Tiger Read online

  He sat up and located the correct area then placed his hands between her breasts. He hoped their generous size cushioned his palms enough to prevent bones from breaking. He did thirty chest compressions.

  “What the hell are you doing now?” The sheriff inched closer.

  “CPR,” Tiger growled.

  He tore off his shirt, balled it up, and shoved it behind the back of her neck to keep her head angled. He checked to make sure her airway was clear, pinched her nose carefully, opened her jaw to part her soft-looking lips and pressed his mouth over hers. His gaze diverted to her chest. He stared at creamy cleavage peeking from the top of her shirt and forced air into her lungs. Her chest moved as he breathed for her.

  Tiger sucked in air, covered her lips again and blew air inside her. His gaze locked on her cleavage, saw her chest expand. He started a new cycle of chest compressions and she jerked a little under him. He pulled back and watched her facial muscles twitch. He lowered his head to rest his ear over her breasts and heard her heartbeat. She inhaled on her own, a gasp more than a breath, and he relaxed as he straightened.

  “She’s breathing again and has her heartbeat back.” He stared up at the sheriff. “They must have pressed all the air from her lungs until her heart stopped but I got to her in time.”

  “I’ll call an ambulance.” The older human grabbed his radio. “Thank you so much.”

  Tiger studied the female carefully. Her color improved as she breathed and he hated the sight of her on that floor. He had been trained to protect a downed, injured person and wait for assistance once he he’d done whatever he could but something inside him abhorred her lying where humans had injured her.

  He bent forward and gently eased his arms under her. She was as light as he’d guessed as he lifted her against his chest and used the strength in his legs to stand. His gaze met Slash’s.

  “Grab my stuff. I’m going to take her outside for fresh air while we wait for the ambulance.”

  Slash nodded, grabbing Tiger’s destroyed shirt and discarded vest. Tiger shifted his precious burden and turned, assessing the rest of the bar. His males had cleared the humans. The fighting had ceased and his officers attended to the injured. A few of them were the ones he’d thrown to reach the female but he didn’t feel guilty.

  He strode out of the bar and walked around the building, desperate to get away from the humans who’d harmed the female. They were drunk, stupid, and he didn’t want to risk her being in danger again. He carried her to one of the Jeeps they’d arrived in. He used his elbow to test the heat of the hood before he gently laid her across it sideways and kept his arm in place to cushion her head while he studied her face.

  Her coloring was much improved, nearly normal but still pale. He surmised it might be her natural coloring with her red hair. The long strands were curly, long and beautiful. It fell probably halfway down her back and was soft. The woman stirred a little, moved one of her legs and her lips parted slightly as a sigh left her.

  Tiger prayed she wouldn’t wake until the ambulance arrived. She’d see his altered features, realize he was Species and perhaps start screaming. The parking lot lights were bright and she’d see him clear enough to know he wasn’t one of her males.

  He really hated it when human females saw him and pierced his eardrums with their shrieking. Sometimes they did that and it drove him nuts. He watched her face, hoping she wouldn’t wake but he could tell she was going to.

  She moved again, shifting her head in the crook of his arm. Tiger looked down at her as she blew out a breath, scenting a pleasant fruity smell. Her eyes opened. Tiger waited for her to notice his features and start screaming.

  Her eyes were dark green and beautiful. She stared at the sky, blinked, and finally focused on him. Confusion was an easy emotion to read. She blinked again and studied his features. She took a breath and her gaze traveled over his bare shoulders, arms, and chest. He winced inwardly. He had forgotten that he’d torn off his shirt and knew she’d probably believe she was being sexually assaulted at seeing his upper body displayed.

  She didn’t scream but instead did the last thing he expected when she looked back up at him. A smile curved her lips and he could have sworn he saw amusement flash in those beautiful eyes.

  Zandy had opened her eyes to a sea of stars in a dark sky. Her mind felt foggy, as if she’d just come out of a deep sleep, but she wasn’t in her bed. She blinked and shifted her gaze a little only to stare into the most striking pair of catlike blue eyes she’d ever seen. Their color, shape and the really long eyelashes framing them mesmerized her.

