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Leisurely, he stood up and stretched a bit before taking a step toward her. Squeaking, she automatically pushed herself further back on the bed, and he paused, staring at her. Cocking his head, he looked at her steadily, his eyes calm and reassuring. With a deep breath, telling herself to get it together, she held out a trembling hand, beckoning him closer.
He moved in close, and unable to help herself, she squeezed her eyes closed. Soft fur brushed her fingers and then he held still, not moving. When he did nothing else, she slowly opened her eyes, looking at her hand resting on his head. It looked incredibly tiny against his huge head, and she couldn’t help her giggle at the image.
Rolling his bright blue eyes toward her, he nudged her hand, and she got the message. Tentatively at first, then gaining confidence, she ran her hand over his head, burying her fingers in his fur. It was incredibly soft to touch, and she started petting him with both hands, enjoying it. He started purring, and judging by the look in his eyes and the way he leaned into her touch, he was enjoying it, as well.
Holy moly. She was petting a tiger. And it wasn’t just any tiger. It was Ian.
Her life had taken a strange, out of this world turn, but she had to admit, she wouldn’t change a moment of it. Ian had been telling her the truth about his dual nature, and she thought hard, digging deep inside her to see if this affected things, if it changed her feelings for him. But it didn’t.
Tiger or not, he was still just Ian, the most amazing man she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. And he was hers. After a lifetime of tragedy, how in the world did she get so lucky? If this was the universe’s way of balancing the scales, it was being done in spectacular fashion.
After a while, the tiger backed up, making the same hunching motion Ian had earlier. In a moment, Ian was standing in front of her, gloriously naked. Shooting her a breath-stealing smile, he quickly pulled on his jeans and shirt, reclaiming the spot beside her on the bed. Leaning in, he placed a soft kiss on her lips that was intense, for all its gentleness.
“Thank you for that,” he whispered as he pulled back, staring into her eyes. “Thank you for not completely freaking out. For accepting me and allowing that moment.”
Blinking back the tears misting her eyes, Holly stroked his cheek and shook her head. “Thank you for giving me that moment. For telling me the truth.”
Pressing another kiss to her lips, he pulled back with a crooked smile. “Now that we’ve both thanked each other, do you have questions?”
“So many,” she admitted with a small grin. “But first—you said Shelby is a tiger, as well?”
“She is. She’s not that happy about it, but there’s nothing anyone can do to change it.”
“Why isn’t she happy with it?”
Blowing out a breath, Ian squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. When he reopened them, pain glinted from the bright blue depths. “Shelby’s mother is a tiger, as well. I met her when I was nineteen, too young and stupid to realize her true nature. Se
e, my adopted parents weren’t shifters. I learned what I knew about being a shifter from Chase MacKeltar. We’ve been friends since we were kids, and he recognized what I was, talked me through it.
“When my parents died, I wanted to find more people like me. Chase was great, but he and his family are wolves, and the only other shifters around are grizzlies. I wanted to find more tigers, learn more about my culture. I heard of a tribe not too far from here, and I set out to find them. They weren’t welcoming, not in the slightest, but I was determined to stay as long as I could and learn about my heritage. I met a girl around my age, Farrah, and she was nice to me. The only one there who was. And before long, I was falling into bed with her.”
Ian paused, and her heart clenched, jealousy flooding her. Lecturing herself about how she had no right to be jealous, considering her past with Kyle, she attempted to keep her voice even when she spoke. “And Farrah is Shelby’s mom?”
“Egg donor is more like it,” he spat, a muscle in his jaw bunching tight. “After she got pregnant, she became distant. I thought it was because I didn’t have a place in the tribe, no way of bringing in the income to support her and the baby. So I left with the promise to make things right. I met up with Jax, who I knew from school, and for lack of better options, we learned how to fight. We fought underground, in brutal fights where we had to suppress our animals and our instincts. When a shifter is in a fight, their animal wants out so they can protect and defend. But we couldn’t allow that to happen, so we worked endlessly on control.
“It was hard, though. Sometimes we were expected to throw a fight if we wanted a payday, and that was always the hardest. Letting someone pummel you and hardly fighting back is unnatural to a shifter. To anyone, really, but more so for one of us. But we began making good money, and after the baby was born, I went back to the War Cats, eager to take care of my little family.”
He paused, and Holly squeezed his hand, trying to lend him her support. She could tell, by the look in his eyes, that whatever he had to say next was going to be bad.
“One important aspect of tiger culture, something I wasn’t even aware of, is they prize beauty,” he continued. “Above all else. It’s more important to them than honor, strength, kindness—anything. Anyone who is not physically perfect, whether they’re just not pleasing to the eye, or whether they have an actual deformity, is considered Other, and at the bottom of the tribe. They’re believed to be less than the others, less important, less meaningful, just less. And they’re treated as such, often becoming servants and good for nothing more than serving the higher ranking members.
“Shelby’s birthmark put her in that category. And she was treated accordingly. Even by Farrah. To give birth to a child with what they consider a deformity is a mark of shame. Farrah’s rank was lowered, and she took it out on Shelby. She would have treated her like dirt anyway, because that’s the tiger way, but she was even more harsh and abusive because of how Shelby reflected on her.
“Farrah didn’t want her. She hated her, in fact. But tiger’s also do not give up their cubs, so no matter how I begged and pleaded, she wouldn’t let me take Shelby. I didn’t give a damn about a birthmark, and I could have killed every member of that tribe for their treatment of her, starting with Farrah. But I was denied custody and forcibly removed from the gates. They never let me back in. I’d come back every few months, and one of the tribe would bring Shelby to the gates so I could see her. God, Holly. She was this really skinny, scared, filthy little thing, and more often than not, covered in bruises.”
“Oh my God,” Holly breathed, heart breaking at the image. “Poor Shelby. How can anyone treat a child like that? I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just let you have her, if they hated her so much.”
“It’s a pride thing with the tigers,” he replied grimly. “I wasn’t raised in that culture, so I don’t understand it, but it’s everything to them. You know, I used to feel lost, like I was nothing without my people. But now I’m beyond grateful that I never grew up surrounded in that.” He went quiet for a moment, muscle jumping rhythmically in his jaw. “They had her waiting on other members of the tribe by the time she was two. Who does that? She was just a baby.”
Tears burning her eyes, Holly shook her head helplessly. That’s not something she’d ever understand. Pausing as a thought occurred to her, she said, “Wait, didn’t you say Kian is from her tribe? And you guys made a comment earlier about him being a prince, so he must be pretty high ranking, right?”
“He is. The only person more powerful than Kian is his father, the alpha.”
“Then why the hell didn’t he put a stop to it? If he’s that powerful, he would have been able to, but he didn’t. And here you are, close friends with him, letting him spend all this time with Shelby?” she said, indignant and ready to throw Kian out of Shelby’s life herself, tiger prince or not.
Looking at her in appreciation, he smiled. “You would make an amazing tigress. I’d love to see it one day.” Her eyes widened at his words, but he continued speaking like what he said wasn’t earth shattering. “Kian wasn’t there for it, or he would have stopped it. He left to travel around the world, visit his family’s homeland of India, right before I showed up the first time. When he finally came home and saw how Shelby was being treated, he stepped in as her protector and put a stop to it. He also lobbied his father to let me have custody of Shelby. Without his help, I never would have gotten her back. She’d still be stuck with her mother in that horrible excuse for a tribe.”
“I see,” she said softly. “I guess he deserves a medal instead of an ass whooping, then.”
