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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

WREN

T he soft closing of the door woke him, a strange swelling in his chest making him feel light headed as he lay perfectly still. Who would come here, into his chambers, uninvited? Was this a precursor to another attack, this time on him directly?

A rumble vibrated through the air, making his skin ripple in response. He dropped the act, sitting upright and squinting into the darkness until his eyes lit on two golden orbs that pierced the shadows surrounding his bed.

He inhaled, knowing what he would scent but needing to confirm it nonetheless. His eyes slipped closed as he luxuriated in it, in her , before he opened them once more and grinned at the tiger in his bedroom. “There you are.”

Neah growled and Wren shivered as the sound rolled over him. He needed to see her. All of her.

Matches sat on his bedside table and he struck one, the drag of the tip against the rough card too loud in the quiet of the room. He almost felt hunted, like she was watching him and waiting—though for what, he couldn’t be sure.

The light flared and he ushered it to the waiting set of pillar candles before waving the stick to extinguish the flame. Gold, soft light illuminated the room, flickering against the stone walls and Wren swallowed hard as he turned slowly and drank in the sight of Neah.

Exquisite. Her fur was thick, her stripes a stark black against the deep russet of her fur.

She was larger than he’d expected, he could tell despite the fact that she was hunkered down close to the floor.

It was more than likely that she’d come up to his chest if they were both standing, but if he were to transform he knew he’d stand only slightly taller than her.

Wren had been so focused on seeing her, finally in her shifted form, that he hadn’t noticed the smell at first.

“Caritas.” His eyes widened as he threw off the white sheets and darted to her side. “Why can I smell blood? Are you hurt?”

The plaintive whine she uttered in response had his heart beating wildly, unsure, as he scanned her for injuries and found only the blood he’d scented coating her paws and maw.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly, crouching down so he could look intently into her eyes. “Many of us lose control the first time. Everything is new, heightened. If you hurt someone, nobody will blame you.”

She blinked at him and he knew that was all the response he’d get until she was able to shift back.

For some, it happened almost immediately and others it took days.

Wren had spent a week as a tiger before he’d managed to regain his human form none the worse for wear, aside from a craving for particularly bloody steak.

“I can have a bath drawn, if you like?” He offered this even as he pondered the logistics of getting a tiger into the bathtub in front of the hearth.

Neah said nothing in response, of course, and he sighed.

Perhaps now was as good a time as any to have some of the more difficult conversations he’d been avoiding—especially when she couldn’t talk back or interrupt him.

He chuckled lightly at the thought and Neah flexed her claws against the hardwood floor.

“You know, the first time I shifted I killed a deer and harassed the chicken coop held in the town. So really, you’ve done very well so far.

” He cleared his throat, cautiously extending a hand and smiling when her nose twitched, sniffing him, before he pressed a hand to the space just above her eyes.

The fur was softer than he’d imagined and her eyes slid closed as he stroked soothingly, a purr rumbling up and through her body, startling her.

“It’s okay. What happens as a cat, stays as a cat,” he teased, and the growl that left her sounded distinctly Neah-like. “Do you want to stay down here? Or come up to the bed?”

He was fairly certain the bed could take her weight, he’d collapsed upon it in his own shifted form more than once, though he couldn’t imagine the palace’s keepers would be too happy about the blood that would stain the white sheets.

Neah stood in a fluid motion that he watched with awe, the grace in her movements surprising.

She’d adapted to this form far quicker than he had the first time he’d shifted, no better than a newborn tottering around on unsteady legs at first. What he was most curious about, however, was what had triggered her to finally shift. Why now?

The tiger leapt up and onto the bed, rolling around in the sheets with her stomach bared to the ceiling and he couldn’t hold back his laugh. She’d likely kill him for saying so, but sprawled out like an oversized tabby, she was unbearably cute.

Wren climbed onto the bed with her, pleased when neither the tiger nor the bed protested, and rolled onto his side in time for her to curl her head beneath his chin.

He debated shifting for half a second, before deciding the bed likely couldn’t take the weight of two full-grown tigers—and anyway, Neah would likely benefit more from having him in human form and able to talk her through the shift back.

“I’m sorry for what happened earlier, when we fought.

” The words were quiet but steady and when a growl was breathed into his throat he rolled his eyes.

“We need to talk about this. Because it’s not what you think.

Yes, I needed a mate to help me keep my crown, but the real reason I sought you out is because I am cursed. ”

She fell very still in his arms, only the soft chuff of her breath letting him know she was still listening.

“If I’d had a choice, I would have done things differently.

Met you under different circumstances, maybe.

Instead, I had to act with the hand I was dealt.

You understand?” Silence met his words and he found that more reassuring than any words she might have said.

She wasn’t pulling away, or trying to rip his throat out, and Wren considered both of those things a success.

“My bloodline was cursed a long time ago—long enough that its origins are unknown. Some say by a God, others by a witch. All I know for sure is the consequences—without finding my mate and cementing the bond by my twenty-fifth birthday, I would be lost to my tiger form, mind shattered, no better than an animal. Forever.”

Wren’s breaths stuttered momentarily and, for the first time, he recognised the true fear the thought held.

“It would be devastating for the kingdom, as I have no direct heirs, and leave us open to attack while we’re weakest. But also…

” He sucked in a breath and pitched his voice low enough that she might not have heard him if she hadn’t been curled against him the way she was.

“I don’t want to lose myself, Neah. The thought terrifies me.

