Roaring with pride, Nick grabbed her and bit deeply into her shoulder. Zoe cried out, and her body shook and spasmed violently beneath him as she orgasmed. As she shattered in his arms, Nick released his seed deep into her hot, clenching body. He kept moving inside her even after she had milked every drop of cum from him.
Breathing hard, they collapsed on the mattress, their glistening bodies still entwined.
When Zoe opened her eyes, Nick saw that the golden light was beginning to fade. Her eyes were human again, and her talons had vanished.
Swallowing, Zoe raised her hands and turned them over slowly. “Did I shift? I felt myself...change. How is that possible?” she murmured. “I don't know how to shift. I've never done it before...”
“Mating is intense,” Nick said, drawing her close to him. “My bear will not be kept from its mate. When shifters claim their mates, they claim everything and give everything. Mating involves the animal and the human. You give yourself wholly and completely to your mate. There is no holding back. And—there is no going back.”
He sat up and heard her cry of distress. Immediately, he turned around. “What is it, Zoe?”
She pointed at the deep gouges in his back. The blood hadn't even dried. “I did that. Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I hurt you...”
“You didn't hurt me. You marked me,” Nick said smugly. “Everyone knows I belong to you now.”
“Oh.” She blushed. “Oh.” Tilting her head, she frowned and chewed her lip for a moment. “For twenty-nine years, I thought I was human,” she muttered. “So...am I an eagle shifter? My hands turned into talons. My dad was half eagle...”
“Honestly, I don't know. Your scent is not fully avian,” Nick answered.
She blinked at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you are not a full eagle shifter. You...”
“So I can't shift fully into an eagle? I just have talons, but no beak and wings and other eagle parts? Is that what you're saying?” She winced, looking disappointed and frustrated.
“No, Zoe. I didn't say that.” He pulled her to him and embraced her lovingly. “I don't know if you can shift fully or partially. Your animal is only just emerging. You've lived almost thirty years of your life as a human. My bear was with me since I was an infant. But for you...”
“But why?” She fretted and wrung her hands. “Why didn't my animal emerge earlier? Why now?”
Nick shrugged. “Sometimes a shifter's animal is awakened by a traumatic event. The animal may emerge suddenly to protect the human from danger. My old neighbor shifted into his bear for the first time when he lost control of his car during a rainstorm. His bear emerged and saved his life. He was sixty at the time of his first shift.”
Zoe was silent for a long while. “So what made my animal emerge now?”
“Well...” Nick smiled and puffed out his chest. “Sometimes when the animal recognizes its mate...”
Zoe rolled her eyes at him and punched his arm. “You're saying that my animal recognized you as its mate. So my animal emerged for you.”
“You went into heat when I was kissing you,” he pointed out.
“I...you...” she spluttered.
“You can't deny it,” he teased. “You want me.”
Growling, she wrestled him down and straddled him. “I am going to torture you, Nick. For hours. You will be in agony, the whole night.”
Nick let his feisty little mate pin his wrists to the mattress. “I'll tie you up so you can't touch me,” she threatened.
At that, Nick groaned. “You are serious about torturing me, aren't you?”
“Dead serious.”
Nick stretched himself out, wondering if he would splinter her bed frame when he jerked himself free of whatever flimsy restraints she had in mind and lunged for her. “This will be the sweetest agony,” he drawled.
He admired the way her wide hips swayed as she sauntered to her drawers and pulled out some colorful fabric.
“What do you have there?” he asked lazily.
“Scarves. Silk scarves.”
She came to him and stretched his arms out. “I'm going to tie you up with these soft, silk scarves,” she breathed in his ear. “And you will have to remain still and let me do what I want with you. You must not tear any of these delicate scarves, understand? These are my favorite scarves.”
Nick's eyes widened. It would have been better if she strapped him down with steel handcuffs or iron chains. He could easily break them, but this. “Oh, you evil, evil woman.”
