Timothy (22 page)

Then Otto was there, ordering Tim to shift. He tried to make sense of it, because Otto was right there, but another snow leopard was there too, and the man who’d shot him was screaming then laughing then gurgling.

“Stay awake,” Otto demanded. “Tim, we have to get down from here. I can’t carry you, and since we’ll be going down as humans—we’re going to have to go a different way. You can’t make that jump and…”

“Apply pressure.”

Tim blinked and tried to focus. There was a naked woman, a very beautiful, darkly tanned naked woman with luscious thick black hair behind Otto. He didn’t want to consider what was on her face, her neck, why the copper scent of blood was so strong. Oh right, he’d been shot. That still didn’t explain the woman’s messy appearance, or her appearance at all, did it?

“Here.” She knelt beside Otto and pressed and Tim tried to scream but he was still in snow leopard form and all he managed was a rather pathetic whine. “It’s not too bad. There’s some muscle damage, I think, but the bullet didn’t actually lodge in him. He’s just going to hurt like hell.”

“Who are you?” Otto snapped, shoving her hands away. He pressed down and Tim thought his eyes were going to pop right out, it hurt so much. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I have to staunch this.”

“He,” the woman gestured over her shoulder, “was Benjamin Klein. Once he was my sister’s mate. What he told you was true, she did die after being tranquillized, but not here. It was in Nepal. His mind splintered.” She stopped and looked off into the distance. “He said he shot your father.”

“Yes,” Otto said in a voice so raw he was almost unrecognisable. “I need to take care of Tim first. My mother and sister are out there, too. I am hoping they are with my dad.”

“I’m Shonti, by the way.” Shonti petted Tim’s head then stood. He heard rustling then tried not to think about why Benjamin Klein wasn’t screaming and being a crazy man.

“He had a night scope.”

Had. Oh my gods.

Shonti came back over. “It looks to me as if your mother and sister are with your dad. He isn’t dead, so that’s good.”

No fricking shit!
Tim wished he could at least share his thoughts with Otto, could know what he was thinking. He couldn’t when only one of them was shifted.

“Was he up and moving?” Otto asked.

Shonti raised the gun again. “I think so. He’s not on the ground, there’s not weeping or anything. I’m not even sure Benjamin hit him. Benjamin wasn’t ever a good shot, and the years of drugs and alcohol couldn’t have helped. It caused his snow leopard spirit to abandon him.”

Tim shifted because he had to. Otto started to snap at him but Tim ignored his glare, trying to look at Shonti instead. “Your snow leopard spirit can leave you? I thought…only if you died.”

Shonti knelt and he could see the blood then, in her dark hair clumping it, on her face and neck. He fought not to puke, and only the knowledge of how bad it’d hurt if he did kept his stomach from rejecting its contents.

“I’m a shaman with my clan. I would know these things. I knew when Benjamin let hatred drive his cat away, he would have to die. There is too much danger in such madness. As for his cat spirit, yes. Snow leopards are noble creatures, they are not filled with hatred and certainly would never tolerate such great amounts of toxins being put into their bodies. The spirit can leave, although it won’t unless it’s truly driven out. We are meant to share bodies and spirits, human and leopard. To deliberately cause harm to oneself is a rejection of the gift. The spirit will find another body, which is how we continue. Reincarnation, if you will.”

Tim didn’t know what to say. There was so much he didn’t know about his heritage, and even Otto hadn’t know about the spirits being able to leave their human hosts. Not like that, anyways.

“There’s a reason I’m the shaman,” Shonti said. “I will trust you two not to tell anyone else. As far as they need to know, Benjamin went crazy after losing his mate. He couldn’t shift due to the damage from drugs. He sought revenge. I killed him. He’d been stalking not only you, but a mother and her cubs. I shudder to think what he had planned for them.”

Tim shuddered too. He’d have nightmares about the possibilities if he wasn’t careful.

“As for you,” Shonti slapped at Otto’s arm. “Let go of him and let me do my job.”

Hope lit Otto’s eyes. “Can you—”

Shonti cut him off with the wave of her hand. “I can’t magically make him better, not a hundred per cent, but I can give him a little help at least. There’s a path up there,” Shonti pointed behind her to her left. “It’s not too bad. You’ll find another path down, almost like steps. We shifters have kept them a secret for a long time. You get him down them and I will have your family meet you at the bottom, or else I will drive there myself.”

