The Tiger Luna

Rejected?

His mind was still a mess the following morning as he sat in front of his desk and pulled out Frost's business card. He hadn't really paid much attention to it last night, but the card was stamped with the insignia of one of his businesses. He looked her up in the employee database and found himself scanning her job records. As he looked through all of the designs she had done, he was impressed with her work and a plan began to formulate in his mind.

He had been in the process of updating one of the restaurants that he owned and he would bring her on as the consultant. He already knew for a fact that she wasn't a wolf, he would've sensed that, but she was definitely supernatural and he wanted to know why she would try to reject her mate. Most females were ecstatic upon finding their mates and he needed the cover of a job to get inside her head. He had confidence that given time with her, he would be able to capture the heart of his mate... a mate that he had never wanted until he found himself in her presence.

I knew that you wouldn't be able to resist our mate. Now get on the phone and make her come back, Ragnar grouched in his head.

I'm trying, you impatient mutt. The words were harsh but his wolf was undisturbed because he was putting in the information that would bring mate back. After less than five minutes, he had all the proper paperwork in and a confirmation that she would be at his office within the hour. An added bonus was that she wouldn't even think to refuse because his name wasn't on the business. While he waited on her, he decided to run to his favorite coffee shop and get some breakfast for the two of them.

He had never before done that for a morning meeting, but this was his mate and he needed to win her over. She was hiding something that made her think she could reject him and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He weaved his bike through the early morning traffic and soon slid into a place at the coffee joint. He traipsed inside, placed his order then stored it carefully in his saddle bags and returned to his office. He took his acquired bags back up to his large office and placed a bagel, a muffin, a bowl of fruit and a caramel latte on her side of the desk.

Before he even realized how much time had passed, his secretary buzzed him to let that Miss Winters had arrived and he told her to send her in.

He was unprepared for the sight that met his eyes when she came in and he was glad her nose was buried in a folder. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that stopped inches above her knee, paired with an emerald top and stilettos that added an extra 4" to her height. The outfit only served to accentuate the curves that he had his hands all over the night before and he wanted to sink his teeth into her. As he stared at her, he wanted nothing more than to throw her rejection back and refuse it, force her to accept him... except he was well aware those tactics would not work with her.

When she did finally glance up, shock filled her ocean colored eyes and she stopped where she was, rooted in place. He could see the uncertainty reflected in her gaze and he wanted nothing more than to be met by the sure stare he had seen at the races. He didn't like the look of nerves that flashed across her face before she steeled her expression and dropped into the seat across from him. "Would you like to tell me what exactly I'm doing here, Mr. Winston?"

He didn't like her formal tone or the way she refused to meet his eyes and the discomfort he could sense as she stared at her folder. He motioned to the food and coffee laid out before her and tried to get her to look at him. "I got you some breakfast because I assumed you hadn't had anything to eat this morning."

"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't find myself all that hungry this morning."

Mate is lying. She hasn't had anything to eat this morning and I can tell that she's been crying too. Ragnar sounded like a wounded puppy as he whimpered in my mind and the sound put me on edge. I picked up the cup of coffee and bowl of fruit, extending my hands out to her. "I can sense when you're lying to me, Frost, and my wolf won't concentrate while he knows you're hungry." He said the words softly and, to his surprise, she mumbled a quiet thank you and reached for the food. Her soft gasp filled the office when their fingers brushed as she took the offered food and he wanted to play the sensual sound on repeat for the rest of his life. "I would like to discuss what happened last night before we get into the details of this job."

She paused with a piece of mango midway to her mouth and her eyes widened with worry. Her cheeks reddened with a blush as Cleopatra pranced in her head and begged her for her mate. The tiger was tip toeing on her last nerve and she just needed her to be quiet so that she could concentrate. It was already a difficult task with his distracting scent of salty air and sandalwood permeating the space around her. She may have steeled herself against the idea of having a mate, but her tiger had not and she was struggling against the bond. It was a task made even harder due to the fact that she had already slept with him. "Look, I'm sorry that this happened and for the disappointment, but I simply can't have a mate. It isn't safe for either one of us."

He growled once more at her words as Ragnar howled in his mind and a chunk of the desk broke off in his hands. "I don't accept that answer. If you want me to simply walk away, you're going to have to give me a much better reason than that. I am the Alpha of the Ocean Moon Pack and more than capable of protecting my mate."