Zoe laughed. “It's not me. It's my animal—whatever it is!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Zoe clapped and hooted with the rest of the hospital staff when they heard the announcement. It was now about a week after the auction night, but people were still talking about the thrills and spills of that night. It had indeed been a wild, incredible night, in more ways than one.
All the checks had come in. Nick had promptly sent a check to the hospital for fifty thousand dollars, and had a gigantic box of chocolates delivered to Zoe while she was at work so she could share the chocolates with her colleagues.
The hospital director had announced that they'd raised more than enough money to upgrade the children's wing. The renovation and extension works would be starting soon, so some of the beds and equipment would have to be moved. The renovation works would be done in stages to minimize disruption to the hospital operations, but still there would be some inconvenience and disturbance.
“Nick donated the biggest amount, so he has the honor of naming the new wing,” her colleague, Georgia, told her. “I think we can expect it to be called the Zoe wing!” Georgia added with a giggle.
Everyone seemed to know about Nick and her as soon as she came back to work.
It took her a while to figure it out, but she finally realized that they could see the claiming mark on her neck and the shifters could smell Nick's scent all over her. The nurses, and even some doctors, teased her and congratulated her. Some of her patients pretended to be heartsick and heartbroken at the news. “Mated already? Aw, I thought you and I had something special going on. Whenever you looked into my eyes, I see a beautiful, bright light...”
“That's because I was shining a light in your eyes!” Zoe had laughed and rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.
Zoe finished checking on all the patients in her ward and glanced at the clock. Her shift was over. Nick had just texted her to let her know that his team was rushing to complete a project by the end of the day so he couldn't come fetch her from work. But he promised to take her out for a lovely dinner later.
“I'm leaving now,” Zoe waved to her colleagues. “See you all tomorrow!”
“You have a date with Nick tonight, don't you?” Georgia teased. “Your smile says it all. Ah, love is a glorious thing!” Georgia declared and pretended to swoon.
Zoe waved goodbye to her giggling colleagues and hurried out before they could see her blush. But she really did feel glorious. She felt so happy, so blessed to have found Nick. They just felt so right together. It was like finding the other half of your soul, your heart. She was insanely, deliriously happy.
The only thing that bugged her was that she still wasn't able to shift. And no one could tell her what her animal was. The other shifters were equally baffled. They told her that she was definitely a shifter, but they just couldn't identify her animal.
“Not eagle?” she'd asked a group of shifter nurses.
“Not fully,” was their reply.
At Nick's suggestion, she had asked Gramma and Ne-ma for help. But when Gramma and Ne-ma tried to cast a spell to draw her animal out, her animal simply retreated further and stubbornly refused to show itself.
So what was she?
She was so deep in thought that she almost walked right into someone's shoulder.
“Zoe.”
Zoe jerked her head up and started. “Oh, Mr Sinclair! I...”
Sinclair smiled and gave a small bow. “Miss Riley, you're
looking lovely as usual.” His eyes flicked to her neck and his smile wavered a little. Straightening up, he held a bunch of flowers out to her. “These are for you.”
“Thank you. That's...really sweet of you.”
“Well, I wanted to take you out on a date. But you didn't accept my bid that night. Instead, you chose that...bear.”
“That bear is my mate,” Zoe answered sharply.
Her tone was harsher than she'd intended. Not wanting to sound rude, Zoe added hurriedly, “Mr Sinclair, I want to thank you for putting in such a high bid at the auction. I hope you enjoyed yourself that night.”
Sinclair smoothed a hand down his jacket and smiled. “Well, I must say my trip to Shadow Point has been very fruitful. But I'm leaving today.”
“You're leaving? Are you here on business?” she enquired politely.
“You can say that.” He sighed and looked at his watch. “Well, I just dropped by to give you the flowers. I have to be on my way soon.”
“Oh. Do you have time for...a coffee? Let me buy you a drink at least,” Zoe said. “You didn't have to come and give me the flowers...”
