He could hear the relief in her voice.
“And what about Kyle?” he asked tersely. The only way that Karen could be safe was that if something happened to Kyle.
“He’s also in the house, mending.” Karen’s voice was hushed. “They think that the fall has paralyzed him permanently from the neck down.”
Noah received this with mixed emotions. So the fates had cast their dice.
“What’s important is that you’re alive.” Karen’s hold on his hand was very tight. “We’re alive.”
He smiled. “Yes, we are.”
But were they home free?
“Where’s Kitty?”
“With your cousin. I’ll get her for you. She’s been asking about her Daddy.”
“And the baby? Did Zach hurt you in any way?”
“No, he didn’t. He made all sorts of threats, but when everything else happened, Argyla took over and dismissed him.”
That was Argyla all right. Noah allowed himself a smile. He remembered his cousin well – a fiery and headstrong redheaded woman who was more tigress than human. If females were allowed to be alpha, Argyla would make a damn fine one.
“Karen?”
“Yes?” She had already gone to the door to get Kitty.
“About Zach?” He told her what had happened in the car. “I believe he wanted me to kill my brother and not the other way around. It was psychological manipulation, but he clinched the decision for me.”
“You didn’t kill your brother. You didn’t break your moral code of no killing.”
“I know. I took another path out. I left it to the gods to decide which one of us lives or dies.”
“From anyone else, I would have thought that it was a foolish thing to do. But I understand why you did it.”
Noah smiled. “I’d like to think that Zach wanted me to live for you.”
He could hear the wistfulness in her voice. “I wish it were that simple, but I think he’s a lot more complicated than both of us put together. Now do you want to see your daughter or not, in a manner of speaking?”
“Yes, or I’ll never hear the end of it from her.”
They both laughed.
Karen left to get Kitty. Noah lay back in bed, thinking of everything and what must happen next.
*
It was something he had to do. After all, they were in the same safe house.
As soon as he could walk, Noah limped on crutches to the other side of the house.
“Do you wish me to be with you, cousin?” Argyla asked.
“No. I think I have to do this by myself.”
“I understand.”
Noah paused outside the door to his brother’s room. Then he pushed it open.
“Hello, brother,” said the familiar voice. It was slightly edgy now, and a bit more broken. “Have you come to gloat?”
“I think you know me better than that, Kyle.”
Noah could sense Kyle’s presence on the bed. He knew with his sixth sense that his brother would never walk again, just as he himself had been permanently blinded.
Kyle said bitterly, “You might as well kill me and get it over with.”
“I can’t and won’t kill you. And if you still can’t and won’t understand that, then I pity you. Not because you’re paralyzed, but because you’ve never attempted to understand any path that isn’t yours.”
Kyle laughed harshly. “No, I pity you, brother. You’ll always be weak.”
“Believe whatever you want to believe.” Noah turned to go away.
“You won’t last a day as alpha,” Kyle called after him.
“I’ve already lasted four weeks,” Noah replied as he exited the room on his crutches.
EPILOGUE
It was true.
Kyle could no longer be the alpha because he was paralyzed. So Noah reluctantly took over his place as the victor of the fate-decided duel.
“This is your chance to forge a new path for us tiger shifters,” Argyla remarked. “You’re our alpha now. Perhaps you can usher us to a new era of peace.”
Noah realized that his cousin was right. They need not live in barbaric times. If the clan agreed as a whole, they could do away with all the killing.
“There are many of us who revere you,” Argyla added. “They think that you are god-touched because the fates have spared you twice. Few would dare challenge you for the right to be alpha.”
A good thing, too, because Noah wasn’t sure he could last a third round.
Besides, the family had a new addition to contend with. Jacob was born to Karen and Noah a couple of months later. He was a very huge and healthy baby with an equally huge appetite. Their parents could not be happier, and Kitty couldn’t stop staring at her new baby brother.
“Can I throw baby into sea?”
“No, Kitty. That’s a bad, bad thing.”
“But I want him to swim.”
“When he grows up, you will teach him how to swim, OK?”
As for Zach, he vanished back to the States. Karen and Noah never heard from him again.
“Would you have done it any differently when you first met me?” Noah liked to ask Karen.
“No. I would have done the exact same thing.”
“Me, too.”
They kissed, and drew their little family around them – content that they would be safe for as long as it took.
