To Tempt A Tiger by Kat Simons Page A

echoed his thoughts. “We should probably get back to the stuff that will immediately affect Zoe. The rest…I know I need to understand all this, but for now, it’s too much.”
    “We’ll have time for the rest later.”
    “So back to my two questions. Getting stuck won’t be a problem for her. You’re sure? Even though she’s half human?”
    “I’m sure, because she was born to it.” He put as much confidence in his voice as he could, but in truth, he wasn’t positive. There were no cases in modern times of a shapeshifter born from a human parent and a tiger parent. Nila was the only case of a hybrid that anyone knew about, and she couldn’t shift.
    But from what he understood, getting stuck halfway through a shift in other species was the result of fear and lack of confidence. So no matter what, he had to ensure that both Rose and Zoe were confident and unafraid when Zoe started her first shift. Because of her age, and because she was born to it, he hoped Zoe’s body would just do what it was meant to do.
    “Okay,” Rose said, “then my second question. You said tigers were in enough trouble. What did you mean by that?”
    Ah, the part that really would freak her out because this would directly affect Zoe’s future among the tigers. If Zoe had been born a boy instead of a girl, this would be a lot less complicated. He debated how much to tell her and decided to stick with the basics, enough to satisfy her curiosity, but not so much as to terrify her and send her running away from the tigers.
    “Tiger shifters are facing extinction. Female birthrates have dropped so dramatically it’s left the sex ratio really skewed.”
    “How skewed?”
    “Roughly 90 percent males to 10 percent females worldwide.”
    “Wow. That sounds bad.”
    “And it’s not getting better.”
    “What are you doing to prevent extinction?”
    Her eyes narrowed, and he could see the wariness and suspicion in her expression. He knew she’d catch on quickly. But he didn’t want to tell her how bad things had gotten when the dwindling female numbers were finally noticed. The truth about how violent tiger males could be might just send her into hiding. So he skimmed over that part of their history. “The elders set up the Mate Run. It’s essentially a way for males to compete for females.”
    “How does it work?”
    “During a female’s estrous cycle, she goes into one of the areas we have set up in an isolated forest, and she runs from a group of males. Whichever male she allows to catch her, gets to be with her for the three days of her cycle. If they get pregnant, they’re allowed to mate permanently—get married if they like. Or she can run again for a new mate once her cycles start again. There’s a lot of flexibility for the female, and the choice of mates is entirely up to her.”
    “And if the couple doesn’t get pregnant?”
    “The female keeps running until she does. She can stay with the same male cycle to cycle, or she can choose a new male with each Run. Entirely up to her.”
    He was making a point to emphasize how much control the females had during the Run to keep Rose from panicking, but as he watched her, he realized she hadn’t yet made the connection that this would be something expected of Zoe. She frowned and took the information seriously, but there was nothing in her scent or expression to hint at worry for her own child.
    “How did the Run solve the skewed sex ration?”
    “It didn’t. It’s just helped stave off extinction.”
    “What’s being done about the low female numbers, then?”
    “A lot of research.” He took a breath. “Some of that research involved the possibility of humans and tigers mating.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “So you knew before your sister that it was possible?”
    The bite in her voice made him flinch. “No. Most tigers think it’s just the stuff of myths and legends. We have a story of an ancient couple—human woman, male tiger—who had children together, but