"Alright, so I just need to watch over him and be sure that he doesn't leave with his fake parents?"

Tarren sighed as Tiegen glared from behind him, but neither bothered Erin, and they knew it. They couldn't do a thing to him if he shifted so they were just going to have to tolerate his dry humor at being assigned as kitty-sitter.

"Fine, but he better behave."

Tiegen growled but Erin just raised a brow and turned his back on them to head inside since the warning bell was ringing for first period. He heard them mumbling something behind him, but soon Tarren's new pet cat was hot on his heels. They had the same classes, so at least Erin didn't need to go out of his way to follow the kid. Their first few weren't too bad, but when lunch time came around Wolf and Grayson didn't look too happy to see his new feline friend. Erin felt the need to hack up a hairball just at the mention of having Tiegen as any kind of friend, fake or not, but Tarren was a friend and the whole situation was screwed up like nobodies' business.

"Hey Guys, we have a guest for today."

Wolf eyed Tiegan with contempt, his mouth pausing mid-chew as he glanced at Erin.

"What the hell, Erin?"

"Long story, just deal with it for today, please?" Erin replied.

After a long moment of silence Wolf shrugged and returned to inhaling his stale pepperoni pizza. Alright, one down, one to go. He had a feeling that Grayson was going to be much harder to convince to stay, though.

"Gray?" Erin asked.

The kid was shaking and a few whiskers were already visible poking out from his nose. It was kind of cute, but it really wasn't the right time to lose control to his mouse. Erin chanced a glance over at Tiegan, then scowled.

Delicious looking mouse...

"Tiegen!"

His head snapped sideways with a grumble to look at the annoying elephant beside him. Seeing the angry look on the other kid's face just had Tiegen growling in response.

"Don't you growl at me. You're not eating my friend." Erin replied with a snort.

I wasn't going to eat him. Mice are gross. I just want a nibble...

Well, obviously mister trunk-up-his-arse didn't want him to bother his stupid little mouse, so Tiegen slowly sat down.

"Thank you. Here." Erin said as he offered him a bag of beef jerky from the cafeteria. Tiegen swiped it immediately, but he wasn't a huge fan of the stuff. His stomach was begging for something but was also upset, so he wasn't going to be eating a whole lot anyways. At least he had something to chew on for the time being.

A mental image of Tarren came up at the thought of the reason for his upset stomach, making his mind go all fuzzy and a deep purr to slip from his lips.

"Hey, Tiegen? We gotta get back to class." Erin said with a hint of curiosity to his words.

Tiegen's quickly snapped out of his daze, effectively dissipating the image distracting him.

"Right..."

Tiegen got himself up, noticing that it was just him and Erin left at the table. He had definitely spaced out for awhile. They both hopped up and half-ran towards their class as the warning bell rang. They were nearly there when Tiegen had to slam on the brakes.

Erin stopped at the door to their Advanced English class and turned, eyes wide with confusion until Tiegen started hiccuping.

"Oh shit."

Erin ran over and grabbed his arm, yanking him into the bathroom before shoving him over a toilet just in time for Tiegen to lose the few bites of jerky he had gnawed on during lunch. About midway through his legs buckled as his body shook, but Erin managed to grab him just in time to keep him from falling. Tiegen knew that he was just trying to help, and he really did appreciate it, but he couldn't help thinking that he didn't want him touching him at all. Hell, he didn't want anyone but Tarren touching him.

"Is it the cubs? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?" Erin asked nervously.

I don't want to go there... I just want that damned lion.

Tiegen's tiger took over in a blur, shredding the clothes he was borrowing from Tarren before it dashed out of the bathroom and straight down the hall. Several shocked students pinned themselves to the lockers in order to stay out of his way. His cat slammed into the entrance doors, pushing them open easily before darting down the stairs.

Tarren, I need help. I can't control him!

He was just about to try tracking him down when a familiar car pulled up and made his tiger snarl loudly.

