Cadence finished her last bite of pizza, shaking her head as Jameson nudged the box toward her. She ate three slices, as well as a couple of breadsticks, and she was beyond stuffed. That might have been the most pizza she’d ever eaten in one sitting, but it was the best she’d ever tasted, too.

Cocking her head, she studied him as he finished another slice. He’d eaten almost a whole pizza, which was impressive, but not what had her brow furrowing. He was acting off. Almost like he was nervous about something, and she’d never seen him act like this before.

Granted, she hadn’t known him long, even though it felt like she had. But she didn’t think this was normal for him, and in turn, it was making her nervous, too. What the hell was going on?

“Are you finished?” she asked, watching as he nodded, still avoiding her eyes. “Okay. I’ll get the leftovers put away.”

He looked like he was going to protest, then he just nodded again. “Meet me in the living room when you’re done, okay? I need to tell you something.”

Frowning, she watched him leave, completely unsettled. Blowing out a breath, she put all the leftover pizza in one box and placed it in the fridge before throwing the paper plates away. Joining him in the living room was suddenly the last thing she wanted to do. Odds were, what he wanted to talk about was bad.

Maybe he changed his mind about wanting her to stay. Maybe he wanted her out by tomorrow. Tonight, even.

The thought caused her heart to clench hard with pain, and she rubbed her hand over her chest. Oh, God, she couldn’t breathe. She knew she needed to leave, had been saying she couldn’t stay. Then why did the idea of leaving now hurt so damn much?

Her breath stalled as the reason why it hurt slammed into her. Against all odds, she was falling in love with him. No, there was no falling involved. She was already there.

What the hell had she been thinking? She knew better. Men were scum. All of them.

Except Jameson. He might be the one man in the world who was genuine. Who was as nice and kind and caring as he seemed. If there was any man in the world it was a good idea to fall in love with, it was him.

And she had. Oh man, fast and completely, and if she’d met him before the disaster of Winston, it would have been perfect. She would have had no reservations about being with him. She’d be embracing this with everything inside her.

It wasn’t that she had reservations about a relationship with him, but it couldn’t happen. She was being hunted, and she couldn’t allow Jameson, his sister, or his friends to be hurt.

The baby moved, and she smiled sadly as she put her hand on her belly. And if she’d met Jameson first, she wouldn’t have this little girl. She meant it when she told him this baby made everything she endured with Winston worth it.

Shit, she needed to get into the living room, but she was still feeling a little dazed from realizing she was in love with him. She needed to get it together. If he did as she suspected and told her he wanted her to leave soon, she had to be composed enough to keep it together.

Picking up her glass of ice water, she took a long drink, grimacing over the taste. But the coldness of it seemed to bolster her, and she inhaled deeply before making her way to the living room. Jameson was sitting on the couch and he glanced over at her, finally meeting her eyes as he smiled.

She automatically smiled in return, but she was distracted by the worry and nerves in his heavy lidded blue eyes. “What’s wrong, Jamie?”

“What makes you think anything’s wrong?” he asked. She cocked an eyebrow and he sighed. “I just—I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how.”

The poor guy looked so reluctant and out of sorts, so she was going to put him out of his misery. He didn’t need to say the words, not when she already knew what he was going to say.

“It’s okay. I know what you’re going to say.”

His eyebrows rose. “You do? You saw them already, then?”

“What? Saw who?” Waving her hand, she shook her head. She wanted to get this over with. “Never mind. I know you want me to leave. I wish I could do it soon, but I can’t go until the radiator is in my car. As soon as it is, I’ll leave.”

“What? No, I don’t want you to leave. Not now. Not ever.”

Her breath froze. He didn’t want her to leave. Relief flowed through her, relief she really had no business feeling. Whether he wanted her to or not, she still needed to.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Then what’s going on? You’re not acting like yourself.”

Exhaling, he ran a hand through the long strands of his hair. When he looked at her again, those pretty swirls were back in his eyes.

“Listen with an open mind, okay? I’m sure you’ve noticed that the people in Durga Valley aren’t really normal. But it goes deeper than just being weird, or because we have a different culture. We’re not quite human. I mean, we’re humans, of course, but we’re more. You see, we’re shifters. We can turn into animals. Right now, the tribe is exclusively tigers, but now that Kian’s opened the tribe up, I’m sure eventually we’ll have more shifter types move here.”

Cadence could feel her mouth opening and closing, but she couldn’t find any words. What the hell was he rambling about? The words he used were ordinary, everyday words, but when strung together in that order, they didn’t make sense.

“Look, Jameson, it’s okay. I already said I know you want me to leave. You don’t have to make up crazy stories to scare me into leaving. In fact, it’s a little cruel to do that. You know my history. I have a real monster in my life to worry about.”

