“Jesus, why are we doing this?” Rose asked, not for the first time.
They were sitting in front of the fire, Zoe napping on the rug. All the tiger play wiped her out and ensured she slept well at night as well as took a nap during the day. Rose smiled at her. Zoe hadn’t taken regular naps since she was two—except after episodes. Seeing her sleep because of simple exhaustion from playing made Rose’s heart happy.
There hadn’t been even a hint of an episode since Zoe had learned how to let her tiger out. Vlad was even teaching her the “play” hunting, which tiger cubs all apparently learned, because she’d taken to being a tiger so well.
If it weren’t for the threat and complication of introducing her to a greater tiger shifter world—a place where she’d be revered, valued, seen as a commodity, and reviled as an abomination all at once—Rose would be completely content with the way things had gone.
She glanced at Vlad. “We can’t just run away and hide, huh?”
He smiled faintly and shook his head. “Though, I have considered it. More than once.” He shrugged. “A lot actually.”
The fact that he was thinking the same things she was made her feel better. The last three days had been so wonderful, almost dream-like. This was what she’d imagined her life would be like with him. Well, without the tiger part of course. Her days with Zoe and Vlad as a close family; her nights in bed with the man she loved, finding new ways to excite and please each other.
The contentment of the last few days made her feelings for the tigers complicated. If not for the threat Vlad’s brothers posed, would he have returned to them? Would they all be here together?
A part of her still wondered if he’d stay. When all was said and done, when the thrill of the danger wore off, when the reality of parenting sank in, would he still want this life? Vlad was as much of an adrenaline junkie as she was.
And he’d left before.
She shoved down that mean little voice. He’d left because he’d believed she’d cheated on him, and while he should have known better, at the time he couldn’t have realized Zoe was possible. Rose had to let go of her resentment for his distrust if they were to have a future together. But the pain of his abandonment still lingered and made trusting him so difficult.
Going into the elders’ compound meant she was putting her life and the life of her daughter in his hands. She knew he’d guard their backs, and that was at least something, a level of trust that was a good start. She just had to find a way to give in to it and stop doubting that the contentment of the last few days could be their future.
“You all packed?” Alexis asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“We’re ready. I think Zoe would like to stay here and keep running around in the snow, but she’s pretty excited about being on an airplane, too.”
They were all leaving early the next morning, driving directly to Sky Harbor airport. Vlad’s brothers had left the area the day before. One had gone to Alaska of all places. The other two were back on the east coast. So going into Phoenix was safe for the moment.
Rose was more nervous than she’d ever been about any trip she’d ever taken. Zoe just saw the adventure.
She was definitely her mother’s daughter.
Alexis stretched her arms over her head and sighed. “I need to go for a run if we’re going to be on the road all day tomorrow. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Before standing, she patted Rose’s knee. “Don’t worry.” She left the cabin wearing only a long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and boots.
“She’s going running like that?” Rose asked.
“She’ll hike to a place with privacy and turn tiger.”
“How long can you go without letting your tigers out?”
He shrugged and scooted closer to her, his arm around her shoulders. “Depends on the individual. I can go for weeks if necessary. It gets easier as we get older. But we get restless and a little achy if we go for too long. Like when you spend too much time sitting and your body starts to get edgy for some exercise? It’s like that.”
“No pain?”
“No pain. You’re still worried about Zoe?”
“It’s hard to believe after more than a year of her episodes, we won’t have to go through that ever again. I’m so relieved and yet I still feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“She won’t have the pain again. But I’m afraid we do have another shoe waiting.”
“The other tigers.” She didn’t have to ask. They’d gone round and round this same conversation for days.
He nuzzled her neck. “You know, we have to leave so early and we probably won’t have much privacy for the next week.” He bit her ear, tugging gently at the lobe. “Zoe’ll probably sleep another half hour or so.”
She smiled as he kissed his way down her throat.
“Want to sneak into the back?”
