Tempting the Tiger by Lacey Thorn: Awakening Pride Series, Book Two

by Lacey Thorn

  Reno felt Amia tremble at that taunt and moved to step in front of her, but she wouldn’t let him.

  “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.” Damn, Amia was hardcore.

  His fucking cock was back at full mast, and his chest puffed out with pride. Well, fuck him.

  The one she’d called Joseph laughed. “I’ll tell your daddy you said hello, not sure Marcus will care, though.”

  Reno shook his head and glanced at her for a brief moment. Her daddy? Marcus? As in Marcus Blane, the man Reno had heard in town was the head of the Blanes? What the fuck was going on here? He wanted answers. Now. Amia gave a sharp cry and shuddered beside him. She gripped his forearm as she sank to her knees.

  “Run,” she ordered sharply then her fingers released him.

  A dart stuck out of the front of her right shoulder. He tugged it free and went to a crouch in front of her. Time seemed to stand still. Shouts from the men around them appeared to be on mute as Reno’s senses focused completely on Amia.

  “Save yourself,” she whispered.

  His world tilted as the beast inside him came roaring to life. Reno was no longer in full control as whatever had been content to lay dormant inside him came alive with a vengeance.

  “Get him!” Someone yelled the command.

  Reno let the beast have full rein and attacked. The hunters might have thought they were prepared, but they weren’t. He snapped the neck of the first man he came to, the one who’d used the flogger on him, and Reno felt no remorse for taking the life. The next one went down just as easy. He had Joseph in his grip when he heard the shaky voice behind him.

  “I’ll kill her.” It was the boy, holding Amia’s limp body up with a knife pressed against her throat.

  Joseph fell as easily as the first two had, his head at an odd angle now. “Then kill her.”

  He stalked toward the boy. He could see the startled worry in Amia’s eyes. And how was it that she hadn’t passed the fuck out from that tranquilizer shot yet? They obviously knew her and had expected her, so maybe they kept a special dart for her? Anything was possible.

  “I’ll do it!” the boy choked out as Reno moved closer.

  “I’d suggest you let her go.” The words were barely coherent as the man fought to speak through the beast now controlling him. “And run.”

  The boy’s gaze met his, and whatever he saw there made him gulp in fear. He dropped Amia and the knife and took off running, never once looking back. Reno would guess the boy’s training was still a work in progress.

  Reno squatted to grip Amia where she’d fallen and met her shocked gaze.

  “You’re not human,” she whispered, eyes drooping as she fought to stay with him.

  “What am I then?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just know you’re different.”

  “Why?”

  “Your eyes are glowing a neon blue I’ve never seen before. And there’s a golden glow. It surrounds you.”

  “Well, fuck,” Reno said, then threw his head back and let the roar he’d been fighting to hold inside free. It shook the woods and announced the fact of who he was and where he was to any other crazy hunters that happened to be around. The man wanted to slap the beast, but the animal was feeling primal, and his gaze was locked on Amia.

  “Mine,” he grunted, making Amia’s eyes widen just before she finally gave in and passed out cold.

  Well, fuck! Reno thought and scooped Amia up in his arms. Just what he needed, an animal that wanted to possess the one woman who might have all their answers. If he’d heard the one she’d called Joseph right, then she was Amia Blane, daughter of Marcus Blane. Which made the beauty who’d rescued him his prisoner. Wasn’t life just fucking fantastic?

  Chapter Four

  Amia woke with her arms screaming from where the bastard she’d rescued had tied her to the fucking bed. She’d rescued him! And this was how he said thank you? Asshole! Not to mention that freaky shit he’d pulled in the middle of the woods. His eyes had glowed for fuck’s sake! Glowed, as in neon fucking blue. And that roar he’d let rip? Jesus! It had scared the piss out of her.