An uncomfortably warm tingling began in Tim’s shoulder and quickly spread over his chest and back and down his arm. It went from uncomfortable to burning, and he yelped as he tried to pull away.

“You fair skinned ones are so sensitive, I forgot,”Shonti said by way of apology. She leapt up and shifted, and was gone before Tim could think of a comeback.

“She lied.” Otto slid his arm under Tim and lifted him up. “She lied! Look, Tim!”

Tim’s entire body still felt too hot, unnaturally hot. Not like a fever, but like he’d been covered in some weird solar flare or come too close to a lava, he didn’t know. But he looked. He touched. He gasped. “What the fuck? How is that even possible?”

Otto sat back and held Tim. His rich laughter washed over Tim and chased away the lingering odd sensations. “Fuck if I know, Tim. I thought there was nothing I didn’t know about our people, but it just goes to show you how much I have to learn.”

“You and me both.” Tim’s head spun but this time it was with a pure joy as he shifted. He was healthy, whole, and in love with the most wonderful man in the world, and Otto loved him right back. Even the horrible events from earlier tonight couldn’t negate those facts.

Epilogue

They did as Shonti had asked and kept the knowledge of the departing snow leopard spirit to themselves, but the rest of the story they told their eager audience. Steven hadn’t been shot. Benjamin had been as shitty a shooter as Shonti proclaimed him to be. The sounds of those first two bullets being fired had sent Lona and Vendelia running back to Steve, then the three of them had been terrified when Benjamin had fired his gun again.

In the end, they were all just happy to be alive and uninjured, especially Tim, who thought getting shot had to be the worst thing ever.

“What about the body?” Steve asked. Then he gasped and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh shit, Benjamin Klein!” was his muffled explanation.

“Care to explain to the others, dear?” Lona arched one eyebrow in a perfectly intimidating manner.

Steve unclamped his hand. “That’s why the records were tampered with. He worked for one of the labs in Nepal, I believe. Before we began exclusively using the one at the Museum of Natural History. He’s actually part of the reason why we switched. His work became shoddy and untrustworthy. We had to find someone dependable.” Steve sighed and looked towards the mountain. “I am so sorry about his mate. We are going to have to immediately cease tranquillizing the leopards, or at least the ones we aren’t a hundred per cent certain are shifters. Maybe change the tranquillizer we use, too.”

“Can’t you just quit doing it at all?”

Steve frowned at Vendelia. “No, I’m afraid not. It’s the only way we can tag and collar the true snow leopards and study them. They are very much endangered, you know this. We have to do what we must to keep them here, to help them thrive once again. I know there might be a cost, but hopefully the benefits will outweigh it in the long run.”

Not ideal, but probably the best they could hope for, Tim decided. With people willing to hunt the animals to extinction all in the name of money and misguided medical beliefs, it would be a battle to protect the snow leopards.

“I trust Shonti will take care of Klein’s body.” Otto pulled Tim closer to his side. “And I guess Klein was targeting us specifically all along because he knew we were shifters.”

“And because of my role in the programme.” Steve nodded. “I’m afraid so. I don’t ever remember meeting the man, but he must have figured out I was mated to a shifter. He could have spied on us and seen Lona and you kids. God, he could have hurt any of you.”

“But he didn’t,” Lona interjected before Steve could castigate himself. “Now, let’s go home. Vendelia might still be able to keep her date, and Otto and Tim did have plans we interrupted.”

Tim was too grateful to be embarrassed. All he wanted was to hold Otto in his arms and start planning their future. They needed to figure out if they should buy another home here—very likely—and what months they would spend where. Tim couldn’t wait to bring Otto home. Gods, he hadn’t even told his mom about Otto, they’d been so busy! He’d barely even been in Dalanzadgad a week. It was amazing how quickly one’s life could change.

“Yes, it is,” Otto told him, right before kissing the stuffing right out of him. Tim’s entire body was lit up and on edge, hungry for more of his mate. Otto bit his bottom lip then licked it. “Soon. I believe you promised your cock in my ass.”

“I did.” If his voice was a tad squeaky, so what? The drive back was twice as long as the drive there, Tim just knew it. He considered leaning over and sucking Otto’s dick but Otto vetoed it.

“Not that I wouldn’t love to have your mouth on me, but I’d either have to pull over or I’d wreck, and I really, really want you to fuck me.” Otto’s eyes glistened when he risked a quick look at Tim. “I’ve never been so scared, Tim. Never in my life. Please don’t get hurt again.”

