The Tiger’s Curvy Mate: Shifter Romance

5. Winter

5

Winter

Mazy knocked at my door. She had come to check up on me. I couldn’t bring myself to open the door. I still lived in fear. I’d thought he was the scariest thing I could ever run into. I was wrong. So very wrong. Oh God.

I pressed my head into my hands, trying to escape my memories from that night. Had it been two days ago? It felt like an eternity, but also like no time at all had passed. I could still hear his claws, his claws scraping the ground as he barreled after me.

“Winnie! Please open the door,” Mazy called out again, freeing me from the memory. She couldn’t help me. She wouldn’t even believe me. Hell, I didn’t even believe me. But … then again.

Sluggishly, I uncurled myself from the position I had taken the moment I arrived back here sometime the afternoon before. I had been running, changing direction frequently to try to throw my pursuer off my trail. I knew it was stupid to come back here, but I had intended to grab the essentials and immediately run for the hills. Instead, once I arrived, whatever had kept me going all night and half the day ran out.

I made it across my too-small apartment. The living room-s***h-kitchen-s***h-dining room held one well-loved brown suede couch I’d found discarded on the sidewalk downstairs. It pointed at the secondhand TV. My bed filled the floor in my tiny bedroom, and all my clothes were shoved into the closet. At the very least I had the living combo room clean. A hysterical laugh bubbled up my throat.

My hand clutched the doorknob as I tried to calm the racking sobs tearing through me. The laughter had dissolved into tears, weeping that came at me with a force I couldn’t control. And the weirdest, saddest part of it all was I couldn’t stop wishing Quentin stood on the other side of the door. I didn’t know him at all, but the entire time I had been chased, I’d hoped he would appear.

When I opened the door, Mazy pulled me into her arms and held me close. Mazy was at least a foot taller than me. I was practically making out with her chest at the moment, but only her hug mattered. The foreign feeling that had started to grow in me over the past few days longed for this. Needed the comfort more than I did.

“Did he come here? Did he come after you?”

I stiffened in her arms. Did she know about the bear-man? How could she know? Was she in cahoots with Jimmy? Was she about to sell me out?

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have gotten you drunk that night and asked such personal questions, but I was worried about you. You told me about your ex. Did he come here?”

I hesitated. She stroked my hair which was a tangled mess from all the running and the times I hid in the bushes. I knew I looked like a walking disaster. I didn’t recall telling her about him, but at the moment I couldn’t find it in me to be angry she tricked me. My bones felt heavy, my limbs weighed a ton. Exhaustion seeped in my blood. But the comfort of her hug kept away the fear.

“No, it was something entirely different. I’m not sure you will even believe me.”

I pulled away from her. Maybe she would because her eyes flashed the same way the man’s did before he changed into the bear. The giant, ugly grizzly bear with matted fur, a scarred up body, and an angry, hungry glare.

“Maybe we should get you cleaned up and then you can tell us.” Mazy turned a little so Derek became visible behind her. He paled at seeing me. I didn’t realize I looked that bad.

Mazy walked me to the bathroom. She helped me with running the water and getting it hot enough then retreated to the main room. As soon as she left, I undressed. Once in the shower, I hurried to get clean, feeling a little better knowing Mazy and Derek sat outside the door and I was no longer alone.

When I finished, I realized I didn’t have any clothes to change into. I didn’t want to go out in just a towel in front of my boss, so I went to the door and called for Mazy. She brought me some clothes from my disaster of a closet, and I dressed and joined them. Derek kept moving in his seat. Worry filled Mazy’s eyes once again when she saw me.

“We thought something terrible happened to you, Winnie.”

“Something terrible did happen.”

Derek moved again, his brows furled and his lips pressed down.

“What?” Mazy caught my attention again with her question.

So I told them about what had happened to me. I told them I saw Jimmy outside talking to the two men. How they talked about rare shifters. Then explained I’d had no idea what they meant until one of them morphed into a giant grizzly bear in front of me. When I finished, Mazy looked a little murderous, her hands tensed up into fists, and her cheeks got red. Derek was even paler than before.

“I don’t know what to do.” I didn’t want to reveal my suspicion they were like the men who chased me. I didn’t tell them Sammie, the goon, thought I was one of them, a shifter, either. Fear kept me quiet about those things. Mazy looked over at Derek who stared into the corner. The anticipation built, my hands started to shake as I waited for their reactions.

“Winnie, settle down.”

