Page 68 of Purrfectly Mated

The truth of his words stung. Her heart ached for her mate. He’d been too kind to this man from the beginning. Accepting him and taking him in. Hunter did not deserve to be treated that way.

Her Tiger’s fury on her mate’s behalf almost sent her to her knees, but she had to remain vigilant. She wanted to end his life, but even a strong female was no match for a stronger, larger male.

He was once the Beta of the Maverick Pride. However unworthy, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Dammit. She would just have to keep him talking until help arrived.

“Come on, bitch. Enough dallying. It’s time for me to remove you from Hunter’s life. Now that you’re mated, that alone should kill him,” he snarled at her.

“Not if I kill you first,” she snapped back.

Right then, she could have too. He might be bigger, but he was threatening her heart, her life. No way was Elissa going to take that lying down.

“I’ll take it from here, mate.”

Elissa turned as Hunter appeared in the doorway. His gold eyes met hers, lips grim, he spoke to her without words conveying his love and anger at the treatment she’d received in under a second. He was making sure she was okay, so she nodded slightly.

That was all he needed. Hunter flew across the room like a raging storm. His fist connected with Blake’s face once, twice, hell, she lost count as her mate repeatedly struck.

Blake groaned, then begged, but her mate was beyond pissed. His fury was tangible, and it was right there as he knocked the shit out of the lesser man. Elissa couldn’t say she was sorry, especially when Jessica groaned, reminding her Blake had hurt the female.

Protective instincts had her racing to the female’s side. Elissa growled when she saw the nasty cut on her scalp from where she’d hit her head on the corner of the countertop.

A crash sounded from the next room, followed by a roar. It sounded as if Blake had hit Hunter over the head with one of the heavy flower vases she had ordered and filled with fall branches and leaves earlier that morning.

The jerk!

She ran to see what was happening, and saw Blake, the coward, using her mate’s distraction to his own advantage. Calling on his fur, he meant to attack in his Tiger form!

“Hunter!” she screamed.

But Elissa needn’t have bothered. True, a shifted Blake was running at Hunter with his claws extended, but her mate was one hundred percent Alpha male.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed into his enormous Bengal Tiger. His thick, orange fur had massive black stripes, so dense and glossy, his appearance that much more striking than the ex-Beta. Hunter’s beast was easily half again as big as the other man’s, with thick muscles and enormous claws and fangs.

He looked more like a prehistoric version of his wild cousins than the muted creature Blake had turned into. Elissa’s own beast chuffed in appreciation of his fine figure and his fighting prowess. She could not wait to see him in action.

Bloodthirsty beast, she thought.

The other man tried to fake him out, but Blake grossly underestimated Hunter’s speed and strength. One thing was obvious. Her mate’s Tiger was done playing.

Elissa knelt beside Jess, having moved her towards the doorway so she could watch the events unfolding. She had a cloth against the other woman’s wound and held it there to stem the bleeding.

She was torn between helping her Pride mate and watching the battle. Hunter was her entire life. Should anything happen, no, it did not bear thinking about!

Luckily, she did not have to ponder it for long. With a tremendous roar, her mate tore Blake’s throat out and spat it onto the living room floor like so much garbage. He wasn’t wrong, her Tiger insisted.

The smaller Tiger’s body twitched and shook as his life drained away. Elissa waited to feel the disgust and regret that she was sure would fill her after such a seemingly senseless death, but she didn’t.

In fact, her Tiger roared in approval. The she-beast wanted to bathe in the blood of their enemy.

Okay, well, too bad.

She was so not doing that. Instead, she waited for her mate to stop his snarling to look at her. The Tiger turned his golden gaze, and she found a question there in his eyes.

“You did good. You protected your Nari, now, I need Hunter back,” she said, running her hand over the Tiger’s head, allowing him to sniff and chuff at her before he shifted back into his human self.

“Elissa,” he said, and dropped to his knees.

That brought his head to eye level with her chest. He hesitated for a second. Oh no. She wasn’t having that. So, she pounced and brought them both crashing to the floor. His arms engulfed her, crushing her body to his, and she sighed. Much better now.

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