Chapter 7
“This is the day.” Mac looked at him for ten seconds before she seemed satisfied that he wasn’t going to argue with her. “I mean it, Aaron. I want to be your tiger, and if you put it off one more time, I’m going to find someone else to change me.”
“I’m going to have to hurt you, and I just can’t make myself make that happen.
” She glared, and he smiled. It wasn’t a good smile, even he could feel that.
“I love you, Mac, and the thought of biting you sounds fun. It’s not in my nature to hurt someone on purpose.
I won’t be able to handle you being in pain either. ”
“I will be your tiger. Can’t that make you change your mind?
We could be having so much fun together.
Then we can make a baby and increase its chances of being a full-blooded tiger.
Don’t you want that?” He told her that he did, but the hurting part for her was holding him back.
“Well, I’m ready today. And you said you’d not change your mind again. I’m counting on you to do that.”
He still wasn’t sure, and that bothered him a great deal.
He wanted her to be his tiger, but at what cost would it be?
He wasn’t so sure. It was dangerous, he knew, but he had taken precautions and had his brother there.
If anything happened, Reagan or Dad would be able to take over and save his mate.
Sitting in his office, he thought about calling Reagan up and begging him to not be able to come over.
It would be wrong of him to do that, but he couldn’t come up with any more excuses to make it so that he didn’t have to bite Mac.
She was the love of his life, and the thought of hurting her for any reason was too much for him.
He opened his computer up and thought about buying something special for her when she woke up. If she woke up from the change.
His heart wasn’t into it. He thought that she’d understand, but she hadn’t so far.
But he had promised her that he’d do it, and he should have thought of the consequences when he’d spoken to her.
Zeno had yet to receive permission to change Anna, but neither one of them seemed to understand what could go wrong.
Or they did understand and didn’t care. He cared, damn it.
Reagan was supposed to show up at six tonight.
He was bringing Blake so that she could be there if needed.
He didn’t know what she’d be needed for, but she was going to be there just in case.
So were the rest of the family. His dad was bringing his medical bag as well, and he thought that was terrific.
Having two doctors on hand should have made him feel much better, but it wasn’t.
It just doubled his fear. Aaron looked up when Mac said his name.
“I’m sorry you have to do this.” He said that he was fearful of losing her. “I’m strong and healthy Reagan said, and that I should be just fine in the change. He even ran blood tests to make sure there were no underlying illnesses that I had that would make me weak when you bite me.”
“I know all that, and I know in my head that I’m being a pussy.
But I just can’t help but feel like something is going to go wrong and I’m going to lose the best thing that has ever happened to me.
” She sat on his lap after coming all the way into his office.
“I love you, Mac. You’re the best part of me, and I can’t stand the thought of hurting you and maybe killing you with this change. ”
“I’ve been asking around the pride, and did you know that about ten percent of your pride is changed tigers?
I had no idea, but I did talk to a couple of the pride women, and they told me what to expect.
It’s going to be painful, but they said that they’d do it all over again if given the chance.
The ability to be able to change into a tiger when they want is something that made it all worthwhile.
” He’d not known that she’d done any research on their pride.
It did make him feel better that some other people had done it.
He asked her if there had been any that had died.
“None. Not a single one of them had had any trouble after it was all over, either. I did ask how long they’d been down, resting, and the least one had been for two days.
The longest one was five. She said that she’d been out that long, she thought, because her mate is the pride leader and that he had more magic to give her. ”
“You talked to the Washingtons?” She said that she thought that she had talked to about twenty people. “I never thought to do that. I guess I should have started there instead of mopping around and not changing you.”
“That would have been nice too. You’re really down about this.
” He said that he wasn’t depressed or anything, but just worried about her.
“I understand that. I don’t want anything to happen to you either.
But I want this. And I know that you do as well.
In order for us to have babies that are strong and healthy, we need to both be on the same page as tigers.
You said yourself that babies born to two tigers will be better off than one born to a human and a tiger. I want that for them.”
“I do too.” He held her in his arms and decided that he couldn’t make provisions better for them than he had right now.
In order to make this work, he’d gotten everyone on board with him and two doctors in the event that something went wrong.
“All right. I’ll do it tonight. My family is going to be over at six for dinner, then we’ll get started on changing you. They’re excited to be there for you.”
“I’m excited that they’ll be there for me as well.
I want this to work out for us, and the only way is to get it started.
” He agreed with her and held her tighter.
“Nothing is going to happen, Aaron. I’m going to be just fine.
I’ve been exercising like I’m supposed to so that my body is stronger, and you know that I’ve been running so that I can do this.
Everything that happens tonight is going to go well because we’ve done everything that we can to make it work out for the best.”
“I know that.” He did too. And he did feel better himself because he’d been exercising too with her. “As soon as the meal is over, we’ll do this. I’m about as ready as I can be.”
He didn’t think that he’d be completely ready until it was finished. While his heart would race when he thought about changing Mac, he would also think of how much he loved her and wanted to do this for her. She was all he had right now, and he wanted her more than anything to be happy.
When it was time, he’d be ready, he told himself.
He would be too because he’d been a pussy about wanting things to go perfectly, and he thought that was impossible to get any more ready than he was right now.
As soon as he was ready to begin, he knew on some level that he’d chill out and just do it, but he was terrified out of his mind to have to do it to his Mac.
He’d have to be his cat to do this, and Mac would be naked.
She’d picked out a pretty robe to wear when they started, and he told her that there would be lots of blood.
He’d been biting her every time they had sex, but this wasn’t going to be the same.
He’d have to bite her hard enough to draw blood and more than likely break bones.
Shivering, he tried hard not to think about that part.
When the time came, he had mellowed out a great deal. His family was all around, and he knew that if anything happened, they’d be the ones who would help out. He was just ready to shift when Mac told him to wait. She wanted to hug him again and kiss him so that he knew how much she loved him.
“You got this.” He nodded. “No. Say the words, Aaron. Tell me that you have this and that you’re going to finish this after you start.”
“If I don’t finish it after I start, you will die.” She nodded and kissed him on the mouth. “I love you too. Now let’s do this before I change my mind again.”
She laid on the floor with her robe on. Dad and Reagan were there with their bags, and he told them how much he appreciated what they were doing. After telling him that they loved him as well, Aaron shifted into his great cat and stood over Mac.
Wasting no time, he bit her in the leg nearest her thigh. Shaking his head a bit to make sure that the bite was true, she cried out loudly, and he nearly stopped. At her command, he bit her in the stomach. Again, shaking his head, he felt her hand on his head as he held her in his teeth.
“I love you, Aaron. You’re my hero.” Aaron purred for her and decided that he was going to give her the world if she wanted it. “Come on now. You’re halfway there, and we’ll have babies together. As many as you want.”
He felt the moment that she fainted. She still whimpered a bit, but he held onto her for as long as he could.
When he had to go for her shoulder, he hesitated just for a moment before he bit down hard on the flesh there and heard bones break.
If she changed, that would heal as soon as he was finished with her.
Begging his other half to not hurt her, he growled low and bit down harder on her shoulder.
As his mouth filled again with blood, he wondered if he was stupid for doing this.
The last bite to her stomach again was hardest. Her flesh was getting colder, and he worried about her living through all this again.
Just as he was ready to call in his father to take over, he could taste the tiger in her.
Feel the warmth of her skin. Biting down harder so that it would work better, he felt her stirring under his bite.
She looked like a bloody mess when he pulled back. His heart broke for the pain that he’d caused her. Looking at his dad, Dad moved in to take her blood pressure. The cuff had been on her arm the entire time so that he could take her blood pressure when it was necessary.