The Lion’s Cross Species Baby

“Why is the food in a locked box? Animals won’t steal food they can’t smell.”

“Ah, but you’re making the assumption that we only have animals to worry about.” Cooper sat down next to her at the picnic table. The other men had taken their food over to the fire pit, where one was kindling a fire for the evening. He followed her eyes. “The fire is actually for the animals. Most of them won’t come near the flames.”

“But what did you mean about we don’t only have to worry about animals?” Annie’s voice trembled a little in fear.

“There are a few tribes in the area. So far we’ve only seen them from a distance, and we’ve been here for two years. I really don’t feel like they’ll bother us, but I also don’t want to go without breakfast because they decided to steal our food.”

“Are they dangerous?” Annie asked, concern in her voice. Images of small men in loin cloths carrying spears with painted faces flashed across her mind. She felt a little guilty for the stereotype she’d learned from movies, but that’s all she had to go with.

“I don’t think so, as long as we don’t threaten them. The men who work for us,” Cooper indicated the men eating by the fire, “Are from one of the tribes close by. They help us if we encounter any natives; they speak all the dialects in this area.”

“You don’t speak the language?”

“I speak Spanish and Portuguese, but I don’t know the native languages,” Cooper told her. “They’ve tried to teach me some of it, so I have a few words, but not nearly enough to keep us out of trouble.” He took a bite of the cubed ham and asked around a full mouth, “Do you speak Spanish or Portuguese?”

“I speak a spattering of Spanish and absolutely no Portuguese,” she admitted, thoughtful. “I guess if I plan to spend time on digs like this I’ll need to learn sooner rather than later.”
“You really should. It will help you tremendously when it comes to dealing with workers, especially deep in the jungle like we are.”

“None of them speak English,” Annie asked, gesturing again at the men.

“One of them speaks a little, but not enough to communicate. They all speak a dialect of Portuguese, so that’s how I communicate with them. They have to talk slowly sometimes, and I’m pretty sure they make fun of me,” Cooper added, laughing around his peas.

Annie smiled and lifted a spoonful of cubed ham to her mouth. The amount of salt could fill the ocean, but overall, it didn’t taste bad. She’d seen cases and cases of bottled water, so that question had been answered. She walked over to the pile, grabbed one for herself, and brought one back for Cooper as well. The bottle was half empty before she finished her gulping.

“I think I’ve sweated every ounce of water out of my body since I’ve been here,” Annie mumbled almost to herself.

“The humidity here is ridiculous,” Cooper agreed. “So now that we’ve eaten, I’d love to see you in your owl form.”

“I bet you would,” Annie giggled. Shifting was much easier without clothes. She had taught herself to shift slowly so that her clothes wouldn’t rip, but it was a hassle and a little uncomfortable. “Do they know you’re a shifter?”

“Yes. I told them the first day. Saves trouble if I have to shift suddenly,” Cooper explained.

“So there’s no weird prejudice or random voodoo religion thing?”
“Where do you think you are, Jamaica?” They laughed together. Jamaicans were known for their absolute hatred of shifters. Shifters weren’t safe there; many news stories had popped up about shifter sacrifices and such.

“That’s a pretty awful joke,” Annie said.

“But truth,” Cooper replied.

“Ugly truth.”

“Truth usually is.”

Annie eyed him, her smile sliding off her face as lust slammed into her with full force. She closed her eyes a moment and turned her face away; she knew her lust must be clear in her face and eyes. When she looked at Cooper again, he was smiling.

“I’ll shift first, but only if you swear you’ll shift,” Cooper said.

Annie looked at the fire. Two of the men had disappeared into their tent, one was snoozing on the ground next to the fire, and the last had his back to her. He wouldn’t see her if she stripped.

“They don’t pay attention to the gringos, as they call us,” Cooper said, indicating the men with a nod of his head. He began shedding his clothing.

Annie’s eyes widened. Before her was the sculpted David in the flesh. Every muscle was defined, his skin was flawless, but when he pulled his pants off, along with his underwear, the similarity to the famous statue ended. This man was more than well-endowed; he was almost a record breaker.

Cooper waited for her eyes to come back to his, a smirk on his heavenly face. “Like what you see?”

“More than I’ll ever admit,” she told him breathlessly. “Now shift.”

He winked at her and shifted so quickly she was still looking where his human head had been. His mane, a dark brown, was wild and flowed over his beautiful head and down his neck and back. His coat, the tannish yellow of barley, was as flawless as his skin, leading her to believe the man had lived a charmed life. He sauntered over to her and rubbed against her, nearly knocking her off the bench she was sitting on. She laughed and ran her hands through his mane, catching her fingers in the tangles.

“If you’d like, I’ll brush through your mane to get rid of these tangles,” she offered. He looked at her, his human eyes in the lion’s face, and nodded the huge head. When she began to comb her fingers gently through it, though, he backed away and stared at her. She grinned and tilted her head. “Ah. Not right now, orders the king of the jungle. My turn.”
He nodded the great head and sat down on his haunches to watch her. Annie felt a little self-conscious as she removed her clothing. Briefly she contemplated shifting while dressed, but he hadn’t. She had nothing to be ashamed of; she worked hard for the muscular body she possessed. Her skin wasn’t as flawless as his because she’d been in a skirmish or two as an owl, and her childhood had been filled with mishaps that led to scars. But her bre*sts were firm and perky, her waistline small, her stomach flat, and her legs and ass were all muscle.