Page 13 of Bria and the Tiger

“Everything. You know the rumour that heat cycles are much worse when you’re not having regular sex, right? Well, it’s not just a rumour.”

“No,” Bria said.

“Yes. It’s only going to get worse the longer you go without sex.”

Bria’s mouth dropped open. “I – are you sure?”

“Very sure,” Kat said. “Your first heat cycle without sex was bad, right? And this second one worse?”

“So much worse,” Bria said.

“I hate to tell you this, sweetie, but it’s not even half as bad as it’s going to get. I was feeling bad about just using Mark for sex during my cycles, so I went three heat cycles in a row without getting laid. By the fourth one, I had Ronin pinned to the floor of my office while I rode him like a damn pony. We weren’t even dating – I had barely spoken to him outside of work at that point.”

“Oh fuck,” Bria dropped her head into her hands before breathing deeply. “Okay, it’s fine, it’s fine. I just need to find a boyfriend before my next heat cycle.”

Kat raised her eyebrow at her. “You’re going to find a boyfriend in a month’s time?”

“Yes. What? I can do it. I’m a good-looking girl, right? Maybe I don’t have a lot of sex experience, but I can get the goddamn job done. Any guy would be happy to have an unemployed girl who apparently bites and claws like a Tasmanian Devil when she doesn’t get sex on a regular basis.”

Kat laughed. “Honey, you are awesome, but do you really want to just start dating some random shifter so that you don’t freak out during your next heat cycle?”

Bria sighed loudly. “I don’t have a choice. I – I’m not strong like you.”

“You can take the medication to curb your heat.”

“No,” Bria said. “I won’t take it. My aunt has a friend whose daughter took the meds from twenty to twenty-five and now she’s having a terrible time getting pregnant. She wants kittens more than anything and she can’t have them. I don’t want that to be me in a few years, you know?”

“I thought you didn’t want kittens.”

“I don’t know for certain. If I meet someone who wants one, then I want to at least have the option.”

“There is something else you can try.” Kat gave her a thoughtful look.

“What?”

“The website that - ”

“No way,” Bria cut her off. “I’m not trolling that meat market looking for shifters who just want no-commitment-required sex with a horny cat shifter every month. I’m not that desperate.”

“I did it.”

Bria’s eyes widened. “Shut your mouth! You did not, Katarina Frost.”

“I did. Well, I didn’t have sex with any of them, but I created an account and interviewed three different shifters.”

“Holy shit,” Bria said. “When did you do this?”

“While you were on your pilgrimage.”

Why didn’t you go through with it? Were they all losers?”

Kat laughed. “Two of them weren’t great but the third one was good.”

“So why didn’t you sleep with him?”

“Because it was Ronin that I wanted, even then. Luckily for me, he was more than happy to help out during my heat cycle.”

Bria continued to stare at her and Kat shrugged. “I think you should give it a try. You don’t even have to create an account. I still have the third shifter’s email and I’ll send it to you. He was a tiger shifter and, honestly, if I hadn’t already been half in love with Ronin at that point, I would have given him a try. He was handsome and polite and really seemed to care about meeting my needs each month.”

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