Chasing Tiger Tail [Tigers of Twisted, Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Jane Jamison

  They backed her up, putting her against the storefront of Sweets and Treats Bakery. “What about him?”

  “He’s the parent. He’s the one who should handle things.” Cam lowered his voice. “But he’s a drunk. He failed you.”

  She’d had the same thought so many times, but it didn’t change things. Her father, Harriet, her, they were all losing the ranch. “Just do it. Buy the ranch. Kick us out of our home.”

  “What are you talking about?” Amber flecked Cam’s eyes. “You’re our mate. Once we buy the ranch, you’ll live there with us. It’s your home now and it’ll stay your home.”

  “Don’t you get it, baby? This is a good thing. We showed up at just the right time.”

  She leaned against the wall, needing support. “So you’re not only my mates, but my heroes, too? Is that what you’re thinking?”

  When they didn’t say anything, when they didn’t try to tell her she was wrong, that they weren’t heroes, she laughed. “You do, don’t you?” Her laughter died. “But you don’t get it. I don’t want heroes and I damn sure don’t want mates.”

  “Sure you do.” Phil ran a hand over his head. “Everyone wants their mates.”

  She could’ve slapped him. “Not me. Having two men running my life and my ranch aren’t in my plans. I’m not going to be spitting out babies and cleaning house the rest of my life.”

  “We don’t want to run your life, Danna.” Cam gave her a once-over, as though he was trying to figure out who he was talking to. “As for babies? Yeah, we want kids. It’s only natural.”

  “Natural for you.” She thrust out her chin. “But I want more. I want to be a lawyer. I want to help people. Mates and babies would only get in the way of accomplishing my goals.”

  “Bullshit. Lots of women have a career and raise families.”

  “If they want to. But a lot of the times it’s when they don’t. They get caught up in the whole mate thing and before they know it, their dreams are gone.” She shook her head. “I’m not letting it happen to me. I want to be free to go wherever I want and I don’t want to leave kids behind when I do.”

  “I guess you’ve got it all planned out, haven’t you? No mates and no kids.” Irritation flowed out of Cam.

  “Finally, you’re getting it.”

  “Sounds like a damn lonely life to me.”

  She sucked in a breath. Cam had hit on her one and only fear. “I have friends. I’ll have the people I help, too.”

  “Will they keep you warm at night?”

  No. But she’d made her peace with the idea of sleeping alone. At least, until they’d shown up. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  The passion in Cam’s eyes lit a fire inside her. One she had to ignore. What happened in the pasture couldn’t happen again. “Never mind about me. What about my father? If you buy the ranch, where’s he supposed to go? You’re taking his home away from him.”

  “I thought he was going to live with Harriet and the Wills men.”

  At least they weren’t talking about her any longer. She dragged in a steadying breath. “He won’t be happy with them. That’s why I have to keep the ranch going even while I’m gone. I have to make it profitable enough to hire help and keep him safe.”

  Phil slammed his hand against the wall, startling her. “You’re making this fucking complicated. We’re here. We’re your mates. Once we buy the ranch, your father and you will be safe. You’ll get to stay in your own home and live on the ranch you love. Your father will be part of our family. We’re not going to kick him out. Damn it, Danna. All you have to do is accept us as your mates. It’s that fucking simple.”

  She had to fight fire with fire. “Okay, let’s go there. Let’s say I become your mate. Then what? Are you going to be okay when I leave and go to law school?”

  She saw the answer in their faces. They were like other male shifters. They wanted their mate home with them every night. “That’s what I thought.”

  She pushed past them, needing to get away. If she didn’t, she’d listen to the primal craving urging her to give herself to them again. Memories of their time in the pasture came rushing back, screaming at her to beg them to claim her.

  It was Phil who caught her this time. “Danna, give us a little time. Once you know us better, you’ll change your mind.”

  “Not a—”

  He held up his hand. “Okay, okay. So you won’t change your mind. Got it. But at least get to know us enough to know what you’re turning down. You’re setting us up for a miserable life without our mate. The least you can do is to give us a few days together.”

