Stranger

At least she wasn't homeless yet. Something sharp burst in her chest. Her world was just crashing around her and every time she found a toe hold it was snatched from her. She couldn't bring herself to look at Keith. She still felt a connection from him and she couldn't bare to think about leaving him for strangers.

Staring at nothing Lilli nervously turned the apple in her hand; she could feel stress rolling off the two men. What could be worse than what they'd already told her? Her heart stuttered and she felt weak as her thinness and ravenous hunger hit her. "How long was I... out?'

The men tossed back and forth heavy looks, avoiding the girl in front of them.

"How long?" She whispered.

She saw Keith's hand flutter against the counter before it moved it from sight. "A bit over a month. "

A month? A month?!? How was that possible? She tried to repeat those words but no sound came out.

"Breathe kitten. Breathe."

For a moment her eyes touched Keith's then the world spun.

Mathus was lucky enough to see Lilli's fingers relax just in time to see her start to collapse, the apple slipping from those fingers. He caught her on her way down and carried her over to the couch. "It's ok young one, it's ok." He laid her out and covered her with the slightly tattered afghan that he kept folded on one side of the couch. He left Keith at her side and went to get a cool damp cloth for her forehead.

"Just breathe," Keith whispered to her, wondering why this one cat had to suffer so much. Gently he caressed her head then laid the cool cloth on her forehead when Mathus handed it over.

They stayed that way for a few moments before Mathus laid a heavy hand on Keith's shoulder. "I know the timing isn't great but we have to leave".

Keith turned angry eyes to his alpha, "No way!" he had no intention of leaving Lilli at a time like this. Mathus didn't back down.

"I don't like it any more than you do, Keith, but you know what it took to get all these cats in one place."

Fucking hell. Keith knew his Alpha was right. He could send Mathus off on his own, but He'd done the research and had followed her, so he knew the most about her.

"Go." Lilli's voice was faint, but firm.

"Lilli.."

"Keith. My life is on hold until we know what I am."

Keith fought the need to hiss. A gentle hand touched his arm.

"Go. Please find out what I am". Her eyes were steady.

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine." She found she couldn't tell him she was sure, because the last thing she wanted was to be left, but her life was frozen in time until they found out what she was.

Very gently Keith pressed his lips to her forehead over the cloth, wishing everything would be different.

Mathus turned on the TV and passed the girl his remote. He penned her with his eyes "Don't over do it, just rest." Then they were out the door, leaving her behind.

Alone, Lilli sat forward and started to cry, feeling her tattered life crumbling around her.

"Aw sister cat," a warm, unknown voice spoke near her. "Don't cry."

Lilli sat up to see a unknown man a few feet from her. Even though she hadn't known she wasn't alone, and didn't know this guy from Adam, she found she wasn't in the least concerned. For some reason it didn't bother her to be alone in a strange house with this unknown man. Curious she studied him, tears still on her cheeks. He likely only stood about 5 feet, and slender, but now that she knew this world held people who could turn into animals, she realized size didn't mean safety. He was well kept; dark hair and beard were carefully groomed, eyes a deep golden brown.

He smiled at her softly, his eyes filling with warmth. "I'm Andre."

Comprehension dawned.

"You're the dark leopard!" She felt her cheeks warm as her mind went back to their last encounter.

Andre laughed, retrieved the forgotten damp cloth and sat down on the coffee table to brush the tears from her cheeks. "Yeah, that was me." He tucked the cloth into her hand. "Don't be embarrassed, it's not like you were in your normal mind this last month."

Lilli's face fell. A month, she lost a month of her life, and likely her job and apartment. The tears welled again.

"Oh honey." Andre sat next to her on the couch and pulled her into his arms. He might be a stranger, but he felt familiar right then, and she needed the comfort. All he did was hold her, no words, because what could he say? Nothing would change the reality of her life right now. The tears died off and Andre just held her, held her and hummed until she started to pull away.

"Now see, that's not fair." He brushed the tears off her cheeks with her thumbs, and tucked a stray lock of cinnamon colored hair behind an ear. "All that crying and you're still beautiful".

That startled a laugh out of her and brought the light back to her twilight eyes.

Lilli found that she was really comfortable with Andre. He was friendly, funny and had a talent for keeping her mind off the obvious. She was enjoying just talking to him but found herself dropping, half ready to drift off.

Andre laughed softly. "I think it might be time for you to go lay down."

Lilli shook her head. "No, I wanted to wait for Keith to get home."

"Honey, I'm sure he'll wake you if he has anything to tell."

After a bit of coxing he got her into the spare room, which turned out to be the room where Keith had pulled her other form out.

Thirty minutes later she came back out, looking sleepy and tussled.

"Can't fall asleep, can you?"

Andre suspected he knew why. She'd just spend the last month sleeping in a little pile with other kitties; a common way for kitties and other changers to sleep. It was warm, comfortable, safe, and bonded you with the others. She had no way of knowing that was what she was missing, and right now probably wasn't the time to tell her.

After she nodded, he lifted his arm and let her snuggle into his side under Mathus' ragged afghan, and in moments she was asleep. Andre really hoped that where ever she landed was with a friendly pack.

