Talia Of Animalistic 3 A True-Mating

"Richy, it's Margie. Were you still sleeping?"

"Yeah," Richy answers groggily.

"That's not like you. You're usually up with the sun," says Margie.

"Bad night," responds Richy.

"Well, I'm sorry, sugar, but duty calls. We have a domestic dispute at the Wilson place. Apparently, Cougar's been up drinking all night."

"I'm on my way," says Richy climbing out of bed.

"See you there, doll," and Margie ends the call.

A few minutes later, Richy is rushing out his front door. He pauses to see if Talia's still in the tree house. She's still there, still a mountain lion and looking back at him.

"I have to go," Richy calls to Talimountain lion. "I keep the kitchen stocked. Feel free to help yourself."

As Richy turns the law enforcement vehicle around, Talia retakes her true form. She hops down to the ground, runs to the driveway and watches as the law enforcement vehicle with the words Bayberry Falls Sheriff stenciled on the back pulls away.

"Talia Marie Devonshire," she tells herself, "get a grip." She runs her fingers back through her hair trying to focus when what she wants to do is run after Richy. She spent half the night pacing back and forth as Talimountain lion fighting the urge to go to him, knowing she was welcome, but thinking she should be running off into the forest heading back to her own area. But she couldn't make herself leave.

Richy's night hadn't gone any better. He climbed out of bed several times only to force himself back to bed. It wasn't fair of her to turn into a mountain lion when he didn't possess that ability. He glances in the review mirror in time to see Talia standing in the driveway staring after him. He hopes she'll still be around when he gets back home.

Talia stands there for a while after Richy's vehicle has disappeared out of sight. She finally turns and faces the house. It's a st.u.r.dy solid brick house with a solar roof. She spotted a wind turbine not far from the house. It probably pumps water up from a well for the house as it also helps provide electricity. The front door is red, the trim is black and the shutters as well as the garage door are the same red as the front door.

Talia slowly steps into the house through the front door. Beneath her feet is a cool hard bamboo wood floor. She scans the room. There's a fireplace with trophies on the mantel and a trophy case with more trophies next to it. She notes that the throw rug isn't anything you could buy at a rug store. It's handmade and its design screams Water Tribe. The throw pillows on the sofa say the same thing. The coffee and end tables are real wood. No wonder he's so comfortable here. He's surrounded by handmade things of natural materials. There were only a couple of rooms in her grandfather's mansion where her grandmother had decorated in this fashion with things made by herself and her people. Talia and her grandmother had spent most of their time in the rooms where her grandmother had done what Talia thought of as homey touches.

The pictures on the wall show a loving happy couple. Richy's father was a light skinned tamed male. What once would have been called Caucasian. The man had kind light brown eyes, a good square jaw and chestnut brown hair. But Richy obviously has his mother's eyes, same slanted shape and same shade of deep dark brown. His hair is a much darker brown than his father's, a deep dark, dark brown that is almost black with his father's smooth texture. His mother has the look of what once would have been called Hawaiian.

Human beings once cla.s.sified themselves by what they called race which was largely based on skin color. Talia had learned this in her history cla.s.ses. It seemed a silly way to divide and define people and downright stupid to fight over. Now there are tamed humans and wild humans. Both the survivors of a meteor shower that reshaped the earth as it caused tidal waves, triggered immeasurable earthquakes, destroyed most major cities all over the world and left pockets of survivors cut off from the rest of the world.

Some survivors had access to the means for rebuilding society. For others the only choice was to survive by relearning long lost survival skills. For others it was a chance to reclaim long lost tribal lands and return to their old way of living in harmony with nature. Wild humans firmly believe in living in harmony with nature. But tamed humans have gotten better at being less damaging to nature. They were no longer dependent on fossil fuels. Richy's law enforcement vehicle, like nearly all vehicles, is solar powered yet still capable of speeds up to one hundred-fifty miles per hour.

Talia moves through the dining area into the kitchen. The dining table had looked like an old family heirloom capable of seating up to eight people. The kitchen table was newer, but Talia could tell it didn't come from a furniture store. It's handmade, round with four handmade chairs. Wilds are skilled enough to make such things. But they usually aren't made for themselves, but for trading or as gifts.

Talia inhales deeply. There's stew cooking in a large slow cooker. Judging by the smell, Richy started it last night. But there were no breakfast smells. He had rushed out without eating a thing and the thought made Talia sad. She found herbal tea in a cabinet and set about to fixing herself a quick breakfast. He was over stocked food wise for a bachelor who lives alone. But the scents tell her he gets frequent visits by members of his tribe, all the more reason to have an up-right freezer in the pantry full of frozen meats.

After eating breakfast, Talia begins to explore Richy's home. Across from the pantry is the laundry room. She strips down and tosses her clothes in the washing machine and selects small-quick wash. From the laundry room, she steps into the garage where she finds a vintage vehicle and a motorcycle. The clean burning synthetic fuel for such a vintage vehicle is very expensive. The motorcycle isn't vintage like the car, but also requires the same expensive synthetic fuel. The other side of the garage has a work area with an a.s.sortment of power tools, Black N Decker, Talia's favorite. It was one of the few companies to survive the meteor shower all those centuries ago. Centuries where some humans were shaped and refined by survival of the fittest and natural selection, and during this process developed some extraordinary abilities to aide them in their survival.

Talia heads back to the living room to take a closer look at the trophies sitting on the fireplace mantel and in the trophy case. Richy and his brother had both played little league baseball, soccer and football. Richy seems to have partic.i.p.ated in nearly every sport in existence including ice hockey and excelled at everything. Talia hadn't been overly interested in sports, but had partic.i.p.ated in and excelled at figure skating and gymnastics. But while professional teams are delighted to recruit players with wild blood, athletes with wild blood aren't permitted to compete in the Olympics because they are considered to have an unfair advantaged like someone using steroids. Talia had found this very frustrating because she had wanted to compete in the Olympics. She still hadn't figured out how any person's natural G.o.d given abilities and talents were an unfair advantage.

Talia checks out the lower lever of the split behind the living room. It's a family room with a second fireplace. It's setup for relaxing and hanging out in front of a huge micro-thin digital television. There's a bedroom that's being used as an office by Richy with two walls covered in law and sociology books. A guitar sits in one corner of the office. Then next to the office is a full bath.

Talia heads up to the upper level of the split. On one side are two modest sized bedrooms that share a full bath. Across the hall she finds the master bedroom, Richy's bedroom. Her nose is flooded with his scent. Her nipples harden, the blood rushes into her groin as her belly tightens in response to his scent. Talia releases a sigh.

Richy's bed is queen size and lacks a traditional headboard. Instead, there's a Water Tribe tapestry hanging at the head of the bed, and a cedar chest sits at the foot of the bed. A Water Tribe rug decorates the floor. But there are no dressers in the room, just a nightstand on each side of the unmade bed he slept in with his delicious scent wafting off of it.

A tremor vibrates trough Talia's body, and she moves away from the bed. She opens the door to the walk-in-closet and finds it very neat and orderly. There are several uniforms hanging in a row ready to grab and go, a couple of suits, plenty of shelves and drawers. But it's not over flowing with clothes. He's focused mostly on what he needs: an extra pair of st.u.r.dy work shoes, steal toed boots, good running shoes that look rarely used, a pair of sandals and a couple of pairs of well-used flip-flops.

