Chapter 13
Keir:
Our first day at the Piestewa cabin had turned into one I hadn’t dared hope for, and the most special, gratifying one of my life. After we finished having sex in the tub, I got out, refilled it with hot water, and made her soak for real. She spent twenty minutes there.
While she did, I checked out what we had to work with for food. It had been a hasty setup, but I’d sent the owner a list of food to have on hand. Of course, that costs extra, but it was worth it. I’d see what Fiona would like for dinner.
When she came to find me in the kitchen, smelling of gardenias and wearing a smile, I kissed her before presenting a few dinner ideas.
I encouraged her to take a look to see what was there, in case she had other suggestions.
It took us less than ten minutes to agree on what to make.
We were both feeling the urge for breakfast for dinner.
It was still a few hours until dinner time, but I liked to be organized.
When it came time to prepare it, we worked together.
It had such a cozy, domestic feel. I wanted to do this every day for the rest of my existence.
When the food was ready, we stuffed ourselves.
We talked about so many topics, moving from one to another with ease.
We both relaxed after eating, until I reminded her we needed to clean up before we could do the next thing we wanted to do tonight.
Her eyes sparkled as she jumped to her feet.
That had been almost an hour ago. Now, we were out in the countryside that surrounded the cabin.
Another reason I chose this specific place was the amount of land the cabin sat on.
It was twenty acres. It guaranteed we’d have no one else close in the wilderness surrounding the cabin.
We could safely allow our leopards to be free.
The moon was partially out tonight. We stood in the cold January night. It was rather nippy up here, but we’d soon be warm. We found an open area in the middle of the wilderness. It was a good spot. I took her hands.
“Are you ready for this?”
“I am, and so is Danu. She’s driving me crazy, telling me to hurry up.”
I chuckled. “Rogue is too, but using more threats. Let’s let them meet.”
At her nod, I dropped her hands and went to peel off my clothing. Fiona did the same. It wasn’t long before we were naked. The air caused her nipples to form hard peaks. I had to resist touching her. Rogue needed out.
Hurry! I smell her. I need to see her, he thundered.
“On three. One…two…three…” as I uttered the last number, I let go. When shifting, especially at first, it required concentration and time. And it was painful. With practice, and I had a ton of it, I could shift in mere seconds, and the pain was an afterthought at most.
Pride hit me when I saw, through my eyes, then Rogue’s, that Fiona shifted only a few seconds after me. As I shared Rogue’s vision and felt what he did, to a degree, I soaked in what my mate’s leopard looked like.
She’d shared with me that her leopard was an Amur.
Despite her Irish ancestry, her ancestors must have migrated from eastern Siberia in Russia to Ireland at some point.
Danu was a smaller leopard, with soft, thick fur, and her rosettes, her spots, covered her back, legs, tail, and head.
Her height was around thirty inches, and her weight was maybe seventy-five pounds.
It corresponded to her petite form when it was Fiona.
What was cool about her coat was that it changed colors.
In the summer, it was an inch long and deep reddish-yellow.
However, in winter, her fur grew to three inches long, and her color changed to a pale yellow, almost white.
It was a way to camouflage themselves in the snow.
Siberia was covered in it for most of the year.
Amur’s have retractable claws for climbing trees and traction on slippery areas.
And her long legs made walking in the snow easy.
I was thankful we were isolated. Amur leopards in the wild are endangered. There were probably no more than two hundred in the world, including those in zoos. Since I was a leopard, I’d studied these things about all the species. I felt Rogue’s appreciation for his mate. He found her enticing.
As they cautiously studied each other, I wondered what Danu and Fiona thought of Rogue. He was a Persian leopard—another immigrant ancestor had come to Ireland at some point.
He was a much larger leopard. Rogue stood forty-two inches tall at his shoulders.
He was bigger than the average Persian leopard.
From head to tail, he was eight feet long.
And weight-wise, he was heavier than the wild leopards.
He weighed in at two hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle.
As for his coat, unlike the animal, Rogue’s rosettes weren’t black.
They were paler. The rosettes were all over his body except the inside of his legs and underbelly.
His face and head were covered in them. His coat had a faint grayish cast, covered in reddish-gold rosettes that were slightly darker than strawberry blond.
They took their time checking each other out.
After he was done admiring her, Rogue got to work on enticing her to choose him as her mate.
His first move was to circle the area and scent-mark it.
That served as a warning to any other males in the vicinity, even if there were none, that this was Rogue’s territory.
And as such, Danu was the female he was claiming, if she agreed.
After he finished that, the mating dance began. He became vocal, letting out a distinctive yowl. He wasn’t the only one. Danu returned it. It was a signal that they were both ready to attract a mate. There were more calls, including growls and chuffing sounds.
When that was done, Rogue cautiously approached Danu.
He circled her. When he came near, she hissed at him and swiped a paw at him.
Rather than taking it as rejection, Rogue took it to mean she was being very selective, and he needed to show her more to prove he was the strongest and best mate for her.
Rogue sounded off with more vocalizations, but he circled her again, watching the wilderness for threats, scent-marking more.
Then he darted close and nudged her before jumping back.
From there, it was a dance of nudges, nuzzling each other, and then head rubbing.
Once Danu allowed that, they became playful.
To outsiders, it looked like they were fighting, but it was actually play.
The two rolled each other on the ground and sparred mockingly with each other.
But it was all part of establishing a bond.
When it was clear Danu would accept his claim, Rogue moved in.