“Have to be quick,” she warned.
He picked her up and before she could gasp, he was closing the door to his bedroom.
“
Dios
, that was fast,” she breathed, her heart thumping with so much excitement that she might have been embarrassed with anyone but Vlad.
He chuckled and pressed her against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist. “So we have more time for this part.”
He kissed her, and the taste of him swept her up, tumbling her into that wonderfully erotic place only he could take her.
Her hands moved over his shoulders, gripping hard as she ground herself against his erection. “Better get our clothes off,” she muttered before kissing him again.
He set her on her feet, stripped, slipped on a condom and pulled her back into his arms before she could do more than push her jeans and underwear off. She chuckled. “You’re taking the ‘quick’ thing seriously.”
“Don’t want to take time away from the fun part.” He cupped her heat, rubbing a finger along her entrance, dipping into her once before moving his finger to her clit.
She dropped her head back against the wall, biting back a groan.
“I love the way you look when I have my hands on you,” he said, circling her clit in just the right way to make her moan.
She bucked against his hands as her orgasm approached fast enough to surprise her. “I love having your hands on me.” She gasped and gripped his shoulders tighter, coming up on her toes when everything in her tightened.
He nuzzled her neck, pushed the collar of her shirt aside with his mouth, and bit down on the sensitive skin between her neck and shoulder. The sensation sent her careening into her orgasm, everything in her bursting apart in a breathless moment.
She would have slipped to the floor in a boneless heap but for his strong arms. He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist again, and slid into her. And, just like that, her body lit up again. The friction of his cock stretching her set her nerves jumping with sensation. With each thrust, she tightened and squeezed him, wanting every part of him. He was hers, for this time, in this moment, he was all hers and she took every hard pounding thrust with possessive demand.
When he came, she watched his release, the way his muscles tightened, his jaw rock hard, his eyes closed, and she triumphed in knowing she’d done that to him.
He hugged her close as they both settled slowly, then he pulled back and kissed her. After a quiet moment when she could tell he was listening for Zoe, he patted her ass, right on her tattoo. “We’d better get dressed in case she wakes up.”
Rose grinned as he set her on the floor and kissed him one last time before she let him go clean up.
Slipping into her jeans, she once again had that content, nostalgic sense that this could be their future. Sneaking off for a quickie during naptime. Dressing fast afterward, so they didn’t get caught. Almost like a normal family life…
Except their lives were never going to be “normal.”
She sighed as the worries descended again, dampening some of her afterglow and contentment.
She was back on the couch watching Zoe sleep when Vlad joined her.
“What happens if your brothers show up at the compound while we’re there?” she asked.
He pulled her into his arms. “Back to worrying?”
She chuckled, but without much humor.
“They can’t do anything to you at the compound,” he said. “You’ll be surrounded by bodyguards.”
“But Alexis thinks we need an escape strategy. That’s a very ominous suggestion.”
“She’s a retired Tracker. She’s both paranoid and cautious.”
“You’re letting me bring guns into the compound. She’s not the only one paranoid and cautious.”
He shrugged. “Despite my increased efforts the last few days, I still can’t figure out which specific elder was helping my father go after Nila. I’m not entirely sure my father even knew, except that he had support through intermediaries. Then there’re the unknown anti-hybrid Trackers out there somewhere. We’re walking into a very volatile situation without all the information. That calls for a little paranoia.”
He cupped her cheek in one hand and kissed her gently. She wanted to fall into that kiss all over again and forget the worries plaguing her, but Vlad pulled back to continue.
“I
know
this trip is the only way to ensure you’ll be safe,” he said. “Without the backing of the elders, without formal recognition under our laws, you and Zoe are vulnerable. But until the elders give you their official support, we have to stay on guard.”
“If one of the elders doesn’t like…people like Zoe and Nila, if there are tigers like your brothers we can’t trust, how can official recognition help us? Won’t the fanatic bigots still come after Zoe?”
