Masks of a Tiger by Doris O'Connor Read Free Book Online

intensified it, and he couldn't keep his beast's possessive
growl under wraps.
    Both Ink and Trikus , who had sprinted to the bar with him, and now had Jordayn pinned over the counter, threw Grisha an astonished look.
      Cherie smiled.
    "Take her to one of
the dungeons, Grisha . Ink and Trikus will sort this, or I shall serve the idiot's balls for Sunday lunch."
Cherie's tiger snarled her agreement, and Neeve jumped and snuggled closer into his frame as though she was seeking his
protection.
    "Cherie is right, Grisha . Leave him to us. You go and sort your sub out. Use
my private dungeon. You will not be disturbed."   Ink's grim smile didn't reach his eyes. Half
shifted he looked every inch the lethal predator he was, and Grisha shifted Neeve slightly, so
that she wouldn't see his friend's transformation.
    His chest felt
suspiciously tight at the thought of his sub, and he set off to take her
away from prying eyes. Her death grip on him loosened the farther away they got
from the noise of the club, and by the time they stood in front of the heavily
padded dungeon door, she struggled in his arms.
    " Wh —where are you taking me?" She pushed against his
chest, and he put her down on her feet, using his body to hold her up against
the wall, while he keyed the required code into the key pad by the door.
    "Relax, sweetheart.
I'm taking you to Ink's dungeon to keep you safe." Her eyes widened, her
heart rate increased, and he framed her face with his hands as the door swung
open and the overhead light came on automatically. He pitched his voice as low
as he could in an effort to reassure her, and some of her renewed anxiety left
her. "I promise nothing will happen that you do not want to happen, Neeve ."
    He willed her to look up
at him, and when she finally did, his insides churned at the depths of pain
reflected in moss green eyes. Like the deep sides of a pond they clouded over
with unshed tears.
    "Trust me,
sweetheart. Let me take some of that hurt away."
    A sob rose from her, and
she shut her eyes. A lone tear trailed down her cheek, and he followed the path
of that tear with his gaze, over her cheek, down the slender column of her
neck, and into the deep V of her burgundy dress. His cock leapt into action,
and he resisted the temptation to trace the path of that tear with his tongue.
Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breaths, the clingy fabric of her dress
accentuating every one of her slight curves. Her nipples puckered into hard
little nubs, clearly visible through her dress, under his silent scrutiny, and Grisha smiled.
    "You can't. No one
can. I shouldn't have come here." The whispered words carried enough pain
to make Grisha want to shift and rip whoever hurt her
so badly limb from fucking limb. The strength of his reaction floored him with
its intensity. From the first moment his tiger had recognized her scent outside
the marquee his sole purpose had been to claim her. He had not been able to get
her out of his mind, hoping against hope that she would turn up at Club Ink.
Despite her claims that she wasn't submissive, and despite the man's
reservations that she wasn't what he was looking for, that he had no intention
of settling down, his tiger wasn't listening.
    He'd known the instant
she'd set foot in the club, his tiger itching to get to the woman he'd chosen
to mark as his own, but he'd had a show to do. So, he'd ruthlessly clamped down
on his animal side and concentrated on the task instead, aware that she'd
watched his every move. What he hadn't anticipated—and fuck it, he
should have really, after the way she'd burned herself at the ceremony—was that
his show would prove to be a trigger for her.
    He had a fairly good
idea why. Trikus's report had been very thorough, and Grisha knew only too well the effect childhood
traumas could have on a person. He crunched his teeth in frustration and willed
the memories away again.   He'd left that
part of his life behind years ago and seldom thought of it