Chapter Six

River Thomas

I’m pushing his buttons and I fucking know it, but he started it. The way he speaks to me like he knows me grates on every one of my nerves. How fucking dare he? But that isn’t really the problem. No, the problem is I enjoy it. I am more grateful than I will ever be able to express that he took control of the situation after chasing Kevin off. I know I have protested every step of the way. But that’s what I am supposed to do, right? I can’t be some damsel in distress, can I?

It’s the twenty-first century, for crying out loud. I am a strong, independent woman and I have been taking care of myself for years now. I don’t need a man to rescue me. But dear Lord, does it feel good to have Carter do it anyway.

So yes, I push back. My pride won’t allow anything else.

I start undressing in front of him as I walk out of the beautiful white house built into the side of a hill, hoping I get a rise out of him. When I turn back to look at him, he is gone. I push aside the disappointment I feel and allow my ligress to come forward. I have been shifting for as long as I can remember and although it doesn’t hurt, there is still some discomfort as my skin and bones shift and contort before my paws hit the ground.

I can feel the magic working its way through my system, healing me. I hear a door slam in the house and if I could, I would smile. Maybe I do affect him after all.

I don’t think about that for too long. My ligress is ready to take off and explore the island. The greenery is lush as we pad our way around the house. Shifting here is different than at home. I had to shift quickly in the city and get it over with, always simply pacifying my beast. Now, we walk around leisurely, smelling flowers, feeling the sand beneath our paws, and breathing in the fresh air.

My ligress smells fresh water and bounds in that direction and soon we find a small waterfall nestled between the greenest trees I think I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t take her a moment to jump into the water, cooling us down in the tropical heat.

After what can’t be more than fifteen minutes, she exits the pool and pads her way back to Carter and the pretty white house. She couldn’t be bothered about anything, tail swishing and purring loudly as she lays out on the deck to dry in the sun.

“Fuck me. You’re stunning,” Carter says when he finds us laying in the sun.

My ligress purrs louder at his words, stretching out her limbs.

“May I touch you?” His hand hovers over my left flank.

Usually, my animal doesn’t like being touched. She has been that way since I can remember. But she doesn’t seem to mind Carter, as she rolls to her back and presents her belly. Confusion rolls through me at her actions but Carter only chuckles before hunching down and rubbing the soft fur. He runs his fingers through it reverently, seeming to enjoy it just as much as we are.

“I’ve never seen a liger, much less one that’s a shifter.”

My ligress takes pride in the fact that she is his first and I mentally snort. This man is nothing like us. He isn’t inexperienced and he sure as shit would never be afraid to say what he wanted.

After long minutes of basking in his attention, he stands and places a towel I didn’t see he had on a chair.

“When you’re ready I will be inside. There are some things we need to talk about.”

My ligress yawns lazily as she rolls to her side and starts washing her paw. She’s ignoring him, unhappy that he has stopped giving her attention. Carter must pick up on this because he leans down to scratch behind her ear.

“I’ll see you again soon, Beauty, but I need to talk to River.”

She purrs loudly at his words before standing.

As Carter moves back into the house, she allows the shift to fall over us and in moments I am myself again. Well, sort of, at least. My mind whirls with confusion as my ligress continues to purr in my mind, her satisfaction palpable. It’s the first time in my life that my animal has behaved this way and it’s disconcerting, to say the least.

Grabbing what I originally assumed was a towel, I find it is indeed a robe. Shrugging it on, I sinch it around my waist and take a deep breath before going to find Carter. But my attention is drawn by the explosion of red, gold, and green that has transformed the room.

“What did you do?” I gasp.

“Didn’t do a thing, he replies. “Gabby, my housekeeper, came over and did it.”

“Carter.”

“I know you love Christmas and I want you to enjoy your time here.” He doesn’t say anything else by way of explanation.

I see my cell phone in his hand and move toward him. I need my phone to let Boss9090 know I have gone out of town for a while and our date will have to wait for a while. I hope he is willing to wait.

“Before I give this to you, we need to talk,” Carter says before gesturing to the seat across from him.

I frown and want to argue but I can see this is going to be something I need to be seated for.

