35
Max
Max let himself into the zoo. It was quiet apart from the night-time calls of the animals and the hooting of an owl. He walked across the grass, grateful to be alone. He hated how insecure he felt around Dylan, hated the way the memories rushed back every time he saw his smarmy face. The humiliation was too close to the surface. He needed his tigers. With them he felt strong and powerful. He had the most vicious creatures in the whole zoo under his control. The only power was in strength and he would never be weak again. He would never allow anyone to bully or hold power over him for as long as he lived. Not again.
He got out his phone and dialled Sophie’s number. This would be his moment of glory. He walked around the outside of the cage, listening to the phone ring out. Clicking his fingers, he called to the cats, knowing they were always on the lookout for him. He knew they hated him. He kept them locked up when they wanted to be free. He confined them in their tiny sleeping quarters when they wanted to smell the damp, fresh air and stalk the cage for intruders. He came into their territory when they wanted him gone. But he was also their provider. He brought their food. He liked to imagine them facing a hungry future if they hurt him.
‘Max? Is everything okay?’ There was no curtness in Sophie’s voice now. He smiled.
‘It will be. I’ve just had an encounter with a tiger.’
She sighed. ‘Oh God, what have you done this time?’
‘Not that kind of encounter,’ he said, pushing back his irritation. He would not let his anger get the better of him when there was so much at stake. ‘This tiger was in Wildley Forest Village.’
Silence.
‘Sorry? I must have misheard.’
‘You didn’t.’ Max smiled. ‘There is a huge white tiger loose in Wildley Forest Village and we need to catch it. If we act now, we could keep it. Think of the visitors a white tiger would …’ He froze. A movement on the other side of the cage had caught his eye. Two tigers were walking next to the fence on the opposite side of the enclosure. The male sent a familiar thrill of dread through him, spiking his adrenaline and waking up his body. It was the other cat who froze him in place. It was enormous. The thick, white pelt gleamed in the moonlight as it moved shoulder to shoulder with the male. It turned to Max, its turquoise eyes tracking him until the last moment. Max forced his breathing to steady. Shit. Had it followed him? Or had someone actually caught it that quickly? Only half an hour ago that tiger had been eyeballing him with teeth bared. How had it got here so fast? And how had it got into that cage?
‘Loose in the village?’ Sophie’s voice was high-pitched now. ‘Have you called someone?’
‘I’m calling you.’ His tiger walked past him, snarling as it met his gaze. Behind it, the huge white cat kept pace. ‘But then I guess you already knew.’
‘What do you mean? You’re not making sense.’
‘Ah, we’re playing that game are we? You catch the tiger, release it straight into my enclosure without a word to me, and then claim I’m not making sense?’
A heavy blast of wind caught him off balance. He looked up to the sky. The clouds were thick and dark, and the heaviness in the air made him shiver. Max forced his breathing to steady, tracking the cats with his gaze. The male turned a corner, the white cat followed, and then shimmered out of existence.
‘Shit.’ Max’s heart was hammering now. What was that? Had he imagined it?
‘Max, are you okay?’ Sophie sounded worried.
He jogged around the cage, looking for the tiger. It wasn’t there.
‘Max, talk to me. Are you okay? Are you drunk?’ She was getting angry now.
‘Maybe I am drunk,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘That would explain things.’
‘Max, is there a tiger?’
He stopped running, doubled over and took a few deep breaths. When he straightened, he looked into the enclosure again. The male stood right in front of him, staring him down. But there was no white tiger.
‘No,’ he whispered. ‘There is no tiger.’
‘Well then for God’s sake, get out of that zoo, go home and get to bed. Sleep off whatever weird cocktail you’ve been drinking and don’t come in tomorrow unless you’re fit for work.’ She hung up.
‘No, no, no, no, no!’ Max shook his head over and over again. Was he losing it? No, Dylan had seen it too. It must have been there. What the hell was going on?
