her land.
Her head snapped up. The bastards were past her cabin and on their way toward her and Victor’s location.
“Son of a bitch.” She relaxed her legs and slid to her feet.
Victor kept his arms around her, though, and raised his head. Then nodded and stepped away so she had room to move. She considered their options.
“Shift. We’ll face them tiger to tiger. It is time they left my territory.” The last came out in a low growl as she started changing.
Chapter Nine
As tigers, Alexis and Victor ran toward the approaching males, who changed direction to come straight at them. They met in an area of tightly clumped trees and little undergrowth. The smells of dark earth, pine, maple, dried leaves and tiger washed over Alexis, and she let loose a territorial roar. The five intruding males spaced out in a half-circle, each pacing a small back-and-forth pattern as they sized up her and Victor.
In this shape, her senses were heightened, and she pinpointed Nick immediately. He stalked forward and back, not an open attack but tempting her to jump him. She quickly assessed the other four. Dev was growling and chuffing, his movements more jerky than the others, his tail flicking in short, hard swipes. The one Siberian she thought she might know but couldn’t quite place was hanging back just a bit. Not obvious, but he wasn’t pushing forward the way the others were. The two strangers both stalked with tense grace, issuing occasional growls as they watched her.
She crouched, ready to leap if one came at her, and stared at them all, each in turn. Soft sounds of threat and challenge filled the space between the trees. Only Victor was silent, and his silence was a heavy, dangerous presence beside her.
After several moments of display, Nick finally lunged. She was on him immediately, landing on his back, her teeth in his nape before he could get a swipe at her. She drew blood then jumped away. As he turned to face her, she dove in again, plowing through him so he was flipped off balance and thrown into a tree.
While he was down, she bit his neck again, not enough to kill but once again drawing blood, making the threat clear. Nick roared and swiped out, his sharp claws slicing over her side. She growled in irritation more than pain and danced away from him. Nick was a trained Tracker, no easy mark, but she was still annoyed he’d been able to injure her.
She spun around to lunge back at Nick, but Victor leapt first. He caught Nick and rolled him over and over until they both crashed into another tree. Nick ended up on his back with Victor on top, Victor dragging one clawed forepaw over Nick’s muzzle. Nick roared again and lashed out, but Victor had him pinned.
Alexis had no time to enjoy watching Victor fight. She whirled to face three of the other four tigers as they came at her. She flipped, turned and swiped at them, holding them at a distance as she regained her balance. The vaguely familiar Siberian remained out of the fight, waiting. But she couldn’t worry about him while she was busy handing out a lesson to the three coming at her.
In tiger form, she fought mostly as a normal tiger would, but she had the logic and planning skills of her Tracker training, and she used unexpected moves to toss the three males around. Unlike Nick, none of these were combat trained, and they had no idea how to fight together. She threw one into a tree where he dropped and lay motionless, the wind knocked out of him. Another she managed to hamstring so he went limping out of the fight.
Dev was more aggressive, more desperate than the others. He just kept coming, no matter how many times she tossed him around or made him bleed. He obviously hadn’t learned anything when she’d dislocated his shoulder. She’d underestimated his determination.
He caught her, a second gash along her side and a deep one on her hip. She found herself giving ground under his desperate attack. She didn’t want to kill him. She might
Her head snapped up. The bastards were past her cabin and on their way toward her and Victor’s location.
“Son of a bitch.” She relaxed her legs and slid to her feet.
Victor kept his arms around her, though, and raised his head. Then nodded and stepped away so she had room to move. She considered their options.
“Shift. We’ll face them tiger to tiger. It is time they left my territory.” The last came out in a low growl as she started changing.
Chapter Nine
As tigers, Alexis and Victor ran toward the approaching males, who changed direction to come straight at them. They met in an area of tightly clumped trees and little undergrowth. The smells of dark earth, pine, maple, dried leaves and tiger washed over Alexis, and she let loose a territorial roar. The five intruding males spaced out in a half-circle, each pacing a small back-and-forth pattern as they sized up her and Victor.
In this shape, her senses were heightened, and she pinpointed Nick immediately. He stalked forward and back, not an open attack but tempting her to jump him. She quickly assessed the other four. Dev was growling and chuffing, his movements more jerky than the others, his tail flicking in short, hard swipes. The one Siberian she thought she might know but couldn’t quite place was hanging back just a bit. Not obvious, but he wasn’t pushing forward the way the others were. The two strangers both stalked with tense grace, issuing occasional growls as they watched her.
She crouched, ready to leap if one came at her, and stared at them all, each in turn. Soft sounds of threat and challenge filled the space between the trees. Only Victor was silent, and his silence was a heavy, dangerous presence beside her.
After several moments of display, Nick finally lunged. She was on him immediately, landing on his back, her teeth in his nape before he could get a swipe at her. She drew blood then jumped away. As he turned to face her, she dove in again, plowing through him so he was flipped off balance and thrown into a tree.
While he was down, she bit his neck again, not enough to kill but once again drawing blood, making the threat clear. Nick roared and swiped out, his sharp claws slicing over her side. She growled in irritation more than pain and danced away from him. Nick was a trained Tracker, no easy mark, but she was still annoyed he’d been able to injure her.
She spun around to lunge back at Nick, but Victor leapt first. He caught Nick and rolled him over and over until they both crashed into another tree. Nick ended up on his back with Victor on top, Victor dragging one clawed forepaw over Nick’s muzzle. Nick roared again and lashed out, but Victor had him pinned.
Alexis had no time to enjoy watching Victor fight. She whirled to face three of the other four tigers as they came at her. She flipped, turned and swiped at them, holding them at a distance as she regained her balance. The vaguely familiar Siberian remained out of the fight, waiting. But she couldn’t worry about him while she was busy handing out a lesson to the three coming at her.
In tiger form, she fought mostly as a normal tiger would, but she had the logic and planning skills of her Tracker training, and she used unexpected moves to toss the three males around. Unlike Nick, none of these were combat trained, and they had no idea how to fight together. She threw one into a tree where he dropped and lay motionless, the wind knocked out of him. Another she managed to hamstring so he went limping out of the fight.
Dev was more aggressive, more desperate than the others. He just kept coming, no matter how many times she tossed him around or made him bleed. He obviously hadn’t learned anything when she’d dislocated his shoulder. She’d underestimated his determination.
He caught her, a second gash along her side and a deep one on her hip. She found herself giving ground under his desperate attack. She didn’t want to kill him. She might
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