Page 14 of Tucker's Strike

“Lake isn’t a nymph, but her mother was the daughter of a nymph and human,” Karsyn explains.

“Makes sense,” Dane mutters. “It would explain the scent that was on her. It was intoxicating.”

I shoot him a glare and growl.

“Brother, she’s yours, but I’m speaking the truth. The scent isn’t just sugary sweet. The longer she sat here, the more intense it became.”

“He’s right,” Justice remarks.

“It’s the combination of her having the blood of both Fae and nymph running through her veins,” Zavier speaks up for the first time.

“I didn’t catch the scent, and I was sitting right across from her,” Corbin states, brows drawn together.

“Because you’re mated,” Karsyn states, reaching out to place a hand on his arm.

Corbin looks back at her, and she gives him a small smile. “Go ahead and finish whatever it is in that head you’re singing that ‘lalala’ bullshit to shield from me.”

Karsyn’s smile grows wider before she turns to me, the smile disappearing marginally. “One thing to know, and it’s to stay this way until the time is right, Callum Wildthorn and his brothers are still alive. They were taken by the Drakon King. To get them back, you need Lake as much as she needs you.”

I look to Abel as I drop in my chair. This news is reeling. And she can’t now yet . . . why?

“If she knows ahead of time, she’ll give herself willingly. We can’t let that happen,” Karsyn remarks without me having to ask her to explain.

“I can’t hide this from her,” I state to the room. “Lake has a right to know this. All of it.”

“You just have to hold off until she’s mated to you,” Karsyn explains.

“I can’t do that.” The urge to see her, set eyes on her once more, builds inside me more than it always was. I stand and look to Corbin. “You get me when I say this. She’s my mate. If I’m ever to gain her trust, to have her accept me, I won’t lie to her.”

Corbin stares at me for a moment before nodding. “She’s your mate. You do what you gotta do. We’ve got your back.”

Nodding, I leave them all at the table, ignoring the conversation they continue having, and head to my room.

At the door, I take a breath and prepare myself for setting eyes on her again. It might have only been twenty minutes, thirty tops, since I saw her last, but it feels longer.

My tiger doesn’t like what we’ve found out. The very fact she could easily be stolen away from us, enrages the beast.

Turning the knob, I shove the door open, step inside, and come to a halt at the sight I’m seeing.

Unbelievable.

Chapter Nine

Lake

I jerk upright as Tucker steps into the room, his eyes on the ceiling. The very ceiling I was just looking at, watching the tigers dance around and around. No one has ever seen the night-light on besides my dad and uncles. They’d sit and tell me the stories about the tiger princess and how her prince would come for her. Save her, and she’d be happily ever after.

“I thought you would be a while longer,” I murmur, stretching across the bed to switch the night-light off.

“You thought wrong,” Tucker grunts, moving far quicker than I expected. He grabs my wrists, stopping me from turning the light off. “Leave it on.”

I don’t say anything, I just watch him watching the ceiling.

“This the reason you’re so protective over this light? The tigers circling around?”

“Yes.” There’s no reason to hide the truth of it. “I’ve had it all my life. I remember my dad turning it on and telling me stories before bedtime. Sometimes, I’d fall asleep before hewas finished. Other times, I’d stay awake to watch the tigers dancing.”

Tucker doesn’t say anything as he lets my wrist go. He does, however, sit on the side of the bed, twists and falls back on his back. His arms stretch upward, and he puts them behind his head, not once taking his eyes off the ceiling.

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