  She’d been raised among hunters. She knew all about the possibility of shifters, but she’d never actually seen one. She’d seen plenty of people her family accused of being shifters, but then her family was crazy as fuck. She’d rescued as many as she could and bore the scars for her efforts. Though the ones she’d rescued had been shrouded in the same type of golden glow Reno had sported, none had roared. And none had neon eyes.

  She shifted and managed to roll to her side, letting out a soft gasp as she met the blue gaze of her captor. Not neon, but still stunning. He blinked and inhaled as if pulling the scent of her deep into his lungs. A rumble started in his chest that sounded way too close to a purr for her comfort. Nothing would wipe the memory from her mind of how he’d looked at her and claimed her with an arrogant mine as if she were no more than property.

  “Good morning.” His voice was husky and deep, and if her nipples grew tight, it had to be because it was fucking cold. He had nothing to do with it.

  “Fuck you,” she stated emphatically and gritted her teeth as his lips quirked with a smile.

  Then he moved closer, and before she knew it, she was on her back with him looming over her. The increased staccato of her heartbeat was fear. It was not desire. It was not lust. She felt the press of his glorious erection against her and bit her lip to hold back a moan. Okay, maybe there was a bit of lust, but she was pissed off, not dead. And he smelled good enough to eat. Shit! She was so screwed.

  “That can be arranged. You might not want to push me on it.” His voice purred the words.

  “So rape is your thing. I should have left you chained to the fucking wall.”

  He grinned and bent to graze his teeth over her neck. Did he have elongated canines? Holy shit! There was no playing off the shiver that went through her.

  “I promise you’d enjoy every moment of it. There’d be no rape, ever. You’d be begging me to fuck you the whole time you were riding my face.” He licked his lips. “I bet you taste sweet.”

  “Not interested.” She managed those words pretty well, even though they were a blatant lie. She wanted him. Hell, now it was all she could do not to fixate on the thought of his head buried between her legs making a feast of her.

  He inhaled again. “Funny thing about someone with neon eyes. I tend to have a much better sense of smell than anyone…” He held her gaze captive. “Human. I’ve discovered everything has a scent. The sweet aroma of your desire. Or the pungent odor of a lie, no matter how convincingly spoken.”

  “Fuck,” she grunted, letting her eyes slide closed.

  “Just say the word,” he stated, maneuvering so that he was between her sprawled thighs. He rocked into her, his cock grinding along the seam of her pants and hitting just the right spot to make her moan. “I’ll make you feel better than you’ve ever felt in your life.”

  “Pretty cocky, aren’t you?”

  He rocked into her again. “I’ll let you be the judge of how pretty my cock is.”

  Oh, God, she was so in trouble here. Never had she responded like this to a man. Not like this. Her pussy was already wet and ready. What the hell was going on?

  “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Reno. Reno Esponetti.”

  “Amia.”

  “Blane,” he finished for her. “I picked up on that real easily when you spoke with the guy in the woods. Joseph, I believe you called him. I take it your father is Marcus Blane? The head of the Blane family.”

  “I have no family.” Her voice might be bitter, but she spoke the truth no matter what his senses picked up. Families didn’t do the things hers did. She wasn’t going there, not even in her thoughts. You’d think after so many times of having something done to you, you’d at least build up a tolerance to it. But some things only got worse every time. Some things invaded your nightmares and never let you go.

 
; Reno looked at her, did his inhale thing, and seemed confused for a moment. Then his eyes seemed to glow for a second before he dropped his head to her neck and licked her. He used his teeth to scrape over her and nipped lightly, making her shift under him.

  “I want you,” he said as if she hadn’t figured that out for herself already. But what really unnerved her was how much she wanted him too.

  “We don’t always get what we want.” Wasn’t that the truth? She’d wanted a family who loved her, protected her. What she got was her own crazy fucked-up version of the Manson family.

  He licked her neck again and shifted away, rising gracefully to his feet. They were bare, and she caught herself lusting after his feet. What? The? Hell? Jesus! Had there been a little something extra in that dart she’d taken? Something other than the shit they normally used on her? She glanced at her shoulder, but couldn’t see anything.

