03 - You Only Live Nine Times (15 page)

“There’s a bank across the street,” commented Raf.

“Umm hmmm, and there’s a lemonade stand down there.”

“No,” smiled Raf, “I meant that banks usually have a lot of cameras around them.  Maybe they might have one that points in this direction – it’s opposite the bank parking lot.  Maybe we got whoever dumped the arms on tape.  I’m going to talk to the bank manager.”

“Ah.  So do you want lemonade or not?  I’d come with you into the bank, but you’re more likely to have joy without me.  That used to be my branch.  Let’s just say I didn’t leave them on the best of terms.  If I go in there, there’s no way we’re getting the footage.” 

It wasn’t her fault.
  They started dicking around with her mortgage repayments, so she may or may not have shifted into her tiger and scared the hell out of the bank manager by bursting in on him while one of the tellers was giving him a blowjob.  Poor girl was so terrified she bit down –
hard
.  Apparently, the bank manager walks with a limp now. 

Raf gave her a look of interest, but perhaps wisely chose not to pursue the topic. 
Clever boy
.  “Sure, get me a pink one.”

“Pink, ooh, I knew you were a pretty boy.”

“No, just comfortable enough in my masculinity to be able to pull it off.”

“I’ll say.  No cameras at Hola Sunshine or the donut place?” she asked as they dodged traffic and ran across the street.

“Only pointing inwards.  Food places only really have cameras pointed at the register and entrances, they don’t tend to focus on the outside.”

“Okay, cool, well…”

A scream resonated down the street as a woman started wailing and pointing at what appeared to be a hooded youth running in the opposite direction.  Sure enough, he was carrying a huge, pink purse under his arm that was definitely not his color.  “He stole my purse!  Stop him, won’t somebody stop him!  He stole my purse!  Oh, the humanity!”  With that, she fainted and a few concerned passersby came to her aid.

“Stay here,” commanded Raf as, naturally, he took off after the purse-snatcher without a moment’s hesitation.  “Stop, police!” he yelled.

Isis took a few seconds to watch the way his muscular ass squeezed as he ran.  Ms. Kitty drooled. 
He should always be running. 

He really was a boy scout, wasn’t he?  He was a little straitlaced, a little too keen on following the rules for her normal tastes, but damnit if she didn’t love the way those little frown lines appeared on his forehead when he was all judgey and disapproving.

Okay, she’d spent more than enough time ogling the as yet undefined male in her life.  And it had given the purse-snatcher ample time to get a nice head start.  It’s much more fun if you really have to work at catching your prey.  There was never any doubt that she wasn’t going to run after the purse-snatcher, but she could afford not to rush into it.  The way she was about to catch him, she was pretty sure he’d be scared into becoming a model citizen.  Ms. Kitty roared excitedly.

Chapter Seventeen

“Stop!” yelled Raf, “police!”

Jeez, why did he even bother?
  He might as well just shout ‘run’. 

His feet pounded the sidewalk, his heart racing, maniacally as he struggled to gain on the young man.  Raf knew he was fast when it came to foot chases, but damn this boy could move.  Was it even worth it?  How much money could the woman even have in her purse?  Even from this distance Raf could see it was a pink, plastic purse.  He didn’t want to be a snob, but it hardly indicated a wealth of riches hidden inside.

At least Isis had listened to him.  She had mercifully stayed behind and allowed him to handle the situation, not that he was handling it all that well at the moment.  It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was capable of chasing the boy down.  He wasn’t sexist.  He may have been raised to think that men do all the police work, and women stay home and raise the children, but he had made his own mind up on the subject.  He told Isis to stay put because he couldn’t be certain about what was going to happen.  The boy could easily have a concealed weapon, a gun or a knife, and if Isis went barreling in there, she could get hurt. 
He was trying to protect her
.  As far as he knew, tigers weren’t bullet proof.

Course, all of that was irrelevant as a huge black and orange blur flew past him and had the purse-snatcher flat on the ground before he could even let out a ‘what the fuck?’.

The boy was whining and crying as the magnificent tigress pinned him.  A few people stared open-mouthed, but the tiger didn’t care.  She kept the boy firmly in place with one massive, terrifying paw and lifted her huge head to the sky, releasing an almost deafening roar.

Raf approached slowly, almost dumbly, his mouth open, catching flies.  The tiger caught sight of him, and he swore she actually looked a little apprehensive.  The magnificent, yellow orbs looked at him with almost a need, mixed perhaps with a fear of acceptance.  Or maybe he was just reading too much into it, but those big, soulful eyes seemed to call to him.  But whatever it was, he felt amazement at just how beautiful she was.  Sure, he’d met plenty of shifters.  He’d seen a couple shift before, it looked odd and more painful than it actually was.  But he’d never met a tiger shifter.  To him, tigers were relegated to zoos, and damn, seeing one up close was wonderful. 
She was so darn pretty
.  But then, he expected she was especially beautiful for her species.  Hell, she was more beautiful than all the other species combined.

