Free You're Kitten Me by Celia Kyle Page A

brushed his lips across hers. “You’re a wolf.”
    His words slowly filtered through her brain, her mind picking them apart until she finally got what he was saying. “I’m a wolf.” She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t think I’m strong enough to tug your tail.”
    “Baby…”
    “My father is an alpha.” Now she was offended. Just because she was worried about her beast’s reaction to a mating didn’t mean she wasn’t any less strong than him.
    “I understand, but you’re still a wolf.”
    “The national alpha.”
    “And I’m the national second. I weight eight hundred pounds when shifted. My cat is strong.”
    She rolled her eyes. “And my wolf isn’t?”
    “Look, I don’t want to fight about this. I want you. I want you more than anyone—anything—I’ve ever wanted in my life. I will take you however I can get you.” Sadness filled his gaze. “Even if you agreed to be my mate, to claim each other, I can’t guarantee my tiger would accept your wolf. And we only get one shot at the ceremony. One. If it doesn’t happen, you’d be lost to me forever. It’s tiger law.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, surrounding her with his scent. “I would rather have you at my side with half a mating rather than not at all. Can you understand that?”
    Ronnie closed her eyes. God, yes, she could understand that. She hated that he didn’t think she was strong, but she was sure he hated her reluctance and unwillingness just as much. They were torn, at a stalemate, both of them craving the other but not wanting to go further.
    “I understand.” And it rent her heart in two.
    “The question is,” he breathed deeply and released the breath slowly, giving her more of his scent. “Will your father? Will your pack?”
    She chuckled. “Will the pride?”
    “The pride will accept my choice, Ares’s decision. But I’m not the national tiger alpha’s son. I’m his best friend. If we decide to be together without a full mating, will it hurt your father’s rule? Will the wolves accept it?”
    Ronnie remembered the well wishes, the heartfelt hugs and puppy piles that’d followed that time all those years ago. The way they’d all embraced her and the pack helped her heal. Would it hurt her dad’s rule? No, because every pack member would remember.
    “No.” She licked her lips, mouth dry as she prayed he didn’t ask for an explanation. “No, he’ll be fine.”
    A quick rap of knuckles on wood broke the emotional bubble around them and they both turned their attention to Daniel standing in the kitchen archway. “Hate to interrupt, but,” he pointed at Ronnie. “Your father is here.” Then his gaze turned to Braden. “And so is Cadman.”
    Ronnie froze. “Oh shit,” she whispered, mind whirling. Her dad was still pissed about Cadman’s betrayal. It’d be best if there was a massive tiger-shaped buffer between the wolf and the human. “They arrived together. Now?”
    That was about the time a roar split the air and on its heels… a gunshot.
     

Chapter Ten
     
    Walter Barrington—National Werewolf Alpha—had balls of fucking steel.
    Half shifted, torn clothes clinging to his expanded body, he stood fearless in front of a half-dozen agents. Agents pointing their guns at him with steady hands. The torn dirt at Walter’s feet showed exactly where the bullet from the discharged weapon ended up.
    One of the DoPE agents shot at the wolf’s feet. The human was a dead man breathing.
    Walter remained in place, not in fear, but as a deadly animal waiting to see how his prey would respond. Braden knew the sensation well, the tension in his muscles as he prepared to react, adrenaline pumping in his blood and saliva pooling in his mouth.
    One of the men’s gazes flicked their way, attention falling to Veronica, and his own beast reacted. His fur pushed free of his pores, chest expanding and growing as the beast pushed forward. He stepped in front of his mate, blocking her