  The shade of blue was unique and she realized gold encircled the outer rims of the oval irises. She could have stared into them forever but curiosity made her study his regal bone structure, also strange with thicker, raised cheekbones, yet very appealing. He was the most masculine man she’d ever seen—handsome, striking and fascinating all at the same time.

  His golden skin tone flattered the mane of thick hair framing his face. Streaked colors of light-to-sandy blond mixed with red were woven through locks that fell over a pair of really broad shoulders. Her gaze stopped just above dusky-colored, flat nipples.

  She savored the sight of his hairless, wide, perfect chest. Lots of tan skin, well-defined muscles and impressive-sized biceps snagged her attention. Her gaze dipped lower to his flat belly, his tight six-pack abs clearly displayed. Her heart speeded up to thump wildly against her ribs. He was magnificent—a god.

  Not a god, a small voice of consciousness stated. He’s got to be an angel. She frowned, trying to think past her confusion. Does hell have angels? Wasn’t Lucifer a fallen angel? She was foggy on her bible studies from her childhood but she was pretty certain that’s what he was. That meant the gorgeous creature before her had to be a fallen angel too.

  “I’m ready to go with you,” she whispered.

  He blinked and his eyebrows rose slightly. “Go with me where?”

  He had a deep, raspy voice and it gave her the good kind of chills. She’d heard the devil could tempt anyone to sin and if he sent fallen angels who looked like this one after the newly dead, she was totally agreeable to do anything he wanted.

  She smiled. “You can take me straight to hell if you’re there too.”

  A smile softened his features and made him even more handsome. “You have been drinking too much.”

  She had known her life would bite her in the ass one day. She should have listened to her mother but it was too late now. Zandy tried to sit up. She wanted to get a better look at him. The pillow under her head turned out to be one of his arms as he gently pulled her up. His other hand curved around her waist, steadied her as she turned to face him and her gaze locked on his abs again. Pure perfection.

  “I know. I’ve done a lot of things that I knew I shouldn’t. That’s how I got here.” She licked her lips and noticed how his gaze lowered to her mouth. He was so gorgeous, the best-looking man-creature she’d ever seen, not that she’d ever really seen one before. That was beside the point. She scooted closer to him and smiled.

  Oh, to hell with it. I’m already going to hell so why not really earn it? She feared he’d just escort her there and leave. She mentally ticked off the list of bad things she’d done. Premarital sex. She’d stolen pens from her last job. There was that time she’d kicked one of her exes in the balls when she’d found him cheating on her. It had been wrong but, man, had it felt good to watch him hit the floor groaning. He’d broken her heart and hadn’t even apologized so she’d made sure he suffered a little too. That brought her to the divorces and she stopped listing her sins.

  “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she admitted to him softly. “I may as well do what I want to most right now since I’m going to hell anyway, right?”

  His gaze narrowed slightly. “What do you—”

  She made up her mind and cut him off. “Fuck it. I want you.”

  Zandy reached up and gripped his warm shoulders. She spread he
r thighs while pulling him closer, forcing his hips to hit the edge of what she sat on. She wrapped her legs around the back of his and pressed her body flush against his tall frame.

  He gasped in a breath and looked stunned. She grinned. She was about to show him sin. She locked one hand around the back of his neck while her other one slid down his firm chest wall to enjoy the feel of his warm, smooth skin. Her fingers spread open over his stomach, felt his muscles bunch under her palm and only stopped when she hit the waistband of his pants, which blocked her from further exploration.

  “What are you doing?” He growled the words.

  That’s so damn sexy. “Kiss me.”

  He blinked but didn’t move.

  Her grip on the back of his neck tightened, found the hair there and fisted it. She pulled his mouth down to hers and kissed him instead. Firm, full lips pressed against hers. She licked the seam of them and he groaned as he opened up to her. Zandy took advantage, not sure how much time they had before he had to lead her wherever it was she was going. Her tongue entered his mouth. The sharp points of his teeth raked her but it didn’t hurt.

