Freeing a Tiger's Soul (Tiger Series)

by Anderson, Amanda

  Evan broke off when Euan planted his fist in his brother’s gut.

  There was another round of chuckles and the men decided to retire to their chambers.

  Euan found Krisi huddled on the floor of her chamber when he entered. She had her face buried in her hands and she sobbed great wrenching sobs. Euan rushed to her side and pulled her into his lap.

  “What is the matter love?”

  Krisi didn’t speak. She just buried her face in his warm chest and pointed a trembling finger to the bed.

  Euan looked in the direction she indicated and saw the deep red liquid dripping from the linens and pooling on the floor. He stood and prowled to the bed to find a mangled carcass lying there. It was the body of a young doe. Her body had been ripped open to reveal her young fawn still too small to be born. Someone had butchered mother and child to send a message to Krisi.

  Euan went back to Krisi and scooped her into his arms. He no sooner opened the door than Eva and Cara rushed inside. Their faces were pale and they were shaking.

  “What has happened? We felt her terror and came as quickly as we could.”

  Euan shook his head. He did not understand this connection the three women shared, but he was thankful for it at the moment. He jerked his chin to tell the women where to look and took Krisi out into the hall.

  In a moment the women joined him with tears streaking their faces.

  “Bring her to my room.” Cara said. “Liam and the others will know what to do.”

  Euan couldn’t speak. He followed Cara to her chamber and placed Krisi in a chair beside the fire. He let his mind fill hers and he felt her utter despair. He let himself sink into her mind and found their child shivering with fear. He pushed his reassurance into them both and felt Krisi relax as their son grew stronger again.

  “Krisi I must go see about all of this. You will be safe here with Cara and Eva.”

  She nodded. Her blue eyes were big and wet and he wanted nothing more than to hold her until she felt safe again, but he knew he must see to the bloody mess left in their room.

  “I will be back as soon as I can.”

  She only nodded. Before he could move through the door though he heard her voice catch.

  “Euan!”

  He turned and was able to open his arms before she hit him in the chest.

  “Euan I love you.”

  “I love ye to lass. Now go and talk this out with the women and I will be back.”

  She nodded and allowed Eva to take her from Euan’s arms.

  24

  Euan stepped through the chamber door to find his friends standing grim-faced around the carnage lying on his bed.

  Liam spoke without looking at him. “We need yer nose Euan. We also need yer promise that ye won’t eat whoever ye find at the end of the trail. We need information first. Ye’ll get yer vengeance, but we need facts first. Can ye agree to this?”

  Euan looked to Henry. “We need your assurance. I though you would be more willing to give it to Liam than to me.”

  “I am loyal to my kind. You are our leader so that means my allegiance lies with you first. Why would this be doubted?”

  “’Tis not! We are closer. I ken how ye like to do things and I ken ye’ll want blood for this. Henry would feel the same way and he didn’t think it right to ask something of you he wasn’t sure he would be able to accomplish himself.” Liam said with complete conviction that told Euan he was telling the truth.

  Euan nodded once. “I understand and I will try, but I cannot make a promise.”

  “’Tis all we need. Change and find the one who did this.”

  All of them had the ability to track and find people, but Euan had a much stronger sense of smell. It enabled him to smell illness as well as anything else. He dropped to the floor and changed quickly. He found the stench of hatred easily and followed it through the keep and into the kitchens. He saw a small wench huddled in the corner and smelled the hatred on her, but it was not hers. It had been directed at her and Euan could see the bruises on her face from the beating she had suffered.

  Evan stopped at the woman and spoke to her gently as he helped her stand and had another young woman take her to Cara’s room. Then they were off again.

  Euan followed the stench of bitterness to a tiny hovel near the stables. He heard voices and snarled at the words he heard.

  “She will think twice before flaunting herself around here again.”

  “Elfen whore! She thinks she can steal our mates?”

  “Euan could have been mine.”

