It was the coward’s way out. I am no coward. Not anymore.
Several of the pack has managed to stay close enough to keep an eye on her. Rennin the Manx with his four horns and his telltale clopping feet was fast but not at all quiet to the ears of Nicole’s tiger.
Henna a coyote shifter was much quieter but Nicole knew they rhythm of her heart, and the way she liked to stay low to the ground.
Nicole’s tiger purred a sound of amusement. She raced up a thick tree, her claws sinking easily into the bark and wood. It only took three leaps to reach the forest top. From there she traveled from tree to tree until she reached the mountain. The climb from below was much too difficult for either Henna or Rennin to make.
Her tiger was pleased with herself until she heard the swooping sound of wings overhead.
Medley.
The teen girl, a falcon shifter. Not only was she incredibly fast but she was smart, out of reach in the sky, and wasn’t going to be ditched no matter how hard the tiger tried. The young girl was grateful to Rafi for taking her in when her own family was killed by hunters. Her loyalty to him was strong. She would tell Rafi where Nicole went to be alone.
This will have to be the last time we visit the lake.
“Why not scare the girl when we go back and tell her not to take away our freedom? She is a bird, we can crush her.” Nicole’s tigress argued, her white fur with black stripes stood up at her back.
Nicole did not answer the tigress because arguing with her did very little good and because she knew that once she was able to swim in the lake she would feel better and forget her annoyance with the teen girl who was only doing as Rafi asked.
Nicole continued up the mountain. She looked back toward camp once she reached the crest. It wasn’t the pack that her tiger missed, it was the children. The ache inside to grow a baby and feel the little spirit inside her womb burned like she’d gobbled up a fire pit of hot coals.
Soon. Nicole promised the tigress. Soon we will become pregnant with the heir. Patience.
The rumbling growl was her tiger’s response.
Medley flapped her long brown and white wings, climbing higher into the blue sky. She probably heard the growl and believed it was meant for her. The tigress leaped up onto a boulder and then again into the air swiping at Medley before Nicole could stop her.
The falcon was easily fast enough to avoid the grasping claws of her tiger but the fear in the eyes of the bird as she climbed into the sky like a rocket made Nicole feel bad that she’d scared the young woman.
I’ll have to apologize to her now for you. She’s only a tall kid you know.
The tigress slid halfway down the boulder and then leaped onto the rocky floor. She didn’t care about giving apologies. Her tigress wanted freedom. She wanted to be given full control over the body they shared.
Nicole refused, holding on to her consciousness. It wasn’t as easy as it might seem. Letting go would be like sleeping safely without a worry in the world. That safety and warmth were addictive but she hadn’t given in to it in more than five months now.
Waking up and not knowing what she might have killed or done was not enjoyable in the least. Remembering the way her Tiger hungered after that last hard winter, the way she’d targeted the humans helped Nicole to hold on to her consciousness. No one else needed to be hurt.
Medley let out a cry from far above.
She circled overhead telling Rafi exactly where Nicole was. Her tigress roared angrily up at the bird. Her dislike of the teen girl growing by leaps and bounds.
She is obeying her pack leader.
Her tiger did not bother to respond this time. She simply didn’t care. The pack was annoying to her. Always too close, always wanting to talk and be human.
The cry of the coyote was a distance back in the forest. She wasn’t going to find her way over the mountain in less than a few hours, not unless she could climb that same tree and make the leap onto the mountain that Nicole’s tiger made. Henna wouldn’t risk shifting into her human form and having to deal with Nicole’s tiger. She wouldn’t climb the tree and neither would the other spy, Rennin.
Nicole forced her tiger to stop and listen. Searching out the noises of the forest for Rafi. Would he come and watch her now that he knew where she was?
After waiting some time and not hearing Rafi, Nicole sighed with relief and allowed her tiger to continue to the lake. She couldn’t help being pleased with Rafi. He made it clear that he was worried for her safety but he wasn’t coming and invading her space. There was a level of respect there that she was happy to find.
