by Elsa Jade
Tears were flowing down her cheeks. She cupped his face, burying her fingers in his fur, her eyes locked on his. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck. “You’re real.”
He shifted back. When he was human again, he said, “I am. You’re not afraid? You’re okay with this?”
“I feel like you’ve always been a part of me.”
“You’re not freaked out? Not in the least?”
He was confused. He would have been. He’d have been running out of the cave in fear. That’s what non-believers did.
“I’ve always known that something would have to happen. I’ve known it deep in the very essence of who I am. I just had to wait for my white tiger to arrive.” She put her head in her hands. “I sound crazy. I can’t even explain it. It’s a relief, not a surprise.”
“My tiger knew the minute he saw you.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were destined to be mine.”
“What about your father? My parents? Your family? How does this work?” She did a double take. “The rest of your family? They’re… like you?”
“Yes, they are. And when we take a mate who’s human, we couple bond.”
He explained to her that couple bonding would mark them as mates for life, and that things would change for her. She wouldn’t be a shifter, but she’d be different. She’d have better senses, and she wouldn’t have the same short life span.
“Are you saying…?” She paused. “Is that what you want for us?” Her eyes searched his for an answer.
“Do you think we are any less than that?”
“No. But it’s scary.”
“Scary?” He pulled her tighter against him. “I don’t think it’s scary. I think it’s powerful. Where’s the woman who demanded I help her?”
“She’s just a girl who dreamed of a white tiger every night.”
“She’s so much more than that.”
“So, this couple bonding thing. When do we do that?”
“We’ll know when the time is right. I need to be sure you’re on board.”
“Oh, I’m on board, alright.”
“It’s a forever thing, Jax.”
“This is a forever thing, Rafe.”
His phone rang, bringing them back to reality.
“I’m not answering it.” He looked away from the phone sitting on the rock.
“What if it’s important?”
“You’re right.”
The phone stopped ringing. He glanced at it.
“Let’s go back to the house.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s the house line.” He pulled his pants on, then picked up her clothing.
“But what if… what if anyone’s there? They’ll see my clothes. They’ll know.”
“You’re my mate. It’ll be official when we make it so. Let them think what they will. I run Tiero Europe.”
Chapter Eighteen
‡
There was something very different about Rafe. The moment he said he ran Tiero Europe, Jax picked up on it. Was it the nature of their relationship?
She slipped her clothing on, and he put his hands on his knees.
“Your chariot awaits, my lady.”
With a laugh, she hopped onto his back. He made the trek back to the house with more haste and greater purpose than he had made the trek to the cave.
They passed the gazebo and Rafe set her down on the paved patio around the pool.
“Is it that unusual to get calls from the house line?” she asked him. “What do you think it is?”
“No clue. Yeah, pretty unusual, because we all have cells.”
He opened the French door for her and picked a pine needle out of her hair as she passed him. He smiled. “Next time we can take a blanket out there.”
The living area was empty. They moved toward the kitchen.
Kitchen. Damn, she was hungry. As if responding to her thought, her stomach grumbled.
“We’ll need some food, won’t we?”
“No rush.” She was more curious about this phone call business.
Rafe pushed aside the double doors that opened to a kitchen that would be able to feed an army.
“Gio.” Rafe greeted a man who barely looked old enough to be his father.
That must be the shifter aging thing in action. The man was wearing a suit that was clearly custom-made and a perfect fit. His hair was immaculate, not a single strand out of place. More darkly olive-skinned than Rafe, he had a slight touch of gray at the temples, but he was every bit as fit and muscled as Rafe was.
“Raphael.” Gio had an accent, definitely Italian.
Jax was no expert on Italian, but she’d picked up enough during her time here in Italy to understand when Gio told Rafe that he wanted to talk to him in private. She didn’t react or show any emotions, though it was clearly an insult.
Rafe responded in English to his father. “Let’s go to the living room.” He kissed Jax on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
She heard it all. She didn’t want to, but she heard every bit of their argument. Some of it was in Italian and it was spoken far faster than she could understand, but she got the gist of it. It involved the family fortune. Maybe Gio was threatening to take it away from Rafe? She heard Gio say something about her not being their kind, and Callie not being their kind.
She wasn’t welcome. Bottom line.
Next to the sink was a windowed door that led out to a garden. She didn’t want to hear any more of this, so she slipped out the door.
Herbs grew in pots and troughs under the window. A bench in the corner beckoned to her, and tears began to cloud her vision before she managed to sit. She put her heels on the bench and pulled her legs up under her chin, tucking herself into as small a package as she could.
Time passed quickly, and eventually her tears dried. She knew what she had to do. She had to leave Rafe. She couldn’t destroy his life.
She flinched when the door opened, then closed. She drew a deep breath in, hoping to steady herself for the task of telling Rafe that she couldn’t be with him. She turned to look at him.
It wasn’t Rafe.
“Hi.” Callie rubbed her back, her belly pressing outward even more.
“Hi.”
“Rafe’s looking for you. He took his car and headed toward your apartment. He figured you’d left.”
