Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (4 page)

Everyone always has. If it isn't what I eat or how I
look, then it's my unlady-like strength. If I had a dollar for every
time somebody's watched me haul in five bags of groceries in my arms
like they're nothing...

Fitting in anywhere hadn't been easy. Mom made me hide
what I was from the time I was able to shift.

She hid me for a good reason. Until Tarken came along,
her wisdom protected me. But I could only be who I really was when
she took me out hunting.

The human world made me bury my tiger side, and my tiger
resisted the whole time. Probably the reason I hadn't done anything
useful for twenty-two years except work at dead end retail jobs and
go on blind dates.

Mom tried to find me a man before the cancer claimed
her, but I wasn't buying what the weak, unfocused boys I dated were
selling. Every friend of a friend's son she introduced me to was
boring, second rate, and always expecting someone skinnier to show up
for coffee.

“
We
don't judge based on blood here in Tiger Tree. It's not our way,”
Erik said. “Listen, what did this Tarken have planned for us?
Something about a treasure?”

“
He
used me as bait trying to get to you guys. He wanted to hit you with
tranquilizers as soon as you appeared and put trackers on you.
Tarken's convinced there's some kind of treasure here. He shot me up
with something that put me into heat...I didn't even know it could
happen until I felt it.” I flushed.

Beneath the table, I pinched my chubby thighs together,
hiding the wet heat that answered whenever I gave the urge any
attention.

Erik growled. I knew the sharp expression on his face
wanted something, the feral look of a tiger pacing behind his human
flesh, hungry to get out and taste blood. Or else throw me to the
floor and mate me like an animal.

But his human control held.

“
I
thought so. No female offers herself up like that in the wild. This
stupid professor must've never met a real tiger before.” Erik
shook his head.

“
Pretty
sure he hasn't. Not until me.”

“
Then...you've
been all alone in your city? Are you telling me you'd never met
another tiger until we found you in the forest?”

I shook my head, feeling more lost than ever before. All
the craziness of the past thirty hours went off in my head like a
nuclear blast. I folded in on myself, hating the single tear that
came trickling down my cheek.

In a flash, Erik was at my side. He pulled me out of my
chair, close to his big chest. I'd felt his powerful body before,
strong and warm, but now I really noticed the hard definition in his
muscles.

He held on tight without any hesitation, wrapping me in
his godly arms, with nothing but the soft cloaks between our bodies.

His heat warmed me from head to toe. I hated the way my
imperfect body brushed against his granite muscle. On the other hand
it felt nice.

No,
amazing.

“
Welcome
home, little sister. Don't worry. The professor and his crew aren't
getting anywhere near this place. Thirty tigers will tear him limb
from limb if he even gets close. Here, you're safe among your own
kind.”

Awe sparked up my
spine, caressing my brain when it reached there.
My own
kind.

I didn't think I'd ever hear those words, and never
thought I'd find tigers like this. The insane realization I wasn't
alone, a walking secret with fur and claws, shook me straight to the
core.

Erik rocked me gently. He breathed deep, inhaling my
scent. His muscles hardened around me, and then he tore himself away
in one fluid motion.

“
Whatever
they gave you should fade. I'm sure of it. The heats induced in our
females here never last long when they aren't natural...”

“
I
hope you're right.”

“
Get
some sleep. I'll take you around tomorrow, as promised. If you're up
for it.” He watched me nod, still wiping the hot tears from my
cheeks. “It'll be fun. It isn't every day we get a pretty new
visitor here. And never one like you who's never seen a clan before.”

Without another word, he guided me to the comfy wicker
sofa. It was big enough to lay down and the cushions were soft when I
sat on them. Erik disappeared into the other room and returned a
second later with pillows and thick home made blankets.

“
Sleep
well, Jenna.” He turned, and I watched him begin to walk down
the hall, back to the bedroom where he'd retrieved my linens. “Just
one more thing...”

He waited until I stood up and had his full attention.
Then, with a flick of his strong arm, he waved me over.

“
Take
this.” He reached to the dresser near the door and produced a
padlock.

I took the heavy metal square in my hands and held it up
to my face. It was cool to the touch. I looked at him, confusion
written on my face.

“
You
need to secure this to the latch when I close this door. Don't let me
out tonight. I'm afraid for what I'll do...”

“
What
do you mean?”

“
I'm
talking about your sweet scent. Smelling you, seeing you, knowing
you're in heat...
fuck!
”
He
cursed, soft and fierce simultaneously. “Lock me in my room
tonight. Bolt the door. If instinct takes over, I might do something
we'll both regret, and I promised to keep you safe. Here's a key. You
can let me out in the morning.”

He surprised me. I stood there dumbly, rolling the key
he'd placed in my hands between my fingers, too jolted for words.

Erik locked eyes with me one last time and stepped back
into the room, closing the door gently in front of his face. I
reached up with the open lock, found the metal loop, and clicked it
into place.

I was all alone in the cabin, and strangely turned on.

Giving it my best effort, I laid on the plush couch and
buried myself in blankets. Sleep should've come easy after spending
so much adrenaline and pushing my body to its limits.

It didn't. I rolled fitfully, dozing halfway between
dreams and waking.

Several times, I swore I heard the scratching and angry
growls of a gruff male tiger just beyond the hall. The raw need in
his raspy purrs should've brought unease, but they just made me
uncomfortably wet instead.

