Her Tiger To Take (14 page)

“No. Fortunately. I’m in love with a
tiger.”

“But, Tiana, that’s great! What’s the
problem?”

“He’s a Chernikov.”

Ethan slumped against the couch back.
“Shit.”

“Exactly.”

“Which one? Not Mikhail? He’s with someone
now.”

“Nikolai.”

Ethan nodded, but his mouth turned down in a
frown.

“You don’t like him?”

“No, it’s not that. Nikolai doesn’t run. None
of the Chernikovs have run for years.”

“I know.”

“How the hell did you even meet Nikolai? How
could you possibly be in love with him?”

“Long story, most of which you don’t want to
know.”

He looked like he might argue, then he shook
his head. “You’re right. I don’t. You’re in serious trouble,
though.”

“Yup.”

“He’s not going to run.”

“Actually, he…might.” She still wasn’t
confident Nick would show. She thought he might, despite everything
that held him back. She hoped what was between them was enough. But
a niggling of doubt still taunted her.

“What have you done?” Ethan shook his head
when she opened her mouth. “No. Right. I don’t want to know.” He
blew out a breath. “You know, even if he runs, the others aren’t
going to just let him be.”

“I know,” she wailed. “It’s not fair. He’s
allowed to run.”

“Since when did fair enter into life?”

The bitterness in his voice made her look,
really look at him. His eyes held…sadness. His scent even carried a
faint hint of something that spoke of despair. “What’s happened to
you, Ethan?” she asked, suddenly worried for him.

“We’re talking about you right now.” Before
she could push him, he rushed on. “Listen, taking on a Chernikov,
even if he does run, is going to be a tough life. Are you sure? You
really love him?”

“I do. And I understand what I’m getting
into. But it’s possible he won’t run and this is all moot. Either
way, after this cycle, I’m done with the Run.”

“What if the other males try to chase him
off?”

She growled, a sound that surprised them
both, it was so full of anger. “I will kick the ass of any tiger
who tries to run Nick off. He’s mine.”

“Wow. That’s some fierce attitude, little
sister.”

“Shut up.” She scowled at him.

He laughed and some of the sadness that had
crept into his eyes lightened. “You’re determined to have
Nikolai—if he runs?”

“I am. He’s the only one I want.”

Ethan pursed his lips and considered her,
stretching his arm along the back of the couch and tilting his head
to one side. “Maybe we can do something to…help matters.”

She sat up straighter. “What do you have in
mind?”

“Let’s call the rest of the clan.”

For the first time since leaving Eirene,
Tiana felt a shiver of excitement and determination fire in her
blood. She grinned at Ethan and snatched up her cellphone.

Tiana knew the instant Nick entered the Mate
Run territory and her heart soared. He’d come! She’d hoped and been
afraid to hope. She’d wanted and felt selfish for the wanting. But
he’d made his choice. He was here.

Giddy excitement made her rock from foot to
foot as she opened her senses to all the tigers in the area. There
were a lot more males than normally took part in a single Run, but
that wasn’t unusual for hers. She stood where she was and waited
for the males to head toward her, most of her focus on Nick. She
couldn’t care less about the rest. Every part of her hungered for
Nick, turned toward him. Her estrous heightened her senses, lust
rode her hard, and all of that emotion and longing was centered on
a single male.

He was here for her.

To observe the conventions, she couldn’t just
stand here until Nick reached her, despite the fact that she wanted
to. She really needed to make him chase her a little. The idea
caught the fire already burning through her blood and made her
nerves tingle. Oh, she would enjoy having Nick chase her. She was
going to enjoy him catching her even more.

She laughed, loud enough that she knew he’d
hear. Across the distance, she heard his challenging roar, and it
made her grin like a loon.

But her joy took a hit of cold water to the
face when she realized the other males in the area weren’t heading
toward her anymore. They were circling around in front of Nick,
getting between her and her chosen mate.

Oh, that was not going to happen.

She took off through the thick forest. Even
in human form, she wove easily through the trees and over the heavy
undergrowth. This part of the central Appalachians was frequently
used for the Runs because they weren’t likely to be interrupted by
human hunters or hikers. Her feet had a thick padding that made
moving over the uneven ground as easy as if she were in tiger form,
and kept her feet from getting too cold in the snow while she was
moving.