TRUST HIM! Cleopatra roared in my head and she snarled angrily, knowing that neither of them were giving her a choice. "You can't protect myself and your pack from the dangers I'm facing. I drag race because I'm trying to get a slot on a team that I've been keeping my eye on for three years! They take special shifters, ship them off over seas and they're other bought by the highest bidder or experimented on until their bodies give out. I've lost everyone that I care about to these monsters and I refuse to lose my mate to them! I would rather reject you than see you fall into their hands."

His mind spun a million miles a second as her words sunk into his head, but one thing stood out to him. "What are you that they've taken everyone you care about?" he question softly, afraid of spooking his on edge mate.

Her head snapped up at his question, as though she had yet to realize how much she had given away already and he waited. Her eyes flashed from ocean to sapphire and back a few times as she struggled with Cleopatra and then she let out a defeated snarl. Hail recoiled at the noise because it was unlike any noise he'd ever heard from a wolf, but she wasn't like him and she was about to see where that knowledge got her. "I'm a weretiger..... a Siberian weretiger."

Shock registered on his face as he wrapped his mind around her words. He could care less that his mate wasn't a wolf, the goddess didn't make mistakes, but as far as he knew that line of royal blood had been wiped out decades earlier. If what his mate said was true, then her entire species and many more uncommon species were in danger. "You're one of the last Saber's in existence? We had been told that you were all wiped out, that your den was demolished in the eighties."

Her eyes flashed sapphire again and a growl left her throat menacingly. "That is what the poachers would have our community believe to hide what they've been doing. I have to get accepted into this driving program so that I can rescue the others before they meet the same fate as my family. They take any unusual species of were that they can find because we're bigger than normal and sell for more. The ones that they don't sell, they take to a warehouse for testing. They're trying to breed their own controllable were army." She looked up from the coffee in her delicate hands and met his gaze with tears in her own. "I can't risk losing my mate to them, I don't think that I would survive that," she whispered brokenly.

His eyes flared molten gold as Ragnar pushed his way forward, needing to console his mate in any way that he could. "Nothing will ever happen to me, my Sahara flower. I will do everything in my power to see to it that we bring these men down and release your friends."

A strangled sob tore through her at his declaration and she shook her head violently, denying his offer of aid. "You don't understand. I've already lost everything. I can't risk you stepping in and losing you too, it would break me as nothing has before."

Hail's heart softened at her words and he came from behind the desk to kneel between her legs, forcing her to meet his gaze. "I swear to you that you will not lose me, Frost. I'm an Alpha with a pack of 1,350 wolves at my command and I'm more than capable of protecting myself. I just refuse to lose my mate." At the stubborn look on her face, he resigned himself to playing dirty and decided to get his mate no matter what. "Our bond has already been set into motion and if you turn me away, I'll hand myself over to these poachers and help anyway."

The idea of him purposely handing himself over to those poachers made her snap her teeth in fury and she almost lost control and shifted. She may be prepared to reject her mate to keep him safe, but she refused to be the very reason that he was captured. "That isn't fair, Hail. You can't just threaten to give yourself up in order to get me to change my mind."

"I honestly don't give a damn if it's fair or not, Frost. You can either do this with the help of your mate or I will be forced to act on my own. How about you stop being so bull headed and listen to your tiger? If you think about it, you'll see that my proposal is for the best for everyone and I have more backing than you. Don't you think they'll find a woman in that world on her own more suspicious than a group?" She seemed to think about it for a moment before she shook her head and he was tempted to simply mark her anyway. "Easy way or hard way then, Frost. I refuse to lose you and I know that your tiger will feel the same. You can either stop fighting our bond, or I can go ahead and mark you right here."

He could smell her arousal in the air at his heart felt words, but she stiffened her spine and met his gaze with challenge. "You could try, but I assure you that it would not end well for you." Oh, come on, Frost, just let us be with mate, Cleopatra purred as she inhaled more of his scent and stalked the walls of her mind.

Hail smiled in triumph at her words because he knew very well just how good it would end for him judging by her hibiscus and sea salt scent in the air. "I doubt that very highly, Frost. As a matter of fact, I think that if I marked you right now, you would be bent over my desk in a matter of minutes," he rumbled lustfully and saw her eyes darken at his words.

"Would you like to test that theory?" she challenged once more.

Ragnar and Hail had never faced such a challenging woman, most simply submitted and fell into his bed willingly. Just mark her already. Her tiger is more than happy with the idea of being our mate. Ragnar's urging was the only encouragement he needed as his canines lengthened and he moved too suddenly for Frost to react.

