Page 13 of Deadly Tiger's Single Dad Crush

“Daniel, what the hell are you thinking?”??

“I still have some healing to do, and this is how I do it. I’ve been wanting to show you, I just wasn’t sure when would be right.”?

“Daniel, as happy as I am to see you alive and, well, naked, maybe now is not the time for...”?

He just steps to me, kisses me, steps back and then, he’s gone.?

The air seems to undulate like it does with heat waves coming off asphalt on hot days and then, I stumble back so fast I almost fall flat on my ass. The only thing that saves me is when I reach out and manage to grab onto a tree behind me.??

“Holy fuck. What? Oh my… I…”?

There is a tiger standing where Daniel was standing. I’m confused and, well, terrified. The thing is huge. It’s bigger than any tiger I ever saw in the exhibit at the zoo. I’ve never heard of any tiger being this large. It must be twice the size of the biggest tiger we had, and Maksim was one of the largest Siberian tigers in the world.?

“What the fuck is this? Am I having some kind of bad trip? Is this a dream?” I start to shake so hard I have to hold the tree with both hands.?

The tiger doesn’t move. It just lays down and sets its massive head on the ground in front of me.??

And I start to remember.?

Shifters.?

They’re a thing. Right. They were announced and they were stories I heard about as a kid, but we all knew it was a joke. “It’s a joke.”?The tiger just huffs slowly and blinks.?No joke.?“No,” I protest. “It’s all a hoax. They’re not real.” The tiger doesn’t respond.

I walk up to the tiger with my hand outstretched like some stupid Disney heroine, but this is no Disney movie. I touch the large face and again, the tiger just blinks and then ...

The tiger isn’t there and my hand is resting on Daniel’s cheek.

I wish I could explain exactly how it looks when he shifts, but it’s like there’s just a haze. It makes you want to rub your eyes, like they’re watering or something, and then, the tiger is just gone and the man is there.

Daniel draws me to him and holds me close. He kisses me softly and I feel all my anger and fear and worry melt away as I feel his body next to mine. I finally pull back to see that he’s whole. Complete. “You’re okay.”

He nods. “Shifting heals us. From human to animal heals us dramatically. From animal to human, it heals us a little. The fire was so big and things were so confusing that I ended up in an ambulance so I couldn’t shift. That was why Tina was so desperate to get me out of the hospital’s care. I needed to shift so I could heal.”

I run my hands over his body and marvel at how perfect he looks. Not long ago, I saw him unconscious in a hospital bed with all kinds of beeping machines around him. Now, he’s here and okay.

And then I realize.

“Uh, Daniel, you’re naked.”

He grins. “Yeah. You’ll remember that I undressed. I can’t shift when dressed. Well, I could, but it would destroy the clothes.”

I return his smile and then I step back and very casually, start removing my clothing.

His eyes go wide and I laugh. “You almost look like a wolf from those cartoons.”

“Hey now, no insults. I’m nothing like those dumb dogs.”

I shake my head. “Of course, there are wolf shifters.”

I pull my panties down and he pulls me close again. “And bears, and lions, and horses ...”

“Oh my,” I whisper as his lips press against mine.

“And dragons.”

I push away. “What the hell? Dragons?!”

He laughs and grabs me to him again. Nibbling my ear, he mumbles, “But they don’t eat hobbits.”

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