Next Talia steps into the master bath. There are two sinks. The one he uses has his toiletry items sitting neatly by it: his comb, razor and shaving gel. He hung his towel up and his dirty clothes are in the hamper. It's a nice bathroom with an oversized water jet tub. There's a urinal too which seems a wise idea to her. She's heard tamed women complain about sharing a bathroom with a man. A coworker had told her how she warned her husband that if she sat in his p.i.s.s again, he wasn't going to love her anymore. He had laughed at her and not taken her seriously. And the next time she sat in his p.i.s.s, she walked out of the bathroom without pulling her pants or panties up and without having wiped herself to where he was sitting watching TV in his boxers and proceeded to wipe her p.i.s.s covered a.s.s on his lap. The marriage ended in divorce.

Talia turns on the shower and slips underneath the water. She washes herself thoroughly concentrating on the areas Richy scent marked on her. As she climbs out of the shower, she realizes she was unsuccessful at washing away his scent marks. It's stubborn as if he marked her with special glands. Yet Talia knows it's impossible for Richy to have marked her with special glands. Only males like her older brother, Roar, who inherited the gift have scent marking glands located on each side of their jaw line.

"What the h.e.l.l," says Talia confused because his scent marks should have washed off. She takes a deep breath and exhales resigned to the fact that she'll just have to wait for his scent marks to dissipate on their own. She grabs his towel because she doesn't see the need to dirty another towel. Or at least that's what she tells herself as she's toweling off. She rehangs the towel on the towel rack and heads down to the ground level to the laundry room where she tosses her clothes in the drier.
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The stairs leading to the room over the garage are next to the drier, so Talia decides to check it out. In the room over the garage she finds four different futons and two armoires. Inside the armoires, she finds that whoever comes from the Water Tribe to visit has clothes stored here. There are clothes for at least two different females, a male and children.

Finding the women's clothing bothers Talia. She can't help wondering if Richy is intimately involved with one or both of the women. The thought that he may be intimately involved with one or both of these women upsets her. Although she's not sure why it should bother her. She's not his mate. And even if she was… She pushed the disturbing thoughts away.

A few minutes later, Talia finds herself back in Richy bedroom staring at his bed wondering how many women he's bedded in it. She can't stop herself from leaning over and sniffing, but only smells him. She leans in closer to the mattress and sniffs more closely. She actually climbs onto the bed and sniffs nearly every inch of it. She finds herself very relieved not to have detected the scent of another woman in his bed as she rolls over on to her back on his mattress satisfied that the only scent she detected was his and falls to sleep.

Talia wakes up more than an hour later partially wrapped in Richy's sheets with her body thoroughly saturate in his scent. She feels much better than when she laid down. She smiles to herself feeling silly because she likes Richy's scent. And she definitely likes being covered in his scent and decides she's not bothered by his scent marks either.

Talia goes down to the laundry room, takes her clothes from the drier and gets dressed even though she was perfectly comfortable walking around Richy's house naked. And somehow she was sure that Richy wouldn't mind her nakedness. She spends some time looking through his family's photo alb.u.ms. His parents have a wedding alb.u.m.

It's typical for tame couples to have a wedding ceremony with the works. And while wilds love to party, there are very few official or formal ceremonies for wilds. But Richy's parents had a ceremony, probably to help facilitate his father's side of the family's acceptance of the woman he'd chosen to spend his life with. They were beautiful pictures where you could easily discern the bride's side of the family from the groom's side, even though the bride's family had worn their finest. Wild folks have a very different and colorful sense of style than tamed folks.

Richy was an extremely cute little boy, simply adorable, he and his brother both were. They had a happy family. But one alb.u.m was completely devoted to the memory of his deceased older brother. The first thing in it was an article from the local paper: Local Boy Struck by Drunk Driver with what must have been his last school photo. The alb.u.m chronicles Rain's life in reverse. The obituary gave his full name as Rain Cloud Griffin. He was just a couple of years older than her brother, Roar. But the family had pushed forward with their lives.

Richy's childhood wasn't too lonely after the loss of Rain, because cousins from both sides of the family had visited often. Talia surely didn't know any of his tame cousins. But some of his wild cousins looked familiar to her. She may have met and played with them during a summer tribe gathering when she was a child, before she had become an outsider among her own people.

After going through his family alb.u.ms, Talia investigates the property around the house. Richy has a generous stack of firewood behind the house which made sense because both fireplaces in the house are wood burning. There's a set of stairs to the outside entrance of the room over the garage that are st.u.r.dy and well made. Instead of a poured concrete deck landing outside the sliding gla.s.s doors of the dining area, it was pieces of sandstone fit together like a jigsaw puzzle in a foundation of sand. On it sat a long gliding rocker of bamboo. A bamboo swing hung from a strong tree limb. There's a fire pit with large sitting stones around it like you would find at a tribe's home base. Talia finds several different types of fruit and nut trees on the property set up in circles. Inside each circle is a garden. Richy has tomato plants growing in one, yellow squash and zucchini in another.

It's the way wild folks farm out in the wild. They don't clear away trees. They utilize the natural clear areas between the trees for gardening. The shed has a big riding lawnmower attached to a solar charger and a push mower that requires a cord. Also sitting in the shed are various rakes and hoes along with weed killer and fertilizer. Talia has a good idea how Richy spends most of his spare time, gardening. She also finds the path his Water Tribe visitors use and the River they cross when they come. It's a bit shallow right now, only about knee deep in its deepest area and it's fed by a small waterfall that isn't much higher than she is tall.

Talia makes her way back toward the house. She finds a couple of tire swings near the tree house and a jungle gym. She runs her hands over the wood of the jungle gym and the metal bars as she wiggles her toes in the soft sand beneath it. She hears Richy's vehicle coming down My Street and runs to the tree house. She's back up in the tree house by the time he is pulling into the driveway. As Richy parks the vehicle, Talia notices a familiar looking man sitting in the back seat.

Richy lets the familiar man out of the back seat and opens the truck. The man grabs a duffle bag out of the trunk. The man is wearing faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He's barefooted and his walk alone tells Talia he's wild.

Richy glances up at Talia in the tree house and walks over to talk to her with the man following lazily behind him. "I'm glad you're still here," Richy tells her relieved. "I was afraid you'ld leave."

Talia shrugs as if it doesn't matter, "Thought about it."

"But you're still here," Richy points out as his scent tells Talia he's relieved. "Why," he ask her. "Why didn't you take off," he ask glad she didn't because he would have just gone after her.

Talia suddenly looks and smells frustrated as she answers, "I don't know."

"Did you have a good day," Richy ask changing the subject hoping she'll relax.

Talia nods yes as her eyes flick to the other man who smells of stale beer and deep sadness. But she has his scent and realizes she knows him.

Richy didn't miss her looking at the other man. "This is Cougar. His domesticated mother-in-law would love it if I locked him up and threw away the key. But caging free people like ourselves is cruel and unusual punishment. So, he's stuck out here with me until his mother-in-law's visit is over."

Talia looks at Cougar and c.o.c.ks her head to the side as she says, "h.e.l.lo Cougar, son of Wildcat." She remembers him clearly. It's been years since she's seen him.

Cougar responds slightly slurred, "That's me." He looks up and recognizes her.

Talia nods to him. He has his father's hypnotic blue eyes. And even a bit blood shot, they're as beautiful as she remembers.

Cougar says, "Tali… Long time no see. How've you been?"

Talia shrugs as she answers, "Better than you apparently." She remembers Cougar son of Wildcat very well. They were extremely close once, perhaps too close. His father is a valuable and highly respected elder for her tribe. Roar always listens closely when Wildcat speaks. Wildcat is one of the few people in her tribe that's always happy to see her. And Cougar had always been extra nice to her and happy to see her, even after the incident.

