Her Tiger To Take (2 page)

She’d started to worry about herself. Maybe
something was wrong with her. Maybe she was broken.

Then she’d caught Nick’s scent and every
nerve in her body came to life. Her heart raced, her stomach
tightened, her lips tingled. She drank in that delicious smell and
all the wonderful sensations swamping her body like a woman
deprived of water for years. She’d thought the scent seemed vaguely
familiar, but she knew she’d never had this reaction to another
tiger before, so it had to be someone new to her.

She was so excited to actually feel lust for
a tiger it wouldn’t even have mattered what he looked like. The
fact that he turned out to be gorgeous was a bonus—tall,
well-muscled, light brown hair, green eyes, strong features. She’d
very nearly jumped into his arms the minute she’d seen him. A
combination of relief and lust had rolled through her in delightful
waves.

Until she’d discovered he was one of the
Chernikov brothers.

Worse, he was the oldest Chernikov.
Nikolai—or Nick, as he preferred—hadn’t taken part in a Mate Run
for more than ten years. And no one wanted him to return to it.

Except her.

As far as Tiana was concerned, the others
could just get over it. Tiger shifters were on the brink of
extinction. Too many males, not nearly enough females, and the
numbers dropping no matter what they did. The institution of the
Mate Run had staved off societal chaos. It was the only way a male
could earn a rare female. During a females estrous, several males
gathered to chase and compete for her. They ran until one of the
males “caught” the female—the male she allowed to catch her. Once a
male got a female pregnant during the Run, the couple was allowed
to stay together permanently if they wanted. But the Run hadn’t
done anything to increase the number of female births.

It was better for their people if she mated
and had children. If the mate she wanted was considered the dregs
of the tiger world, well, so be it. He was her choice.

The problem was convincing him of that.

When he finally came back out of the kitchen,
her heart jumped and her pulse sped. His scent wrapped around her
like a delicious aphrodisiac, and she actually had to work to keep
from crawling over the counter to get to him. She was two weeks
away from her next reproductive cycle. She had two weeks to
convince him to join her in that Run.

Failure was not an option.

“Where are you staying?” he asked without
preamble.

“I’ve got a room in the motel near the
highway.” She couldn’t help herself when she said, “Why? Are you
offering me a better option?”

His mouth turned down and she heard his faint
growl. “That’s not gonna happen, and you know it.”

“I know no such thing.”

“Tatiana…”

His warning tone only stoked the flames
dancing along her nerves. She’d never wanted a man so much in her
life. Nick might try, but he was not getting away from her.

She nodded to the kitchen. “When will you be
finished?” She cut her gaze to the not-so-subtle stares of the
diner’s clientele. “It’s probably better if we talk in
private.”

She actually saw his throat work as he
swallowed, and she had to suppress a satisfied smile. His desire
flavored his scent, adding a musky punch that only excited her
more. But Nick was no desperate cub she could command with the
flick of her hand. If she rushed things, he’d shut her out
completely, and she’d lose her only chance at ever having a
mate.

His gaze wandered over the dining room as he
considered his options. Finally, he said, “The breakfast rush ends
in another hour. We’ll talk then.”

He turned his back to her and returned to the
kitchen, leaving her as nervous as a teenager waiting on her first
date.

One hour. She had one hour to rally all her
arguments and logical points to convince him to chase her.

But as she watched him walk away, her brain
simply refused to work. All she could think about was dragging him
back to her motel room and fucking him until the world ended. That
wasn’t an option, not if she wanted any hope of a family with him.
She was playing a dangerous game even being here. If any of the
others found out…

No, she wouldn’t consider that now. She had
to focus on convincing him to come back to the Run. Every other
problem could wait.

When the hour was up and Nick knew he
couldn’t stall anymore, he threw on his coat, stalked out to the
dining room, and motioned her to follow with a sharp hand gesture.
He knew it was rude but didn’t really care. She’d invaded his
space, endangered his peace, and worse, she made him long for
something he couldn’t have. A part of him wanted to hate her for
that.