“You are a very special lady, Miss Riley. I'll take a rain check on that coffee, if you don't mind. I'm running late. But if you'd walk with me to my car...”
“Of course,” Zoe said at once.
Sinclair offered her his arm and Zoe hesitated just a beat before taking it.
As she walked out of the hospital building with him, she couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. Something rose inside her and clawed warningly at her chest.
Zoe pressed a fist to her chest, scowling at the sudden pain. Her animal was behaving badly. Whatever her animal was, it seemed to be trying to claw its way out of her skin to attack the well-mannered gentleman next to her.
Zoe plastered a smile to her face and fought her rebellious animal down. First, it had tried to embarrass her on stage. And now, it seemed to be trying to cause havoc and destruction. Was it trying to ruin her reputation and get her thrown out of this nice, peaceful town? Just what kind of crazy animal did she have inside of her?
Zoe was too busy waging an internal battle to notice that they had walked out of the hospital parking lot and into a quiet side lane. There was only one car parked in that narrow, deserted lane.
Sinclair turned to her, a slow smile spreading across his face. Zoe gasped and tried to pull away, but he was pressing something into her neck.
“No one can see us. And no one can hear you,” Sinclair whispered in her ear. Zoe struggled but the needle pressed into her neck.
“You really are a very special creature, Zoe,” Sinclair hissed, his thumb on the plunger of the syringe. The syringe was filled with a clear, colorless liquid.
Zoe stared in horror as Sinclair's canines lengthened and jutted out of his mouth. They were thick and curved, not long and thin like vampire fangs. It was clear that he wasn't a vampire. He could walk in the sun, and...she could sense an animal inside him.
“What are you?” she wheezed just as he pushed the plunger down.
Zoe opened her mouth to scream but a numbing chill was spreading rapidly through her body. Her facial muscles froze as her brain began to shut down.
Her eyes were still functioning even as her legs crumpled beneath her. She saw Sinclair open the trunk of the car and stuff her in swiftly.
She saw the eerie, murderous glow of his eyes just before he slammed the trunk shut.
He's going to kill me, she thought as she heard the engine roar to life.
She could feel her animal struggling to emerge from her weakening human body. Her animal clawed furiously at her before it was pulled under by the drug Sinclair had injected into her body.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Zoe jerked her head up and stared around wildly. Where was she? She seemed to be in the middle of a forest. There were trees all around her, and her back was against a rough tree trunk. Her hands were bound behind the trunk and there were thick ropes around her legs. She squirmed and struggled, but the ropes held her securely to the tree.
She turned her head and saw Sinclair standing to the side, watching her intently.
“Let me go,” she spat. “You freak!”
“Freak?” He laughed, displaying his unusually long canines. “You've never seen a saber-tooth tiger before, have you?”
“A what? You're telling me you're a saber-tooth tiger?” Zoe rolled her eyes and sneered. “Yeah, right. Saber-tooth tigers went the way of the dinosaurs and the dodo bird a long time ago.”
Sinclair shrugged. “That's what people believe. There are only very few saber-tooth tiger shifters in existence now. We have difficulty...repopulating.”
Her eyes widened as his meaning sank in. Then she began to laugh. She didn't know why she did that. But laughter was the best medicine, and the best distraction. She always encouraged her patients to laugh and keep their spirits up. Laughter distracted them from their fear and pain.
“You're saying...that you're impotent?” she wheezed. “Okay, mister, there are lots of drugs these days to help with your problem. Just pop a pill and you are good to go for hours. Is that why you kidnapped me? Listen, I may work in a hospital, but there is no way I can get you any drugs without a prescription...”
“Drugs aren't the solution,” Sinclair snarled, prowling towards her.
“Then what...what do you want? Stay away from me,” Zoe said, suddenly frightened. His features were contorting, and she saw that he wasn't lying about his animal.
“Don't touch me!” She tried to twist away but he gripped her chin viciously, forcing her to look at him.
“A saber-tooth tiger is a very rare animal. To regain our ability to reproduce, we need to eat the heart of another rare creature.”
