Chapter One
The smell of prey was difficult to ignore as Jason Martin paced the woods outside of Gwinn Close. It was even more difficult when he knew exactly what the prey was, where it was, and how good it would taste.
But it was his niece’s rabbit, and it was there as bait, not as lunch.
In his tiger form, a rabbit wouldn’t satisfy him anyway. Not as much as catching the asshole that had been breaking the rules would.
Gwinn Close was the only sanctuary for shape shifters in North America. Everyone was supposed to follow a code of conduct that kept the town safe. Little things, like making sure a prey animal isn’t your neighbor before trying to eat them.
The animal that stalked up the short rise astounded Jason. The sleek orange hide and white muzzle were all too familiar as the tiger stalked into the clearing, pink nostrils flared below aquamarine eyes. If the other shifter sensed another tiger close by, he didn’t seem to notice.
And it definitely was a he . The masculine spice of strong cologne clung to him, even in animal form, and Jason’s cock twitched.
It had been way too long since Mitchell had left for San Antonio. Jason didn’t mind the frequent trips to seek out other shifters, but he did mind the lack of sex.
Forgetting his frustration for a moment, he watched the shifter approach the live trap with the rabbit inside. The tiger sniffed the trap, then growled and lunged.
Jason shifted and stepped out from behind a tree. “Can I help you, friend?”
The tiger stopped and dropped the trap, Mr. Bunnykins still safe inside. In a rippling movement that started from his head, the tiger shifted, fur blending into taut, tan human skin stretched over thick ropes of muscle.
Jason’s mouth went dry.
“You caught me.” The man stood—and he used “man” loosely, since the kid couldn’t have been more than twenty-one—and brushed off his knees. The backs of his arms were marked with black tattoos that mimicked tiger stripes, and judging from the jagged dark lines that wrapped around his sides and thighs, the stripes continued all over the back of his body.
No matter how hot the guy was, his behavior was seriously dangerous. Jason reminded himself of that about a hundred times in the space of a second. “What if that was a shifter in there?”
The kid’s face split into a wide grin, and the corners of his green eyes crinkled with humor. “It isn’t, it’s just a rabbit.”
“But you can’t know that for sure.” Jason went to the trap and righted it. Mr. Bunnykins shivered inside. “It’s not a wild rabbit in there. It’s domestic. That should have given you pause.”
“Sorry, I’m new here.” The guy put his hand out.
“No you’re not.” Mitchell had been receiving complaints about the new resident within a week of the tiger moving in. Jason shook his head. “I’m Mitchell’s partner. He asked me to take care of this little problem you seem to be having while he’s away.”
“There’s no problem.” Above his smile, which hadn’t changed a bit, the guy’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Jason didn’t have patience for these kinds of games. Macho posturing bored him. “There’s a problem when Mitchell says there is. We’ve had a couple other residents complain about being chased by a tiger when they’re out on their nightly runs. That’s not safe, and it’s not the way we do things around here.”
“I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.” The guy wasn’t smiling anymore.
“It’s not the way we do things around here,” Jason repeated. “We treat each other with mutual respect. Most of us are here because we lived in fear in the outside world. We don’t want to feel afraid in Gwinn Close.”
“Yeah, fine.” The guy sounded penitent, at least. “I’ll stop scaring the locals.”
Typical young guy, thinking he had to be scary or hard to get anywhere in the world. Jason backed down, let him have his moment. “So, you’re the one who moved into the
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