NICOLE

“Go with them, Nora,” Darian told the woman with the red hair and intense green eyes.

“She’s going to escape. We can’t let her do that, I need to be the one to watch her. Me,” Victor pleaded with his alpha.

Nicole kept her face angled toward the floor. She made mental notes of any possible weapons as they walked into another room, the dining room, beyond that a hallway with doors leading to an inner courtyard.

This may be my way out.

“Right inside this room,” Cara directed Nicole. These women were not so easily fooled as the men were but that was usually the case.

Nicole smiled brightly at her anyway. “Thank you.” The room she was directed into was a wardrobe with a bathroom connected by another door.

“Do you need any help? Do you know how to use running water?” Nora asked her with her green eyes pinned tightly to Nicole.

“I do know how, but thank you,” Nicole answered with another smile that was not returned.

Jolly bunch, aren’t they?

“Let me show them who is the strongest female. Let me take form.” Her tigress spirit pushed.

Nicole ignored her even though she was pretty sure the tranquilizer was still in effect. Inside the bathroom, she grimaced when there was no window.

Damn.

The running water would be a treat. The was hot water and soaps that smelled of lemon and rosemary. It was a luxury she’d not experienced for years. Shedding her torn clothes, her pussy clenched with need at the sight of the ripped crotch of the pants.

Fuck, I am so turned on I could come with just a few strokes to my clit.

Thinking of Victor roaring like a wolf, four times larger than his size when Victor warned her, made jolts of excitement vibrate through her body like the best moment in a climax. She thought it was entirely possible that she might have started to come seeing him step up to protect her against an advisory he would not be able to vanquish. That took courage, and she couldn’t ignore it.

The hot stream of water felt so good she nearly let out a moan and remembered the three women on the other side of the door with their enhanced hearing.

“I never get even a second by myself.”

“I have been quiet. I have been good. Let me out.”

“Exactly,” Nicole said out loud. She washed quickly because if she took her time even a little, she’d be coming in the bathroom for Victor and the women would hear it. While it would be great to get relief, Nicole’s cover would be blown since they’d catch her in her lies if she was orgasming for Victor only minutes after claiming no desire for him.

The courtyard is probably the best exit.

“Mate with Victor. We need our baby.” Her tigress pushed again.

Rafi is good enough. I can’t attach us to Victor any more than we already are attached to him. We need to get out of here. Rafi hates this pack.

She turned the water off and heard the women quickly silence their conversation.

Damn, I could have found out what they were saying about me if I wasn’t so focused on Victor. Damn him.

Nicole picked up the mesh outfit from the floor and exited the bathroom. Cara and Nora both averted their eyes which told Nicole that the two was once human. Shifter born aren’t ashamed of their bodies like humans are taught to be.

Onyx, on the other hand, did not blink. Her gaze didn’t waiver from Nicole. “You prefer something you can shift in without the clothing getting ruined, right?”

“Yes. That would be the most useful,” Nicole answered.

“How big are you as your tiger?” Nora asked Nicole.

This wasn’t the moment to boast. It would be best if they underestimated her. “Six feet long,” Nicole said.

“Is that right?” Nora tapped her fingers on her arm. She was looking at Nicole now, over her embarrassment. “I studied the tiger shifters a while back but If I remember correctly, and I do, only the adolescents are under seven feet. Are you in your teens?”

“I’m twenty-four. Guess I run small.”

Cara the female alpha exhaled slowly. “I am holding my temper with you she-cat,” she spoke in a calm voice but her dark blue eyes were hard. “I won’t put up with it any further.”

“I’m a big Tiger,” Nicole admitted. “It doesn’t matter though I can’t shift. No one here is in danger of me.”

“And when you can shift?” Nora asked.

Cara raised her light brown eyebrows when Nicole glanced her way. Onyx narrowed her eyes on Nicole.

“I am formidable, but you have not harmed me. I have no reason to hurt you.”

“Are you truly mated to Rafi?” Cara asked.

Onyx handed Nicole a short sleeveless white dress. “I never met the guy but from what I hear he’s not a fan of humans. Are you a human hater too?”

“Have you murdered humans?” Nora chimed in.

