Loving the Tigers

When Kelly runs from her mates, she discovers resistance truly
is
futile.

Never allowed to forget her wild adolescence, Kelly has had enough. It appears as though moving from her hometown is the only way to discard her sordid past for a brighter future. Leaving with her best friend, Jessi, seems the appropriate course until they meet up with four men who attract the wild, wanton woman still trapped inside her.

Watching Jessi give in to
her
two men only tempts Kelly more. Despite their encouragement, she resists the other two men, Zach and Derek, because she promised herself she would change. If only she had known how impossible a task it would be.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Loving the Tigers

Copyright © 2016 Tianna Xander

ISBN: 978-1-4874-0546-5

Cover art by Carmen Waters

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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Loving the Tigers

Caspian Cascade Book Three

By

Tianna Xander

To my readers: Thank you for always asking for more.

Kelly stood at the counter, holding a pint of rocky road ice cream and a spoon. She stared down into the delicious concoction and wondered if she should put some in a bowl, or eat the entire thing by herself. Generally, she didn’t binge eat, but she’d had another bad day.

With a sigh, she replaced the lid, opened the freezer, set the pint on the shelf and closed the door. “You don’t need it. It’s bad for you.” Her ass was wide enough already. She didn’t need to add another pint of ice cream to it.

Turning, she walked to the sofa and sat down. Maybe a few hours of TV would help her feel better. Just as she picked up the remote and pointed it at the small set, the door slammed open and her best friend stalked in.

“That’s it! I’ve had it,” her friend Jessi growled as she marched into the apartment. “I’ve had it. I am so out of here. Just watch how fast I’m outta here. Your head will spin.”

Jessi threw her purse. It landed on the sofa next to Kelly with a jangle as some of the change fell out and rolled around on the rug at her feet. She watched, mouth open, as her friend stomped over to the closet next to the front door and yanked her suitcases out.

Kelly’s stomach lurched and she jumped to her feet. She couldn’t let Jessi go again. Not by herself. Life had been hell in their small town after her best friend had left the last time. She watched as Jessi dragged her bags into her room and dumped them onto her bed.

The sound of zippers opening greeted Kelly as she stepped up to the door. What could she do to convince Jessi to stay? Did she want to? Wouldn’t it be unfair to ask her to stay when she obviously wanted to go so badly, she’d already started throwing her clothes into her bags without folding them? Hangers and all went into the suit cases and Jessi fumed, saying something under her breath.

“What’s the matter?” Kelly leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms with a frown. “What
are
you doing?”

Turning, Jessi glanced her way with a scowl. “I’m leaving. That’s what I’m doing.” Her friend waved her hand over her head. “I’ve had it up to here with Billy’s innuendo and Bobby’s pawing. Let them find some other girl to torment. I’m not taking it anymore.” Her eyes glistened with tears and she sniffled, loudly.

Kelly closed her eyes. Could she let her best friend in the world just walk out of her life again? Did she want to stay in a town where people held her past against her? She shook her head. Did she have the courage to leave their hometown and not look back like Jessi had all those years ago?

“I should have known that I could never come home.” Jessi swiped the back of her hand over her face. “Why can’t those jerks just leave me alone?”

For reasons unknown to them, the townsfolk, mostly the guys they grew up with, refused to forget their wild youth. As young girls, they had low self-esteem and they had probably treated themselves too cheaply—but they both had changed. Hell, Jess had gone and made a life for herself and Kelly had done her best to make up for the fact that she’d been anything but a good girl when she was younger.

Whatever gave them the idea that things would change for any of the women in town? God, she hated double standards.

“I just can’t take it anymore.” Jessi sighed and threw a few more things in her bags. “This time when I leave, I’m
never
coming back here.”

Kelly’s stomach twisted and her heart ached at the thought of never seeing Jessi again. Resting a hand over her stomach, she sighed. Did she have the guts to go with her? Would Jessi welcome her if she did?

Jessi stared down at her bags for a moment her shoulders slumped before she turned to face Kelly. “I’ll miss you.” Her voice cracked as she said it. It was obvious her friend was upset, but was she upset because she was leaving town, or because she was leaving her best friend?

I guess I’ll find out, won’t I?
Kelly nervously sucked her bottom lip for a moment. Gathering her courage, she made her decision. “No you won’t.”

“What do you mean, I won’t miss you? Of course, I will! You’re my best friend.”

“You won’t miss me because...” She paused. Tilting her head, she gave Jessi a wobbly smile. “I’m going with you this time. If you think I’m going to let you leave me here again, you’re out of your cotton pickin’ mind.”

“B-But why would you leave your home, too?”

Kelly stared at her for a minute, then frowned. “Do you think those asshats treat
me
any differently than they treat you?” She shook her head. “I’m sick to death of it, too.” She clapped her hands together and grinned. “I say we get the hell out of this little Podunk town and find a place where we can
really
live!” Spinning around, she headed for her room. She needed to pack. Thank goodness nothing in this apartment belonged to her except her clothes, her stereo, and her laptop. Packing should be a breeze. Stopping, she spun around and met Jessi’s startled gaze. “When does our adventure begin?”

