No answer.
She checked their bedroom. It was empty. The adjoining door to his study was ajar. She was halfway to opening it when something she saw made her blood run cold.
There was a huge creature standing next to Sven’s desk and it looked…strange. It was a man, but not quite a man either. It was part-man and part-beast. Its upper body was a large animal. Its lower body was a man. It wore Sven’s trousers and shoes. It growled and heaved as it slowly transformed completely into a…tiger.
What was this?
Sven wasn’t a human?
He was a tiger?
How…
Annalise clamped her hand on her mouth. She didn’t trust herself not to make a sound. What she saw just shook her entire being to the very core. She stepped back and pressed herself against the wall, slowly slumping to the floor. Her handbag slipped from her arm and fell with a soft thud. The growling stopped. Annalise’s heart froze.
He knew…
The tiger let out a low growl. The primal acknowledgement filled the room with blood-freezing vibration. Annalise shut her eyes. Her brain ordered her to get the hell up and run. Her heart told her to stay and face him. This was Sven’s secret, the one thing that had been bothering him lately.
Annalise halted her breath as the beast headed in her direction. The sound of sharp claws against the Italian marble flooring ticked unnervingly. The half-ton tiger pushed the door open. Annalise stayed still, while her heart beat so fast, so hard, she thought she would have a heart attack at any moment. Instinctively, Annalise shrunk to the corner of the room. She almost screamed when the tiger sniffed her arm. She waited to get mauled, bitten, attacked…
Don’t be stupid. You know who that is… A voice inside her head told her the beast wouldn’t do that. It wasn’t an ordinary beast. This tiger was Sven, her mentor, her lover, her husband.
Sven wouldn’t hurt her no matter what.
Annalise opened her eyes and forced herself to face the tiger.
Their gazes clashed.
Immediately, she recognized the tiger’s eyes. They were Sven’s. Gentle Sven. Kind Sven. Passionate Sven. And not an ounce of malice in them.
“Sven?” Acting purely on instinct, Annalise slowly extended her arm and touched the tiger’s muzzle.
The beast licked her hand.
“Sven!” Annalise wrapped her arms around the tiger’s neck. “Baby, it’s me. Do you know who I am? What’s happened to you?”
She half-expected that the tiger would swat her with his paw and hurt her. He didn’t. He emitted a purr-chuff sound that sounded strangely similar to a domestic cat. She tightened her arms and hid her face in his fur. He smelled like Sven. He was Sven no doubt.
The tiger slowly shrank and before long, she found herself hugging her husband.
“Baby, what happened to you? How do you—”
“Anna, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I don’t know how…”
She released her arms. “I don’t care who…what you are, I love you.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Even if I’m a freak of nature?”
“You’re you, and you accepted me the way I am. What is this? A sickness? You can do magic?”
Sven snorted a laugh. He shook his head. “To be honest, I don’t know what I really am. I found out I was able to shift during my puberty. Seymour thought I was born with genetic anomalies. He spent the rest of his life researching my condition. His discovery is what led him to build Dune Industry.”
“What about your parents?”
“I lost them when I was very young. I couldn’t recall them. Years ago, Seymour and I tried to track them down. We made contact with so many Romani nomads in Russia and Northern Europe, but we had no luck.”
“Have you ever met others like you?”
Sven thought a moment. “Not exactly like me. A few months back I met a business acquaintance who smelled different from ordinary humans. He turned hostile when I asked too many questions. He wasn’t tiger like me. He was a wolf.”
“So werewolves do exist.”
“I guess they do.” Sven caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry. I wish I’d told you this sooner.”
“Who else knows about this?”
“Your uncle. Sebastian. You.”
“No one else? Not even your exes?”
“No. I hid my condition very well. I’m usually able to control the urge to shift. But since we slept together, my other part knows about you, and he wanted to mate.”
“Huh?”
“You had your period ten days ago, and now you’re nearing your ovulation time, and it drives me insane. I can sense your body changes. Just imagine a tigress in heat. As a male tiger, I’m drawn to you to mate.”