by R. J. Blain
That earned a sigh from my agents.
“I can’t help it. I’m a Siberian, I’m a mean Siberian, and I’m apparently freakishly jealous over my tiger. And no, for the final time, he is not my boyfriend.”
“What is he, then?” Simmons asked.
“Mine. Just mine. Period. Stop. If you want to call him anything, Jesse’s tiger. Or Run Against Wind’s tiger. Whichever appeals at whichever point in time. But this tiger is mine.”
“Mate is the word you’re looking for, Jesse,” Anatoly said, his tone light with laughter. “You may as well say it. The word won’t bite you. You might bite me, I might bite you, but the word won’t bite you.”
Simmons snorted. “Might? She’s bitten you so many times in the past month we stopped counting. Sometimes, she even tries to hide she’s doing it. Drawing blood was an unexpected escalation. It was unexpected enough it hadn’t occurred to me a bite had been responsible for the scent of blood.”
“She’s quite frustrated right now,” Anatoly replied with a grin, leaning back into my hands in an attempt to slow our progress down the hall. “She would have preferred a few hours to nibble at her whim, but she got flustered. When she gets flustered, she bites. She just bit me a little harder than she meant is all.” Anatoly lifted his arm and pushed up his sleeve, showing off where I’d bitten him. His wound had healed to a faint pale mark. “It was a pure frustration bite.”
Like hell it was. I hissed at him and kept shoving him along. “Walk faster, tiger.”
“And that little mark you left on her upper arm?” Randal asked, pointing right below where the sleeve of my tunic fell.
Sure enough, a white, healing mark betrayed where Anatoly had gotten a hold of me with his teeth. I scowled. “I’m sure he was just a little frustrated, too. I mean, I’d just bitten the hell out of him. It seemed fair he’d retaliate.”
Both agents sighed, and Simmons shook his head. “You two are such tigers.”
Anatoly grinned, and then, as he had a death wish, he spun out of my hands, stepped to my side, and kissed where he’d bitten me. “Does that make it all better, my warrior princess?”
I smacked him upside the head. “Idiot. It’s your fault I bit you.”
“It is?”
“You fell onto my teeth.”
“I… what?”
“Fell onto my teeth.”
“You know what? I’m not going to ask about that. While we certainly did fall off the couch, I didn’t directly fall onto your teeth. I fell onto you.”
“That is the equivalent of falling onto my teeth.”
“That makes no sense, Jesse.”
“If you hadn’t tried to squish me, I wouldn’t have bitten you. As such, you fell right onto my teeth.”
We argued about the circumstances of both of us sporting healing bite marks all the way to the Oval Office, and upon arrival, Randal grabbed my ear and twisted while Simmons snatched Anatoly. While I howled a protest over the abuse of my ear, the agents dragged us inside.
“Why are you dragging them in here by their ears?” my aunt asked. “I just left those two alone to sleep.” Then, to my horror, my aunt did a sniff test. “They were not sleeping, it seems. What’s going on now?”
Simmons pointed at my shoulder while Randal pointed at Anatoly’s wrist.
My aunt rose from her seat, circled her monster of a desk, and strolled over. She took hold of my arm in a light grip and turned it for a better look at my fresh bite mark. “I see someone got a little excited with his teeth.”
“She claims he fell onto her teeth and thus deserved to be bitten. He simply retaliated.”
My aunt released me, and she examined the bite on Anatoly’s wrist. He waved with his other hand while grinning. “Madam President.”
“And that explains the source of the blood. And they haven’t been entertaining each other in bed, just biting each other?”
“They’ve been biting each other for weeks, but they haven’t drawn blood until now,” Randal reported, keeping a firm grip on my ear. “She’s begging for a beating on the mat, and she doesn’t care if her shoulder breaks. She also doesn’t care if we beat her black and blue.”
My aunt laughed. “Of course. So, you fell onto her teeth, Anatoly?”
“No, Madam President. I fell on top of her, and she decided that meant I deserved to be bitten.”
