Her Tiger To Take (9 page)

“We need to set it so it’ll heal right.”

“Doctor in town can do that.”

He didn’t really want to take that option.
The doc would notice how fast he healed and might start asking
questions. The people of Eirene were generally discreet and left
you to your secrets, but something like healing from a broken arm
within hours was bound to get the wrong type of attention.

A problem he’d worry about later. Now, he was
more concerned with getting Tiana out of the cold.

She refused to move for a moment longer, as
she inspected his arm. “I’ll set the bone for you,” she said, “so
the doctor doesn’t notice. Every single one of my six brothers has
required a bone set at some stage. Most of them more than once. I’m
used to it.”

His heart beat a little faster with emotions
he didn’t want to analyze.

“What happened with the two wolves holding
you?” He’d seen them both on the ground after he’d knocked the
alpha out.

In the middle of his fight, he’d seen one
wolf grab Tiana’s breast. A rage unlike anything he’d ever
experienced had taken hold, and he’d felt the madness lurking in
him. He barely remembered the moments that followed as he tore at
the alpha. He’d moved too slowly once, after tossing off Corwin’s
reinforcements, and that had landed him with the broken arm, but
he’d barely noticed the break against the darkness swamping him.
Her scream had only fired that rage.

A part of him had recognized when she’d
shifted and come to guard his back, but most of his logic was lost
to the need to destroy those who would threaten her. The only
reason he hadn’t actually killed Corwin was because his tiger had
been aware Tiana wasn’t in immediate danger. It was only that
instinct that prevented him from breaking the stupid wolf’s
neck.

She scowled while she continued her
inspection, moving from his arm to some of the remaining cuts on
his chest. “I was trying to get away to come help you, since some
of the other wolves were about to get involved in the fight. It
already wasn’t fair.”

He grunted when she brushed too close to one
deep cut, and she grimaced.

“Sorry. Anyway, my guard thought groping me
would be a good way to stop me. His mistake.”

“What did you do?”

“Let’s just say one wolf probably won’t be
able to have kids and the other’s gonna need a knee brace for the
next week.”

The fear riding him eased under the weight of
a pride he had no right to feel. “I didn’t know you could
fight.”

“Alexis has been training a lot of us.”

That statement raised many more questions
than it answered. “My Alexis? Alexis Tarasova? Former Tracker?
Married to Victor Romanov? Three irritating and adorable
children?”

She chuckled. “That’s the one.”

“Who’s us? And why is Alexis training you to
fight?” Alexis was like a sister to Nick and his brothers. She’d
been the Tracker sent to bring his father in for judgment after
he’d killed the human. Alexis had taken the Chernikov boys under
her wing and been an integral part of their lives ever since. Nick
thought he knew everything there was to know about Alexis.
Obviously, he was wrong.

“The other tigresses. You remember that thing
with Su-jin Lee-Bennett years ago?”

How could he forget? The entire community had
been rocked by the brutal murder of one of their own—by a human.
Ten years later, most tigers were still affected by that loss.
“What about it?”

“Well afterward, Elizaveta thought the
females should know how to defend themselves better—not just by
tiger instinct but with actual training that would work against
humans as well as other tigers. So Alexis has been giving
self-defense classes ever since.”

“For more than ten years? How the hell did I
not know this?”

“We haven’t been advertising it to the males.
You guys don’t need to know.”

Her chin lifted a little and he had to fight
off a smile. How the hell he could smile now, he wasn’t sure, but
damned if he wasn’t impressed with her.

Fuck. He was in so much trouble.

“Come on.” He tugged at her. “We need to get
back to the truck so you can get some clothes on.”

He was exerting a great deal of willpower in
keeping his attention above her neck. He wasn’t sure he’d be able
to keep his needs or instincts in check if he gave himself the
chance to study her in all her curvy, naked glory. The glimpses
he’d already gotten were enough to dominate his fantasies for the
rest of his life.

“I’m fine,” she said. “But I do want to get
somewhere to set this bone.”

Despite his intentions, his emotions and
instincts pushed him to a single break in his self-control. He
lifted her face with a finger under her chin so she had to look him
in the eyes. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

She spoke with such annoyance, his willpower
dipped a bit lower, swept under by his relief and admiration. He
kissed her, a soft touching of the lips, a gentle brush of contact
just to assure himself she was okay. The contact sizzled through
him, and his tiger rumbled in approval. With effort, he ended the
kiss. But the feel of her lips against his followed him back to his
truck.

When they reached the vehicle, Tiana helped
him get a shirt on over his injured arm, then she slipped into his
spare jeans and t-shirt—both of which hung interestingly on her
lush figure, in ways that urged him to strip the clothing back off
again. She took his keys and motioned him into the front seat.

“I wouldn’t put money on Corwin’s chances of
surviving as alpha,” Tiana murmured as she fastened her seatbelt
and started the engine.

“Pack business. I don’t give a fuck so long
as they leave us alone.”

“They’re still your neighbors. Knowing how
this pans out might not be a bad idea.”

“I’ll worry about it later. I’m sick of
wolves right now.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” She glanced at him briefly.
“Let’s go to my motel room to take care of that bone. Better the
others in town don’t see you like this.”

He rested his head against the back of his
seat. “Thanks. I know the doc would be discreet, but this will be
better.”

She was quiet for a few minutes as they
bumped over the dirt road. Then she said, “This is that thing you
did for the town, isn’t it? You dealt with the werewolves for
them?”

He sighed.

“What happened, Nick?”

“No big deal. The alpha’s crap with money. He
got the pack into trouble and thought to fix that trouble by
shaking down the town. I settled it.”

“How? Not by fighting him.”

