AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He cried again. Jamie knew that he was too emotional sometimes. It was all he could do not to hug the big man. But he stayed where he was, thankful that someone wasn’t going to hurt him or Rogen. At least that was what he was saying now.
“I have to help your sister’s wounds. And to do that, I need to change into my tiger. My mouth has healing powers in it that will keep her from getting an infection, and the sores will go away much faster. You can stay if you’d like, or you can wait in the hall. But I have to do this daily in order for her to get better.” He asked if he’d bite him. “No. Not unless you want me to. Do you?”
“No thank you.” Thatcher laughed and stood up. “I think I’d like to stay. If you really don’t mind.”
“No. You should get used to the tigers anyway. But don’t allow anyone to come in with us, all right? I have to take some of the bandages off her skin so that I can get to it as a tiger.” He looked at Rogen as he continued telling him what he was going to do. “I’m going to lick the worst of them, then I’m going to nip at her skin again, just to give her a part of myself she needs.”
“Rogen told me a long time ago that you could be able to talk to me if you took my blood. Can that help too?” Thatcher said that he’d have to bite him gently as a tiger. “If it helps my sister, then I’ll do it. But not too hard. Okay? I’m a big baby.”
“No, you’re a good man who loves his sister. And I thank you for that.” Touched, Jamie waited in the seat while Thatcher went into the bathroom. “I won’t be long now.”
Jamie was careful when the big tiger came out of the bathroom. He was huge, his head about to Jamie’s when he was seated. And when he laid his head on his lap, Jamie reached out his hand slowly, just to touch the pretty fur.
“You’re very soft, aren’t you? Like a stuffed animal.” He petted him more and smiled at him. “I know you have big teeth, but when you bite me, please only use the little ones.”
Jamie put out his hand, but it was shaking a lot, so he was embarrassed. The huge tongue that licked his hand was rough, like sandpaper that he used when he had projects to do. Thatcher bit him and it wasn’t so bad, and then he licked away the blood. The wound was gone except for a little scar on his hand.
Hello. Jamie laughed out loud, something he rarely did. I forgot to lock the door. Can you do that for me? Then I’ll get started.
When he turned back after locking the door, the big tiger was up on the bed and licking at the wounds on Rogen’s back. There were a lot of them. And big blisters too. Jamie’s heart hurt for her, and he walked closer to the bed to touch the big tiger.
“When I was ten, my mom wanted to send me away. She kept telling me I was worthless every time I saw her.” The purring of the big animal calmed him in ways that he’d never had before. “She killed cats all over town, telling people that I’d done it. Then dogs when that didn’t work. Rogen caught her doing it by recording it on her cell phone. Then everybody didn’t like Mom anymore. She had to pay money to everyone that she’d hurt that way. Then when Rogen was going to college, my dad tied me the tree out back all day while she was gone.”
I’m sorry about that, Jamie. No one should treat their child that way. He nodded and moved back when Thatcher moved off the bed to stand near Rogen’s legs. Can you pull the sheet away for me? I can do her legs this way too.
“Rogen came home early because her class was canceled because of the snow. And when she found me there, she was very angry. And it scared me what she might do.” Thatcher moved away from the bed a little and bit down on Rogen’s leg. “She’ll be better soon, won’t she?”
Yes. What did your sister do to your parents? And how old were you? He told him how old he was. Your sister was in college at twelve? That’s impressive. She must really be smart.
“She is. When she figured out that they’d been doing that to me all along—I wasn’t allowed to tell her—she had a hissy fit.” He so loved that word, hissy. “She didn’t do anything to them then. She said that one more day and she’d have them. I didn’t know what she meant, but the very next day, she went to college and told me that I’d be safe after that. I was really sad for her. It looked like she hurt all the way to her toes.”
Thatcher asked if he could change before he told him the rest. Nodding, he sat back down on the chair, thinking that he’d never felt this safe with anyone but Rogen. And when Thatcher came out of the bathroom, dressed like he was before, Jamie couldn’t help himself. He hugged the big man and cried again when he hugged him back.
“She made it so everyone could see it. I don’t know what it was, but people would come by and throw things at the house. The police came and came, and then took me away. Rogen had to visit me in a place that I hated. It was forever before she came to get me, but I was free at last. Then we came here. She said that we’d be safe.” Jamie looked at Thatcher and could see his pretty cat in his eyes. “You won’t let them hurt her again, will you? She doesn’t like people anymore, and we came here to start over. Help her start over, will you, Thatcher? Please. I don’t want her hurt again.”
“She won’t be. I promise you. And if they come here, they’ll be sorry as hell that they fucked around with the wrong family.”
Jamie was twenty-seven years old and he had his first friend, he was sure of it. And he believed that if anyone could keep her from being hurt again, it would be this giant, gentle man.
After hugging him, Thatcher invited him to lunch with him. “I’m off duty until tomorrow, and I thought it would be nice if you got to know my family. And I’d like it if you come and stay at my house. You’ll be safer there.” He told him that he had to watch over Rogen’s plants and computers. “We can bring it all to my house too, if that will be all right with you. I’m worried now, you see. The newspaper has put out an article about how Rogen saved all those people. It might just bring your parents here.”
“No.” Jamie felt his body tense up, his heart pounding in his chest. “They’ll hurt us. They’ll come for me and hurt us.”
“They won’t. Not if you allow me to keep you safe.” He wanted to be safe. Jamie wanted his sister to be safe. Nodding, he thought it was a good idea if her things were safe too. Rogen loved her plants, and the computer, he’d been told, was special. “All right, I’ll have it moved over today. And her plants. All right?”
“Yes, all right. But no matter what, you have to keep Rogen safe from them. They don’t like her. and they will hurt her bad.” He promised that he would. “Okay. You can move us. I have stuff too
, but I can leave it there. It’s my projects.”
“I can get you completely moved to my home, Jamie. Including your projects. You come with me to my parents’ house, and then we’ll work on getting it all moved from there.”
Jamie wasn’t sure that Rogen was going to like anyone messing with her computer, but they’d be safe, and she told him all the time that he was able to make big decisions on his own. And he did this time. He only hoped he wasn’t too trusting, like Rogen said he could be.
~*~
“Thatcher, you might want to have Jonas come and take this stuff to your home.” He asked him why he couldn’t do it. “Because I have a feeling that if I unhook any one of the things she has hooked up in there, I’m going to go before a firing squad. And that’s before your new mate touches me. Come look.”
“Holy shit.” There were eight large monitors mounted on the walls, each one of them with a different scene going on somewhere. It wasn’t all the United States, he could tell that, but from all around the world. There were different computers too, each with their own monitor, mouse, and keyboard. “I wonder what she does, and if she’s on our side.”
