Talia Of Animalistic - Chapter 18
Cougar drops his duffle bag by the front door. He’s still in uniform. Normally he would have changed before he left the fire station, but he’s anxious to see Talia. He can smell a new female and her two children. He assumes it must be the desert woman and her children that Richy texted him about while he was in Megalopolis with Talia. But there doesn’t seem to be anyone inside the house, so he heads for the back yard.
As Cougar steps out the sliding glass doors, Talia hops up from the picnic table and runs to him. When she hops up and throws her arms around his neck, he catches her.
“Man, did I miss you,” Cougar tells her.
“I missed you too,” admits Talia.
Cougar sets her on her feet and kisses her. “Introduce me to our new friends. Then we’ll spend some time together.”
Talia nods and leads him by the hand to the picnic table. “Cougar, this is Hyena of the Desert People. She has two children playing over there with the other children, her son, Jason, and her daughter, Summer.”
Cougar shakes Hyena’s hand and inhales her scent. She’s definitely the new woman he smelled in the house. “Good to meet you ma’am. Hope we’re making you feel at home.” The woman looks like hell, but he still smiles easily. Being a fire fighter and a paramedic before that, he’s seen worse, much worse. And it’s not as bad as that rifle hole that was in Talia.
“We’re being treated very well, thank you,” responds Hyena gratefully. She may not be interested in men for herself at the moment, but she’s not blind, deaf, dumb nor dead. All free people are beautiful, but Talia seems to have caught herself the best this area has to offer. This one is basically a negative of Richy. Even though Cougar’s hair is pulled back into a tight braid, Hyena can see it’s a beautiful shade of golden blond. His skin is a light tan. And his eyes, she’s never seen eyes so shockingly blue before. He’s nearly the same height as Richy, his shoulders may be just a tad broader, but his build is about the same. And he’s looking at Talia the same way Richy does, like she’s a treasure. She doesn’t think her ex-husband ever looked at her like that.
“I need to get out of my work clothes,” Cougar excusing himself and Talia. “We’ll be back out in a bit.” Then he heads back into the house with Talia in tow.
Cougar keeps a tight hold of Talia’s hand as he grabs his duffle bag off the floor by the front door and heads upstairs to Richy’s room. He drops the bag on the floor at the foot of the bed and shuts the door for privacy. He yanks Talia against him into a devouring kiss. No actual intercourse with Talia until his divorce is final. But there are other ways to enjoy her body.
Cougar could point out to Richy that since Sheila pulled that stunt at the fire station with the ax, he won’t have to step foot in a court room for his divorce. No one is going to be asking him if he’s had any adulterous affairs, not that he had. Sheila’s in jail. His divorce will be final in another month or so. And when Sheila gives birth, he’s getting sole and total custody of their child. He could also point out that because of these things, there’s no real reason he should have to wait for the divorce to be final to be with Talia. After all, his marriage is over. He doesn’t need an official document to tell him what he already knows. The official document is for domesticated society. But he understands Richy needs time to accept the sudden changes in his life. He can wait another month or so for actual intercourse with Talia. Besides, what’s another month or so after he’s already waited twenty plus years.
“Take your clothes off,” Cougar directs Talia, “I need to see you.”
Talia complies. And as she takes off her clothes, Cougar takes off his. He picks her up and lays her on the bed. He loves to touch her. His head tilts to the side as he looks at her breasts. Her nipples seem a little darker than before she went to Megalopolis. Perhaps it’s just his imagination he thinks as he takes a nipple into his mouth.
When Cougar releases her nipple, Talia lifts his face to hers and tells him with sad eyes, “I love you, always have and always will.” Then she kisses him.
“That’s just how I need you to love me,” Cougar tells Talia, “because that’s just how I love you, always have and always will.” He kisses Talia again as his hand pushes into her dark triangle of curls.
When the first orgasm washes over Talia from Cougar’s manual stimulation, he moves down to taste her. He pauses at her inny belly button. In his opinion she has the perfect belly button. But what catches his attention is the line that runs down the center of her lower abdomen from her belly button. It seems darker to him as well.
After receiving several multiple orgasms from Cougar’s intimate attention, Talia pushes him back onto his back to give him some intimate attention. He jerks involuntarily as her mouth takes him in. Even though this is not the orifice she really wants him in, and it’s not the orifice he wants to be in either, this will just have to due until his divorce is final. Then they’re lying there together with him spooning her and hugging her back against his chest.
Cougar finally asks her, “Did you get to see my dad?”
Talia shakes her head as she answers in a sad whisper, “No.”
“Why not,” he asks softly.
Talia shrugs, “He wasn’t there. He left just before I got there, because I was arriving. He’s shunning me.”
