Page 52 of Lucky or Knot

“Leave,” he said imperiously, without specifying who he meant.

“Mr. Cunningham’s not going to like it if I let you get hurt,” the bodyguard said, but he looked like he’d only take a little convincing. Maybe he’d seen Raven use his magic andfelt stuck between a rock and a hard place, his employer’s cruelty to Raven and Raven’s powers and anger, which were as precariously leashed as my enormous tiger’s body.

But then Axel chimed in with, “I can’t leave my tigers alone with anyone. It’s not safe for you, or for them. I’m really sorry, sir.”

Fuck, fuck…if Axel stuck to this principle of his, I was so screwed. Although there was still that camera, too. My mind flailed around in a circle, basically chasing its tail. And I had no one to blame but myself. My plan had been sketchy as hell to start with. And Axel had no idea that getting myself alone with Raven had been the entire goal of the exercise. He was fucking me over completely in his attempt to help me stay under the radar.

“Both of you,” Raven said, and this time the faint, stern impatience in his tone had even my spine straightening. “I’m not human, those rules don’t apply to me. The tiger won’t hurt me, and I certainly wouldn’t harm a dumb beast.”

Dumb beast? Christ. When I’d gotten him out of here, and gotten him free, we’d be having a conversation about his sense of humor.

Very lightly, praying that it didn’t look weird to the security guy, I shifted my shoulder under Axel’s hand. And then I deliberately lifted one paw, let it hover, and set it down again.

Yes. Please take a fucking hint. Yes.

“Oh,” Axel said, and cleared his throat. “Oh. Yeah, you’re fae, maybe? You’re good with animals, right? Maybe I can make an exception?”

I lifted my paw again, held it, and set it down.

Raven raised an eyebrow, clearly catching on. The bodyguard just looked bored.

“Thank you,” Raven said, and sauntered farther into the room. “That’s all.”

The bodyguard held the door for Axel, who hesitated, mumbled a few more words of warning, shot me a look somewhere between confusion and apology, and scuttled out. The guard followed and shut the door.

And Raven and I were alone.

Chapter 17

Raven closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His exhale—gods, it sparkled, like dust motes lit up by a beam of sunlight, only green and pastel orange and some color human language didn’t have a name for.

When his eyes opened, he found me gaping at him in wonder. That probably looked pretty stupid on a tiger’s face.

Raven offered me a small, pale smile, and even in that dull, windowless little room, the sun came out.

“The camera’s taken care of for now,” he said. “And no one will hear us through the door. But that only lasts as long as they leave us alone, and I don’t dare to lock it. Tony, you shouldn’t be here. You can’t be here. He’ll kill you.”

No amount of blinking or paw-tapping would do at this point. The camera wouldn’t catch it, so fuck it, and if someone came in, I’d have to start the carnage sooner than I wanted.

Flowing from tiger to human took an instant’s more thought than usual, because I’d been so laser-focused on looking and acting like a normal tiger no matter what, but when I shook my head to clear it, I had hair and not fur, and my ears had migrated down to the sides of my head. The collar hung loose around my neck, and I’d paid attention to how Axel fastened it. A moment’s fumbling and it fell to the floor with a clink of chain, and I stood up, fully human, naked, my cock rampantly erect.

Raven’s eyes dropped down, lingered, and then skimmed back up to my face. A trace of pink tinged his white cheeks at last. The only color in his face before had come from the purple shadows under his eyes.

And around one of them. Around…as if someone’s fist had…

Rage nearly blinded me, and I lunged for him, needing to wrap him in my arms and crush him to my chest and never let him go…

“Don’t,” he hissed, stumbling back. “Don’t! My clothes, and your scent on me!”

I jerked to a stop inches away from him, clenching my hand into a fist around nothing to keep myself from touching him.

That was how I’d gotten him in trouble in the first place. And I’d almost done it again, fuck.

Except that…

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m here to take you away with me. You’re not going to be with him for one more fucking night.”

He bit his lip, glaring up at me. “Don’t even say that. You know I can’t, that I’m stuck here, and—Tony, this only makes it worse. Seeing you. Having you make me feel like you could protect—you can’t keep doing this to me!”

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