Tempting the Tiger (22 page)

One moment, Amia was screaming for Diane to get the tracker chip they’d located in her out, and the next, all hell was breaking loose. Logan moved away with a murmur, his hands held out wide in front of him as the most beautiful white tiger she’d ever seen entered the room.

Diane gasped. “Holy shit!”

The Professor grinned. “ A tiger! I was hoping for a tiger!”

Abby squeezed her hand and whispered, “He’s beautiful. I knew he’d be beautiful.”

And still Amia couldn’t take it all in.

The tiger was Reno? Reno was the tiger? She’d known. Oh, she’d come to accept he was more than a man in her mind. But seeing it, seeing him. He took her breath away.

He turned and snarled at Logan, all sharp teeth and anger. And a woman jumped in front of Logan, crouching down at the animal’s level and doing a pretty good job of roaring herself. Everyone was stunned for a moment. Then Logan reached for her and jerked her behind him as he faced Reno.

“The tracker, Reno. We’re trying to get the tracker.”

Logan’s words didn’t seem to faze Reno, though. That big tiger head turned back toward her, but the neon blue eyes focused straight on Diane just as she managed to grasp what she’d been digging for and pull it free.

“Got it. I fucking got it!” she yelled.

Amia felt as if she might pass out. The girl. Was that Clara? She looked like Clara? Fuck, how much blood had she lost while Diane had been digging? She went a little limp on the table, and Reno growled, a thunderous sound that seemed to echo around the room. Those teeth turned toward Diane, and she saw the other woman gulp with fear as she took a hasty step away from the table and Amia.

“Reno.” Her voice was weak as Amia tried to call her mate’s attention to her. It seemed the strength and defiance she’d mustered when she told Diane to, “just do it already,” was quickly fading.

She was afraid of him hurting Diane, of him hurting anyone while in his current state. Was the man still in control in this form? Or did the tiger reign?

“Behind me.” A well-built black man with eerie eyes stepped in front of Diane, forming a solid wall of muscle between the doctor and the tiger. “Back off,” he said, and there was definitely something going on with his teeth as he bared them at Reno, not to mention the warm glow that surrounded him.

A lion’s roar filled the room, making her ears ring. The lion bumped the tiger with his nose, knocking him away from the table, away from Diane, Amia and Abby. The tiger struck back, one large paw catching the lion across the face and sending him back.

“Tah!” Abby screamed beside her, dropping her hand and moving as if she were going to put herself between the two beasts.

“Reno!” Amia said, her voice stronger.

His confession earlier filled her head as she pushed up until she could rise onto her knees on the table. It no longer mattered that the scars on her belly were revealed, despite the fact she’d made a point to keep her shirt on until she was facedown, no matter how awkward it made it to remove. Now, they no longer mattered. All that mattered was her mate.

You woke the beast, and now only you can control him.

The lion roared again. The tiger growled. The Professor grabbed Abby. Diane was trying to see around the man in front of her, and Logan waged a battle trying to keep the woman Amia would swear was Clara behind him.

And she shouted to be heard over them all.
“Reno!”

The tiger turned to her, and those big, beautiful, neon blue eyes finally focused on her and only her.

“I need you.” She held her hand out to him. Soft fur met her fingers as the large tiger’s head brushed her palm. “Come back to me,” she whispered to him. She loved the beauty of the animal but craved the touch of the man.

Then before her eyes, he shifted, changed, until once more the man stood there, completely naked and aroused as hell.

She could hear throats clearing around them. Abby’s soft laughter and a lion’s displeasure as the room began to clear.

“Impressive,” she heard the Professor say as he was pushed out. “So impressive. Have you ever seen anything like it?”

Diane’s laughter joined Abby’s in the hallway, and Amia felt her lips twitch with a grin. She agreed that Reno was very impressive, though she didn’t think the Professor had meant it exactly like that. She shifted onto her ass on the table, spreading her thighs wide as Reno stepped between them. Before he could speak, she beat him to the punch.

She reached out with one hand and buried her fingers in his hair, tightening them and jerking his face down to her. His eyes were still touched with neon as they met hers, and she told both man and beast the truth.