"Tiege, it's us. Calm down."

His father took a step forward after getting out of the car, his hands up in a calming gesture, but it wasn't going to work this time. Tiegen let his tiger lunge, though not quite close enough to bite yet. He could see his mother slowly approaching from behind his father, holding the tranquilizer gun he knew all too well. It was for when they couldn't control his tiger, which was whenever he got frustrated from the mood swings being pregnant gave him. They always tranquilized him and locked him up until his tiger wore itself out. He honestly should have known not to come to school that day. It had been a stupid move and people could have easily gotten hurt.

Can Tarren even really help me when I get so bad so quickly?

The last time he'd had kittens it had taken about a month to calm down, so that would be one month of controlling his aggressive feline in a small apartment. Tiegen's stomach dropped at the thought of hurting Tarren. He'd tried to help him. Had gone out of his way even after he had punched him in the car and pissed him off on purpose at the vet. He didn't want to cause him anymore trouble.

When Tiegen refocused on his parents, he noticed the gun pointing right at him.

Maybe it's for the best that I just let them shoot me.

His tiger wasn't happy about it, though. It wanted to go find Tarren, but Tiegen wasn't so sure. He didn't want to accidentally hurt the guy.

Right as he was about to try and talk his tiger into giving in he noticed a well-dressed man with a partial mohawk saunter right up to his mother and grab the barrel of the dart gun, lifting it right as she pulled the trigger. The dart sailed right over Tiegen's left ear, plinking uselessly against the brick of the school building before dropping to the concrete steps.

"It's not nice to point guns at kids, ma'am." The man said with a raised eyebrow.

Tiegen's tiger's head tilted slightly as it watched the man yank the gun free of his mother's hands and toss it a good twenty feet behind him.

"Now then, my friend asked me if I would pick up his little tiger friend, and considering said tiger is likely the one you're about to shoot at, I suggest that you leave."

"Or what?" Tiegan's father grumbled as he turned on the young man.

His tiger was torn between helping the stranger or helping his parents. Right as he began stepping forward Tiegen noticed two other guys walking over, both with partial mohawks, just like the first man.

What the hell?

"Listen monkey butt, I don't have much patience these days and I have an important meeting I'm missing to do this favor, so I really suggest that you get your red, white, and blue backside out of here before I add another color you won't be so proud to show off to your disgusting mate."

Wow, talk about straight to the point, and is he laughing a little psychotically between his words? What the hell is this guy?

"Larro!"

The young man's head tilted up when he heard Erin's voice from where he now stood beside Tiegen.

"Ah, hey Erin. You want take your furry friend back to my SUV please? I have a feeling these monkeys are going to need some convincing." He began shirking off his jacket as his friends did the same with their T-shirts and jeans. "...which I'm totally fine with. Things have been stressful and I could use a good fight to relax."

Tiegen's father quickly tossed his own clothes off and shifted as the taller man and his two friends did. While his father was definitely a strong opponent in his animal form, a mandrill, the group of hyenas now standing in front of him clearly had the upper paw.

"Tiege!"

His mother's shout drew his attention.

"Help your father! Your appointment was rescheduled for tonight so we need to hurry."

My appointment.

His tiger growled at the thought.

My appointment to take my babies away. Mine and Tarren's babies.

A loud roar from his tiger told her just what he thought about that. He wasn't giving up his cubs for his selfish parents ever again. Ever since he'd first gone into heat, they had been breeding him and selling his babies. Now, when they finally didn't want to sell them, they wanted to abort them. Giving off a second louder roar, Tiegen leaped, landing easily right between the hyena's and mandrill. His mother tried to run, and he would have let her, but she was going to reload the tranquilizer gun. His tiger's instincts to protect its unborn cubs took over, blacking out all of his senses.

When he finally managed to pull himself back into focus his adoptive mother was dead at his feet and the strong taste of blood coated his tongue.

I...

