Chapter 65

The Campbell brothers had driven their own cars out to Las Vegas so Cara returned to Los Angeles in the 767 with the Whitfields. The tigers were so eager to return to their chosen mates they were unable to remain still. Both of them endured teasing from all of the people as they restlessly paced up and down the giant aircraft.

"Aren't you glad this is a widebody?" Marion asked. "This provides all sorts of room for you and your sister to pace."

Duke, recognizing he was being teased, lay down at her feet, but was only able to stay there for about a minute before he was pacing the deck again.

Cara received a briefing on what had transpired the night before. Her only comment was a half-whispered, "Maybe they're not as bad as I thought..."

Once they were back at the Clifford's, the tigers were even more edgy than they had been in the aircraft. Marion, recognizing that the poor animals were truly beside themselves, conferred with Kathy Carlson. They agreed that the two pairs would be mated the next day, and it would be appropriate for them all to be brought out to their place in the hills to be with their friends.

"I suppose the guys will want to have a bachelor party for Duke and Jason, and maybe there might even be a bachelorette party for Duchess and Sheena." She added, "Those two — Jason and Sheena — have been beside themselves, too. But unlike Duke and Duchess, they haven't had all the Las Vegas activities to distract them."

When they were transported out to the Carlsons', the two tigers were greeted by their parents, relatives and friends. The others were even more impressed when a Federal Express package arrived from Redmond, Washington, for Duke and Duchess. In it was an array of Microsoft software along with Bill Gates' personal card saying he hoped they liked it all. The shipment included a Beta version of Encarta 97 with its direct Internet access.

The tigers trouped in and watched on the monitor as Duke proudly loaded it, after Susan Carlson opened the jewel box and put the CD in the computer's player for him. Calling up its reference on tigers, he then used the Internet to explore the references. They all agreed it was truly wondrous, and since Gates had sent several copies of each title, Duke and Duchess left it loaded on the computer for their friends.

The next morning, the entire Clifford clan assembled at the Carlson's for the ceremony. For Marion, Donald, and the girls it was their first glimpse of the full array of tigers who lived with the Carlsons, and they were certainly impressed by all the giant cats who averaged about 100 pounds greater in weight than the typical Bengal tiger.

Prince was the leader of the pack, and in this rôle was presiding over the ceremonies mating his son and daughter. Duke and Jason were sitting as still as they could in front of Prince, waiting. Then over a set of outdoor loudspeakers there was the sound of the Wedding March, and Duchess and Sheena, each wearing a giant necklace of flowers around their necks, paced up the aisle between the tigers who were all gathered for the ceremony.

Seeing Sheena for the first time Ann whispered to Mary, "Isn't she utterly perfect! Have you ever seen a more graceful creature in your life? And she is simply beautiful."

Prince very gravely asked, "Do you, Sir Duke, take Sheena as your mate? Forsaking all others until death do you part?"

"I do, sir!" Duke replied mentally. But then he reared up on his hind legs, clawed the sky and let out a mighty roar of triumph.

"Do you, Sheena, take Sir Duke as your mate? Forsaking all others until death do you part?"

"I do, sir!" she replied. But then, instead of roaring, she nuzzled Duke's neck and let out a purr loud enough to shake the house.

"Enough!" Prince ordered firmly. "There will be plenty of time for that later."

Then he turned to Jason and Duchess and the pattern was repeated. At that point Prince said solemnly, "By the powers vested in me by this pack, I now pronounce you tiger and mate!" Then to the two he said softly, "You may now nuzzle your mates."

The two pairs did, at which point the entire pack let out thunderous roars of congratulations to the two couples, and then gathered around to wish them well. The Carlson children poured champagne for them all, and Prince offered a toast to the two couples. Amid quiet roars of agreement, the tigers all drank to the two very happy couples.

When things had quieted down, Duchess led her new mate over to meet the girls. "Jason," she said, "it's truly a great honor for me to present you to Mary, Duchess of Norfolk, la Duchesse du Bourgogne, la Marquessa de Toledo, Countess Jutland; and her sister, Ann, Duchess of Suffolk, la Marquise du Flandres, la Contessa di Pavia. My darling, they are our new mistresses. I hope you don't mind?"

The huge animal — he was the same size as Duke and almost the same weight at 615 — executed a perfect bow. Then he said, "Darling Duchess, do you have a screw loose? Mind caring for these ... these..." Then he dropped flat on the ground with his eyes closed and just shivered with fear.

"Darling," Duchess said softly, "you will get used to it. I know they rank above the angels in Heaven. Please consider it a mark of His extraordinary favor that we have been selected for such an honor. And, Jason dear, I must warn you right now: They will kiss you, they will hug you, and most particularly, they will expect you to hug them."

