Tangling with the Tiger: Lone Pine Pride, Book 5 by Vivi Andrews Page A

went into detail on the experiments, Grace forced herself to focus on the science, reminding herself that she liked the good doctor—and that Rachel had helped over a hundred shifters escape captivity. She certainly hadn’t lacked for test subjects.
    “We had hundreds and hundreds of samples—every mature shifter brought through Organization labs was harvested for reproductive material.”
    “ Jesus .”
    Every head snapped toward the doorway at that guttural curse. Adrian stood there, horror and hurt in every line of his face.
    Grace had only a moment to marvel that it must be even later than she thought if the Hawk was already done with his perimeter shift before he bolted down the hall and Rachel leapt out of her chair to give chase. “Adrian!”
    Grace, Brandt and Moira all clearly heard the pair dart into a patient room down the hall and slam the door—then politely pretended their shifter hearing couldn’t easily pick up the sound of raised voices coming from behind the door.
    Moira frowned after them. “Should we do something?”
    Adrian was doubtless one of those “samples” Rachel had mentioned. Grace figured she might have some choice words for the love of her life if he’d harvested her for genetic material too—not that she was ever going to have a love of her life, but she could imagine. “Give them a minute to work it out,” Grace suggested. “If it sounds like it’s getting worse, I’ll intervene.”
    But the conversation only lasted a few seconds more before the sound of the Hawk storming out reached them. Elvis has left the building .
    Brandt grimaced. “She did the best she could in a shitty situation.”
    “He knows that,” Grace said. But the Hawk was still having violent nightmares about what had been done to him in captivity. Not surprising he’d reacted badly to the reminder that Dr. Russell had been a party to that. “He’ll come around.”
    At least she hoped he would. Grace might not believe in true love for herself, but damned if she wasn’t going to fight for it for everyone she cared about.

Chapter Thirteen
    Grace waited another few minutes to give Rachel time to pull herself together and then slipped down the hall to tap on the door. It swung open beneath her hand.
    “I take it our little birdie left.”
    Rachel, seated on the bed in the world’s most dejected pose, looked up at the words. Her eyes were hollow with sorrow, but at least they were dry. That was something.
    Grace slipped into the room and nudged the door closed behind her. “You okay, Doc?”
    “I don’t know what I am anymore,” the doctor whispered.
    Grace dropped onto the other bed, facing her. “That sounds like a good start. Like that whole the wise man knows first that he knows nothing bullshit.”
    A whisper of a smile almost broke through the sadness on her face. “Something like that.”
    Grace just waited, letting the silence fold comfortingly around them both until Rachel began to speak, unloading everything that had been building up with her for the last week. Her frustration that even when she’d tried to do the right thing, she’d wound up hurting the man she loved—though Rachel didn’t’ use the “L” word. Her relief at finally getting away from the Organization’s control over her life. Her frustration with Adrian who couldn’t seem to forgive her for the mistakes she’d made for the greater good. It all came pouring out.
    Everyone buckles.
    Grace frowned internally, remembering Kelly’s words, but kept her focus on Rachel, who was now bemoaning her lack of understanding of the man in her life.
    Well, Grace had wanted girl talk, hadn’t she?
    “I can’t figure him out,” Rachel complained. “One second he’s angry, the next he’s protective. He touches me so tenderly I just fall apart, then pushes me away and won’t even look at me.”
    “He’s a man. He doesn’t know what to do with all the feels,” Grace said. But he loved Rachel. Grace believed that down to