Tiger's Dream (Tiger's Curse Book 5)

by Colleen Houck

  She folded her arms across her chest and scoffed. “Sunil has never behaved like a springtime bird and he refuses to dance.”

  “He dances now,” I said. “That’s what love does. It muddies a man’s thinking.”

  “Then what does it do to women?”

  “It does the same to women.”

  “Well, I would never lower myself to such a display.”

  “You might not mind it so much. It would have to be the right person, of course.”

  My shoulders tensed for a moment as I considered what kind of a man would capture Ana’s interest. I’d have to make sure he was worthy of such a girl. She was entirely too trusting and naive to be allowed to make that sort of decision on her own. I racked my brain, trying to remember any stories of Durga that might have alluded to her taking a mate, but I wasn’t as much of a scholar as Kadam. Besides, I wasn’t entirely certain that Anamika the girl and the stories of Durga were the same. Ana was a very real flesh-and-blood girl. She was so unlike any of the stories I’d learned as a boy.

  The very real flesh-and-blood girl interrupted my thoughts. “So this kissing is supposed to indicate their affection for one another?”

  “That’s usually how it works,” I said with a mild laugh.

  “I am not as certain as you are regarding such a thing.”

  I could hear the hurt echoing in her voice. She trembled standing there. I was at a loss. This was affecting her much more than I thought it should. Despite my reservations, I decided to use my link to her to find out what was really wrong. Gently, I opened my mind to hers to show her my memories of Nilima, thinking that if she saw Nilima and understood her, she might learn to accept Sunil’s regard for the girl.

  Instead of the peaceful comradery we typically shared, I was bombarded the moment I made the connection. The riot of Ana’s emotions nearly staggered me. I’d never known the goddess to be so out of control. On the edge. Her mind was stormy with dark, fearful thoughts and feelings. That she wasn’t hiding them from me was proof of how much seeing her brother had affected her.

  I started with the easiest ones first, figuring I’d wade into the deep end later. On the surface, Ana hated her separation from Sunil. This much I already knew. She longed to know what he was doing or if he was even happy. More than anything, she wished to have her brother at her side. He comforted her in a way I never seemed able to. Getting close to her was problematic, not that I’d given it much of an effort. I winced when I realized how much she needed someone to confide in.

  Gradually, she realized what I was doing and shut away her own thoughts, but she still dared to look into mine, seeking out Nilima. I showed her how brave and strong Nilima was. How she’d taken care of all of us and run a company virtually on her own. I showed her a time when Nilima lectured me on feeling sorry for myself and told me that if I didn’t get my tiger self up off the floor and head outside, she was going to string me up by the tail and beat me like a rug. I focused on the hours and hours Nilima had spent at my side, patiently teaching me about the modern world.

  “It’s what she’s likely doing for Sunil now,” I said. “She’s a good teacher. Very unflappable with us out-of-place types.”

  Ana’s beautiful face fell and she lowered her head, tears trickling down her cheeks. Her emotions spiked again and I stopped my play-by-play of Nilima memories. Almost without thinking, I took a step closer and touched the tips of my fingers to her tearstained face. Our connection was stronger when we touched.

  I tried to access her mind again. To understand what she was going through. There was a darkness in her thoughts, a hollowed-out place. Cocking my head, I pushed, then blinked dazedly when Ana pressed her hand on top of mine.

  “Don’t,” she said, looking straight into my eyes. “It’s too far.”

  Her dark lashes were wet with tears. “What are you hiding?” I asked.

  “It is personal, Kishan. Do not ask me to show you those memories.”

  “Does it have to do with that man? The one you tried to face? What did he do, Ana?”

  I could guess, but I hoped against hope that I was wrong. Then I paused and considered. It was clear to me that whatever sadness she was hiding had been triggered by what she’d seen between Sunil and Nilima. I wanted answers. I wanted to help. But I also wanted her to trust me. When I’d needed space, drawn a line, she’d backed off. Offering her the same courtesy was the least I could do. “Very well,” I said. “But tell me this. Do you not want Sunil to find happiness?”

