Once Upon a Tiger (8 page)

Slowly, she tried moving her head, but his jaw quivered with tension, warning her to stop. She stilled, fighting her own instinct to thrash. If he thought she was giving in, he’d raise his head and she could throw him off. But seconds ticked past with his mouth still on her, her breathing harsh in her own sensitive ears.

Her patience wore thin, her ability to remain passive never one of her strong suits, and then she felt his jaws start relaxing. She held herself tight and ready for the instant he lifted his mouth from her throat. Before she could act, another tiger drove into Dev’s side, flipping them both away from her.

She rolled to her feet, assuming her helper was Victor, until she heard the tiger roar.

Before she fully processed the shock of that sound and the help from the fourth tiger, a silent Victor flew past her and joined the others. He and the vaguely familiar Siberian moved like they’d fought together before. Their attack was coordinated and flawless, beautiful in its way. They drove Dev back, reluctant inch by reluctant inch. The Bengal tried to get past them, to fight back, but he wasn’t trained and was no match for the two.

Alexis dragged her attention from the fight to confront the remaining three males. The two she’d beat were slowly slinking away, taking the fastest route out of her territory. Nick remained but he sat off to the side, a casual position conveying an end to his aggression. She kept him in her peripheral vision just in case and turned back to the battle between Victor, the Siberian, and Dev.

The sounds of their fight echoed through the trees, roars that would terrify any humans in the area. She was glad she and Victor had run a circuit of her lands just that morning. No humans were near, and the chances of them getting in over the course of the day without her knowing were low. The last thing they needed was an unfortunate camper reporting sounds of big cats fighting.

Dev was scrappy and hard to put off. Despite being severely out of his depth, he kept attacking, roaring in response to each of the Siberian’s vocal challenges. Victor’s silence was somehow loud in the noise, too obvious to be ignored. Dev fell back under the two tigers’ coordinated moves but refused to leave.

Then Victor rammed into his side, moving as fast as any tiger she’d ever seen. One moment, he and the Siberian were working together, the next, Victor was a silent savage, tearing at Dev’s sides and flank. The Bengal’s roar turned from aggression to pain, and a moment later, he disappeared into the woods. Unlike the others, he didn’t slink away. He tore off toward the closest exit from her territory. Alexis smelled the sharp tang of blood in his wake. Not enough to kill him, but enough to leave him weak for the next few days.

Obviously, Victor didn’t feel the same need to pull his punches as she did.

She smiled, her whiskers twitching, her tail flicking with nervous unspent energy.

No one moved until the retreating Dev left her lands. Then everyone converged on the center of the combat area. Victor walked alongside the other Siberian. She joined them, staying closer to Victor than the others. Finally Nick stood and approached, remaining out of single lunge range.

The rest of this situation would require conversation. Shifting where she stood, she let her body flow and stretch, the sounds of popping muscle and bone and the slight aches that always came with the change almost comforting in their familiarity. Her wounds would follow her into her human form, but the shift would help speed up the healing. None of her injuries were bad enough to prevent her from returning to human thankfully, though it hurt more to shift while wounded.

When she finished, she blinked several times to adjust to seeing the world through human eyes and shook, tossing off the residual tingling of the change. Then she looked around. Nick and Victor were just finishing their shifts. The remaining Siberian waited until Victor finished and nodded at him, then he began his change.

Interesting. She studied this male who was obviously well known to Victor. Who was he? She was embarrassed to admit she had no idea who Victor’s friends were. How could she feel so close to him and yet know so little about his daily life? An oversight she intended to fix. He was her mate now. She would learn everything there was to know about him.

They waited silently for the Siberian to finish his change, the cool night air whisking away their sweat. She used the time to inspect Victor for injuries. He had a few red lines that were already disappearing. To her satisfaction, Nick had a cut along his chest deep enough it was still leaking blood. No wonder he’d stepped out of the fight with Victor. She gave her own injuries a quick glance. The deep one on her hip was sealed but still a very angry-looking, raised welt. Most of her other cuts were almost healed.