One instant he was knelt on the floor between her knees and in the next his teeth were buried in the flesh at her neck. Desire unlike any that she had ever known coursed through her veins as his side of the bond snapped into place and she moaned passionately as Cleopatra shoved her way to the surface. Before Frost could do anything, her teeth buried themselves into his muscled neck and the bond solidified as she felt Ragnar howl in her mind as well. It was well beyond her control now, unchangeable now that her mark was in place so she gave in to the fire raging in her veins.

Her teeth still firmly clamped over his neck, Frost fumbled with the zipper of his slacks and shoved them out of her way. Hail's teeth released her, his tongue sliding over the wound to seal it and he shoved her skirt up her sexy tan legs. He needed to be inside his mate again right this instant and he was not prepared to wait. The little minx moaned beneath him as his knuckles grazed the lace hiding her from his sight and he tore the scrap of material off with a growl. As soon as the offensive material was removed, he shoved two fingers inside her as his thumb worked her clit. She released his neck with a scream of ecstasy and almost came apart from the spark flooding her system. "Mmmm. Little mate is so wet for us," he growled as he sat her on the edge of his desk. "I hope you like it rough because I'm going to punish you for ever thinking that you could run from me."

Before she could even formulate a response, he pushed inside her, sliding deep into her heat and she sunk her nails into his back. He threw his head back and roared at the feel of his sweet mate beneath him. The sound of his arousal pushed her over the edge and her entire body shook as pleasure tore through her. He was nowhere near done though, needing to prove to her that she belonged to him and his thumb fell back to her clit. He coaxed another three orgasms from her before he could handle it no longer and spilled his seed deep in her womb, content that she now belonged to him once and for all.

He finally managed to catch his breath, but her reaction was not at all what he expected and a growl escaped as her hand left a red print on his cheek. Before he could further react, she shoved him away from her and straightened out her skirt. Hey eyes were spitting fire at him, but it was all her. Ragnar assured him that Cleopatra was more than content with their choice and the two retreated to let the humans figure out their own problems. "What the f**k were you thinking?! You can't just go around marking your mate by force! I should rip your throat out where you stand!"

He didn't let her threats bother him in the least because he knew she could never follow through. Their mate bond was firmly in place now and would not allow her to damage him to terribly. He had utter confidence that he could handle this feisty cat that Fate had dropped in his lap. His laughter only made her expression darken further with fury as he zipped his slacks and straightened his shirt. "Play high and mighty all you want, kitten, but you're not the only one bearing a mark now. Whether you want to admit it or not, you wanted this every bit as much as I did and what's done is done."

His flippant words only succeeded in further riling her up and she snatched her folder from his desk. "Do you honestly think any female in her right mind would want to be tied to you? The billionaire playboy who has a new plaything clinging to his arm every week? The only reason that you bear my mark is because Cleopatra didn't bother to ask my opinion before doing so. I don't need to be constantly worried about what w***e is going to find her way into your bed while I'm trying to save the lives of the only family that I have! The two of us were only meant to be a roll in the hay and now, thanks to you, I'm trapped with a mate that will grow bored of me as soon as the next woman throws herself at you."

Her carelessly flung words cut him deeply because up until her they had been utterly true and Ragnar had warned him. His wolf had often told him that any decent mate would be furious over his womanizing ways and now he regretted not listening. In his defense, he had also not been prepared for the little spitfire he had been gifted as a mate. Most females were simply happy to find their mate and assumed that the bond would straighten them out over time, not so with Frost. "I would never purposefully do anything to hurt you, you're my mate!"

"A mate you marked against my will which means I can still reject you." He would have comment on that, but her eyes flashed back and forth several times as she fought with her tiger and finally snarled. "f**k!" The word ripped viciously from her throat as Cleopatra refused to com to her aid and she was left on her own. The traitorous tiger wasn't upset in the least that their mate had marked them and threatened to forever shut her out should she try to reject them again. She was utterly out of options here unless she was willing to lose half of herself. "You f**k around with us and I swear to the goddess I'll bury your ass, got it?" He nodded and she huffed as she had no choice but to submit to the will of the goddess for the moment. "Now, is this all you need or I am free to get back to the job that actually pays my bills?"

She still sounded furious, but she would eventually get over now that she wasn't about to reject him and he could eventually get her to like him. He was a notorious ladies man after all, but he got the distinct feeling his mate would not be so easily swayed by his charm. "Actually, I did call you here about a job, a rather large one and I wanted you to take lead on it."