The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 102: Chapter 102

What a wonderful time!
Hours later, Pamela took off her pointy hat and fake elf ears with a relieved sigh. She tossed them over at Elissa, who was sitting at the kitchen table with Jessica. A couple of mugs of steaming hot cocoa sat between them.
“Hey! Ooh, I always wanted a pair of these. Wonder if Hunter will be into some boudoir cosplay,” she said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“TMI, Nari. Really, that is TMI,” Pamela replied with a shake of her head.
“Sit down, Miss Elf, you had a hard day,” Jessica said and handed her a mug.
Mmm.
“What are the chances this one is spiked?” Pamela asked, and sighed wistfully. She could definitely use a little rum pum pum pum in her hot cocoa.
“I don’t know if you earned any of this special rum straight from Puerto Rico Uncle Uzzi brought me,” Elissa teased, pulling a bottle of the delicious gold goodness out from under the table.
“No fair, guys. I can’t drink,” Jessica whined.
“Oh hush. You’re growing a football team in that stomach of yours, you can drink after,” Elissa told her.
“Look, I love you both, but Elissa, you owe me at least one shot in my cocoa after little Nancy got nervous and barfed candy cane all over my Elf shoes. I had to borrow Pierce’s flip flops and they are four sizes too big,” she groaned and sank into one of the chairs looking down at her bell-less toes.
“Awwww. Yeah, that did suck. Okay, here ya go. So, did everything go okay? I had to get the twins down for a nap, so I am afraid I missed most of the event,” Elissa explained.
“It went really well, actually, and I mean that, Liss. Paulie had a great time. He’s helping Pierce and Lance clean up, then they are taking him for a burger,” she said, not bothering to hide her grin. She was so stinking proud of her little cub.
“That’s great! That means we can try on the dresses I brought.” Jessica grinned ruefully and patted her large tummy, before she added, “Well, you can try them on, and I will be the judge!”
“Thank you, Jess. I really don’t know about this, I mean, I put on some weight since the last time I got dressed up. Maybe I should crash diet. When is the party, anyway?”
“Tomorrow night, and no, you look gorgeous. Really, I mean, who even knew you had tits before? You were so damn skinny, but now, kapow, it’ll be watchout sexy Santas!” Elissa yelled and waggled her eyebrows.
“Lissa,” she groaned her name, snorting as she tried to hold in her laughter. “Fine, I guess I do have breasts now. But sexy Santas?”
“What’s wrong with Sexy Santas? I told Brayden to bring home the hat. Mama wants to play,” Jess said, stuffing an entire gingerbread bear into her mouth.
“You gals are so gross,” Pamela said, shielding her eyes from the images they conjured.
“Look, Little Miss Purity, I have it all worked out. You are going to leave Paulie here with us, and we are gonna make popcorn and watch an animated Christmas movie. I have decided to host a Pride sleepover, and I invited little Nicholas from his class, and Steven too.”
“You did?” Pam asked, disbelief clouding her eyes.
“Sure. We don’t have like a traditional Cub Scouts or anything in Maverick Point, but I talked to Hunter, and he agrees, we should initiate a sort of club for the children of the Pride,” the Nari explained. “They shouldn’t be on the outside of things until they have their first shifts. We think they should develop strong community bonds with the Pride as early as possible. What do you all think?”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Jessica agreed, and Pamela nodded her head.
She was too choked up for words and sniffed to cover up the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. It was exactly the kind of thing Paulie needed. Her apartment was too cramped for sleepovers, and many of the moms from school were not exactly fond of Pamela.
If only the Pride had done something like that when she’d been younger. So many mistakes, so much regret, but not for her cub. He would be raised better.
Tigers were loaners in the wild, and, even though Shifters lived in groups, Tiger Prides typically had smaller numbers than most Packs or Clans. Children were often cast aside until it was known whether they could actually change into their animals. Sometimes, it was too late by then. Those same neglected children turned to gangs and bad crowds for support.
Pamela’s parents had both died before she’d reached puberty, the age when Tigers typically come into their fur, and she’d had to go through it alone. She’d had no one to depend on except for an older uncle who was neglectful, to say the least.
No wonder she wound up under the thumb of a master manipulator like Blake. When Hunter had returned from college with him by his side, young Pamela had been smitten with the dangerous Shifter from Washington.
She had no idea what kind of monster lurked beneath his pristine smile. Not even after he’d ordered her to sleep with a Hyena Shifter from a neighboring Pack of the cold-hearted animals. The memory of his order still filled her with revulsion and the beating she had received when she’d refused to be used like a whore was nothing compared to the one the Hyena Shifter had given her that night Gretchen had come upon them in the park. Thank fuck she’d been found before anything truly terrible had transpired.
