"How does it feel? To be changed into one of them."

  Clari beamed. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. The strength, the speed, my animal. I love all of it. Do you want me to chop the tarragon, Ian?"

  "I got it. Can you grab some chocolate? The 98 percent one on the top shelf."

  "Oh, so that's where you hide the good stuff!"

  Clari helped herself to a bit before handing him the rest. Ian grimaced. He wasn't fond of chocolate to start with, but the high cocoa content stuff he used in his chili was downright disgusting.

  "What now?" Clari asked. "I can't believe I get to see the great Ian in action. I should have written down the recipe."

  "I need lime zest," he said, amused.

  Clari was a little obvious, if well meaning. He'd told them about his father's insults and so she was trying to flatter him. He could have told her just her help and company worked wonders.

  They were done in no time; he reduced the heat and let it simmer.

  The food was as delicious as it had been the previous night, but if Tania was honest, she preferred the good old chili to the fancy food. She knew better than to post about it this time, though.

  After dinner, Ian offered to drive her up to the lake house.

  "Could we walk again?" she proposed. "I'm so full, I certainly can use a stroll."

  "Sounds good to me."

  She was a little better prepared than the previous evening, with a scarf as well as her jacket. He still offered her his coat, and it was so cool she did accept it.

  "Why don't you have a better coat?"

  She shrugged. "I left my dad's without any of my stuff. I'm certainly not going back to get them now his pals are after me. I'll need to get one soon. Listen, are we cool? I feel some weirdness; is it because of my offering myself up as bait? You've barely looked at me since."

  Ian remained silent.

  "Look, it just seemed like the best idea..."

  "It was. It is. They aren't stupid enough to attack a shifter, but they'll go for you. I know their kind. Bloodthirsty, violent, cruel and cowardly. They'll jump at a chance to commit atrocities."

  "Well then..."

  "We’re cool. It's just a shifter thing I'm dealing with."

  "What kind of shifter thing?" she asked, curious and excited.

  "The kind you don't want to hear."

  "Well, maybe I—"

  She didn't finish that statement because his lips had fallen on hers.

  Chapter 19

  Her lips felt like silk, heaven, and candy all wrapped up in one and served with a side of ambrosia. Tania moaned low, and he didn't think he could stop himself from tasting more of her softness, savoring it leisurely. The tiger inside Ian wanted to rush to the surface and play with his mate. It took all his self-control to rein him in. Knowing that there would be no controlling the beast if he didn't stop, Ian stepped back. He was panting as if he'd just finished a marathon, and so was she.

  "That was a shifter thing?" Tania asked.

  She'd been so incredibly understanding until now, but that little tidbit of information might have freaked her out, so Ian acquiesced.

  "Yep. I figured that, with everything going on, now wasn't the time to make a move on you. My beast disagreed. Shifter thing."

  Another half-truth. One day would come when he’d be able to tell her everything.

  If she survived the anti-shifters after her. Until then, Ian would have to keep the most important part of him to himself.

  He dropped her off at the lake house and placed a chaste kiss atop her head.

  Days passed without any change. She'd get up, go to work, or hang out in town by herself, safe in the knowledge that there was a shifter round her at all times, watching from a distance. Every day, whoever was in charge of her safety confirmed they'd seen, heard, or smelled people watching her, but they weren't making a move. If they were trying to drive her to madness, it was a good plan. Between having to worry about them and the infuriating way Ian was treating her like porcelain, someone was going to have to have her committed soon.

  He was kissing her once a day, and stepping back as soon as she tried to deepened the kiss. Seriously, being stuck at first base sucked. She needed to buy herself a vibrator, stat.

  Tania got used to Lakesides, to the lake house, and to the suit she had to wear every day, wash every night. To be honest, she absolutely loved the suit. Not only did it entirely absorb any form of impact—from bumping on furniture to lessening a kick to the stomach—but it also made her faster, and stronger. For fun, Tania started to attend the kids' sparring lessons when she wasn't working. All of them, including little Lola, could take her without breaking a sweat, but she was a lot stronger than she had been when she'd first arrived in Lakesides.