36
Dylan
Dylan felt like death when he walked to work the next morning. He was still replaying his conversation with Tabitha over and over in his mind. Her house was shut up tight, the closed sign firmly in place and the curtains drawn. He lingered outside the gate wanting to speak to her, but what would he say? The owl began to shriek over and over again and he couldn’t help feeling it was some kind of warning. Whether it was aimed at him or Tabitha he had no idea.
Walking away from her house felt like a betrayal, but there had been no welcome in those cold blue tiger eyes last night.
The zoo was eerily empty. Freezing mist muffled the sound so that Dylan felt completely alone. The Playbarn was deserted, manned only by the minimum number of staff, all of whom were nursing coffees, glum looks on their faces.
There was a crack of thunder. He got up and walked over to the window. The fog had cleared. Heavy clouds were forming, but the wind was carrying them fast. He saw a single group of visitors looking up at the sky and hurrying towards the Playbarn, bundling their kids inside. He welcomed them, fixed on their wristbands and sent them off to the play equipment while the parents bought drinks and cake. There was nobody outside now and a light drizzle was starting to fall. As he watched, a single, bundled figure came up the path from the entrance. The way she walked looked familiar. Dylan opened the door and slipped outside for a better view.
She was almost past the Playbarn when she turned.
‘Tabitha,’ he yelled. He started jogging, but she just sped up.
He stopped, a weight dropping in his stomach. What had he done?
She turned one more time. From closer he could see how pale she looked, could see the dark circles under her eyes. She looked haunted.
He watched her hurry towards the tiger enclosure, her thick coat clutched around her middle, heavy boots laced high over skinny jeans. He imagined her huddling inside the covered area with her sketchbook and wondered whether the tigers would come out to give her something to draw. Maybe she had ways to call to them? Maybe she would project her tiger form and they would come out to see her? Did it even work like that?
He couldn’t see her at all now. He peered through the picture windows into the Playbarn. It was still quiet in there. He ducked over to the tigers, but there was no visible life in the cage. He could see Tabitha sitting on the hill, but she obviously didn’t want to speak to him, so he walked around to the cats’ sleeping quarters, hoping to catch a moment with Max. There was nobody around. He knocked on the door to Max’s room.
Silence.
With a sigh, he walked back around the enclosure. Tabitha was still on the hill. She was sitting down now, her head bent in concentration. He wished he could project his awareness like she could, so he could watch over her while she drew.
Was it possible that she had been watching over him, rather than prying? If he had her abilities, he would have been at her side right now, he had no doubt about that.
He felt a drop of rain on his cheek, and moments later the deluge started. Tabitha gathered up her things and then ran for a shelter on the side of the hill.
Dylan ran for the Playbarn.
‘Boss?’ a voice called from the doorway. ‘There’s been an accident.’
Dylan sighed. Max and Tabitha would have to wait.
37
Tabitha
He had walked away from her, and now he was there every time she turned around. Tabitha sat on a bench in the small hillside shelter by the tiger enclosure. The wooden sides did little to block out the chill wind, icy air or pounding rain. The damp
was sinking into her bones and joints, clouding her mind. She wanted to travel, felt the pull of the tigers who were so close but out of sight. But she couldn’t. There was no way to make sure she wouldn’t end up with Dylan in the Playbarn, and she would not risk him looking at her like that again.
‘Tabitha!’
The yell shocked her from her thoughts.
Max was breathing heavily as he pushed his dripping hood back. The run up the hill had tired him out. ‘Why don’t you come inside? Surely you’d rather draw in the warm rather than staying out here in this?’ He spread his arms wide.
‘Oh, you have no idea.’ Tabitha closed her eyes for a moment, clutching her hands together so he wouldn’t notice that they were shaking with cold. ‘But I know how this story ends. If I come in, you will take that as an indication that I’m interested in something more, and I’m just not. I would love to be your friend, Max. Not many people understand my attachment to the tigers and we share that, in some way. But I’m not ever going to be more to you than that.’
