Doris O'Connor by Riding Her Tiger

tiger-like she'd ever heard, and Estelle was half expecting him to shift there and then. He would be damn beautiful as his tiger self, Estelle was sure, and she couldn't suppress a grin. Tigers had always been her favorite animal after all.
    "What's so damn amusing, Estelle?"
    She jumped at the affronted tones, and she couldn't help the giggle escaping. He looked like a little boy whose favorite toy had been snatched away from him.
    "I was just thinking how ironic it is that I have a collection of stuffed toy tigers sitting on my bed. Guess I've always slept with tigers."
    His eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms, even as his own lips twitched at what he read in her face.
    "Tigers as in plural? That your kink now? ‘Cause I have to tell you, that's Ink's thing, not mine. I had a belly full of that with the ex, and I'm getting too old for that shit. I want a mate, Estelle, not a play thing. So if that's what gets you off then I suggest you slink back to my twin."
    Dread flooded Estelle at the snarled words, and she scrambled to her feet.
    "No, that's not what I mean. I mean… I—" She bit her lip and withdrew her outstretched hand before she could touch him.
    "Then what do you mean?"
    "I mean, I only went along with it because I thought you wanted me to. I mean not you– Ink, but I thought it was you, and oh shit. Look, I heard the rumors about you, and I knew you wouldn’t want me all straight-laced and prim and proper, and then I got drunk one night, and I told my best friend, and Neeve, being Neeve, signed me up to that website. I thought If I learned how to be a sub, then maybe you would be interested in me, and then at the club…I thought it was you, and Grisha… well, he's very…err. I've just fucked it all up, haven't I? You hate me now, and—"
    The kiss came out of nowhere, hard, bruising, possessive.
    Nathan's mouth devoured hers, and she whimpered her need into the kiss, as her heart soared at the words he mumbled when they came up for air.

    "I could never hate you, you silly little thing."
     

Chapter Six
    Heart pounding in her chest Estelle rounded the corner. A quick glance at her phone confirmed that Nathan had found the note she'd pinned to her front door.
    It had simply said: Gone to the club. You need to sort this.
    His text was just as direct: What the fuck?
    She had given herself a head start, just enough that he would be right behind her. She was in perfectly respectable jeans and a tank top, and she doubted any of the shifters who frequented Club Ink would dare make a move on the intended mate of the co–owner, but she wasn't taking any chances. She might be topping from the bottom right now, and she had no doubt earned herself one heck of a spanking session – she grinned at the thought – but she didn't really want to get herself into more trouble than she was already in.
    The wolf shifter guarding the door pushed away from his slouching position and raised his head in the air to get her scent. An almost imperceptible move, but one Estelle had seen enough times over the last two weeks to recognize. After their talk in the office, Nathan had decreed that they needed to get to “know” each other. As a result, he'd wined and dined her, and they'd spent the last weekend at his parents’ place.
    She smiled remembering the enthusiastic welcome she'd received from Nathan's mother and his two sisters. His father had been more reserved, watching the interaction between his son and the
    “young girl” he'd brought home out of hooded eyes so like his son's it had been rather unnerving. As had been the conversation she'd had with Mr. Fielding when she couldn't sleep the first night she'd been there. She'd stood wrapped in the woolen blanket she'd found on her bed, staring out into dark night sky when a rustling sound to her right had alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone anymore. A beautiful golden tiger had padded out of the overgrown bushes bordering into the forest, and in the blink