Cougar turns her face toward his, “He wouldn’t do that. What makes you think that?”
“He told Roar before I left that he was leaving because I was coming,” shares Talia.
“Is that all he told Roar,” asks Cougar.
Talia shrugs, “I asked if Wildcat is avoiding me and Roar answered, ‘Yes.’ He said Wildcat isn’t upset with me or anything like that. He said something about him wanting to give me time to accept the change in our relationship. He said maybe he needed time to accept it to.”
“It certainly doesn’t sound like he’s shunning you to me,” Cougar tells Talia.
“Then what would you call it,” asks Talia. “Is he punishing me for making him my mate against his will and then denying him. I didn’t know what I had done.”
Cougar sighs, “I know he’s not punishing you either. I may not know why he’s avoiding you right now. I just know he’ld never shun you or punish you for an accident. We won’t be able to talk to him about it until he’s ready to talk to us.”
“Us,” questions Talia.
“If he wants to see me, he sees you too because I’m with you,” Cougar tells her. “Do you think he’s shunning and punishing me too?”
Talia sighs. She knows Wildcat has no reason to shun or punish Cougar.
“Let’s wash up,” Cougar pulling her along to the bathroom. “I’m hungry.”
Richy arrives home late in the evening from work. The children are sleeping and most of the adults too. He waves at some of his tribe members sitting around the fire pit with his aunt. Then he sits on the glider where Cougar is holding a sleeping Talia.
“How’s our girl,” asks Richy.
“She’s fine,” answers Cougar, “still a little sad, but she’s alright… Now Bass, I may kick his ass. Despite Talia’s umbrella of protection, your tribe’s women won’t put out to him. They’re afraid Fjord will punish them for it when he gets back despite Talia’s umbrella. They know Fjord isn’t a play by the rules kind of guy. So Bass is being a jerk because he isn’t getting laid.”
Richy’s not surprised by Bass’s behavior. “How are Hyena and her kids getting along?”
“Good,” answers Cougar, “those are the sweetest, politest kids I have ever met.”
“Yeah,” agrees Richy, “they’re great kids.” Richy stands and takes Talia. “Let’s go to bed,” he tells Cougar.
Cougar follows Richy caring Talia into the house and up to the master bedroom. After Richy lays her on the bed, Cougar helps Richy undress her. Then each man slides in on his side of Talia.
Richy asks Cougar, “How’s this going to work after your dad finally claims his rights to Talia as her mate.”
Cougar answers, “We’ll figure things out when the time comes.”
It’s quiet and Richy starts to dose off to sleep. But Cougar breaks the silence, “Richy… I think Tali’s pregnant.”
“Did she say something to you about feeling nauseous or something,” asks Richy. “She hasn’t missed a cycle yet. Her next cycle isn’t due for a few more days. She’s not even late yet.”
“She didn’t say anything or anything like that,” explains Cougar, “but her nipples seem darker, and that line down the center of her tummy from her belly button seems darker too.”
“So,” says Richy not knowing that the darker nipples and the darker line could be an indication of anything.
Cougar explains, “When a woman’s pregnant, her nipples and that line get darker. That often happens before her scent changes. Her scent doesn’t change until around the beginning of the second trimester. So in Megalopolis, did she refuse to eat or drink anything that she may have usually ate or drank?”
“Yeah,” recalls Richy, “that asshole she used to date came over with a peace offering for her, a Blue Hawaiian, said it was her favorite drink. But she wouldn’t drink it. She said it didn’t smell right. She wouldn’t even have wine with her dinner, only water. Uncle Bob was concerned that she wasn’t feeling well.”
“If she’s pregnant, she wouldn’t have a clue yet,” Cougar tells Richy. “But her nose would still tell her if something could be harmful to the baby, so she’ll be picky with what she eats and drinks.” Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
“Do you really think she might be pregnant,” asks Richy.
“We’ll know soon enough,” answers Cougar. “You can pick up a pregnancy test. And if she misses this cycle, I’ll give her the test myself.”
“Should I get a blood or a urine test,” asks Richy.
“Blood,” answers Cougar, “it cost a little more, but it’s more accurate.”
The next morning, Wildcat returns to Animalistic.
“Welcome home old friend,” Roar greets Wildcat. “Your mate asked me to tell you she’s low on jerky.”
“Tali doesn’t want an old man like me for a mate,” responds Wildcat. “It was an accident. She didn’t know what she was doin’… How’s the baby? I’m sorry I missed the birth. Boy or a girl?”
“A beautiful healthy girl,” answers Roar. “We’ve decided to call her Zulu. You should have seen how beautiful Tali looked when she was suckling her. There was a peacefulness that came over her that I’ve never seen before… And making you one of her mates may have been an accident, but she didn’t accidentally sleep in your tepee instead of mine.”