“I am going to have Rafi’s baby,” she said even though she wasn’t pregnant, one day she would be carrying his baby. “I don’t hate humans, but I’m not a big fan of them either. I have killed humans, yes. They entered the sanctuary of my forest to hunt my kind and my family and I defended ourselves.”

Nora frowned at this information but nodded. “You are a long way from home. I imagine you would be from the group that settled in Indiana?”

“I don’t want to talk about my family or my past. My family is dead.”

“So is mine. You won’t be able to skirt around me trying to stir up sympathy. I believe Victor. If he says you two are mated then I think you are mated. If he says you’re trouble, then you’re trouble.”

Jealousy stirred in Nicole’s chest. This female was awfully loyal to Victor. Fiercely loyal from the look in her eyes.

And he said he didn’t’ sleep with anyone else. Freaking liar. That whole mating for life thing is probably just bullshit like everything else out of Victor’s mouth.

“Good for you. You’re wrong but what good is it to tell you if you’ve already made up your mind?”

Nicole pulled the dress on, thinking as she did that it was annoying to put on something white when it would undoubtedly get dirty. The material was very silky and stretchy however so as she pulled it over her head she was almost smiling.

She could climb in this dress. Eventually, she’d be able to shift in the dress too.

“Why are you denying Victor?” Onyx asked. “We could all smell how turned on you are by him. What good does it do you to deny him?”

They just dig right in, don’t they?

“I’m already paired off with someone else. Not everyone gets a happily after.”

Cara opened the door to the hallway. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ve lost but I know what I saw. You love Victor and you are more than a little pissed at him. My advice is to forgive him. Not that you asked, but coming from someone who used to carry around a lot of anger, I found it a relief to let go of that angry.”

“Is she back here?” Angeline asked coming up the hallway. She had leafs in her hair.

“Angeline, the baby, are you alright?” Nicole cried out intentionally interjecting panic into her voice. The women around Nicole rushed forward to help Angeline not letting her get a word in edgewise as Nicole slipped into the courtyard.

There was one of the blond twins sitting at a table with a beautiful little baby girl. She smelled like Cara and Darian, no doubt their daughter.

He was talking baby talk to her and didn’t even notice she was there until she was almost to the third story of the building. Climbing was almost like walking for her which meant that the stuff they shot her with was probably nearly worn off.

“Why are we leaving. There are many strong males here.”

Shut up. I know what I’m doing.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Errol asked resting the baby on his hip. “He’ll just come after you.”

Nicole reached the rooftop. “Do you value his life?” she asked Errol. He didn’t answer he just stared up at her from the courtyard bellow.  “Keep him here. Rafi will kill him.”

A door opened in the courtyard and Angeline fired a tranquilizer shot catching Nicole in the shoulder.

Fuck!

She dropped down on the roof and pulled it out. The heaviness of her body told her she got a good dose of the stuff before she got it pulled out.

“Get to the roof. She’ll be out for a few minutes but we don’t have long,” Angeline yelled out below.

If they thought she was unconscious then she still had time to get out. She crawled up the incline, ignoring the fogginess around the edges of her vision.

Keep moving. I just have to keep moving and I won’t fall asleep.

She straddled the point of the rooftop as the world leaned to the left. “Shit,” she whispered. Laying down Nicole clutched at the metal plates used as shingles. Her sweaty hands slid over the smooth surface and her body began to slide down the other side.

Don’t panic. Grab onto something. Cats always land on their feet.

The edge of the roof was coming at her quick. She was just about to run out of roof. Falling from so high up would cause her a break. Now wasn’t the time for a break.

Pulling her body inward she leaped off the edge and flew into the air. The sensation of flying and falling made her stomach drop and clench. The forest line was coming at her fast, if she caught herself in a tree, maybe she wouldn’t suffer a break.

Half her vision turned black leaving her only a tiny window left to see through. Stretching her arms out as far as she could toward the trees she felt the sharp stab of limbs breaking and cracking against her stomach and face.

She grabbed hold of a thick branch and held on. Taking the jerk of momentum and only just maintaining her grip on the tree limb. Scrambling closer to the trunk of the tree she tried to prop herself up so that she wouldn’t fall out of the tree if she lost consciousness again.