The woman who answered my knock was the most attractive ogre I’d ever met. Of course, that didn’t take a whole lot, but there truly was something special about her, and the scents from house were almost as enticing as those outside. She informed me I was late for the regular dinner hour but that I was welcome to eat in the kitchen with the staff. While I looked forward to letting my tiger run, after a day of hauling things and toting things, and holding things upright while someone else fastened them together, and with the prospect of a full week up here, I thanked her and followed her into the kitchen. I’d run tomorrow. And the next day.
Inside, the owner was sitting down with another woman, and she wouldn’t even let me clean up before joining them, beyond quick ablutions at the sink. But when I finished with that and headed for the table, I took in what I hadn’t before. She was stunning—a green-eyed blonde with full red lips and a tight little figure like something out of a pinup calendar. I’d have wolf-whistled if it hadn’t been completely beneath my dignity. And canine.
“If you’ll call me…” He came to a stop right by the table. And no more words came out.
The cook and door answerer brought stew and salad and some great-looking cornbread. Then a bowl of softened butter that smelled like honey. “There,” she said. “That should do. So, what to drink? Iced tea? Lemonade? Mead?”
I dragged my gaze away from the blonde long enough to ask if they by chance had a beer in the house. They did, and served it to me in a tall glass. I downed a long, cool swig before picking up my spoon and digging into the tasty mélange of meat and veggies. My tiger would have us on 100 percent meat given the choice, but as a human I also needed some other things. So we ate what was usually a version of keto-light. Lots of meat and veggies, not so much junk. It made us both feel better.
And even while watching every move the blonde, who I learned was named Angie, I managed to eat three bowls of stew and a couple of hunks of the cornbread liberally slathered with the sweet, creamy butter.
And four beers.
Angie, the sexy blonde, pushed her stew around and barely ate anything. Could I take that as a sign she was also a little thrown off by me? Or was she just one of those women who didn’t eat. I sure hoped not. Not that it mattered since I’d be gone in a week. And listening to her chat with her cousin—I’d learned she was related to the owner here—and Tinsley, I had no reason to believe the pretty woman would welcome a one-night stand, or seven. Apparently whichever Chase brother made the reservation had told them I was with the show, so the ladies also asked me some friendly questions about the carnival/circus combo which they seemed to find odd. I supposed it might be, but I’d never really thought about it. I was in the entertainment business and the two weren’t actually that different.
I was no longer hungry and thirsty at least, as I pushed away from the table. “Well, thanks, ladies, but if someone can direct me to my room, I think I’d better turn in. It’s been a long day.”
“Of course.” Karina rose from the table. “Angie, can you show Mr. Wilde—”
“Kit,” I told her. “My first name is Kit.”
“Okay, Angie can you show Kit to his room? It’s right across from yours.”
Yes please, let the blonde take me upstairs to bed.
“Umm, Karina?” Oh no, she didn’t want to take me? “I haven’t been up yet, I still have all my things in the car, even. And I don’t know which room is mine.”
“Did you just start working here today?” I blurted, curious to know everything about this woman. My tiger that had been quiet during dinner was now alert and ready for action. And he had a very specific kind of action in mind.
“No, I don’t really work here. I’m a landscape designer here to put in a couple of new gardens,” she told me as we padded outside on our way to get her bags from the car. “How long are you staying?”
Her cousin had pointed out our rooms, but I’d been the one to offer to help Angie with her luggage. And she had a fair amount. I had luggage straps hung from both shoulders and another set over those. “I’ll be here for a week while the show is in town,” I shared. “If I can get rides back and forth to the fairgrounds.”
“Well, if you can’t, I’d be glad to drop you off,” she said. “I will be going into town for plants and things nearly every day.”
“That’s nice of you and while I’ll try not to, I may take you up on it once or twice.” Or every day because I had no intention of trying to avoid it.
We trudged up the stairs to the rooms we’d been assigned and said good night. Wished each other sweet dreams in a most courteous and casual fashion even, but from the moment the door closed behind me, sleep was off the table. I tried. Undressed and climbed into bed, even tried counting sheep but that just made the tiger hungry again.
I was puzzled by my reaction to Angie. And my tiger’s. The cat had never shown the slightest interest in any woman I’d slept with or wanted to. In this case, he was awake and prowling inside me, making sounds the likes of which I’d never heard. Grunts mostly, along with low-pitched growls. I unpacked and headed into the bathroom for a quick shower that turned into a longer shower once the vision of that pretty blonde witch crept into my mind. I’d never get to sleep with a boner like that. Crap on a cracker, did I want that woman. Closing my fist around the extra-stiffie, I gave a tentative squeeze. Her eyes were a shade of green I’d never seen, almost the exact color of the pine trees on the ridge above our land. And they held an intelligence I’d rarely seen in anyone. But also a simmering sensuality I wanted so badly to tap into. My fist was moving now, up and down with that little twist at the end that did it for me when I wanted a fast release. If it was her hand it would be so much better. Instead of a palm calloused from manual labor, hers would be soft, and I already knew she smelled of the earth, of green and growing things, and my tiger approved.
