his hot spunk sloshing around in her maw.
The tigress held where she was, her throat occasionally rubbing up against the tip of his member until she was sure he was finished, and slowly pulled away. Her cheeks bulged, slightly, and Alex watched as she tilted her head back, working her throat. Then, the female looked up at him, and stuck out her tongue for a moment, before licking her lips... not a drop of cum remained.
"Did you like watching that?" Alexandra asked, rubbing at the human's thighs, occasionally nuzzling him with the soft, fluffiness of her cheek.
"Yeah... thank you... ...how did it taste? If it wasn't good, then I feel bad for making you swallow it all."
The tigress blushed, and slunk upwards, pressing Alex down onto the bed with the weight of her light form. She kissed him on the lips, tenderly, as her paws stroked at the sides of his neck, while his arms wrapped around her lower back.
"You're so thoughtful... but don't worry, Alex... you taste great..." she purred, then gave a soft gasp of surprise as she felt the human's member harden up again, and rub against her as-yet concealed slit.
She leaned down again for another kiss; this one was longer, more lustful, and heavy with the use of tongue on the side of both participants. Alex started to roll over, to get on top of the tigress, and his hand found its way to her rump, then thigh. She squirmed underneath him, and moved her bare leg up to wrap around his back, as she felt his hardness rub up against her.
A musky, enticing scent met Alex's nostrils, and the kiss deepened, until only their tongues were pulsing back and forth against each another.
"Wait... the shower..." the tigress murred, as she rubbed her teeth up against his neck, nipping him just once.
"Yeah..." the human said, flinching once as she bit down on his collarbone, making him as hers, forever.
The pain disappeared as instantly as it had come, however. The same warm, white cloud surrounded Alex, and though the bleeding stopped instantly, Alexandra's mark didn't vanish.
"You're mine, for now and forever..." she said lustily, and Alex realized that he was now on his feet, and that the whiteness hadn't gone, but was rather the tigress's fur, just above her breasts as she pressed him against her, "and I'm yours, always..." she said in a softer, more meaningful tone.
Even as he started to lick her breasts, running his tongue over their surfaces, reaching up with one hand to squeeze his face against them, the human plodded heavily to where he knew the shower was. He walked into it, but his toes missed the slight uprising that marked where it began. So Alex crashed into its wall, forcing the tigress's breast into his mouth, which he licked harder, biting at with his relatively blunt human teeth.
Alexandra didn't seem to mind, however, and the soft squeak of pleasure that she gave said that she didn't mind at all. She reached for the curtain, to give the couple an air of privacy... though here, in the uninhabited forests of the Olympic National Park, they were as isolated as they were ever likely to be.
Even so, she seemed to concentrate, and the curtain slid shut as if of its own accord. Alex noticed, with a brief glance behind him, but for once, didn't grow nervous. He knew that here, with Alexandra, he was totally, completely safe...
"We'll... need a condom," he said, looking up at the tigress's face, even as he continued to support her with his hands, her breasts rubbing up against the sides of his face. "I'm not sure we're ready for children..." he said, looking down, but licking at the side.
"No..." the tigress murmured, causing Alex's spirits to drop, slightly, before she stroked his hair, then hugged his head slightly, nuzzling him.
Alexandra then whispered a single word into her mate's ear: "Yet."
"...Alexandra..." he said, then kissed from her breasts, to her neck, to her lips again, as he let her down, and stroked her neck and cheeks with his hands, "I love you... I love you, so much..."
"I know... me too..." she purred, closing her eyes, allowing him to plant a few more wet kisses at her neck before she pressed him away, and trailed her fisted paw down the side of his chest, before placing a single condom into his hand.
"How...?"
"I can give you what you need, Alex... whatever you need..." she purred, looking deep into his eyes, as her paws hooked behind his neck. "How do you want to do it?"
"...I'll leave that up to you..." he said, rubbing his nose against hers, "just let me get these off..." he gestured to his pants.
Alex then stepped away, giving them both some breathing room for a second. Alexandra swallowed, then thought for a moment, before turning around, and resting her forearms on the shower wall, sticking her rump out slightly. She heard the clump of her mate's pants falling down after being tossed outside of the shower.
There was a pause, as Alex stretched the condom on over his member. The tigress braced herself--
But Alex only stroked her, from her ponytail, down her back, to her rump, to her tail.
"You're so beautiful..." he murmured, leaning over to speak directly into her ear, while he reached up to pull away her hair band, so that her long, flowing hair splayed over her shoulders, enabling Alex to kiss through it, holding her around the waist in his arms...
"Alex... thank you..." she breathed, "but please... I need you. Now," she moaned softly, as he caused her arousal to spike, and a drop of wetness to leak out from her bikini bottom.
