a

It wasn't the sound of a trained animal about to perform. It was the sound

ange, musky undertone. A scent I now recognized wafting from the hay at the bottom of the tiger's cage. It was a l

go inside," I sa

ficent beast. "Don't be difficult, Ila. Kamila went to

taste of bile in my mouth. I was so tired. Tired of the lies,

oing at the tiger, her voice dripping with false affection. Jaxon was captivated, his face alight w

y muscle in its powerful body was coiled, a spring of lethal intent. I tried to inch my ch

a cry of "Oh!" Her hand, which had been resting on the cage's latc

door sw

ening roar that ripped through the tra

terror. In a single, fluid motion, he lunged, not towards me, but towar

completel

nge and black fury. I saw its claws, extended like curved daggers.

Jaxon's. I saw him look at me, his face a mask of

it by a truck. White-hot pain exploded in my shoulder as its claws sank into my flesh. The world disso

g Kamila in a protective embrace, his body a fortress built to sav

eart monitor. Pain was a living entity, a fire that consumed my entire

Miss Kline. You're very lucky. The tiger's claws missed your main artery

ped, the word

ued, fluffing my pillow. "Just a few scrapes and

I lay here, torn apart by a beast she had unl

htly ajar. I could hear thei

delicate, hiccupping sound. "I'm so, so s

on's voice was a low, soothing murmur. "

ccid

he hollow space wher

," Kamila sobbed. "And now... I feel like I should d

ut later. Right now, you need

e." It wasn't an apology; it was a performance. A way to ce

the water glass from my bedside table and hurled it agains

axon burst into the room, his face a mask of

trying to take my ha

crazy?" I asked, my vo

. It was an accident. The trainer said

The man who had once beaten a street thug to a pulp for catcalling me could

inguished. There was no flicker of the old Jaxon left. He was gone. The man who

h cold fury in his eyes. He didn't just fight them; he dismantled them. He broke one's nose, dislocated another's shoulder, and left them all a bloody,

n and broken. And he called it an 'acci

was no l

king out of the room, his duty to me fulfilled wi

I didn't rage. I just lay there, a statue carved from ice, and let the

I would m

-