Tim fought back the tears stinging his eyes. “I can’t promise that, Otto, but I can promise to do my best not to do anything stupid and dangerous. So can you.”

“All right.” Otto took his hand. “I do.” He cleared his throat. “Speaking of which, can we get married when we go to the States? Or we can stop in Canada, I don’t care. I want the human trappings of a spouse, as well as the leopard’s mate.”

Tim was going to melt right into the seat, just turn into liquid happiness. “Oh. Oh yeah, we can do that. Will you marry me?”

“That’s what I was asking you,” Otto said, no longer sounding quite so scared.

Tim shook his head. “You didn’t. You just asked if we could get married, which isn’t the same thing at all. And you didn’t answer me, either.”

Otto cheeks turned ruddy. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, but not his grip on Tim’s hand. “It is the same thing. You know what I meant! I just bungled it a little.” He smiled so brilliantly Tim was surprised the cab of the vehicle didn’t light up. “I know what you’re doing, too. Prodding me out of the last bit of my brooding over almost losing you. Well, don’t worry. I’m not going to waste our time on the possibility of an unhappy ending. It didn’t happen. We are going to have our happy ever after. And yes,” he brought Tim’s hand to his lips, kissed it tenderly. “Yes, I will marry you.”

Inside their suite, Tim took his time undressing Otto. The urge to fuck him hard and fast was gone, replaced by a different need. He guided Otto to the bed and gently pushed. Otto didn’t fight, his body languid as he lay waiting for Tim.

“I’m going to make love to you,” Tim told him. “Slowly, deeper than anyone ever has. I’m going to reach so far inside you I will always be a part of you. My heart, my body, my soul. They will always belong to you.”

Tim lay beside Otto and traced the line of his cheeks, the hollows there, the sharp, straight ridge of his nose, the soft, sweet lips. When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he kissed Otto, taking his time to explore, to listen and feel Otto’s reaction to every brush of tongue. He learned what flicks and sucks, what bits of pressure and what nibbles, turned his mate on.

“Tim,” Otto rasped when Tim began kissing his way down Otto’s neck. “Fuck, I’m going to die from this.”

Tim nipped his collar bone in reprimand. There would be no talk of death, even a pleasurable one, tonight.

“Sorry.” Otto wound his hands in Tim’s hair. “I love your hair, love your mouth, your heart and soul, your mind and body. All of you Tim.”

The declaration washed over Tim, sank into him. It’d always be with him. His mouth was full of the addictive taste of Otto, but Tim kept the loving thoughts flowing to him, giving Otto everything he had. He mapped Otto’s chest with kisses. Otto’s nipples were wrinkled and erect, begging for attention. Tim lavished it on them, sucking and biting, licking and pinching until Otto’s breath was expelled in gusty bursts of curses and pleas.

“More?” he asked, and Otto pressed his head down, shoving his nipple in Tim’s mouth.

Tim worked his nubs, turning the flesh red and puffy. He gave each one a final huff, knowing the warm air would be like an electric shock to Otto’s chest.

“Fuck! Oh hell!” Otto bucked beneath him. “Tim, I can’t take much more without coming all over the damn place.”

Tim sat up and scooted over. “On your stomach then. I need to worship your back.”
And ass.

“Ah, sweetheart, yes please.” Otto rolled and spread his legs. He arched his ass up in offering.

“Not just yet,” Tim said, slapping one firm globe. He liked the way the skin turned white then pink, then back to the lovely honey-gold colour it naturally was.

“Tim, I wasn’t joking about coming,” Otto warned.

Tim straddled Otto’s ass and prodded his crease with his dick. “Well, if you do come, it’ll be a while before I can make love to you.”

“You could fuck me anyway,” Otto ground out, desperation evident in the way he writhed beneath Tim.

“But I don’t want to fuck you, love, I want to make love to you,” Tim explained again. “So you’re going to keep from coming until I am buried in your very fine ass.”

Otto smacked the pillow his head was on. “Then you might want to get on with it. Please.”

Tim laughed softly and bent to begin nibbling on Otto’s neck. He worked his way down, memorising every muscle, every dip and groan and moan. By the time he reached the dimples above Otto’s ass, Otto was shaking with anticipation. Tim didn’t want to torment his mate, only to bring him more pleasure than he’d ever known. Being cruel was never an option. He spread Otto’s cheeks and Otto moaned, pushing that plump butt up. Tim spied his puckered opening, clenching and fluttering.