“They are not our pack. We do not have family. No more family,” her tigress snarled.
Nicole bristled inside. The tiger correcting her thoughts was not something she could tolerate, not if she was going to be the one in charge of the body they shared.
You want an heir, don’t you? The tigress didn’t answer but Nicole could feel the burning ache in their shared belly. Rafi is the strongest male we’ve come across in years. If we let him mate with us he will be the father of the baby.
“We need no father. I will protect what is ours.”
You don’t get to make that decision.
The tigress growled as she padded up to the bank of the lake. She was angry and fighting Nicole for the power role of their body. When she started running, Nicole tried to push forward and stop the tigress but to her dismay, her tiger wasn’t allowing her any control.
She leaped up onto the outcropping of rocks and bounded forward nearly capturing Medley who’d foolishly come down to drink from the lake and had believed herself safe. Medley let out as cry as she jetted into the air and back toward camp.
Nicole was outraged but more than that she was terrified. The tiger was so much stronger than Nicole realized. It was still much too dangerous to be around Rafi’s pack, or any pack for that matter. Not when her tigress was the one in the driver’s seat.
We won’t go back. Nicole told her tiger.
“We will go and get with child from Rafi.”
Nicole pushed hard trying to come forward and shove her tiger to the back to take back control. It wasn’t working. The tigress was digging her mental claws in refusing to give Nicole an inch.
I will not tell him to mate with us, tigress. You do not get to be in control.
Her tiger roared with rage at being denied something that she could not take for herself. Still, she was not allowing Nicole to come forward. The both of them were so angry and distracted that they almost missed the feint scent on the wind.
Someone is here.
Three sharp pings sounded and pain radiated through her back. It was followed by numbness and she crumpled to the earth. It was sleepiness taking over her body, not death. Fighting it off was impossible. Her eyelids dropped as Nicole fought to stay awake.
I should have listened to Rafi.
With Medley chased off by her tiger, there was no one to go for help. The sound of people approaching her heavy body was the last thing Nicole comprehended and knew she was either never going to wake up, or she was going to wish that she didn’t
.
CHAPTER THREE
VICTOR
“We have to move fast. The others of her pack will be coming for her,” Angeline whispered.
Victor scooped Nicole up as her body finished shifting from her tiger form to her human form. He held her tightly against his chest the jealousy at seeing Rafi with his hands on her, his mouth on Victor’s mate still had his blood boiling.
Nicole allowing Rafi to touch her pissed him off, even if he knew it was unreasonable. He loved her still, with every fiber of his being he knew that Nicole was his destined mate just as he knew that she knew it too. Allowing Rafi to touch her was all the more evidence that she still hated him.
Running at his top speed with Nicole in his arms was easy. His anger and jealousy charged his body with adrenaline, and in her human form, Nicole was light and petite. In this form, and asleep as she was, Nicole s
eemed fragile.
I won’t let Rafi use you to hurt his enemies. Nicole, you are mine and I will protect you.
The image just kept replaying in his mind. The damn kiss. Victor wanted to take her mouth with his and erase the touch of Rafi from her mind and body. He wanted to claim her fully and be her mate. That would never be. Nicole already refused him and that was before she hated him.
There was no chance that she would allow him to be who he was meant to be for her. Not after all that had happened. The bitterness of his situation had his mood turning dark. Usually, he fought this side of himself off, wanting to be the best that he could be for the pack. What did that matter now when his best would never be enough to win him the love of his mate, Nicole.
Besides, when Nicole did awaken, she would be enraged. What better way to deal with an enraged tigress than to match her mood and strength?
Allowing his darker side to take the reins he’s ready for his anger to coil into rage, as he looks down at her in his arms. Victor nearly laughs out loud at his own foolishness. Looking at her he can do nothing but adore her.
