Tigress for Two (10 page)

“And?” He’d fight to keep her. She was his mate and didn’t want anyone else.

She shook her head. “There’s nothing. No matter our choice, we’ll be mated until one of us dies.”

“Well, mate, I have no plans to die anytime soon. I guess you’re stuck with me.” He gazed at her. “Ty’s offered us a cabin.”

“What about your family. Your life in Nome?”

“My mate is the most important thing in my life. My home is where you are. I told you before, I’m staying here to be with you. You’re comfortable and so am I, there’s no reason to pick up and move. The compound is safer for you than anywhere else. My family is in Nome and we can visit, but there isn’t the security there that you have here. I want to be with you, Kal.” He didn’t care where they were, he just wanted to be with her.

“Mark also told me the girl I knew all those years ago, who could shift between both of her parents animals, was extremely rare. Is that true?”

“I’ve only heard of it happening once or twice, but if anyone knows for sure it would be Doc. We can speak with him to put your worries at ease. Would that help?” He tugged her closer.

“I’d like to speak with him, but it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think I can get rid of you.” She teased. “I just don’t know if I want to bring children into the situation, to have them suffer for our choices.”

“Kal, let’s take one day at a time. If we have children, they won’t suffer. They’ll be happy and there’s a school here so they won’t experience the torment shifters have gone through in the past. But if you decide you don’t want children, we’ll deal with that.” He rolled to his side, facing her. “I just want you.”

He claimed her mouth, running his tongue along the seam of her lips until they parted for him.  Sliding his hand down her body, he twisted the waistband of her boy shorts. “These need to come off or I’m going to tear them off of you. Your choice.”

* * *

“Take them off.” She caught her breath before biting his lower lip. She needed his touch more than her next breath. Her tigress wasn’t satisfied with only one roll in the hay. She wanted the gentle caress of his touch, the warmth of his body, and the sweet taste of his lips. She couldn’t get enough of him.

While their mouths devoured each other, she slipped out of her shorts, and tossed them to the floor. He had her top gathered at her neck, but in order to pull it off they had to separate, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to do that.

In order to remove the obstruction, she had no choice but to move slightly from him, lifting her tank top over her head. Dipping lower, he pulled one of her already hard nipples into his mouth, teasing the tip with his tongue. She moaned as pleasure swept her body. Holding tight to her nipple with his lips, he eased between her legs and rose on top of her. His bulky frame made her feel small, protected, and shielded.

The heat burning within her didn’t allow them to take time exploring each other’s bodies, or to enjoy the caresses they enjoyed the first time. Their desire controlled them, forcing them to speed the foreplay, or lose control completely to their beasts. His hands slid down her body, to rest on her knees. He stared down at her, and then hitched her knees to his hips and buried his shaft to the hilt in one smooth motion. Rocking in and out, the ferocity of his thrusts stole her breath. A moment later, he found that special place within her core and ignited the liquid heat that turned her body molten. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, her scream of pleasure became a roar.

Chapter Fifteen

Hours later, Taber woke to find Kallie wrapped in his arms—a vision he would never tire of. Having her pressed against him was unlike anything he ever experienced. She completed him, and with each intimate moment they shared, their mating bond would grow stronger making it impossible for them to live without each other.

He scowled at his cell phone vibrating on the edge of bedside table. He slowly lifted his arm from her waist, stretching to reach the phone. It was a text message from Ty.
New development. We need you and Kallie in the conference room, twenty minutes.

“Dammit.” Stroking her cheek with the tip of his finger, she stirred. “Kitty,” he whispered in her ear.

Her sea green eyes, that he loved to gaze into, fluttered open before closing again. “Humm?”

“I know you’re tired, but Ty has requested our presence in the conference room in twenty minutes.”

Her eyelids shot open, fear clear in her eyes. “Why? What did I do?”

“It’s okay. Ty just mentioned there was a development and they needed us.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “Don’t worry, whatever it is we’ll handle it. I’m by your side now.” He pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.

When their lips parted, desire seemed to soften the sharp bite of her fear. “How can you do that?”

“Do what?” He raised an eyebrow.

“With one kiss you managed to wipe away my fear. Even if Ty would have cast me out of the clan because I didn’t tell them of my past, I know I’d still be safe as long as you were by my side.”

“My Kitty, I promised I’d protect you and I’ll do just that and so much more. Trust me, I can be more than your protector and mate, if you let me. I’ll be your lover and your friend.” He kissed along the side of her face and stopped at her earlobe to breathe in her scent. She desperately needed a friend, even the loner in him recognized that.

“I think you’ve already proven your skills as my lover, and we don’t have time for another round.” She kissed him again before scooting to the edge of the bed.

He wrapped his hand around her arm, turning her to face him. “Kal, I know you still have doubts. Just give us time…that’s all I ask.”

