Here Kitty, Kitty!

Chapter One

Six days later…

“I see now why they’re on The List.”

“Uh-oh. Is the rodeo clown still lurking?”

Angelina Santiago tightened the strap on her Chanel shoes, while trying not to fall on her ass. Not easy. Hopping became involved.

“I think he still can’t believe I turned down a cowboy.”

“I think I have to agree with him on this.”

“Honestly, Sara. What is your thing for cowboys?”

“Dude, they’re hot.”

“And poor you. Stuck with tiny, weak Zach.” Angie stood up, smoothing out her silk skirt, once again elegant and composed—at least that was the illusion she gave. An illusion she worked hard to maintain.

“I didn’t say Zach was a letdown or anything. If I could just get him into a cowboy hat, I’d be one happy bitch.”

“You’re already happy. Much more and you’ll be walking around in a state of constant orgasm, which would get on my last goddamn nerve.”

“Everything gets on your last goddamn nerve.”

“This is true.” Crouching down, Angie grabbed her bag from behind the counter. She briefly debated whether to grab the solid wood bat lying next to her Louis Vuitton purse. She’d owned the “Bitch’s Hammer” ever since she took it from the guy trying to use it on her. She smiled at the memory.

Never underestimate a teenage girl wearing Candies.

Angie decided to forgo her trusty weapon of choice since she had her sweet little Glock .9mm shoved in her bag. A birthday gift three months ago from Sara and Miki.

She stood up and nodded at her two saleswomen. They would make sure to close up her shop later and handle everything while she was away. Normally, she’d stay until closing, but she had packing to do. A rather dramatic and time-intensive event for her.

She re-adjusted the headphones attached to her cell phone. “Did you hear again from Mik?”

“Not since they stopped to get gas. I don’t know what’s going on, but that was a ‘dangerously calm’ Miki I spoke to. Not a good thing.”

Angie winced. “My God, that can’t be good.”

“No shit.”

No. Not a good thing at all. Although Sara was no better. When she got quiet—the universe needed to notice.

“And Conall? Recovery a-okay?”

“He’s fine. Although I’m pretty sure he’s the one who pissed her off.”

“Probably. But not really surprising. This is Miki we’re talking about. Think she told him she loves him yet?” Angie headed toward the exit, her ridiculously expensive bag swinging casually from her hand.

“Are you kidding? He’s going to have to work for that.”

Angie stopped and looked at the two men who’d been in her store everyday for the past week. She remembered them from the airport when she dropped off Miki. They were damn gorgeous, but she really liked the other one. Shame he didn’t seem to be with them.

One of the men stared at the scarves, pretending that they hadn’t been staring at her.

She smiled while trying to keep a straight face. “That teal scarf would look fabulous on you.”

The one holding the scarf in his huge hand looked at it and back at her. Frowning.

She laughed and strolled away. What boneheads.

Angie pushed the glass doors open and walked out. “My plane arrives tomorrow at four ten. Flight eight-sixty.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got all the info. We’ll meet you at the airport.” Sara sighed. “And look, until you get here, I want you to be careful. They targeted Miki specifically, but I don’t know if they’re coming after you or not.”

“Please don’t start. Again. Besides, I’m in Pack territory and Marrec will be taking me to the airport. I’ll be fine.” She sauntered toward her Mercedes.

“Angelina don’t ignore—”

“Bye, Sara. Call me when Miki gets there.” She ended the connection. Her friend could be quite the mother wolf when her friends were threatened.

Angie remotely unlocked her door and stopped, the hackles on her neck snapping to full attention. She spun on her expensive heels and came face-to-face with a woman.

Well…at least she thought it was a woman. A woman she’d seen once or twice the past week at the diner, just outside town. Angie didn’t like the woman staring at her then. And she sure as fuck didn’t like it now.

Whatever. All Angie needed to know was this woman wasn’t Pack, too small and boringly dressed to be Pride, and definitely not completely human.

Sometimes Angie wished she could be more like Miki with her fast-moving mind. Mik could analyze anything in seconds and come up with a satisfying solution. Or like Sara. With her calm, controlled demeanor—as long as no tequila was involved. Angie wasn’t like either of her two best friends, and specialists had actually analyzed her fight or flight response. Because she never did what everyone else did. Ever.

Angie slammed her handbag, heavy with her Glock, against the head of the woman across from her. Squealing in surprise, the female stumbled. Nope, they never saw Angie coming. Always their mistake. And to prove that point, Angie hit her again. The buckle on the side of her bag cut a gash across the woman’s face. Blood splashed across Angie’s arm and ruined her bag.

The female hit the ground, and Angie slammed her foot against the woman’s windpipe, pushing down.

Gasping, the female fought to get Angie’s foot off, but Angie gritted her teeth and pushed harder.

Something, a movement from the corner of her eye or a sound, distracted her from the prey under her feet. She spared a glance to the left of her. The two men, the ones from her shop, were moving toward her.

