our heads. I did not need to turn my head and look to see who it was beside me; I knew it deep within myself. An uncanny, eerie feeling followed Nigel wherever he went. His appearance made the tiger inside of me calm a bit, almost as if the tiger feared him. I knew I did, only in that Nigel was the ringmaster, the leader of this show. Theoretically, he could end the show whenever he wanted.
Or, at least, that’s what I thought, though I had no clue if it was true.
“I can sense your desire for her, Trey,” Nigel spoke, the wind lapping at his black hair, his dark eyes on Thana and the contortionists. He held his hands behind his back, standing a few inches taller than me. He was not nearly as wide or as thick as me, but really, only our strongman was.
I said nothing, because there was nothing to say to Nigel. I dared not speak, lest I insult him. I might be the newest member of this band, beyond Thana herself, but I’d long ago figured out it was always in your best interest to avoid riling Nigel up.
“Be wary your desire does not cloud your judgment,” Nigel muttered, turning away from Thana to glare at me. “I would hate to have to skin our most popular animal.” He said nothing else as he walked away, leaving me with an aching feeling in my gut.
Logically, I knew he was right. I should not let my desire cloud my judgment; going after her might bring a world of hurt my way. No, scratch that. It definitely would. It would bring Nigel’s wrath down upon me, and he would become an angel of destruction and torment, inflicting a world of pain on me every single day until the end of it all.
I waited for a few moments, glancing over my shoulder to find Nigel gone, slow to return my gaze to Thana. She’d looked away from the contortionists and their pretzel bodies, her smile now hitting me full-force, even though she was a good ways away. Thana was staring at me and smiling, and I couldn’t fight the response my body had.
I grinned in return, dimples deepening on my cheeks as the tiger inside rattled in its cage. Right then, logic had nothing to do with it, nor did Nigel’s warning. Right then, the only thing I could think about was taking her somewhere private and making her mine.
Mine. It had a nice ring to it, didn’t it?
It was right then I knew I was in trouble when it came to Thana. Though I’d been warned off her, though everyone else knew not to lay a hand on her, not to hurt her or drag her into the night’s typical festivities, I knew I needed to follow the pull I felt towards her, to let my inner animal take over and claim what was rightfully his. Mine. Ours.
I might draw Nigel’s wrath, but I could not fight the will inside that told me Thana was mine.
I waited until nightfall to make my move, to go to her, to tell her that I… I could not fight the feeling inside of me any longer. Not being with her, fighting my inner tiger, it wasn’t working. It wasn’t right. It was as if nature itself dictated that I go to her, that nature had told me she was mine. My girl, my mate, mine.
Even if, beyond that, she belonged to Nigel.
Right now, I had a one-track mind. Right now, I had to go to her.
Thana was already tucked safely away from the craziness outside, nestled in her sliver of the tent we called home. I stalked toward her tent, nothing but the moon above me as I walked, an invisible weight on my shoulders. I avoided everyone and everything, though I did cross paths with Greg, whose turn it was to be the crazy one.
Looked like he’d already taken care of Gina, his hands dripping in red and coating the grass below. He had on nothing but pants, his bare chest heaving with a growl, as if his growl could ever sound more impressive than mine. He looked like he wanted to tumble with me, but tonight I wasn’t having any of it.
“Fuck off,” I told him, baring my teeth, feeling myself start to shift. I knew if I fully shifted, my tiger would tear him apart, and it would take longer to make it to Thana’s tent.