Max licked his lips. ‘Listen, I know I’ve been like that before. I understand why you’re wary. But I won’t do that anymore. If you come out of the cold I will stay out of the tiger enclosure and I’ll leave you alone to draw. I promise I won’t bother you.’
Tabitha looked at him. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a hunch he was speaking the truth for once. Plus, she was starting to lose all feeling in her fingers. She nodded, stood up and gathered her things.
‘Come on, let’s run,’ Max said, and dashed off down the hill.
The door to Max’s room was standing open when Tabitha reached it and she ducked inside. Tabitha shuddered. The room had been grubby last time, but now it was filthy. Dirt smeared the walls. Flies swarmed around a cupboard in one corner and a large tub of red meat that sat on a metal table in the middle of the room.
Max gestured to the armchair. ‘You sit down and draw. I’ll be through there.’
He went into the ante room, and Tabitha settled into the armchair, brushing at the arms. It was dirtier than last time, but at least she was warm.
She took out her drawing book and a pencil, and then looked at the tigers and started sketching. The female came to the bars and yowled, tilting her head as she watched Tabitha. ‘Do you remember me?’ Tabitha whispered. ‘Do you remember the friend who runs with you in your cage?’
She started drawing, taking down the lines of the cat’s face and the curve of its shoulder. Humming, she allowed herself to sink into the repetition and focus.
She was outside. The storm had progressed from a light rain into a sheeting downpour. Max prowled, a gun held in front of him. She had no idea whether it held darts or bullets, but his face was deathly pale, his eyes flashing with fire. ‘Where are you?’ he yelled, looking around in every direction. ‘I know it’s me you want, so come out and get me.’ She moved closer, trying to understand what he meant, what he was afraid of. She spun around at the roar that came from behind her and saw an enormous white tiger running towards her, felt the recognition in its gaze. She knew that tiger was expecting her, that it remembered standing where she did now, watching what was to come. They roared in unison, and Max pointed his gun at the white tiger. ‘No!’ she screamed as the bang went off—
The sound jerked her out of the storm and over to the play barn. Dylan was standing outside the door where she had seen him last. She had no idea whether she was back in the present or still in the premonition but, either way, she could not be near Dylan. She turned and walked away.
Tabitha jerked awake. The tigers on the page had been joined by another, bigger than the two in front of her. The huge, white beast snarled, teeth bared as it stared out of the page.
‘Was it in here?’ Max’s voice was sharp from behind her. ‘I’ve been looking for it all day but there’s been no sign. I saw it, right in there with my tigers last night. I saw it with my own eyes before it faded away. I am not going crazy.’
‘A white tiger?’ Tabitha said, trying to sound surprised. ‘Has the zoo got a new cat?’
Max narrowed his eyes at her. ‘That’s what I’d like to know, but I can’t get any straight answers. You’ve drawn a very accurate portrayal for someone who knows nothing about it.’
Tabitha sighed. ‘I draw tigers for a living, Max. I’d be worried if it wasn’t accurate. For a while I used to visit a zoo with a white tiger, and I remember her down to the tiniest detail.’
Max nodded, but he didn’t look convinced. ‘If you do see a white cat in there, please will you tell me? Something is going on and I don’t understand it. I saw it outside your front door, and then in the enclosure. Dylan saw it too. I’m not making this up.’
Tabitha snapped her book shut. ‘I’ll tell you if I see anything you should know about.
Max grinned. ‘Do you want to feed them?’
‘Can I?’
He handed her a long pair of filthy metal pincers with a chunk of meat at one end. ‘Hold it through the bars.’
Tabitha took the tongs. The huge, male tiger rumbled as she walked towards the cage, smiling and humming. ‘Here you are, my beautiful,’ she murmured as she poked the meat through the thick metal bars. ‘Eat up.’
The tiger watched her for a moment, and then took the meat from the pincers. A thrill shot through Tabitha. ‘He took it!’ She went back to the bucket and looked at Max. ‘Can I do another?’
He grinned and nodded. ‘Amazing, right?’