“Mine,” she stated and leaned in to nip his shadowed jaw with her teeth.

A growl rumbled up from his chest as she reached her other hand down to wrap around the hard stalk of his cock and give it a pump. The slow glide of her palm against his flesh had her pussy saturated and begging to be filled by all those hard inches.

“Mine,” she ground out and sunk her teeth into his full bottom lip. She met his gaze as she licked over it, tracing the seam of his lips with her tongue.

That growl rumbled again, and one corner of his lip lifted in a slight snarl. She almost laughed. She knew what he wanted from her, what he wanted to demand. She’d give him part of it, just a bit, until he gave her what she wanted.

She nuzzled into his neck, lowered her head toward his chest. She loosened her grip in his hair and stroked her fingers down his neck, over his shoulder, and along his chest, rubbing through the hair there. She looked up at him, loving the fire in his eyes, the desire and lust, the dominant male ready to conquer and claim. Her body surrendered to him, pliant and submissive. But her voice was strong.

“Mine.” She trailed her tongue over his nipple, squeezed his cock with her hand. “All mine.”

She took pride in watching his eyes soften, seeing the tension ease from his body.

“Yours,” he said and reached behind her to unfasten her bra. “All yours.”

She licked her lips, leaning back as he dragged the material off her arms and tossed it aside. His hands ripped the button and zipper open on her pants, and she found herself stripped and pressed to her back on the table. Her hips were tugged to the edge, and she wrapped her legs around him as he moved into her. His cock nudged her pussy then he pulled back and slid it up through her slick pussy lips instead.

“Mine,” he rumbled, and a lazy smile touched his lips.

She lifted onto her elbows, reached down between them with one hand and swiped her thumb over the crown of him where a drop of pre-cum teased her. Slowly, holding his gaze, she lifted her thumb to her mouth and sucked off the taste of him. With a low moan of pleasure, she agreed.

“Yours.”

His growl filled the air as he thrust deep, burying his cock to the balls in her wet pussy. Good. He felt so good inside her. He held still, just watching her as she moaned and twisted on the table.

“More, Reno. I need more,” she begged.

“Say it again,” he ordered.

“Yours. I’m all yours.”

He retreated then slammed deep, robbing her of air.

“Again.”

“Yours. I’m yours.”

He jerked her legs from around him and tugged her down to him, her body sliding along his until her feet touched the floor.

“Mine,” he rumbled and took her mouth with his.

His tongue penetrated and claimed hers. They were both gasping when he finally broke away. He took her by the upper arms and turned her around until she faced the table.

“You’re hurt,” he growled.

She glanced at the blood on her shoulder. The bullet wound. The place they’d told her still held a bullet when it had actually held a device for them to track her with. Diane had cut it open with a scalpel then used something else to help her extract it. It hadn’t been deep, just held pretty securely from the length of time it’d been inside Amia. She hadn’t been paying much attention at that point, more focused on the pain of Diane probing around, pulling in an effort to get it out of Amia. She should have made them call Reno to be with her. She hadn’t felt a thing since he’d touched her.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Don’t stop. Please.”

She glanced around at it. “It’s already healing.” And it was, strangely enough. The bleeding had begun tapering off.

He met her eyes and must have seen whatever reassurance he was looking for. Gripping her hips, he lifted her up onto her tiptoes and thrust deep again.

“Use the table,” he said. “Hold on.”

That was all the warning she got before he began a hard and fast pounding that had her screaming into orgasm within minutes.

“Mine,” he rumbled again behind her, and all she could do was nod and mumble incoherent sounds of agreement.

She was his. Every inch of her belonged to him and only him. Just as he belonged to her and only her. It was weird and a bit archaic to think of belonging to someone, but there was no other way to describe it. Every part of her was attuned to him. She swore she could almost feel his heartbeat in her own chest.

His teeth scraped the place he’d bitten her, and she turned her head, offering him a better angle. She wanted his bite, craved it like a drug-starved junkie. She needed the feel of his teeth gripping her, his mouth sucking against her flesh as his tongue licked over and over her.

“Take it,” she demanded. “Take me.”