The shriek of a mandrill made his tiger swing around. His father was coming at him, having easily jumped over the group of hyenas. Tiegen tried to reign his animal in so that it wouldn't force him to the back of its mind again, but the effort was fruitless as his vision, hearing, and everything else, went completely blank for a second time.

Pain was the first thing that returned to him, his other senses taking much longer this time. Tiegen began to figure out that he was now in his human form, lying on something hot and hard. Considering they had been fighting in the parking lot, he guessed that he was on the asphalt. With that thought out of the way, he focused on trying to get his eyes to open. His tiger had completely retreated, but he could feel it quietly pacing in the darkness of his mind, frustrated, upset, angry...

"Tiegen?"

His mind wavered as he heard his name, then everything went black.

"Dammit all, how many times to do I have to say this! I don't have the full damn story but those people he just killed had been abusing him for years!" Larro shouted angrily.

"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave. You are causing a commotion and we really need to get him into surgery."

Larro's eyes narrowed to slits as a sick laugh swam along with his next warning. "If you abort those cubs I will personally see to it that you can never have another yourself!"

The doctors eyes widened as he backed up several steps, stopping right next to his other colleagues that had previously tried to stand up to Larro.

"Sir, i-it isn't your decision! His p-parents...'" The doctor stuttered out nervously.

"His parents are fucking dead!"

"Larro!"

Hearing his name drew his attention to the side, eyes landing on Jordan, Erin, and Tarren.

"Calm down, we'll take care of this," Jordan said with a calm yet demanding voice. It made Larro immediately back down, sighing out his anger before sitting in one of the guest chairs in Tiegen's hospital room.

"I apologize for my friend's actions, but he is correct. The surgery order from his parents is now void due to their lives being lost." Jordan said.

The doctors slowly calmed down and seemed to finally be thinking through things. "I... think we can come to an understanding, but the note his parents left in case he showed up was that it was an emergency." The head doctor said.

"Well, it is not. He actually wishes to keep his unborn cubs, but that is a long story that is not needed at this time. Please tend to his injuries for now and we shall go talk in the other room when you are able?"

The doctors all looked around at each other, then back to Jordan before nodding.

"Very well Mr..."

"Leo."

They all blanched, then immediately got busy taking care of Tiegen's injuries.

Yeah, you better be scared. Idiots didn't know that they were annoying the head lion in this city.

Tarren spent most of his time in Tiegen's room, his ears tuned to the beat of his heart monitor, his eyes glued to his injured body. He had a few puncture wounds from his father's shift, and a good amount of scratches, but the doctor had assured him that the wounds would heal with fluids and sleep.

When most of the doctors headed home for the evening Tarren allowed himself to shift after removing his clothing. The second they had gotten there, having been called by Larro in the middle of the day, his lion had been pushing to get out and comfort its mate. Now that no one was going to be checking in for another hour or two, he let him finally come out. He immediately shimmied his large backside up onto the bed and laid down right against Tiegen's sleeping form. Tarren had to convince his lion not to begin licking the kid since he really needed to keep sleeping in order to heal. His lion eventually settled on just being as close as possible and purring quietly to break up the sound of the stressful heart monitor. He had wanted to tear Tiegen's adoptive parents apart himself, but it was good enough that they wouldn't be able to make him go through losing another cub ever again.

A gentle nudge against his mane slowly brought Tarren out of his doze. He had watched over Tiegen for most of the night before feeling his body finally succumb to sleep. After another nudge he had his eyes open and couldn't have been happier to see Tiegen's worried blue ones staring at him. He wanted to shift, but his cat wouldn't allow it as he nuzzled Tiegen's face gently, letting out a rumble of happiness in the process.

When his lion finally leaned back Tiegen wrapped his arms around its fluffy mane and buried his face in the thick fur. Tarren were a bit confused at first, but when quiet sniffles were heard his lion quickly retreated, letting him shift and get his mate into his arms. He hadn't planned on moving him, but Tiegen all-but climbed into his lap once he was human again.

