“And you!” Pip poked yellow eyes in the chest. “Stay back. Don’t you know what a protective tiger looks like? He’ll eat your face off, and that’d be a shame because dear goddess your face is sheer perfection.”
And as if that wasn’t enough, another perfect specimen of mankind appeared in the hallway. This one had blue hair, and blue eyes, and wings, and he had asword. Pip swooned and landed against Tony’s broad back. His tiger didn’t mind, but the guy beneath him let out a grunt of pain.
“Oh, sorry. Forgot you were under there for a second. Please, please tell me you’re my mate,” Pip said to the blue-eyed dream. “I mean, if it isn’t hunky pants over here, then it better be you.”
“Step back, Guardian. I must… save my mate from… the giant cat which is licking him.” Blue eyes hadn’t really even looked his way.
Pip tried not to pout as he looked down again and found Tony happily grooming the poor guy he’d pinned. “Tony! Seriously. You’re gonna crush the poor guy’s kidney, and then his mate is gonna be cranky. And hey, they’re probably here to rescue us. Wouldn’t that be great?”
Tony lifted his head and made another of his growly sounds.
“So move your big giant furry butt, already!”
“Dakota, is he speaking to the tiger?” Blue Hair was adorably confused. Sure, he wasn’t as hunky as Hunky Pants, but he was definitely worthy of some Pip-on-him action. There was something really erotic about him. And the wings. Pip had some serious ideas of things to do with those wings. Naughty, naughty things.
Yellow eyes, whose name was clearly Dakota, plucked Pip off of Tony’s back before he could disappear into his daydream, and he dangled in the air in front of him. “I believe so.”
Pip leaned his head back and smiled at who was obviously his hunky hunk of a mate. Clearly, this was going to be one of those romance novels where the alpha hero didn’t like his plucky mate when they first met, but over time the plucky one wore them down, and then they had incredible sex often and repeatedly and fell in love for ever and ever.
“He makes strange swooning noises,” Dakota said.
“I’m not making strange— meep!”
Dakota moved Pip aside once more and the gorgeous blue-eyed man came into the room.
“Can someone help me?” Sawyer asked.
Pip wished he knew Blue Hair’s name. He really was a beautiful man. And the sword thing was really hot. Pip turned back to his mate. “Do you have a sword?”
“What?” Dakota asked.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to use a sword to be hot.”
“You are very strange. Ask your pet to move off of my mate.”
Pip’s heart fell. His mate. And Blue Hair said boy-next-door was his mate, too. Not fair. Neither one of them were Pip’s mate? Sawyer got two and Pip got none.
“Not fair.”
“Is he… injured?” Blue Hair asked.
“Loch,” Sawyer gasped. “Giant tiger. Focus.”
“He’s not hurting you,” Loch said.
“He’s really not,” Dakota added. “You’d be dead already.”
“Feels like I’m dying,” Sawyer gasped.
“Oh yeah, he’s heavy as hell,” Pip said. “Tony! Look!”
Pip cast his spell and the otters leapt out in a second. They bounced all over Tony’s head, annoying him until he moved and swatted them away. Sawyer managed to stand up, but once he did, he had Tony’s attention once more.
“Brace yourself,” Pip warned.
Tony bumped his head into Sawyer’s chest and sent him flying back against Loch.
“He likes you,” Pip said. “Which is weird, because he doesn’t like anybody except me.”