She didn’t argue or glare at his behavior.
She simply sauntered after him, confident and relaxed.

He could feel the stares of the remaining
customers. In fact, the diner was still full, despite the fact that
it was past the breakfast hour and most of those people had places
to be. The reason he loved Eirene was because the townspeople
believed in letting others have their privacy. That didn’t stop
them from being curious.

Once outside, Nick realized he had a problem.
There wasn’t anywhere in town he and Tatiana could go to have the
kind of privacy they needed. Any of the public spaces would be like
his diner—the entire town would watch and listen in. Anywhere
private was entirely too dangerous. Being alone with Tatiana was a
temptation he didn’t want to risk.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have an option.

With an irritated grunt, he said, “This way,”
and led her to his small house, only a short walk from the
diner.

The surrounding mountains were beautifully
coated with fresh snow, the pine trees a dark break in the swaths
of white. The rocky path behind his diner wound through a small
copse of trees and gave the feeling of moving deeper into the
woods, even though his house was only a few hundred yards off Main
Street. He loved that sense of peace and isolation while still
being close to the bustle of his little town. His town. This place
was more home to him than anywhere else he’d ever lived. He
felt…
right
here, like he belonged.

He breathed in the pine and snow scents and
caught Tatiana’s honeysuckle deliciousness mixing with it all.

Damn it all to hell.

He stalked onto his front porch, stomped the
snow off his boots, and went inside—all without talking to her. He
tossed his coat onto the hook by the door and motioned her to his
little living room to the right. “Sit. You want something to
drink?”

“No, thank you.” She ambled into his home,
making a circuit of the living room as she stripped out of her
coat.

Watching her remove any clothing at all made
his pulse pound. She was still fully dressed in a tight turtleneck
and jeans. But she might as well have been naked for all the
barrier those clothes were to his imagination. Her scent filled his
head, overriding all his common sense. Having her here was stupid.
Why the hell hadn’t she stayed away?

“Why the hell did you come?” he asked
aloud.

“You know why. I want you to run.”

“I don’t run anymore.”

She faced him. “Start again.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you.”

Damn her and her honesty. How was a man
supposed to resist that statement from a beautiful woman? “Choose
someone else.”

“I’ve been running for three years. Don’t you
think I would have chosen someone else if there was anyone else?
You’re it, Nick. Get used to it.”

God, how he wanted to believe that. He wanted
to just give in and take what she was offering. But for him, it
wasn’t that simple. “Do you have any idea what you’re getting into
with me? How you’ll be treated? The affect this could have on your
children?”

She eased down onto his couch and stared up
at him with those fantastic brown eyes, and it was all he could do
to stay in the living room doorway.

“You’re not broken. You’re not a genetic
disaster. There’s nothing wrong with you, and there’s no reason we
shouldn’t be together.”

“Tell that to the others. You don’t want me,
Tatiana,” he said, quietly. “You don’t want the trouble you’ll
get.”

“Stop trying to tell me what I do and don’t
want, you ass,” she snapped.

He raised his brows.

She looked away, her cheeks pink. “There’s
nothing wrong with you,” she insisted.

“My mother killed herself and my father was
confined for killing a human. There’s plenty wrong with me.” In
fact, the only reason he and his brothers were even allowed to run
was because his grandmother was a powerful elder, and she’d
negotiated that concession for her grandsons when her son went into
confinement.

Tatiana scowled. “You were what, nine years
old when that happened?”

“Doesn’t matter. Most of the tigers see my
mother’s suicide as a sign of mental weakness. Then my father, in
his grief, kills a human man because the woman he was beating bore
a vague resemblance to my mother. More proof of mental weakness.
And years later, he has to be confined again for stalking a human
woman who might have looked something like my mother. Mental
weakness. On both sides of my family. There’s a reason no other
tigress ever let me catch her during the years I took part in the
Run.”