"I'm going to take Cougar inside," Richy inform Talia, "set him up in one of the guest rooms. You're welcome to come inside."

Talia gives him a nod as she says, "I know."

"My cousin and aunt have some extra clothes here," Richy wants Talia to come inside. "I know they wouldn't mind if you borrowed a couple of things if you'ld like something different to wear."

Talia's staying put for now. "Cougar looks sleepy. Better take him inside."

Richy nods his agreement as he gives Cougar's back a pat. Then the two men head into the house. Cougar follows Richy to the upper level of the split and into the first of the two spare bedrooms.

Cougar drops his duffle bag onto one of the two twin beds. He says to Richy, "When you mentioned on the way over here that you had a free woman out here from my tribe, I couldn't image who it was. I'm impressed."

"I've never met a woman like Talia before," Richy tells Cougar. "She's dominant and doesn't lack confidence, yet there's this vulnerability to her. Just try not to screw this up for me. She's skittish as it is."

"That's because she's only been with domestic men," Cougar a.s.sumes. "You don't know exactly who you have out there, do you? You've met her at least once when we were kids during a summer tribe gathering."

Richy just looks at Cougar, so Cougar continues, "That's Talia, Roar's little sister. Her father was Chief Black Bear. She's beautiful, intelligent and untouchable. But I almost nailed her once… There was a summer she didn't spend with the tribe. And when she returned the next summer, boy, had she blossomed. There wasn't a young man in the tribe that didn't want to try her out. But she was telling everybody no. They'ld make a pa.s.s and she'd shake her head no. I just figured she was nervous about that first penetration because they know it'll hurt a little… So there was a bunch of us skinny dipping. She shook her head no to a couple of guys, got out of the water and sat on a blanket with her knees to her chest. I bowed down at her feet and begged for a taste, just a little taste, that wouldn't hurt or anything. She bit her bottom lip and nodded yes, let me push her knees apart and I watched her face as I lowered my mouth to that sweet spot and she liked it. When she relaxed and let her guard down, I moved up to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and used my finger to take over the work of my tongue… When that first o.r.g.a.s.m hit her, she collapsed back and I slid over her and started kissing that amazing mouth of hers. I was lined up to drive myself home when her father yanked me off of her and tossed me into the river. He yanked Tali up by her hair, forbid her to go naked and sent her to her mother. Then he forbid all the males from touching her for like the next half dozen summers… She was different after that. Word among the tribe is she thinks she's too good for a tribe man. She had a long-term boyfriend she started dating after college. I heard he even asked her to marry him"

This is what Talia thinks of as the incident. Her father only tossed Cougar into the river, but he punished her. He had never treated her like that before. Wilds usually don't even spank their children, and she was never the same after that.

Richy gives Cougar a stern look as he tells him, "Don't get any ideas."

Cougar puts his hands in the air and steps back, "Happily married man here."

Richy steps into his own bedroom to change clothes. He's always happy to take off his shoes. He inhales deeply as he's removing his uniform and smells… Talia. He follows her scent to his bed. He puts his nose close to the mattress and gets a good whiff of Talia. He smiles because she was in his bed. In his bathroom he finds her hair in his comb and her scent on his towel. He's pleased that she came in and made herself at home while he was gone.

Talia hears footsteps approaching the tree house. It's Richy smiling brightly. He's barefooted and shirtless, wearing an old pair of comfortable blue jeans and carrying two bowls.

He lifts one bowl up into the opening of the tree house, "I brought you a bowl of rabbit stew."

Talia accepts the bowl, "Thank you, Richy."

Richy sits on the ground at the base of the tree to eat his stew. "Why don't you come inside tonight? You could use the other guestroom or the room over the garage, where ever you're comfortable at."

Talia would like to be in his bed, "I'm fine here," preferably with him in it with her.

Richy finishes his bowl of stew and stands. "Are you sure you won't come inside?"

Talia hands him her empty bowl. "Thank you, Richy. It was very good."

Richy accepts her empty bowl and turns to head into the house.

"Richy…" Talia calls sadly.

Richy turns around and looks her in her beautiful big brown sad eyes.

Talia tries to explain, "I've been alone a long time. Not many want my company."

Richy shares, "Cougar told me your tribe believes you think you're too good for a tribe man."

Talia hadn't known that rumor was going around and her feelings are hurt by it. "I'm no better than anyone else."

Richy smells her hurt feelings so he lets her know, "I want your company, Tali."

"I want to keep you company," Talia admits. "I just… need some time… Okay?"

Richy nods. "Okay, Tali."

With Talia's scent in his bed, Richy sleeps much better than the previous night. And with Richy's scent on her, Talia also sleeps better than the previous night. Yet she still wakes at dawn even though she's well shaded. There's no movement in the house yet. So she decides to pay Richy's kitchen a visit.

Richy wakes up feeling refreshed. He almost hated to shower and wash off Talia's scent, but was grateful for the towel with Talia's scent still on it. He hangs up a fresh towel for Talia. And after he steps out of his bathroom freshly showered, he notices the smell of food. Richy expected Cougar to sleep until noon after the drinking binge he had been on all night the previous night. He didn't expect him to be up with the chickens making breakfast.

Except Richy doesn't find Cougar in the kitchen cooking, he doesn't find anyone in the kitchen. But someone was cooking and left a pot of herbal tea steeping in the center of the kitchen table with honey, sugar and fresh cut lemon wedges. On the stove he finds a platter with a sticky note on it. In feminine writing it says, "You left without eating breakfast yesterday."

The note warms Richy's heart. Talia hadn't just come in, nosed around and taken care of her own needs. She paid attention as she familiarized herself with his home. She had noticed that he had run off to work without breakfast and was concerned, concerned enough that she came in early and made breakfast. He lifts the lid from the platter and finds a generous stack of whole wheat pancakes, turkey sausage links and scrambled eggs. Richy smiles to himself. He's never had a woman other than his mother make breakfast for him before.

Richy decides to go outside to ask Talia to join him for breakfast when Cougar, sleepy eyed and scratching his b.a.l.l.s, sloths into the kitchen. Well, there goes that idea.

"Dude," Cougar goes from scratching his b.a.l.l.s to scratching his b.u.t.t, "I smell food. You cook?"

"Not me," answers Richy, "Talia. I was gonna see if she'll come in and eat with me."

"You want me to go get her," ask Cougar.

"No," answers Richy wishing Cougar didn't have any history with Talia. "I want you to get your naked a.s.s out of my kitchen and get a shower because you reek. You smell like stale beer. And put on some d.a.m.n clothes before you sit down and eat at my table."

Cougar makes a disgruntled face and sloths out of the kitchen. He doesn't know what Richy's problem is. It's not like Richy to be irritable.

After eating breakfast, Richy dresses for work and seeks out Talia. He spots her sitting in a tire swing slowly swaying back and forth. When she sees him approaching, she nearly falls getting out of the swing.

"Are you alright," Richy ask her.

Talia flips back her hair and straightens her shoulders as she answers, "I'm fine, thank you."

Despite the haughty look on Talia's face, Richy smells her anxiety. But he's not going to call her on it. "I just wanted to thank you for making breakfast."

Talia shrugs as if it were nothing. "You rushed off without eating yesterday and breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Richy smiles at her in the most charming and disarming way causing Talia to loosen her death grip on the tire swing between them. Richy pushes the tire swing away, grabs Talia away from it and against himself. He buries his face in her neck and inhales her scent. He makes the greeting more intimate by licking the jumping pulse in her neck and kissing her jaw.

