Chapter 1: Spots

This story is being heavily edited and partially rewritten, if you enjoyed the first version please check this one out, too :) I will try my best to still make it fit correctly with the others 4 books when I start really changing chapters. 

A loud knock rang out in the bedroom as his mother banged on the door for the third time.

“Arron, come on, get up! You’re going to be late for your first day at your new school.”

“That’s not a bad thing!” He shouted back with a groan as he pulled the blanket further over his head. He definitely did not want to go to school, much less a new school right in the middle of the year. It was early December and as they had driven through town the previous night to their new house Arron swore a Christmas brochure vomited on their new neighborhood. The lights were so bright across the street that he’d had to hang one of his comforters over the window just to get some sleep.

The door creaked open a moment later, followed by the sound of his mother’s footsteps.

“I need to go to work. I better see that paperwork from the office filled out tonight.”

Arron replied with another groan and listened as she sighed and walked out. A minute later the front door opened, then clicked shut, followed by the sound of her car driving off.

“Meh…”

Sitting up, he gave a big yawn, then slid out of bed. He really wasn’t a morning person… or an afternoon person for that matter. Running his fingers through his messy, dirty blond hair let him know that there weren’t any knots, but it definitely wasn’t going to behave without a handful of gel in it.

Eh, not worth the time in front of the mirror.

Everyone at my old school just messed with it anyways. Hopefully no one will shave it like last time.

He had always been the runt of his school and being a freshmen didn’t help with kids bugging him. Shapeshifters stopped hiding from society a long time ago so half of the kids in schools were now openly known as them. Big cats and wolves were the predominant factions for the most part. There were plenty of other types, but they were too few and far between. Lions and wolves were the main groups because they had such large and strong families. A pack of wolves was nothing to laugh at, but a pride of lions? Yeah…

Hopefully his school didn’t have as many shapeshifters as his last one, though that was just wishful thinking. He was a shapeshifter after all, but even keeping his head down and mouth shut didn’t keep him from being bullied by all the other predators.

With a tired sigh, he got himself dressed in a pair of black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a grey rock band shirt that he had worn so much the image and letters on it were fading. After a quick tooth brushing he grabbed his skateboard and ran downstairs.

His mother had left out his normal breakfast, a piece of toast with butter, on the counter. With a small smile he grabbed it and headed for the door. His favorite picture of his father was hanging right beside it.

“Hey dad. It’s only been a month but we’re keeping it together. Miss you…”

He could feel himself beginning to blink back tears and quickly shook his head. It would not be good to start his first day of school looking like he’d just sobbed like a kitten. Putting on a determined face, he walked outside and locked up, then tossed his board down to skate off to school.

The huge building took about twenty minutes to get to and he was freezing by the time he kicked up his board and ran inside.

Darn cold winters! That was one thing he was jealous of the other cats for. Most of them had nice thick coats. Even when they were shifted they always seemed to be warm. At least the building was a little warmer than outside, though not by much.

As he stepped into the office his blood immediately chilled far more than the temperature outside. Predator. Alarm bells went off in his mind for self preservation, but he bit his lip, hard, to keep himself from bolting. That’s what got him targeted at his other school… his instincts were way too strong. Every shifter had their animal’s instincts, but both of the doctors his mother had sent him to told him his were much more powerful than other kids his age.

Arron’s eyes darted around the room, first checking the receptionist sitting behind the desk. She seemed like some sort of bird judging by her fidgeting actions, so he quickly switched his attention to the teacher who was sorting files behind her. Again, not a predator. Then he turned and unintentionally locked eyes with exactly who he’d been hoping wasn’t there.

A lion.

The boy’s eyes were the bright gold of a predator, and that narrowed gaze said he could sense that Arron was considering running.

“Don’t.” The boy warned, his voice deep, showing just how close his animal was from the surface. If he ran, the boy would chase.

He was honestly about to take his chances and run when someone stepped between them, cutting off the lion’s stare in the nick of time. It was obvious right away that the new person was a prey animal, but judging from his size, he wasn’t one that would ever go down easily. When Arron looked up, a young teacher smiled down at him. He pressed his hand gently against Arron’s messy hair, calming his nerves.

After a moment Arron heard shifting behind the teacher, then the tiny bell above the door chimed and the lion walked past them and out. The tension in the room went down several notches once the door shut and he could finally breath steadily again.

“Those are some strong instincts you’ve got there, kid.”

Arron’s face flushed with color at the man’s words. It was embarrassing to have such little control over them. It was just like the cat took over and he had barely any choice but to follow.

“It’s okay. You’ll get better with it over time. Just try not to stare down anymore lions… especially while your lower lip is bleeding.” The teacher said.

He carefully wiped the little line of blood from where Arron had bitten into his lip as Arron answered quietly.

“I’ll try not to.”

“Good, now let’s get you set up. You must be the new kid, Arron?”

His chest tightened a little as he nodded. Not having a last name meant that you didn’t have a family you belonged to. Even though his animal shift was generally solitary in the wild, their shapeshifter forms preferred something akin to a lion pride. They’d had had one back where they’d used to live, but when his father had passed and him and his mother had moved, they’d lost the right to it.

Biting back a frown, Arron hesitantly handed over his paperwork. The teacher looked through it for a moment before raising a brow and glancing down at him.

“There’s a note saying that you still need your rabies shot?”

Oh no.

He had run out the last time the doctor had tried to give him that shot. It burned really badly. The teacher evidently knew he would have said no so he just grinned and grabbed the schedule the receptionist handed him.

“Alright, we need to go get you that. I’ll take you to the nurse’s office.”

Arron grumbled, wishing he could have just taken his papers and gone to class. It wasn’t like he was going to get rabies in one day. But he knew it was school policy to have that shot, so he really couldn’t argue.

“It’ll be okay, the nurse here is awesome.” The teacher said.

Arron wasn’t too sure about that, but he decided not to complain. He had run out of his last doctor’s appointment to get it, after all. He was about to start following the teacher, who took a step toward the door, when something he definitely hadn’t planned decided to happen abruptly, right where he stood in the middle of the office. Did I really have to shift right now? He thought, frustrated. It was true, he couldn’t control his instincts… but he also couldn’t control when his cat felt like coming out.

The shift left him with a fuzzy reminder of why he was bullied so often at his old school besides his instincts and random shifting problems. His shift was a cheetah… kitten.

Chapter 2: Whiskers and Claws

Shifting had been the one thing he had wanted to avoid at all cost on his first day at his new school. He’d even let his cheetah run around the house when they had gotten to their new home last night in the hopes that it would be content and not feel the need to ruin his school life. Nope.

“I can’t believe how cute you a-” Arron cut off the teacher with a hiss as he pouted in the man’s arms. He’d picked up his clothes and stuffed them into his backpack, then lifted his kitten up after he’d swung the bag over his shoulders.

Arron wanted to tell him that he could walk just fine, but the only person he could mentally communicate with was his mother, since they had lost their coalition back in Washington. The only real positive at that moment was that he had been a few minutes late and class was going on, leaving very few students in the halls to get a look at him.

The few kids walking about were pretty darn curious, unfortunately, and a couple even asked Arron to shift. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, his cheetah couldn’t really decide when it wanted to leave once it was there. That was all him… once it got tired of being out.

Thankfully, the teacher shooed the bothersome kids away as they ducked into the nurse’s office. It was pretty big and actually had quite a few things he’d expect to see in a hospital, not a high school.

“Oh my, what a cutey! Is he yours?” A young woman asked as she hurried over.

Don’t you dare pinch my chee- A loud hiss left Arron’s pulled-back lips as he swatted at the woman’s demonic fingers that were clawing at his poor face.

“Um, actually, he’s a new student. His animal just seems to have not grown up yet.” The teacher said.

Arron thought what the teacher said would have made the woman more professional, but she just squealed, sounding exactly like a boar shifter, and scooped him up for a too-tight hug. As he was being smothered to death, the teacher chuckled and handed the woman his papers.

“Arron, is it?” She asked, loosening her grip as she read what she was given. “And you’re here for a rabies shot, no problem.”

She quickly set him down on an examination table used for when students were in their animal forms, then turned around to get the vaccine ready. His eyes cut over to the teacher who had brought him to the torture chamber, not bothering to hide his glare.

“Don’t worry, Arron. She’s great at shots, you’ll hardly feel it.” He said.

He wasn’t too worried about the initial prick, but the burning afterward as the vaccine dispersed tended to really hurt. His attention was still focused on the teacher when he felt that sudden prick and yowled. By the time he’d whirled around to swat the needle away she was already done.

“Now don’t give me that face or I’ll have to pinch those cheeks again.” She said as she turned to dispose of the needle.

A hiss was Arron’s reply before he was scooped back up by his teacher.

“Alright then, let’s get you to class.”

Wait.

What?

It was bad enough to have his shifting problem, but couldn’t the teacher at least wait for him to be able to change back?

“I know you probably want to be in your human form for this, but I have to get back to my classroom. You’ll be okay, your first period teacher is sweet and class is already half over. I’m sure once it’s done she’ll send someone to take you to the bathroom to change back. If you need anything while here, just come talk to me okay? My name’s Mr. White.”

Arron squirmed in his arms, trying to get himself free, but was having no such luck. Before he realized it, they were standing in front of a classroom door and his heart was beating like crazy.

Please don’t. Please don’t. Please don’t.

Of course, the only thing the man would hear was something akin to a grumbling mew.

“It’s okay, here we go.”

With a smile that Arron supposed was meant to cheer him up, the man reached forward and opened the door. All eyes instantly turned to them as he walked over to the teacher and explained the situation. The woman was a bit older and happily took Arron’s backpack from Mr. White, setting it down by her desk for the student who will be helping him when he needed to shift back after class.

Arron could already hear the whispers going on as the woman turned to address the students staring at him.

“Alright class, settle down. We have a new student today. His name is Arron, please be nice to him. Rylan Leo, could you take him to the restroom to change after class please?” She asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Following her gaze, Arron realized that he’d heard that deep voice before.

Oh, perfect. It’s the lion from the office. Before he could stop himself, his cheetah hissed at the lion shifter from where it was still snugly held in Mr. White’s arms. That silenced all of the hushed whispers in an instant.

You just had to hiss at him, didn’t you? Just had to challenge a lion on your first day of school.

Mr. White’s arms instantly tightened around him as the blond lion shifter stood from his seat and began walking to the front of the class. The class’s teacher stepped into his path as he got closer, her shoulders stiff and head held high with determination… but it was clear that she was scared, and a human.

“Mr. Leo, please return to your seat. Arron has trouble controlling his animal with the stress of a new school right now. Please disregard his reaction.” Mr. White said, seemingly knowing that the other teacher was at a loss not being a shifter. There was a long moment of silence before Rylan grunted and turned around.

“I’m still taking him after class.”

There was no argument from either teacher since there wasn’t much that could be done. Arron heard that the lion pride in the area was one of the strongest in the states. Aggression between shifters wasn’t rare, especially teenage ones. Human form was always recommended when out in public because different animals interacted differently. Things could go south quickly from simple misunderstandings.

Evidently my cheetah hadn’t gotten that memo.

“Alright, go sit down.” She told Arron.

After being set down on the cold tile floor, the teacher folded up Arron’s paperwork and stuffed it into his bag, then walked out after a small smile. Arron swore that a few of the girls, and maybe even a couple of the guys, swooned when he left.

Deciding that he had made a big-enough scene, Arron slowly started walking toward the back of the class. After only a few steps he could feel an overbearing predatory pressure weighing down on him. Most species, especially those who compete with each other for food in the wild, will often kill the young of the opposing competition’s species. And what did his shift look like? A darn cheetah kitten.

Several students were already leaning over in their desks as growls began to grow in volume.

“Everyone! Stop being so rude. Your attention should be on the board.”

With a bang of her ruler she got most of the student’s focus away from him, then walked forward to pick him up and bring him back to the front. Once he was back on all four paws, Arron darted behind her desk and sat down, finally able to relax a little without anymore eyes on him.

The rest of the lecture luckily went on without any issues. Everyone had calmed down with him out of sight, and when class let out the teacher, which he’d found out was named Mrs. Oliver, made sure Rylan was the first one to leave with him and his stuff. The lion shifter still seemed tense, but didn’t try to grab for him when he came to the front of the class. Doing such a thing would have likely gotten him bitten, and Arron in much more trouble with the other teen.

As Rylan swung his backpack over his wide shoulders, Arron carefully ducked out from behind the teacher’s desk and padded after him. He had to nearly run to keep up, but things went downhill quickly once they both stepped out the door and into an extremely busy hallway.

A foot caught him right in the jaw before all four of his paws were even out of the room, sending his fuzzy butt flying head over tail into a locker. Then, when he tried to regain his feet and find Rylan, Arron was kicked again, then nearly stepped on. The whole situation was reminding him of that movie, Lion King, when the little lion cub was being kicked around by the wildebeest, trying not to be trampled… except Arron was definitely no prince.

After another kick he managed to squirm his way under the bottom row of lockers, only to be pulled out by a large, clawed hand. His instincts took over abruptly to make the second big mistake of his day. With a squeaky mew he latched onto the attached arm with all his claws.

A deep, terrifying roar instantly silenced the hallway as kids froze and looked toward Rylan. His eyes were glowing a bright golden color and his hair was beginning to sprout from the sides of his face as he remained kneeling down by the row of lockers. Arron wanted nothing more than to be put down, but he finally realized through his cheetah’s panicking mind that if its claws remained in Rylan’s arm, that it wouldn’t be breathing for very long.

Arron’s eyes caught several of what he could only assume as Rylan’s pride, judging from their glowing gold eyes and looks, closing in. With the greatest amount of hesitation, he slowly managed to get his cheetah to remove its claws one at a time.

It took three minutes for the lions to calm down afterward and for the rest of Rylan’s pride to disperse back into the slow-moving crowd. As for Rylan… he was holding Arron far too tightly to be comfortable around his middle, but Arron made sure to keep his claws off of him as he carried him away down the hall.

Once in the bathroom, Rylan tossed Arron’s bag into the large handicap stall, then tossed him into the big toilet bowl. He then walked forward and flushed it. Water was not something Arron was a fan of in general, and his cheetah definitely hated it right along with him but they both seemed to agree about one thing… Trying to climb out probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. He was completely soaked, but Rylan was standing right in front of him with a nasty glare that would have made any animal immediately submit.

“If you ever challenge me in front of someone again, there will be hell to pay.” He snarled, his lion making his voice deeper as it tried to claw its way out to defend its pride. A small part of him had probably been compromised when he hadn’t hurt Arron after he’d clawed his arm in front of everyone in the hall… and pride was everything to a male lion.

“You’ll stay there for the rest of the day. If I find out that you climbed out before the last bell, you won’t be able to walk for a week.”

With that cheerful little threat, Rylan walked out, leaving the door to the stall wide open.

Well. The toilet is nice and comfy anyways… meow.

Chapter 3: When Bathing a Cat, Don’t.

The day passed by with quite a bit of humiliation. Every time someone walked into the bathroom they made sure to go look in the handicap stall before going about their business. A few even considered peeing on him, but when he bared his teeth they figured that it would cost them their ability to have children and backed off.

It was about four hours later when Arron heard the door to the bathroom open again and lifted his head from his doze to see another set of eyes looking inside the stall at him. He watched the boy for several moments, figuring that he would get bored fast and leave, however, when he started walking toward him Arron bristled and hissed loudly.

The boy definitely wasn’t a predator, but he was a shifter. Not that it matters what you are. I’m still not letting you pee on me. The boy stopped when he saw him get defensive, but when he raised his hands in his own defensive gesture, Arron tilted his head and mewed quietly.

If you aren’t here to mess with me, why did you come closer?

“Hey kid. You’re Arron, right?”

After a moment of hesitation, Arron gave a hesitant nod as the boy began walking forward again.

“I’m not here to mess with you. I know Rylan told everyone to humiliate you by looking in here, and he probably told you you couldn’t come out till after school, too.” He said, earning another nod.

“Well, that won’t do. That water isn’t safe to sit in, come here.”

Before Arron could think of a way to stop him, the boy was hoisting him out of the toilet and bringing him over to the sink.

Wait. No, no bathing!

“Ow! Hey! Calm down. You need a bath after sitting in that water all day.” The boy said, though his words clearly fell on deaf ears.

Arron was clawing his his jacket like crazy, trying to get him to let him get out of the way of the flowing water. It was one thing to sit in a partially filled toilet, but a completely different thing to be shoved under a sink faucet and scrubbed with hand soap.

Normally, when he got someone with his claws they let go rather quickly, but the kid didn’t even seem to feel much of it through his jacket. Arron tried to dig them into his arm more as he scrubbed him with his free hand, but again, only a wince or two.

“You’re a little spit-fire, aren’t you? No wonder you got under that cocky lion’s skin.”

Arron just hissed at him again in response, then relaxed slightly when the water was finally shut off. The boy squeezed out some of his fur before pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around Arron’s soaked body. When the boy hugged him to his chest Arron didn’t bother fighting anymore. He was nice and warm, and somehow felt safe.

His head tilted up so that he could actually get a good look at the kid.

Gray hair and soft brown eyes. Gray. Not many animals had pure gray hair in their human forms…

The door slammed open just then, the handle denting the stopper as Rylan and two of his friends stalked in. Arron immediately tried to hide in the jacket he was being held in but the kid holding him didn’t seem to be afraid at all.

You aren’t a predator or a human, so why aren’t you cowering? There are three freaking lions closing in on us!

“Erin, that belongs to me. He violated a deal we had made.” Rylan said as he walked forward.

He did it!

“I took him out of the toilet. He had no say in the matter.” Erin replied calmly.

Rylan shrugged and stepped closer, stopping about three feet from them. He was wearing a toothy grin and a small part of his mane was becoming visible. Arron had a feeling that he wasn’t quite riled up as much as trying to show off to his pridemates.

“Considering what I understand about this situation, you forced the deal on him because he couldn’t change until after class. I don’t doubt that he hissed at you, but again, like I’ve heard, he doesn’t know how to control his animal very well. If all of those things are true, then you should be ashamed of yourself for punishing him so badly.” The boy said.

Arron’s head was barely poking out of the jacket he was hiding in so that he could see Rylan’s face change from smug, to annoyed.

“I can do anything I want with him. He’s fucking broken! He’s at least seventeen and still a kitten! That, and he doesn’t know how to treat those more important than himself. I think that punishment was definitely needed. His father must have not bothered to teach him anything about respect.” Rylan growled.

I’ll teach you about respect while I pee on your shoes. Arron thought.

Rylan gave a low growl as his patience began to wear thin and made a move to grab at him, but when Arron blinked his eyes back open to see how things played out, he was surprised to see Erin easily holding Rylan’s wrist in the air, even though the lion looked like he was struggling hard to pull free.

What the heck kind of animal is this kid?

Chapter 4: Tough Skin

“Erin, you better give that rat to me.”

Rylan was still struggling to free his hand, so Arron didn’t think that his threats were quite, well, as threatening as they would normally be. In fact, Erin didn’t even seem to even be breaking a sweat.

“Or what? You’ll hack up a hairball at me? Get lost, Rylan. You know you can’t win against me, even with your little kitties behind you.”

It didn’t even sound like taunting, which was actually kinda scary. He wasn’t sure how one kid could match three others who were top predators. Arron expected Erin to be at least a little concerned, but he was soon shown why he had no reason to care about the lions right then.

As Rylan took a swing at Erin with his free hand, the kid released his other one and stepped forward, making Rylan’s swing overextend. He stumbled into him, and Erin immediately shoved him back just enough to wind up and swing his own fist at the lion shifter.

Wow, that’s going to hurt.

The punch looked like it had hurt, a lot. Rylan was hit so hard he was forced back between his two friends and into the tiled bathroom wall. Arron was beyond stunned as he saw the damaged kid drop to the floor with dust and few chipped pieces of tile falling down on him. There was only one animal who could do that to a lion with such little effort… and judging from the vanishing gray wrinkles around Erin’s eyes, he definitely was that animal.

Elephant.

By the time Arron snapped back to himself and looked over to the lions again, Rylan’s two friends had him up and were dragging him out of the bathroom.

“Well, that was fun.” Erin said nonchalantly before Arron was suddenly being held up in front of his grinning face. What are you looking at me like that for?

His silent question was answered right away as Erin leaned in and blew a raspberry on his belly.

Oh, come on. I am not a baby! Arron thought as he hissed loudly, making the kid finally set him down on the floor.

“Sorry, sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. I love cute things.”

Arron’s eyes narrowed as he stomped over and lifted his little leg near Erin’s pants. The obvious gesture got the guy jumping away and looking a little more apologetic.

“Please don’t do that. I’ll treat you normally from now on, just don’t pee on me.” Erin said, holding his hands up in a slight defensive gesture.

Good.

After a long moment of silence in which they just happened to stare each other down, Arron hesitantly allowed his human form to take over… only to get lifted right back up and another raspberry blown on his chest.

“What the hell are you doing?” He growled as his still-clawed scraped along Erin’s cheek. The kid’s darn skin was seriously strong, he couldn’t even leave a single mark.

“I told you not to do that again!” Arron practically hissed.

“Well, technically you just tried to pee on my leg…”

“Shush!” Arron yelled, pointing at him with the angriest face he could manage as he was finally set down again. Evidently it wasn’t making him look anything but cute, because the stupid elephant was grinning like he was still in his kitten form and turning up the cuteness.

“I swear I’m trying to get my mind wrapped around the fact that you’re angry, but it’s just not working with that messy hair and adorable-”

“Shush!”

With an aggravated hiss Arron turned on his heals and stomped into the handicap stall, slamming the door in Erin’s face as he started stepping forward.

Wait, was he actually going to try and come in here with me?

“You’re a pervert.” Arron grumbled.

“Well, just a little.” Erin replied, a hint of humor in his voice.

Arron decided not to give him an answer to that as he walked over and fished his clothing out of his bag. He couldn’t believe that he had wasted his whole first day at his new school sitting in a toilet.

Once he was completely dressed he stepped out, slinging his backpack over his shoulders, only to see Erin still standing there with a stupid grin on his face.

“What?”

His smile widened slightly as he shrugged and turned toward the door, easily keeping pace with Arron as he headed out into the hall. The final bell would be ringing in an hour or so, but he didn’t see any reason to sit through one class.

Guess my official start day will be tomorrow.

“I’m going home. Uh, thanks for helping. Bye.” Arron muttered as he headed down the front steps of the school building quickly, only to hear feet following. Oh come on…

With a scratchy growl he turned once his feet hit solid ground. He tried to open his mouth to tell Erin to stop following him, but found lips gently sealing them closed before he could get out any words.

“Just taking my thank you , cutey.”

Arron’s whole mind kind of blanked until the door to the front of the school building clicked closed behind Erin.

That was my first kiss, you darn elephant!

Chapter 5: It’s Always a Trap

It was around six o’ clock when Arron finally decided to begin making dinner. It didn’t seem like his mother was going to be home in time to cook, so he figured she’d be happy when she walked in the door and found that food had already been made and was waiting for her.
Of course it wasn’t going to be anything super fancy since he was tired from his awesome day, but some home made pasta with garlic bread sounded just right.

After climbing up onto the counter to get down the garlic, parsley, and pepper he’d put away yesterday before bed, Arron carefully got down and found the cheese and pasta his mother had bought while he was at school.

In a separate pan from the pasta he began to melt the cheese with the spices, but turned the heat down on both burners and ran to his backpack when he heard his phone vibrating inside the top pocket. When he got the compartment open he clicked the accept button and held it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hi honey, I got offered an amazing job today and considering we only came here with a little money, I couldn’t really find a logical reason to turn it down. Unfortunately, it means that I have to be out of town often each month.”

“Oh uh, that’s okay.” Arron mumbled awkwardly.

It really wasn’t considering they had just lost his father only a month ago, but he knew that she was just doing what she had to in order to keep food on the table.

“So, Arron… you’re going to have to stay with another family while I’m gone. I managed to meet a nice man today who works in the company and wouldn’t mind taking you in while I’m away. He has several boys, and one your own age that even goes to your new school, so it will be a great chance to make friends.”

Arron’s face drained of color as she spoke. He didn’t want to go live somewhere else. They had just done that. They were already at their somewhere else. At his silence she quickly continued. “I know we just moved, but you’re already packed so it shouldn’t be too much trouble. Just think of it as a chance to get to know one of the more influential prides in the area.”

“Pride?” Last he remembered, a group of cheetahs were definitely not called a pride.

His stomach felt like if he had eaten lunch, he would be losing it right about then.

“Yes, the Leo pride has agreed to take you in. I haven’t been to the home, but I was told that it was plenty big enough and they had several spare rooms you could choose from.”

After a good shake of his head he pursed his lips and replied.

“That sounds nice .”

The words left a sour taste in his mouth but his mom’s new excited tone told him that that he had definitely said the right thing to make her happy.

“That’s the spirit! I’m sure that you’ll have a blast. They have a pool and a playground in their backyard, too.”

“I’m not ten anymore, mom.” He stated dryly, even though those things did appeal to him, slightly.

“Oh don’t go telling me that you wouldn’t be out there swinging for hours if you got the chance.” She replied.

He couldn’t argue that.

“Don’t worry honey, you’ll have fun and I’ll be back as often as I can. I’ll be making good money at this job so we’ll be much better off soon.”

He couldn’t think about getting her hopes down, so he put on a fake smile and happily spoke into the phone.

“Sounds great mom, do they want me over tonight? What’s the address?”

As she told him that they did indeed want him to come by, and that the father of the household was actually going to come over and pick him up later, he swallowed and told her how excited he was.

After taking down the address, just in case, and a phone number they told each other good night and she told him she’d call as soon as she could. Once Arron hung up the phone he quickly gobbled down his dinner, storing the extra portion in a Tupperware container on the counter before running upstairs to drag down his suitcases. On his second trip upstairs he grabbed his pillow and one of his smaller blankets. It had a worn picture of spiderman on it and was definitely childish, but his father had given it to him two years ago for his birthday because he had been so obsessed with that new movie. Arron knew he should leave it, but if he was going to walk into the lion’s den, he needed his superhero… or at least the memory of him.

It was about twenty minutes later when he heard a firm knock at the door.

Well. Here we go.

Arron quickly ran around switching off all of the lights and making sure that all the chords were unplugged so that they didn’t waste electricity, then ran over to the door and opened it. As his eyes rose to the man standing before him, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

This guy is huge!

His hair was the epitome of a mane, circling his face partially as normal hair, then picked up as a medium sized golden beard. While it would normally make a human look awkward, it always worked perfectly well with male lions. A full mane showed exactly how powerful the lion shifter was, and judging from this man’s stature and perfect mane, he was top cat in the Leo pride.

“Hello sir.” Arron stuttered slightly.

He almost felt like he should bow down, but when a loud booming laugh echoed into the night from the man he blinked and raised his eyebrows.

“No need for sir. Just call me Jordan.” The man replied.

“Oh, okay… my name is Arron.”

Jordan stuck his right hand out, and Arron quickly placed his much-smaller one in it to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Arron. You ready to go?” He asked.

Ah, he noticed my suitcases behind me. Well, he technically was ready. The one good thing he could think about in his current situation was that it really didn’t feel like his new house was his home yet, so moving again didn’t take too much of an emotional toll… however, knowing that his mother wasn’t waiting for him at the new place he was going to did hurt a lot.

“Don’t worry kiddo, your mom is going to be home sooner than you think. Till then, you’re welcome at our home.”

Jordan offered his hand to him again, but this time when Arron took it, he was pulled into a strong hug. He wasn’t sure why, but the man reminded him of how his father had used to hug him when he’d gotten home from a rough day at work. Before he knew it he was sniffling against Jordan’s dark red sweater as he tried to blink back tears that just wouldn’t obey. Arron felt Jordan’s hand switch from holding his own, to his back, where it began rubbing comfortingly.

“It’s okay, Arron. Your mom told me what happened and if you ever need a shoulder or a hug, just come get me.”

It felt so nice to hear those words and receive that hug. Sure, his mother had hugged him plenty of times since the accident had happened, but Jordan’s hug felt just like his father’s had.

“Alright! We need to head back. I see you’ve already made yourself dinner but I’m starved.”

Arron took a step back as he sniffled and nodded, rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand before turning to grab his backpack, blanket, and one of his suitcases. Jordan grabbed the other, and pretty soon they were on their way to his home.

“I’m sure your mother told you that I have four boys. Two are in elementary school, twins, Jared and Jamie. Tarren just graduated high school last year and Rylan is a junior, just like you.”

Rylan.

She had said he had boys, and being part of the Leo pride was manageable… but he was Rylan’s father?

“Hey kiddo, you feeling okay?” Jordan asked as he glanced over at him.

It took Arron a couple of minutes to find his voice again, then stumble over his poor excuse.

“Yeah, just… stomach upset from dinner and a stressful day.”

Chapter 6: Cubs

As Jordan’s car pulled into a huge turn-around driveway, Arron couldn’t help but stare up at the giant mansion looming over them. It had to have at least eight bedrooms, and was god-knows how many square feet. Jordan noticed his jaw hanging down and laughed, drawing Arron’s attention over to him.

“I guess it is a rather big house, but we often have people from out of town staying over, so the rooms are surprisingly full most times.”

Oh, well, that made sense then. But still, it must be awesome to grow up in such a huge house. Arron could just see all the lion cubs running down the halls playing together. It was a cute thought, though he hoped that he didn’t end up becoming their new toy.

“I’m going to head inside and grab Rylan to help you with your stuff. He’ll show you to one of the guest rooms, too.”

Great.

“Sounds good.” Arron mumbled.

“Here, hand me your leftovers, I’ll put them in the fridge.” Jared said.

Arron did as told, then swung his backpack over his shoulder and grabbed a suitcase before following Jordan inside.

“Rylan! Help bring in our new guest’s suitcase and show him to his room.”

Holy booming voice, Batman… He was going to have to get used to that so his instincts didn’t go crazy. As it stood, he was pretty darn close to shifting right there from nerves alone, and that was the last thing he wanted to do in a house full of lions.

His eyes lifted from where they had settled on the carpet when Rylan came running down the long, winding staircase in front of them. He froze for a moment as their eyes met and Rylan’s flared a bright gold, but he clearly knew better than to mess with him right in front of his father, and quickly reigned in his beast.

“Hey, Arron. Looks like we’re going to be living together for awhile. Nice to have you.”

I already want to hiss at you again.

Arron peeked up at Jordan to see him smiling at his son.

“Good, you know each other already.” Jordan said, nodding. He then quickly headed toward where Arron assumed the kitchen or dining room was in the next room. As soon as he was gone, though, Arron was shoved up against the wall in the hallway and lifted by the front of his shirt, his feet dangling off of the ground as Rylan leaned in to whisper a growl into his ear.

“Listen, little kitten. This is my house and my territory. When dad’s not around you better be submissive to me, or I’ll put you on your back.”

He didn’t exactly have an argument that was worth starting a fight over, especially one that he would definitely lose, so Arron just gave his best nod, then was promptly dropped. He stumbled, trying to regain his balance, but failed miserably. He’d thought that Rylan had wanted him on the ground, but he guessed that hands and knees weren’t good enough, because he was soon pinned on his back with Rylan towering over him. There was no contest between them so Arron didn’t know why the guy had to be so mean… besides the fact that he had unintentionally embarrassed him at school earlier.

Either way, he couldn’t really argue his frustration, anyways, because his cheetah had pushed itself out again, leaving Arron a squirming bundle of fur in a pile of clothing on the floor.

“That looks about right.” Rylan noted, a smugness to his voice.

Hearing Jordan’s footsteps returning, Arron saw Rylan quickly jump up, turning with an innocent expression as he noted the surprised look on his father’s face.

Right, pretend you didn’t just scare me into my cheetah form on purpose.

“Oh…” Jordan mumbled, clearly surprised.

As Arron got himself free of his T-shirt, he looked up again, noticing that a woman was now staring at him, too. Must be Jordan’s wife. He tried his best to look embarrassed, because frankly, he was since shifting at random was usually looked down upon when you were out of middle school. Arron knew he should be able to control it easily by his age, and have a shift that was actually grown up, but he had neither.

While he expected Jordan and his wife to be at least a little bit annoyed, or maybe even aggressive, the lioness actually squealed and ran forward, scooping him up for a strong hug. Pretty soon he felt a tongue running along the top of his soft mohawk of fur that ran all the way down his back from the woman’s lion form. It was something he should have lost as he grew up, but his cheetah had evidently not wanted to do that last part.

He kind of spaced out with all the attention because he was soon being set into Rylan’s arms and toted upstairs. Judging from the kid’s grip, he wasn’t too happy. Maybe his dad was asking him why I had shifted.

When they got upstairs and into the hallway, out of view of Jordan and his wife, Rylan switched the way he was carrying him. His partially clawed fingers grabbed Arron’s scruff and began swinging him like a bag of clothing he’d just purchased at the mall. Needless to say, his stomach twisted and turned with the food he’d eaten before coming over. Arron tried so hard to keep from throwing up, but right as he was thrown onto his new bed, he started feeling it come up.

The bed was huge and definitely comfy… but now there was a small pile of throw-up right in the middle of it.

Rylan glared at him in disgust once he’d finished emptying his stomach, but Arron was too dizzy to really care.

“Get that cleaned up, now!” The young lion shifter yelled at him.

The shouting got his attention, but there wasn’t anything he could do about his mistake right then. Rylan seemed to figure out that he wasn’t changing back quickly and growled a warning, but again, Arron couldn’t control his shift. When he finally understood that he literally couldn’t change back, he snarled and yanked the comforter Arron had just thrown up on out from under him. The action sent his kitten flipping head over tail until he flopped back down on the sheets onto his belly.

Rylan disappeared out the door a moment later with the blanket, only to be replaced by two little boys. They were peeking inside, curiosity playing with instinct in their eyes. Uh oh… Jared and Jamie.

The two little blonds were up on the bed in their lion forms in seconds as Arron quickly jumped off the other side and ducked beneath the mattress. Unfortunately, the cubs were just small enough to shimmy under the bed after him, forcing his cheetah to run out into the hallway. He quickly realized that the stairs wouldn’t be an option, since his cheetah wasn’t used to them at all, so he darted toward the only door in the hallway besides his own that was open.

Please have somewhere to hide!

Arron skidded into the room, running strictly on instinct at that point, which had probably been for the best, considering that he would not have moved an inch into the room if he had realized who it belonged to. However, all he was aware of at that moment were the two lions about to grab his tail, and if he didn’t move, he was going to be the chew toy of their dreams.

With a mew of effort Arron ran around the big bed and quickly wedged himself into the corner between a big computer desk and the wall. The space was just big enough for him, leaving the two lion cubs pawing eagerly at the opening as they whined.

I’m sorry that I took away your chew toy, but I want to keep myself in one piece today.

As the two lions continued to try and get to him, Arron’s own cat began turning back to its instincts with the understanding that it was cornered and needed help. Without meaning to do so, he began chirping for his mother. He knew that he was stuck in Rylan’s room, too, as his scent finally pushed through his panic. Unfortunately, he’d take the guy’s aggressive threats over actually being bitten by his little brothers.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he heard Rylan growling as he stomped into his room. One lion cub was grabbed, and Arron heard its backside thump onto the carpet in the hallway as it was tossed out, then the other quickly followed before a door was slammed shut. Even after the lions were removed, he couldn’t manage to stop chirping.

Rylan soon came over to kneel at the opening where he was Arron was hiding. The look on his face was none-to-happy, but he didn’t try to reach for him.

“Come here, Arron.”

He hesitated at his words. It was definitely an order, but he could tell that he was trying to reign in his temper. It took Arron about five minutes to finally take a step forward, but the look of relief on Rylan’s face made that two steps, then three…

As soon as he got close enough Rylan scooped him up, and moments later he found myself on his back on his bed. This isn’t exactly helping me calm down. Well, at first… It took a bit, but as Rylan easily but gently held him down with one hand, Arron wrapped his paws around the lower half of his arm and slowly began to relax. He couldn’t fight him off, that much was obvious to his cheetah, and his mother wasn’t answering his chirping calls, so eventually those slowed, then stopped.

His form wavered after another minute as he stared up into Rylan’s eyes. His lion was close to the surface, it’s glowing golden eyes prominent as Arron felt his human body taking shape. When it finished, he could still feel Rylan’s hand on his chest, holding him down against his blankets as he leaned over his body.

“I would advise your kitten not to take over when my brothers are around. They have no self control when it comes to chasing prey.”

Good to know. Hopefully my cheetah takes that to mind for the next time you decide to scare it out.

Chapter 7: Vet

“Rylan.”

Arron saw surprise and anger flash over Rylan’s face before he hesitantly backed off of him to turn toward his father.

“Did you throw your little brothers out of your room again? And what are you doing to our guest?” Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow.

The man didn’t sound nearly as happy as he had been earlier, and judging from the few bits of rice stuck in his beard, he was still rather hungry.

“I… threw them out because they were attacking him.” He said awkwardly.

Jordan crossed his arms over his muscular chest at his son’s words.

“Okay. Now tell me why you are trying to dominate him? And don’t say that he tried to attack you, because I swear I’ll take away your car if you even think about it.”

Rylan looked like he had been caught red-handed with his paw in the cookie jar, but Arron wasn’t going to argue on his behalf. He was a kitten, after all. If he’d tried to dominate a normal sized lion he’d be used as a toothpick.

Speaking of, Arron actually needed to go to the vet the next day for a check up and to get registered for the study he’d been partaking in at his old vet, who had been obsessed with his cheetah’s lack of growth as he’d aged.

He knew that his old vet had likely already contacted the local one to keep his studies going. At least it wasn’t anything invasive, just a shot to turn him into his feline form, then the basics, weight, teeth, eyes, reflexes. He just wished that there weren’t any shots involved.

“I was just…”

“Rylan. Just don’t do it again. I expect more from you. You should be able to control your lion far better than that.”

Rylan chewed on his bottom lip before mumbling a quiet. “Yes, sir.”

When his father nodded and turned his attention back to Arron, he suddenly remembered that he was butt naked again, and still laying in Jordan’s son’s bed. With a squeak he jumped up and quickly ran out the door. He could feel Rylan’s lion push against his conscience right away, wanting to give chase.

Thank god his dad is standing right there.

“Rylan, I know you have practice tomorrow, but I need you to take Arron to his appointment at the vet, then home.” Jordan said as Arron disappeared down the hall.

“But dad! That’s an important practice. We have a game Friday.”

“And you’ll just have to miss half of it. Whether you like it or not, Arron is now part of this family. You would take your little brother’s to the vet if they needed to go, so you’ll stop complaining and be glad Arron thought to take the latest appointment so that you could at least practice for an hour. How about you thank him for waiting after school for an hour so you can at least do some practicing, instead of being pissed off about having to leave early?”

Rylan bristled, not having paid much attention to the extra stuff his father was saying as he stepped forward.

“But dad, why do we even have to house that cheetah? If he changes while we’re not home, you know Jared and Jamie won’t be able to keep their paws off of him. Their lions are too young, as you’ve just seen.”

While Arron normally hated people talking about him, he was kind of right. He shouldn’t be in a house full of lions. Even if his instincts didn’t attract danger, he was still the number one predator they would kill in the wild, and their instincts told them just that when he turned into his cheetah form.

Arron honestly couldn’t blame those two little boys for losing control. He’d done that several times when he had seen little frogs or lizards run across his path. Thankfully, he could control it more now, but he still had to keep his eyes off the sidewalk as much as possible, just in case.

Arron had gotten so caught up in his thoughts that when he pulled up his pants and got them buckled, he realized that someone was standing in the doorway. Deciding to forego the shirt for the moment, he hesitantly turned to see Rylan glaring at him, arms crossed just like his father’s had been.

“Uh, I was gonna tell you about the appointment.” He tried.

Well, he kind of just wanted to go by himself and walk home like he used to, but it might be a bit too far now, especially back to Jordan’s house and not the one they had just bought.

Arron slowly stepped back as Rylan approached, teeth bared in anger.

“I suggest you find someone to give you a ride, because if I end up being said ride, you’re going to wish your mom hadn’t brought you to this town.”

Arron could feel his cheetah trying to push its way out because of the encroaching lion, but thankfully he managed to straighten his back and shrug.

“I’m sure I can manage to find someone.”

A sarcastic smile curved along Rylan’s lips as he gave him an overly-strong pat on the shoulder, gripping there to likely cause a bruise on purpose.

“Good. Because if I get in trouble… you get in more trouble.”

His brows rose, obviously wanting an answer even though it wasn’t a technical question.

Well, mom told me never to disappoint a predator.

“Okay.”

They stayed that way for several long seconds before Rylan gave a sharp nod and walked out.

Tomorrow is going to be fun.

The next day was indeed interesting. Arron guessed he was supposed to wake himself up for school, or more likely, Rylan was, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Honestly, he’d rather be late than be woken up by a lion.

His body actually felt pretty good from sleeping in. Too bad he couldn’t do it anymore. Arron wasn’t the smartest kid in school… by far, so he needed all of those notes. Hopefully his mother doesn’t hire another tutor though. For some reason he just had trouble learning how other people do. She always got frustrated when she put extra money into someone to help teach him, but he still didn’t learn the material well enough. It was never from a lack of trying, but they just decided to keep that book closed after he still didn’t do too well on the exams after the final tutor.

After tossing on a pair of faded jeans and a dark orange T-shirt, Arron got himself downstairs and out the door. By the time he got to school he had missed first and second period. He knew Rylan was in both of them, but asking him for notes would likely end up with him having a black eye, and no notes. Oh, wait. Erin! He was in both of those classes.

With a happy skip Arron gave a little shout of excitement before running through the empty halls to his third period class. Come lunch, he was a bundle of energy, from god knows what. He hadn’t eaten breakfast but he guessed with the stress of possibly falling behind, then realizing he could ask his new friend for his notes, the relief must have made him giddy.

Speaking of.

“Hey, Erin!”

He didn’t shout too loudly, but he knew he’d easily be heard. Elephants were known for their exceptional hearing, and they kind of had big ears, even in human form. When Erin noticed him and smiled, Arron waived him over. As he sat down beside him, Erin said exactly what he figured he might.

“Hey kid, didn’t see you in class.”

“Yeah, I slept through my alarm.” Arron lied.

The laugh he got in return really warmed his attitude. Maybe living with the lions wouldn’t be so bad if he got to have Erin as a friend at school. Of course, he wasn’t even thinking about the kiss the guy had taken from him before… that was probably just him joking around.

“Hey, um. Can I borrow your notes from first and second period?” Arron asked.

The look on Erin’s face had his stomach twisting with nervousness.

Why is he looking at me like I’m a lollipop?

“If you do me a favor, you can have them.”

Uh oh.

His thoughts whirred around in his head as he tried to think of asking another student. He wasn’t the most outgoing person, though.

“Um, okay. What do you want?” He asked hesitantly.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Erin was leaning over. He noticed a strong hunger in his eyes before Arron quickly squeezed his own shut. No way am I kissing him with my eyes open again. It was bad enough that he was going do it in the middle of the cafeteria. Arron was nearly shaking from nerves when he heard a playful whisper by his ear.

“Buy me lunch?”

“What?”

Erin leaned back, raising a brow and smirking at Arron’s shocked reaction.

“What? You thought that I was going to do something naughty? I suppose I can…”

His eyebrows waggled, bringing a strong blush to Arron’s cheeks, which were promptly pinched.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, sorry. You’re just too cute.” Erin said with a smirk.

Arron bared his teeth at Erin, which just made him look cuter judging from the rising excitement in the guy’s eyes.

Grabbing the twenty dollar bill Arron had in his pocket, he quickly tossed it at Erin and turned to eat one of the bags of pretzels he often kept in his bag.

“Bring back my change.”

There was a light laugh from Erin as he headed off to get himself something to eat. During the time he was gone, Arron glanced around the busy lunchroom, surprised by how many eyes were on him. Did I do something wrong?

When his eyes met Rylan’s, he flinched. He was definitely pissed, but thank god he seemed more interested in keeping his distance than laying into him for anything.

Arron’s attention quickly snapped back to his side when he heard a few coins drop on the lunch table. Eh? Three quarters and a nickel? This is my change? He looked up, eyes narrowing at a gigantic plate of salad now sitting before Erin.

The guy noticed him looking and just shrugged.

“Elephants eat a lot.”

Come his final class, Arron was tired and ready to get the heck out of there. His hand ached from writing notes so quickly because the darn teacher couldn’t slow down and take a breath. Now that he was standing outside the school doors with his backpack slung over his shoulders… he realized that he’d forgotten to find a ride to the vets.

As people rushed by to get to their cars or start walking home, he noticed the football team heading to the lockers, and of course, Rylan was glaring at him as he walked. He stopped and raised his brows, silently asking if Arron had found a ride.

Well, considering that he might be disemboweled by a lion later if he shook his head, Arron quickly nodded. When Rylan nodded back and turned, Arron tugged on the ties to his backpack, tightening it on his shoulders. After checking that his shoes were tied well, he headed down the steps and started sprinting toward the vet. It would probably take him at least an hour, but he was a cheetah and running was just something that he did well. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d get home in his kitten form, but he’d figure that out later.

After exactly one hour, Arron found himself stepping into the vet’s office, panting quietly from his run. “Hello, you must be Arron?”

The tall, gray-haired vet was smiling from behind his reception area.

“If you’ll just sigh in, then take a seat with your friend. I’ll call you back in a moment.”

He did as told with a smile, writing his first name before turning to go sit down.

Wait.

Did he just say, friend?

His eyes blinked a few times before he realized that there was a rather sadistic looking lion shifter with damp hair and a flushed face smirking back at him.

Oh. Crap.

Arron’s body instantly vanished into his clothing as it dropped to the floor. A quiet mew let the other two people waiting in the office know that he’d just made a fool out of himself. When he’d managed to finally navigate his T-shirt and get himself free of the clothing, he was scruffed and set on a chair.

Rylan told him to stay put with the sweetest, most deadly voice he had ever heard, as he went to scoop up his clothing and shoes and shove them into his bag.

When the vet finally returned, his face showed just how excited he was at the sight of Arron’s tiny shift form.

“Come on back, Arron. Rylan, you’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”

“Oh, I’d love to.”

I’m sure you would.

If only he could hear what I say in my mind about him… I’d be dead. Thank god he can’t.

When Arron was picked up he was careful not to freak out like his cheetah wanted to. He was sure that Rylan would have him skinned if he got claw holes in his shirt.

When they stepped into the room, he felt a small pull from his stomach. Hopefully this vet wouldn’t want to do any extra tests.

“So, I have a few extra things I’d like to do besides what your old vet normally did.”

Arron quickly gave a distressed mew but Rylan easily covered it up with his own, much more understandable words.

“That’s fine. Just be sure to give him the shot that keeps him in his cheetah form.”

“Of course, wouldn’t want him changing back in the middle of a procedure.”

Arron gave another loud mew but just received a pat on the head from the vet before he took his left arm and injected the force-change drug into it. The familiar tingle ran through his body shortly after the injection, letting him know that his cheetah was going to remain out for at least a few hours.

That, he wasn’t normally too worried about, but considering the doctor was lining up several syringes and papers? Arron was trying to get his butt down from the table he had been on but Rylan’s grip was unbreakable.

“Alright. These extra shots might give you a slight fever the first few times we do this, but your body should get used to it.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him tonight. Don’t worry doc.”

Oh sure you will.

He took a second to glare at him before he felt a prick on his right arm. When he looked the vet was setting down an empty syringe and grabbing the blood pressure cuff to wrap around Arron’s arm. Once that was fastened, he added another shot to his left arm, then watched the blood pressure monitor. Once the thing beeped, he wrote down a few numbers, then nudged Arron’s lower jaw with his pen.

“Open please.”

He did as told, though wasn’t very comfortable when the vet began poking around with the end of his slightly chewed pen. Don’t they have tools for this kind of thing?

His belly began to grumble halfway through the procedure, causing the vet to pause and raise a brow as he was getting another shot ready.

“Did you eat lunch today?”

Well, I had half of a small bag of pretzels? I guess that doesn’t really count.

With a shrug Arron shook his head. The man’s face fell as he set the three other syringes back down. No more shots? I am completely okay with that.

“We’ll have to skip those then, I don’t want you getting too sick from this. I wish you would have told me before I gave you those prior two.”

Pardon me for not knowing meowglish.

After a quick physical he was handed back to Rylan. His stomach hurt and his vision was a bit blurry. Next time he came he’d have to make sure to tell the guy no extra tests.

“Alright, that’s it for today. I look forward to seeing you again next week.”

Rylan’s face clouded over for a split second before the expression was gone.

“Each week?”

“Yes! He’s such a fascinating little guy and the previous vet said to make sure the day he’s tested doesn’t change. So, considering he has school, this was the only time slot that would work. Although, he could have come an hour earlier. He’d said that he wanted this later one.”

Arron could feel Rylan’s eyes on him, but man was he feeling out of it. There was a bit more talking, then some walking and maybe a car ride? At some point during the car ride he conked out. He really hoped that Rylan hadn’t spoken to him during that time, because he could barely recall what the vet said, much less what had happened after they had left.

When he finally came to, his head was throbbing and he could have sworn that something was holding him down.

Wait, is that a claw near my eye?

Everything was so fuzzy, and not just in his mind.

A deep rumble began to finally pull him out of his daze, though he really wished that it hadn’t. A very large, very heavy lion was laying onto of him. His lower half was tucked under its firm chest, completely stopping his ability to escape. Arron gave a quiet mew, drawing its attention away from the TV it had been watching.

The beast’s eyes instantly told him that it was Rylan. But where are his parents? Outside it was already dark. Surely they wouldn’t let their son just lay on him?

Arron’s shoulders hunched when he felt the lion’s rough tongue run along the back of his neck. Gross ! Only his mother was allowed to do that, and she hadn’t since he was a kid.

With a disgruntled mew, Arron pawed at the couch while the lion continued messing up his mini mohawk of fur. The guy even had the gull to begin some sort of awkward purring sound.

“Tarren! What the hell are you doing with that hairball? You’re going to throw up if you keep licking it.”

Wait, Tarren? Arron narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the lion pinning him down. Huh. It isn’t Rylan. This lion had a nearly full mane and instead of gold fur, it was mainly black and brown. When it noticed that he was staring, it turned its attention away from Rylan and literally headbutted him back into the sofa.

