Aedan: Harrison Ambush – Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance by Kathi S. Barton Page A

range. There were Christmas pictures, birthday parties, and even one of her graduating from high school at the age of fifteen. The article that accompanied that picture said that she had also been taking college classes at night, and would be finishing that part of her education soon as well. It was her dream to be a prosecutor, this article had said.
    College had been no different for Nikki. She’d graduated at the top of her class, gone on to get her doctorate in law, then to the police academy. Aedan wasn’t really surprised to see that she excelled at that as well. Her grandda was in a picture with her in her blue service uniform.
    Nikki had donated her time and money to soup kitchens, and volunteered at shelters when she wasn’t working yet another article said. She even read to the elderly at the local nursing home where her grandmother had lived for nearly ten years before her death. The woman, his mate, was someone that he had judged badly and poorly. It was then that he knew that his mother had been right…he’d been beyond cruel to her.
    He was reading the last article when he heard someone clear their throat.
    “Sir?” Aedan looked up at Winnie. Wiping at the tears on his face, not even realizing that he’d been crying, he asked him what he could do for him. “Browning is here, sir. She’d like a word with you. She is most upset, if you don’t mind the warning.”
    “Tell her to come in.”
    Aedan didn’t put the album back but held it on his lap. He was going to read each article again, look at every picture until he had her memorized. Aedan needed the connection to the small child that had grown up to be a more than beautiful woman. He stood up when Storm came into the room with him. When she slammed her fist into his face, he didn’t even fight back. He was pretty sure that he deserved that and more.
    “Do you have any idea how fucking pissed I am at you right now? Are all Harrisons…I was going to say men, but I doubt very much you would fit in that category right now. But are you all the dumbest fucking idiots on the face of this fucking earth? You fucking dick weed. I swear to Christ.... Get up. I need to hurt you more.” He didn’t move and wasn’t going to until she calmed down…if she did. “I have my gun. I will shoot you right where you are. I said to get up so I can kick your ass all over this room.”
    “I’m an idiot.” She only crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not saying that I didn’t think this through, because that is just what I did. I thought and thought until I had nothing left to change. And I don’t like change. But with Nikki, I was a complete idiot, a fool in the way that I treated her and acted. Like I said, I don’t care for changes.”
    “Well too fucking bad. Because in the event you didn’t get it, things get all fucked up and you have to bend a little or I’ll fucking break you. You didn’t even give her a fucking chance, Aedan. That’s not at all like you.” He said that he knew that now. “So you want me to believe that you’ve had this great epiphany and that you’ve seen the light? Or are you telling me what I want to hear so you won’t need to be afraid of me?”
    “I don’t think there will ever be a time in my life when I’m not afraid of you, Storm.” She looked pleased, and he nearly smiled when she glared at him again. “But yes, I guess you could say that is just what happened. I had a look into her life, and I don’t care for the way that I assumed she was going to mess up mine. I’m a dick and a jackass. How badly was she hurt this time? And is Paddy all right?”
    “There was a car accident about four miles from here. She’s in the hospital with some of the stitches that.... How the fuck did you know that?” He told her about the the pain he’d had in the kitchen a bit ago. “Good. Serves you right for kicking her out of your home. I swear to Christ, I could very happily hurt you again right now. I had high hopes