Free Her Tiger To Take by Kat Simons

if he needed
her.
    He didn’t need her.
    As she watched, Nick pulled Corwin into a
choke hold, ignoring his claws as the wolf fought to breathe. The
scent of blood filled her nostrils, instinct making her growl and
chuff. Nick’s blood. But not enough to be dangerous. The alpha’s
struggles weakened, his big body went limp, and his eyes rolled
back. Nick held him two more beats, then tossed him aside.
    He whirled to face the rest of the pack,
circling to glare at each of them. She left her post and eased up
to him, nudging his leg with her shoulder. Without looking down at
her, he settled a hand on the back of her head, his touch
protective and gentle.
    “Anyone else want a go?” he shouted, his
voice harsh and guttural. His tiger was right there, ready to come
out.
    Because his arm was still limp and useless,
she didn’t want him to shift yet—it would complicate the bone
resetting and might force her to break the bone again to get it to
heal correctly. She settled closer to him, her shoulder pressed
against his leg, letting him know she was here to support him.
    The wolves surrounding them shuffled
uncomfortably and exchanged looks she couldn’t read.
    “Are we done here, then?” Nick said into the
awkward silence. “Idiot pride and territoriality satisfied?” No one
answered. Not a single wolf stepped forward to take the lead.
“Where the hell is your beta?” Nick snarled, his voice settling to
his more normal octave now.
    More shuffling, more looks, more unease. A
scent rose to tangle with the pack’s already musty canine smell, a
complicated mix of flavors that her tiger nose interpreted as fear
and disgust.
    Finally, one of the men stepped forward. He
was taller than the alpha, with dark hair and blue eyes. He was the
wolf who’d given her boots to wear when they’d left the pack’s
cabin to meet Nick. She thought she’d heard someone call him
Adam.
    As they’d held her captive through the night,
she’d scented the essence of a few wolves she thought might be
stronger than the current alpha. This particular wolf was one of
them. Another looked a lot like him and she’d guessed from their
scent signatures they were related. Knowing there were wolves
stronger than the alpha had worried her more than being held by the
group, because it hinted at a dysfunctional pack. And a
dysfunctional werewolf pack was a dangerous thing.
    Given what Nick had implied—that he’d paid
the alpha off before this—and the surprise she’d smelled at that
comment, she suspected things weren’t getting better soon.
    The man who’d stepped forward looked Nick in
the eyes when he spoke. “No beta in our pack. He doesn’t like
them.” He nodded to the fallen leader. “He’s going to be pissed
when he wakes up.”
    “If he comes into my territory looking for
trouble, I won’t stop at just knocking him out. The breach in your
territory was an accident. I have no quarrel with your pack. But I
will defend my town if you come looking for me.”
    “No interest in your town. No interest in
you.” He glanced at the downed leader again. “We have some pack
business to take care of, anyway. Get your woman out of here.”
    Tiana snarled, her ruff rising in irritation,
a threat in her tone. Nick stroked his hand down the back of her
head, settling her fur and gentling her annoyance.
    “You hurt?” he asked her without looking away
from the man who’d taken the lead.
    She grunted, a noise she hoped he’d interpret
as “no”. He must have been satisfied because he started into the
woods. She stayed at his side, glaring at the wolves as they opened
a hole to let her and Nick pass. She glanced back and watched them
close the circle again, narrowing around their alpha.
    That complex mixture of disgust and fear
followed her away from the group.
     
     
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
    They paused a few hundred yards from Nick’s
truck so Tiana could shift back to her human form before they
stepped out into the open spaces around the