“It’s a perception thing. Once the elders, as a group and ruling body, grant their protection, it would make them look weak and useless if something then happened to those they’re protecting. Which means they take those oaths very seriously. Otherwise, they risk being overthrown.”
“What’s the hitch?” She could hear it in his voice, something he was hesitant to admit.
He sighed. “The hitch is
getting
them to give Zoe their protection. The debate with Nila was extensive, but at the time, she was the only one and they needed her to help them study how those like her could even exist.”
“Why haven’t they asked you to help with that research? You’re the child of a woman who could have children with humans.”
“They assumed I wouldn’t cooperate. I haven’t come out as believing anything different than my father and brothers yet.”
“Because of Zoe?”
“And you. Any hint would have endangered you both. I was playing a game. Which I lost, or we wouldn’t be in this position.”
She dropped a kiss on his lips. “We would have always been in this position. It was just a matter of time.” She frowned a little. “The elders wouldn’t just…coerce you into helping?” She didn’t trust them not to try throwing Zoe into some medical lab to poke at her like an experiment. She was absolutely not going to allow that, but the fact that they might try was an ever-present worry.
“We’re free agents,” he said. “The elders make laws and rule us, but they can’t order us to participate in medical tests without our permission. That kind of abuse of power would definitely lead to a bloody uprising, and we can’t afford that. We’re too close to extinction as it is.”
“Sounds like a very delicate balancing act.”
“It is. Makes me glad I’m not an elder.”
“Is it possible one day? I mean, how does one get to be an elder? Besides living a long time.”
He chuckled. “Though most of them are very old, the title elder isn’t simply an indication of age. They don’t get to be in that position just by outliving their contemporaries. They have to be extremely powerful and very rich in their own right. Then there are debates and arguments and votes to approve a new one.”
“The rest of the community or just the other elders?”
“Both groups have to approve. Takes a lot of machination to make it onto the council. Means every one of them is smart, powerful, manipulative, and cunning. Not people to take lightly.”
“Why are we going again?” She raised a hand when he started to answer. “I know, I know. I do understand. I was just whining. But I have to admit, I’d rather take Zoe into hiding.”
“Me, too.”
She tilted her head to look at him. “If we did go into hiding, where would you want to go?”
“Alaska.”
“Where your brother just went? Really?” She loved Alaska. She and Vlad had even taken a trip there, kayaking in the sea surrounded by ice floes. It had been a spectacular adventure.
He stared at the cold fireplace as he said, “I have a house there. I bought it…a month before we broke up.” He faced her. “For you. It was going to be an engagement present if I could get you to say yes.”
“You were going to propose?”
He brushed a finger over her inner thigh, indicating the heart through her jeans. “’Bout the same time you were getting this tattoo, I was trying to find the right ring.”
Her heart did a little dance at his admission. God, all the time they’d wasted. She leaned close and kissed him again, not even sure how to express all the feelings welling up in her. Before the kiss got too serious, Zoe stirred, flopping into a new position on the rug—a sure sign the nap was coming to an end.
Rose sighed and rested her forehead against his for a moment before pushing back. “I’d better get dinner started.”
She was pulling vegetables out of the refrigerator when Vlad joined her, leaning against the counter, frowning slightly.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she started washing lettuce. That look didn’t bode well, and was a real mood shift from just a few moments ago.
“I need to tell you something, and I’ve been hesitating.”
“Oh no.” She paused to stare at him. “Now what haven’t you told me?”
He winced a little. “This is… Other tigers are likely to bring this up while we’re at the compound. I want you to hear the story from me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you my father killed my mother.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. He looked too pensive and she didn’t want to interrupt what he had to say.
“My brothers believe it was a suicide because that’s what my father told all of us. He claimed when he found out she’d had a baby with a human, she’d been so ashamed she killed herself. My brothers bought that story because they share my father’s prejudices.”