Taming The Tigers Read Free Page A

her. “You’re a shifter. You should know what it is. It’s the mating heat.”
    “The el calor? ” Carmen shook her head. It doesn’t hurt like this. It shouldn’t hurt like this. Should it?” She groaned as she looked up at the man. Could he be her mate? She glanced at his companion, who still remained a distance from the car and groaned again when another wave of pain hit her hard.
    “It can.” He nodded. “If your mates are old.” Once again, he glanced at his companion. “Gable and I are very old and our people nearly extinct.” Reaching up, he gently brushed her hair back from her sweat-soaked face. “We never dreamed we would find a mate, especially one as beautiful as you.”
    “You’re not Leoparo. ” Carmen shook her head. She would have been able to tell by their scent if they had been one of her kind.
    “No,” he agreed. “We are from the cascade.”
    “Cascade? I think I’ve heard of that.” She frowned. “Though, I’m not sure what that is.”
    “The Caspian Cascade is our hiding place, for lack of a better way to put it.” He smiled, showing her an adorable dimple that she had the most incredible urge to lick. “It is a place that is not a place, a time that is not a time and it has kept us hidden for over one-hundred years.”
    “You’re not over a hundred.” She shook her head with a laugh. “If you are, you’re seriously too old for me.” She paused. “You’re not really that old are you?” She couldn’t imagine having sex with two men old enough to be her grandfathers. She didn’t care how good they looked. Like most shifters, the two didn’t look a day over thirty-five. She bit her lip with a frown. Her uncles weren’t that much older than Melody, were they?
    He just grinned at her, with those lovely blue eyes and the dimple that needed licked. “What do you think?”
    “What I think,” she said with a sigh, “doesn’t matter if you two are my mates. Though, you’re really taking the saying about being cradle robbers to a whole new level.”
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    Gable watched Malik as he spoke to the woman who must be their mate. His stomach cramped, and it burned almost as much as the scratches he’d gotten from the kitten he rescued from the lake.
    The little shit had crawled up his torso and settled on the top of his head when he reached it. It was as though she wanted to get as far away from the water as she could, which wouldn’t have been a problem had he been in his tiger form with its thick coat of fur and skin.
    Instead, he’d been in his vulnerable human form. While knife and bullet wounds healed rather quickly, feline scratches would take a while to heal. He’d never known why. It just seemed to be the way of things.
    He moved toward the car when he saw Malik push the driver’s door wide and brush the hair from the woman’s face. Moving slowly, as to not scare her, he walked around the front end and stood next to Malik as he spoke softly to her.
    She glanced up after a moment and gave him a hesitant smile. “I guess you must be Gable.”
    “Yes,” he said with a nod. “I’m Gable Azarov, and knowing Malik, he hasn’t introduced either of us properly.” He grinned. “He’s Malik Zorin.”
    “I’m Carmen Satriano and, apparently, I’m your mate.”
    Just hearing her say those words sent his system into overdrive. His heart raced and his stomach burned with the need to claim her.
    “I’m glad to hear you say that.” It would mean that they wouldn’t have to tread so lightly with her as they would have a human woman. Being a shifter, she knew about the mating heat and the need to expedite their courtship.
    “Well...” She paused and gave each of them a look that said she would brook no argument. “Mating heat, or not, I’m not jumping into bed with you two right away. I don’t know you, and I don’t sleep with men I don’t know.”
    “I don’t recall saying anything about anyone getting to sleep.” Malik grinned at