  “We’re not having sex again.” She couldn’t risk it. If she did, she’d be drawn even closer to them. So close she might change her mind. The mystical, instinctual bond whirred between them like an invisible rope winding its way around their bodies, tugging them together.

  “Whatever you say, hon.” Cam took her arm. “Now that it’s settled, let’s get something to drink and talk. You can talk to us, right? Talking won’t blow your plan apart, will it?”

  If she were smart, she’d refuse. But they were right. She did owe them something. Getting rejected by a mate was a tough thing to get through. “Fine. But only coffee. Nothing harder.”

  “At ten in the morning? Of course not.” Cam took her arm again, but this time in a gentler manner. “There’s a coffee shop across the street.”

  She allowed him to lead her to the small shop. After seating her at one of the tables, Cam went to the counter and placed their orders. He brought her coffee to her while Phil rounded up sugar and creamer along with napkins. It was nice to be waited on. Once they were all seated, an awkward silence took over.

  “Do you want to know about us?” Cam took a sip of his drink.

  She relaxed a little. As long as they were talking about themselves, about their past, she could handle it. She could even stay and enjoy the sizzle sparking between them.

  Just remember. Look but don’t touch.

  “Okay.” She cupped her hands around her mug. “Tell me.”

  Cam motioned for Phil to do the honors.

  “We’re originally from a small town in Tennessee called Madison. Population around three thousand, give or take a dozen or so.”

  “That’s about two thousand six hundred more than Twisted.” Talking about unimportant things was easy, almost carefree. As long as she fought against the sizzle weaving its way through her, tantalizing the spot between her legs, she’d be all right.

  Yeah, right.

  She sipped her coffee and leaned back into the hard metal chair. “Did a lot of shifters live there?”

  Cam checked around the room, but the nearest people were an older couple seated on the opposite side of the shop. Phil kept his attention locked on her.

  “Not a lot. Which is why we decided to sell the family ranch and come to Twisted. We wanted to live in a town where we didn’t have to hide what we are. At least, not all the time. That’s how it is in Twisted, right? Even the humans know about weretigers?”

  “Most of them do. And about the others like werepanthers. We even have a few vamps, too, but they usually stick to themselves. Still, we have rules about shifting. It’s easy stuff to remember, though, like no shifting in the daytime and definitely not in town.”

  “Got it. I guess the town’s welcome wagon people haven’t gotten around to giving us the handbook.”

  Phil’s grin was enough to make her swallow back a moan. What if she had sex with them again? Maybe it wouldn’t be as intense the second time around. Maybe she could even start to think about them less. Maybe having sex again would get them out of her system.

  As if she could ever get enough of them.

  “Anyway, we’re working out at Bill Broderick’s place while we search for our own land.”

  She shot him a hard look. “No talking about the ranch.”

  Phil nodded and kept on going. “Once we get things lined out ranch-wise, then we’ll start thinking about a family.” His gaze loc
ked onto her. “With our mate.”

  “If you’re going to keep bringing the whole mate thing up, then I’m out of here.”

  “Okay, okay.” Phil leaned back in his chair, his hands up, palms out. “Don’t go getting your fur up.”

  “I don’t have fur to ‘get up’, remember?”

  “Keep the conversation safe, Phil,” warned Cam.

  Phil, however, didn’t listen. “Has your father always been a drunk?”

  Cam reared back, glaring at his brother. “Damn it, man. Are you trying to run her off? Ignore him, Danna. Sometimes he forgets to use his brain.”

  She dropped her gaze to her coffee. Although she’d always found it difficult to talk about her father to anyone other than Harriet, she found herself wanting them to know. Maybe if they understood her family and her childhood, they’d understand why she was choosing not to mate.

  “He’s had a drinking problem for as long as I can remember.”

  “That had to be hard, baby.”