"Are you sure?" she heard her mate, her Alex whisper, as he positioned himself behind her, his hands on her hips, pulling her rump so that it stuck out a little more, more accessible to him. "It's going to hurt you some..."
"...I know," she said, closing her eyes, bracing herself, as her mate pulled aside her remaining garment, not removing it, just revealing her glistening slit. "But Alex..." she said, as she felt his stiff rod brush against her, "...the way I can take your pain away... it's not one-sided."
Alex had no reply to that. The tigress remained leaning up against the wall as his hands grasped at her lovehandles, as he pressed into her, deeper and deeper...
His member met resistance. Then, there was a wet popping, tearing sound, and the tigress visibly tensed, as a squeal of pain escaped her lips. Alex wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly for a few seconds...
Then he felt the tigress push back against him with a moan of pleasure.
"Mmm... it's okay..." she purred. "I'm alright... I'm alright," she panted, then gave her rump another wiggle, causing Alex's member to tingle as it rubbed her hot, wet depths. "Unnh... you're just a little big... but it's okay... I like it. I want it. ...Do me, Alex... please..." she moaned again.
The human reached his chin over her shoulder, and the tigress turned. As his hips started to buck, sending his member in and out of her wet, welcoming depths, they shared a kiss again. Their tongues toyed with one another, wrapping over, under, and around each other, even as both participants moaned.
Alex suddenly increased his power and speed, so that wet flapping noises echoed through the confines of the shower. The tigress whined suddenly, giving her big-cat equivalent of a mew as her mate pounded her hard, and her paws grasped at the slick shower wall, as she pushed back against him as his own hips came crashing forward.
The male slowed down, for the moment, as he felt his member leak a little pre-cum into his condom. He took advantage of this, and started to stroke his mate all over, before lustfully grabbing at her breasts, much to her surprise and pleasure.
"Mmm!" she moaned, as his fingers toyed with her nipples, expertly. "Wait..." she panted, and felt Alex's motions cease, before she almost reluctantly removed his member from her, and turned, before getting onto her knees again, "you like my breasts, don't you...?"
"Yeah... they're great..." Alex moaned, leaning down to grab himself a handful, until the tigress enveloped them around his member.
The human moaned loudly. Alexandra seemed to be enjoying herself as well, because her slit glistened more than ever, and every time she'd bob down, she give the head of his cock a lick. Occasionally, her efforts would be awarded with pre-cum, which she saw collect in his condom. However, she allowed her motions to subside into nothingness when the throbbing of Alex's member came close to hitting a fever pitch.
"Wait... wait..." she said, gripping it in her paw, hard, calming him, before she stood to press her lips against his again, before breaking off and covering his lower face with a series of pecks, "you've got to save it..."
"Should we... take things back to the bed?" Alex asked, stroking the tigress's sides, calming the pair down for the moment.
"Yeah..." she replied, breathless with arousal and love for her mate, "come on..."
Alexandra's tail wrapped around the human's waist, and remained there, even as they kissed their way back out of the shower, then to the bed. Then slid down, side by side, and began to ravenously touch each another again, even as they violently pulled the covers over themselves. However, Alexandra quite intentionally pulled away his condom. The male noticed this, because she took the time to invert it and suck it clean, even as he started to nibble lustfully at her neck.
Alex ended up on the bottom, and the tigress looked down at him lustfully. They shared one final kiss, before she leaned back, and adjusted his member, aligning it with her slit--in the confusion, he'd pulled away her string bikini bottom, and now she was as nude as he was.
Neither of them wasted their breath on words, their emotions were too pure to be expressed verbally. The tigress placed her paws to the side of her mate's ribs, and paused, giving him a good, long look of her striped, white and black form, while she looked over at his slim, yet slightly muscled chest. Alex's hands traveled up to rest at her hips, as he looked up. Their eyes met... and this time, their motions started again, knowing that they wouldn't end until they were both really finished.
Alexandra would push down hard, and as she did so, the human would thrust upwards, meeting her motions with a powerful dose of his own attention. It wasn't long before their loud, pleasured moans echoed through the entire cabin, along with the dull, wet thuds that marked each time their hips met.
Alex moaned loudly, and held the tigress still, slightly above the bed, and began to thrust into her harder, and more powerfully than ever before. She gave a cry of ecstasy--
The human's member quivered, then pulsed, throbbing, before it sprayed another stronger, larger load into the tigress. Meanwhile, her inner walls tightened on him, as if pulling him, in, before she hit her climax as well, and the wet juices of their mateship leaked onto the bed around them.
Exhausted, Alexandra rolled off, sliding up next to the male, who wrapped an arm around her that was gratefully that, finally, he had someone at his side. They both gave tired laughs, before sleep overtook them...
