Tigers Touch

"Aren't you lonely?" His voice is soft, a whisper in the darkness just barely audible over the salt-scented wind.

"Yes, almost always." Her reply is equally soft; laden with a nearly touchable sorrow.

"Then why won't you let me comfort you? We are alike, we need each other. It hurts me to watch you and not be able to touch you." There's yearning in his rough voice, but anger too. This was not the first time they had had this conversation.

"I am not my beast Shen. We're barely more than strangers. Would you crave the touch of my skin as much if we weren't what we are?" She turns, picking out his tall, lanky form against the trees. His shoulders are slumped, his hands buried in his pockets as though if they were not hidden he wouldn't be able to help but reach out to her.

"There's no shame in it Rani." The first faint prickling of power breathe upon the wind, "Let me show you how it can be between us." He straightened from his slouch, moving towards her on that building whisper of power. To say he moved was to say that water moved. Even in the star-picked darkness muscles rippled under his skin; the promise of strength in his gliding stride, the potential for violence in his dark eyes. He was stunning as he stalked towards her, his expression a storm that would not allow her to escape again unscathed.

She watches him come to her, the murmuring sea at her back, the power he had unleashed echoing inside her; calling, coaxing, demanding. Finally she tears her eyes away from his approach and looked away, a frantic note invading her voice. "No! I won't let you." Her eyes, equally as dark as his own, fill with a kind of frantic anger. "I don't want us to fight. Stop this, let it go."

"I can't stop it Rani, and neither can you." For a moment there's a flicker of remorse in his deep voice, but it fades under the wash of other emotions. Longing, anger, need; so much need. "It's been building since we first met. I felt it, I know you did too. This was meant to happen," His voice drops lower, the touch of his power moving over her skin as he nears, until he's only an arms reach away. "And it will happen - tonight."

She backs away, her heel slipping on the edge of the cliff behind her, dirt and rocks falling down ... down ... into the surf as the sea pounds the rocks below. "No Shen." He can hear the sound of her heart beating; so frantic, so afraid. Afraid of what he meant to do, afraid of what it would mean, afraid that it was what she wanted, too. "You're a good man; you won't force this on me." For a moment she sounds so sure, but her voice wavers and he can smell the lie. She's knows he's stopped trying to fight the attraction between them; the same instinctive attraction that she had been fighting against since the first time they met.

"Don't make me force you Rani. It will be so good between us, so right." He extends his hand, offering a gentler path, his power demanding that she heed him. The brush of fur feels real against her skin; coaxing now ... if she would only let it in.

"NO!" She screams, finally unleashing her own power. It boils around her, hot and feral, pushing back the brush of his beast. She bolts, sliding past him without touching and running towards the darkness of the trees.

A low growl trickles from between his lips, slanted eyes narrowing as they flash in anger. The power moves around him like a living thing; so alive, so eager. It knew only that now they would hunt. And after the hunt, they would fight for a mate. And Rani ... she was their prey. Shen turns and seems to flow down the slope, leaving the sea behind as he follows the woman into the trees that had swallowed her. Her scent hangs heavy on the air; she's afraid, but he knows that in the end she will submit. She was strong; it was one of the reasons she called to the power inside him so forcefully. But he was the stronger.

She ran. She ran like wind in the branches, water flowing through the hollows; seeming to avoid every tree and root that might trip her, hurt her. She ran, and could still feel the brush and pull of his power as he followed. She ran, and the power inside her uncurled and played upon her skin. This need to run from him, it was so human. The beast awakening inside her reminded her that she was not - not anymore. No, she was Other as Shen was Other. It didn't understand; why did she run from her mate? Rani sobbed, pushing her beast away; but she couldn't escape, not from what waited inside her.

Shen follows her scent, the soft sounds of her footfalls, the pull of her beast. He is the wind, the water, the night, and he closed the distance between them steadily. Tonight he would claim her. It pulsed through the darkness, the silver light of the half-full moon. Tonight he would catch her. Tonight she would be his.

A gnarled root hidden beneath years of fallen leaves betrays her. Her foot catches beneath it, her hands hitting the ground as she falls, the small cry of pain echoing through the trees. She curls in a ball and cradles her leg for a moment, lost in the pain of her sprained ankle and knee. Then her head snaps up, dark eyes wide as she looks back. He's there, coming for her. So close ... Scrambling up she suppresses a whimper as she stands, her leg refusing to bear her weight. She would need hours to heal this injury, but there was no time. No time with him coming for her, already too near. She tries to hurry, but there's nowhere to escape to, nowhere to hide.

His arms wrap around her waist from behind, the low warning growl changing into a triumphant snarl as he pulls her from her feet. She whimpers as her ankle is jolted again, but even if there were enough left of her to speak she doesn't have the chance. Shen pulls her down into the leaves of the glade, covering her mouth with his; possessive, angry, his kiss bruising her lips and forcing them apart as he presses his body against her. He pins her lower body with his, presses her hands into the ground, keeps her still with the weight of his body and the urgency of his need.

