Feverish (3 page)

He dropped is hand back to the cushion. “Sorry,” he mumbled. Then he sat on the couch pulling her onto the middle cushion. Eden took the other side and they flanked her. Sitting between them both felt right. She had never felt so safe in her entire life, but she had a feeling what they were about to tell her was going to change her whole life.

4

Eden’s energy and arousal was amped up higher than Dix had ever felt it. The attraction and sexual energy was so overwhelming that he had found himself palming Dara’s breast, and he hadn’t even known he’d done it until she moaned. He hadn’t meant to, but Eden was driving him crazy with his lust. Normally his best friend was the one with more control, but he wasn’t putting enough restraint on his emotions. It wouldn’t be the first time they had shared a woman, but this was different. She was their third, and it was forever. Still he needed to chill the fuck out before he lost his goddamn mind.

Dix couldn’t lie, touching her was probably the most amazing thing ever, and he was in heaven. Being near her woke his beast. His tiger paced inside his head begging to come out and play, but it wasn’t the time—not yet. His tiger sighed and lay down waiting for his turn.

‘
Soon my friend,’
he said hoping to relax his other side.

He glanced at Eden who was struggling to gain control and sighed. His love for him had grown exponentially over the past few weeks as they followed their third insuring her safety. Their bond had grown, and it was stronger than ever. Now all of the piece of their puzzle could be put together.

The woman he’d been dreaming of for almost ten years was sitting between them, and even though she seemed to be warming up to them, she still didn’t know what was going on or why. It was the part he dreaded. He worried about telling her that he and Eden weren’t human. There was no way to tell how she would react, and even though it was uncommon for destined mates to refuse a bond, it
was
possible.

He didn’t want that to happen to them, and he knew Eden didn’t either. He and Eden had their whole lives to bond. They grew up together knowing they were two out of three parts of a whole. Eden was the technically the oldest, so therefore the leader. He was the care giver since he was gifted with the power to heal, while Dara would be their anchor when the bond was complete. It was complex and for most of their young lives they assumed they were only going to be mated to a female as her partners, not mated themselves, but as they grew older their attraction to each other built. That’s when they started to learn more about the triad bond that all white tigers formed.

Even knowing him and Eden were just as much mates to one another as they were to their female anchor; they hadn’t completed their bond with each other—yet. They agreed to wait until they met their female mate. He hoped their bonding would be even more special because after 32 years together, they would be able to share their built up passion for one another. Nothing would hold them back.

He scrubbed his hand on top of his head and then dropped his hands onto his lab. “What I’m going to tell you will be hard to believe, but I need you to understand and stay calm, can you do that?”

“I don’t know. You stalk me for weeks, and then you tell me I’m yours like you own me or something.”

“We would never hurt you. You’re everything to us.”

“But why, you don’t know me, and I certainly don’t know you?”

Eden put a calming hand on Dara’s knee and her heart automatically slowed. “It’s a long story, and we really don’t have time to explain it all right now, but we will.” He gave Dix a look, and he nodded. They had already agreed that Dix would be the one to tell her what they were. They hoped because he appeared less threatening and was calm by nature that she would be more receptive to his tiger first.

“The truth is we aren’t human.” —Dara went to speak but he held up his hand— “We are tiger shifters, white ones to be exact, and I know this is going to be hard to believe so I’m going to show you.”

Dix went and stood in the center of the room and closed his eyes calling to his beast. His feline half yowled in excitement to meet their mate. He’d been waiting too long and was becoming impatient prowling in Dix’s head. His body shimmered and in a matter of seconds he had shed his human half leaving behind a large white tiger.

Now he saw Dara through golden eyes and pleaded for her not to scream. He wanted her acceptance. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. He cringed and waited for her scream of horror, but it didn’t happen.

She didn’t look away from him but asked Eden, “You change too?”

“Yes.”

“He’s still here though right, in control?”

Dix blinked and nodded his head before advancing towards her. He made sure his claws were sheathed butted his head against her knee and then followed it by licking her as a show of respect and love. As if she couldn’t help herself she lowered one hand towards him. Her fingers were gentle as she petted his head.

Pure Heaven.

“Oh my god, you’re so soft.” She continued rubbing his fur. He purred and closed his eyes. It couldn’t get much better than that. She didn’t appear to be afraid. At the very least she wasn’t freaking out and her eyes shined in excitement.

“See he’s in complete control. The tiger is another part of him, our beasts literally roam inside of our head, but we are essentially two halves of a whole. Dix wouldn’t be Dix without this beast right here, and they both like you very much,” Eden said and then chuckled as Dix laid his head on Dara’s lap and peered up at her with his golden eyes.

Dara slid one finger behind his ear and scratched, like she would a house cat. He purred louder and licked his nose. She laughed and scratched him more. He hoped this would be a normal occurrence. He and his beast were in heaven.

“This is so surreal.”

“Dix you can change back,” Eden said and he growled. He didn’t want to change back. Not when she was comfortable with him. As a beast she was at ease with him—as a man—not so much. Even though she seemed okay with his tiger, she didn’t know everything, and the worst was to come. Telling her about the demons wasn’t going to be pleasant especially because it was because she was their anchor that she had to worry about being kidnapped by vile monsters in the first place.

“Don’t growl at me. We need to finish talking.”

Dix chuffed in aggravation but backed away far enough from Dara to change back to man. His beast wasn’t happy, but Dix shook his head taking control. He sat on his hind legs and closed his eyes. The change was exhilarating. It was like stretching his muscles in a really pleasant way. He always felt rejuvenated when he changed. His body shimmered and vibrated with magic as he changed from feline to human.

