Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (2 page)

“
You'll
get the sweater back later, kitten,” he whispered. “One
less thing for you to shred when you shift. And we
do
need
you to shift, Jenna.”

“
No!”
I hissed in his face.

Tarken smiled dismissively. Unlike his underlings, he
showed no fear.

“
Stop
fighting the heat. Just do what comes naturally. Your scent will
carry further when you're a tiger. I have a good feeling every male
in the area's going to come running after one good sniff of your
pheromones. Your kind are far more animal than man when sex is
involved.”

I shuddered. Talking about sex with this demon was the
very last thing I wanted.

What I wouldn't give to shift and throw myself at him.
Surely, I'd get a claw or a set of fangs into his neck before his
sniper sent a bullet screaming into mine.

“
A
good thing for you too,” he continued. “A tiger in heat
won't care about your plush little tummy like a human man would.
You're a very lucky girl today, Jenna.
Very
lucky
indeed.”

I glared. The asshole had the audacity to talk about my
size. I didn't know how, but I was going to kill him, no matter how
long or dangerous the path to shredding him beneath my claws might
be.

If only those damned snipers weren't there. “I'm
not stupid. Neither are the tigers out here,” I said hopefully.

Truthfully, I'd never met another of my kind. I had no
idea what other tigers were like, but I hoped they weren't the
instinct blinded beasts the professor claimed.

“
Not
at all. But then you, like your kin, are far too trusting. They won't
see the chain around your hind leg and catch our scent until it's far
too late. By then, we'll have your new friends tranquilized and
implanted with tracking chips. Tigers' treasure is worth a king's
ransom. The fur, the silver, the artifacts...you're going to let me
retire like a king.”

I flexed my hands in the cool air. The tiger inside me
crouched, begging me to let her come out and pounce. She wanted to
taste his blood, even if was the last thing she ever tasted.

I gave into my human weakness, glaring at him instead.

If I wanted to live, then I had to keep calm. I couldn't
give the men perched behind him any reason to fire.

“
My,
we've come a long way since those Wednesday meetings in my office.
Don't think you're getting nothing here. I've delivered on my
promise, dear Jenna. I'm putting you in touch with your ancestors,
your kin, your homeland. Now, I expect you to deliver.”

He reached into his pocket and produced my amulet. He
held it out in front of me, the way a mischievous owner teases an
animal.

I jumped, missed, and almost skidded on the soft earth
into the mud.

Tarken chuckled. His low, nasally tone made my hair
stand up.

The bastard's absent-minded professor act had gone a
long way toward luring me here. I hadn't recognized the real cold
blooded criminal inside him until it was too late.

“
I'll
leave you to the Alaska wild now. You'll find that the afternoons up
here are very short, Jenna, especially at this time of year. The
temperature is expected to plunge another twenty degrees before
midnight. You'll shift at some point, or freeze to death instead. The
choice is yours.”

I growled, letting the tiger surface, but stopped her
from coming out just in time. I'd hold her until the bitter end. It
was bad enough that he'd enslaved me, but I wasn't going to be his
tool.

I made a vow to fight, even as the Alaskan breeze
reminded me how difficult it would be to keep.

About an hour after sundown, I cracked.

I was hot, wet, sweaty, and chilled to the bone. All
things no person – or tiger – has any business being at
the same time!

The drug swirling in my blood clashed with the arctic
air prickling my flesh. And that didn't factor in the hunger twisting
my stomach in knots and making me feel light headed as a ghost.

I ran my tongue over my lips, thinking about the last
meal I'd eaten. Over a whole day ago now, a brownie, sweet tea, and
chicken wrap I'd scarfed at the university before meeting in Tarken's
office. That was where he had his goons waiting behind the door with
chloroform and handcuffs.

Thoughts of bloody revenge and hard bodied men swooping
in to the rescue simmered in my brain. Lust consumed a little more of
me by the second.

The violent pulse running through my womb was so strong
it hurt. I tried my best to ignore it, ashamed and flustered all at
once, hating my biology for betraying me with a little nudge from
Tarken's syringe.

My human eyes couldn't see very far into the encroaching
darkness. When I stared into the forest, I just saw tall trees and
lengthening shadows. Only the orange tip of Doctor Tarken's cigarette
reminded me they were there, watching and waiting. Probably more than
a little pissed I hadn't given in yet.

The clouds had parted, showing me the faded sun like a
big orange lantern. I watched it slip below the mountains, focusing
so hard I momentarily forgot about the cold.

But the Alaskan cold wouldn't be shrugged off so easily.
Jack Frost bit back when the last shards of sunlight disappeared. The
wind picked up, and I swore the temperature fell ten degrees to
freezing in just as many minutes.

You can't keep this up forever, Georgia girl. Who are
you kidding, Jenna? You need your strength.

I heard my mother's voice. Melancholy, caring, and
perfectly right.

Slowly, I slumped to the ground, slapping the chain
around my leg. I couldn't feel my extremities anymore. My body was
going to fight for self-preservation, even when my brain didn't want
to.

The tiger took control.

My hands splayed out above my head, and I spread my
legs. Fabric tore and bones cracked, filling my ears with familiar
music of my whole body rearranging itself. I swung my head from side
to side, pinching my eyes. When they opened again, my hands weren't
hands anymore, but soft paws tipped with razor sharp claws.

I stared into the forest and growled. Now, I could see
my torturers perfectly, aided by sharp night vision.