“He knows me too well. I’m planning to.”
“You can’t.” Callie put her hand on Jax’s shoulder for support and eased herself onto the bench.
“Why’s that?”
“You can’t leave me alone like this. Me, just me, and no one else but all these shifters.” Callie laughed.
“I think you’re pretty good at holding your own.” Jax forced a smile to her face even though her heart was breaking at the idea of a life without Rafe.
When did he start meaning so much to me?
He always had, she realized. And then she’d met him and things had become… It was like she had a new lease on life, that she’d become a new Jax.
“You can’t leave Rafe.” Callie mirrored Jax’s thoughts. “He needs you. You’re the other half of him.”
Jax gave her a sideways glance. “How do you know?”
“I heard him tell his father to go to hell, that you were his mate. Gio stormed out, and Rafe couldn’t find you. He thought you might have gone back to your apartment. Jeez.” Callie started to wriggle. “Help me get up. I need to tell Vax to call Rafe. He’s probably going out of his mind, unable to find you.”
Jax stood and gave Callie a hand.
“Rafe told Gio he hoped he was happy now, because he was losing both sons and was going to be a lonely old man with no family around.”
“Ouch.” Jax felt sorry for Rafe’s father. She went inside with Callie.
Callie told Vax to call Rafe, then took Jax by the hand. “Let’s go have some girl talk.”
They sat in the spacious living room, where the wood floor was gleaming
beneath furniture upholstered in expensive fabrics.
Jax sighed. “It’s like I’ve never known anyone else but him.”
“When I first met Vax, I thought he was this gorgeous, completely out of my league, amazing guy. I couldn’t talk to him. He was the boss.”
Callie rubbed her belly, a slight groan giving away the discomfort the baby was causing her. Then she continued, “But I became really close to his tiger, because I met him in Sanctuary. That’s a habitat that the Tieros have set up in Tiero Towers. I’d sneak in every night I could and visit with this giant white tiger. He was like my best friend. No, he was my best friend. And it was Vax all along. The man I was attracted to, the man I wanted, was also my best friend, but in tiger form.”
“That’s beautiful,” Jax said.
“That’s what you and Rafe are.” Callie put her hand on Jax’s. “You can’t leave him. You can’t thrive, either of you. You can’t make it without the other one, not now that you both know what you are to each other.”
“How do you deal with Gio?”
“Gio is Gio’s problem.” Callie shrugged. “He isn’t a part of my relationship with Vax. He doesn’t want to be a part of our lives.”
“Maybe one day?” Jax had to have hope.
“I haven’t given up hope,” Callie told her. “And if Mae ever gets her hands on him, she’ll make him see the light. We’re going to ask her to be godmother to the baby. And Doc and Rafe to be the godfathers. That would include you, if you’ll join our family.”
“Mae? Doc?” Jax had no idea who they were.
“You’ll meet them sometime, I’m sure. When you visit us in Dallas.”
Visit Dallas? Where was she going to live if she and Rafe were together? Did Rafe have his heart set on Italy? Or would he want to live in the US?
“Have you already asked Rafe?” Jax wondered how that had struck Rafe, knowing that he and Vax had a strained relationship.
“That’s why we came to Italy. Vax wanted to talk to Rafe.”
Jax’s tattoo started to become warm. Her body had had that sensation before. It meant Rafe was back, somewhere nearby.
A second later Rafe stopped into the room, wearing an expression of concern. He took long strides in her direction. She stood, and Rafe took her in his arms. “You gave me cause for concern.” His eyes had that amber flare she’d learned was his tiger.
“I’m sorry. It was a bit much. I had to get out of there, out of earshot.”
“Then you missed the ending.”
“What’s the ending?”
“Happily ever after, of course.”
“Until my parents get back?”
“Maybe your parents need to meet Gio. Wouldn’t that be a party?”
“Not.” She laughed. “I do need to go to my place, though. Look at me, I’m a mess.”
“You’ll go to your place and pack. You still owe me a weekend.”
“And you need to be there when my parents get back. You’re the perfect buffer, you know.”
“Oh, I’ll be there.” Rafe kissed Jax. “I’ll always be there.”
Jax waved at Callie as she slipped out of the room and into Vax’s waiting arms, a smile on her face.
Chapter Nineteen
‡
“There’s one thing I need to tell you.” Rafe pulled Jax back onto the bed.
She’d just barely got her feet on the floor when he’d grabbed her, moving with that supernatural speed his tiger gave him.
She was still naked after the night before. A warmth traveled through her body at the thought of the love they’d shared. “What’s that?” What more could this man who’d claimed her have to tell her?
“It’s weird to bring it up, what with your tattoo and everything we’ve been through before we even met, but I need to make you mine in the way shifters do.”
Jax raised a brow, studying his face for sincerity. Yup, he was serious. “Do tell.” She traced her fingers over his chest, making swirling patterns that grew closer and closer to his nipple. His muscles rippled beneath her touch, and her nails left red marks as she applied more pressure.
