“But you became the tiger.” And I’m in some horrific version of a fairy tale. Elianna firmly repressed the urge to giggle, knowing she wasn’t amused but rather on the edge of hysteria.
Now he smiled and goose bumps rose on her arms at the predatory expression on his face. His fangs gleamed in the dim light—certainly there was no humor in Kierce’s hard, flat voice as he said, “What Innimarrg wants is soldiers who can transform into terrifying beasts and back to men on command. I buried myself in the tiger, refused to remain a man, much less to revert. The experiments now, the punishment, are all designed to force the change. Once he knows I can manage the feat, he’ll be merciless and more of my brothers will be forced into this state. Or die.”
Bile rose in her throat and she struggled to find words. “But tonight, you did go human again. “
He reached out slowly with one hand and touched her hair, allowing the strands to slip through his fingers. His face as he concentrated on her was handsome in the subdued light. “You’ve pulled me out of the beast.” As she stared, surprised by his confession, he continued, “When the guards threw you in the cell with me, expecting me to savage you, the whole idea enraged the beast and the man, for different reasons. The tiger wanted to hunt, to kill, and didn’t much care who was prey. Although it was focused on the Khagrish rather than on you.” He shook his head, and she bit her tongue, not sure what to say. “One of our strongest beliefs as Badari is we must defend those weaker than we are. To save you, I had to be more the man than the tiger and I’ve been slowly regaining myself ever since.”
Head spinning, heart pounding as she realized how close she’d come to dying the awful death she’d feared, Elianna had a flash of vertigo. “I’m so sorry!”
Agitated, she gathered herself to rise and he clasped her wrist gently. “No, don’t apologize. I owe you an apology for letting the animal mind think of you as prey. Having your company, having someone like you to take care of me in this hellhole, it’s been a blessing from the goddess. A reminder of the good side of life. Raised in the labs as I was, I’ve never seen much to make me believe in the positive.” His voice trailed off and there was silence before he gave himself a shake and added, “I’m grateful, Elianna. We Badari pride ourselves on not being the animals the Khagrish say we are, yet I was allowing myself to devolve into the beast, and I was wrong. Until I met you.” He ducked his head as if shy, avoiding her gaze. “A friend, or so I hope.”
Warmth flooded her at his words, and she rushed to reassure him. “Of course, I’m proud to be your friend. But now Innimarrg will know he succeeded, he’ll do as you said, and subject more men to the process.”
Staring into the distance, Kierce shook his head. “The change was forced upon me, by today’s pain—the scientist allowed the security guards to ply their force whips with no mercy. Even a Badari can crack under such pressure. We’re bred to take their abuse and heal rapidly for the next session, but the force whips are far and away the worst. I held off the change until I got here by the merest fraction.” He lowered his golden eyes then gazed at her intently. “But, to be honest, I was also moved by my longing to be able to talk to you. Now I know what it feels like to return to my own form, I believe I can change to the tiger, as you’ve named me, and control the transformation. Avoid being forced or coerced.”
She appreciated his conviction, but she’d seen enough of what the scientist was willing to do to achieve his aims. “You think you can control your transformation no matter what the Khagrish do to you?”
Kierce fisted his hands and his shoulders slumped. “I would say yes, but…there’s one thing Innimarrg could do to force my hand.”
“If he threatens me.” The words were acid on her lips. She didn’t want to be the cause of Khagrish success. “Kierce, you have to let me suffer or die, if it comes to that. We can’t let the enemy win. An army of—of tigers like you, for lack of a better label, but under the aliens’ control, unleashed on an unsuspecting colony, for example, would be devastating. We have to deny them the weapon.” She let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall as depression washed over her in a gray wave. Her chest constricted with sorrow. “There’s no hope of rescue, is there?”
Leaning forward, elbows on his knees, Kierce seemed disinterested. “Who would rescue us? Will your military come for you?”
Wishing she could give a more optimistic answer, Elianna shook her head. “Doubtful. Ships go missing all the time in the Sector where I was captured. The area is known as the Demon’s Pentagon. Sort of a dead space in between a number of solar systems. I had even heard about a colony located close to the vector mysteriously vanishing, but no one had any idea about what happened. So, how would the military know where to begin searching, even if the authorities wanted to make the effort?” She bit her lip and waved one hand at the door to the outside. “When I look at the sky, I don’t see any stars I recognize. We’re off the charts and out of luck.”
He tapped his chest over his heart. “Yet, hope is always within me, despite what I said earlier. The Great Mother made me optimistic. Someday my people will be free. I know it.”
“Probably not in time to save you and me.” She refused to indulge in what she regarded as false hope. “Or the other humans captured with me. Do you know what’s being done with them? More genetic experiments?”
“Not likely. The Khagrish have been working on my species for eight centuries or more. I don’t believe they have any desire to begin anew. They prefer to twist their experiment in progress—my people.” He watched her face. “Do you truly want to know your people’s fate?”