It wasn’t until I’d spurted jets of cum all over the tiled shower wall that I wondered why the tiger was so happy. She was a witch, not one of us, and for the alpha to marry someone not our kind would be a huge problem.
Not that I was marrying her.
Or even dating her.
And it was my own hand still holding my dick, wringing out the last bit of sticky cum.
I washed and dried and paced over to the bed, still completely wide awake and unsatisfied. It was going to take more than a private jerk-off to push Angie out of my mind.
With nothing to read and no TV in the room, that left only one other way to distract myself from a woman totally unsuitable for a rambling carnie and/or alpha tiger. Angie would marry another witch or maybe a medium or something. But not a shifter, I was sure. Back home those sorts of mixed marriages just didn’t happen. At least not that I’d ever heard of. Cubs were raised with the knowledge that they’d marry tigers and live happily ever after.
Now that I thought of it, I’d only ever heard of one or two other tigers leaving the lands.
Witches seemed to travel a lot more. I’d run into them at nearly every stop and few seemed to be living where they’d started out. Maybe I was born into the wrong group with my itchy foot and need to go far and wide.
But despite their inclination to wander, I couldn’t picture the pretty blonde who’d giggled over a silly mead joke—probably because she’d had a couple of goblets of the potent honey beverage—traveling around with the Chase Brothers and their troupe. No, this witch would create magical landscapes and then sleep in the nicest rooms at hotels nearby. What would she even think of my horrible trailer bed with all the roommates?
I shuddered to think.
Mind racing and sleep unlikely to come, I pulled on a pair of shorts just in case I ran into anyone on my way downstairs. Maybe the tiger was so aroused because he’d been confined too long. A good long run would help with that. Hopefully. Padding on bare feet, I slipped out the door and paused in the hallway. Angie’s room was directly in front of me. Behind that door she slept, hair fanned out over th
e pillow and lips parted in restful slumber.
Goddess, when had I gotten so sentimental? This was entirely out of character. If I wanted a woman, I took her. Beginning and end of story. Then moved on with the show. And I made sure she knew it ahead of time, so there was no misunderstanding. Never once had I felt the urge to sit and watch anyone sleep.
The tiger’s rumbling purr rolled over me. For a moment I thought it was laughter but then realized it was anything but.
Mate.
And there it was. No. She is not our mate. She isn’t a tiger, and probably doesn’t even like us.
She will love us.
What an optimist. Still… We aren’t looking for love.
Love found us.
Since when did tigers act like this? Mine had been perfectly happy with the encounters I’d had, or was he? Back home, even a casual encounter would have been with another tiger, but in the years on the road, I’d hooked up with anything but.
Are you lonely? I asked him, feeling like shit I’d never even considered the possibility.
Not anymore.
I felt as if my entire existence had been flipped upside down. My pragmatic animal was mooning around over a witch. Had I stayed away from the streak for so long that he’d fallen in love with just anyone who came along? Out of desperation?
Not just anyone. Our mate.
Okay I was in trouble. Because one thing I was sure of was that tigers did not change their mind once they decided to bond. He was with me for life. And had chosen his other half. But how could he? Usually there’d be a human component and a tiger component to our mate. To fulfill both of us. And while nobody I knew stepped outside the specific type of shifter, I had run across mixed couples of other animals here and there.
But a witch and a tiger?
Unheard of. And impossible. A recipe for disaster.
Jerking my gaze away from the closed door behind which lay the object of my tiger’s desire, I headed downstairs at a near run. I needed to put distance between us before I did something incredibly stupid like knock or slip inside just for the pleasure of seeing her again.
We should do that.
No. I needed to make that clear. Not only is that crazy, it’s illegal and might make her turn us into a toad. Do you really want to be a toad?
I knew a toad shifter once, he mused. He ate flies.
Yuck. So no peeping!
Outside, the moon still cast its light over the landscape in the front yard, and I paused a moment on the porch to shed my shorts. As I was ready to change shapes, a pair of wolves mounted the steps then shifted to human.
“Hey, tiger,” one growled, his tone that of a shifter who spent more time in animal form. “Nice night for a run.”
“It is, isn’t it?” The moon passed behind a cloud and emerged, that much brighter. “You guys out pounding the dirt, too?”
“We were,” said the second in a much less growly voice. “But now we’re going to bed.”
“Much game out there?” I didn’t really need to ask. Rustles in the underbrush accompanied the scents of rabbits and squirrels and others. Deer, too, but I wasn’t hungry enough to take down anything that big. Not unless I was hunting in a group to share.
“Not bad,” the second answered, “but they eat all those bitter plants so it affects the flavor.”
“Sure.” People talked about meat like it tasted alike based only on the animal, but wild game varied drastically depending on what was available for them to eat. “I like variety anyway.”
“Travel much?” the first asked.
“I’m with the carnival. So I travel all the time.”
The second wolf cocked his head, a very canine move from a man with shaggy dark hair and a scruff of beard replacing his fur. “You hiring?”
Ah. “I don’t know. But you can check. I’m heading into town in the morning if you’d like to tag along.”