  “I heard she tried to take Deaglan from young Angelica too. I heard it from her own lips. She saw them together after she had mated with Euan. That proves that she can nay be a true mate to him.”

  Euan looked to the others and they spread out around the tiny shack. He found Deaglan and pressed into his mind. He found the answers and the memories and felt shame for his part in the turmoil. He also felt Deaglan’s shame at hearing his little mate had anything to do with this mess. Euan found similar shame in Liam’s thoughts when he allowed himself to listen to them. He knew that the girl would be punished and let the worry of it leave him.

  When he was certain no one could escape Euan burst through the door with a horrendous roar.

  The women screamed and tried to run, but they were caught by the others and led into the bowels of the great stone keep. They resisted only until they realized it was useless and then they started babbling about others who had helped them.

  Euan’s tiger raged. It wanted their blood, but he held it back. He changed and took the pair of trousers offered to him by the stable master. Then he made his way to Krisi. Let the others deal with the depravity of the women. He wanted to be with his mate.

  He found her still huddled in the chair he had placed her in. She looked up when he entered the room and rushed to him.

  “I felt your rage.” She whispered.

  “It is all gone. Those women are in the dungeons and will hurt no one else. You are safe. My rage was healthy anger after what was done to ye lass. The darkness has no hold on me now.”

  Krisi sighed and Euan felt her worry melt away.

  “This does bring to mind a problem though.”

  “What?”

  He smiled. “Where do ye want to live love?”

  Krisi beamed. “With you. Anywhere as long as it’s with you.”

  “I don’t have a lot to offer ye. I have that little cottage by the stream, but it isn’t fit for ye to live in.”

  “Oh Euan! It is perfect! It is so pretty there and we can make the cottage bigger when the children arrive.”

  Her smile lit up the room and made the slimy tendrils of anger float away.

  He knew that they would survive this and any other obstacle that came their way. He held her close and stroked her hair.

  “Where are we to sleep tonight love?”

  “Amelia said we can have the room across from here.”

  “Ahh good then.” He lifted Krisi and took her across the hall. Her laughter filled the dark corners of his heart as he tossed her on the soft bed and came down with her.

  Hate hadn’t touched them and vengeance had no pull on him. He was wrapped in the loving embrace of his beloved mate and happy to let the others deal with everything else. He allowed his joy to flow within him and found a peace that had been denied him for so long. He saw the face of his mother and knew she was in a place of unending joy and repose. He let go of his hate and his anger and allowed only peace to flow within him.

  Then Krisi smiled and his world exploded with color and light in a way that should have made him quake with fear, but he knew it was their combined love and power that crashed around them as it too celebrated their love.

  Euan allowed his lips to caress Krisi’s neck along the mark he’d made to claim her. She shivered in his arms and he began to love her in earnest.

  I hope you enjoyed BOOK 3 in the TIGER SERIES!!

  Euan’s story was very fun for me to write
and I hope it was special to you as well.

  Please view my other works at

  AmandaAndersonBooks.com

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  KEEP REAING

  To find out how it all began…

  Prologue

  The beast paced as he watched the beautiful women lying beside him. He’d known what she was the moment he’d laid eyes on her, the day she was born. His mate. Her scent reached out to him and he inhaled deeply. It was rich and spicy with the slightest hint of something he could not identify. The warmth that spread through his body only made him more sure that she was his.

  She was the most magnificent creature he had ever seen. Her silver hair was spread about her as pale as the moon beams dancing on her skin. He closed his eyes. Her eyes rivaled the summer sky for brilliance. She was the one bright star in his life. A life that had been filled with little joy.

