Chapter 8. First Mate
POV Tigris
The forest ripples with every breath I take.
Dawn mist curls low over damp rotting bark cold on my paws as I walk back after my night hunt.
There are no prey to be seen even after hours of wandering and searching.
Usually this kind of empty silence is a sign of disaster to come.
I ventured far out and wasted endless hours just tramping back.
Hours passed and I breathe in a foul familiar stench hanging thick in the air.
Catastrophe beast.
Now it is clear why not a single creature dared show itself.
My senses heighten instantly.
The day grows hot and every shadow sharpens into clear view.
I crouch low ready to ambush this colossal beast and claim its flesh for my dinner.
But this day, the Goddess of Moonlight blesses me far more than I have ever dared pray for.
A flower like fragrance drifts on the wind.
A beautiful female stands alone right before me as if placed there only for me to find.
As the strongest warrior of my tribe beautiful females have never been hard to come across. Yet never in my lifetime have I laid eyes on anyone so captivating.
She wore weird skin and carries another weird things on her back.
My blood runs wild beneath my stripes my heart pounding harder than it ever did in my fiercest battles.
All past fights feel trivial compared to the way she stirs my soul.
Few days later the ethereal goddess I stumbled upon during my hunt has become my wife.
I have offered piles of catastrophe beast meat as tribute to the Moonlight Goddess giving thanks for blessing me with the best mate in the whole world.
Today I have prepared soup with careful patience.
Well cut meat simmers tender in ginger salt and sour wild fruit.
My Lily does not like the marine berry I got her and throw it away, so I peel it clean and slice it into neat squares crafting a savory fresh broth balanced just for her taste.
"Hmmm the color changed it is not blue anymore..." I mutter stirring the pot and poking the meat gently to check its tenderness.
"What color let me see It smells so good."
My Lily looks as breathtaking as ever as she draws near.
POV Tigris end
Switch to Lily POV
I braced myself for something bland or thick with disgusting iron tang, yet the aroma is far kinder than I expected.
It tastes just like ordinary warm meat soup rich and comforting.
"Tigris! this is perfect I love it thank you for cooking for me." I speak softly voicing my gratitude.
My mother raised me never to act like a shameless beggar who takes kindness without thanks.
"From now on I will feed you only the best Lily." he says wearing a foolish soft smile his eyes wide and puppy like.
This shameless perverted beast is really too much yet I find myself willing to forgive him especially when the dinner turns out far better than I imagined.
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.
Or so I thought....
A strange unease and familiar creeps over me out of nowhere.
Huge beads of sweat roll down my body, every inch of my skin prickling with unnatural heat.
Even the lightest brush of air makes the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.
I know this feeling all too well.
"Tigris I feel awful, what did you put inside this soup..."
"What? Are you okay Lily? Oh no… Is my meat rotten already? Do you have stomach pain? We have to see the shaman!" Dropping his coconut bowl, he is panicking and starts morphing into Tiger form and circling me.
Sniffing each part of me, and every time those prickly whiskers of his stab my skin, it burns that spot and sends a chilling sensation to my core.
"Ugh... Stop it! You pervert DOG! get your face away from me!" As I push his soft hair away, he changes his stance and runs his tongue to the palm of my hand, LICKING IT!
The sensation sends a tingle to my brain, I feel it... something hot down there.
"Don't.. don't lick there.."
"Lily... are you alright? Lily..you smell so good.." He said that in his tiger Baritone voice, and morph into humanoid blonde, of course his animal skin has fallen somewhere when he turn into tiger.
And now crouching naked in front of me, his hand running on my cheek.
"Aghh..." Slight moan escapes my mouth, I just cant stop it.
This alien feeling, like no other, painfully clear.
As if wanting more, my body moves on its own, and I grab his hot palm.
I am no beast, but my sense of smell runs strong, his masculine odor pulls me in.
I place his veiny hand on my face, and I breathe in as if it were the only place with air.
Damn, I can't escape it… I want him to do something bad to me.
I shouldn't let this happen, but I have no control over my own arms pulling his hand closer…
down to that hot, stirring place… but I stop. My sense of self grips that palm hard when it reaches my stomach as I bow deeply.