At first, she wondered if they were coming to rescue her or the woman whose windpipe she happily crushed under her Chanels.

She heard another sound and turned to see animals, not lions but not quite dogs either, bursting full-throttle from the woods behind her store’s parking lot.

Angie reached into her bag for her Glock while turning to warn off the men. But limbs shifted, fur grew, fangs appeared. Then they were launching themselves at her.

And her last thought before all went black—There are tigers?

Nikolai Vorislav rolling onto his back, let the morning sun warm his belly as he quietly waited in a soft patch of tall grass. Waited until his breakfast walked up to one of the many lakes he had on his property. And, as always, breakfast did come walking up. Slowly, Nik rolled back over onto his belly, watching to see if it saw him. It hadn’t. Instead it drank from the lake, completely oblivious to his presence.

He waited a moment more. Then he silently charged. The deer made a run for it, but Nik had his paws on its hindquarters and under him before it got more than ten feet away. Nik gripped its neck and bit down until it stopped thrashing. With a happy sigh, he settled down to a nice hot meal.

When done, Nik went for a swim in his lake, letting the water go through his coat, washing all the blood away. He looked up at the sun. It was getting late. He needed to get on a conference call although he’d rather stay outside for the rest of the day playing. But his father would have his head.

As it was, Nik barely tolerated the old bastard these days. He loved his father, but he didn’t understand him. And he really didn’t want to. Still, he needed to leave his father be. The old man had begun to slowly transfer the business over to him and Nik’s momma would have his hide if he started any crap now. So, resigning himself to a Sunday trapped on a trans-Atlantic call, he headed back to his house.

He padded quietly through his backyard, glancing at his pool. He fought his desire to dive in headfirst and stay there for the next four hours. Instead, he trotted over to the patio, stopping before he moved into his house. He sniffed the air and groaned. His brothers were around somewhere. Why? He’d left them in Texas with explicit instructions not to come back until they had a signed property deal from that old wolf Marrec so they could build some stupid amusement park his father had his heart set on. Nik should have known better. Trying to get a wolf to sell its territory was not easy, if not damn-near impossible. But this deal was Alek’s baby. He’d brought the property to their daddy’s attention. How he knew about wolf property, Nik could only guess.

Nik didn’t want to walk through the back doors into his kitchen. He knew he’d probably find them there, eating his food and finishing off his sweet tea. No. Not a good idea to deal with those two without his morning coffee. It would be in everyone’s best interest if he made them wait a bit. So Nik went around to the side of the house, took a step back, and leaped up to the second-floor balcony. Clearing the railing with ease, he silently landed on the marble floor. With a couple of nudges from his muzzle, he opened the glass door and stepped into the hallway.

He needed a shower and coffee before his call. Man, did he need coffee.

So focused, in fact, on getting his coffee, it took Nik a good thirty seconds to catch the strange scent in his house. He slowed down, but kept walking, trying to locate its owner. Maybe his sisters had brought over one of their friends. Whoever she was, he just had to meet her. Anybody smelling that damn good was a must-meet, if not a must-have-in-your-bed. And the scent was so familiar, it must have been someone he’d met. So intense he started purring. Wow, he hadn’t done that in awhile. It felt good.

He walked past one of the unused guest rooms and stopped in his tracks, his tail twitching expectantly. He took several steps back and turned his head.

It was her. The tasty piece of ass from the airport.

His eyes roamed over her body. She sat up in the bed, the sheet tucked under her arms, and she had definitely been in a recent fight. Though she didn’t look too much the worse for wear. A few bruises. A few scratches. A good size knot on the side of her forehead. Yet nothing life threatening. Still…why the hell was she in his house?

She stared at him, her breathing coming out in shallow pants, and Nik suddenly realized he was still tiger.

No wonder she looks scared to death.

Nik shifted, making sure not to move too quickly and frighten her even more.

Leaning against the door jam, Nik crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well. Hello, sugar.”

“Oh, shit…” she let out softly.

He grinned. So pretty. No. Pretty didn’t do it for her. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Astounding. Even those words were weak.

“I…I…” She shook her head, then the panic kicked in.

She slid off the bed and stumbled to her feet. She still had the sheet around her body, but she tripped over it and started to drop to the floor.

Nik moved quickly, going across the room and grabbing her around the waist before she could hit the floor. She moaned in pain and he held her gently, slowly slipping to his knees, her naked back pushing against his naked front. She was so weak, she couldn’t stand on her own.

“Breathe, sugar. Just breathe.”

He had to fight hard to keep his self-control. Not easy with her naked flesh pressed against his. And before he took hold of her, he spotted the sexiest damn tattoo in the middle of her back. He didn’t have a chance to get a good look at it, but knowing she had one set his teeth on edge.

“I’m going to be sick.”

Uh-oh. Well, that killed the libido right quick.

