Page 51 of Lucky or Knot
And heknew.
If I’d been equipped for it in my current body, I’d have laughed. Normal animals didn’t get as large as my shifted form, and I had—I’d have really, really liked to think, anyway—more intelligence in my eyes than the average tiger. Besides, Raven had spent two nights with me, in my arms, with me in him. Cried on me. Told me some of his secrets, trusted me, learned more about me than most people did, to be honest, because I tended to keep it pretty surface-level. It would’ve been nice to believe that he’d recognize me in any shape, as I’d have known him anywhere and in any guise.
But it had to be my clumsiness that clued him in, not any of that. Of course it did.
Humiliating as that might be, to be recognized by the most graceful and seductive person I’d ever met primarily for my lack of those qualities…thank the gods. Because making myself known to Raven without tipping anyone else off had been one of the night’s biggest hurdles, and that had now been accomplished.
The rest of the performance went smoothly, because Axel announced each upcoming trick to the audience right before his gestures and commands that would’ve been an actual tiger’s cues. Even jumping through the flaming hoop went well, and Ilanded on the final tiny platform without toppling over onto my back with my dick waving in the air. Small victories.
Some cymbals clashed, everyone applauded, and the announcer informed everyone that the show would go on after a fifteen-minute intermission.
Axel led me out the way we’d come in, and fuck, fuck, Raven was right there. I couldn’t catch his eye again, and if I tried too hard it’d be obvious. Fifteen minutes. I had fifteen minutes to figure out what to do next.
Worst case, I’d take on my half-shifted form, charge the band platform, and carry Raven away by main force. He’d have the coin with him; I didn’t even have to wonder. That was part of his fae nature.
We could fight our way out. Surprise would give me an advantage. I had to believe that. Get down the emergency stairs that the concierge girl had told me how to find, which would take a while given we were sixty floors up, but I could move faster than nearly anyone. Jump in the car Sean would have left for me, and get to Louie to hopefully complete the mirror-image deal.
That had sounded simple last night when I’d cooked it up. Now, as I followed Axel back through the catering area, it seemed impossible.
Gods. How stupid could one tiger be? I seemed determined to push the limits.
As soon as the green room door shut behind us, Axel collapsed into a chair, sucking in heaving breaths and wiping sweat from his temples—carefully, so as not to disturb his makeup.
“Oh, God,” he whispered. “God. You were great, by the—oh no,” he said, going greenish white. “Don’t eat me! I didn’t mean to use that word!”
For fuck’s sake. I rolled my eyes, the only reaction available to me in this body. I could shift to human and tryto verbally reassure him, but I had no idea who might walk in any second. And shit, there were probably…I glanced around, pretending to yawn, because a circus tiger looking for security cameras wouldn’t be fucking suspicious or anything. Yep, there it was up in the corner of the ceiling. Hopefully no one thought too much of Axel talking to me like he had been a second ago. On second thought, no. A guy like Axel, with his rhinestone-encrusted white suit and his semi-tame tiger, could probably get away with nearly any eccentricity without raising any eyebrows.
In lieu of any better response to Axel’s worry, I lay down on the floor, as nonthreatening as seven hundred pounds of muscle and claws and desperation could be.
Axel’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed convulsively. Not very nonthreatening, then. He sucked down most of a bottle of water and leaned back to rest.
And then jumped halfway out of his chair as a firm knock sounded on the door. I tensed up too, hopefully ready for anything.
“Come in,” Axel called shakily.
The door opened to admit one of the more senior security guys, at least going by his particularly sour expression and his fortyish face and hair. I let my eyes drift halfway shut.
“Mr. Cunningham’s companion wants to meet the tiger,” he said. “You’ll need to restrain it.”
Mr. Cunningham’s companion. A jolt like an electric shock ran through me, and it took everything I had to stay still, to pretend like I hadn’t understood, like I wasn’t trembling with eagerness. Raven, gods, clever Raven, who’d probably sweet-talked Cunningham with any number of promises that I’d rather die than let him fulfill in order to be allowed this indulgence.
But he wouldn’t have to. I’d get him out before that.
Axel stood up, and his glance at me spoke volumes. I waited. He waited.Come on, come on…it twigged at last, thatwhile I’d understood what the guy wanted, I couldn’t admit it. He picked up my leash, snapped his fingers, and tugged gently, and I did my best to act like a tiger responding to a trainer, ambling the few steps over to the ring in the wall and sitting politely while Axel secured my collar by a short length of chain.
The guy nodded and withdrew.
“I’m sorry,” Axel whispered. Had he really not noticed the camera? Fuck it, a guy like him would totally apologize to a tiger. I’d bet he watched TV on an extra-large couch with his actual tigers and apologized when they didn’t like his choice of movie.
Axel stood next to me, his hand on my shoulder, probably trying to make us look totally safe to be around.
The security guy stepped in again, nodded his satisfaction, and held the door all the way open.
A waft of mouthwatering scent preceded Raven’s entrance into the green room, and then he was there, close enough to reach out and touch. Cunningham’s nasty odor clung to him, but I could erase that within seconds, holding him, kissing him, stripping him bare, sitting him on my cock and stuffing him with my come and then plugging him with my knot.
Flexing my claws did absolutely nothing to relieve the strain of staying still. And thank the gods I’d sat down with my front legs positioned just so. No bodyguard, no matter how well trained to ignore the weirdnesses and vagaries of rich people and their entertainers, would be able to overlook the trained tiger’s massive erection.
Raven’s gaze flickered over me and Axel. His lip curled slightly, and a dangerous gleam sparked in his eyes.
