Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (15 page)

He softened the death grip on my throat, but I still
couldn't get any air into my lungs. My head throbbed like a bad
hangover.

Tarken lowered his face, until I could feel his
disgusting breath on my forehead. Then his fingers resumed their
assault, clawing deep into the soft tissue.

“
Ask
me, you bitch. Ask me.”

There was a rustling near the tent. Tarken's hand eased
instantly, and I turned into a spluttering mess. I coughed and sucked
in air, grateful for whatever strange miracle made him release me.

I pushed my head up, and saw a young woman in a doctor's
white coat coming toward us, carrying a clipboard. She glanced at me
like I was just a curiosity, and not a living and breathing woman.

Cold gray eyes. Just like his.

“
She's
a wily one, isn't she, Doctor?” The woman said.

“
Indeed.
What do the results say, Jean?”

“
Well,
there's a reason she's putting so much effort into fighting you.”
Jean smiled. “Our friend here is pregnant. Two cubs, just a few
weeks along. Unless you want me to remove them, I'm afraid this is
going to put a damper on business with the village.”

What?
What!
My
tiger yawned wide and began to scream inside my head, like she was
caught in a terrible trap.

Tarken sighed. Annoyed.

“
No,
don't do that. Tiger cubs can be worth a lot of money, and I know a
few buyers on the black market. How long until she gives birth?”

“
Hm.
I'm told tiger skinwalkers have a gestation period that's closer to
wild tigers than human women.” Jean licked her bright red lips
and thumbed through the clipboard. “I want to say...ten to
twelve weeks? I'm sure I can fly up some drugs and hasten things
along if there's any delay.”

“
Do
it. As soon as my overseas clients get wind of what she's carrying,
they'll be inundating my voice mail day and night, wondering when
they're going to get their new goodies.”

“
Of
course, Doctor.” Jean returned to her clipboard as Tarken
walked past.

“
Oh,
and make sure this doesn't do any permanent damage. From what I've
been told, she needs to be properly mated by Rufus to look legitimate
to the others, and that means plenty more cubs. Not that the other
tigers are feeling very accepting of their new Alpha at the moment.”

Jean lowered the documents and looked at me. For a
second, I expected a tiny glint of sympathy.

Stupid me, always the optimist. The woman's lips quirked
up in a smile beneath her dead eyes. Whatever drove her, it was
undoubtedly nothing higher than the almighty dollar, the very same as
her employer.

“
I'll
do it, Doctor. I recommend we keep her under close guard and get her
fed. If you don't mind, I'd like to record this whole process for my
research. The black ops boys at the Pentagon will pay handsomely for
this. They don't get their hands on many skinwalkers these days due
to all the treaties. Free agents like me have a little more leeway
than military researchers.”

“
Of
course. I know you wouldn't be up here shivering with the rest of us
if I were the only one paying you.”

They shared a laugh. Then the tent zipped open and
Tarken was out, closing the flap gently behind him.

“
Well,
my young tigress, it looks like you and I are going to be getting to
know each other very well the next couple months. I'll be as gentle
as I can when you cooperate. I'm not like your new mate. I don't get
any joy out of roughing you up. Do we understand each other, Jenna?”

It wasn't until she
said my name that I lost it. I roared, making vocal sounds more like
a tiger, rabid warning growls no human woman should ever make.

My scream went high past the tent, soared above the
encampment, into the gray winter clouds up above. I wondered if the
gods who heard it were feeling merciful, or if this was part of my
fate, my punishment for cursing Erik and my people.

VIII: Coming To My Senses
(Erik)

Gone.

My Jenna, my wildcat, my curves, my life, my soul.

Gone.

I roared into the early morning air, holding her cloak
to my face. I inhaled her scent, and thought about everything I'd
lost.

The note she left me was shredded to tiny pieces, the
very same as half our cabin. I'd shifted instantly and went wild,
losing my mind with grief.

The sparse furniture was overturned, half broken to tiny
splinters.

I destroyed. I hated. I despised myself for what I'd
become, an Alpha too distracted by his woman to save his people. And
now I'd lost both.

But there was one man I hated more: Rufus, my cousin,
the despicable asshole who'd caused all of this.

I've always been fascinated at the way tragedy makes
certain things crystal clear. On the morning I discovered Jenna gone,
there was just blinding rage, and then a sharp clarity like I hadn't
had since leaving Tiger Tree.

I threw my shredded cloak on top of Jenna's. Then I
stepped into the snow again and shifted, dashing toward the early
morning dawn.

There was time to make this right. The gods were
merciful, and they would give me a second chance, as long as I was
man enough to take it.

I vowed to retake my village and save my people, or else
die trying. If I saved them, it meant I'd save Jenna too.

And this time I'd make her safe, make her mine, drawing
on the last full measure. I wanted total salvation, and that meant
finding her and dashing her insane fantasies about ancient curses
once and for all.

It took several hours of prowling through the forest
before I found anything. I caught faint traces of her scent amid the
trees, a phantom impression of my love.

I growled, even as my heart throbbed each time her sweet
odor hit my brain.

In a clearing with high grasses, I smelled something
else. Blood.

The tiger took over, propelling my paws to a spot where
there was shattered wood and messed up ground. I shoved my nose into
the earth and inhaled.

No! Gods, this can't be real!