I felt his lust, his ache for my flesh, between the
walls. I worried I'd end up letting the drug guide me, making me
sleepwalk to his door and undo the lock.

Sweet, sweet insanity was just one door away. I dreamed
about throwing myself into his room, stripping off my cloak, and
giving myself to the strange beast who sent fire humming through my
veins like no one ever had.

By some miracle, I didn't wake to find his sweaty, rough
heat enveloping me. When I woke in the pale light, the cabin was
deadly quiet, and only the thick wetness between my legs remained.

The terrible ache in my womb was gone. But my attraction
to Erik stayed, hot and bright and eager as the first minute I laid
eyes on him.

II: Homecoming (Erik)

The sweet, supple tigress in the other room made me
shift. I spent the whole night aching for her, clawing at the tight
dark fold in the wall.

The animal inside me wanted to tear the door off its
hinges and claim her. I could've done it too, if I'd given him the
reigns.

Easy,
boy,
I
had to tell him over and over again.

My tiger didn't want to listen. He kept smelling her
pheromones, a sultry incense that made him want to fuck.

At one point, I broke for the door and barely stopped
myself in time. My head crashed on heavy wood, trying to break out.

Knock it off! Jenna's trying to sleep. She doesn't
need to be scared half to death on her first night in my cabin.

The lock held. When I regained control I perked up my
ears and listened.

She was still asleep. The drug in her system waned by
the hour, but her scent filled the whole fucking house. No different
than the way her full bodied flesh filled my thoughts, my dreams.

Awake and in a fitful sleep, I growled, working tired
throat muscles. Images of her naked beauty flashed in my brain.

Full hips, bountiful breasts, ripe and supple. The Gods
had graced her with a figure seeping sex, a voluptuous form our
scrawny native tigresses couldn't hope to match.

It was the first time a rescue had been so damned
complicated. I woke, paced, and slept in small bursts. Halfway
through the night, I forced myself to pad back to bed, clawing at my
blankets.

I settled in the softness, curling all four legs into a
tiger doughnut. The soft, soothing shape finally let me sleep until
dawn.

Forget her. You'll wake up sane if you can stop
smelling her scent. Then we can sort this mess out and maybe get her
into bed like a proper lady.

Proper lady? Who was I kidding?

In my dreams, the tiger snorted. He came up to me and
nipped at my hand.

He wanted me to seize Jenna. Anything to remind me how
long and unnecessary a human courtship could be.

I suffered through the night, keeping fierce instinct
buried. I was thankful I didn't wake up with a screaming, terrified
Jenna beneath me – even if it would've made the big cat inside
me purr with glee.

When I got up, later than usual, I felt the claw marks
I'd pierced through the covers.

I must've rolled during my sleep and torn my blanket to
pieces. Fuck.

Now, I was a man again, supposedly a sane and civilized
creature who'd earned his place as Alpha in Tiger Tree.

I stretched, threw on my cloak, and gently nudged the
door apart. The lock only allowed it to crack open a little bit.

I wanted out, but I wasn't going to yell for her if she
was still asleep. Jenna needed her beauty rest after what she'd been
through.

Thinking about those cold-eyed men sent fury prickling
through my nerves. I curled my lip, growling a little.

Gods, if anyone tried to hurt her or steal her away from
me, I'd slash their throats and watch them bleed on the ground. Jenna
was the first woman in my life who I wanted to kill for.

The tremor in my throat disappeared the instant she
showed up in front of me.

“
Good
morning! We made it through the night with nothing crazy happening.
You ready to get out of there?” Jenna wore the sweetest smile.
More radiant than any she'd given me yesterday now that time was
putting distance between her and yesterday's danger.

“
You
read my mind,” I said, stepping back.

She clicked open the padlock and I was free. I squeezed
her shoulder, grateful for letting me out, but even more grateful
nothing terrible had happened.

“
How
about some breakfast?” I asked.

Bacon and eggs with some coffee sounded awfully good.

“
Actually,
I'd like to clean up and take that walk,” she said.

I turned, facing her, surprised she was so eager to get
out this soon.

You're a brave one, Jenna. Bold.

Lucky for both of us, I like that in a woman.

We were the only ones outside when we started our walk.
A bright Alaskan sun rose over the mountains, warming us despite the
cool wind.

Jenna stayed close to my side as I led her along the
wide rocky path leading into town. I quick stepped past Martin's Meat
Shop and Killer Auto, Tiger Tree's two lonely specialized businesses.
The owners' services were only needed part time, and the places
looked more run down than they ought to.

I made a mental note to have a chat about fixing things
up at the next town meeting. I pushed on, wanting to show her the
really interesting stuff, but Jenna held back, moving at a glacial
pace.

“
Wow!
These totems...I've never seen anything like them.” She
completely stopped next to one of our large guardians, a big stone
tiger painted in brilliant orange and black stripes.

“
What
are they for?” she asked.

“
The
old timers needed some way to decorate the town. Gargoyles aren't
really appropriate here. This isn't a human village.” I shifted
my weight, eyeing the keen interest on her face.

“
We're
pretty modern here. The older, more meaningful stuff is further back.
If it weren't for the treaties, anybody could wander into Tiger Tree
and see nothing different from any other lonely Alaskan settlement.”