Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (19 page)

She gripped his ass muscles and flexed her hips, the change in position breaking his control.

Sweat trickled down his temples as he pounded hard and fast into her. Then he threw his head back as he came. She held him and savored the view.

Once he gained his breath, he eased down beside her and rolled her onto her side. He set a hand low on her abdomen, frowning a little. “I don’t want to risk hurting you and the baby by putting too much weight on you.”

“We still have months before we need to worry about that.”

“I just don’t want to take any chances,” he said with a stubborn jerk of his chin.

“I didn’t realize how overprotective you were going to be.”

“Get used to it. You think I’m protective now, just wait until you start showing.”

She cupped his cheek as her heart swelled. “Daniel, your job, the future…I can handle all of it as long as I have you by my side. I love you so much. I don’t really know how to express it.”

He held her for a few more quiet moments, then sighed. “We’d better call the elders again and warn them what’s coming with Williams and the cops.” He levered up on one elbow and stared down at her. “Then we can make plans.”

“For how to deal with Williams’ threats?” She didn’t want to think of the crazy man while she had Daniel in her bed, but they did have to be realistic about the threat he might still pose.

Daniel gave her a funny look. “Plans for our wedding.”

“Oh!” She smiled. “You’re not worried about his threats? What if he gets out on bail? What if he comes back?”

“We’ll break him. He gets anywhere near you ever again, and he’ll pray we kill him.”

“Are we going to have to keep looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives?”

“No.”

“It’s not going to be that simple.”

“Life never is, but we’ll be fine.” He cupped her cheeks. “If you’re worried, we’ll move to India and live with my mother’s family. There’s a Chernikov lab there, too, so you won’t have to give up your work. Besides, you’re about to have a baby. The elders will bring their full power down to keep you safe.”

“I’m not going to run away from that man.” She pulled in a deep breath and snuggled close to Daniel, tucking her head under his chin. “It’s good to know we have options, though, and that we’ll have the elders’ backing.” She gave his ass a little squeeze. “Now about those wedding plans. I was thinking…big.”

“Anything you want, love.” He kissed her temple. “I’ll leave the details to you.”

“You sure you trust me to take care of all that?”

“I trust you period.”

“You do? Even after…?”

“Yes. I won’t say my trust wasn’t tested. But I do trust you, Sarah. With everything I have and everything I am.”

She pulled back so she could see his eyes. “With your heart?”

“Especially my heart.”

She smiled and then she kissed him, her own heart full, her soul satisfied. In the back of her mind, she heard Su-jin laughing and cheering them on.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much for reading book #2 in the Tiger Shifters series. I hope you enjoyed Daniel and Sarah's story. For more on the Tiger Shifters please visit my website:
http://www.katsimons.com

For an excerpt of the next book in the series, HERE THERE BE TIGERS, please turn the page.

HERE THERE BE TIGERS

(Tiger Shifters
, Book Three)

Chapter One

Nila DeLuca dug through her backpack in search of her cell phone as she waited by the luggage carousel for her duffle. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her limbs after the long flight from India to New York. All she could think about was dropping into the spare bed at her grandmother’s house and sleeping for the next three days. She’d have to get back to work after that—there was a leopard in a Texas zoo due to give birth in a few weeks, and since big cats were her specialty, the resident vet wanted Nila on hand because of anticipated complications. Until then, she was off duty.

She yawned, still pawing through her backpack for her phone as luggage started
coming through the carousel chute. She was so worn out that when she felt the hard jab of a blunt object against her ribcage, she didn’t instantly react.

Then a quiet, deep voice whispered close to her ear, “Stay calm, do exactly what I say, and I won’t shoot you.”

Fear and confusion shot a jolt of adrenaline through her. She glanced down. Hidden from the rest of the room by her backpack was the business end of a very ugly looking gun. She swallowed hard and tried not to panic, but her heartbeat tripled and her breathing sped.

“What do you want?” she murmured, carefully lowering her bag. She didn’t want to make any abrupt moves, but someone else in the crowded JFK luggage area
had
to notice a friggin’ gun.

To her dismay, the barrel shifted to her lower back and she
felt the man move closer behind her, no doubt covering his weapon.

“If you cooperate,” he said against her
ear, “you might survive this. If you resist, I’ll kill you first, then hunt down Leo and Rossa and kill them. And I’ll make sure their deaths are slow and painful.”

“Why?” she hissed as another spike of panic shot through her. Her father and grandmother were her only close family. Why
would anyone want to hurt them?

She tried get
ting a look at her the man from the corner of her eye, but he wasn’t leaning far enough forward for her to even glimpse a hair color.

“Someone would like to talk to you,” he said, putting his free arm around her waist. To strangers, it probably looked like a hug from a boyfriend.

“Listen, buddy,” she said, “I think you’ve got the wrong person. I’m just a vet. Unless you’ve got a big cat in need of medical help, I’m of no use to you. And if you do have a big cat that needs a vet, you just have to ask.”

His chuckle sent a shiver across her shoulders. The fine hairs on her arms rose.

“We’ll have to see what he says, won’t we?” the man said. “But he might let you live if you prove useful.”

This made no sense. She hated when things didn’t make sense. It drove her crazy. The pet peeve sparked irritation that quickly turned to anger. “If you think you’re gonna sell me into some form of white slavery, don’t bother. I’m a ball buster.”

