To Tempt A Tiger(34)
They’d run out of time.
Rose splashed cold water on her face, washing away the tears as best she could, though a few continued to leak out. Then she hung her head and focused on breathing steady and slow. The adrenaline of her panic was fading now, leaving her limp and exhausted. Her chest ached, tight with anxiety and terror for her daughter.
Finally, she sucked in a breath, splashed more water on her face, and dried off. When she glanced in the mirror, she grimaced. Her pale skin turned mottled red when she cried, patchy and not attractive. She hated crying, but she hated crying in front of people more.
Though, the relief of actually having someone to cry on had been overwhelming. He’d helped her daughter, pulled her back from a brink Rose couldn’t even quite comprehend, and then he’d held Rose without saying a word, just giving comfort.
She loved him. Despite everything that had happened between them, she still loved him. And she was only just realizing how much she needed that love and support. If he left them now, he’d take a part of her soul with him. She’d go on. She’d be strong for her daughter, and she’d learn to enjoy her life. But she’d be missing something.
She glared at her reflection. “Well, that sucks.” With a groan, she left the bathroom and went to stand next to him where he was still watching over their daughter.
“Thank you,” she said, her gaze on Zoe, as she carefully avoided touching him. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when it started, to keep it from getting that far.”
“We can’t delay teaching her anymore, can we?”
“No.”
She’d been afraid of that. Seeing the fur sprout out of her daughter’s skin, the way her body moved and shifted in ways that shouldn’t have been physically possible, had driven home the reality of Zoe’s situation. A part of Rose was still trying to deny the shifter thing, secretly believing Vlad was wrong and this was something else. Even after seeing him change, knowing tiger shifters were a reality, she hadn’t been able to dismiss the quiet little voice in the back of her mind whispering that Zoe couldn’t be a shifter and all this was bullshit.
She couldn’t afford to fool herself any more.
“How will you start?” She dropped into a chair near the side of the couch where Zoe was curled up, near enough that she could reach her quickly.
“I left a message for Alexis, through my sister, but I don’t know how long it will take her to get here.”
She heard his unspoken comment. “Or if she’ll come?”
He made a face. “I’m hopeful. I made a point of telling Nila how old Zoe is. Alexis won’t refuse to help such a young child.”
Rose nodded. She didn’t have the energy to argue. “What do we do until this Alexis woman shows up?”
“That episode will have drained Zoe. She’s so strong.” He murmured the last, with awe in his tone. “I can’t believe she’s been able to prevent her tiger from getting out. How long have the episodes been happening?”
“Since around the time she turned two. Like you said happens for ordinary shifters.” She rubbed her neck as tears prickled her eyes again. “Other parents worry about the ‘terrible twos.’ They have no idea what terrible really is. I’d have taken months of tantrums over watching my baby in such pain.”
“I wish I could change things. I wish I’d been there to help.”
“If wishes were dimes… No point in considering all the what-ifs. You’re here now.”
He looked away. “Because this episode was so exhausting, I doubt her tiger will try to get out for at least another few days, which gives us some time. For the most part, the shifts don’t wear us out—we can go back and forth between shapes indefinitely unless we’re injured or there’s some other reason we’re worn out. But Zoe’s fighting hers and that’s taking a toll. Once she’s able to let go and allow the change, and control it, she won’t get so tired after.”
“And the pain?”
“The pain is from fighting the shift. It’ll go away, too.”
Rose took a shaky breath. She was making him repeat things he’d already told her. But after the last hour, she needed all the reassurances she could get. “How will you start to introduce the concept to her? It’s not like anything she’d have ever encountered. I don’t read her scary stories or let her watch scary movies with things changing into other things. She’s much too young for that.”
“Until Alexis gets here, we have to let Zoe see that tiger shifters actually exist. I’ll change for her, but not in front of her. She’ll be able to see me as a tiger, and that I’m safe and aware. I hope that’ll help her get used to the idea before Alexis shows her a shift.”