Charlee felt great for her first day back at the university. The past two weeks had been a whirlwind. Immediately after they left West’s cousin’s home, he had escorted her to the local hospital. After they were treated for smoke inhalation overnight, West had put them on a jet and flew them directly to the States, where he had the local leading physicians give her a thorough assessment. She had been given a clean bill of health. The gunshot wound had practically healed completely.

She sat back in her plush leather chair and sighed as she looked around her. She was a lucky girl. She knew it. Weston Rogavac was everything that she could imagine. Strong, sexy, protective, and alpha. What more could a girl ask for in a man? And he was able to shift into her favorite feline on the planet! He never failed to amaze her and she could honestly admit that she had fallen head over heels in love with him.

“Charlee?” Ellen’s voice came over the speaker phone, causing her to jump slightly.

“Yes, Ellen?” she responded with her finger on the button.

“There’s a reporter from the Cleveland Gazette on line one. Do you want to take it?”

Charlee plopped her head down on the desk with a groan. Since returning to the States, she had become a local celebrity. Her disappearance from the sanctuary had made international news. Of course the news had spun the story out of control. If she didn’t know about it, she would have thought that she was the star of an action-packed suspense movie.

“No, I don’t have anything to say,” she answered, sitting back up. There was no way that she would talk to the press about her love life, or reliving the nightmare of getting shot and running from paid assassins. The press was like a pack of wild dogs, hunting for a story. Once word had gotten out that Weston Rogavac, one of the most eligible bachelors was in a committed relationship with her, the press had begun hounding her for the story.

Malena had told her that she heard talk of someone trying to make a movie based on the Siberia trip. An action-packed love story in the wilds of Siberia. It did sound good, but she shook her head at the thought. Who would want to play her in the story, a nerdy biologist who falls in love with a rich billionaire tiger shifter? She had to give it to them, the story did have a blockbuster ring to it.

“That’s fine. I shall read off the same press release that Mr. Rogavac gave us.” Ellen’s voice floated through the air.

“Thanks, Ellen,” Charlee said, punching a few keys on her keyboard. She still had a ton of work to do from the trip.

West had taken care of everything once they had returned. All of her belongings that were left back in Siberia had arrived at her home in perfect condition. All of their information that they had collected had been extremely valuable. The tagging of all the tigers had broken new ground in studying the animals. The real-time tracking was state-of-the-art, and had given them more information in the past few weeks than if spending six months in the wild.

Charlee’s fingers flew across her keyboard as she became engrossed in her work. Jim and Alton had both emailed her their correlating research. They would be returning back to the States in the next week or so, and they would be able to put the finishing touches on the research to present to the Russian government. After they turned their information in, her and Dr. Zhang would be working on a new paper where they would publish their findings.

“Dr. Black, I’m sorry to bother you again, but your mother is on line one.” Ellen’s voice buzzed through the intercom.

“That’s fine. I’ll take this one.” She smiled, grabbing the phone. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey baby. Why is your cell phone going straight to voicemail? I’ve been trying to call you for the past hour.” Her mother’s concerned voice greeted her ears. Joyce Black was not a woman to bite her tongue when it came to her children. Charlee felt a little guilty for shutting her cell phone off. She always answered her mother’s calls. They were very close, and it was rare that they didn’t speak at least once a day.

“You wouldn’t believe the tenacity of the press. Somehow, they got a hold of my number and will not stop calling. I turned it off to try to get some work done today.”

“Oh, my, that is crazy!” Joyce exclaimed. “Well, I won’t keep you long. I was calling you because your father wanted you to bring your Weston to dinner again. I swear, that father of yours just loved Weston.”

Since returning home, she had introduced West to her family. Her father and brother hit it off immediately with him. After the first dinner, the men had bonded and acted as if they were longtime buddies. It just warmed her heart that her family had quickly accepted West. Life was just too perfect right now. She couldn’t be any happier with her and West’s relationship. It had moved fast, but she didn’t regret one part of their relationship.

“I’m sure he would love to come by the house,” Charlee laughed. She wouldn’t have to ask West. He had spoken nonstop about her father and knew the feeling was mutual.

“Good. Your father has went and purchased some new hunting thing and he wants to show it off.”

Charlee rolled her eyes. Her father loved his hunting gear and could talk about it for days.

“Excuse me, Dr. Black—” Ellen’s voice interrupted through the intercom.

“Hold on, Mom,” Charlee said before pressing the button on her intercom. What could it be now? “Yes, Ellen?”

