Page 23 of The Tiger King's Christmas Bride

Paired with some almond tossed string beans, dinner was absolutely divine. She couldn’t wait for dessert and nearly snarled aloud when he told her it was for later, but she remembered herself in time.

“Won’t I be cold?” she asked as Dean took her hand and led her to the snow-covered deck.

“Not really. We need to do this now, more snow is coming in an hour or so,” he said as he watched the darkening sky.

“But I don’t know what to do,” she whined as she began to strip, mimicking his actions.

Nerves had her acting a little bratty, but she could hardly blame herself. The last few hours felt like some kind of crazy dream.

“Love, you will be fine,” he rubbed her shoulders and she leaned into him longing to feel his weight atop her once more, “I promise, I will do anything and everything you want me to, but right now it is time you meet your Tigress.”

She growled impatiently and huffed as he turned her around to face out towards the frozen Pine Barrens.

“It’s cold.”

“Forget the cold, sweet, close your eyes. Look deep within yourself. She is there. Waiting for you, love, let her out, let her know what you want. Remember she has a voice and a mind, but you share the same soul,” his voice was hypnotic as he whispered into her ear.

Violet’s rational mind wanted to scoff at the ridiculousness of it all, but there was something else inside of her. And that something was very interested in what Dean had to say in that deep, rumbling timbre that was both soothing and arousing at the same time.

Violet decided to follow her instincts. She closed her mind off to the doubt and her pesky rationale. She didn’t need that anymore, not here, and not with him.

Instinct, nature, fate, hell, maybe even her boss or just the universe at large had all convened to bring her to this exact moment in her life. It was time she stepped up and away from the drudgery that was her previous existence.

In these last few hours with Dean, Violet had felt more and done more than she had in the entirety of her thirty years on Earth. She trusted him. Crazy as that sounded, she did. With her body, her mind, and yes, even her heart. There was something so refreshingly honest about him.

“Just breathe, love,” he whispered and she felt her limbs go soft and heavy as her trust in him allowed her to relax fully.

Expelling a breath, she finally saw her, a beautiful sleek Tigress with shining golden-orange fur and inky black stripes. Her beast was magnificent. Beautiful and graceful as she stepped forward inside her mind’s eye.

Let me in, her Tigress pushed the thought into her head and suddenly she was propelled forwards, slumping on her bare knees in the cold snow that had fallen on the deck.

“That’s it, mate. You can do it. Don’t fight her. She is you, let her in, accept the change,” Dean talked her through the worst of it, and finally, when her skin ached and the sounds of her muscles tearing and her bones breaking and reknitting no longer echoed in her mind, Violet stood.

The world was slightly askew when she opened her Tigress’ eyes. It was sharper, like switching from regular old television to high definition, she guessed and chuffed at her wayward thought.

“You are beautiful, my Nari, as I knew you would be,” Dean knelt before her, waiting until she bumped his shoulder with her big head to touch her.

He pressed a kiss to her head and stood up in his nudity. She recognized the hum of magic now, saw it even as it worked to transform him from man to beast in the blink of an eye.

Violet grunted at that. Her own change had been painful and much longer. Not at all easy like his looked.

It will get easier with time, little one.

Violet snarled and stopped in her tracks. To hear his voice so clearly in her head felt strange, though not unwelcomed. She narrowed her eyes and flicked snow in his direction with her long tail.

You could’ve warned me about that.

About what?

That you can read my mind when I’m like this, I mean what if I was thinking about how hot you are, or what if I was thinking about another guy.

At that, Dean roared loudly.

No other. Mine!

Okay, easy there, buddy, I was just kidding.

Sorry. I am afraid my Tiger is very possessive of you, Violet. Joking about other men is probably not a good idea.

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