Page 8 of Romeo

She could see his nostrils flare and his eyes flash with his beast, and the part of her brain that was ancient and feared the monsters under the bed demanded she run. But she knew if she moved a muscle, he’d chase her, and she couldn’t hope to outrun a shifter even if he stayed in his human form.

Carefully and oh-so-slowly, she leaned away and lowered the small binoculars, tucking them into her crossbody bag. She took a step back, keeping her ears tuned for someone approaching.

It warred with everything inside her to walk away, but she was fully in danger at the moment. If she was caught by the ambush, she wouldnotbe rescued by Brent. Like the oldMission ImpossibleTV show, Brent wouldn’t acknowledge her existence as part of Humans Against Shifters and she’d be on her own.

The more she moved away, the closer that feral-something feeling wanted her to get. She literally felt torn in half, which didn’t make sense. She had no clue why she wanted to get closer to that tiger, but she wasn’t going to explore her feelings. She had to get away as fast as possible and figure out a way for Brent’s people to infiltrate the ambush and take them out.

Without getting caught by Sexy McSexyPants.

Shit. She should not be thinking sexy thoughts right now.

Double shit. Was that a breaking stick she’d just heard?

Turning abruptly, she plowed right into the broad, lickably gorgeous chest of the tiger she’d been watching.

He grabbed her roughly and pressed her against the tree, her breath gusting from her lungs as her whole body responded to his touch.

“Who are you, and why are you watching the ambush?”

ChapterFive

Romeo wasn’t exactly jealous of Midas as he half-listened to the joining ceremony and half-watched the woods for anything suspicious, but hewaswishing he had his own truemate. Then he could pledge himself to her and their future offspring, vowing to keep her safe above everyone else.

Of course once he found his truemate, he’d have to step down as Midas’s number two. The prime protector of the king couldn’t be a mated male because the protector’s duty was to keep the king safe. A mated male should be keeping his mate safe first.

It’s why there was a vacancy for the position when Jorah, who’d been the protector, found his mate. And before him, it had been Melo, who shared a mate with his brother, Tahlon.

Romeo didn’t think he’d find his truemate anytime soon because he had absolutely no prospects. None of the single females in the ambush were his mate, and no matter how often he went to the shifter owned bar, Lykos, to have a drink and hang out, he never found his mate amongst the various other shifters, supernatural creatures, and humans who enjoyed the loud music and strobe lights.

His mind strayed to the dream he’d had.

Chestnut hair.

Curves for days.

Just out of reach.

He inhaled slowly and closed his eyes, trying to recapture the image in his head. His dream female, whoever she was, could simply be a figment of his imagination. He could be so lonely that his sex-starved brain made up a female to fantasize about. Opening his eyes, he mentally shook his head at that train of thought. He certainly didn’t purposely create a female to lust over, so he was fairly certain there was more to the dream than just his subconscious working overtime.

Was he the sort of male to believe in prophetic dreams? Well, he’d seen enough over the years to know that there was more out there than they knew of, powers and magic and creatures who could harness the supernatural in a way the average person couldn’t even fathom.

So perhaps hehadhad some kind of prophetic dream, and the female with the chestnut hairwasreal. But if so, he had no clue where to find her or how to even get started looking. The woods from the dream were generic as far as he could decipher, just trees upon trees.

Internally sighing at the seemingly impossible task of finding a female in a proverbial haystack, he focused on scanning the area, starting with the crowd. The entire ambush was gathered, listening as Midas and Maya pledged themselves to each other and to the ambush as king and queen. All the shifter leaders were there, including the dragons, who were freaking impressive. The dragon king Tosh was mated to a polar bear female named December. He’d met both of them at a gathering of the leaders not too long ago to discuss Humans Against Shifters and the anti-shifter rhetoric they’d brought to Cleveland recently.

Romeo was a big tiger, but he wouldn’t mind being a big ass dragon and flying.

He kept scanning the crowd, smiling at a young tigress wiggling in her seat and waving a flower in the air like a baton. Then he moved his gaze to the woods surrounding the yard and house. Although patrols were running through the territory, he couldn’t help but watch for danger because it was his job.

His tiger let out a curious sound in his head, and he froze, staring to the left, away from the crowd and deep into the woods, not even daring to breathe. He saw a flash, like the moonlight or torches had reflected off something. Going absolutely still, he stared intently at the space until his eyes ached. He thought he might be going crazy, that he hadn’t actually seen anything, but then he saw the reflection again.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled and sorted through the scents in the air, but he couldn’t pick anything out of the ordinary. His heart clenched as he saw a darker shadow next to the tree, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness that permeated the woods. Someone was watching them. He couldn’t tell if it was a male or female, but there shouldn’t be a single person in the woods hiding behind a tree and watching.

The person ducked away, and his tiger roared in his head as his heart clenched tightly. He slipped away from the ceremony, silently merging with the shadows and making his way toward the person in the shadows, moving as fast as he was able.

Cursing mentally as a twig snapped under his foot, he lunged toward the shadow moving slowly from the tree. He darted to the right and the person plowed right into his chest, a feminine gasp filling the air. He planted his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back against the tree, her breath fanning him as she exhaled sharply.

His whole body lit up. His tiger roared in his mind and his claws pressed against his fingertips, making them ache. His heart was pounding so loudly in his ears that he thought he might go deaf as it was coupled with his elated tiger’s roar.

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