“Come on, darlin’. Let’s get you in the bathroom.” Each bedroom in his house had its own bathroom and he had never been more grateful. He stood up, bringing the woman with him and swiftly took her inside. He held her with one arm while he lifted the toilet seat cover and the toilet seat. Kneeling down again, he brought her with him, making sure her head hovered over the toilet.

“It’s going to be okay, sugar. Just relax.”

Moaning, she gripped the sides of the toilet and leaned forward. He was about to reach around and pull her hair off her face, when her head swung back, slamming into his nose. His brothers had broken his nose years ago, but this bitch literally knocked it out of joint. He heard the bone pop.

“Goddammit!”

Releasing her, he fell back to the floor.

He looked up in time to see her smoothly get to her feet, the sheet sliding off that sweet, sweet body, leaving her naked and oh so beautiful. With a coldness he’d never seen on a human not born cat, she turned and yanked the top of the toilet tank off.

“Wait—” was the last thing he said before she brought the hard, heavy porcelain down on his head.

Angie winced. She never wanted to hurt something that pretty, but it’s not like he gave her much choice.

Damn! When did tigers get involved in this little drama? She wrapped the sheet around her body and ran out of the bathroom into the adjoining bedroom.

She saw no sign of any of her stuff, but that wasn’t very surprising. She wouldn’t exactly expect them to leave her .9 out and loaded.

She ran out into the hallway, heading in the opposite direction from the one the tiger had been taking. She’d only gotten a couple of feet, though, when she skidded to a stop. Two other tigers sat quietly at the end of the hallway near a set of stairs. They looked at her, and she was positive she saw surprise on their cat faces. She knew that if they could register surprise they were at least partly human. Hell. She’d rather deal with real tigers. No ulterior motive except dinner.

“Shit!” She turned and ran down the other way. The hallway stretched long and sported two exits. Boy, this wasn’t just a house. This was a mansion. A very nice mansion. Shame she didn’t have time to enjoy it. She skidded toward another stop at the top of the stairs. Two women, chatting quietly, sat on the bottom step. They looked up at her, eyes glinting in the dim light of the stairwell, and frowned. Nope. They weren’t completely human either.

“Fuck!”

She tore back the other way, but saw the tigers loping toward her. She went into the first room she found, slamming the door shut behind her. No lock. Shit.

Angie desperately glanced around the room.

There must be a weapon around here somewhere.

“Oh, my God, Nik! What did that evil bitch do to you?”

Nik forced his eyes open to see his sister and cousin kneeling over him. “Help me up.”

They each grasped a hand and hauled him to his feet. He couldn’t let them go right away. Still too shaky.

“Maybe we should call the doc?” his cousin Reena asked as she used a wet washcloth to wipe blood off his face and out of his eyes.

“No. I’ll be fine.” He pulled away from them, slowly walking back into the bedroom. He looked over at the two tigers standing in the doorway.

“Shift. Now.”

The two tigers looked at each other. For a minute, Nik thought they might make a run for it. But they knew better. Knew he’d track them down and kick the living tar out of both of them.

They shifted to human and looked at their brother sheepishly.

He stared at them. “Why is there—” He stopped, putting his hands on both sides of his nose, and snapped it back into place. Nik closed his eyes against the pain. When he opened them again, both his brothers were trying to ease out of the room.

“Don’t make me come get you.”

They stopped and turned around.

“Where is she,” he barked. If he’d been more human, the crazy woman would have killed him. Luckily, his people were very hard of head.

“Your bedroom.”

“Great.” That’s all he needed. Some insane woman ripping up his bedroom. He pushed past his brothers and stalked down the hallway.

He’d just gotten in front of his door when his sister, Kisa, spoke, “Isn’t Granddaddy’s shotgun in your room?”

Nik looked at his bedroom door, then hit the ground as wood exploded around him. A hole the size of a basketball punched through it.

Who the hell is this crazy heifer?

Angie ejected the shotgun shell and aimed the gun again. Her feet braced firmly apart, her eyes on the hole she’d just created. She needed to get to a car. Or a phone. Preferably both.

This was bad. Really, really bad. She didn’t even know they had tiger shifters. What did tigers do? Christ, weren’t they man-eaters or something? And what about all the Pack-Pride bullshit? Were all cats involved in that or the lions only?

Goddammit! Where the hell is Miki when I need her ass?

Angie realized how quiet it had suddenly become. Real quiet. She strained to hear anything as she took several small steps forward.

She stopped abruptly, closing her eyes. She didn’t know how long he’d been behind her, but she knew he stood there now. She could feel him.

She steadied the gun in her hand and spun around to clobber him with it. But he was fast and strong. He grabbed her around the waist, yanking her up against his naked body with one hand while the other snatched the gun from her.

They stared at each other as he threw the gun out the open balcony window he’d come through. She could feel his hard chest against her tits. Her legs straddled one of his enormous, rock solid thighs.

Holy shit, he’s fuckin’ gorgeous.

He glared at her. “You are so payin’ for that door.”

Then he dropped her on her ass.