But a tiger's senses are too keen to lie. It was Jenna's
blood, all right, and knowing she was hurt or worse after battling a
wild predator bathed my brain in fire.

My tiger was on high alert. When I heard the twigs snap
deeper in the forest, I nearly pounced. My claws emerged,
outstretched to shred whatever got between me and my precious mate.

I smelled him a split-second before I saw him. Another
tiger, male, with a scent I recognized.

Zee's eyes shone like tiny moons above a sharp log. He
jumped over it in one bound and started running toward me.

We shifted at the same time and shook hands, two
brothers back together. I noticed the cuts on his face, fierce slices
like something had tried to claw at his eyes.

“
It's
so good to see you, sir. I thought they'd come to the cabin and
gotten you after the way they moved on the village...”

“
Where's
Jenna?” I growled.

I was happy to see him, sure, but this singular question
dominated all else.

“
Jenna?
Hasn't she been with you?”

I looked at the ground and shook my head. A sickly
realization blossomed on Zee's face. He understood.

“
I'm
sorry, sir. They must have captured her...I smelled a female tiger
around here, just like the first time we found her. If she's
anywhere, she's got to be in Tiger Tree. Occupied Tiger Tree, same as
the rest of us miserable bastards.”

“
What's
the situation?” I eyed him seriously, trying to collect my
wits.

It was hell holding my tiger back, to ignore the raw
instinct to race through the woods and tear into anything with sharp
teeth or a gun. Too bad this approach was all too likely to get me
killed if I went in blind.

“
The
men who enslaved Jenna and brought her here were working with Rufus
the whole time. The bastard waited a couple days. Moore took over as
interim leader, and when he wouldn't hold a vote on a new Alpha,
Rufus got pissed. They came in the night, declared a curfew, and sent
guys with guns on our streets. Everybody's real scared. We barely
made it out in time.”

“
Harry?
Egil? Christian?” They had to have made it out. Everything my
comrade said told me I wouldn't be able to do this alone.

“
Further
back in the woods, patrolling the perimeter. We all escaped in time.
Meant to come looking for you, but a few of us are in shock. Took on
some damage fighting with men and your rat cousin.” He pointed
to his face, highlighting the scratches.

“
If
I weren't duty bound to fulfill the blood oath, I'd let you tear into
his ass for that alone,” I growled. “Rally up the boys.
We're going to sketch out a way to get into Tiger Tree and set
everything right.”

“
Just
the four of us?” Zee sounded nervous, scared, a rarity for him.

“
No.
Our people have forgotten a ferocious tiger lives in each of them.
You'll see. Doors will burst open and men will join us as soon as we
show them men with guns can be torn apart by teeth and claws. We just
have to remind our village what we really are.”

“
We'll
make our first strike near the town hall. Take out their guards and
cause a little commotion. That should get tiger spirits up.” I
looked up from the little map I'd scratched in the fresh snow with a
stick.

“
What
about the professor? And Rufus?” Egil snorted, stretching his
burly arms and flicking a hand rolled cigarette onto the ground. He
pressed it into the icy earth with his bare foot.

“
We'll
get to the head of the beast in good time,” I said. “I
know the kind of men these humans bring up here to do their dirty
work. They'll flee or fall apart in no time. Men like the ones who
took Jenna are cheap bastards, always looking for a fortune without
wanting to make the right investment. The little boys up here aren't
highly trained soldiers.”

“
That's
right,” Christian chimed in. “Same as when we ran them
off. Half the guys freaked out and hit the pavement the instant they
saw tigers who weren't chained down.”

“
From
the town hall, we'll move toward the mountain. Zee says they've set
up their headquarters at a camp by the old fountain. That's where
we'll find the fucking monsters holding our town hostage.”

And where I pray I'll find Jenna too. Gods, if
they've hurt her...

Their deaths will be slow, agonizing. I'll knock my
cousin's teeth out, pin him down, and tear out his claws one-by-one
before I slit his throat.

“
Sir?”
Zee's plea dashed my wicked revenge fantasies. “This might be
the last time we all speak to each other. Shouldn't we send up a
flare?”

Flare was slang for prayer before a big battle. I kicked
the simple map with my foot – couldn't risk our enemies
stumbling across it – and gathered with my men.

We held our hands and looked up through the forest
clearing, straight into the thick gray clouds above. It was a dense
wintry sky, but the gods were there, overseeing our fate from the
distant stars.

I whispered in the ancient tongue, one of the few verses
I remembered from my serious worship as a cub.

I was secular and modern. I laughed at Brahm and his
strange ways, the same as most in Tiger Tree, but just now, I felt
the Elder's wild energy crackling in my veins.

Battle made every tiger a believer.

“
Oh,
Gods, deliver your most perfect creation from imperfect evil. Let us
drive away the usurpers and restore the wild beauty you've created.
Men pretend do terrible things in the name of justice and civility.
But we tigers are purer than that.”

“
The
Lord will deliver the virtuous, no matter their species,”
Christian chimed in.

His words made me smile. At least being backed by
Heaven, human and tiger alike, tipped the odds in our favor twice as
much.

“
Amen!”
I said, and my three men echoed, a nod to Christian's human faith.

“
Let's
do this thing, boss.” Harry slicked his long hair back, tying
it it in a knot, and fell to his knees.