****

Carter Lawson

When I walk out of the house after Gabby leaves, I only want to see if I can spot River. I don’t expect to find the four-hundred-pound golden beauty sunbathing on my deck. She is exquisite and I can’t help but want to touch her. What catches me off guard is her ligress’s willingness to allow me, making herself vulnerable and exposing her soft belly to me. I get lost in the softness of her fur, the loudness of her purr, and the way her color shimmers in the sunlight. Her stripes are much lighter than mine but no less pronounced on her coloring.

Her ligress has clearly figured out that I am her mate. I wonder why River hasn’t clued in yet?

I want to leave her to bask in the sun but there are things we need to talk about and to get that done I need her to shift back into her human form. It takes me a minute and some sweet talking before her ligress allows it, but eventually she does.

I wait at the kitchen counter for her, in the same spot it was when we had lunch. Her face morphs into an expression of joy when she sees what Gabby has done to the inside of my house. But it doesn’t take her long to spot her cell phone.

As she takes a seat across from me, I take a deep breath before speaking.

“The man this morning,” I start.

“Kevin. He’s my ex-boyfriend,” she inserts.

“Yes, him,” I say lowly before getting myself under control. “Has he ever been violent before?”

River stares at me before laughing loudly. “You saw my animal. Do you think he’s been violent before?”

I nod, understanding what she is saying. He caught her off guard today. If she sees him again, her animal is liable to force a shift so she can kill him. Our inner beasts are very protective of our softer, human sides and won’t allow any harm to come to us if they can avoid it.

“So, something set him off?” I’m treading lightly. If I’m lucky he never saw the video and my conscience will be cleared.

River watches me for a moment before sighing. “Not that it’s any of your business but I met someone online. While we were arguing, something came through on my phone and it pushed him over the edge. I’m assuming it was a message from him.”

“And you don’t know what it was?”

Guilty and anger churn in my gut. Why the fuck did I send her that video? I hold her phone so tightly in my grasp I hear the screen protest and so does she.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Unlocking the phone, I slide it across the counter, the clip already playing.

River gasps before clasping her hand over her mouth. She watches the clip play out before turning her phone facedown on the counter. She pushes her chair back harshly, flattening her hands on the counter and leaning forward. The robe she is wearing has slipped open and her heaving breasts are on display as she angrily glares at me.

“You had no fucking right,” she seethes, and I watch her eyes change from brown to gold and back again. “That’s an invasion of privacy.”

I love that she rises to challenge me and she won’t back down, but I need her to know the whole truth.

“It was playing on repeat when I laid you on the couch,” I reply calmly, my gaze finally leaving her tits to settle on her face. “Besides, I only invaded the privacy of the person that sent it to you.”

“Fine.” She throws her hands up in the air. “Technically you’re right. but that still doesn’t make it okay. What else did you snoop through on my phone?”

“Why would I go through your phone?” I ask, a little taken aback.

“How the hell should I know?”

River gestures with her hands as she talks, and each movement has the robe slipping open just a little more. Saliva pools in my mouth at the thought that I might get to see more of her.

“I don’t need to snoop on your phone.”

I unlock my device and slide it across the counter to her. It is already opened to the chat thread from a few nights ago. Her eyes grow large as the realization finally dawns on her. Her gaze finds mine and I can see a million thoughts and emotions filter across her face.

“No,” the word escapes her on a whimper.

“River,” I start but she cuts me off.

“This cannot be happening.” She runs a hand over her tangled hair exposing more of herself to me.

I only have so much control and at the moment it is frayed pretty thin. I’m not thinking logically. My tiger is prowling my mind, ready to pounce, wanting nothing more than to claim our mate. My cock is harder than a lead rod and I am struggling to hear her over the blood pounding through my veins. One more shift and she will be fully exposed to me. And I can’t be held responsible for what I do then.

“You need to calm down,” I say lowly.

“Don’t tell me what to fucking do!”

It’s those words that have me finally snapping. I round the counter and back her up against the wall with such speed she didn’t even know it was happening before it was done.

“What…” she starts but I silence her with a look.

“I’m trying to be a fucking gentleman. Neither of us asked for this situation but it is what it is.” I run my finger from her clavicle down between her large breast, over her softly rounded stomach, only to stop above her shaved sex. “Your robe is slipping, River. I’m just a man. Don’t push me.”

She moans and I see her clamp her thighs together.

“We can work this to our advantage and enjoy each other as we had planned, or we can go back to the way things were before you knew I was the man you met online.” Slowly I close the front of her robe. “Either way, you’re fired.”