Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (7 page)

That knowledge only increased Daniel’s sense of frustration and helplessness.

“You think there’s been more?” he asked.

“Hard to say. I couldn’t stop to judge how old the body was. I didn’t pick up more than one, though. Just that single putrid stench.”

But she hadn’t been hunting for more. Daniel stared at the wall as he considered an option he hadn’t before—what ifs that might actually help. Might…

“I’ll check with my police contact in Philly,” he said as the possibilities spun through his head. “See if there’ve been other murders similar to Su-jin’s.”

“Might get their attention.”

“Especially if they find something near a house Williams owns.” He heard noise from upstairs and stood, returning to the stove to stir oatmeal and take it off the heat. “Sarah’s getting up. I have to go.”

“You gonna investigate?”

He smiled. Of course Alexis knew what he was thinking. “Probably. I’ll let you know.” He kept his response vague because Sarah would be able to hear them now.

“Call me after,” Alexis said and disconnected.

By the time Sarah joined him, he had a bowl of oatmeal and a plate piled with bacon and sausage waiting on the table for her.

“Coffee will be ready in a few minutes,” he said. He studied her face. Her cheeks were still hollow and there were still faint circles under her eyes. But she didn’t look as pale anymore. “How do you feel?”

“Better,” she admitted with a slight smile. “I slept surprisingly well.”

“Not long, though.”

“I’ve never slept long anyway.”

True. At least, during their time together, he hadn’t known her to sleep more than a few hours at a time. And when she got up, she made sure he did too, literally. He enjoyed that about her. Waking up to a sexy as hell woman sucking his cock was a pleasure every time. Though the pace she set might wear him out after they were married…

If. If they were married.

The sobering thought was too complicated to consider just yet, so instead he focused on feeding her. She ate well, finishing off every scrap of food and even stealing a piece of bacon from his plate.

“Did you sleep?” she asked.

“A little. Enough.”

“Who was on the phone?”

He heard an edge in her tone and wondered what brought it on. “Alexis.”

“How’s Joseph doing?”

“Not well. They had to tranquilize him.”

She frowned. “I told you he wouldn’t stop. Is he okay?”

“No allergic reaction. Don’t worry. Victor and Alexis are taking care of him.”

“Like you’re taking care of me.”

“Yes.”

Tension vibrated between them as they stared at each other. Daniel allowed himself the luxury of her scent, filling his head with her combination of floral flavors with spicy undertones, a complicated mix, powerful and uniquely Sarah.

His gaze dropped to her mouth when she licked her lips. Under her natural scent, he also detected her oncoming estrous. The added tang was like a siren song, calling his lust and need.

He had to keep himself in check. Giving in to his desire now would be disastrous. Not only were they outside the Run, and therefore he risked his future ability to participate in the mating ritual, but if he lost himself in her body and heat, he might forget the point of having her here, the reason he was risking so much.

Would a kiss be so bad, though? Just a little taste. A brief, delicious reminder of what was between them, what they could have if they got out of this mess.

Before he thought better of it, he came around the table and lifted her out of her chair by her shoulders. She didn’t resist. He heard her heart beating, saw the pulse in her throat. A warm rush of primal demand and possessiveness filled him as he pulled her body flush to his. Her slight curves fit against him perfectly, like she was designed just for him. When her hands came up to rest on his hips, his muscles tensed, his grip tightened, and he dropped his mouth to hers.

Just a taste, he promised himself. Just a single taste…

The first brush of her full mouth against his destroyed every promise he’d just made.

He angled his head to deepen the kiss. She tasted perfect, sweet and salty from breakfast and that “flavor” that was part of her scent, a rich mix that satisfied and ignited his hunger in equal measure. The brush of her tongue against his was electric, and his hands flexed on her shoulders, pulling her closer.

It would be so easy to pick her up and carry her off to bed. To strip off the tank top and jeans she wore and lose himself in her soft skin and fiery passion. So very, very easy to forget everything and take what his tiger considered
his
.

He slid his hands down her arms, across her waist and down to her ass, pressing her against his growing erection. Her soft moan, the slight grind of her pelvis against his, shot jolts of pleasure up his spine.

The warning buzz in his logical brain was quiet, but persistent. He didn’t just want a moment with Sarah. He wanted a life. And giving in here and now, outside the Run, broke rules they couldn’t recover from. He’d be banned from attempting to mate for five years. She’d have to choose another male. And that was if she gave up her revenge scheme.

Breaking off the kiss and setting her at arm’s length was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. His heartbeat raced as he stared into her dark eyes. She blinked, her breathing coming fast, and he was tempted beyond all reason to drag her close again.

“Not outside the Run,” he said, as much to himself as to her.

She swallowed visibly. “There have been exceptions.”

“One.” Alexis and Victor had been allowed to mate despite breaking the rules of the Run and getting married before Alexis was pregnant. “And ten years later they’re still paying off the imposed fine. Things would have been even worse if she hadn’t gotten pregnant two cycles after the wedding. And even then there was uproar in the community. If her second baby hadn’t been a girl, there was talk of forcing them to separate.”

“I hadn’t heard that, about separating them.” She stepped farther away, as if she finally felt the same worry he did.

He shrugged. “It was a small group of dissenters, and their efforts wouldn’t have worked. Alexis and Victor would have fought and stayed together no matter what. They had Elizaveta’s backing, too. But they were lucky to have a girl and save themselves the trouble.”