“As soon as we can pack, girlfriend.” Jessi grinned and rushed to give her a hug. “I’m so through with this place, leaving yesterday wouldn’t be fast enough.”

“Awesome!” Kelly borrowed a word from one of her favorite TV show characters. She should have known Jessi would welcome her along. They’d been best friends forever. “Just awesome.”

Zach sat at the desk, staring at the computer screen, his face drawn into a frown when Derek strode into the room.

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

“We have to follow Gareth and Mac. Apparently, they’re going out to try to find a mate. They’ve come up with some cockamamie plan to find a female. They’ve literally thrown darts at a map and they’re going to visit the towns they hit and start their search.”

“What?” Derek stared at him for a minute as though he thought he’d lost his mind.

“I’m not kidding.” Sitting back, he closed his laptop and picked up his coffee. “Corbin emailed me, asking us to keep an eye on the two idiots.” Zach wanted to tell their prince to kiss his ass. However, one did
not
tell the heir to the cascade to do such a thing and live.

“I kicked around the idea of telling him that we had plans.”

“Right. What plans?” Derek sat in the chair in front of him. “It’s not as though we have a mate to care for.” He snorted. “Hell, if I thought it would do
us
any good, I might have suggested we do the same thing.”

“I didn’t think we were that desperate.” Zach set his coffee on the desk, unplugged the computer and rolled up the cord. Jamming it into the bag, he grabbed the laptop and shoved that into the compartment behind it.

“
You
might not be that desperate, but you can bet your ass, I’m getting there fast.” Derek rested a foot on the desktop, then crossed his legs. Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms.

“Just how fast?” Zach stared at his best friend and would-be triad mate, if they could ever find a third, and raised his brows. “And get your goddamn feet off my desk before you scuff the finish.” Did he think the damned desk was cheap? Mahogany was anything but inexpensive, these days.

“Fast enough that I’m glad we’re getting the hell out of the cascade for a while.” Derek leaned forward, dropped his feet and stood. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as we can throw some clothes in a bag. Corbin said he’d try to keep them busy until we’re ready to go, but he won’t be able to hold them in his office forever.”

“Ah... let me guess. They don’t know we’ll be tagging along, do they?”

“Nope.” Zach shook his head. “And we’re supposed to keep it that way until we’re far enough away from the cascade they won’t want to come back. Our orders are to keep an eye on them just in case they find her. We can’t have them doing something stupid.”

“That makes sense, I suppose.” Derek followed him out of the office.

“Go pack your things and we’ll give Corbin a call. With luck, Gareth and Mac will still be at his office and we can follow at a discreet distance while they make their way to the first town.”

“What if we lose them? It’s not as though there’s only one town where they can go. Finding them will be impossible if we lose track.”

“That’s why Corbin is going to weasel their itinerary out of them. He’ll call us and give us the details after they leave his office.”

Derek nodded. “Good thinking.” He rubbed his chin with a frown. “I do have one question though.”

Zach paused on the way to his room to pack. “What’s that?”

“Well... just for the sake of argument, what if
we’re
the ones who find a mate?” Derek grinned at the possibility. “Who will keep
us
from doing something stupid?”

“That, my friend, is a good question.” Zach walked to his room and stopped at the door. “If only we could be so lucky.”

Kelly glanced at the people in the restaurant and grinned at the decorations. “These people go all out for Halloween around here, don’t they?” It was so original, so different to look around a town and see that they decorated it the way some towns prepared for Christmas. “I think I like this town.”

Both of them had been staring at the customers and the wait staff since they arrived. Everyone wore some type of costume—even the customers. It was as though the entire town participated in some sort of perpetual costume event.

“It’s great to see that even the businesses in town are getting into the Halloween spirit.” She waggled her brows at the hostess who had dressed up as a ghost. “Get it? Spirit? Ha ha!” She lifted her glass of water in a silent toast before tipping it back and taking a drink.

“Well...” Jessi paused and pursed her lips. “Our first town is still six hours away.” She pointed to a place on the map in front of her.

The ringing of the bell over the entrance drew her attention. A group of teens pushed through the door and headed toward a table. The girls giggled as the boys with them tried to hide their faces beneath the bills of their ball caps. Kelly grinned at the fake vampire fangs and the dusting of glitter that fell from their clothing with each step.

“We could stay here.” She glanced at the teenagers with a sigh. “Who knew they could be so cool about Halloween here?”

What other town held a Halloween festival that lasted an entire week? They deserved a bit of a vacation, didn’t they? After all, they would find a town where they would settle down and get jobs soon enough.

“What about our plan? We picked six different cities to check out. We drew the order of our visits out of a hat. Why did we even bother to research the places if we’re going to just stop in the first place we think is cool?”

Whatever they decided, Kelly knew Jessi would be fair and they would decide it together. Still, it would be nice to stay here, even if it was only for the night.