When he woke up, she was still at his side. Alex smiled, but his happy express soured for a second, as a thought struck him. Then, his mate woke up, and he was instantly calm, happy, and at peace as he looked into her eyes.
"Hey..." she murred softly.
"...Hey..." he whispered back, just as quietly, just as gently, "...how come you haven't disappeared yet?" Alex asked, wrapping his arms around her, as if making sure she didn't do just that, and removing any other meaning she might glean from his words.
"...I don't know," the tigress said with a purr, stroking his hair, kissing his forehead once. "I think it's because now that you've had me... you can't do without me. ...Which is fine, because I don't want to ever be apart from you again."
"I'm glad..." the human said, and wiped some wetness away from his eye before looking back at Alexandra.
"But isn't this... dangerous? I mean... I know you have the, uh, normal tiger form as well. But we can't be together... ...in society..."
The tigress nodded once, sadly, before she saw the beginnings of a smile touch her mates face. She tilted her head at him, wondering what was going through his head.
"I always hated that life, anyway," he said with a smile. "When you said you can give me what I need... ...I promised myself, then and there, that I'd give you whatever you need. And I think you need me, too?"
Alexandra blushed, but nodded, not looking away from the human, who kissed her nose at that.
"Then come on... follow me," he said, then lifted her up off the bed, stroking her cheek once. "I've got an idea."
The tigress paused once.
"Love doesn't always make sense. Take it or leave it."
"I'll take it," she said out loud, and followed her mate out the door of the cabin.
Somewhere along the trek, Alexandra had taken the liberty of transforming into her less familiar feral form. Alex didn't mind, though, she was just as attractive and comforting like that, in his opinion.
He'd thrown on the same clothes that he'd worn when the bear had attacked him. Alexandra tilted her head at that for a moment, before the spark of fledgling comprehension hit her, and she rubbed his hand with her soft, smooth head.
Alex smiled at her, taking hold at the fur near her neck before she realized that, indeed, they were walking back to just where the bear had injured him.
"Hey... could you give me a knife?" he asked, kneeling down to the ground, looking into the big cat's eyes.
She nodded, once, then closed her eyes. And when her ice-blue orbs were visible to him again, she opened her maw slightly, and released a strong, fixed steel blade with a fine wooden handle, complete with a sheath and belt into her mate's extended hand.
Alex blinked once, then said a word of thanks, before scratching the tigress between her ears, earning himself a purr as he fasted the belt around his waist.
"I'll treasure this gift forever."
But when the youth drew the knife, and held out his wrist, shaking the sleeve of his hoody away before drawing the blade, Alexandra's eyes flashed, and she caught his armed hand in her jaws.
"Even now, she wants to protect me," he thought, as his heart soared at the expression of worry in the tigress's eyes.
But he leaned down, rubbing her head, murmuring sweet nothing into her ear before she allowed him to straighten. However, Alexandra turned her soft, furred head away as he started to slice his own flesh.
Blood spilled everywhere, as Alex hoped, and he knew that it was no small cut, because the tigress had to forcibly keep her head turned aside, betrayed by the tell-tale lashing of her tail.
The human made sure that he got plenty of his blood everywhere, then cut off shreds of his clothing to scatter about, before Alexandra finally pounced on him, holding him down forcefully until his wound healed, and his clothes were somehow brand-new again.
"I'm okay... I'm okay..." the human said, before he realized that his anthro mate was leaning on him, licking his neck for no apparent reason.
"Oh... right..." she said, then gave a grin before letting him up.
There was a long moment of silence, as Alexandra looked around, seeing that her suspicions were confirmed.
"He's giving up any chance of ever having a normal life, with people, to be with me. For me."
Then, she realized that he'd been looking at her the entire time... while kneeling on the ground.
"Alexandra," he started, and the tigress felt a blush dye her cheeks pink, even as her eyes opened up wide, her breath catching in her throat.
"Is he..."
"Alexandra, I don't have a ring for you," he said, sadly, but took her paw into his hands, "...but... you said that love doesn't always make sense. Like it doesn't always follow rules. And I know that I love you... and that you love me too. So... please... will you be my mate? Will you stay with me for the rest of our lives?" he asked, looking up at her, a deep sense of emotion about him, affection that could, in fact, only be called love.
The tigress's lips quivered, and she didn't respond using words. But she turned the paw that he caressed over, opening it... revealed two practically identical platinum rings. Their sizes were different... and the one that seemed to be made for Alex bore the name of his mate. And the one that was made for Alexandra bore the name of her mate.