  He had fangs too. Fangs, cat eyes and growly voice. It turned her on even more and she loved the taste of him when he kissed her back. It seemed that angels carried a cherry flavor in their mouths and it was her favorite. His hands moved on her body, wrapped around her and cupped her ass to haul her tightly against him. Zandy knew heaven instantly when the hard ridge of his erection rubbed against her clit through their clothes.

  She tightened her hold on him when he lifted her firmly against his body. She moved against him, grinding on his cock, and it felt so good. Her breasts ached. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything and she suddenly knew hell too. He couldn’t fuck her with their clothes on.

  Her hand was trapped between them but she found a snap, tore at it and then another to get his pants open. She twisted her hand, encountered bare, hot skin and wiggled her fingers until she found his cock. Her angel didn’t wear underwear. Her fingers found him tucked up and to her left as she wrapped her fingers around the thick girth of his shaft.

  He purred against her mouth, growled and the kiss became nearly brutal. She didn’t give a damn if he cut her with his fangs because his kisses were just making her burn to have him. She tried to position his cock to free him of those damn pants but he was incredibly hard. Their bodies were pressed too tightly together and it was hung up inside them.

  Hell! Maybe that is the point, she decided, feeling frustrated. She wanted them both naked, with him buried deep inside her but all she could do was stroke whatever part of him she could reach.

  She tore her mouth from his to break the kiss, both of them were panting and she stared into his gorgeous eyes. “Fuck me,” she pleaded. “You’re huge and I want you inside me so bad I hurt. Get these clothes off us.”

  He growled, his eyes narrowed and he suddenly had her pinned flat on the hard surface of whatever she sat on. One of his hands left her ass, gripped her shirt and jerked it up. A rough, hot palm slid up her side to her rib cage and he shifted his broad chest, crushing her breasts under him after cupping one of them. He squeezed, snarled against her tongue and his hips pressed tightly between the vee of her spread thighs. His other hand grabbed her wrist as he shifted again and tore her hand out of his pants to force her to release his cock. Then he adjusted his stance until the hard length of it rubbed against her clit.

  Zandy moaned. Clothes-fucking wasn’t her idea of perfect but she’d take anything he gave her. He rolled his hips, thrust against her again and she gripped his shoulder with the hand that had held his cock. He fisted the side of her jeans. Material tore as he tugged and her level of arousal jolted higher. He was going to tear her clothes off and take her.

  YES!

  “Um, excuse me?” It was a male voice—loud and close. “The ambulance is coming and someone is going to notice you and the human female. You could say she was having difficulty breathing but I doubt they will believe that is CPR.”

  Her angel tore his mouth away from hers and swung his head to stare at something behind him. “Damn,” he snarled. “Thanks, Slash. I lost all control.”

  “I assumed.” The other man cleared his throat.

  Confusion filled Zandy as she was yanked back up to a sitting position beside the angel and he released her. He stared at her with his stunning eyes as he backed away and his hands lowered to close his pants.

  Zandy turned her head to stare at another creature standing a few feet away. He wore all black and had catlike eyes too. He wasn’t looking at her but instead grinned at her fallen angel.

  “Sorry,” the creature in black said softly. “If I didn’t interrupt you would have taken her where you stood and the ambulance would have arrived to see that. You both would have probably been embarrassed to have witnesses see sex between you on the hood of the Jeep.”

  Something was written in white lettering on the man’s black shirt. Zandy squinted, read three letters and knew she’d seen them from somewhere before. Memory returned to her in a flash. NSO was short for New Species Organization.

  Her gaze jerked back to her beautiful fallen angel. He was breathing hard and his eyes were locked on hers as she examined his features. She could actually feel the color drain from her face.

  “I’m not dead, am I?”

  The man she’d been kissing shook his head. “You thought you were?”