“My tepee,” questions Wildcat.
“Check it out for yourself,” Roar tells Wildcat. Then he follows his old friend to his tepee.
Wildcat is immediately hit by Talia’s scent when he steps inside. She was very unhappy. He lifts a fur she slept on to his nose. He says solemnly, “She cried herself to sleep.”
“She thinks you’re shunning her,” Roar informs him.
“I would never do such a thing to her,” Wildcat tells Roar, “You know that.”
“I know it,” Roar nods, “and I told her the same. But it’s what she believes none the less. Facts are facts. You left specifically to avoid contact with her. In her eyes, you’re shunning her.”
Wildcat inhales the scent of Talia’s tears, “I nearly took her against her will… And when she was sitting up in that tree as a big cat, scared because she didn’t understand and I hadn’t tried to explain because I couldn’t think clearly, I thought, ‘I can turn into a big cat. I would be the bigger stronger cat. I could over power her’ I horrified myself. How could I ever consider raping her? But I considered it.”
“We all know that when our instincts and hormones are driving us we may do things we wouldn’t normally do as our everyday rational selves,” Roar reminds Wildcat. “Now if Talia had accidentally hurt you that day when she wasn’t exactly conscious instead of accidentally making you one of her mates, would you blame her or be angry with her for it?”
“No, of course not,” answers Wildcat. “It wouldn’t have been her fault.”
Roar asks, “Are you angry or upset with her for making you one of her mates?”
“No of course not,” answers Wildcat thoughtfully. “Technically, it was an accident. And I’m honored she chose me.”
“She may not have technically been conscious,” says Roar. “But I don’t think choosing you was exactly an accident. You notice she didn’t choose Bass.”
A grin sneaks onto Wildcat’s face, “Well the girl’s not stupid.”
“Thank Mother Earth for that,” states Roar. “Dealing with Bass as an in-law is going to be bad enough. I’m okay with you as a brother-in-law instead of him.”
“So you’re okay with this,” Wildcat asks Roar.
“I’m fine with it,” answers Roar. “But are you fine with it? … Tali’s initial reaction was panic. She wanted to know how to fix it. I left Cougar dealing with her panic. Yet she arrived here looking for you, her mate. I don’t think she’s the one that needs more time to adjust to this.”
Wildcat admits feeling guilty, “I keep seeing that crushed look on her face… I pulled rank on her. I hurt her heart. If Cougar hadn’t walked in when he did, I would have taken her like that… I guess I’m the one that needs more time, I never thought I’ld have a mate again or that I’ld be sharing one with my son… Cougar’s waited a long time to be with Talia. He shouldn’t have to share her with me of all people.”
“It’s an unusual situation,” says Roar agreeingly. “But better to share with you than Bass… I suggest you just let nature take its course,” Roar giving Wildcat back some of his own words. “Take your time old friend. But not too much time, okay?”
“Afraid I might go crazy on you,” asks Wildcat.
“It is a concern,” admits Roar. “I’d hate to lose you. And if Talia learned we lost you because she denied you, she’ld never forgive herself. We didn’t explain that part to her. It was an honest omission. She had enough on her mind. So she was here for you for the right reasons, not out of obligation or guilt. She was here in your tepee, crying herself to sleep because she loves you.
My other concern, my main concern, is Talia’s wellbeing. I know you will eventually seek her out and claim your rights to her as one of her mates. Even if you’re half mad when you do it, you’ll do it. But until you do so, Talia is vulnerable. Mist and Cougar are excellent choices for mates. Both are young, healthy and intelligent. Either can be by her side for domestic social functions.
But socially among the tribes, they’re ghosts. And Fjord is still out there, and he’s not the only one who wants Talia. Except his tribe is small and weak, he can’t afford to piss me or any other chiefs off. The Dragon Tribe may technically be smaller than us, but they nearly equal us in guardians. And Mantis hasn’t lost interest in Talia. When he learns Talia is with Mist and Cougar, he’s going to pay them a visit. She’s not my charge anymore, and Mist and Cougar are both ghosts. Mantis isn’t going to be respectful of them.”
Wildcat knows what’ll happen if he’s not by Talia’s side as her mate with Richy and Cougar when the chief of another tribe shows up. It’s highly likely the chief will take advantage of Talia. And to keep the Water Tribe safe, Richy will have to let it happen. He tells Roar, “I just need a little more time.”
“Fine,” responds Roar hoping the time Wildcat needs is shorter than news can travel from one tribe to another. Folks are always visiting each other. News can travel fast from tribe to tribe, faster than one might expect.