Arron knew that it was just a friendly gesture between lions, but he was a midget cheetah and it had hurt!

“You do realize you’re squishing him, right? Well, it did throw up in my car… Actually, feel free to squash it.”

The lion lifted its head off of Arron at that warning, then stared down at him as he struggled to get out from underneath him. It only took the lion a slight shift of his body weight to free Arron, though the sudden momentum had his kitten stumbling down on the next cushion.

As soon as his body was free, it instantly shifted back. The drug had worn off, leaving him very tired and very naked in front of the two brothers. One looked mildly entertained, while the other shifted one was… drooling?

In a blur Arron was tackled back down to the sofa cushions and licked senseless.

“Wait! S-Stop!”

“Tarren! Seriously! You’re gonna get sick licking that!”

The lion was suddenly a naked human a moment later, but the licking didn’t stop.

“But he’s so cute! How could you not be over here cuddling him with me?” Tarren said.

“Because I’m sane? And I don’t like playing with my food.”

Tarren’s eyes met Arron’s and he smirked, licking his lips.

“I wouldn’t mind eating him.”

“He’s not a lion.” Rylan noted.

“No shit, but he’s cute enough, even as a cheetah. I can’t believe his shift is a kitten, it’s so adorable.”

Before Arron could get a word in, he was scooped up into Tarren’s arms and squeezed till his head got fuzzy again.

“Ow.”

“Oops! Sorry kiddo. Can’t help myself when I find cute things. What’s your name, by the way?”

“Arron.” Arron replied, slightly out of breath.

“I’m Tarren, and that grouch is just a sourpussycat, don’t mind him.”

Right, don’t mind the guy who made me sit in a toilet for half of my first school day. And why exactly are we having this conversation in the living room while I’m butt naked in some other naked guy’s lap?

Something hit the back of his head right as he was about to tell Tarren to let him go so that he could get dressed.

“Get dressed before my brother messes up our family name by breeding you.”

Gee, thanks.

Either way, that got Tarren to let him go. Arron quickly pulled on his boxers, then pants as Tarren hopped up to tend something in the kitchen.

Something smells good, now that I’m not being molested and can actually think straight.

Rylan stayed behind watching him, arms crossed.

“My parents were called out of town for work, so Terran is staying here to watch you while they’re gone. He gets pretty touchy feely, so have fun with that.”

Well, that kinda sucked, but Arron definitely preferred that over being left alone in the house with Rylan and his little brothers.

Chapter 8: Teeth

As he pulled on his shirt, Arron could feel more eyes on him and quickly looked toward the hallway.

“They didn’t take Jared or Jamie?” He asked.

Rylan smirked and walked over to his little brothers, scooping one up before carrying him right over to Arron and handing him off.

What the heck are you doing? Arron thought, very much not interested in hold the lion shifter.

“Of course they took them, that’s why they’re right here.” Rylan said sarcastically.

Smart ass.

“Boys! Dinner’s ready!”

The kid in his arms started to squirm and growl to be put down, so Arron definitely didn’t mind obliging the request.

“Careful, Jamie.”

As the kid ran off, he realized that Rylan was glaring at him. What is your problem? They already established that Arron was a cheetah and Rylan didn’t like him, so he didn’t need to keep reminding him of the obvious. When Rylan finally spoke, Arron fidgeted at the normal, non-aggressive tone.

“You knew that was Jamie?”

Was he not supposed to be able to tell them apart? He was a sight predator… vision differences were extremely important to his animal species.

“Yeah. Um, he has an extra freckle under his right eye.”

I can even see it in his lion form.

“You’ve only seen them one other time. You picked that out that one time before they pounced on you?” Rylan asked, his voice sounding disbelieving.

Arron gave a shrug and stepped back as Rylan took a step closer.

“Yeah, cheetahs rely on their sight the most.”

Reminding him that he was a cheetah seemed to snap him out of question mode.

“Right.”

With a growl Rylan stepped past him and went into the kitchen. Arron didn’t really want to, but he slowly followed, his stomach pulling him toward the delicious smells coming from the other room. Walking into the kitchen was quite an experience. Sure the room was huge and full of a restaurant’s worth of fancy appliances, but what actually had him grinning a little were the two lion cubs rolling around on the tile floor while Tarren, still completely naked, got pot roast and salad dished out to plates waiting on the set table.

“Hey Rylan and Arron, can you get Jamie and Jared to the table please?”

He was still a bit afraid of the little lions still, but surely the cubs weren’t too much to handle. With a deep breath, Arron walked over to Jamie and carefully scooped him up into his arms. At first he was crying to get down, but when Arron sat him down in his seat he instantly changed back to his human form to start stuffing his face.

That’s almost cute.

“Oh yeah, Arron, the vet said not to eat dinner.” Rylan said.

What?

Arron’s smile died instantly as he turned to look at Rylan’s fake apologetic face.

“But I didn’t hear him say that.”

The loud rumble from his stomach mirrored his words. All he could remember the vet saying was to eat lunch before he came next time.

“You were out of it when we talked, then you fell asleep. He said not to eat anything tonight just in case.”

Arron’s stomach clenched as the information sunk in. He couldn’t really argue, though he had a feeling that the vet didn’t really say those things and Rylan was just upset that he had tried to go to the vet by himself. Either way, Arron had to do what he said.

“Okay. I guess I’ll um, go upstairs.” He said quietly.

Each step he took away from the delicious smelling food had his belly hurting more. By the time he got to his room he was literally starving. After only a few minutes Arron was digging through his backpack for his small stash of pretzels, only to realize that they were all gone.

Darn you, lion!

He couldn’t really go back down and tell the lions that he wanted part of their meal after Rylan’s lie. They’d kill him in the wild and his instincts alone were yelling at him to just deal with going hungry for the night. He still had forty dollars left from his last part time job, so he could buy himself something to eat tomorrow. With that settled, Arron got his homework out and got to work, doing his best to keep his mind off of his growling stomach.

Around eight o’ clock Arron heard something by his door and glanced up. He had only left it open a crack, but he could easily see Jamie nudging it open with his little lion nose. He was also holding a small paper towel wrapped bundle between his teeth.

“Hmm? Come here, Jamie.”

Arron slid out of his bed, setting his book and paper aside as he walked over. When he reached down, Jamie dropped the item into his hand.

Why is this warm?

Arron opened it slowly, smiling when he uncovered some roasted beef and salad. It was a bit of a mushy mess, but the gesture alone was super sweet, and he doubted that his stomach cared.

“Thank you very much, Jamie.”

The little lion gave a playful growl and then pounced on his foot.

Arron didn’t have his shoes on anymore and those small claws were pretty sharp. The little lion jumped back quickly when Arron yelped in response, looking a bit surprised and curious.

“Sorry, you wanna play?”

He wondered where his twin brother was, but figured that he was either asleep or just doing something else. Either way, he could use some time away from his math homework. With a playful growl, Arron got down on his hands and knees and nudged the small cub, who quickly bounced back with a playful growl.

He let the cub tackle him to the floor several times, but always made sure that when he tried to claim any kind of dominance by biting or being too rough, Arron nudged him away. His older brother might be able to do that, but he wasn’t going to allow a cub to pin or bite him in his human form.

They wrestled for the better half of an hour before Tarren and Rylan walked in. He hadn’t even heard them coming considering him and the cub had both been growling and rolling around on the floor. When Arron noticed the two older lions were there though, he quickly sat up and caught Jamie in his next pounce. The cub tried to squirm out of his arms to keep the play time going, but Arron had a feeling that it was the cub’s bed time.

“Hey Arron, time for Jamie to go to sleep.”

Hearing his older brother’s voice, the cub halted and looked back toward the door with the cutest pouting face Arron had ever seen on a vicious predator. He carefully set him back down on all four paws, then gave him a gentle nudge toward Rylan, who was now squatting down to pick up Jamie. When he walked out, Arron figured that Tarren would follow, but as he got himself up off the floor, Arron heard his door click shut, then lock.

Huh?

“You know… you smell really good, Arron.” Tarren whispered.

Arron straightened immediately and fought himself to not step back.

“Thanks?”

The grin that spread along Terran’s lips had Arron flinching and giving way to his instincts as he took a step back. Tarren’s face seemed to shift to confusion for a moment before realizing that he likely looked threatening.

“It’s okay. I just want to smell a little.”

That was probably the most awkward request he’d ever heard. Arron really wanted to say no, and quite frankly run, but he could already see the lion in Tarren’s eyes trying to push itself free. His cheetah was trying to get his body to bolt toward the balcony, but the human part of him knew that Tarren would catch him since the doors leading to it weren’t open yet.

Feeling something touch his arm, he quickly glanced up to see Tarren’s hand firmly locked onto his elbow. Before Arron even began to turn his attention back to Tarren’s face, he could feel teeth nibbling at the exposed side of his neck. Just the faint brush of them had his heart jumping into his throat, thundering with fear.

Arron knew that Tarren could sense it, but his lion evidently liked to tease its prey, because it quickly figured out that when it nipped a bit too hard, his pulse jumped under its lips.

The next thing Arron knew, he was pinned on his bed, his math book painfully pressing into his shoulder. Tarren’s right hand had both of his wrists against the blanket above his head, while his left one was doing its best to mess with his the button on Arron’s.

Someone is getting a little out of control!

“Rylan!” Arron yelled. He hadn’t wanted to call the other shifter for help, but he clearly couldn’t be picky right then.

There was a sudden slam against his door a few seconds later, then another before it splintered and the lock broke off. The door swung open, the handle denting the wall behind it as Rylan charged in with a rather terrifying roar.

“Tarren! Let. Him. Go. Now!”

Arron thought that his brother would be able to get through to him easily, but Tarren actually turned and snarled out his own deafening roar. His body was even beginning to change as he kept him pinned, but Rylan didn’t seem fazed.

“Tarren! He’s a male cheetah, ignore his damn pheromones and stop this.”

Pheromones? I’m a male, we don’t usually give off pheromones.

Tarren’s lion seemed to hesitate at Rylan’s information. He was still baring his teeth, but thankfully his hand had stopped trying to undress Arron.

“Tarren, calm down. Dad trusted you to look after him, remember?” Rylan said.

Arron saw Tarren turn back to look down at him, but when he began to lean over, Arron squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered a tiny bit. He might have been a predator, too, but there was nothing he could do once pinned by a lion. Even in the wild, if a cheetah was caught, it’s chances of getting away were practically zero.

Arron was expecting another bite, but when nothing came he hesitantly blinked open his eyes to meet stormy brown ones. It looked like Tarren was trying to get his lion under control, and thankfully, he seemed to be managing the task.

After a long, silent minute, he relaxed his grip on Arron’s wrists, then slowly climbed off of the bed. He seemed a bit dazed. Arron hadn’t even thought pheromones could even have that kind of affect on a full grown lion. But the idea of it being possible made him wonder why it wasn’t affecting Rylan at all. Not that he wanted him chasing his tail, for any reason. It was just curiosity.

“Go finish getting Jamie and Jared tucked in.” Rylan said as he put himself between his brother and Arron.

“Right.” Tarren mumbled awkwardly, rubbing a hand over his face.

The second Tarren was gone Arron shifted and jumped off of the bed, landing rather painfully on his head but not caring in the least. He was much more interested in getting under the bed. He heard footsteps again as he turned around to see who was coming or going.

Suddenly there was a back right in front of him, forcing a squeak of surprise from his little mouth as he darted further under the bed. When he turned again and took the time to look, Arron realized that it was Rylan, leaning against the bed.

“Hi dad. Yeah, Tarren um… kind of jumped Arron.”

“Yeah, I know. He honestly didn’t mean it. The kid is giving off some kind of pheromone. I don’t know why, but it might have something to do with what the vet shot him up with earlier.”

“Yeah, okay. Everything is fine with Jamie and Jared. Yeah, they were actually playing for awhile. Yeah, right?”

“I guess I can. He won’t like it though, I’m sure. Yeah, I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how things are going. Okay. Yeah. Good night, dad.”

When he hung up the phone, Arron watched him tuck it back into his jean pocket, then move till he was lying on the floor staring at him.

“Hey, Arron.”

Slowly looking back up, Arron flattened himself as close to the floor as he could get. No way was he going near another lion willingly right then. Rylan noticed he wasn’t going to be coming anywhere near him and sighed.

“Fine. If you wont come to me, I’ll have to come to you.”

Arron’s ears pinned to the side when he stood up. He wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but he didn’t like it. However, when Rylan’s clothing dropped, piece by piece near his feet, Arron understood. Oh god, please don’t change, too. As soon as Arron thought that, he saw Rylan’s feet turn into paws, then his hands dropped to the ground and shifted.

The next thing Arron knew the bed was shoved against the far side of the room and he was completely exposed to a pouncing lion.

Moving fast was his specialty, but Arron was too freaked out to even flinch. When Rylan noticed this he thankfully didn’t pin him, but did carefully grab him by the scruff with his huge teeth. Arron hadn’t been carried like that in years, but it did remind him of his father. He used to always do that when Arron was upset about something and had shifted. It calmed him down quickly, letting Rylan easily carry his tiny kitten form to the bathroom, then gently set him in the bathtub.

Wait a second.

When he let him go, Arron’s mind realized what came after being put in a bathtub.

Oh no. Not interested!

“Oh, don’t you start.”

Start? I want to stop, not start. With a little pathetic growl of his own, Arron thrashed to get out of the tub when the water began to run, but just cursed his tiny legs.

“You really hate baths this much? You’re acting just like me.”

Huh?

Arron’s struggles stopped for a moment as he looked up at him. He even offered Rylan a cute little head tilt that his mother tended to love, though it wasn’t really on purpose.

“You’re lucky those pheromones don’t affect me as strongly as my brother, because that looks almost cute.”

Arron’s jaw dropped at his comment.

Obviously his pheromones were working just fine on him since he wasn’t threatening to beat him up or worse. Rylan seemed to notice that and shook his head.

“Not gonna happen. Even if I can smell them, I’m not into guys, for one. And, for two, I’m not into little cheetah kittens.”

Well pardon me.

I’m not interested in your big fuzzy butt either.

With a grin Rylan chuckled and splashed him in the face with warm water, making his cheetah shake its head like crazy to try and get it off. Of course he lost his balance on the slippery tub floor and ended up flopped over on his belly with his fluffy backside in the air.

“Alright, now hold still. I’ll try to make this as painless as possible.”

No thanks!

Arron gave a loud squeak and tried again to get out of the darn tub but failed miserably.

“Not going to happen, midget. Just grin and bare it.” Rylan said.

Before Arron could try to object again he felt shampoo squirted onto his back, and then hands began to scrub it into his coat. He was about to try and bite Rylan, but then the guy started using his nails…

“You look like you’re about to cum from me scratching you. Please, don’t.”

Arron definitely wasn’t going to do that. And considering Rylan didn’t stop, or even slow down those amazing scratches, he didn’t really care about him doing untoward things in the bathtub, anyways. As his hands moved around his body, Arron couldn’t help but move whichever way he hinted at. Rylan had him on his darn back, kicking his left foot for in the air for god’s sakes.

Why does this feel so darn good?

“Hah! Are you sure you hate baths? Because you’re totally like putty in my hands right now.” Rylan purred, clearly entertained.

The only sound Arron made in response was his stomach rumbling loudly. That had Rylan’s smile faltering a bit.

“You can have something to eat once I’m finished rinsing you off. Nothing big, cause the vet really did say not to eat too much tonight.”

I knew it. But for a lion, it wasn’t that mean since he was at least offering him a chance to eat. Arron was also feeling pretty good, even though he was in a bath. With a playful mew, he tucked his tail between his legs and grabbed it with his teeth, chewing on the tip a little as he tried to get a hold of it with his paws.

“Okay, you better stop doing that or I’m going to end up molesting you in my bed tonight.”

So I was having an affect on him.

Wait, his bed?

Judging from the grin on his face, he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Yes. We’re sleeping together tonight.”

Arron froze at that information, then when he tried to take a breath again he realized that there were suds all over his face and promptly sneezed them everywhere. Rylan just laughed and quickly got him rinsed off and secured in a big soft towel.

“Alright, let’s get you to bed.”

I don’t want to sleep in your bed!

“Don’t worry, like I said. Not interested. And my dad only wants us sleeping together because my brother’s having trouble with your scent.”

They turned into his room and after the door was shut and locked, Arron was set on the bed and dried into a messy fluffball.

“Here, you can have this.“Rylan said as he leaned over and pressed a piece of roasted beef against Arron’s lips, which he quickly snatched up and swallowed in one go. Rylan laughed and gave him more pieces. They seemed pre-shredded and kind of like he’d brought them up just for him to have after the bath. He would’ve had to have made it before Arron yelled for him.

The food stopped after a minute, letting Arron know that he’d finished off what he would get for the night. The few morsels had at least quieted his stomach.

“I think I just made you fat, look at that belly.” Rylan joked.

He poked Arron just enough to make him flop onto his back and burp without meaning to.

“Gross, little midget. Let’s go to bed.”

Arron was promptly tossed up toward the pillows when his slow crawl over the blankets hadn’t quite cut it. He was too tired to paw at Rylan’s face in response.

The lights went out a moment later, then Arron felt the bed dip with Rylan’s weight as he joined him.

“Night, brat.”

Arron was nice and curled up on a spare pillow when Rylan spoke, and gladly replied with a hiss. That got a sleepy chuckle out of the lion shifter, then silence came over them both.

Chapter 9: Explanation

Hmm.

S

omething is licking my neck.

“Stop it.” Arron grumbled, his voice heavy with sleep.

He tried to push the annoyance away, but whoever was doing it was pretty heavy and didn’t even budge. In fact, they actually started licking faster. Gross. Arron really wanted to shove them off, but after a moment the licking began to feel almost comforting. Before he could really stop himself, his chest began to vibrate with a deep purr. When the purring was mirrored by a much deeper, and louder sound a minute later, Arron remembered what was going on, and more importantly, where he was.

Rylan.

The heat between the both of them had his mind going a bit fuzzy. That was the only way the cocky lion shifter was getting him to submit and allow him to do what he was doing right then. If Rylan went lower, though, he was going to get a very hissy wake up call.

Thankfully, he didn’t go south, but he did start licking at Arron’s soft, messy blond hair. The action made him begin nipping at the hand near his head with quiet growls. He was getting a tiny bit annoyed.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds before Arron felt a lick travel further down to the pulse in his neck. The abrupt attention brought his mind back to the previous evening.

“Rylan?”

A deep growl was Rylan’s response to his name being spoken.

“Rylan, snap out of it.”

The abrupt sound of shifting was lost to Arron’s senses as he felt tendrils of panic throughout his body. He could feel Rylan moving overtop him and settling down, as well as hear him sniffing at his neck rapidly.

“Rylan, don’t. I’m a cheetah. A tiny little useless kitten.”

His brother had tried the same thing the previous evening but was thankfully stopped when Rylan got through to him. Arron didn’t have anyone to get through to Rylan right then, though. Don’t you dare draw blood on my neck, you darn lion. My family takes mating bites seriously!

Arron’s mind was racing with ideas that might keep Rylan from clamping down on his throat. Obviously telling him the obvious wasn’t working, so maybe…

“Rylan! Your dad’s watching us!” Arron shouted.

Everything immediately stopped as Rylan yanked his head toward the door and bared his teeth. Arron took his chance at that exact second and turned his body, then kicked his right leg right between Rylan’s. He knew that it was a death sentence, but he needed to get out of Rylan’s room and had run out of options.

When his leg hit home Rylan snarled and fell onto his side, curling in on himself as he cursed from the pain. Arron took that opportunity and jumped up and out of the bed, then bolted down the hall at full speed. As he turned to take the stairs, he saw a door from the corner of his eye begin to open.

Oh crap, Tarren!

A clawed hand came out of the darkened doorway, but Arron’s cat-like reflexes were already taking over, allowing him to duck just in time to avoid getting grabbed. In that moment he could hear Rylan’s paws thumping down the hallway carpet and he had no doubt that Terran would be following after him any second, too.

As Arron’s hands landed on the third step from the top, he felt his body shift into his kitten form and literally tumble down the long staircase. For once, he didn’t mind being in his kitten form, because along with his extra fluff and the carpet on the stairs, he wasn’t taking hits nearly as hard as he would be if he was in his human form.

After landing he took a few staggering steps, then high-tailed it to the closest hiding spot he could find. Such a spot just happened to be in the small laundry room behind the staircase. The washing machine was thankfully a double, so when he squeezed into the tiny area between it and the wall, the two lions that arrived seconds later couldn’t budge the thing much.

Well, safe for now, but with two male lions staring me down, I’m not too sure how long that’s going to last .

After about an hour Arron heard someone open the front door to the house. His head lifted but he couldn’t quite look over his shoulder well since he was squeezed between the wall and washer still.

“Rylan? Tarren?”

Loud footsteps made their way toward the laundry room before one lion was scruffed and tossed out of the room, quickly followed by the other. Both gave grumbles of protest but none dared to honestly challenge their father.

“You boys get your backsides upstairs and get your little brothers ready for school, now!” Jordan growled.

Two sets of paws were heard scrambling up the stairs seconds later, leaving Arron to sigh with relief.

“Hey kiddo, I’m sorry about what happened. We’ll figure it out, but I promise I’m not going to hurt you. Can you get out of there?” Jordan asked.

Arron tried to maneuver his way out of the tight spot, but the two brothers had pushed the washer too far against him. With a quiet mew he let Jordan know that he was rather stuck, but then his instincts took over and his chirping started up, too.

“It’s okay, Arron. I’m going to get you out of there, then we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

It took Jordan a bit of effort to get the machine moved. When Arron could finally move he darted out of the laundry room and straight for the kitchen. He knew Jordan was trying to help, but as soon as he began to give chase Arron nudged open the cabinet under the sink and hid in the back behind the spare garbage bags and detergent. His squeaks continued as his cheetah called for its mother, though they both knew that she wasn’t coming.

Thankfully, Jordan realized that chasing wasn’t going to get them anywhere, so he decided to leave Arron be where he was and make a phone call to the vet instead.

“Hello? Yes, doctor. I’m watching over Arron right now, the cheetah you saw yesterday, and I wanted to ask what you gave him? For some reason he’s giving off a lot of pheromones and it’s causing a problem for my boys.”

Arron hesitantly crept toward the open cabinet door to peek up at Jordan’s expression. He didn’t look very happy as the conversation continued.

“You gave him a hormone shot? Why the hell would you do that when he’s living in a house full of lions?” Jordan roared, clearly trying to keep his voice lowered, but slipping a little.

“Yes, I understand that it can help a shifter grow if their animal is a little behind them, but his shift is years behind him and the side affects are causing serious problems.”

Jordan gave a heavy sigh while rubbing his forehead with his fingers for a moment as he listened to what the vet was saying.

“Yeah, I’ll bring him in. Just fix this before a mistake happens.”

When he hung up and turned to look down at Arron, his polished smile was back on display.

“It’s okay, Arron.”

As Jordan knelt in front of him, Arron hunched down near the dish soap, not quite sure if he should make a run for it again or just trust him.

“The vet said that he can fix what he did. He gave you that extra shot because it was new and he thought that it might speed up you kitten’s development, but he hadn’t really thought it through since you’re living with my pride right now. So, let’s take a quick trip to the vet, okay?”

Arron hesitated, crouching even lower with a look he often used on his mother to get what he wanted… and what he wanted was to stay hidden for a few days. Or weeks.

“Don’t give me that look, kiddo. I’ve raised four cubs. Believe me, I’m pretty immune to it by now.”

With a big grin he leaned over and offered his hand, wiggling his fingers in a come here gesture.

“After we take care of this little issue, how about we go get some ice cream from the shop next door? I’ll even call you out of school for today. Rylan can get your notes for you.”

Now that was a pretty tempting idea. He’d seen that ice cream shop running to the vets the other day, but he barely had enough money to get treats. Okay, he was sold.

With a quiet mew he carefully climbed out from under the sink and allowed Jared to scoop him up. He wasn’t sure why he felt safe in an alpha lion’s arms, but he just didn’t give off any kind of aggression. Even when he was yelling at his two sons, it wasn’t literal aggression, just disapproval and discipline.

“There we go.”

Pretty soon they were on their way to the vet. Jordan got another point in Arron’s book when he rolled down the window and let him stand up with his head outside. Arron had seen tons of dogs do it but his mother never let him. It actually was kind of fun with all of the scents and wind in his face, blowing his fur about.

The car pulled into the vet’s parking lot about fifteen minutes later and they both hopped out. He let Arron walk himself inside, which also got him an extra point. They were greeted by the vet right away. No doubt the man didn’t want to anger the head of the local lion pride over the situation he’d caused.

“Hello you two, let’s see what’s going on.” He said as he picked Arron up and carried him back to an exam room. Thankfully, Jordan came back with them and put a calming hand on his back as Arron sat on the cold metal table.

“I gave him a hormone shot, like I spoke with you about over the phone. It is often used to help accelerate stunted growth in shifters, so I thought it would cause no problems with him.”

As he spoke the man was digging around in the cabinets, taking down a few different things and setting them on the counter while he continued.

“The fact that it is now causing him to give off pheromones is quite interesting. Let’s see…”

The vet turned around and gave Arron another quick check-up, thankfully this time he kept his chewed up pen away from his mouth. When he finished, Arron shook out his coat and yawned.

“So, did that shot just mess up the way his body functions in terms of pheromones?” Jared asked.

The vet stared at Jordan for a moment before shaking his head and scooping Arron up off of the table. Wish he would ask first before picking me up. Arron really didn’t like getting picked up by people he didn’t know.

The doctor seemed to think something through quickly, then turned and set Arron back down.

“Sir, can you hold him for me please? This might hurt a little.”

Jordan hesitated as Arron’s hackles rose, but Arron didn’t swing a paw at him when he scruffed him with one hand and held his back legs with the other.

“Alright, just like that. I need to check something.”

When the vet began feeling around Arron’s abdomen he began to quietly growl. It hurt a little, but when he stopped an inch or so below his belly button and gave a sharp push, Arron seriously freaked out and startled Jordan so much that he let go with his back hand, giving Arron the chance to dig all of his claws into Jordan’s left arm.

Instead of getting mad, however, he turned toward the doctor and snarled.

“What the hell did you just do?”

The vet didn’t seem nearly as worried as Arron thought he should be, especially since he was a human staring at an angry lion shifter. Instead, he just sighed and turned to write some things down on his clipboard notes.

“I tested him for something that is extremely rare, but evidently, he has it.”

Jordan’s attitude relaxed slightly as Arron let his claws slip from his arm and settle back on the table to listen.

“Okay, so what does he have? Can we get some medicine or something for it?”

The vet actually chuckled under his breath, which had both Jordan and Arron growling with annoyance and anticipation. Realizing that he was about to get pounced, the man quickly straightened and cleared his throat.

“The medicine is fairly simple. He just needs to be bred, or at least have some alone time.”

What!

“What?” Jordan roared.

“He’s beginning to go into heat. It normally only affects female shifters that are seventeen or older, but that’s exactly what you’re experiencing judging from the pain in your abdomen and the pheromones you’re giving off. The other affects haven’t shown up yet but I’m sure that you’ll be feeling them shortly. Basically, they include hot flashes, dizziness, and lust. You’re going to get extremely, well, horny. Considering you seem to be attracting his sons rather strongly, you’re probably going to be looking at other males to sate yourself if you don’t simply use your hands.”

Arron really couldn’t even think about what the man was saying clearly. It wasn’t bad enough that he was a kitten as a shift, and had overactive instincts. Now he was going to be prowling around to get laid by boys?

Why me?

Chapter 10: Fixing the Problem?

“So just to get this straight… he can at least just uh, do stuff in the shower?” Jordan asked.

“He can try. It doesn’t always work that way, though. His body could sometimes refuse to accept that kind of situation. There isn’t a ton of information about this in males and since this seems new to him, it likely just started. If anything, just make sure that he has protection on him in case the heat gets bad when it’s not expected.”

Arron was a puddle of fluffy sadness on the table as they talked all about his soon to be sex life that he really didn’t want. Why couldn’t it always just work if he just did stuff by himself? He didn’t want to have to breed with some random person, even by mistake, and especially not a male.

With a tired sigh Jordan looked down at him, then back up to the vet.

“Alright. I’ll talk it over with him when we get home. Thanks, doctor.”

The vet nodded and offered a faint smile before walking them out.

“If there are any other issues, please give me a call.” He said.

“Alright.”

Arron didn’t resist being carried in Jordan’s arms out to the car that time, nor did he make a sound as they headed to the ice cream shop nearby. At first, he didn’t really want the sweet treat anymore, but when Jordan ordered him a chocolate dipped vanilla cone he couldn’t resist tackling it. People were staring and whispering about him being in his kitten form on the table, but they probably just assumed that he was a little kid and couldn’t control it yet.

Either way, his whole face was covered in ice cream by the time he’d eaten enough to start munching on the cone. Jordan was trying hard not to laugh while he held it upright for him. Arron thought he was doing it to keep the mess he was making to a minimum, but it definitely didn’t help.

“No wonder your mother said to be careful if I gave you ice cream.” Jordan said.

Arron’s cheetah sat up after a moment and pawed at its muzzle, then licked the foot a few times.

“Don’t even try to pretend like you’re going to clean up the mess you’ve made of yourself.”

Okay, I won’t.

By the time he had finished his entire cone he was an albino ice cream cheetah, but he knew that he made the look work.

“Okay, you are totally getting a rinse in the sink before going back into the car.” Jordan said.

He was going to protest but Jordan scruffed him too quickly, then carried him off to the bathroom without waiting for a single mew. Thankfully, it wasn’t a full bath, though Arron would definitely need to take one when they got back home. After a quick rinse he was held, squirming, under the hand dryer for a few minutes until he was a complete puff ball of fur.

“You poof up so nicely.” Jordan teased.

Yeah yeah, laugh at the poor kitten who just had to be traumatized by a hand dryer.

Well, after a quick glance into the mirror, he did actually look pretty funny.

“Alright, time to head home. I’ll get the shower going for you while you get yourself shifted back. The boys should all be at school by now, so you won’t have to worry about them.”

As they headed back outside, Arron carefully climbed up Jordan’s chest a little to nuzzle at his mane of hair. He started to purr a little, which he hoped Jordan didn’t mind. After everything that had happened, he was actually feeling pretty happy. Sure, he might be even more of a freak right than before, but he had a person who honestly cared about him right by his side, and who reminded him of his own father.

The ride home was comfortable as Arron rested in Jordan’s lap, one of the man’s hands scratching behind his ears the whole way.

When they parked, Arron jumped out and padded up to the door, stopping to take a quick pee on the lawn. Jordan rose his brow at him, but just shrugged. With a quiet mew Arron ran inside and stumbled upstairs after Jordan, managing to get in front of him. Jordan walked into the bathroom as Arron focused on changing back into his human form. By the time he was standing on two legs, the shower was ready and Jordan was walking over to him.

“I’ll be working from home most of this week to make sure that everything is okay. If your heat gets worse, tell me and we’ll try to work it out, okay?”

Arron blushed but gave him a nod. He wanted to hug him but his instincts wanted the opposite, so he just smiled and stepped into the shower to scrub off all the ice cream he had acquired.

The rest of the day went pretty well. Arron spoke with Jordan for awhile, but since he wasn’t feeling any real side effects from the heat, he decided to just take advantage of being the only kid home and go outside to swing. When he stepped into the huge, fenced backyard he couldn’t keep his jaw from dropping.

“Holy…”

“Don’t you dare say shit, kid. Your mom’ll kill me.” Jordan said from behind him.

“Like you just did?”

Jordan pursed his lips and glanced away. “You heard nothing.”

Even though Arron had just gotten out of the shower a bit ago, he was feeling that maybe some running around would be more in order than just sitting. So, with an excited mew he ran over and tagged Jordan where he was sitting, then shifted and bolted out of his pile of clean clothes.

“You did not just challenge a lion to a game of tag.”

Before Arron knew it there was a giant lion tromping after his tiny butt. Normally, he would be terrified, but they were totally having a ball running around the big backyard. Even more so because Arron could fit on the playground while Jordan had to run around the bottom and try to catch him when he ran across the plastic bridge or went down the slide.

Come three o’ clock they were both panting heavily in the cool grass. Arron was flopped over Jordan’s left arm as his lion lazed on the lawn.

The doors to the house opened up a bit later and they both looked up as Tarren and Rylan walked out. They paused almost immediately seemingly unsure of the situation they had found themselves in.

The second both brothers zeroed in on Arron their attention seemed stuck on him. He could sense their lions right beneath their skin and quickly backed up to hide in Jordan’s large mane. As Arron was moving Jordan gave a warning roar, snapping both boys back to themselves in an instant. There were several moments of silence after that, letting Arron know that they were likely talking among themselves telepathically.

When Jordan got up, Arron nearly freaked out. Both boys were in their lion forms seconds afterward and rushing over… and Arron definitely might have peed a little.

With a screech that would befit any terrified kitten, he bolted up the slide and… slid right back down.

Tarren was the first to meet him at the bottom, but while Arron expected him to jump on him right away, he actually started nudging him around with his big paw.

Eh?

Rylan was there a moment later and swatted at him too, but he wasn’t that good at holding back his strength and sent Arron toppling off the slide and into the thick grass with a thud. He got himself back up after a minute and shook off before running around with the two lions for awhile. Now that they weren’t trying to breed or attack him, they were actually kind of fun.

Everyone was pretty worn out by dinner time, and judging from all the grumbling stomachs, everyone was ready to eat a ridiculous amount of food.

Jordan was the first one to shift back. Even being naked he held himself in high regard and was every bit as regal as his lion was as he turned to address them before heading inside.

“How does Chinese sound, boys?”

Two excited roars and Arron’s quiet mew told him it sounded like a perfect idea.

All three of them ran up to the deck and began shifting back to their human forms right away. All the stress from earlier had been exercised away and he was feeling pretty darn good. The warm, soft skin against his cheek also felt pretty great.

And that was when he realized that he was nuzzling his face against Rylan’s naked thigh.

Chapter 11: Spots and Tusks

With very, very cautious movements, Arron crawled backward on his hands and knees.

Crap.

Rylan was following his every move, his eyes burning gold with hunger. Arron didn’t need to look at the lower half of his body to know that he was reacting… and it was completely his fault!

“Rylan?”

Hearing his name only seemed to spur him on. He took a step forward as Arron backed up down into the grass. After another few feet of mirroring him Rylan hopped down, his feet making a light compressing sound as they landed in the grass. Arron thought that if he could just get to the fence he might be able to scurry over it before Rylan made a move to grab him, but as soon as Arron felt the back of his right heel tap against the wood Rylan was there, trying to get behind.

Horny lion alert!

“Rylan, snap out of it!” Arron yelled, trying to keep his back pressed firmly against the privacy fence.

There was a loud snarl in response, then an abrupt shove as Arron face planted into the thick grass. Arron could feel him trying to move overtop him within seconds. No thanks, you crazy cat. Arron’s elbow came back blindly and managed to land a hit between Rylan’s ribs, but he barely flinched.

“Rylan!”

Arron heard something heavy running toward them, then arms were wrapping around Rylan, trying to pull him off. Thankfully, Jordan was able to move him after a few moments, but that didn’t stop Arron from darting over the fence, through the neighbor’s yard, and out onto the sidewalk.

His feet took him down the street at a run, not really worrying about passerby’s since young shifters commonly made mistakes and tore off their clothing in public. He only slowed to a stop when a car pulled over about half a block ahead of him and Erin stepped out from the driver’s side. His face showed confusion and worry but he didn’t hesitate to open his arms in a welcoming gesture that Arron desperately needed right then.

Arron slammed into his strong body, leaving him dizzy for several moments as the air got knocked out of him. When he came too, he was nuzzling Erin’s car seat as he lay in the back.

“Hey, are you okay? What happened, Arron?”

He sounded concerned as he looked back in the rear-view mirror at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to answer him with anything but a loud grumbling purr as Arron rolled his body over. His seats smelled so good.

“Arron!”

Blinking a few times, Arron moved onto his side, then glanced up at Erin again, who was now staring over the middle consul at him. Wait… when had he parked the car again? When Erin noticed that he had his attention he sighed and reached over. Arron flinched slightly, remembering Rylan’s attack, but Erin was much more gentle as he felt his forehead.

“You’re burning up, kid. What’s wrong? You’re acting strange, too.”

Arron’s cheetah pushed through his control just a little to mew in response.

Erin blushed a little, his ears turning a little red. Arron wasn’t too interested in the colors coming to the guy’s face, though. He was, however, much more interested in the hint of interest he saw in Erin’s eyes. His cheetah easily took over control of his human side again and rolled him onto his back, then had him wiggling around to rub his scent all over Erin’s seat.

“Arron?”

He heard Erin swallow and move a little, but when he opened his eyes to look at him again and mewed once more, Erin gave a deep rumble and jumped in the back. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion but Arron knew that Erin had his clothing off in seconds, his shirt shredded and his pant’s button broken off. His pants and boxers were stuck by his ankles, being stopped from coming off by his shoes as instinct pushed them to do the one thing he’d been warned to get protection for in case of, a now current, emergency.

It was definitely not the most comfortable thing in the world. He remembered hearing other guys at school talking about using lube with their girlfriends to make it less painful, and boy could he have used some of that stuff. His instincts pulled him to actively participate, but Arron felt like Erin was doing more than enough of that for the both of them. The guy seemed nearly crazed, but thankfully was not being too aggressive with his continuous actions.

A single quiet whimpering sigh left Arron’s lips before they were covered by Erin’s. It was nice to finally have a kiss while unintentionally procreating. It felt like it actually meant something, instead of his pheromones or hormones just messing with them both. At least he could feel his cheetah’s heat slowly becoming sated. While he hadn’t intended to do such a thing at all, and definitely not with Erin, Arron was at least glad that he didn’t act anything like Rylan. He hadn’t use his size to intimidate or threaten him. In fact, even with the throbbing pain between his legs Arron still felt completely safe in his strong arms.

So tired.

Erin had slipped free of him a short while ago, allowing them both to catch their breath and slowly process what they’d just done.

“I… have no idea why I did that to you. What the hell just happened?” He asked, looking at Arron with a confused, stunned expression.

“I’m sorry. I really don’t know what’s going on but the doctor I’m seeing said that I might somehow attract males sometimes now… I didn’t think that it was actually so strong.” Arron said, his voice rasping with stress as tears began to sting at the edges of his eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you do that.”

Erin only seemed upset for a few moments before he sighed and reached over, tugging Arron into his lap to hug him tightly.

“That really wasn’t an activity I’d planned on doing today, but I’m not angry. Let’s just cool off a bit, then we’ll figure this out, okay?” He asked with a small smile.

Arron sniffled and nodded. Erin was right. They just needed to calm down and think clearly… which he could finally do since his heat seemed to have gone away after their bit of fun .

“Okay. We’ll figure things out soon.” He mumbled as he got a little more comfortable in Erin’s arms and let his eyes drift closed, intent on resting for just a short time.

Chapter 12: Problematic Paws

There wasn’t really anything he could think to say to consul Erin about the mistake they’d just made. It was mostly his own fault, or at least his new vet’s for making his pheromones go crazy. Thankfully, they were both males and there shouldn’t be anything consequential resulting from it.

Erin carefully set him aside on the car seat and grabbed his stuff to get dressed. Arron quickly scooted toward the door, not wanting to overstay his awkward welcome. His backside hurt really badly, too. Right as his hand grasped the handle, though, he felt Erin at his back and his own hand firmly halting his.

Arron glanced over his shoulder with furrowed brows, silently questioning what he was doing.

“You just ran away from wherever you’re about to go back to. You’re going to come home with me tonight and rest. I’ll take you to school tomorrow, then bring you back home afterward.”

Arron’s heart thumped hard with the thought of having a whole night free from lions. Sure, Jordan was sweet, but his sons were just too much. Besides, Erin was completely back to normal, and so was he, so maybe they could actually become friends, with no more odd benefits.

Erin seemed to be reading his mind when he reached over with his free hand and quickly mussed up Arron’s hair with the other.

“Hey!”

His body shifted after a few seconds and Arron jumped at him with an excited growl. Of course, he was easily caught and frustratingly snuggled to a still-naked chest.

“I can’t believe how cute you still are. Even without your extra pheromones, I want to just eat you.”

Erin kissed his little cheetah form all over his fuzzy face, then tickled his belly till he was kicking and clawing at him. No matter how hard he struggled, Arron just couldn’t get the thick-skinned kid to let him go. After a few more kisses he was tossed into the front seat, then Erin jumped over the middle consul, having already put on pants, and plopped down into the driver’s seat.

“Come here, kiddo.”

Arron didn’t really have a choice since he was promptly lifted and set down in his lap.

At least he has his pants back on now.

They were at his house pretty quickly, which had him thinking that he was possibly going to take him there before they had gotten distracted .

When he parked, Arron tried to climb out of the opening door but was scooped up again before his paws could even leave Erin’s lap, then carried inside. Compared to the Leo’s home, Erin’s place was small, but it was still bigger than the one Arron and his mother shared. It also felt lived in, with clothing strewn about and the TV playing cartoons.

He was gently set down on the floor right before a kid jumped off the sofa and ran over. He figured that the boy would have at least a little bit of manners and know that he wasn’t something to mess around with, but that wasn’t the case. The kid grabbed Arron by one paw and started swinging him around like a stuffed animal.

“Rory! Stop messing with him. If he throws up you’re going to be the one cleaning it!” Erin yelled from a few feet away.

Speaking of throwing up.

The kid promptly dropped him as he threw up the ice cream he had eaten earlier. It never tasted good the second time. He was back up in Erin’s arms a moment later as he glared at his little brother. Said brother squeaked and quickly ran into the kitchen, returning a minute later with paper towels and some soap.

Wow, I doubt Rylan, Jamie or Jared would help clean up that kind of mess without any complaints.

Arron’s fuzzy backside swung from side to side as Erin held him from one arm and helped his little brother finish cleaning up with his free hand. When that was done he set Arron down again, this time on the sofa atop a comforter that Rory had undoubtedly dragged in from his room. It had Toy Story images on it but they were pretty worn, showing just how much the boy probably liked to tug around the big blanket.

Since Erin seemed busy in the kitchen soon after that, Arron decided to curl up and watch television so that his stomach could settle. Unfortunately, Rory was right there, staring at him as he knelt down with the most ridiculously big smile on his face.

Those big ears and grin are unjustly cute.

With a quiet mew Arron reached out and bopped him on the head with his little paw, making the kid jump back in surprise. His clothes went flying a second later, right as Erin shouted for him not to dare shift from the entryway of the kitchen.

There was now a small , one hundred-something pound elephant calf swinging its head back and forth in front of him, trying to get Arron to play with him. He glanced over at Erin as he watched them. He looked annoyed, but not really upset. Guess his brother would be hard to manage if he always shifted when he wanted attention.

“Rory, my friend hurt his leg so leave him be. He isn’t going to play with you right now.”

The little elephant pouted as it nudged at Arron’s little paw with its trunk. Sorry, not gonna happen. His leg might not have gotten hurt, but his butt was telling him no running around. Thankfully, the kid understood after a moment and transformed back. What he still didn’t get, though, was that Arron didn’t want to be moved in general.

With his grin still in place, Rory climbed back up onto the sofa and dragged Arron into his lap. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but at least his backside wasn’t hurting too badly, so he accept the weird seat.

While he and Rory watched TV, Erin got busy cooking dinner. Arron figured his parents worked late because there were plenty of photos of them, but neither were home right then. That also meant that Erin was likely responsible for watching his little brother.

“Alright boys, dinner’s ready. To the table!” He called from the kitchen before appearing with three plates balanced on his arms.

Rory tossed Arron over his shoulder as he hopped up from the sofa and carried him straight to the table.

“Rory, you know the rules. No clothes, no food.”

As the boy set Arron down, he pouted, but Erin didn’t budge on his decision.

“Clothes. Now, or I’ll just have to eat all of your pasta by myself.”

That had the kid gasping and running back to the living room to pull on his shorts and T-shirt. He returned in mere seconds and was promptly inspecting his plate to make sure that no macaroni was missing from the giant mound that had been scooped onto it. It seemed to pass inspection, because the little boy quickly sat down and dug in, nearly getting food all over his face and short gray hair.

“Breathe, Rory. You don’t want choke again.”

The boy grunted but only slowed a slight amount. Arron was so busy watching the kid in fear that he might actually choke, that he didn’t notice Erin moving until he was lifted up and placed on the table.

Mom never lets me sit on the table, even when I’m stuck in this form.

“It’s okay. With my little brother, there’s been plenty of stuff on this table worse then your fuzzy butt.”

Arron’s cheetah sniffed and pouted.

“Oh don’t even try to argue that. You have the fuzziest butt I’ve ever seen.”

Nothing like making me feel like a man about my kitten issues.

“Oh stop pouting, cutie. Here, I’ll feed you.”

I don’t need to

be

fed. He thought right as a small spoon was shoved into his mouth before he could even think to protest audibly. Erin was also really lucky that he loved macaroni and cheese.

When Arron had finished up the macaroni, Erin cut up a piece of asparagus and tried offering some to him.

I think not.

Arron smacked the utensil away and puffed up his chest as the poor veggie fell onto the table.

“Really Arron? Really?”

He grabbed a full piece and poked the edge of Arron’s lips with it, but he had no intention of biting it.

“Come on, eat your veggies or no dessert.”

That’s totally okay. I just threw up my dessert on your floor. I’m good with not having anymore today.

Erin noticed that his little try at a threat wasn’t going to work and laughed.

“Alright, fine.”

He finished up what was left of Arron’s food, then his own before getting up to set the dishes in the sink. When he returned, he picked Arron back up and carried him toward the stairs.

“Rory, I want you in bed by the time mom and dad get home.”

The little boy had a big piece of asparagus hanging out of his mouth as he mumbled something unintelligible.

Arron wasn’t exactly sure what he meant to say, but found himself not fretting much. It seemed like the boy knew his brother was in charge, and besides, a nice bed was in his own future and boy did he feel like he could sleep for days.

Taking his attention from his sleepiness for a moment, Arron glanced around. The house was nicely built and had a beautiful layout. The carpets upstairs were a dark green, which would normally be odd, but it seemed to work with the soft brown walls and light blue ceiling. Kind of made the whole place look like a jungle.

He expected them to go straight to Erin’s room for some sleep, but when he bypassed all the doors until the last one, he got a sinking feeling in his belly. And of course, the door was pushed open and it was the dreaded bathroom.

Giving his best pathetic kitten growl, Arron struggled until he slipped from Erin’s grasp, then ran toward the door. Of course, it was slammed shut right before he could get out.

“Arron, you know what we did, right?”

Arron puffed up his fur with annoyance and embarrassment at being reminded.

“Uh huh. And I smell like you, and you smell like me. On top of that, we both smell like sex.”

For once, he was glad that he was in his kitten form because he couldn’t be seen blushing.

“Exactly. Now come here. I’ll try to make it quick.”

Quick… you were pretty quick when we did it.

“I know what you’re thinking and now you’re gonna get scrubbed from head to toe you brat.”

Oh crap.

Before he could run away, Arron was scruffed and put into the tub as Erin stepped in. Darn elephant got naked fast.

“Alright, scrubbing time!”

Arron tried to block out the entire bath, ending up scowling and sopping wet on a towel after the terror had ended.

“You look so cute with that adorable mow-hawk and pouting face!”

He styled my mane up into a mow-hawk… then decided to cut my hair so now my human form is going to have a partial one. This elephant is going to feel my wrath one day!

He was just now letting him out of his vice-like towel wrapping, allowing him to finally start lapping at his wet fur. While Arron was busy cleaning up his messy fur, Erin got himself dressed in pajamas and disappeared for just long enough to allow Arron to finish cleaning up his coat. He was then promptly picked up and carried to bed. The snuggling that came after drew a tired sigh from his little cheetah.

Oh well, I guess it isn’t so bad being here. Besides, there are no lions around. The bed is also nice and warm, and Erin is somewhat comfy to sleep against.

He might be able to get used to his current situation.

The next morning he awoke to a very annoying alarm clock that sounded like someone was trying to sing, but failing horribly, also known as country music. After a slight stretch, Arron realized that his fuzzy legs felt a bit longer than normal.

Wait a second.

Arron shot out from under the blankets, his abrupt movement waking the guy sleeping next to him. Erin grumbled and sat up, rubbing at one eye as the other watched him with sleepy confusion.

“Arron, why do you look like you’ve grown a little?” Erin mumbled.

Sure, he wanted to grow, but gaining an inch or so overnight, and while shifted? As he checked himself over in the mirror right across from the bed, he noticed that his whole body had gotten a little bigger. When he tried to change back to his human form though, he realized that he was still stuck.

“Do I need to call the vet?” Erin asked.

He really wasn’t a fan of the guy, but he wanted to get back to his human form so that he could go to school. Giving a nod, Erin sat down at the edge of his bed and waited.

A heavy knock on the front door drew both their attention away from Arron’s predicament.

“Who the heck would be here at six in the morning?”

Arron quickly hopped off the bed and ran downstairs with Erin right on his tail. When the door was finally pulled open, Arron wished that he hadn’t come down at all.

“Erin.”

Rylan growled the word with blazing eyes locked on the elephant shifter. Arron was surprised when the boy stepped back and actually looked worried… until he saw Tarren standing back by the sidewalk and Jordan watching from the car.

Uh oh.

Arron could hear Rory shuffling sleepily down the hallway toward them and decided that it wasn’t worth a fight, or more-so, wasn’t worth risking the little boy. Lions were normally fine, but when they were all angry they tended to gang up on the smallest, easiest thing first if pushed… and elephant calves would be an instant trigger if Erin tried to go against what they wanted.

After a quick glance up, Arron nodded and turned, running outside into the crisp, cool morning air. Rylan was hot on his heels in his lion form, his previously worn clothing shredded on Erin’s doorstep from the abrupt shift. Tarren swung the door to the car open, allowing him to quickly jump in. Before he could even get situated, he was pinned to the seat by one of Rylan’s heavy paws.

I’m not giving off anymore pheromones as far as I know, so why are you being so pissy?

“Arron.”