The feel of Richy's tongue causes Talia breathe to hitch and she shudders against him. She returns the greeting adding a quick flick of her tongue, a quick nip and a gentle press of her lips.

Richy holds her tightly as he whispers in her ear, "I'm going to have you, Talia."

"I know," Talia responds breathlessly.

"I don't understand what's happening between us exactly," Richy says as he rubs his jaw against her hair. "I just know I have to have you."

Talia nods, "You best get to work. You don't want to be late."

Richy tears himself away from Talia. As he looks at her beautiful face, he sees she has tears in her eyes. He can smell her fear, but she's not trying to run from him. He wants to kiss her beautiful full well shaped lips. But he knows if he does, that he won't stop there and he's already running late.

"I may be late tonight," he tells her.

"I'm not going anywhere," she a.s.sures him.

"And stay away from Cougar," Richy orders her. "His wife wouldn't appreciate it if I killed him."

Richy meant that. Talia smelled the truth of it. If Cougar seemed to be getting in his way in his pursuit of Talia or showed too much interest in Talia, Richy would get violent with him. Talia watches Richy drive down the road.

Cougar is sitting at the kitchen table eating. As Talia walks by, he grunts a greeting. Talia responds with a sneered growl. Cougar doesn't know what he did wrong, just that Talia isn't any happier with him than Richy was before he left for work.

Talia goes up to the room over the garage and returns a couple of minutes later carrying several items of clothing. She stands across from Cougar and narrows her eyes at him.

"I didn't know you could cook," says Cougar forking up some scrambled egg.

"I didn't know you were capable of monogamy." She holds up an off-the-shoulder top to herself. "Do you think Richy would like this on me?"

Cougar barely glances at the top. "I think he'ld like to find you naked in his bed when he gets home."

Talia narrows her eyes at Cougar again.

Cougar sits back and sighs. "Just choose the shortest skirt or shorts and the tightest shirt that'll fit you. Then just let nature take its course."

Talia looks unsure. That's not her style. Her style was influenced by being raised tamed, by years of living tamed and the incident that happened with Cougar when Talia was thirteen and Cougar was sixteen.

"What's wrong Tali," ask Cougar genuinely concerned.

Besides feeling like she's not in control of anything right now and wondering why she's so drawn to Richy, Talia focuses on something else. "Do you believe I think I'm better than everyone else in the tribe? That I think I'm too good for a tribe man?"

Cougar is confused for a moment as he wonders where that came from. Then he remembers what he said to Richy the previous day while he was still under the influence and realizes he probably said too much. But Richy must have said something to her about it. "h.e.l.l no, Tali, I know better than that. But most of the tribe doesn't know what happened. It was just a bunch of teenagers out swimming together. I was just glad to keep my skin… I know how hard it was for me going to school, being raised domestic by my domesticated mom. And I'm half domesticated. You're only a quarter domesticated. I can't even imagine how much harder it's been for you. They set the bar so high for you."

Talia doesn't want to talk about that just like she doesn't want to talk about her fear and confusion right now. "So, who was foolish enough to marry you?"

Cougar smiles and shakes his head. "n.o.body you probably ever met. Her name's Sheila. When I met her she was hot for Richy. Lucky for me, he wasn't interested in her. She's even more domesticated than my mom was. And her family hates me, especially her mother. That's why I'm here."

Talia ask curious and concerned, "What did you do?"

"We recently learned we're pregnant, our first baby. And her mother has used it as an excuse to come for an extended visit. Her mother and I had a disagreement the other night. I sat up drinking all night while I stewed in my anger. Then I got the idea to play a little prank, scare my good old mother-in-law a little. I turned into a bear and took a couple of swipes at her while I roared. I didn't actually touch her, mind you. But she called 911 and said she was being attacked by a bear and accused me of trying to kill her."

"You shouldn't drink," Talia tells Cougar. "You make bad decisions when you're drunk. Plus it makes you smell bad. Even though you had a shower, it's still in your system stinking up your scent."

Cougar sighs as Talia leaves the kitchen. Until yesterday, he hadn't seen her in years, but she's just as honest as ever. And she's absolutely right about him making bad decisions while he's drunk.

Talia returns a few minutes later toting the laundry hamper from Richy's bathroom and wearing one of his t-shirts. Richy's white t-shirt hangs about mid-thigh on Talia and Cougar cranes his neck to watch her backside sway as she takes the hamper into the laundry room.

"I smell that Cougar, son of Wildcat," Talia calls from the laundry room.

Cougar may technically be a happily married man, but he's not dead. "I'm just a man, Talia. And d.a.m.n if you're not even prettier than the last time I saw you… Ouch!"

The smack to the back of the head kills Cougar's hard-on and she asks him, "Your wife likes you breathing, no?"

"Yes of course," answers Cougar rubbing the back of his head. "I kind of like breathing myself."

Talia asks him, "And if Richy smells you get turned on like that near me?"

Cougar slumps back in his chair as he answers, "He'll rip my head off and s.h.i.t down my neck or die trying."

"Get it under control," Talia orders Cougar. Then she goes back up to Richy's room to lie down in his bed, in his scent, and nap.

Cougar has lost his appet.i.te. He picked a bad time to go on a bender. He's still sitting at the table with his head in his hands when the washing machine finishes washing the load Talia put in it. He gets up and transfers the load of clothes to the drier. Then he sc.r.a.ps his unfinished breakfast down the garbage disposal and lies down on a living room couch.

Cougar is still lying on the couch when the buzzer sounds on the drier and he hears a car pulling into the driveway. He knows the sound of the vehicle and smiles as he hops up from the couch to walk outside and greet his visitor.

Talia hears the vehicle too. The sound of this vehicle is unfamiliar to her and definitely not Richy's vehicle, so it's not Richy coming home. She's fresh from the shower and back in Richy's t-shirt. She steps out of Richy's room because the clothes in the drier should be ready and she hears feminine laughter.

The sound of the feminine laughter triggers something deep within Talia. Talia is suddenly in the living room holding a screaming woman by the hair inhaling her scent. She lets go of the woman. The woman stumbles and grabs Cougar, who immediately begins to try to calm and sooth the frightened woman.

"s.h.i.t, Talia," Cougar exclaims as he's smoothing the woman's hair. "I didn't know you could move that fast."

"Neither did I," responds Talia. She nods toward the woman. "Your wife I presume, approximately sixteen weeks pregnant, and it's yours. She's lucky to be oozing in your scent, no hint of Richy." Then Talia heads to the laundry room.

Cougar gently takes his wife's face in his hands. "It's alright, Sheila." He kisses her rea.s.suringly. "You're fine. She's not going to hurt you."

"Who the h.e.l.l is she," ask Sheila looking toward the kitchen. "What if I had stopped by the peace office and accidently brushed up against Richy? What would she have done if she smelled him on me?"

Cougar informs Sheila, "Her name is Talia Devonshire. And you really don't want me to answer your other two questions, suffice it to say, it wouldn't have been pretty."

As Sheila goes from frighten to p.i.s.sed-off, she tells Cougar, "We should call Richy. That woman's dangerous."

"She's not usually any more dangerous than anyone else," insist Cougar. "She usually keeps to herself. She's actually a very nice person."

Sheila nearly shouts, "That wild she b.i.t.c.h attacked me. We should be calling the police and an attorney."

Cougar says calmly, "Baby, you're not listening to me and you're over reacting like your mother did with me yesterday."

"Over reacting," repeats Sheila outraged.

Cougar whispers, "Look, calling Richy wouldn't do ya any good right now. She's not some random guest. Richy's marked her and to do anything that interferes with what's happening between them right now would be very dangerous. Next, she's Talia Devonshire… Devonshire, Devonshire as in Devonshire World Law."

