Taming The Tigers Read Free

kitten had moved slower. Most likely because the little furball had sank its claws into his scalp and wouldn’t let go. He ran with his hands over his head, trying to extricate the animal from his hair. She might have felt sorry for the guy, if he wasn’t a lowlife who got his rocks off forcing women to his will.
    “It’s time to get out of here.” She reached for her keys, only to find they weren’t in her jacket pocket and they weren’t in her hands. She glanced around the interior of the car, hoping to find she’d dropped them on the seat in her hurry to close and lock the door.
    However, the taller of the two, too-handsome males, outside her car drew her attention with a rap on her window, a smile, and a shake of her keys.
    “Looking for these?”
    “Damn.”
    Tears filled her eyes as she realized that, like it or not, she was caught between that proverbial rock and the hard place. Still, Carmen knew she had no one to blame for her situation but herself. Had she told her uncles of her plan, she would have had protection. Instead, she’d been stupid about trying to declare her independence and hadn’t told them a thing.
    Reaching for her cell phone, she pulled it from her pocket and almost burst into tears. It was soaked. She’d ruined it, going after the kitten that was now resting comfortably in the arms of the man who’d rescued it.
    Rubbing her still burning belly, she glanced up at the man who still held her keys just outside her window.
    “Open your door and take your keys. We won’t harm you. I promise.”
    Right. What good were promises by men with no honor? Still, she didn’t have much of a choice, did she? She was stuck here, in the middle of nowhere until a car drove by and, even then, there was no guarantee that anyone would help her.
    Could she still shift on the fly? She doubted it. It had been years since she used any of her shifter abilities. She hadn’t had to. Between living in the city and having her uncles see to her every whim, there was no reason to shift. Generally, her people only shifted during times of battle or duress. She hadn’t been under stress since she’d gone up for first chair after her best friend, Melody, had quit the orchestra and married Carmen’s two uncles.
    Up until today, her life had been good—perfect, even. Then she came to California and everything turned to crap.
    “I swear we won’t hurt you.” The man gestured to his companion who had started petting the kitten. “He’ll back away. It will just be you and me, and I’ll hand you the keys and you can drive away, if that’s what you wish.” He rested his hands on the edge of the roof. “Only I wish you would let me talk to you for a minute before you leave.”
    Carmen knew she didn’t have a choice. She could sit in her car until dark when they could beat her windows in under the cover of darkness, or she could take the chance that he was telling her the truth and open her door.
    What convinced her was seeing his pained expression, the perspiration on his brow and the fact that he held his left hand over his stomach as though it burned just as badly as hers did.
    Slowly, she reached for the door handle, knowing the door would unlock automatically as soon as she pulled the handle. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and looked up at the man who still held her keys.
    True to his word, he dropped her keys in her hand and stepped away from the car. “I would like to talk to you before you go.” His eyes took on a strange glint when he looked at her. It was similar to the way Mitch and Wyatt’s eyes had been when they watched Melody when they first realized she was their mate.
    Heat coiled in her belly, curling insidiously through her insides as though someone had cut her open and took a blowtorch to her intestines. Wrapping her hands around her middle, she gasped and leaned forward.
    “What—what’s happening to me?”
    The man rushed back to the car, thrust her door wide and knelt beside