  Before she knew it, a whole month had passed.

  Her phone rang that morning and she stared at the screen for a full fifteen seconds before answering the call.

  "Hey, Don."

  "If that isn't my favorite niece."

  "Your only niece," she replied with an eye roll. "What can I do for you?"

  "I wanted to let you know, my therapist said I'm on the mend. I should be able to go back to work part time in a couple of weeks."

  Oh.

  Somehow, over the last month, she'd forgotten that this wasn't her life, that she was just here for a short time. She cleared her throat.

  "That's...that's great."

  He caught the nuance in her tone, because he said, "I know you had to leave your job to replace me, T. I'm definitely not throwing you out the door. Paula is still on maternity leave, anyway. Stay as long as you want to. I just wanted to let you know I can lessen the work load a bit, soon."

  She breathed out.

  "Oh, right. Sounds great. Sorry. I guess I got used to things here."

  Here being in Lakesides, with the pack and with Ian.

  "Everyone tells me you're a godsend. You have a permanent place with us if you want it."

  She hadn't expected that offer, and she didn't know what to do with it yet, so she replied, "Thanks. Really. I...I'll think about it."

  Her expression must have been telling, because the moment she entered the pride house that day, Rain asked, "Oh dear. What is it?"

  The entire pride looked up from their breakfast with concern.

  She wondered if they took it for granted; having so many people who cared about each of them. It was new to Tania, and she wasn't sure how she could go back to her old life. She'd liked it well enough at the time, but now she saw that it had been quite lonely.

  "Nothing. My uncle called. He's a little better."

  They exchanged frowns and glances. Ian was watching her closely, and Hsu kept eating her cereal without paying them any attention.

  "So, you want to go back to LA?"

  Did she? She was asking herself that when she realized that her head was already moving from side to side, signaling a clear negative.

  "No, not really. And Don offered me a job."

  "Are you going to take it?"

  She bit her lip.

  "She isn't," replied Hsu. "She's staying here. She's happy. Or she will be, after today."

  Now the pride's attention was on Hsu.

  "What's happening today, Hsu?" Ace asked.

  But Tania knew, before the girl said anything.

  “You said I can’t tell scary things around the other kids,” Hsu reminded the alpha.

  Shit.

  Chapter 20

  They were silent all the way to work. Ian had a million things he wanted to tell her, but he drove without a word, one hand in hers.

  This woman was going to drive him to madness. He'd found a white hair this morning. She was gonna turn him gray by the end of the day.

  When they got in front of the practice, he asked, "You have your suit on?"

  She bobbed her head.

  "Good."

  He dropped a kiss on her forehead and she exited the vehicle. Then, as much as it killed him, he drove away.

  Glancing in the rear-view mirror, he saw the white van speed toward her, stop right in front of her, and two masked thugs came out of it, grabbing her by the arms and knees.

  And he kept driving.

  After so many years with her in the pride, Ian had come to take Hsu for granted, like all of them. Today, he remembered her value. The tween had run through a hundred scenarios while they were having breakfast.

  Scenario one: Ian stays in the parking lot, an asshole flanked by three guys comes with his dog, asks to see Tania, and slits her throat.

  Scenario two: Ian drops her off and comes back when he sees the abduction. They plunge a knife in her eye socket and leave her body on the pavement.

  And on, and on, and on.

  The extremists had decided to act today, and they were either going to do it fast, or slowly.

  The tiger inside him was enraged, failing to understand the subtleties behind the decision to leave their mate in danger. Ian's animal was a lot more manageable than the ones of alphas like Rye and Daunte, but today, he could barely restrain him. He felt the start of a shift, a tingle in his hands and at the back of his neck.

  His phone rang; he answered immediately.

  "Is it time?"

