Tiger

The sky was still black. The clouds were saturated, ready to burst.

“Like me,” he thought to himself. Thunder clapped as a bolt of white electricity struck the middle of the pond.

He kicked through the tall grass of the meadow. His soft leather boots water logged by the muddy puddles he stomped through. The rains were coming as violently as of late the rich soil was unable to contain Nature’s fury.

He was a King in the forest thusly tied as an elemental and bound to Nature. He wondered if his chaos was expressing itself in the skies above.

His ears pricked up as he heard the slapping of bare feet through puddles and mud, he wanted to smile when he heard the growl. The sound was meant to be a fierce and strong, “Grrrrrrrrrrr,” but it audibly high pitched and squeaky.

As he whipped around to face his would be predator, a blur of pale flesh wrapped his neck, a brown mane buried into his face and a white flurry of ragged fabric pounded into his chest. The beast sent him tumbling backwards into a mud puddle peppered with long green blades of grass.

He had been caught; he was the next victim of this little beast’s ravenous appetite. The Beast’s clawed hands pressed his shoulders into the wet mud. Bony shins were pinned onto his thighs.
The beast roared with a mighty squeak, “Raaaaawww!”

“What are you doing?” He giggled out.

Soft brown eyes peered into him. They were surrounded by a furrowed brow and wild unkempt brown hair. Below a scrunched nose was a mouth pulled to the cheek.

The beast was ready to bare its fangs when a long tangled lock of hair fell against its nose. She pursed her lips together blowing away the intrusion to her face. “I’m a tiger.” It’s sounded more like a shy question than a response. “I’m a tiger!” She squeaked regaining her confidence.

She leaned into him latching her teeth onto his collar bone. “I’m gonna eat you!” Her words were muffled into his shoulder. “Not a lot of meat on this one!” she hissed as if disappointed.

Her nails dug into his arms as she whipped her hair around mimicking a predator feasting on its new kill.

He was trying to hold back a giggle as she pulled back meeting his gaze again before diving toward his neck with delicate bites. “Tigers like their lunch!” Her words were breathy. He was aroused by her teeth and tongue on his neck. He was trying to fight his joy. He was supposed to be upset.

He remembered his thoughts from earlier…

“He had wanted to be inside of her but she still hadn’t figured out her body yet. She yearned for it but it would take time, if ever. That’s a lot of responsibly, he thought. “To have my boy inside me changes my world, its means I’m an adult now.”

She was making it hard from him to build a wall if ice around his heart.

Just the thought of her name could melt the ice in mere seconds. But a tiger attack?

He let out a belly laugh that shook both of their bodies. She collapsed into his chest giggling. He could no longer feel the cold water beneath him; he only felt the warmth of her heart.

Her big brown eyes looked up at him from his chest and he drew his lean arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered meekly, “I love you.”

She smiled biting into the skin of his chest, “I know”