Sheila responds angrily, "I don't give a d.a.m.n if she is Richy's latest f.u.c.king fling!"

"It's not some fling." Cougar tries to explain keeping his voice down, "There's some serious s.h.i.t happening here."

Sheila doesn't attempt to keep her voice down, "And I don't care who she's related to at Devonshire World Law!"

Talia's tone is calm, firm and confident as she speaks from the kitchen doorway where she's leaning casually against the wall, "I'm not just related to someone at Devonshire World Law. When my grandfather pa.s.sed away five years ago, I became Devonshire World Law. Yes, I have relatives that work there, but they work for me."

Sheila gets her first good look at Talia and is a little surprised. Fear can make something seem a lot bigger than it is. And the only thing big about Talia is her presence. Talia just barely makes five feet tall. The white t-shirt has been replaced by a short chocolate brown skirt with a kangaroo pouch type pocket off to one side and a cropped tank top over ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Sheila's a tall Nordic looking woman and even pregnancy hasn't given her the full ripe b.r.e.a.s.t.s Talia has nor perfectly rounded hips that smooth into an ample heart shaped bottom. Sheila's hair may be blond, but it's thin and limp while Talia's waist length hair is full and wavy with a life of its own.

Sheila suddenly feels homely. The thing that bothers Sheila the most is Talia's skin. Sheila's too pale to tan. She only gets sunburn, and if she's not careful, sun poisoning. Yet Talia's standing there with a perfect all over head-to-toe tan. It almost looks as if it were sprayed on at a salon. And the most unfair thing in Sheila's mind is Talia's muscle definition. Sheila's naturally rail thin, but has worked out religiously for years trying to develop the muscle definition Talia has naturally.

Cougar decides to introduce the two women. "Sheila, this is Tali. Tali, this is my wife, Sheila."

Talia strides forward with a warm smile and puts out her hand. "Please forgive my rude behavior. I'm not quite myself right now. I'm very sorry. I really don't know what came over me."

Sheila doesn't take Talia's hand. Instead, she narrows her eyes suspiciously at Cougar and asks him, "How do you know her?"

Talia answers her, "We are of the same tribe, Animalistic. His father, Wildcat, is our oral historian and valued elder."

"I don't like you being here with this woman," Sheila tells Cougar.

Talia smiles amused, "Neither does Richy."

"Tali, I need to speak with my wife," Cougar tells her with a sigh. "I'm gonna walk her to her car."

Talia shrugs and heads back to the kitchen to clean up breakfast's left overs. Cougar walks Sheila outside.

After they're outside, Cougar tries to explain what's happening to Sheila again. "My dad could explain this so much better than me because it has to do with something that's rare and instinctive.

When you were dating Richy, did he ever bring you here?"

Sheila shakes her head. "No. I popped in for a surprise visit once, but it only upset him."

Cougar tells her, "And I bet if we asked him, he's never brought a woman he's dating here. But he brought Talia here. It's like a guy bringing home his girl to meet his parents," Cougar putting it into terms he thinks Sheila will understand. "Richy's an alpha male and this is his domain. And he's brought the female he's going to make his mate to his domain… You see, for some free people, some instincts are stronger than others, just like some people are better at math or public speaking than others. And the second Talia and Richy smelled each other, pretty much everyone and everything got pushed aside. Neither is consciously aware of what's happening. He just knows he has to have her and vice versa… And Talia's a fiercely independent alpha female and she's fighting her instincts hard. But now that she's in his domain, she'll see nearly all females as a threat until this is done. That's why she grabbed you. She didn't want to, she had to. She couldn't stop herself."

"Why her," asks Sheila. "Why does he want her?"

Cougar shrugs, "It simply is what it is."

"Well, if they're so oblivious to it," Sheila suggest, "why don't you just explain it to them like you did me?"

"Because that would be interfering," Cougar explains, "and any type of interference could be seen as a threat. We just need to give them a lot of s.p.a.ce and let nature take its course. And that's pretty much the only advice I'll give either of them: let nature take its course."

"It's dangerous for you to be here right now, isn't it," ask Sheila concerned.

"It would be best if it was just the two of them out here for a couple of weeks or so," answers Cougar holding her hands. "But I'm stuck here until your mother leaves and I know it's my own fault. And I didn't realize how serious it was until Tali grabbed you or else I wouldn't have taken you inside the house. I've never seen her move like that before. Just don't show up unannounced again. Call Richy first so he can call here and give me a warning… Now I hate to send you away after you drove all the way over here to see me, but it really was a bad idea not to accept Tali's apology. You didn't insult her exactly or at least she didn't take it as a great insult. She was only mildly irritated, but it was still disrespectful."

Talia didn't look irritated or offended in any way, but Cougar had smelled that she was a bit irritated and offended. He hugs and kisses his wife, puts her in the car and waves as she pulls away.

Cougar takes a deep breath and blows it out. He loves his wife and doesn't want any harm to come to her or himself for that matter. He doesn't go back inside. Instead, he has a seat in the rocking chair sitting by the front door. It's best if while he's here, he keeps his distance from Talia. It's been a long time since he's seen or spent any time with her, but his attraction to her hasn't waned. When they were young, he had fantasies of being mates with Talia, of her having their children. The truth is if he thought he had a s...o...b..ll's chance in h.e.l.l with Talia, he'd leave Sheila.

But one thing he knows for certain. Even if he had been able to make Talia his mate and they had two or three children together by now, he would just be losing her to Richy, most likely taking the children with her. According to his father, when two people were drawn together this strongly, other people could not just get injured but killed, children too. The male pursuing the female may accept any children she has from previous relationships or if they were hindering his progress somehow with the female… Well, it was best not to think about that. And even though Richy loves children, it's probably for the best that Talia doesn't have any children. Yet Cougar still wishes he had gotten to have Talia completely at least once, that her father hadn't come along and stopped him from finding out what it was like to be with Talia. And being the first would have made it twice the honor.

Cougar is still sitting there in the rocking chair hours later, relaxing and dozing, when a group of four children come running around the house. Cougar knows these children. They belong to Richy's two cousins, Ba.s.s and Otter.

"Hey, kids," Cougar greets with a smile. "Where's everyone else?"

"We ran ahead," one shouts to Cougar.

"They're coming," another one shouts to Cougar.

Talia was sitting in a tire swing when she heard people approaching. So she climbed back up into the tree house. She was relieved to see only a group of children come running out of the forest path. And a few minutes later, the children are clambering into the tree house with Talia.

The first child, a boy that looks to be about nine, half in half out of the tree house, stops to stare at Talia and the three clambering into the tree house behind him shout at him for stopping.

"There's a lady up here," he shouts back at the other children.

"A lady," Talia hears the voices of the other children question. "Who? … What kind of lady?"

The boy sniffs in Talia's direction as he climbs the rest of the way into the tree house. "She's a free lady, free like us," he informs the other children cheerfully as they scramble in behind him.

The older of the two girls giggles as she tells Talia, "You smell like Uncle Mist."

"Uncle Mist," questions Talia.

"Yeah," the younger girl says to Talia with a big smile that's missing its two front teeth. "He lives here. Dat's his house." She points to Richy's house.

"Oh," says Talia in realization, "you mean Richy."

"That's his domesticated name," the older girl explains taking Talia's hand to examine it.