Keith came home alone, Mathus having left the meeting to go directly to work. The site of Lilli cuddling fast asleep with Andre caused an irrational anger and jealousy to build in him. Seeing red, he grabbed up the girl, muttering something angry about not having left her there for him to hit on, and hurried her off to the room that, ironically was effectively Andre's for now.

She looked so peaceful, covered by the blanket that Keith knew Andre had brought, that all his anger washed away. He wasn't angry at Andre, he knew it was left over from the meeting. With a soft sigh of regret, Keith left the girl to apologize.

Andre was gathering up some things off the kitchen counter, carefully not looking at Keith.

"Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be off, I'll get the rest of my stuff later." As Andre turned to head for the door, Keith grabbed his arm and pulled him into a slightly awkward man hug.

"I'm sorry Andre, you didn't deserve that. Please stay"

After a moment of awkward stiffness Andre hugged back. "I'm guessing the meeting didn't go well".

With another sigh Keith pulled away to grab them both a beer from the fridge. "No, it didn't." They settled on the couch together. "Not only did no one have any idea what she was... "

"... but" It was very clear to Andre that something was seriously bugging Keith. Something unexpected had happened at that meeting.

"There were Jaguars there."

"Jaguars?! I don't think I've ever even known anyone who's met any. They pretty much never leave their home land."

" I know, I honestly couldn't even tell you how they knew about the meeting. Mathus said he personally reached out only to the Alpha's he knew, but it was an open meeting, so the all the Alpha's were free to invite any they knew."

For a moment no one said anything. Keith was clearly shaken and seemed to need to gather himself. He took a long drink of the beer in his hand.

"I honestly can't even tell you what it was that bothered me about them. They didn't really do anything wrong."

"So they just looked at the pictures and said they didn't know what she was?"

The look in Keith's eyes said there was more, but he clearly needed to be prompted to figure out what bothered him so much. Andre saw something flash through the other man's eyes.

"No! They asked questions." Keith shook his head. "Everyone asked questions, but they asked more. They wanted to know everything about her. Where I found her, how long I followed her, if she knew anything about where she came from. They even seemed to have some idea about her heat. They said nothing specific, gave no real details, but asked questions about it, which no one else did." He put his empty on the coffee table. "Something is wrong here. They know somehow. They claimed to have no idea what she was, but I just don't believe them, they wanted to know way to much".

"Should we run?" It seemed a crazy thing to do, but Andre saw the alarm in Keith. The thought that there didn't need to be a "we" didn't occur to him. Keith and Lilli had become his personal pack over the last month and the idea of leaving them to run without him didn't even cross his mind.

"Honestly I don't know. I think it's unlikely that they'd come after us right away, but I think tomorrow we should leave Mathus' house. I don't want to bring anything down on him."

They fell silent again, both thinking unhappy thoughts.

"Well, if we aren't going to leave tonight we should take the time to cuddle with our girl". Keith noticed the "our" but didn't argue it. The truth was she had become "their" girl, and right now he just wanted the comfort of other people's skin against his own.

Keith woke feeling a fuzzy contentment. He'd fallen asleep holding Lilli while she spooned Andre. In their sleep they'd all squiggled around so that he and Lilli lay facing one another, legs tangled together, and Keith was spooning her, arm flung over her side. He certainly had never expected to become a small unit that included another man, but it felt right and at the moment, he needed some comfort. He ran his fingers lightly down the side of Lilli's face and saw her smile. Apparently she wasn't entirely asleep either.

Those fingers trailed down to oh so carefully trace around the swell of her exposed breasts and she gave an encouraging wiggle. A plan evolved when Keith caught a slight smile from what he could see of Andre's face.

Keith reached over and caught up Andre's hand where it lay against her stomach and carried it up to her breast. The half hidden smile on Andre's face turned into a very masculine grin. Yeah, this would be a lot of fun.

While Andre began to tug at the nipple he found in his hand Keith gently kissed her and started to trail his hand down her stomach. Lilli kissed him back eagerly and shivered on the bed caught between the two. He realized that this was the first time they'd kissed and then let the thought go, now wasn't the time to be thinking about how weirdly their relationship had developed.

Keith's mouth left hers to capture the nipple that Andre had been playing with, when Andre found himself with a free hand he trailed it down Lilli's side so he could slide it between her legs from behind to play with the wetness he found there. She made a soft sound of encouragement and opened her legs slightly. Keith's fingers slid in to stroke the nub of her clit while Andre thrust fingers into her warmth. Teeth pulled on a nipple and Lilli cried out, writhing between them. For just a quick moment Andre moved from behind her, but he returned quickly enough that she didn't have a chance to miss so much as his warmth.

As her body moved between them Andre moved his hand to slide it up between her rear cheeks. Lilli gasped and would have pulled away but she was trapped between their hard bodies. Just the feel of them trapping her between them caused her to shutter, but also caused her to struggle.

"Easy sister cat, just relax, trust us." Andre whispered to her. Struggling was normally lots of fun, but in this one case her relaxed would make things much easier.