She smiled and grabbed another chunk of meat.
The smaller tiger had come to the bars now, but the male wasn’t keen to give up the space and turned to snarl at her. She grunted and swiped at the larger cat with her paw. The male roared. The hair on the back of Tabitha’s neck rose as the sound echoed in the enclosed space. The smaller cat retreated, padding over to the back of the cage, growling as it paced.
‘Are they usually like this?’ Tabitha whispered.
‘They don’t like being shut up in here together. Don’t worry about it. They’re tigers. They’re aggressive. They fight.’ He shrugged his shoulders.
‘Max?’ A voice called from outside.
‘Damn. That’s my boss. Stay here. I’ll head her off. Don’t come out, whatever happens. I’m not supposed to bring guests in here.’ He slipped out through the door, barely opening it.
Tabitha turned back to the tigers. The male yowled, and then lay down, rubbing its ears against the bars. The female moved forwards from behind and met no opposition. ‘Well, well. Are you happier without Max here?’ Tabitha gripped another piece of meat with the pincers. She poked it through the bars and the second tiger took it, making appreciative rumbles. ‘It’s not very nice in here is it. That must drive you wild.’ She poked another piece of meat through the bars. ‘I think there might actually be something rotting in here.’ She put the pincers down and opened the cupboard surrounded by flies. The rancid stench of rotten meat and the powdery smell of mould caught her in the face. Right at the back, in the corner, was a shifting black cloud. Tabitha shuddered. She found a second pair of pincers, filthier than the first, and prodded it. A swarm of flies flew up and out. Backing away, she shielded her face and then peered back just in time to see the slimy mass before it was covered again. There were more dead flies lying on the floor of the cupboard around it, alongside filthy metal utensils and a mouldy sandwich. Tabitha clapped her hand over her nose and mouth, bile rising in her throat.
Fighting the urge to heave, she took out her phone and snapped some pictures, before slamming the door shut. She took more shots of the blood and dirt on the wall.
‘No wonder it stinks in here.’
The door to the room swung open wide. She spun around, slipping her phone back into her pocket.
‘Panic averted.’ Max leered, puffing up his chest. ‘She’s gone.’
‘They’re a lot more relaxed,’ Tabitha said. But when she turned around, the tigers were face to face, snarling, their tails swishing.
‘Relaxed, eh? I hat
e to think what you’d classify as stressed!’ Max laughed. ‘Don’t worry. Skirmishes and stand-offs are normal. Stand back, I’ll deal with this.’ Max strode into the corner of the room and gripped a long, thick wooden pole. He approached the cage, knees bent, a snarl on his face. The cats paid no attention.
Poking the stick through the bars he shoved the larger cat hard in the ribs. The tiger snarled, falling away from Max and then dropping low and stalking back towards the bars.
‘Stop!’ Tabitha grabbed for the pole. ‘You’re hurting him.’
‘He’s a big boy, he can take it.’ Max laughed.
‘I’d like to go now,’ Tabitha said, walking towards the door.
‘But you just got here,’ Max said.
She put her hand on the doorknob.
‘Don’t leave.’ Max reached across, blocking the exit.
Tabitha felt a rush of anger. A tiger growled, baring its teeth. ‘Are you threatening me, Max?’ she asked, her voice low. ‘That would be a bad idea.’ She stared at him, focusing her anger in his direction. She drew deep within, connecting to her feline self. Her energy pulsed and she felt a rush of strength. She heard the echo of a growl and didn’t know whether she had made the sound herself, or whether it was the cats in the cage behind her.
She saw the flaring energy of Max’s adrenaline as he stared her down, and saw the moment he realised she was not going to be intimidated.
He withdrew his arm and stepped backwards. ‘I was only joking. I’m sorry you took my silliness as anything else. I’m very respectful of women.’
‘Of course you are.’ Tabitha tried not to roll her eyes. She had never met anyone less respectful than Max.
Wild Shadow : A Sweet Paranormal Romance Page 14