He glanced up slightly from where he was being forced to lay, mewing after a moment of silence to acknowledge that he was listening. They were already driving, though he honestly hoped that it was too school. He’d go as a cheetah just to get out of whatever situation he had just walked into.

“Your mother called last night.” Jordan said calmly, though it was clear by his tone of voice that he wasn’t happy.

Oh shit.

“Do you want to know what I had to tell her?” He asked.

No, honestly. I really don’t!

“I told her that you were giving off pheromones that were having an affect on my sons, and that you jumped the fence and disappeared when one of them tried to follow his instincts.”

You couldn’t have just lied?

“Now, considering that you were with Erin and no longer are giving off much of anything in terms of pheromones from what I can tell, I’m going to assume that you bred with him.”

The deep roar from Rylan and bared teeth told Arron to just keep his fuzzy mouth shut on that question. Not that he could actually answer that, anyways.

“Either way, we’re going to the vet to get you a disruption pill. Then you will be coming back home to sleep. Rylan will stay with you since I need to go into my office for awhile.”

Arron guessed that he could stay home with him if he was just going to be sleeping. Wait a second. The heck do I need a disruption pill for? He did mew at that, wanting more clarification. That was a very specific pill that he should never need.

“Yes, you need that pill. Your mother told me that she wasn’t truly your mother. Your father was. He was a rare type of shifter that could reproduce just like a female. While his pheromones definitely attracted your mother, they also attracted a lot of males. One of these ended up catching him off guard one day and well… he didn’t want to take a disruption pill.”

What?

Chapter 13: Fur and Skin

(My rescue dog is finally heartworm free. You can tell that she’s happy about it.) 

Arron’s mind was still not wanting to register what they were telling it. His mother was his mother and his father was his father. That’s how it worked. Of course, he knew that there were some shifters who could reproduce with members of the same sex, but that was ridiculously rare and wouldn’t happen to him. His family was normal besides his stunted growth.

When they got to the vet, Arron was still out of it and didn’t bother swatting at Rylan for carrying him into the office with his lion’s teeth. The vet was just signing out his last patient when he noticed them.

“I have a feeling something went wrong?” He asked.

Jordan wrote Arron’s name down on the sign in sheet, then nodded as he faced the vet.

“We need a disruption pill.”

The vet’s eyes widened as his pen paused on the chart he’d just gotten out.

“A disruption pill? Why would he need such a thing?”

Jordan cut straight to the chase, but thankfully they were the only ones left in the office besides the vet.

“He had sex with a guy and stopped producing pheromones. We called his mother asking if this has happened before, and she said no, but that his father was a rare cross-shifter.”

That seemed to get the man’s attention. He quickly jotted down several quick notes before turning and motioning for them to follow him to an examination room. Jordan took Arron from Rylan once inside after a slight growling match, which Rylan obviously lost. He then set Arron down on the cold examination table.

“Alright, I got it.” The vet said after digging through some packages in one of the drawers next to the sink in the small room.

He took the small pill out of its wrapping and pressed it against Arron’s lips.

“Open up. Just a quick pill, then we’re done.”

While Arron didn’t mind pills and took whatever his mother told him to, the current situation just didn’t feel right. His instincts were on overdrive telling him to keep his mouth shut, even though he definitely didn’t want, nor could he afford, a kid right then.

“Arron, come on. It won’t hurt or anything. It’ll just stop anything that might be happening that wasn’t supposed to.”

When the vet pulled his hand away, Arron hissed. His animal side didn’t want anything to do with the pill.

“Jordan, can you hold him please?” The vet said as he turned around and did something with his hands and the pill. When he turned back around, Arron was already in Jordan’s arms with his scruff held tightly. Aw, man, is that peanut butter? That stuff was a pain to spit out. He remembered his mother having always put his pills in that stuff when he was young because he tended to spit them out without knowing that they were helpful.

“Alright, let’s get this finished.” The vet said as he grabbed a tongue depressor and gently forced Arron’s mouth open. His cheetah bit the thin piece of wood repeatedly, but it wouldn’t break.

The man was quick with the coated pill and had it stuck in the back of Arron’s mouth with the peanut butter before he could react any further. His cheetah immediately opened its mouth wide and shook its head, trying to dislodge the glob of food.

It felt like it was finally coming loose when a sudden deafening roar forced his cheetah to pause abruptly, startled by the loud noise. It didn’t get a chance to even turn and look at Rylan, who had caused it, because the boy’s hands were already clamping down on his mouth. He didn’t hold back any force, either. Arron couldn’t stop himself from accidentally biting his own tongue.

“Rylan, enough!”

Arron could tell that Jordan was about to shift, but when the door slammed open and Erin stormed in, grabbing Rylan’s now naked self by the neck and tossing him clear out of the room, everyone seemed to freeze. Jordan’s mane was nearly full, even in his human form, and several whiskers had already sprouted on his cheeks and nose. He had to take several deep breaths before the features disappeared and he was able to calmly address everyone.

“Rylan. That was inappropriate and you are grounded for the rest of the week.”

“But dad, the game is tomorrow!” His son protested.

“Guess you’ll be missing it. Better call the coach and tell him that your behavior will be the reason one of their best offensive players will be at home doing homework and chores instead of playing that night.”

Rylan growled but didn’t argue, knowing better than to make a fool of himself even further, and especially in front of the sudden elephant in the room.

Jordan turned toward Erin, who had also partially changed. There were deep, gray wrinkles around his eyes and small tusks formed on either side of his nose. Thankfully, he had better control over his beast than most teens, or the office would likely have been damaged much worse than just the dented wall where Rylan’s body had hit.

“Why are you here?” Jordan asked.

Erin straightened his shoulders, standing face to face without much fear of the head of the local lion pride. He may be young, but even teen elephants were a tough match for adult lions. Either way, Jordan didn’t seem interested in a fight. He probably didn’t like that his son was thrown, but it was probably a suitable punishment for hurting their house-guest.

“I heard a roar and could smell Arron.” Erin said calmly.

“I see. Well, he is fine.” Jordan replied.

Erin didn’t seem to quite think so as he walked into the examination room and reached over to check. Arron didn’t hesitate to jump into his arms and mew, since the peanut butter had been unintentionally swallowed.

“Give him here, I’m going to take him home.” Jordan said.

Erin turned toward the vet instead of the lion shifter, ignoring Jordan for the moment.

“What did you do to him?”

The older man had just finished writing something down on his chart when he replied.

“We gave him a pill he didn’t want to take, that was all.”

“A pill?” Erin asked, confused.

“Yeah, bastard. He had sex with you so we had to shove a disruption pill down his throat. The little shit threw a fit.”

“Rylan!” His father yelled, immediately making the kid shift and bolt down the hall.

Erin frowned and turned back to the vet.

“So you guys are trying to tell me that he actually got…?”

“We aren’t sure, but due to circumstances in his family history, we thought it was for the best.” Jordan replied.

Erin sighed and snuggled the cheetah in his arms, then pressed a kiss to his fuzzy forehead.

“It’s okay. I’m not too sure a chelephant would have worked out.”

Hybrids weren’t unheard of, especially between similar animals shifters, but most were only attracted to those of the same species. His body must have just not gotten that memo. With a quiet grumble Arron nuzzled Erin’s cheek and gave it a small lick before he was handed over to Jordan.

“Next time he needs to take a pill, make sure your son doesn’t hurt him or I’ll have to beat him up at school and ruin his reputation.”

Arron felt his jaw drop at the threat, thinking that Jordan was going to go after Erin for it, but the older lion shifter just smirked, then laughed.

Huh?

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Although, he could use a good beating.”

“Well, if he comes home with a few bruises, you know who to thank, then.”

With a nod, Jordan said goodbye to both Erin and the vet, then carried Arron outside for a very quiet ride home. Rylan had evidently run home, no doubt upset about the situation that had occurred, even though he’d deserved to be yelled at.

As the car pulled up to the house, Arron quickly hopped out the moment he could and stretched his legs for a moment before being scooped up again.

“Rylan!” Jordan shouted into the house as he opened the front door.

An annoyed Rlyan stomped around the corner as they walked inside, tugging on a T-shirt.

“You’re still watching him tonight, and if I hear that you’ve done anything to him when we get home…”

“Yeah yeah, I get it. Don’t touch the midget.” Rylan all but hissed.

Jordan growled a warning but Rylan just went into the kitchen around the corner. Arron could hear him digging around in the fridge seconds later and sighed.

Well, as long as he leaves me alone I can manage. Worse comes to worse, there’s always the spot beside the washing machine for the night.

“Call me if anything happens.” Jordan said to Arron.

That is assuming that I can change back or dial a phone with my paws.

Arron gave him a curt nod instead of trying to argue in gibberish, before he was set down.

“Rylan, make him some dinner.”

There was a quiet growl in response from the kitchen.

“Alright, see you later, Arron.”

The front door closed moments later, leaving him and Rylan alone in the house together. He honestly just wanted to run and hide right then. Save himself some fear and possible injuries that were sure to come at some point.

“Hey Spots!”

And so it begins.

Arron gave him a quiet mew in response but only crept a few steps toward the entrance to the kitchen, getting just close enough to peek inside.

“Do you like peas?” He asked with a glance over his shoulder, making Arron’s left ear perk up a tiny bit.

He quickly shook his head, earning a smirk from the lion shifter.

Wait, why is his shirt off again?

Not that he really minded, though he did prefer fully clothed lions, even with the automatic six pack they seemed to sport as teens and adults.

“What? Don’t like veggies?”

The smirk on his lips made Arron want to lie, but for some reason he pinned his ears to the side and shook his head again.

“Good, you’ll be eating plenty tonight, then.”

I hate you.

“TV’s already on, go sit on the couch till I call you.”

Yes sir, oh great master fluff butt.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

Good!

With a grin, Arron sauntered over to the sofa and hopped up. Law and Order was on, and it was a pretty gruesome scene. Just what I wanted to see before dinner.

He settled in and was contently watching the most scary part of the show where they were sneaking up on the bad guys with their guns drawn, but were possibly in an ambush situation, when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

It was pretty embarrassing how loud his cheetah managed to yowl from surprise. He also didn’t think that he could jump so high. When he dropped back down, it was right into a pair of strong arms, attached to a maniacally laughing lion shifter.

You suck.

“That was awesome, Spots!”

If he wouldn’t be pummeled for it, Arron would totally pee on him for revenge.

“Dinner’s ready, time to eat.” Rylan said between chuckles.

Arron was promptly carried to the dining area and plopped down onto the table in front of a huge dish of peas.

Disgusting.

“That face is priceless.”

His ears pinned back and he hissed up at Rylan, knowing that he couldn’t hurt him without getting into more trouble.

“What a scary little pussy. Gonna bite me with those tiny toothpicks?”

Arron opened his mouth to hiss again, but when he did, a pea was tossed inside.

“Oh come on, they aren’t that bad.” Rylan said, his grin still in place.

Says you!

Arron quickly spat the thing out. Though it didn’t taste quite like a regular pea, he wasn’t going to chew it and completely test that thought.

“How about this. If you eat half of that plate, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night?”

His eyes narrowed at the suggestion. Was it worth it? Sure, he didn’t like Rylan, but would he even keep such a deal? Heck, he’d probably just laugh and toss him in the toilet when he finished eating. With that in mind, Arron grumbled and shook his fuzzy head.

“Alright, fine. Here…”

Rylan reached over to a plate of steak that quickly got Arron’s attention. He speared a piece with his fork and nudged it against Arron’s mouth.

I can just have it? No traps, peas, or toilets?

With the utmost hesitation, Arron opened his mouth and took the small piece of meat between his little teeth, making sure to watch Rylan for any type of hostility as he did so.

This is strange.

“Here, have some more.” Rylan said with a smile that made Arron shiver.

This has to be a trap of some sort.

He backed up a few steps to the edge of the table, looking at Rylan suspiciously. He took a few bites of the steak Arron had just been eating, then a long drink of water.

“Sure you don’t want anymore? I’ll eat the rest if not.”

Uh, well, I am really hungry and if he’s eating it…

With a quiet mew he scooted closer and pounced on the fork after it stuck another piece of meat. His tail flicked back and forth quickly as he devoured the small morsel, then grabbed another from the plate.

“Hey now, you eat off a fork. Here, Spots. Open your mouth.”

Arron pouted, but opened his mouth so that Rylan could feed him another piece of steak. Once he finished that, he opened his mouth again, silently asking for more. Sure, it kind of sucked to be fed like a baby, but it was really good food and he was hungry, so that was that. He was on his sixth piece of steak when he realized something. The fork had paused in his mouth, and when he blinked open his eyes after having closed them for a second, he was looking slightly down at Rylan.

Why does he look so hungry all of a sudden?

Before he realized what was happening, the remaining food was on the floor and he was pinned beneath a very heavy Rylan. His head was just at the edge of the table where he was lying on his back. Arron knew that it was a dominance display and him possibly shifting on the table, and thus being higher than him, had possibly triggered his lion.

Teenage shifters. Fun.

Biting his tongue, Arron just decided to lay still until Rylan calmed down. Only, it didn’t seem like the guy was relaxing at all. In fact, his teeth were getting way too close to Arron’s neck for comfort.

“Rylan, calm down. I submit.”

There was no way he could risk fighting him. He knew where cheetahs stood against lions, and his was a pipsqueak.

Rylan seemed to slowly come back to himself after a few tense minutes and got off of him, and the table. Arron didn’t even think about sitting up, but instead rolled to the side to drop to the floor, easily landing in a crouch.

He remained there, waiting, until he heard the scraping of a fork against a plate and sighed. Rylan glanced at him when he finally decided to stand, but Rylan’s aggression was gone. Instead of a growl, he mumbled out a few words before returning to his meal.

“That weird mow-hawk looks terrible and I mashed peas up in the steak sauce just to mess with you.”

Chapter 14: Cake and Frosting

“That’s disgusting!” Arron growled.

He couldn’t believe that Rylan had seriously ground up peas into the sauce he’d made. No wonder it had a funny after taste. Arron had just too hungry to question it at the time, but now that he knew, he was quite unhappy.

The look on Rylan’s face, while obviously trying to remain perfectly serious and still slightly annoyed, was totally showing just how much he’d loved his stupid little prank.

With a disgusted grumble, Arron headed for the kitchen after tugging on a pair of shorts that had been folded on top of a small stack of clean laundry in a basket by the laundry room. He yanked open the fridge, intent on finding something to get the nasty aftertaste out of his mouth, but what he saw there was honestly surprising.

“A birthday cake?” He said to himself as he stared at it.

His birthday was in two days, but everyone had been so busy and he honestly hadn’t thought that they even liked him enough to consider celebrating. The writing on top of the dessert proved him wrong, though.

Happy birthday, Arron. Welcome to the Leo family.

His heart skipped a beat as he read those words over and over again. He was so focused on the dark chocolate fudge cake that he hadn’t even noticed Rylan leaning over his shoulder until he opened his mouth to lick his lips.

“That’s a good idea, Spots.”

Arron turned his head slightly, his nose brushing against Rylan’s for a brief second before whispering.

“Huh?”

Rylan decided not to answer him with words and instead leaned forward into the fridge, pushing against Arron’s back enough to make him lean over. Even with the chill from the refrigerator, he could feel his face heating up.

“Wait, what are you doing? That’s for my birthday.” He said, confused as to why Rylan was taking it.

He evidently didn’t hear him, or more than likely, didn’t care, because he was already walking over to the counter and setting it down so that he could get the plastic lid off. Arron quickly ran over, trying to press the large plastic top back on to keep him from eating it.

“Oh chill, Spots. I’m just gonna have one piece. There will be plenty left for your birthday.”

Arron nudged himself between Rylan and the counter before wrapping his arms around the big cake. He half expected Rylan to tease him by pressing him against the counter or something perverted like that, but when his fingers tickled beneath his armpits Arron yelped, trying to get away as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he moved so quickly and abruptly that he accidentally took the cake with him. The lid came off and dropped to the floor right away, but the cake, and their faces, weren’t as lucky.

It got Arron first, splattering frosting and chocolate fudge all over his face and hair. The cake was big enough, though, to easily get Rylan, too. He was evidently about to duck, but just wasn’t fast enough as Arron heard him growl from the impact and saw him swipe at his face, then shake his head like an annoyed cat.

At first, Arron supposed that it was a bit funny, but when he turned and looked down at the mess of his birthday cake on the floor, he couldn’t help but sniffle once.

Rylan was still trying to get the smeared icing off of his face when he heard him.

“Spots?”

Arron pursed his lips and took a deep breath, then looked up. He didn’t want to make him mad by ignoring him, but he was pretty upset. That cake had looked delicious, and it had meant so much to him. He’d wanted to enjoy it with his temporary family, but now it would have to be cleaned up and he would probably have to apologize for causing another problem for Jordan.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, it’s just a cake. I’ll get you another one, Spots.” Rylan said as he reached forward and wrapped his arms around Arron. It was a little awkward, but the gesture was appreciated.

He closed his eyes and sighed out his stress from the situation, and was just about to open them again when he felt a wet tongue run along his cheek.

“Gross!”

Giving an annoyed growl, he shoved Rylan back, but when he smirked and licked his lips, Arron knew that he was in trouble.

“You taste good, Spots.”

Before he could even think about talking Rylan out of what he was about to do, Arron was pounced at. Thankfully, his cheetah had a very overactive instincts button and overreacted to almost everything. The second Rylan lunged, Arron was bolting out of the kitchen. He could definitely hear the guy hot on his heels, though.

They ran toward the stairs, but Arron only made it halfway up when he felt a heavy weight on his back and dropped to the carpeted steps with a grunt.

Rylan’s tongue started lapping at his face immediately.

“Rylan, stop!” Arron groaned as he turned his head from side to side, trying to keep his tongue off of his face. He wasn’t sure why Rylan was being excessively attentive toward cleaning his face all of a sudden, but he was sure that he didn’t want to get in trouble when Jordan came home to see cake all over his kitchen floor.

After a minute he was able to squirm his way free from under the crazy lion shifter and run up the rest of the stairs. Maybe I can lock myself in my room before he can catch me. With that in mind, Arron bolted down the hall, only to face-plant a few feet from his door. This time he was flipped and promptly licked from chin to forehead.

“Rylan, what the heck are you doing?” Arron yelled.

His response was to lean over a bit more and bite at his ear.

“Hey!”

Arron swatted at him again, but this time he jumped back into a squat, panting quietly as he waited for him to move.

What are doing you strange cat?

Well, he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to get away from him, so he quickly jumped up, only to be tackled the second he started trying to run.

“Aw, come on! What do you want?” Arron growled, frustrated.

Arron glared over his shoulder at Rylan, who didn’t seem to care that he was getting more upset. In fact, he was much more interested in biting at his ear again.

“Stop that!”

He stopped for a second, then nipped his nose, then his other ear before yanking on it.

“Okay, you’re being an ass.” Arron hissed as he shoved him back and tackled him, biting his ear hard.

See how you like it!

Evidently he didn’t mind it, because he tossed Arron off, only to tackle him again. He then ran toward Arron’s room and dropped to his hands and knees with a growl. Arron wasn’t too sure what was going on, but when he started backing up, Rylan began stalking forward. He definitely didn’t look aggressive, so maybe this was playing?

He seems a little out of it, though.

It was hard to think that Rylan would play with anyone, let alone him. When Rylan tackled him again and Arron bit him lightly without any repercussions, he decided that they were indeed playing.

He’d never really played much. His parents had always been busy and his teachers at school hadn’t let him play with the bigger kids because his shift was so small. He guessed that he could try since Rylan was, for some reason, making an effort to initiate.

Getting down on his own hands and knees, Arron gave a hesitant growl, hoping that Rylan wouldn’t get mad at him for possibly challenging him. He spent most of his life submitting to bigger kids, so he knew that growling would usually land him on his back. When Rylan growled right back and started running after him, he yelped and bolted toward the stairs.

Rylan caught him by the sofa in the living room and tackled him onto it, but the force had them both bouncing off and onto the floor. There they wrestled and nipped at each others’ ears, noses, and just about anywhere else they could bite safely. None of the nips really hurt, so he was truly enjoying himself as they rolled around, then he jumped up and ran again, wanting to start another chase.

Arron never thought that being tackled by a lion would ever be joyful, but his instincts were finally taking a much-needed rest and allowing him to try playing with another predator.

They skidded around the table and Arron even jumped on it to dodge a particularly fast swipe. Thankfully, Jordan wasn’t due home anytime soon. Half of their dinner was still on the floor, and the cake, too.

Arron was caught again in the kitchen and unintentionally slipped on some frosting and took a dive into a piece of cake that had flown away from the larger portion by the sink. After a quick shake, he darted away from Rylan just in time to keep from getting caught again and headed back upstairs.

He was aiming to run into his own room, but when he heard Rylan close behind him, he redirected to his room instead.

It only took Rylan a second to change his course and send Arron sailing onto his bed with a shove. He was atop him in nearly the same amount of time, resting his panting body on Arron’s. They were both worn out, but Rylan still leaned down to slowly begin cleaning off the new cake Arron’s face had acquired.

At first, Arron wanted to swat him away, but then he heard something that had him speechless.

I forgot that shifters could purr, and am shocked that I’m hearing it coming from Rylan.

Arron had thought that it was a growl at first, but now that he focused on the deep sound it was definitely purring. His cheetah chirped in his mind and instantly began humming right along through his human mouth.

After a minute, Rylan shifted his body a little and lifted his left hand. His pointer finger gently moved along Arron’s cheek, then pressed against his lips as he smirked. Arron could see a small piece of cake and frosting there and looked up as he slowly parted his lips and swiped at it with his tongue.

The taste was pretty delicious. He was a little upset that he wouldn’t be able to have more since it was on the kitchen floor, but when he met Rylan’s eyes, he knew that he’d make it right. Hell, all that play from such a strict dominant lion… he had already made him feel so much better, and Arron hadn’t even realized it till just now. Cheetah were meant to run, and he’d very much enjoyed playing around with Rylan.

“Someone likes being chased and pinned down. Do I sense some bondage tendencies in your future?” Rylan said, shattering the relaxing moment Arron had been having.

He shoved Rylan off to the side and got out of his bed, rolling his eyes as he walked out of the room to the sound of the guy’s laughter.

“You better help me clean up the cake!” Arron yelled over his shoulder before heading downstairs to get started on the mess. Hopefully they could get it all taken care of before Jordan got home.

Chapter 15: Can We Be Friends?

“Hmm?”

Rylan grinned as he walked into the kitchen and saw Arron licking at his left hand. The cake really was delicious, and the part he had just picked up hadn’t touched the floor. He couldn’t help but suck at the frosting it left on his fingers.

“You’re going to instigate another mistake if you keep that up.”

Arron released his finger a moment later and blushed, averting his eyes. Feeling a faint brush against his hair, he glanced up from where he knelt next to the remaining cake he hadn’t gotten cleaned up yet.

“Your hair is really soft, Spots.”

Uh, okay?

“Thanks?”

Arron was pretty sure that he still had a bunch of icing and cake in it, but he wasn’t about to argue. Heck, they probably got cake all over the house considering how much they were running around.

Not looking forward to cleaning that up.

Rylan was just beginning to lean down to help him work on the mess they’d made all over the floor when he caught sight of the clock and growled.

“I need to go get Jared and Jamie.” He said, standing again.

“Oh, I’ll come.” Arron said as he stood, too.

Rylan rose an eyebrow at him but shrugged.

“Just let me get dressed real quick.” Arron said as he started heading out of the kitchen.

“But I like you in your birthday suite. Why not just lose those shorts? They’re mine, anyway.”

“Ha.” Arron grumbled as he nudged his shoulder while passing him.

Rylan responded by mussing up his already sloppy hair, earning a hiss from Arron. He could hear Rylan’s laughter as he hurried upstairs and was back down in less than three minutes. Even with his speed, he still had to run outside in order to catch Rylan.

The twin cubs were just getting off the bus down the street when he caught up, and they were in their cub forms dragging their backpacks.

“You guys are a pain. Why do you always change on the bus and ruin your clothes?” Rylan grumbled as he picked up both of their little backpacks and swung them over his shoulder.

The two little cubs looked up at their brother and mewed together. Okay, that’s kind of cute.

When Jamie turned toward him, Arron opened his arms and grunted when the heavy cub jumped into them. He had honestly done the gesture to give him a hug, but he guessed that he could carry the furball the one block it took to get back home. With that thought, Arron turned and began heading back as Rylan walked with Jared.

“Did you have a good day at school, Jamie?” Arron asked.

The small lion moved a bit so that it could nuzzle just under his chin, then began making purring sounds.

“Sounds like you did.”

When they got back to the house Arron quickly got busy cleaning up the dinner they had gotten on the floor and then finished up getting the cake. He even had to go around the house and scrub it out of the carpet in some places.

Guess this is why parents say not to play with your food. I can finally say that I agree.

“Wanna go to the bakery, boys?” Rylan asked.

Arron tossed the last of the paper towels he had been using to clean up their mess when he noticed that Rylan had hopped in the shower to rinse out his hair and wash his face. He had on a new change of clothing and both Jared and Jamie were back in their human forms and in clothing, too.

“Can I hop in the shower real quick?” Arron asked.

Rylan was just opening his mouth to answer him when Arron’s vision dropped by several feet and… Darnit.

“I guess that won’t be necessary now. Come here, kitty.” Rylan said with a chuckle.

He walked over when Arron refused to move, annoyed that he’d shifted so randomly. Rylan lifted him up before he could even step out of his clothing, then set him in the bathroom sink. Arron’s head was quickly rinsed and dried, but when he tried to get out of the sink Rylan held him down.

What are you doing?

Arron heard him digging in a drawer with his free hand before something was dripped onto his head. After a minute of feeling his mohawk being tugged at, he was released and quickly jumped to the floor.

“There, that looks a lot better.” Rylan said.

Better?

Jamie ran around the corner and began giggling loudly when he saw Arron.

“Arron has pink hair!” The little boy squealed.

oh god. Please no.

“Oh chill out, Spots. I just colored your mohawk with some food coloring. It’ll wash out tonight… maybe.” Rylan said with a grin.

Arron was promptly lifted into his arms before they headed out the door. He really didn’t want to go outside with a pink mohawk and mewed his disapproval.

“Stop complaining. We’re going to get you a new cake. Unless you don’t want one?” Rylan said.

Oh.

After Rylan got the boys buckled into the back, Arron was set up front with the window down. The wind messed his mohawk up even more, but he didn’t mind. He loved sticking his head out of the window.

“You’re gonna lose a whisker doing that, Spots.”

Arron glanced back at him and tried to grin, which probably looked funny in his kitten form, but oh well.

They had to pass the school to get to the bakery and as they rounded a corner, he noticed Erin heading home. His cheetah mewed loudly, drawing his attention right away, but when Arron tried to make another sound, he realized that the window was being rolled up.

Hey!

Arron glared behind him at the annoying lion shifter, but Rylan just stepped on the gas hard and made him stumble backward into his seat. He didn’t know if he was jealous, but he definitely knew that he didn’t like Erin to begin with.

“Oh bite me, we’re here.” Rylan grumbled.

Hm?

Arron had never been to any of the town’s bakeries yet, but the stuff in the window did look really good.

“Come on, Spots, or I’ll leave you behind.” Rylan called to him.

Arron flicked one of his ears and quickly jumped out the window as Rylan held open the door to the bakery for him. As soon as he stepped inside, his mouth dropped open and he tried not to drool.

Oh wow, it smells amazing.

He ran up to the case and stood on his back feet to look in. It all looked delicious.There were so many cakes, cookies, and treats. Arron’s tail swished back and forth like a dogs would with excitement. It was a habit he’d picked up from playing with people’s little dogs while being a cheetah.

“Someone’s happy to be here. Hello there, little one.”

Hearing the sound of an old lady’s voice, Arron glanced up, but was quickly scooped into her arms. She probably thinks that I’m a little kid . He was set atop one of the nearby tables and a nice big chocolate chip cookie was cut up and placed at his paws.

Okay, I’m totally fine with being treated like a cub right now.

He was just leaning over to take a bite when he heard two growls and saw little hands grabbing at his cookie.

Hey!

Before he could swipe at Jamie and Jared, Rylan walked over and flicked them both on the nose, then took the cookie pieces from them.

“That is not how you treat someone else, even if they are smaller, got it?” He reprimanded.

The two little boys pursed their lips as they stared from Arron to their brother. They didn’t seem to understand, showing that their instincts were likely part of the stealing. Lions were notorious for stealing from wild cheetahs, so it wasn’t that surprising. Although, seeing Rylan defend him was pretty weird. He guessed that when his pheromones weren’t going crazy that he was easier to handle… or maybe it was just that he was a bully only at school.

I hope that it’s just the pheromone thing. He seems like he can be a pretty nice guy if he tries.

After Arron inhaled two pieces of his cookie, Rylan picked him up and carried him over to the big case of cakes. It was one of those slow rotating ones that you could just take an item out of when you opened the sliding glass door. When a big chocolate one came around, he slid the door open and pulled it out, then brought it over to the counter.

“Can you write on this for me, please?” He asked.

The woman behind the counter was the same one who had given Arron the cookie Jamie and Jared were now devouring on the table. When she saw him, she lit up with a big smile.

“Of course young man. What would you like on it?” She asked.

“Happy birthday, Arron. Welcome to the Leo family.”

“Aw, did the first one get ruined?”

Rylan chuckled and patted Arron’s back playfully.

“Yeah, unfortunately it had a bit of a mishap, and I promised to replace it since it meant so much to him.”

Arron looked over his shoulder and gave an apologetic mew to the woman.

“He’s so sweet. You can have half off on this one. I’ll get it ready.” She said.

“Thank you very much, ma’am.”

Rylan flashed his best smile and had the older woman melting. Arron just rolled his eyes and twitched his whiskers. After a minute the woman handed the cake back with beautiful dark red writing on it. If the thing didn’t have its lid on, he would have totally just dove in.

“Alright, let’s head home, Spots.”

As they turned, he noticed Rylan’s little brothers finishing off the remains of his cookie.

“Jamie, Jared, let’s go!”

The boys jumped and quickly ran out the door in front of them. Arron was set down so that Rylan could carry the cake easier, but Arron preferred walking anyway. He didn’t know why everyone thought that his paws didn’t work.

Since the cake took the front seat, Arron sat with Rylan’s brothers in the back. He realized very quickly that he would have been better off sitting on the floor in the front, though. The two might be cute and cuddly at times, but they never stopped tugging on tails and poking poor cheetahs that were trapped between them.

When they finally got home, Arron jumped out of the car and ran up to the door. He noticed Jordan’s car in the driveway and pawed at the door before it opened.

“Hey there, Arron.”

Jamie and Jared came running up a moment later and both were easily scooped up by their father and swung around. The boys giggled loudly. Arron felt a small spot in his heart hurt as he watched. His father used to do that when he got home from work. It was always late at night, but he always put on a happy face for him.

Arron quickly shook his head to stop the tears that were about to fall. He was grown up enough. He didn’t need that kind of attention anymore. He was trying to talk himself out of his souring mood when he was picked up and swung around. At first, he panicked and tried to squirm out of Jordan’s hands, but when the man touched his nose against Arron’s tiny black one, he realized that he was just trying to cheer him up.

“Don’t be upset, Arron. I’m here for you, too.”

He glanced sideways at Rylan as his son walked inside and toward the kitchen with the cake.

“I guess the cake isn’t going to be a secret now. Though you were supposed to get that earlier, Rylan.” Jordan said as he followed him inside.

Rylan paused and turned slightly with a shrug.

“I forgot. It’s here either way.”

Jordan shook his head, but didn’t bother arguing further.

“Alright, time to feed the bellies.”

Jared and Jamie both cheered for macaroni and cheese and Arron might have given a loud mew at that, too. They might have had it already, but there was nothing better in his opinion.

“Alright, alright. Macaroni and cheese for everyone, but you guys are getting vegetables on the side.” Jordan said.

Arron began to follow Jordan into the kitchen on the heels of Jamie and Jared when he was scruffed and lifted into Rylan’s arms. His ears pinned back in annoyance, but he didn’t try to bite. He now knew the difference between play and challenging with lions, and unless Rylan began playing with him, it would have been a challenge.

“My friend texted me the pages we have to do for homework. Dad, we’ll be in my room!” He shouted toward the kitchen.

“Keep the door open!” Jordan replied.

Rylan grumbled as he carried Arron upstairs tucked under his right arm. When they got to his room, he left his door open the slightest crack, no doubt wanting to try his father’s patience. Arron hadn’t quite gotten to his rebellious phase yet, but it looked kind of fun. Of course, now that his father was gone, he didn’t think that he could put his mother through that.

As Rylan got his books out, Arron quickly shifted back to his human form and tugged on a pair of Rylan’s basketball shorts. He assumed since he’d generally closed the door that he wouldn’t want him running off to get dressed. Besides, if he was willing to help him with his homework, he was completely game to staying.

Except, when he shoved the books, a pencil, and several pages of notebook paper into Arron’s hands with page numbers circled at the top, he realized that he wouldn’t be helping at all. He would be doing all the work. Arron looked up at Rylan with a pout, but he was already relaxing with his phone out, texting.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Arron picked up the pencil and started trying to solve the math problems they’d been assigned. They only had to the do the odd ones on each page, but that was still around forty. Math was also his worst subject, even though he did actually try at it.

It was about fifteen minutes later when Rylan leaned over to look. Arron cringed, knowing that he was going to be pissed. He had only gotten to the third question and he knew that he had gotten the first two terribly wrong.

“What the hell, Spots? Are you an idiot? This stuff’s easy.” Rylan grumbled.

He grabbed the book and papers back before Arron could even think to mumble a reply. When Rylan got settled against his mound of pillows, he grabbed Arron around the waist and pulled him right up against him.

“What are you doing?” Arron asked right before Rylan growled a reply.

“Just be quiet and watch. You better learn this. I hate having to reteach things.”

For the next hour Arron watched Rylan work the problems, then did them after him so that he could make sure he knew how to. They were both so into one problem, hunched over the book nearly pressing against each other, that they jumped when Jordan lightly knocked on the door.

“I’ve been calling you boys for five minutes. Here.”

Arron’s eyes widened when Jordan walked over with two big plates of hot dogs, vegetables and macaroni and cheese. Mom would have never let me eat in my room. Arron took his plate as Rylan grabbed his own. The portions were obviously different because lions ate quite a bit more than cheetahs. Heck, Arron’s even looked like way more than he thought he could eat in one sitting.

They decided to eat while they worked and got all of the homework done about thirty minutes later. When Rylan finally tossed his book aside, Arron grabbed their empty plates and told him that he’d run them downstairs. Rylan stretched out and nodded with a sleepy yawn.

Arron headed for the kitchen and set the dishes in the sink after rinsing them, but when he found Jordan on the sofa watching the news, he walked over.

“Thanks for dinner.”

Jordan looked up and gave him a warm smile.

“You’re welcome, Arron.”

“Um, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Could you um, let Rylan play tomorrow?”

Jordan’s brows turned down a bit at that. He seemed confused when he replied.

“That is his punishment for misbehaving, reversing it would teach him nothing.”

“I know, but he helped me a lot today, and he taught me how to do our homework.”

Jordan took a deep breath and sighed. They were both quiet for a few moments before he leaned back and shrugged.

“Fine. He can play, but he isn’t allowed to go out after the game. He has to come straight home, and just to make sure he does, go with him please.”

Arron’s face lit up as he ran over and hugged him.

“Thanks, I will!”

He could feel Jordan chuckling at him, but he didn’t mind. Rylan had been really nice, so Arron wanted to repay him, and getting his father to allow him to play the game he wanted to was the only way he could think of.

“Alright alright, up to bed. You’ve got school tomorrow.” Jordan said.

With a big grin, Arron nodded, then turned to run upstairs. He knew that the boys were already in bed so he made sure to be quiet as he made his way to Rylan’s room.

Oh…

He skidded to a halt right inside his door. His face instantly burned but he couldn’t stop staring. Rylan was just tugging his shirt off with his jeans already down around his ankles, and Arron’s jaw wouldn’t shut itself. No wonder you’re a football player. With a hard swallow Arron stepped forward and rasped out.

“I… came.”

He was having trouble getting his mouth to finish his sentence. He wanted to tell Rylan that he came back to tell him that he could play tomorrow, yet he couldn’t get his words to work.

When Arron failed to get the rest of the words out, Rylan smirked devilishly and sauntered forward, stepping out of his jeans before stopping right in front of Arron. I can feel the heat coming off him like a furnace. Arron was so focused on the rising temperature that he didn’t notice when he leaned over until his hand was on his cheek and his teeth were nibbling at Arron’s ear.

“I’m glad I could get you off so easily, but you may have to work a bit to return the favor.” Rylan whispered jokingly.

Arron mentally shook himself and spit out the words he had meant to say before things got a bit too hot.

“I talked to your dad and he said that you could play tomorrow.”

His lips had been moving so quickly that he slurred part of it, but he was pretty sure he could hear the important parts. Judging from the surprise on his face, he had.

“Really? I can play tomorrow night?”

Finally finding his voice, Arron shifted on his feet and mumbled.

“Um, yeah. He said you have to come home right after and I have to go, but you can play.”

The hug he got in response a moment later had him holding onto Rylan in sheer surprise. I am afraid. A moment later he set Arron down and he watched as Rylan jumped onto his bed and dialed his coach. Judging from the noise he heard on the other side of the phone, his coach was happy. They began talking football and after a minute Arron excused himself silently and went to get himself to bed. It had been a really long day and without even thinking about changing out of Rylan’s shorts, he fell into bed and passed out.

(If I made any mistakes, kinda poke me about them and I’ll get them fixed when I’m not half asleep.)

Chapter 16: Other Fun Things

(My newer rescue dog will hopefully be getting adopted this Saturday. Fingers crossed. She is ready for a home without my crazy aussie.) 

Well, sleep didn’t quite work the way he had planned. In fact, Arron was up within two hours of falling asleep as thunder boomed right outside the window. Lightning soon followed, then an even louder rumble of thunder that actually shook the house. He wasn’t afraid of the dark, but when he was younger he’d gotten lost in a thunderstorm in his cheetah form and now his instincts freaked out whenever there was a bad one.

After a very long mental discussion with himself, he decided to take a quick shower and hopefully relax his nerves. The lightning lit up his room every few seconds, allowing him to slide out of bed and grab a pair of boxers, then easily head for the hallway without bumping into any walls.

He quietly made his way to the bathroom by the stairs, being sure not to make any noise. Rylan to be on the phone with his door shut, but the rest of the Leo family seemed to be asleep. There were plenty of towels still folded up on the back of the toilet that were no doubt put there by Rylan’s mother or father.

I should help out with some chores soon.

As Arron stepped out of Rylan’s shorts and got the water going in the shower, he heard a yawn by the door and turned to see said lion shifter leaning sleepily against the door jamb.

“Uh?” Arron whispered unintelligibly.

“Why are you taking a shower at midnight, Spots?”

He didn’t think that saying he was afraid of thunderstorms would be a good idea. Never reveal a weakness to a predator. He could sense Rylan’s lion pretty close to the surface, too, so he wasn’t too sure what kind of reaction he would get.

“The storm woke me up. I was just going to take a quick shower to relax before going back to bed.” He said quietly.

Arron noticed Rylan’s hand moving and had to quickly look away as it dipped into his boxers and began scratching. It seemed to take him a minute to process what he had said, but he easily figured out that he was partially lying when a loud boom of thunder rocked the house and Arron jumped a good three feet in the air.

“Nice one, Spots.”

Arron really didn’t want Rylan mocking him so he quickly jumped into the shower and yanked the curtain closed.

“Go away.”

There was no response for a minute so Arron figured that he’d left. He quietly began humming as he scrubbed his body, then lathered up his hair. The water was perfectly hot, which definitely helped calm his nerves. Turning, he began stepping under the spray of water, but was suddenly tugged backward by an arm around his waist, making him yelp from surprise.

“Shhh.”

Rylan?

Arron’s heart jumped into his throat when he felt Rylan’s hard chest press against his back.

“Rylan?”

He needed to wash his hair out but Rylan pushed him against the cold tile wall instead of letting him go under the hot water.

“Be quiet, Spots. I came to ask you something.”

It couldn’t wait until I got out of the shower?

“What?”

“I’m going out tomorrow night after the game.”

But Jordan said we had to come straight home.

“But your dad said no.” Arron said quietly.

“Hush, Spots!” Rylan hissed. “You’re going to cover for me.”

Arron frowned. “But how?” He whispered as quietly as he could.

There was a strong pat on his shoulder before he felt breath on the back of his neck.

“I’m sure you can figure that out, right, Spots?”

He was pretty sure that saying no wouldn’t be an answer Rylan was going to accept, so Arron just sighed and nodded.

“Good boy.”

He felt a tap on his cheek, then a lick before he was released. A moment later, he heard Rylan step out of the shower and quickly ran forward to rinse his soapy hair out. The rest of his night went just about as well as the first half. He couldn’t sleep and each time a boom of thunder echoed in his room, he flinched and whimpered beneath his blankets.

Come morning, Arron pretty much felt like dirt. His nose was stuffed up and he had gotten maybe twenty minutes of decent sleep. The storm was just slowing as he awoke so his body was tired and achy from being on high alert all night. Rylan’s little shower visit hadn’t helped, either.

Deciding to logically skip the shower, he tugged on a pair of clean boxers, torn blue jeans, and a grey sweatshirt. After glancing at his appearance in the mirror and shrugging, he grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs.

The kids were already at the table and as his eyes met Rylan’s, he swallowed and pursed his lips. Rylan glared, but quickly averted his eyes when Jordan came into the room, along with his wife.

“Hello Arron. Are you feeling alright?” Jordan’s wife asked.

He fidgeted, realizing that he definitely didn’t look that great. She quickly walked over to press a hand to his forehead, only to frown at the heat there.

Arron quickly stepped back and gave her his best smile.

“I’m okay. Just didn’t sleep too well last night. I’m sure with a good breakfast and fresh air I’ll be good.”

“Alright hun, but if you’re not feeling well, Rylan can take you home.”

Maybe with a few bruises for ruining his night.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied.

“Oh none of that ma’am stuff, call me Emma.”

“Okay… Emma.” He said a little awkwardly.

Jordan walked up to them a moment later and nudged a plate of bacon and eggs into his hands.

“Eat up, kiddo. Rylan will take you to school today.”

“Huh? I usually skateboard.” Arron said.

“You don’t look too steady on your feet right now. Humor me today, please?”

Arron tucked his head a little and nodded. “Okay.”

Jordan smiled and nodded for Arron to take a seat and eat. Him and Emma left early with the twins to drop them off at school since they sometimes didn’t take the bus in the morning, so at least he didn’t have to pretend to finish his breakfast. Arron could only manage a few spoonfuls of eggs before his stomach rebelled. As soon as he got up, Rylan grabbed his plate and easily finished off his meal. He headed for the door a second later and Arron had to stumble after him to get in his car before he drove off.

The ride to school would have been tense, but he was just too tired to listen to his instincts. They were on edge, but he just wanted to sleep. When they got there, Arron stepped out and trudged up the stairs, ignoring the glare he was receiving from the lion on his heels.

Luckily, Erin was in most of his classes. He sat next to him most of the day and nudged him awake whenever he started drifting off. He also had several packages of peanuts, as stereotypical as that sounded for an elephant shifter, but they definitely helped and didn’t bother his stomach as much as breakfast had.

At lunch, Arron decided to pay for Erin to have some salad since he’d helped him most of the day. Although, it wasn’t twenty dollars worth again. The kid ended up shoving a few carrots in Arron’s mouth, which he nibbled at as Erin talked about random stuff.

Around fifth period, Arron’s cheetah ended up taking over, then promptly passed out. Thankfully, his elephant friend was in that class, too, and got the teacher to leave him alone so that he could sleep in Erin’s lap.

The real problem began as soon as the bell rang and Rylan caught Erin carrying him outside with the intent to give him a ride home. Rylan ran up and grabbed him by the scruff with a warning growl to Erin.

“The hell Rylan? Give him back.”

Rylan scoffed and tucked him under his arm as his two shifter friends came up behind him. Of course, they were both members of the football team, too.

“He’s my foster brother and I was told to take care of him after school by my father. So get lost, elephant.”

Erin looked at Arron with eyes beginning to change, but he quickly shook his head and mewed. It wasn’t worth the fight, and Rylan was technically right.

“Call me if you need a hand, Arron.”

With a frown, he tugged Arron’s backpack off of his shoulders and tossed it to Rylan, who caught it with one hand and swung it over his shoulder to join his own. Erin stared for one more moment before sighing and walking off.

This darn lion has to have a split personality. He was so nice yesterday, and now he’s starting to be a brat again.

As Arron was thinking, Rylan toted him toward the locker rooms. As fate would have it, everyone inside was naked… and his cheetah picked that time to change him back and give a hard jerk to his instincts. Arron quickly dropped to the floor and covered his lower half, not wanting his overreacting body to cause trouble.

“Rylan, looks like you might have an admirer.” One of the boys said with a chuckle.

Rylan turned and looked down at him, his nose twitching as if his lion was picking up on a scent. There were a few murmurs from the other kids before they began getting closer. Arron could tell that some of their intentions weren’t going to be friendly and tried to curl into an even smaller ball.

Shadows began to darken his shrinking line of vision before Arron squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He felt someone grab his left arm and try to pull him up, but the hand disappeared after only a second, letting Arron drop back down with a quiet whimper.

“Just leave him alone, guys. His hormones are messed up because of some idiot vet.” Rylan partially growled as Arron felt some sort of fabric drop over his shoulders.

Rylan’s sweatshirt?

There was a lot of whispering in response, but no one dared try to challenge Rylan. After a little while everyone headed out of the locker room.

“We’re going to a party after the game, so don’t go anywhere, Spots.” He said before quickly changing and heading out to get ready for his game.

But your dad said that we can’t go anywhere afterward. Arron though as his body slowly shifted back into his feline form due to his adrenaline wearing off. He didn’t want to cause any problems, though, and just found a bench near the front door to curl up on and wait on the noisy game.

He had a good headache going by the time the football team started filing back into the locker room. Arron sat up and yawned, then was promptly shoved off the bench by that one guy who had taunted him earlier.

His paws scrambled for purchase to keep himself from dropping to the cold tile, but didn’t succeed.

At least I’m fuzzy.

Arron made his way into a corner to keep from getting stepped on or shoved more, then waited until Rylan was done showering and getting dressed in clean clothes. When he started heading over to him, Arron began walking toward the door, but before he could even make it a few feet he was scooped up and tucked under one of Rylan’s arms like a fuzzy football.

“We’re gonna change the story a bit.” He said as he began carrying him toward his car. “You’ll have lost your phone and were wandering around a bit, not quite remembering which way was home.”

That didn’t make much sense because he had walked or skateboarded home several times, but he wasn’t going to argue… and he definitely didn’t feel like walking anywhere right then.

“Mew.” He said as he was set down in the front seat, then Rylan walked around and got into the driver’s side.

A growl was Rylan’s response and it had Arron’s cheetah crouching down on the seat. They were silent the whole way to the party, which was quite obviously taking place in the giant house they parked near, because Arron heard the bass vibrating through the car nearly halfway down the street.

There were drunk teenagers stumbling around and throwing up all over the front lawn, and it looked like there were hundreds more right inside the door to the home. He really didn’t feel like getting stepped on or kicked around inside, but Rylan didn’t let him get himself under the car and out of reach. He snatched him up by the scruff and quickly ran inside with his friends, shouting over the music, which only incited a louder array of shouts to welcome the main players of the football team.

Ow my sensitive ears.

Rylan walked around for awhile, completely ignoring Arron as he was held in one arm. He was handed beer after beer, and kissed more girls then Arron thought would want to even touch such a stuck-up guy. A few asked about him, too, but Rylan always steered the conversation away, which wasn’t hard since he seemingly knew how to work his charms on females.

I bet he could charm a hamster out of its fur. Arron thought sarcastically.

About an hour into the mess Arron was tossed outside and told to stay. Yes, let me get right on jumping that six foot fence, drunk idiot lion. He was definitely not going back inside to try for the front door, either. The amount of intoxicated people in there would use him as a soccer ball without even trying.

Thus, he found a nice place with a cool breeze and curled up, trying to relax. He couldn’t really lie that he didn’t have a fever anymore, but complaining while in his kitten form, or human one for that matter, would likely just fall on deaf, or annoyed ears.

Arron was just beginning to doze as he listened to the booming base from the house behind him when he heard something sniffing near his backside. His patience for the day was already running rather low so when he looked over his shoulder and saw an ocelot, he bared his teeth and hissed a warning.

Get lost, pussy!

The ocelot circled him a few times, nuzzling at his muzzle and licking his nose, but again, all it got was a warning hiss in response.

Back. Off. It’s bad enough to try and breed someone in their animal forms, but doing it in public? I’ll tear your whiskers out if you try!

Arron swung around as the cat tried to bite at his neck to pin him. He slashed a clawed paw across the ocelot’s cheek with a much louder hiss of anger.

He tried again, even after Arron made him bleed, but when a loud roar ripped through the thunderous music coming from the house, the ocelot was disappeared in a hurry. Rylan was standing in front of him a second later and gave another roar from his lion form in the direction the ocelot had vanished.

Arron’s body flopped down on the deck as the adrenaline wore off and he tried to focus on slowing his breathing.

I don’t feel good.

He wasn’t very focused right then, so he didn’t even bother to try and move when Rylan’s lion leaned down and picked him up by his scruff with his teeth. He easily moved through the noisy house, mainly because everyone seemed to have stopped partying when he had shifted and barreled outside onto the deck to defend him.

Once they were out the front door and a few houses down, Rylan shifted back to his human form and tossed him into the back seat of his car. Arron’s body shifted slowly back to his human form, too exhausted to make the change go any quicker.

When his vision cleared from the shift, Rylan was leaning over him, pinning him down on the seat.

“Rylan?” Arron asked cautiously.

He didn’t seem to hear, or care about what he’d said as he tried to grab at him. Arron gathered his energy and forced himself to squirm out from under Rylan and onto the floor. Another moment and he was wedged against the driver’s side seat in the corner.

Rylan’s eyes were shining bright gold down at him in the dark.

At least he shut the door before trying to pounce on me so that we weren’t giving people a show, but still. He needs to come back to his senses.