“I paid him off. We set up the
territories—with the town firmly in mine—and agreed if I went into
theirs, I’d be subject to a full challenge.”

“You didn’t go into their territory, though.
That was my fault.”

“Doesn’t matter. The alpha gave me
responsibility for any tigers who happened into the pack’s lands. I
should have told you from the start.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Stupid. Didn’t want to talk about it.”

Which was a half-truth. The town made a big
deal of what he’d done, and it always annoyed him. He just had the
money to make a problem go away so he could live in peace. He hated
the way the townspeople held him up like some fucking hero. So he
didn’t like to talk about the situation. But the full truth was
that he’d been too wound up and distracted by Tiana’s presence to
consider the risk.

“Stupid,” he muttered again. “Should have
warned you. My fault you were in that mess.” He rolled his head to
look at her. “They didn’t do anything to you last night?”

“No. I would have done more damage if they’d
actually tried to hurt me. The alpha wanted you.”

“They didn’t give you any clothes.”

She snorted. “That stupid bitch who tried to
challenge me thought it was funny to keep me naked.” She shrugged.
“Dumb. They should know I couldn’t care less. Must be a prudish
pack to even notice.”

“You weren’t cold?”

“We weren’t outside for long. They have a
cabin not that far from where they met you. And that wolf who spoke
up at the end, he gave me boots, which were nice to keep the chill
out since my guards didn’t let me move around much once we got to
the clearing. I was warm enough for the night, though.”

“When did they find you?”

She rolled her eyes. “I went for a run after
our date. Obviously, went too far. They picked me up around one
a.m.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. It’s done.”

“Still feel like shit.”

“So do I.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

She glared at him before focusing on the road
again. “I got you into a fight. The exact thing you’re in this town
to avoid. I hate that that happened.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“Not the point.”

She swallowed visibly, and for a horrible
moment Nick thought he saw tears in her eyes. He sat up and leaned
toward her, but she shook him off.

“Don’t. You need to keep that arm still.”

He settled back, but something in her tone
worried him. He couldn’t read her expression or guess what was
wrong. There were no hints in her scent. But his muscles tightened
with a low level of anxiety that stayed with him all the way to the
motel.

Tiana forced down the anger and tears
threatening to spill out. Now that they were out of immediate
danger, the full impact of what had happened engulfed her. She’d
gotten Nick hurt and forced him into a situation where he had to
fight despite what he wanted.

She felt awful. Not so much for this
particular fight. This situation had been an accident, a
miscommunication. The problem was she had come here purposefully
trying to force him back to the Mate Run where he would have to
fight again.

Despite the rules of the Run that forbade
male challenge fights, she couldn’t ignore the reality that if she
was here breaking those rules, it was likely the males would break
them too and come after Nick—just as he’d warned her they
would.

She was in love with him. How could she ask
him to go back to that?

He was a magnificent fighter. He’d taken on
an angry, vengeful werewolf while he was still in human form and
he’d won, coming away with only a broken arm. She knew he’d be able
to handle any tiger who challenged him.

But he shouldn’t have to. Not when he’d gone
out of his way to avoid it all these years. He wanted peace and
quiet. He didn’t want to fight anymore. What she was asking of him
was selfish.

And yet…

If she let him go, if she told him not to
run, where did that leave her?

She couldn’t face another cycle with tigers
she felt nothing for. Not now. The trip to Russia, any other Runs…
All of that effort would be pointless because she couldn’t bear the
idea of being with anyone but Nick.

What was she going to do?

She pulled into the motel lot and parked in
the spot in front of her room door, staring at the white walls and
dark wood railings of the walkways on the two upper floors. Snow
decorated the pitched roof and gave the motel a lovely quaint look.
First thing first, she had to make sure his broken bone was lined
up and stayed in place while he healed.

She studied the upper story walkways and
sidewalk in front of the first floor rooms, the stairs leading
between floors, looking for any humans who might see Nick with his
broken arm. A small family filed into a room on the third floor,
and a solitary man came out of a second floor room. Once the family
was inside and the man had driven off, they were clear to go in
without any witnesses.

She came around to Nick’s side of the truck
to help him out, but he was already standing beside the door,
steady and sure.

Her heart beat faster at the sight of him, so
solid and strong. He was magnificent, wearing jeans and an open
flannel shirt, his hair mussed from the fight, his green eyes still
bright with residual anger and aggression. A shiver of desire
traveled down her spine.

“We need to get inside before anyone else
comes out and notices us,” she said.

Inside the room, she nodded for him to sit on
her bed, then she went to the closet for a scarf. She held it up
when she joined him. “For keeping your arm immobilized until the
wound heals.”

His bone would reknit and be good as new in a
few hours. Until then, he’d have to keep it still or risk the bone
healing badly.

As she studied the injury with gentle
fingers, she asked, “Who’s looking after the diner?”

“Jane and one of my other cooks.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Jane made me go look for you. I didn’t know
about the wolves till I got back to my truck and saw their note. I
just knew you were missing.”

She nodded. “So they don’t know…about the
wolves?”

“They think the pack is a motorcycle gang,
thugs.”

“What will we tell them?” She braced herself
against the pain she was about to inflict, then took his arm in a
firm hold and ensured the bone was in line. He barely flinched. She
wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. How often had he
had to have a bone set? How many injuries had he endured over the
years?

“I’ll tell them you got lost hiking in the
backwoods.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“They don’t know enough about you to know
better.”

“Okay. I’ll sacrifice my pride this time.”
She wrapped her scarf around his arm, then stretched it across his
chest to keep his arm in place against his side. After tying the
scarf off as best she could, she studied her work. “That should do.
Just try not to move much for a bit. Are you hungry? You must be
after that fight.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“What do you want to eat?”