Talia nods her understanding to the older girl. The older boy investigates the back of Talia's neck, pushing her wavy hair out of his way. He finds a simple tattoo there, letters with a symbol beneath them. He says the letters out loud, "Tee Ay El I Ay, Tall-lee-ah," and he traces the symbol below the letters with his finger. It's not her clan tattoo. It's a tattoo that has been given to the women of her line shortly after birth for many generations. So her mother, grandmother and many before them had the same tattoo in the same spot.

"Talia," she doesn't tell him he p.r.o.nounced it wrong. She just says it correctly for him. "That's my name, Talia."

"I'm Beaver," the oldest boy informs Talia, "and this is my little sister, Minnow, and my cousins, Clam," the second boy, "and Sh.e.l.l," the second girl and the youngest of the four children.

When Richy arrives home, he parks his law enforcement vehicle in front of the garage door. He steps out of the vehicle and hears children's laughter coming from the tree house. He climbs up into the tree house to find Talia surrounded by his cousins' children reading a story book to them.

"Uncle Mist," the children shout happily as they scuttle over to Richy.

Richy gladly accepts their hugs and kisses. "I hope you're all being nice to Talia. She's very special to me."

"We've been very nice," little Sh.e.l.l informs Richy, "We like her."

"You like her," Richy asks tickling tummies.

"Yeah," answer all the children giggling and laughing as they seek shelter from the tickling with Talia.

Talia is relaxed and comfortable with the children. And Richy takes advantage of this by grabbing Talia, pulling her onto his lap and giving her a long deep kiss. The children scream with outrageous laughter.

"Cheater," Talia accuses Richy with a nefarious smirk, "you caught me off guard."

"Guilty as charged," responds Richy smiling guiltlessly. "So tell me kids, why do you like my Tali?"

Beaver shrugs. "Because she likes us."

"Because she's kind," adds Minnow.

"She reads good too," says Clam.

Sh.e.l.l pipes in, "Because she's pretty, and she didn't get made when I accidently poked my finger up her nose."

Richy laughs, "Well, I hate to interrupt, but I'm sure Talia hasn't met everyone. So I'm going to borrow her."

"Aw no, Uncle Mist," the children say unhappily, "We have to finish our story."

"That's right, Uncle Mist," Talia tells Richy. "We have to finish our story."

Richy kisses Talia again along with giving her bottom a squeeze. The children giggle behind their hands this time.

"Okay," Richy tells Talia and the children, "finish your story. I'm going to go change out of my work clothes." He lets Talia off his lap, "But I'll be back," and he hops down out of the tree house.

Talia picks the story book back up and the children crowd back around her. Sh.e.l.l makes herself comfortable in Talia's lap. Talia picks up the story where she left off. Off in the distance, Talia hears Richy greet Cougar.

Cougar doesn't get up from his rock by the fire pit. He just gives Richy a firm head nod.

Richy stands next to Cougar and inhales over him. "Your wife, Sheila, came by. She should have called me before she did that because judging by the scent she left on you, something terrified her and then she got p.i.s.sed about it."

"Tali scared the s.h.i.t out of her," shares Cougar as he stares at the roaster in the fire pit. "Sheila wanted to call you and an attorney." He sighs with a roll of his eyes.

"What did Talia do to her," ask Richy because he's curious and needs to know.

"Tali was just being what she is, an alpha female," says Cougar matter-of-factly. "She grabbed Sheila by the hair and sniffed her for your scent."

Richy's actually pleased to hear that and grins a bit goofily. "But Sheila's not hurt, right?"

Cougar shakes his head, "Naw."

"The kids are in the tree house with Tali," says Richy looking around. "So where's the rest of my family?"

"Your aunt went looking for something in one of the gardens," answers Cougar. "Your cousins are in the house somewhere. They said something about getting a shower. I'm keeping an eye on the kids," he says jerking his thumb back behind himself toward the tree house where the kids are being occupied by Talia.

"You work too hard, Cougar," says Richy glancing at the tree house. "Do they know she's here?"

"They've figured out you've got a woman here," answers Cougar. "But they don't know who. I'm not spoiling your surprise."

"Do you think they've ever met her before," Richy ask Cougar.

Cougar shrugs. "I don't know. They've at least seen her before at a tribe meeting or two."

Richy glances at the tree house again. "I'm going to change. Be back in a few."

When Richy steps back outside through the sliding gla.s.s doors of the dining area, he's greeted by his aunt, his mother's older sister.

"Aunt Seal," Richy smiling and accepting a hug.

Talia hears the exchange, heard Richy call the woman aunt, and heard the woman's voice, a much older female relative of Richy's and no threat to her when it comes to Richy. But the children have relaxed her and reminded her of how good it can be to be with tribe and family and be around people. Plus, she wants to be near Richy, wants him to kiss her again and wants to let nature take its course like Cougar told her that morning. She's tired of ignoring her own needs and desires.

Talia drops down from the tree house. The children continue to play. As she's walking to join the adults, she sees Cougar sitting on one of the rocks around the fire pit, smells the meal cooking in the roaster in the pit. She sees the aunt going through a basket of freshly picked fruits and vegetables. A man steps out of the house through the sliding gla.s.s doors. Richy greets him warmly and calls him Ba.s.s. Ba.s.s's scent tells Talia he's a male relative of Richy's and the son of the aunt.

Then a woman comes walking around from the side of the garage where the steps up to the outside door to the room over the garage are. Talia's footsteps have been too soft to be heard. And she's downwind of everyone except the children, so none of the adults smell her coming. But Talia's scent has changed, changed to the scent of a predator and the wind carries it to the children. The children react to the predator scent the way all wild offspring do. They drop low to the floor of the tree house, freeze and hope they haven't been spotted or scented out.

Talia stops several yards away from everyone to a.s.sess the woman that has just come into view. The woman's scent tells Talia she's the sister of the man, Ba.s.s, and the daughter of the aunt, Seal. She has most of the cla.s.sic Hawaiian features that most of the Water Tribe has. She's several inches taller than Talia and more than a few years younger than Talia. The two younger children in the tree house are this woman's. The woman is a first cousin to Richy like the man, Ba.s.s. But Talia knows that mating with your cousin, even a first cousin, isn't a taboo for wild folks like it is for tame folks. Talia also recognizes her as the low ranking female Fjord abused in front of her in an attempt to impress her that backfired.

"Mist," the woman calls out to Richy with a wave. Then she hops into a run toward Richy as he smiles at her.

Talia has now deemed the woman a threat and charges. Cougar catches sight of Talia out of the corner of one eye and jumps up from his rock screaming as he runs to intercept Richy's female cousin, "s.h.i.t! Otter! No! … Richy!"

Cougar manages to intercept Otter before she can throw her arms around Richy for a hug. Richy rotates with a speed Cougar didn't know he possessed and grabs Talia as she's charging off her feet by her waist. Except that doesn't stop Talia from taking a vicious swipe at Otter. Otter throws her arm up in self-defense and manages to protect her face from Talia's swipe as Cougar jerks her back away from Richy. Talia's feet are nearly a foot above the ground and one arm is crushed against Richy as he holds her by her waist.

Richy grabs the wrist of the arm Talia used to take the swipe with to keep her from doing it again and tells Talia, "Now that wasn't nice."

Talia's response is an angry huff.

Richy carries Talia to the sliding gla.s.s doors, slides a door open and sets Talia inside. Talia jerks away from Richy. Then with the same hand she swiped at Otter with, flips the dining table and stomps into the kitchen.

Richy takes a deep breath as he hooks his thumbs into the top of his jeans and tells his family, "That's Talia."

"We know who she is," responds Aunt Seal as she's checking her daughter, Otter's wounded forearm. "Why is she here?"