Once the Siberian was in human form, Alexis finally recognized him. He was tall and wide, with dark brown eyes. His dark hair was cut tight to his head. She couldn’t remember his name—they’d never actually been introduced—but she’d seen him before at the elders’ West Virginia compound. He worked as a security technician on the team Victor headed.

She felt silly for not realizing the two men were more than just colleagues. This was the man she’d once seen use sign language with Victor

The man smiled at her, and then started signing to Victor who answered in kind. She watched for several moments, trying to keep up, but they were too fast. Obviously they did this often. Yes, she definitely needed to practice with real people. So much for the fluency she’d thought she’d developed.

“I’m Joseph,” he introduced himself while still signing with Victor. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Alexis.”

She nodded at his hands. “Victor can hear you. Why are you still signing?”

He shrugged. “Habit. I translate for him at work occasionally, during some meetings so he doesn’t have to write everything he wants to say.” He made a series of rapid gestures to Victor, who glared at whatever Joseph had said. Then aloud, and with a slight smirk, he added, “Elizaveta sends her regards.”

“She sent you to help?”

“To make sure no one died.”

A growl rose from deep in her chest. The elders
knew
someone might die, enough so that Elizaveta felt the need to send Joseph even after Victor told her he was coming to help, so why the
hell
had they started all this? Irritation made her growl again, and Victor raised his brows. She shook off his silent question. She almost signed “later” but stopped herself, conscious of Nick watching the exchange. She still didn’t want anyone but Victor knowing she’d learned sign language. It wasn’t anyone else’s damned business.

Nick chose that moment to step closer. “Elizaveta is interfering in what the other elders have declared appropriate. Alexis has to run.”

“Far as I can tell, she did already,” Joseph said, his hands still moving in translation. “And she chose Victor here as her mate for this estrous.”

“No. He can’t run.”

“You’ll have to take that up with the elders. None of my concern. Though Elizaveta did make a point of saying nothing in the decree said Victor couldn’t mate. He just isn’t allowed to run. Nowhere does it say Alexis couldn’t pick him while he was standing still.”

Joseph signed something to Victor, who answered, but most of Victor’s focus was on Nick. Alexis filed Joseph’s comment away for later consideration. She hadn’t realized there was a loophole in Victor’s exclusion from the Mate Run. That Elizaveta knew it and had never mentioned it was something she intended to talk to her adoptive mother about.

She couldn’t be too upset with the older woman, though. Alexis hadn’t ever come out and admitted she wanted Victor, not to anyone. She’d actually tried to hide her feelings for him, because she knew she wasn’t allowed to have him. But she’d deal with that later. Now, she considered Nick.

“Why are you pushing this?” she asked him. “We were colleagues.”

“You’re special, Alexis. You deserve better than someone who’s damaged.”

“That’s not your call.”

“You shouldn’t be wasted on a mentally weak tiger.” He flicked a glare at Victor. “The elders want you with someone strong.”

“I don’t see any mentally weak tigers around. And again, it’s not the elders’ call any more than it’s yours.”

Victor started signing fast, and Joseph translated.

“We’re done here, Nick. You’ve made your play and lost. Go tell the elders it’s finished. She’s chosen. If they have a problem with her choice, they can face both of us to explain.”

“You’re making a mistake, Alexis,” Nick said. “It will affect your children. Can you really do that to them? You risk them having a mental disease just to be with him.” He jerked his head in Victor’s direction without looking at him.

“Time to leave, Nick,” she growled, fury lacing her voice. She wasn’t going to convince him Victor wasn’t defective, but she was so angry at his attitude and willful ignorance, she was a single word away from attacking him again.

He nodded, turned his back to Victor and Joseph as a clear sign he wasn’t worried about them, and walked away without changing back to tiger.

Chapter Ten

Alexis waited until she was sure Nick was really leaving, then turned on Joseph in time to see him and Victor exchanging a few more signed words, none of which she caught.

“What were the elders thinking?” she demanded.

Joseph glanced at Victor, then back at her. “I’m not privy to their logic. You’ll have to ask them.”