“Maybe we will,” he said and yawned wide enough to show tonsils. Neither behaved like they spent much time around ordinary folks, and the Chase brothers preferred their employees to act as much like people as possible, but I wasn’t in HR. If they happened along when the shuttle came, they were welcome to come and fill out applications. Maybe they could do something behind the scenes. If they were willing to follow the rules, which might be hard if they were used to being in fur.
I stretched out, prepared to shift when I heard the two talking on their way to the stairs. “Did you catch that female who showed up tonight?” the first wolf said. “I think I’ll see if I can’t figure out which room is hers and pay her a little visit.”
I froze, snarling. “Not if you want to live until tomorrow,” I snarled. “She’s under my protection.”
The pair of wolves stopped as well. “Understood,” said the first.
“We get it.”
In the pecking order of shifters, one tiger could take on more than two wolves. But the slightest danger to our mate—not our mate!—had me heading back inside. I’d have to run the next day after all because I just couldn’t take the chance.
Padding back up the stairs, I shifted to tiger and curled up outside her door. In this form, I could hear her soft breaths and movements whenever she turned over or moved in any way. And her scent, her lovely, rich earthy scent surrounded me. No, she was not our mate because that was impossible, but for tonight, being just a few feet away from her lent a sense of home I hadn’t felt since I joined the circus. Or maybe ever.
Nobody could get into her room without stepping over me, not something I’d miss, so I didn’t fight it when my eyes closed and a blanket of sleep covered me. It had been a long day, and unless my tiger decided to be sensible, I had a battle ahead convincing him that our fated mate was not a witch.
If I did not succeed, I had a long, lonely life ahead of me.
Chapter Five
Angie
I woke with the sunrise, excited to get started on the new projects. The lists of things to do had fleshed out in my mind while I slept, and as I often did in a new area, I would begin with a trip to the nursery in town to chat with the master gardener there and find out which of the plants I had in mind were complete no gos. Sure, Karina could magic them to stay alive, but I preferred that the garden be a good fit for its location. After all, the bees and insects would also have to interact, the woodland creatures would be interested but hopefully not too interested, the amount of rain mattered, the angle of sunshine, the minerals in the soil. So many factors.
And every one of them was exciting! Even microbacteria could make a difference in the health of plants and how they worked together.
I was in and out of the shower in ten minutes flat and donning my Garden Bunnies Hop Higher T-shirt. I was one of the very few gardeners who managed to have any kind of a relationship with the “pests.” A small patch set aside with things they loved and some wattle fencing could make all the difference. Especially when the fencing had a little these are not the plants you’re looking for spell applied. It was one of my few really good ones.
I stepped into my overalls and hooked them over my shoulders then sat down to put on shoes and socks and stood to gather my damp hair up into a high ponytail. Looking in the dresser mirror, I remembered a dream of golden eyes and high cheekbones, sandy hair that could use a trim just curling at his collar. And shoulders. I had always been a sucker for a man with broad shoulders. Shaking my head at the reflection, I pushed it back. A flirtation was always fine, but something about this man was far too intense for that. If I let him close to me, I’d be in deep trouble.
He probably picked up some silly female at every stop, turning on the charm and luring her into his bed for a night or two before moving on to the next town and the next woman. And maybe that was okay with some, but I didn’t give my body that easily.
In fact, had not given it easily or not easily. Ever.
Until now, I hadn’t even particularly wanted to.
I almost rea
ched for my minimalist makeup bag to add a little something to pep up the look but gave my mirror self a stern finger wag instead. I hadn’t stayed a virgin so long just to lose both my innocence and my heart to a shifter who would be gone at the end of the week. While he was sizzling hot and would probably curl my toes in bed, he’d ruin me for my future real mate who was probably a warlock twenty years older than me even now researching ancient spells in a dusty library. Or maybe a human with a lawn-care business. We certainly would have more in common. He’d never even have to know I was a witch—I had no magic anyway. Karina was very kind to suggest I might be like her and just a late bloomer, but we both knew that almost never happened, and the odds of it occurring twice in the same family were nil.
No, lawn-care guy was probably the man for me.
Determined not to let myself fall for a shifter sure to break my heart, I marched to the door and twisted the knob. Gardening was my thing and gardening I would do. Straight-backed, chin up, and head held high, I opened the door and stepped right on a furry heap, twisted my ankle, and tumbled to the hallway floor.
I found myself staring right into the golden eyes of a tiger. The shifter hadn’t broken my heart—yet—but I thought he might have broken my ankle. Dammit!
Half an hour later, I sat on the couch with my injured leg propped on pillows, my low hiking boots with the socks stuffed in them on the floor next to me. Of course my shout as I fell, as well as the thud that likely rattled the whole house, had brought everyone in the place running, including the two wolf shifters in two-legged form as well as Karina, Tinsley, and some other guests I hadn’t yet met. I lay there, entire body heated in my embarrassment while the tiger morphed from a golden beast with cinnamon stripes and a long tail, to a naked man with a golden tan and a long…well, anyway he was naked.
Witch Way Around Page 3