Arron slashed at his reaching hands a few times before Rylan finally leaned back and blinked. His eyes went back to normal, but they both needed a minute to catch their breath and let their bodies calm down before they could process what had happened.

I’m not completely sure why he had gotten like that, but it was right after that ocelot guy had tried to get me. Arron thought for a few moments before a strange idea came to his mind. Was he actually jealous?

“Come. Here.”

His voice was deep and demanding as he reached over to Arron with his right hand. It was still partially clawed and he could see his lion just behind his eyes. With very careful movements, Arron got himself free of the small space he’d squeezed into and let Rylan pull him into his lap after he’d pulled a blanket over it for a too-tight hug. He didn’t hesitate to begin licking at Arron’s hair and face after a few moments.

He could feel that he was upset, most likely because what that ocelot had tried to do. Arron was sure that he’d never admit it was jealousy, but that was okay with him. He appreciated the save, even if it almost ended just as badly in the back of his car.

“Thanks.”

Rylan gave Arron’s ear a sharp nip with a snorted growl, letting him know that he didn’t want to hear any kind of gratitude. Probably shouldn’t have thanked him, anyways.

After a little while, Rylan set him in the driver’s seat and buckled himself in after pulling on a pair of spare shorts he left in the car for, what he would assume, was this type of awkward situation.

He was surprised that he was being allowed to drive the guy’s car, but he didn’t hesitate to get them heading home with directions from Rylan. When he’d parked, Rylan had them going around to the back and jumping up to Arron’s balcony. Or really, he tossed him over his shoulder and leaped up.

Once inside, Rylan was about to head to his room but heard Jordan moving around, possibly checking on Jamie and Jared. So, instead, he turned toward Arron and pulled him down into bed.

“Eh?”

“Shush. Just go to sleep. I know you’re tired, Spots.”

Well, that was definitely true. Arron wasn’t too happy about being snuggled in bed with Rylan, though. When he pulled the blanket over them and began lapping at his face softly, Arron gave up any argument that he felt on his tongue. He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.

It was definitely not what they had planned, but he supposed that if his father found them out cold in his bed, he would have to assume that they had been home, hopefully. Either way, he was out cold long before Rylan, but little did he know that his plan was to pretend that he had been taking care of him in his room for the past few hours.

Arron figured that out because he awoke a few times when Rylan changed the cool cloth on his forehead, then around three, when Rylan gave him some cough medicine. He had taken a shower at some point, too, because he no longer smelled like alcohol, but Arron’s mind was too fuzzy with his fever to really question what he was doing. He just did as told and took what was offered.

Jordan came in around five, which woke him up a little, but he just pressed a kiss to his forehead and told him to get some more rest.

When Arron snuggled back into his blankets to do just that, he noticed that Rylan was snoring quietly on top of the blanket beside him. That had him smiling a little as he moved a bit closer. His fever was beginning to break, so Rylan’s added heat was just right to make him relax enough to fall back asleep.

Chapter 17: Gifts

Man, did he feel so much better than he had the day before. Arron was a bit sweaty from his fever breaking, but as he sat up, the room didn’t spin and he didn’t feel like a hot cloud was hanging over his head any longer. Rylan was nowhere to be seen, so he quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothing. He definitely needed a shower before he headed downstairs.

He could hear the TV going in the living room as he stepped into the bathroom and stripped off his boxers. The big football game was on, judging from what he could hear of it before he turned on the water.

After a good scrubbing, Arron shut off the water and got himself dried off, dressed, and brushed his teeth. He didn’t bother messing with his hair, since it always stuck up in random directions anyways, and the half-mohawk didn’t help that at all.

As he was heading downstairs, he had to pause.

“I can’t wait to see him, it’s been too long!”

Jordan’s chuckle followed those words, but Arron was just focused on the first voice.

Mom!

He knew that she had heard his thoughts through their link, because as he ran down the steps she met him at the bottom and swung him around in her arms.

“Mom, you’re back!”

Arron couldn’t help but purr excitedly while they hugged. Even when she put him back on his feet, he wouldn’t let her go.

“I missed you too, Arron.” She said with a chuckle.

After a long moment Arron finally released her and got a kiss on the forehead.

“Happy birthday, my sweet kitten.”

He smiled and kissed her cheek before glancing around. The entire dining and living room areas were decked out in party stuff. There was even a stack of presents on the dinner table.

He hardly ever got more then one or two presents normally, and they were never anything worth more than a few dollars, but they had always meant the world to him.

His feet were just about to take him toward the table when he was promptly picked up and tossed over Rylan’s shoulder.

“Hey!” He yelled, squirming to try and get down.

“Not so fast, kid. It’s lunch time first, then cake.”

“Lunch?” Arron asked.

Rylan turned his head to the side and raised a brow at him.

“Yeah. It’s one P.M.”

“What?” Arron said, confused.

“You slept half the day away, Spots.” Rylan said with a slight grin.

“I did?”

“Yeah, anyways. I’m starving and they won’t let me eat till you do.”

Before Arron could reply, he was toted into the kitchen and couldn’t believe his eyes. He had never seen so much food in one place besides the school cafeteria, and most of that wasn’t even edible.

His cheetah perked up at the sight and mewed through his lips, making Jordan laugh. He was standing by a big bowl of pasta that was surrounded by three different sauces you could put on your portion.

Everything flipped abruptly as he was set back down and nudged toward the stack of plates, forks, and napkins. Arron quickly grabbed one of each and made his way through the line, hugging Jordan before he dished out a big helping of pasta.

He added the alfredo sauce, then some chicken and bacon bits to the pasta. On the side he put mashed potatoes with gravy and butter, and a big piece of freshly baked bread.

His mother tossed a few pieces of fruit onto the tiny spot between Arron’s potatoes and bread, but he didn’t mind. He loved fruit.

“Thank Mrs. Leo for cooking, hun.” She said before getting a plate for herself.

She cooked all of this?

Arron quickly set his plate down and ran over to her, dodging around the half-full plate she held to give her a strong hug.

“Thank you so much for cooking, Mrs. Emma.”

She smiled and patted his head with her free hand, then kissed his hair.

“Of course, Arron. I love cooking and wanted your birthday to be special.”

She gave him a nudge back toward his plate and he happily obliged. After being sick, then sleeping for so long, he was absolutely starving. He found himself a seat next to his mother and Rylan, then got busy digging into his food.

“Oh man, this is good.” He nearly moaned as he chewed a bite of food that tasted like pure heaven.

Rylan smirked and gave a light laugh. “Of course, my mom’s cooking is the best you can get.”

Arron grinned at him and laughed. It was obvious that he was playing nice for their parents, but either way, he was enjoying his attitude change and had no interest in calling him out on it. If he was going to be nice, Arron wasn’t going to stop him. Especially not on his birthday.

The football game was still on, so they all eventually settled down to watch that for a good hour. Snacks were brought out after lunch, but they were all waiting on the cake.

When the game finally went into half time, Jordan jumped up and grabbed Arron, helping him up, too.

“Alright you! There are some candles that need blown out and cake that needs to be eaten.”

He had no issue doing either of those things! Arron quickly snatched the covering off of the cake in the kitchen and grinned.

Jordan got the candles lit and Arron’s mother gently settled her hands on her son’s shoulders before he leaned forward and blew out the candles. It hurt not having his father there, but with Jordan, Emma, Rylan, Jamie, Jared, and his mother, he definitely felt like he still had his amazing family.

Tarren wasn’t able to come, but he had noticed that there was a card from him sitting on the table earlier, which also meant a lot.

Once the candles were out, Rylan picked up a big knife and handed it to him to cut the first piece. There was no hesitation from him as he carved out a huge chunk of chocolate fudge cake and put it onto his plate. Everyone snickered because it was nearly a fourth of the cake, but there was more than enough left for everyone else.

His mother elbowed him lightly as he took the giant piece of cake back to his seat. She followed him with a fork. “We’ll be sharing that, mister. We don’t want a repeat of the last time you overdosed on sugar.”

No, we probably don’t.

Everyone ate cake throughout the second half of the game, but as soon as it was over Arron grabbed the first box from the stack of presents. Being the little brat that he was, he shook it, then smirked as he tore into it. Of course, his mother gave him a bit of a tap on the head when he ignored the card that was attached. With an annoyed grumble, Arron quickly tore open the card and read it out loud.

“From mom, with… love.”

So mushy.

Either way, he set the card aside and finished demolishing the box… only to find a rock? His mother was giggling behind him as he grabbed a small piece of paper nearly hidden beneath it, then flipped it over to see what it was.

“Oh my gosh!”

Excitement had him jumping up and down as he turned and hugged her tightly. The gift was a new skateboard coupon to the local shop for fifty dollars. His old board was nearly in pieces so the coupon couldn’t have come at a better time. That’s why he had gotten his last job, but them moving had lost him the chance to get a good new board, so he had decided to save the money.

“Thank you, mom!”

“Alright, alright. You still have a lot more to open.” She said.

She turned him around, then mussed up his hair, making him grin as he stepped forward. The next card was from Jordan and it said welcome to the family.

Jordan grinned over at him and he returned the smile and nodded. Turning back to the present, he shredded the wrapping and just… stared. Hell, he could even see Rylan’s face from the corner of his eye looking pretty darn surprised, too.

It was an Xbox One with three games!

Arron slowly turned toward him with a dumbstruck look, but he just couldn’t wipe it off of his face. It must have cost a ton. When he didn’t move for several more moments, Jordan snickered and leaned over a little, opening his arms and raising an eyebrow.

“Do I get a hug?” He asked.

Okay, that got him out of his daze. With the biggest grin he could manage, Arron stepped into his strong arms and felt them nearly crush him.

“Happy birthday.”

Arron purred as Emma walked over and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you both.”

A moment later, Jordan released him and nudged him back toward the table. Next he opened the card from Tarren and grinned when he found a twenty dollar bill in the envelope. He quickly pocketed the money and carefully put the card back in the envelope so that he could remember to call and thank him later. The last present was surprisingly from Rylan. Arron glanced over at him, but he just smiled as Arron hesitantly began unwrapping the small box. When he took off the lid, he heard several gasps around him, but he was completely silent.

The container held a small black collar with a little silver bell attached. It was actually gorgeous and definitely expensive. The herb in the bell suppressed pheromones for those who had trouble attracting too much attention.

Arron wondered if Rylan thought that it was funny, but it was honestly a good idea. It also surprisingly grew and shrank with your shifter animal.

Why does it actually smell like him, though? Did he roll on it in his lion form before putting it in the box?

Hands were suddenly reaching over his shoulders and grabbing the expensive collar. Rylan? His fingers gently undid the clasp and then he was sliding the collar around Arron’s neck. He then fastened it in the back. It fit perfectly, and when Arron looked over at his mother she was nearly crying. Before he knew it, Rylan was being hugged by his mom, drawing a rather confused stare out of Arron.

“Thank you so much, Rylan. I didn’t think it would be possible to get a necklace for months. I’ve been saving as much as I could.”

Rylan seemed a bit taken-aback, as was Arron, but Rylan quickly returned her hug. Arron’s right hand went to the collar around his neck, feeling the beautiful bell as it jingled faintly. He remembered hearing that the herb inside it was extremely expensive because it was so hard to grow. The collars, even the basic ones, easily reached up to six hundred dollars. The bell on this one actually looks like it’s made out of real silver, too.

As he tried to get words to come out of his mouth to thank him, Rylan walked over and grabbed his wrist with one hand, and the box with the gaming stuff with the other, tucking it under his arm.

“Come on Spots, let’s go play.”

Before he could reply, Arron was tugged all the way upstairs to Rylan’s room. He was tossed two controllers to open as Rylan got the Xbox hooked up and a game put in. Arron quickly tore off the packaging and plugged the controllers in, then handed Rylan his as they sat down on his bed. He tugged Arron into his lap before they got started, but he didn’t really mind. He was much too focused on killing Rylan’s character in the game they were playing.

They were both yelling and jerking their controllers as they played, Rylan’s in front of Arron’s. To his surprise, he was actually holding his own pretty well.

Right after their fifth round, Arron was in the lead, but his mother knocked on the door, effectively stealing their attention away from the starting match.

“It’s time to go home, Arron.”

I get to go home with mom?

He was actually a bit hesitant to leave the home he was slowly beginning to get used to, but he definitely wouldn’t pass up a chance to be with his mother.

“Okay.”

She smiled at them and let him know that he had to be downstairs in a few minutes. When she left, he glanced back at Rylan to see an agitated look.

“I’ll leave the Xbox here since I’ll probably be back soon.”

Setting the controller aside, he began to slide out of his lap, but Rylan quickly dropped his controller and pulled him back with a hug around his waist.

“Rylan?”

Arron honestly expected him to try and dominate him again, since no one was around to see, but what he said was a little surprising.

“Don’t I get a thank you?”

One of Rylan’s hands lifted to Arron’s collar as he flicked the bell enough to make it jingle. Arron’s face heated as he quickly mumbled. “Thank you… for the present.”

“Arron! There’s a boy named Erin here for you!”

Uh oh.

“Rylan, that hurts!”

Rylan was suddenly squeezing him way too hard.

Arron could hear him growling in his ear, but they really couldn’t risk fighting in front of their parents. He needed to calm him down.

“Rylan, calm down, please. We can’t start something in front of our parents.”

He didn’t seem to acknowledge what he was saying.

When Erin called up to him, Arron began to panic.

“Rylan.”

What do I say? If they took more than another minute they were in trouble. He really wasn’t sure what kept triggering Rylan’s aggressive bouts but he had to start grasping at straws before he ended up attacking Erin.

“Uhm, we’re not together.” He hurried to say.

Nothing.

“I’ll just go straight home.” He added.

Again, nothing.

“I belong to you?”

That had the growls quieting a little and finally Rylan lifted his head. His eyes were glowing gold as he began rubbing his cheek against Arron’s while his hands wandered under his shirt in a hurry.

Now really isn’t the time for scent marking.

While it was extremely rude to mark someone else so much who wasn’t your significant other, Arron let him do it. The possible fight just wasn’t worth telling him to stop. It wasn’t hurting anyone and it meant he wouldn’t be attacking Erin, hopefully.

And Erin would definitely smell him on him and at least keep a physical distance. It all seemed like it would be okay. However, when Rylan’s right hand dipped into his pants, Arron hissed in protest. He replied with a growl, but still rubbed his thigh before retracting his hand.

The second he was content, Rylan shoved him off his lap and growled for him to go.

Hmph!

Arron grumbled and stomped out of his room, then headed toward the stairs.

“Hold your tusks, I’m coming!”

Chapter 18: Birthday Date

Coming downstairs, Arron couldn’t help but stare. Erin was wearing a tuxedo. He wasn’t sure if he was really gay or his hormones were just messing with him, but the guy cleaned up very well. Arron bit his tongue as he walked over to Jordan, Emma, his mother, and Erin.

“Uh, hey Erin. What’s up?” He asked.

He smiled, though Arron could tell that he wanted to pull him into a hug. Good thing you have better self control than Rylan. Arron didn’t need Jordan getting frustrated. Lions and elephants were never really on good terms.

“I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight for your birthday?” Erin said.

Arron’s stomach grumbled quietly at the thought, but he hesitated and looked toward his mother.

“It’s alright, hun. As long as you’re back before nine thirty.” She said.

He quickly glanced at his watch and grinned. It was only seven. Erin was mirroring his smile when he looked back up.

“Sure!”

Since that was figured out, Arron turned and hugged Jordan, Emma and his mother goodnight, then took Erin’s hand and tugged him down the driveway.

“Which restaurant are you going too, boys?” His mother called from the doorway.

“West Pizza Co.!” Erin shouted back.

When they got to the sidewalk, Arron looked around, then frowned.

“Um, where is your car?” He asked.

“Don’t worry, just hold this stuff for a second.”

Erin tossed him a backpack he hadn’t realized was on his back, along with his tuxedo, undershirt, and boxers to stuff inside. I’m not staring. When Erin shifted, Arron’s mouth dropped open. The guy might have been a young elephant, but when he had finished changing he was easily eight feet tall and gorgeous.

Arron had only seen a couple elephants in his entire life and none of them held a candle to Erin’s. When he turned toward him, Arron quickly zipped up the backpack and swung it over his shoulders.

He had figured that they’d be walking, but when Erin wrapped his trunk around his waist and easily lifted him up onto his back, Arron realized that he had planned the whole thing out.

“This is so cool!”

He gave a snort, which Arron assumed was likely a laugh in elephant speak. Either way, it made him chuckle as he pet the soft, short hair on his head. He could actually see over some of the smaller homes in the neighborhood and for once in his life, he felt grown up.

They were getting a lot of attention as they walked into town. The pizza place was on the outskirts so they didn’t have to meander through too many crowds. As they got to the restaurant, Erin moved between it and the building next door.

Arron tried to slide down from his back, but it was way too high up. Erin’s strong trunk came up after a moment and wrapped around his waist, helping him get his feet back on the ground.

“Thanks.”

Erin was back in his human form seconds later, again surprising Arron with how amazing his shift really was.

“While I don’t mind you staring, I’m kind of starving.” Erin teased.

He raised his eyebrows, but it took Arron a minute to realize that he wanted the backpack. Duh. He quickly took it off and handed it to him, then turned around. It wasn’t very nice to watch people change and he’d already stared enough.

He was tapped on the shoulder a few moments later and looked over it to see a grinning Erin.

“Ready for dinner?”

“Yeah.” Arron replied with a smile.

Erin grabbed his hand and tugged him into the awesome smelling pizza place.

“I’m sure you’re wondering how I knew it was your birthday.” He asked.

He actually was confused about that. He hadn’t told anyone at school.

“I overheard Rylan talking with some of his friends he usually hangs out with on the weekend. He said that he couldn’t come out Saturday because of his foster brother’s birthday. I figured that meant you.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Arron said.

“Hello! Welcome to West Pizza Company! Table for two?” The hostess standing near the entrance said.

Erin answered with an enthusiastic “Yep!”

The young blond hostess smiled and grabbed two menus. “Please follow me.”

When they were seated, Arron ordered a chocolate milk, drawing a chuckle from Erin as he got himself a Dr. Pepper.

The restaurant was really busy, but their waiter, who’s name was Paul, seemed to always be checking up on them when they needed him. After they got their drinks, Arron ordered a pepperoni pizza and grinned when Erin got himself a salad pizza.

He told him that he actually had made the restaurant make it special once because their veggie didn’t have nearly enough veggies on it, according to him. Since it sold so well, he got five dollars off whenever he ordered it because it was his idea.

“Alright, so! How was your birthday so far?” Erin asked.

“It’s been great.” Arron replied before taking a sip of his chocolate milk.

He leaned forward. “Well, tell me. I want details.”

Leaning forward, too, Arron rested his arms on the table.

“It was awesome. Mr. and Mrs. Leo got me an Xbox one. And mom got me a coupon to get a new skateboard. I even got some money.”

Arron suddenly felt like he was gloating because he knew that Erin wasn’t too well off, just like himself. He slowly closed his mouth and scooted a little further back in his seat.

“Hey, don’t feel bad, dumbo.” Erin said as he reached across the table and ruffled his hair.

“I want that excitement back. Those are great gifts!”

It took Arron a moment, but his smile slowly slid back onto his blushing face.

“That’s more like it.”

They both laughed since they’d been sipping at their sugary drinks while talking and both were nearly empty. It probably wasn’t the best idea for him to have more sugar on top of the cake and soda he’d had at lunch time. The waiter came over a few minutes later and as Arron opened his mouth to ask for some water…

Darn it.

His little fuzzy, spotted head shook off his shirt as he managed to get himself free of his clothing.

Too much sugar.

It was rather humiliating to change in a restaurant.

“Oh, don’t pout Arron, come here.” Erin said.

He carefully got down from his seat and walked over to hop up into Erin’s side of the booth. Erin grabbed him and set him on his back, confusing Arron until he started scratching his fuzzy belly.

Okay, I am totally fine with this turn of events. He thought as he stretched a little so that Erin could rub his belly better.

When he finally stopped, it was because their food came.

Erin took a few big mouthfuls of his salad pizza before grabbing a slice of Arron’s and nudging the tip of it against his mouth. Quickly sitting up, Arron chomped down on the hot pie. Considering that he was now in his cheetah form, eating might take awhile, but Erin seemed patient. He held Arron’s pizza with his left hand while using his other to eat his own.

After a minute Arron got himself situated in his lap, paws up, wrapped around his hand to keep it steady there so that he could eat easily.

He couldn’t believe how many people came by their table commenting about how cute his little brother was. Or heck, one old lady even called him Erin’s son!

Erin played along with everything and Arron bit his tongue on a few hisses as he was pet and loved on. He thought that at least a few of the people would look at his clothing on the seat across from them, but nope. Only their waiter treated him like an adult, though he could tell that he had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t a little kid, too.

By the end of their meal Arron had pizza sauce all over his muzzle and a belly full of delicious food. He purred quietly when Erin set him aside to scoop his clothes into his bag and pay the bill.

Arron had grabbed the twenty from his pocket between his teeth and offered it to him to pay, but Erin wouldn’t have it and shoved it right back into Arron’s pant’s pocket before putting them away.

“Nope. It’s your birthday present from me.” He said.

Okay, I’m not going to try and argue. Mainly because it would have sounded like a bunch of mewing because I haven’t mastered English in my cheetah form yet.

Erin gave him a pat on the head and put the backpack on, then scooped him up. As soon as they got outside, he set him down. Arron’s full belly made him a little uninterested in moving right away. When he glanced over his shoulder to look at Erin, he was actually staring down at him with a shy smile.

It was dark outside as they finally headed out of the area, but he swore that he could see a faint hint of pink on Erin’s cheeks in the moonlight. They both stopped at the same moment, making a few people annoyed as they ducked around them on the sidewalk.

Arron could see his smile falter, then widen before he leaned over and gently lifted him up into his arms. You know I don’t like being carried.

He grumbled at Erin, but he just chuckled quietly and nuzzled his nose into his pudgy belly.

Huh?

“I’m sorry. I just…”

His eyes rose to look at Arron’s while he tucked him into his left arm and rubbed his belly lightly with his right hand.

“I just feel like this should be… well, mine.”

His?

Things got quite awkward when Arron realized that he was talking about when he had gotten the disruption pill. He really didn’t want to talk about this kind of thing on his birthday, though. Especially when they were having such a nice night.

With a quiet mew, he reached up and tapped Erin’s nose with his paw.

“You’re right. This is a night of celebration, no need to make things weird.” He said.

Erin set him back down and he gladly started walking ahead of him. It slowly turned into a comfortable silence again, which neither of them really felt the need to break. As they headed up the steps of his new house, Arron shifted back and quickly got changed.

He was just tugging his sweater back over his head when he noticed Erin staring. In the soft glow of the porch light, Arron could tell that he was blushing. His own face felt a little warm, too.

“Hey.” Erin whispered as he stepped a little closer.

He wasn’t going to look up since he had an idea where the situation was heading, but when he felt a gentle hand touch his cheek, Arron couldn’t help but meet his eyes.

Before he could think about stopping him, Erin’s lips were softly pressed against his own. He should have known to stay away because of Rylan’s scent all over him, but it didn’t seem to hinder Erin’s decision making in the least. It was… admirable. He wasn’t afraid of dealing with angry lions to kiss him.

After a long moment Arron began to slowly kiss him back.

“Hey… we’ve stopped kissing.” Erin whispered jokingly a couple seconds later.

What?

“Uh, right.” He said, biting his lower lip.

Erin’s light laugh had his face burning but he didn’t poke fun at him for it. Instead, he just wrapped him up in a strong hug and pressed one final kiss to his hair.

“I’d like to go out with you, if you’ll have me. You don’t have to answer right away, but think about it, please?” He asked.

He wants to date me? Of all people?

The one time they had done it in his car was supposed to be because of his pheromones, he thought. But right now my pheromones are masked by the herb in the bell around my neck, so they can’t be messing with him much.

“You look like you’re trying to figure out a trig problem. Relax kid, I like you, with or without your pheromones.” Erin said as he gave him a boyish grin.

Arron’s mother opened the door a moment later, effectively ending their conversation. With a smile Erin said his goodbyes and waved.

“Good night, Ma’am. See you at school Monday, Arron.”

He added a little wink for him after he’d spoken, but Arron doubted that his mother had caught it.

Chapter 19: Unfriendly Reunion

Oh man!

He’d been rolling around in bed for a good twenty minutes already trying to settle his mind enough to sleep, but it definitely wasn’t working. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Erin, and not just his gorgeous smile and beautiful eyes, but them, kissing.

No more!

Hun, what’s got you so upset? I can hear your thoughts from downstairs. His mother replied through their bond.

He paused in his rolling around.

Uh, it’s nothing, mom. Just thinking too much about things.

He could tell that she didn’t believe him, or at least believe that he was telling the whole truth. Thankfully, she let it go.

Alright, just get some sleep, Arron.

Easier said than done, but he didn’t argue.

Good night, mom.

Good night, Arron. Love you.

Love you, too.

It was a few hours later when Arron sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes as he heard some sound coming from outside. Quiet growls echoed up to his room, drawing him out of bed and toward the window.

When he opened it and looked out, his mind took a moment to process what he was seeing.

“A cheetah?” He said, confused.

He knew right away that it wasn’t his mother, and after a moment of sniffing the air, he could also tell that it was a male. They didn’t know any male cheetahs, though. He hadn’t even seen one at school.

When he spoke, it stopped its pacing and looked up with a slight swish of its tail. Its eyes shone in the darkness before a deep grumble echoed through the night air.

What the heck? I’m not supposed to be releasing any pheromones right now, but then why is this cheetah pacing outside my window?

“Listen, whoever you are. I’m not breeding with you, so go away.”

The cheetah actually looked offended.

“Get lost!” He shouted as he slammed his window shut.

Arron heard him growl outside his window for awhile longer, but it finally left when it realized that he wasn’t going to get anywhere.

Stupid horny cat.

The next morning came with a knock at his door.

“Hun, come downstairs soon please. There’s someone who wants to meet you.”

Huh? Mom sounds upset.

Arron grumbled and sat up, shaking his head to try and get himself out of his doze. After a quick shower he pulled on a pair of blue checkered boxers, tan cargo shorts, and a white sweatshirt he had gotten for Christmas the year before.

Alright, time to go see who mom wants me to meet.

“Coming!” He yelled toward the stairs.

He was pretty cheerful as he hopped off of the last step and walked over to the table where the… cheetah? Arron’s face instantly skewed into a snarl and he hissed at the man. He seemed upset at the response, but holding back a retort, he just gave him a hesitant smile.

“Arron! Stop it, right now!” His mother reprimanded him.

He glared at her but growled again as his attention quickly returned to the male cheetah shifter at their table.

“This asshole was outside my room last night! I want him out!” He yelled.

The slight pang of anger he felt from his mother had Arron smirking and the man flinching, but all he did in response was carefully stand up and step toward him. Arron quickly gave a warning hiss, effectively stopping the man from getting any closer.

“Arron, please, calm down. I just want to talk to you. I’m sorry I growled at your window last night, I just, I don’t know, I’m terrible at confrontations.”

Arron bristled at his words.

“You seem pretty damn confrontational right now!” He grumbled.

Feeling his mother’s hands on his shoulders, Arron forced himself to calm down a little.

“Marcus, why don’t you explain why you are here?” His mother said.

The man sighed, obviously glad that his mother had stepped in. As he began to talk, he started running his fingers through his hair, showing obvious signs of stress.

“I, well. I came to make things right.”

Arron’s eyes narrowed and he growled again, but his mother held him back when he tried to step forward.

“Let me explain. I’m, well, I’m your real dad.”

You want to explain why you forced yourself on my real father!

Arron’s mother held him back again as he tried to lunge, but after a second he dropped to the floor in his kitten form and bounded out of his clothes. He knew that he wasn’t much of a threat at his current size, but his teeth were definitely sharp and they were now digging into the bastard’s ankle.

Hearing him scream brought a little warmth to Arron’s heart. Serves you right! And it was about time that his kitten form did something useful.

He was pried off of him a minute later, his kitten smirking oddly as his mouth came away coated in blood.

“I’m not sure this was the best idea. Maybe you should go.” His mother said.

She quickly carried Arron toward the sink to wash his face off. The man followed, but kept his distance after grabbing some paper towels and disinfectant from the cabinet.

Once he had the bite bandaged, he stood back up and sighed, but didn’t leave. Arron gave another growl and started trying to go after him again, struggling to get out of his mother’s hands as she held him in a towel near the sink.

He managed to get free after another minute, and even with a slightly painful fall to the tile, he was still dead set on making another wound on the bastard. His other ankle looked a little too bare for his teeth’s taste.

Unfortunately, this time Marcus was faster than him and jumped up onto the counter. Arron’s mother growled at him for that, but at least he wasn’t wearing his shoes. If he thought that he couldn’t jump up there, though, he was dead wrong.

“Arron, don’t you dare!” His mother warned.

He sat down right in front of the man with a grumble and waited for him to try and come down.

I want him out, mom!

She sighed and leaned against the sink, shaking her head slowly.

“Marcus, I don’t think you’re going to be winning him over.” She said.

It was obvious that he hadn’t even won her over.

“The courts said he is partially mine. Took them plenty of time, but I’m not going to give up on my chance to know my son. You both have hidden him from me for long enough, even after the court had served you with several notices to let me meet him.” He said.

While he sounded calm, Arron could hear the anger and annoyance beneath his mellow words.

“In all honesty, I have more claim to him then you do, Ariel.”

Okay, now Arron was jumping up onto the counter and biting the guy. He gave another yell when his little teeth sank into his wrist, but instead of tossing him away, Marcus scruffed him too tightly and shook him hard. Arron felt his head hit something hard, then black dots danced in front of his vision.

The last thing he heard before he went unconscious was his mother’s angry growl and Marcus’s returning one.

Chapter 20: Something to Laugh About

(Pepperjack says hello.) 

Mom.

Mom?

He was about to try and reach out to his mother again when he heard Marcus’s voice respond in his head.

Shut the hell up!

The volume and intensity of his words made Arron wince and mew quietly.

Oh suck it up you little shit. Get up and get me a beer.

Confusion swam over his thoughts as he tried to get himself up. His scruff was his one weakness besides his obvious size. If it was pulled on too hard, he tended to pass out. It was embarrassing and frustrating that his own father, though he would never acknowledge him as such, had hurt him like that.

I don’t care, kid. Just get your ass up!

Arron yelped and pushed himself up. He felt a blanket under his hands, but it was clear that it was old and worn thin. He heard Marcus’s growl a moment later from the other room, as well as mentally, and quickly stumbled into the living room area of the tiny apartment.

Gross.

The place was an absolute mess. It screamed drunkard with bottles lying everywhere. Several packs of empty cigarette cartons were on the table along with an overfull ashtray. There was even smoke dust on the walls.

It was no wonder his sensitive nose was beginning to burn. He was just shaking his head a little to try and clear it when he felt an empty glass bottle smack him on the right side of his head. He yelped and lifted his hand to wipe away a line of blood that had started to run down the side of his face.

What the heck is his problem?

“Get me a beer you worthless shit.”

Arron snarled over his shoulder at Marcus.

The man had been lazing on the sofa until Arron had gone and growled at him. He realized his mistake too late, though, when he saw Marcus shift abruptly and lunge for him.

Arron’s kitten took over through sheer panic, but it barely made it a few feet before Marcus grabbed it by the back of the neck and shook hard. His vision went out quickly as pain radiated from the place where Marcus’s teeth were breaking skin. Rylan’s little bouts of aggression seemed like nothing compared to his father’s as he felt his body drop to the floor.

“Worthless. I took you because I would get paid to keep my offspring, but I can’t believe that idiot even kept you alive when he noticed that your shift wasn’t growing up. A fucking kitten at eighteen? I’m disgusted that I had even sired you.”

Arron’s chest hurt hearing his words but he reminded himself several times that Marcus wasn’t his true father, he was just some asshole who forced himself on his real father.

He heard Marcus’s footsteps moving about the apartment. The fridge opened a moment later as he, no doubt, got himself another beer. He was back on the sofa after a few seconds as Arron remained on the floor, bleeding from several punctures on the back of his neck. Everything went silent for a little while and he thought that he’d blacked out, but it seemed like not a minute later that the door to the apartment was creaking open and three sets of footsteps walked in.

They all stopped after a second, no doubt staring at him. The pain was now a steady ache all over his body and he definitely couldn’t move to even try to see who they were.

“Marcus, why is there a kitten dying on your floor?”

The voice he heard was deep and rough, but steady and calm as a set of footsteps approached him. Arron could hear his boots on the wooden floor before the swish of his clothing told him that he was kneeling down.

What he didn’t expect to hear were awkward cackles. It almost sounded like two people were laughing at him uncontrollably, but when those sounds got closer, the man who had knelt beside him let out a laughing snarl of his own and quickly moved away from him.

Laughing and running sounds continued for another moment before the retreating scratching of claws on the floor let Arron know that the two… things, were backing off.

“Marcus, I asked you a question. Why is there a bloody kitten on your floor?” The man repeated.

“Oh chill out, Larro. You, Pask, and Tayn can just have it.”

The laughing started up again abruptly as Arron heard claws scramble. The man, who he assumed hadn’t changed since he’d been speaking off and on, seemed to charge again and pushed the others away. He honestly thought that they were just going to eat him since it wasn’t really unheard of among different species, but when he was gently scooped up into strong arms, he mewed in confusion.

“It’s okay, little one.” Larro said.

Arron felt the man move as he turned and headed toward the door, the two animals he’d heard previously hot on his heels judging from the sound of their nails on the floor.

“I’m taking it to the hospital.”

Marcus just grunted as they left. Arron was grateful to be out of that disgusting, dangerous place… but he had no idea who Larro even was and silently wondered why the man didn’t just use him as a snack for him and his friends.

Chapter 21: Larro

(I shouldn’t have to say this, but please do not give spoilers or repeat what happened or might happen from the old version in the comments. Feel free to say ‘I like him better now’ or ‘yay my favorite character is back, he was great’ but don’t ruin the story for those reading it for the first time who want to discuss new stuff in comments. Thanks.)

Arron heard a faint beeping sound echo around wherever he was, but he couldn’t find the energy to even open his eyes and see what it could be.

“Hey, morning.” Came Larro’s voice.

“Good morning, sir. The kitten you brought in is still asleep.” Another male voice replied.

There was a sigh and the sound of heavy boots making their way closer.

“Do you know who he belongs to, yet?” He asked.

“His microchip was registered under Ian Spots and Marcus Tails, but Ian’s record shows that he is deceased.” The other man replied.

There was a deep growl before Larro replied.

“Reregister it to Larro Mane.”

“But that’s not something I can do without the living parent’s consent.” The other man replied.

A quiet cackle echoed in the room before Larro responded. “Marcus is the one who did this to him. I already submitted a police report and they asked if I would take custody of him for the time being. You can check that with a phone call.”

The other man seemed to hesitate, then replied. “Was your background check completed by them yet?”

Arron could tell that the guy was getting frustrated because there was a faintly psychotic laugh mixed in with his next sentence.

“Just change the microchip already!”

The other man seemed to finally get the idea and disappeared for a few minutes before returning, huffing from running.

“They did confirm that you have temporary custody. Just sign this paper, Mr. Mane.”

The scratch of a pen on paper echoed in the room.

“There. He’s mine now.”

“Yes, though you will have to wait for it to go through the system. They said that their might be a kidnapping case being brought against Marcus.”

The man didn’t sound happy, but they obviously weren’t going to risk their neck arguing. I think I trust Larro more than Marcus, anyways. At least he hasn’t attacked me, twice.

“When can I take him home?” Larro asked.

“Uh, well, his readings haven’t really changed much. He’s stable, but the injuries may take some time to heal. We should probably keep him here.”

There was a deep growl in response and Arron had a feeling that the doctor at least fidgeted.

“Does he need the machines he’s hooked up to?” Larro asked.

“He might be okay without them, but he does need the IV’s. He’s dehydrated badly.” The other man said.

“So I can take him home with some IV bags?” Larro asked.

There was a long pause and then an audible, stressed sigh.

“I suppose.” He said.

“Whatever, give me some of those bags and some drip lines. I’m taking him home.”

Arron wanted to listen to the rest of their conversation, but sleep pulled him back under.

“Hey kiddo.”

Something was pressing against his nose.

Annoying.

He tried to shake his head, but the movement required way too much energy that he didn’t have. He then tried to lift his paw and swat at the annoyance, but he could only move it an inch, if that. Frustrated, Arron twitched his nose a little, desperate to stop being bothered.

“There we go. This annoying hyena’s been poking at your nose for quite awhile.” Larro said quietly.

He felt the poke again and twitched his nose for a second time so that he’d stop.

“Sorry, I’m an annoying dog, but you’ve gotta wake up, kid. You haven’t eaten anything in four days.”

Arron let out a frustrated mew and tried to turn his head away, but again, no energy.

“Here, I brought a bunch of stuff, so let’s see what we can get in that tiny little belly of yours.” Larro said.

There were a few cackles in the background after Larro spoke that sounded like they were coming from another room, but Arron ignored them as Larro began pressing something against Arron’s lips. He really didn’t want anything to eat and refused several things, but when he smelled macaroni and cheese his belly grumbled and forced him to open his mouth a little.

“There we go. Mac and cheese always wins with little kids.” Larro said.

He fed Arron one noodle at a time between his fingers, but he was thankful for that. He didn’t think that he could have really managed chewing, and one noodle at a time was perfect for just swallowing them whole.

After about twenty noodles Arron gave a pained mew, wondering if there was any pain medicine available because his neck and head hurt terribly.

“Hurting, kiddo? The meds should begin working soon. I was kind of a bastard and ground them up in the cheese sauce. You ate about half the pill already. Do you want to finish up the macaroni for the rest of the medicine?”

Arron immediately mewed again in response, making Larro chuckle.

“Alright then, here.”

Larro fed him for the better half of twenty minutes. Silence took over as he ate, though he could hear a TV on in the another room.

“You take pills better than any kid I’ve ever known.” Larro said.

Arron gave him a quiet purr in response. He normally hated pills, but he was grateful for the pain medicine.

“If only you were a hyena. Will need to make sure that my matriarch doesn’t figure out that you’re here. This is my own den, but I can’t exactly tell her to leave without losing my last name.”

Arron heard him grunt and give a dry laugh.

“Though that name is wearing real thin considering all she ever wants me to do is breed. Never even lets me near the cubs.”

Arron heard him move a bit, then felt fur press against his cheek after a minute. He figured out quickly that Larro must have shifted and curled up against him. With his belly full, Arron didn’t think much into having a hyena lying beside him. He was happily out cold in seconds.

“Hey kiddo, wake up.”

Arron had been dozing for a little while so it didn’t take much effort to blink open his eyes.

“There you are. What pretty eyes.” Larro said with a smile as he scooped him up carefully. It was the first time that Arron could see him, and he was actually pretty good looking. Not that he was interested, but he definitely beat out his dad . His hair was cut partially like his own with a brownish black mohawk design leading to a tiny ponytail tied at the back of his neck. His head wasn’t shaved at all, though.

Maybe it’s a hyena thing?

“Alright you, let’s get some real, healthy stuff into that belly.” Larro said as he headed for the kitchen and began digging through a bag on the counter after setting Arron beside it. When he pulled out a bottle of Pedialyte, Arron nearly gagged.

Larro’s eyebrows rose questioningly as Arron backed away.

“You’re pretty smart for a toddler. You don’t like this stuff?” He asked.

Arron quickly shook his head, stumbling a little from the dizziness the gesture created.

“You really do need it though, it’s healthy.”

Arron made another face and sat down.

That stuff is just artificial garbage with some sugar. He’d always hated when the vets had recommended it for him growing up.

“Well, will you eat broccoli?”

Arron shook his head.

“Uh, cucumber?”

Nope.

The man grumbled under his breath and turned toward the fridge, opening it as he looked inside.

“What about… strawberries?”

Mew!

He looked back at Arron with a grin and took out the container of strawberries.

“I already washed these so let’s see if they’re the trick. Not my first choice, but fruit is definitely better than macaroni and cheese, here.”

He offered Arron a big berry and he quickly grabbed it with his paws and laid down to eat. He got his face completely covered in berry juice, but he was purring quite happily as the fruit disappeared.

“Messy little kid, aren’t you?” Larro said with a chuckle.

Arron burped and dove into the container of remaining strawberries, drawing a laugh from the older man. Larro let him eat about eight more before closing the tub and putting it away.

“Alright, potty time. I’m sure you’re ready to burst… and I would prefer it wasn’t on my counter.” He said as he picked Arron up again and set him down on a small stack of newspapers.

“Alright, go potty.”

You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Arron glared up at him and ran off toward the hallway. Aha, a bathroom! Larro was shouting at him to stop and running to catch up but as Arron got to the bathroom, he hissed and Larro skidded to a stop. He then quickly pawed the door closed and hopped up onto the toilet.

God, it felt good to go. When he finished up and flushed, he heard the door open and glanced up.

“Oh. I guess you’re potty trained.” Larro said, clearly surprised.

The look on his face was quite entertaining.

“Alright, let me wipe your butt. I don’t need you dragging it on the carpet.”

What? I can clean my own butt! It’s probably not even dirty!

Before Arron could run out the door again, Larro kicked it shut and picked him up. After a quick, but humiliating session of Larro using wipes on his backside, Arron was finally freed and immediately clawed his hand up.

“Hey! I was just trying to clean you up!” Larro yelped as he dropped him.

Arron’s fur bristled, showing the mohawk that Erin had given him spike up.

“Alright, alright. As long as you keep yourself clean I won’t do that again.”

Good!

“Well then, can you uh… shift?” Larro asked.

Er, that was a good question.

Arron hopped off the counter and focused on letting his human body take over. It took a lot of effort and actually hurt quite a bit, but he finally managed to complete the change after a minute.

He sat on the cold tile floor, leaning forward on his hands to work on catching his breath. When his eyes opened, he had to blink several times to get his vision to clear enough to see.

“It seems a little dark in here.” He rasped.

“All the lights are on.” Larro said as he knelt down next to him and gently settled a hand on his shoulder. Arron just wanted to hug the guy for being there and not being like his fake father , but his attention was redirected when he heard the door to the apartment open.

Larro growled and quickly lifted Arron up. A second later and he was set in the bathtub and the curtain was yanked closed.

“Stay here, and stay quiet.” He whispered before running out of the bathroom and closing the door.

His mind was going a mile a minute with the new information that had just shifted in front of him. The little kid was definitely not as little as he or the vet had thought.

No wonder he was about to bite me for feeding him that nasty kiddie crap and wiping his ass!

“Let me guess who’s at the door.” Larro grumbled as he walked past Pask and Tayn.

Tayn cackled and rolled over on the sofa with a smirk.

“Ms. Bitchy Fluff Ass.”

Pask added in;

“She wants your man parts again, lover Larro.”

I’m so sick of giving her babies that I’m not even allowed to see.

Larro sighed before walking down the hall, not even bothering to look up until he was a few feet in front of her. Their matriarch would normally give any male hyena a hard-on, but after being used by her for the past five years, he was more ready to puke than have sex with her again.

“Larro.” She purred disgustingly as she stepped forward and rubbed a hand against his chest. He knew that he had to tread lightly, though, if he wanted to keep his name and position in the pack. Although, that was becoming less and less important to him.

“What do you want, Olessa?” He asked.

The words were growled, but she didn’t seem to care in the least. Instead, she just began undoing his pants. Larro backed up, but she followed. Each step he took she mirrored, not caring at all that he was blatantly declining to breed with her.

“Do your duty to the pack, Larro.” She said, starting to get frustrated.

She jerked him to a stop by the front of his pants. He grunted, biting his tongue on a real warning growl. All the damned kids he’d given her and he could never even raise a single one.

Duty my ass!

“No.”

Her brows rose for a second before she cackled out a hysterical laugh.

“You’re so funny, Larro. Now then, pants off.”

Tayn and Pask both cackled from the living room but Larro wasn’t feeling their excitement. In fact, he wasn’t feeling any bit of excitement at all. When she suddenly grabbed for him again, he snarled.

It was a stupid move considering they were basically evenly matched because the hyena hierarchy was always ruled by a dominant female, but he wasn’t going to deal with her harassment anymore.

“I’m done with this, Olessa. I will not give you anymore damned children!” He yelled as he stepped back and began buttoning his pants.

“Is this about me not letting you be near them?” She asked, seemingly unphased.

She stalked around him in a circle, running her clawed fingers gently along his abdomen and backside.

“Why would I let someone who has such a nasty past near one of my beautiful little babies?”

Larro’s body tensed, and again he was having to hold himself back. He couldn’t change his past, and he agreed that he had made terrible mistakes years ago, but people grew up. Holding that against him for his entire life was unfair.

She stopped in front of him with a cocky smirk he knew all too well.

“I keep you around because you produce the best offspring, and for no other reason. If you won’t breed, then you’ll be banished from the pack.”

His lips pursed from the stress building up in the tiny hallway. She was just beginning to lean back over to undo his pants again when he snarled and shoved her toward the open door.

“Get out.” He ground out.

Her entire body spelled out how shocked she was, but it quickly morphed into anger. Thankfully, he heard Tayn and Pask flanking him in a second, both having shifted into their hyena forms. They cackled and licked their lips, just waiting for him to give them the signal to attack.

Sure, Olessa would possibly be able to beat one of them, but three? That was an extremely deadly risk.

“I always knew you’d be more interested in being a rouge like your disgusting fleabag friends. Go to hell, Larro!” She growled at him.

Tayn cackled and charged, but stopped at the entrance to the apartment as Olessa bolted with a snarl.

“Well, I guess that was a long time coming.” Larro said with a sigh.

Pask shifted and smirked at him.

“You don’t need that bitch. You got yourself a kid now anyways, so go enjoy raising the little spotted shit maker.” He said.

They always knew how to cheer him up. With a light chuckle, he patted Tayn’s fuzzy head and elbowed Pask in the ribs before Pask smacked him on the head and they both sauntered back to the sofa. Larro then headed toward the bathroom, and after tapping on the door lightly, stepped inside.

“Hey Spots, sorry about that.”

He half expected the kid to be defensive after hearing all of the growls, but when he gently pulled back the shower curtain, he was hugging his knees and shivering.

“Are you cold, kid?”

He quickly pulled off his gray sweatshirt and tugged it over his head. It took a bit of work since the kid had a pretty good grip on his legs, but Larro eventually got it on him correctly… right before he wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his face in his shoulder.

“Uh?”

Larro’s arms wrapped around him, hesitantly at first, but after a minute he carefully got him out of the tub and situated in his lap.

My sweatshirt is huge on him.

“What’s wrong, hun?”

It took the kid a moment to stop sniffling and finally open his eyes to look up at him.

“I want to go home to my mom, please.” He said, his voice rough with stress as tears began to run down his cheeks.

Chapter 22: A Phone Call

He wasn’t quite sure what to tell the kid. He was looking up at him with watery eyes, face frightened and confused, and he couldn’t get a damned word out of his mouth. When silence took over, the kid hesitantly tucked his face against Larro’s neck and sighed.

“He attacked me, I think.” He whispered. “I made him mad and growled when he told me to get him something.”

“How long had you been with him?” Larro asked calmly.

The boy hesitated, obviously trying to think.

“I don’t know. He took me from my mom, and then I woke up on the floor. I don’t know how long I was out, but he hurt me a few minutes after I awoke.”

Larro gently picked him up and started heading toward the living room, looking around for where he had tossed his cell phone. When he couldn’t find it, he growled at Tayn, who was still lazing on the sofa.

“Find my phone please, Tayn.”

He was still in his hyena form and their noses were one of the best in the animal kingdom. Of course, Tayn was always overly dramatic when asked to do anything,and grumbled as he stretched, then flopped off the sofa to sniff around. It didn’t take him long, and pretty soon Larro had his phone in his hand… plus some extra slobber.

“Thanks. Go get yourself a piece of meat from the fridge.”

That got an excited laugh from the hyena as it bolted around the corner. With a chuckle, Larro flipped his phone open and glanced at the kid for a second.

“What’s your name, kiddo?” He asked.

“Arron.” He mumbled.

No last name?

“Okay, do you know your mom’s phone number?”

Arron nodded and gave him the number.

“Alright, let’s give her a call.”

Larro dialed it, though the area code didn’t sound family, and waited until a woman’s voice came over the speaker.

“Hello, ma’am. I uh, believe I have your son?”

There was a loud gasp on the other side of the phone and Larro couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh my gosh, where is he? I-I’ll pay you a reward! Please, just let him come home!” She cried.

“Ma’am, calm down. He’s okay, and I’ll bring him home. I don’t want any reward, but I need to talk to you, give me a second.”

He brought Arron over to the sofa and carefully set him down, then nodded to Pask.

“Look after him for a minute, okay?”

The man nodded and tugged the boy against his side.

“He’s a friend, Arron. Stay here for a few minutes while I speak with your mom, okay?”

He could tell that the kid was hesitant and scared, but he slowly nodded and forced himself to relax a bit.

Strong kid for all the things he’s had to go through recently.

“I’ll just be in the other room so call me if you need me.”

He nodded again and Larro took his leave to his bedroom. Once the door was closed, he leaned against it with a sigh and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t want him listening in. He uh, was attacked by another cheetah. The man was on his microchip, so I’m guessing Marcus was his father but the other man on the chip…?”

“He was his mother.”

“Wait, then Arron is a…?” He said, his words dying on his tongue.

“Yes. He is a cross shifter.” She confirmed.

He let out a tired laugh and leaned his head back against the door with a light thunk.

“No wonder he’s wearing a pheromone collar. Alright, so, I suppose you’re his guardian, then?” He asked.

“Yes. His real mother was my husband. Marcus forced himself upon my husband and by law we had to have the man’s name on Arron’s microchip as his father. However, he actually came to my house last week and took him. I fought but there was only so much I could do. I submitted a plea to the courts, but since I am not his biological mother, it is taking a long time to process.”

“I understand ma’am. You are in Oregon, right?” He asked, figuring that she was in his state.

There was a long silence over the phone, which he took as a no .

“Okay. Well, um, where are you?”

“Ridgedale… California.”

That’s a serious drive!

“I have work tomorrow that I can’t afford to miss, but I’m free Saturday and Sunday. I can drive him down to you then if you’d like?” Larro offered.