A couple of cops who had been interviewing people back at the alley came running up, puffing and panting.  They caught sight of Isis and jumped back in fear.  The tiger let out a snort that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.  The cops immediately realized the tiger was Isis, but that didn’t diminish their palpable fear.

“Hey, beautiful,” said Raf, soothingly.  “You did great, but I think you should probably let him up now.”  He nodded down to the young man caught under her paw.  The idiot was starting to groan under the weight of a huge tiger.

“Get this thing off me!” wheezed the clearly suicidal young man.

Isis snarled and pressed down on him.  Raf let her have that for a few moments.  Calling Isis a ‘thing’ was unacceptable.

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay,” murmured Raf, edging toward her.  He waited to see if she would object before giving into temptation and rubbing his hands through her silken fur.  She was too lovely a creature to resist.  He ran a hand down her back, marveling at how soft she was to the touch.  He used his other hand to tickle her ear, and she shivered. 
She was ticklish!
He scratched her head, and she leaned into his hand, easing up on her captive.  Raf moved back slightly, and she followed, eager to feel his hands on her again.

Raf nodded to the two patrol cops who, giving Isis a wide berth, grabbed the young man and pulled him up, cuffing him and taking away the pink bag.  They ignored his howls about police and tiger brutality and led him away.

“Let’s get you back to your clothes,” said Raf.  The tiger let out a contented sigh and licked his cheek.  He chuckled at the warm, raspy tongue.

They walked along the sidewalk, people jumping out of their way, gawping at the man seemingly walking a huge tiger. 
Like this was the craziest thing they’d ever seen!
  Isis butted her head against him, and he regularly smoothed his hand through her fur.

They reached the spot on the sidewalk where Raf had left Isis, and she let out a growl.  What should have been a pile of clothes, shoes, a gun, her badge, and a wallet was now thoroughly diminished.  Oddly enough, it was just her clothes and shoes that were gone.

Thankfully, the thief had chosen to leave her badge, gun, and wallet behind – perhaps fearing that stealing those would land them in a huge heap of trouble.  But the clothes – who cared about those?  Well, other than Isis, who had bared her teeth and was glaring at the passersby in turn, trying to root out a suspect.

He kneeled in front of her and made hushing noises.  “It’s fine, baby, c’mon, I can give you my t-shirt.”  He scooped up her items and walked away.

The tiger chuffed and followed him to his car, haughtily holding her head high and swishing her tail.  It was kind of surreal, walking around with an animal you only usually see in zoos following you, but to Raf, it didn’t feel wrong.  He never thought he’d admit this, but seeing Isis’ inner beast had only strengthened the burgeoning and overwhelming feelings he had for her.  Finding a tiger sexy? 
Yeah, maybe he did need some help.

*

“We could just go back to my apartment,” said Isis.

Not at all embarrassed at wearing a t-shirt that barely covered her butt, she still strode around like she was the sexiest thing on two legs. 
Which she really was in Raf’s opinion.

He shrugged.  “Mine’s closer.”

Raf opened the door to his place, and Isis let out a full belly laugh.  In good humor, he let her get it out of her system before she gingerly walked into the apartment and started assessing the horror of the pink, floral decorated room.

“Wow, it’s so you,” she told him, tartly.

He eyed the rose wallpaper, uncaringly. 
Yeah, he had that coming
.  “An ex-girlfriend decorated the place; I’ve been meaning to do something about it.”

“An ex, huh?”  Isis grazed her fingers over the wall and snatched them back, maybe worried that the pinkness was catching.  “Did she do this as a final fuck you after you dumped her?”

“Actually, she dumped me.  She got tired of me working long hours.  She wanted a nine to five guy to nag to her heart’s content.  So she went out and found a bank teller.”

“Dumping you for a bank teller is one thing, but decorating your apartment like this… that woman is an evil bitch.  I’m an authority on them, and I’ve never seen anything quite this bad.  So this is where the color pink came to die.  Was this the self-help book bitch?”

“Sure was.”  Not for the first time he wondered what the hell had he been thinking of dating her.  His mom had set them up, and they dated for about four months.  During which time she redecorated his apartment without his permission, got them onto a wedding registry and even followed him when he worked late.  The last thing you wanted was your nutty girlfriend turning up accusing you of cheating on her when you were trying to interview a drug dealer. 
She was crazy
.  When he tried to break up with her, she would break down into tears, and he would give up.  It was a relief when she dumped him.

After they broke up, she wrote a new book called ‘How to Date an Emotionally Unavailable Man’.  He hadn’t read it, but he heard through mutual friends that it was about him.  He had considered writing a companion piece called ‘How to Deal with a Clingy Stalker’, but decided against it.  It seemed petty, and he really didn’t have the time.

“You should probably redecorate,” suggested Isis.