The Hyena had waylaid her by her car after she’d picked up work, tending bar outside of town. He’d knocked her out and brought her to the park. By the time she’d come to, Pamela’s clothes had been torn to shreds, and she’d been covered in bites and scratches. Gretchen and Reg had saved her from a much worse fate.
Yes, she owed this Pride for so much. She was glad Blake was dead—happy her tormentor was gone for good. Her she-Tiger was happy too, though she would have preferred to be the one who ended his miserable life. Now, she and Paulie were safe, and her son had the chance to be happy.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Elissa asked, and Pamela blinked slowly.
“Sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking.”
“Thinking of the past? Well, fuck that shit,” the Nari growled. “Pamela, you listen to me, none of that asshole’s crap matters anymore. You are a wonderful mother and a great friend. You are a valuable member of this Pride. Now, are you ready to get gorgeous?”
“Oh, crap. Um, yeah, I guess,” she said, wincing as Elissa tapped the screen of her cell phone with one red and white painted nail.
She turned on some Christmas rock music and Gretchen and Kylie came filing into the kitchen with bags from Jessica’s Closet.
“Look what we brought!”
“Holy cow! Panties too?”
“Of course,” Kylie said, and winked.
The woman made the best lingerie Pamela had ever tried, but she was not exactly in the market for any at the moment. Still, it did not hurt to be prepared, she thought with a naughty grin.
They started unveiling the treasures they’d brought from the store and Pamela was overwhelmed at the selection. The boutique specialized in plus-sized women’s clothing, and where a year ago Pamela was skinny as a twig, she’d put on some pounds in all the right areas to warrant an upgrade in sizes.
“OHMYGAWD!” Elissa gasped as they showed dress after spectacular dress.
“These are so beautiful, but I can’t afford⁠—”
“Nonsense. This is for the Pride, and we will bear the expense,” Elissa said, and grabbed the price tag off one gown before shoving it at her. “Now, go try that on, and don’t make me use my Nari voice!” she threatened playfully for the second time in so many hours.
“Okay, okay,” Pamela grumbled and took the lovely confection.
She went into the bathroom and took her time dressing. She could hardly believe the results. Pamela gasped as she spun around in front of the floor-length mirror, not recognizing herself.
“Pamela? Come out already!” Elissa knocked on the door.
“Sorry,” she said, and stepped out to wolf whistles from all the gathered females and their mates who happened to have joined them in the kitchen.
“Wow, Pamela. You look lovely,” Hunter said and smiled kindly at her.
“Lovely? She looks completely fuckable in that dress,” Jessica said. “I mean, dayum—I would do her.”
“Jess!” Elissa yelled.
“What? Fine, I like eggplant, not tacos, but still, I don’t think my tits ever looked that good. Brayden, what do you think? I mean, you seem to like them now, even though they’re like baby watermelons, but I miss them being perky,” Jessica rambled, and started tearing up. “Some lucky guy is gonna see Pam in that and he will get his little freaky-fun-naughty-time on with those two fun bags—all he has to do is just tug on the straps—then BAM, it will be on, and I can’t see my feeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!” she wailed, and Brayden just looked around panicked.
The big Bear stood up and picked up his mate, princess style, kissing her head while she cried her heart out.
“Okay, I better get her home. She’s a little hormonal,” he shrugged, though his cheeks burned bright pink.
The big man carried his pregnant mate out to his car despite her crying, and Pamela was pretty sure she heard him say something about him always wanting to play with her fun bags—again with the TMI.
Pamela and the rest of the Shifters pretended they did not just hear that. Even when Jessica asked him if he liked her pregnant and Brayden answered by describing—in terrific detail—just how pretty her enormous bosoms were to him and what his plans were for them when he got her home. If Pam wasn’t mistaken, there was bound to be a run on caramel sauce at the local market.
Eeek.
“Okay then,” Elissa said and giggled. “It’s all set. You are wearing that dress, and we are watching Paulie tomorrow night. And Pamela?”
“Yes, Nari,” she said, returning to the bathroom to carefully remove the dress before packing it along with accessories back in the bag.
“Remember Santa, and Uncle Uzzi, will be watching.”
“I gotcha, I’ll be nice⁠—”
“Nice? Ew! You better be naughty!”
“Are you sure you don’t mean⁠—”
“Hell no! Naughty is the new nice,” Elissa said and winked.
Pamela blushed scarlet while she gathered up her things and called for Paulie. It was definitely time to leave, but the Nari’s parting words stuck in her head as she drove to her apartment to the sounds of Paulie singing carols in the back seat.
Pamela Brown hadn’t been naughty in a very long time.