He grunted behind her. One slow lick over the spot, the nuzzle of his nose against her neck, sending chills down her spine. His teeth scraped. Once. Twice. Then struck deep on the third pass, and she cried out as another orgasm tore through her. His cock kept up an impossible pace, riding her through her release and flinging her ever higher in a cataclysm of pleasure that shattered her senses, leaving her blind, deaf and mute to anything but him. In that moment, he was her entire world.

“Reno.” She wasn’t sure if her cry left her lips or only echoed in her mind as she felt the first hot splash of his seed fill her. His cock swelled, so thick that it felt as if he was trapped inside her. A second splash hit her, triggering another orgasm that left her gasping and twisting beneath him.

He licked over her as he pulled his teeth from her, shuddering against her back as more cum pumped from his cock to fill her. His hands slid up her arms until he clasped her fingers with his. His mouth nuzzled her ear, lips placing soft kisses on the lobe as they both fought to suck oxygen in.

“Mine,” he finally whispered to her. “My heart. My soul. My mate. For me, there will always only be you.”

She turned her head and brushed her lips across his.

“My whole life I never knew a man like you existed. You are mine, Reno. You fill my heart, soothe my soul and fill me with wonder at what can be. I never dreamed of you or wished for you. Not because I don’t want you, cherish you. But because I had no idea you existed, or that one day you would come into my life. But now that I know, now that I’ve tasted what life can be with you, there’s no going back for me. You take all the broken pieces of me and make them whole. You make me whole. For me, there will always only be you.”

Chapter Twelve

Amia was boneless and exhausted after Reno’s lovemaking in the lab. She wasn’t sure where everyone had disappeared to, but she was very grateful for the privacy. He’d helped her get dressed then together they had rummaged until she’d found a stack of towels and handed him one. It would be enough to get them upstairs to his room without anyone getting another peep show of just how impressive her mate was. Those parts of him were for her eyes only.

Diane had poked her head in as they were getting ready to leave and demanded to see Amia’s shoulder. She’d looked ready to take on Reno if he’d tried to stop her, and it made Amia smile. Reno stood guard while Diane gave her a shot to numb her shoulder then made quick work of using some type of glue on it, mumbling about how fast mates healed and that it was too late for stitches. Amia thought back to how quickly Reno had healed after the Blanes had beaten him. Was she able to do that now? Was that what Diane was saying? She’d have to remember to ask her when Reno wasn’t breathing down her back and obviously in a hurry to go.

Diane taped a bandage over it and urged them not to get it wet, before turning her back on them as if they were dismissed from her lab. Amia liked the other woman. She was really curious about the man who’d faced off with Reno to protect the doctor.

A quick shower turned into an hour-long orgasm fest, and Reno showed her how creative he could be in getting her wet while keeping her bandage dry. The man had her so weak he had to carry her to the bed by the time they were squeaky clean. The fire in his eyes promised her there was more to come. If not for the knock at the door, they would probably be starting on round three.

Reno wrapped a towel back around his waist, grumbling the whole time. With a heated glance at her, he crossed the room in three strides and jerked the door open.

“What?”

The rumble let her know exactly who was at the door. Tah, and the man was not pleased with Reno’s greeting.

“Sorry,” Reno said before Tah spoke. “Everything okay?”

“Is it?” Tah asked.

She saw Reno’s back flex as he shifted and blew out a sigh. “Yeah. It is. Look. Down there.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I’m sorry. I thought she was hurt.”

She couldn’t see Tah, but she could tell he relaxed by the tone of his voice when he spoke again.

“I understand. And I know you probably want to stay here and reassure yourself she’s okay. But I need everyone in the front room. There’s too much going on right now. I need answers. From Amia and from Clara. Be down in ten minutes. Whole house will be there.”

With those words, she heard his footsteps moving away. Reno shut the door and turned to face her. She threw off the comforter and jumped out of bed. His eyes scanned her naked body, and the towel waved as his cock stood up to salute her. She laughed.

“We don’t have time for that. Ten minutes. I heard him.” She was already rummaging through the clothes they’d bought when he approached her. “So it is Clara?”