“Oh, I have no doubt you are. Let’s go.” He nudged her hard with the gun.

She sucked in a breath. “What about my luggage?” She spotted her duffle dropping down the ramp.

“Won’t need it.”

He butted her
again with the gun, and she either had to move or risk being shot. To buy herself some thinking time, she walked slowly with a limp.

“What are you doing? Move it.”

“I can’t, damn it. I hurt my ankle a few days ago. It’s still killing me.”

“Your ankle will be the least of your worries if you don’t move faster.”

His response told her two things: he hadn’t seen her walk into the luggage area, because she was lying through her teeth about the injury, and he was afraid of getting caught. That last part was good for her. She just had to find a way to attract the attention of someone who could help without getting anyone in the area killed.

Even as that thought crossed her mind, she passed a small family, the youngest child pulling at his mother’s skirt from his stroller.

Fuck. There were
too
many people in here. That should have worked in her favor. Someone should see the gun. But no one seemed to notice anything beyond their own baggage hunt. If she called attention to her abduction, the man might start shooting innocent people.

“Where are we going?” she asked
, still limping to stall their progress.

“Parking lot. Then a short drive.”

She was very certain she wouldn’t survive getting into a car with this man. Who the hell was he? Why on earth would he kidnap her? He had to know who she was because he knew her father and grandmother’s names. Yet she wasn’t rich, she didn’t have the kind of job that inspired kidnappings, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t actually attractive enough for the sex slave market. So, what the hell was going on?

When t
hey stepped through the sliding doors into a muggy New York August night, she caught a brief glimpse of the gunman in the glass door—dark hair and eyes, pale skin, a dark, short sleeved shirt, taller than her 5’3” height by almost a foot. The doors had opened too fast for her to see more than that.

She chanced a downward glance.
The arm still around her waist was covered in dark hair and well-muscled. Those muscles were relaxed but felt coiled and ready to react if she so much as breathed the wrong way.

He nudged her in one direction just as another man hurried up to them.

“Taxi? Taxi, sir? Going into the city?”

She tried catch
ing the man’s gaze to let him see her distress, but his full focus was on the man behind her.

“Get out of my face,” the kidnapper spat.

“Hey, no need to be rude.” The driver raised his hands in surrender. “Just offering.”

The cab driver glanced down at her. And winked. She had just enough time to frown. In the next instant, the driver pushed her to one side, the surprise move freeing her from the gunman’s hold. She stumbled away as a low growl from behind her raised the hairs on her arms. Before she caught her balance, she heard a painful sounding crunch
, then the driver had her elbow, maneuvering her away from the kidnapper. She glanced back long enough to see the other man holding his wrist. He looked up, glaring after her with eyes that seemed to glow yellow.

She sucked in a sharp breath and turned away when he started toward them.

“He’s coming,” she said.

“Let’s move.”

The driver tugged her into a trot, then into a full run.

She threw her backpack over her free shoulder and did her best to keep up as they wove through the throngs of people on the sidewalk. He rushed her toward the parking lot, ducking around the long line waiting for a taxi.

“Whoa, wait.” She tried nudging his big body back toward the luggage area. “We have to go to airport security.” Panic continued to shoot adrenaline through her blood stream, mixing badly with her confusion.

“Security can’t help with that guy,” the driver said without altering his direction.

“And you can? Who are you?” She wanted to slow down so they could talk, though she didn’t dare stop moving.

A quick glance confirmed the gunman was still behind them. Fortunately, he was caught up in a tangled mass of people and luggage but that wouldn’t delay him for long. Her rescuer urged her to a quicker trot, pulling her attention back to where she was going. She looked longingly at the nearest entrance into the airport, wondering where to find a security person.

“I’m a friend of your grandmother’s,” the man said. “Rossa sent me.”

Startled, she tripped on an uneven section of concrete. He caught her before she fell, helping her regain her footing with surprising strength and ease.

“You can trust me.” He held her gaze for a heartbeat.

The brief look stunned her to silence. His expression was hard and serious, his eyes intent. He was also probably the most handsome man she’d ever seen, now that she stopped to actually look. Short, shaggy brown hair, light eyes, classically handsome features.

But it was the hum of her instincts giving her pause. Those same instincts had served her well her entire life, keeping her safe in her travels around the world and helping her work with injured, angry cats that could outweighed her by two hundred pounds or more. Now, her instincts were whispering that the man before her was saving her life.

Trust him
.

Her quick, certain insight got brushed to the back of her mind as he pulled her into a run toward the parking lot.

“You know my grandmother?” she said as she tried to breathe and run at the same time.

“I’ll tell you everything when we’re safe. This way.” He led her between the rows of cars, down a ramp to a lower level, then up another row of cars.

“That man was trying to get me to the parking lot.”

“Probably because he has a car here, too.”

“Are you working with him?”

“No.”

She tried getting a look at his face, but he was a step ahead of her so she couldn’t see his expression. Her instincts continued urging her to trust him.

The skin between her shoulder blades crawled with the knowledge that the gunman was still
somewhere behind them. The man beside her didn’t give her the willies like the other man did. Hell, this guy had stopped her kidnapping, and he claimed to know her grandmother. He knew her grandmother’s name. Though, so had the kidnapper.

But since she didn’t feel the need to get away from this man, and he was making sure she did get away from the man with the gun, she decided to listen to her instincts. “You’re not a taxi driver are you?”