  She sighed and stepped away from me. Ana turned her back, severing our mental connection and closing herself off. “Of course I want him to be happy,” she said softly.

  Stars burned icily overhead, piercing the velvet night and touching Ana’s bare shoulders where my coat had slipped down. It hung bunched around her arms. She shivered delicately and I lifted the coat over her shoulders again, securing it for her. Anamika pulled the edges together and sat down on the edge of the splashing fountain, heedless that the water left wet spots on her silk dress. The insects who chirped in her garden sounded melancholy, almost as if they echoed the mood of their goddess.

  “Why were you there?” she questioned. “You asked if I wanted Sunil to be happy. I would ask the same of you regarding Kelsey and Ren.”

  I didn’t answer at first and instead sat at her feet. Touching the hem of her dress, I felt the magic of the Divine Scarf humming along my fingers. “Please change me back to my normal clothing and appearance,” I said.

  When the whispering of threads stopped, I stretched my back, twisted my neck from side to side, and ran a hand through my hair. It was nice to feel like myself again.

  She pressed, “Did you wish to harm yourself by seeing them? If you were of a mind to cause yourself pain, I have many weapons at my disposal.”

  I glanced up at her quickly and caught a small smile. She was teasing me, but at the same time, she was offering me something I needed. I wondered if it was our connection that gave her the idea or if she was simply intuitive. Grunting, I said, “Perhaps training together might be a good distraction. We’ll begin tomorrow if you are agreeable.” Drilling with her would serve as a way to get some of my restless energy out. I hadn’t sparred with anyone since Kelsey, and despite her abilities, Kelsey had been more of a novice level. Too far behind me to offer any sort of challenge.

  The difficulty with Kelsey lay with keeping my mind and my hands focused on the task and not on kissing her or pulling her close. There were no surprises when it came to Kells because I’d taught her everything she knew. I found I was curious to test out Ana’s strengths and weaknesses and, in fact, looked forward to matching our abilities.

  Ana nodded. “I would appreciate your aid in keeping my fighting skills sharp. But you are avoiding my question.”

  Instead, I asked her one of my own. “Did you ever love him? Ren, I mean?”

  “I know very little of love,” she said. “I was comfortable with Ren. He was…courtly with me.”

  “Courtly?”

  “Yes. He did not press a suit as other men. I have told you this before.”

  “Ah, yes, you liked that he didn’t fawn over you or demand a physical relationship.” I stiffened as a thought came to mind. “Other men have pursued you then?” I asked. It shouldn’t have shocked me. Anamika was very beautiful. It was only natural that men had desired her. I’d have to be more vigilant in the future regarding such a thing. Maybe men had even been harassing her while I’d been languishing in the jungle for all those months. I’d have to do better for her.

  “Some have tried. None of them were successful,” she said.

  “Good.” I let out a sigh and she lifted sharp eyes to mine. I pulled up my knees and wrapped my arms around them. “Have you never been in love, then, Ana?”

  “No. I do not see a purpose in it.”

  “Did your parents love one another?”

  “My parents cared for one another,” she admitted. “Their union was arranged, and they ne
ver seemed to agree on anything, but over time there was respect and affection between them.”

  “I see. The reason I ask,” I said, “is that my parents were very happy together. It is something I desire for myself.”

  “And you wanted this with Kelsey.”

  “Yes.”

  “Ren also desires this relationship?” she asked.

  “He does.”

  “So you were watching them to determine if their feelings for one another were genuine? You think it might have been a mistake to remain here as a tiger and let Ren leave.”

  My mouth fell open. She’d hit the target dead on. “In a manner of speaking,” I said.

  Ana bit her bottom lip as she thought. She wasn’t attempting to catch my attention by doing so, and yet I found myself caught all the same. “Very well,” she finally said. “Before we continue to pursue Kadam’s list, we will determine if the ones we love are happy in their relationships.”

  “And if we decide they are not?”

  “Then we will discuss our next course of action.” She turned to look straight at me. “But we will do this together, Kishan.”

  “Agreed,” I said. If she was going to follow me around anyway, it would be better if I guided her in her future clothing choices.

