Eye of the Tiger

by Nicole Austin

  It all felt too strange to be real. Yet this was now her life. Her husband had a tiger lurking beneath his skin. His best friend was a lion. And people who’d been turned into God only knew what were still being held in the lab, kept in what amounted to cages, while horrible tests were conducted on them.

  Pride was an emotion she’d become familiar with in regard to her husband, but never to the extent she felt now. Nash was a good man. He wouldn’t let this injustice continue and he’d make sure the others got whatever support they would need to cope with what had been done to them. From the brief exposure to Micah, she felt certain he also had a good heart and would make sure the right thing was done.

  Their lives had been thrown into turmoil. Nothing would ever be the same again. Not only would they both have to adjust to Nash’s new abilities, there would be the necessity of hiding what he was from the rest of the world. Other scientists would want to study him, figure out how the procedure worked and try to replicate the result. The general populous would be afraid, while the government and military would want to use him for their own purposes.

  She wondered what would happen to her education and career. Moving, changing schools and jobs all seemed to loom on the horizon.

  No sooner had the thoughts entered her mind than Jenny chastised herself for being selfish. This wasn’t about her. She had to protect Nash, regardless of what personal sacrifice was required. She loved him and would do anything for him.

  Including follow him back inside the lab to make sure he made it out alive.

  Two more men arrived at the cabin and the team of four discussed their plans never suspecting she listened to every word. Jenny kept a tight rein on her emotions, schooling her features into a blank mask and controlling her breathing so they’d think she remained asleep.

  Chapter Eight

  An entire day came and went in a blur of activity. Kyle Slater gave Jenny an antibiotic injection, irrigated the lacerations and closed the wounds with a special compound—one of the good things to have come from Nanotech—that eliminated the need for stitches.

  Nash scowled as he watched Jenny limp around the kitchen, preparing sandwiches for everyone. She’d been too quiet and subdued. Without her running dialogue, he felt at a loss, unable to get an accurate fix on her emotional state. He tried to convince her to take it easy but understood her need to stay busy.

  Layouts and maps were scattered across an old wooden table. The team had gone over every step of their plan until the details were second nature. They were as ready for tonight’s raid as they were going to get. Tensions ran high and they all needed a little down time. Nash knew exactly how he wanted to spend the next few hours. First he needed some privacy.

  “Someone should check the perimeter to make sure they haven’t discovered our location.”

  Micah nodded. “Sam, Kyle and I have got it covered. We’ll be back in two hours.”

  Jenny ignored their departure and continued to clean the same stretch of countertop she’d been working on for more than ten minutes.

  “Come on, Sunshine. Let’s take a break.”

  “I’m fine,” she insisted.

  He put on an exaggerated hangdog expression, which wasn’t very hard to do since his ass was all but dragging. “Good, then you can keep me company while I get some rest.”

  She hung the cloth over the faucet then rinsed and dried her hands. Her anxiety made his heart clench. They both dreaded the dangerous night to come and needed some alone time to talk before the team headed out. He knew there were many things weighing on her mind.

  Nash moved in behind Jenny, sliding his arms around her waist and brushed tender kisses along her neck. “I need you.” She leaned back into him, and he settled his erection between the lush curves of her ass. “Let’s spend the afternoon making love.”

  The shiver of arousal that raced through her body was more than enough encouragement for him. He guided her to the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them.

  Jenny wanted to make love but not yet. She needed more answers first. Nash had left out a lot of specifics and made it clear he didn’t want to discuss it. That was too bad. She needed to know.

  “Exactly what did they do to you in the lab?”

  He didn’t seem surprised by the question even though his body did tense. Jenny sat on the edge of the bed and watched him closely. He stance was rigid, legs shoulder width apart, hands behind his ramrod straight back. The strain he felt showed in his drawn features. While she wanted to lessen his burdens before he went and risked his life, the white elephant in the room had to be addressed first.

