Trouble Comes in Threes (7 page)

Speaking of trauma, the way my heart was pounding, I might be well on my way to having a heart attack. Limbs didn’t shrink and reform into something else either. I swallowed, my head swimming as bones continued to break and tendons tore. Oh shit, what was happening here? The guy was… changing. Shrinking. I couldn’t get enough air, and my vision was doing that funny tunnel thing, but damned if I could look away.

“It’s not as painful as it looks.”

For me or for him
? The blond’s body shortened, legs changed, a tail—fuck me, a
tail
—grew out from behind him.

“Kirk, I need you to stay calm. Just breathe.”

Calm was at the top of the list. I flinched when the other guy—the one not going through hell on the floor—touched my shoulder. Dolf, his name was Dolf. What kind of name was that? Tal was odd too. I watched as Tal’s hands and feet changed into paws. Why was I worried about names when there were paws right there in front of me? Ears sprouted on top of his head, his face pushed out to a muzzle complete with whiskers, and hair sprouted over his body. White hair. No, that was not hair. That was… fur. A white cat sat on the floor.

“Fuck me,” I whispered.

There was a cat on the floor, exactly where the man just stood.
A cat
. And not just any cat…. It was Snowball. It had to be him with those same damn odd blue eyes. He—it?—jumped on the bed and sat down at the end, wrapping his tail around his feet… ah, paws.

“Meow.”

“Holy fuck.” I scrambled out of bed. My feet hit the floor, and I stood up… and flung my arm out to balance myself. “Whoa.”

Dolf

“S
IT
DOWN
,
Kirk. You’re hurt and still very pale,” Dolf said.

Kirk sank back to the bed, and Dolf covered him up.

Kirk pointed at the cat sitting on the end of his bed. “W-w-w-what…. Just what the
fuck
is he?”

“Tal, sweetheart? Why don’t you go in the other room and change back while I explain things to Kirk?”

Kirk watched as Snowball jumped down and left the room.

“We’re cat shifters. We live in what’s called a clowder, or a group of cats. Tal and I shift into what humans call domesticated cats whenever we want. Feline shifters can be domestic cats, but they can also be tigers, lions, leopards, lynxes… any type of feline that exists. Cat shifters are just one of many paranormals.”

“I see.” Kirk blinked, then blinked again when Tal returned to the bedroom and dressed. A horrified look crossed Kirk’s face. “I’m still unconscious and laid out there in the snow and ice, right? This is all a hallucination. I must be freezing to death right this very minute. Paranormals? Shifters? Right.” Kirk threw his hands out, encompassing the room. “This is just a dream. That explains everything.” Kirk dropped his head in his hands. “I’m dying. Jesus, even in death, my life sucks.”

Tal shot Dolf a concerned look. “Ah, no. You aren’t unconscious, freezing to death, or dying, Kirk. This isn’t a hallucination, and paranormals do exist.”

“Right. Okay, what the hell, I’ll play along while I wait to draw my last breath. You exist. Why are you here? Why did you two help me earlier? Why did you show up here and invite yourself into my home as cats?” Kirk’s voice spiked. “What do you
want
with me?”

Dolf moved closer to Kirk. “You are my mate.”

Silence.

Nothing. Time might have even stopped as the three men stared at each other. Kirk cleared his throat. Smoothed the sheet over his lap. Narrowed his eyes. “Say
what
?”

“You’re my mate.”

“Let me repeat:
Say
what
?”

Dolf sat down on the bed, his hand resting on Kirk’s shoulder. “Here’s the fast explanation. Our goddess gives cat shifters a mate.
You
are my mate.”

Tal sat on the other side. “You are Dolf’s mate, that’s correct. And… you are my mate too. You belong to
both
of us.”

More silence.

“I-I… I can feel you sitting next to me, touching me.” Kirk’s head snapped around to stare at Dolf, then Tal. “Oh God, this is real, isn’t it? You are really here with me, and you’re… you’re….”

