chapter 50

Lyss could have sworn she’d gone around that bend before. Shit. She might be slightly off path. Her stupid GPS had lost satellite signal ten miles back and now she had no idea where the hell she was. Though she’d always thought she could find her way anywhere, clearly it was not the case.

Great sense of direction my ass.

Where the hell was she? And more importantly, why hadn’t she thought to take the handwritten directions Gerri had given her instead of leaving them on her dining room table. Trying to remember didn’t seem to work. She was obviously going around in circles.

Crack!

The sudden slump as her old Camry dropped into a pothole made her wince.

“Fucking hell!”

Things just got better and better. Her car swerved, screeching with the force of what must be a flat tire. She pressed down on the brake while trying to control the car before coming to a complete stop.

Slapping her hands on the wheel, she growled in frustration and hopped out of the car. This was just not her day. Her blow-dryer decided to die while she’d tried to dry her mass of super curly hair. It was humid. She now had the world’s biggest Afro.

To make it worse, she’d gotten a ticket trying to leave her apartment building. Apparently telling a cop that she was late for a date wasn’t a good enough reason to speed. Following that up with growling wasn’t advised either.

Bright sunlight blinded her. She glanced around but recognized nothing. There were no signs on the road and no businesses nearby. It was official. She was lost. Lost in the deep woods from the looks of things.

“Awesome. Just fucking awesome!”

She marched around the front of the car to the passenger side. The tire was torn and flat on the ground. She was stuck. She walked several yards away from the front of her car to see if she noticed anything up the road, but she saw nothing.

Could the day get any worse?

Loud noises coming from the forest caught her attention. She did a full circle, searching for whatever was out there. The sounds came again. A combination of branches breaking and moving. She peered into the woods and focused on the area she swore the noise came from.

Then she heard it. A loud roar. The angry bellow turned her blood to ice. Her heart jumped to her throat.

What. The. Hell. Was. That?

She blinked and almost missed it. A massive tiger leapt from between the trees, landing so close to her she gasped and took an instinctive step back.

Well over six feet in length and with canines that looked to be the size of her entire hand, the animal scared the daylights out of her.

“Nice kitty…”

What the heck was she supposed to do? The tiger roared again and took a step closer, his eyes flashed the golden amber color she normally found fascinating on TV. Right at that moment she found it scary as hell.

Didn’t the nature shows say you were supposed to stand still when approached by a big cat? She bit her lip, watching the animal scrunch his face as he roared again.

Screw standing still.

Without taking her gaze off him, she took a step back and whirled around to face her car. Dammit it was far. Fuck it. It was either run or die. Or both. She didn’t think twice and made a break for her car. She never ran, so she hoped those yards wouldn’t take her down before she reached the vehicle.

Another roar sounded at her back. Oh, shit! She ran faster, but decided to test her fate, half turning to glance over her shoulder. Not a good idea. She tripped on something and went down, landing on her ass. The massive tiger was on her within a heartbeat.

She closed her eyes tight, praying to god that the big animal was a vegetarian but waiting for the first painful bite.

“Why did you run?” a loud male voice asked.

She jerked her eyes open and glanced past the tiger to a man standing just a few feet back. He was tall with blonde hair and golden brown eyes almost as yellow as the ones on the tiger. The tiger didn’t bother moving away from her, caging her on the ground.

“What?” she asked, her gaze straying to the animal. It really was beautiful. Even with his big canines on display and the low roaring he continued to do.

“I said, why did you run?”

That had to be the stupidest question ever. “Big animal. Big teeth. Big fear.”

The guy smiled, a row of perfectly white teeth. “You’re not supposed to run or they chase. When you stand still you have more of a chance of not getting attacked.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes. “Because being chased by a huge-ass tiger is normal for me.” She tried, but failed to ignore that the tiger had lowered his big head closer to her. “My instinct to survive said to run. I ran. What...um...what is he doing?”

The tiger took a long whiff and continued to lower his head to her. The guy lifted a brow and watched the animal sniff the air around her. “One of two things.”

She blinked at the big golden eyes coming closer and closer. “Yeah…um, is either of those getting ready to take a bite out of me?”

“It’s possible.”

“What!” she screeched.

The tiger stopped and licked his lips. Uh-oh. She had dinner.

The guy laughed. “Relax. It seems he likes you. He never likes strangers or humans or other tigers.”

It sounded like the tiger didn’t like anybody. “Great…so could you tell him to move back a little? Enough where I don’t have to feel like he’s eyeing me for his next meal.”

“You’re funny.” The guy laughed.

Sadly, she wasn’t joking. “Yeah. I’m a riot.”

The tiger stepped back enough for the guy to offer a hand so she could stand. But the moment their hands touched, the animal was right there, baring his teeth again. Only this time it was at his master's.

She wiped her butt and hoped there were no stains on her new clothes. She’d been careful to dress appropriately with some nice but simple pants and one of the sexy tops Gerri had gotten her to buy. She now knew way too much about what colors combined with each other and why she shouldn’t wear black. Apparently it made her look pale and washed out.

“Looks like you need to train him to know who the boss is.” She grinned.

“Oh, he knows who the boss is,” the guy said and took a step away from her. “I’m Tynder.”

“I’m Alyssa Moran.” She wiped her hands on the sides of her pants. She glanced down and noticed dirt spots on her pants. This wouldn’t do for a good first impression.

Her date would think she liked to roll around in the dirt. “I had a flat tire and would really appreciate it if you could tell me where the nearest town is and if you know anyone that can fix my car.”

Tynder glanced at the car a few feet behind her. “Looks bad.”

She winced. “Yeah. Tore the tire right up. I don’t really know much about vehicles so point me in the direction of help and I’d gladly appreciate it.”

The tiger decided to push at her side at that moment. She jumped back, still wary of the massive animal. He came closer and nudged her hand with his head. Did this beast want her to pet him?

She ran her hand over the top of his head, sliding her fingers deep into his fur. His fur was soft and warm. She did it again, this time scraping her nails on his flesh. The tiger purred.

“Could you stop that,” Tynder mumbled, shuffling from foot to foot.

“Why? He’s kinda cute when he’s not showing his big teeth.”

“It’s weird to watch him being stroked.” He coughed. “He definitely likes you.”

She blinked, frowning in confusion. “Isn’t that better than him wanting to tear me a new asshole?”

He cocked his head but said nothing. This guy was so weird.

“I’ll take you to my pride and we’ll help get your car fixed.”

She nodded with a smile. “That would be so helpful!”

And her mother said there weren’t any nice people in the world. Her car broke down and she wasn’t being abducted or being offered to a god as a sacrifice.

Things were starting to look up. Then again, her mother was such a sour apple she didn’t associate with most people. It had taken Lyss a long time to get some friends.