She was silent for another moment but then quietly replied. “Okay. I can’t afford to take off work again either. I’ve been off all week trying to find him. God I feel like a terrible mother.”

He could tell that she was having a hard time not coming to get him right away. Poor woman having to deal with Marcus. He honestly hoped that the guy hadn’t been drunk when he’d taken Arron.

Unlikely.

“May I ask you for your name?”

“I would proffer to keep it to myself.” He mumbled awkwardly.

He heard a slight gasp of worry on the other end of the line and sighed.

“Listen, ma’am. I’m sorry but I don’t have the best past. I promise you that I will bring your son home, but I don’t want you looking up things that could stress you out further. I saved him from dying on Marcus’ floor.”

There was a faint sniffle on the other end of the line and he smiled slightly.

“Would you like to talk to him?” He asked.

“Yes! Please!” Was her immediately, and loud, response.

“Okay, one moment.”

He headed out to the living room and sat down beside Arron.

“Here, your mom wants to talk to you.”

Arron knew that it was stupid to openly request attention from a stranger, but he pushed aside his common sense and leaned into Larro as he took the phone and lifted it to his ear.

“Hey mom.” He said quietly.

He wanted to shout but his voice came out scratchy.

“Hi sweetheart. I missed you so much.”

He couldn’t help but sniffle.

“I missed you so much, too.”

“Are you alright, Arron? Are you being treated well?” She asked.

Larro’s chest rumbled against him with a quiet laugh, making him grin a little.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Though he did try to make me pee on a stack of newspaper and feed me that nasty baby food stuff.”

His mother actually laughed at that, nearly bringing tears to his eyes. He didn’t want her to worry about him. He was doing fine.

They talked for a long while, catching up and planning some fun things for when he got back. She told him that Rylan was keeping up with his classes and doing all of his homework for him, making the excuse that he was really sick.

He felt a forehead settle against his shoulder a bit later and grinned when quiet snoring soon followed.

“Mom, I think everyone falling asleep.”

“Alright hun. It is really late. Get some rest and I’ll call you tomorrow?” She said.

“Alright mom, good night.”

“Good night, Arron. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

They hung up and he gave a huge yawn.

“Ready for bed?”

He squeaked from surprise and jumped slightly at the sound of the Larro’s voice. He had thought that he’d fallen asleep.

“Yes?” He actually was still really tired.

Larro chuckled and lifted him up easily, then carried him back toward the bedroom he’d come out of earlier.

“Hey… what is your name?”

He didn’t answer him right away, and instead handed him a pair of shorts once he set him down. Arron pulled the shorts on climbed onto the large bed in silence. When the guy finally joined him beneath the blankets and stretched, Arron sighed and nuzzled into the pillow he was borrowing. He didn’t expect him to answer, but right before he fell asleep, he heard the guy whisper.

“Larro.”

Chapter 23: Father Figure

(Haven’t gone through this one a whole lot, if there are mistakes kindly point them out in a non-aggressive manner. Thanks)

Is someone rubbing my belly?

Arron stretched himself out a little and sighed. When the attention stopped, he was close to passing out again, but when he heard someone speaking he realized that he was going to have to wake up.

Darn.

“Arron, we need to go to the vet for a check up.” Larro said as he poked his belly a couple times.

Mew?

“No, you can’t sleep longer. The appointment is in twenty minutes. Up and at em, kid.”

Arron tried to bury himself further under the blankets, but they were quickly tossed aside.

“Oh come here, you.”

I don’t wanna go.

He was suddenly being lifted up into Larro’s arms before being toted toward the front door.

“I already got some clothes packed for you in case you change back.” He said.

That was good. He wasn’t a fan of running around naked, especially if his pheromones began to get bad again. He believed that the collar would help, but there was only so much it could do if he ran around flaunting his stuff.

When Larro set him in the passenger’s seat Arron quickly tapped on the window button, but it stopped lowering after only a few inches.

“That’s not going any further down, it’s dangerous.” Larro said as he got himself buckled in.

Oh come on. Who locks the windows! Except for mom, and evidently this darn guy.

Arron turned on him and puffed up in anger, but the guy just smirked and patted his head.

“I could put you in the kitten seat-belt I got when I went to the store yesterday if it’ll make you happier?” He said.

I will end you!

Arron flopped down on the seat with his paws hanging over the edge and looked away. Feeling another pat on his head, he quickly mewed his annoyance but didn’t swat at him.

“You’re so cute.”

You’re such a butt hole.

Arron silently fumed all the way to the vet.

“Alright, we’re here.” Larro said.

Arron stood up quickly and started messing with the latch to open the door when he was grabbed from behind and carried inside. This guy is getting some serious ground rules the next time my cheetah let’s me shift.

As he was toted into the vet office, Arron noticed that the place was much bigger than the ones he was used to going to. There were several humans with domestic pets scattered about the room, and several shifters waiting in chairs. He was the only one in the room, that he could tell, who was a shifter and not in their human form.

Larro quickly got him signed in and then sat down, putting him in his lap. Arron was about to jump down and begin instigating the pets, but then something swung in front of his face and grabbed his attention.

String!

He swatted at the thing repeatedly, nearly falling off of Larro’s lap several times before he finally caught the blasted thing for a few seconds before it slipped through his claws, just to realize that Larro was simply trying to distract him.

Well, it was working. Mine!

His chubby cheetah self bounced around on Larro’s legs, chest, and even his head, as he went after the string. He didn’t stop until the vet called his name drawing his attention right as he caught the string between his teeth.

Mew!

Larro grabbed him abruptly and brought him to the examination room. When he sat Arron down on the table, he tried to tug his shoe lace out of his mouth, but it would be the sacrifice he would have to pay in order for him not to claw his cocky face for carrying him so much and bringing him to the vet.

“You may just want to let him have it for now. The exam might hurt a bit since we have to check his stitches. Maybe remove them if the injury is healed enough.” The vet said.

It was obvious Mr. Hyena wasn’t exactly happy about that thought, but Arron had won out after one more faint tug, claiming his prize.

“Okay, fine, you little spotted brat.” He grumbled.

WIth a feline smirk Arron started gnawing on the poor string, watching as Larro mumbled under his breath about having to go buy more.

You started it.

“Alright, let’s get you checked out. Sir, can you hold him gently and press his back end down please? The injury is just behind his scruff so it shouldn’t cause damage to hold him that way.”

They could do whatever as long as they didn’t take his string. The exam was thankfully quick and the only time he had hissed was when the vet had plucked out the five stitches along his injury.

“It’s healed up pretty well but be sure to rub some of this cream on it and keep it bandaged at night, okay?” The vet said.

“Yes Sir.” Larro replied as he took the small bottle and then scooped Arron up. The abrupt movement had Arron scrambling to grab all the pieces of the shoelace he’d massacred, but couldn’t manage to get the last two.

Mew!

“Oh shush you, you can have the extra one from the pack I need to buy now cause of a certain fuzzy midget.”

I’m okay with that.

“Definitely going to keep my shoes on the counter from now on.”

That was the moment Arron felt himself shift. And, with one big, cocky smirk, he leaned back in Larro’s arms and replied right as he stopped moving right outside the door.

“I guess I’ll just have to shift and take them then.”

Instead of the pop on the nose his mother would always give him for being a smart ass, Larro just gave him a quick squeeze of a hug before setting him down atop his shoes.

“Balance for a second, don’t want you walking around barefoot.”

I’m not super light, though. Even though he really was for his age.

While Arron was thinking to himself, Larro leaned over and got the backpack he’d brought open. Arron felt the sweater being tugged over his head a moment later and snapped himself back to attention so that he could help with getting his arms in the right holes. Larro then pressed a pair of shorts into his hand that were, no doubt, his.

“Alright, you look funny but it’ll do for now.” He said when Arron finally had some clothing on, on top of the too-big slip on shoes Larro had brought along. “Let’s go get myself a new shoelace and you some clothes that don’t make you look like a hobo, hm?”

Arron nodded and sat down in Larro’s car before they headed off. He realized what he had said and looked over in at the man.

“You’re going to buy me clothes?” He asked.

The man replied with a cheerful smile. “Yup!”

“Please don’t. My mom can’t afford to pay you back and I guess Marcus took my forty dollars I had on me before, because I definitely don’t have it now.”

He thought he’d get annoyed at that request, but instead Larro just cackled, his animal showing through with the odd sound.

“Arron. I don’t need your mother to pay me back. let’s just say I’m… well off.”

“Oh?”

Arron tucked his chin a little, pursing his lips. There was no arguing that he needed some clothes, but he still felt bad taking them from someone else.

“Oh don’t you go sulking, here.” Larro said as he reached over and dropped another piece of string into Arron’s hand.

The offering instantly went to his mouth and effectively shut him up for the entire car ride to the store.

Larro knew that he sounded like an old perverted grandpa in his mind, but the kid was way too cute. Even if he was an enemy species to his instincts, he knew that even his hyena was wanting to dote on him like Arron was its own kit. It was pretty darn hard to keep back its excited laughs, too, but he didn’t want to freak the kid out.

They got to Davonson’s after about twenty minutes, and when he looked over at Arron to say that they were there, he noticed that his second shoelace was in seven different pieces.

Damn, you work fast.

With a small smile, Larro walked around to Arron’s side of the car once they’d parked. He offered his hand and Arron took it with a matching smile, allowing him to help tug him up to his feet.

“Alright, we’re going to get you five sets of clothing.”

“Eh? I’m okay with just one.” Arron said hurriedly.

Larro rolled his eyes and waved a sales associate over as they walked through the electric sliding doors.

“Hello sir! How can I help you?”

“Where is the boy’s department?” He asked.

“Right this way, sir.” The associate replied as she turned to lead them.

They quickly followed them up an elevator and then down a long hall surrounded by clothing on both sides. It went from women’s, to appliances, then they turned a corner and followed TV’s until they came to a stop in the boy’s section.

“Thank you very much, ma’am.” He said with a smile.

She returned it and excused herself after making sure that there was nothing else they needed help with.

“Alright, time to play dress-up.” Larro said with a slight laugh.

He saw Arron’s face pale as he groaned.

“It will be fine. I’ll try to make this as quick as possible.” He said.

Shopping was never his favorite thing to do, but having Arron with him actually made it somewhat enjoyable. He was grumpy for the first half of it, but when Larro started asking him what he liked in terms of colors, fashion, and the like, he slowly began to loosen up and smiled as they messed around with different things.

Once he’d finished trying everything on, they got the outfits he liked sorted out. Arron definitely wasn’t a fan of pink or purple, though. Larro had tried to slip him a few items in those colors as more of a joke than anything, but he’d completely refused to even try them on.

He thought that they’d look good on him, but he couldn’t force the kid to wear something he hated. He did manage to sneak in a cute pair of dark purple tennis shoes, though. They looked cool and Arron actually seemed to like them, though he wouldn’t admit it out loud.

By the time they got to the checkout counter they were both smirking like idiots. Arron had been holding onto the cart full of stuff as Larro pushed it. The kid definitely looked better than he had, but it was clear that he was still a little unsteady on his feet, especially after shopping for so long.

“Hello Sir, did you find everything you were looking for?” The cashier asked.

“Yes ma’am.” Larro replied as he began unloading the clothing from the cart.

“Awesome, I’ll just ring this up for you then.” She said.

There were quite a lot of beeps sounding from the scanner as the prices added up on the screen. When it was finally all scanned and bagged back in their cart, the woman chimed out their total.

“Five hundred thirty-five dollars and thirty four cents is your total.”

Larro swore that the kid nearly crapped himself when he heard that number, but he just snickered and swiped his debit card. It really wasn’t a whole lot for the amount of clothing they’d gotten, but he could understand that it would seem like a lot to him. He’d mentioned that him and his mother frequented thrift stores more often than stores for new clothing.

“Just think of this as your cumulative birthday presents up to this year if you want.” He said with a smirk as he grabbed their bags and lead a silent Arron from the store.

Chapter 24: A Fun Day Out

(I like this pic of Larro too much to not reuse it. He’s my favorite character. He’s probably the only character pic I’ll put up.) 

I can’t believe he paid five hundred dollars for clothing!

Those words repeated in Arron’s head all the way back to Larro’s apartment. He didn’t really come out of his shocked daze until he heard him speak.

“I have to go to work for a bit. Do you want to come or stay with Pask and Tayn?” He asked.

He thought about that for a moment, not too sure about staying with the other two males. He didn’t exactly know them at all and they hadn’t been the nicest.

“You wouldn’t get in the way if you want to come, it’s a desk job, of sorts.” Larro said.

Oh, well, if I wouldn’t bother him.

“Okay. Can I come with you?” He asked.

Arron saw him smile faintly and returned it with one of his own.

“Of course. Let’s just get this stuff dropped off, take a quick shower, and then get dressed to go?” He said.

“Okay.”

They pulled up outside of his apartment a minute later and Arron helped him bring in the excessive amount of bags. Afterward, Larro sent him off to shower so he quickly pulled out an outfit and headed to the bathroom.

He took his time washing, enjoying the hot water a lot. The only thing that really made him move from beneath it several minutes later was the smell of sausage and bacon cooking. The scents had a tight knot coiling in his stomach, making him blink back tears. His father used to always make him a big breakfast when they spent time together on his rare days off.

Larro was just about to flip another pancake in one of the pans he had going when he felt arms wrap around his waist and damp hair press against his back. He quickly got the pancake flipped so that it wouldn’t burn, then turned off the stove and reached down to take Arron’s hands. The sniffles coming from him were quiet but easily audible to his sensitive hearing.

“What’s wrong, little Spots?” He asked gently as his thumbs rubbed along the back of Arron’s fingers.

It took the kid a few more sniffles and a mew before he finally managed to whisper out something that nearly broke Larro’s heart.

“I’m sorry… I just, really miss my dad.”

Larro’s thoughts instantly went to Marcus, but then changed to the other name on the kid’s microchip. That must have been the man he was talking about. His biological mother. He’d sneaked a look at the chart the doctor had brought with him that had the two names registered on it and remembered seeing that the man had only died just recently in a car crash.

Being the spur of the moment mutt that he took himself for, Larro smiled softly and carefully gathered Arron up in his arms for a strong hug.

“I guess I’ll just have to take over for a bit, if that’s okay.” He said, holding his breath after the words left his mouth.

Initially, Arron didn’t respond, which had Larro a bit worried. When he heard a quiet rumble coming from the kid a minute later, he couldn’t help but grin.

That’s a strong purr you’ve got, kiddo.

When he finally calmed down a bit, Larro set him up on the counter and handed him a plate full of food. Arron tried to wipe away the evidence that he’d been crying, but Larro just rustled his soft hair and got himself some food, then hopped up next to him.

Eating on the counter wasn’t exactly his favorite thing, but it seemed to cheer Arron up as he kicked his feet lightly against the lower cabinet. They ate in silence, both cleaning their plates of food without issue. He was honestly proud of the kid for eating everything, especially after being in the hospital for so long. Larro had been worried about him not eating anything much the past few days.

When Arron gave a tiny burp, Larro smirked and gave his back a strong pat, getting a much louder one out of him that had obviously been held back. There were two loud cackles from the living room as Arron turned red, but then began laughing right along with them.

“Let me grab a quick shower and then we can head out.” He said with a chuckle in his tone.

Arron smiled and nodded as they both hopped down.

“I’ll do the dishes while you go clean up.” Arron said.

Wow, a kid that volunteers to do dishes? Pask and Tayn don’t even help with that unless I bite their tails.

“Sounds good. Thanks, kid.”

Arron nodded while Larro turned and headed to the bathroom. He was used to tossing his clothes wherever he felt like it, but with the kid in his place, he kind of wanted to be a good role model and decided to just stack them on the bathroom counter out of the way.

He was out of the shower after only a few minutes, a towel around his waist before he stepped out of the bathroom and disappeared into his bedroom. After another minute he was back in the living room dressed in a comfortable black suit with a light blue tie. He used to try and style his hair down so that he looked more professional, but the darn hyena mohawk was tamed by no hair-care product.

“Ready to go, Arron?” He called toward the kitchen.

Larro heard scrambling coming from the room, then the squeak of new shoes on the tile before Arron ran around the corner with a big grin. “Yeah!”

“Alright, come here.”

Larro wiggled his fingers in Arron’s direction until he took his hand. It wasn’t exactly necessary, but it had been so long since he’d had any kind of physical contact with anyone besides bossing around his two frustrating roommates. Besides, it seemed like Arron was loving the interaction, too. Thinking back, the only time Larro remembered holding someone’s hand were the few pathetic dates he’d had over the years that ended with the women looking up his history. He didn’t count his nasty former matriarch.

The car ride was comfortable and quiet as they headed into town, eventually parking in a large multi-story garage near the top. Larro had a nice reserved spot right in front of the elevator. One of the perks of being a head of the company.

When they walked inside the main office, Larro grinned as everyone’s heads turned toward them. They all seemed surprised that he had a kid with him. They all knew his past, and hell, half of them were friends from when he wasn’t such a nice puppy, but they all respected him for the man he’d become.

“Good morning. No staring at my friend. I expect some good work to be done today.” He said to everyone.

They all replied with yes sir except for a few who knew they could get away with your highness or fuzzball . After a few more greetings, he tugged Arron into a big room with a long table stretching up toward an overhead projector and whiteboard. It was the day of the scheduled once a month meeting with his managers, so he couldn’t afford to skip it on such short notice.

Several people were already sitting down typing away at their computers, but as Larro entered, all heads snapped up from their keyboards.

“Good morning, Mr. Mane.” They said in unison.

Larro smirked and chuckled at his old last name.

Such a useless thing now.

“It’s just sir or boss now.” He corrected.

Everyone’s eyes went wide, but then they actually applauded. He hadn’t been the best at keeping his private life very private, especially when it came to his former bitch of a matriarch. When the noise settled down, he got himself situated in his chair at the far end of the table, Arron sitting beside him. He looked like he was about to doze off, and he couldn’t blame him. He was still recovering.

“You can take a nap if you’d like. This won’t be much fun.” He said.

Arron didn’t seem to mind doing just that as he leaned against his side a little. Larro didn’t expect him to shift, but before he even got busy with the meeting there was a little bundle of fluff wrapped in a gray sweater and jeans on the seat beside him. It was kind of adorable since his jeans hadn’t fallen off and his little feet were poking out the bottom of the bunched up cloth.

When everyone was sure he was out cold they began shooting questions at Larro left and right. Most were the obvious;

“Who’s kid is that?”

“Is he a cousin?”

He’s so adorable.

That last bit was just his own thought, but he knew that they were thinking it, too. After a quick discussion that left out most of the nasty bits, he told them that he was babysitting for a friend who generally lives out of town and that the kid was going back home tomorrow. It hurt to think that he would have to give him up, but he would never keep Arron just for his selfish wants. He had a family, or well, at least a very worried mother, back home in California.

The meeting flew by, but he only felt half-invested. His attention kept wandering to the squirming bundle of fur sleeping fitfully next to him. Every once in awhile he would reach over and rub his little belly just to hear his adorable little purr start up as he stretched out beneath his hand. When someone cleared their throat a bit later, Larro looked up, surprised that everyone was smirking at him.

“What?” He asked, confused.

“We finished up with all of the reports, sir.” A man said, grinning.

There were several snickers from the group as they began getting up. One young man, a hyena like himself, and also his second-in-command at the company, came over to pat him on the shoulder.

“I’ll email you the meeting notes, sir.”

“Oh. Uh, right. Thanks.” Larro said, slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t paid attention very well.

He got himself up after a minute and carried Arron back outside. Everyone definitely wanted to ask him questions about him, but he didn’t feel like wasting his time answering things when he could be spending it with the kid before he had to take him home the next day.

When Larro set Arron down in the passenger’s seat he started to wake, then eventually shifted once he climbed out of his clothing. While Larro really did want a kid of his own, and he knew that Arron was a cross shifter, he just couldn’t see the kid’s naked body as anything. There was nothing sexual in his mind except maybe killing anyone who tried to breed with him.

As he got dressed again, Larro got them out on the road, but wasn’t really intending to go home just yet.

“So… is there somewhere you want go, Arron?” He asked.

Arron paused halfway into putting his shirt on.

“Eh?”

“I mean, do you want to go, maybe to the pizza arcade place?” Larro asked, grasping at straws.

He had never really been there, but he thought that arcades and pizza were normally big hits with teens.

When he looked back over at the kid, he couldn’t help but grin. He looked totally shocked by the simple question.

“Judging from that face, I’m going to guess that you’d like to go? I think they even have a small bowling alley connected to it now.” Larro said.

When Arron still didn’t respond, Larro glanced over at him again and raised a brow once they stopped at a red light.

“I guess the silence means no?” He said, a little upset.

“No! I mean yes! Yes, I want to go!” Arron nearly yelled.

Larro couldn’t help cackling a little at his enthusiasm as they turned into the parking lot for FunJack’s. He’d always wanted to go inside the place, but it always seemed weird to do so without a kid.

They both jumped out and after Larro grabbed his hand, because he honestly just felt like it, rushed inside. The noise in the building was near-deafening but that didn’t dampen their moods at all. In fact, they were both getting into the excitement, even though Larro was still wearing his fancy suit.

“Can we get some pizza with pepperoni and pineapple?” Arron asked as they walked around inside.

“Anything you want, kid.” Larro said with a smile as they headed over to the concession counter.

After ordering their pizza and being directed to the drink machine, they filled their cups with soda, both Dr. Pepper, then found a table not too far away from the counter to wait for their meal to be ready.

It thankfully didn’t take long to be brought over to their table. The moment he smelled it Larro’s mouth began to water. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d been.

“It smells great.” Arron said before grabbing a big slice and digging in.

Larro had intended to try and keep being a role model of some sort, but he decided quickly that it wasn’t worth it when it came to food, and he was starving.

They had the pizza gone in mere minutes, and after a quick wipe down with wet napkins they both smirked at each other and bolted toward the arcade. Larro wasn’t sure how much he ended up spending on the games, but he knew that his wallet was a lot lighter when they finally began walking over to the bowling alley at the other end of the huge place. Whatever amount of money he had spent, though, had been totally worth it since it brought out a huge smile on Arron’s face as he toted around a stuffed bear Larro had won him that was nearly twice his size.

Larro directed him to go sit at a lane while he quickly ran to grab them shoes and activate their game. Arron had the bear set up in one of the chairs on his right with his shoes on its front paws, as if the bear was wearing them, when Larro returned.

“Here ya go kid.” Larro said, handing Arron his pair of shoes before kneeling down to slip on his own.

“Alright! Let’s get this ball rolling.” He said as he stood and walked over to find one of the lighter bowling balls for Arron. It took a moment, but when he found a nice bright pink one, he turned, then paused.

“Why did you change back to your cheetah form?” He asked, staring down at the kid.

Larro expected him to shift back and just laugh it off as a joke, but when Arron flopped down in the chair and mewed sadly, he realized that all of those previous random changes before weren’t intentional.

“You can’t control it yet, can you?” He asked.

The poor kitten’s eyes were blinking quickly to try and keep from crying. Even in the flickering lights of the bowling alley, he could tell that Arron was extremely upset.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. We’re still going to bowl. Wait right there.” Larro said reassuringly. He then set the ball on the chair to the left of Arron, just so it didn’t hurt his stuffed bear, and ran off for a second.

Alright, now where was that thing…

When Larro returned a minute later, Arron’s head popped up from the back of the chair along with two tiny paws. He could tell that he was still upset, but when he walked over and set down the assist item used for kids who couldn’t control their shifts yet or were just too young to hold the heavy balls, Arron hopped down from his chair and padded over.

At first, he seemed hesitant about even touching it, but when Larro retrieved the light ball he had gotten for him earlier and set it on top, he instantly began pawing at the back of it until it rolled down the metal slide and into the alley. He got five pins on his first go, and boy was he excited about it.

Arron bounded around the slippery waxed floor as he waited for his ball to come back. The second it returned Larro grabbed it and set it back at the top of the metal slide, then watched as Arron eagerly pawed and shoved at it until it slid down once more.

Larro watched his ball slide down the lane, but also noticed that he’d pushed a bit too hard and followed the ball down the slide with his fuzzy butt in the air.

“Not sure if that’s how it’s done, but to each their own.” Larro joked as Arron squirmed his way free of the slide.

The next hour was spent with both of them using the bowling helper. Larro didn’t really need it at all, but he was using it to make Arron feel better. When the kid finally managed to shift back, though, he insisted on a serious round of bowling… which Larro promptly kicked his butt at. It was all in good fun, though.

By the time they had finally ended their third game they were both exhausted, but smiling like idiots. Once they handed their bowling shoes in Larro tossed Arron his giant bear and then took his free hand to lead him outside. The second they stepped through the doors Arron took in a deep breath, then sighed it out in a yawn.

“Likewise kid. That place was awesome, but I’m totally ready for a good nap.” Larro said.

“Definitely.” Arron agreed.

In fact, that was exactly what they both planned to do when they got back to his place. They took turns rinsing off in the shower after they got back, then changed into boxers and a comfortable T-shirt before falling into bed. Arron was snoring after just a few seconds with his new stuffed bear in his arms and a smile on his face. Larro watched him for a few moments, but he couldn’t resist the pull of sleep for long, either, and was soon out cold, too.

Chapter 25: Forgiveness

(The puppy likes my roommate more than me ._.)

The sound of knocking quickly brought Larro out of his deep sleep.

This better be good, I’m exhausted.

“I’m coming!” He grumbled as he got up out of bed, then slid his hand into his boxers to scratch a little.

The knocking got louder as he approached the main entryway, making the headache behind his eyes pulse. When he swung the door open, his hand paused in his boxers and he raised his eyebrows.

“Uh. What can I do for you, officers?” He asked, then quickly remembered his hand and took it out of his underwear.

Maybe I should make them shake it. Not like the cops are ever near me for good reasons.

“We’re looking for a boy named Arron.” One of them said, his face clearly pinch with disgust.

You guys really have to say that? One of the officers was a bloodhound and the other was a German shepherd. They should have easily been able to smell the kid in his apartment.

“Why, might I ask, are you looking for him?” Larro replied nonchalantly.

They both narrowed their eyes at him before getting in his face with two growls.

“Because, Larro, Marcus told us we would find his kid with you, though that’s no surprise. I suppose you want to go back to prison for awhile, huh?” The German shepherd shifter said.

Larro gave a deep growl in response, just barely keeping his teeth from showing.

“I only have the kid because he nearly killed it. Ask the doctor at the hospital, I’m the one who saved his life.” He said harshly.

Both cops seemed to think what he’d said was hilarious because he swore that they sounded like his own species when they laughed out loud.

“Sure. The infamous kitten murderer actually saved one? Yeah, right. We all know the only reason you only got four years for it was because of your dad’s money.” The bloodhound shifter said.

Larro was about to snarl a response when he heard quiet footsteps coming up behind him.

Shit.

Giving a frustrated sigh, he turned to see a sleepy Arron rubbing his left eye as he came to a stop nearby. He really didn’t want to give him up to the cops, but the look on his face told him that he had heard what was said and things were starting to click into place.

“You?” He rasped, sleep still heavy in his voice.

Larro’s lips pursed as he waited for the hate. That’s what he always got from people who found out about his past. He would hate him. The one kid he actually thought he could do something for, even if just for a little while, was now going to hate him.

The bloodhound cop snickered and knelt down, reaching out a hand to Arron like he was some baby who needed coaxing to do anything.

Moron.

“Come’re, kiddo.” The guy said in a disturbingly high pitched voice.

Arron eyed the officers with a slightly offended glare. I approve, they’re assholes. When he got closer to Larro his attention refocused to his eyes. Instantly, Larro dropped his gaze, silently admiring to whatever he thought he’d done.

“Larro?” He asked cautiously.

“He killed seven cheetah kittens five years ago. It’s extremely dangerous to be around him. Let us take you back home.” The German shepherd cop said.

Arron stared at them all as he thought silently for a moment, then said something Larro definitely didn’t expect. “What were the circumstances?”

He actually cares?

“Per the report, he was walking down the sidewalk as a birthday party for a young cheetah boy was going on at the park. His instincts took over when the kittens started playing tag and he shifted into his hyena form and killed seven before the parents could hurt him enough to make him run off. He only spent four years in jail for it because his father is rich and has some serious connections.”

Arron’s beautiful golden eyes rose once more to his as Larro tried to blink back tears. He knew that he did something terrible and he hadn’t even deserved the time he’d gotten to have with Arron, so he wasn’t going to even try to persuade him to stay. Instead, he gave a shaky sigh and turned to walk away. “You should go with them.”

His shoulders hunched as he headed into the kitchen around the corner. Definitely going to need some serious alcohol for this shit. He was just digging through the fridge for a few cans of beer when a pair of arms gently wrapped around his waist.

What the?

Straightening, Larro glanced under his arm to see those same bright gold eyes looking up at him, but they were shiny with a sheen of tears that he would do anything to keep from sliding down his cheeks.

“Hey hun, you need to go with the nice officers.” He said, his voice a whisper as he carefully turned in Arron’s arms and scooped him up into a strong hug. It meant so much that he actually hugged him back, and that he could hear his adorable purr starting up.

He’s the best kid ever.

“I don’t want to.” Arron said, his words hushed where he had buried his face against Larro’s neck.

“I’m a murderer. I won’t argue the truth. Please, go with them.” He nearly begged.

“…but they’ll take me back to him.” Arron replied shakily.

Those words had Larro hugging him a little tighter as they sank in. He knew that’s exactly where they would take him. They didn’t believe that Marcus had hurt his kid and they wouldn’t listen to him even if he had told them to let the kid go back to his mother, because she wasn’t on his chip as his biological mother. The whole situation was just unfair to Arron and his mom.

“Aren’t you afraid of me, Arron?” He asked.

Arron leaned back and lifted his eyes as he pursed his lips.

“Yes, but you never hurt me.”

Larro felt his lips quiver at his words, but he ended up just shaking his head.

“Come on, let’s go talk to the officers.”

He knew that Arron didn’t want to when he snuggled back into his arms, but he couldn’t just leave them standing on the doorstep. Especially the stupid German shepherd. Darn dog would never leave without finishing what it came to start.

With a fake smile plastered on his face, Larro walked around the corner and back up to the door with Arron in his arms.

“It would seem like he doesn’t want to go back to Marcus.” He said as he came to a stop before the threshold of his apartment door.

The bloodhound’s eyes narrowed on him as he quickly growled out. “You must have convinced him to say he wanted to stay with you.”

Larro actually laughed at that.

“Right. Because those big floppy ears of yours didn’t pick up any of the shit we said, eh?”

The man growled at his jab, but both of them knew that they couldn’t come into his apartment without a warrant. Which they obviously didn’t have since they hadn’t served it yet.

“Arron? Do you want to stay with this man, even though he has killed so many children?” The German shepherd shifter asked bluntly.

Larro could feel the stress radiating from Arorn as he tried to hide in his arms. He had no doubt that his kitten would be coming out soon.

“Yes… please leave us alone.” He replied after a moment.

The cops looked at each other, then glared at Larro.

“We’ll be back, murderer.” One of them snarled.

With a smirk, Larro rolled his eyes and winked at the cocky shepherd.

“I’ll be waiting, love.”

As soon as he heard their patrol car drive away he set Arron down and grinned. He was so proud of him! He actually gave a damn about how he’d changed instead of just judging his terrible mistake.

Kneeling down in front of him, Larro smiled honestly.

“What do you say we get the hell out of here and get you back home?” He asked.

Arron matched his grin with one of his own mischievous ones.

“Yeah!”

“Hey! We want to come!”

Huh?

Larro looked behind himself as Pask crooned at them from the sofa in the living room. Tayn gave a snort, but he was in his hyena form and hardly ever talked when in his human one, anyway.

“You both are such moochers.” Larro grumbled.

Pask cackled and shoved Tayn’s hyena off the sofa, earning himself a nip before they both began tumbling around the living room floor in their flea-bag forms. Dorks.

His attention switched to Arron when he felt him hesitantly tug on his arm.

“Um…”

When he didn’t continue, Larro smiled again and patted the kid’s lopsided mohawk.

“You can talk to me, kid. I promise I won’t bite.”

He shuffled his feet a little while biting at his bottom lip, but after a moment of just listening to the two hyenas wrestling in the other room, he finally managed to speak his mind.

“Why did you kill those kittens? How did it happen?” He asked quietly.

Alright, this is my chance to tell him how it really happened. Without the cops trying to make me look like the devil in hyena form.

Larro calmly sat down where they stood so that was leaning against the wall, and Arron, now in his adorable kitten form from the shift he’d seen coming, hopped his way into his lap and circled a few times until he was situated comfortably.

So damn adorable.

Right, story.

“Okay. To start things off, this town is kind of low scale. I’m sure you’ve noticed that this isn’t the best neighborhood. Well, I grew up in a pretty shitty place, with parents that were too busy smoking and shooting up to raise me. I did my best on my own, but without much interaction with them I was never taught how to control my animal, and as it grew, its instincts began to take more and more strength to fight. The incident happened after my parents had forgotten to buy food for the week, so I was living on crackers, onions, and tap water.

My hyene needed meat, craved it, but there was literally nothing. I even tried going to the homeless shelter to get fed but I was shooed away and called greedy. They knew my parents were extremely well off, so they thought that I just wanted to laugh at people who weren’t doing as well. My parents blew every scent they could on drugs. So, needless to say, on the way home from the shelter I was walking down the street and my hyena was trying to push its way out to find it’s own food. I ended up finally losing control when I saw the kittens running around.

They were such easy targets. Easy food. I had wanted food so badly. Just some meat from the homeless shelter to keep the animal in my head at bay.“

Larro hadn’t realized that he’d been crying until he felt a rough little tongue lapping at his face. It felt like a weight was lifting off of his chest when Arron began to nuzzle against his face and purr loudly. Very slowly, he allowed his arms to wrap around the little kitten’s body and hugged him to his chest. His hyena cackled in his mind as he nuzzled Arron right back, seeking the comfort that he’d been searching for for years.

He didn’t judge him for his mistake all those years ago. He trusted him for who he was now. In jail he had gone through so much training to gain control of his animal side. For four straight years he’d gone to therapy and learned to manage its hunger so that he would never be a danger to others again.

He knew that he didn’t deserve to think in such a way, but that was the time he had realized that he wanted a kid of his own. He wanted to take care of someone and help them through their life. To make it so much better than his own one had been. Maybe one day he’d be able to find someone who accepted him enough to be willing to start a family. Even adopting would make him the happiest man in the world, but he had a bad record and would forever, so that made that option extremely hard.

I really just want someone to call me dad and look up at me with happiness and trust. Not hunger and hatred.

Okay, dad. Arron replied quietly.

Wait a second. Had he just talked to me in my mind? That’s impossible if his kitten doesn’t see me as…

Larro’s heart constricted in his chest, forcing him to a take a few deep breaths as he hugged Arron a tiny bit tighter.

He sees me as family.

Chapter 26: Leaving

(Another photo I liked. This is how I see Tayn. I think Arron had too much sugar before this chapter started lol.)

Larro held him for awhile longer until the thunk of bags right next to them brought Arron’s attention up to Larro’s friends. Pask and… Tayn? He wasn’t great with names. Seeing one of them shifted up close was actually pretty cool, though.

Arron squirmed free of Larro’s arms, then hesitantly walked up to the huge dog-like creature. It looked like a mix between a lion and a wolf. The hyena leaned over and bumped Arron’s little nose with its own, cackling quietly with interest. He could feel Larro’s eyes on him so he knew that he was safe to interact with the bigger animal. When the hyena leaned back, Arron couldn’t help but swat at its nose lightly, getting a grumble and a head-shake from it in response as it backed up a step.

“Tayn isn’t really a playful guy. He might just end up pinning you down and nipping a few times so that you’ll leave him be.” Larro said.

Arron glanced over his shoulder at him, but his kitten seemed fixated on bothering Tayn. With a determined mew, he bounded over to him where he had retreated farther and tugged on his left ear with a playful growl. At first, Tayn tried to step on his feet and pull him off, but he just ended up hurting his ear more, which his kitten refused to release.

The hyena glared up at Larro, who snickered and unfortunately to Arron’s kitten’s dismay, walked over and detached him from his friend’s ear.

“You got everything packed, guys?” Larro asked as he held Arron in his arms.

Thanks. My kitten gets a little crazy sometimes… I think I’ve had too much sugar recently.  He thought to Larro.

Tayn nodded as he swatted at his slightly-bleeding ear. Oops. His kitten had actually been going for the earring that was in it.

Pask stepped forward in his human form with a big backpack on his back and a duffel bag in each hand.

“Yup. We were already planning to split town soon anyways, so we had most of it packed.”

Arron was lifted up slightly as Larro spoke to the two. “Did you get his stuff, too, by chance?”

“Yeah, packed all of his clothes and an extra toothbrush.” Pask replied with a shrug.

He knew that he didn’t have much, even though they had just gone shopping. He was grateful that he got to keep the items, though.

Larro smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Arron’s fuzzy head before setting him down.

“Alright! Looks like it’s time to get the hell out of this hole.” He said as he smirked over at his friends, then down at Arron before grabbing the two extra bags and heading for the door. Arron was glad that he had let him walk, because his kitten had quite a bit of energy he needed to get out before the car ride or he’d likely be after Tayn’s earring again.

He ran around Tayn while he sauntered outside and down the steps of the building, still in his hyena form. As long as Arron didn’t trip him or try to bite he seemed to tolerate him running around his feet. Arron’s overly-energetic kitten even got Tayn to chase him once. The weather outside was so nice, too, making his kitten even more uncontrollable. Larro just ginned over at him as he continued loading up his car.

Don’t worry about it. He must be feeling better since I haven’t seen him very hyper before. He thought into Arron’s mind. He had a point, but it was frustrating.

“I can tell that you want to run about more, but we really should be heading out. We may be able to stop and run around somewhere once we get out of town a good ways, though maybe not till tomorrow.”

He was perfectly fine with that, but his kitten was literally radiating energy.

I swear I didn’t eat a ton of sugar… I think.

“The kitten face isn’t going to work on me this time. You’re making your other half crazy. Up you go, brat.” Larro said as he reached down and grabbed him.

“Behave, or I’ll make you eat broccoli for dinner. You’re driving your human self crazier.”

Arron’s kitten puffed out its cheeks in response, then hissed. 

Tayn transformed and put his clothes on so that he could slide into the front seat. Considering the fact that there was no real room for himself to have a seat of his own with all of the stuff in the car, Arron hopped into Tayn’s lap. He was just about to start trying to push the window buttons that he knew were likely locked, when he realized something.

Wait! My bear.

Larro slammed on the breaks and looked over at him.

“What?”

My bear. We left him.

“Aaron, we can’t really fit that in here.” He said.

But he’s my bear! Please, can we get him?

“I’ll get you another one when we get you back home.” Larro replied.

I don’t want another. That one’s important.

Larro’s brow furrowed as he stared at him funny.

“Why? It was just a stuffed bear. I can get you plenty later.”

Arron’s kitten sat up straighter and met his eyes.

Because my new dad won it for me.

He knew that he had him with that as Larro began to turn the car around without a word. When he parked and ran inside, Arron tried to go after him, but Tayn had a firm grasp on him. The second he saw Larro running down the stairs with his bear he mewed loudly and pawed at the air.

Larro had to work to shove the bear in the area by Tayn’s feet, but the hyena didn’t seem to mind. It’ll probably get dirty from his shoes, but they could always wash it.

Thank you!

Larro shook his head with a smile while climbing back into the car.

“You are such a dork.”

Tayn glanced over at him with a raised brow but quickly realized that Larro had been talking to Arron. As they made their way out of town, Arron ended up poking at his bear for a little while, then trying to get comfortable. That second thing wasn’t going to happen when his kitten had so much energy pent up.

“I can feel your energy buzzing from here, Arron.” Larro said with a chuckle.

He’s usually not this bad unless I have too much ice cream or something. Arron replied in his mind. I’m trying to make him behave.

“I know. Let’s see…”

When they stopped at a red light, Arron watched Larro lean back and dig through a bag in the back seat.

“Aha. Here, Tayn. Have some fun with the fuzzball.”

Arron pinned his ears back at the nickname, but when Tayn was handed something and opened it…

String!

Needless to say, the hours flew by as his kitten ran all over Tayn and his stuffed bear to try and catch the string. He wasn’t making it easy, either. The darn hyena had good reflexes, but by the time they finally stopped for dinner at a big diner, Arron’s kitten had claimed the life of three laces, only allowing one to survive from the pack of four… for now.

Tayn tried to salvage one of the shoe laces in his kitten’s mouth, but he wouldn’t have it. Eventually Tayn just snorted and gave up, opening the door so that he could bring his catch into the restaurant. Arron knew that Larro, Pask, and Tayn were all snickering behind him, but his kitten was beaming with pride and didn’t care in the least. It had its kill .

They got a booth in the back and Larro spread the menu out for him so that he could look it over as the dismembered string hung from the side of his mouth.

Can I get chocolate chip pancakes, bacon and chocolate milk?

“Chocolate chip pancakes or chocolate milk. You’re hyper enough as it is, even after all the string-play.” He said.

Awww.

“One or the other, kid. I don’t need to bring you back to your mom high on sugar. You’re already bouncing off the walls of the car.”

True. Chocolate chip pancakes and regular milk?

“Got it.” Larro said with a smile.

Everyone ordered and soon their food was brought over. Larro cut up Arron’s pancakes and added a little syrup and butter. He also fed him to keep him from getting syrup all over his face. He normally hated being fed, but he really didn’t want his face to get all sticky.

After they finished their meals and Larro got up to go use the bathroom, Arron noticed Tayn snickering quietly as he nudged his glass toward him.

Chocolate milk. I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t…

Arron quickly hopped up onto the table and clamped his mouth over the straw. It had taken him awhile to learn how to use one as a kitten, but he had definitely mastered it and had the glass clean by the time Larro was back. He even tried to pretend that there had never been any chocolate milk left, but a milk-bubble burp sneaked out of his little mouth.

Drank too fast.

“Oh, you little fuzzy brat.”

His eyes rose to Tayn, who had on the best poker face Arron had ever seen. Too bad he was the only one who had ordered chocolate milk.

“I know you did this, and you’re going be the one to play with him till he falls asleep tonight.” Larro said.

Tayn smirked and gave a quiet cackle as he shrugged.

I think I actually like this hyena.

They drove for another three hours and after six more sacrificial shoe laces, Arron was finally beginning to doze in Tayn’s lap. He passed out for a bit, only to wake up when he felt a toothbrush scrubbing at his teeth. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling in his kitten form.

“Yeah yeah, don’t think falling asleep was going to get you out of getting those sugary little teeth of yours scrubbed.” Larro said as he worked the toothbrush around Arron’s mouth.

Mew.

“Uh huh, spit.”

He did as told into the sink in front of him, then quickly rinsed his mouth before being carried and deposited onto a thick blanket. His eyes squinted open farther when the bed dipped with Larro’s weight.

There’s only one bed.

After a quick glance around Arron saw Tayn and Pask’s mohawk ridges as they slept next to the bed in their hyena forms. Unable to help himself, Arron gave a sleepy yawn, then a surprised squeak as Larro scooped him up to set him down to rest against his chest. It didn’t take him long to drift off with the warmth of the man next to him and his two friends close by.

(Larro and Tayn are probably my two favorite characters in this lol)

Chapter 27: Wake Up Call

(Another picture I liked enough to keep. Paskal :D One hyena that manages to somewhat style his hair lol)

The sounds of growling and cackling began to wake Arron up far too early for his liking.

“Noisy.”

A cold, wet nose nudged at his cheek before one of the hyena’s gave a shrill laugh.

Too loud in the morning!

He turned onto his side to try and hide his head beneath the pillow, but when he felt something furry brush again his nose he forced his eyes to open.

Wait, are those claws?

Something wet dripped onto his chin, drawing his attention up toward a very angry looking, oh shit.

“Larro?” He asked, his voice a worried whisper.

The huge hyena slowly pealed its upper lip back, baring a very well taken-care-of set of extremely sharp teeth.

Oh my, what nice teeth you have?

Arron quickly chanced a glance to his right, seeing Pask and Tayn in their animal forms. Tayn had his one gold earring on his left ear, making them easy to tell apart.

Okay, this has to be Larro. I remember Pask wasn’t much bigger than Tayn before.

The huge hyena standing over him twitched its ears and snarled, drawing a cackle from Pask and a snarl from Tayn. Arron could tell that something was wrong with Larro and that he should stay still and not provoke his hyena, but his inner cheetah was already starting to take over his senses.

As he fought to hold back his own animal, Arron could see Tayn trying to slowly get Larro to back off of him, but he was just too late to stop the chain of events that were going to occur.

Suddenly, he was in his cheetah form and Larro was lunging for his throat. Arron mewed loudly before jumping out of the way and bolting off the bed. Larro was quick to follow, even with Tayn trying to cut him off. At first Arron tried to hide under the bed, but there was some type of box spring beneath it that prevented him from going far enough under to be safe. So, his kitten narrowly dodged a swipe from Larro’s paw and hopped up onto the counter in the bathroom. He quickly squeezed himself into a corner between the back mirror and the hair dryer on the wall.

Larro could easily reach him and did so several times, smacking him in the face and front legs. His claws scratched him a few good times but Arron swatted at his paw to keep from getting the worst of it.

Spots, pretend like you want to play with him.

Huh? Who are you? He definitely didn’t recognize that thought voice.

Calm down and focus. The doctors at his rehab said that was the way to get through to his hyena. Try to act playful instead of scared. He’s a predator and you’re acting like prey.

He realized after a few seconds that the new voice in his head was Tayn. He was shocked that the young man thought of him as family, and that his cheetah actually allowed him to talk in his mind, but he really didn’t have time to dwell on that right then.

Not now, Spots! Just do it or we’re going to have to attack him.

A particularly hard thump on the head from one of Larro’s heavy paws had Arron shaking his head and deciding to just try what Tayn had suggested. He didn’t really see how playing with him was going to snap him out of his hyena’s control or keep himself alive, but it was the best shot he had. So, with a hesitant mew, Arron dropped to his belly and wiggled his fuzzy backside in the air just slightly.

The huge hyena tilted its head and gave a gruff cackling bark, but Arron wasn’t quite sure if that meant play with me or I need some kitty floss . Thankfully, Tayn jumped in quickly and mirrored his little bow with one of his own, adding a playful snort for good measure.

Larro was clearly hesitant to play with the other hyena when the little cheetah was just beyond his paws’ reach, but after Arron gave another awkward play-bow Larro dropped to his four paws and snorted. Okay, I guess that’s the best I’m going to get.

Play with him. That’s his signal, do it quickly or he’ll start getting nippy. Also, don’t freak out if he starts snarling when he runs, he gets really into it but he should be okay. The snort is his hyena asking to play.

Ah. Hopefully this doesn’t end badly.

With a quiet mew Arron crept toward the edge of the counter and swatted at Larro’s mohawk with his right paw. It snorted again and ran in a circle out in the main bedroom, then stopped and hopped up to lick a huge line from Arron’s jaw to his eyes.

Gross.

Arron smacked him in the nose when he started biting at his paws, but knew that he was just trying to get him down so that they could play together. Arron glanced sideways at Tayn, who gave a snort of his own for encouragement.

Come down. He thought into Arron’s mind.

His kitten steeled itself, then jumped to the floor right next to Larro’s giant hyena. The huge canine cackled and began nudging him around before he could even get his balance back.

You can play rough with him. He’ll push you around for hours if you let him.

Okay. I’ll try.

Arron wasn’t much for playing rough, or really playing much, since he grew up as an only child, but he was game to give it a try. He could feel his heart swell a little in his chest when he was able to respond to Tayn mentally. However, a certain larger hyena was still trying to roll him around the floor, making Arron grumble. Giving a loud mew as if he’d been hurt, he watched as Larro’s animal took a step back, not quite sure he’d just done to hurt him so badly.

Arron had faked getting hurt to give himself a chance to strike back! He pounced on the confused-looking hyena, tugging at its face with little teeth. When Larro and him got into the wrestling and chasing Tayn backed off to just watch out of the way. It was obvious that Larro wasn’t used to dealing with smaller animals in his hyena form but he was doing a decent job of not hitting Arron too hard or stepping on him by mistake.

He hasn’t shifted since he was released two years ago. He was too afraid he’d lose control again. Tayn thought to him.

Two years?

Yes, that’s probably why it finally wore him down enough to come out this morning, but he’s doing really well with you. Just wear him out.

Arron didn’t mind playing with Larro at all, and he still had a ton of energy left over once he’d fully woken up. His cheetah bounded around the room for a good hour with him before they finally collapsed onto the messy bed, panting heavily against each other.

…nmi.

Huh?

That wasn’t Tayn. He just went to take a shower.

Arron glanced over at Pask, who was dozing on the window seat. He was definitely out cold.

…as.

I don’t understand. Arron thought.

He took one more glance around the room before looking up. Larro was looking down at him, his hyena seemingly trying to focus on something as it panted in a sitting position.

Larro?

He gave a quiet cackle and nudged Arron’s face with his wet nose.

Another bit of unintelligible mumbling came through his mind, but he couldn’t make out any of it. Arron mewed and licked Larro’s nose, drawing another cackle from him as he tried to speak to his mind again.

…ots.

It’s okay, Larro. I understand.

It took awhile to relearn how to talk into someone else’s mind when in your animal form. Instead of continuing Larro just stretched out with a yawn and waited until Tayn was done in the bathroom before shifting. Arron changed back as soon as he did, smiling before he was tugged into a super-tight hug within one of the blankets Larro had grabbed.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, Arron.” He said, his voice hoarse.

“It’s just a few scratches.” Arron said, shrugging.

“But I couldn’t control myself enough.” Larro replied. He sounded upset with himself, but Arron knew that he had definitely done well considering the circumstances.

“It’s okay. Tayn said that you hadn’t shifted in a while, so I think you did really well.”

“You’re so good at cheering me up, brat.”

Brat?

Arron growled and shoved him, catching him by enough surprise to be able to sit on his chest atop the blanket. Tayn sauntered into the room not a second later, completely naked from his shower as he ruffled a towel through his messy hair.

“Go shower, Pedo.” He said to Larro with a completely blank face.