Danu crouched before him. Rogue mounted her from behind and thrust. His teeth latched onto her shoulder to hold her in place as he thrust a few times.
It wasn’t prolonged like it was with Fiona and me, but when he came, the barbs on his cock released. It knotted them together.
The knotting was so that he triggered her to ovulate, thus having a chance to impregnate her.
However, since we were shifters, only when Fiona was fertile would Danu be.
And any pregnancy resulted in Fiona giving birth to human young, not actual cubs.
But as they aged, the toddlers would learn of their other half and begin learning to shift into their leopard forms.
I was present for everything happening between the leopards, just as Fiona was, yet I was seeing it more from a distance. I felt his joy in having acquired his mate. When he disengaged his cock and teeth, he nuzzled her head and licked his bite mark to stop the bleeding and make it stay.
And then they got up and ran. They rolled and mock-fought more. The only difference this time was that they would stop and mate every fifteen minutes. Leopards had stamina that a regular male could only envy.
By mating this often, and with it lasting only seconds, they could copulate close to a hundred times in twenty-four hours.
If they were wild leopards, this would go on for as much as five days, and then the male would leave, and the female would hopefully conceive.
But in shifters, our animal could bond to one animal, unlike the wild animals, who didn’t mate for life.
Rogue had copulated with other females, but never had it resulted in a pregnancy.
And it didn’t bring him the joy he got from being with Danu.
We let our animals play and be together for hours before finally forcing them back to the spot where we shed our clothes.
After shifting back, we walked back to the cabin.
Fiona stumbled. She was so exhausted. I wrapped an arm around her.
Inside the warm cabin, I urged her to the bathroom.
We needed to shower and then get into bed.
It was a quick cleanup, I was tired, and she kept yawning.
Once clean and dried off, I hustled her under the covers.
There was a fire burning in the fireplace in our room.
I’d filled it full before we left, so there’d be something still burning when we returned.
It was toasty warm. Fiona snuggled into my chest.
“I can’t believe they can go that long and so often. I’m exhausted,” she murmured.
“Did no one tell you what to expect when your leopard was with another?”
“Mamó, Grandma, always talked about it in the context of a mated pair. But it’s still hard to imagine. You have to be there to know truly.”
This conversation made me think that we needed to talk about something else related to what was happening, now that we were bonded.
“Did your mamó tell you about how pregnancy works in shifters?”
Her head raised. She gave me a puzzled look. “In what way?”
“In leopards in the wild, what Rogue and Danu just did would most likely result in a pregnancy, and in about a hundred days, she’d have cubs.
However, since they’re shifters, that doesn’t happen.
But when you are fertile, pregnancy can occur.
Meaning that when you give birth, the baby will be in human form, but later develops the ability to shift into their leopard form.
So that makes me have to ask. Are you using any kind of contraception?
I know you weren’t sexually active, but some women take it for other reasons. ”
Fiona sat up and shook her head. “No, I’m not. That means I can…” Surprise was all over her face.
“You can, though you’re not ovulating at this moment.
However, you’re close. And when that happens, we have two choices.
Have sex, and if you end up pregnant, so be it.
Or we have to abstain until you’re no longer fertile.
Condoms don’t seem to work between shifters.
Birth control is hit or miss. Now, if you were human, then it would help if I wore a condom. ”
“Pregnant,” she murmured.
“We haven’t talked about kids yet, not really. Am I right to assume you want some?”
I prayed to myself, she’d say yes. I wanted children, but if she didn’t, I’d give up that dream to be with her. She was more important to my happiness.
“Yes, I’ve always dreamed of being a mother, Keir.
I guess I got so caught up in what I was feeling for you that I didn’t think of the fact that we weren’t doing anything to prevent pregnancy, though you’re right, I’m not ovulating quite yet.
The part about condoms and birth control between shifters, I didn’t know.
But of the shifters I’ve met, none ever tried to prevent having kids as far as I know. ”
When she went silent, I pushed her gently.
“And what do you want to do when you are? Abstain or let nature take its course and see. Even between shifters, there’s a struggle to conceive.
Not sure why, but it’s been the case. Well, except not when it comes to Brax and Cerys.
But I believe the Precious One thing is the reason.
Akiva isn’t pregnant yet, but the way Apollo talked, she will be. ”
“Let me ask you this first before I answer. What is your preference? Please, tell me the truth. I promise no matter what you choose, I won’t get upset,” she promised.
“If it were entirely up to me, I’d say let’s see what happens.
But it’s not only me. It’s your body, and if you’re not ready to have babies, then tell me, and we’ll abstain.
You’re young, we have time. And there are other things we can do to bring each other lots of pleasure without me coming inside of you,” I told her seductively.
Since she was sitting up, the comforter had fallen to her waist. Her nipples hardened into tight buds.
I wasn’t about to fuck her again. She needed rest and time to heal.
She had to be sore. But knowing my words turned her on made me happy.
Fiona remained silent for a couple of minutes.
She was thinking this through thoroughly, which I appreciated, even if it made me nervous.
“I was raised to believe in the gods and that we should allow Apollo to direct our lives. I feel that children fall under that category. And who am I to mess with his plan? I say let it go, and whatever will be, will be.”
My response was to drag her on top of me, then I proceeded to kiss her silly. My heart pounded with excitement. The prospect of being a father soon would be mind-boggling, but the knowledge that my child would grow up with Brax’s and, possibly soon, Fennick’s. Hell yeah.