Dear Reader, thank you so much for reading this story.
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NEW ADULT ROMANCES
Burn
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Burn 3
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Forbidden
Marooned with the Rock Star
PARANORMAL ROMANCES
The Hot Alpha Switch
The Hot Alpha Bait
The Hot Alpha Trap
Wanted by the Alphas (An Extremely Sensual Paranormal Shifter Romance)
The Pretend Marriage: A Werewolf Romance
The Impending Marriage: A Werewolf Romance
The Alpha Dating Game (An Extremely Sensual BBW Shifter Romance)
The Alpha Mating Game: A BBW Shifter Romance
Mail Order Tiger Bride Wars (A BBW Shifter Romance)
Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Innocent (A BBW Shifter Romance)
The Panther, the Witch and the Secretary (A Hot and Humorous BBW Shifter Romance)
That Forbidden Thing (A Sizzlingly Sensual Pseudo-Incest Romance)
While You were Sleeping (A Hot and Humorous Shifter Romance)
The Un-bear-ably Perfect 9.7 Alpha Match
Un-bearably Wanted
The Blind Tiger
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club (A Scorchingly Hot BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance)
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club 2: Desire Games (A Scorchingly Hot BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance)
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club 3: Fallout (A Scorchingly Hot BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance)
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club 4: Intrigue
The Alpha Men’s Secret Club 5: Final Capture
PARANORMAL ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Strange Moon: Part One (A BBW Werewolf Romantic Suspense Mystery)
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Dark Romance
The ‘Eight Tasks for the Blushing Virgin’ series
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Deflowered -- The Dangerous Billionaire
Debauched -- The Dangerous Billionaire 2
Deceived -- The Dangerous Bi
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Desired -- The Dangerous Billionaire 4
Declawed – The Dangerous Billionaire 5
The ‘Romanced by the Damaged Millionaire’ series
Damaged Beauties
Seduced by His Two Personalities
Broken Flowers
The ‘Bound and Shackled to the Billionaire’ series
His Indecent Proposition
His Indecent Demands
His Indecent Desires
His Indecent Secrets
His Indecent Revelations
Bound and Shackled to the Billionaire Box Set
‘The Billionaire Marriage’ series
His Indecent Proposal
The ‘Initiation’ series
Open Your Legs for Me
Blindfolded and Spread-eagled
Thighs Wide Apart
Teacher, Please Spread my Pussy
The Final Initiation
The Initiation: A Bundle of 5 Stories
The ‘Initiation 2’ series
Open Your Legs for my Family
Bend Over for my Family
Publicly Display Yourself for Me
Sex Slave at Sea
Paraded before the Billionaires
Sex Slave at the Auction
The ‘Initiation 3’ series
Sex Slave to the Dictator
Shackled by the Dictator
Punished by the Dictator’s Daughter
Bartering the Slave’s Freedom
The ‘Alice BDSM’ series
Alice: Opening my Legs at Your Wedding
Alice: Milked and Gang Banged at the Sex Farm (released as ‘Alice: Slave at the Farm’ at Amazon)
Alice: Slave at the Marketplace
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Alice: Slave’s Final Revenge
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Prince Miro’s Capture
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Prince Miro’s Escape
Prince Miro’s Final Confrontation
The Royal Captive: Vol 1 to 3
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Prince Miro Boxed Set
The ‘Naughty Nymphomaniac’ series
I was a Naughty Nymphomaniac
Officer, Please Spread and Cuff Me
Gang Banged by the Chain Gang
Tempting the Hot Navy SEAL
Bred to the Billionaire Maharajah (released as ‘The Billionaire Maharajah’s Concubine’ at Amazon)
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Her First Delicate Piercing
Her First Delicate Piercing 2: Menage
Her First Delicate Piercing 3: Desensitization
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Trapped with Sex-Starved Aliens
Trapped with Sex-Starved Aliens 2
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Enslaved
A Virgin Enslaved 2 (Entwined on Amazon)
The Pretend Boyfriend
The Pretend Boyfriend 2
The Pretend Boyfriend 3
The Pretend Boyfriend 4
The ‘Maid for the Billionaire Prince’ series
Mysterious Desire
Forbidden Desire
Infamous Desire
Royal Desire
Maid for the Billionaire Prince
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