Kine

The look on his face was that of a puppy who'd been caught chewing up a new pair of shoes red pawed. Guilty. My eyes narrowed dangerously, snapping him out of his obvious panic as he jerked up into a sitting position and began lifting his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture.

"I swear to god I didn't do anything. This guy I used to um... do stuff with wouldn't leave me alone. I even threatened him to stay away, but I have a feeling he's just going to try to come here."

I was about to snarl at him to get the hell away from me when his own features suddenly morphed to show anger that could rival my own. "I swear if he tries to touch you, I'll kill him."

My mouth went dry. He was pissed. Beyond pissed, even. When he looked back down at me, I could tell that he was furious but also frustrated. What I didn't see, though, was an ounce of guilt. Little sporadic rumbles were also beginning to start up from his chest, making me fidget. When I saw his hands go to either side of his jacket, I quickly sat up and snagged his wrists. He froze, wide-eyed gaze landing on mine in question.

"Don't tear that up."

A huge, embarrassed blush became visible on his cheeks and he looked down. Guessed right then. "Stay still for a second," I said as I carefully began tugging the jacket off his shoulders. While I was glad that he was upset about the other person climbing on him, he shouldn't ruin his nice clothing just to prove that he was mad. After pulling the jacket off him, I tossed it onto the floor and leaned over, nuzzling against his shoulder, then chest, and finally, the waist of his pants. I could feel his curious gaze on me as I moved, but when I got down to my last target, he visibly flinched, obviously surprised.

When I finally straightened up and leaned forward, putting both of my hands on his knees, he looked like he was about ready to grovel on the floor if it would get me to like him again.

Wait.

Again?

Glaring at the wall for a moment, I growled out a frustrated breath, then stared back up at his face.

"I trust you, idiot."

The look of relief that flooded his face was a wonder. He had been so angry only a few moments prior, and now it looked like I'd just told him that we could stay in bed for the next week and hump like bunnies. A faint image of that thought found its way into my head, and I had to swiftly look away from him or risk him seeing me turn red. It was a good idea to turn away... but also a bad one.

The second I took my gaze off of him, I was tackled to the blankets and a very heavy, and very loud-purring Nagol was suddenly nuzzling our faces together. God, this guy has some serious vibrating skills. Another image flashed into my mind, as well as a question about whether he purred so much during sex or not...

"Get off!" I shouted as I shoved at him, but that just got his attention away from the nuzzling, which was good, but then it redirected to licking! "Ew, come on. Nagol!" I had to keep squinting because of his darn tongue cleaning my face. It felt like a softer version of sandpaper, if that made sense. But either way, I wasn't interested in a bath, and even if I were, I was perfectly capable of doing it myself.

When he didn't let up, I sighed, then began counting down out loud. I started from ten this time, giving him a bit longer than last time. When I got closer to one, his arms began to relax, then he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. It wasn't really the off I wanted, but it was good enough to at least let me get some air.

"I'm sorry I, it's..." he stuttered, struggling to keep himself from leaning back over. I could see it in his eyes. The hunger. The need. They squeezed shut for a second as he scooted off of me and began trying to get his shirt off without tearing it. His jaguar was close to the surface, which was very clear considering the small patches of black fur beginning to sprout along his neck and the back of his hands.

"Nagol."

His head jerked to the side to face me before I even finished speaking his name.

Dork.

Shaking my head, I got myself up onto my knees and leaned over, helping him get his fancy shirt off. Then he tossed his pants and boxers. I was silently thankful that he shifted fast, not giving me the chance to stare at anything specific. A rhythmic thump brought my full attention to the huge cat sitting right in front of me.

"Um, well. This wasn't planned very well, now was it?"

He tilted his head, purring up a storm, and gave a loud rumble in response.

"I'm going to guess that you're too worked up to change back right now?"

Nagol lifted a paw in response and began cleaning it with his tongue.

That's an affirmative then.

Sighing, I glanced at the clock he had sitting on his nightstand and groaned. He had followed my gaze, and was beginning to freak out.

"Calm down. We still have three hours. Surely it can't take that long to get you to change back and to the hospital."

He gave me an annoyed look and twitched his whiskers. I grunted in response, letting my wolf sneak in for the snarky reply. Nagol narrowed his eyes and lifted one big fuzzy paw, then bopped the top of my head just enough to make it nod once.

"You did not just do that."

His left ear flicked, then he looked over at the wall, ignoring me.

You fuzzy little... big bastard.

Growling under my breath, I noticed his backside was closer to the edge of the bed than the rest of him and smirked, then shoved. I honestly wasn't expecting him to go over, and if he did, he should have at least landed on his feet. The falling-off thing definitely happened, and the landing on his feet thing, well, didn't. A very loud thud echoed in the dim room, and I couldn't help myself as I burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! What's in your butt? An anvil?" I half-shouted, unable to quiet myself down even though I knew I shouldn't poke fun at such a dominant shifter. He took it surprisingly well, though, and even grabbed one of his back paws in his mouth and tugged playfully.