The whole community was lucky their middle child was a girl. They needed every single female tiger they could get. Which was the whole point of the Mate Run. It had saved their community when they were on the brink of extinction and threatening to implode from the inside. Without it, the males would go back to fighting death matches over females, even resorting to rape and killing in their desperation for a mate. The rules of the Run were there to protect them all while they tried to find a way to stave off extinction. He believed in the Run and the good it did their people.

But standing in this cozy kitchen, staring at the woman he wanted more than his next meal, his next gulp of air, he had a very hard time remembering the laws he’d spent years upholding. He wanted to break every one of them to have Sarah.

Doing so would make a mockery of the reasons he’d brought her here in the first place, though. To save
her
from breaking a law. How could he tell her not to take revenge, not to break the law that would get her confined, when he was on the edge of doing the same thing? Did it make a difference that the rule he wanted to break didn’t involve killing someone?

He thought of Alexis and Victor. They’d broken the rules to be together. But there had been extenuating circumstances, a situation set up to force Alexis’ hand. He didn’t have that excuse. He didn’t have any excuse.

As he stared at Sarah, he acknowledged he was already breaking the law just being with her outside the Run. He had noble reasons for this breech, but if he let things go further, he couldn’t claim any kind of moral high ground.

He wanted Sarah for his wife. He would be sacrificing that possibility if he gave in to his need now.

If she’d still have him after this.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Sarah said. “Thank you for breakfast.”

She left the kitchen at a fast pace, like she was escaping. Though grateful for the distance, he wasn’t sure knowing she was naked and wet upstairs would actually help him regain his common sense.

Every breath he took was filled with her and the lingering blend of lust with both their signature scents. Three more days, he told himself as he took care of the dishes. Just three more days till the Run.

Which presented its own set of problems.

He glanced up at the ceiling, listening to the shower water run and trying hard not to visualize Sarah standing in the hot stream. Too easy to imagine walking into the bathroom, stripping off and joining her. Lifting her, fucking her against the shower wall, swallowing the sounds of her pleasure and release…

He shook himself hard and forced his mind to other things while he did the dishes.

Alexis’ information about a dead human body near Williams’ house opened an option they hadn’t had before. There might just be something there to force the human authorities to look closer at Williams, but Daniel wouldn’t know until he investigated.

Did he tell Sarah? If they went, if they found a body, they could call the police, tip them off anonymously. Or he could contact Pete directly. Peter Kelly was a homicide detective in Philly, and a contact Daniel had worked with more than once in the past. Pete wouldn’t have jurisdiction in Ridley Creek State Park, but he might know someone in the state police who could investigate.

Maybe they could get some sort of justice, even if it was indirect. Would that satisfy Sarah?

He’d be taking a big risk bringing her anywhere near Williams again—even if just one of Williams’ properties. The man owned at least five homes that Daniel knew of, and lived most of the time in a townhouse in Philadelphia. But Williams had taken at least two “dates” to the house outside the park, so there was no telling if he’d be there or not. Could Sarah resist the call to kill the man?

Could Daniel?

And would she forgive him if he chose the safe answer and didn’t tell her about the body?

He was pretty sure he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t do something. He could always try locating the body after the Run. Then again, Williams might move it before then.

Fuck.

Daniel desperately wanted to punch something. He fisted his hands, keeping them safely at his sides as he debated his next move. He hated, hated, hated this. In his world, he was the enforcer. If Williams had been a tiger, he’d have taken great pleasure in killing the man personally. Suppressing his instincts—with both Sarah and Williams—was making his tiger chuff and growl.

He needed to run, to shift and stretch himself, to release the tension, worry, and frustrations dogging him. He couldn’t. But he’d never needed a shift so badly in his life.

“Fuck,” he muttered aloud.

And made his decision.

They’d go find the body and call it in to the human police. It was something. The only thing he could give Sarah that might come close to satisfying her need for revenge. Then maybe, maybe, when they went into the Mate Run, she’d let him catch her again.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sarah stared at Daniel for a long, quiet moment after he’d finished his story. She’d suspected something when she’d come downstairs this morning—he’d been so vague on the phone with Alexis.

But this…

“Will you be satisfied with the possibility of indirect justice?” he asked. “Can I trust you to come with me?”

Ah, those were the questions. Would this satisfy her? And could he trust her?

The fact that he didn’t and had to ask cut deep, but it was an honest concern because at the moment, she didn’t even trust herself. She hated that he didn’t trust her. She hated more that he had cause.

Given the news he’d just revealed, though, she could worry about repairing the damage she’d done to their relationship later. Right now, she had to decide how to answer his questions.

Could he trust her not to kill Williams if she saw him again?

No. He couldn’t. With every fiber of her being, she still wanted to rip out the man’s throat.

Would she be satisfied with having him arrested? Harder to answer.

“I still want him dead,” she admitted.

“Damn it, Sarah, Su-jin would not want you to throw your life away like this. You can’t bring her back, even by killing him.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She fisted her hands in her lap to keep from launching out of her chair and stalking through the living room. He was right. She
knew
he was right. Nothing would bring her best friend back, and if the roles were reversed, Sarah would never want Su-jin to throw her life away.

“This
…his arrest…can give you some kind of peace,” Daniel insisted.

“
If
he’s arrested.” She pointed out the obvious flaw. “Even if the authorities find a body near his house, he’s got plenty of reasonable doubt and a lot of expensive lawyers to throw at them. He might not even be taken in for questioning since the body isn’t actually
on
his property.”