She stood, intending to go to her room. He’d been rubbing his hands together anxiously, but he shot one out, grasping her wrist. His hold was gentle, but when she tried to pull away, he didn’t let go. Standing, he stopped in front of her, his expression earnest.

And then he growled. Growled. Deep, from his chest, and her eyes widened as he choked the sound off. Could that—was he—no, no way. Right?

“Cady, I swear I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t lie to you. Not about anything, but sure as hell not about something like this. I want to take all your terror, your hurt, all of it, away. I don’t want to add to it. I can prove it to you.”

Swallowing hard, she searched his eyes as the sincerity in his voice washed over her. Maybe, as crazy as it was, he was telling the truth. The growl, the way his eyes did the weird—but beautiful—swirly stuff, the way he moved so fast he blurred the other day. Maybe they were all signs of his true nature.

“Your eyes,” she said softly. “The way sometimes there are light blue swirls mixed with the dark blue. Is that because you’re a… a shifter?” Saying it out loud felt even more ridiculous than thinking it.

“Yeah. When my tiger’s near the surface, my eyes change. When I’m in tiger form, my eyes are light blue. I can show you. Kian stepped up patrols, and if we go upstairs, we might see one of the tigers in the woods. Or, I can show you my tiger. He won’t hurt you, I promise. He loves you.”

Her heart stopped when he said his tiger loved her. Oh, she was so coming back to that last part in a little bit. “Who’s Kian?”

“He’s the alpha. The leader of the War Cats. He’s tribe royalty.”

Her eyes widened. “War Cats? Wait, so when you said warriors—you meant exactly that, didn’t you?”

He nodded, his eyes wary. “It seemed like an odd way to phrase it to a human who didn’t know about shifters, so I said I meant fighters. Yeah, War Cats. That’s the name of our tribe. We have the fiercest warriors around, and we’re undefeatable.” His hand slid from her wrist as he took her other hand, holding them both tightly. “When I said you were safe here, that we could protect you, I meant it. There’s no safer place for you to be.”

“And you train them, so you must be at the top of the warriors, right?”

“I’m ranked fourth. I could be ranked higher, but I’ve never had any desire to try for more. I only wanted to keep my position as head trainer, so at challenges, I put in just enough effort to rank high enough for that. I’m sure I could give Karis a run for his money for the head warrior position, but I have no desire to lead the warriors. I just want to train.”

She couldn’t help her smile. “And so modest, too.”

He chuckled. “I’m not trying to boast, just stating facts.”

Pursing her lips, she studied him, wondering about the absence of fear inside her. Maybe pregnancy had scrambled her brains. Because she was, crazily enough, believing what he was telling her. And if she knew shifters were real and someone asked her before she met him, she would have said she’d be scared shitless by a man who had the ability to shift into a tiger. Tigers were badass animals of prey. He could kill her easily, and if he didn’t want to do that, and just wanted to hurt her like Winston, it would be a thousand times worse.

But this was still just Jameson. And he’d never hurt her, whether he could turn into an animal or not. She knew that, deep in her soul.

“Is there anything else that’s different about you?”

“Shifters are stronger and faster. We have enhanced vision and hearing, and we don’t get sick. And we can hear lies when people speak. That’s about it.”

She huffed a laugh. “That’s about it? Really? Sounds like a lot to me.”

“I guess maybe it is,” he said, his smile fading as he gazed intently into her eyes. “Do you believe me?”

“I’m not sure why the hell I do, honestly, but yeah. I think I do. Maybe that makes me a little crazy, though.”

“I personally don’t think it’s crazy at all,” he replied, winking at her. He searched her eyes, expression turning serious. “You’re not scared of me now?”

She shook her head. “I think maybe I should be, but I’m not. You’re still you. I don’t feel like you having the ability to turn into a tiger changes that. But… can I see him?”

“Of course. But are you sure you really want to? It won’t scare you too much?”

“I’m sure. As long as you’re certain he won’t hurt me.”

“He wouldn’t hurt you anymore than I would. Which is none.”

“Okay. Then let’s do this.”

He smiled at her, letting go of one of her hands so he could brush her hair back as he leaned down and gently kissed her. Easing back, he led her through the house to the backyard.

“Shouldn’t we go to the woods or something?” she asked as she looked around.

“Nope, this is fine.”

His voice sounded muffled so she looked over, eyebrows raising when she saw him taking off his shirt. She started to ask him what the hell he was doing but stopped herself. She thought she knew. His clothes wouldn’t shift with him, because where would they go? An image of a tiger in jeans and a green t-shirt came to her, and she giggled, smiling innocently when he glanced over at her. The point was, he probably shredded his clothes if he shifted while wearing them.