“And the circumstances of this fall?”
“She bit me.”
My aunt tossed her hands up in the air. “She bit you before she bit you? And her biting you the first time resulted in you landing on the floor?”
“Well, I was expecting a delicate little nibble, and she went for my throat like I was a freshly grilled steak. As I was expecting a delicate nibble, she startled me. I went for her throat, because that’s what startled tigers do, and we fell off the couch. Then she bit me again. I, of course, had to retaliate with a bite of my own. Then we decided it was time to take a nap, so we took a nap.”
“He was warm.”
“Are you still having trouble regulating your body temperature, Jesse?”
I shrugged. “He was warm, I was not. I took advantage of him. I refuse to be ashamed of this. I’m going to tattoo a collar around his neck in gold ink. I’m debating on the design.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You already have one tattoo on his person. You’ve left your mark. You do not need to leave a third mark. You just bit him.”
“It’ll fade.”
My aunt raised a brow.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Jesse, you bit him over six hours ago. That little love bite would have been long gone by now. You bit him properly. He immediately retaliated, too. I see bites all the time. I know what they look like. I’m quite happy for you, but if you could stop trying to scare years off my life, I’d appreciate it. If I let anything happen to you, your mother will murder me. Just one day without you wandering off or getting into trouble, please. I really thought someone had gotten into your suite and poisoned you both.”
Ouch. I hadn’t realized we’d been out on the floor for that long. “Can the day I behave be tomorrow? I’ll go to the council meeting, get beat up by the grizzly, and then go to Ana’s to see his house because I’ve never seen it before.”
My aunt pointed at my mark on Anatoly’s wrist. “That mark says it’s your house, too, and that pesky contract Anatoly refuses to have revoked likewise makes it clear you have a claim on it. That contract is going to be a problem, Anatoly.”
“She’s mine.”
“I’m well aware you’re hers. I’m going to be quite pleased when I don’t have to deal with you whining about your situation in here. I do question why Jesse is taking her time with you, though.”
“She’s savoring the hunt, of course. I’m a prime specimen for her enjoyment.”
My aunt’s brow rose even higher. “Are you planning on seducing your mate sometime this year, or should we hold your union party in a decade or two?”
My face warmed, and I spluttered.
“Right now, we are enjoying advanced lessons on kissing. She’s a very thorough educator, and I look forward to more teachings. I see zero reason to graduate until she’s showed me everything she can do with her rather versatile tongue.”
I covered my mouth with my hands, and my face heated so much I worried I would spontaneously combust despite the lack of a combustion zone.
“I see. Very well. Obviously, I have not been giving you two sufficient time to continue your private education lessons. This is entirely my fault, as I’m an old idiot who forgot how thorough and meticulous my niece can be. Right. All right. Behave yourself tomorrow, Jesse. The meeting will last until two, with a short break for lunch, and then Anatoly is slated to train for three hours. After that, we’ll have a family dinner. You can bring your tiger. After dinner, we’ll take a trip to Anatoly’s house.”
“We will?” Anatoly and I chorused.
; “Of course. We. You two might attempt to elope. The rabbit might be fast enough to catch you. Gentry can help. Gentry, bring Felicity.”
“I’d be delighted to. It’s been a while since she’s been over for dinner. How about Todd?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” my aunt replied. “Just Todd, however.”
My eyes widened. “Not Marie?”
“Marie has been particularly bitchy lately, and she’s been saying things I don’t like.”
I’d learned my aunt lived a life of drama as part of her duties. “What sort of things?”
“She doesn’t seem to like you all that much. She thinks you take up too much of Todd’s time from the guild and the herd. They’re having quite a spat over it, really.”
I sighed, but I understood. To Marie, the herd came first—as did her children. I wasn’t part of the herd, nor would I ever be part of the herd, no matter how close of a friend I considered Todd. “That’s to be expected, I suppose. She’s very protective of the herd. As she should be. She’s the lead mare.”
