Tigress Book II, Part #5: Soulbound Destinies

By Alica Knight

Ishan.

Never has someone meant so much to me; being denied him is killing me surer than a bullet. It's a slow, hopeful death; every day I hope to wake up next to him. Every day I am disappointed.

Jacques is alive -- more or less. I can smell him hunting me. But he forgets one important thing.

I, too, am a hunter.

It's time for me to track him to his lair and end him, but before I do, life has a few more surprises for me yet.

Part X of the Tigress serial.

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"Tigress" is a Paranormal Romance serial with a hint of spice! Each episode is approximately 10,000 words. The episode guide is as follows:

Tigress: Book One

#1 - Passion Begins
#2 - Love in the Dark
#3 - Beating Hearts
#4 - Shadows over Love
#5 - Eclipse of Ecstasy

Tigress: Book Two

#1 - Rapture under Moonlight
#2 - Souls Aflame
#3 - Divergent Heart
#4 - Lover's Vengeance
#5 - Soulbound Destinies (coming soon!)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alica Knight
• Release date: Dec 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519975973

Book preview

Tigress Book II, Part #5: Soulbound Destinies by Alica Knight

Copyright Alica Knight

2015

Tigress: Book II

Part V: Soulbound Destinies

A Paranormal Romance Serial

with a little hint of spice.

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.

Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

- Edgar Allan Poe

Prologue

The Casket

None of us—Altaican or the Rewa alike—had any power over dirt, so shovels in hand and guided by the light of the moon, we dug.

I lead the way, taking no breaks, cutting through the black Australian soil and throwing it over my shoulder. Although my Rakshasa strength and the rain-dampened top soil made the initial work easy, it was hard going. I worked faster than all of them. Each spadeful of earth got me closer to revealing the truth about Starlight, to showing everyone what Cinder’s painting had shown me; that he was alive, and that we were not guilty of the crime Ishan and I had been accused of. Then Ishan could be returned to me. We could be together once more.

Despite our strength and my determination, the ground underneath was frozen and hard. Our progress slowed rapidly and the digging took hours. Much longer than I had anticipated. I had never created a grave before, much less dug one up. I had discovered so much since learning what I truly was, but how to unearth a body was one of the few pieces of information I wished I didn’t have.

Eventually, though, my spade hit something solid.

Starlight’s coffin.

I found it!

Eagerly and without thought, I brushed the dirt away from the lid of Starlight’s coffin and pulled it off. The flimsy wood came away with a crack and broke into a thousand splinters.

Inside, withered and dried, was a body. His face was almost impossible to identify, but my keen Rakshasa eyes could see hints of who he was. The edge of his jaw. His dark hair. The faint lines of brown tiger stripes on pale skin.

The torn flesh from where he had been murdered.

So very dead.

Impossible. My hands trembled as I looked down at the body, searching for some evidence—some hope—that what I was seeing was a lie. An illusion.

I found none.

Bu-but…

Come on, said Asena from above me. I could tell she pitied me. Felt sorry for me. She crouched, resting her hand on my shoulder. It’s time to give this up. We’ll rebury him and we can talk about it back at the Garden.

Maybe I was being stubborn. No, I knew I was being stubborn. I shrugged off her hand. No. We’re not done here.

Aurora—

No! The words came out in a throaty growl. The Rewa, suddenly defensive, moved around me. Surrounding me with dark glares and angry eyes.

Willowfeather clicked her tongue. Well, Aurora said she could prove Starlight was alive. We’ve shown her the truth—now it is time for the Altaican to pay for her trespass.

Wait, said Asena, but it was pointless. Willowfeather’s word had sway with them.

I couldn’t