This is an old short story with the men from Trouble Comes in Threes.
Cats and Christmas Trees: Trouble Waiting to Happen.
Kirk
Finally.
I picked up the
remaining cups of eggnog, took them to the kitchen, and quickly washed them
while nibbling on the Mexican hot chocolate sugar cookies I had made. There
weren’t many left. Werecats couldn’t taste sweets, but they could certainly
taste spicy, hot things. Needless to say the cookies had been a hit. Werecats
and food went together like peanut butter and jelly.
The party had gone
well. One of my mates, Tal, had noticed the closer we got to December, the
quieter I became. He wanted to know why, but I ducked the question. Since the clowder
I now belonged to were feline shifters, they didn’t worship a human god. And
since Dolf and Tal had found and mated me, I too was no longer human.
Of course, no longer
being human didn’t change the fact I missed having a Christmas tree with a pile
of gifts underneath, although I hadn’t had that the last few years. Things had
been tight, and I’d been living paycheck to paycheck. Not that it mattered. It
wasn’t as if I had anyone to buy presents for, since I was all alone and really
didn’t have any close friends. Buying presents for myself felt silly.
Then, on a snowy New
Year’s Eve night not long ago, two stray cats—who I later learned were Dolf and
Tal—showed up. I took them in, even though I could barely take care of myself.
Amused, I watched them down the cans of tuna I found in a nearly bare cupboard
like they’d been starved, even though they were ginormous and their coats were
glossy.
Little did I know how
much they’d change my life.
Since I wouldn’t come
clean on what upset me, Tal, the imp, sicced Dolf on me. Several hours and a
warm ass later, I finally admitted what the problem was. I wanted a tree,
wanted gifts, wanted a party with our friends. Even though these shifters worshiped
the cat goddess Bast, they understood the reason behind the season. So we
talked and decided to make the holiday fit us and who we were.
They did it for me, to
make me happy, and I couldn’t love them more.
Tal came up with the
idea of having our Alpha, and the rest of the betas, over for a rousing game of
Secret Santa. After explaining what the game was to everyone and setting a
price limit, we planned a party.
My sides were still hurting
from how hard I laughed. Seeing our Alpha take the shiny paperweight Heller had
become attached to was the funniest damn thing I’d ever seen. But seeing our
Alpha frown mightily as Dolf took it from him left me in tears.
Remi tried to hide what
he took from someone else so he could keep it from being taken. It was a
T-shirt that said I’m not Santa, but you
can sit on my lap. Aidric dug through the wrapping paper until he found it,
making Remi growl. Briar kept throwing balled-up wrapping paper at Heller,
hitting him in the head, which made Heller bitch about his hair being messed
up.
There was
trash-talking, shouts of encouragement, threats, and even a growl or two.
As I finished loading
the dishwasher, I glanced over at the soaring, white flocked tree in the living
area. It was gorgeous and something I had always wanted but refused to buy
because of the cost.
All it had taken was my
mentioning that desire in passing to Dolf, and the next thing I knew, there the
tree was, standing in front of the den’s prowl windows. They spoiled me
shamelessly, and I adored them for it.
We lived in a huge log
house with a truss system that Tal had built before they’d found me. The whole
damn front of the house was nothing but windows. Honestly, the place was a huge
cat play area.
The fireplace crackled,
and the smell of burning wood relaxed me. This was our first Christmas
together, and it had been perfect. Tonight promised to be even better, or it
would be just as soon as my two absentee mates showed up. Where the hell had
they gotten off to? I was going to tie both their tails in knots for sticking
me with cleanup. Sneaky little fur balls.
Nails clicking on
hardwood floors drew my attention from the fireplace. Wiping my hands on a
dishtowel, I turned, snorting with laughter. I should’ve known. A rather large,
jet-black cat raced down the hall, hot on the heels of a snow-white cat.
In human form, Dolf’s
hair was black, and when he shifted, his cat’s coat was the same gorgeous
color. Tal, the clowder’s Omega, had long blond hair. All Omegas either had
blond or red hair. When Tal shifted, his coat was pure white.
Grinning, I left the
kitchen and sat on the couch, preparing to enjoy myself. They’d eyed the tree
from the first night we’d put it up and decorated it. All those shining,
gleaming objects had driven my mates nearly insane. Cats and Christmas trees.
Boy, if that wasn’t
asking for trouble, I didn’t know what was.
