The Tiger - Chapter 5

“But what?” I ask softly, trying not to upset her more. “But…..my baby brother…..was still….inside when…she crushed….the house,” she barely says before bursting into heavy tears. I hold her closer, crying a bit at the thought. Then deep inside me, something snapped. Something beyond rage and anger and hatred and revenge came out and it wouldn’t stop. “I am gonna kill her,” I say purely driven by hate. “No please. Please don’t,” she begs. My form gets bigger and meatier. Muscles grow and expand to their limit and beyond. The dire form.
Dire form is the strongest, most powerful form of any were-form. Nothing can really stop it except for three things: 1) total obliteration of whatever causes the dire form; 2) death of the dire were; and 3) the mate of said were. Other than the first two, the mate can calm the inner rage that the dire form runs on and that is the best example that another were is its mate
As I stand, Christine slips off of my huge form. Now over 8’ tall, I am of colossal and mammoth proportions, far more powerful than before. I begin a steady walk back towards the cave. Christine steps in front of me and I stop. “Move,” I say harshly, looking down at her with fiery red eyes. “No. I won’t let you hurt her or yourself. You’re better than this,” she says softly before touching my stomach. At 5’7”, the top of her head is to my chest in this form. Her touch makes me pause. So tender. So soft, so womanly. Such a different touch than other women. Maybe she’s the one. Mom, but especially Dad, had always said that I could tell my mate apart from anyone.
Christine slowly moved her hands up my body, shivering as she does. She reaches my face and I lean down, letting her touch and not knowing what will happen. She touches my chin and neck, moving up to my whispers and upper face, then to each side of my face. She stares into my red eyes with her electric blue one and immediately, I feel a connection that went beyond just our beings, but thru our souls. “Did…did you feel that?” She asked, feeling it as well. I nod. “May… may I kiss you?” She asks shyly and nervously. I lean forward and kiss her gently, trying not to spook her. She shies away for a moment before coming back and kissing deeper. I kiss back eagerly, till eventually we break the kiss, the both of us panting. “I’ve finally found you my mate,” I say feeling all the anger and rage seem to vanish with the kiss, my eyes and my form returning back to normal.
“What happened? Why did she do it? Was she angry at you?” “No. I just did the same thing that you did: went home to get my things,” she says sadly clutching me. I tilt her face up to meet mine before I kissed her deeply, lovingly, passionately. She wraps her hands around my neck holding onto me. Breaking the kiss, we look into each other’s eyes, panting with passion and amazement at the connection between us. “I love you Christine,” I say with a heartfelt joy. “And I you my love,” she says equally happy. We sit for the longest time, studying each other’s expressions and looks, figuring each other out.
“Do you think we should tell Ana or keep it under the radar?” I ask, wondering. “The longer she doesn’t know the worse the punishment,” she says fearfully. “Does she punish for everything?” I ask, baffled at Anastasia’s reach of power over us. “Just about,” Christine says giggling a bit. She scoots over and into me, cuddling into my chest. She holds onto my fur. Breathing in, I smell Christine’s sweet scent. She smells of cinnamon, snickerdoodles, and vanilla. My heart flutters at this heavenly scent. “You smell delicious my love,” I whisper before playfully nibbling her ear.
She giggles before seductively getting out of my grasp and getting on all fours in front on me, shifting her tail to the side, exposing herself to me. God instincts are great, I think to myself as I begin to get a hard on. “If my love wants, he must first catch his prey,” she says teasing before rushing off into the forest. I don’t know how well she knows the forest but I can navigate it with my eyes shut. I sit and will my shift to my full tiger and open my nose, following her scent trail slowly. I methodically track her with ninja stealth and pure silence. I come to a point where another scent picks up where Christine’s ends. Thick, musky, female. It smells of lilac and lavender. Shit, Anastasia. I think before breaking in a full sprint back towards the cave.
As I make it into the entrance I can hear what sounds like the cracking of a whip and Christine’s painful screams and pleas for help. “Hayl!!!! Hayl!!! Hayl, where are you!?!?!?!?!” It breaks my heart to hear it. I rush to my room quickly grabbing my knives and axes and hand to hand combat weapons, before sprinting down the hall. As I get into Ana’s room, Christine is chained to the wall and Ana is in her hybrid, cocked and ready to crack the whip again. Christine already has about 20 or so thick red welt strips on her chest, belly, legs and abdomen, most of them bleeding. I lunge forward in front of Christine, catching the whip with my body. It splays fully on my chest, immediately burning and bleeding hard.
“Out of the way pet,” Ana says hatefully. I draw a knife into one hand and a brass knuckle knife combination onto my other hand. “No!!! I will not let you hurt my mate,” I say protectively. Ana’s dragonic eyes narrow, probably driving her deeper into anger. “Your what??” she says angrily. “She,” I say pointing back towards a passed out Christine, “Is my mate and you will cause her no more harm. Not as long as I’m alive.” “Then you will die in vain,” She says rushing forward at me.
I cock my brass knuckled fist back and crack one right into Ana’s jaw. I feel the bone under the metal shatter as she is thrown back from the hit. She gets up and her jaw hangs slack on her face. Definitely shattered. She runs forward again, claws at the ready. I adjust myself and rush her. As we come together, I drive both knives into her under belly. I smirk then feel immeasurable pain. I cough up some blood before looking down to see her clawed hand in my stomach. I look back into her eyes and a slight smirk is on her face. I let go of the knives that I’ve put into her grabbing two more. I run one deeply into her forearm, severing tendons. She screams and pulls back, pulling her hand out of me.
I drop to a knee, still coughing up blood. The hole in my stomach can wait. I slowly stand, raising myself into a weak fighting stance. My white fur tainted a deep red and 4 large puncture holes in my midsection. Ana is hunched over grasping her arm, screaming in pain. I slowly stagger towards her before she turns and throws the knife, the point driving into my right shoulder. I drop the knife in that hand and reach for my shoulder, touching the metal that’s driven into me. Too deep to pull out now. I raise my left arm as best I can, wielding my favorite tomahawk. Wrought iron, personally hand-made; my finest work. I hold it defensively as Ana stands as well, wielding the brass knuckle, knife combination in her good hand.
“Seems we’re even now aren’t we?” she snickers before charging again. I deflect a jab and a forward slash of the knife, slashing her back. No cut at all nothing. Damn scales. I wait for her next move but notice Christine jerk awake. It catches Ana’s attention and she turns to look. NOW!!!! I lunge forward and with an upward swing, drive the blade under her ribs, splitting her heart in half. I lift up, lifting her off the ground. She looks down at me in shock and pain, stunned. “Now go to hell you bitch,” I rasp grabbing a knife and spiking her neck, breaking her spine.
I drop her limp body and slowly crawl to Christine who’s screaming something I can’t hear. My fur is now red with white blotches ever so often. Senses leaving, going into shock better hurry. I pick up the pace and stagger over to the wall, planting red handprints onto the walls. I undo one hand clasp holding Christine to the wall before staggering back and falling. Shock sets in and I pass out.