My tiger is part of me, but I don’t wish to be consumed by it. ”

She didn’t respond, because she couldn’t, but the fact that she was still there, pressed close against him and a small purr beginning in her chest told him everything. Or, at least, he hoped it did.

“So now you know.” He’d meant for the words to be light, cheery almost, and instead he sounded resigned.

“The only thing that can halt the curse is the bonding ceremony, but I don’t want you to choose this out of duty.

Insanity would be a kinder fate than to be with you and unable to have you. At least spare me that misery.”

The warmth of her was sinking into his bones, her weight a comforting force that grounded him until his eyes grew heavy.

“Promise me,” he murmured, the words beginning to slur as he fought to stay awake. “Promise me that if you choose this, it’s for yourself. Anything else is… unacceptable.” Wren mumbled the last and when he fell into sleep it was with the warmth of a tiger wrapped around his heart.

He had fallen asleep in the sun again. It was warm, stifling really, and Wren found he was having trouble breathing amidst the soft fluff pressed to his face.

Fluff?

His eyes blinked open and he grunted as he rolled, sucking in a breath of air greedily as he realised he hadn’t fallen asleep lounging in the sun as he so often did in his tiger form.

Instead, he was sharing his bed with a tiger—one that had sprawled out to take up the majority of the bed and had even claimed the covers.

Something about the sight of a tiger tucked beneath the sheets amused him enough that he began to chuckle and once he started, he couldn’t stop.

One tiger eye opened sleepily and then widened in an action so humanoid that Wren knew Neah had to have been more conscious in her new body than she had been last night, driven instead by instinct.

She scrambled upright, throwing him off the bed as her claws caught in the sheets and ripped them out from under him. He hit the ground with an oof that had her peeking over the side of the bed at him and then whipping her head away when she realised he was naked.

A modest tiger . The thought made him laugh harder and when she dared to look over the side of the bed at him again, he smiled. “Good morning, Neah.”

She yawned, showing off her impressive array of sharp teeth, and then froze when she caught sight of her paws, coated in dried blood. Movements jerky, she scrambled up and off the bed, limbs slipping in different directions on the hardwood until she got them under herself again.

“Wait, where are you?—”

Neah didn’t pause, just bounded toward the door and then whined impatiently when he stopped to put on trousers, too slow for her liking in reaching the door to his parlour.

“If you need the bathroom, you needn’t go outside,” he teased, but his smile faded when he caught the wide-eyed look in her eyes and the scent of her fear in the air. “What is it, caritas? ”

Wren opened the door and jogged to keep up with her as she raced down the corridor, gasps ringing out as the court watched the king chase the tiger.

They took familiar turnings until they reached Neah’s own door and Wren knocked impatiently.

Neah looked liable to knock the thing down until it was pulled open and a yawning Zennon greeted them.

Her dark eyes flew open, the haze of sleep vanishing as she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Neah’s neck. “You’re still a tiger! I was so worried about you. When you didn’t come back here… Well, I was worried we’d have to send out a search party but Dad said you would be okay.”

“Can we come in?” Wren said, glancing over his shoulder to the onlookers who’d paused to take in the unusual sight.

“Oh. Of course.” They entered quickly and shut the door behind them and Wren tensed when he realised there was someone else in the room.

Zennon seemed to notice because she smiled reassuringly even as her shoulders rose up to nearly her ears.

“It’s just Romi. After last night, she didn’t want me to be alone so she came back here with me.

” Zennon glanced at Neah and raised her brows meaningfully. “She stayed on the chaise.”

Wren glanced between the two of them and frowned. “O-kay. What happened last night?”

“You haven’t heard?” Zennon grimaced. “Well, I suppose if she’s been like this the whole time you wouldn’t have. We were attacked by a retinue of guards. Neah shifted to save me.”

Ah . Suddenly, it all made sense. But why hadn’t anyone retrieved him?

“Dad—Jamison,” Zennon corrected, “told me to tell you that he’d speak with you in the morning. He didn’t want to interrupt your night. I guess I understand why now. Was she with you the whole time?”

Wren nodded. “Tell me more about this attack.”

Zennon recounted the events and Wren kept his face impassive despite his rage growing with every word. They had been targeted again. He had never considered himself to be much of a wrathful person before now, but he’d been wrong. When he found whoever was responsible…

Neah’s ears flattened to her skull, likely scenting his rage, and Wren took a few deep breaths. “We need to fix this.” He’d meant the words for Neah but Zennon was the one who answered.

“How?”

“They’re coming for you because they think you’re my mate.

” Wren’s eyes slid from Zennon to Neah and found keen understanding in her eyes.

“So we’ll show them that you’re not.” It would mean painting a target on Neah, and announcing their bond, and he could only hope that she remembered what he’d said to her the night before.

Doing this would help Zennon, and it would help him too. But he didn’t want her to do this unless she was absolutely certain it was what she wanted.

Neah’s head dipped and Wren loosed a sigh of relief. They could discuss the bonding ceremony and whether it was what she wanted later, but for now this was their best option to ensure Zennon’s safety at least.

“Are you ready to try shifting back?”

Neah growled, as if to say, what the Hel do you think I’ve been trying to do?

“A lot of people saw her shift last night, so the rumour mill has already been fed,” Zennon offered and Wren snorted. Of course it had.

“Well then, let’s show them the rumours are true.” Wren pushed to standing and Zennon’s brows pinched together.

“What are you going to do?”

Wren smirked. “We’re going to run.”