"I… I can't… no…" I try to regain my sanity while holding back a moan from escaping my mouth.
"Lily… I feel weird too… It's so hot…" He starts sniffing the top of my head, his nose breathing hot air as it moves toward my neck.
The pleasure is too much. I catch a glimpse of that bowl that fell behind him.... did he get a taste too…?
His sniffing grows harder, and he pushes for more as I moan and moan.
These feelings are too alien to me.
Last time, at least it was only me.
But now both of us are trapped in the same haze.
Suddenly he lifts me off the ground, his face still buried in my neck.
What began as sniffing has now turned into him sucking at my skin like a vampire.
He walks to the bed of dried straw covered with an animal hide quilt. He lays me down gently, yet his face never moves an inch from my neck.
His sucking grows stronger.
The feeling is so good I can't think of anything else.
"Ugh…. aghhh…" Only moans escape my mouth.
Tigris's hand begins to move on its own. He reaches for the back of my head with his sharp, rough fingers.
His mouth drags from my neck to my nape, below my chin and upward.
There, his soft, supple lips ... still carrying the faint scent of sour and savory soup from moments ago ... move wildly against mine.
My hands weakly push at his chest, though I can't tell if I'm shoving his bare skin away or pulling him closer.
Still, I feel his hand press against the back of my head as if he wants to swallow me whole.
It's so tight I can barely breathe.
As I part my lips, his rough mouth slips inside.
Is it because he is a tiger? His tongue feels prickly with a strange texture, gliding over my teeth to the roof of my mouth.
Is this normal…?
Is this how it's supposed to be?
I have never been kissed in my life.
Forget a simple kiss ... this is what they call a deep kiss, right?
Saliva drips from the corner of our mouths, I can't tell if it's his or mine.
My mind spirals with chaotic thoughts.
Seconds… minutes… I don't know, maybe an hour has passed, and I'm still drunk on the sensation.
His hand finally lets go of my head and drifts downward, trying to tug my shirt off without focus.
His mindless, beastlike arms act on pure instinct, sliding under the hem of my shirt to explore my stomach, his fingers pressing firmly around my ribcage.
Am I this small, or is he just that large?
His palm is rough against my skin, yet it feels satisfying, and I know I don't hate it.
He softly cups my mounds.
"Lily…. huft.. Ly… shup." Mid kiss, he calls my name over and over like it's a magic word.
My world feels hazy with every kiss.
Each time he murmurs my name, a butterfly, no, thousands of butterflies, bursts free inside my stomach.
What is this feeling?
I don't know when it happened, but my hands are no longer pressed to his chest.
My arms slide up over his shoulders, and somehow my fingers grip his neck, pushing… or pulling? I can't tell anymore.
His fingers toy gently with my mounds.
Every time his calloused fingertips graze my nipples, I jolt uncontrollably.
"Aghh… You pervert tiger… aghh don't bite my ear.. stop.." I plead in a trembling voice.
As if his tongue has forgotten mine, it laps at my ear, his playful nibbles competing with his fingers still teasing my nipples.
RRRrrr
I can hear his purring rumble against my ear, damp from his licks. Every time his skin collides with mine, my sanity frays further apart.
"Lily, this spot smells so good…. Can I see it? humff humff…" He starts sniffing lower down.
My hands move on their own, tangling in his strange, smooth blonde hair.
My arms have no real strength left, yet I notice every time I touch him, he tenses and relaxes spontaneously.
He sniffs and nuzzles at my upper thigh, turning his head side to side as if searching for something he's been craving.
The motion makes me grip his hair tighter.
Grrrrllll Grrrrlll
He starts growling, then bites impatiently at my pants.
I jolt again and let out the loudest moan I didn't know I was capable of making.
"Ahhhh....." My body suddenly goes weak.
Yet Tigris's small movements and faint biting force, gentle as they are, send spontaneous electric shocks through me and trigger another wave of contractions.
More and more butterflies swirl inside me, like millions of insects wriggling free from my stomach.
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