Larro turned bright red as he quickly set Arron aside with the blanket and elbowed his friend on his way to the bathroom.

Arron knew that they were just joking with each other and when they heard the shower turn on, Tayn and Arron snickered together.

While Tayn got dressed Arron got himself some clothes to change into after he got his own shower. Once done, he turned, only to be a bit surprised that Tayn was staring right at him with a faint smile on his inquisitive face. Arron wasn’t used to seeing much emotion from him. It was usually Pask who was loud and always cackling at something. When he began to walk toward him, Arron fidgeted, ending up leaning against the counter in the back of the bedroom as Tayn stopped less than a foot away.

Um.

Suddenly he was in a pair of strong arms, getting a hug and a few licks on his half mohawk.

“Uh…?”

“Sorry, thanks for helping.” Tayn said.

Well, that was short and to the point . Arron guessed that it made sense since Tayn wasn’t really a talker.

Tayn felt weird. He hated touching people, especially when they were naked, but his hyena decided to show some affection for the boy that had helped the man who had helped him. Tayn broke away from the hug after explaining briefly why it had occurred.

“Oh, okay. I’m uh, glad I could help.” Arron said awkwardly.

He felt his head tilt slightly as he thought about his words. His hyena tended to take over his actions more often than not, which was why he often didn’t speak out loud and made gestures that were sometimes more animalistic than normal. With pursed lips, he nodded and turned to head outside, fishing a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket as the door clicked shut behind him.

It was a bad habit, he knew it, but if he didn’t do it Larro’s hyena would be the least of their worries. He wasn’t so much addicted to the stuff as his hyena was. It got extremely aggressive when he didn’t smoke much.

Paskal knew he shouldn’t have been getting upset. He really shouldn’t have. Arron was Larro’s boy and Tayn was just showing his appreciation the only way he tended to. So there was no reason for the nasty snarl his inner hyena made in his head. He noticed the faint twitch in Tayn’s shoulders and fidgeted. He’d probably picked up on his anger through their bond.

The second he turned around, Pask squeezed his eyes shut, pretending to still be asleep until the door clicked shut behind Tayn. The scent that wafted to his nose as he passed made his mouth water. He always smelled just like fresh mint and honey, even though he tried to hide it with stupid masculine shower gels and deodorants.

The first time they had met Pask had totally lost control of himself and pinned him to a wall and well… Larro had to pull them apart. Unfortunately, they had both remained clothed, or well, he’d had his shirt off, but god how he had wished there had been an absence of pants before Larro had gotten there.

After a very thorough apology Tayn had begun to slowly trust him, and that’s also when the disturbing amount of cologne and gross smelling shower stuff started up. They never worked for him though, not even when he smoked would that nasty scent mask much of his mint and honey.

Pask nudged the curtain aside ever-so-slightly to stare at the man’s backside, his tail swishing slightly with interest. He’d apologized, but that didn’t mean he’d stopped lusting after him. Hell, he’d been the one responsible for keeping him generally single for the past two years. Some of the things he’d done had been dick moves, especially the couple times he’d literally chased away other suitors using his hyena, but Tayn was going to be his as soon as he could learn to control his libido.

Paskal tried to talk to him so many times after that incident had occurred but they always just ended up with awkward silence or wrestling in their canine forms until they were both too tired to move. Even with the lack of words, though, Pask learned quite a lot about him over the short time they had been together.

Tayn’s hyena was what determined most of his actions. He wasn’t sure how that had occurred, but he would have loved to know. He was such a sweet guy deep down, he could just tell. Simply hearing his voice a moment ago had a whole flock of butterflies going nuts in his stomach. It sounded almost as sweet as the honey he smelled like.

Shifting back to his human form, Pask heard a quiet snicker behind him and rolled his eyes, then turned to look at Larro’s boy.

“Keep yer mouth shut, kid.” He grumbled.

He saw the guy’s huge grin and the motion of his fingers across his lip, signifying that he was locking them.

Good.

“You should go talk to him.” He said with an eager smile.

Of course he won’t just let it drop.

“I can take care of it myself.” Pask grumbled.

He raised a brow at him but then shrugged.

“Okay, but I’d be careful. I might not be in the running for him, or gay, but he’s definitely hot.”

I already know that last part! I’ve chased more than enough people away from him.

Pask quickly turned back to the window, only to see Tayn staring back at him with a hint of annoyance on his face. Dammit! His hand dropped the curtain as his face heated up and it slid back into place.

Stupid kid distracting me.

There was another chuckle in the room but he bit his tongue on the retort he had ready for the little midget when Larro stepped out of the bathroom drying his hair.

“Go get a shower, Arron.” He said.

A moment passed as Larro got himself dressed and the younger guy ran off to shower. He paused fastening his pant’s button and finally turned to look at him.

“Where’s Tayn?” He asked as he continued the task. 

“Outside, smoking.”

Larro’s brow furrowed slightly but he just nodded in response. Pask knew that he wanted Tayn to stop since it was starting to make him cough a lot, but he just wasn’t able to do it yet. Larro even bought him some patches and meds, but they still found him sneaking cigarettes at night or smelled it on him after he came home from work. Pask wanted to be the one beside him to help him quit the nasty habit, but each time he tried to get close he’d do something stupid or perverted and just make him run off and smoke more.

“Paskal.”

“Huh? Oh. Uh, yeah, Larro?” He said, embarrassed that he’d spaced out again.

“Go get Tayn to come inside and both of you start loading our bags. As soon as Arron is out of the shower we’re going to head out.” Larro said.

“Okay.”

Biting his lip, Pask quickly got up and tugged on a shirt and some shorts.

Okay, time to head outside. Don’t screw this up. Don’t screw this up.

It was his mantra, and unfortunately it hardly ever worked.

As soon as he stepped out the door Tayn turned toward him and took a long drag of his cigarette. I know that I stress you out! Don’t take a darn bigger drag just to prove that point.

“Larro wants us to get the car loaded.” He mumbled quietly.

Tayn dropped his cigarette on the pavement and began grinding it out with the toe of his tennis shoe. That really shouldn’t look hot. What is wrong with me? It didn’t help that Tayn was staring down at just the right angle so that his face captured the light and showed off the smooth complexion of his skin. The solemn look he always wore was present, but just beneath it there was so much more.

A hard slap to his left cheek instantly snapped him out of his daydream and notified him of the drool running down his chin.

Tayn quickly stalked past him with an annoyed growl, but when Pask turned to follow him, he stopped him cold with words he’d heard way too many times from him already.

“Stay away from me, you nasty pervert.”

Chapter 28: Why Care

(Racquetball says hello.)

He couldn’t believe that Pascal had actually been drooling while staring at him! The guy was seriously a horny bastard and creepy as hell. He spent most of his nights at strip clubs, too. Tayn could easily smell half the whores in the state on his body over the past year. Each and every time he’d come back to Larro’s place when he wasn’t working he’d been drunk as hell and wondering why he didn’t want to have sex with him.

While Tayn fumed on the inside his outer expression remained completely neutral as he helped Pask load up the car. He was smart and stayed a good distance away, keeping his eyes on the ground since he knew that he would attack him if he caught him being disgusting again. Tayn really did try his best to get along with him when Larro was around, but there was only so much of the guy he could stand.

He hadn’t realized that he was growling as he fished out a cigarette until Larro snatched the small cancer stick from his hand and tossed it somewhere over his shoulder.

“Time to go.” He said.

Could have just let me put it back in my pocket.

He knew that he wanted him to quit, though, and Larro thought that taking away the cigs would stop him from getting them and end the cravings. Not likely. Larro had been the one who had given him a good amount of the money he’d used to buy them, but he really did think that he could stop if he got a little extra support and managed to get his hyena weened off the disgusting things. He hated their taste, even the flavored ones made his stomach churn, but when he got stressed out they were right there and more than willing to help.

The drive was comfortable with Pask asleep in the back. Tayn knew that he wouldn’t sleep well in the hotel room due to his past that Larro had hinted at a few times before. He sneaked a glance behind himself about an hour into the drive and saw that Pask was snoring away leaning against the piled-up bags. He had no idea why the guy was so intent on getting in his pants when he always had people jumping at him.

He couldn’t argue that the man was hot and when he wasn’t trying to dry hump him or undress him with his eyes he wasn’t terrible to be around, but those times were getting fewer and further between. Now, every time they try speaking to each other Pask starts talking normally but then suddenly begins licking his lips or even moving his hips. Tayn knew that sometimes he didn’t even notice, but it was seriously starting to wear on him.

I need a cigarette.

Feeling a soft pat on his head, Tayn looked over to see Larro giving him a soft smile. The guy knew he hated pep talks but the occasional touch was always welcome, especially from his savior.

Larro had been the one who had taken him out of the hellish life he’d had and Tayn would give anything to make him happy, even his own body if he had asked for it. Two years ago he’d been a stripper at a club being used by one of the most ruthless gangs in the United States. He was first attracted to the job because of the money, like most other people there, but when the boss took a liking to him, he began having to do private shows and personal favors for clients. Granted, he was never forced to go all the way, but his time there had slowly quieted his demeanor. He used to be one hell of a party animal in high school. Would probably have put Pask to shame if he ever saw how he’d used to be able to dance and drink.

The memories actually had him smiling slightly, which got Arron’s attention as he pawed at the edge of his lips in his cheetah form. Larro definitely got himself a nice boy. Too bad he would have to give him back. Arron was everything he’d heard Larro asking for when he thought no one was listening. For the two years he’d lived with him he’d heard him whispering in his mind about how much he wanted a son, even if it meant adopting one of a different shift species. He just wanted a kid who would love him, and in return be open to receiving all the love he could give. It was unfortunate that his past wouldn’t let him go no matter where he went. Hopefully Arron’s mother would never find out what Larro had done, because Tayn have a feeling that he wanted to be able to visit the kid.

Snapping himself back to his other thoughts, he fidgeted as images flooded through his mind. Those first few months had been some of the best of his life. He had made tons of money and obtained a pretty damn impressive fan base for a sixteen year old. When his boss had asked him to do some VIP work he quickly agreed, knowing that it came with a pay raise and substantial tips. It was a dream come true… for the money-hungry side of him, at least.

Unfortunately, Tayn soon found out that being a VIP stripper involved a lot more physical contact than he was ready for. People touching his ankles while dancing on stage was nothing compared to the groping and perversion he’d dealt with in those rooms. By the end of his first week he was shaken and requested to go back to the normal stage, however, his boss had other plans. He’d been making him more than any other person had being a VIP dancer. Obviously he couldn’t grant such a stupid request as to downgrade him to simply cover charges and dollar tips.

For the next year and a half Tayn had dealt with more physical contact then he cared to remember. After several months he became numb to the disgusting touches and words and just let his survival instincts take over. That was, until Larro walked in with a group of his colleagues from work. Tayn had been able to tell right away that he wasn’t gay, or at least strictly gay. Perhaps bi? His friends, however, were definitely gay and stared him down like a shark would a fish.

Larro had noticed and quickly gone to Tayn’s boss to request him for their preregistered VIP session. It wasn’t long before he was upstairs in the private sweet dancing for the eight men. While he’d hated his life at the time, he did his best to make his boss happy, because if he wasn’t happy, he had to work for free. Legal or not.

After an hour of dancing he’d noticed most of the men were drunk, and of course, beginning to grab for him as he tried to do his job. The main guy who was obviously celebrating something had leaned forward and tucked two hundred dollars into the strap of his thong, then whispered that he wanted some personal attention. A shiver had run down Tayn’s spine but he’d had no right to decline.

Come here, hun.

The sudden whisper that had sounded in his mind that day had him pausing mid-swing on his pole. His feet had slowly returned to the stage’s floor as he tried to figure out what had just happened. The music was pumping and everyone around him was shouting for him to continue or get in their laps, all except one.

A different man had shouted about having paid him for a damn good dance, then Tayn had felt a hard yank on his pathetic-excuse for underwear and whimpered when it snapped off. The guys yelled as the man who’d paid him held it up with a too-loud laugh. That had been the last straw. He’d been able to feel tears pricking the back of his eyes, the first ones he’d shed since starting at that hell hole job nearly two years before.

Come here, hun. I’ll take you away from here.

His head had whipped around at the sound of that voice again. That voice promising him things, things he so desperately wanted.

The man was sitting calmly as he uncrossed his legs and extended a hand toward him in a welcoming gesture. He wasn’t sure if he was serious about taking him out of that disgusting place at the time. Just the thought of freedom had made him jump from the stage and run into the now-familiar firm arms of Larro, though. He hadn’t realized that the man had taken his jacket off earlier until it was snugly wrapped around him along with his strong arms.

His boss had always watched the VIP rooms so when he saw what had happened, he quickly ran in, offering everyone a partial refund and free beer for the time he’d still had left. They had all been drunk as hell except for the man that had been holding him so the money and added beer was an obvious plus. When he came closer to Tayn he began to shiver. He knew that he would get punished for the stupid move. He hadn’t thought that the man who had been holding him could really possibly help him. No one had ever wanted to help him, and besides, the only way that workers got their freedom from that place had been to earn it or buy it, so it had been basically impossible with his shrinking wage.

“Pardon his behavior, sir. He hasn’t been feeling well lately. We’ll be sure to let him get a lot of rest before he performs again.” His boss had said.

He’d started reaching toward him, making his inner hyena whimper and nuzzle into the strange man’s arms further before he’d heard Larro speak.

“I’ll buy him.”

What?

His boss had the same flabbergasted look on his face as Tayn had as they both stared at the man.

He had not been for sale. He was one of the most wanted performers. There was too much money in it for his boss to sell him.

“How much will buy his freedom?” Larro had asked.

“One point eight.” It had been an outrageous number.

“Deal.”

That one word had changed his entire life.

During the next two years he had finished high school online and begun working at Larro’s company as an errand boy. He was offered much higher positions over time and his own place, but when he had overheard Larro talking to his friends about how he was going to miss him when he finally left his place, Tayn had decided that he would just keep the lower job and enjoy having a fatherly figure for awhile.

He hadn’t intended for it to go on for years, though, especially after hearing about his past, but two years later he was now sitting in his car on the way to a new place with him, his friend, and the boy they were returning to his mother.

Feeling a sharp turn and bump in the road, Pascal gave a tired yawn and stretched in the back seat. With all of the money Larro made, one would think that he’d invest in a bigger car. Not that the red Camaro wasn’t nice, it made him drool half the time, but a little leg space would be a simple blessing.

“Pask, wake up, time for breakfast.” Larro said.

Everyone was already out of the car by the time he got himself upright.

He never woke up very well, which was why he couldn’t sleep in places that he knew could become dangerous. The hotel room had given him the creeps and smelled way too much like old sex and dried blood to let him get any kind of real rest. Not that he couldn’t fall asleep, but he was so slow to wake up that he wouldn’t be of any use if something serious were to happen. Ever since he’d been a kid he’d had that problem. He would go days without being woken up. His doctor back then had said that it was an extremely rare disease that didn’t really have many negative effects if he ate a decent amount of food before going to sleep. Along with his parents, he’d tried to find ways to wake himself up so that he could be a normal kid and go to school and what not, but it just never managed to work.

When he was twenty he was introduced to Larro since his father had worked for him previously. He had needed a night guard and considering that he’d tended to stay up for several days between his normal sleeping ones, his father thought that it would be the perfect job. Needless to say, when Larro interviewed him, he was extremely nervous because of his condition, but he instantly grinned when he read over his pathetic resume and hired him on the spot. He actually worked with him the first few nights, too, passing off his leadership duties to make sure that Pask was okay each evening.

That was probably where his defensive side came from. Whenever Larro was in trouble or threatened by someone from that day onward, he would be right there at his side, letting them know that they would have to go through him before even getting a chance to touch his boss.

While his job had been going well, his parents had still been frustrated about his sleeping problem and eventually kicked him out. The next day when he’d come into work he ended up pouring out his fear of being homeless to Larro, who immediately invited him to stay at his home since he hadn’t been working long enough to be able to afford his own place yet.

It wasn’t a month later when a little scrawny kid came along with nothing more than a backpack of clothing and a disturbing quiet about him. When he first saw him that evening he could tell that something was wrong with him because he hardly interacted with anyone besides Larro. He had honestly wanted to win the guy’s trust, too, but the first time he saw him his hyena kind of took over and ended up ruining everything. He had just walked in the door and they’d been introduced… then Pascal had him against the wall, humping him like no one’s business.

He honestly wasn’t a very touchy-feely person. But the guy had just smelled so delicious that he couldn’t keep himself off of him. Thankfully Larro brushed off the encounter after he’d apologized, but each time Pask saw the darn kid from that day onward it spawned a mini battle for control in his mind between his will power and libido.

Thankfully, his work hours had increased to the point that if he wasn’t there, he was asleep on the sofa. They slowly began to be able to interact, but it was always something quiet and quick. For Tayn, usually a head nod or a grunt, and for Pask it was always a stupidly shy hey or a smile. He knew that he creeped him out, and after he had begun going to strip joints to take out his growing sexual frustrations, the kid began to really look at him like he was a walking STD. Pask had honestly just been trying to keep himself from jumping him again.

Giving a tired sigh, he yawned and slid out of the car. It had been a nice nap, but he really needed a good day of sleep some time soon. After moving in with Larro his sleeping problem had slowly gotten better. He still didn’t wake up well to alarm clocks, but he didn’t sleep for whole days at a time anymore. Pascal thought the longest he had slept recently was about eighteen hours. Most of the time he just took short naps and that managed to sate his sleeping disorder well enough.

Pask sauntered into the restaurant and sat down next to Tayn once he was sure he could walk in a straight line without tipping over. He knew that he didn’t like him sitting beside him, but he wasn’t going to crowd Larro and Arron. Thankfully, Pask didn’t have any time to get caught up in how cute Tayn looked chewing his bottom while looking at the menu since their waiter came by after a minute. Everyone ordered, leaving him to stutter out one of the first things he saw on the menu, which happened to be a Dr. Pepper and turkey club with a side of fries.

The man nodded and took their menus, then brought them their drinks. Larro, Arron, and Pask all talked throughout the meal while Tayn ate silently next to him. He really wanted to bring him into the conversation but knew better than to bother him. That was the case… until Tayn spilled some of his coke on his shirt. Without thinking, Pascal quickly scooted out of his seat so that Tayn could go wash up in the bathroom, but when he returned he was still fuming about the stickiness. The guy liked being clean. 

Taking a deep breath, Pask grabbed his wrist and pulled. Tayn fought him silently until they were in the bathroom and Pask had jerked his shirt off. Tayn shrunk away immediately and wrapped his arms around his chest. He wanted to question the hell out of him right then for that reaction but he knew that Larro would be in there in a minute if they didn’t show back up. So, with a sigh Pask tugged off his own shirt and yanked it over Tayn’s head. It was a bit big, but it would do until they went back out to the car.

With that done, he tossed Tayn his dirty shirt along with his own pants and boxers after folding them up neatly. Before he could question what he was doing, Pask shifted and sauntered out of the bathroom after nudging the door open with his nose. Shifts were allowed in most restaurants as long as they stayed off the seats and were fed on the floor if not a child. So, Pask quietly laid near their booth and finished his food on the floor when Larro set it down for him.

Tayn returned a minute later, still wearing Pascal’s shirt as he scooted into the booth with his clothing set in his lap. He didn’t speak, but Pask could tell that he was much more comfortable now, even in his a shirt that smelled like him, and that was all that really mattered.

Chapter 29: You Lose Some

Shoving his way out of the car, Rylan growled a warning as he straightened his messy shirt back down. The girl inside was a lioness from their local pride who was in heat. He’d thought that he’d do her a favor and get himself some pleasure in the process, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t even kiss her.

His lion grumbled in his head but he shoved it aside, not wanting to be reminded of why he couldn’t sleep with the busty blond.

The lioness quickly got dressed and followed him up the stairs of their school as the bell rang to signal that lunch was ending. He hadn’t had much of an appetite lately so he tended to skip lunch and sometimes even breakfast.

“Rylan, wait for me!” The girl called after him. No doubt she was stumbling around in her too-high heels trying to catch up to him.

That whiny voice.

Turning on her, he let his mane partially show as he growled out another warning.

“Go away!”

He knew that he shouldn’t have been so mean, but he hadn’t been himself lately. His eyes followed the crying girl as she ran around him back inside the building. Giving a tired sigh, Rylan turned and stalked back down the steps toward his car. He would get in trouble with his coach for skipping classes again, but he was too valuable to the team to suspend.

“Where ya going, little lion?”

Of course he’d be here.

Erin stopped a few feet in front of him as he turned around to face him. The guy seriously pissed him off, even more-so than the slutty girls that followed his tail everywhere he went, expecting to become his mate. Of all the people to touch Arron, it just had to be him.

Rylan also heard that he had asked the kid out before he’d disappeared. That alone made him want to kill him, but he was a damned elephant. Even in his human form he could handle Rylan… which was what all the bruises on his body from the past week proved. He had attacked him twice already out of sheer spite, but each time Erin easily blocked his punches and sent him flying.

“What do you want, elephant?” He ground out, not wanting to deal with him right then.

He always seemed to be the picture perfect image of calm during the stressful week. Rylan knew that it was an elephant thing not to get too caught up in stuff, but the guy hardly ever showed any kind of negative emotion at all.

“I just talked with Arron’s mom.” Erin said with a slight grin.

I told her to call me with information! Why did she talk to him instead?

“She didn’t want to call you because you’re supposed to be in class. Arron called and said that he would be home late tonight.”

He’s coming back tonight?

Rylan was gone in a flash, his lion having torn through his clothes without a care as it started running. If Arron was coming back that evening, he would be the first one to meet him.

Arron’s mother was standing outside sweeping the porch when he arrived, panting quietly from the run. She looked up with a light chuckle and a nod before disappearing inside the house. She returned a minute later with a bowl of water that had a few ice cubes in it. As soon as it was set in front of him Rylan gulped it down, then began crunching the ice happily. It was one of his lion’s few vices… it really loved ice.

When he felt a hand sifting through his partial mane he glanced up.

“He’ll be home soon. I know that you missed him and that means a lot to me. I’m glad he has good friends like you and Erin.”

Like Erin? That guy just wanted in his pants. And myself? I’m not his friend, I’m just, he’s just…

His lion was pushing him toward the word mine , but he shoved it back.

“Rylan?” She asked, seemingly sensing that he was upset about something. 

He gave a quiet rumble before resting his head on his front paws. He didn’t feel like shifting back right then to talk and she figured that out pretty quickly.

“I suppose you’re here to wait for him so I’ll leave you be.”

With that she smiled and went back inside to finish cleaning up before her son came home.

“Alright guys, we’re going to stop at the place I’ll be renting for us first.” Larro said.

It was already close to ten o’ clock at night, but after driving the whole day they were finally close to their destination.

“Pask! Wake up. Dropping you and Tayn off in a few minutes.” He yelled behind himself.

There was a grumble from the back seat and when they finally pulled into the parking lot of a nice apartment complex Pask was up and yawning. He stopped the car in front of the building on the left.

“Alright, Tayn, Pask, grab our stuff real quick and head inside, it should be unlocked with a few keys on the counter.” Larro said.

Tayn nodded and set Arron’s cheetah in his lap for a moment so that he could get out. He was about to shut the door so that he could get the stuff out of the trunk when Arron ran over to him.

Pausing with his hand on the door, Tayn smiled down at the kitten and patted its head. Larro could tell that they were talking telepathically, but he was surprised to know that Tayn had bonded so quickly with Arron when he was so against even talking to people in general.

After Pask and Tayn got their stuff and were safely inside, Larro pulled out of the parking lot and got him and Arron headed toward the address he had gotten from the boy’s mother earlier.

Darn kid hadn’t even memorized his new address yet.

“Alright, shift and get dressed if you can. We’ll be at your house in about an hour or so.”

The second Tayn had his and Larro’s stuff he ran up the stairs to the new apartment. It was pretty darn nice inside and a bit bigger than their last one. The doorway opened into the living room right away, then the kitchen was one of those open ones only separated by the counter that wrapped around near the hall and acted as a technical wall on the left.

He quickly walked down the hall and took a right toward a shorter one before he came upon the first bedroom. It was nice, but it wasn’t one of the ones with a balcony. It looked like there were two with access and one without. He was about to turn and look for the others when he heard Pask coming.

Without much thought he stepped into the room and shut the door fast. Pascal’s feet paused outside it a moment later, but then continued onto the other two rooms to look around. Tayn sighed with relief hoping that he wouldn’t try to bother him after that long car ride, but when he heard scratching at the door a minute later he nearly jumped. 

At least the scratches meant he was in his canine form. That was at least a little easier to deal with.

He slowly opened the door to see a fuzzy spotted face staring up at him. The hyena whimpered once before taking the edge of the shirt that Tayn was wearing and tugging. There really was no reason not to follow since he was in his animal form and not jumping at him.

He silently walked beside Pask until they stopped in the room furthest from the entrance. It was right next to the bathroom and when Tayn stepped inside he instantly felt more relaxed. The balcony. He often found himself out there at their old apartment at night when he’d had trouble sleeping. It was pretty common for him to spend several hours there each week as well. He guessed that after living in the strip joint for two years that he really had a thing for being outside, even when at home.

With calm steps he made his way out onto the balcony and took in a deep breath of fresh air. Larro had picked out a very nice place and it was close to one of the state’s forests, which he couldn’t wait to explore later.

There was a faint brush against his pants from Pask’s nose, making him glance down at him and growl quietly. He knew what he was going to do before he nudged him again, then again.

Annoying guy.

Eventually Tayn gave in and tossed his shirt off, then yanked down his pants so that he could shift. The second he was in his hyena form he was tackled and promptly attacked Pascal back in response. He knew that he didn’t play very well with anyone, much less him, but Pascal always tried, even if it ended up with him bleeding.

When he nipped at his nose Tayn ran after him, biting his haunches and tail when he didn’t move fast enough. They ended up running right out the front door that had evidently not shut completely before. He didn’t even realize where they were going until he slowed to catch his breath at the edge of the forest. Since he was already there, he couldn’t help but flop onto his back and roll around in the leaf litter. He knew that it was childish and he was still quite annoyed with Pask, but he couldn’t help that side of himself.

Hearing the snap of twigs nearby, he snapped his head up to see Pask walking closer. He noticed him staring and dropped to the ground right away. Tayn knew that he wouldn’t dare come closer unless he showed that he would accept his attention, so he just continued to roll around happily. It was likely around thirty minutes later when he finally got himself up out of the leaves, shook most of them off, then sauntered over to Pask. Tayn could tell that he wanted to jump up since his tail was now thumping repeatedly on the ground with interest, but he was smart and held back that urge.

Since Tayn had the chance to approach him without the risk of being sexually assaulted for once, he very carefully began sniffing at his nose and licking at his mouth. He knew that he should have been claiming dominance in that situation instead of giving submissive signals, but he wasn’t one that enjoyed being in charge. Also, just because he submitted did not mean that he wanted to be bred by anyone he cued as dominant. The second he finished licking his nose Tayn noticed him beginning to get up and abruptly snarled right in his face.

I want to do him so badly!

If Pascal actually got completely up on his four paws Tayn would have probably killed him because he would have seen his not so little problem that he wanted him to help him with. He tried to move a little higher, but Tayn snapped at him, making him drop back down with a cackle.

It’s so mean to submit and then tell me I can’t have any…

Pascal stayed completely still as Tayn sniffed around him. Everything about him was tense, telling him that another nip would come his way if he made the wrong move, or really any move. What he didn’t expect though, was Tayn circling around him, then very hesitantly lying down right against his side.

His scent instantly filled Pask’s nostrils, making his hyena nearly begin to drool.

Please don’t read my thoughts. I don’t want to be castrated.

The guy wasn’t helping his libido calm down any as he snuggled in and rested his head on Pascal’s left front leg. Why are you so cute, and vicious? Tayn’s hyena was not even half the size of his own, but it was still just as masculine while at the same time being adorable, if that made any sense at all.

If Pask thought that he was hiding his perversion, he was dead wrong. Tayn could smell it radiating off of him right along with his natural musky scent. He thought that after all of those times smelling it that he’d be gagging, but he actually didn’t mind it much. The guy wasn’t trying to hump him or really move at all, so there was no reason to bite him just for getting turned on. He could be as hard as he wanted if he kept it to himself.

Tayn relaxed for a few minutes before one of his eyes cracked open, a confused look on his hyena’s face as he got himself to his feet and quickly ran back to the apartment. He could hear Pask trying to catch up, but he managed to slip into the bathroom and lock it before he could stop him.

“Tayn! What’s wrong?”

Stop banging on the door, you idiot.

“Go away!” He yelled, having shifted back.

“What did I do?” He asked, worry in his voice.

Honestly, that had been the best behavior Tayn had ever seen from him. It was his own fault that he’d freaked out.

“Nothing! Now go away.” He growled back through the door.

Tayn started panting as Pascal continued to bang on the door, but he didn’t think that he would go as far as to force it open. After a few more moments Tayn got himself into the shower and grabbed the stiffness between his legs. Every few months everything got uncomfortably hot and his body just got disgustingly turned on. He knew that it was a heat cycle like females shifters had, but he had no idea why he was getting them. It always messed with his head, which was why he was almost snuggling with Pask outside, but he wasn’t supposed to go into heat again for at least another month considering the schedule he’d been on for it.

What the hell happened?

The rest of the drive home was bitter sweet. Arron honestly didn’t want to leave Larro, but he knew that he had to go home. His mother meant the world to him.

When they pulled into the driveway he could see Rylan in the yard. That wasn’t exactly expected, but he shrugged it off. The person he really wanted to see was running from the porch and he quickly jumped out of the car to meet her halfway.

“I missed you so much, sweetheart!” She said as she hugged him tightly.

“Me too.” He replied quickly.

They stood there in the driveway at eleven twenty at night, just enjoying the fact that they were finally back together again.

He noticed his mother looking over his shoulder after a bit and smiled as he turned and ran back to the car, grabbing Larro from the driver’s seat where he was hiding for some odd reason. Arron dragged him over to his mother and introduced them with an excited grin.

“Mom, this is the man that saved me. His name is Larro. Larro, this is my mom.”

Larro knew that Arron meant well when he introduced them, but when he saw his mother’s eyes widen abruptly with recognition, he knew that he would be leaving very soon. The judgment had instantly been made… and it was a shame, because he really wanted to be able to visit Arron some time and hell, his mother looked like a nice young woman worth visiting, too.

Not that way, you idiot!

Quickly shaking his head, Larro refocused his attention to see Arron now pushed behind his mother and a lion stalking over from where it had been lazily lying in the grass.

“Please leave.” Arron’s mother said, her tone brooking no argument. She had clearly seen or read about what he’d done in the past at so me point. It had made national headlines. 

“But mom, he saved me and brought me home! Why are you telling him to leave so suddenly?” Arron asked, clearly confused.

She wouldn’t turn to look at Arron as he spoke. It was a smart move. If anyone came near his kids with his kind of history, even though he couldn’t ever see the pups, he would have already killed them.

Instead of arguing anything, Larro just gave Arron a small smile and turned to grab his bag out of the car. He handed it over to Arron’s mother calmly, trying to keep the tension from getting any worse. The lion had stopped a few yards away, but he knew that he was about ready to pounce if he made any kind of move toward Arron or his mother.

Well, at least he has people that care about him here, unlike when he was stuck with Marcus.

That information had Larro nodding once in goodbye before turning and shutting the passenger door, then sliding into the driver’s seat. He didn’t spare a glance back at Arron, because he knew that he would have gotten out of the car again just to try and hug him goodbye. Instead, he forced his car into reverse and pulled out, then floored it down the street.

Chapter 30: A Little Leeway

The annoying sound of his cell phone ringing nonstop made Larro reach across the seat and grab it. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone, but after a quick glance at the screen, he sighed and pressed the device to his ear.

“Hello?” He mumbled.

“Larro, Tayn locked himself in the bathroom.” Pascal said abruptly on the other end of the phone, his voice a little breathless.

That’s not surprising considering I left him alone with you.

“Okay? Just leave him be then.” He said.

“But I didn’t do anything, I swear. We were actually laying next to each other in the forest near the apartment, but then he started getting a little closer, and then he just flipped out and ran back inside.”

Larro sighed out a tired breath as he stopped at a red light. He really didn’t want to deal with the situation right then, and definitely not over the phone, but he was worried that Pascal might do something stupid.

“Alright Pask, listen. I highly doubt that Tayn knows it, but he’s a cross shifter.” He said as he continued to drive.

There was a quiet whimper of surprise on the other side of the phone and Larro could hear him pacing.

“Pask! Don’t you dare touch him right now, do you understand me?” Larro warned, a growl to his words.

“His pheromones hit you pretty hard and I was hoping to just let him handle it how he wishes, but I’ll pick up a collar for him on the way home. Now I want you to go walk to the Chinese take out restaurant down the street and pick us up some dinner, okay?” Larro said as calmly as he could, but with as much authority as he could muster over the phone.

Pascal whimpered a few more times in response, but after another minute Larro heard him shut the front door and head down the stairs.

“Good boy. I’ll be home when you get back.” He said.

“Okay…”

Larro hurried to the collar shop after doing a quick search on his GPS for one. It was pretty close. Thankfully, he got there right as the owner was leaving, having stayed really late to work on some things in the store. He managed to grab a nice black collar for four hundred in cash.

About forty minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot of their new apartment complex. Pask was just starting up the stairs with his arms full of Chinese food, allowing Larro to give a big sigh of relief and quickly jump out of the car. He was about to close the door and run up to meet Pascal when something caught his eye. Squished underneath the dashboard on the passenger’s side of the car was Arron’s bear from the arcade.

Looking up at Pask, Larro called out to him. “Set the food on the counter and yell to Tayn that we’re leaving for about two hours, then come down here.”

He could see the hesitation in the young man to leave again, but he wouldn’t ever argue with Larro about a direct order. After a moment he nodded and did as told, shutting the door behind himself before joining Larro in the car.

“What’s up, Larro?” He asked.

“Forgot to give Arron his bear.”

Pascal raised a brow at him, but when Larro didn’t respond he seemed to think better of pushing the matter.

When they got back to Arron’s house Larro could see the living room lights still on, as well as one on the porch. He knew that he should just have Pask run the bear up to the porch, but he couldn’t. With a quiet sigh he grabbed the stuffed animal and quickly made his way up the steps. He set the bear down next to the door before knocking twice fast, then turning to run back to his car.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the most coordinated hyena and tripped going down the stairs, taking a good hit to his face on the pavement leading up to the porch. Ouch. When he managed to shake himself out of it, he heard someone running down the stairs and quickly turned, lifting an arm to shield his face from being hit.

“I was just bringing back the toy!” He said quickly.

Suddenly, he was tackled by Arron, the force sending them both falling back into the grass with grunts.

“Arron, what are you doing?”

Larro could already hear his purr going and smiled, but he really couldn’t stay. His mother stepped out onto the porch with a quiet growl starting in her own throat and her cheetah was definitely waiting to be unleashed.

“Kid, I was just dropping off your bear. I forgot it earlier.” He said calmly, trying to keep the situation from escalating.

Carefully, Larro lifted Arron off of his chest and set him aside so that he could get up, only to have Arron wrap himself around his leg.

This really isn’t a good time, kiddo.

“Arron, come on. This isn’t the time to misbehave.” He said.

It was ridiculously late, or really, early, and Larro was definitely glad that the lion was at least gone.

“Arron. Come here right now, you know you aren’t allowed to see him.” His mother said, a hint of worry in her upset tone.

“Why? You haven’t even given him a chance, mom!” Arron yelled.

He knew that she was stressed since he had been with a murderer the whole time, but Larro wasn’t the same man. If he had wanted to kill him, he could have just left him on Marcus’s floor.

“He doesn’t deserve a chance for what he did. Now get back inside, right now!”

Larro tensed at his mother’s words. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at like that. He had made a mistake years ago and had paid the price. He’d also worked to better himself while doing time in jail. It was so much more than most people would do in such a situation.

Arron could hear his mother running over and quickly wrapped himself tighter around Larro’s leg. She pulled at him, but he wasn’t budging.

“No! I’m not going anywhere without him. He’s been like a father to me!” Arron yelled as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Everything went dead silent.

After a minute he hesitantly blinked them back open to see what was going on. Her face looked shocked and torn… and Larro’s eyes were wide with close to the same expression.

“What… did you just call him?” She asked.

Swallowing hard, Arron tried to blink back tears.

“Father.”

Her eyes slowly rose to Larro’s, but while he looked humbled and slightly scared, she looked furious and confused.

“After everything you’ve done.” She hissed.

Arron could feel Larro tensing again for a blow he’d likely felt several times since that incident from different people.

“How dare you even consider wanting to be a parent!”

The words obviously hurt him, but Larro didn’t lash out or even try to defend himself. “I understand.” He said quietly.

That answer actually seemed to catch Arron’s mother by surprise. He even caught Arron off guard when he gently undid his arms from around his legs.

“You need to go inside, Arron. I’ll come visit you some time.”

Arron’s heart constricted at his depressed tone.

“Liar.”

That got a tired cackle out of him.

“Just pretend I’m not lying, kid.” He replied.

Arron refastened his grip on Larro’s leg when he managed to slip from his grasp. He knew, however, that he was out numbered and likely to lose any chance of seeing Larro again if he didn’t think of something fast.

“Mom?”

She sighed but replied. “Yes, Arron?”

“Do you have his phone number?” He asked.

She actually smiled slightly at that before looking up at Larro.

“Yes. You may call him once in awhile, Arron.”

Finally, something!

“Okay.”

He slowly let go of Larro’s leg, only to tackle him back into the grass with a strong hug. At first Larro was hesitant to return it since Arron’s mother definitely didn’t like him, but after a moment he sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around him in goodbye.

“Call me whenever you’d like. I’ll always answer.” He said.

Arron lifted his eyes slowly to his.

“You promise?”

There wasn’t a second of hesitation with Larro’s response. “I promise.”

After a soft kiss to Arron’s hair, Larro lifted him back up to his feet and turned him toward his mother before nudging his body forward.

“Go inside, Arron. It’s late.”

Arron turned back around immediately, but didn’t make a move to grab him again. Instead, he pursed his lips and tried to smile.

“I’m going to call you tomorrow.” He said with determination.

Larro chuckled and replied with a lopsided grin.

“I suppose I’ll be answering my phone tomorrow, then.”

“At six in the morning! You promised that you’d answer, so at six!” Arron said.

Larro smirked and laughed lightly.

“It’s a date, but you better get to bed soon, because it’s getting close to six already.” Larro said as he stuck out his tongue the slightest bit.

Arron’s mouth dropped open at that, drawing another laugh from Larro before the man gave him and his mother a wave, then headed back down to his car to head home.

When they got back, Pascal couldn’t help but run up the stairs to check on Tayn. He might be obsessed with getting into the guy’s pants, but he wasn’t a heartless ass. He knew that he was upset about something related to being a cross shifter.

“Tayn?”

There was a quiet cackle over by the sofa and when Pask looked, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“I should have known not to leave Chinese food alone with you.” He said, his voice chiding but not really angry.

There was vegetable lo mein, General Tso, and egg rolls everywhere. Pask had no idea what Chinese had ever done to Tayn, but the guy always tore the packaging to hell before he even considered eating any part of the actual food. Thank god he knew better than to get the chicken on the carpet where it could stain, but still.

With a shake of his head, Pask started collecting up the egg rolls so that they could at least salvage them with a good wash. Larro chuckled and went about picking up the noddles and chicken to toss out as Tayn watched them from the far side behind the sofa.

When Pask began washing the eggrolls he noticed Larro going over to kneel beside Tayn with the collar he’d bought in his hand.

Huh?

“Hey sweetie, can you shift for a moment please?” Larro said, his voice gentle.

Tayn immediately looked over at him, making Pask quickly avert his eyes, pretending to just be washing off the eggrolls. When he heard Larro say “There we go,” he quickly glanced back over at them. That collar looks adorable on him… Setting aside the clean eggrolls, Pask wiped his hands on a dish towel and walked over to kneel beside Larro.

“Huh?”

Larro glanced at him with a grin as he stood up.

“I… where’s your scent? I mean, it’s still there, but no where near as strong as it was.” Pascal said, clearly shocked.

“Because he’s wearing a pheromone collar. The herb in the bell on it masks most pheromones the wearer gives off.”

“Oh.”

Sitting down, Pascal tilted his head as he stared at a slightly-cowering Tayn.

“I don’t feel nearly as, I don’t know. I guess, horny? As I had been before.” He said.

Larro laughed and patted his and Tayn’s heads.

“You were affected because his body gives off pheromones to not just attract females, but also males. Cross shifters also tend to have much stronger scents… and they often end up causing some males to become possessive or even worse.”

Pask flinched, but he would have been a liar if he hadn’t thought about pinning Tayn a few times just to have him at least once.

“I’m surprised that it has such a strong affect. I don’t feel like jumping him at all now.”

Larro chuckled and headed toward the kitchen to warm up the egg rolls.

“Now play nice while I heat up what’s left of our food.”

Tayn didn’t trust him. Collar or not. When Larro got up he really wanted to follow him, but he’d made it clear that he wanted them to stay where they were for the moment. Thus, he scrunched himself back into the corner near the sofa to try and keep Pask as far away as possible. He even bared his teeth to blatantly show that he wasn’t interested in playing any kind of nice.

Normally in such a situation Tayn would expect Pascal to start doing something perverted after blushing and licking his lips, but instead he just cackled and flopped onto his back to stretch.

Eh?

That definitely wasn’t the Paskal he knew.

“Ah, man. It feels so good to not be so horny! I knew that I wasn’t normally that bad. It was his darn pheromones messing with my mind. Couldn’t even get it up for those people I met at the club all those times. No wonder.” Pascal said, clearly relieved.

Wait, so he never even slept with any of those people?

When Pask didn’t move for over a minute Tayn decided to get up and walk over. The guy saw him coming, but just yawned and flopped over onto his belly, resting his chin on his folded arms to watch the quiet television.

Wow. I don’t even know how to respond.

Tayn’s eyes rose to Larro in the kitchen, who just grinned at him and raised his brows jokingly. He was so used to being cautious around Pask, but that he didn’t even seem interested. Deciding to be a bit of a rebel and test him on his new attitude, Tayn shifted and tugged on his pants, but left his shirt off. Pask had never been able to stay in the same room with him when he’d had his shirt off for more than a few minutes. When Tayn looked back down at him to gauge his reaction, he was just raising a brow and grinning.

“So now I get to enjoy a strip tease?” Pascal said as his eyes ran over Tayn’s body.

Gross.

“Guys, food!” Larro called. He had made some microwavable rice to go with the egg rolls so they at least had a decent dinner. Since his place had already come with a huge TV and two sofas they all sat on the coaches and enjoyed the rerun of the football game from earlier in the day. Tayn stretched out next to Larro after eating but as it got closer to four in the morning, he began to doze until he finally passed out during a commercial break.

Pascal had to wait until Larro went to bed around three-forty before he could turn the TV off and walk over to Tayn. He was out cold on his side, using the armrest as a pillow while he quietly snored, if you could even call it that. It sounded more like cute little quiet breaths.

With a slight smirk Pask leaned over him, his left hand on the armrest just above Tayn’s head to support his own weight, allowing him to tilt his head just enough to press his firm lips to Tayn’s soft ones.

“That collar may help calm me down, but that doesn’t mean you should flaunt that beautiful body in front of a hungry hyena.” He whispered.

Pascal kissed him again as soon as he was done speaking, then again, and again. Each time he tried to pull himself away Tayn’s deliciously moist lips drew him back in.

“You still belong to me, but I’ll be a good boy and wait until you figure that out yourself.” He said as he leaned back, needing to catch his breath.

When he finally managed to calm down, he carefully scooped Tayn up into his arms and carried him to his room. Pask desperately wanted to get in bed with him, but Larro would kill him for it, even if he didn’t touch. So, with one final kiss, this time on the cheek, he left Tayn to go pass out in his own room down the hall.

Chapter 31: Pull it Together

(These chapters are in a specific order as this book has been complete for many years and that detail of it will never change. Please stop asking for different orders. It is not going to happen and is not possible without rewriting the entire story. Wait for the book to be over soon if you want to read just specific parts.)

“Arron!”

Rylan bristled when the guy ignored him as he quickly paced down the hall toward his first period class. I get that I wasn’t the nicest guy, but at least acknowledge me… I missed you. When Arron turned, Rylan motioned for him to come back, but Arron quickly shook his head as the bell began to ring. When he ran off a second later, Rylan growled quietly in frustration. After shoving away the girl who was currently hanging onto his arm like a hungry jackal, he quickly stomped after him. His lion was pacing right beneath his skin, unhappy about being ignored, school bell or not.

When he stepped into their first period class he noticed Arron collecting homework from the teacher that he’d done for him, a confused look on his face. Arron clearly felt his eyes on him as the teacher pointed out a few parts that he had gotten wrong, since Rylan couldn’t have matched their sheets up one hundred percent or he’d risk getting caught doing Arron’s work, because he glanced sideways at him a few times.

Slightly satisfied, Rylan took his seat, quietly waiting for Arron to finish with the teacher. When they were done talking, he motioned Arron toward him with a finger. This time, the guy came over to him right away.

“Why didn’t you come when I called to you in the hallway?” He asked, trying to keep his voice friendly while his lion was still frustrated.

Arron looked down at that, his face turning the faintest bit pink.

Grabbing his waist, Rylan tried to pull him into his lap, but the guy quickly squirmed away and dropped down into the empty seat beside him.

“Everyone, calm down please it’s time to start class.” The teacher said loudly before Rylan could try to get Arron again.

After class. He told his lion. It would be pacing during the entire lecture, but thankfully it was just a review day.

He waited for Arron to pack up his notebook and pencil once the teacher had finished lecturing before tossing his backpack over his shoulder with his own, then adding him to them. They got some stares for it, but that was the point. 

He carried him up several flights of stairs to the roof and locked the door behind himself before setting Arron on his feet.

“So, where were you this past week?” Rylan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m sorry I disappeared, someone kidnapped me.” Arron said, barely able to meet his eyes. His lion must have been showing through them.

That’s what his mother had told him and his father, but he wanted to hear the real story, and he also wanted to know who the hell the guy was that had dropped him off.

“Who was that guy last night?” He asked, unable to keep the words from leaving his mouth.

The smile that instantly flooded Arron’s face had Rylan’s lion grumbling to be set free. It wanted that smile for itself.

“He saved me from the man who had kidnapped me. His name is Larro.” He said, nearly beaming at the memory of the guy.

“Uh, Rylan?” Arron said after he didn’t reply for a bit.

Crap, didn’t realize I was letting my mane come out. Calm down.

“I don’t like the idea of you being around him.” He finally growled out, though he knew that it was illogical to say. Larro, as far as he knew, hadn’t done anything but help Arron, yet he still didn’t like him.

“Not going to happen.” Arron replied with a hesitant growl of his own.

Rylan’s lion was not pleased with his immediate disagreement. It was used to getting what it wanted and Rylan was having trouble holding it back.

“What did you just say?” He asked, even though he knew better than to bait his animal further.

Arron narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders. “I will not stay away from him. He’s a really nice guy and he helped me a lot.”

Almost before he could get his clothing off, Rylan’s lion was breaking free from his control. It had Arron pinned beneath its giant paws within seconds. The kid whimpered a little but Rylan felt that the scared emotion was more from his kitten than himself, which was surprising.

Dammit, give me control back, you oaf! You’re going to hurt him.

It took him a minute to reign in his beast enough to allow his body to return to being human again. After another few moments of quiet panting, Rylan got up and got himself dressed, then knelt down next to Arron and reached out a hand.

“Hey kid, look at me.” He said quietly, worried that his shift had scared him a bit too much. He really hadn’t meant to let it out.

When Arron glared at his proffered hand, Rylan hesitantly withdrew it.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to do that, I just got upset and my lion took over.” He said.

He was just about to reach forward again in the hopes that Arron might not be too upset with him when he heard his name being yelled.

Damn elephant. Didn’t even hear him break the lock on the door.

“I wasn’t doing anything.” Rylan growled as he stood up, turning in the process.

Thankfully, he saw Erin wing-up his fist just fast enough to dodge to the side and escape the promise of a nasty punch. When he brought his own fists up for defense, Rylan sucked in a surprised breath and took several steps backward. Erin’s elephant was now staring him down, and he certainly didn’t want to try fighting it.

“I really wasn’t going to do anything. My lion just lost control for a few seconds. I dealt with it.” He said, trying to calm the giant animal down. He knew that he couldn’t fight it, but he also knew that an elephant on the roof wasn’t going to end well. It was a miracle that there wasn’t any damage yet.

Erin snorted and swung his trunk from side to side as he took a slow step toward Arron, but kept his head turned toward him.

Rylan took another step backward as he glanced sideways at Arron. The guy was already up on his feet, brushing off a bit of dust on his clothing.

“Arron, you need to tell him that you’re fine. He can’t walk around up here in that form.” Rylan said, glancing sideways again for just a moment.

He looked a little shocked from the whole situation in general, but when Arron finally opened his mouth to speak, his form shifted and he was left mewing in a stack of crumpled clothing.

Your shift has horrible timing!

Thankfully, Arron’s kitten seemed to still realize that it needed to do something to deescalate the situation because it climbed out of his clothing and bounded over to Erin’s elephant. When he stopped at Erin’s feet and mewed up at him, Rylan felt his lion nudge his senses.

Not a chance. Just stay the heck back. You’ve already caused enough of a problem. He told it as he watched Arron paw at the elephant’s giant left leg. It only took another minute or so before Erin’s shift finally relented and he was back in his human form.

Not wanting to see the guy naked, and definitely not wanting Arron to see him, Rylan walked over to the guy’s backpack that had fallen from his shoulders and threw it at him. Erin easily caught it with little effort, then unzipped it and tugged on a pair of pants and a loose shirt before picking up the kitten at his feet.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry I lost control for a minute.” He said as he slid his feet into each of his shoes that had fallen off right before he’d shifted.

When Arron nodded, Rylan crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “I told you that I didn’t do anything to him. We were just talking.”

Erin glared over at him, but then set Arron down and pursed his lips in thought. “Are you sure that you two are fine? I can take you to class if you want me to.” He said, the offer making Rylan want to show his teeth.