“Todd keeps a wardrobe of clothing for you in case you need it, and she definitely doesn’t like that. She’s jealous because you have his friendship, much like a member of the herd, all without being in the herd. You understand a stallion’s sense of loyalty and determination, and Todd has few friends who do. Anatoly understands it as well. It is part of being a Siberian. She has regrets she didn’t protest your, ah, let me see if I remember how she phrased this.” My aunt rubbed her chin with narrowed eyes, which she focused on Gentry.
“She rode him like she owned him, and he went along with it anyway,” my uncle replied, his expression neutral.
“Something along those lines,” my aunt agreed. “So, be careful around her, Jesse. You’ll slaughter her in a fight without breaking a sweat, but she can make things difficult on you. The rest of Todd’s herd adores you, as they know you’re willing and able to put that mean old stallion in his place. Still, I want you to keep an eye out. I don’t trust her at this point in time.”
After decades of judging character, I figured my aunt was onto something. “I’ll keep an eye out. If she does anything to hurt Todd, well, she won’t live to learn from that mistake.”
“We’re going to have to work on that,” my aunt muttered.
“What? It’s true. If she’s gotten to the stage where she’s willing to hurt Todd, her children, and the rest of her herd, I’d be merciful putting her down. Todd won’t have mercy on her.”
I’d been around Todd long enough to understand some of the bitter truths about the stallion. He took such betrayals seriously, and he wouldn’t kill the woman who’d been his wife for decades. He’d exile her from the herd, and then no herd would take her.
Mares needed herds as much as wolves needed packs.
My aunt sighed. “I sometimes forget just how much of the world you’ve seen, especially when you slip in and out of the shadows, stalking around your own damned house like a thief.”
I snorted at that. “This place is too big to be a house. It’s more like a maze that happens to have comfortable rooms people tend to stay in for extended periods of time. Anatoly has a house, and I might try to run away and live in it.”
“I’m going to have to go with what she said,” Anatoly replied. Careful to keep his motions slow and smooth, he pried my agent’s fingers off of his ear and freed himself before flopping onto the couch. “I don’t mind making this my temporary residence until you get over your overprotective grizzly tendencies. It’s hard being an overprotective grizzly, all those instincts demanding you maul anyone who looks at your pretty little niece wrong.”
“So many people to maul, so little time,” the President of the United States complained. “And then they get upset when I maul. It’s just not fair.”
My rabbit of an uncle strode in through one of the room’s hidden doors, and he laughed. “Who do you want to maul today, babe?”
“Everyone, really. Everyone has just been so damned annoying. And then these two!”
“They were just tired post biting. Next, they’ll be tired post mating. Give them a break, babe. They’re Siberians.”
“Must everyone insist on reminding us of our species? It’s not like we’re going to forget.” Following Anatoly’s lead, I eased out of Randal’s grip and joined my tiger on the couch. “It’s like you want us to snap and rampage.”
“That would be fun,” the rabbit mystic replied, and he perched on his wife’s desk. “If you’re going to exhaust yourselves with those little love bites, do try to find your way to a bed first. That way, it’s less alarming for your poor, old agents.”
My agents sighed.
“You’re the reason my agents are exhausted. If you hadn’t put them in charge of the Secret Service, they’d be less tired.” Part of my containment in the government’s seat of power involved them being able to handle their duties as the joint lead agents of the entire Secret Service. The talks of shifting them off my detail had ended when I’d shifted and tried to drag both off while snarling and roaring.
I liked my agents, and I didn’t want to lose them to damned paperwork. To make it clear I had no intention of relinquishing them to even my aunt, I narrowed my eyes and hissed at her.
My aunt laughed. “Easy there, little girl. We’re not going to steal your agents. I got some paper pushers in to help with their duties. I do want you to meet with some available agents to see if there are any you get along with, but we can ease you into it. I want you to have six solid agents. Nate, you will accept four, with the understanding Jesse’s will also be keeping an eye on you.”