A blur of white flew
past me as Tal ran the length of the den. Dolf was right behind him, swatting
at Tal’s hind legs. Tal yowled playfully over his shoulder at Dolf and then
leaped up to one of the numerous shelves throughout the space. Dolf sat on the
ground, his tail swishing as he looked up at Tal.
“Meooow!” Tal’s yowl
echoed through the den.
Oh man. Even I heard
the dare in that. Shaking my head, I looked at Dolf, waiting to see what he’d
do. Of the three of us, Dolf was the dominant one.
“Meeer,” Dolf answered
calmly and then leaped at the shelf Tal sat on.
Damn, the power in
those hind legs was amazing. Tal scrambled down the walkway, hauling ass. He
kept going until he hit the truss system of the log cabin, flying across the
logs as if he was just a few feet off the floor instead of fifteen feet, if not
more. The first time they did that, I just about had a heart attack.
Suddenly Tal stopped
and spun to face Dolf. Tal arched his back, fluffing up. His fur stood on end,
making him appear bigger. Dolf stopped too but didn’t back off. Instead he
ignored Tal’s warning as he slowly prowled closer, his bright blue eyes
slitted.
“That never works,
pretty kitty,” I called from the couch where I was reclining. “Dolf’s gonna
swat that cute little ass of yours if you’re not careful.”
Our sweet little Omega
just didn’t have it in himself to intimidate Dolf. For that matter, neither did
I, but I did often stand up to the man. The smartass in me couldn’t help
myself. Surprisingly, Dolf was okay with that. Said it kept him from being too
arrogant. Which was highly amusing considering Dolf was the heir apparent to
the West Falls Clowder. “Arrogant” was his middle name.
“Meerow.” Tal aimed an
indignant sniff in my direction, turned his back to me, and stuck his tail
straight up.
“Yeah, Tal, I’ll take
you up on that offer just as soon as you’re human,” I called from the couch.
“Rawl!” Dolf bellowed
in agreement.
Laughing, I watched
them race down the truss system to the shelves and on down to the floor. Tal
ran at me, jumped on the couch, and straight onto my lap.
“Oof! And how did I
know you’d end up here?” I found myself with a lap full of white cat. “Watch
the claws, babe.” Jesus, the last thing I needed was him to sink his claws
somewhere important.
Seconds later, Dolf
launched himself at me too, and sure enough, I ended up with over sixty pounds of
feline sitting on me. Dolf and Tal were the size of Savannahs, but since they
were werecats, they were larger. They were big, big cats and heavy. Both of
them put out an ungodly amount of heat also.
Dolf licked my cheek.
“What have I told you
about taste-testing me?”
“Meer!” Dolf purred,
then head-butted my cheek. Meanwhile Tal kneaded my thigh, rumbling softly. I
ran my hands over Tal and Dolf, enjoying their silky fur.
“Are we done or….” The
flashing lights of the tree caught Tal’s attention, and he was off again.
“Oookay, guess not.”
Dolf grunted in Tal’s direction
and jumped off me. He raced across the top of the coffee table and headed
straight toward the twinkling Christmas tree. Oh man, I knew it. It was more
than their little kitty natures could handle.
“Okay, you two, you
break any of those ornaments and I’m not gonna be happy,” I said.
Tal landed on one of
the few brightly wrapped gifts we hadn’t yet opened. He eyed the tree as if
getting ready to climb it, but the paper the gift was wrapped in made a funny
crinkling sound. I snorted as the sound distracted him.
Tal’s head whipped
around. Dolf jumped on the gift next to Tal and swatted the large red bow. They
took turns annihilating it until there was nothing but shredded ribbons left.
Dumb me had ornaments hung on the lower branches. The temptation was too great.
Dolf flopped over onto his back and grasped one, holding it in his front paws
while his back paws kicked madly.
“Dolf,” I yelled. “That
falls under ‘breaking the ornaments not gonna make me happy’!”
“Meeeeow!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Meow
all you want, but you heard me.” Although I had no idea what they said when
they meowed at me, both of them had told me they could understand human speech
even in their shifted form.
After destroying
several more bows and clearing off any ornaments on the bottom limbs, Tal
launched himself up the tree. A flash of black, and there went Dolf too. Damn
good thing the tree was ten feet tall and the ornaments weren’t glass.
Yeah, I’d had a
feeling.
The tree shook. I
caught a flash of blue eyes as they climbed. Ornaments swayed. Tree limbs
trembled under the weight of two determined werecats. A yowl sounded from the
tree, but I couldn’t tell which one of them it was.