“I reckon I should move.  I think the damage is done to this place.  Too many ghosts.”  Too many memories of passive aggressive fights.  At least that wouldn’t happen with Isis –
she was all aggressive
.

“Don’t talk to me about ghosts,” muttered Isis.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.  Are you sure you don’t want to go back to my place?  I mean, I know it contains three cats who constantly throw themselves at you – well, four if you include me.”  She winked at him, and he felt his manhood quiver.  He was never very soft around her, but when she teased him, it made him crazy hard.  “But it’s got to be better than this.”

“It’s across town and I figured we might need to go to the coroner’s office.  It’s not far from here.”  Plus, he didn’t know why, but the thought of Isis in his home, in his clothes, surrounded by him and his scent made him happy.  It was an odd thing for him to get pleasure from, but he did.  It wasn’t a feeling he’d ever experienced with a woman before, even with long-term relationships.

Although, a stab of worry hit him.  Previous girlfriends had been pretty precious about clothes, and would not have been thrilled at the idea of being forced to wear one of his t-shirts and a pair of drawstring pants.  “It doesn’t bother you, does it?  About your clothes?”

“No, I’m comfortable with my nudity.”  Her hands skimmed over her luscious body, hidden only by thin cotton as if to make a point. 
Or drive him even wilder
.  “I like my human clothes, but I’m not above tearing them apart to shift in a hurry.  I don’t get too attached.”

Raf frowned.  “I guess you’d have to be comfortable to strip off in broad daylight and turn into a tiger.”  He hadn’t really thought about it before, but he guessed lots of people saw Isis naked on a regular basis if she did that a lot.  Oh no, he didn’t like that thought.  Not one bit.

Isis grunted as she played with one of his doilies.  Dear lord, he really needed to redecorate.  “What I did today was dumb.  I don’t usually do that.  Normally I find somewhere a little more private to shift.  I shouldn’t have left my stuff on the street like that.  I asked a little old biddy to watch it, and she said ‘sure honey’ but then took off when I turned into a tiger.  Guess I must have scared her or something.”

“Some people scare easy.”

“Not you, you didn’t even flinch when you caught sight of my beastly side.”

“As beastly side’s go, yours is pretty spectacular.”

Her lips curled upwards, and even her cheeks pinked a little in pleasure.  “Thank you, but be careful, you’ll give her a big head.”

“Well deserved, I imagine.”

Isis licked her lips and her breasts, unfettered from a bra, heaved under his t-shirt, the nipples pebbling slightly and pushing against the fabric.  The air in the room suddenly seemed hot, stifling, unbearable.  He wasn’t even wearing a shirt and yet he felt like he was on fire.

Her eyes, swimming in yellow, traversed his naked torso, flaring with passion over his muscles.  She took a step towards him, moving quickly, softly, like a predator.  “Can you feel it too?” she breathed, her voice little more than a husky drawl.  “The heat.”

He nodded, his mouth feeling thick and useless as she pressed herself against him, rubbing her body against his in an almost animalistic way.  Moving of their own accord, his hands slipped around her waist, cupping the firm, peachy globes of her buttocks.

“I feel like I’m about to explode,” she groaned and licked her tongue over his face, just as her tiger had.

If it had been any woman other than Isis, he might have found that weird. 
Come on – it was licking!
But it just seemed natural, and hell, it turned him on.  Then there wasn’t much this wild woman, this tigress, could do to him that wouldn’t set him off.

“We can’t have that,” mumbled Raf, struggling to find his voice, aware that his painfully hard manhood pressed against her, almost perfectly aligned with the apex of her thighs. 
The very naked apex of her thighs.

“No, sexually frustrated tigers are not pretty sights,” she agreed, playfully.  She slipped her hands around him and stroked them up and down his back, her nails digging into his flesh, lightly.  “Do you have a shower?”

“Umm hmmm.” 

“Then I better have a cold one.”  She slithered out of his grasp and Raf couldn’t help the gasp of frustration that escaped his lips.

He could only watch in disbelief as she sauntered through his apartment, her ass, barely covered by the shirt, bobbing up and down.  His body was on freaking fire, and his dick felt hard enough to pound nails and she was seriously going to leave him this way with just a giggle and a pout?  Raf closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, only opening them when something soft hit his head. 

He pulled the t-shirt – his t-shirt – that had been thrown at him away and let it drop to the floor.  His mouth hung open as Isis stood grinning at him, hands on hips and completely naked.  His eyes went into overtime trying to take in every single detail of her.  Yes, he’d already seen her partially naked, but the whole picture, wow, that was something else.  She was a masterpiece.  Her perky breasts and dark pink nipples were perfect and demanded to be touched and suckled.  He ached to feel her creamy legs, so long, so supple, so toned, wrapped around him.  He…

“Hey!” she called impatiently.  “Are you going to stand there all day ogling, or are you going to join me in the shower?  I didn’t say I didn’t want company.”