Hoping the knowledge would be better than her own dark suppositions, she said, “Yes.”
But his answer was as chilling as she’d known deep down it would be. “From what I overhear in the lab when I’m taken, the majority are destined for experiments leading to better, more efficient ways to kill humans. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. The Badari have endured eight centuries of this existence? The concept is beyond my comprehension.” She gripped his arm. “Kierce, you have to promise me you won’t let them take me again. I’d rather be like your friend Tikrel and die by your hand. At least you’d make it quick.”
“I would,” he said, flashing his talons and staring at them before retracting them. Jaw clenched, he rubbed the back of his neck and hesitated briefly as if the words were forced from him. “I give you my word, but only as a last resort.”
“Thank you.” Did I really ask him to kill me? But there was a small comfort in the idea of dying at the hand of a friend, quickly, versus unknown tortures conducted by the Khagrish. How selfish of me, though, to leave him burdened with even more guilt. Elianna squared her shoulders, reminding herself they weren’t at the last stand yet.
He placed one hand on her cheek, and she had to struggle not to lean into him. His warmth and concern were comfort she desperately needed, but she didn’t want to reach too far. “It would be the hardest thing I ever did, killing you, my friend,” he said. “The pain and guilt would blacken my heart until the day I too died.”
Her heart hammered as she wondered if he was going to kiss her. But Kierce lifted his hand from her skin and rose. Disappointed, she leaned against the wall and sighed shakily.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
When he answered, his voice was a little choked, and she thought maybe he truly had been tempted to kiss her in the closeness of the moment they’d been sharing. “I have to change before the pickup squad comes in the morning. I’m not sure how long it will require for me to transform, and the night is far advanced.”
She wasn’t sure whether she was glad or sorry he hadn’t made a move. She got up to retrieve the crumpled nutrient can, taking the ration wrappers as well, to pitch the mess in the recycle slot. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head and shed the blanket kilt. In the dim light she had another view of his magnificent, sculpted backside as he pushed the fl
“Of course!” She mimicked sealing her lips and fought the desire to admire his naked body one more time. The tiger was impressive but the man was built, as well as smart and caring. A friend, she reminded herself. An ally. “Not a word to anyone until you give me permission.”
Keeping herself busy to allay the anxiety their conversation had sparked, Elianna rearranged the blankets, taking the wettest ones and spreading them out on the floor to dry. Then she curled up in the corner of the sleeping platform and closed her eyes, pondering all the things Kierce had told her, some of which were still unbelievable, even with the evidence right in front of her.
How could a man, even one as big as he was, transform into a fourteen-foot tiger? But he’d shown her his own talons, which appeared and disappeared at his whim, apparently. Alien science, which seems like magic to me. Black magic. She shivered, remembering he’d basically admitted the tiger form had originally wanted to kill her, until he’d taken command and overridden the animal instincts carried by the alien DNA. Innimarrg was a lot closer to achieving the results he wanted from his experiment than he realized. How long could she and Kierce hide the truth? And what would happen to her when the secret was revealed?
CHAPTER FOUR
Kierce was glad to find the rain had subsided into nothing but a mist. He didn’t want drenched fur, but he did need cooling off. Staring at the three moons above, he estimated there were hours of the night remaining, but staying in his humanoid form around Elianna for a sustained time tonight was a bad idea. The longer he sat there with her on the sleeping platform, the more his senses delighted in her beauty. Her scent tickled his nose and tightened his body in a way that might have alarmed her. Unrestrained by any clothing or even a blanket, his cock, which he’d been controlling with sheer force of will while they’d sat so close together, rose now and pulsed with desire.
He had no idea what the human standards of beauty might be but, for him, Elianna’s sturdy build and muscular arms, her round face displaying the kaleidoscope of her emotions, her long silky black hair and her bountiful figure added up to a person as addictive to him as sjoma spice would have been to the cat. Her intelligence and courage were exactly what he’d want in a fellow warrior, but his thoughts kept straying to other, more intimate activities he’d wanted to do with her. He longed to hold her in his arms. Touching her cheek briefly had been the only lapse he’d allowed himself, and her skin was so soft under his callused palm he knew he needed to break off the conversation.
From time to time the Khagrish had imported hardened sex workers for so-called training sessions, to teach the Badari about the uses of the body for seduction and deception. Kierce, like his brothers, found the entire idea repulsive. The females arrived on their clan ships, put the Badari prisoners through their ‘lessons’, were paid and departed. Cold, business-like, off-putting. Like the Khagrish lab techs. Not people he wanted to touch or be touched by for any reason.
He craved Elianna’s touch. The tiger form enjoyed the simple feline pleasure of having its fur stroked, the way it enjoyed sleeping in the sun. Now, standing on two legs, he wanted so much more with an intensity astonishing to him. As the tiger he’d been aware of her sweet voice, soothing to his ears, and the special scent that was hers alone, calming when he was in pain. As the man, he craved to reach out to her.