In fact, Tal was hard
to see since he faded into the white background of the tree, but the sparkly
ornament a white paw was batting at was a good clue of how high he’d made it.
His sharp claws clanked against the metal of the ornament. A few seconds later,
a black paw joined in on the antics. The two of them took turns swatting at it
until it finally flew across the room and landed at my feet.
“Seriously?” I leaned
over and picked the star-shaped ornament off the floor.
Dolf and Tal continued
climbing around in the tree, batting ornaments and chasing the blinking lights.
They were the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Suddenly the tree became still
and my werecat mates went silent. Oh shit, that wasn’t a good sign. They were
like kids. I’d learned a sudden silence meant they were up to no good.
There was a rush as two
furry bodies flew down the tree. Tal landed on the same gift as before—poor
gift was taking a beating—yowled at me, and went after the red tinsel I’d
draped on the tree. God help me, what had I been thinking? And wow, he was
having entirely too much fun fighting the stuff.
Somehow he’d managed to
get it wrapped all around him. Fortunately I hadn’t threaded the tinsel between
the limbs, just mostly draped it on the tree. It came off with no problem,
raining down on Tal and winding its way around his head.
The red tinsel was a
sharp contrast against Tal’s white fur. And, of course, Dolf helped out by
hooking the tinsel with his claws and pulling… which meant he ended up dragging
them off the gift they’d been sitting on. The tree shuddered, and I held my
breath, but it stayed upright as the two of them hit the floor.
For the next several
minutes, there was hissing and annoyed mewls as Dolf and Tal discussed the
situation. Once they settled it to their satisfaction, back up the tree they
went. The two of them played for another fifteen minutes or so while I watched.
A few more shiny, colored balls fell off, and tinsel lay in shreds on the
floor, but the tree remained standing.
Somehow.
While I enjoyed seeing Dolf
and Tal in their shifted forms, I was ready to move this night along. I had
plans for my mates, and I needed them in their human forms. I stood up and
unbuttoned my shirt. The yowling and hissing from the tree abruptly stopped,
and two pairs of bright blue eyes peering out from the branches focused on me.
Seeing that I had their
attention, I let the gaping shirt slide off and fall to the floor. I ran my
hands up and down my chest, making sure my fingers brushed my nipples. Was that
purring I heard? After toeing off my shoes, I made sure my ass faced the tree
when I unbuttoned my jeans and dropped them.
Then I bent over and
pulled off my socks.
Yup, that was a pleased
meow I heard behind me. Turning back around, I noticed one of the tree limbs
shaking as a streak of black made its way down. I couldn’t see Tal, but I bet
he was on his way down too. Deciding to give them more incentive, I fisted my
cock. I’d gone commando. Before I could say “here, kitty, kitty,” my two
gorgeous mates had shifted and were sitting naked by the tree.
Tal’s long, white-blond
hair fell over his shoulder and partway down his chest. As he rested one elbow
on his bent knee, his rosy, hard cock jutted out from between his thighs. Dolf
sat crossed-legged, his shaft standing up too. His black hair was messy,
flopping over his forehead and into those bright blue eyes. Both of them were
long and lean with swimmers’ builds… and so sexy they made my mouth water.
Merry Christmas to me.
After walking over to
the fireplace, I knelt on the fur rug. Dolf and Tal rose gracefully to their
feet and came to stand in front of me. Both their cocks were nice and long, but
Dolf had about a half-inch on Tal. But then, Tal was a bit thicker. My cock
bobbed eagerly as I grabbed Dolf by the hips and pulled him closer. I couldn’t
wait to get my mouth on that hard dick, so teasingly close.
I nibbled around the
crown. Precome glistened at the tip, the salty taste exploding on my tongue. I
licked my lips. Dolf’s taste was a little more tart than Tal’s, just as the man
was. Lifting his shaft, I tongued the thick vein that ran the length. Dolf
grabbed my hair and tugged me closer, forcing me to wince.
The slight spark of
pain raced down my body and ended at my shaft. He knew I liked a little pain,
and he liked giving it to me. Clutching his hips, I dropped my mouth over his
dick. Silken steel and heat. He was so hard against my tongue.
“Mmm, so good, sexy,”
Dolf mumbled.
I glanced up at him.
Steel and heat described the man too.
“Yeah, just like that,”
Dolf muttered. “Let me see those eyes while I fuck that mouth.”