  “Does it hurt? I can check it for you.”

  He leaned down and reached for her, but the thought of him pushing her shirt up and feeling his hands on her bare skin was enough to have her skittering away.

  That made him pause. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “No, you said you wouldn’t rape me, or that you wouldn’t have to rape me. I don’t think you clarified hurting me.”

  He grinned. “Touché. I won’t hurt you, Amia. Not intentionally.”

  “Then untie me. My arms hurt.”

  He moved his gaze up to her bound hands and let out a grunt as he took in the slight burn marks on her wrists just visible above the ropes. So the burns were her fault actually, from pulling and tugging. But he was as much to blame. He’d tied her up. He made quick work of the knots and had her hands in his, rubbing them then moving his hands down her arms in a brisk massage that brought all her nerves screaming to life.

  She moaned, and he sat next to her as he continued stroking her.

  “I wasn’t thinking. Sorry. I had to make sure you wouldn’t run if you woke up before I did.”

  “What makes you think I’d run?”

  He chuckled at that. “Everything about you. Unfortunately, I can’t let you go.”

  “Why?” Once again, his claim filled her mind. Mine.

  She saw it in his eyes, in the flash of neon that fought to overpower the natural blue, but he shook it off.

  “I came here searching for answers. Answers I didn’t get.”

  “What you got was almost killed. Was that in your plan?”

  “I was overconfident. My mistake.”

  “I doubt it’s your first, or last.”

  He met her gaze, and she felt a strong desire to comfort him at the sorrow she saw in his eyes. But his next words stopped her cold.

  “Not so bad of a mistake, seeing as it brought me you. And I think you might be what I came here for.”

  “Who, you mean. I’m a person, not a thing.”

  He nodded his head but said nothing, and she felt a chill go down her spine.

  “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”

  He shook his head.

  “I saved you. They would have killed you. My God, they had you close to death…” Her voice trailed off as she really looked at him.

  His face had been swollen all to hell. He’d had cuts and bruises all over him. But now? Other than a slight bit of discoloration here and there, his face was sheer masculine perfection. How had he healed so fast? That wasn’t possible? Was it?

  “Take your shirt off,” she commanded, wanting to see if the wounds she’d seen there had healed as well.

  Reno grinned as he reached for the hem of his shirt. “Change your mind, darling?”

  She snorted and shook her head. “Not likely.”

  He loomed over her now, with a bare chest that had her lungs seizing with a lack of oxygen. Jesus, he was gorgeous. A nice patch of dark hair spread across his torso and trailed down over his abdomen in a downy line that disappeared beneath the snug jeans that hugged the blatant outline of his sex. Oh, he’d be more than a mouthful, and damn if she didn’t want to taste him as much as he’d said he wanted to taste her. She was so close to saying yes to him. So close it scared her just a bit.

  “Like what you see?” He leaned back and spread his arms wide, giving her a better look at his broad chest and taut abdomen.

  He appeared to have a twelve pack! It was a sin for a man to look this good. And she was weak, getting weaker by the minute. She did her best to shake the lustful glaze out of her eyes and really look at him. Once again, nothing but some minor discoloration here and there. A few old wounds that looked as if he’d taken a few bullets. She had one of those herself.

  “You’re healed,” she finally managed to whisper.

  He looked disgruntled at her observation but not surprised. It wasn’t human to heal like that. She’d accused him earlier of being different. The glow around him, the neon eyes, and now the ability to heal quicker than was humanly possible. She’d been told all her life shifters existed. But her family was crazy? Weren’t they?

  His eyes met hers.

  “Who are you?” she asked again, and she wasn’t talking about his name.

