Home For Christmas
Home For Christmas
~*~*~
I glared at Johan Rousseau as he drove my car, well technically the car the streak had bought for me and insured until I got my own job.
“I should at least have shotgun,” I pouted as I sat in the backseat behind Jonah Rousseau so he couldn’t grab at me. The twins laughed they way they did when they had mind-locked and were having a private conversation without me. “It’s rude to use psychic links to leave others out of the conversation.”
“You could always join,” Jonah purred as he turned to look at me with his lantern green eyes. I snorted and made a face at him.
“You always project dirty pictures at me until I leave anyway,” I pouted more as I crossed my arms over my chest and he snickered. I yanked on the small, red ponytail on the back of his head and he yelped.
“Children behave, we’re in the home stretch,” Johan ordered and I pulled Jonah’s hair one more time. He ruined my punishment by making an obscene moan. It got me to let go of his hair faster.
“I’m still pissed you jerks are driving my car and making me sit in the back,” I stated and Jonah turned to smile at me.
“I told you, you could sit in my lap,” he grinned and wagged his eyebrows. Johan was kind enough to punch his twin in the shoulder for me.
“Don’t talk to Noelle like that,” Johan warned and I smirked.
“Thank you,” I said with a smug grin.
“Mom will be mad if she sees that Noelle still doesn’t want to marry one of us,” Johan continued and I groaned.
The twins’ mother had been trilled to have my mother as a birthing partner since my mother was already the Alpha female of our streak of weretigers. When the twins had been born their mother had been overjoyed since Tiger shifters view twins as an omen of great things to come. When I had been born a therianthrope, the most powerful shifter, capable of become any creature at any size that had ever lived, well the twins’ mother was practically convulsing with joy.
The most common marriages in Tiger streaks are the children of birthing partners since the mothers will share nursing duty and the babies will nurse together and grow up constantly together. My eldest brother, Richard, had married his birth partner. The twins’ second eldest brother, Henry, and second oldest sister, Charlotte, had both married their birthing partners. Needless to say, Momma Rousseau was dying for me, the streak’s only therianthrope, to start dating one of her beloved baby boys.
“I swear to God and Goddess that if you know that your mother is going to pull something and don’t tell me I’m going to go out and find a were-bear or were-wolf to start dating,” I growled and the twins laughed.
“You would not, you’d never break your mother’s heart by going out with our natural competitors,” Jonah laughed and I glared more.
“You mean your natural competitors, I can be a bear or wolf just as easily as I can be a tiger,” I snipped and the two grew serious.
“That’s not funny,” Johan stated with a sniff and I pouted again.
“I’m just pointing out a fact, I’m capable of being anything so nothing is my competitor but another therianthrope,” I whined.
“Or a Beast Master,” Jonah pointed out. “Let’s not forget that if Master Black Paw knew you were a therianthrope he would request you as a payment from the streak.”
“Eww, dirty old man who wants to sleep with a member of each of his territory’s shifter groups,” I muttered and the twins snickered. It was easy to make fun of Black Paw when we lived on the border of his territory; it was harder when we had to go visit him in the summer. The Tigress who lived with Black Paw had a daughter by him; neither mother nor child had been back to civilization since the child had first proven to be Tiger not Bear. It had made Black Paw very angry that the Tiger had bred out his Bear.
“Yeah well, he’d love to have you, oh mighty therianthrope,” Johan stated. I sat in the back seat and shivered. The thought of being desired by a powerful, old man was terrifying and a warm hand was on my knee. Jonah smiled at me, his handsome face comforting.
“Don’t worry, Noelle, we’d never let him touch you,” Jonah purred as he looked at me. I blushed as I saw Johan’s matching eyes looking back at me in the rearview mirror.
“We’d rush you out of the territory in a second,” he said and I blushed more as I wrapped a hand around Jonah’s and placed a hand on Johan’s shoulder.
“Thank you,” I whispered. My very existence was hidden from Black Paw at great risk to my streak. If Black Paw found out that the Tigers had hidden my power from him it would enrage him. He might even challenge our Alphas, my mother being one. The Tigers are one of the most superstitious groups of shifters, which is why my birth was hidden. The birth of a therianthrope to Tigers is something that must be protected and since I was born as a birth partner to twins, my clan has done everything in its power to make sure I was not recognized as what I truly am.
