CHAPTER 19

HANNAH

When the purge started, I’d thought this was it. I was dying. Days of expelling chemicals that I’d had no idea were still in my system. It made me wonder what would have happened if Cassie hadn’t arrived in our lives. Would my tiger have been non-existent for months or maybe years while my body slowly tried to heal itself? What would that have done to Anton? I’d not wish the last month of our lives on anyone.

By the third day of throwing up, I felt her weakly stir within me and held my breath, wondering if it was just because I wasn’t well and she was trying to heal me. I’d wanted to cry when I’d realised how weak and sick she was. By the time we were on the houseboat, she was a little stronger and reaching out to me daily. Sending her soothing thoughts, I assured her I was well, and she needed to rest and get better. One good thing had come from all this, I was so much more in tune with her now. Once she realised that she wasn’t needed, she’d settled back and gone to sleep, but she was still there just in the back of my mind. Until then, I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed her always being there like a comforting blanket that you pulled out when you were upset.

We spent the Saturday on the boat. I don’t remember much of it because I’d slept almost the entire day and night. Sunday, when I woke up, I felt more alert and willingly drank down the tea that Cassie handed me, holding my breath and wondering if it would stay down this time for more than a couple of hours. By the time we were on the road and on our way back home, I realised that I’d kept it down for nearly four hours before I needed to throw up again. This happened twice more on the way home. Not that I knew much about what was happening because I slept most of the way back. We’d made an overnight stop at the hotel but as neither the twins nor Renee were there, I’d asked Anton if I could have dinner in our room and go to bed. Cassie had agreed that sleep was best for me. It was all a bit of a blur, but I knew I somehow drank down some soup, more tea, had a shower, and crawled into bed. That was the last thing I remembered until I woke up slightly confused the next morning because when I went to stretch, I realised that I wasn’t in my human form. Opening my eyes, I lifted my head from where it lay on Anton’s chest.

Nudging his face with my nose to wake him up. If I could smile in tiger form, I would have at the surprise on his face when he opened his eyes to find a tiger lying on his chest, but the smile that lit up his face as soon as he saw her made my heart beat a mile a minute.

“Hello, beautiful girl,” Anton greeted her, running his hands over the sides of her face. “I was wondering when you’d come and join us.”

She nuzzled her face against his, but I could feel that she was tired. I was thrilled that she’d made herself known, though, even if it was just for a short while. In a blink of an eye, she was gone, and I was lying naked across Anton’s chest, panting slightly with a thin layer of sweat covering me from the strain of being changed after so long. While I may have been exhausted and sweaty, I was also over the moon with happiness.

“And there’s my love,” Anton whispered, pulling me up his body until he could reach my mouth, which he took in a soft kiss before tugging me down and wrapping his arms around me. “She’s getting better, baby girl.”

Nodding my head, I burst into tears of relief at having her completely back.

“She’s okay. And she’s getting stronger every day,” Anton whispered against my temple, “I can’t wait until we can show her all our favourite places on our land.”

“I’ve been so worried,” I sobbed against his chest. “I need to find Cassie and give her a hug, not that a hug seems to be enough for what she’s given back to me.”

Once I was done crying for what seemed to be hours, I felt lighter and more positive about the coming days.

Even though Anton was hard under me, he still didn’t try and take it any further. As always, I was a little in awe of my mate and the strength of will he had, because I knew with my change that his animal would be riding him hard to complete the mating. I wasn’t ready yet.

‘Soon,’ she reached out to me. ‘He understands.’

“Huh,” I muttered in surprise.

“What?” Anton queries.

Wanting to know, I ask, “Is your animal pushing you?”

Frowning at my question, Anton goes quiet, and I know that he’s communicating with his other half. Shaking his head, he replies with surprise, “No. That’s strange, I expected him to be relentless once you changed.”

Smiling down at him, I peck his lips before sitting up and straddling his chest, for once comfortable in my nudity. Anton naturally rests his hands on my hips. “She told me that he understands. Somehow, they’re communicating, even with us not being fully bonded.”

“Well, that’s a fucking relief,” he grins up at me. “One less thing for us to worry about. Now how about we shower and go for breakfast?”

Leaping off him, full of energy that I hadn’t felt in months, I rush to the bathroom, suddenly starving. Stopping in the doorway, I look back at Anton, who’s still lying in bed, looking a little stunned at my sudden burst of speed. Oh, he hasn’t seen anything yet. Wait until I was at full strength. I couldn’t wait to go back to being the slightly hyper-active female I was before I’d been kidnapped.

“Come on mate, shower and breakfast, I’m starving,” I call out, whirling into the bathroom to get the shower going. Anton follows me in not long after.

Wrapping his arm around me from behind, he rests his chin on my shoulder. “I feel like I’m getting to see the real you and I fucking love it, baby girl.”

“That’s good,” I reply. Turning in his arm, I smile at him, loving that we are nearly the same height. “Because fair warning, I’m a little hyper when I’m at full strength and I may wear you out once we finally mate fully.”

“Can’t fucking wait,” he assures me, taking my mouth but sadly still keeping his kisses short and sweet, not wanting to rile his animal until I was at full strength. The next few days were going to be a test for us, and I couldn’t wait. It seemed like we’d been working towards this point for years, not months.

We hurried through our shower and made it downstairs at the same time as Cassie and Luca, who laughed in surprise as I tackled Cassie, throwing my arms around her in a tight hug and smacking a kiss to her cheek with an exuberant, “Thank you.”

Luca looked over at Anton, an eyebrow raised in surprise. Anton grinned, “Her tiger made an appearance this morning and woke me up.”

Understanding lit up Cassie and Luca’s faces at his words. Cassie squeezed me back, “You’re welcome. I’m so relieved that it worked.”

Anton gently pulled me from Cassie, and we walked into the dining room to meet the rest of our party. Once we’d updated everyone on my change, our breakfast took on a festive air.

Luca had received notification last night that all the clearances for the twins and Miah had come back as clear, not that we expected anything different. Finally, we were on our way home.