She paused and said with a lovely little giggle, "Of course, darling, it's going to be very hard on you. I will tell you now what is in store: They will take turns lying on your belly. Sometimes they will lie on their backs and will expect you to mash their perfect tits under your paw pads while I lick their legs and underarms to remove any trace of hair. Other times they will lie face down on your belly and will expect you to hug them tightly while they nap. And after we have mated, rather than allowing me to sleep snuggled close to you, my darling, they will sleep on our bellies all night long. And finally, they will expect us to entertain them with our mating. And I have a confession to make: They won't even restrict it to when I'm in heat. Can you bear taking me on command, my darling? Or should we search for different masters?"

The girls could see that it took an extraordinary display of sheer willpower and courage for the tiger to get to his feet, move close to Ann and kiss her lightly on the cheek.

"Oh, Jason!" Ann exclaimed. "That was so brave. But we were thinking of something more like this."

With that she wrapped her arms as far around his great neck as she could reach, and then very gently kissed his lips. Jason was nearly overcome with the power of her love and her Divine grace, although she had tried to modulate it as much as she could.

When she released him and looked into his huge green eyes, he saw that they were dazzled. "My darling Duchess," he said, "there could not be two more perfect people in the world than our mistresses. And she kissed me! Right on the lips, she kissed me. My divine mistress kissed my lips. My darling, as much as I love you, we may not even be able to mate today because I am in such a daze of joy and happiness. Could there be anything better in the whole world than to be able to hold our mistresses as they sleep? I don't think so."

The huge animal shook his head slowly and said, "Darling Duchess, look at who they are! They rank above God's angels in holiness. They are the most beautiful humans in the world. They are truly noble, carrying some of the oldest titles in the Western World. And they are world-class athletes and recipients of the Nobel Prize!"

Then he nuzzled Duchess provoking a wonderfully satisfied sigh from her and added, "My cup runneth over! I win the most beautiful tigress in the whole world as my mate. But is that all? With my beauteous Duchess, knighted herself by Her Brittanic Majesty, I join her as the guardian and protector of the two finest women alive in the world today, and possibly the two finest in all of history!"

After taking a perfect house-cat position directly in front of the two girls, he said, "I solemnly swear that I shall protect my mistresses from any harm to the death! I swear it before Almighty God! And I consider myself the most fortunate of all tigers to receive this incredible honor."

Then he looked at Mary plaintively, but didn't move.

"Thank you, darling Jason!" Mary exclaimed. "I'm sure we will love you as much as we already love Duchess. And you, sir, are indeed the most fortunate of tigers to have her as your mate. Now may I have a kiss, too?"

At this Jason stood up on his hind legs and spread his forelegs wide. Mary moved close and he gently closed them around her. The animal was so large, though, he had to wriggle his body to lower his head enough to be able to kiss her. When he did, she took his head in both hands and gave him a very gentle but loving kiss. Then she just rubbed her face in his extraordinarily soft underbody fur while crushing her body to his.

Again Jason tightened his grip on her and purred loudly. When he released her, he had to shake his head to clear it. After doing so, he resumed his house cat position and asked, "Mistresses, would it be possible for me to introduce my parents to you? They would be overjoyed and honored beyond words if you would permit it."

When the girls instantly agreed, Jason and Duchess went off in search of them.

Meanwhile, Duke had been introducing his bride to Donald and Marion. "Air Vice Marshal Sir Donald Whitfield, VC, DFC, KCB, 12^th Duke of Northumbria, and Marion, Duchess of Northumbria, it is my great honor to present my mate, Sheena."

The huge tigress was visibly shaking as she made a perfect court curtsy in front of them. Don had his hand extended in greeting, but Sheena took it on her paw and very carefully kissed his fingertips. Then she repeated it with Marion, but her magnificent body was shaking with fear the entire time.

"What's wrong, Sheena?" Marion asked softly. "There's nothing to fear. Don and I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to welcome you to our household ... No... ! to our family! Sheena, Duke is every bit as much a member of the family as our grandson and our daughters. I hope you will consider yourself to be our daughter, too."

She smiled warmly and added, "But did Duke tell you what the Duke said? How he hopes to be able to intrude on your privacy?"

"I don't understand," Sheena replied in an incredibly soft and sexy voice. "How could you possibly intrude on anything?"

"Well, darling, Duke and Duchess have seen my lord and master plow my wetness — and probe any opening his great cock could possibly enter, to boot. They have seen this dozens of times. Well, Donald said that fair is fair. If they could see him penetrating me, it's only fair to let us see him penetrating you. Do you understand?"