The Tiger's Heart (13 page)

She laughed.

“
Keep your leg up on the
pillows, I’ll work around it. I won’t have you doing more damage to
it.” He slid between her legs, angling himself with the tip of his
shaft playing lightly along her folds.

As he entered her tight channel, she
cried out with pleasure. His thrust was gentle at first, working
his way into her core, allowing her body to adjust around him. Her
body relaxed around him, giving him the room he needed. His thrusts
came deeper and faster.

Their bodies worked together in
precision, as if it was a well-choreographed dance. Their bodies
rode back and forth until they explode together in
unison.

Breathless, they laid there hot and
sweaty, not wanting to move. Their legs still entwined
together.

“
I love you, Bethany,”
Raja whispered. He wrapped his body around her, his face buried in
her hair.

Chapter
Twenty-One

After hours of making love Raja and
Bethany lay tangled in each other’s arms, their exhaustion taking
hold as night was becoming day. His mating couldn’t have come at a
worse time. Tiger shifters were living in a dangerous time, but
still he couldn’t deny himself the pleasures of Bethany.

“
You’re thinking too
hard.” Snuggling against him.

“
Hum?”

“
When you’re thinking
hard, you have a deep line that forms on your forehead. Penny for
your thoughts?”

“
It’s nothing,” he
whispered in her hair before kissing the top of her
head.

“
If we’re mates, we should
be straightforward with each other. A relationship that isn’t built
on honesty and trust isn’t one I want to be in.”

“
I was just thinking what
bad timing this mating is. It’s dangerous to be a tiger shifter or
someone even connected to us now, especially the Alaskan Tigers.
Pierce will stop at nothing or no one.”

She took it in. “Did you have control
over mating?”

“
No. Not really. We can
hold it off for a short time, but it infuriates the tiger. It makes
us on edge as we battle the tiger claws and rage. If it takes too
long, our animal will take control of the mating. When that happens
it’s perilous—we can be uncontrollable with the need for our mate’s
touch.”

“
Then why worry about the
bad timing? If there was nothing you could do, isn’t it better to
accept the situation?” She ran her hand lazily over his chest,
caressing his abs.

“
Just because you make a
good point doesn’t mean the worry vanishes. I’m not worried for
myself, it is you I’m concerned for.” He laid there staring at the
celling, wishing they weren’t having this conversation.

“
Me?”

“
Yes. There are
transitions that will be taking place soon, and it could…well to be
honest, dangerous situations will arise from it.”

“
I can take care of
myself. What transitions?” She propped herself up on her elbow and
gazed down at him.

“
Bethany, you’re an
amazing woman with many talents…”

“
But?”

His lips curved into a smile. “But you
don’t stand a chance against shifters. We’re stronger, faster and
deadlier than a raving human on drugs.” He rubbed his thumb over
the dimple in her chin. “I don’t want anything to happen to
you.”

“
I’ll be fine.” Lowering
her head, she laid a light kiss on his lips.

“
To see to that I’m
assigning guards to you. It is normal procedure with the Alpha and
the Lieutenant’s mates. I should have done it when you first
arrived, but I was more concerned about your knee and how you would
react to the news of shifters. I was also coming to terms with you
being my mate.”

“
I think I’ve done very
well. Now what transitions?”

“
My persistent mate.”
Before he could tell her of the transitions, his cell phone
vibrated on the nightstand.

Grabbing it, he saw it was a text
message from Ty.

He’s ten minutes out.
Felix and Marcus are bringing Tabitha there. Meet me at heliport,
five minutes.

“
He?” she asked, looking
at the phone screen.

“
Tabitha will explain the
transitions when she gets here. I’ll be back shortly.” He slipped
out of bed. He strolled naked toward the closet.

“
Who is he?”

“
Nothing to worry about.
I’ll be back soon.” He slipped his legs into a clean pair of black
jeans then grabbed the long-sleeved t-shirt that he
favored.

“
Answer me.” She threw a
pillow at him, hitting him in the back.

“
James.”

“
Uncle James is here
already. Let me get dressed.” She threw off the covers.

“
I meant to tell you last
night but well, we got sidetracked. Ty and I have decided to meet
with him first. I’ll bring him to see you after we have spoken with
him.” After slipping the shirt over his head, he strapped his knife
to his thigh and grabbed the gun holster.

“
Why can’t I be
there?”

“
Your uncle knows
something. We don’t know if he’s working with Pierce or not. I want
you here with Tabitha and her guards until we get a read on him. I
promise if he is clean, I’ll bring him to you.”

“
How would you know he’s
clean?” she asked, pulling on a pair of lounge pants from the
bottom of the bed. They were the easiest to wear with the knee
brace.

“
I’m taking Shadow with
me. She has the ability to see into someone’s psyche and to be able
to tell if they’re lying. If there is anything evil about James,
she’ll notice it. If he wishes to harm you or anyone here, she
would see it. I’ll apologize now—if he means any of any harm he’ll
be escorted out of the compound.”

“
Raja, we’re here,”
Tabitha called, coming into his quarters.

“
Make yourself at home.
We’ll be out in a moment.” He went to Bethany, kneeling in front of
her. “Don’t fight me on this. I’m protecting you.”

She hooked her bra, but she still
needed a shirt. Her nightshirt wouldn’t do to meet her uncle after
all these years. “I want to see him one way to another.”

“
I can’t promise you that.
I won’t put you in danger, no matter how angry you’ll be at me. I
can tell you I’ll do my best to make you happy.” He stood, grabbing
one of the sweaters from her suitcase that still sat on the floor.
“Here.”