He tangled his fingers
in my hair, urging me to take more, to go faster. Dolf threw his head back, the
cords in his throat standing out. Grabbing both his ass cheeks, I pulled him
closer. Dolf hissed, and I caught the flash of a fang as pleasure drove him.
“I want in here,
please, Kirk. Gods.” Tal caressed my ass, his fingers cool and slick. Wonder
when he got lube? Closing my eyes, I moaned around Dolf’s shaft and the
vibrations caused Dolf to moan too.
Dolf tapped my cheek,
and I pulled off his cock, albeit very slowly. “What?” I whined, his shaft
still bobbing right in front of my face. “I was busy, you know.”
Dolf tapped his cock
against my lips, smearing precome. “Be good and I’ll let you get back to what
you were doing. But first, hands and knees.”
I couldn’t get there
fast enough, even knowing the angle wasn’t going to be comfortable. But before
I could say anything, Dolf sat on the furry rug and lay back. Oh yeah, now that
I could work with. Dolf grasped his cock and spread his legs. I fully intended
to get back to that, but first… I grasped Dolf’s ankle and lifted it.
“Fuck, yeah.” Dolf
watched me.
Dolf sighed softly as I
rubbed the arch of his foot against my cheek, then nipped one of his toes. His
cock jerked on his belly. My foot fetish made this male, who didn’t care to
take a passive role, absolutely crazy, even if he wasn’t in the mood to bottom.
I was relieved since so many of the other guys I’d hooked up with laughed at me
for it.
It didn’t do much for
Tal except make him giggle. I licked and nibbled on Dolf’s long toes, enjoying
his grunts of pleasure. His slim ankles called to me, and I placed kisses there
too. God, I loved this male.
“Keep that up and I’m
going to come, sexy,” Dolf warned.
I kissed his instep.
“Well, can’t have that.”
Tal patted my ass.
“Bend over please, Kirk. I need to open you up.”
I kissed my way back up
Dolf’s hairy leg until I found my other source of pleasure. Tal worked one
slick finger in me, then another as I nuzzled Dolf’s shaft. A brief flash of
pain was a small price to pay, and I liked it. Tal hit my hot spot and pleasure
stabbed me.
I thrust back, wanting
more, at the same time sucking Dolf’s cock down while Tal slicked me up. Thank
goodness we’d taken to keeping lube all over the house. I sucked Dolf’s cock
down while Tal slicked me up. My sweet Tal eased his way inside, stroking his
hands over my lower back. Tal thrust slowly, then moved faster as I moved with
him. God, I loved this man too. He was always so caring when he took me.
I glanced up at Dolf,
watching the pleasure I brought him flash over his face. The three of us moved
together, each giving and taking. The lights flashed from our Christmas tree,
and the fire cast a warm glow over the den.
Our love blanketed us
as skin slapped on skin. Tal’s shaft tapped my hot spot repeatedly, pushing me
ever closer to orgasm. My dick bounced, and I knew I was close to coming, even
without any friction on my poor, needy dick. I deep-throated Dolf as Tal
slammed inside… then my toes curled, and I came.
Yup, angels sang, and I
even heard two strangled yowls as my mates came.
For a few moments, we
lay there holding each other while the fire crackled. I never thought I would
find a love like this. I certainly never dreamed that the two people who would
mean so much to me wouldn’t be human.
There was no denying
the past year hadn’t been easy. Small-minded attitudes of certain clowder
members warned that things wouldn’t miraculously get better either. There were
changes coming; I could feel it in the air. I couldn’t shake the feeling that
some of those changes would be painful too.
Tomorrow was Christmas
Day, but we didn’t have plans outside of just lazing around and opening our
remaining gifts. I’d bought Tal a crazy-ass expensive tool he’d been wanting
and a brand-new tool belt that I’d had handmade for him. I fully intended to
have him model it… with nothing else on.
For Dolf I got an alabaster
cosmetic jar, topped with a lioness, representing Bast. It was a reproduction
of the original eighteenth dynasty burial artifact from the tomb of
Tutankhamun. I didn’t know how accurate it was, but I figured Dolf would get a
kick out of it.
Tal yawned and cuddled
closer. I wrapped my arm around him and rested my head on Dolf’s shoulder.
Between the heat they put off and the warmth from the fire, I was toasty warm.
Content.
There would be time
enough later to deal with clowder issues and the day-to-day life of living in a
triad. For now I had my two mates close to me, warm and happy. What more could
a guy ask for?