  She felt her body cooling fast from the burning desire to leap on the man and take him to the ground, tear off his pants to continue what they’d started. “Oh shit. You’re not a…” She couldn’t say fallen angel to him, he’d think she was nuts. Hell, she was. No, she corrected, I’m drunk.

  “I’m a what?” His tone deepened and anger seemed to flash in his eyes.

  “You’re one of those New Species from Reservation, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  Zandy closed her eyes and hugged her chest. It dawned that she’d just molested a New Species. They were humans who’d been altered with animal DNA. Some crazy pharmaceutical company had made them part animal and done illegal testing on them. Son of a bitch. Her eyes flew open.

  She darted a glance at her surroundings and recognized the bar parking lot. The sheriff some of his deputies were visible in the distance near the front of the building under the outside lights. There were some drunks arguing with them. She hadn’t died on the bar floor as she’d believed but suddenly wished she had. She closed her eyes again. She couldn’t find the courage to glance at the man she’d mistaken for an angel. She waited silently for the ambulance instead.

  Chapter One

  Zandy tried to mute her anger but it was nearly impossible to do. She had a mortgage to pay. Her life savings had gone for the down payment to get her house and she needed to eat. Having electricity and gas would be nice too. Even if she sold her new house, the market was down and she’d lose the equity.

  The thought of returning to Southern California and having to live with her parents at her age was enough to make her desperate. They’d berate her over making another blunder, tell her how disappointed they were in her and rub every mistake she’d ever made in her face. She’d do anything to avoid that, including taking any job, even if she risked running into someone linked to one of the most embarrassing evenings of her life.

  She glanced up at the reception area where she waited and knew she’d hit that all-time low. It was the last place she wanted to be but they were hiring. It was a big place. The chances of her running into him had to be slim to none and she just had to believe that if she wanted to keep the courage it had taken to come to Reservation.

  Hatred for Jordan Parks made her ears warm. The asshole had fired her after she’d repeatedly refused to sleep with the toad. He’d made her life unbearable for weeks, probably hoping she’d quit but she was more stubborn than that. It was a small town, job opportunities were scarce and the next town with jobs was a twenty-minute drive away. Her car was old. It wo
uldn’t endure six months of the mountain driving and the buses only ran once a day. She was in a hell of a mess because the prick had fired her.

  She swallowed her anger and forced a smile as a door opened. A happy perspective employee gets hired more than a grumpy one, she reminded herself. The receptionist was tall, her features were pretty and she smiled back.

  “He is ready to interview you.”

  Zandy rose to her feet and felt short even in four-inch heels compared to the woman she passed. One glance at the lithe, athletic body also made her feel woefully out of shape. She entered the office, kept her smile in place and hoped she landed the job. It was the only one listed in the paper unless she wanted to work part-time scooping up road kill for animal control. She doubted they’d hire her and it didn’t pay enough for her to survive on.

  She paused a few feet inside the office to study the man seated behind the desk. He had light-brown hair with blond streaks running through it. Blue eyes stared at her and he waved her to a seat. She spotted the wedding band on his tan hand, noted his wide shoulders and the way his suit bunched over his biceps. He was as fit as his receptionist and she hoped they wouldn’t hold it against her that she wasn’t.

  “Have a seat, Miss Gordon. I’m Slade North.”

  She passed him her resume as she sat in the big chair and tried to relax but it was impossible to do. She needed the job desperately. The part-time job wouldn’t pay her bills but this one would. It was actually listed for more than she’d made at her last job.

  He placed the paper flat on his desk, didn’t read it, but instead watched her. “I already have a copy of your work history. You had to fax it in along with the other information we asked for to do a background check.” He paused. “You have the job.”

  Shock slapped her. “But you haven’t spoken to me.”

  “I already know everything about you that we need. You have the skills required for the job, you don’t have an arrest record and you’re not associated with anyone who has caused us problems. Your parents were interviewed and you weren’t raised racist.” He shrugged. “It’s that simple.”