The snipers remained on the roof. Their guns looked
different than the ones I'd seen in movies, their barrels much too
large to fire deadly bullets. These rifles were intended to shoot
darts instead.

Doctor Tarken leaned against the front of the van. He
wore the bored, blank expression I'd seen at least a dozen times when
I met him in the libraries.

The professor lived up to his quiet, scholarly
reputation in skinwalker lore. His keen interest in Alaskan tigers
attracted me immediately – especially when he showed me he
treated it as more than just a stupid legend.

He knew shifters were real before he realized what I
was. When I gave in and showed him one night in a park near campus,
changing beneath the moonlight, he was fascinated. I mistook his
fearlessness for friendship.

Loneliness
ruined me. I jumped at the only human I'd ever met since Mom who
truly understood
me.
And
I'd paid dearly.

I sniffed at the cold air. Once again, the professor
wasn't lying about my signals.

Fragrant pheromones rose high into the night, without
breaking up or weakening as the wind swept them away. My tiger was
just as bothered by the heat coursing through my body. She shared my
pain, the same febrile thoughts and unforgiving ache in my loins.

Growling into the night, I crouched on the cool ground,
folding my paws. There was nothing to do but wait.

Hours passed. I gazed into the night, watching sparse
clouds rippling over the stars, winking out my light.

I saw it during a break in the clouds. At the other side
of the forest, a large shape was moving.

My ears pricked up. I stood, fearing it was a bear or a
wolf or some other natural predator. Tarken and his men had been so
hasty they probably hadn't considered Alaska's less than sentient
dangers.

But this shape was too sleek to be a bear. It had a long
tail, beefy paws, and a perfect way of moving between the trees I
recognized.

My heart nearly stopped. It was another tiger, a little
bigger than me, and he was looking right at me.

I didn't move. The last thing I wanted to do was give
him away if the snipers behind me hadn't seen him yet.

The big male stopped, crouching behind a giant log. His
lip curled, as though he wanted to signal me.

I twisted my head, letting another low growl slip. I
didn't understand. What did this strange, miraculous cat want?

Men began shouting behind me.

Oh, shit. They see him!

I spun, ran forward, and forgot about the chain. It tore
me backward, painfully catching on my hind leg. I roared, loud enough
for the men to hear my anger, but they had other business.

I stood, peering over the high grass, watching as
several tigers burst into their camp. In a single leap, one of them
was on top of the van, tearing into the snipers.

Their screams satisfied my ears. So did Doctor Tarken's
panicked shouts, screaming for backup from the guys who'd retreated
into the goods. Gunshots fired, but they missed the ferocious striped
shapes moving around them, a tornado of tigers sewing terror, pulling
the noose tighter around my captors.

I roared my approval. My hind leg thrashed at the chain.
Then I realized I was caught on something else.

My head whipped back. I froze, predatory eyes locked on
the most handsome man I'd ever seen. He was big, muscular, and
completely naked.

“
Don't
move,” he whispered. “Let me get this thing off you...”

My inner tiger whined, unsure about this stranger.
Amazingly, he told the truth. I watched as he summoned up inhuman
strength. He gripped the spike in the earth with both hands and gave
it a tremendous yank.

It came out of the ground. I was free.

I ran right past him, bounding over fallen wood and into
the high grasses, straight into the unknown direction he came from.

Instinct took over. I was scared, sick, hungry, and
confused. I needed to get away from the bewildering chaos behind me.

I heard the man yell after me, but I wasn't stopping. I
throttled straight into the woods, tackling the rugged Alaskan
landscape.

Everything behind me needed to disappear just now. The
torturers, the kind strangers, the horror.

Human and tiger urges alike foamed inside me. They kept
my four legs moving, deeper into the strange forest.

I needed to find an owl, a caribou, or hell, even a
raccoon I could snack on.

Mostly,
I needed to get away from
him
.

The stranger posed a different danger with this horrible
lust oozing from every pore. I couldn't give him a chance to smell me
up close. Because if I did, I knew I'd shift and submit, throwing
myself at his hard body, giving into drugged desires shooting through
my bones.

Maybe, if I ever found my way home, I could thank him
then. Maybe.

Gods. Who am I kidding?

Several miles into the Alaskan wilderness sapped all my
strength. I couldn't run and climb over all the debris. The forest
was absolutely littered with sharp rocks, uneven streams, and huge
branches. Nothing like the clear and warm southern forests I knew.

I paused to rest, stopping near a stream. The water was
ice cold, but it was sweet when I lapped it up. Crisp and refreshing,
made to replenish body and mind.

A branch snapped behind me. Before I could turn, an
avalanche of fur and muscles came crashing down on my back.

Roaring, I clawed at the intruder, amazed how quickly he
was able to pin me down. The huge tiger with the bright eyes above me
had the power to do serious damage. But he didn't.

His paws held mine against the ground gently. His bite
grazed the nape of my neck, strict and calming, rather than
dangerous.

I went slack. Our eyes met in the darkness, and a primal
kind of submission welled up deep inside me.

This man wasn't going to hurt me. Neither was the big
cat who shared his soul. My tiger relaxed, and so did I.

I shifted beneath him. The stranger sensed it. He rolled
off me and fell, transforming next to me.

When I sat up in the freezing forest, I noticed other
tigers near us, the same crew that had attacked Tarken and his men.

“
Are
you okay? Why did you run?” He stood, naked and glorious
beneath the faint starlight seeping through the trees.