Tiger's Mate

Chapter 33 prt. 2

•Ethan•

We walked together at a calm pace as I walked him to his place, towards the mountainside.

It was nice, relaxing as it had been on our walk before. And yet there was something so exponentially different about it, walking in our shifted forms. There was a sense of detachment from reality. A freedom where we did not have to be concerned about hiding — neither from humans nor our own kinds. Like it had been at the campgrounds.

Unlike Katski I didn't carry my bag in my mouth like a proud lapdog. It had been left tucked away — a little ways off the path we had been on, out of sight within the crook of a few producing tree roots — where I could retrieve it later on my way back home. Once I was down walking the tiger back to his. 'Borrowed' or otherwise.

It would only be until the beginning of the mountainside anyway. We walked the path that curved around as out of my pack's woodland borders — therefore, patrols wouldn't bother checking scents this far out, and neither of us would be caught here. It was the route he took every day, and though lengthy, he seemed to enjoy it.

And though it might sound like I was giving myself a Littleton much credit, but it was nice to think it had a little more to do with my being there.

I had definitely made the right choice. My mother's disapproval, my father's lectures or giving Kallen yet another reason to condescend me be damned. It was a minuscule price to pay — not to mention that I could always just shut the door in Kallen's face if he came to bother me. As Maia always told him; he wasn't alpha yet. Therefore really anyone could slam a door in his face and not be called out for it if they really wanted to. Hell — Maia had done it three times in the last week.

Though apparently — somehow — we were the only two that it seemed had displeasurable feeling towards my brother. To others, they either found him 'delightful' (which made it clear they never shared a childhood bedroom with him) or they were accepting — as he was still the son of our father, therefore, expected to fulfill the same kind of role as he did. (Perhaps that one made a bit more sense).

If only they all knew how annoyingly serious he took his job. I could certainly think of a few less complimenting words I could use to describe him then.

Fifteen minutes later was too soon to have to part ways. Katski paused at the edge of the rocky hillside, dropped his bag, and turned to face me with a soft grumbling sound that rumbled softly from his chest.

I did not speak cat — but I could tell he was telling me that he was alright from here, that I could go home now.

I huffed a large breath, which showed as a puff of white fog in the cooler temperatures. The weather had certainly gotten chillier with the arrival of the later months.

In response, I could have sworn the damn cat was laughing at me — a chuffing sound akin to a beastly chuckle escaping from his parted jaws — before he took a step forward and nuzzled his whispers into the fur of my mane, just below my muzzle.

I used to think he was always a little grudging towards the fact that no matter which form we took, I was always the taller one — even if it was only slightly. But now, it was moments like these that made me think maybe he actually liked it.

You know...considering all the times he's used me as his personal body pillow.

He purred as his nose touched my shoulder, eyes closed as he playfully rubbed his face against my fur.

Oh terrific — now I'm his personal scratching post, I thought with a grumble.

Nevertheless, I absorbed the affection with an inwards feeling of warmth seeping into my chest. Having a cuddle-whore of a tiger shifter as your boyfriend was not something everyone could claim.