He toed his boots off and when his hands went to the button of his jeans, she glanced toward the houses on either side of his. She wasn’t sure she wanted any other woman laying her eyes on him while he was naked. That was for her eyes only.

“If you’re worried about anyone seeing me, you shouldn’t be. Nudity is a large part of shifter life. It’s no big deal. Most of the village has probably seen me naked at some point.”

She had to fight to keep from glaring at him. His words didn’t exactly make her feel any better, but she wasn’t going to let him know that. He didn’t need to know just how possessive she was over him.

Her. Possessive over a man. That blew her mind a little.

“Okay. My tiger’s big, but I promise, he won’t hurt you. So don’t freak out, all right?”

“I won’t. I’m totally calm.”

Okay, that was a tiny lie, one he clearly caught from the look on his face. Shit, she forgot he could hear lies.

Giving her one last reassuring smile, he made a hunching motion, and the loud sounds of pops echoed through the air. A wave of something electric brushed over her skin, raising the hair on her body in its wake, and an instant later, Jameson was gone, and a massive tiger was in his place.

Holy. Shit.

She took an involuntary step back, not able to help herself. Okay, believing he was telling the truth was a whole different thing than seeing it with her own eyes. He was freakin’ huge. She’d seen tigers in a zoo once, and he was far bigger than they were. His black striped orange fur was gleaming in the sunlight, and underneath it, he was heavily muscled. His paws were probably the size of her head, with incredibly long razor-sharp claws that were digging into the grass. He was tall, his head probably as tall as her chest.

He was intimidating as fuck.

Cadence swallowed hard, realizing her heart was racing. But she started calming down when she looked into his eyes. They were the lighter blue she saw in human Jameson’s eyes, with a band of dark blue around the pupils, and they were looking at her with what she swore was affection. He sat down, cocking his head, assessing her reaction.

Blowing out a breath, she tried to find her inner badass. “Can I come closer? T-touch you?”

He inclined his head, holding himself perfectly still. Finally making her feet work, she approached him slowly. When she stopped in front of him, she inhaled deeply as he looked at her with patient eyes, still holding himself frozen.

Raising a hand that trembled just a bit, she tentatively touched the soft fur at the top of his head. When he still didn’t move, she relaxed, running her fingers across his fur. He let out a loud purr and she jumped, laughing at herself.

And over the fact that the man she loved was currently a giant tiger, purring while she was petting him.

Her life was pretty unbelievable. Lifetime Movie Network worthy.

His eyes held a question, and she thought she knew what it was. “I’m fine. Not scared at all.”

If a tiger could smile, she’d swear that’s what he was doing. The baby moved forcefully, and she moved one of her hands to her belly, rubbing softly as she continued to stroke his head with the other. Ever so slowly, he leaned his head down and nuzzled it against her belly.

Her breath caught and tears stung her eyes. Maybe she should be freaked out that a tiger’s head was pressed against her pregnant belly. Hell, maybe a normal woman wouldn’t have wanted to be this close to a massive tiger, even if they knew the human version. But she knew Jameson wouldn’t hurt her or her baby, and this moment was so amazing. So perfect.

It was everything.

She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, Jameson nuzzling her belly, purring loudly while her daughter did what felt like somersaults inside her in response. But eventually, he eased away, backing far enough to shift back to his human form. As soon as he was standing on two feet again, he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, swaying them back and forth.

And the whole time, her eyes were stinging with tears. God, she loved this man, tiger, shifter, whatever he was, with everything in her.

Jameson had never in his life felt the amount of relief he was feeling right now. It was almost enough to take him to his knees. Cady hadn’t freaked out, not in the slightest. In all his imaginings, he hadn’t once thought she’d take it so well.

She hadn’t even questioned him for very long over it. She accepted it fairly quickly. Which meant she trusted him. It had to mean that, right?

And that was one hell of an amazing gift, especially with her past what it was.

I told you she’d be fine if you told her, his tiger gloated.

I guess you have every right to be smug right now, he replied, not upset over it in the slightest.

Despite her reaction being so good, he thought he’d been right to wait a bit before telling her. She needed to get used to him, to know him, before he sprung something like that on her.

Loosening his hold on her, he eased back and kissed her gently. His body roared to life, but he shut it down. They still had a lot to talk about.

“Let me get dressed, and we’ll head back in.”

He quickly pulled his clothes back on and led her inside, heading to the living room. Once they were sitting next to each other, he took her hand, holding it tightly.

“That was pretty amazing,” she said softly.

“Thanks for allowing me to have that moment. And now that you’ve seen my tiger, you realize I can protect you, right? No matter what I’m up against.”

She turned to face him, a frown on her beautiful face. “What’s going on, Jameson? Why are you so insistent on being able to protect me all of a sudden?”

