Once Upon a Tiger by Kat Simons Page B

continued staring into the trees, the very slight upward tilt of his mouth giving him a very satisfied look. She had more to tell him, to admit, and she wanted to try signing it. A tremor of anxiety clenched her stomach. Taking this step felt like laying her soul open for him to see, though she wasn’t sure why she was so insecure about it. She’d just told him she intended to keep him. Admitting she’d learned sign language for him shouldn’t be any scarier.
    She sucked in a breath. She was no coward. He was her mate now. She could do this.
    She nudged his arm, and when he faced her fully, she started signing, very slowly. “ The thing is…I’ve had a thing for you since I was sixteen.”
    He tilted his head to one side and frowned, blinking repeatedly as if he wasn’t sure he believed what he was seeing.
    “Did I sign wrong and say something ridiculous?” she asked aloud. She was pretty sure she hadn’t but signing at herself in the mirror was very different from signing to Victor.
    He shook his head but didn’t otherwise react.
    She nodded and went back to signing. “It was a girlhood crush at sixteen. When I turned twenty, I knew you were the only one I could ever mate with.” She paused and picked at a loose splinter on her armrest, then looked up and finished. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Victor. I never allowed myself to hope for this, but now that they’ve pushed me, I intend to keep you.”
    She flexed her fingers, the signing making them ache a little because she really didn’t do this enough. Then aloud, because she didn’t know all the right signs, she said, “There’s not a damned thing the bastards can do about it either.”
    A few silent minutes passed as he stared, his notebook flittering in the soft breeze. She held his gaze, though it took an act of will to keep from looking away.
    Finally, he set the notebook aside and started signing. Alexis tried following but it was clear after a few gestures, real life signing wasn’t the same as watching a teaching video. She raised a hand to stop him.
    “Sorry,” she said, “you’re going too fast for me. I’ve never signed with anyone else before. I can’t keep up.”
    “ You can use sign language?”
    Her cheeks heated, but she signed, “I started learning a few years ago.”
    “Why?”
    “For you.”
    His mouth actually dropped open slightly, a sign she wasn’t sure how to interpret. She couldn’t read anything in his expression except the surprise.
    “Should I have asked before using sign language with you? Have I offended you or…anything?”
    He shook his head, then he met and held her gaze and signed, slowly, “I noticed you when you were seventeen. The day after you turned eighteen I allowed myself to admit I wanted you. One minute after that, I resigned myself to never being able to have you.”
    He paused and his gaze narrowed, but his lips lifted in a bewildered smile.
    “You’ve learned sign language for me.” His gesture at himself was brusque.
    The astonishment in his expression vanished then, replaced by an unsmiling intensity that made her swallow hard. Heat and passion rose, a sharp, heady mixture of scent and sensation that flowed over her, brushing her skin, filling her nose. She sucked in a deep breath to savor all the things they were saying to each other without words.
    He leaned closer. “If you’re willing to stand up to the elders, I will be at your side. Always.”
    Her exhale wobbled, but she didn’t hesitate when she said, “I am.”
    He cupped her cheek, stretched across the two armrests, and kissed her. The gentle contact, so at odds with the passion scenting the air and yet so perfectly right, filled her soul. She wanted to burst with the joy of knowing he would stand with her. Every part of her felt alive, sparking with energy and hope.
    She gripped his wrist and eased back to smile. “You’re mine now, you know.”
    He nodded, his gaze direct and serious. He touched her chest,