“Lux,” my leopard and I simultaneously purr in the most composed voice I can muster. Nobody appears to have even noticed, so that bodes well for me. My cat prances around in my mind, enjoying meeting her mate as well.
“Shelbi,” he huskily responds. “Fuck, but you’re beautiful.” When he says this I feel a blush begin to take root on my skin.
“Language, Lucious,” Helga snaps. His head whips in her direction as his eyes widen in shock and surprise.
“Helga, what are you doing here?” he asks her, head tilted to the side in contemplation. My tongue involuntarily sneaks out and swipes along my bottom lip. The cord of his neck is enticing as he presents it to me. I want nothing more than to sink my fangs into that spot, the one that’s intended for me to claim as his mate. His veins are prominent to my eyes, my cat is yowling in my head to go and jump him.
“Take him. Claim him. Own him,” she insists through our link, presented to me as an order to not be dismissed.
“Calm down, hussy!” I admonish her, causing her to hiss at me. “I’m leading this, you need to leave me be.”
“Then stop standing there looking pretty and do something!” Someone’s full of salt and vinegar today.
“Shut it, you’ll have your turn. Right now, it’s my time. Go away, I don’t need you berating me and making demands of me,” I argue, wanting to get to know him better before allowing her to take over my body and mind. She’ll push me out while frolicking and playing in the wilderness with her mate.
“As long as you’re aware that once it’s my turn, I’ll be doing it without any input from you.”
“Figured as much. Adios, bitch.” I disconnect our link. Sometimes I wish I was an ordinary human who didn’t have to share herself with a pushy female cat shifter.
Lux
My eyes stay firmly placed on Shelbi as I tilt my head, wondering what the fuck Helga’s doing here. Smirking at the look Shelbi has on her face, one I know so well, I see that she’s having an argument with her leopard. Mine is scratching and clawing to be loose, it’s hard to contain him with his constant purring and demands of being one with his mate. I’ve dismissed him and am ignoring his vibrating anger. “Helga?” I call her name again, as she turns from Olga to me. “Again, what are you doing here? I didn’t tell you where I was going or what I was doing. Or that I was even going anywhere.”
She turns from amused to serious and my claws form, understanding dawns on me that she’s got more connection and information to this mating thing than I initially thought. “Let’s take a seat, it’s story time,” she states as she joyfully claps her hands together while she rounds the table to give me a hasty kiss to the cheek. “There’s so much to tell you before you young ones go and do your mating thing.”
“Mating thing?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. She turns beet red, and I’m quite enjoying the discomfort she’s displaying.
“You know,” she hastily replies, waving her hands through the thin air. “Mating, conjoining, intimacy, consummating… those mating things!”
“Oh,” I pretend to act stupid when responding, “yeah, those mating things.”
“Is she referring to sex?” Shelbi asks, picking up on the little game Helga and I are playing. Seems my mate enjoys helping me make Helga uncomfortable. This is going to be fun; she and I, ganging up on these women together.
“Yes, young lady, she is,” Olga grabs Shelbi’s arm and escorts her to the table. My leopard hisses with displeasure of her hands on my—our mate. “Don’t get all predatorial with me, young man. I wiped her ass for years; I can touch her if it pleases me to do so.” Ignoring her words, I reach out and grab Shelbi’s hand as the two go to pass me by. Raising my eyebrows at her, daring her to argue with me on this, I smirk when she rolls her eyes and willingly lets go of Shelbi.
“First of all,” Helga begins, “be more respectful to my sister, Lucious.”
“Your sister?” Did I catch that right? How come I didn’t know she had any siblings? And it seems there’s no coincidence that Shelbi and I ended up being raised by these sisters. These two need to tell me what the fuck is going on before I yank Shelbi away and mentally swear that if they don’t knock it off, they’ll never see the two of us again. Guardians be damned. “Explain.”
“I will once you two sit and settle your asses down. I can hear your minds and rapid heartbeats from over here,” Helga huffs.
“Language,” I snap back at her, using her previous words, throwing them back at her. With zero fucks given if it, or I, upset her.
“You’re impossible sometimes, Lucious.” She lets out an exaggerated whoosh of air from her lungs.
“Lux,” Shelbi snottily replies to her use of my given name. I squeeze her hands in appreciation before sitting down and pulling her into my lap.
“Pardon?” Helga asks her.
“He likes to go by Lux.” Shelbi never loses the anger laced on her tongue. “If you two expect respect, then we should be given the same courtesy.”
“Damn right.” I agree with her wholeheartedly. She leans back into my chest and I wrap my arms around her. A sense of home encompasses me, wrapping a strong embrace of love and acceptance around me. I relax into my chair enjoying the sensations strumming through me.
4
Helga
I’ve been waiting for