When he stood before Dara he was worried. He’d never shown a woman his other side, and her opinion meant the most, but she was apprehensive—

“You’re beautiful, really.” Dara smiled and he could tell it was genuine. No fear showed in her eyes and when he listened he could hear that her heart beat hadn’t risen.

Inside his tiger beamed in pride. “Thank you.” He came back over to the couch and sat by her. “But I’m afraid there’s more we need to talk about. Now that you know that other creatures exist.”

She gulped. “You’re about to tell me something bad aren’t you?”

“We have enemies. One’s who will do whatever it takes to make sure our kind dies off, and because of that you’re in danger now.”

“What do you mean danger?”

He sat next to her and picked her hand up in his thankful when she didn’t fight him. “Shadox demons want to steal our power and possess us, because if they can successfully do so than they can take over our body, leaving our soul to roam the earth forever. We'd never be able to move on, and we'd never rest. It would be an eternity of hell. Once they know any of our kind has found their third, they’ll do anything to stop the bond because once it has been completed there is nothing they can do. There are some lines even they won’t or can’t cross, but before the mating you’re fair game to them.”

“Fair game?”

“Yes, they’re going to try to take you. They probably know that you’re our third by now. Their magic allows them to see things, sense things, and we’ve be shadowing you for weeks now.”

“No one has attacked me.”

“Probably because they weren’t sure if you were ours or not, since we hadn’t made contact, but now we have and we need you to be very careful. The sooner we form the bond the better.”

“But I don’t know you, and I’m going to take a wild guess that forming a bond with you is going to be—
sexual.
”

“In a way, but it’s so much more than that. Our souls will become one, but yes that happens during sex—between all three of us.”

Dara’s eyes widened. “I don’t know about all that. I’ve never been with more than one man at a time, and well, you two are huge.”

Eden chuckled. “Don’t worry Dara, you were made for us, and you’ll be so aroused you won’t feel any pain.”

She blushed and cast her eyes to the side and bit her lip. “I can’t have sex with two men I don’t even know. I don’t know anything about you or your history. Your likes and dislikes.” Turning her eyes towards Dix, she glared. “I’m not that type of girl. I don’t sleep around with random men I just met. Where I come from that would make me a whore.”

Eden growled low in his throat not at all happy with how she referred to herself. “We aren’t saying you are, and I understand your concerns, really, but you have to realize this isn’t some random fuck and you’re not a fucking whore. We’re mates, and once we bond it lasts forever. You’re the only one for us, and we’re yours.”

“Eden, calm down. She doesn’t understand, and she deserves to know something about us before she takes our word for it.”

Dix tried to rein him in before he scared her, and he was pretty sure she was scared, or pissed. Either way it wasn’t helping matters. Eden was the leader and needed to chill the hell out before she walked away from them. He wasn’t used to being the responsible one, and he found he didn’t like the pressure. No wonder Eden spent most of his time all tied up in knots.

“Baby, I promise you will learn everything there is to know about us, but there’s a lot of history, and I agree with Eden. The longer we wait to bond the more vulnerable you are to being taken, and believe me you don’t want that. It’s important for you to understand that the demons are evil. They will hurt you, and by the look in your eyes right now I know I’m scaring you. I’m sorry about that, but I won’t lie and say everything will be okay. Especially if they get a hold of you… it definitely won’t be.”

“What will they do to me?” she asked timidly.

He’d scared the shit out of her, but they needed to break through to her.

“Do you really want to know?” Dix asked.

“Yes.”

“They’ll torture you slowly driving you insane and then they’ll send you back to us, but you won’t be you. You’ll be a shell of your former self— you’ll be lifeless. It’s their way of saying they have the upper hand.”

Dara paled. “Oh.”

“Dix, you could have put it differently, damn look at her.”

Dara placed a shaky hand on Eden’s thigh. “No, I wanted the truth. So really I don’t have a choice, but to complete the bond.”

Eden growled, but he was hurt. Dix saw it in his eyes. The same fear of rejection mirrored him.

“You don’t want to mate with us?” Dix asked unable to keep the confusion from his tone.

Dara’s body shook, and he knew he needed to control his emotions, but she talked as if they would force her into the bonding.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I won’t lie and say I’m not feeling this strange connection to you because I do. It’s just—” she sighed as if trying to form the right words. “I’d like to know who I’m going to be spending my life with. It’s very overwhelming. I’m having problems taking it all in.”

At her words Dix felt a huge relief and smiled. “We have our whole lives to get to know each other, baby.”

Eden glared again obviously still feeling a bit worried. “You’re really not helping, Dix.”

“How is it that you’re both my mates, I mean won’t it be hard to share me?”

“No, it’s completely normal for our kind. Every time there is a birth, which hasn’t happened for a long time, there are two females who give birth at the same time. The two that are born are destined to share one mate. It’s called a triad, and our bond cannot be complete without our anchor— in this case that’s you. We are bonded at birth and grow up together. We wouldn’t know what to do without the other, and we temper each other down. He has strengths where I’m weaker and vice versa,” Eden explained.

Dix sighed in relief when Eden seemed to have calmed enough to help him out. He was sort of feeling like a one-man show with laying everything out there for Dara.

“So you grew up knowing that one day you’d share one woman for the rest of your lives?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“Sure, it’s natural for us. Two are better than one; we can protect you better that way,” Eden said.

Dix was impressed with him. He had taken over and led like he was meant to do. She seemed a lot calmer now.