“I'm not a rare creature,” Zoe squeaked.
“Oh, but you are.” Sinclair smiled. “I need you to shift, Zoe. I don't want your human heart. I need your griffin heart.”
“My...what? G-griffin? You're crazy!”
Sinclair exhaled slowly. “I've been waiting for you. I could scent what you were when you were a teenager. But your animal didn't emerge. I was willing to wait. Years, decades.”
Zoe shook her head. “No one can identify my animal. You're bluffing.”
“My species has been around for a very, very long time. Our senses have been honed to perfection. Only one in ten males can reproduce, so our numbers are dwindling. We are close to extinction. Griffins are very, very rare. You will never be safe, Zoe. Even if I let you go, another saber-tooth tiger will hunt you down.”
Zoe gulped and replayed his words in her mind. “You've been watching me...since I was a teenager?” she asked slowly. “How...”
“It was sheer luck.” He chuckled. “I passed you on the street, and I knew immediately what you were. I followed you and watched you, but your animal didn't emerge. I was willing to wait but I wasn't willing to let you go. Not when I'd searched for so long. When you moved, I moved. I took jobs around your neighborhood, so you'd probably have seen me around but never noticed me.”
Zoe cringed. “No wonder I thought you looked familiar. You followed me all the way to Shadow Point. And you were willing to pay fifty thousand dollars for a date with me?”
“Ah yes, a date.” Sinclair let out a mocking laugh. “I sensed that your animal was almost ready to emerge.”
Zoe tamped down her fear and revulsion. “Sorry to disappoint you, Sinclair. But I can't shift. My animal has never emerged, so I guess you'll have to eat my puny, ineffectual human heart.” She hiccuped a hysterical laugh and shouted, “And remain impotent for the rest of your miserable life, you loser!”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Zoe listened to her own maniacal laughter and feared she really was losing her mind.
She was being held captive by a saber-tooth tiger who believed she was a griffin. A griffin! Sure, she'd used her talons to mark Nick during their mating, but…
She sucked in a painful breath. “Nick...” she whi
spered.
Sinclair turned to her with a thin smile. “You're calling for your mate.”
Zoe stiffened and shook her head mutely.
“Don't worry. He'll come,” Sinclair said, his smile widening. “Your mate will definitely come for you. I didn't drive you too far out from the town. Just far enough.”
“Nick will kill you,” Zoe snarled, straining against the ropes.
“No. I—will kill him,” Sinclair answered with a short laugh. “Your animal won't just stand by and watch its mate die. You will shift, Zoe. And then...” Sinclair cocked his head at her. “I will eat your heart.”
Zoe stared at Sinclair in horror. She was the bait, as well as the catch.
Sinclair was using her to lure Nick out here. He was going to kill Nick, just to provoke her animal and trigger her shift.
Zoe knew that Nick was a big, strong bear shifter, but Sinclair was both crafty and crazy.
She didn't know how powerful saber-tooth tigers were, but to have existed for so long, their bodies and prowess must have developed and adapted to help them survive. They would have evolved to become fearsome apex predators. And to remain hidden and undetected for so long, these saber-tooth tigers must have incredible strength, speed and stealth.
Was Sinclair really so formidable? Or was he just bluffing? He sounded so confident that he could defeat Nick. Zoe gulped and tried desperately to connect with her animal.
Where were her goddamn talons when she needed them?
Didn't Nick tell her that the animal would emerge to protect the human in times of trauma and danger? Well, she was in danger right now. So why wasn't her stupid animal coming out to protect her?
Sinclair believed that she was a griffin. Zoe took a deep breath and tried to envision the majestic hybrid. A griffin was half eagle, half lion, all courage.
A griffin would be able to tear a whiny saber-tooth tiger to shreds with its beak and talons! A griffin wouldn't just sit by helplessly and wait for its mate to walk into a trap.
Big Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES Fur BEARS Book 4) Page 5