"And what did I ever do to her," asks Otter wide-eyed.

"I brought her here," answers Richy. "I'm not sure what you did. And I need to go to Talia." Then he steps into the house sliding the door closed behind him.

Cougar tells Otter, "She saw you as a threat."

"Me," Otter questions in shocked disbelief. "I'm no threat to anyone, and especially not her."

"I don't understand," says Ba.s.s. "Talia and Roar are the calm cool and collected types."

"Has Mist ever brought a woman home before," asks Cougar.

"No, never," answers Seal. Then she says, "Oh my," as a light goes off inside her head. "I thought that was just a myth."

"What," ask Ba.s.s wanting to know what's going on.

"A true-mating," answers Cougar.

"What's that," answers Ba.s.s.

"It happens when true-mates find each other," explains Seal. "It's said to be very dangerous to interfere in a true-mating."

"According to my dad," shares Cougar with Seal, Ba.s.s and Otter, "interfering with a true-mating could be deadly."

"Do they know what's happening," asks Otter.

Cougar shakes his head. "No, they're both operating on pure instinct and until they finish establishing their link as true-mates we need to give them both s.p.a.ce."

"Are the children in any danger," asks Otter worried and concerned.

"They don't see them as any kind of threat," answers Cougar.

Richy walks past the over turned dining table without giving it a glance. He steps into the kitchen doorway where he stands and watches Talia pace for a couple of minutes. Then she fills a gla.s.s with cold water and he watches her drink it down. She looks at the empty gla.s.s a moment. Then she throws it as hard as she can at Richy at a speed a normal man could never achieve.

If Richy was an ordinary man, the gla.s.s would have hit him in the face. But he's not an ordinary man any more than Talia is an ordinary woman so he catches it. It still hits his hand with enough force to cause a few significant cracks.

Richy frowns at the now ruined gla.s.s. "That wasn't necessary. Now it's ruined." Then he drops the ruined gla.s.s into the trash can next to the refrigerator.

"That woman was awfully happy to see you," says Talia keeping the kitchen table between herself and Richy.

Richy simply responds, "Otter, she's my cousin."

"Just a cousin," Talia asks accusingly.

Richy answers, "Just my cousin and nothing more."

"And how many nothing mores have you brought here before," demands Talia.

"None," answers Richy. "You're the first woman I've ever brought here, that I've ever wanted to bring here and meet my family."

He's not lying. Talia can smell he's telling the truth.

Then Richy asks her, "Why are you still here, Talia? Why haven't you left here? Why have you stayed?"

Talia grabs her head and shakes it as tears squeeze from her eyes. "I don't know." Her confusion scents the air. "I tried. I get to the edge of your territory and then I have to come back."

In her confusion, Talia forgets to maintain that safe distance from Richy. Richy doesn't hesitate to grab her and pull her against him. She eagerly accepts his mouth. There is a hopeless desperation to her kiss. Her body language is confusing. One second she's pushing against him eagerly and the next she's trying to pull back.

Talia's claws rake slowly down Richy's back, but he barely registers the sting. He's immersed in the feel and smell of Talia. He can smell how hot and wet she is for him. She turns away from him intending to walk away because her head is swimming, only to have Richy pull her backside against him. His mouth latches onto the side of her neck with a sweet suction. That sensation alone makes Talia whimper helplessly. Then one of his hands slide under her shirt as the other hand slides down the inside of the front of her boy-cut panties finding her slick with wetness as he begins to caress her feminine nub.

Richy walks Talia forward to the kitchen table while pushing her panties down. When they b.u.mp into the table, Richy undoes his jeans and frees his erection with the hand he used to stimulate Talia's feminine nub and push her panties down so they are sufficiently out of his way. He manages to catch Talia's mouth with own as he grips her wrist and pulls her forward over the table causing her to pull up onto her toes as he uses his knees to push her legs far enough apart. He stretches her hands out to either side of the round table. When Talia feels the edges of the table under her hands, she grabs them, which was just what Richy wanted. He takes a few moments to admire her stretched out on the table before him like an offering, running his hands over her arms, shoulders, finding the tattoo of her name with the symbol below it on the back of her neck. He runs his hands down her back. His thumbs caress the edges of the tribal tattoo at the small of her back. It appears to be a roaring mouth, but what predator the roaring mouth is with its rudimentary eyes and ears, is unclear.

Richy positions himself with the head of his c.o.c.k just pushing at Talia's v.a.g.i.n.al opening. He reaches over Talia and grabs the edge of the table by her head. Then he drives himself home with one quick hard thrust.

Talia gasps and her eyes water from the sudden invasion.

Richy freezes and mouths, "f.u.c.k," to himself. He's never taken anyone's virginity before, but he's sure of what he felt and heard. Talia's maidenhood made an audible pop when he pushed through it on top of he felt it rip as he pushed through it. Talia's confusing body language suddenly makes sense.

Richy leans back to have a look as he slides his c.o.c.k part way out of Talia, not that he's exactly all in, and he sees streaks of blood along his shaft as trickles roll down the insides of Talia's thighs. He pushes back inside Talia slowly and takes his time working all of his c.o.c.k inside her as she's arching back into him. He takes it slowly, rolling his hips forward. Talia continues to arch back into him and begins to purr.

Talia's purr triggers something deep within Richy. His slow rolling turns into fast, hard, thrust that cause Talia to moan and twitch beneath him. He closes his eyes and feels his eyes change. When he opens his eyes, he sees a man standing outside of the kitchen. The man's scent tells Richy it's Cougar and he's shocked as he stands there staring. But what Richy sees is the heat generated by Cougar's body.

Cougar is standing there staring like a deer caught in headlights. Richy's eyes have gone black and inhuman and so have Talia's. Talia's not a surprise. Cougar knew Talia possesses the gift like her older brother, Roar. So the claws extending from beneath Talia's fingernails don't surprise Cougar. He knows those are the same claws Talia just tried to rip Otter's face off with a short time ago. But Richy is only a quarter wild, and doesn't even possess the ability to become any type of animal. Granted, most wild folks can only do one or two wild animals, but Richy can't even do one animal.

Then claws extend from Richie's finger tips as he opens his mouth and sharp canines extend. But Richy doesn't slow his rhythm with Talia as he touches the new canines with his tongue. He smiles as he looks at Talia beneath him, little o.r.g.a.s.ms shudder her body as they build to a big o.r.g.a.s.m. He puts his teeth to the back of Talia's neck. Talia freezes beneath him at the touch of his teeth. Her mouth opens to allow out the sounds his thrusts are forcing out. He applies just enough pressure with his teeth to break the skin and mark Talia as his mate, which is exactly what Talia was doing when she pulled her claws down his back, marking him as her mate.

Cougar can only stare in awe as he wonders why Richy never displayed any signs of the gift before. And Richy's reaction to the claws and teeth told Cougar this was all new for Richy. Cougar can only speculate that the gift lay dormant in Richy until something activated it and awoke it like a sleeping bear. And finding one's true-mate was definitely a life altering event, definitely enough to awaken such a gift if it lay dormant within oneself.

Cougar watches as Richy rolls Talia over onto her back and the claws and sharp teeth recede for both of them. Cougar remembers Roar experimenting with his developing gift in their early teens as he was learning to control his inner predator so it didn't slip out at inappropriate times. In full predator mode, Roar is an unstoppable stalking, hunting, killing machine that stands at least eight feet tall. Of course, Roar was already over seven feet tall.

The gift is one talent wild folks hide from tame folks. It didn't stop the rumors even though no male or female in their right mind would use their gift in the presence of a tame person. Having the gift is a serious responsibility. It makes one an instant protector of their tribe and possibly a protector of any other nearby tribes that weren't lucky enough to have someone with the gift in their tribe.