Kirk started shaking and gasping.

“Kirk? What’s wrong?” Tal bounced frantically on the bed. “Dolf, is he having convulsions? What… what do we do?”

Dolf wrapped his arms around Kirk. “Hold him, Tal. That’s what we do.”

Tal leaned against Kirk’s back. Both he and Tal snuggled their human close as minutes passed. Had it been too much? The burned scent of alarm clung to Kirk; at least it wasn’t outright horror. More minutes bled into half an hour. Slowly, Kirk’s trembling stopped. Still, they held each other. He and Tal weren’t going to let go. Kirk was theirs, and they
refused
to let go. They would help Kirk adjust. They’d do whatever the human needed.

Tal snuggled in closer. “It’s going to get better. We’ll
make
it better.”

Dolf heard what Tal whispered to Kirk. Who could blame Tal for wanting to make it all better? He watched as Tal rested his head against Kirk’s rather broad back. Tal let a little purr loose, and Dolf smiled. Both he and Tal gently ran their hands over Kirk, slowly calming him with touch and rocking in tandem, no one speaking. Instead, a deep rumbling surrounded them. Tal breathed deeply, the sound relaxing him.

Dolf trilled—a peculiar chuffing noise in his throat that was a feline call to his mate. Or, in this case, mates. It was something he did when Tal was upset or scared. It calmed Tal immediately. Hopefully, it would calm Kirk as well. Bad thing was, it made him horny too. Not that having Kirk in his arms wasn’t already sending his desire spiraling out of control.

Kirk took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Okay. This isn’t some crazy hallucination I’m having. This is all real.
You’re
real.”

“We are real,” Dolf responded, leaning back to face Kirk.

“I, ah….” Kirk wiggled until Dolf, then Tal, released him. “I don’t get this whole mate thing you guys are talking about.”

“A mate is a person who is perfect for us, a cherished life companion. They are our balance—the other half of our souls.”

Kirk scooted on the bed until his back was against the headboard and he could face Tal and Dolf. “How do you even know I’m your mate?”

Dolf spoke. “Remember back at the end of November, you made a trip to the next town over, to Lowe’s?”

“Yeah, we don’t have one here,” Kirk said. “I needed some stuff for one of the toilets.”

“Tal and I were there. We were right in the same aisle as you. You were mumbling over what you needed to stop your toilet from running.”

“I remember that. I had to replace the guts of the thing, it was so old. I-I don’t remember seeing either of you.”

“I smelled you, and I knew, so we kept out of sight. That scent was the best thing I’d ever smelled… outside of one other,” Dolf said. “We stopped what we were doing and followed you home. We had to obtain permission to claim you—which we got—then we came here. I decided to approach you in our shifted form.”

“Wait, wait. You…. You’re saying you
stalked
me? Um, does that not strike you guys as a little… oh, I don’t know… maybe stalkerish?”

Tal cocked his head sideways. “How else were we going to find out who you were?”

Kirk’s mouth opened, then closed… several times. “Right. What was I thinking? Next question: What do you mean by you needed permission?”

Tal chimed in. “It’s very rare to mate a human. So much so that we had to ask our Alpha for his permission to mate a… you.”

“A me? Smooth.” Kirk scowled.

Tal reached for Dolf’s hand. “Sorry. I’m not at my most eloquent right now. The mating scent makes us… horny. Very horny.”

“That need to claim our mate is rather… forceful,” Dolf added.

Kirk hiked an eyebrow. “I-I don’t what to say about scents and stuff, but I do find you both attractive, it’s just… this is a little much to take in. Maybe if we just….” Kirk waved his hands at Dolf and Tal. “We need to take our time and get to know each other. You know, like date and stuff. Maybe catch a movie, dinner, hang out.”

Tal flinched. “Um, well. See, that’s going to be a problem, since I started the mating process with you.”

“Excuse me?” Kirk stared at Tal.