She thrashes beneath him, struggling against his weight and strength, still desperate to escape this fate. But as soon as he had pressed his lips to hers she had been lost. The scent of his skin was overwhelming, the feel of his power pressing over her almost painful. The power that made her what she was uncurls inside her again, flowing over her skin and merging with his own. It throws his head back as they both gasp, and when he looks down at her again it is with a tiger's eyes. "Yeeeessss." He hisses the word, his voice octaves deeper, pushing his body against her as their power flows together, mingling, invading each others souls.

"No!" Rani sobs, her eyes frantic as they too bleed to the eyes of her beast, to the eyes of a tiger. He looks back at her and snarls, elongated canines flashing in the light of moon and stars. "Yes." He rumbles the word as he transfers both her wrists to one large hand, holding them over her head as he lowers his to press his lips to hers again. The kiss is less bruising this time, but he doesn't linger at her lips. His breath trails across her cheek as he turns his head, nuzzling at the base of her throat, licking a slow line of wetness up her neck. "Yes." The word is firm; tonight he would not be denied.

He pushes his upper body off of her, keeping her legs and hips pinned beneath his lower body. For a moment he holds his free hand up, the moon-light illuminating the change. Slowly, painfully, his fingers elongate and become thick claws. Claws that suddenly lash down and shred the blouse she'd been wearing, slicing through cloth and bra beneath. The tips score her skin slightly, so that suddenly the coppery scent of blood perfumes the air. He pulls the pieces of clothing off of her body, throwing them aside until her upper body is bare. She continues to whimper and fight, the smooth mounds of her breasts heaving.

Shen suddenly comes to his knees, still looking down at her, straddling her legs and releasing her hands. Scrambling backwards Rani again attempts escape, stumbling to her feet, turning, and falling again to her knees as her pain shoots up her injured leg. The rumbling snarl she hears behind her makes her cry out in denial, though the sound is hopeless - as though she's realized there would be no escape.

He is suddenly there behind her again, one arm around her waist and lifting her, the other clawed hand reaching around and caressing her breasts, teasing them. "No no no no ..." The low, despairing moan changes to a scream as the claws slice down again, this time cutting through her slacks, ripping them down her legs, taking her sandals with them so that she is suddenly, completely nude.

Shen drops her, letting her fall to her hands and knees in the leaves before him, still sobbing and murmuring denials. The muscles of his arms and stomach flex as he pulls his shirt over his head, tossing it aside as he kneels behind her. His touch is gentler this time, as he wraps an arm around her waist and draws her to her knees, her back pressed against the bare flesh of his chest. "You want this too Rani, you know you do. If you really wanted to fight you would change." His clawed hand again brushes over her breast as he lowers his head, running his lips along her shoulder. "The night rides us both."

Her voice is still catching in her throat as she shakes her head, denying the truth of his words. "No, no! Don't do this Shen ..." The words trail off in a moan as his claws squeeze her breast. Screaming she tries to yank herself away, the power rising to her skin in a burning wave as she seems to remember that she is nearly as strong as he. "I won't submit, I won't!"

His claws score her skin again as she yanks herself out of his grasp, but he throws himself on top of her before she can pull completely free. A rumbling growl rolls over her, spilling from his lips as he bites her. His teeth sink into the back of her neck, elongated canines drawing blood as they sink in. The growl changes to a snarl of warning.

Rani whimpers again as her body relaxes, giving over to the feel of his teeth at the back of her neck, the press of his body pinning her down. She doesn't protest when he rises to his hands and knees above her, or when she hears the sound of his zipper being pulled down. Another soft snarl into the back of her neck tames her attempt to struggle when he pushes her knees apart and draws her to her hands and knees. Still bent over her, teeth gripping her neck, he lets her feel the heavy weight of him resting against her most intimate places. Lets her feel the rush of their power entwined. Then, with a sudden push, he sinks inside her. Despite her protests she's ready, and the sensation makes him let her go, throws his head back as his hands grip her hips as a low, bass groan escapes him. Drawing his length back, he hovers on the brink of her, then plunges forward again. This time she screams with his thrust, and it isn't a scream of pain.

Snarling again, Shen draws himself out and plunges back again and again, his movements growing ragged; faster and harder he slams himself inside of her until she writhes beneath him. "I can't .... can't control it .... oh ...!" His voice is bass and deep, the sheen of sweat dewing his skin as he shudders. Beneath him Rani cries out again, her voice rising to a tiger's mating scream. One last thrust and Shen shudders his release inside her, loosing control of his form as Rani cries her own beneath him.

Their skins ripple as the change takes them both upon their release, fur spilling over flesh as bones shift and rearrange. When it is done a massive male tiger mounts the female, roaring his dominance and triumph, shaking the trees and stilling the small night noises of the forest. The female growls softly, crouched prone upon the ground beneath him, his body still buried inside her. He thrusts again, bending his great head to lick her shoulder and the back of her neck, the movement oddly tender. He finally dismounts and lies beside her, one broad paw draped over her back.

They sleep.

When dawn comes it finds Rani cradled nude in the curve of Shen's lean, tanned body, his arms wrapped around her possessively. She stirs and the arms tighten, as he brushes his lips against the back of her neck. The deep sleepy murmur is somehow wondrous, but full of contentment as well. Perhaps finally understanding, she cuddles closer to him, hugging his arms about her body.