  "Yes, you can shift. Ace and Jas are on the trail. Rain took a video and—"

  He hung up, not bothering to listen to the rest of it. Ian briskly stopped his truck on the side of the road and got out, leaving the engine running. His shifts weren't fast, typically taking up to a couple of minutes; this time, he was fur and claws after one breath. Following the bond that linked him to the rest of his pride, to his alphas, he rushed to Ace.

  It took him a couple of minutes to reach Jas.

  She's safe. Calm down.

  Nothing anyone could say would make him calm down until Tania was home, and those who'd taken her were dealt with.

  He ran with the tigress, and eventually they reached the small, dainty feline who was their alpha female. She was in front of a warehouse. Ace shifted back and stood naked, her hands and feet muddy.

  "You know the plan. No improvisation."

  The two animals bowed their heads. Their priority was to get Tania out of there unharmed.

  Ace stepped in front of the building, hands in the air, and shouted.

  "Hey, guys! I come in peace. I just want to talk, all right? No one needs to get hurt."

  Someone peeked out a window, and the next instant, a gunshot came from inside.

  "You have a woman in there. She's just a normal human, one of you. We want to make sure she isn't harmed."

  "Fuck off, you vile animal!" someone shouted. Three gunshots now. Ian was relatively certain they were actually aiming at Ace. They were just terrible marksmen, and the alpha female made for a small target.

  "Please. All we want is to live in peace, but if you do continue shooting at me, we will attack."

  From the other side of the building, Daunte, who'd waited there for the last few hours, hidden from view behind a rusty car, held his hand up so that they could all see his thumb up. He'd been timing it all and filming the whole thing from a vantage point.

  Three, two, one...

  The next shot hit Ace in the leg.

  She smirked. That was all they'd needed.

  "Go."

  Ian had never won a race against Jas until today, but he got to the warehouse before her, and he also was the first to sink his teeth deep inside the leg of a guy. Not one to be outdone, the female leaped on the man holding Tania down, and ripped out his throat, coating Tania in blood. Her wrists were bound, but she seemed unharmed. Ian's animal rushed to her, and checked her over before standing in front of her protectively, as if daring anyone to approach. The idiotic humans might have, were they not getting eaten by a panther, three tigers, and an eagle. Two or three of them would have been enough to take care of this sorry lot, but none of them had wanted to take chances with Tania's life. Vision or no vision, accidents did happen; guns were dangerous things, and someone could have shot her, had they not made quick work of their enemy.

  There were body parts all over the warehouse within five minutes, and six shifters stood over them in their human forms. Ian hadn't shifted back; his animal was still too uneasy to risk it.

  "Did you film everything we needed?" Rye asked Daunte.

  "It's in the box. I'll load it online as soon as we get home. You okay, Tania?"

  Daunte was no doubt asking because there was an eight-hundred-pound tiger standing up on its back legs, licking her face.

  She held on to his rough fur and nodded. "I'm good."

  “Let’s get out of here, then.”

  “Yes. Let’s go home.”

  She said it like Lakesides was her home, too.

  Chapter 21

  Daunte had left his truck hidden from view a short distance away. Clari and he rode in front, and Tania took the back seat with Ian's tiger. She couldn't stop herself from caressing his fur, finding his touch comforting.

  She was still shaken up; not as much by seeing people torn to bits in front of her—they'd had it coming—but by her kidnapping. Expecting it didn't make the whole thing any less of an ordeal.

  She'd felt helpless. She'd felt helpless and she'd fucking hated it.

  "Do you think I could be a shifter, someday?" she asked, talking to Clari, but everyone in the car froze, tiger included. "Be changed like you, I mean."

  "Is that what you want?"

  She nodded, firm and definite.

  "It's not something I can promise," Clari replied, carefully. "And it could also be dangerous to the pride, if people found out...but if Ace and Rye agree, maybe. It doesn't always work."