  She was ready now. She was feeling the changes in her body. She would soon understand them. He would teach her the ways of their people. He would have to get around her father first, but there was no denying her awakening was near. Her father would sense it upon his return. The beast sighed; he would have to work fast before her father discovered his intentions. Others would smell her too and flock to her in hopes that they might win her and deny him an heir. She would have no other. He was her only mate. He’d watched the others sniff around her tonight until he thought he’d burst. He hadn’t marked her, but he’d left enough scent to warn the others. If any were fool enough to test him? He would kill them. If any were stupid enough to try to claim her? He would destroy their entire family. His kind only had one mate and she was his only chance at happiness. She was his only chance to help save his dying race. He would not fail.

  She lay still naked and exhausted. They had explored one another thoroughly. He regretted having to take those memories from her, the freedom he had given her would only strengthen her for the trials she would soon face, but, he knew, it was for the best. He would keep them for her and return them when she was ready.

  He nuzzled her breasts and ran his rough tongue across one pink tip. He then rubbed his body against hers. She arched toward him even in slumber. He allowed himself one final scent of her feminine heat. He nuzzled his nose into the crisp curls between her legs and inhaled deeply, savoring her sweetness. He would taste her soon, but not yet.

  He leapt from her balcony and crouched low in the shadows of her garden as he watched her awaken, his amber-green eyes focusing through the darkness to take in her form. He could smell her confusion and her fear. He could also smell her hunger.

  “Soon,” he thought. “Soon I will reveal everything to you, sweet Amelia, but not yet. I will wait a short while longer, but not forever my love. Prepare yourself for me,” and with that he slipped soundlessly away.

  Chapter One

  Lady Amelia Talbot shivers in the darkness. She pulled herself from sleep only to find that she was lying naked on the balcony of her bedroom in Talbot house. A thick fog had descended upon her, leaving her skin coated in cool moisture. She shivered and sat up. Her head pounded when she tried to remember why she was on the balcony. She laid her head on her bent knees and closed her eyes breathing deeply.

  How had she gotten here and where were her clothes? She rubbed her temples as her head continues to pound. She remembered dancing at the ball last evening at the house of Lord and Lady Mowbray. She remembered dancing with several gentlemen and later walking with the Scottish Laird, Henry Stewart, on the terrace. The rest was a blur. She recalled dancing with the other gentlemen and feeling ill at their touch and begging to be brought home. She knew she had arrived home even though she did not remember the ride. She vaguely recalled dressing for bed and opening the balcony doors, but the rest was completely gone. She had no memory of the night at all, only feelings. She remembered feeling free. She remembered the rush of air through her hair. She remembered heat. Her body shivered as she remembered the soul searing heat as it surrounded her and consumed her.

  She stood on aching legs and made her way into her bedroom. Perhaps no one had seen her. As she stepped through the door she found her night dress. It was shredded. What could have happened? It made no sense at all.

  She made her way to the large mirror that stood in her room. She was not the least bit missish as most girls were. She was fascinated with her body. She looked at her reflection carefully to make sure she was not injured. She looked no different. She lifted her long silver blonde hair and inspected her back, nothing unusual, other than the small dark stripe that bisected her back at the base of her spine, and even that was normal for her. She ran her hands along her own body and felt her muscles tighten. She was sore from exertion she did not recall. Her breasts felt heavy and appeared fuller. The rosy tips were rigid and erect. She felt as though she had not only awakened from sleep, but that she had awakened in an altogether different way as well, but the feeling was familiar somehow too.

  Confused and utterly exhausted she fell into bed without dressing. She tossed for an hour before her exhausted mind drifted off in a fitful sleep. Sleep filled with dreams of wild animals chasing her, no not animals, only one, only him.

  She was awakened by the sound of a bustling Mrs. Chambers, her abigail.

  “Good heavens child, get out of bed. You need to eat a bit of something and get dressed. You have a gentleman caller who will be here in an hour.”

  Amelia pulled the blankets closer around herself, knowing Mrs. Chambers disapproved of her sleeping unclothed. “It’s too early to accept visitors. I don’t wish to see anyone today.”

