The Tiger's Reluctant Mate: BBW Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Standalone (Hunky Shifters Book 2) Read Online Free
attention. He sat up; his painful hard-on forgotten and sleep became a thing of the past.
"Burned down? Was it a gas leak?"
"No. From what the firefighters said, it was torched." His second-in-command and cousin sounded grim. "It was deliberate, Ryan."
Ryan's heart was hammering in his chest. He knew from what people had said about Julie that the cafe was her whole life, with the exception of her kid brother. This would devastate her.
He swallowed.
"Is Julie okay?"
"She's fine. She wasn't in there. Our guy had to drag her away before she ran into the flames." Greg sighed. "She's torn apart."
Only Greg knew about Julie being Ryan's mate. They shared everything and Ryan could trust Greg with this. If it got out that he had a mate, female tigers would go out of their way to eliminate their human competition so they had a shot at being queen. Ryan didn't want that to happen so Greg was the only person he had confided in.
Could it be that someone had found out about Julie and gone after her instead? It was possible but Ryan didn't think so. However, he wasn't about to discount it.
"Do what you can, Greg." He said gruffly. "Find out who the bastards are. I want their heads on a platter."
"You think one of the girls wanted to take her out?"
"I don't know but I wouldn't put it past them. Some of those felines are downright nasty." Ryan took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder. "Just keep tabs on Julie. Keep her safe."
"You can rely on me, Ry."
Greg hung up. Ryan closed his cell phone and tossed it onto the bed. Then he buried his face in his face.
Things were going to get hairy if any of the female tigers was involved. They knew the consequences of messing with a human mate but evidently someone didn't care.
Ryan was going to make sure they knew how badly they had screwed up.
#
Julie drove home, her mood the lowest it had ever been in her life. It had been two days since that fire had wiped out her livelihood and she had spent those two days trying to salvage what she could and sorting out the insurance.
Thankfully, she had kept on top of the payments but the insurance company was refusing to pay out as the fire was being seen as arson and was under police investigation. The dumbasses thought she had set the fire.
The structure of the place was sound, which was a good thing. Richard had told her if she cleaned everything away the structure would hold easily and she could set up again. That was the easy part. Finding a bank that was willing to give her a loan to refurbish and set up again was not.
Julie had gone to three banks, both in Little Rock and in Benton and Conway, and all of them had turned her down. She had even gone all the way to Pine Bluff and Hot Springs but it was the same result. Even the manager who had given her a loan the first time around said he wouldn't give her another since she still had half of her original loan to pay off.
Julie was lost. Everything had gone up in flames and she had no way to support herself and no way to afford the tuition fees for Charlie. He would have to leave Oxford and come home or get several jobs to pay his way through. The admissions team might be able to give them special treatment due to circumstances but Julie didn't want that. She didn't like special treatment.
Her uncle and aunt had taught her to do things off her own back. So when she had turned eighteen and gone off to university to do a business degree she had done everything herself. Her uncle had given her half the money for the fees every semester but Julie had paid the rest. She never asked for it and she never took money for granted.
Now it was looking like she was back at the bottom rung again. She would have to look for a crappy job and start saving up again.
Dusk was falling as Julie pulled into her street. She just wanted to go inside, lock the doors and have a good cry. She was not looking forward to the phone call to Charlie that he would have to leave university
"Burned down? Was it a gas leak?"
"No. From what the firefighters said, it was torched." His second-in-command and cousin sounded grim. "It was deliberate, Ryan."
Ryan's heart was hammering in his chest. He knew from what people had said about Julie that the cafe was her whole life, with the exception of her kid brother. This would devastate her.
He swallowed.
"Is Julie okay?"
"She's fine. She wasn't in there. Our guy had to drag her away before she ran into the flames." Greg sighed. "She's torn apart."
Only Greg knew about Julie being Ryan's mate. They shared everything and Ryan could trust Greg with this. If it got out that he had a mate, female tigers would go out of their way to eliminate their human competition so they had a shot at being queen. Ryan didn't want that to happen so Greg was the only person he had confided in.
Could it be that someone had found out about Julie and gone after her instead? It was possible but Ryan didn't think so. However, he wasn't about to discount it.
"Do what you can, Greg." He said gruffly. "Find out who the bastards are. I want their heads on a platter."
"You think one of the girls wanted to take her out?"
"I don't know but I wouldn't put it past them. Some of those felines are downright nasty." Ryan took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder. "Just keep tabs on Julie. Keep her safe."
"You can rely on me, Ry."
Greg hung up. Ryan closed his cell phone and tossed it onto the bed. Then he buried his face in his face.
Things were going to get hairy if any of the female tigers was involved. They knew the consequences of messing with a human mate but evidently someone didn't care.
Ryan was going to make sure they knew how badly they had screwed up.
#
Julie drove home, her mood the lowest it had ever been in her life. It had been two days since that fire had wiped out her livelihood and she had spent those two days trying to salvage what she could and sorting out the insurance.
Thankfully, she had kept on top of the payments but the insurance company was refusing to pay out as the fire was being seen as arson and was under police investigation. The dumbasses thought she had set the fire.
The structure of the place was sound, which was a good thing. Richard had told her if she cleaned everything away the structure would hold easily and she could set up again. That was the easy part. Finding a bank that was willing to give her a loan to refurbish and set up again was not.
Julie had gone to three banks, both in Little Rock and in Benton and Conway, and all of them had turned her down. She had even gone all the way to Pine Bluff and Hot Springs but it was the same result. Even the manager who had given her a loan the first time around said he wouldn't give her another since she still had half of her original loan to pay off.
Julie was lost. Everything had gone up in flames and she had no way to support herself and no way to afford the tuition fees for Charlie. He would have to leave Oxford and come home or get several jobs to pay his way through. The admissions team might be able to give them special treatment due to circumstances but Julie didn't want that. She didn't like special treatment.
Her uncle and aunt had taught her to do things off her own back. So when she had turned eighteen and gone off to university to do a business degree she had done everything herself. Her uncle had given her half the money for the fees every semester but Julie had paid the rest. She never asked for it and she never took money for granted.
Now it was looking like she was back at the bottom rung again. She would have to look for a crappy job and start saving up again.
Dusk was falling as Julie pulled into her street. She just wanted to go inside, lock the doors and have a good cry. She was not looking forward to the phone call to Charlie that he would have to leave university
Readers choose
D. C. Pierson
Kat Barrett
Franklin W. Dixon
Deborah Cox
Kelly Boyce
Sara Levine
William Faulkner
R.J. Dillon
Marie Treanor
Margaret Ronald