“You’re so sexy when you blush,” Jonah flirted and Johan punched his shoulder, but the mood was lighter. I looked at my twins, they were mine, sworn to me when we reached puberty and the elder Tigers asked who would be my protectors. Usually shifters are undistinguishable from normal humans and opposite to popular belief, the shifters that you can tell are the most powerful. The twins had tiger-orange red hair with cat-like green eyes while I had Bengal blue eyes and nearly white skin. We easily passed it off that we were powerful shifters but that I had been born with the recessive White Tiger. Like normal tigers, Tiger Shifters can have children born with a white recessive coloring. Extremely rare in shifters, but not unheard of, thank God and Goddess.
After a few minutes of silence we pulled up to my house and we all could feel the massive energy of the shifters inside. It was clear both the Trenor and Rousseau families were waiting for the last few members to arrive.
“I knew we shouldn’t have stayed for the Merry Christmas Bash,” I moaned as I felt the energy. “They’re all there.”
“You really need to stop dragging us to those parties,” Johan sighed.
“Crap, I can feel at least ten shifters in there,” Jonah whined and I glared.
“It’s probably our entire two families. Three generations of them,” I muttered as I opened my door and grabbed my two bags. We had brought home a good chunk of our stuff at Thanksgiving so we could travel lighter at winter break.
“Yeah, yeah, at least you don’t have five older brothers giving you advice on getting into your beloved’s pants,” Jonah said and I smacked him in the back with my bag. “Ow!”
“You deserved it,” Johan said without pity.
“Besides Eric is a Catholic priest, he wouldn’t tell you how to do that,” I muttered. Johan and Jonah had eight older brothers and sisters, I only had two older brothers and one baby sister. Mom and Dad weren’t as into family building as the Rousseaus were.
We marched up the porch and I opened the door. Shifters rarely have to lock doors. We kicked the snow off our shoes before we lined up our bags inside the door next to the coat tree.
“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” I called but it was silent and I felt Johan’s mind was in the same state as mine, Jonah was struggling with his scarf which was caught in his jacket zipper. In unison, as if on cue, Johan and I jumped up, caught the overhang of the second floor above the stairs, and lifted ourselves up allowing two tiger cubs and three adult tigers to fly under us and to crash into Jonah. Johan and I were clinging to the overhang, lifting our bodies so our stomachs were flat against the ceiling as we watched two large tiger males hold Jonah down as the two cubs crawled over him.
“Let me up!” Jonah cried as he struggled under Joseph and Louis’ weight. I was always thankful that Richard wasn’t as into dominance displays as the older Rousseaus were.
“I swear to God and Goddess I better not find you ripping up any of my rugs!” my mother called and Johan and I dropped to the floor together. “Noelle Trenor you better not have put clawmarks into that overhang again!” I smiled as I saw my mom enter the room and I ran to her and hugged her.
“No, Mother, we haven’t done that since we were ten,” I laughed as I pulled back to see my dad with the Rousseaus who were watching Jonah snarl and growl, but was unwilling to transform.
“Jonah, we taught you better than that,” Mrs. Rousseau scolded as she watched the kittens chew on Jonah’s ponytail. “You should always be prepared for an ambush!”
“Let’s go see the babies,” Johan said as we entered the next room. On the floor was a female tiger with two cubs, one still had its eyes closed and the other was awkwardly looking around without much balance.
“Hey, Nina,” I called to my sister-in-law as she nursed her newborn. “Richard and Marty helped take down Jonah.” The tigress huffed in laughter as my brother walked in, said cub in his mouth. Meanwhile Jonah was dragged in, Louis and Joseph each holding an arm while Mama Rousseau nagged Jonah.
I grinned as there was a rip and Jonah was sitting there in his tiger glory, just as big as his brothers. Johan gave me a look and I grinned as on cue we stripped and shifted. I tackled Richard, Johan tackled Joseph, and Johan tackled Louis. A wrestling match broke out in the open area in front of the tree, we were very careful not to damage the tree or get too close to the nursing tigress. The two cubs who were fast enough to dart in were an extra challenge.
It is so nice to come home for Christmas.
~*~*~
Author Note: A streak is a group of tigers. Thus why they don't call themselves a pack.