Tamed

??

Danielle accepted the water. She unscrewed the cap and took a few sips. Geez. I gotta stop drinking Zombies. I already have a hangover when the buzz hasn’t completely gone.

“Feeling better?” asked Dane.

“Not really. Am I really in New York?”

Collin waved his hand toward the windows. “See for yourself.”

Danielle had to check it out. Collin wasn’t lying, and neither was Dane. She was in New York. She pressed her forehead onto the glass pane. The window faced the expansive view of Central Park. She recognized it from the last time she went on a family vacation a long time ago.

I am in New York. Holy crap.

Danielle turned and took a deep breath. She gripped the ledge of the window as she tried to make herself calm. Okay. I can do this. I will sort this weirdness out and make it through this as a sane person. “How is this possible?”

“Did you sign up with any dating website lately?” Collin asked.

“Yes. No. Actually, my friend signed me up. She put in my name and birthday and I suddenly got here. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“I see. It appears that you have been chosen by the weaver as our perfect mate,” said Dane.

“Excuse me, mate? And what is a weaver?”

“A weaver is a witch. A powerful one,” answered Dane. “My brother and I were desperate to find a wife, so we went to a matchmaking witch and asked her to find a woman who’d be most compatible with us. When she found a perfect match, she would send that candidate to us. There are three simple rules once the candidate arrives in our home: one, we have been given forty-eight hours to court you as our mate. Two, during those forty-eight hours you’ll be under enchantment. That means you’re unable to contact your friends and family at home. This rule is placed to ensure that our courtship won’t suffer any distraction.”

Collin chipped in. “And three, in the event you refuse to be our mate, you’ll be sent home at the end of the forty-eight-hour period. You’ll be placed under enchantment to forget about us and everything that ever happened.”

“Why?” she demanded.

“I suppose to ease the transition back into the real world,” Collin offered.

“I mean, why did you go to a witch for matchmaking? Do witches really exist in this day and age?” Danielle edged toward the door. “Are you guys even human?”

Dane and Collin traded gazes.

Collin answered, “No. We are not.”

“Then what are you people?”

“We’re shapeshifter tigers. Weretigers,” said Dane, deadpan.

Danielle tried to wrap that revelation around her head but couldn’t. It was ridiculous. “Weretigers,” she echoed. “Like werewolves, but tigers?”

“I guess wolves are more popular with the mainstream audience, but to be honest, tigers are way cooler than wolves,” said Collin playfully. “We outweigh any canine species by several hundred pounds in muscles and ferocity.”

Danielle gave up. Where’s the stop button to end this weirdness? “I’m out of here. I don’t want to be part of this crazy game. Goodbye.”

Before any of the men could stop her, she yanked the door open and found several women had been eavesdropping. They quickly gave her a wide berth for passing. The women were dressed in fancy clothes and were dolled up to the max.

The oldest of them, a woman around sixtyish, glammed in diamonds and enough fur to offend PETA activists called her, “Pardon me, missy, are you really Dane’s chosen mate?”

There it was again, “mate.” Danielle narrowed her eyes. What’s wrong with these people? “I’m nobody’s mate. Excuse me.”

“Danielle, wait,” said Dane.

She didn’t listen. She wanted to get out of this place and go home. Am I hallucinating? Is all of this even real?

She cut a path in the middle of the party and barged out the front door.