“He’s not a real wild tiger,” Austin corrected in an exasperated voice. “Anyway, we will figure it out.”
“Uh-huh, just a heads up,” Cole said, staring the tiger down. “Dragons aren’t really cat people.”
Wesley snorted a laugh. “Yeah, uh, neither are crows.”
“Okay,” I interrupted. “This conversation is just... weird as all hell. I’m going to get some sleep and hope my brain doesn’t decide to finally crack under the stress of tonight. But you know, if I never wake up, then that’s probably what happened.”
“Sleep well, love,” River murmured, wrapping me in a quick hug as I passed him.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” I huffed, flapping a hand at the rest of the guys to say good night and letting myself into the master bedroom.
Despite the nearly overwhelming exhaustion that was causing my whole body to tremble, I knew sleep wasn’t going to come easily. Too many horrible things had happened tonight, as well as the wonderful ones.
I’d probably only been in bed for a few minutes when the door handle turned. I’d gotten changed into some fresh underwear and pulled on one of Cole’s T-shirts to sleep in but had just been lying there, staring at the ceiling and wishing sleep would take me.
Sitting up, I expected to see one of the guys come to sleep with me. Probably Caleb or even Cole. What I saw instead was the furry jowls of a huge striped cat as he turned the door handle with his teeth, then pushed the door fully open with a paw the size of a dinner plate.
“Um, hi,” I greeted the cat, still wary as hell that he might try and claw me or eat me, despite Austin’s certainty that he wouldn’t.
The cat huffed a little noise, padding across the room and then leaping onto the bed with the grace of a... uh... well, with the grace of a tiger, I guess. The bed dipped under the massive animal’s weight while he pawed at the blankets a couple of times before lying down right in the middle of the bed with his huge head on a pillow.
“Austin?” I called out, but he was already on his way into the bedroom. He paused, seeing the tiger already seemingly asleep, and a grin pulled his mouth.
“Come on, tiger, leave Christina alone,” he tried to scold, but it came out with an edge of laughter that I wasn’t totally sure I’d ever heard from him before.
The tiger cracked one eye, looking at me as if to say tell him to fuck off, we’re sleeping, then closed it tight again.
“Uh, I don’t think he’s listening to you,” I pointed out, and Austin sighed heavily.
“Yeah, I’m kind of getting that from him already,” he nudged the bedroom door shut and walked around to the opposite side of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, as he unbuckled the belt on his jeans and stripped them off. He’d gotten changed out of his wet, torn tux while Wesley and I had bathed, but I had no idea why he was now taking these clothes off.
“Sleeping, Princess. It’s been a long ass fucking night for all of us, and I don’t have the energy to try and haul a seven hundred pound tiger out of bed.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head, leaving him in just a tight pair of black boxer briefs, and I tried really hard not to stare. Okay, fine, I stole a few looks, but for the most part I managed to keep the drool inside my mouth.
“Okay, yeah, but why are you doing that here?” I clarified, more than a little nervous at the idea of actually sleeping with Austin. Of course, I was fully aware we had recently done a whole lot more, but that was under exceptional circumstances. Sleeping in the same bed was intimate.
“Because he is here,” Austin poked the tiger in the shoulder and got no response except a purring growl. “And the quickest way for him and I to establish our bond is for us to literally spend every second together. So, do me a favor?”
“What’s that?” I squeaked, watching wide-eyed as he slid under the covers and got comfortable.
“Don’t snore,” he replied, shutting his eyes and folding his arms under his head.
“I do not snore,” I grumbled, taking the opportunity while his eyes were closed to get a better look at his ink and the body that it decorated. He’d left the blankets pushed down so they only barely covered him up to the waist, leaving plenty of ink to admire. The perfectly positioned designs that pointed down to his—
“Sleep, Princess,” he ordered. “Now.”
Gingerly, I lay back down, tugging my pillow over so that I was on the very edge of the bed and hopefully out of reach of the tiger, if he had a bad dream or something. Last thing I needed was to be mistaken for prey. That was one thing I’d never be again: prey.
29
River’s fingers linked with mine as we walked down the silent hallway toward Jonathan’s office. It was late, already dark, but I knew he’d still be in his office.
“You okay, love?” River asked quietly, his fingers tightening around mine.
“Yep.” I gave a sharp nod, not trusting myself to elaborate on that any further. We’d only just got back from Toronto an hour or so before, having flown back on the Omega jet. After Austin and his tiger had invaded my bed, sleep had actually come surprisingly quick, and I’d slept like the dead until Wesley had woken us up.
To my utter embarrassment though, Austin’s tiger familiar must have gotten bored while we slept and had disappeared—leaving me tangled up in the Ink Mage’s strong, decorated arms. Neither of us had said a word when we woke wrapped around one another like some sort of twisted pretzel. We just politely pretended it hadn’t happened and left it at that.
Healthy, I know.
The halls were totally deserted at such a late hour, and my fur-lined ankle boots clicked on the marble floor as we approached Jonathan’s office. The door was closed, and we could hear nothing from the other side. Made sense, I guess, that the director of a spy organization might have soundproofed his office.
Sucking in a deep breath, I tapped lightly on the door. The contents of my stomach threatened to spill as I stood there waiting for my dad to answer his door and potentially confirm my worst fears—that he’d been using me all along.
“Maybe he’s gone home?” River suggested when the door didn’t open.
“No,” I murmured quietly. “The light is on, see?” From the crack of space below the door, a sliver of light was showing, suggesting someone was still in there.
Frowning, I knocked again. Still, no one answered.
River gave me a look and sighed. “You’re going to break in, aren’t you?”
“You know me so well.” I grinned, sliding a couple of pins from my hair and straightening them out. “Don’t give me that face, Alpha. He’s my dad, so best-case scenario, he scolds me for breaking into his office.”
“Uh-huh, and the worst?” River retorted, and I shrugged.
“What’s worse than him trying to blow us up with a car bomb?” I meant it as an offhand comment, but a chill ran down my spine and my mind whirled with all the worse that could happen. “One way to find out, right?”