Page 52 of Mated
Nisha
I trail Tanner and Caine toward the rec hall, my insides damn near humming from T’s touch. Or maybe it’s the moon so round and bright in the sky.
Hell. It’s probably both.
Tanner slips around the stone building and a large shed is visible near the back tree line. He stops and peers back at me. “You don’t have to go in.”
There is still a slight growl to his voice, making the already dulcet tone seem to vibrate deep into my core.
I square my shoulders. “I want to.”
“Nisha—”
“Tanner, I can do this.” My head shakes. “No, I need to do this.”
He turns and walks back to me, his silver eyes nearly as bright as the moon above. “I know,” he murmurs to me. His hands slide down my arms, shackling my wrists in his calloused grip. Those long fingers of his overlap around my smaller frame, and something about it makes my stomach quiver.
There is a pull to him. A sway. It makes me want to lean into his hard body. To wrap my arms around his powerful neck and lose myself in every small touch he offers.
But that would be dangerous, and a very bad idea.
I saw him with Ebony earlier. How he kissed her.
The heat the man sparks seems to extend wherever he wants it to go. And right now, though he seems interested, how long before that changes?
I don’t want to be the next Ebony. His next conquest.
Mouth tight, I carefully extricate myself from his grip and his eyes flash. “Lead the way,” I say.
He scours my face. Something hardens in his features before he lets his arms fall and he moves back toward Caine.
The demon peers at me quizzically as I near but otherwise doesn’t remark.
We follow Tanner into the building as he flips a switch on the wall.
Soft white light illuminates numerous shelves along every side. Canned goods, bottled water, and numerous types of snacks and jerky wait in bins and containers. Tanner bypasses all of it for a solid metal door with a heavy latch at the rear of the room.
He pulls on the panel and icy air spills out.
I rub my hands over my arms and slip in behind the demon.
The room is maybe eight by eight with tall restaurant style racks set in the rear. In the center of the space is a dark mound of black plastic.
Tanner crouches on one side and tugs back the plastic to reveal two large beasts. One is the tawny cat that attacked me, and the other a midnight jaguar with smooth ebony rosettes.
I step back and then stop myself, forcing my breathing to slow.
Dead. They are both dead.
They can’t hurt me now.
“Shouldn’t they have changed back to human?” I ask and am glad my voice does not shake.
Tanner glances up at me. “It takes conscious effort to shift between forms. Whatever form you are in when you die, is the form you retain. Think like a glitch or freezeframe in your brain.”
I make a face.
He turns back to the cats, removing the plastic more as he searches their limbs, paws, teeth, and open, glassy eyes.
