"132 Seconds!" Ashley exclaimed, as she clicked the stopwatch.  "That's quite an improvement since we started doing this."

"It feels better, too.  Smoother, like I'm making it happen, rather than having it happen to me."

"I can tell. Your shifts are definitely more controlled."  

I was practicing my shifting skills.  The first time I tried to intentionally shift from cougar to human, it took nearly 15 minutes and was the second most painful thing I've experienced.  The worst was my first, involuntary, shift into a cougar.  With practice and experience, my shifts were getting faster, smoother, and, except when I push how fast I do it, pain free. 

She ran her hand up my bicep and over my shoulder. "No offense, but you also look better than you did then.  Yummy!"

"That's from all the physical labor you're getting out of me!"

A noise from the road made us look in that direction.  The scrub oaks and mesquite blocked the view from the house, but we listened as a vehicle stopped,  the mailbox door slammed shut and the vehicle drove away.

"Why don't you get the mail, while I start dinner?"

"Okay, I'll be back in a few to help."

I grabbed a tee-shirt, shorts and shoes, put them on and jogged to the mailbox. Among the ads and a few bills for Ashley was an envelope addressed to me from the University.  I extended a  single claw - another skill I'd been practicing - and sliced it open. Inside was a letter.

"Dear Mr. McPherson;

We find insufficient reason to approve your request to live off-campus for the 2002-2003 school year.  As you know, University policy requires first year students, sophomores, and juniors to live on campus.  We have found the  many benefits to our students outweigh..."

I didn't bother reading the rest.  I walked dejectedly back to the ranch house.  There was a definite risk of discovery living in a dorm with a roommate.  What if I shifted in my sleep and Scott saw me?

Ash noticed my mood as I came through the door.  "Bad news?" she asked.  

"Yeah. They denied my residency exemption."

"You'll manage.  I did, and I didn't have me to help!   Here, slice the onions and peppers and we'll talk about it."

"Okay. What are we having?"

"Venison fajitas," she said, as she went back to preparing the marinade.

"So, Zach, we've been working on your control since the beginning.  You're getting good.  You can already do things I couldn't for a year or so, and it's only been a few months.  It took me a long time before I could change just my eyes for night vision, and you can without too much effort. You're a natural at this."

I walked over with the sliced vegetables and put my other arm around her waist. "I attribute that more to having a good teacher than any abilities of my own."

"Thanks, but you've been a good student!  Here, since you were so quick with that, slice the meat while I get the sides ready."

"Okay," I said.  

She continued, "You're ready to visit you parents, like they've been asking you to do.  It will be good practice for living in the dorms."

It didn't take long to cut the venison into strips.  When I was done, I gave into temptation and licked the meat juice off my fingers.  I didn't think Ashley was looking, but suddenly a flying dish towel hit me in the face.

She took the cutting board with the meat and walked back to the counter. "Why don't you get the charcoal going while I finish up in here?"

I went outside, collected the charcoal, some junk mail and the chimney starter and went over to the grill.  I wadded paper into the bottom of the metal tube, filled the rest with charcoal, and placed it in the grill.  I lit the paper with some matches.  Smoke began to waft from the top of the tube.  The convection updraft through the chimney was carrying the heat up to light the charcoal lumps.

I heard Ash walking quietly up behind me.  She was using that stalking gait that said, "I see something I want!"  When she used it in a business setting, I knew to watch and learn, and feel sorry for the poor sod that was her "prey." Today, I suspected I was on the menu.

She wrapped her arms around my waist from behind, and said, "Everything is ready.  Let's have some fun while we wait for the fire."

She slipped hand under my shorts, and wrapped it around my cock.  Ever so gently, she applied her claw tips to the sensitive underside.  I leaned my head back on her shoulder and took a deep breath.

"You like that, don't you?" She literally purred into my ear. Her claw tips moved in small gentle circles.  The sharp tips created such an intense sensation that she could be - had to be - gentle.

"Mmm-hmm," I replied. Saying more would take more brains than I had at the moment. 

With her other hand, she pushed my shorts down.  I kicked my shoes off, stepped out of my shorts, and stripped my shirt over my head.  She gave me a full-body hug from behind then, while maintaining her grip, stepped in front of me.  