But even at top shifter speed, she reached
Nick only after he was completely surrounded by other males.

“Don’t you dare,” she roared, charging into
the middle of the tension.

The males spun to face her, their scents
carrying varying levels of confusion and aggression, lust, and
anger.

“This is none of your concern, Tatiana,”
Fredrick, one of the males who’d run for her before, growled.
“We’re just getting rid of an unwanted intruder.”

“He’s here at my request.”

That earned her a whole host of growls and
shocked stares.

“What the hell are you talking about?”
Fredrick continued speaking for the group.

“I want him here,” she said, her voice low
and deep. “He’s allowed to run. You aren’t allowed to stop
him.”

Nick kept silent, his attention on the males
circling him, his body relaxed and at the ready. He was in human
form—they all were at the moment—but some of the other males
started to shift to their tiger forms even as Tiana moved to stand
next to Nick.

“Get out of the way, Tatiana,” Fredrick said.
“You don’t want him. He’s crazy. Just like his father.”

“Back off, Fredrick,” she snapped. “I. Want.
Him. Here.”

“If he can fight us all off, he can stay.”
Fredrick kept his gaze on Nick. Nick stared back, still silent.

“No. Damn it, you’re not allowed to fight.
That’s the fucking point of the Run.”

“Get out of the way, Tatiana. We don’t want
you hurt.”

More growls rose from the surrounding males,
some tiger, and some human. Tiana felt a scream of rage and
frustration rising in her throat.

Nick picked that moment to speak. “Stand to
the side, Tiana,” he murmured. “I’ve got this.”

“There are thirty of them,” she said over her
shoulder. “No way am I letting you fight them all on your own.”

“I can handle them.”

The confidence in his voice sent another jolt
of lust through her, but she shook her head. “I know. But you don’t
have to handle them alone.”

“I won’t be.”

She blinked and turned to look at him. Behind
him, four males stepped from the trees, lining up at his back. She
blinked, realizing two of the four looked a lot like Nick, though
younger. His brothers. One of the four was Alexis’ husband, Victor
Romanov. She sniffed, taking in the scents of all four. The one she
didn’t immediately recognize had a familiar scent…Maxim Rudikov? He
was a good friend of Mikhail, the youngest Chernikov, so it
probably was him.

Nick glanced at her and winked before
focusing on the others again.

She grinned.

“There’s still a lot more of us,” Fredrick
said. He glanced at Victor and snarled. “He’s even damaged.”

Victor raised his brows, a slight smile
hovering on his lips.

Nick said, “Outside of the fact that his wife
would kill you if you managed to somehow hurt him, do you really
think Alexis’ mate is someone to take lightly?”

Victor’s smile grew, and showed teeth.

Fredrick glared, but he took a step away from
Victor, a telling gesture. “We can take you five,” he snarled to
hide his retreat.

“You’re gonna have a harder time taking all
eleven of us,” said a new voice from the trees.

Tiana almost whooped as all six of her
brothers entered the area to stand at her back. She couldn’t seem
to stop her grin.

Fredrick’s brows snapped down in a scowl.
Then he looked at Tiana. “What the hell is this?”

“Family. Making sure their sister gets her
Run without anyone breaking the rules.”

“Bitch,” he snarled at her. “You’re nothing
but a frigid bitch.”

“Then why the fuck have you been chasing me
for three years, you asshole?”

He took in her body, naked so she could shift
freely if she chose, and snorted. “You’ve got fantastic tits. The
only reason any man would want you.”

A series of growls rose behind her and next
to her. Nick, fists clenched at his sides, took a step toward
Fredrick. She put her hand out to stop him. “Don’t. He’s not worth
it.”

“Neither are you,” Fredrick said, and spit in
her direction.

She raised her brows in surprise. Then
laughed. “You’re never going to get a mate that way.”

Fredrick’s expression darkened and to her
complete surprise, he lunged at her, so suddenly and with so much
anger, she didn’t have time to think.

