by Anya Nowlan
Ultimately, it had taken him far away from any weretiger clans and led him straight to Shifter Grove. There, he had found a place that would accept him in all his oddity – a proud, powerful weretiger with all the qualities of starting his own clan and becoming a strong Alpha, who instead chose to spend his time operating a small airline between Boise and Talloway Airport, the latter being more of a stretch of road and a shack in the middle of nowhere than a real airport. That was how he liked it, though. Flying gave him the moments of solitude he needed, and Shifter Grove provided the safety and support of a clan without having the same expectations. He loved feeling useful and contributing to building up the dream Deacon, Rake, Warren and the Wartooth brothers had begun. There had been plenty of bad blood after he announced that he would be leaving his clan, his father in particular telling him in no short terms that when it came to his Bonding, he would come back home, that he would have no other choice. Slate was determined to prove him wrong.
It had all gone swimmingly until his heat arrived in a flourish of aggravation and bouts of restlessness. Slate had felt it coming for a while, his good-natured demeanor turning sharper, and he started snapping at others in situations he normally never would have. At first, keeping away from others helped, but soon it became obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to weather it alone for too long. Deacon was of great support, the polar bear shifter having gone through times of difficult internal decisions himself after losing his mate ten years ago. But, after Deacon reunited with his love, Slate no longer felt comfortable intruding on their happiness. Not that Deacon wouldn’t have been happy to help him, it’s just that Slate didn’t want to bring his bouts of sour darkness into the happy bliss of the reunited lovers.
So, that left him with a growing urge to hop into his plane or helicopter, fly to the closest weretigress and ravish her until she could take no more. It didn’t really make for a healthy psyche. All weretigers knew that during the heat, the tiger could become dangerous to himself and others if left alone for too long. He needed companionship, a connection with someone until he found his mate or until the heat passed. While he couldn’t stand crowds during the heat, talking or being close to just one person would be enough to soothe his ragged edges until his world settled into a healthy equilibrium again. Considering his options, Slate had figured that the best thing to do was to get away from Shifter Grove for the time being, but to bring someone with him. That was where SassyDate came in.
After Warren and Deacon’s raving reviews of the app, Slate had taken the plunge and joined up. He wrote a no-nonsense profile, describing how he needed someone to join him on a bit of an expedition for two weeks in the spring, and how he would be a perfect gentleman throughout it. He knew he had to take a woman with him, as being around another man, especially a shifter, might spark irrational thoughts of him being a rival. A calm female presence that wouldn’t make his hormones rage like mad, was exactly what the doctor ordered. Of course, he hadn’t banked on the fact that during the time he was discussing the details of the trip with the woman who had caught his eye, Teresa, he would develop the kind of feelings for her he would only expect to have towards another of his kind.
Slate huffed out a breath, tracking the red tail tip of a familiar airline’s plane as it came in for the landing. That was Teresa’s plane. He didn’t need to see the plane’s code to know it was carrying the woman he couldn’t wait to meet for the first time. Any other time, his rational self would have taken a step back and asked him how he knew, but right now, that didn’t seem important at all. He watched with bated breath as the airplane came lower and lower until the tires finally hit the tarmac. Slate let out a breath he didn’t know he had been keeping in, and his wide shoulders relaxed. A small smile spread on his lips as he took off his aviators and tucked them into the breast pocket of his dark brown leather bomber jacket. He was just minutes away from seeing her, smelling her. The sun seemed to be shining brighter than ever.
Slate strode swiftly towards the gate the airplane was taxying to, having to keep himself in check to avoid running the distance. The plane was a small one, the kind where the cargo could be unloaded by one guy with a strong back. Slate made it to the plane before the door was opened for the passengers, but the cargo unloading had already begun. He gave a mock-salute to Joe, one of the ground crew he knew well, and before he knew what he was doing, he had snatched a large, heavy blue suitcase out of Joe’s hands.
“I’ve got this,” Slate said. “Belongs to the passenger I’ll be picking up.” He had no doubt that it was Teresa’s luggage. Joe shrugged noncommittally and turned back to his work.
Slate waited nervously as the door opened and the ramp was let down. A few people trundled down the steps, and the stewardess, a pretty blonde, waved at him. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d be picking up someone straight from the door of a plane, but it was certainly the first time he had felt nervous and out of breath because of it. Blood pumped quickly through his veins, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears, almost deafening. His senses were sharpened, and nothing escaped his attention. Like a beast on the prowl, he was ready to pounce at anything that could harm Teresa. When she appeared in the doorway, her wavy hair framing her face and her gorgeous brown eyes searching for a familiar face, Slate’s world stopped. Everything seemed to hang in place as he caught the first glimpse of the woman he had longed to meet. She was even more beautiful than he had imagined, though he had seen several pictures on her profile. That luminous, tanned skin, those breathtaking eyes and absolutely irresistible curves made his tiger and his human stand up violently and take notice.