She stroked her fingers through his hair. “Don’t take this personally, please. It’s hard for me to trust anyone. When you’re betrayed by someone who was supposed to love you, it’s hard to open your heart again.”

He rose from the bed and lifted her in his arms. “I know you’ve been hurt, and I’ll do my best to give you the time you need, but our beasts won’t let us hold our desire from each other for long.” He tipped her chin with his finger. “I have to know. Why would your father promise your hand in marriage when shifters mate? Rarely do any of us date before we find our mate. It’s pointless, and no one wants to fall for the wrong person. It’s torture to have your body belong to someone and your heart to another.”

She frowned. “Dad’s mate was killed shortly after she had me, by a hunter. He said he’d never mate again. Her death nearly killed him. He didn’t want me to experience the same pain. He wanted me to have a normal life, and to remove the risk of losing someone the way he had.”

“Why do you call her his mate and not your mother?”

“She might have given birth to me, but the woman I considered to be my mother was human. It wasn’t until I started going through the change for the first time that I found out she wasn’t my biological mother, or what my father and I were. By then, he’d already made the marriage arrangement and I was starting to fall in love with my groom-to-be. My father deceived me. He might have thought he was making the decision out of love, but he was selfish. I was too young and stupid to know. But it should have been my choice.” She pressed her cheek to his chest.

Sadness coated her and he wished he could rinse it away. “I’m sorry, love. He should have told you what you were long before then. Shifters raised outside of a community with no support normally experience life harder, especially the children when they have to attend a public school. By not telling you about your ability he could have taken away so many opportunities from you.”

“Opportunities?”

“Children, you can only have children with your mate. You can have children with a human, but only if they’re your mate. With only one shifter parent the child will have a fifty-fifty chance of shifting. Whereas if both parents are shifters the child will be too.”

She took a step out of his embrace. “None of that matters now.” She tapped his chest. “Ty is waiting for us, so we need to get dressed.”

As she padded to the dresser across the room, he had to stop from going to her.
Damn, I love the way her tight little ass sashays!
 He couldn’t tear his gaze away as she put on her clothes, his imagination working overtime about how he would peel them off her.

Mating, also known as permanently horny.
He smiled before following suit and getting dressed.

* * *

“You can’t be serious, Ty!” Anger poured off Taber, as he stalked toward the Alpha. After everything Kallie had been through, nearly killing herself to stay out of the hands of Wesley, and now Ty was asking her to risk her life again.

“Taber, maybe we should hear Ty out. I’m sure he has a good reason for asking me to do this.” Timidly, Kallie reached out to rest her hand on Taber’s arm.

“Actually I do, so if you’d sit down, I’ll explain.” Ty held his stand, his gaze unflinching even in the face of Taber’s temper.

Taber knew attacking Ty would solve nothing, but fury surged through him like lava from a volcano. “There’s no good reason to put
my
mate at risk.”

“Oh, but it’s okay when we risk
my
mate, is it?”

Taber valued his friendship with the Alaskan Tigers, even more now that he was mated with one of their tigers, and he didn’t want to go up against him. They needed to remain strong if they were going to take down Pierce and his rogues. If they began fighting among themselves, they’d never last. “Damn it, Ty, you know that’s not what I meant. If you remember, I was against risking Tabitha as well. Women are protected, it’s our way. If we throw that to the wind, what morals do we have?”

Kallie squeezed his arm. “Taber, please.”

His gaze left Ty for a moment, shooting toward Kallie before he nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Fine, tell us what this plan of yours is.” He took a step back from Ty, but didn’t sit, instead he stood there with Kallie pressed against his side, her arms stretched around his waist.

“We have reason to believe there’s still a traitor to our kind, but this time we can’t draw them out because the traitor is in Nome…”

“You’re accusing one of my family members?” Taber cut in. Disappointment overwhelmed the anger flooding through him.

“I’m afraid so. Shadow has visions. She sees things that will come.”

“Ty, I’ve been around long enough to know Shadow knows everything about a person if she’s met them, including who their mate will be. I know her visions are true, so can we just get to the point?” Taber was tiring of the conversation.

“Very well. When we were deciding where to take Victor, and we wanted to bring him to your family cabins, Shadow had a vision there would be an attack. Someone among your sleuth would have leaked our plan. Shadow said it would be by accident, not directly, but the only way to catch them and make sure there’s no information leaked, is either stop sharing any developments with your sleuth or put a plan into action to catch them. If we act quickly, there’s little chance the rogues can gather enough people for a strong attack. This is why we need immediate action.” Ty sighed.

“I swear if it’s Thorben I’ll kill him myself.” Taber and his twin had been inseparable until a year ago when Thorben began keeping company with the wrong people. Thorben had always been the wild child of the family, while Taber was the responsible one. He’d hoped his twin had wised up when he was arrested for stealing a car and spent almost a week in jail before the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. A shifter in jail was never a good thing, and they usually had to be eliminated before someone found out about their ability and exposed everyone.