  She smiled, at once admitting to what Phil had said and forgiving him for his earlier bluntness. “It was. It still is.”

  “Is there a reason why he drinks?” Cam’s voice was low and soothing.

  “Yes and no.” She took a sip, buying time to get the words right. “Harriet says he drinks because I’m human. She says my mother ran off because she couldn’t stand the idea of having given birth to a freak.”

  “A freak? Being born human doesn’t make you a freak.” Cam leaned forward.

  “No.” Yet did she really believe it? Hadn’t she always felt less than her sister for not being at least part shifter?

  “So you think you’re the cause of your father’s alcoholism?”

  Strangely, she’d never thought of the word in terms of her father. He was a drunk, a man who chose to spend his life with a bottle in his hand. Alcoholics, on the other hand, had a disease. But Cam was right. Her father was an alcoholic.

  “No. Yes. I don’t know. But I do know for a fact that he was drinking before I was born. Maybe it got worse after me, but I’ve had other people tell me there were problems before I came along. Things that had him wondering if my mother had cheated on him. Still, it was my birth that drove him over the edge.”

  “Shit. That’s rough. So your dad’s a weretiger. Was your mom?” asked Phil.

  “My mother was a full weretiger. My dad’s a half weretiger. You’d think his being half-human would’ve made it easier for my mother to accept me.”

  “And you think you’re the reason he started drinking hard?”

  She sighed, not liking the idea of Cam trying to change what she already knew to be the truth. “That’s the story. Just ask Harriet. I’m to blame for our family falling apart.”

  Cam shifted in his chair. “Look, I don’t know your sister, but from what little I’ve seen of her, I’m not sure she’s the most reliable source of information.”

  “Maybe not.” Still, she’d accepted what Harriet had told her from a young age.

  Another short period of silence followed as they took time to sip their drinks. And to let what they’d heard simmer.

  “If they thought you being born human caused all the problems, why didn’t they get someone to change you?” Phil added, “I’m just asking, is all.”

  She’d asked the same question and had always gotten the same answer. “Changing me is for my mates to do.”

  “Which we’ll gladly do, baby.”

  “No thanks, Phil.” He’d asked in a lighthearted manner so she’d answered the same way. But if he kept pushing the idea, then she’d get up and leave.

  “So that’s why you don’t want to mate us. You’re afraid of marriage. Maybe even afraid of having human babies.”

  She jerked her attention to Cam, met his intense, knowing gaze, and dropped hers back to her coffee. “It’s not easy being born human to weretigers.”

  “Don’t you see, hon? You’re letting your past dictate your future. We’re not like your father or your mother. If we have a human child, we’ll love it as much as we would a full shifter child.”

  Cam was serious. One look at Phil told her he felt the same way. They were good men, the kind of men any woman would be grateful to have as her mates.

  “Besides, our father had his own drinking problems.”

  She jerked her attention to Cam. “Did your mom run off, too?” She didn’t want them to compare her father to theirs.

  “No.” Phil gazed into his coffee. “He was just the ordinary kind of drunk. One who drinks because he likes to.”

  “Great.” She scoffed. “That gives me another reason not to want to mate you two. Alcoholism on one side of the family is bad enough, but on both sides? No thank you.”

  “We’ll make our own future, Danna.” Cam reached out to place his hand on top of hers. “You just have to believe everything will be good for us.”

  Her concern of earlier came alive again. If she didn’t watch out, they’d seduce her—both emotionally and physically—into mating them. She yanked her hand away from his, then stood, toppling her chair over.

  “Danna, don’t leave.” Cam reached out to her. “We’ll talk about something else. Anything you want.”

  “No.” She took a couple of steps back. “Please don’t try and change my mind any longer. And please. Don’t buy the ranch.”

  She whirled around, closing both her ears and her mind to whatever they might say.

  Chapter Five

  Danna pulled the pickup in front of the house. She was bone-tired after spending the day fixing a fence, finding a lost calf, and tossing feed from the back of her truck. Usually, seeing how the cattle hurried toward her as though they were starving made her chuckle. But today everything seemed flat and gray. How could it not after leaving the Nordstrom men?