  "It'll work on her," said Daunte. "She has it in her, like you did, before the change."

  Tania wondered what he'd meant by "it" but, for once, she didn't ask questions. She was just too tired, and the fact that Clari had said maybe was reassuring.

  The drive to the territory felt endless.

  "Do you want to rest or to head to the pride house?"

  The tiger on her lap made a guttural sound that had Daunte laughing. "Hey, don't growl at me. You'll have to ask the lady."

  "What does he want?" she wondered.

  "Ian is freaked. All his protective instincts are on fire, hence why he can't shift back. He wants you in his space, his place."

  Oh. "That'd be nice," she replied. She was exhausted, but hadn't wanted to be alone, so she would have chosen the pride house rather than the lake house, but his place was even better. "I've never seen your place," she told the beast, wondering if he understood her.

  "Oh, you're in for a treat. The cabins are amazing."

  Daunte drove past the lake house, his four-wheel-drive bumping for a couple of miles, until they reached the most picturesque wooden cabin at the edge of the lake. It was all on one floor, good-sized, and there was a swing on the porch.

  The betas dropped them off. Ian bumped his head on her leg, inviting her to step forward.

  The door was unlocked. Inside, the home was tidy, and smelled of pumpkin spice, like someone had just made an apple pie. There was a warm rug on the floor, brown and white furniture, full bookshelves, and an open fireplace. She laughed.

  "A fireplace in a wood house, really? That's tempting fate."

  "Well, we do have a seer in the pride, so I figured it was safe enough."

  She turned, and her jaw hit the floor. Shit. Instead of a tiger, there was a six-foot-tall naked mountain of muscles and deliciousness. She couldn't have stopped herself from staring if she'd tried. Which she didn't.

  "Why, see something you like?"

  His entire tone and demeanor had done a one eighty. No more mild flirtiness; his eyes were devouring her like she was the one without any clothes on.

  "Yes," she croaked. Then, clearing her throat, she challenged, "Do you?"

  Ian laughed. "You love playing with fire, don't you?"

  He stepped forward, tilted her head and took her lips.

  "If you stop and say goodnight, I may kick you in your balls."

  He laughed against her neck. "Hellcat."

  Then he kissed her right under the ear, and bit her earlobe, making her gasp and plaster herself to him.

  "I stopped and said goodnight," he whispered, "because I knew that if I touched you, I'd want to take you, and bite you, and make you mine."

  That sounded like a great idea right now, as he peeled her sweater off her and cupped her breast.

  "Wait, did you say bite?"

  "Oh, yes. I very much want to bite you. Here," he said, his finger flickering over her nipple through her lacy bra. He unhooked it. "And here."

  Now, he traced her hips and wrapped his palm around the swell of her butt cheeks.

  "But I think I will mark you here, where all can see it."

  His mouth fell on her throat and he kissed it.

  Mark. She knew that term. She'd seen marks before. Her mother's, for one.

  "You want me. As in, for real. Permanently?"

  "Till death, and all that. I can get you a white dress if that's your sort of thing."

  "That was the worst proposal in the history of proposals. Shifters suck at romance. If you want to mark me, anywhere, you've got to convince me first."

  He unhooked the top button of her jeans. "Challenge accepted."

  Ian got on his knees and slid her jeans off before burying his face between her legs and licking her, slowly, leisurely, until she was chanting his name, hands curled in his dark hair. Then he did some more convincing, talking to her tits, teasing them with his thumbs, and mouth, and teeth. She would have agreed to anything just to get more.

  "Please!"

  "Please what, sweet?"

  Bite me. She wanted to say bite me. Instead, she told him, "Everything." And he did just that.

  Epilogue

  The two fox kids got along great with the Wyvern kittens, particularly Niamh, as they were closer to her age.

  Ian liked his mate’s family. Laura was a smart, still beautiful, and cheerful woman and Robert visibly adored her. He was a fox, of course, but some things couldn’t be helped.

 

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