Claiming Their Royal Mate: Part One Read Online Free

creatures. Cat-like features on a very human frame, and unlike most of his kind, he could shift parts of himself without shifting into his entire partial form—handy if you needed a sharp claw but no whiskers. But he couldn’t turn into a full tiger.
    Which was why she couldn’t be his. No matter how much he wanted her.
    A shudder ran through her body. She glanced away from him and clutched her arms, hugging herself.
    He was by her side before he could think better of it, kneeling in front of where she sat on the bed, and when she looked up, she started.
    “Oh, sorry,” he said, then closed his eyes to concentrate on changing his face back to fully human.
    When he opened his eyes, she stared at him, their faces only inches apart.
    “That was cool.” The tiniest of grins blossomed on her face. “I wasn’t sure if I should run away or pet you.”
    He smiled at her and she licked her lips.
    Damn .
    “I need to make a phone call.” He pushed up from the floor. Yes, a call. Before he asked her to pet him.
    “Wait.”
    Barely trusting himself to not do something stupid, he turned to face her. She was so pretty in the delicate robe. So sexy. So vulnerable.
    He could still taste her.
    “This…heat. Or whatever. How do we make it go away?” she asked.
    “Sex,” he said, simply, but he clenched his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her. Sex wouldn’t actually bring her out of the heat, but it would give her a long reprieve. Maybe long enough to get through the heat. Maybe.
    “Then why—”
    “Because you aren’t meant for me. You belong to my best friend.”

Chapter Three
    “ W hat ?” Anger rolled through her, pushing back some of the pulsating lust threatening to overwhelm her again. She jumped off his bed and stalked toward him. “What do you mean, I belong to your best friend? I’m my own person, Owen. No one owns me.”
    “There are things happening here that you don’t understand.”
    “Explain them to me.” How dare he? She was her own person. And this the twenty-first century.
    “You have the ability to turn into a full tiger—or you will, with some training and practice. That’s rare, Daniella. Full tigers are known as royals among our people—even though they aren’t necessarily from the same bloodline. They breed with other royals. They keep our people strong.” Belief filled his eyes—he believed what he said was true, that this insane tradition was somehow necessary. But there was guilt there, too.
    “So, what? I’m supposed to have a litter of kittens with a stranger for the good of some people I don’t even know? People I couldn’t care less about at this point?” The idea of it was so humiliating, so disgusting, she could barely wrap her mind around it.
    “Yes. We’re not a fertile species—children are difficult to conceive, and impossible outside of the time when the female is in heat. Your first heat is the most powerful, and the most fertile time of your life. If we could give you more time—”
    “This whole thing is bullshit.” Give her time? As if her time was theirs to give? She paced the room, finally noticing her surroundings. Other than the bed and a small dresser tucked into one corner, the room looked uninhabited. He’d been here nearly a year, since not long after she moved in. And it looked like he could have just moved in. It was all temporary for him. Just like watching her—a temporary duty. Something in her chest twisted at the thought.
    “It’s the way things are done. For the good of the whole.”
    “Well, screw your ways.” She stopped pacing, careful to stay a few feet away from him. Her voice softened, and she hated herself a little bit for asking because it probably sounded desperate, but it had to be said. “Why not you?”
    “I have good control for a shifter—more powerful than most—but I can’t make a full change. I’m no royal. But my best friend is. That fact makes him our prime. Our leader.”
    “Why is that so