Her pink lips are still the perfect little bow for her small mouth.
Victor still remembered how demanding her mouth could be when they hid behind a bush or tree for a secret kiss or caress. She’d purr whenever he touched her, even if it was just to hold her hand or slide a strand of hair from her face. Just thinking about it, he could almost feel her vibrating in his arms. She wasn’t though. Nor would she be anytime soon.
The fiery temper on Nicole had to be the sexiest thing about her. She never put up with anything she felt to be unjust. Victor loved that about her until he’d made a mistake that she couldn’t find the room to forgive him.
It hurt him that she could hold onto her anger and rage against him when he could scarcely remain angry with her for more than a few minutes. He simply loved her too much to have any room left to be angry with her. Clearly, she did not love him like he loved her.
With their speed, the three of them had crossed miles of space. Rafi couldn’t even know that she was gone. Killian and Angeline were beginning to slow but Victor kept pushing his body at his top speed. Rafi wanted Nicole. He wanted her body, wanted what she could do for him, wanted to steal her legacy.
He won’t have you. I won’t let him take from you what you hold most dear. This I swear to you, Nicole.
Nicole’s eyes moved behind her lids and her lashes fluttered slightly. Her body tensed and the very active movement behind her eyelids warned him that she was either having a very bad nightmare or she was pissed and waking up.
At last he began to slow his pace. Victor watched her face in anticipation. She would be furious but she would also be looking at him with her amazing aqua blue eyes that were like an electrified blue sky.
Killian and his mate, Angeline caught up trailing four paces behind him, no doubt they too anticipated she would be angry. “I don’t think this is going to go the way you believe it will,” Angeline says to Killian in a tone that is dripping with frustration.
“You said yourself you didn’t see this part in your vision. I’ve treated many different kinds of shifters. Tigers being one of them. I have found them to be a very wise and calm unless provoked.”
“You mean like shooting one with a tranquilizer that will keep her from completing a full shift into her tiger form?”
Victor nearly laughed at the two of them. They really didn’t understand what they were up against. Nicole wasn’t just a tigress, she was one of the rare white tigers, perhaps the last of her kind if what Victor heard was true. Their tempers ran hotter, their strength was nearly twice that of every other shifter when they were angry enough.
Nicole would be angry enough. As soon as she saw him, she would be so full of anger and power that she would likely topple half the forest.
Only, she didn’t wake. Nicole’s body relaxed in his grasp. Her features calmed and she rubbed her cheek against his bare chest. That simple touch made his entire body ache with the need to be touched by Nicole. His erection was so hard it was painful.
She tortures me even in her sleep. Shit, dammit, fuck. I’m so hard I could drill holes in concrete with this cock.
Victor takes ten more paces before he has to stop. It’s too painful to walk with his shaft so hard.
Killian makes a grumbling sound as he hesitates next to Victor. “What is the hold up? She’s not awake, we need to keep moving. Just because Rafi isn’t after us yet doesn’t mean he won’t be soon.”
Victor gives Killian a look that he hopes lets Killian know how stupid he thinks Killian can be.
“Does her tiger shifting cause her to be quite heavy? Do you wish for me to carry her for you?”
Victor’s rumbling growl shakes through his chest, it wasn’t intentional and yet Victor wasn’t upset to have let Killian know that Nicole was his.
Angeline puts a calming hand on Killian’s back. “She’s his mate,” Angeline reminds him. “Would you let anyone else carry me if I were unconscious?”
Killian gauges Victor for another moment with his keen blue eyes. “I would not wish for anyone else to touch my mate if she was vulnerable. I would not hurt her or be in anyway inappropriate with her. I understand though, that you want her in your arms.”
Victor nodded, his defenses relaxing as he looked down at Nicole.
Her aqua blue eyes were open and despite himself, he was delighted when he saw recognition in them. That is, he was happy until he felt her hand lock around his balls, her nails biting into his very tender flesh.