The male stood, and his eyes didn't leave his mate's until they were both wearing that single, simple, yet powerful band of metal around their fingers. But the bond that held their hearts together was one that had existed for years...
They didn't say anything. But the tigress jumped into Alex's arms, kissing him once, as her head rested on his chin, while she cried... tears of joy.
Five years later...
"Dinner's only waiting on me."
A lone, hoody-wearing figure hefted the heavy, still-warm load on his back before he looked up, his hood falling free, revealing his angular, rugged features. He was still skinny, but now, the little fat that he carried on his person had left him, replaced with sinewy muscle. He was cleanly shaved, aside from a simple, neatly groomed beard that helped to keep the worst of the blizzard that he walked through off of his face.
"Why on Earth did we pick northwest Canada? ...We'll have to take a vacation soon," he thought to himself, though not resentfully.
He flinched once, and pulled off a leather glove that fit his hand as if it had been built for it--which it had--to reveal a platinum ring. He twisted it slightly, so that he could see a single word in it, etched into the metal of the ring, burn a blue as icy as the snow that trickled down all around, and over him.
"Sorry... I'll be there soon," he whispered, then felt a sense of resigned acceptance, before pulling his glove back over his hand.
He shifted the deer, a young buck, over his shoulder, before he trudged through the storm again. A few minutes later, he came to a cabin, simple, but secure, and rife with a sense of protection and warmth.
"I'm home," he said, opening the door, entering, and shutting it very quickly, to keep the worst of the blizzard out of the small abode. "Sorry I'm late... visibility was low--"
He was cut off as a pair of white, furred arms, with occasional black stripes flitting across them wrapped around his neck, and pulled him into a quick kiss.
"It's okay..." his mate whispered, and backed away, holding him for a moment, as he set the gutted deer down. "...I'm glad that you're back."
"Yeah... me too."
Their lips drew closer, as if for another kiss, before the female suddenly bent down to haul the deer away into another room.
"I better get dinner started," she said with a blush, and wink, that said that they'd finish what they'd almost started later, in privacy that was now not as easily found as it had been a few years ago.
"Yeah, you go do that..." the human grinned, before he bent down, looking under their furniture, for something.
"Alexandra?" he called after a moment of fruitless search, then continued after hearing a sound of acknowledgment, accompanied by the smell of a wood fire being started. "I think we need to take a vacation, soon. I don't know how much more of these damn--these darn blizzards I can take."
"Is that so?" the tigress asked, peeking out from around the corner for a minute. "Well... we'll certainly look into it, Alex. But you should be more worried about the here and now... or you might lose something precious to you," she said, looking pointedly at his waist.
Alex's eyes widened, and he looked down, finding that his knife had vanished from its sheath.
"Where's that little rascal... you know, I blame you for this!" he called, as he dashed into another room, hearing his wife laugh out loud at the sound of urgency in his voice, this was an episode that was repeated almost daily. "It's your fault that he's a stealthy little punk, you know, the kind to ambush you while you--ack!"
The human felt something pounce on the back of his head, and fell forward onto a bed, too small for him, before hearing a soft chuckle, and the soft thud of his knife falling down onto the comforter beside him.
Alex took the time to sheath it, before turning over, a stern expression on his face. He opened his mouth, intending to say a few choice words of chastisement before two small arms, furred, like their mother, but ending in fingers that were as dexterous as their fathers, wrapped around his head from the back.
"Be careful, Dad... you wouldn't last ten seconds in the jungle."
There was a pause.
"Honey... we're not going to anywhere with more trees and bugs than anywhere in the good old U, S, and A," he called, then reached back, flipping a smaller figure onto his lap, tickling him.
"That's why I live here, goofball," he growled, before the child growled back, in a manner that he couldn't hope to intimidate.
"Whoa whoa whoa, mister...." Alex said, backing off, holding his hands up as if defensive, then standing, walking out of the room, slightly miffed at the way his son had taken him off guard for the umpteenth time, before hearing the pitter-patter of his son's feet follow him, at his side. "I wear the pants in this family,"
"Yeah..." the kid said, and Alex couldn't help but allow the upset expression on his face to relax as he felt his son's head rub up against his hand, as they made their way into the kitchen to help with dinner.
"You know I like you, right Dad?" he asked, ears fluttering to the back of his head slightly, before he turned to the sink to wash his furred, clawed hands. "...I mean... you are my dad... you're like the one that always takes care of me. Like my guardian angel. You and Mom."
Alex took a minute to pause, and look up at his mate. Their eyes met, still holding the same amount of unadulterated passion as they had during their first day together. The cub felt a coarse, sinewy, yet gentle and fatherly hand clap onto his head, giving his hair a ruffle.
"Yeah. A guardian angel."
(If you've read this far, then please rate and review.)