To Tempt A Tiger(6)

Eventually, he’d have to bring them fully into his world. He wouldn’t be able to hide Zoe from his people, not now that his brothers were sniffing around.

The implications… His gut hurt when he considered introducing that beautiful, vulnerable little girl to the tiger community. Maybe if she’d been a boy, things would be easier. A little. Because she was a girl and able to shift, she would be wrapped up in the same sort of trouble his sister had faced. But Nila was a grown woman. Zoe…

His first view of his daughter had broken something open in him. She was the most beautiful, perfect child he’d ever seen. Her dark eyes reminded him of his own mother. But her fiery red hair was all Rose. He smiled, remembering how he’d teased Rose about her name fitting her hair color. He’d gotten a not-too-gentle punch in the arm every time.

She walked back into the living room in that moment and caught him smiling.

“What?” she asked, though quietly.

“She’s asleep?” He could hear Zoe’s even breathing, the soft quiet snores, but he needed to change the subject. Rose didn’t need to know what he’d been reminiscing about.

“She was exhausted. The episodes always wear her out.”

He took in the creases along Rose’s brow and the little lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth, the deep circles under her eyes. “She’s not the only one exhausted,” he commented. “I wish I could let you rest before we do this. But it’s important you believe me. Quickly.”

She waved a hand in a vague circle. “It’s better to get this nonsense over with while she’s asleep. If you’re gone before she wakes up, I’ll have less explaining to do.”

He narrowed his eyes, but decided they could argue about him leaving after she faced his tiger. “You understand what you’re agreeing to?”

“Yes. I’m agreeing to let you strip and pretend you can turn into a tiger. When you can’t, you will take your clothes and leave. If you refuse, I’ll call the cops. Or worse, my parents.”

He actually paused at that. Her parents were…well, they rivaled tiger parents in their fierce protectiveness of their only child. And they were both hunters. With a lot of guns. “After I shift, don’t shoot me, okay? Give me a chance to get back to human and then we’ll talk. And don’t scream if you can help it. You’ll wake Zoe.”

Rose looked at him with her brows raised, her mouth a flat, disbelieving line. She showed no sign of fear or unease, just impatience to see him gone. He couldn’t blame her for that, but this was too important.

He dropped the light jacket he wore, mostly for show, across the back of a chair. Then pulled his long-sleeved t-shirt over his head. He heard her very faint inhale and his blood pumped faster. He met her gaze. Her expression hadn’t changed, but her scent had. That hint of desire was stronger now, a delicious curl of spice he could actually taste. He smiled.

“I need you to watch me shift so you don’t think I’ve pulled a trick. But if you’d be more comfortable, you can turn around while I’m undressing.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” she muttered. “Get on with it.”

He nodded, trying not to let her stare affect him. He had to concentrate so he could shift as quickly as possible. He could change to his tiger form relatively fast for his kind, but it wasn’t an instantaneous process. It took a few minutes. And he’d go a lot slower if he was distracted by lusty thoughts of the woman watching him. As it was, it was taking an act of will to keep from getting hard.

He toed off his boots as he unbuttoned his jeans, still too aware of her gaze on him. He wasn’t shy or even remotely modest. Most tigers weren’t. They spent a lot of time naked. But Rose wasn’t just anyone. She was the woman who, four years ago, he’d been prepared to abandon his own kind for, the human woman he was so desperately in love with he’d been willing to face his father’s fanatical anger and prejudice to stay with her.

Being naked with Rose was not the same as being naked with anyone else.

He slid his jeans and underwear off and draped them over the chair with his coat and shirt. When he faced Rose, she was making an effort to keep her gaze…up. That made him smile. She snarled.

He shook off his need to tease her and pulled his attention to the shift. After she witnessed that, there was the very real possibility it would kill any desire she still felt for him. He’d hate that, but the sacrifice would be worth it for Rose and Zoe’s safety.

“This will take a few minutes,” he explained. “I won’t hurt you as the tiger. I’ll still be myself. Just in a different body. Okay?”