“You’re needed in lecture hall twenty-four. Malena said that it’s urgent.”

“I have to go, Mom. I’ll call you on my way home.” She quickly ended the call. “I’m on my way,” she assured Ellen.

She was unsure of what could be so urgent. She slid her heels back on, grabbed her keys and cell phone, and made her way out of her office. She didn’t have any lectures today since it was to be a full day of work on her research. Her first lecture since returning to the university would be tomorrow.

The sounds of her heels clicking filled the air as she made her way toward her usual lecture hall. Within minutes, she arrived to find the lights out. She paused at the door, peering through the glass windows, and couldn’t see anything. She opened the door, figuring that she just beat Malena and would wait for her to arrive.

She swiped the glass screen to her cell phone to call her and gasped as she turned on the light. The lecture hall was filled with thousands of long stemmed roses. She couldn’t even see the floor due to the sea of red. Her eyes took in the beautiful flowers and began to fill with tears. A clear defined path was designed in the field of roses that led to the person who had come to mean so much to her.

West.

There he stood, looking sexy as ever in a dark suit, waiting for her, with a small smile etched on his face as he gazed at her. Her body on autopilot, seemed to float in his direction.

“Hey,” she said as she arrived to stand in front of him.

“Hey,” he repeated, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face. She leaned into his warm hand before he removed it and reached for her hand. He threaded their fingers together as he continued to stare down at her.

Her heart slammed against her chest as she gazed up at him, again, just amazed by him. She looked around the room in shock. She wiped away the tears that continued to flow down her face.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered, squeezing his hand tight. Her eyes grew wide as he knelt down before her and reached into his pocket. She became choked up with emotions as he pulled a small jewelry box from his jacket pocket. “Oh my God,” she chanted over and over.

He chuckled as he opened the box, revealing an extremely large princess cut diamond. It was flawless, and Charlee was speechless.

“Charlee Black,” he began. All joking disappeared from his face as he looked up at her. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, so she nodded instead. “A tiger knows when he has found his mate. When I first laid eyes on you, my tiger and I agreed on one thing. We wanted you, in every fashion known to humans and shifters.”

“You have me,” she murmured as the tears slowly continued to make their way down her face.

“I want it all. Charlee Black, will you do me the honor and become my wife and mate for life?”

Charlee knew that she didn’t even have to think. She threw her body at him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him with all of her might. He barked out a laugh as she chanted yes, over and over.

There was no way that she would ever give him up. He wanted her for life, and he would get what he asked for. She just hoped that he and his tiger could handle her.

West stood next to the window in his downtown penthouse apartment and stared off into the night. Charlee snored softly behind him in the bed, exhausted after hours of lovemaking. His tiger was finally content that Charlee would be theirs. He was ecstatic that she had said yes to his proposal.

He could not exist without her. His tiger had deemed her his mate, and therefore, he would have done whatever he needed to do to have her. The past few weeks since they had returned to the States, West had Drago go back over everything that they knew about the trip. Something just wasn’t right in regards to what went down. His initial gut reaction had been correct.

Dr. Skobo had been the person feeding the Bratva on the whereabouts of the group during their entire mission. That was how they were able to track their every move. West had turned in all of the intel that they had discovered over to the Russian government. Skobo had been arrested just that morning. With Charlee out of the way, he would have been able to take the lead on the research project and be named the lead researcher. The article that was being published to discuss their research was ground breaking and causing a stir in the animal wildlife community. With Charlee out of the way, he stood to make a name for himself.

The tiger in West growled slightly, wanting to go after the Russian biologist, but knew that their government would handle it. West would make sure of it. He would do whatever he needed to do to ensure that Charlee would remain safe. She was his, and this afternoon she agreed to forever with him.

“What are you doing?” she murmured. He glanced back at her and instantly felt his cock harden. Her sleepy eyes gazed at him, pulling at the strings to his heart. Her tussled look was downright sexy, and he found himself moving toward the bed. He had to have her again.

“Just thinking that it’s time for me to mark you as mine,” he growled, pulling the covers off her, revealing her sexy, naked curves. His claws broke through on his right hand, itching to mark her. One swipe of his claws and she would be his mate. The mark would let everyone know that she belonged to him.

“Make me yours, West,” she moaned as he closed his lips around her beaded nipple. He settled in-between her legs, loving how she responded to him. It was time for her to become his forever in the way of shifters. Their human wedding would take place whenever she set the date. But for now, it was time for this tiger to mark his mate.