Having someone with the gift is what saved all the tribes in this mountainous region from being exterminated. Yet even with someone like Roar to protect them, tribes suffered heavy losses when soldiers were sent in with guns and grenades. There were only about a dozen tribe members left of Australia's Aboriginal Tribe when they were flown in. They became part of the Amazon Tribe that had been relocated from South America. The Amazons are a tall beautiful dark skinned people, and Roar's mother had come from the Amazon Tribe. It had always seemed funny to Cougar that Roar and Talia were brother and sister, Roar being the tallest and nearly the darkest member of their tribe with dreadlocks past his waist while Talia is the shortest member of their tribe with tawny tan colored skin and free flowing raven hair.

Cougar takes a longing look as Richy pulls the cropped tank top over Talia's head. Hers and Roar's tribe tattoos are different from everyone else's in the tribe, but not identical to each other either. Each of their tribe tattoos has unique features no one else's has. Cougar finally manages to pull himself away from the spot where he's been standing in shock for more than a few minutes to go to the bathroom like he came into the house for. Going to take a leak has never been so interesting before.

Hours later, everyone except Talia and Richy has eaten and is tired and going to bed. Seal and Otter take the children up to the room over the garage via the outside steps and door. Hours have pa.s.sed since Cougar rejoined everyone else outside. Ba.s.s had played his harmonica as Seal played her flute while Otter sang an ancient love song with Cougar's accompaniment. Finally Otter had sung the children a couple of ancient lullabies and the children had talked of how much they adored Talia and of smelling a predator. But they couldn't identify what predator they had smelled, just not a mountain lion, wolf or bear. The scent had reminded them of Fjord when he's angry, which is quite often. Most recently Fjord has been p.i.s.sed because he requested from Roar to give Talia to him as his mate. But Roar refused, telling Fjord the women of his tribe are free to choose their own mates. And Fjord's favorite family to torture when he's p.i.s.sed is Richy's family quite simply because he hates Richy. So Richy's aunt, cousins and their children come to seek refuge within Richy's territory quite often as do other members of Richy's tribe.

Ba.s.s and Cougar sit out by the fire pit for a while after Seal and Otter have gone up with the children. Cougar tells Ba.s.s what he saw when he went in to relieve himself. Ba.s.s is at a loss because as far as he knows, the gift isn't an ability that runs in his family. Plus, people like Richy that are only a quarter wild or less never have any special abilities beyond better senses than tame folks.

Both, Ba.s.s and Cougar, enter the house through the sliding gla.s.s doors. Then together they upright the over turned dining table. They can clearly hear Richy and Talia still mating in the kitchen.

"Unbelievable," says Ba.s.s stepping so he can see into the kitchen. "They're still at it."

Cougar steps up next to Ba.s.s and has a look himself. Richy is now holding Talia up against a wall. Talia is twitching uncontrollably as Richy pounds into her.

Cougar tells Ba.s.s, "Well, that's not where they started. Of course, they were already at it when I came in to take a p.i.s.s."

Richy's body spasms as his skin ripples like water when a stone's been dropped in. He slides down to the floor as Talia's head slumps onto his shoulder. She's exhausted.

Talia's voice is horse as she utters her first words in hours as her body continues to twitch while her skin ripples, "Richy… I need… a break… please…" Then she pa.s.ses out.

"s.h.i.t," says Richy softly as he starts to pat Talia's face. "A little help," he calls back to Cougar and Ba.s.s just outside the kitchen and they rush in to a.s.sist him.

"A gla.s.s of water," request Richy.

Cougar gets the gla.s.s of water as Ba.s.s starts picking up the stray clothes. And as he's picking up the clothing, Ba.s.s spots two small pools of blood on the floor with small toe prints in them. Talia's panties are blood stained. But the scents not right for menstrual blood.

"Mist," Ba.s.s questions, "this blood?"

"She was a virgin," answers Richy accepting the gla.s.s of water from Cougar. But he has to get her conscious enough to drink it.

Cougar stares at Talia. It just doesn't seem possible that a free woman, especially one as beautiful as Talia, could still be a virgin at her age.

"Cougar," Richy not understanding some things, "I came and still had a hard-on. I came again and again, I'm not sure how many times I came and I couldn't stop. And she took everything I gave her. She never said stop, and she never complained of pain."

"Richy," says Cougar clapping a hand on his shoulder, "You are an extremely well hung man. She's going to be sore tomorrow. I'll start a bath."

As Cougar trots out of the kitchen, Ba.s.s hands Richy a cool damp cloth. Then Ba.s.s takes the dirty clothes into the laundry room and comes back with a mop, a rag and spray cleaner. As he cleans the blood from the floor, he watches the tender attention Richy pays to Talia.

Richy wipes Talia's brow with the damp cloth. "Okay, Baby, wake up for me." He pats her cheeks again. "Come on, Talia, wake up."

Talia's eyes flutter open and she focuses on Richy's face. Richy smiles as he tells her, "I want you to drink some water for me, okay?"

Talia gives Richy a barely perceptible nod. Richy lifts the gla.s.s to Talia's lips and she chokes on the first sip. Richy sits her more upright and tries again. She doesn't choke this time and she drains the gla.s.s for Richy.

She looks at the empty gla.s.s and then tells Richy, "You now."

Richy nods his agreement. "Ba.s.s, refill this gla.s.s for me, please… …Thank you," and Richy drains the gla.s.s for Talia. She gives him a tired smile and he kisses her.

Cougar steps back into the kitchen having started a bath running in the master bathroom. He walks over to Richy and Talia and reaches for Talia as he tells Richy, "I'll give you a hand."

Richy crushes Talia against himself protectively as he nearly growls at Cougar, "She's mine. I've got her." His eyes go black as part of his warning to Cougar.

Cougar takes a giant step back away from Richy and Talia as he says, "Of Course." He looks at Ba.s.s who's wiping off the table. Ba.s.s simply shrugs.

Richy's legs are shaking as he gets to his feet with Talia in his arms. But once he's standing, he's fine. Cougar follows at a non-threating distance.

Richy finds a bubble bath waiting for him and Talia in his master bathroom. He stands Talia in the tub, but doesn't let her go because her legs are still too rubbery to let her stand on her own as he steps into the tub with her. Then he slowly lowers himself and Talia into the warm soothing water. Talia snuggles against Richy as he holds her close.

From the bathroom doorway, Cougar tells Richy, "Shout if you need anything," as Ba.s.s is setting a ewer of ice water and a gla.s.s on one of Richy's nightstands. Then Ba.s.s follows Cougar out of the master bedroom. Cougar walks across the hall to his temporary bedroom and motions Ba.s.s in, closing the door behind Ba.s.s.

Ba.s.s asks Cougar, "Isn't she in her mid-twenties at least?"

Cougar answers, "Early thirties actually."

Ba.s.s looks mystified as he says, "As beautiful as she is, it's hard to believe."

Cougar shrugs as mystified as Ba.s.s. He had known Talia has never been with any of the men in their tribe because her father, Chief Black Bear, had forbidden all the males from touching her. Then Cougar realizes that Talia had been saying no before her father angrily forbid all the males from touching her. He realizes she must have been saying no because she had already been told to say no. Cougar had known he'd gotten Talia into trouble that summer. After the incident where her father threw him in the river and yanked her up by her hair, she didn't step out of her family's tepee for days afterward. And when she did finally come out, she was a very different young girl than the one that had went in days before.