Over the next few weeks that moved into months, Feral was constantly being targeted. He was saved by being alert, the sharp eyes of his bodyguards, his enforcers, and, surprisingly, the SWAT Kats. Shakil had used his own spies to try and find out who within his clan was targeting his mate but whoever it was kept themselves too well hidden.
Feral was four months pregnant. His belly was still small enough to hide within his coat. He lay stretched out on his side as he watched his mate strip for bed. Shakil had gotten into town only that afternoon and Feral found that he was beginning to hate their constant separations especially as his pregnancy progressed.
"That's a very pensive look on your face, my beauty." Shakil murmured as he lay down beside Ulysses.
"I find myself resenting our separations. I don't know if it's the damn pregnancy hormones or I'm just tired of being alone when I'm supposed to be mated." He grumbled.
"Ahhh, my love! I am soo sorry! I suspect my family is deliberately keeping us apart." The tiger said in frustration and sorrow. "I'm besieged constantly by willing females of the clan to take them and toss you. It truly disgusts me. I'm harassed on every trip I make. Whoever is behind this is insuring we are constantly under stress."
"That I can well believe." Feral rumbled irritably while rubbing his swelling abdomen.
His mate leaned forward and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. Feral sighed and rolled over on his back as Shakil loomed over him kissing and nipping his face and breasts. Feral was continually amazed by how good the tiger made him feel. He no longer harbored negative feelings about how they had first met, only now mattered and he reveled in the pleasure Shakil gave him.
"Hmm, I love how you make me feel." He purred caressing the tiger's back
"You don't know how much that pleases me, my love." Shakil rumbled deep in his throat as he caressed his mate's changing body with undisguised joy and pleasure. He kissed Ulysses again deeply while trailing his fingers over his mate's genitals until he reached his soft folds. Uly gasped and moaned at his touch.
"Hmmm, so responsive you are beloved." He purred lustfully.
"Ohhh...Shakil...oooooo god..." Ulysses could only moan incoherently as Shakil drove him insane.
Several minutes of teasing brought his mate screaming. While Uly panted to catch his breath, the tiger drew his mate's hips up to get the proper alignment then plunged forward. Uly cried out and clutched Shakil hard, digging his claws in. The tiger groaned at the pricks of pain that only drove his passion higher. Thrusting firmly he quickly spiraled them higher and higher until Uly couldn't take anymore and came, squeezing down on his mate's hard cock as well as spraying his own seed on their pressed together chests.
Shakil rolled them over to their sides as they caught their breaths. He gently nuzzled his mate's face. Uly suddenly gasped and reached a paw towards his belly in surprise.
"Is anything wrong, love!" He asked anxiously.
"Nothing's wrong. Put your paw here." Uly said a smile of wonder growing on his face.
Confused, Shakil did as he was told and placed a broad palm over his mate's belly. Immediately, he felt a hard thump against his paw. A smile of joy spread across his face as he looked up into Ulysses' shining eyes.
"That makes it official, I guess." Uly said with a smirk.
"Oh my beauty, this is soo wonderful." Shakil whispered reverently.
"Glad you think so." Uly snorted. "It isn't your insides that are being pounded."
"So true! But it's wonderful nonetheless." He said joyfully and kissed Ulysses breathless.
Kamau Clan enclave...
"It's been four months, why haven't you succeeded?" The older tiger growled angrily.
"I did warn you sir that this would not be an easy thing to accomplish. Time and again the Commander has succeeded in avoiding serious harm." The tiger mix said unhappily.
"I refuse to believe that one Kat can avoid, outwit or defeat all that has been mounted against him. Surely someone has been able to get close to him?" The tawny old tiger snapped.
"We have had infiltrators in Enforcer Headquarters but they were quickly found out. We tried to sneak some into his doctor's office until he switched back to being seen at headquarters again. He now lives there 24/7 which makes it impossible to get at him. When he is out on missions, he is constantly guarded or those damn vigilantes show up just in time." His nephew snorted in frustration.
"Well then you are just going to have to be more cunning. Since the omegas of this city are always showing up, I suggest you listen to the Enforcer bands and be there when one of them appears and while this male is occupied make your move." The old tiger ordered coldly.
Neither of his guests made a comment. They left the study of the angry tiger quickly and silently. When they were alone in the nephew's quarters, only then did the crimson tiger give vent to his anger.