Shit. He really hoped she didn’t freak out too much. Blowing out a breath, he tightened his hold on her hands. “Zane was here earlier because Kian was looking for me. Kian said he and Vynn, another of the warriors, were out running the woods today and came across an unfamiliar scent. A human. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s not unheard of. The problem is, in one direction, it ended abruptly at the road, like whoever it was got in a car and drove off. And in the other—well, it led to the fence behind my house.”

Cady’s face paled, and he stared at her with concern. She was frozen, barely looked like she was breathing at all. Her throat moved, like she was swallowing hard as she looked at him.

“Winston,” she whispered. “He’s here. He knows where I am. That was even faster than I thought. I have to leave. I need to get out of here. Now.”

She started to stand, and he tightened his hold on her hand, keeping her in place. “Whoa! No, you don’t need to leave. He’ll find you for sure if you go now. And didn’t I just say I could protect you?”

Her chocolate brown eyes were swimming with tears when she looked at him again. “He’ll come for me, and you’ll be caught in the middle. I can’t bring harm to you, or Tarun. Or anyone here in Durga. He won’t care who he hurts, Jameson. I can’t stay here.”

Reaching out, he brushed a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “Baby, I’m a tiger, remember? Everyone in Durga, besides you, is a tiger. He wouldn’t stand a chance against a shifter, and especially not against a War Cat. This tribe is full of the best trained warriors around. He can’t hurt us. And we won’t let him hurt you.”

She took a trembling breath, brow furrowed as she looked at him. “Why do you want me to stay so badly? I’m nothing but trouble. And I know you’re a good guy, but this should be too much for you to take on.”

“I care about you, Cady. No, that’s not right. I more than care about you. I don’t want to scare you off, and you might think this is too fast, but I love you. You’re my mate, and I love you.”

Her lips parted with surprise, and her eyes were wide as she looked at him. “You love me?”

He smiled, brushing her hair back. “Yes. I think I have from the moment I met you. If you leave, you’ll take my heart with you. And I don’t want you to. I want you to stay here, I want to spend my life with you.” He paused, putting a hand on her belly. “I love her already, too, and I want to help you raise her. It’ll kill me if you don’t give me the chance to do any of that.”

She cleared her throat, wetting her lips. “You told me once that a mate was a term for girlfriend, but the way you just said it made it sound like something different.”

“Yeah, I kind of lied when I said that,” he admitted. “I hated to fib about anything, but there were shifter related things I couldn’t tell you the truth about without you knowing what we are. A mate… well, that person is everything to a shifter. We can love as many people as we want, but we only have one true mate. That person is perfect for us in every way, and our animal lets us know when we find them. Mates are the most precious thing in the world to us. All we want is their happiness. We’d lie, steal, cheat, kill, lay down our lives. Whatever it takes to ensure they’re happy.”

“That’s—that’s what I am to you? All you just said?”

Unable to resist, he leaned in and kissed her. “Exactly that. You mean everything to me, Cady. Everything. I know this all probably seems crazy fast to you, but that’s how it is for shifters. We know quickly when we find our mate. Some faster than others. I knew almost right away. But don’t worry. I’m not expecting anything in return from you. All I’m asking for is a chance to prove how right we are together. How well we fit.”

Laughing, she shook her head. “You don’t have to prove anything to me, Jamie. I already know. And I already figured out that I love you. So you might not be expecting a declaration, but I’m giving you one anyway. I love you, so crazy much.”

His breath caught as he searched her eyes, the truth in her voice washing over him. Fuck. Her words hit him so hard he was still struggling to get his breath back. And he didn’t give two shits how that made him sound.

Cady leaned forward, pressing her lips to his, and his body caught fire, like it always did when they kissed, or hell, even when she touched him or just looked at him in a certain way. But, as much as he wanted to take this further, they weren’t quite done with this conversation yet.

Pulling back, he stared in her eyes. “No more talk of leaving me, of leaving this, okay? You’re safe here, and he can’t hurt any of us. Not you, not the baby, and definitely not any of the shifters here. Stay. Forever, hopefully.”

She inhaled deeply, a smile flirting with her lips. “I really hope I don’t regret this later, but yes. I’ll stay. Forever.”

Yessssss, his tiger whooped inside him.

I know exactly how you feel.

“Good. Now come on. Let’s go upstairs.”

“But not to sleep, right?” she asked, her chocolate eyes sparkling as she slanted a look at him. “At least not yet.”

He winked at her. “Not for a couple of hours, at least.”

Laughing, she let him pull her up and they made their way to the stairs. Life was just about damn near perfect. They just needed to deal with Winston, and Jameson suddenly hoped he’d show up soon. The sooner the bastard was dealt with, the sooner he and Cady could begin their lives with nothing to hold them back.