Heat
Chapter 21 – Admitting

Lily hummed while fixing her hair in the bathroom mirror. She thought about her confession to Master Finn about her love for RJ. Okay so she told his dad, shouldn't she tell RJ? Lily couldn't help being a little worried about his reaction, what if he wasn't ready to hear it? She didn't want to put him under any pressure nor did she want to hide how she felt. She'd have to talk to Master Puck about it today.

RJ cheerfully knocked on the open door, "Time for work! I assure you my sweet cheetah your hair is fine. You're beautiful as always."

"You seem awfully happy," Lily raised an eyebrow.

RJ pulled her close to whisper roughly, "I convinced Fran to get rid of Casey and Theo again. We'll have the loft all to ourselves soon enough."

"Mmmmm," Lily purred. "You certainly know how to charm a girl." The two went downstairs together only to come to a screeching halt. Casey and Fran were in a tight lip lock that seemed to be getting hotter by the second. "You had to convince her?" Lily muttered awestruck.

RJ's lips trembled, she did give in awfully fast come to think of it. He clapped his hands and the pair immediately sprang apart. "Now while I am happy that you two have decided to further your relationship, I must ask that you keep it in private quarters."

"Right," Casey nodded. "Private quarters, like yoga mats and poison ivy patches." Lily couldn't stop the laugh that burst out. She clapped a hand over her mouth and attempted to stifle her giggles.

"Funny cub," RJ made a face. "Be careful before I call my father and tell him you still haven't discovered the zen of nature."

Clearly the threat hit home because Casey's eye twitched and he promptly went out to the front to help set up. RJ smugly smiled and kissed Lily on her forehead before joining him. Fran and Lily began pulling out ingredients from the fridge and prepping the kitchen. "So…" Lily began after a pause. "That was new."

Fran nodded, "Yeah, we decided to have a real date tonight. Sorry about getting carried away and all."

"Oh no no," the cheetah shook her head, "feel free. At least one of us will be getting some. My question is, what about Theo? It can't be fun being the third wheel."

"He won't be." Fran assured her. "I have a friend that he may like, they're eerily similar. It'll be a double."

"Oh good," Lily said with relief. "I don't want him to be the lone man out."

"I know, when do you have to leave?"

"In a bit," Lily glanced at her watch. "Just enough time to start the first round of pizzas." The time flew by quickly and before she knew it she to go. The yellow ranger bid the JKP team goodbye and dashed off to the academy.

Master Puck had just sat down when her student appeared. "How are things going?"

"Good," Lily plopped down on the ground.

"I heard Finn came to visit yesterday. He gave you the medallion."

"You know about that?" Lily asked.

"Of course, we all know." By we, Lily understood she meant the other masters. "It was quite a blow to Finn, he was heartbroken. At least he has his son. Speaking of his son, Finn might have mentioned a slip of the tongue…"

"Oh that," Lily blushed. "I haven't told RJ yet, I don't want to freak him out. What if he isn't ready to hear it?"

"You will never know until you tell him," Puck replied sagely. "I know that from firsthand experience."

"Right, you had just found out you were in heat and were on your way back to tell Master Swoop," Lily recited excitedly.

"Correct, I managed to locate Swoop in the training area but there was one little problem and her name was Sakura." Puck pursed her lips, "She had always liked Master Swoop but he wasn't the type to date or things like that. But as of late, she had noticed the amount of attention he was paying to me and she didn't like that at all. So she used my absence to attempt to win over Swoop and from my vantage point it seemed like it was working the way they had their hands all over each other."

"Was it?" Lily gasped.

Puck snorted, "Hardly. I found out after that she had tried to get all touchy and he was simply trying to get her off. But do you really think a hormonal stubborn woman is going to be patient and get an explanation? Hell no! I peeled Sakura off of him and literally kicked her away. Then I went on a tirade, yelling my lungs off and do you know what he did?"

"What?"