Kirk wasn’t going to like what Tal had to say, Dolf knew that. He really wished Tal had kept his canines to himself.

“Do you remember me sucking you off earlier?” Tal asked.

“What has that got to do with—”

“Just… please, answer me.”

“I remember. Not really sure why I let you do that.”

Dolf chuckled. “The reason why you let Tal is simple—the mating call. When we find our mates, we want to claim them… fuck them. You were half out of it, your guard lowered. The mating call was able to get pass your strong will.”

Kirk frowned. “Strong will? That’s just a nice way of saying hardheaded.”

Tal drew Kirk’s attention. “He’s not insulting you. You
are
strong-willed and stubborn. More than you give yourself credit for, I imagine. Our kind respects strength and purpose. Anyway, you insisted that I…. And I couldn’t stop myself from…. You have a very commanding voice and…. Oh goddess, Dolf, help.”

“It appears, even as a human, you are more dominant than Tal. Which is interesting. Most times, the shifter is the more dominant one.” Dolf waved that aside. “Anyway, you told Tal what you wanted, and he did it. He could’ve resisted, but he really didn’t
want
to. You are, after all, his mate. The problem is, he bit you.”

“He bit me,” Kirk repeated.

“Yes.” Dolf nodded. “And he drank your blood.”

“He drank my blood,” Kirk repeated again.

“Yes.”

“He… he…. When did he…? Oh my God, you said he bit me…. That pain I felt when I came? That was when…. You bit my
cock
?” Kirk fumbled with the sheet. “Jesus, what did you do to me?” Kirk yanked the sheet back, frantically pushing his dick around with his finger. “Oh God, oh God, did you take a chunk out of me or what? Okay, okay, it looks good, it’s still all there and working.”

Tal leaned over to stare at Kirk’s cock.

Kirk poked his dick again and shivered slightly. “Bite marks. God, never thought I’d be checking for fucking bite marks on my dick. Well, not like this. I mean, real, honest-to-goodness bite marks. This is just crazy.”

Tal pouted. “Aw, you can’t even see them now.”

“No, no, you can’t, and—” Abruptly, Kirk looked at Tal. “Jesus, man, how about a little space?”

Tal leaned back. “Why?”

“Why?” Kirk repeated. “Why? Really?”

“I’ve seen your dick. I’ve already sucked you. Why so shy, suddenly?” Tal glanced back down. “I’d like to suck you again.”

Kirk’s dick swelled under the attention. “I-I… It’s as if the damn thing has a mind of its own. More so than usual, that is.” Kirk shook his head. “I still don’t get what you two see in me.”

Tal frowned. “What do you mean?”

Kirk blew out a long breath. “You don’t look twice at guys like me. I have to be ten years older than the both of you, and…. Well, hell, look at you! You’re both young, hot, and ripped. I’m old, gray, and fat. A dream is as close as I can get to guys like you.”

Tal flew up the bed, nearly landing in Kirk’s lap. “You are
not
fat! Nor are you old. And that little bit of white in your hair is sexy. I think you are sexy.” Tal cuddled close.

“You’re blind, then. Besides, I have a mirror. It doesn’t lie.”

Tal rested his head on Kirk’s shoulder. “Neither do I.”

Dolf sat on the other side of the bed, moving closer until his hip pressed against Kirk’s. “You’re not old. Tal and I are both close to a hundred and fifty, so you are by no means old. We paranormals age differently, which is why we look about thirty. You’re not fat either. As far as the white in your hair, I agree with Tal, I think it’s sexy. I think
you’re
sexy.”

Kirk glanced down to see Dolf’s hard-on. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You’re hard.”

“Me too.”

Kirk turned his head and took a quick look down at Tal’s lap. Another hard-on greeted him. “Well, I’ll be damned. Can’t fake that.”

Tal ran his hand down Kirk’s chest. “Does that mean we can make love now?”

“Why? Why do we have to make love right
now
?” Kirk asked.