She still watched it all in a weird kind of
slow motion. Fredrick raising his hand to hit her, Nick stepping in
and stopping the man’s fist mid-swing, the roars and growls that
rose to deafening levels. Instinct moved her even though her brain
had stopped working. She stepped forward and punched Fredrick
squarely in the center of his face, a roundhouse that broke his
nose and dropped him to his knees.

In the silence that followed, Tiana blinked
at what she’d just done. Fredrick covered his face with his free
hand—Nick still had one of his arms wretched up over his head—and
blood poured from between his fingers.

“Don’t hit girls,” Tiana said into the
silence. “It’s rude.”

Someone behind Nick made a choking noise.
Tiana glanced back to see Victor patting one of the Chernikov
brothers on his back as he coughed into his hand.

When she looked back at Nick, he was grinning
at her. Despite his unwavering hold on Fredrick’s hand, his full
attention was on her. She grinned back.

Then she faced the rest of the males. “Anyone
else want to argue Nick’s right to be here?”

A lot of feet shuffling and quiet chuffing
answered her, but no one stepped forward to take up the fight.

Ethan put a hand on her shoulder and
squeezed. “Run, little sister. We’ve got these guys.”

She smiled back at him, then looked at Nick,
her grin turning wicked. She turned on her heels and took off into
the forest.

Nick was the only male to follow.

Thrill, adrenaline, lust, and love pushed her
to lead Nick on a merry chase. She didn’t make it easy, testing
him, making him prove his worth, though she already knew he was
worth the world to her. She’d never had a Run like this, never been
able to experience the joy and excitement of having a male she
wanted
tracking her through the trees.

For a moment, she lost him. She pulled to a
stop and circled, sniffing and sensing for him. A split second
after she picked him up again, he pounced, catching her up from
behind and making her squeal in delight.

He growled against her throat, then bit her
shoulder, a light but firm nip that made her thighs clench.

“You came,” she said, grinding back against
him.

“I intend to, yes.”

She laughed. “You’re here.”

“I couldn’t stay away.” He trailed his lips
over her throat, up to the sensitive skin under her ear, then he
scraped his teeth over her earlobe.

She shivered in his arms. “You brought
backup.”

“So did you.”

“Think that makes us pretty smart.”

He chuckled but didn’t stop his exploration,
moving to the other side of her neck. He cupped her breasts and
squeezed until she was writhing against him. His erection was thick
and hard against her ass.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, his voice
harsh.

“I’ve missed you, too. I’m not sure what I
would have done if you’d decided to stay away.”

He pinched her nipples hard enough to make
her moan.

“Never staying away again, Tiana. You’re
stuck with me now.”

“Oh. That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever
said to me.”

He turned her to face him and kissed her,
hard and hot and with so much need, Tiana melted into him.
Mine
mine mine mine mine
. The chant continued through her head as
she ran her hands over his hard body, exploring all the delicious
skin and muscle, laying claim to him as she hadn’t dared to before.
He was here, they were following the rules—finally—and she would be
able to keep him now.

She ignored the fact that she still had to
get pregnant. That seemed a minor concern compared to the larger
obstacle of getting Nick to run. Now, together, they could do
anything.

She dropped to her knees and took his cock
into her mouth, hungry to taste him, delighting in the sounds he
made as she slid over him, swallowing him. Her estrous drove her
hard, making her frantic with desire, and with Nick she felt no
need to hold back, no shyness, no hesitance. She savored and took
and tasted and kissed to her heart’s content. When he lifted her,
first from her knees and then higher, she wrapped her legs around
his waist and welcomed him, opened to him.

He slid into her easily, she was so wet with
wanting, and filled her up so completely she thought her heart
might burst. They came together fast, hard, pounding, a rhythm that
answered the tension and uncertainty of the last week and a half,
releasing the doubt. She screamed when her first orgasm took her,
rejoicing in the sound of their lovemaking echoing in the trees.
When he came, she tightened her legs around his hips and hugged him
with her whole body, holding him as he pumped into her. Even as her
body settled a little, her heart continued to pound with a
combination of contentment and excitement unlike anything she’d
known before.