Or was it conceited of him to think he had such a grand thing as a destiny, at all? Mitch was used to thinking of himself as a soldier. An Alpha. Top of the food chain—as far as that went. But still a soldier in service to the rulers of their kind.
That he’d been serving the pantera Nyx and not the Tig’Ra didn’t matter. He still had a definite role and a place in big-cat shifter society. But now? What was he now? Neither royal nor Guard, he didn’t quite fit in either place.
When a cub was born with strong Alpha tendencies, they were usually driven to create their own familial Pride once they reached adulthood, strengthening the Clan as a whole. A precious few Alphas felt a higher calling to forsake their own power in service to a higher authority—the royal families who served the Goddess. The structure of big-cat shifter society had been set up in Europe during the time of the Renaissance. They’d taken the titles for the kings and queens of each big-cat shifter species from different traditions.
The mysterious pantera noir had chosen to call their queen the Nyx, after the Egyptian goddess of the night. The tigre Clan had chosen to be a little more straight forward since the Mother of All had given them an easy way to know who was chosen to rule over them all. They simply used the names of the colors in French. D’or literally meant gold in French. Blanche translated to white. Simple words to cover such complex differences. But they’d also gone back to antiquity to give their king the title Tig’Ra after Ra the sun god of ancient Egypt. The queen was called the Tig’Ren—in which a bit of liberty was taken with the spelling of reine, the French word for queen.
The white tigers, it was said, had come about after the first conclave when the tiger Clan’s greatest priestesses had gathered. They’d prayed for a sign by which to know which of two great warriors should rule over the entire Clan as Tig’Ra. After a week of unrelenting prayer, the two candidates were called into the sacred circle and the Lady answered the prayers of Her servants, turning one of the mighty tigers white. He then had become the very first Tig’Ra.
That was real royalty. Every subsequent generation had been either descended from that great warrior in some way or singled out by the Mother of All in a blinding flash of light. None had ever changed the way Mitch had, and he didn’t know what to think of it all.
He wondered what the real royalty thought of him? What did Gina’s dad expect of him? And would he blow a gasket if he realized that Mitch and Gina had shared the bed last night?#p#分页标题#e#
He was a father. An overprotective tiger father, at that. Of course he’d be upset. And he had every right to be.
Even knowing that, Mitch wouldn’t have traded last night for the world. Holding Gina in his arms—just once—was worth her father’s wrath. If she was any other woman, Mitch would have claimed her already. Taken her body and made sweet, sweet love to her. Made her his in the most elemental way.
But she was the tiger princess. Off-limits.
Or was she?
There was a little devil sitting on his shoulder that kept whispering that things were different now. He was blanche now. Could it possibly mean that he was now good enough for Gina? Could he somehow win her heart? Or was he only dreaming?
A princess and a guy like him? Wasn’t there a line from an old movie like that? He didn’t remember how it had worked out for the characters in the movie, but that little imp on his shoulder kept making him hope that somehow, some way, it could work out for him and Gina.
If he didn’t die in the challenge first.
He had to keep that always in the back of his mind. It wouldn’t be fair to give in to his baser desires, to make love to her, only to leave her alone and unprotected should he fall in the challenge. He wouldn’t do that to her. He loved her too much already to toy with her emotions in that way. Not to mention her safety. If he fell in battle, she would be even more vulnerable. He had to maintain a professional distance—as best he could.
They’d already gotten much closer than he ever would have allowed had he himself not been in dire straits when they met. His professional detachment was shot to hell. He’d been as close to death as he ever cared to be and hadn’t been thinking rationally for the first few days they’d been together. He’d said things he otherwise would never have said. He’d done things he wouldn’t have dared had he been in his right mind.
He’d allowed himself to feel things. Dangerous things. He’d allowed himself to need her. Like he’d never needed another woman. Ever.
If Gina were a regular woman, he’d have staked his claim. He wanted her until his dying breath. He felt more for her than he’d ever felt for any female. He needed her until it physically hurt. Emotionally, the wound was raw as well. He needed for her to be safe. As safe as he could make her in this crazy world where her uncle probably wanted her dead.