"You are the dorkiest jaguar I've ever met."

And the only jaguar I've ever met.

His head tilted as he released his paw, then rolled over off his back to sit in front of me. His head began tilting again, but I quickly realized that it wasn't just his head this time.

"Um... Nagol? You okay?"

A loud, rumbling yowl was his answer before he flopped straight to the floor and began rolling around like a cat on drugs. My eyes narrowed, then my gaze darted to the floor around him. There were little flecks of green everywhere, and I could even see a big clear baggy that was mostly empty just beneath his left shoulder.

"I can't believe this. I have surgery in three hours and you're getting high as a kite on cat nip."

When he just answered with another yowl, I heaved a frustrated sigh and got up, carefully limping toward the door before turning and staring at him, using the wall to keep my balance.

"You, here. Now."

He thumped his head down and gave a few rubs. I cleared my throat and pointed down near my feet with a glare toward him. "Now. Meow-Man."

With great, and I do mean great, hesitation, he got himself up and swayed over to sit against the wall. I noted the huge pile of catnip dusting the area where he'd knocked it over from the nightstand when he'd fallen off the bed, then looked back down at him.

"God, you're so high you can't even sit straight."

I knew cat nip was pretty strong when it came to shapeshifters, but this is ridiculous!

As if to try to prove me wrong, he pushed himself off the wall, then did a sort of slow motion fall into the other one.

"I rest my case. Come on. And try not to fall down the stairs."

He huffed, like he'd actually do it. Which he did. Every. Single. One.

I stood at the bottom after using the railing to hop down, having been smart enough not to try to get in the way. He would have smooshed me and probably laughed about it, considering how out of it he was. At least that meant he didn't really feel much of the odd fall, and judging from the way his cat was sashaying toward the bathroom, I doubted he had anything broken or bruised much.

Following after him, I got the water running and opened the curtain. He jumped right in, even though he slipped in the process. I followed him in, only removing my shirt I'd pulled on earlier before grabbing a brush.

Guess I didn't need to get the brush. He was going at the scratcher like it was a lifeline. Of course he fell several times, splashing into the water, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, the last time he fell, he just lifted his butt and continued rubbing the side of it on the bristles fastened to the wall while warm water drained over half of his face. Getting on my knees, I poked his cheek, getting his bright golden, slightly unfocused eyes to look up at me.

"Okay, you. That's enough. Let's get the rest of that stuff off of you, then we're going to have a serious talk about you and nip."

He at least had the right idea to look embarrassed about it, but I guess I couldn't blame him since I'd pushed his jaguar. But still. That was seriously a lot of catnip. As I got busy brushing it out of his thick coat, I asked him why he had so much. Another embarrassed look was his response, but he also managed to nudge at my mind enough to hint that he wanted to talk about it later, when he wasn't flying high.

"We'll talk later then," I agreed.

After about an hour, I had him completely brushed out, shampooed, and conditioned. He was able to stand on his own then, and after I finished drying him off, he easily stepped out of the shower.

"I'm gonna rinse off real quick. Go get dressed if you can shift. If not, just hang out and I'll be out in a minute."

I heard a grunt in response and the quiet sound of paws trotting off, so I figured he was going to try to change. While he was gone, I scrubbed myself after tossing the rest of my clothing, then dried off fast before wrapping a towel around my waist. When I stepped out of the bathroom, my body tensed with the sudden chill, but it felt pretty darn good. Refreshing.

"Here."

Before I could even turn toward Nagol, there was a shirt being tugged over my head. When I got it settled over my chest, I looked over just in time to take the rest of the clothing he offered before he scooped me up into his arms and deposited me on the sofa. I wasn't very happy about being carried, but I did want to get the boxers on, so I didn't growl at him for it.

While I got changed, Nagol headed into the kitchen. He came out a minute later with a glass of water, sipping at it as I finished pulling on the pair of basketball shorts over the underwear. I wanted a drink, but since I would be in surgery, I needed to wait until afterward. The idea of it renewed in my mind made me shiver a little, but Nagol was suddenly there, pressing a kiss to my forehead before helping me up.

"It will be fine, I promise. I'm back in control of myself, for the most part, and I'll be there when you go to sleep and when you wake up."

He slid his hand into mine and squeezed, smiling wide. "We should be off. They want to do a quick exam before they start and take x-rays, to be sure everything will go smoothly."

I gave a hesitant nod and allowed him to help me to the door, then down the stairs. My heart was going a mile a minute when I slid into the passenger's side of his car, but the moment his hand slid back into mine, it calmed just enough to keep me from panicking.