Read Tiger by the Tail: A Midnight Liaisons Novella for Free Online Page A

old life. This isn’t what I wanted.”
    “I know,” he told her, voice full of understanding. “But your body’s not listening and we need to make sure everything’s going smoothly before we panic over who wants what, okay? So don’t worry. I’m here for you. Now, breathe.”
    She nodded and breathed slowly, trying to calm her body. Maybe if she kept control, kept calm, everything would lock itself back into place and be normal again. Even as she told herself that, her lower arms itched, and as she scratched at her skin, fur began to sprout.
    Fuuuuuck. A whimper escaped her throat.
    “S’okay, Mandy. I got you,” Adrian comforted her. His hand smoothed her hair. “I’m here.”
    And for some reason, that did make her feel better.
    When they pulled back up to the Merino land, Adrian jumped out of the car and raced over to her side of the car. He tugged her door open, and she spilled out into his arms. Her legs weren’t working right at the moment, her calves cramping something fierce. But he seemed to guess that she was going to have trouble, because he immediately picked her up and began carrying her. “Just relax and try to breathe,” he murmured. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
    “It’s not,” Mandy said, and she began to weep. “I don’t want to change.”
    “I know,” he said as he carried her down the path toward his cabin. “But it’s coming on whether you want it to or not.”
    “I don’t,” she sobbed, burying her face against his chest. “Everything hurts.”
    “That’s because you’re fighting it. You’ve got to let go.” He pushed his front door open and strode down the hall, toward the bedroom.
    “I can’t not fight it! I don’t know how to welcome it.” Nor did she particularly want to. But the pain tearing through her guts was destroying her will to fight rapidly.
    “Which is why you have to relax,” he said patiently. He set her down on the edge of the bed and began to undress her, his movements calm and even, as if he dealt with panicky human-turned-tiger-shifter women all the time. “Breathe with me. Breathe.” He inhaled deeply and then exhaled noisily, even as he tugged her shirt over her head.
    She nodded and tried to match her breathing to his. He pulled the rest of her clothing off, tossed it aside, and then pulled the blankets over her. His hand stroked her sweating brow. “You want a drink?”
    “Cold water?” She asked hopefully. Maybe they could still turn this around.
    He shook his head. “That’s a bad idea. It’ll just prolong things. Let me get you some hot tea. Or something.”
    She settled back down in the blankets as he headed out to the kitchen and turned on the coffee pot. While she waited, she flexed her tingling fingers and glared at the claws slowly curling out of her fingernails. Her skin was starting to take on the tiger stripes, her arms and legs slowly furring over.
    God, she hated this. Day three of their bet had barely begun and here she was, losing her shit and transforming and crying like a baby. Ugh. No wonder he’d taken the bet. He’d probably known all along that he was going to win, and that depressed her even more. Now he was stuck with her, just like she was stuck being a tiger.
    When he entered the room with a cup, he set it next to the bed and then helped her sit up to drink, even as her body clenched and protested. “It’s coffee, but the heat will relax your muscles,” he told her. “Drink it and it’ll speed things along. I also turned the air conditioner off. Same reason.”
    She nodded and sipped the drink. It made her clenching stomach protest and she flopped back onto the pillows, panting. Adrian started to get up and she clung to his hand, feeling needy. “Talk to me?”
    “Of course.” He smiled down at her and stroked his fingers over her face, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she was sweating like a fevered woman or that she was randomly sprouting fur. “You’re doing great. This is, what,