When Arron mewed and nodded a second time, then slowly walked over him, Rylan smirked. Erin returned it with a middle finger before swinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking toward the door. He stopped before he opened it, though, and looked over his shoulder.

“I better not catch you bullying him or I’m going to hurt you a hundred times worse. Have fun soon, by the way.”

With those confusing, sweet words, he was gone, and Rylan’s lion was ready to have a fit. Instead of trying to start anything he knew would only finish himself, he leaned down and picked up his and Arron’s backpacks, then swung them over his left shoulder. With his other hand he easily lifted the guy’s kitten form and tucked it under his arms to carry down the stairs.

When his phone started vibrating in his back pocket after only taking a few steps down the first flight, Rylan grumbled and set their bags down, then fished his phone out and frowned at the caller I.D..

Oh crap.

Knowing that something was up since his father was calling him while he was at school, Rylan sighed and accepted the call, lifting the phone to his ear.

“Hey dad?” He said, confusion in his voice as he sat down on a step with Arron still tucked in his free arm.

“Home, now.” Jordan said, making him wince.

“Yes, sir.” He replied right away, not wanting to make whatever was wrong, worse.

Arron’s mind was still a bit crazy from everything that had happened as he sat in Rylan’s passenger seat. He wasn’t sure why Rylan was bringing him home, but he couldn’t exactly ask, either. When they pulled up to his house Rylan grabbed him to tuck back under his arm, then tossed their bags over his shoulder before walking up to the door.

Said door didn’t remain closed for long. It was yanked open abruptly and Rylan was snatched up by the collar of his shirt, making him drop Arron along with their backpacks before he was yanked inside. Jordan looked absolutely furious as he shoved Rylan against the wall and growled in his face.

“Don’t you dare mess with Arron that way again. He does not belong to you!”

Arron followed them inside carefully, making sure to stay a good distance away as he watched the show. He kind of liked seeing Rylan get chewed out for having tried to intimidate him. Erin must have called his father before he’d intervened.

Not too happy that I’m the main topic here, though.

“That bastard of an elephant mated him!” Rylan yelled back, though the volume of his voice paled in comparison to his father’s roar.

He was struggling to get out of his father’s grasp but the older lion easily held him where he was.

Glad I never made Jordan mad.

“Rylan, you cannot apply pride rules to a different species.” Jordan continued.

“But he’s a cat! It’s close enough!”

“No! It isn’t!” Jordan roared back.

They both stared at each other, growling for nearly a minute before Jordan finally forced himself to calm down.

“Rylan… I know that you were worried when he disappeared and now that he’s back you’re overwhelmed, but you can’t just force him to do what you want. It doesn’t work that way with some lions and it certainly doesn’t work that way with cheetahs.”

Arron actually kind of knew where Jordan was coming from with that bit of information. Most female lions loved the dominating personality that both males obviously had, but cheetahs were definitely not interested in aggressive situations, even for breeding purposes.

Speaking of aggressive situations, Arron found himself beginning to back out the door when someone walked up behind him and scooped him up into his arms for a strong hug.

“Hey there, you adorable kitten!”

Not the best timing, Terran.

As he was carried back inside, he noticed Rylan’s eyes glaring daggers at his older brother, but Jordan was quick to jerk his shirt collar and snap his attention back to him. That’s when Arron noticed that he was wearing a full suit.

Had he come home from work because of the call?

“Go get the chicken in the kitchen cut up for dinner. That should work off some of that extra energy. And if it doesn’t, I want to see two hundred push ups afterward, and if I have to come home early from work again just to deal with my bullying son, you’ll lose your car for another week.”

Rylan growled and began stalking toward the kitchen, but then abruptly stopped and turned on his dad.

“Wait, another week?” He asked, his voice disbelieving.

Jordan smirked and jingled Rylan’s keys in his hand. Arron hadn’t even seen him take them.

“Get busy with dinner, son.”

Tayn awoke with his bedroom door wide open, which was extremely scary considering who he lived with. The first thing he did when he noticed that was look around the room, specifically on the big bed he was lying in… without a shirt?

What the hell happened?

As he thought back to what had gone on the previous night, he heard a light knock near the door and snapped his head toward the sound.

Pask.

Instinctively, Tayn yanked the blanket up over most of his body and glared at him so that he would walk away. Instead of getting the hint, Pascal just raised a brow and leaned against the doorjamb.

“You have that fancy collar on now, remember? Larro got it for you yesterday and it stops your pheromones from making me horny. I’m not going to jump your bones. Just came to let you know that breakfast will be ready in a few.” Pask said before giving Tayn a slight grin and walking off.

What the heck just happened?

Tayn waited five minutes before hesitantly climbing out of the bed and peeking around the corner to look toward the living room and kitchen.

He isn’t there.

He honestly expected Pask to be waiting to jump him. Since he wasn’t, though, Tayn ducked back into the bedroom and opened up the bag he had left there yesterday. Tugging on a shirt, he sauntered out of the room and basically followed his nose right into the kitchen.

Bacon.

Larro’s snicker snapped him out of his daze, aided by the feeling of a piece of bacon poking against his lips. He snapped it up with an excited cackle, his hyena slipping out a bit from the happiness. Larro chuckled at his expression and handed him two plates.

“Go give one to Pascal.” He said as he rustled Tayn’s hair.

He was quite hesitant to get close to Pask, but the guy seemed pretty relaxed when he walked out of the kitchen and saw him in the living room watching replays from the game they had watched the previous night.

“Hey…”

Pask glanced up at the sound of his voice and Tayn nearly stepped back out of habit. When he just smiled and took the plate, however, Tayn let his shoulders relax a little.

“Thanks.” Pask said before his attention went right back to the TV as he began to eat.

I’m so confused. He’s always been a horny pervert around me. Is the collar Larro gave me really that good?

Since Larro was now sitting on the second sofa, Tayn figured that he could maybe test how well the collar actually worked so that he would have a new limit established that he knew to be careful of. He plopped down next to Pask, a place he hadn’t dared to sit more than a couple times since he had met him. He could feel both of their eyes on him for a moment, but when he just began eating and watching the replays they both returned their attention to the TV.

Larro? How did your call with Arron go this morning? He thought to the man after a minute.

He remembered that he had mentioned it the previous night during the game.

The kid fell asleep after a minute, but it was nice to speak with him.

Glancing over at him, Tayn noticed that he was pouting a little. He’d also mentioned that Arron’s mother knew who he was, and more importantly, what he had done, so she had told him to stay away from her kid. Tayn guessed that he could have gotten a much worse reception, but she probably was at least thankful to him for bringing Arron back.

I’m sure he’ll be calling again. He really liked you. He said reassuringly.

Tayn felt happiness flood through their bond as Larro’s reply, then smiled and turned back to his food.

It was surprising that Tayn was actually testing his restraint so soon. If Larro wouldn’t smack him for grabbing the guy, he would already have been in his lap. Of course, Pask wasn’t crazy for him now that he had that collar on, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t really want him. He could just control his libido better.

The game clips were beginning to wind down and after sitting all morning he felt like a good run was in order. Standing up, he stretched, then headed toward his room. “Gonna go run for a bit.”

He returned to the living room a minute later in his basketball shorts and running shoes. Right as he was about to get up from tying his shoes he noticed someone kneel down beside him in a similar get-up and looked sideways to see Tayn.

He’s never come running with me.

When Tayn noticed him looking he got that familiar glare, but Pask just smiled and headed outside. Tayn was surprisingly fast and easily kept up with him as they put miles behind them. The weather was nice, even though it was drizzling lightly. Neither of them minded and it actually felt nice as it cooled their skin. They were just about to round a corner when Pascal heard a surprised gasp and then a thud. He skidded to a halt and spun around to see Tayn on the ground.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, hurrying over.

Tayn started getting up right away, but dropped again when he started putting weight on his left foot.

Probably twisted it badly.

“Let me help.” Pascal said, reaching out as he spoke, but Tayn quickly growled a warning.

Kneeling down next to him, Pask turned, offering him his back. “Come on. You’re not gonna limp home and it’s frowned upon to shift to a carnivore for long in public. I swear I won’t do anything, but we need get you home and put ice on that ankle.”

When he looked over his shoulder Pask knew that Tayn was considering his words carefully. He couldn’t blame him. He was a horny bastard that hadn’t exactly given him much reason to trust him.

After a few tense moments Tayn sighed and carefully moved forward until he was able to wrap his arms around Pascal’s neck. He seemed to struggle to get quite high enough, so Pask very carefully hefted him up a bit more, relieved when he didn’t get a growl for the action. It was really hard to behave when the guy’s legs were in his hands, his chest pressed firmly against his back, but he somehow managed it.

When Tayn breathed out quietly and rested his head against Paskal’s shoulder he felt like he was going to go crazy.

I really want to do him so damn badly. This is torture. 

He was being so cute and finally touching him, though not exactly in the specific place he would love him to, but he would gladly take whatever the hell he could get. Pask glanced over his shoulder slightly when he felt him rest his head there. Why is he so adorable? His hair was still a complete mess from waking up and just tossing on clothing to run, so he looked even cuter since his short mohawk was like a spiky thorn bush.

He really wanted to jog slower so that he could have more time with Tayn, but he knew that doing so would be totally unacceptable. The guy was hurt and needed ice as soon as possible. Pask picked up speed to get them home, making it about an hour later. The second they got inside he had Tayn up on the counter with his shoe off.

“Wait a second, I’ll get the ice.” He said quickly.

It was obvious that Tayn was about to argue, but Pascal grabbed a Ziploc bag and quickly filled it with ice from the dispenser in the fridge. Setting that on the counter, he ran to his room and returned a moment later with some ankle wrap bandages.

“Now just hold still…” He mumbled as he slipped off Tayn’s sock. He wrapped up the ankle carefully, then wrapped it again with the ice bag, making sure that there were enough layers so that it didn’t get too cold. Perfect. Once that was done, he carefully lifted Tayn down to his feet with a satisfied smile.

“There you go. Now then, to the couch.”

Figuring that he wouldn’t want to hop the whole way, nor be carried again, Pask tossed his right arm over his shoulder and walked him over. For the next several hours he doted on Tayn, getting him whatever he needed and even cooking him a big lunch of cheeseburgers, with pickles on the side since he liked to nibble them instead of eat them on the sandwich from what he’d noticed, and baked potato wedges. Since Larro seemed to have vanished to do his own thing, they just sat and relaxed after he was done cooking, enjoying the food and television. And he was definitely enjoying the adorable guy that was finally letting him nudge his way through his defenses slowly.

Chapter 32: Spoiled Paws

Being in Terran’s arms was a bit odd, but at least he was away from a brooding Rylan right then. He knew that he wouldn’t hurt him, but he was angry and it was smart to give an angry lion space. After a quiet minute Arron was carried over to where Jordan was sitting on the sofa and deposited beside him.

“Hey kid, sorry my son is such an ass.”

He is, but at least he’s not nearly as aggressive as some lions I’ve seen . Arron mewed and nuzzled against his side with a happy purr. He felt safe just being around him. Maybe it had something to do with the pride mentality of lions. Being a cheetah, most of their instincts were opposite, so he honestly wasn’t too sure. He shouldn’t feel safe around Jordan, but he almost felt like one of the pride, and that meant that the head male would always protect him.

When Terran sat down next to Jordan Arron eyed him cautiously, but accepted a few pats on the head before swatting at his hand.

“You grew a little bit while away, Arron.” He stated.

He had noticed that, too, but it wasn’t enough to really flaunt. His kitten had probably gained a pound or two. It was nice to know that he was at least still growing and hadn’t stopped. Maybe he’d have his adult cheetah one day.

“But when you bred with that elephant… Erin? I think? You grew at least a few pounds right after dad said. Maybe that kick-started your body to finally do what it’s supposed to?”

Makes as much sense as anything else. He did grow quite a bit when he had shifted after his awkward time with Erin. His cheetah was nearly twice his original kitten’s size that he had been stuck in before, but was still definitely small.

“So, I was wondering…” Terran said, making Arron’s ears perk up a little in curiosity.

“How about we go on a little date, hm?”

What?

The shock on Arron’s face was honestly adorable. It felt a bit odd asking a kitten out in the first place, but Terran knew that he was old enough to understand everything. Of course, he was partially doing it because of his brother’s shitty behavior, but in the same thought, he wanted to show Arron that he didn’t have to feel like he had to put up with Rylan’s attitude.

He wasn’t sure if they were dating yet, but he knew that was what Rylan was eventually going to try for. He liked Arron, but he was raised as a lion, and never really paid attention when their father went over interacting with other species. That was mainly because he had never wanted anything for a mate besides a lion, until Arron came along.

“Let me show you a nice time at least?” He asked with a lazy smile.

Arron pawed at his left ear nervously, which was way too cute since he was still a fuzzy kitten. Then his form wavered and he was back to his human self.

Jordan calmly but quickly pulled one of the blankets they left atop the sofa over Arron’s waist for a bit of modesty. Sighing, Arron leaned back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before turning his head toward Terran.

“I guess. A nice time sounds good.”

Time to make my bastard of a brother jealous and realize what he’s about to lose if he doesn’t get his act together.

“Hey, Tayn? Wake up.”

No, go away.

Tayn felt something nuzzle against his hair for a moment, bringing him around slowly. A faint musky smell wafted into his nose., too. 

“Pask?” He grumbled.

“We’re gonna be late for dinner if you don’t get up and shower soon.” Pascal said.

Dinner?

“Larro will be waiting for us there in about thirty minutes.”

Oh crap.

Tayn quickly jumped up and tried to run off toward the bathroom. It didn’t work so well. Instead, he nearly face-planted on to the wooden floor. The arm that came around his waist kept him from obtaining a new injury and also helped him get back on his feet.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, having forgotten that he’d hurt his ankle earlier.

Pask smiled and helped him to the bathroom, but then quickly turned to leave. I still can’t get used to this. He would always offer to help wash me, even though I’d smack him for it and shove him out of the room. Shaking his head, Tayn got himself washed up, being careful not to slip or put too much weight on his bad ankle. Ten minutes later he was slowly stepping out of the shower and drying off.

Pascal was waiting in the living room in a pair of torn black jeans and a light grey sweater so Tayn figured that they weren’t going to a fancy dinner. Good . He really didn’t feel like putting on a smile around Larro’s exec friends right then.

He quickly ducked into his room with his towel wrapped tightly around his waist. When he found the outfit he wanted, he took the items out and dropped his towel so that he could tug on a pair of torn jeans and a dark blue hoodie he had stolen from Pask a week ago. He did intend to return it, eventually.

It had actually been pretty tight on Pask, which was why Tayn hadn’t felt too bad taking it off his hands. It was almost like he hadn’t paid attention to the sizes when he bought some stuff, because some of the things were way too small on him, but fit Tayn perfectly. 

Once he checked his hair in the mirror and nodded at his outfit, Tayn slid on a loose pair of tennis shoes. He’d rewrapped his ankle in the bathroom and it wasn’t hurting too badly right then, so he figured that he could manage through dinner.

“Ready.” He said as he returned to the living room.

Pask helped him down the stairs and then they were off. The place was only a few blocks away but from the looks of it, it was pretty popular. If the delicious smells coming from inside were any indication, it was going to be great. Tayn was so distracted picking apart the different scents that he didn’t even mind when Pascal took his hand and tugged him inside. He also didn’t notice Pask holding up two fingers when the hostess asked them how many were in their party since he was so focused on looking around the cool pizzeria.

Oh nice. They actually have a big arcade, too!

He might have a soft spot for video games. He never really got much of a teenage childhood, so he really enjoyed a good game of pinball or racing, among several others.

Pask knew he’d definitely have to thank Larro for telling him that Tayn would like the arcade restaurant. He, himself, wasn’t much of an arcade guy, but considering the way Tayn’s face was lighting up, he would definitely make an exception. In fact, right after their pizza was devoured Tayn was literally dragging him over to the big arcade area. Pascal thought that he was still pretty injured, too, but evidently the pinball machine with the X-men characters on it was more than enough incentive to get him moving quickly.

For a good two hours Pask emptied his pockets of money and completely spoiled his man. After nearly fifty dollars worth of gaming he finally got Tayn’s attention away from the flashy arcade.

“We have to go pick up Larro, T.”

When Tayn paused, turning away from a machine he’d just won a good amount of points at, he scowled.

“Wait, wasn’t he supposed to be here?” He asked, making Pascal smirk and chuckle.

You were so caught up in everything that you totally forgot about that.

“Sorry hun, but I tricked you.”

He looked a bit upset at first, but Pask swore when he furrowed his brow in anger it just made him look cuter. Tayn’s mouth opened and closed like he was going to try and argue but then he actually blushed a little and leaned forward, wrapping one arm awkwardly around Pascal’s side.

He’s… hugging me? Where’s the punch? Kick? Slap?

The last time he had lied to him he was nearly castrated.

When Tayn realized that he wasn’t hugging him back his blush got even brighter and he bit his lip as he removed his arm from around Pascal.

“Let’s go get Larro…” He said almost too quietly to be heard in the loud room.

Nodding, they both headed outside. “Oh uh, here…” Pascal said in a whisper as they stopped beside the car. Tayn looked up, giving him the perfect opportunity to press the absolutely fake dark red earring into his left ear. It was the only side he had pierced, and he’d evidently forgotten to put in his earring earlier.

Pascal had won it while Tayn had been busy playing against another kid at a fighting game. When Tayn lifted a hand to feel the cheap jewelry, Pask flushed and ran around to get into the driver’s seat. He wasn’t sure why he had gotten him such a cheap thing as a present. After spending nearly fifty dollars on just video games alone, he should have thought of something much better than a fake earring.

While he berated himself internally, he felt something soft press against the side of his face, stunning his mind into utter silence as he slowly got the car turned on to take them home.

He just kissed me.

Best. Night. Ever.

Chapter 33: A Little Control

Terran had to smile at Arron’s lack of enthusiasm. Poor kid had probably been stressed out by the guy Rylan had said dropped him off the other day. He’d noticed some fur missing from the back of his neck, as well as a scar healing there, so when he heard about Rylan pressuring him at school earlier from Erin, he’d had to call his father.

The elephant shifter was actually a good friend of his from before he’d graduated and they still talked on the phone quite a lot. Not that he would help him land Arron over his own baby brother, but if Rylan kept stressing out the poor kid, he would definitely have to switch sides.

“Alright, let’s go.” He said with a reassuring smile.

Arron stared up at him like he was crazy, but when Terran grabbed his bag from the front door and tossed him his clothes, Arron seemed to figure out that he wasn’t joking.

He hopped off the sofa and quickly pulled on his clothing. Before he could even straighten them out, Terran was grabbing his hand and tugging him out the door. He stumbled to keep up but when Terran stopped and dropped his bag again, Arron stared at him in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

Stripping, obviously.

“Shift again after putting your clothes in the bag.” Terran said.

Now he really looked like he wanted to run away from him, but after a minute he did as told. Terran quickly zipped up the bag and set it down once Arron had put away his clothing, then shifted into his lion form. After picking up the bag with his teeth, Terran began sauntering down the sidewalk at a slow trot. Arron had no trouble keeping up even in his kitten form and pretty soon they had a nice pace going.

My lion is so out of shape.

He was panting after only a few blocks. Hopefully Arron didn’t mind a little drool on his backpack.

When they finally arrived at their destination Terran walked Arron behind a bush so that they could quickly change back and get dressed before heading inside.

“Why are we at the mall?” Arron asked as soon as they stepped through the electronic doors.

He might still be confused, but Terran knew that the run would at least relax him. Cheetah shifters were always more calm when they got to exercise a bit. He just knew that he wouldn’t have been able to run around in human form well, thus the shifting. He smiled as he lead the way toward a big store called Books 4 You. It was a cheesy name for a bookstore, but it had the best selection of stuff. It also had a tiny cafe in the back where you could buy drinks and small treats, then go sit and relax for a bit while reading.

“Well… I wanted to talk to you, and this seemed like a good place to do it.” He finally said as they walked to the cafe in the back and he bought a chocolate bear claw pastry and a hot chocolate for them both. They then found a place to sit off in a corner. Settling down in two comfortable wing chairs, they sipped on their drinks and worked on their snacks before Terran began to speak.

“Sorry, but I’m not really interested in any kind of relationship with you. Not that you aren’t adorable or anything like that, but I prefer not to go to jail.” He said.

Arron chuckled a little at that before taking another bite.

Guess he figured out that I wasn’t going to be serious.

“Anyways, I came to talk about Rylan.”

That had him pausing.

“It’s okay. I know you’re not happy with my brother, or at least his attitude. But, I just wanted to tell you that he honestly does like you, like really likes you . It’s just that he sucks at emotional things. It’s mainly because of his lion but also his stubborn personality.”

Arron slowly nodded but kept his mouth busy with the pastry, letting Terran know that he wouldn’t be talking just yet.

“Well uh, I wanted to see if something would work. If you honestly want to try and date my little brother, that is.”

Arron’s brows furrowed slightly as he seemed to think about that.

“I think I know what could finally calm him down and make him understand that if he keeps being mean to you, you’re not going to wait for him.”

Arron glanced away for a second, then looked back up at him. “What makes it seem like I’m waiting for him?” He asked.

That had Terran’s smile growing wider as he reached over and mussed up Arron’s spiky hair.

“Tell me you aren’t?”

The look on the kid’s face actually went a little south, making Terran’s lips part slightly.

“Hey sweetie, what’s wrong? Was he that bad? Do i need to beat up my baby brother?” Because he would if he was that much of an ass.

“He’s not… terrible, but he stresses me out a lot. I know that it’s normal for lions to be bossy, but I’m not a lion.” He mumbled as he fiddled with his hands in his lap, his food already eaten.

“Yeah, I can understand that, kid. It’s hard to handle a lion when you aren’t one yourself.”

Arron looked up and pursed his lips. “I know he can be nice, but he seems to let his lion’s attitude take over more often than not. It gets really frustrating since I’ve seen him be sweet.”

Terran leaned back a little in his chair and nodded.

“You’re right. He’s so used to people bowing down to him and his lion that he doesn’t let himself be more than that. His lion, especially, knows that it’s in line to be head honcho at some point and feels like it has to boss everyone around already. His heart is still there, but it’s buried under his lion’s egotistical pride.”

Arron nodded, remaining quiet for a minute before replying.

“I don’t know what to do.”

This is where I come in.

“I can help you if you’ll give my brother one more chance.” Terran said with a hopeful grin.

He could see the hesitance in Arron’s eyes as he looked down, then back up at him, but after a long moment of silence he finally gave him a small nod.

Yes!

“Alright, come here!” Terran said, grabbing Arron’s hand and pulling him to his feet, then down a few isles until they stopped in the psychology section.

It was more a place for teens, but he doubted that his brother’s attention span ranged much farther then that for non-fiction books. After a quick search he pulled down a book with a cheetah on the front and handed it to Arron.

“You should give that to him, and…”

Reaching up again, he found another book, this time with a lion on the front, and handed it to Arron, too.

“You should read that one. Maybe it will clear up some things that are keeping you two apart.” He said.

Arron looked at both books titled: Understanding Shifters .

While he was busy considering the books, Terran grabbed his hand again and tugged him to the fiction section, handing him two others.

“Those are to stem his temper from being handed such a childish book. He’s been wanting to read them for awhile.” He said.

When Arron took the books his eyes lit up and he grinned.

“I’ve read these, they’re really good.”

“Really? He loves talking about the series, but I never know what he’s talking about. I’m not much of a fiction reader.” Terran replied, making Arron chuckle.

“Maybe he’ll talk to me about them.”

That’s the spirit, kid.

“I bet he will. Now let’s pay and head out.” Terran said.

He seemed a bit surprised that they were leaving already, but Terran just winked and tugged him toward the checkout line.

“Sorry I’m a bit of an ass for dragging you out here, but I wanted to make my little brother jealous and let him see what he’s about lose.” He said honestly.

The kid’s face lit up with an adorable blush as Terran paid for the books and handed him the bag. He didn’t seem to think he was worth getting jealous over, but he really didn’t know how much of a catch he was. Even ignoring the cross-shifter stuff, he was sweet, adorable and very well mannered. He was everything that Rylan needed.

It took about an hour to get back to the house walking in their human forms and the second they stepped through the door Terran could feel the tension in the air. Jordan was still on the sofa but it was obvious that something had happened because he was still a bit tense. When he noticed that they were home he looked over and grinned, then nodded toward the stairs. Terran nodded in return and gently nudged Arron toward them.

“Good luck, kid. Don’t let him walk all over you. Tell him how it is.”

Arron hesitated, but after another slight nudge he started up the stairs.

Rylan was supposed to be studying, but he couldn’t get a damn thing to stick in his head past the echoing voice of what his father had said downstairs.

Terran took Arron out on a date.

He wanted to roar he was so upset, his lion just barely beneath the surface. His nails were even partially extended into claws. He was so focused on his own frustration that he barely heard the knock at his door.

“What?” He snarled, not bothering to look at who was there.

It was probably just his father ready to punish him for his terrible behavior, again. Not like I have much else to take that I give a damn about. However, when the person came in and gently shut the door he glanced up, then growled.

“Get. Out.”

Arron flinched and held up a bag of… books? to his chest, but didn’t leave. He didn’t even lower his eyes. Rylan’s lion stirred beneath his skin as he climbed out of his bed and stalked over to the smaller boy. He could sense Arron’s instincts screaming at him to run, but he stood tall, though a bit shaky.

“What? Come to rub your date with my older brother in my face? Did you enjoy it? How was the goodnight kiss?” He growled, unable to hold his words back.

Arron shook his head quickly, trying to stay strong, even though Rylan could sense his determination dwindling.

“I don’t want to deal with you right. Just get out and let me cool off.” He grumbled as he started turning around, but stopped when he heard the sound of the books dropping to the floor.

Understanding shifters: Cheetahs

The book behind it looked like one that was for… lions? He couldn’t quite see the other two beneath them, but he really didn’t care to look, either. His lion was just barely contained as he lifted his gaze back to Arron’s.

Rylan was about to tell him to take the stupid children’s books and leave when he felt something soft brush against his lips. Before he could really process the fact that Arron had just kissed him, the guy was running for the door. Rylan’s lion reacted with the simple instinct that his prey was running away and hurried to give chase. Arron had the door partially open when Rylan shoved it closed, then put a hand on either side of Arron’s face as the guy turned around to look up at him.

He growled quietly in response which just made Rylan smirk and lean forward, nuzzling his nose against Arron’s warm neck.

“Read me one of those books you brought back.” He mumbled after a few moments, having finally reigned in his cat.

When he didn’t receive a response right away, Rylan leaned back to see Arron frowning and blinking up at him. Shaking his head, he turned and walked back over to where Arron had dropped the books and picked each of them up.

Wait… these are the two I’ve been wanting to read.

Damn you, Terran, you’re a sneaky bastard. He thought to his brother.

Love you too, baby bro.

He grabbed the cheetah book and climbed onto his bed, moving his textbook aside before patting the spot it vacated.

“Come here, Spots.”

Arron slowly climbed up into his bed and scooted next to him as he handed the book over. He knew that he should keep his hands off after that his lion’s bit of aggression, but as Arron began to read, Rylan couldn’t help but gently tug him into the space between his legs, making it easy to wrap his arms loosely around his middle.

“Understanding cheetah shifters. They aren’t as complex as most of the other large cat shifters. Cheetahs tend to be solitary in the wild but that can vary greatly when a shifter. They enjoy a lot of exercise but moderate attention. Suffocating a cheetah shifter with attention could cause them to pull away from you as a friend.

They do not handle aggression well and will often try to run from the source. Cheetah shifters prefer to talk things out if running isn’t a valid option, as their wild cousins are not built to fight. For those who are trying to get a cheetah’s attention, approaching them with a calm smile is the best idea. An opposite example may be a lion, who’s females tend to enjoy aggressive behaviors and possessive actions. Cheetahs are much more hesitant to engage in those types of behaviors because in the wild, aggression towards them could easily turn on to be fatal.“

He stopped speaking after that paragraph but Rylan had a feeling that it was mainly because of him. He couldn’t help it, he was licking Arron’s cheek softly.

“I swear I’m listening. This is just helping me relax my lion a bit more.” He said before he continued. “A little from this one, too.” Rylan said as he handed him the lion book.

Arron took it as Rylan leaned back against the pillows he had stacked in front of the headboard. Arron remained where he was sitting, but that didn’t bother him.

“Lion shifters are all about dominance.”

This book went straight to the point.

“They are extremely family oriented and will often form prides of more than one family and share a last name. This type of family has been adopted by many other shifters, but the lion was the initial one to begin it. They often aren’t afraid of showing public affection and punishment. Males often have trouble controlling their lion’s temperament until adulthood. The more dominant one is in the pride, the harder it can be for them to handle their shift.

If you would like to get a lion’s attention, most females can be approached without much focus on your specific behavior, as long as no threat is posed. For males, especially higher ranking ones, submissive gestures are the safest way. Many high ranking males are home-schooled because of their inability to handle normal negative human gestures or other shifter’s mistaken challenges. If a male is challenged they will almost always take it personally and use it as a chance to gain favor with the females around them, as well as respect from other males.“

There was more information to both books but the introductions had been spot on. Rylan’s attention was now focused on the boy who was finally leaning slowly back into his arms. Their eyes were locked, but for once, Rylan’s lion didn’t consider it a challenge.

We’ve both interacted with each other incorrectly and now we know at least some of the things we need to do to fix it.

They would definitely be finishing those books soon.

“Give me one more chance? Can I take you out tonight?” Rylan asked as he smirked and leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to Arron’s forehead, causing a bright blush to appear on the guy’s face.

“I promise to keep my lion on his best behavior.” He added.

Aurron chuckled and leaned up to lick his cheek once.

“Okay.”

He never thought that he’d be the one asking someone out, or really trying to please them, but he honestly wanted Aron as a mate. Took me long enough to realize that.

“Alright, let’s get the heck out of here!” He said.

Without waiting for his response, Rylan hopped out of bed and grabbed Arron’s hand, tugging him down the stairs and out the front door. He wasn’t going to ask his father for his keys back since it was an appropriate punishment for him being an asshole, and anyways, the book had said that cheetahs liked exercise, so he figured a good walk would be much more appreciated than a drive.

They walked for a good while before finally coming upon a strip mall with some nice stores lined up for about a block. It was near the beginning of downtown where Erin had taken him before, but this time he was there with Rylan. He held his hand the entire way there, swinging their arms playfully until they stopped in front of the stretch of stores and looked down at him with a smile.

“Where would you like to eat?”

Arron was about to respond with whatever Rylan would have liked, but then he thought back to that book. Male lions liked to be in control and aggressive. He was holding that back to allow him to pick a place. With a giddy smile Arron looked along the row of restaurants and stores.

“There!” He said with excitement as he pointed down the line of restaurants. “The Vietnamese place.”

The look on Rylan’s face told him that he had chosen very poorly, but he quickly covered it up with a smile and nodded.

“Alright, let’s go.”

His grip was a bit tighter on his hand, but when they got inside the restaurant he relaxed and they slid into a booth across from each other. Their waiter was at their table a moment later with glasses of water and their menus.

“Hello and welcome to The Spice Garden. I’m your waiter, Mitchel. Please look over our menu and let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be back momentarily to take your order.” He said.

They both nodded, though he did see Rylan wince at the mention of the restaurant name.

Perhaps…

“Do you not like spicy food?” Arron asked.

Rylan looked like he was about disagree, but then Arron gave him a look and he pursed his lips, then nodded.

“Cool! Cause I’m not a huge fan either.” He said.

He raised his right eyebrow and eyed him like he was nuts. Probably questioning his choice of restaurants.

“Look.” Arron said as he ducked under the table and reappeared right next to him a second later, then opened the menu and read until he found what he’d wanted.

“Here.” He said as he pointed to the entree and read it out loud.

“Sweet grilled chicken with ginger pork fried rice. Comes with a pork egg roll and seaweed salad.”

Rylan glanced at him, earning a grin.

“I love this dish. It’s sweet, unlike most spicy stuff from Vietnamese restaurants. It’s also usually a lot of food.” Arron said.

Rylan smiled and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek.

That’s when the waiter returned and asked if they were ready. Arron quickly leaned over the menu and gave him his order, then heard Rylan give the same one. They both ordered Dr. Pepper to drink. Once he walked off with their orders Rylan turned his attention back to him and began talking.

“Well, let’s see… what’s your favorite color, Spots?” He asked.

He really wants to know about such a trivial thing?  

“Blue.” He replied, realizing that Rylan was trying to be nice and start some small talk.

“Same.”

“Okay, what’s your favorite book?” He asked.

Thank you for the answer to this, Terran!

“Raiding the Lost. Worlds Torn Apart.” Arron said with a grin.

Rylan’s mouth nearly fell open at his response.

“Really?” He asked, clearly surprised.

“Yup!”

The rest of the night went pretty great after that. They actually had quite a few things in common, like that they both hated chemistry. They had an addiction to sweet things, and they didn’t like backing down from a challenge… except that Rylan could win them and he could, well, transform into his kitten form and try to cute his way out of getting hurt.

When they finally finished their meal and began walking home Arron felt totally stuffed, but completely content.

“This was really nice.” He said after a bit of silence.

Rylan looked down at him and winked.

“I’m glad. You know… it’s not as hard as I thought it’d be to keep my lion in check. It just takes a bit of focus.”

Arron was just opening his mouth to reply when everything zoomed out and darnit.

“Come here, cutie.” Rylan said as he leaned over and scooped up Arron’s clothing, along with himself, then grabbed his shoes by the laces.

“I know you don’t like being picked up, but I’m going to be a bit of a bad lion and do it anyway.” Rylan said with a chuckle as he continued walking.

Fine, but just this once.

By the time they got home Arron was yawning and snuggled against his chest. He didn’t realize where rylan was carrying him until he was tucked into bed, and well, into his arms. He felt his body shifting back to his human form after a while and thought about putting on clothes, but when soft lips met his forehead he relaxed back into Rylan’s arms beneath the blankets and just let himself drift off to sleep.

Chapter 34: Testing the Waters

Waking up to Arron in his arms was a new but definitely welcome thing. He was turned so that his back was against Rylan’s chest. He fits perfectly. He took the opportunity to begin running his fingers along his chest and down his belly softly. Sure, he wanted to go lower and grab what was his lion thought belonged to it, but the words from the darn book they’d read the previous evening flashed through his head again, reminding him that cheetah’s didn’t like that kind of thing. A female lion would be purring for him to take her if he started grabbing at her, but he’d bet that Arron would either scream, shift, or flat out run if he started trying.

Dammit, we really are opposites in almost every way. Well, at least they’d had that moment, and hopefully many more to come. If he got to have Arron, he would shove his lion back as much as he could.

Speaking of him, Arron began to stir a few minutes later, stretching out beneath Rylan’s hand before turning onto his back. He could hear the faint sound of rumbling grow as his quiet purring snore started up.

Cute.

N… cute.

Rylan blinked, his eyes widening at the unfamiliar voice in his head.

Did he just?

Smirking, Rylan licked his lips, then thought toward Arron as loud as he could.

Spots!

Arron yelped in surprise as he sat up with a start, panting and looking around the dark room. Rylan probably should have told him that it was just him in his mind, but the guy looked so adorable all scared like that. He couldn’t deny all of his lion’s instincts. He liked watching prey squirm, but he was trying to get it into his head that Arron wasn’t prey and shouldn’t be treated like a female lion, either.

This is going to be tough.

Arron calmed down after a moment and flopped back onto the blankets when he realized that he was the one who had startled him.

Hey there, Spots.

His soft golden eyes blinked widened slightly as they stared up at him in the darkness.

Rylan?

Rylan smirked and leaned over, licking his cheek once before leaning back a little. He was completely naked but the navy blue comforter was covering the most important parts.It was probably for the best, though, his lion was already on edge with another male in his bed. It did know that Arron counted more as a female, but that just meant that it wanted to mate him right away.

Thank god he has that collar now.

His thoughts slowly wandered back to Arron’s beautiful eyes, and that’s when he realized what he was staring at. Rylan had taken his shirt off before they’d gone to bed the previous night but had kept his pants and boxers on. He didn’t quite trust himself that much yet, especially with his lion nudging at his conscious. His cheetah seemed to want to push that boundary, too. It had Arron nuzzling against him with his cute little purr going.

Unable to resist, Rylan leaned over with own hum of pleasure and nuzzled his nose into Arron hair.

You smell good, Spots.

Rylan reached forward and gently tilted Arron’s head so that he could press a kiss to his soft lips. Except, right as he did so, the guy’s mouth got much smaller and fuzzier.

“You just had to shift right then, didn’t you?” He grumbled.

A little cheetah with a tail flicking back and forth on the blankets was now sitting in Rylan’s lap with a smug look on its face.

“Dork.”

Mew.

“That’s not gonna work. You owe me a kiss.”

The little kitten mewed again, then put its front paws on his chest and leaned up to lick his lips.

“Not what I meant, fuzz face.” He said as he reached for the kitten, just for it to jump away from him abruptly before he could grab it.

Since he was stuck in his kitten form for an unknown amount of time, Arron figured that he would have some fun and pounced on Rylan with a playful growl. Rylan swiped at him with a growl of his own but Arron easily jumped back, then pounced on his hand and tugged on it gently. He knew that his baby teeth were pretty sharp, so he didn’t want to hurt him by playing too roughly and forcing his lion to come out.

Rylan tried to grab for him again but he jumped back and wiggled his backside, growling. His excessive amounts of energy and excitement were some of the unfortunate parts of having a kitten as a shift. It really liked to play and didn’t usually listen to him when it got going.

“You little runt. I guess since I won’t be catching you, I won’t need to make a certain kitten pancakes before school?” Rylan said with a grin.

But… I really like pancakes.

Thankfully, his cheetah also liked them, and food in general. It considered his offer for a moment before bounding into Rylan’s arms.

I am a proud pancake slut.

“Wow. Now I know what to say to get your attention.”

Arron pawed at his chest with impatience while Rylan laughed and got up.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll hold up my end of the deal.” He said as he nonchalantly tossed him over his shoulder and carried him downstairs. Still not really a fan of being held, Arron flicked his tail back and forth a few times to smack the guy’s nose.

“You’re a brat, you know that?” Rylan stated blandly.

Absolutely.

Rylan chuckled and shook his head as he set Arron down on the counter a bit away from where they actually cooked, then began working on breakfast.

Why is the phone ringing this early in the morning?

“Hello?” Larro grumbled, clearly still out of it.

“Hello, Larro?”

His brow rose as he leaned back in his office chair, clearly having dozed off.

“This is him.” He replied, a hint of authority in his voice.

The voice sounded familiar but he couldn’t quite place it over the phone. Reception seemed to be bad on her end.

“This is Arron’s mother.”

Okay, that made sense. Wait, why is she calling me?

“What’s up?” He asked, surprised that she’d actually contacted him on purpose.

“Have you spoken with Arron since that morning call?”

Was she mad at him for actually taking the kid’s call?

“No. He fell asleep during that call and I thought that he’d eventually call back, or that you told him not to, but I’ve been so busy with the company that I had forgotten to check. Is something wrong?” He asked.

She was quiet for a moment before finally speaking.

“He hasn’t picked up his phone since he came back. I called him last night and again this morning, but I think his phone is dead. I was about to go over and check on him.”

That didn’t really surprise him. He seemed like he wasn’t too attached to the phone since he hardly used it when he had bought him a new one.

Maybe he had one before?

“When I took him from Marcus’s house I didn’t grab his phone.” He said, hoping that it was a logical response. He really hadn’t thought about it.

There was another pause on the other end of the line so he quickly continued.

“I bought him a new phone while we were out getting clothes, since I didn’t take those either. I had to get him to the hospital and didn’t want go back to that asshole’s place.” He said before giving her Arron’s new number.

She gave a loud sigh of relief that he couldn’t help but cackle at.

Bad timing, you dumb hyena!

“Are you laughing at me?” She growled quietly.

“No! Of course not.” He said, trying to bite his tongue on another cackle from his darn animal side.

“You are a terrible liar, Larro.” She replied.

Was it bad that that she sounded almost sexy calling him out? No one really did that.

I wouldn’t mind being punished by her. Shit, where did that come from?

“I wasn’t laughing, really. Just, uh, busy…” He said.

“Doing what, exactly?” She asked, making him quickly glance around his office, trying to think of something that he had been doing besides taking an impromptu nap. All of his paperwork was done and the place was somewhat decorated. The building in general was new and would be the second location for his consulting and investment business, but darn it, he couldn’t find anything to tell her and he hated lying, especially when he easily got caught.

With a grim grin he quickly stuck one of his new pencils in the electric sharpener on his desk and then set it aside.

“I was sharpening my pencils.”

If that didn’t sound stupid, he wasn’t sure what would. The abrupt laughter from the other end of the line let him know just how stupid. It sounded like she was laughing right into the receiver.

“Jerk.” He grumbled.

The laughing quieted abruptly, but then turned into snickering.

“Did you just call me a jerk?”

“Yes, because uh… pencils are important. And they need to be sharpened to be of any use.” He said as he ran a hand along the back of his neck, wanting to smack his head into the desk in front of him.

Now she was just laughing harder. Women. Sure, he was most likely blushing and grinning like an idiot, but still. He could never understand them. Well, at least the ones that had been in his pack before he’d left.

They were both quiet for a long moment after she’d finished her laugh before he blurted out something amazingly stupid, even for himself.

“So, want to um, go get some coffee or something after you call Arron?” He asked nervously.

There was another long silence on the other end and after a few moments he was tapping his forehead against his desk quietly. Why had he said such a stupid thing? Of course she was going to say no. He’d killed damned kittens. Not to mention she definitely seemed to hate his guts when she’d first met him. He was prepared for her to tell him to literally go to hell when she finally responded.

“Alright.”

What?

“What?” He replied out loud.

“I’ll meet you at The Coffee Lounge in twenty minutes.”

“Oh. Okay.” He said, clearly shocked.

The phone beeped to signal that she’d ended the call, but he was still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Twenty minutes later Larro was panting heavily and stumbling into the coffee shop they were supposed to be meeting at. Running in a suit when it was seventy-five degrees out really sucked. He was about to step up to the counter and order something when he noticed Arron’s mother waving at him.

Pursing his lips, he swallowed his nerves and turned to head over to the table she was sitting at in the far corner. He noticed right away that she was staring at him, but it didn’t seem like it was entirely bad? He guessed that she just didn’t expect him to show up in a suit?

“Um, good morning.” He said as he slid into the seat across from her.

There’s an extra coffee on the table… 

His eyes rose from the coffee cup in front of him to look her over briefly. He knew that staring was rude, but she was really cute. Even in her normal white sweater and jeans she was wearing, she was beautiful.

“Alright, start talking.” She said.

“Huh?”

Talk about what?

“Tell me what happened. Tell me why my son thinks that you deserve a second chance after what you had done.” She said.

That’s why she wanted to talk.

I guess I’m glad that she’s at least letting me explain things to her. But first…

“Did you get a hold of Arron? Is everything okay?” He asked.

She smiled and nodded.

“Yes. He’s with Rylan and they are heading to school now.” She replied.

“Rylan?”

“He’s a lion shifter and the son of a person who’s been fostering Arron while I’ve had to go out of town for work.” She said.

He didn’t like knowing that his kitten was staying with a pride of lions, but he supposed that it was much safer than putting him with humans considering Marcus could technically come back at any time.

Good enough for now. Story time.

“When I was growing up I had really wealthy parents. At the beginning it was awesome and we were a happy family, but then my parents delved into drugs and got so into that, among other things, that they just stopped raising me.

After a few years I began puberty. That was the time I needed my parents most, to show me how to control my hyena. Well, they weren’t there and weren’t interested in ever being there. I managed for awhile on my own and even went to soup kitchens on the nights that they forgot to buy food, but people just thought that I was being rude by asking for food when my parents were well known and clearly rich. I even begged when my hyena’s cravings got bad enough for meat that I began to drool at other shifters.“

Larro sighed and took a few sips from the coffee in front of him before continuing.

“The day the incident happened I had asked my parents for some money to go get food, but they didn’t think that I needed it and that I just wanted to waste it on worthless things. I left to try and find something to eat when I came across the cheetah kittens in the park.”

His shoulders sagged as they always did at this part of the story. He wished that he didn’t have to keep recounting it, but he guessed that it was his punishment for what he had done.

“My hyena saw prey and my stomach was starving. I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t know how.”

They were both silent for a long while before she finally spoke.

“Can you control yourself now?”

He blinked up at her and pursed his lips.

“For the most part. I’m fine in my human form, but when I shift I sometimes have trouble telling my hyena what to do. He listens most times, but if he’s hungry he may run after something. I have two good friends who have stayed with me over the past few years that have offered to help keep him in line when I shift… but ever since I got out of prison, I’ve only shifted once.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“And when was that?”

Of course.

“When we were heading down here to drop Arron off. We were at a hotel for the night and I don’t know why, but my hyena took over while I was sleeping. It had never happened before but when I awoke I was on the inside, looking out.”

A small smile slipped onto his lips when he lifted his gaze up to meet hers again.

“But your son helped me take control back. My hyena went after him at first, but with my friend’s help Arron was able to tame my animal after a few short moments. he’s important to me because of what I’ve always wanted, but he’s also a great kid that I’m glad I could save.” He said.

She sat silently, seemingly thinking through everything that he had said so he took another drink from his cooling coffee as he waited for a response. Hopefully she wouldn’t fault him for accidentally going after Arron. He knew that it was stupid to tell her that, but he wasn’t going to lie.

“If you would like to visit with Arron you can go see him at the Leo’s house.” She finally said.

What?

Larro’s head jerked up, nearly spilling coffee on himself from the abrupt motion. He quickly set the cup down before speaking. “What?”

“You may visit with my son if the Leo’s alpha is home. His name is Jordan. If I find out that you were there when he wasn’t, though…”

She didn’t need to finish that sentence, because as she stood up, he was already there and hugging her tightly.

“Thank you!” He said, a slight laugh from his hyena slipping into his words.

People were staring at them, but he didn’t care. It had been hard to just up and leave the kid, and now he was getting a chance to go see him. He couldn’t wait!

Chapter 35: Oh Boy

Heading back from the coffee shop, Larro just couldn’t get the darn smile off of his face. He was sure people probably thought that he was nuts. Maybe he was, but he was just that excited to see Arron again.

Before he left he’d gotten Jordan’s phone number and called him the second he got back to his car. He said that he would be home around seven that evening, so he could come over then.

Parking at his apartment, he quickly hopped out and ran up the stairs. It was only four o’ clock, but he wanted to make something for the kid.

Wait, can I even cook stuff besides boxed macaroni and cheese and underdone steaks?

To the internet! He thought as he threw open the door and hurried inside. His breaks were instantly put on when he saw Paskal licking Tayn’s face on the sofa, though. They were both in their hyena forms and when Larro stepped into the room their eyes turned to him, but Pask quickly went back to grooming Tayn.

Okay, I definitely missed something. Why isn’t Tayn biting his head off?

Sensing his confusion Tayn slipped off of the sofa and padded over to nuzzle against his leg in greeting.

“Hey you.” Larro said as he leaned over and gently scratched behind his ears as Pascal grumbled into his mind.

What was that for, Pask?

Mine.

Larro glanced up, narrowing his eyes at him, but Pascal just flared his nose a bit and snorted.

Mine.

Pask, I told you he…

Before he could finish thinking to him he hopped off the sofa and sauntered over to Tayn. He licked the others’ muzzle and Larro winced, waiting for blood. However, when Tayn just returned the gesture with a nuzzle, he was seriously confused.

“Uh… are you two feeling okay?” He asked.

Normally, he had to pry Pask off the poor kid. Now it was almost like they were dating or something.

Tayn, is everything okay?

His hyena looked up and licked Larro’s hand.

Are you still in heat? Don’t let that mess with your head.

He snorted and cackled before licking Pask’s nose again.

I am, but I don’t know. He isn’t being rude anymore and he actually took me out yesterday. Granted, he lied and said that you were waiting there, but it was still nice. I’m not letting the heat affect my decisions though, I promise.

As long as he was being careful. Larro didn’t want him making a mistake that may result in a little fuzzy bundle of fluff. Not that he wouldn’t welcome a pup, but he didn’t want him doing something he wasn’t ready for nor wanting.

“Alright, I’ll be going out to see Arron tonight so you two will have to find something to eat.” He said.

I’ve already got something. Pascal thought to him.

Pask! Larro reprimanded.

Chill, I won’t do anything to him that he doesn’t want me to do. Pask replied.

You know he’s in heat. You aren’t just playing him, are you?

Larro let a growl rumble quietly as he thought those words to him but Pask didn’t seem upset at all.

I know he’s in heat, and if he asks for help, I won’t hesitate. All I want right now, though, is to have his attention and maybe, eventually, his heart.

With a smirk, Larro glanced at Tayn, then slowly back to Pask.

I just told him that, have fun. He thought to him before walking into the kitchen.

What? Wait! Larro!

Pascal turned to run after him but was suddenly cut off by Tayn’s hyena. Okay, Larro’s not worth chasing after if Tayn wants me here. The guy’s hyena cackled quietly while rubbing their muzzles together and Pask thought that he just might have melted a little inside. It was such a simple gesture but it was for him!

Did Larro just tell you what I said to him? He asked after a few moments.

Tayn stopped the nuzzling and sat back on his haunches, head tilted slightly in confusion.

No, tell me.

That bastard! He thought to himself before hearing a faint snickering in the back of his mind.

I’ll get you, Larro!

Uh huh. Enjoy your little talk, lover boy.

Pask wanted to run around grumbling at his own stupidity, but Tayn was staring at him with curiosity, wanting answers.

He asked if I was taking advantage of your heat by being nice and I said… I said I

know he’s in heat and if he asks for help, I won’t hesitate but all I want right now is to have his attention and maybe eventually, his heart. He thought to him very quickly.

Pascal tucked his tail after that bit of embarrassing mind-vomit, especially considering the look on Tayn’s face.

Uh. What? Tayn finally asked.

Taking a shaky breath, Pask shook his head and calmly repeated himself before looking away nervously.

You’re sweet.

Pascal’s hyena’s ears perked up in surprise as he hesitantly glanced back at Tayn.

I’m… sweet?