Mate. The thought came as suddenly as the understanding that it was just the right thing to call her. Every fiber of his being told him that she was the one – the woman for him. Something icy spread in his stomach, flipping his surroundings back into motion. Dumbstruck, he watched her come down the steps, waving at him with a nervous smile on her lips. He could smell her scent, it filled his nostrils and flowed through him, stronger with each step that brought them closer. How could he feel so strongly for a woman without even really knowing her that well? For a human woman at that? Slate shook his head, adamant to sort things out later. For now, he had to get his head back in the game and to get his precious cargo safely on his plane and away from all of this danger that surrounded them in a swirling vortex of gloom. He couldn’t quantify what exactly it was that he was so damn sure could hurt Teresa, but his possessive nature took hold with full force.
He plastered a smile on his lips and waved back at Teresa. Every moment she wasn’t in his arms was pure physical torment. He had to wonder why he wasn’t already running to her and kissing her like both of their lives depended on it. She stopped in front of him, and his breath caught. Slate wanted to touch her badly, to cradle her in his arms and never let go. The bright, slightly nervous look on her face made him even more eager to kiss her. With great pains, he reached out his big paw of a hand instead.
“Hello, Teresa,” he said. She put her delicate hand in his and he squeezed it carefully, afraid that he might break it out of the sheer need to never let go again. As soon as their skin touched, sparks flew from where their hands had met. A jolt of energy kicked him in the chest, and his fake smile turned into a real one. Though she was nowhere near close enough to him yet, at least she was there.
“Hi, Slate,” she replied, grinning. A blush lit up her cheeks.
This was going to be a damn difficult two weeks.
CHAPTER THREE
Teresa wiggled nervously in the seat next to Slate as the airplane took off and left Boise Airport far behind. She kept throwing glances at the devastatingly handsome man, and every time she looked at him, he seemed to be getting more and more scrumptious. Okay, so she’d known he was going to be hot, but not that hot! How on earth was she supposed to stay in cramped lodgings in the middle of nowhere with him for weeks on end and not make a fool of herself with that level of panty-melting sizzle around? Ridiculous. Tere
sa tried to calm herself down, telling herself that the way her heart was beating out of her chest was just because of the fact that she was on yet another airplane. She’d never liked flying all that much, but this time she didn’t actually mind – must have been the quiet, stoic-looking man beside her.
They’d barely said a word to one another, and yet, it didn’t feel like there was much need for it. He had an ease about him that just made her settle and feel safe and secure. Slate could do barrel rolls with his tiny airplane and she would hardly bat an eye. Out of habit, Teresa thumbed the strap on her heavy photography bag, which she had kept on her person the entire trip. It represented just about every dollar she had ever made that hadn’t gone into feeding or clothing herself or keeping a roof over her head, so she’d been extra careful with it all through her long travels from Mississippi to Idaho. Glancing out of the window, she took in the wide-open plains of the flatlands and then the heavy, rolling mountains that took up the Northern side. Slate was flying them straight towards the magnificent mountains, and for a second, she let herself simply bathe in the beauty of the view, though her thoughts kept going to the tiger next to her and what he would look like shirtless. The second must have lasted longer than she thought as a chuckle from Slate finally brought her out of her revelry.
She felt a blush tint her cheeks as she glanced at the man. His voice made her tingle in just the right way. Honestly, she was yet to discover something about the man that didn’t make her feel all warm and happy inside.
“Enjoying the view, Teresa?” he asked, quirking a brow at her. Oh, that voice again.
“Yeah. I’ve never really been anywhere with mountains. I mean, I went on a trip to the Grand Canyon once, but I don’t think that really counts. It’s gorgeous,” she said wistfully, swallowing her nervousness and deciding to enjoy the conversation instead. Remember, you’re supposed to just be working here. No handsy stuff!
“Well, there will be plenty more where that came from. We’re going to be poking around Bitterroot and the areas there. I have a cabin there that I barely ever make it to, and I swear, no one’s ever taken the time to actually figure out what mountains we have there – if there are any places to land a helicopter, whether anyone lives there… Well, you get the idea. I want to know where I’m staying, you know? I bought the place off of a grizzled old man, who couldn’t tell me much more other than the fact that there’s good hunting up there, and I never bothered to check either. The National Parks Service was really keen on having some more information on the area as well, so it seems like a win-win, you know?”
Teresa nodded. He’d explained it all in the messages they’d passed back and forth, but she didn’t mind listening to it all over again. Anything to hear his sexy voice, really. Could it be that he was a little bit nervous as well? No, definitely not… Why would a drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a man like Slate get worked up over a shy substitute teacher like her? Teresa scolded herself internally, batting away the insecurities. She was a curvy woman, who didn’t fit the bill of traditional, long-legged and wispy model of beauty, but she knew that she was smoking hot in her own right. It had taken time to come to terms with her body when she was growing up, but the older she got, the more at home she felt in her big-hipped, thick and saucy body. Teresa sat up a bit straighter. If a man didn’t want her it definitely wasn’t because she wasn’t attractive enough, and hell, if he was the kind of man to judge just based on appearances, she didn’t need him in her life anyway!