"Hey, Tiegen."

He let out a distressed mew, making Tarren hug him a little tighter before leaning over to begin lapping at his soft hair. There was no need for words right then. They just understood each other. He knew that Tiegen was blaming himself for what he'd done to his parents, and Tarren knew that he would argue that it wasn't his fault till his dying breath. They had caused their own deaths by doing such terrible things to their sweet tiger.

It was about an hour later when they finally separated enough so that they could look into each others eyes again. Seeing all of the pain in his made Tarren want to keep him in his arms forever.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

Tiegen looked down, blinking several times before pursing his lips and looking back up. "I-I killed..."

"Shhh. I know, hun." Tarren whispered.

Tiegen swallowed hard and took a deep breath, managing to calm himself enough to speak again.

"I-Is Larro your friend?"

Tarren's father's friend had gone home several hours ago since he had his little girl to take care of, but he definitely owed him one.

"He is a good friend of the family." He replied.

"He looks funny." Tiegen responded.

A cough of a laugh slipped from Tarren's lips at Tiegen's comment.

"Uh, yes, yes he does." Tarren replied awkwardly.

"You talking about me again, Tar?"

Tarren glanced up and smirked when Larro walked in... with his little girl. Tiegen looked over at the sound of his voice as well, then gasped out a quiet whine.

Larro chuckled and calmly walked inside the dark room to stop beside Tiegen's bed.

"Hey there, kid."

Tiegen was already crawling toward him with a hopeful but teary look in his eyes.

"I brought someone to see you, but you have to be gentle." Larro said with a warm smile.

Tiegen made a quiet sound of agreement as he reached out, not touching, but desperately wanting to. Larro seemed to take his mumble as a yes, because he gently handed his bundled-up little girl, Zeva, down to Tiegen's waiting arms.

Tarren was honestly surprised at how careful Tiegen was the second he got the little cub into his arms. It was like his entire personality shifted abruptly to a loving parent who only wanted to protect and cherish, even though she wasn't even his. Tiegen immediately made sure the little hyena and cheetah cross was comfortable in his arms, then slowly began licking at her soft, furred face. The cub was only about a month old but after her initial rocky start she had blossomed into a gorgeous girl... and Larro makes sure to tell everyone just how pretty she is on a daily basis. He was almost as bad as Paskal, almost. Thankfully, Arron's mother kept him in line pretty well.

After giving Tiegen a minute with the cub Tarren gently scooted closer, earning a quiet growl, but disregarding it when he saw Tiegen relax again.

"Hey sweetie."

He looked up after a moment, his eyes so full of hope that Tarren had to keep himself from crying. Instead, he gave Tiegen a warm smile and scooted forward so that they were sitting next to each other on the edge of the bed, then quietly whispered. "She's adorable, isn't she?"

He nodded as a rumble started up in his chest. Tarren grinned and leaned over to whisper in his ear, though he knew that Larro could still hear it.

"Ours will be even cuter. I have something for you, too."

Tiegen looked up in surprise, brows quirked a little, making him look quite adorable.

"Here, trade me." Larro said as he reached forward.

Tiegen was hesitant to give Zeva back for the large film paper Larro was offering, but did eventually relinquish the little girl in order to take the photo. They didn't need the lights on for their eyes to see since their shifts had decent night vision, so when he looked down and froze, Tarren knew that he had seen what was on the ultrasound picture.

In moments he was all smiles, the previously solemn boy a thing of the past. He looked up at him with that big grin and Tarren just opened his arms, getting an excited Tiegen in them seconds later.

"Mine!"

Tarren chuckled as he snuggled Tiegen tightly, kissing his cheek, hair, neck, and really anywhere he could to make the guy's smile stay where it was.

"Yes, all five."

His cat was rumbling so loudly through his human mouth that he could probably be heard in the next room, but whatever, he deserved to purr his heart out.