  Reno wondered what was going through Amia’s head. She was a Blane, no matter her adamancy that she had no family. She had to have been raised on what shifters were like. Please, God, don’t tell him they just picked people out at random and tortured the fuck out of them just because they thought they might be. Surely the hunters had some guidelines they followed, characteristics they looked for? There must be a hunter handbook like Abby had read about. Whatever it was, Reno needed to know what they were, and Amia was his only source of information now.

  He was twitchy as hell, and he knew why. The spirit inside him was no longer lying dormant. It was awake and ready to take control. He felt it pushing at him every time he looked at her. It wanted the sexy woman badly. Truth was, he did too. But he knew his duty. She was a means to the answers they were desperate to get, and the good of the group came before anything personal. No matter how much his cock ached, his teeth ached, and fuck, even his chest ached.

  “Who are you?” Amia asked.

  He wanted to wipe the fear off her face. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him.

  “I told you who I am.”

  “You told me your name,” she countered. “Not what you are.”

  He shrugged shoulders that suddenly felt as if they held the weight of the world. “I’m just a man, Amia.”

  She shook her head, denying his words. “You’re more than a man.”

  He let his lips flip up in a cocky grin. “I’d be happy to show you just how much of a man I am.”

  She snorted and rolled her eyes. All he had to do was invite sex, and she pulled back. She wanted him. He could smell the sweet scent of her pussy. It had his mouth watering. But she wasn’t ready to admit she wanted him. He hoped she did soon. The animal in him was riding him hard, urging him to take her, and he would. He would take what she offered, and he really hoped she offered everything. For a moment, he felt a desire to claim her in a primal way, to mark and mate her as Tah had Abby, but he shook it off. A woman deserved more than a man who would always feel compelled to put the needs of others first.

  “What exactly are you planning to do with me?” Her eyes were wide, curious.

  He felt himself sinking into the green orbs. “I’m taking you back with me.”

  “Back where?” Now she looked scared, and that didn’t sit well with man or beast.

  But it couldn’t be helped at the moment. He needed her. No, he needed answers from her.

  “Home.”

  She shook her head desperately. “I can’t go with you. Trust me, it’s not a good idea. I can’t tell you what you want to know. I’m nobody, Reno. Nobody.”

  Now wasn’t that a lie.

  “It’s the only thing to do now. I can’t go back to Parkview. Neither can you.”

  She snorted. “I always go back.”

  She mutt
ered the words under her breath, but he heard them anyways.

  “Why? Why do you go back? Why were you there? And why did you rescue me?”

  “So you do remember I saved your ass. You owe me for that. You have to let me go.”

  He shook his head. “I have a feeling you’d run right back and get yourself caught.”

  “They always catch up with me eventually.” And she sounded as if she’d accepted that.

  “You could be safe with me, with us. We’d protect you. We just need information, Amia. We need to know what we’re up against.” What the fuck? Where in the hell had those words come from?

  She laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. “You’re up against your worst nightmare. They’ll get you if they want you. No matter how fast or how far you run.”

  “Didn’t look to me like you were running away from them. Seemed like you were challenging them to stop you.”

  “And aren’t you lucky I did.” She sneered at him.

  “I am.” He nodded in agreement. “But why would you do it? Why take the risk?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” She sounded almost broken by that confession.

  “I won’t let them hurt you.” But he sensed they already had.

  “Why do you even care?”

  Good question. One he couldn’t answer at the moment. All he could do was give her the truth. “I don’t know. I just do.”

  Her bitter laugh filled the room again. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  He stalked over to her and leaned down so they were face to face. “I will kill anyone who dares try to hurt you. Good enough for you?” He bared his teeth, knowing his elongated canines were shocking to her. They were still shocking to him, and he’d been anticipating them since Tah. Nothing. Until this trip. Until he’d met her. Now, they were nice and long, filling his mouth. “I will rip out the throats of anyone who even tries.”

  “I need to go to the restroom,” she finally whispered, her eyes flicking away from his face. He didn’t sense fear, but there was something there, something subtle.

  He moved away and used his arm to point her toward the bathroom door.