When I met her, I thought she was just short of gorgeous.  I was wrong. Seeing her like this, with a sultry, predatory gleam in her eyes, a body made of slender, soft curves overlying strong muscles, and the scent of her arousal wafting up from her golden pussy fur, she was irresistible. I didn't resist.

With a soft tug on my cock, she led me over to the chaise.  She pushed me down onto it, then straddled my thighs.

"Okay, Zach.  This is a test of your control.  I'm going to fuck you, and you're going to stay human.  Got that?"

"Wait, what?" It took a few moments for my sex-fogged brain to catch up.  "I don't know if I can!"

"Hopefully, you'll never have to.  I'm not expecting you to succeed.  I just want you to know how much you can take without shifting.  I bet it's more than you think it is."

With that, she raised up on her knees, scooted up off my thighs, and settled down, impaling herself on me.

Engulfed in her hot, snug wetness, I let out a moan, half purr, half growl.  She laced her fingers in mine, raised my hands over my head and pinned them there. It reminded me of our first time together, minus the horror of realizing my seducer wasn't human.

She began to ride me, lifting up and settling down, rocking her hips and grinding her clit into my pubic bone at the bottom of each stroke. She started slow, building momentum over time.

I closed my eyes to concentrate on not shifting, when I felt her half-shift.  She grew hotter and tighter around me.  Her tail extended down between my legs and the twitching tip tickled my ankles. Her cat scent grew stronger.

I opened my eyes and gazed into her big, gold-flecked green ones.  She smiled at me a little, her tongue panting between her fangs.

I pulled my hands out of hers, and cupped her breasts, slowly rolling the pink nipples that poked out of her golden-brown fur.  She gave a soft, purring moan.

I lowered them down to the middle pair, pulling and kneading a little more firmly.  She moved one hand to her crotch to masturbate her clit as she rode me.  

I slid my hands down to her bottom pair of nipples and pulled hard. That had the effect I hoped for.  With a loud noise, half human moan, half feline screech, she came on top of me.  Her clenching pelvic muscles brought me over the top, too.  

I opened my eyes as my own orgasm subsided, to find her gazing at me, with the bliss of post climax afterglow in her eyes. I pulled her down to me and kissed her.  She straightened her legs out and lay on top of me.  We soon both fell asleep in the sultry heat of a South Texas summer afternoon.

whop whop whop whop

What was that?

whop whop whop whop whop

A helicopter?

whop whop whop whop whop

It's getting closer!

"Ash! Ash! Wake up!"

She slurred, "Whu?" 

"Helicopter! Coming this way! Shift or get inside!"

whop whop whop whop whop

Her eyes opened wide and she launched herself onto the veranda in one leap.

I was reaching for my shorts when ...

WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP

The helicopter thundered nearly overhead, maybe two hundred feet away and not far above the trees.  It was dark, with some sort of gold badge on the side, with lettering underneath and a Texas flag on the engine cowling.  I got a glimpse of a woman's face through the side window, partly obscured by sunglasses and headphones.

It flew in large, overlapping circles over the ranch, working it's way in a roughly easterly direction.  I looked through the door to where Ash stood.  Fully human, now, she looked unsettled.  "What do you think that was about?" I asked.

"They were searching for something. I don't know what. I hope they didn't get a good look at me."

"I don't think so.  You were on the porch and it was moving too fast.  Thanks for the control lessons, though! A woman got a full frontal view of me."

"Let's hope that distracted her enough to not look at me.  By the way, your fangs grew a little, and your eyes changed a bit.  That's all I saw.  You're ready to visit your folks."

My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.  "No, I'm ready for dinner!"

She laughed. "I'll get it.  Is the fire ready?"

The embers had a coating of ash, past the best temperature for grilling.  Adding more charcoal and fanning with some leftover junk mail soon had it ready.  We put the vegetables on first.  After they had a chance to soften a bit, the meat went on.   When it had browned on the outside but was still rare inside, we filled large plates with the meat, vegetables and soft corn tortillas. 

Serve it with some black beans, seasoned rice and a pitcher of sangria, and the only way to make it better is the company of a lovely naked woman by the fading sunset's light.  Both of which I had.