  “I need to hear the rest of it.”

  His body clenched tighter and his eyes narrowed on her. She wouldn’t back down.

  “Tell me, Nash. What are the end results of everything they did?”

  “This is going to sound insane.” He sighed and rubbed at his temples. His voice started out quiet, gaining strength as she nodded in encouragement.

  “They changed me, infused my body with DNA taken from tigers and altered my organs to accept the foreign genetic code.”

  He stared somewhere in the vicinity of her knees, not telling her anything she hadn’t already learned when she wanted concrete information. She knew a lot from when the guys had talked while thinking she was sleeping. It wasn’t enough.

  “In the driveway—the tiger and lion. That was you and Micah?”

  Startled that she’d made the connection, his gaze snapped to hers. He nodded, confirming her suspicions, and dropped to his knees. Nash took her hands into his larger ones, his fingers absently stroking over her knuckles.

  “It’s hard to explain, Jenny. The first time it happened, I thought I was having a drug-induced hallucination. Then they taught me how to shift at will. I picture the tiger in my head and my body transforms. All my senses sharpen. It’s awe-inspiring and terrible all at once.”

  “You didn’t know about Micah?”

  “No. It came as a shock to find out he’d allowed them to screw around with his genes.”

  She scooted back on the bed, away from his touch. Putting distance between them didn’t help settle her frazzled nerves. Thinking she’d seen him in the eyes of a tiger and hearing random bits of conversation between the men had not made it real. This, the seriousness in his expression and tone of voice, gave all the rest substance and legitimacy. Her husband, the man she loved, had a wild animal living inside of him. It didn’t get any scarier than that, yet her curiosity refused to be shelved.

  “I want to see.” Maybe if she witnessed his change with her own eyes she could better understand.

  Blue eyes narrowed on her as Nash searched her face. “See what?”

  “Why are you being obtuse?” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “You know what I’m talking about. Show me, Nash. I need to see it happen.”

  He rubbed his temples again, but rose and began to strip until his clothes lay scattered around his feet, talking to her the whole time. “I know you, Sunshine. You’re going to have lots of questions. I haven’t lived with the tiger very long so I don’t have a lot of answers. We’ll have to figure things out together.”

  She nodded, distracted by the sight of tanned skin stretched taut over rippling muscles. Jenny’s gaze wandered over broad shoulders, defined pecs and six-pack abs. She longed to run her fingers through the sprinkling of dark hair, trace every dip and swell of masculine flesh. She glanced lower, drinking in the sight of trim hips and delineated sinew. Even flaccid, his thick cock was impressive. The base of his long shaft surrounded by a nest of black hair, and his weighty sac hung between powerful legs. She loved everything about him, from the new scars adding to his rugged appearance, to the shimmering awareness in his gorgeous eyes.

  This was Nash, her handsome husband, the man she loved regardless of any changes wrought by a bunch of quack scientists. She didn’t see any wounds from his fight with the lion—with Micah. She wondered if they’d be visible on the tiger and found
she was anxious to see his other form. With a slight nod, she indicated her readiness for him to continue.

  Transfixed, Jenny watched as the transformation began to take place. A shiny pelt sprouted from his skin as his legs shortened, his body compacted while simultaneously his nose and mouth elongated into a snout. The whole process took mere seconds before he’d dropped down onto padded paws, Nash’s steady gaze observing her from a tiger’s face.

  If she’d blinked, she would have missed the whole thing.

  “Holy fucking hell!” She was shut up in a small room with a huge tiger and unlike at the zoo, there were no bars between them.

  Jenny scrambled farther over the bed until her back hit the headboard. Her vision blurred as she squinted then slammed her eyes closed.

  Okay, I didn’t see that. When I look again, Nash will be there, not a tiger.

  She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and blinked, hoping to see something less frightening.

  Nope, still a tiger.

