Trusting the Tiger: BBW Tiger Shifter Paranormal Romance Read Online Free PDF

finished, her voice trembling. Jack could feel her body still slightly shaking against his.
    The other man still seemed oblivious to the antipathy both she and Jack felt for him. “Until we meet again, then,” he said mildly, and set off slowly.
    Toni raised one hand to his retreating back. “An apology would be nice!” she yelled, to no response. They both watched silently as he disappeared between the trees.
    Jack felt Toni droop, tension leaving her body in a rush. “Oh, what the hell was that about?” she stormed, and turned to him with her eyes blazing. “I don’t think much of your friends, Jack.”
    “Who, that guy? I’ve never seen him before in my life.” Jack paused, that faint memory flickering again. “At least … I don’t think…”
    Toni glared. “He said his name’s Andre de Jager. And that you and he go way back.”
    De Jager…
    Images flashed in Jack’s mind as memories he’d tried to forget rose to the surface. Wide, empty tundra. The hot, hot sun of South Africa. Weeks spent negotiating with local authorities. And then, mere hours before the conservation pledge was to be signed…
    Blood pooled on the ground, sticky and red. Flies already buzzing in hordes over the bodies, and the stench of death thick in the air.
    A group of local rich kids had objected to the conservation agreement. De Jager was the ringleader, a spoiled, entitled prick who thought the only good thing about the wilderness was that it was full of creatures he could kill. Faced with the ban on all hunting in the region, he and his friends had decided to see the season out with wholesale slaughter.
    They’d piled their trophies directly in front of the governer’s house where the agreement was being signed. Jack had walked out of what was meant to be his first big success for the trust, straight into a vision from hell.
    And now, ten years later, de Jager was here. Why?
    “You do know him,” Toni accused, her eyes narrowing.
    “Yes. But he’s not a friend. Not even close.” Quickly, Jack explained how he knew de Jager, and what the man had done. Toni’s expression went from suspicious to horrified.
    “But what’s he doing here? It’s not hunting season,” she said, astounded. “There’s no big game in the park anyway, is there?”
    “No big game,” Jack agreed, “and no hunting, period. This whole place is a nature preserve.”
    “You don’t think this could be some sort of revenge thing, do you?” Toni suggested cautiously.
    Jack shrugged. “It’s been ten years, and he hasn’t caused any trouble at the preserve in South Africa in all that time. He was just a kid back then, and you know, people do change.”
    He didn’t believe what he was saying himself, and Toni was shaking her head slowly.
    “No … he seemed … wrong.” She shivered, and Jack saw her eyes flicker across to the jump ramps. Two dark-haired, blue-eyed children, a boy and a girl, were egging each other on under Karen’s amused supervision. They must be Toni’s niece and nephew , he realized. And de Jager had freaked her out badly enough that she was worried about them.
    A sudden protective urge rose up in him. Whatever reason de Jager had for coming here, Jack would deal with it, but he wouldn’t put up with his frightening Toni and her family.
    “I’ll make sure the park rangers are on the lookout for him,” he said aloud. “And that they’re to throw him out on sight. If he wants to see me, he can make an appointment through my EA, like everyone else.”
    Toni cracked a weak smile. “He must be bad, if you’re willing to plan a work meeting to get him out of your hair.”
    She hugged herself, looking so anxious and miserable even through her brave smile that Jack couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He wanted more than anything to gather her in his arms right then and there, sweep her away to his house deep in the forest, keep her safe – anything to banish that hunted look from her eyes.
    He was under no illusions