"Damn it! What does he think we are doing. We've already tried that route without success." He snarled furiously.
"He is as frustrated as we are about our failure. I'm not certain this is a battle the fates mean us to win." The tiger mix said flatly.
"It doesn't matter what we think, only what he wants matters." The crimson tiger snapped.
"Then we have no choice but to keep trying to catch Commander Feral when he is battling one of these formidable enemies. He is now restricted to ground vehicles only and not permitted by his own regulations to be on the front lines though he tends to ignore that often. It's that 'getting himself in the line of fire' that will insure a victory on our part." The tiger mix said grimly.
"You hope!" The crimson tiger said sarcastically but conceded that this was the only way.
Two weeks later...
"Kat's alive, what are those things?" Feral barked to no one in particular as he huddled in a stairwell of a building near the museum where the Pastmaster was making a very good effort at stealing something. The enforcers and the SWAT Kats could not get close to the museum because of some monstrous looking rock creatures that stood over twenty feet tall and were resistant to nearly everything the defenders threw at them.
Feral had been on the street in a tank when the creatures began tossing said vehicles like they were toys. The Commander barely escaped before his tank was lifted and thrown into another building nearby. He and his enforcers ran into this brick building and climbed up far enough to try and see what was going on. Watching from the stairwell window, he winced as more of his forces were trashed. He caught sight of the SWAT Kats making yet another pass at the monsters and again, their weaponry just bounced off the creatures tough hides.
"There's got to be some way we can bring those things down." He snarled bitterly to no one in particular.
"Razor, you've thrown nearly everything at those things and nothings worked. What are we going to do. Pastmaster should be coming out of there shortly and we can't stop him." T-Bone said anxiously.
"I have something new, but it's not tested yet and could do more harm than good." Razor said hesitantly.
"Well buddy, our options are gone so you might as well give it a try." His partner advised.
"Get in as close as you dare to one of the monsters located furthest away from the enforcers." Razor instructed as he jumped down into the cargo hold. He quickly put together a strange device and mounted it in the place of the x-ray machine. Moments later he had it installed and climbed back up into his seat. He quickly programmed his weapons console for the new weapon.
"Okay, buddy! There's your target at three o'clock." T-Bone warned him.
"Roger. Go to VTOL mode and hold it steady." Razor said and waited till his partner had done so before targeting the monster. He pressed the trigger and a beam of deep blue light shot out from under the jet. It hit the monster dead center. For several seconds nothing seemed to be happening but suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and the monster crumbled to the ground.
"Yes!" Razor crowed. "Okay T-Bone let's get these suckers."
"Gotcha!" T-Bone yelled back and sent the jet to the next target.
"Well, wadda ya know! They finally found something that worked." Feral said in disbelief as his enforcers cheered then shaking himself from the sight he turned on his radio. "This is Feral! As soon as the SWAT Kats clear those things from the area, I want everyone to converge on the museum. Beware of Pastmaster's watch." He ordered. He watched for a few minutes more in fascination as each monsters crumbled to dust under the blue beam then led his troops down the stairs for the outside.
Trapped inside the museum were a few tourists and museum personal. They had taken refuge inside an exhibit for rare antiquities from ancient times. The door was closed except for a crack that Dr. Sinian was peering out of. She knew the Pastmaster was in the dark ages exhibit and she and her personnel had done their best to round up the innocent parties and park them in here for their safety. So far, to her relief, no one had been hurt.
What she wasn't aware of was two visitors were shadowing Pastmaster, staying close but not so close as to attract the dangerous criminal's attentions. They weren't certain their quarry would try to confront this creepy person but they stayed close just in case.
Pastmaster was muttering to himself unhappily. So far he hadn't found what he was looking for paying no attention to the commotion going on outside. As long as the noise didn't move inside, he knew his minions were holding back the defenders just fine. Just as he was about to lose his temper, he found what he was looking for. He broke the glass and grabbed an odd crystal like thing shaped like a pyramid. Cackling with glee, he stowed it in a hidden pouch in his cape and turned quickly to leave.
As soon as he cleared the room, his watchers quickly followed. Pastmaster had just reach the main corridor for the entrance to the museum when a crowd of enforcers burst in. Growling with fury, the Pastmaster raised his watch but before he could fire another group, who had arrived through a back entrance, plowed into the little gnome from behind. The watch was thrown from his paw. Feral, coming in behind his troops, swooped down and picked it up.