I had started to pace at one point; I wasn’t even sure when. I didn’t think I could settle down. The shower had woken my body and telling them the whole insane story made me feel agitated. I sat down only to stand up again.

“Winnie,” Mazy called.

I rubbed my hands over my face and sat back down feeling a little more ready to listen to Mazy. I needed answers. Answers would give me clarity. I knew what she was going to say. Mazy scooted to sit on the edge of my couch. I settled on my one barstool. Mazy took a deep breath.

“There really is no other way to say this. Winnie, you are a shifter like that man, well, not exactly like him. I don’t know what your animal is. Only you can tell us that. Perhaps a wolf shifter or another kind with a good nose could tell you, but Derek and I knew you were a shifter when we met you. Other shifters can usually feel the same energy, and shifters have a distinct smell.”

The tips of my fingers became numb. My mouth dried out, and I don’t think I blinked for an entire minute. Mazy stood up and came over by me. She squatted down so she and I were eye level, but it didn’t help the overwhelming nerves racking my body.

“I can’t believe Jimmy helped men like that. There are terrible human beings and there are terrible shifters. But there are so many good ones out there, too. What I want to know is, how you didn’t know what you are. Unless you’re a latent, which means you must have met your mate and awoken your animal. Latent shifters can only start shifting after they meet their mate.”

Mazy kept talking, but her words started to garble together. The rushing in my ears blocked everything out. I was staring off into space when movement caught my eye. Derek budged in his seat again. My breathing changed. Something was off about him. The hairs on the back of my neck rose again.

Something in the back of my head told me to run. I twisted my neck and shook my head trying to ignore the feeling, but it was too strong to ignore. It rolled down my shoulders. Mazy was still talking, mostly to herself. But Derek …

His eyes met mine and I understood. My stomach plummeted to my feet. All the blood drained from my cheeks. He stood, his lips pressed together as if determined to do what had to be done now.

“I’m so sorry you had to get dragged into all this. I am even sorrier you had to drag Mazy into it, too. This is your fault.” Slowly, Derek raised his hand. In his grasp was a shiny black gun. I had never seen one in person, but the barrel was shaped different from the ones in the TV shows. Sleeker, maybe not as heavy to carry around. Mazy’s brows bunched together when she turned to look at Derek.

My blood froze with my fear, while her face flushed red. Without any warning, her body shrank in size. Her gorgeous red hair shortened and became coarser. A small creature with short red hair and red eyes replaced Mazy. Her tail was long, fluffy, and ringed with black fur. Sharp nails sprang from her toes, and she pulled back her lips to reveal small but sharp teeth.

Derek snarled and pointed the gun at her. I didn’t even stop to think. Before he could pull the trigger, I launched out of my seat and threw myself at him. He was caught off guard and fell with me on top of him. I didn’t have much experience in fighting people. I had always been more of a lover than a fighter. Derek snapped his teeth at me. He gripped my hips in a too-tight hold and rolled me off him. In the process, he smacked my head against the floor, causing my vision to blur.

Blinking a couple hundred times finally cleared my vision, and I stared into the barrel of his gun. I put my hands up. My heart was seconds from jumping ship and leaving without me. Derek’s lips pulled back from his teeth which grew as I watched. I squirmed away from him.

A small bundle of fur let out a hoarse hiss as it flew up at the arm holding the gun. Derek roared in pain as Mazy’s teeth sank into his flesh. He dropped the gun. I crab-crawled backward then twisted around and started to get on my knees when a hand wrapped around my ankle. He pulled my leg hard, catching me off balance. My chin slammed onto the hard floor of my apartment. My mouth snapped shut, and I was thankful my tongue was out of the way.

Looking over my shoulder, I tried to shake my leg free. I was so close to the door. I couldn’t see Mazy anywhere. I feared Derek had hurt her in some way, but I needed to get out of his hold.

“This is your fault, Winnie! She didn’t have to be involved. They just wanted you!” he spat at me. Tears filled my eyes as I clawed at the floor trying to get a grip. He kept pulling me back and closer to him. The gun had been knocked from his hand, and I was scared what he would do to shut me up now. Would he strangle me? Oh, God, what a horrible way to go.

I wouldn’t. I continued to fight. I let out a small squeak before he got a good yank and straddled me.

There was a loud crash. I flinched and brought my hands up to protect my face and neck. My heart pounded in my chest. God, the bear has come back. Derek’s weight sat heavy on my pelvis until a gust of wind flew over me.

I shook my head a couple of times.

No way.

A white Siberian tiger straddled a prone Derek.