  Why was she trying to hang on to the ranch? For every step she took forward, she ended up getting pushed back three steps. The bank was hot on her heels, ready to issue the paperwork. She half expected Georgia and the county sheriff to be waiting on the front porch, ready to evict her family.

  Would it be so bad if Cam and Phil bought the place? At least if they owned it, they’d take care of it. Maybe they’d even let her father stay on and live in the small cabin located at the other side of the ranch. The place was old and run-down, but at least he’d have a roof over his head.

  Although Harriet had finally promised to take her father to the Wills’ ranch when she moved in with her mates, her gut told her she couldn’t trust her sister to follow through with her promise. Or to take care of him when he got falling down drunk.

  She slumped in the truck, her hands falling to her lap. Sadness enveloped her along with a weariness that weighed her body down. Ramming her shoulder against the door, she dangled her feet out of the truck and let her body slide toward the ground.

  “Yeah, sugar, keep on swinging that sweet ass!”

  Her foot was on the bottom step of the front porch when she froze. The silence was blasted apart with the screech of music starting up.

  Shit. Not today.

  Harriet was home, partying it up with her mates. She’d done it enough times for Danna to know what to expect. But where was her dad? The sun was turning the horizon purple as it set. By now he could be anywhere, but more than likely at Roar. Or was he stumbling around the pasture with a bottle in his hand?

  Why couldn’t Harriet hang out at her mates’ ranch? Now that they were losing Cracked Creek, why didn’t her sister move in with her mates and leave her alone? She’d asked her sister often enough, but Harriet kept dodging having to answer.

  She flung open the door, ready to do battle. “Harriet, why can’t you do this at their place?”

  “Hey, Danna-girl.”

  What was her father doing home? Harriet had never partied in front of him before. At least, she had enough common sense and self-respect not to do her sexual antics in front of their father.

  “Dad?”

  Her father sat on the floor, his
back against the wall, a bottle resting between his legs. A cigarette dangled between his fingers. Harriet and her men danced around the living room and passed another bottle between them.

  “Sis! Come on in and join the fun!”

  Rage filled her. Not only had she been busting her ass all day working the ranch, but her sister had spent her time whooping it up with her mates. On top of that, she’d allowed their alcoholic father to join them.

  Harriet spun around then swayed her way over to toss an arm around Danna’s shoulder. “Let loose, little sis.”

  Danna shoved her away. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  “Aw, shit. Don’t be a bitch, sugar.” Ralton took a long drag on the whiskey bottle. “Come on. Loosen up and have some fun.”

  Danna struck the top of the player, ending the music. “Get the hell out of here! You and your no-good, lousy men get the hell out! Now!”

  Harriet got in her face, her breath strong with alcohol. “Who the hell are you to order us around? This is my home as much as it is yours. Go fuck yourself.”

  Danna stooped, snatched the bottle from her father, then took the cigarette away. She stared at the butt and took a whiff. “Marijuana? Crap, Harriet. You’re giving our father weed now?”

  “Hey, we’re just helping the old guy mellow out.” Edward wrapped his hand around her wrist and snagged the joint from her. “Don’t go spoiling our fun, little sis.”

  Fighting the Wills brothers was hopeless. They could overpower her as men, but if they shifted, worse could happen. Instead, she whirled on her sister. Harriet was more to blame than her worthless mates.

  “I can’t believe you. You know how hard I try to keep him from drinking. And now you’re adding drugs to his problems? You’re out of your damn mind.”

  “Calm down, sis.” Harriet brought her own joint up and sucked in a drag. “He’s going to get drunk anyway. At least I’m watching him. That’s more than you can say.”

  “You lie around on your ass all day. I’m the one hauling him home from Roar. I’m the one pouring him into bed at night and I’m the one listening to him upchuck in the morning. You don’t do anything to help out around here.”