To Tempt A Tiger(45)

Rose tried not to gasp, or even move, so she wouldn’t break her daughter’s concentration, but watching parts of her body start to change was more than disturbing. Panic bubbled up and was forced down. Then, almost suddenly, Zoe’s hands turned into paws. One instant they were child hands, the next cat paws with orange and white fur and extended claws.

Rose looked at the rest of Zoe. Her whole body was twitching now, fur rippling over her skin and not disappearing. She convulsed a few times, movements that made Rose reach for her. A look from Alexis made her stop halfway and sit back. But every maternal ounce of her wanted to take hold of her daughter to keep her safe from what was happening.

Zoe opened her mouth as she dropped onto all fours on the floor in front of Alexis. Rose expected a moan of pain or even a scream, but what came out was a sound her daughter had never made—a growling hiss. Just like a cat.

Rose forced herself to keep watching as her daughter’s beautiful face changed and shifted to a tiger cub’s face. Panic and fear rode her, until she had to sit on her hands to keep from interfering.

The minutes felt interminable. But everything seemed to finish in an instant. Though she’d watched the change, it felt like she’d blinked and a tiger cub stood in the middle of the living room.

An adorable cub, covered in the softest-looking fur Rose could imagine. “Can she understand me when she’s like this?” Rose asked Alexis.

“Sure. She’s still Zoe. She can think and understand just like she can in human form.”

Zoe growled and then collapsed on the rug, rolling on her back, her little cat tongue lolling out, and a sound like a purr rumbled loudly from her.

“How do you feel, baby?” Rose asked her.

The cub that was Zoe bounced to her feet and charged Rose, bumping up hard against her legs and rubbing her head against her knee before bouncing away again and spinning in a circle, chasing her tail. Faster than she’d ever seen her daughter move, Zoe charged around the living room, running so quickly she was a blur.

This time, Rose couldn’t hold back her gasp. “She moves so fast!”

Zoe paused to rub her face against Rose’s leg again before making another rapid circuit of the room.

“Shifters do. At top speeds, you wouldn’t even see us,” Alexis commented.

“I’ve seen Vlad do that, but…” A new kind of fear and panic gripped Rose. “What happens if she runs away from me and gets into danger? I can’t move fast enough to catch her. How can I protect her if she…I don’t know, jumps into traffic or something? She’s just a little girl. She doesn’t understand a lot of dangers yet.”

Alexis tilted her head to one side and frowned a little. “That is a bit tricky. Not something I’ve had experience with because I could always move as fast as my cubs. Vlad’s going to have to help you.”

“But we haven’t even decided…” She trailed off. Zoe could still understand her, even if she wasn’t paying a lot of attention. Rose didn’t want her hearing things they hadn’t actually explained to her yet.

Alexis moved to the couch, sitting next to Rose as they both watched Zoe getting used to her tiger shape. She stopped abruptly, too suddenly for her body, and ended up rolling head over tail into a wall.

Rose stood. “You okay, baby?”

Zoe popped to her feet, shook her entire body, then nodded and tore off toward the back of the house, skidding over the wooden floors. Rose started to follow, to keep an eye on her, but Zoe sped back into the living room before Rose even moved away from the couch.

When the cub plopped onto the rug in front of the fireplace and started licking her feet, Rose sat again.

“You’ll work it out,” Alexis said. “She’s a good girl and you’re a good mom. And you’ll have support. I’ll help where I can, if you want me to. Once she’s introduced to our people, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of volunteers stepping forward to help.”

“Why?”

“She’s a female tiger. All females are incredibly precious to our people.” Alexis smiled. “Plus, she’s absolutely adorable. She’ll be capturing hearts all over the compound when she arrives.”

Rose wasn’t sure whether to be comforted or worried by Alexis’ assurances. She didn’t know how to feel about her daughter being thrown into this strange world, and she wasn’t sure she wanted strangers fawning over her child just because she was female.

Alexis broke into her thoughts with a question. “Did Vlad mention that he can’t sense Zoe?”

Rose blinked. “Yes. He said most tigers can sense each other, but Zoe is different. She can sense him, though.”