Once Upon a Tiger by Kat Simons Page A

go without hating? Or do you still hate those men?”
    He stared into the woods for a long moment before he finally started writing.
    I don’t hate all humans. Those three men were evil. Evil exists—in humans and in tigers—so I can’t blame an entire species for the wickedness of some. I’m not bitter because I have no reason to be. I’m alive. My mother’s alive. I have a great job, a few good friends. And I spent the day in bed with a spectacular woman. My life is good.
    She twisted her mouth in a half-smile, half-grimace at the “spectacular woman” part. “Was it so easy to let go?”
    He shook his head. I was bitter for a while but I grew up. I realized I had too many good things in my life to let the hate fester. The only one it hurt was me. Those men did enough damage. I couldn’t let them do any more .
    “That is entirely too healthy,” she said. He smiled wide and his shoulders shook with a silent laugh.
    She enjoyed the sight of his pleasure, then asked, “How do you feel about Elizaveta’s research? You don’t hate humans, but could you mate with one?”
    Tigers could only reproduce with other tigers. That was one of their biggest problems. Or so it was widely believed. There was a legend among them of a couple in antiquity—a human woman and a male tiger—who not only managed to reproduce but had many children both tiger and human. Most of her people believed the myth was just that, an old romance tale with no basis in fact. The population crisis they were now facing had driven some to consider maybe the myth had a grain of truth. Maybe their salvation was in finding humans capable of breeding with tigers.
    The feelings on this topic were strong on both sides—vicious supporters and equally vicious opponents. Some of those opponents thought it was an abomination to even consider reproducing with humans. Others simply thought it would dilute their species and leave them even weaker than they were now.
    Elizaveta thought their only long-term hope was to find the genetic descendants of that ancient couple. She was spending a considerable amount of her fortune on genetic and genealogical research.
    Alexis wasn’t entirely sure where she herself stood on the subject, and she hadn’t had her life irreparably damaged by humans. How would Victor feel about it?
    I think we can’t afford to discount anything that might help us survive. I worry Elizaveta is tilting at windmills though, and even if she’s right, there will be a lot of conflict over any tiger/human pairing.
    He pulled back the notepad and wrote more, so she remained silent so he could finish what he had to say.
    And no, I wouldn’t mate with a human. Because you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted.
    Alexis sucked in a deep breath. She blinked rapidly. That wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting, but it filled her with so much emotion she didn’t know what to name any of it.
    “Fuck ‘em,” she said.
    Victor straightened and his eyes widened.
    She flailed out a hand in a vague gesture. “I don’t know what the elders meant by sending the others here. I don’t care. I’ve been a loyal Tracker for twelve years. The only thing I’ve ever asked was to be released from the Mate Run. They broke their word. If they can’t keep their promise with me, I no longer need to be faithful to them.”
    Victor’s brows rose higher and he made a, “Continue!” gesture with a wave of his hand.
    “I’m picking my own damned mate outside the Mate Run. They can bite me if they don’t like it.”
    One side of his mouth quirked but he continued staring at her.
    She rolled her eyes and looked out into the woods again. “Yes, you’re the mate I’m picking. In case you were wondering.”
    From the corner of her eye, she saw his slight smile and then he faced the trees again, too.
    “Don’t get smug.”
    He raised his hands, palms up in surrender.
    “And don’t pretend you weren’t feeling smug.” She gave him a narrow-eyed look.
    He