Eternal Hunter (Night Watch #1)(19)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Not close enough.

She was so screwed up.

Wanting him.

Fearing herself.

He can handle me.

Shifters were strong, she knew that. He’d be able to handle anything she threw at him.

His steps had echoed when he’d headed downstairs. Maybe he was in the little guest room she’d set up. Maybe he’d stripped off his shirt again, like last night.

Last night.

Her mouth dried. Oh, my. The man’s chest had rippled with muscles. Beneath the jeans, his thighs bunched with power.

And when he’d put his mouth on her…

Erin’s ni**les pebbled.

She turned over and buried her face into the pillow. Maybe she needed another cold shower. Maybe she—

Thunder shook the house. Erin flinched. That had been a strong blast, loud, too, shaking her bed, shaking the—

She bolted up, realization hitting hard. The thunder hadn’t come from outside.

It sounded again, but it wasn’t thunder.

Erin climbed out of bed, nearly falling flat on her ass as she hurried. That was a roar!

An animal’s roar of fury, and it was coming from downstairs.

She ran for the door.

The change swept over him, hard and fast, fueled by fury, the black rage that boiled his blood and sucked the man back inside the beast.

He’d heard the rattle at the door. The scrape of claws, and Jude hadn’t needed the shrill beep of the alarm to sound. He’d known the intruder was there.

Now he was going to destroy the bastard.

Bones snapped. Twisted. White fur burst from his flesh even as his claws tore from his fingertips. The snarl on Jude’s lips became a roar of rage as the beast took over.

The pain didn’t bother him, not anymore. But the power thrilled him.

His vision sharpened. His hearing grew more acute. In those swift moments of transformation, a new world appeared. A world where he ruled.

His mouth opened and another roar burst from him.

The bastard was running. He could hear his thudding footsteps. His favorite part…chasing prey.

Muscles bunching, he prepared for the hunt.

“Jude, what’s going on? Jude! ”

His head jerked toward her. Long bare limbs, sexy silk over her flesh. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open. She stood on the stairs, just steps away from the bottom, and her fingers had a white-knuckled grip around the banister. “Jude?”

He growled at her. That better not be fear on her face. He wouldn’t hurt her. Not ever. No matter what form he took.

The beast wouldn’t so much as scratch the woman that the man craved.

She stepped toward him, eyes too big. “I-it’s you. Why d-did you shift? What’s—”

No time. He whirled away from her and launched toward the open door.

Her footfalls rushed behind him. He glanced back and roared at her to stay put. In human form, she’d just be a target.

And he wouldn’t risk her. Not now. Not ever.

He bounded into the night.

Oh, shit.

Erin stared after Jude, her heart racing so fast her chest hurt.

Jude— a tiger. A white tiger. Big and beautiful and deadly.

Tiger, tiger, burning bright…The words from the William Blake poem whispered through her mind as she watched him jump off her porch and disappear into the darkness.

Such grace and power.

So very, very dangerous.

A white tiger.

Thick fur, pale as snow, and lined with coal black stripes. The tiger was huge. The length of his body had been at least nine feet, plus that long, thick tail. His mouth—when he’d opened his mouth in that roar, his teeth had been— hell. He could have ripped her throat open with those razor-sharp teeth in less than a second.

But he hadn’t attacked her. In his blue eyes, she’d seen the man staring back at her. Jude had full control over his beast.

Not all shifters did.

“A white tiger,” she whispered to the night. Jude was out there, hunting, for her.

There was a reason the white tigers bore the Chinese symbol for king on their heads. Some said the rare white tigers were among the strongest of the shifters, second only to the dragons. But the dragons, well, no one was really sure those guys even existed anymore.

Tiger versus wolf. Both strong, fierce killing machines. But the tiger—she’d lay odds he could take the wolf. He’d still better be careful, and he’d better come back to her.

Erin strode to the edge of the porch. Going after them would be foolish. She’d just get in Jude’s way, and she couldn’t hunt with him. No shifting, no hunting.

As much as she hated to stay behind, she wouldn’t risk his safety.

Besides, a white tiger could take down just about anything.

So strong.

Strong enough to handle even her.

The rain pelted him and did its damnedest to wipe away the stench of his prey. But he caught a faint scent, one heavy with musk, smelling of the forest.

Shifter scent.

He took off after his prey, splashing through the puddles and sticking to the cover of the thick bushes and blooming azaleas as much as possible. The last thing he wanted was for a neighbor to wake up and see him running through the neighborhood in this form.

His ears twitched. His prey was fast. Damn fast. Had he shifted, too? Good. He’d like to see just what he was dealing with in the bastard.

Bushes slapped into his face and tickled his whiskers as he ran. Catch him. Got to stop him.

The thudding of the prey’s steps grew weaker—because the guy was pulling away.

Faster? No way could the bastard be faster. No. Way.

But the ass**le was getting away.

Should have let the bastard come inside. When the lock on the door had clicked open, his roar of fury had given the guy too much warning and too much time to flee.

But Jude hadn’t been able to hold back the rage, or the change. The shift had burst over him with the rush of adrenaline that spiked his heartbeat. One thought— he’s coming after her.

The beast had kicked into high gear.

The rumble of a motor growled up ahead. A car door slammed. No, he couldn’t have shifted. He wouldn’t have been able to jump in the car like that if he’d shifted.

So if he hadn’t shifted, then how the hell had he run so fast?

Jude rounded the corner just in time to see the taillights of a black SUV speed away.

Dammit!

His teeth snapped together. Give chase.

The demand from the beast.

But a light had flickered on in the house behind him. Whoever was inside must have been alerted by the squeal of tires. The last thing he needed was to keep hunting on the road in his current body.

Next time, bastard. Next time.