  Rubbing her eyes didn’t make any difference either. That old saying about seeing being believing ran through her mind. What a major understatement. She didn’t want to trust her eyes or believe but the terrifying truth stared her right in the face.

  Nash had turned into a humungous living, breathing tiger.

  If he’d confessed to having an affair, that would be hard to overcome but they would survive. If he’d lost his job and they wound up homeless, Jenny figured she could handle that too. But this was something she had no way to combat. She had no real-life frame of reference to deal with such a shocking event.

  Yes, she had seen the tiger before, even registered the fact that its eyes looked very similar to her husband’s. But she had not seen Nash turn into an animal. One whose tongue lolled out from between a sharp set of teeth and dripped saliva onto the floor.

  Any minute now she’d pass out then wake up to find out it had all been some wacked out dream.

  Wait for it. It’ll happen.

  Only it didn’t.

  She never lost consciousness. And the big feline’s stare didn’t waver. He remained motionless with the exception of a rapid twitching of his tail.

  A strange rush of excitement swelled. The amazing feat awed Jenny and her curious nature got the better of her. She wanted to see it happen again. Wanted to reach out and explore the animal, feel the changes in his body.

  “Does it hurt? It happened so fast.” The cat didn’t move and she smacked her forehead. “Yeah, like you can answer questions now.”

  Her entire body vibrated with a combination of excitement and stunned disbelief. She had a powerful urge to stroke his fur but without knowing who was in control, Nash or the tiger, she held back.

  What the hell was she supposed to do now?

  The overload of conflicting emotions wrung her out and sapped her energy. Drained, she dropped onto the bed, curled her arms over her face and plunged her fingers into her hair. A slight tug resulted in sharp pain along her scalp, which helped center her frenzied thoughts. She wavered back and forth between shock and awe.

  “This is so not happening. My husband didn’t just turn into a cat and I’m not carrying on a one-sided conversation with Tony the Tiger.”

  Something cold and wet pressed against her forearm. With slow, measured movements, she lowered her arms. There wasn’t even a full inch in between his flaring nostrils and the tip of her nose.

  “Jesus, you’ve got a huge mouth. You could probably remove my head from my shoulders in one bite.” Every fiber of her being longed to reach out and touch him but a strong survival instinct stayed her hands.

  One corner of his mouth curved upward in a feline parody of a devious smile. That extra long tongue rolled over parted lips.

  “You look hungry, but please don’t eat me.”

  The catty grin expanded.

  “Ha, a catty grin. That’s a good one. Don’t go getting any frisky ideas, mister. You can wipe away that foolish smile. I don’t care about the rules of the jungle. There will be no interspecies sex happening so get those lascivious thoughts out of your head. A girl has to draw the line somewhere and that’s a biggie for me. No bestiality.” She glared at him. “I mean it, Nash.”

  Once again, saliva dripped from his pink tongue.

  “Gross. Since you’re new to being a cat, I’ll give you credit for not knowing this.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Only dogs drool. Cats are supposed to be more sophisticated and higher class. They don’t fetch, lick their balls in public or come when called. You really do need to study up on this stuff if you’re going to put on a cat suit.”

  Tilting his head to one side the tiger seemed to consider her words.

  “So.” Jenny fisted fingers that itched to explore. “You’re in there somewhere, aren’t you, Nash? You understand everything I’m saying and are in control of the beasty, right? ’Cause I’m dying to touch you, but I’d be really upset to pull back a bloody stump.”

  His warm tongue rasped over her knuckles. Jenny smiled at her husband, taking the action as encouragement. Under all those layers of fur lurked the man she loved, and he would never hurt her.

  “Okay, I’m going to pet you now. Remember, no biting.” Jenny didn’t give herself time to think about the insanity of her actions. She thrust out a hand, sinking her fingers into his soft pelt, enjoying the teasing caress of the silky strands along the sensitive skin between each digit. Her hand came away with excess hair clinging to her skin.