He’d had just called him sweet!

Hah, pervert.

Wait, pervert? He’d been behaving. Pascal glanced down at himself and noticed why he’d actually been called that.

Okay, my body isn’t behaving as much as my mind. He thought as his ears drooped a little.

I swear I wasn’t thinking about doing perverted things to you. I just got really excited that you thought I was sweet.

When Tayn didn’t respond right away, Pascal lied down and grunted, knowing that he was likely making this whole situation worse. His mind was going crazy until he noticed Tayn staring down at him. They held each others’ gazes for a few seconds before Tayn leaned down and licked Pascal’s nose before slowly walking toward the hall.

You coming? Tayn thought to him as he continued moving.

Wait, coming? Pascal padded around the corner and down the hall only to see Tayn’s hyena up on his bed, in his room. With an excited cackle he ran inside, shutting the door with his nose before jumping up onto the bed. At first, he thought that he had won him over, but when Tayn began rubbing his back into the blankets and whimpering, he realized what was going on. It’s the heat. Not that he didn’t look delicious enough to eat right then, but he’d just said that he wasn’t going to take advantage.

Will you take care of them? Tayn asked.

What do you mean, Tayn?

Tayn looked at him again, then slowly shifted into his human form.

Cubs.

He kind of spaced out when that word was whispered into his mind. It wasn’t technically his fault, for once. Tayn was spread out all hot and bothered, in his bed, and naked. Pascal was trying to refocus when Tayn moved to his hands and knees and kissed him on the cheek.

Wait, when did I shift back to my human form?

“Cubs. Do you want them? Will you take care of them?” He repeated seriously.

When those words sank in Pask had to hold himself back from flat-out jumping his bones. Instead, he bit his tongue and took a deep breath, then slowly let it out before replying as he looked straight into Tayn’s eyes.

“I do want them and I will take care of them. I will take care of you, too. I want to do everything for you. I love you, Tayn. I’ve wanted to love you since the second I saw you, but without that collar I would never have been able to show you just how much.” He said.

Pascal hadn’t really been ready for the response that he got to that, which was Tayn hugging him tightly but crying at the same time.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you feeling okay? Should I get Larro?” He asked, worried and confused.

Don’t be mad, please. Tayn thought to him, making Pask frown.

“Don’t be mad about what, hun?”

I… I was a stripper before I moved in with Larro.

Pask had no idea why that was a big deal?

Wait. Was that why he was so hesitant to let people touch him or talk?

With a calm smile Pask squeezed him softly and rubbed his back.

“It’s fine, Tayn.”

You don’t think that I’m dirty? For doing that?

“Of course not. You’re the best hyena ever!” He said with complete honestly as he leaned back a little when Tayn moved a bit in his arms. Looking down, Pask caught those gorgeous bright eyes staring up at him and grinned.

“You mean it?” Tayn asked quietly.

“One hundred percent. You’re the only thing I’ve wanted since the day we were introduced. No one else even holds a paw to you.” He said.

Tayn’s brow rose and Pask saw a tiny smile grace his pretty lips.

“I’m pretty sure it’s holds a candle , not paw.”

“Err, well, that part was my hyena trying to agree.”

Tayn laughed before tugging him forward and onto him on the bed. He didn’t hesitate to get comfortable and line up their already-naked bodies, but first… their lips pressed together while he rested his arms on either side of Tayn’s head. So addicting! When their mouths finally separated they were both panting, but that wasn’t important, what he said, however, was.

“Give me some beautiful cubs, Pascal.”

Damn, he could hear them even with his head under the water. Normally, he got into the shower to keep from hearing that kind stuff. Well, that trick wasn’t working right then. At least they’re happy. Things seemed to have changed so quickly right after Tayn had gotten that collar.

I knew Pask had it in him to be nice and not just horny. Although, I’m not sure if Tayn understands what he’s getting himself into with that horn dog.

With a quiet sigh he turned off the water and got out, drying off quickly before braving the trip to his room. Man, Discovery Chanel would have a blast just recording the sounds coming from that room. Didn’t know other hyena shifters cackled while doing dirty deeds in human form . He didn’t, but he guessed to each their own.

That reminded him of how pathetic his own sex life currently was. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept with someone he actually wanted to. Well, that was likely because he’d gone to prison at sixteen and after that he was used by a bitch, but never technically slept with her, just supplied the babies as quickly as possible.

Larro quickly blocked out the memories and most of the sounds coming from the other room as he got himself dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. After running his fingers through his hair quickly and accepting that he just wouldn’t bring anything because him cooking would be a fire hazard and probably make him horribly late, he headed out.

He’d thought about ordering Pask and Tayn Chinese delivery, but considering how long Pascal had been waiting to get a piece of Tayn, he honestly didn’t think that they’d be eating that evening. At least not food.

Jordan’s house was pretty darn close to Arron’s, which was nice. He didn’t have to bother with directions since the way to his house was ingrained in his mind since he’d brought him home before.

Pulling up, Larro got out and realized he was an hour early and Jordan wouldn’t be home yet. Well, I was going to cook Arron something. Looking around for a moment, he quickly drove the down the street to find a bakery.

It’s the thought that counts, right? I don’t really have to cook it to make him happy, I bet.

He managed to find one that was still open and ran inside. They looked like they were beginning to close up but when he put a fifty on the counter it got their attention. About thirty minutes later Larro walked out with a gorgeous box of fresh hot brownies. When he finally pulled back up outside of Jordan’s house he saw an extra car in the driveway, letting him know that he was home.

Larro grinned and quickly grabbed the brownie box, then ran to the door, ringing the bell right as he got there.

A little boy answered, quickly followed by a second.

Oh, Twins. Cute kids.

“Hello little guys, is your dad home?” He asked.

They both looked at each other, then back to him before shaking their heads.

But then, who’s car is that?

Right as he was about to ask the door opened wider and a young woman nudged the boys back a little.

“Hello, are you Larro?” She asked with a sweet smile.

“Yes ma’am.”

“My husband said you would be visiting tonight. Come in, he should be home in a little while. He got backed up at work.”

Larro began stepping inside but then decided against it.

“I apologize if this sounds rude, but I’d like to wait outside.” He said nervously.

She gave him a funny look and he stuttered to explain.

“I promised Arron’s mother that I would only come in when Jordan was home. I don’t want to make a mistake with this, because it’s probably the only chance I’m going to get.” He said.

The woman nodded and told him to wait for a moment before turning and disappearing into the house. She reappeared a minute later with a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes. Larro took the food as she offered it to him, nearly drooling from the smell.

“Have some dinner, at least. There’s a bench right there you can sit on till he gets back.” She said, pointing.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

She smiled again and then disappeared back inside, shutting the door quietly behind her.

He was just finishing up the delicious meal a bit later when he heard a car pulling in. Jordan waved as he got out and Larro quickly jumped up to shake his hand as he came up the stairs. Finally, I get to see Arron again!

Arron wasn’t sure why but ever since the previous night he’d been feeling really weird. The thought that he was going into heat again seemed too soon, but maybe after all of the trauma to his body it had decided to cycle through again.

I really hope it’s not happening again so soon.

His thoughts were brought back to the present when Rylan’s face suddenly appeared right in front of him. Arron squeaked a little but then grinned and snuggled into his arms. They were almost done reading the cheetah book and he had to say, Rylan was really good about it. Every time his lion had tried to do something at school he had pushed it back. Arron could feel the big cat just beneath the surface of Rylan’s thoughts, but it was finally satisfied just cuddling.

When they finished the book and Rylan flipped it shut, Arron nuzzled against his firm chest and purred. Rylan’s arms tightened around him and gave a squeeze.

“Love you, Arron.” He said, his voice rumbling with a partial purring growl.

Instead of Rylan initiating it, Arron felt his cheetah nudge him to show affection, so he leaned up and licked Rylan’s cheek once. His tongue ran along the rough edge of his stubble, loving the odd feeling it gave. He’d never really thought that he’d have a thing for facial hair but Rylan’s was perfect, shaved or not.

They seemed to have lost themselves as their lips met, because the next thing he knew Rylan’s dad was clearing his throat and when Arron looked toward the door, quite out of breath, he noticed the older man standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, along with… Larro?

Uh oh.

“Uh… hey, dad.”

We’re dead.

Chapter 36: Earning a Place

Larro’s face was already beginning to change as he stalked toward the bed. He knew that he was overreacting, but his hyena could only think about the idea that the young lion was touching his son. It had already accepted him as family and it did not like a lion anywhere near him. 

Especially in such a physical way.  

His human form could agree with that. He was just about to reach out and grab Arron when he felt an arm wrap around his waist and he was suddenly tossed over Jordan’s shoulder.

Unable to help himself, Larro growled, his eyes already dark as his animal sat right beneath the surface of his skin.

“Calm down. They are both wearing clothing.” Jordan said.

Larro turned slightly so that he could glare over at Jordan’s son who had tossed the blanket covering him aside. Jeans. Larro switched his attention to Arron, who was climbing out of the bed with a blush on his cheeks. He was wearing a sweatshirt that was clearly the other boy’s, but at least his pants were his own.

When Jordan noticed that he had calmed down he put Larro back on his feet, allowing him to quickly scoop Arron into his arms. He really wanted to yell at him about being so lovey with a lion, but when the kid started purring loudly he seemed to forget what he’d been angry about and just nuzzled his cheek happily with his own.

“Hey dad.”

Arron licked his cheek in return, drawing a smile from Larro, who had finally regained complete control of himself. He glanced over at Jordan and nodded slightly, then turned to head out of the room. Both lions followed on his heels but he didn’t mind as long as he had Arron beside him.

As they got downstairs Jordan walked ahead of them and scooped up his wife into a strong hug and gave her a quick kiss.

“Dinner smells wonderful, love.” He growled quietly.

He seemed so stern on certain things but the love between the two was easily visible. The thought of having Arron’s mother to hug like that… Don’t even go there . She just barely trusted him as it were. He needed to earn the basics before he could maybe ask her to dinner. Returning his attention to Arron, Larro pressed a kiss to his hair, then looked over his shoulder at the young lion who was glaring at them.

Sucks that I broke up your make-out session. Come at me, kitty, if you think you can do something about it.

“Dad, this is my boyfriend, Rylan.” Arron finally said with a nervous smile up at him.

Larro and Rylan both gawked openly at that.

“You’re too young to have a boyfriend!” Larro explained, even though he knew that he definitely wasn’t. But a lion! The idea that Rylan would be trying to do anything with his almost not-really son had Larro’s hyena pacing angrily in his mind again.

Arron pouted a little but replied without much surprise to his reaction.

“But my body is starting its heat cycle again… or at least that’s what the book said.”

Arron looked over his shoulder at Rylan and smiled before returning his attention to Larro.

“I like him, and he’s been working hard to not treat me like a lion.” He added.

Larro was about to tell him no again, but when those little golden eyes met his.

“Please give him a chance?”

That face is cheating!

“Please?” He pleaded.

Dammit. I’m so gullible.

“Fine. One chance.” Larro growled out.

Arron shouted in excitement before running into the lion’s arms.

“Rylan, Arron, go get yourselves some dinner. Your mom will be back soon to pick you up.” Jordan said.

Wait. What?

“Mom? Ariel? Isn’t she out of town?” Larro asked, his voice filled with a sudden anxiousness.

Jordan grinned at him as he relaxed into a recliner a few feet away.

“That’s for her to explain. I just agreed to test you. Granted, I hadn’t planned on it being when Arron and Rylan were kissing, but that worked anyway.”

Okay. I’m beyond confused.

They all ended up on the sofa when Jordan refused to answer anymore of his questions. It was about two hours later, around ten o’ clock, when a knock sounded at the front door. Jordan answered it, and to no one’s surprise, Ariel walked into the living room a moment later with a smile on her face. She was a little pale from the cold outside, making Larro want to wrap her in his arms and warm her up. Don’t be stupid. That’s not going to happen. Instead, he gave an inward sigh and got up, shrugging off the jacket he often left in his car for cold nights, so that he could drape it over her shoulders. He had a pretty high body temperature, even for a hyena, so he knew that it would be warm.

Wait. What if she doesn’t like my scent?

“Larro?”

“Huh?” He mumbled, having spaced out a bit.

She poked his shoulder, making him blink back to himself.

“Thank you.” She said kindly.

Her cold hand slid into his slowly and he automatically grasped it to help warm it up. She smiled and tugged him up the stairs into what looked like a small library. When she took a seat, he quickly sat beside her, not letting go of her hand as they rested atop the small table between the two recliners.

“I wanted to talk to you about Arron.” She finally said.

She was biting her lower lip, though, letting him know that she was a bit worried.

“Are you afraid of me? I’m not mad about that weird test you did.” He said.

Her eyes rose to meet his nervously, but then softened.

“You’re not?”

Larro chuckled a little and relaxed into the chair as she slowly did the same.

“No. I’m going to assume that you did that to test my control, though that situation really had me wanting to neuter that lion.” He said with a slight growl.

Ariel actually giggled at that and he decided that he definitely wanted to hear more of the sound.

“Jordan told me what happened briefly at the door, but Arron and Rylan are technically dating.” She said.

“But he’s too young for that.” Larro replied immediately, scratching at the back of his head for a moment in frustration.

Even if he wasn’t Arron’s real father, he still felt like he wanted to have a say in something like that, and he wanted to say hell no !

She laughed again, taking him by surprise. Why was it so funny? Her son would have likely gained some kittens if they hadn’t walked in! Okay, maybe that was a bit over-dramatic, but still. As he was going through his head in the hopes of finding something to say that would get her to listen to him about Arron’s boyfriend , she said something he really wasn’t expecting.

“He’s eighteen, but his kitten sometimes makes him act younger. Anyways, would you like to foster Arron while I’m away working?”

Larro’s mouth hung open for several silent seconds before he was about to scream hell yes! But when he started speaking, all that came out was a hyena cackle. Shit. He had changed right in front of her. Oh yes. I have control. Let me just lose it right front of you real quick. Just ignore the fluffy carnivore being an idiot in front of you for a minute. Not only did he just destroy his clothing, but for some reason his hyena was just too excited to let him change back.

I am frustrated. This is frustrating.

“Someone looks happy and annoyed. I’ll take that as a yes?” She asked with a humorous smile.

Larro quickly ran over to sit in front of her chair and lifted a paw.

Shake on it.

That got another giggle from her as she reached forward and took his paw.

“Then it’s agreed. I came over tonight to test you, but I also need to see where you live, but uh, I guess we’ll just have to wait out your shift before we go.” She said.

His ears pinned a little in embarrassment, but he had to nod. There was no way to really translate cackle cackle bark cackle. Sure, he could talk to Arron’s mind, but that wasn’t nearly as good as driving there himself, and he’d prefer to bring his car back. Not to mention Pascal and Tayn. O h god. I hope they’re finished by the time we get there.

It was about an hour later when his hyena finally got tired of being out and Larro shifted back to his human form while his head had been resting on Ariel’s lap. She had been scratching behind his ears. He could never resist a good ear scratch. Thankfully, she had thought ahead and no one had to see some extra parts . She had wrapped one of the throw blankets around his waist so that when he’d changed he grabbed it and quickly ran up the stairs to borrow some clothes from Jordan.

They were soon on the road, Ariel following behind him with Arron and his things he’d brought to Jordan’s, and of course, his giant stuffed bear. Larro was kind of glad that he hadn’t gotten upset that he wouldn’t be staying with his boyfriend. Heck, the lion hardly grumbled about it, either. Maybe they really weren’t as far as he’d thought they were.

Good.

When they got back Pask and Tayn were thankfully out cold. He could hear Pask snoring and Tayn was likely snuggled up against him. Larro quickly got some lights on and then lead Ariel and Arron around the place. He had only been there for a bit, truthfully. It was kind of nice to look around, himself.

“There’s an extra guest room right here.” He said as he opened the door to a really nice room that he had furnished with a simple but nice bed, dresser, and a reading lamp. Arron walked in with a smile and went over to the balcony doors. Ariel followed quietly, hugging her boy to her side when he looked up at her with that cute smile. He had a feeling they were talking between themselves so he stayed where he was until they walked back over.

“Alright. This place checks out.” She said, pausing for a moment to hide a yawn.

“I’m going to head back to the house so that I can do a bit of cleaning before I leave tomorrow.” She said, her tone sad.

Larro’s brows rose a bit at her before he took her hand and tugged her into his own room.

“Wait there for a minute, Arron.” He said back to the boy.

He nodded as Larro nudged his door partially closed with his foot and turned to Ariel.

“Why not get a job closer so that you can spend more time with him? Is there a specific reason why you’re going out of town so often for this one job?” He asked.

“Of course. It pays enough for me to keep a roof over his head and feed him. Jordan helped me get it when we moved spur-of-the-moment.” She said quietly.

Larro leaned back against the wall with a slight nod, but his attention was more focused on what he could do for them. He had his own company and had just begun extending it in the area. The building was up and running and he had a good amount of people already hired since he had planned the place for awhile, but…

“I could use an assistant to file paperwork, run errands, and do general tasks at my business. It’s about five miles away and would pay eighteen an hour to start.”

Her eyes widened at the offer as she stood in silent shock. He knew that he normally did a strict hiring process, but if she was willing to drive hours and be out of town for days to bring home money for her son’s well-being, then her work ethic had to be good.

“The offer will stand for about a week, but I need the position filled as soon as possible.” He said.

She began to open her mouth to respond when he added a little bit to what he had said. “Also, it’s already really late and you’re obviously tired. Stay in the guest room with Arron tonight and just head to work tomorrow. If your place really needs cleaning, I’ll go do it.”

“But it’s my house, I couldn’t ask…” She started saying, only for him to raise a hand to quiet her words. “Yes, you can. Very easily. I want to help you both however I can, and if cleaning up your house and offering you a more logical job is the only way I can, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“But, why?”

She looked honestly confused to be offered so much in such a short time. Maybe she thought that he wanted something that he didn’t? Taking a risk, he stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms gently before whispering his response against her soft hair.

“I just want to make up for all the years I’ve lost toward my life while I was a crazy kid, then when I was put away. I had done everything I could think of to make up for what I had done and a good portion of what my company earns goes to those families, but now I want to do some things for myself. I’ve spent years paying everyone back, now it’s my turn to begin a new life.”

They were silent for a long moment before she wrapped her own arms around his waist and hugged him carefully. His hyena cackled in his mind but thankfully he was able to keep the sound from coming out of his mouth. 

When they heard Arron sauntering around in the hallway they both chuckled and stepped away from the each other.

“Get some rest here tonight. My friends probably won’t be up till the afternoon, and I’m sure Arron would love to have you with him for a night.” He said.

She was probably going to argue again, but was cut off by another yawn.

I’m going to win this one.

“Alright. Well, good night, Larro.”

He smiled and nodded before replying as she walked out.

“Good night, Ariel.”

Chapter 37: Taming the Lion

It had been nearly a week and Larro was feeling pretty darn good.

“Ready to head to work?” He yelled, even though he knew that Pascal was probably still sleeping. Tayn had been up half of the night sick, but hadn’t wanted to wake up his lover.

Probably just couldn’t shake him hard enough to get him up. Either way, Larro had heard him in the bathroom around three and had been staying up with him for the past few hours to be sure that he was feeling better. Shifters tended to show pregnancy a lot faster than humans since their animal halves sometimes lent them an uncomfortably short gestation period. It seemed like his hyena had taken over, because he was already feeling terrible after only a week, and the gestation for Hyena’s was only around three months.

Larro was pretty surprised how well Tayn took the whole thing, though, especially when Ariel finally decided to accept his offer for the job. That allowed her to be around quite often to visit with Arron and even stay some nights. When the two had first met he was pretty shy, but Larro supposed because of the pup or pups in his belly, maybe he connected more with her than he normally would with males. Either way, they were already on comfortable grounds and spoke once in awhile.

Ariel stumbled out of the guest room hopping on one foot as she slid on a pair of heels. Those definitely wouldn’t do . Larro caught her right as she began to fall, then set her back on her feet with a quiet cackle he couldn’t silence fast enough.

“I’d suggest something a little more, useful. This job doesn’t require any kind of strict dress code and you don’t seem like you’re used to those spiky things on your feet.” He said.

She glared up at him but he just smirked and raised a brow, challenging her to argue the obvious truth. Instead, she just rolled her eyes and turned to stomp back to the room she sometimes shared with her son.

A minute later she was back in a pair of black tennis shoes. Much better . Without waiting he snatched her hand and pulled her out the door.

“See ya later Tayn and Arron. Rylan will be here to pick you up for school soon so be ready!” He yelled to them.

It was a bit of a drive for the lion, but he’d been making it every single day to pick up his boyfriend. Yes, he was slowly becoming okay with that. Of course, they still had to keep the door open and what not, but he could tell that Arron’s heat was getting stronger. He still didn’t want to think about that right then, though.

The second they got to work he had her following him upstairs to the top floor. The building was a good sixteen stories tall and boy did they use every single floor of it. The place was bustling even so early in the morning but he had no issue navigating to his office between all the rushing people and shouts of greeting.

He nodded to several people before tugging Ariel into his office and closing the door quickly. When he turned around he could already tell that she was a bit winded from the run through the crazy floor.

“Going to be able to handle that?” He joked with a grin.

She blinked, then quickly straightened up and nodded.

“Of course, boss.” She replied curtly.

He gave her a smile before walking toward the stack of papers piled on his desk and turning with them in his arms.

“It’s just Larro. Though, I guess boss is okay, too. It’s just weird. Anyways, I need these sorted into the cabinets behind you. Just alphabetical. I have a meeting to run to right now but if you finish before I’m back please check the calls on my phone and write down names, numbers, and reasons for the call so I can get back to them quickly.”

Ariel took the papers and nodded.

“Absolutely, boss.”

Okay, he knew that she was joking with that boss thing now, but he let it go with a wave as he ran out the door.

The school day passed decently quickly since most of his classes were pretty busy with exam reviews or assignments, so he could manage to push his heat back just enough to focus. However, come his late lunch period, Arron was fidgeting beside Rylan and Erin. He did actually manage to get them somewhat talking to each other since Rylan had refused to leave his side and he’d refused to leave Erin sitting alone. Well, he was never really alone since he was pretty popular for standing up to Rylan, but he still wanted to sit with him sometimes.

After nibbling at his sandwich for a few minutes Arron jumped up and quickly left the cafeteria. He knew that he was acting weird, but he also knew that quite a few of the other kids could already tell that he was in heat and that it was bugging the heck out of him.

He ended up going to the sports locker rooms after walking around for a few minutes. Thankfully, no one was around.

He quickly got the water running in one of the back showers before tossing his clothing somewhere behind him and jumping in. His hand immediately went between his legs to try and get some relief. He really couldn’t afford to skip anymore classes, but he couldn’t focus at all right then. In mere minutes he had climaxed, but it barely helped at all. that’s what he had been doing all week to keep from literally having sex, but now it wasn’t doing nearly enough to ebb the heat.

Arron?

His eyes widened when he heard his boyfriend’s voice in his head.

I’m fine. He quickly replied back.

Arron, where are you? I can tell you’re not fine. Rylan replied.

I can handle it.

There was silence for a few minutes, so he figured that Rylan was done trying to find him. Except, he began to hear footsteps inside the large room all of a sudden. Arron held his breath, then realized that it was pointless since the shower was on. If it wasn’t Rylan then he could just pretend to be just showering, at least.

The shower curtain was yanked open abruptly, making him jump and jerk his eyes wide from surprise. He tried to turn away from whoever thought that it would be funny to peep on him when clothed arms pulled him into a tight hug. Strong arms that he was all too familiar with.

“Rylan?” Arron mumbled against his chest. “You’re getting all wet…”

His words were barely whispered since he was much more focused on the strong scent he had come to recognize as Rylan’s begin to wash over him. He seemed tense, but was slowly relaxing as Arron hugged him back. He was also really glad that the locker rooms they were in were generally only used by the after school sports teams. There were others in the gymnasium.

“Rylan?” He said after a minute.

“I’m trying.” Rylan growled.

Huh?

“Trying, what?” Arron asked as he leaned back slightly so that their eyes could meet.

Oh wow. His lion is just beneath the surface. He even has a few whiskers on his human face.

“Trying not to…”

Arron understood and pursed his lips in thought. That wasn’t exactly easy though, since his heat was still going full force. Before he could get a decent sentence out Rylan continued, and honestly made his heart flutter.

“I love you, Arron, but I can feel it. It’s hurting you. Please, let me help. I’ll be gentle, I promise. Let me help you.” He rasped.

“We don’t have…” His words died on his lips as his face burned hotter.

“We’ll get another pill from the vet on the way home.” Rylan said as he tightened his hug.

He knew that Rylan did actually want cubs, and his family definitely had the money and space for them. It wasn’t unusual for a lion to have cubs early and he’d caught Rylan staring at pictures of them in the books they got. The fact that he said he’d get him a pill to keep that from happening this time meant that he honestly cared about what Arron wanted. Rylan had come such a long way in such a short time after they made the effort to understand each other.

“Okay.” He finally said nervously.

Rylan’s eyes went wide when he’d agreed, but when Arron just took a step back and didn’t change his mind, Rylan was quick to begin getting undressed. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t sneak a few glances.

“Arron.”

Feeling a finger beneath his chin, Arron felt it being lifted and blushed furiously when their eyes met again. Rylan had shut the curtain once he’d tossed his clothes out and was now standing in front of him, completely naked, with hunger in his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t been fed in forever and he was his next meal.

They were quick to get busy with the deed. Rylan started off a bit aggressive, but managed to pull himself back and became extremely gentle as they got into a rhythm. They both actually got so into said rhythm it that once Arron was finally feeling better they just kept going… Until the sound of guys running into the locker room had them both freezing. A few started coming closer judging by the sound of their shoes on the cold tile. Arron felt himself begin to shake as Rylan set him back down on his feet and slipped out of him, but everything stopped the second he roared loud enough for the sound to echo off of the walls long after he’d finished making it.

There were a few whispers about Rylan before Arron heard a guy step a little closer.

“Yo Ry! Let me get some, too!” He called.

Another roar rumbled through the small shower stall, warning the other boy to not come any closer.

“Really, man? Is it that little kitten? Cause I’m pretty sure that’s pedophilia.” He said, making Arron scowl. He might act younger sometimes because of his shift, but he was perfectly legal!

He could feel Rylan tense as he began to change, but quickly fumbled for words to prevent him from letting his lion out.

Stop, please! He doesn’t know anything.

He could tell that his mind was more lion than his own, but he wasn’t sure what to do.

Rylan! Arron thought as loud as he could into his boyfriend’s mind.

His mane was sprouting as his muzzle began to elongate. Rylan began kneeling as his lion’s body started shifting, but then Arron remembered something that might help. Without much more thought he sank his teeth into his neck with a determined, yet much less threatening growl. Thankfully, when his teeth broke his skin Rylan’s lion instantly backed off, switching his growling to a deep, rumbling purr. Arron knew that Rylan had bitten him several times already a few minutes ago, but when he returned the gesture it sealed the deal. They were now a mated pair.

“Fuck off, Randal.” Rylan snarled.

The kid started arguing and Arron heard him walking closer, but Rylan let out another loud roar and soon everyone was running out of the locker room.

“Alright, let’s get you to the vet.” He finally said once they could hear no one else in the room.

But didn’t they have to finish the school day?

Wait, was that the soccer team?

Then it was already after school?

“You were really horny, hun.”

Darn this kid is amazing. Not just because he was the most amazing lay he’d ever had, but he was just too cute. He’d been so into his heat that he hadn’t realized that he’d nearly run Rylan ragged. Not that he minded, but Arron’s little backside was going to be very sore for the next few days. Either way, as soon as he got him home from the vet he fully intended to spoil him.

He felt a heavy weight of uncertainty slip from his shoulders that he’d been carrying since he had first tried to court him. He never thought that he’d thank a stupid children’s book, but if he hadn’t read the thing, and others, at least five times, then he wouldn’t have been able to control himself while they were mating. Hell, he also wouldn’t have been able to say that he’d get him a disruption pill, because he desperately wanted cubs from him. They hadn’t been dating very long, but lions weren’t picky about being together physically and females often tried to use males to get pregnant in order to get them as a mate. He’d sure had to deal with enough determined teenage lions sniffing at his pants.

I don’t want those people, and neither does my lion. We both want Arron, and that’s it.

About thirty minutes later they were both clothed and walking into the vet’s office. Well, he was carrying Arron inside. He had been having trouble even sitting in the car after a short time… which kind of boosted Rylan’s ego a good bit. 

Stupid elephant, take that.

“Hey Doc!” He yelled.

The man sauntered in after a moment, raising a brow when he saw who they were.

“What can I do for you, boys?” He asked.

Since there was no one else in the office right then, Rylan figured that they didn’t need to go to an exam room to talk.

“We need a disruption pill.” He said.

“No.”

What?

“Wait. Why?” Rylan asked, his eyes widening.

“You can only take one once every three months. I only gave him the pill so quickly last time because I am the only vet in town that treats shifters and if not given almost immediately, it won’t have time to work.”

“But, is there another way to, uh, prevent things.” He asked awkwardly.

“No. Humans have abortions if necessary but when a shifter gets pregnant it is a much different story. The general biology is the same, but they are much too fragile to operate on once the baby is settled and pregnancy occurs.”

Rylan could feel Arron’s depression through their bond and sighed.

“Alright. Is there anything that can help with it then?”

Arron hugged him a little tighter and he could feel warm tears against his neck. Rylan really hoped that he didn’t think that he’d done it on purpose. He’d had no idea about the rule for the pill. Thankfully, the vet smiled and nodded, walking over to pat Arron on the back before nodding for them to follow him.

“Being the only vet who deals with shifters also means that I carry quite a few things for them.” He said.

Rylan nodded and followed him into an exam room, then shut the door as the doctor set a few bottles on the counter as well as a small packaged item.

“What’s that?”

He turned and unwrapped the small package.

“Pregnancy test.” The vet said as he nudged it closer to them. “Shifters can get pregnant very quickly. Even faster than their mammal counterparts.” He added.

Arron flinched in his arms but Rylan thought that it was a better idea to do it. If he wasn’t pregnant than they could just avoid buying all the extra stuff and he’d just stuff his backpack with condoms to prevent the situation from happening again until Arron was ready for cubs.

“I just need one drop of blood. The hormones present should easily tell me what we need to know.” The vet said.

I don’t want to. Arron thought to him nervously.

You know we should, though. Rylan replied.

Arron looked up at at him with his beautiful golden eyes, but the added tears just broke his heart. Blinking back his own tears, Rylan carefully grasped his right wrist and held his hand out so that the vet could prick his finger. Thankfully, he was quick and set the test aside, explaining that it would take a minute to show results. In the meantime he took Arron’s temperature and blood pressure to be sure holding back on relieving his heat hadn’t gotten him sick. 

“Everything checks out. Now, Arron?” The vet said seriously.

Rylan gently set him down but wrapped his arm around him tightly.

“If that test reads positive I want you to know that I’ll be here to help you with anything you need medically, and I’m sure your family will be by your side every single step of the way.” The vet said.

Rylan watched Arron nod but could tell that he was still pretty upset.

“We’ll get through this. It’s only three months if the test is positive.” Rylan said, trying to be reassuring. It was just hard, because lions always welcomed babies, even if they were a bit young. Eighteen was logical in his family, but he knew now that it was too soon for cheetah shifters.

Rylan leaned over and licked his cheek, then nudged it with his nose.

“We’ll still finish school and then go to college, but we’ll just have some adorable cubs to dote on, too.” He said.

Arron slowly nodded, but Rylan noticed that his eyes were still looking behind the vet at his test. The guy figured it out quickly and went to check it, then brought it over. There was a big blue dot were the drop of blood had been placed.

“You’re having cubs.” He said quietly. 

I’m ecstatic, but I need to make sure that he’s going to be okay. 

It was hard to control himself, but Rylan managed to take a deep breath and tug Arron completely into his arms. 

“I love you, and I’m going to be here through the whole thing and beyond.”   

He wasn’t going to tell him to relax or calm down, because it really wasn’t something that could just be shrugged off whether the cubs were wanted originally or not. But, he was going to make himself become the best damn father, so Arron would never regret the lives they were going to bring into the world together.

Chapter 38: Epi-A Wild Family

(This is the epilogue chapter but it’s broken up into small pieces for each character. Please read the note at the bottom once you finish the chapter. :) ) 

Time had flown by the past few months and Larro was now running late. He and Ariel had been busy since five in the morning with meetings and getting things ready. They went in early to try and finish up before the time the doctor had said Arron was due, but they were really cutting it close.

They raced hand in hand through the halls, ignoring several nurse’s and doctor’s warnings to tell them to slow down. They finally did when they came skidding into the delivery area, then into the room. Arron looked exhausted but was definitely still pregnant. Rylan looked like he hadn’t slept in days, which was true. At first, Larro had wanted to castrate him for how irresponsible they had both been, but damn did the boy step up when it came to taking care of Arron. The smaller boy had quite the amount of dramatic mood swings and cravings over the past few months but Rylan catered to every damn one without complaining.

“Hey sweetie.” Ariel said as Larro let go of her hand so that she could go give her son a kiss on the forehead and hug Rylan. Larro walked over and squeezed Arron’s hand gently, but before they could do much else they were all ushered out of the room. Normally they would let the father stay, but Jordan walked in right behind them and made Rylan step out with him. He also held open another cheetah book the two had been reading once in awhile to a specific page.

Rylan obviously wasn’t in the mood to read, but he did as told. They stood silently for several long minutes, letting him know that the two were deep in mental conversation. When Jordan finally nodded and turned to shake his and Ariel’s hand, Rylan grumbled.

“Excuse me?” The doctor said, instantly gaining everyone’s attention as he leaned out the door to Arron’s room.

“Rylan?” He asked.

Rylan stepped up but Jordan was quick to block him.

“We will all go in together when Arron is ready.” He said.

The doctor looked confused but just shrugged and nodded.

“Alright, you’ll be allowed in soon.”

He quickly closed the door but returned to open it about ten minutes later.

“You guys can come in but you need to keep it quiet please. Arron is sleeping.”

They all nodded as they walked in.

Wait.

What?

Jordan was snickering and Rylan looked confused but still excited. Larro was glad that he wasn’t acting aggressively, considering what male lions normally did when their kid wasn’t exactly their kid.

He very slowly walked over to a full-grown cheetah resting stretched-out on the bed with a tiny little cub suckling at its belly. Arron’s cheetah had grown by leaps and bounds over the months, the vet saying that it was likely because of the fact that his body had to change rapidly to handle the pregnancy. He was out cold, but it was a job well done.

Ariel went to stroke his soft fur as she watched Rylan run his thumb gently over the tiny little cub. It had a gorgeous set of spots, just like a cheetah. A faint tuft of hair on its tail just like a lion. And a stunning silvery-grey coat… just like an elephant.

Larro knew that some animals, especially cats, could have litters fathered by multiple males and sometimes even long after they had bred, but he’d had no idea that they could mix. In fact, he doubted that they could… in normal animals.

I need to seriously do some research on cross-shifters. If there is any information out there yet.

“Rylan, you know we have to do this.”

Arron’s boyfriend grumbled under his breath as he held onto their cub, Roan. As much as he wanted to say that he looked like his mother, his features were definitely more like Rylan’s. He did thankfully have Arron’s bright gold eyes, though. Even at two weeks old he was a spunky little brat and always whined until Arron shifted to feed him.

Just glad I don’t have actual boobs in my human form.

“He’s mine, Erin just donated his color.”

They’d had a DNA test done and the cub was indeed mostly cheetah and lion, with only a little bit elephant, specifically the color genetics. However, Arron still felt that Erin deserved to know that he had helped father the cub. He knew that he would have wanted to know about a kid he’d made if it were him.

Thankfully, he’d remembered where his house was. Arron pulled the car up into the small driveway since Rylan refused to drive because he was still technically grounded from his car and wanted to show his own father respect. Guess it meant so much more when you had one of your own and wanted them to respect you when they got older.

“Alright, let’s go.” Arron said as he hopped out of the car.

Rylan took an extra minute to get out but soon joined him on the doorstep with a plastered-on fake smile. Erin was at the door after the first knock, his eyes looking Arron over, then Rylan, and then more importantly, the bundled up cub in Rylan’s arms.

“Hey Erin… um, can you step outside for a second?”

He glanced back into the house and called to his parents.

“Mom, dad! I’ll be right outside talking to some friends if you need me!” He yelled before stepping out and shutting the door quietly behind him.

“Hey guys, what’s up? Who’s kid is that?” Erin asked, though it was likely somewhat obvious.

Arron hadn’t gone to school after he’d begun to show his pregnancy, so none of the kids really knew yet. When neither of them replied he leaned a little closer to Roan and actually began to look at his features.

“Wait a second. He looks just like your shift, but he’s got a tuft of fur on the tip of his tail like a lion and he’s silver…”

That had him straightening while the gears started to turn.

“Wait a second… he’s silver.”

Arron nodded, making Erin’s brows draw together.

“I don’t know why you brought him here unless, somehow, that color came from me?” He asked, confused.

Again, Arron nodded, pursing his lips to chew a little on the lower one. He’d thought that he might freak out about everything but he seemed to take it all in stride. Elephants.

“Can I… hold him?” He asked, tilting his head slightly as he eyed the little cub.

That was the true question he couldn’t answer. Ever since Rylan had accepted Roan soon after he’d given birth, he’d been by his side every second of every day. Arron had to literally pry him away from the cubs crib to get him to go to school. He brought back work so that Arron could study and take exams online. Roan was born a bit underweight but thankfully had been growing with hourly food.

Rylan grumbled in response but Arron nudged him with his elbow then carefully took Roan into his own arms. After shifting him a little bit he carefully handed him over to Erin. It was kind of a tense situation until Roan snuggled into Erin’s arms and gave a quiet little yawn before drifting back to sleep.

“I suppose the pill just stalled what would have happened?” He asked, holding the cub very carefully as he looked down at it.

“Yeah. Good old feline genetics, with some extra odd stuff from being a cross-shifter.”

Erin chuckled lightly and handed Roan back to Rylan since as he looked like he was getting ready to pounce.

“Um, well, do you guys need anything for him?” He asked, a little nervous.

Arron knew that his family didn’t have much and had never even thought about asking for anything.

“No. We don’t need money or anything like that. I just wanted you to know that he was here. You said you wished it had happened, so I guess it kinda had. Just in a round-about way. Anyways, if you would like to come by some time to play with him just let us know. I’m sure Roan would like to grow up with both of his fathers in his life.”

Erin’s face lit up and he quickly nodded, giving him a hug and a soft kiss on his hair. That got a growl out of Rylan but they both ignored it as Arron returned the hug.

“I’d love to be there. Thank you both for letting me.”

He turned his attention to Rylan and the two were quiet for a long moment before Rylan offered a hand to shake. They had been enemies at school for so long but Arron supposed that would have to come to an end now that they had something binding them together that was much more important than petty shows of dominance… mostly from Rylan.

Erin grinned and shook strongly, then gave Roan a soft pat on his head before backing up to the door when they heard his father call for him.

“Thank you guys, again. I’ll be in touch and please keep me updated with pictures and info.”

“Definitely. See you at school soon when I return, Erin.” Arron replied with a smile.

He nodded and then disappeared inside his house as they went back to the car and headed for home.

“You’re kids are absolutely nuts!” Larro growled as two little hyenas and a silver cheliaphant nearly knocked his legs out from under him as they ran into the living room from the hallway. Tayn sauntered past him after a minute and picked up Kyra, but Pike instantly turned and bit down on his sister’s tail, then proceeded to be dragged toward the huge dog bed Larro had bought for them to lay on in the living room.

Since Tayn was more comfortable in his hyena form in the first place he had no issue flopping down on the bed every afternoon and just feeding his pups there. By now they were beginning to eat solids but the little brats still sneaked meals from mom quite often.

He always fed them when they were acting up, so Larro was pretty sure they just did it on purpose now. Either way, for once he was glad that the two crazy pups were busy drinking, because that usually meant they’d be out cold soon. At least Tayn was awake, too, so that he didn’t have to keep babysitting. It had bee nearly five months and he was going insane.

Feeling a faint pat on his pant leg, Larro glanced down, smiling at Roan.

“Hey there little guy. Want to come up into grandpa Larro’s arms?” He asked with a smile.

Roan gave a quiet mew and rubbed against his pants with the hopes of getting the point across that yes, he did indeed want to be lifted up.

“Alright, your mother is out shopping right now so I suppose I could break the rules a tiny bit.”

He wasn’t really supposed to pick him up since he needed to work on his walking, but how could he say no to that face? Arron should have known that he would break the rules.

Once Roan was comfortable in his arms Larro headed toward the kitchen. “Alright, let’s get my love some water.”

Thankfully, he was used to holding little bundles of fuzz, and in comparison to Tayn’s cubs, Roan was super well behaved. He got the cup of water filled and added some lemon and dissolving vitamins before heading back to his room.

“Hey love, how is she?” He asked as he quietly walked inside.

Ariel purred as she stretched out on their bed in her feline form, their tiny newborn pressed against her belly.

She’s finally feeding.

That was a huge relief. They had just brought her home the previous evening and all she had done was sleep, even though she was pretty underweight. He quickly leaned over and held the cup so that Ariel could get some water.

I added some vitamins so sorry about the taste, love.

It’s alright. I’m glad you thought about that, I’m just scatter-brained right now.

He chuckled and nudged her forehead with his nose. She purred in response and he honestly wished that he could, too.

I brought your grandson with me.

You know you’re not supposed to hold him. I’ll tell Arron. She said as she flicked her tail on the blankets.

You wouldn’t get your super hot, sexy husband in trouble, would you?

Definitely telling.

He knew she was just pulling his tail so he stuck his tongue out a tiny bit and set the cup aside when she’d finished drinking what she’d wanted.

Tayn is in the living room feeding Kyra and Pike, so the pups should be out soon.

Right as he was saying that he heard the front door open and whined a little. Crap. Arron and Rylan were back and Roan was snuggled up in his arms. With a quiet sigh he turned and opened the door, stepping out right as they came around the corner.

“I finally leave him alone one day and you’re already breaking the rules.” Arron chided.

Guilty.

“He made me do it.” Larro said abruptly as he quickly handed Roan to Arron before running to the kitchen.

“I’ll get dinner started!”

He could hear the boys snickering from the other room but he shrugged it off. He’d cook if it appeased them. It wouldn’t be anything glorious, but he’d learned a few basic recipes to help out. 

Roan ran around the corner a minute later and he sneaked him a big piece of cheese. He’ll be farting up a storm when they try to bathe him later. That’s what they get for denying me a little snuggling. When he looked up there were two hyena pups sitting right next to Roan with milk around Their mouths, begging for something they knew they couldn’t have.

He was about to tell them that they were getting nothing, but then remembered that it was Pascal and Tayn’s night to do the baths. With a smirk, he gave them all a good piece of cheese.

Roan wasn’t exactly on solids yet except for occasional trials but he was getting close. Thankfully, he was growing like a normal cub and was already a little bigger then Arron’s cheetah had been when they had first met him. Now Arron was a full grown cat, though, and quite gorgeous. Rylan figured that out, too, and was ridiculously protective of his mate and son.

Rylan swore right after his son was born his lion had gone on high alert for everything. Letting Roan out of his site took a little while, but Arron was just as protective and now that his cheetah was mostly under control, and finally at its normal size, he knew that he’d be safe. They were mostly staying at Larro’s just because Pascal and Tayn’s pups were almost the same age and interaction was extremely important to lions and hyenas. Not so much for cheetahs since they ended up being solitary, but for younger ones it made a big difference to at least play once in awhile.

When they walked in he let Arron go grab Roan while he patted Kyra and Pike, then nodded at Tayn. Rylan thought that living with another species of predator would bother him a lot, but after a few meetings they became like one big extended family.

Pascal wandered in a moment later and flopped down right against Tayn. He didn’t know how the smaller hyena handled the oaf, but he seemed to take it all in stride.

“Hey Ry, I’m going to get some rest. Can you watch Roan?” Arron asked with a tired smile.

Of course he would!

Rylan hopped up from patting the pups and took Roan from his boyfriend, kissing Arron on the lips before walking over to the sofa. Time to relax with my boy… and evidently two fuzzy hyena’s, too. Pike and Kyra had found their way onto his lap, too, but he didn’t mind. All three balls of fur were out cold in moments.

“Roan?”

He was evidently not so asleep as he had thought and was, in fact, nibbling on Rylan’s thumb. He pulled it out of his mouth twice, but the second time his cub began crying.

“Alright, here.”

Reaching over to the coffee table to his left, Rylan pulled out a small drawer and took out a pink pacifier to press against his lips. The thing was quickly clamped-down on and after a moment Roan was right back to sleep. The vet had said to ween him off of the thing but he’d been doing pretty well. With his teeth still coming in, though, Rylan let him have it every once in a while.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his cub looked absolutely adorable with it.

Considering the amount of people living in the four bedroom apartment, Larro and him had been doing some talking, along with Pascal and Ariel. Arron never really seemed interested in the talks, though he was invited. He preferred to leave that to him and would just watch the pups while they were busy.

Eventually he decided that they should move out and get a place closer to his parents and the school. His father would pay for it until he found a good job, but considering that he’d already gotten a few call-backs, he figured that they would be good soon.

Pascal and Tayn were likely moving out eventually, too, but it really depended on Larro. He was technically their matriarch , even though he wasn’t female. The two hyenas looked up to him. Even Rylan did after getting to know the guy. He went above and beyond for everyone in his life and when he’d found out that he’d finally managed to get Ariel pregnant? The guy went freaking nuts with his money and bought so much stuff Rylan and Arron had to take half of it back because there was nowhere to put it all.

Chuckling at the memory, Rylan leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, relaxing until dinner was ready. Which was going to be cheeseburgers and mashed potatoes, if his nose was on point.

Oh my gosh! Our babies are so cute! You have no idea how cute they are, but they’re so cute you wouldn’t believe it! Pascal thought to Tayn as his tail swished like crazy behind himself.

I can see, idiot.

But you don’t understand! Pask yipped back before he turned and grabbed Pike off of Rylan’s lap with his teeth and brought him over to Tayn. The cub was still snoring quietly as he set it down.

Look!

Yes. It’s Pike, he’s cute. Tayn said with a tired yawn.

But he’s more than cute. He’s the best looking boy ever. And Kyra, too! The best girl.

Pascal quickly ran back over to Rylan and brought their daughter over, then laid down and snuggled with both of them on the carpet.

I mated with an idiot.

He must have mentioned that a thousand times before, but the thought always found itself replaying in his mind. Pascal was beyond annoying and overprotective… but he was the best damn father the pups could have asked for. The kids loved him and if they ever got in a fight, he’d break it up and make them play in moments, all aggression forgotten.

Can we have more?

That question had him coughing on nothing but surprise.

No!

Aw, why?

Tayn glared at him, then pointedly looked toward Pike and Kyra.

We can do it when they go to sleep! Pask suggested with excitement.

Dork.

Please? Just one more! Please?

Tayn’s eyes rolled as he huffed a sigh. Pask didn’t seem to understand that he was still nursing their current pups. Of course, they were almost on solids completely, but still.

You know hyena’s often have twins or triplets. One isn’t likely to happen. He replied.

He paused for a moment, as if that information hadn’t been said to him a million times when he’d guessed how many they were having. Pascal looked up at him with those big brown eyes and whined once. His head was right next to Pike, and Kyra was snuggled up on the other side of his face. It was unfairly cute.

Fine. But not until they are at least one.

He could feel the excitement reverberating off of Pascal before he even yelped in agreement.

Making me more tired, dork.

But I’m your dork!

Larro called out a moment later that dinner would be done in about fifteen minutes.

My dorky boyfriend should go wash the pups before dinner. He thought to Pascal.

The guy was shifted, up, and out of the room with both pups in the blink of an eye, running naked through the apartment without a care in the world.

So tired.

Larro heard cursing coming from the bathroom and then a shout about feeding the cubs cheese. They had digestive systems of steel… unless you gave them cheese. Tayn was snickering on his blanket as he plated everything, no doubt he’d figured it out pretty easily since they’d been having fun playing pranks on Pascal with the pups once in awhile. The other hyena was a good sport, though, and took everything with a laugh… or cackle.

After dishing all the food out, Larro headed back to Arron’s room and slipped inside with the extra plate of food and a glass of water.

“Hey sweetie, hungry?” He asked.

He was a really light sleeper after having Roan so he woke up easily and leaned up against the pillows so that he could eat.

“Yeah, thank you.”

Larro gave him a smile and pressed a kiss to his forehead before heading for the door.

“Everyone is set for the night. You can just leave the plate and glass on the nightstand. I’m sure Rylan will take it to the kitchen later.”

Arron smiled and nodded before Larro quietly closed his door and walked across to his own room.

Time to snuggle with my love and our new baby girl.

As Arron ate he heard little pattering paws running from the bathroom and a group of cackles as they settled down for the night in the living room. Tayn often preferred to sleep out there and Pascal? Well, he was basically Tayn’s whipping boy. The man was in heaven as long as he had his family.

He heard Larro go into his and his mother’s room and figured that they were done for the night unless his mother needed something. Arron was so glad that Larro had finally gotten himself a kid of his own, and a big extended family to go along with it. It had taken him a bit to gain his mother’s trust enough to start trying, and since they were of different species the actual cub took awhile to get there, too. Zeva was pretty cute, though, spotted like a cheetah but more stocky like a hyena and she had those big hyena ears. Either way, she was going to be fun to see grow up.

After another half hour Rylan came in. When he opened the door Arron noticed that all of the lights in the apartment were already out. Bed time, then. With a sleepy smile Rylan handed him Roan and Arron gave him a big hug and kiss before handing him back so that Rylan could get him settled in his crib. A minute later and Arron had his mate beside him, his purr matching his own as they cuddled.

“Love you, Rylan.” He whispered as he nuzzled into the crook of his neck, completely content.

“Love you too, Spots.”

-End

(Thanks for reading :D Book 2 is Tusks. You don’t have to read Tusks to read Paws, Whiskers or Claws (books 3,4, 5). Whiskers and Claws are together and must be read in order. Paws is a technical stand-alone but has some recurring characters here and there.)

Tips always appreciated :)  https://ko-fi.com/theorykierei