Okay, you’re definitely nervous, she concluded after her rambling internal monologue. She knew that Slate had promised her that travelling with him would be purely professional, and as such, there was no need to worry herself about whether or not he thought she was as hot as she thought he was. Still, one thing was what they said when they had never met each other, and it was another thing entirely what she felt like doing now that she’d got a good hard look at the Grecian god of a man. Not touching him seemed like such a wasted opportunity.
“Have you always lived here?” she asked, trying to distract herself from the desire to tell him to land on a nice grassy hill somewhere and fuck her brains out.
“Nope. Moved about a year ago. I sort of happened upon Shifter Grove through an old friend, and it seemed like the perfect place for me. I haven’t been wrong about it yet,” Slate said, smiling slightly. She liked it when he smiled. He had this bubbling, ever-present strength and darkness about him that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in excitement, but when he smiled, his hazel, almost golden eyes shone with a warmth that made her all fluffy and happy inside.
“How so?”
“Well. You see, weretigers aren’t exactly the most… sociable or modern shifters around. We’re solitary creatures, and our clans usually take up vast territories and are only bound together by the knowledge that our combined power is stronger than each of us individually. You make a commitment not out of love for your kind but the necessity to survive and continue the race. For me, that was never the way I wanted to live. I wanted a community. I wanted to have people or shifters around me, who I wouldn’t have to construe as possible rivals. I wanted a life that was… maybe the word is ‘normal’. Though normal for a shifter is entirely abnormal to begin with.” He chuckled again, a rumbling purr that made Teresa’s toes curl. Was there anything about the man that didn’t spell out sex in big, bold, flashing letters?
“Shifter Grove gave me the chance to come and go as I pleased but still be supported by a group. Space along with commitment that was born from friendship, not a need to survive. I like being a part of that. What about you? Mississippi gal all your life?”
He gave her a sideways look, a smirk turning up the corner of his mouth. Ungh. If he wasn’t personally responsible for her survival during the flight, she might not have been able to control herself. No man before had had that kind of immediate, raw effect on her. There was something about him that drew her like a moth to a flame, and she didn’t even care if it was going to burn.
“Yes, Mississippi all my life. My aunt and mother moved there when mom was pregnant with me. She raised me and my four brothers and two sisters all on her own after my dad left. I’m the youngest.”
“Did you ever consider leaving?” he asked.
“Every day,” she replied immediately. Teresa clamped a hand over her mouth as soon as the words spilled forth, mortified by the violent response. Was she really that ready to leave home?
“How come?”
“I don’t have any prospects there,” she admitted, frowning as she listened to herself speak the words. She’d never really considered moving out of state as her family was all there, but the older she got, the less help her family required, leaving her drifting from town to town, hoping to land a permanent job somewhere that would give her a chance to inflict positive change.
“I feel like I can’t really help anyone there. I’ve gone through just about every school that has openings for teachers in the past few years, temping all over the state. I don’t think we ever recovered from Katrina, at least not the way we should have. There’s not enough money in education, there are a lot of broken, poverty-ridden families, and it just breaks my heart knowing that there are kids out there who could have a chance at a better life, and they’re just not given the opportunity to reach their full potential. I wish I could do more, but since I never stay anywhere for too long because of the short contracts, I feel like I might be doing more harm than good. I want to be somewhere where I could make a difference, you know?”
Looking at the man, she caught him staring at her, a faint smile on his lips. The sun was beginning to tick lower on the horizon, glinting off of her dark hair and filling the cabin with golden light. “What?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious under his inquisitive gaze. “Is there something wrong?”
Oh god, please don’t let there be something stuck in my teeth!
Slate shook his head, grinning wider.
“No, nothing’s wrong. I was just thinki
ng that Shifter Grove would be perfect for you.”
“Oh,” she replied, relaxing a little. Shifter Grove, huh? If that meant that she would get to spend more time with the tasty as sin weretiger, hell, sign her right up! Teresa clamped her fingers together in her lap, trying to hide the smile that kept creeping across her expression. She liked the fact that Slate would like having her closer to him – in fact, she didn’t mind it one bit.
CHAPTER FOUR
They reached the cabin up near the Bitterroot range late in the night. It had been a pretty time-consuming affair, landing at Talloway, parking the airplane and switching to the helicopter stacked with supplies for their stay and making it to the cabin. By the time Slate set the bird down on the makeshift helipad he’d constructed next to the cabin, it was so late that Teresa had nodded off. She fell asleep almost immediately after they started from Talloway, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her when they reached the cabin. She must have been exhausted from the long day of travelling if she could sleep in the far from quiet helicopter. Instead, after shutting off all the systems, Slate slipped out of the pilot’s seat and gently eased her out of her safety harness and set, picking her up in his arms.
He cradled her to his chest, loving the chance to hold her so close. The soft light of the motion detector lantern had kicked into life, showing him the path to the modest wood cabin. He opened the door (he never kept it locked when he was away anyway) and slunk in, his steps soundless. It was a combination of not wishing to stir the beauty in his arms, seeing as how his heart was beating loud enough to wake up an army, and his natural gait having that catlike grace that allowed big cats to move about soundlessly. He shared that trait with Rake, and it brought them endless amusement to royally peeve the bear shifters when they snuck up on them.