  “See that.” She held her hand before his face. “You’re shedding. Guess who won’t be sleeping in bed with me when we get home? Not that you’d last five minutes in Florida wearing that heavy fur coat. All the humidity will make you a frizzed-out mess. That is if the subtropical temperatures don’t give you heat stroke first.” She snorted over the visual that popped into her head.

  “I guess we’ll be relocating. I’m setting you straight right now though. I don’t care what kind of tiger you are, no way am I moving to Siberia.” Just thinking about snow made her shiver. “We’ll have to figure out a way around the grooming issues. No matter how much I love you, I won’t be able to deal with you hocking up hairballs.”

  Her mind raced. “I have so many questions that I’m betting you don’t have answers for. I guess we’ll have to learn about all this together.”

  Jenny let her hands wander over the powerful creature, learning every roped mass of muscle. She luxuriated in the sensation of his beautiful fur beneath her hands, knowing it would feel glorious to rub her naked body against him.

  Tracing each stripe, she took her time getting to know this new part of her husband. She placed a palm flat on the floor and compared the size of his paws to her hands. “You’ve got some big feet, buddy. Any muddy pawprints on the floor will be your job to clean up.”

  A sudden stream of tears took her by surprise. She hadn’t realized she was crying. Giving in to the irresistible impulse, Jenny wrapped her arms around his big neck and hugged Nash close, seeking comfort. Her emotions were all over the place. While she was thrilled to be holding him in her arms, she wept for the ordeal he’d gone through. And she longed to feel his arms wrapped around her while they made love.

  Sitting back on her heels, she stared into his eyes for several long moments, laughing as he licked the tears from her face. “Okay, I like the kitty but it’s time to switch back.”

  Blue eyes tracked her every movement as Jenny rose and flicked open the buttons of her blouse. Her voice dropped to a husky, seductive tone as her fingers skimmed over her bared belly and went to work on her jeans. “I need you, Nash.”

  He watched as she shrugged off the shirt then shimmied her hips while smoothing the denim over her legs. Soon, her bra and panties joined the growing pile of clothes on the floor. As she crawled onto the bed, he had yet to move. Once settled in the center of the bed, she cast him a questioning glance.

  Finally the tiger walked to the foot of the bed, crouched down then launched his body into
the air, landing on all fours directly over her. A brief flash of fear caused her muscles to tense. Being pinned beneath a fierce tiger had her heart pounding against her ribs. But then she looked into her husband’s eyes and relaxed, if only slightly.

  Fiery fingers of desire spread through her. Man, beast or a combination of both—they were all Nash. And she needed to feel him held tight within her body.

  Her legs rubbed together restlessly. “Nash, I want you. Make love to me.”

  Extending her hand, she held her breath and waited to see what he would do. There was no hesitation. He rubbed against her outstretched hand, a gravelly purr rumbling up from his chest.

  The tiger playfully licking her wrist was gorgeous, but the urge to hold the man within her arms became too powerful to deny. Jenny scratched behind his ears, basking in the cat’s enjoyment, before trying to tempt him again.

  “Don’t you want me?”

  He remained in the same position—head cradled in her hand—and allowed his body to change form. In the space of time between one stuttered heartbeat and the next, her husband took the place of the cat. The bristle of a few days’ beard stubble rasping against the tender skin of her palm.

  “I know it’s a major adjustment and a lot to take in. If you need time…”

  Maybe it was all the crazy movies she watched that made Nash’s changes exciting for Jenny. Could be her endless hope there were other life forms in the universe and to one day meet one. Possibly her love of animals. She didn’t know or care why. He was still Nash, and she still wanted and needed him. For better or worse.

  “Jesus, Nash. Would you get with the program and fuck me already.”

  Jenny’s other hand shot forward, fingers trembling against his sensual lips. Acceptance and love and need all crashed over her. “I don’t need time, Nash. Just you. All of you.”

  Chapter Nine