* * *

Raja stood at the helipad,
feeling guilty.
It’ll break her heart to
know her uncle is behind any of this.

“
Apprehensive James has
something to do with this?” Ty asked, leaning against the railing
surrounding the heliport.

“
We don’t know completely
he doesn’t.”

“
No, but Adam is quickly
becoming an outstanding guard, or I wouldn’t have added him to
Tabitha’s guards. He has good judgment. If he found James
suspicious, he wouldn’t be bringing him here. Plus neither of us
thought he was part of it. You’re only doubting your judgment now
for dread of how it will affect your mate,” he added when Raja
looked guilty. “Don’t worry I do it as well when it comes to Tabby.
It’s only natural to want to protect your mate from harm and
heartbreak. But we have to trust in our instincts. It’s what keeps
us and our mates alive.”

“
You’re right.” Raja ran
his hand through his hair as the first sounds of the helicopter
came from the distance. “After all this I need to explain to
Bethany the dangers that might be in store for shifters and their
mates. Not just Pierce but also with the joining of the
clans.”

Ty nodded. “Just make sure she doesn’t
tell James.”

“
I swear if he has
anything to do with the attack on Bethany, I’ll kill him myself,”
he growled, watching the helicopter coming into view. Adam was at
the helm, steering it toward them.

“
If that is the case,
he’ll be all yours once we get all the information out of him.” Ty
stepped forward, standing straight and tall when the helicopter
landed. “How long do you think we have before Felix is begging for
a break from our mates? I’m sure Felix won’t have it easy since
both of them wanted to be here.”

“
They were both shooting
looks that could kill at me when I left them sitting in the living
room. I expect we have only a short time before they drive the
guards to a breaking point. Maybe we’ll go back and find them bound
and gagged.” They laughed as the men stepped out of the helicopter.
The last man who jumped out was an older man who looked to be in
his mid to late fifties.
He has the same
piercing green eyes that Bethany has.

“
Ty, Raja, this is James
Thompson,” Adam said, coming to stand in front of him. “James, this
is the Alpha of the Alaskan Tigers, Ty and his Lieutenant,
Raja.”

“
James, if you could
follow us to the conference room.”

“
Where’s my niece? I
demand to see Bethany.”

“
You’ll see her once we
have had our discussion. She’s safe, that’s all that you need to
concern yourself with,” Raja said, irritation showing in his
voice.

“
I want to see her now,”
James complained as he followed them to the conference room, Adam
and Leo taking up the rear.

“
As I said you can see her
once this is complete and not until then. If that doesn’t suit you,
you’re more than welcome to get your ass back on the helicopter and
they’ll return you to your life. But you’re on our turf and you’ll
do things our way,” Raja growled at him.

James was a weak shifter. Raja could
feel it in the air around him. Yet he had the courage of a fighter.
If he had anything to do with the attack on Bethany, he would be
hard to break. His commitment and honor would be strong.

“
If anything has happened
to my niece…”

A fierce growl had Raja’s lips curling
into a snarl. Not even five minutes on the ground and Raja was
already losing patience with James. Ty paused briefly to make eye
contact with James.

“
No harm has come to her
since she has arrived here. She’s with my mate, and they’re safe.
If we could get this out of the way quickly you may see her,” Ty
said, trying to calm the situation as he opened the door to the
conference area. They decided to use one of the smaller ones on the
far side of the compound, farthest away from the mates.

Shadow and Thomas sat at the
conference table waiting for them. Ty took the chair at the end of
the table, leaving the one to his right for Raja, before gesturing
toward the other chairs. “Please have a seat and we can get
started.”

James stalked to a seat,
the anger sliding off him. Raja watched him out of the corner of
his eye, but his attention was focused on Shadow. He was watching
her, waiting for some sign of her impression of James.
Was he a threat to Bethany? To the
clan?

“
What do you need from
me?” He sat across from Shadow in the middle of the table, leaving
an empty chair between Ty and him.

“
Do you know a man named
Pierce?” Ty dug through the folder lying on the table and came out
with a picture of Pierce.

He slid it across the table to James,
who leaned back as the picture came into view. The tension in the
room inched higher. James remained still with everyone watching him
closely.

“
Nothing, I know nothing,”
James said, his eye twitching slightly.

“
If you’re not up front
with us, you won’t be able to see Bethany. We won’t risk her life.”
Raja fought the need to stand, to pace the room.

“
She’s my family—you can’t
keep me from her.”

“
What to bet?” he
snarled.

“
Whatever you know about
Pierce might help us find him. I’m sure you want to see justice for
what happened to your brother and his family. Justice for Bethany.”
Shadow leaned forward in her chair, her voice so low and sweet, one
wouldn’t have guessed she was one of the fiercer guards.

“
I do, but that’s a family
matter.”

“
It’s bigger than a family
matter. He has gone after my mate. He has a bounty on Bethany’s
head. This is bigger than you.” Ty laced his fingers together and
laid them on the table.

“
I don’t want Bethany
injured or killed.” He looked down at the picture again.

“
Then help us.”

“
It began many years ago.
I was married to my high school sweetheart. She had problems, split
personalities mostly. I loved her and thought I could fix her. It
started out fine. We had a small home near the plant I took a job
at after high school. I wanted to go to college, but there wasn’t
enough money. My baby brother had the brains. I got a job and
helped my parents, put away what I could for his college and did my
best by my wife. She got pregnant within the first year of our
marriage, but the pregnancy was hard on her. It brought out more
personalities, meaner ones. You never knew where you stood with
her, and our marriage started to suffer.”

“
I don’t understand what
this has to do with Pierce.” Raja shot a questioning look at
James.