Wednesday Briefs - Trouble Comes in Threes - Chapter Six

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Welcome to the Wednesday Briefs flash group (click to go to the site). The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. If interested in joining us, drop me a line and I'll tell you how. :)
Prompts this week are:
“Come on, look at me." “What about the…?”“Do you know what you’re doing?”“Just call me your wing man.”“Oh, this should be good.”“Be good or be good at it.”“Please tell me you didn’t spend much on that thing.”“We have to make up time somehow.”or use a swimming pool in some wayor use: hammer, grass, tileor plant flowers in a flower bedor use have a character paint a roomor use: books, water hose, coalor use: shoes, cereal, wineor: resurrectionor have a gay Easter celebrationor "He died for our sins, you know. Doesn't mean you gotta keep sinning."or "Moses parted the Red Sea a lot better than you part your hair, dude..."or "Keep that up and all you'll have in your basket will be a rabbit turd!"or: "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small..."





Trouble Comes in Threes - Chapter Six

“What the fuck are you?”"Tal, would you go in the other room and change back, please?” Dolf glanced at Kirk. “Kirk, please stay calm. Tal and I can shift into what humans call domesticated cats whenever we want. Feline shifters can be domestic cats, tigers, lions, leopards, lynxes… any type of feline that exist.” “So you’re not aliens from outer space?”Dolf touched Kirk’s arm. “Not any more than you. We’re… more than you, yes, but we’re still human. We think, feel, love, hate, cry, and laugh just like you. Actually, we were both born not thirty minutes from your house. Our clowder is here.” “Wait, wait. A… what?”“A clowder,” Tal said as he reentered the room.“Right. A clowder. What the hell is a clowder?”“It’s a group of cats that live together. We have an alpha. An alpha is the most dominant, powerful, and assertive man in a particular group—the leader.”Kirk picked at the sheet. “So when you shift, you’re still sentient? You know who you are? Who I am? You’re not… dangerous?”Tal glanced at Dolf. “We are rational. We’re not slavering beasts”—Tal sniffed—“even if some of us act like it when we shift. I know who he is, who my alpha is, and I know who you are. I know right from wrong.”“Okay, okay. You’re shifters. Got it. Now the million dollar question: What the hell do you want with me?”Dolf moved closer to Kirk, his hand resting on Kirk’s shoulder. “You are my mate.”Silence.Nothing. Time might have even stopped as the three men stared at each other. Kirk cleared his throat. Smooth the sheet over his lap. Narrowed his eyes. “Say what?”“You’re my mate.”“Let me repeat: Say what?”Dolf sat down on the bed next to Kirk. “Here’s the fast explanation. Come on, look at me. Our goddess gives cat shifters a mate. We know who that mate is by scent. Remember back at the end of November you made a trip to the next town over to Lowe’s?”“Yeah, we don’t have one here, and I had to drive to the next town over. I needed some stuff for one of the toilets.”“Right. Tal and I were there. Right in the same aisle as you. You were mumbling over what you needed to stop your toilet from running.”“I remember that. I had to replace the guts of the thing, it was so old. I-I don’t remember seeing either of you.”“I smelled you, and I knew, so we kept out of sight. That scent was the best thing I’d ever smelled… outside of one other. We stopped what we were doing and followed you home. We had to obtain permission to claim you, which we got, then came here. I decided to approach you in our shifted form.”“Wait, what? You… You’re saying you stalked me? Um, does that not strike you guys as a little… oh, I don’t know… maybe stalkerish?”
Tal cocked his head sideways. “How else were we going to find out you who you were?”

TBCJon KeysNephylimChris T. KatJC WallaceGrace Duncan  Lily Sawyer Cia NordwellShelly SchulzSarah HayesElyzabeth VaLey Andrew Q. GordonTali SpencerJulie Lynn Hayes