Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Shelly

C rash was about five shots into the game when Shelly decided it was time to call it quits. He was leaning heavy on the table and his eyelids were at half mast. The man was sloshed. Her night wasn’t going to end with a ride on the biker boy, but that was okay. It was the best date she’d ever had.

Her biker — and yes, she had begun to think of him as hers — was sexy, a gentleman, hilarious, and had a sharp intelligence behind those blue eyes. His bad boy persona and the facial hair were just icing on top of that very appealing dessert. Sure, it could all be an act, but her gut was telling her he was the real deal, and she was trusting her instincts.

“Time to go, biker boy,” she said as she stood, sliding her feet back into her heels and slinging her purse across her body. “Let’s get you back to your room.”

Crash slowly stood and wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning into her. “Only if you’re coming with me.”

His slightly slurred words were low and full of lust, but she doubted he’d be able to act on any of the promises behind them. Still, she patted him on the chest and nodded. “I’ll stay with you. Let me make sure the bartender is okay with your bike staying here.”

Crash nodded.

As she slid out of his grasp, she felt a slight slap to her ass and shook her head as she laughed, hearing a deep groan behind her from Crash. It took her just a few moments to secure an okay from the bartender, then they were on their way out of the pub and down the sidewalk, headed for the hotel Crash said he was staying at.

Shelly checked the address on her phone and was happy to see that it was only a few blocks down the street. With the way he was swaying when he walked, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle getting him any further than that without having to call for a ride. He wasn’t being uncooperative, but drunks were rarely easy to wrangle.

“Thank you,” he mumbled into her neck as he attempted to cuddle with her as they walked.

“For what?” Shelly tried to steer him down the sidewalk. “Gotta help me out here, biker boy. You’re too heavy for me to carry.”

“Ope, sorry.” He straightened. “For taking care of me.” Slowly, his path started to veer off to the right as he stared at her instead of where he was walking. “You’re amazing. My mate is a great woman.”

Mate? Shelly grabbed his arm to stop him from slamming his head into the side of a brick building that lined the sidewalk and pulled him back to the middle of the walkway. “Mate?”

Crash yawned and nodded. “Yeah. You’re my mate. My tiger told me. The gods picked you for me. I knew it at the restaurant. Then I saw you… and… and… yeah… fuck yeah .”

Shelly assumed that fuck yeah was a compliment, but she was still confused. “Your tiger? The gods? Mate? You’ve lost me.”

“That’s because I didn’t tell you about shifters yet, but I will. I will when you’re ready. Don’t worry. It will make sense.” He yawned again and almost walked out into traffic, but Lucky grabbed onto the back of his leather and yanked him backward. He was talking almost as if he didn’t realize he was speaking out loud, as if every thought that ran through his mind was popping out of his mouth and he didn’t have a clue.

“Shifters? Like Twilight ?”

“Kinda.”

Shelly was pretty sure that her biker boy had drank enough to somehow dream while awake, or maybe he was having delusions. Either way, she’d play along until she got him safely tucked in. Then she’d reevaluate the situation.

Checking, she found that the traffic had cleared, and she helped him across the street. “One more block, Shifty.”

As he stumbled along at her side, he asked, “When we get to the room, want to see my tiger?”

Shelly snorted. “Is that what we’re calling it these days?”

***

“Holy shit! You really meant a damn tiger!”

As she leaned back against the dresser across from the desk, pressing her body as far away from the large and intimidating beast as she could get it, Shelly was unable to look away. The large fangs that were protruding from the upper jaw of the animal’s open mouth looked as if they could tear her limb from limb without much effort at all, and the sheer size of the tiger was something to be studied. She knew they were called big cats for a reason, but this one seemed larger than what she knew tigers to be. Maybe it was just that it was within a couple of yards of her. Seeing one in a hotel room was a lot different from seeing one in a zoo enclosure.

The muscles moving under the striped fur of its massive body made her bladder nearly give out, but there was something in the blue eyes of the animal that kept her from screaming and running away to escape. Although she knew the tiger could kill her, the surety that it wouldn’t was solid in her gut. She knew it was Crash. She knew it. Shelly had watched as he changed from the biker boy she had shared shots and laughs with at the bar to the magnificent beast that was lowering itself to a lying position on the bed before her. What she didn’t know was how .

“Either you slipped something into my drink, and I don’t think you did because I would have seen that, or you were telling the truth and I’m really seeing a damn tiger right now.”

In response, the animal gave what she could only call a whimper before it slowly crept forward and off the end of the bed, nearly forcing the edge of the mattress to flatten entirely. With its front paws on the floor and its hind end still perched on the bed, he bumped his forehead into her abdomen and began to rub his face all over her gently.

Shelly couldn’t help the shocked giggle that came out as she slowly lifted her shaking hands and began to stroke the slightly oily and rough fur of the tiger at the top and back of its head. “This is… Wow.”

Within seconds, Crash was kneeling before her again, having changed back into his human form, and was resting his forehead against her abdomen with his arms wrapped around her waist. “Don’t leave,” he mumbled into her shirt.

Still stroking the back of his head, she replied, “I won’t. Let’s get you to bed, Tigger.” She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t freaking out, but that was something she could examine later.

Crash pulled his head back and looked up at her. “Tiger.”

She grinned. “I said what I said.”

His eyes glowed a bright blue light that made her gasp, and a purr rumbled up his chest and vibrated through the air. “Fuck. I’m so happy you’re my mate.”

“We’ll talk about all of that more once you get in bed. Come on. Up.”

“Bossy,” he mumbled as he climbed to his feet and kissed her forehead. “I like it.”

As she helped him undress, it took everything she had to fight his playful and flirty advances. The man was persistent and most definitely attracted to her. He didn’t push too hard or cross any lines, but she didn’t want to take advantage of an obviously drunk man. She wanted him to remember their first time together, and she didn’t want it to be over faster than a speeding bullet. No, thank you.

Besides, consent was a thing, and Shelly wasn’t about to cross a line that she wouldn’t want a man to cross with her.

Just as she expected, the moment his head hit the pillow, he began to lightly snore. She chuckled as she undressed and slipped on his tee to sleep in. Their conversation would have to wait, she mused as she climbed in next to him and curled up to his side.

There was a lot to examine, a lot to think about, and to decide, but that was a tomorrow problem. Shelly was forcing herself to stay in the moment and see what the future offered her. She had been searching for her place in the world, her home, her purpose. Maybe she’d find it with a biker boy tiger who couldn’t handle his liquor and was a lost cause when it came to a game of quarters.