  We were about to discuss what we would do first when a soldier appeared at the garden entrance.

  “Goddess!” The man rushed toward us and knelt at her feet. “I am so pleased to have found you at last.”

  “What is it, Bhavin?”

  “A runner has come with a dire need. There is a village at the base of a mountain near the meeting of the two rivers. They are under siege by a warlord and ask your help.”

  “Where is this man?” I asked.

  “He…he died. He was gravely injured, Goddess.”

  “Damon?” she said, addressing me formally. “There is work to do. I suppose the time for training is past. Instead, we will hone our skills by challenging our enemies.”

  Nodding, I placed the amulet around her neck, pulling her hair through carefully so it wouldn’t snag, and then transformed into a black tiger. Bhavin was a trusted guard and had been with Anamika since before the battle with Lokesh. He knew us as ourselves as well as our personas of the goddess and her tiger. As I watched, Anamika transformed into the goddess Durga with all eight arms. Her battle armor appeared at the same time mine did. Golden plates covered my legs and chest and a saddle materialized on my back.

  The weapons of Durga burst from the open doorway, a dangerous mass of sharpened projectiles, and flew to her outstretched arms. She caught them easily, snatching each one out of the air though they arrived simultaneously, most of them blades up. The Golden Fruit soared toward us as well, and she tucked it into a leather bag on the side of my saddle. Next came the kamandal. She tied it around my neck. Anamika secured some of the weapons and kept others clutched in one of her many hands.

  Her hair hung wild down her back and her warrior’s gaze was fierce. We kept the amulet on us at all times, and since we’d recently time traveled, we already had the Rope of Fire, which she’d worn as a belt, and the Divine Scarf. The last thing we needed bumped against her bare foot. Leaning down, Anamika said, “There you are.”

  As the goddess held out an arm, the golden cobra wound her body around it and settled into place. Fanindra never became jewelry when the goddess went about doing her work, seeming to prefer to remain in snake form. It didn’t bother Anamika to have a live snake on her arm like it had Kelsey.

  Fanindra often stayed behind in Ana’s room, even when we left to help others. It was almost as if she knew she wouldn’t be needed. Most of the time we’d find her coiled up and sleeping in the sunlight of Ana’s window. Only rarely did she grace us with her presence. Anamika stroked her pet’s head, and the snake settled down, her tongue flicking out as she looked at me with jeweled eyes.

  Ana stepped next to me then, placed one hand on my neck, and channeled the power of the goddess. Dozens of images flashed before us. Shouts and prayers, death and destruction assailed our senses. Both of us reeled from the impact. At first, we tried to shuffle through the requests to see which needed to be attended to first, but we learned that sometimes the loudest pleas were not always the ones that needed help first.

  We’d discovered soon after she accepted her role that the power Kelsey and Ren had wielded, the power once shared between a pair of goddesses and tigers, fell upon us completely. We got it all. As a result, every prayer uttered in every temple, no matter the decade, flooded our senses. It took a monumental effort to shut it off, but we found we were able to do it together. Turning it back on was like breaking open a dam. We dialed back the power until only the most dire, the most frequent supplications rose to the surface.

  “We have been lax in our duties as of late, Damon.”

  We have, I replied in my mind.

  Lifting the Rope of Fire, Anamika wove it in a circle, and a gateway into another place opened before us. When it was stable, she climbed onto my back, and I raced forward, leaping into the breach. We landed with a heavy thump onto a worn trail and I sped toward a city.

  Smoke billowed overhead as soldiers set thatched roofs on fire. Ana used the scarf to gather the winds. The scarf billowed out behind us, bucking and kicking, as large as one of those hot air balloons I’d seen on television. Ana didn’t even need to hold it as air rushed into the bag, filling it to bursting. Then, with greater ease than either I or Kelsey had displayed before, Ana twitched a hand and shot the terrific gusts ahead of us to blow out the fires.

  With great bounds, I maneuvered through fallen soldiers covered in the red rust of dried blood. We’d entered the battle when the tang of prayers was a burnt scent on the breeze and the day was stained with the first coloring of purple night. It leached across the sky like contusions beneath the skin. The smoke that hung over the ground like thin fog stung my nostrils and eyes.