Aw shit. She’s awake.
CHAPTER FOUR
NICOLE
“Hello Vic,” Nicole said as he let out a high pitched unnatural squealing sound. She tightened her grip around his nut sac. “You want to set me down now?”
Victor closed his eyes letting out a groan that strummed the strings in her core that somehow was already warm for him. He squatted instead of bending forward. Gently his hand under the back of her knees lowered until her feet touched down.
“You still have big ass balls, I’ll give you that,” Nicole said seeing the other two shifters but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from Victor. “You fucking shot me?”
Victor is stiff, frozen. He’s not going to move while she’s got his balls in her vise-like grip. A fat drop of sweat has formed on his forehead at his dark brown hairline. He’s got a tan, he didn’t use to have. He’s grown taller, and wider too.
“You are in danger-”
Nicole laughed and looked pointedly down at his shorts where she was squeezing his balls. “Am I?”
“We’re only trying to help you-” the tall, lean, man said with his arm out and shielding the female who was round with a baby in her belly.
Nicole held her other hand up to him signaling him to be quiet and he wisely followed her direction.
“I don’t know who you two are and I don’t give a shit. Victor, however, I know very well. He owes me a debt that I promised I would collect the next time I saw him.”
Victor leaned in toward her hand to try and ease the pull she had on his delicate skin. Nicole pressed her hand to his chest.
Mistake.
His heart pounded under her palm. The look in his eyes one he gave her so many times so very long ago that it nearly took her back to that time before he’d fucked everything up. When they’d been crazy in love teens.
Keeping her face void of any emotion, she shoved him backward and held him upright with her hold on his nuts. Skinny, the other man cried out like he could feel the pain, covered his crotch with his hands and took a large step back.
“I’m going to take him now and you’re not going to do shit about it. Understand?”
“We can’t let you do that,” the female said. Her hair was nearly the same color as the white fur of Nicole’s grandma June’s white tiger. The memory of the last time Nicole saw her saw her hardened Nicole’s heart.
Nicole looked pointedly at the woman’s pregnant
stomach. She would never hurt a baby, could never hurt a baby, but this woman didn’t know that.
The white blond-haired woman with violet blue eyes took a step closer toward Nicole instead of backing away as she should have. “You put your baby in danger? For him?” Nicole asked pointing at Victor making certain to coat her voice with disdain.
“You won’t hurt me. We can’t let you hurt Victor and we can’t let you leave. Victor was right, you are in terrible danger, Nicole. I’ve seen your-”
Nicole gave Victor’s balls a squeeze and he grunted though she wasn’t sure if it was a sound of pain or pleasure. His very substantial, impressive, manhood was standing at full attention and only seemed to grow and harden further. She was doing her best not to look but it was proving impossible.
“Leave now, both of you. Unless you don’t want to live.”
Victor took hold of her wrist firmly and her eyes snapped to meet his deep green eyes. There was no fear in them, but then Victor never had been the kind to show fear. His silence as he stared back at her infuriated her.
After everything, he should at least be begging my forgiveness. Isn’t he at all sorry after what he put me through?
Nicole raised her auburn eyebrows at him daring him to do or say something. Skinny began shifting. Nicole had to respect him for that. He should be defending his family, only now he forced her to act.
She reached within herself to pull her tiger spirit forward to trigger her shift but it was as if her tiger were stuck in quicksand and the more she tried to pull her forward the more her tigress withdrew. The tigress roared within her body, furious that she couldn’t spring free.
Shame filled Nicole because instead of being upset that she couldn’t bring for the tiger, it was relief that she felt. She wouldn’t have to try so hard to keep control of the tigress.
The strength of her tiger spirit remained. This meant she could still defend herself and that was all she really wanted to do. These shifters with Victor did not wreak of blood or death like many others. He’d managed to find a home with shifters who weren’t killers.
Rizer Pack Shifter- Complete Series Page 41