The Pastmaster struggled furiously but was outnumbered. He was quickly bundled up then searched. The stolen artifact was found and handed over to the Commander. After having his officers sweep for damage, he looked for Dr. Sinian. His guards were trailing behind as the Commander walked down the corridor calling the doctor's name. He'd turned the corner just ahead of his guards and was unprotected for a few precious moments. The hidden pair jumped out and snatched him into another room, covering his mouth to prevent an outcry.
Startled and angry, Feral struggled furiously managing to knock one of his assailants away and dropping backward causing the one holding him to fall with Feral's weight pinning him down but before Feral could use this to his advantage the other attacker yanked the Commander up by his coat and pulled him to his feet.
Feral swung a fist at the Kat in front of him while out of the corner of his eye he saw the other one coming at him with something glinting in his paw. Guessing what it might be he whirled the opponent holding onto him around so that he knocked his partner away.
He had just gotten free of the assailant holding him and pulled his gun, when the other came at his back, at that moment the SWAT Kats burst into the room. They had been come in behind the enforcers that entered from the back entrance when they heard a scuffling noise behind a door they were passing.
They charged the pair but were not in time to prevent the one at Feral's back from stabbing him. The Commander's weapon dropped from nerveless fingers and he followed it heavily to the floor, curling into a ball of agony. Furious, the SWAT Kats used their cement guns to pin the pair to the walls. Once the assailants were out of the way, they quickly dropped to their knees to render aid to the pale and panting Commander.
"Oh God no...my kitten...my kitten..." Feral moaned in fear and pain.
T-Bone and Razor looked at each other in horror, suddenly enforcers poured into the room. Some took the assailants into custody while Steele, Felina, and the Sergeant came close to see how badly injured the Commander was.
Steele sucked in his breath when he saw the knife sticking out of Feral's back. Jumping to his feet he pulled his radio out.
"This is Steele, medical alert! I need medical assistance at my location asap. The Commander is down...I repeat the Commander is down."
Moments later he received a response, "Medical team on the way, sir. Be there in five!"
"Roger!" Steele responded then returned to the huddled groups side.
"I sent for medical assistance. They say they'll be here in five minutes." He told the group.
Razor had taken out his medical kit and was doing what he could for the Commander. Felina was on the floor and resting her uncle's head in her lap while soothing him as much as she could. T-Bone just watched helplessly. He felt sick for Feral and prayed the knife had not hit the kitten.
"SWAT Kat, you may have to take the Commander to Megakat Trauma Center. It's a mess out there and would take far too long to get help in here." Steele said tightly.
T-Bone looked up at the second in command in surprise. This was the first time that he'd seen Steele actually do his job and truly be concerned for Feral's welfare. Steele's face was grim and angry. T-Bone nodded.
"No problem. As soon as the medics say he can be moved we'll get him there quickly." T-Bone told him, his own anger tightly reined.
At that moment, a medical team charged in with a stretcher. Checking Feral over and stabilizing the knife, they hooked him up to an IV.
"Okay! We need to very carefully lift him onto the stretcher without jostling the knife." The lead paramedic said.
T-Bone and Razor gently took his shoulders, Felina his head, the paramedics took his side and holding the knife from moving while Steele and another enforcer took his legs.
"On the count of three...one...two...three..." He intoned as they heaved the Commander up at the same time and gently lowered him onto the stretcher.
Despite their care, Feral cried out. Everyone felt bad about that but it didn't stop them from lifting the stretcher and hurrying him out of the museum.
"Wait..." Feral panted urgently. Everyone stopped in surprise. "The Pastmaster's watch is in my coat pocket as well as the stolen object..." He gasped and groaned. Felina carefully searched and found the objects in question and handed them off to Steele.
"Don't worry sir, I'll take care of everything. Just worry about yourself." Steele said solemnly. "Go with him, Lieutenant." Steele ordered quietly to Felina who blinked at him in surprise then flashed a look of thanks before running after the stretcher.
They took off again and loaded him into the Turbokat. T-Bone rushed him there as fast as he dared without going to any high gs. When they arrived, a team rushed out and Feral was placed stretcher and all on a gurney and moved rapidly into the trauma center.
The SWAT Kats moved their jet to another building and returned to guard the Commander. Someone was obviously after him and they wouldn't leave until he was out of danger. Felina remained outside the doors of the treatment room when the SWAT Kats returned and joined her. She was grateful for their presence.