Tiger's Mate

Chapter 30

Sorry for the little wait guys—I was on a camping trip if my own lol.

• Ethan •

Paws trampled over the forest ground in a frantic.

The sheets crumpled around me as I rolled, digging my nails into fabric. My eyes were shut.

No...

Please.

Not this again.

Not this—

A tiger — my tiger — was running. Fighting. There was something after him, a dark shadow. It kept pace with him, tore after him. Then it was on him—

And I shot awake.

The last thing of the dream had been it launching forward, a mass of dark shadow, and fangs, and merciless — undeniably — wolf eyes. The same goddamned dream as the night before.

I sat up at the waist. The first thing I looked for was where it was supposed to be — beside me, asleep, safe...and drooling a little.

Katski was fine. Better than fine; he looked like he was having the goddamned best sleep of his life. Which is what I should have been doing.

I mentally cursed myself — and those stupid nightmares.

Perhaps some small hidden part of me was always on edge. Why? Probably something to do with the fact that my entire relationship survived on secrets. Secrets that were more than likely to expose themselves eventually, knowing my luck.

I sighed to myself, careful not to do anything to rouse the sleeping feline-shifter at my side as I raked my fingers through my hair. That internal fear that lingered somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it did; that we would get caught, that somehow things wouldn't turn out the way we wanted to, and the worst, that something bad would happen to my mate. Something I wouldn't be able to stop.

For in my dreams, there was nothing I could do. I wasn't frozen, I wasn't rooted in place — I wasn't even there. I simply watched, because for some reason, that was all I was able to do in my dreams as I watched my tiger try to escape the harm rushing for him.

I. Couldn't. Do. Anything.

And nothing pissed me off more than that feeling of helplessness — doomed to just sit back as someone I cared for was in danger.

I took another deep breath, realizing how tense every muscle in my body still was. And then I did something I normally wouldn't. Instead of getting up to go hit something, work off the anger and the churning in my stomach, I took another breath and forced myself to calm down. Because that regular urge was not as prominent. Because it wasn't a demanding urge to go release my emotions through physical blows or a run through the woods in my wolf form. Because this time, there was the one important thing keeping me tethered here, to this tent.

Aggressor. Protector. I didn't know I could be both until I began to feel this way about him.

The world we lived in was damn interesting.

Watching Katski calmly sleep was probably the most therapeutic thing I'd ever done. It helped, slowly but surely, I began to feel myself relax for real.