Victor signed something which Joseph answered silently. Victor started signing furiously, moving in sharp, choppy bursts.

Joseph held his hands up. “Hey, I’m just here to help. Don’t yell at the messenger.”

Joseph signed to Victor, and this time Alexis managed to understand the full sentence,
“I’m out of here.”

Aloud, he said, “My job is done. You two have fun.” He waved goodbye and wandered back into the woods, heading in the same direction as the others but at a much more leisurely pace.

For a long moment, Alexis stared at Victor. The sun was painting the sky pink, layering shadows beneath the trees. They had to get home soon, but she didn’t move immediately.

Finally, Victor nodded toward her cabin.

“Wait. Wait. I…” She paused, then signed,
“I’m sorry. I would have prevented all this if I’d known.”

“It’s not your fault. Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t know. I feel like I should have expected this…or something.”
She flexed her fingers and grimaced.

Victor smiled.
“You need more practice so your fingers don’t hurt. It takes time.”

“I thought I was pretty good, even though I needed you to go slow, then I watched you and Joseph.”
She shook her head and snorted a half-laugh.
“I do need more practice.”

“You said you’ve been learning for years but never signed with anyone else before. Why not?”

She felt her cheeks heat and glanced away as she admitted, “I didn’t want anyone to know I was learning. I was afraid the others would figure out I was doing it for you, that they’d see how I felt. I was afraid…” She swallowed hard and made an effort to sign the rest.
“I was afraid one of the males would decide you were a threat and try to kill you. I don’t know. Ridiculous, right?”

“Not ridiculous. All tiger males are jealous of other males and possessive of the females. You lost your parents to a male’s jealousy.”

She’d never thought of it that way. She just hadn’t wanted anyone to know what she was doing. He was right. The way she’d lost her parents had made her more sensitive to how males reacted to others they saw as rivals. She hadn’t wanted anyone to see Victor as someone who needed to be eliminated.

“You were afraid for me?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

His question made her blink. “That’s a silly thing to ask.” She closed with him, leaving just enough space so that she could sign.
“I love you, Victor. I have for years. How do you not know that?”

Victor stared at her as if she’d just hit him with a tree limb.

“What’s wrong?”

He didn’t move. His expression was serious, but it was otherwise impossible to judge the emotions in his gaze. A knot tightened in her stomach as the moment stretched. Until he’d come to help her, she really hadn’t thought Victor felt anything special for her. Over the last two days, she’d come to believe he returned her feelings. Maybe not love, but he cared for her. He wouldn’t have come all this way if he didn’t.

Right?

Victor wanted her, but lust wasn’t love.

She swallowed around a thick lump in her throat and turned away. “We’d better get back. It’ll be too light soon. I’m too tired to shift right now.” She wasn’t physically tired. She could easily go tiger again. But mentally…mentally she was drained.

She hurried away from him, only half listening for him to follow. Then his hand was on her arm, stopping her. Facing him would hurt. She didn’t want to, but he couldn’t talk to her unless she did.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she counted to ten, then blew out a breath, opened her eyes and turned.

He cupped her cheek, a gesture that was more painful than any gentle touch should have been, and kissed her—his mouth soft, his lips firm against hers. She allowed the contact but didn’t return the kiss.

When he eased back, she rubbed her lips together and waited for him to do something else, but she couldn’t quite look at him.

He lifted her chin until she either had to face him or make some extreme contortions to avoid eye contact.

Then he signed,
“I love you, too. Silly woman. Didn’t I tell you that already? Since you were eighteen. Why are you suddenly doubting?”

“You didn’t say you loved me. You said you wanted me. Then, just now, you didn’t say it back. You looked at me like I’d gone nuts. I don’t know.” She scowled and jerked her hands up, palms toward the sky. “I’ve never told anyone I loved them before. I was expecting a different response.”

He cupped her chin and mouthed, I love you. Then went back to signing.
“I love you. I want to have a family with you. I never thought I’d be able to, but now I have no intention of letting you go.”