“A lot of males who don’t have your history
never manage to get a mate. It’s a matter of numbers, not
biology.”

“Not in my case. I was actively snubbed. And
there’s only so long a man can tolerate that before he walks
away.”

His last Run had been the final insult in a
long line of humiliations. The tigress came right out and told him
she didn’t want to “endanger” her future children’s mental health
by mating with someone like him. That incident had been enough for
Nick. He’d refused to run again—despite pressure from his
grandmother.

Tatiana launched up off the couch and
approached him. “I
won’t
snub you, damn it. I wouldn’t be
here if I didn’t intend to let you catch me.”

She stopped so close he could feel the heat
of her skin along his and his stomach muscles tightened. Too close.
She was too close.

“If anyone finds out you’re here,” he said,
“it won’t matter what you want. I’ll be banned from running.”

“You left me no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“That’s my point.”

Fuck. She had him so wound up, the very
argument he was trying to use against her worked against him, as
well.

“I’ve made my choice,” he said, his voice
gravel rough and almost an octave deeper.

“It’s the wrong one,” she said, edging
closer.

“Tatiana…” But even he didn’t believe the low
growl was the warning he’d meant it to be.

She touched his cheek with gentle fingertips.
“Nick. Please.”

He closed his eyes. How could he resist her
soft plea? How could he turn away from something he wanted so
damned much when it was being offered freely?

His eyes were still closed when he felt the
warmth of her breath against his lips. He kept his eyes closed, his
body motionless as she pressed her mouth to his in a tentative,
searching kiss. Every muscle in his body tightened as need roared
through him, a need he’d been suppressing for six long years.

Fuck it.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and
deepened the kiss, taking what he’d wanted since the first moment
he’d seen her. She melted against him, her full breasts a delicious
pressure against his chest. Her scent enveloped him, mixing with
his own until a new, unique combination swirled in eddies around
them. So perfect a flavor he was surprised it hadn’t always been a
part of his life.

She tunneled her fingers through his hair,
keeping him close. Though at this stage, he wasn’t going anywhere.
She tasted salty, sweet and tangy all at once and he couldn’t get
enough. He dropped his hands to the swell of her beautiful ass and
pulled her tighter against his erection. Her softness was
irresistible. He squeezed and caressed until he was panting with a
desperation that surprised him.

He broke from the kiss to taste more of her,
nuzzling her soft hair aside and pushing at her shirt to get at the
delicate skin along her throat. Her pulse pounded beneath his lips,
further firing his need. When he licked her skin, she moaned, and
his entire body reacted.

“God, Tatiana…” He barely recognized his own
voice. The need to take and possess was so strong, everything else
seemed insignificant in comparison.

“Yes, Nick, yes. Please.”

Oh, god, that plea. She broke him with that
plea.

He ran one hand up her spine, lifting her
shirt as he went so he could feel her soft, hot skin. So easy to
rip the cotton away. So easy to take what she was offering.

But giving in wasn’t an option. Not for
him.

He forced his mouth from her and pulled back
as far as he could—which wasn’t very far. “Fuck me,” he
muttered.

“Yes, please,” she said against his
temple.

He couldn’t help it; her comment made him
laugh—a strained sound, but it broke some of the tension. He set
his forehead against hers, closed his eyes, and sighed, forcing
himself to move his hand out from under her shirt and his other up
from her ass. That was the best he could do just then.

“This isn’t going to work, Tatiana.”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when she
rubbed her palm over his cock through his jeans.

“I don’t know,” she murmured. “Seems to me
everything is
working
just fine.”

He groaned. “Tatiana, we can’t.” God, her
hand on him. He needed her to stop stroking him, but he couldn’t
quite bring himself to move her. When he tugged her closer again,
despite his intentions, without even realizing what he was doing,
he cursed and stepped away. Still too close, but at least she
wasn’t touching him anymore.