  “No, ‘tis nay too early. You my lady have slept the day clean away. You cannay send this one away either. Your mother is all in a dither.” She lowered her voice and spoke again. “Apparently your father does nay approve of this gentleman, but since he is away until this evening…” She trailed off with a shrug and began preparing Amelia’s clothing.

  “So Mother has decided to go against Father’s wishes?” Amelia asked wearing a scandalized expression they both knew was feigned. “That seems drastic, even for Mother. Who is he? And why such a fuss over him?”

  “He is Laird of Stewart clan and a very powerful man here in London as well. Henry Stewart, you danced with him last evening, and you must look your best. It would be a good match for you, youngling,” she said and smiled at Amelia. “He would be a man worthy of ye, lass, if there is such a man.”

  Amelia had turned pale at the mention of his name. She felt the tingle of a strange heat sizzle over her skin again and she almost moaned at the sensation. She was able to hold back all but the smallest sigh, but it was enough. Her maid was giving her peculiar looks so she decided to get up and do as she was told. As soon as the bed clothes fell away she was met with the disapproving stare of her lady’s maid.

  “You should not sleep without your night dress, my Lady. I cannay understand why no one in this house can see the perils of such behavior.” She huffed and placed her hands on her rounded hips. “Your own father says ‘e cannay see the harm in it. God’s bones child!” She said flinging her arms out from her sides. “I will wager not another lass in London sleeps in naught but her skin!” Mrs. Chambers continued to bustle and fuss. She bent and retrieved the garment in question and examined it closely. “What did ye do to this? It’s in tatters! I’ll nay be able to repair it.” She stopped and with a puzzled frown lifted the ruined garment to her nose. Her eyes widened and she turned away. “I’ll speak to yer mother about this.” Mrs. Chambers left the room, still clutching the ruined night dress.

  Amelia ignored the, now familiar, lecture, along with her abigail’s odd reaction to her night dress, and pulled on her dressing gown. She sat down to her breakfast not knowing what she
ate. Why did that man make her feel so odd? She felt as if she knew him. He was so familiar. Perhaps it was only the ambiance of last evening. She would see him today only to test out her theory. If he still made her feel odd after their encounter today, then she would refuse to see him again.

  With her mind made up, she finished her breakfast and began the endless tortures of getting dressed and allowing Mrs. Chambers to arrange her hair artfully atop her head.

  Chapter Two

  Laird Henry Stewart approached the door of Talbot House and it was swung open before he was able to knock. He smiled to himself when he was shown into the front salon and announced to Lady Richard Talbot, Countess of Euston. She was behind the ready acceptance of his calling card this morning. She understood his need, somehow more so than her husband. She was completely human although it was different than any he’d encountered before. Her scent was human, he was sure of it, but it was so close to that of his kind others might mistake it. Her scent was mingled with that of her husband, but he sensed nothing but human blood flowed through her veins, though something else was there, subtle but there. He could never place the scent. There were rumors, of course, of a blessing upon her family, but no facts were known. He wondered though.

  Lady Euston looked up, when the door opened to find Laird Henry Stewart staring at her with an odd look on his face. She had seen it many times before. For some peculiar reason his kind never understood her. She found it gave her an edge. “Laird Stewart, would you please stop sniffing me and have a seat.”

  “I am dreadfully sorry, Lady Euston,” he said with a twinkle in his amber-green eyes. “I find your scent most refreshing.” He gave her his best beguiling smile. She was a shrewd woman and extremely out spoken and bold, if rumors could be believed. She was not a blue stocking though, she was highly respected for her wisdom and fortitude, but she cared little for politics. Her focus was on the well being of those she loved and she loved her daughter and she had once highly respected him as well. She cared little for his titles or money, so he knew it would be an insult to act as though they were important. She wanted to see those close to her as happy in life as she was. She insisted upon complete honesty. He found her company freeing in a society full of double talk and subterfuge. He would enjoy this visit a great deal.