Page 10 of Tiger's Little Waif

Her face burned as she whispered, “I have to pee.”

“Oh, okay. But know that soon it won’t matter if I’m in the room or not,” Marshall said as he lifted her down from the counter.

“Maybe, but today is not that day,” Shaw said, then braced herself for being backhanded for her snarky comment.

When he did not hit her, she opened her eyes and watched him leave the room. “I’ll get you something to sleep in while you do your business.”

And she was alone. After using the toilet, Shaw washed her hands and then followed Marshall out of the bathroom. The guest room only contained a twin-sized bed and a pine dresser. The walls were white, and there were no curtains on the windows. Not that she could see anything out of them, but she wondered if anyone would be looking in.

“We’ll eventually turn this room into your playroom,” Marshall said after giving her a moment to take in the space, “so think about how you would like to decorate it. Go ahead and get changed and I’ll be back to tuck you into bed.”

Though she wanted to point out that she could put herself to bed, it seemed important to him, so Shaw nodded and accepted the t-shirt he handed her.

As soon as he left the room, she stepped back into the dark bathroom. It only took a moment to strip off her clothes and pull on the t-shirt. The shirt swamped her and fell nearly to her knees. She smiled when she realized it smelled like Marshall.

Stepping back into the bedroom, she frowned. She did not remember where she left Gio. A moment later, Marshall stepped back into the room, carrying her stuffed tiger. “I found this guy in the living room, and he demanded I bring him to you immediately.”

“Thank you,” she said, accepting the stuffie before climbing into the bed and settling in.

“Does he have a name?”

Shaw smiled as she held up the tiger. “This is Gio. Gio, meet Marshall, our man, mate, and Papa.” Calling Marshall Papa was coming easier and easier, and felt very right.

“Hello, Gio,” Marshall said with a smile as he used a finger to stroke the top of the stuffie’s head. “It is very nice to meet you. Now, I want you two to go right to sleep. If you need me, I’m right next door. Call out or come get me if you need me, okay?”

“Yes, Papa,” Shaw answered through a yawn.

She tensed for a quick moment when he planted a hand on the bed beside her shoulder as he leaned over the bed. She relaxed when he merely brushed kisses on her face – first her forehead, then the tip of her nose, before finishing with a quick kiss to her lips. He was straightening before she could respond.

“I’ll leave the bathroom light on until we can get you a nightlight,” he said, flipping the light on before turning off the light in the bedroom and stepping out. “Good night, my mate.”

“Good night, Papa.”

Rolling over, Shaw stared across the room and wondered what she was doing, falling into a relationship with Marshall even before the wounds her ex-husband had left her with had healed. Mating with a shifter went deeper than any commitment between two humans. Once it was consummated, it was forever. Yesterday, she couldn’t even see tomorrow and now she was promising her forever to a man she’d just met? She wanted to think she was making a mistake, but no matter how she scolded herself, she couldn’t talk herself out of it. She felt safe with him. But was that enough to build forever on?

Before she could make any further decisions about her future, her solitude, and mating a shifter, exhaustion rolled over her. Her eyes drifted shut and sleep pulled her under its spell.

Though he was tired from yet another long day in the kitchen, Marshall knew he would not sleep. His tiger was prowling in his chest and would remain ruffled until they claimed and mated Shaw. His cock was also hard as a steel rod and demanding attention.

After pacing the living room for a half hour without being able to relax, he checked on Shaw and found her sound asleep. Hoping she would not need him for the next hour or so, Marshall stepped out the back door to the porch and stripped off his clothes. A run through the forest would hopefully settle both sides of his shifter.

Taking a deep breath, he shivered in the chilly night air as his tiger pushed forward and took over. The shift took only a few seconds and then he launched himself off the porch and headed into the woods. He began to run, keeping to the barely there path his tiger had carved through the forest over the years he had lived in Bratburg.

While he knew there would be other shifters patrolling the mountains around the institute, he was not worried about any of them attacking him. He was the third most dangerous shifter in the area behind Lonergan and Harrigan.

It only took a few minutes to reach the narrow path that circled Bratburg. The path was several miles long, but running it allowed him a good stretch of the legs. He tried not to think of what waited back at the cabin for him. Instead, he focused on the path, the night sounds, the cool air that ruffled his fur, and allowed his tiger to run free. It had been several weeks since he had allowed his tiger such freedom.

By the time he returned to the cabin, still in tiger form, his beast was more relaxed, though still not happy at not being able to make Shaw their own. At the same time, the man was ready to crawl into bed and crash for a few hours. Even without his mate in his arms.

As he stepped into the backyard, the porch light flashed on. He froze mid step as Shaw stood up from the one wicker chair on the back porch. She looked delightfully rumpled with a blanket wrapped around her as she took a step closer to the back door.

Shifting as quickly as he could, Marshall stood straight and slowly strolled toward her. “Waif? Are you okay?”

She gasped and took another step toward the door. Was she going to lock him out?

“You …” she began and then swallowed hard as she turned around. “Your tiger is so big. I didn’t realize tigers were that big.”

He stepped onto the porch and quickly pulled on his chef’s pants. No need to scare her with his hard cock flapping in the breeze.