He liked a little bit of pain mixed in with his pleasure. Actually, it was his tiger that did; she’d figured that out. Jax leaned down, took his nipple in her mouth and scored it with her teeth, teasing, nipping, biting, and licking.
“Well, fuck.” The words seethed through his clenched teeth. “You’re making it difficult to talk.”
She lifted her head, a gleam of amusement in her eyes at the tiger’s glow she saw in the depths of his. She enjoyed teasing his tiger, loving the way he released the tiger when they made love, taking her fiercely while loving her at the same time.
Jax trailed her fingers lower across his abs, running them the length of each muscle, side to side, then down a notch to the next muscle, until she reached his navel. She did a little finger walk downward, letting the downy hair that led to his hardness be her guide.
“You should tell me before I move to the next step. You won’t be able to talk after that.”
Her fingers touched the tip of his cock, swollen with need. As soon as that velvet skin touched her fingertips, her pussy clenched with the fiercest of need for him. Like it did…
Every single time.
He groaned, a breath hissing out of him, fuel for her aching need.
God, the headiness of her desire for him. May it never recede.
“Tell me,” she demanded. “Tell me, because I need you.” She wrapped her fingers around his length, holding him tightly.
He grabbed her hand, wrapped his large one around her tiny one and squeezed.
“I need to claim you. To make you mine. And my tiger’s. To couple bond.” So overpowering was his lust, the words came out of him as if they’d been tortured out like a reluctant confession. “If you want to.”
“If I want to? I’m already yours. I can’t imagine being more yours than I already am.”
“You’ll see.” Still holding her hand, he moved it up and down, his movements rough, sexy, commanding.
*
Jax sucked her breath in at the assertiveness of his touch.
He groaned, a sound that didn’t sound human. His tiger.
The moisture between her legs multiplied while deep within a flexing that she couldn’t control began in her channel.
“Come here.” His voice had changed; it was earthy and almost a growl.
She swung one leg over his body and straddled him, her opening against his lower abdomen, the fuzz of his trail touching her inner folds. He reached out, and his thumb rested on her clit.
Rafe watched her face as he spread her lips and unhooded the tiny core of pleasure.
“Fuck, I love looking at you.”
The gravely sound of his voice made her hips rock slightly, rubbing her pussy against his stomach. She wanted to beg him to let her get on his cock, to take it deep within her. She bit her lip to hold back her request.
Applying more pleasure, Rafe made circles on her clit, picking up speed, his thumb strumming her, working her.
“Take me. God, Rafe. Fucking take me.”
He moved his hands. Tiger-swift, he put them on her hips, raised her up and dropped her on his hard, waiting cock.
“Ah,” she half moaned, half yelled at the sheer pleasure and concurrent twinge of pain. His girth stretched her, filling her, touching every part of her.
Jax leaned forward with her hands on his chest, pushing herself down on him, taking him as deep as she could. She flexed her inner muscles, relishing the feel of him as he filled her.
Rafe took her hands off his chest, twined their fingers and raised them over his head, stretching her out along his chest, her breasts pressed into him.
His mouth claimed hers, his tongue dancing with her tongue, then shifting gears and taking control. With a groan she surrendered her mouth to his.
He pulled away, and she whimpered at his mouth’s absence.
“Are you mine? Forever?” he rasped.
“God, yes. Forever. Make me yours.” She wondered what it meant, but wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Please. Now.” She was begging, but didn’t even know what she was begging for. All she knew was that she wanted everything Rafe had for her, whatever it was.
Rafe swiveled her, and before she knew it he was behind her and she was on her stomach on the bed. He pumped his hips, driving into her over and over while he held her down with his forearm against her back, keeping her immobile.
He was hot and thick inside her, his length sliding in and out, driving her further and further toward the point of no return.
Jax couldn’t focus. She couldn’t breathe. She bit on her lip to keep the scream from leaving her mouth as her channel wrapped itself tighter around him, pulling him in, holding him captive.
His cock strained against her muscles’ grasp, pumping until she arched her back and released with a moan and a gush of her passion.
Just as she began to come undone, a searing pain struck where her shoulder met her neck.
He’d bitten her.
His tongue lapped at the spot, hot and insistent, soothing, giving, and taking.
The pain vanished, replaced by a pleasure that coursed through her body, leaving her breathless.
She collapsed. “What—wow.” She panted the words out.
“Now you’re mine.”
“I was before.”
“You’ll see what I mean as you transition.”
His lips alit on her neck, where he’d marked her, close to the tattoo.
Her nape felt alive with a warmth that traveled down her spine and into her limbs.
This was surreal. Her tiger. Her dreams. Everything. It was real. He was real.
Epilogue
‡
A couple of days later…
Jax, Rafe, Callie and Vax had just finished dining at the Tiero Villa. Vax and Callie were flying out the next day, and this was their last night together.
Jax now knew what Rafe had meant when he’d said, “You’ll see what I mean.”
She’d changed. Her vision was better. Her sense of smell was more acute. Her hearing had improved immensely. Not to the degree that Rafe’s was, she knew, but still, exponentially better than it had been.