“Blossom snuck a lioness in. She offered to help tenderize me. And she offered to try to get me back on courier runs where I belong. I like her. I might even remember her name if you give me a few minutes.”
Beverly wouldn’t mind if I played extra stupid with my aunt. She dealt with Siberians all the time, and we liked making things difficult by default.
“Randal?”
“It’s Beverly, yes, they’ve met, and she was at that little brawl at the bar down the street. For the sake of our sanity, please lift the alcohol ban. Matt likes her, she generally nurses her beers, and nobody has actually seen her get drunk outside that one incident.” Randal glared at me. “And yes, I heard about you drinking after being dosed with a sedative. I’ll tan your hide myself if I catch you doing something that stupid again.”
Ouch. I rated my agent as more threatening than even my aunt. “Noted. I’ll be more inclined to stay put if there is a beer in my evening schedule. I like beer, damn it.”
“But can you stop at one beer?” my aunt challenged.
“I usually stop at two. That way, I can be armed with a broken beer bottle if need to while sipping on the second.”
“It’s true. When I first saw her, she was sipping at a beer. She only lost her temper when that damned rock made a mess of her quiet enjoyment of her beer. But don’t mess with her beer. The mercs I’d been following when trying to retrieve Steel Heart interrupted her beer sipping, and she taught them a lesson. Then cleaned out their pockets, lined them up on the bar, and had her turn with me.” Anatoly laughed and shook his head. “I’m still stunned you got away with that. How did you even do it? I still haven’t figured it out.”
“I sedated you with a needle, masked it with a scratch of my nail, and then took my sweet time with you after the rest of the cowards in the bar ran away from that damned rock.”
“I like to think Steel Heart recognized you belong to me and led me right to you. Then you wisely claimed ownership, and it ran off, its work done for the moment.” Anatoly bumped me with his elbow. “Have I earned being collared yet?”
“No,” my aunt replied. “You are not being collared. You aren’t collaring my niece, either. If you want to get a tattoo, get one properly, and that doesn’t mean using it as a method to maul each other. If you want to indulge in a mauling, do so. If you want to indulge in a mauling that results in children
, do so after talking with Henry and Cleo to make sure everything goes well.”
I rolled my eyes, as I’d already gotten that talk several times from everyone I knew, including Todd. The foal-obsessed stallion had given me the talk five times. I’d indulged his fretting, keeping my mouth shut that I’d educated myself on safe sex practices from age ten, upon deciding to become a woman instead of a man. It helped I’d picked partners with no interest in supporting unexpected children.
Children tended to end mercenary careers, and I’d wisely picked mercenaries who meant to maintain their career. It helped I’d warned every man I’d been with I’d castrate them if they ditched on their fatherly duties should a child come along. Scratching certain itches worked best when it didn’t become a lifelong commitment.
Gentry grinned. “I think she’s tired of hearing us old shifters teach her what she probably figured out before she tacked a teen onto her age, Stephanie. And she tries to be so patient about it, too.”
“What? It’s our job. Her layabout mother isn’t here to do it, and don’t even talk to me about her father. I’ve a mind to insert my foot up her father’s ass.”
“Relax, Stephanie. You’ll alarm your agents. When you start talking like that, you start taking action, and her father is part of the Blade Clan. And Jesse’s ‘layabout mother’ will kick your ass and feed your foot to you. And, frankly, I know exactly what our sister is up to, you’re hiding it from Jesse, and I’ve a mind to spill the beans just to watch the fallout.”
My brows shot up. “You have my attention. All I know right now is that I have my mother’s eyes.”
“You also have her stubborn pride, willingness to inflict general injury on those deserving a beating, and so many of her temperaments that it’s obviously genetic,” my aunt muttered. “Gentry, it’s like there are two of them, and this is disturbing. Worse, I think she got all the good traits out of the Blade Clan, added in all the good traits from our line, and then magically inherited all of her mother’s bad habits. All in all, she’s perfection, and I’m not sure Nate’s good enough for her.”
