Read Here There Be Tigers Online
Authors: Kat Simons
Here There Be Tigers
She shouldn’t exist.
When Nila De Luca finds out she’s the
impossible offspring of a human father and a tiger shifter mother,
she knows her life will never be the same. She refuses to be a pawn
in tiger politics or to have her future dictated by other people’s
agendas. But before she can settle into her new life, she has to
survive the vicious attacks of her mother’s mate and the covetous
grab of a crazy tiger determined to use her for his own purposes.
Her only ally is a sexy tiger shifter, a man she wants more than
any other before, and with a passion that calls to her animal
side.
He can’t have her.
Mitch Chernikov knows exactly how important
Nila is to his people. She represents hope for their continued
survival. His sole job is to keep her alive so she can fulfill that
promise. He knows he won’t be allowed to keep her for himself. That
knowledge doesn’t stop him from wanting her. Or from answering the
passion that burns so fiercely between them. But to keep her, he’ll
have to fight for her. And it will be a fight to the
death.
HERE THERE BE TIGERS
Copyright © 2014 by Katrina Tipton
Edited by Kemberlee Shortland
Cover by The Killion Group
Published by T&D Publishing
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book
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critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s
imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead,
actual events, locale or organizations is entirely
coincidental.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
HERE THERE BE TIGERS
Tiger Shifters Book #3
Kat Simons
DEDICATION
For my beloved Eddie. I miss you. You were a
super dog.
CHAPTER ONE
Nila De Luca dug through her backpack in search
of her cellphone as she waited by the luggage carousel for her
duffle. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her limbs after the long
flight from India to New York. The delayed layovers in Paris and DC
hadn’t helped, but at least she was already through customs. Now
all she could think about was dropping into the spare bed at her
grandmother’s house and sleeping for the next three days. She’d
have to get back to work after that—there was a leopard in a Texas
zoo due to give birth in a few weeks, and because of anticipated
complications, the resident vet wanted Nila on hand, since big cats
were her specialty.
Until then, she was off duty.
She yawned, still pawing through her backpack
for her phone as the luggage started coming down the
chute.
A slight shiver moved down her back, which she
wrote off to the air-conditioning working overtime. Even at ten
o'clock at night, August was muggy and hot in New York. She was so
worn out that when she felt the jab of a hard, blunt object against
her ribcage she didn’t react at first.
Then a quiet, deep voice whispered close to her
ear, “Stay calm. Do exactly what I say, and I won’t shoot
you.”
Fear and confusion shot a jolt of adrenaline
through her. She glanced down. Hidden from the rest of the room by
her backpack was the business end of a very ugly looking gun. She
swallowed and tried not to panic, but her heartbeat tripled and her
breathing sped.
“
What do you want?” she murmured,
carefully lowering her bag. She didn’t want to make any abrupt
moves, but someone else in the crowded JFK luggage area had to
notice a friggin’ gun.
To her dismay, the barrel shifted to her lower
back and she felt the man behind her move closer, no doubt covering
his weapon.
“
If you cooperate,” he said against
her temple, “you might survive this. If you resist, I’ll kill you
first then hunt down Leo and Rossa and kill them, too. And I’ll
make sure their deaths are slow and painful.”
“
Why?” she hissed as another spike
of panic flashed through her. Her father and grandmother were her
only close family. Why would anyone want to hurt them?
She tried getting a look at her abductor from
the corner of her eye, but he wasn’t leaning far enough forward for
her to even glimpse a hair color.
“
Someone would like to talk to you,”
he said, putting his free arm around her waist. To strangers, it
probably looked like an embrace from a boyfriend.
“
Listen, buddy,” she said, “I think
you’ve got the wrong person. I’m just a vet. Unless you’ve got a
big cat in need of medical help, I’m of no use to you. And if you
do have a big cat that needs a vet, you just have to
ask.”
His chuckle sent a shiver across her shoulders.
The fine hairs on the back of her neck rose.
“
We’ll have to see what he says,
won’t we?” the man said. “But he might let you live if you prove
useful.”
This made no sense. She hated when things
didn’t make sense. It drove her crazy. The pet peeve sparked
irritation that quickly turned to anger. “Buddy, you’re messing
with the wrong woman. I’m a ball buster.”
“
Oh, I have no doubt you are. Let’s
go.” He nudged her with the gun, hard enough she was sure to have a
bruise.
She sucked in a breath. “What about my
luggage?” She spotted her duffle dropping down the ramp.
“
Won’t need it.”
He butted her with the gun again, and she
either had to move or risk being shot. To buy herself some thinking
time, she walked slowly with a limp.
“
What are you doing? Move
it.”
“
I can’t, damn it. I hurt my ankle a
few days ago. It’s still killing me.”
“
Your ankle will be the least of
your worries if you don’t move faster.”
His response told her two things: he hadn’t
seen her walk into the luggage area, because she was lying through
her teeth about the injury, and he didn’t want to get caught. That
last part was good for her. She just had to find a way to attract
the attention of someone who could help without getting everyone in
the area killed.
Even as that thought crossed her mind, she
passed a small family, the mother standing beside a stroller
discussing something with one child while the boy in the stroller
pulled at her skirt.
Fuck. There were too many people in here. That
should have worked in her favor. Someone should see the gun. But no
one seemed to notice anything beyond their own baggage hunt. If she
called attention to her kidnapping, the man might start shooting
innocent people.
“
Where are we going?” she said,
still limping to stall their progress.
“
Parking lot. Then a short
drive.”
She was very certain she wouldn’t survive
getting into a car with this man. Who the hell was he? Why on earth
would he kidnap her? He had to know who she was because he knew her
father and grandmother’s names. Yet she wasn’t rich, and she didn’t
have the kind of job that inspired kidnappings. What the hell was
going on?
As they stepped out of the sliding doors into
the muggy night, she caught a brief glimpse of the gunman in the
glass door—dark hair with shadowy eyes, pale skin, taller than her
5’3” by almost a foot, and he wore a dark, short sleeved shirt. The
doors had opened too fast for her to see more than that, though.
She glanced down at the arm still around her waist, covered in dark
hair and well-muscled. Those muscles were relaxed but felt coiled
and ready to react if she so much as breathed the wrong
way.
He nudged her in one direction just as another
man hurried up to them.
“
Taxi? Taxi, sir? Going into the
city?”
She tried catching the man’s gaze to let him
see her distress, but his full focus was on the man behind
her.
“
Get out of my face,” the kidnapper
spat.
“
Hey, no need to be rude.” The
driver raised his hands in surrender. “Just offering.”
Then the cab driver glanced at her and winked.
She had just enough time to frown. In the next instant, the driver
pushed her to one side, the surprise move freeing her from the
gunman’s hold. She stumbled away as a low growl from behind her
raised the hairs on her arms. Before she caught her balance, she
heard a painful sounding crunch then the driver had her elbow and
was maneuvering her away from the kidnapper. She glanced back long
enough to see the other man holding his wrist. He looked up,
glaring after her, and his eyes seemed to glow yellow.