Was I dead?
I yanked my pants up and buttoned them with swift movements. After a quick sweep of the area, I knelt and rolled up my waterproof synthetic blanket, my thoughts drifting back to the wild woman.
I came in seconds, but she hadn’t pushed off me . . . and I didn’t want her to. She was so wet she soaked me. My cock swelled within my breeches.
Panic slithered around my throat, winding tight. The new sensation made me want to shout for that odd woman. To order her to return.
This place is fucking with my head. She was just a hallucination . . .
I shoved the foliage out of the way with more force than needed and looked down at the compass on my watch to track my location. Once I reached a point high enough for me to find that tree, then I could start making my way out of this odd fucking place. Or whatever this fever dream was. Yanking on my pack, I started through the jungle again, moving with difficulty without my machete.
Instead of carving a way through, I had to duck and shove while doing my best not to touch anything. A branch snapped, and I stilled to listen. When there was no other sound, I pushed forward. It wasn’t like I had a weapon to fight.
The snap of a branch echoed again.
Was I being followed?
Chapter 3
Soleil
I hunkereddown in some brush far enough that he wouldn’t see or hear me, but I could still track him. As much as his words battered against me, digging their claws into my pelt, we were inevitable. We were mates.
He didn’t know it yet, but we would always crave each other. Want each other with a need so visceral he would not be able to live without me. His reaction was normal; all humans feared my Beast form. What left me reeling was believing it would be easier for him to see my human body first, but that hadn’t helped either. He was still frightened.
Mate shoved through foliage with angry swipes, cutting and slicing a path with ease. He would have been a magnificent Beast. I loped up the next branch, digging my claws into the trunk to get higher to keep him within sight. Keeping my distance was harder than I thought it would be—the fur on the back of my neck stood.
Another predator was near.
I lowered my head, sweeping my attention around my mate. A flash of movement forced me to burst off the tree, bolting forward, uncaring of the noise I made. Those stripes looked familiar, and that was very bad. My mate couldn’t meet the samefate as the previous couple. Claws slicing open their bellies, the tiger devouring their meat . . . Leaves smacked against my pelt, but I didn’t let it slow me. A roar exploded through the jungle, and I unsheathed my claws, breaking through the final leafy barrier keeping me from my mate. He faced the stalking tiger, backing up with his eyes narrowed on it, ready to fight it.
No fear showed in his eyes, just intense focus.
It made me want to claim him more.
I didn’t stop my momentum, wanting to take every advantage. Springing with my claws out, I sank them into the tiger’s pelt, clinging.
The tiger roared while his head swung from side to side. He was twice my size, but I couldn’t let him kill Mate. Rearing, the tiger managed to shake me off, but not before I gouged my claws down his side. His bellow caused birds to take flight. I landed on my side, rolling with the momentum to back up with my head lowered. The tiger faced me, ignoring Mate. I backed up, trying to get him to follow me. Even if it meant my death, I would get him away from here.
I chirped, flicked my gaze to Mate who remained frozen, chest bursting up and down with ragged breaths.Leave here. I hoped he could read my insistence in the small look because the tiger lunged. Though I evaded his first swipe, he did it again and managed to toss me to the side. I rolled from the impact. Before I could stand, the tiger was on me while I scrabbled against the dirt.
If he managed to grab hold of my throat, that was it for me; I wouldn’t be able to save Mate. I jerked to the side, and his teeth sank into my shoulder. With a yowl, I sliced at his side frantically.
Suddenly, a loud hiss exploded through the clearing. A bright, searing light burst to life. The tiger jerked, and its teethreleased my shoulder. He whirled on Mate who was now holding flames, then roared and loped away.
I rolled onto my side and carefully climbed to my feet, and my paw buckled. The thing Mate held fizzled, the flames slowly fading. I squinted against the light, trying to gather my strength until it was nothing more than smoke.
Mate approached slowly—cautiously. I didn’t move an inch. Watching what he’d do. He exhaled slowly, nostrils flaring.
“Are you okay?”
I cocked my head.He was asking about me?I carefully crept closer, ignoring how he stiffened, and rubbed the top of my head against his pants, purring.
Mate gasped, and I flicked my ears, listening for any other sounds. “You’re bleeding?” His hand hovered over my injury. “And I care?” he said that so low, I wouldn’t have heard it if I wasn’t in my Beast form. I moved to the side so he wouldn’t touch the painful patch.
He took a step back and stared down at me. I sat on my haunches, looking up at him. The way he watched me was like he watched the tiger, but I would not harm him. I sniffed, inhaling remnant fear clinging to him.
Shifting, I stayed sitting.