"Laugh. He laughed. At me. There I was, out of breathe and brimming with indignation, and he was in shock for a moment before cracking up so hard tears were running down his face. 'What the hell is so funny?' I demanded. 'You!' Swoop gasped. 'You're jealous!' He managed to grab some equipment to stop himself from crumpling to the ground. 'I am not jealous!' I insisted, thankful he couldn't see the blush on my face. 'Yes you are! It's adorable!' ADORABLE! He had the nerve to call me adorable like I was some precocious child. I was ready to snatch him face off!" Lily laughed, leaning her head back and that was when she saw Master Swoop lounging on one of the larger branches, chuckling into his hand. Lily silently pointed up and Puck turned and saw him too. She made a 'who cares' gesture and went back to the story. "It took a few minutes for Swoop to pull himself together. 'Are you done?' I asked annoyed. The humour hadn't entirely left his face as he said, 'For now. Is there a reason you sought me out?' 'Yes but now I'm too irritated to talk to you anymore, good-BYE!' I stormed off but I heard him snigger before coming after me. 'PUCK WAIT!' 'Oh go away you overgrown mosquito!' 'Come on Puck, it was funny!' 'No it wasn't you levitating jackass!' 'I'm sorry okay?' 'No! Not okay! You're a -' He had levitated over me to stop in front of my path. 'While I am very interested to see just how many names you can come up with, there is no need to get so angry.' I pushed past him into my room not bothering to close my door because I knew he'd come in anyway. 'Puck I'm sorry I laughed,' Swoop said sincerely. 'Now what did you want to tell me?' I wanted to keep being mad but I gave in and told him everything that happened with Master Crane. Swoop was stunned by the end of it. 'So,' he finally said with a smirk, 'we're mates. That's why you were all possessive and jealous.' I groaned, 'Here we go again. We're not mates yet and I was NOT jealous.' Swoop smiled and pulled me into his arms, 'Yes you were and I liked it. It was nice to see how much you cared.' It was strange having it put to me like that but I realised it was true, I did care. 'As for us not being mates,' he continued. 'I'm okay with changing that, are you?' For some reason I didn't hesitate or think about it, I just knew, 'Yes'. And we did but I'll spare you the details of that." They giggled together. Lily noticed when Swoop took off from his perch and was internally grateful, there were still some things she needed to ask Puck.

"Just a couple of things," Lily began.

"Is he gone?" Puck asked wryly.

"Mhm," Lily hummed. "Is there anything specific I should know about that…time?"

"I assume you are a virgin?" Lily nodded. "Well you should know about the pain but we recover a bit faster from it than normal humans. Now this is going to sound gross but it's important, I know you two aren't ready for a child so clearly you're going to use protection. As it's relatively new I have no idea the effect of the pill on a heat, I never took it. But if you use protection, make sure you have more than one just in case. Mating, especially with the hormones and such, can take some time work out so there is high chance of more than one round at a time if you get my meaning." Lily's face now resembled a beet but she gestured for her teacher to keep going. "The last thing is marking, not like the one you had before but a real and true bite mark." Puck twisted and moved her hair to show Lily a small but clear scar on her nape. "In the heat of the moment RJ will bite you, typically it's on the neck or shoulders, claiming you as his mate. The pain is brief but you will feel it. The skin will be healed within twelve hours and it will be quite tender for another twenty four so try your best to wear loose, non-abrasive clothing – silk is excellent; soft and cool - and you might have to forgo a bra depending on where it is."

"Right," Lily swallowed, stamping down the small thrill in her stomach at the idea. "Is there anything I can do to help make it easier?"

"Relax," Puck stated promptly. "I am very serious, the best thing you can do for yourself is to relax and let go, let your cheetah takeover. That goes for RJ too, I'm sure that's where Swoop has gone right now. Both of you, let your animal spirits guide you, like Master Crane said, you are in very good hands."

"I'm nervous," Lily admitted.

Puck chuckled, "Which person isn't their first time? You'll be fine cub, you're strong and brave. RJ is a good man, you have nothing to fear but the unknown."

Lily sighed, "I going to miss our conversations. I wish this didn't have to end."

"Neither do I," Puck smiled wanly. "Perhaps we ought to keep the tradition going, maybe not as regularly but we can still get together and chat."

"I like that idea," Lily got to her feet as did Puck and the two hugged tightly.

"Take care of yourself cub," Puck whispered.

"I will," Lily promised.

A/N: I really hope I did their last meeting justice, I'm sure Puck and Lily will get together again. Okay the rating will definitely need to get raised, it was hard to do the scene right as a T so it will get changed to an M either in the next chapter or the one after. Plus, I've decided to do a short little epilogue. So you haven't heard the last of me, until next time amigos STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER OF HEAT! ENJOY R&R PLZ!