Isa was surprised by his intensity. “Is everything okay?”
Valens nodded, tense as hell. “Yeah. I just need to show you something.”
“You said that already.”
“Well, this is sort of important.”
She sobered. “Okay. If this is important, I’ll stop joking around.”
He shook his head and continued walking. He felt bad for being so stern with her, but he was nervous.
Don’t be, his tiger assured him. She’s our mate. That means she’ll accept us. Eventually.
It was the eventually that made Valens nervous. Isa wasn’t in town for very long, and she was the kind of woman who had a need to be in constant motion. How could his quiet life on the mountain compete with that? Even if he was a tiger?
It didn’t compare.
It didn’t even come close. He was okay with that. Okay with a quiet life where he spent his free time with his family, talking about streak stuff. Fate had either made a serious mistake, or he was missing something.
Finally, he stopped walking. There was a break in the trees that led to a small clearing. It was barely big enough for the two of them, or so it would be as soon as he took his tiger shape. When the sun hit just right here, it heated the grass, and he liked to lounge on it, the heat warming his fur. He turned to face Isa.
“This is a cute spot. Is this where you would run off to when you were a kid?”
“Something like that,” he answered as he began to undress. “I’m about to tell you something shocking, okay? You’ll be scared, and you’ll want to run. Don’t. Let me explain after.”
She frowned. “Why are you taking your clothes off? Not gonna lie, you’re scaring me a bit.”
If that was true, his mate was braver than even she realized. There was no sharp change to the scent of the air wafting off her. Isa wasn’t scared at all. She was curious and attentive, ready for anything.
Fuck, he hoped that was true.
“When we were in the restaurant just now, talking about this town and the tigers? I was telling you the truth. Thatcherton is a town of tiger shifters. It’s our streak land. That’s why there’s tiger stuff everywhere.”
Isa’s mouth fell open, and her eyes got wide. “You’re hilarious.” Her voice shook a bit.
“I’m not joking, and I think that deep down, you know it. I’ll show you.”
“Show me?” she asked, taking a step back, her eyes dropping to his lower half.
But it was too late to turn back now. Valens was already going through the change, barely feeling the pain. When he was finally in his tiger shape, he sat back on his haunches and waited for Isa to react.
She wasn’t moving. Not even to breathe. She was still and watching. He inclined his head to prove that it was him, that he was the tiger.
“Well, then,” Isa said. “I guess our movie won’t need to have special effects.” She took a step forward, one of her hands coming up tentatively. Slowly, as if she were approaching a wild animal, she reached out and petted the fur of one of his legs. Her hand went up to touch his shoulder before she took a step back. “This is incredible. When I was in Russia, I met a family. I thought for sure they could turn into wolves. I think I even saw one changing back once, but I thought I was too sleep deprived and full of adrenaline to understand what I was seeing. They were wolves, weren’t they?”
Valens made a low grumbling sound. He had no idea if she had indeed met a pack of wolves. Nor did he care. What he wanted at that moment was for his mate to have a reaction about his current state. Did she really have nothing to say about the actual tiger that was standing in front of her?
He changed back, grabbing his clothes.
“So you’re a tiger,” she said once he faced her again.
“I’m a tiger,” he repeated. “So is my entire family. Do you have any thoughts about that?”
“No idea. This is sorta big news. The guy I’ve been spending my free time with, the one I’m dating, just turned into a tiger in front of me. Either your aunt put some drugs in her chowder, I’m losing my mind, or this is real.”
“This is real,” he told her. “This is very real.”
“I’m gonna need a minute to process it. I’m also gonna have a few questions.”
He chuckled because he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t in the least bit surprised that his mate would have questions. She was curious by nature, and he enjoyed that about her even if it did lead her to make some questionable choices.
Like all of those stunts, she pulled for her job.
“You can ask, and I’ll try to answer.”
For the next little while, Isa asked him all kinds of things. Did it hurt? Did he keep control of his brain? Was he dangerous? Would he eat her? Some of her questions were sillier than anything, but he answered them all.
“I think I’m all questioned out right now. I just wanna go back down the mountain to your aunt’s bakery for some treats.”
“Okay. We can do that.” He led her down to the main street after putting his clothes back on.
Isa was quiet the whole way until they were just about to walk into Sweets, Sweets, Sweets. “You’re telling me that the sweet lady who served my friend a massive sundae yesterday is a tiger?”
“When she wants to be.”
Isa nodded. “I’m guessing I’m not supposed to know. You could get in trouble for telling an outsider your family secret?”
He shook his head. “There are some exceptions to that rule.”
She frowned. “Why does it feel like there’s more, and you’re not telling me?” She put up her hand. “Wait. No. Don’t tell me. Gimme a little bit to process what we’ve just done. I want to ingest a shit ton of sugar while I think about this.”
“You got it, daredevil.”
Valens tried not to be deflated, but he was. He hadn’t known what to expect when he told Isa that he was a tiger, but this wasn’t what he had wanted so far as reactions went. She was quiet about it, and that made him nervous.
Aunt Macie was thrilled to have them in her shop together and brought them a tray full of delicious little treats they could share. It was so sweet of his aunt, but he wanted to tell his aunt not to get her hopes up, but it was too late.
Actually, it was too late for him too.
Now that he had found Isa, he didn’t know what he would do if she walked away forever. It didn’t look good, either. This wasn’t her home. Soon, she’d leave to do a stunt somewhere else. He would be left all alone with the memory of a woman who was almost his.
13
ISA
A tiger.
Valens Thatcher was a tiger.
He hadn’t texted her or called, not even driven by her cabin in two days as he gave her space to think about everything.
Isa couldn’t quite believe the whole situation, but she had seen it with her own eyes.
One second, Valens stood there, human and looking like his hot self — even sexier with no clothes on.
The next second, he was sprouting orange, black, and white fur as he became a tiger.
Normal. Definitely normal. Just another day in Thatcherton, apparently. Because, as Valens explained, he wasn’t the only shifter.