Slowly she stopped struggling as Andre continued to whisper encouragingly, sliding his hand between her cheeks but not doing anything more unexpected with it. As she relaxed Keith started pulling on her nipple again, which set her back to moving, then Andre bit her shoulder and it bowed her back. Both men gave out very manly laughs that skittered along her skin, pulling a harsh gasp from her.

As if they timed it both sets of teeth bit in harder and Andre hand stopped moving, his finger pressing in where nothing had pressed in before. Lilli writhed, but froze up around his finger. The men continued to work on her, kissing, biting and caressing until she relaxed enough for Andre to press in farther. Eventually Keith's fingers on her clit distracted her to the point that she stopped tensing every time Andre moved his finger. When she was no longer able to stop moving, Andre pressed in another.

Lilli's head fell back and a deep moan escaped her.

Quicker the men worked on her, their mouths, teeth and hands moving faster, driving her higher and higher; her body dancing, one moan following another. She didn't notice as Andre stretched the rear of her.

Finally her body could take no more and she screamed out her release to the room. While she was limp and really only semi aware the men pressed in closer, moving her and adjusting their positions. Lilli lay relaxed in their arms, comfortable and happy, unaware of what they had planned.

While Lilli was still relaxed Andre set his teeth in her shoulder causing a soft purring to raise from her and her eyes to flutter. While she was still boneless he started to press into the space he'd just pulled his fingers from.

This time it was Keith who started to coax her into relaxing as he moved closer to her, lifting her leg so he could start to press into the front of her. With neither man fully seated yet she made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a moan, a shudder running through her.

The men pressed and worked into the tight spaces until they were fully seated in her. "Oh my god!" She cried out, causing the men to laugh again.

Finally the men started to move in her, finding their joint rhythm, working with her body. Even though they were still moving slowly, Lilli could feel arousal building up in her again. Each motion they made sang through her every nerve as if they were doing more than just fucking her.

Faster the men worked in her, and just as quickly she climbed toward exploding again. Before now she'd not been multi orgasmic, but the men where changing everything. She started to cry out a steady stream of "Oh my god!" as if she wasn't able to stop. A huge storm of pleasure was building in her and as if the men could sense that they began to really thrust in earnest, pounding in her, seeming to crush her for a quick moment each time they were both fully seated in her.

Quite suddenly the storm broke and her body bowed back as much as possible, her voice breaking from the force of her scream. That bowing and tightening of her body set the men over the edge and they both cried out their pleasure.

The three of them lay in a sweaty pile for a good long time, reveling in the warm, loose-limbed afterglow.

Eventually Andre let our a soft manly chuckle. "Well, I think I could lay here forever, but I truly need a shower."

The other two laughed.

"You two hop into the shower real quick and I'll go apologize to Mathus," Keith said. They all laughed and untangled themselves.

While Andre and Lilli showered, Andre caught her up a bit, and Keith went out to look for Mathus. To himself Keith acknowledged he was avoiding Lilli, that part of him just didn't want to tell her how he'd failed, how he hadn't found her a home.

It didn't take long for Keith to become alarmed. Mathus was nowhere in the house, and it was long after he normally got home.

Quickly they gathered up most of their stuff and left the house. The plan was for Andre and Lilli to head to Keith's home and for Keith to check in at Mathus' work. Once Keith got home they'd all decide what to do.

Lilli and Andre ended up huddled on Keith's rather bland couch just waiting, not knowing when Keith would return or what would happen. They sat holding hands, both just staring at the large flat screen, not hearing a word of what was playing. Something in Keith's demeanor had scared them, although he hadn't said anything terribly frightening.

Fifteen minutes, thirty minute, an hour, two hours passed and the two of them continued to hold hands and stare at nothing. Suddenly the door burst open and Keith came running into the room to grab them up. "We have to go, NOW!"

Half way across the room the partially closed door was kicked open and four very large men crammed themselves into the room. Lilli let out a very girly scream and baked up against a wall while the boys ran forward to confront the intruders. The large men had knocked both Keith and Andre out in no time. Even though they gave a good fight, they were just no competition.

Lilli started to run for a window on the other side of the room. The hell if she was going to stand and wait for them to come for her! She'd barely gone three feet before someone snatched her up with a deep laugh.

"Where do you think you are going, little Wildcat?" Lilli fought, screamed and bit until the man who'd caught her crushed her in his arms and covered nearly her entire face with one beefy hand.

As she continued to struggle Lilli saw one of the men lift a very limp Andre over a shoulder. "Do you think this one is an African Wildcat too?"

Another man shrugged his shoulders "Who cares, bring him anyway. If he's not we'll find some other use for him."

The huge lump manhandling her pressed something over her nose and mouth and as her vision started to grey out she saw Keith jump up and leap for her. Just as quickly a shot rang out and Keith collapsed, red spreading over the chest of his shirt.

In horror Lilli tried to scream behind the muffling hand, hot pain knifing through her soul. She fought to break away and go toward him until darkness crashed over her head.

*****

As you can probably guess by now this isn't the end of the story, so bear with me as I wait for the story to tell me everything that goes from here. Thank you so much for all your patience up to now.