  By the time we reached the crooked stones and the ruined buildings that looked like broken teeth, I knew we were too late. Fresh blood spattered the ground like paint. We came upon soldiers in the act of wanton destruction. Children and babies had been slain along with the elderly and the infirm.

  I sensed a few survivors cowering in the shadows of homes not yet ravaged, but the village was surrounded. There would be no escape. My paws slid on the slime of death and I sunk my claws in and roared. That served to bring all action to a resounding stop.

  It only took a moment for the whispers of recognition to turn to naked horror. Many soldiers dropped their weapons and fled headlong into the darkening night. They ran like an uncovered nest of rats, each one scurrying toward the nearest hole—a jangle of boots, creaking leather, and hooves. But there were many who remained. They licked their lips and turned feverish eyes on the beautiful goddess. I snarled, gnashing my teeth and snapping at the air.

  Durga rose from my back into the sky and hovered above me, her body held upright by a cushion of air. Lightning crackled at her fingertips. Her shadow danced on the lingering smoke from the fires that had consumed the village home after home. In her eyes, I saw naked fury and burning embers. With a cry she called forth the lightning power once wielded by Kelsey and struck, taking out the first wave. A clap of thunder shook the ground and many fell, but others rushed forward into battle.

  Deftly, she landed on her feet beside me, and we began our deadly dance, striking down soldier after soldier. The hired mercenaries met her sword to sword and sword to trident, but she was too lethal, too magnificent for anyone to gain headway. Those who came close quickly learned that Fanindra was a force of her own. The snake slashed out with lethal bites.

  Anamika fought six, seven men at once, ducking and weaving and moving her arms and body in such a way that all I wanted to do was sit down on the bloody battlefield and watch her, but I had opponents of my own to fight. The pile of bodies around her grew, some dismembered, some bitten, some stabbed.

  When the bodies obstructed her, she rose
in the air and levitated to a new position, but always, she remained close to me. I should have felt emasculated knowing she was protecting me as much as I was her, but I also felt proud to be the companion of such a warrior.

  One man spun away from me, his chest oozing blood. Another clutched his spilling innards after I ripped him open with my claws, while a third screamed when I clamped down on his neck. His cries were cut off with a gurgle when I snapped his spine. Leaping into the air, I came down on one man, crushing him beneath me with my weight, and then I circled back to Anamika to swipe at the legs of two men attacking her.

  I could see the moment when their violent natures turned inward. The fear they’d inflicted gnashed and bit at them, turning their resolve to water along with their knees. I bit into the arm of one man trying to escape and his weapon fell to the ground useless. Then Ana slashed through his arm with her sword, severing it from his body. He shrieked and clutched at the stump where bare bone peeked out.

  Despite our efforts, there seemed to be an endless supply of men seeking their death. We took them down, one by one, suffering barely a wound at all, save for one on Ana’s arm that somehow managed to get through her armor. Her blood gushed freely from a lucky cut someone had gotten in.

  The idea that a soldier had stolen past my defenses enraged me, and I lashed out with renewed fury. I struck with raw power again and again, taking down men with tooth and claw. I was unmitigated lethality wrapped in fur. We fought together, our movements a fluid dance. My only regret was that I wished I could fight alongside her as a man. Though I enjoyed fighting as a tiger, I would like to face my enemies as I once did long ago. I imagined standing with Ana, my back pressed against hers as we took down all our opponents.

  Finally, the battle was over. Ana stood, panting. Not even the dirt and blood on her cheeks could mar her beautiful features. There were a few who’d been smart enough to escape but they weren’t worth a chase. We’d slain the leader, the one who’d caused the trouble in the first place. Greedy man.

  We’d discovered that the village mined the mountain for ore. It was a meager income for them, and yet the warlord wasn’t happy with his returns. He decided to punish the village as an example to others under his reign. If it hadn’t been for the cries of the faithful, we wouldn’t have even known where to go. The runner could have been talking about any mountain, any village. It was luck that we’d found the right one.