To Tempt A Tiger(48)
“She doesn’t normally play that rough,” Rose said.
“Her tiger will. It’s natural for our cubs to pretend to attack like that. It’s how they learn to hunt—like a normal tiger.”
“She’ll want to hunt?”
“You squeamish about that?”
“No. I go hunting with my parents. We use bow and arrows or guns, though, not claws.”
Alexis chuckled. “I find claws easier. But that’s just me. Vlad can teach her what she needs to know. For now, this kind of game will get her skills up to where they should be.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon moving deeper into the woods, Vlad leading Zoe as she explored. Rose had one brief heart-stopping moment of panic when Zoe took off so fast she blurred. Vlad gave chase, but they vanished into the woods, leaving only a faint trail of prints to follow.
“Damn it, I was afraid of this. Zoe Callaghan, you get back here this instant,” Rose shouted. She started after them, following the slight depressions in the snow.
She’d barely gone a few feet, when Vlad returned with Zoe dangling from his mouth by her scruff. She hung there without making a sound. When he gently set her down in front of Rose, Rose glared at her daughter. “What did I tell you about running away?”
Zoe dipped her little cat head and butted against Rose’s calf.
“You’re forgiven. Don’t do it again.”
Zoe bounced up and pranced into another mound of snow, flopping around and covering her thick fur in white.
“You handled that very well,” Alexis said, settling a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Inside I’m a mess,” Rose assured her. “If we’re alone and she does that, I can’t catch up.”
“She’ll learn not to run away, and until she does, Vlad can catch her.”
Rose wasn’t sure what to say to Alexis’ assumption that Vlad would always be around when Rose or Zoe needed him.
She watched the huge male tiger pretend to fall over when the much smaller cub swatted him across the nose. Zoe danced and hissed and growled as if she’d just brought down an elephant. But when she pranced too close to Vlad, he swiped out and gently pushed her over. Zoe leapt back to her feet and jumped on his side. Alexis laughed.
“He’s good with her,” she murmured.
Yes, Rose thought, he was. She wasn’t even a little surprised that Vlad made a wonderful father. She’d known he’d be from early in their relationship.
But would he continue to accept the job?
Not long after they put Zoe to bed that night, Alexis excused herself, saying she needed to start making her own calls to ensure their trip to meet with the elders went smoothly. She left the cabin with a little wave, leaving Rose and Vlad alone in front of the fire.
“It was a good day,” Vlad said into the silence.
“Much better than I expected.” Rose turned on the couch to face him. “You’re very good with Zoe. Thank you. She really had fun ‘playing tiger.’”
He smiled and Rose’s stomach tumbled around in a crazy dance. In the quiet darkness, with her daughter safely asleep and Alexis gone, Rose could finally think about something other than fear and worry. Her heartbeat sped as Vlad’s always-yummy scent drifted around her, and the heat of his body, close to hers on the couch, warmed her.
His expression turned serious, matching her mood, and he reached up to cup her cheek in one warm palm. “I know there’s still a lot…unsettled between us,” he said, his voice deep and quiet. “But I want you to know, I’m not going anywhere. I’m in your life to stay now.” He rubbed his thumb gently along her cheekbone. “How much or how little you want me around is up to you.”
“I’m not really sure what I want now,” she admitted. “I’ve spent more years hating you than loving you.”
“If I could change things, I would, Rose. You know that, right?”
“I think I do. I want to believe that. And so you know, I don’t hate you anymore.”
His lips lifted in a sexy half smile. “Glad to hear it.”
“But I still can’t trust you entirely. You hurt me bad when you left, and that ache is still there.”
“It hurt me to leave,” he said. “I haven’t been the same without you. In fact, even before finding out it was possible for us to have a baby together, there were a few times I thought of coming back, because being without you made life feel…wrong.”
“Vlad.” Staring at him in the low lighting, it was like no time had passed, like they were back in the heyday of their affair, in love and talking about marriage. Before she knew tiger shifters existed. Before she’d gotten pregnant.