When Addison finally released Robbie, he looked calmer, less likely to give in to tears. Addison, her hair mussed from Kendrick furrowing it, her lips wet with his kiss, reached for Zane. “Let me hold him.”

Zane continued to cry. Kendrick quietly relinquished him to her, and Addison lifted the cub into her arms.

She staggered a little as she discovered that a baby tiger was heavier than he looked, and very squirmy. Addison got Zane firmly into the crook of her arm then stroked the top of his head.

Zane opened his eyes, realized Addison held him, and quieted down. Brett remained with his father but watched Addison with watery green eyes.

“There you go,” Addison crooned at Zane. “Feeling better? Want to sleep now?”

Zane squeezed his eyes shut again and let out a little yowl. Kendrick knew exactly what he was saying—he didn’t want to be left without Kendrick or Addison.

“How about if I sleep in here with them?” Addison asked, turning her violet blue eyes to Kendrick. “You’re beat—you take the bed and get some rest, and I’ll bunk down in the trundle bed.”

Kendrick tamped down his need and disappointment. He’d assumed the night would end with him inside Addison, but his sons came first. Not trusting himself to speak, he gave Addison a nod.

Zane clung to Addison, but Brett climbed down from his father’s body, leaving a few light scratches on Kendrick’s bare flesh. Brett scampered across the room to the trundle bed that rested against the wall and leapt onto it. Robbie, more quietly, moved after him and sat down on the bed’s edge.

Addison jounced Zane as she went to join them. Kendrick watched in silence, feeling cold.

Addison looked up at Kendrick as she sat down with Robbie. “Go away now. You sleep, and I’ll tell stories.”

Kendrick felt no incentive to turn and leave the room. He wanted to linger, to curl up in the tiny bed next to Addison while his sons draped around them, and Addison’s clear voice told bedtime stories.

“If you start, they won’t let you stop,” he warned.

“Yes, we will,” Robbie said. “Good night, Dad.”

Kendrick didn’t move. Addison waved a hand at him, as though reassuring him that all would be well.

It would be, he knew. Addison had no treachery in her. Kendrick would have sensed it, scented it. The cubs liked her, and they were in a strange place, alone and cold. Addison, right now, was their beacon of warmth.

Kendrick made himself turn away. Stiffening his resolve, he walked to the door.

His resolve hadn’t been the only thing stiff as he’d kissed her. Even now, his cock was ready to resume its hardness, wanting to ease itself inside her.

“Good night, then,” he said without turning.

He took the last steps out into the cool hall, and closed the door firmly behind him. On the other side of the wood panels, he heard Addison say. “All right, then. I’ll start. Once upon a time . . .”

There was a beautiful waitress and a fugitive white tiger Shifter . . .

Kendrick had no idea how that story would turn out.

*   *   *

Kendrick stood a long time in the middle of the empty bedroom he was supposed to share with Addison, his body throbbing, before he climbed up into the bed.

Addie’s warmth lingered in the nest she’d made, and her scent. Kendrick knew he should leap up, walk out of the house, shift to tiger, and sleep under the stars somewhere over the rise.

Instead, he pulled the covers over him and lay with his eyes open, letting her surround him.

He needed her with terrible fire. Kendrick had lived so long suppressing his libido, that its awakening had him in impossible pain.