He walked further away from the building and stood in the drizzle, bowing his head as the cold water ran in rivulets down his body, quelling his arousal not at all. Kierce probed his memories of his time as the tiger and was relieved and reassured to find the feline part of him deemed Elianna an acceptable addition to the den, good at scratching his ears and soothing his pain, but nothing more, aside from a general protective urge. Only when he stood as a man did he have the full range of emotions concerning the human woman, which was appropriate. The tiger was like battle armor, just another layer covering up who he really was. Not a completely different being subsuming him when he was in the feline form, as he’d feared. He was in charge unless he voluntarily allowed his grip on who he was to drift away. He found the concept reassuring and felt more at peace with his fate.
Gazing at the sky, he addressed his goddess, “Great Mother, grant me the chance to save her from this hell. I’m not asking for myself, but for Elianna. She doesn’t deserve to die here.”
There was no answer, but he hadn’t expected one. He hoped his prayer had been heard. Grateful as he was to have Elianna in his bleak existence, he didn’t want her to suffer, and his entire focus now would be to shield her from the Khagrish to his dying breath.
Kneeling in the wet grass, ignoring the cold, Kierce concentrated on clearing his mind and calling the feline form into being, relinquishing the man in favor of the cat.
At some point in her chaotic thought process, Elianna fell asleep and, when she awakened, the giant cat was settled next to her, purring as he slumbered. One massive paw flexed, claw tips emerging briefly as he evidently dreamed of chasing something in his sleep. Her first instinctive reaction was fear, and she lay very quiet, like a tiny rodent or a bird.
She must have made some move to alert him, or perhaps her breathing changed, because Kierce opened his eyes and turned his head in her direction. His long pink tongue flicked out to brush her cheek, and he made the pleasing, not-quite-purring noise he’d used before to encourage her to leave the tree on the first day.
She stared into his golden eyes and sighed in relief. The eyes were the same, whether he was the scary tiger or the big warrior. Intelligent and knowing. He recognized her as his friend. Elianna worried something would be different when the Khagrish came for him and alert them to his change in abilities. But, once the lab’s day began, the ritual proceeded in the same manner as the other days. He offered no resistance and apparently lulled the guards and lab techs into believing he was the same as he’d been before. A big, dangerous animal they arrogantly assumed they knew how to control, displaying little to no vestige of higher intelligence.
Elianna fought not to cry as the force barrier was reinstated and she watched the paralyzed tiger carried away on the lurching, overburdened antigrav litter. Now, knowing about the man hidden in the feline guise, she found the entire process even more repulsive.
Elianna passed the day much as she had the other days, playing the complicated version of a card game, sitting outside in the sun, napping intermittently. Her level of anxiety was high, fretting over what Kierce was enduring and worrying about the future for both of them. She wracked her brain, trying to think of some way to escape, to cause the outdoor force barrier to fail, to convert something from inside the cell into a tool or a weapon but there was nothing. To help control her anxiety, she paced through the entire cell, carefully examining the walls and fixtures, hoping there might be something she’d overlooked.
When Kierce was brought back in the evening, he was under the influence of a stunner but conscious for a change. As soon as the guards cleared the cell, he got to his feet and bolted past Elianna so rapidly he nearly knocked her over. The sound of the door flap was like a mini thunderclap echoing through the cell as he ran through.
Worried over what was going on, she hastened to follow him, lugging the big chunk of meat the lab tech left for his dinner. Kierce, in tiger form, was tearing his claws savagely on the tree and ignored her while he finished the task to his satisfaction. Setting the platter in the spot where he usually preferred to eat, she moved aside, stopping several feet away. Growling, tail lashing, Kierce paced to the meat.
Astonished by his behavior, she retreated inside the cell. What had the Khagrish done to him today? Whatever it was, the tiger was clearly more in control than ever, and she reverted to being a trembling mess of nerves.
Kierce didn’t come inside although she waited for what felt like hours. Hesitantly, she checked on him by lifting the flap and staring out into the now moonlit enclosure. She wasn’t reassured to see he remained a tiger. Innimarrg must have tried some new torture. Maybe the only way Kierce can cope is retreating deep into the shelter of the feline form? But where does that leave me?
It was disappointing not to have a further opportunity to talk to him—she’d enjoyed their conversation, once she got over the shock of learning he was a man forced to be a tiger.
Carefully, she slipped through the door, keeping an eye on the cat, who lay under the tree, tightly curled in a massive ball, nose buried in the puff of dark blue fur at the end of his tail. He made no aggressive moves, cracking his eyes open slightly to watch her as she took a few steps onto the grass. The cat’s eyes were amber fire in the dark night.
Straightening her spine to reinforce her determination about this foray, Elianna moved to the center of the yard and paused to speak to the tiger. “I’m worried about you. I came to check on you, see if you need anything before I go to sleep tonight.” She waited hopefully, but the animal made no sound. “Well, I guess that’s it then.” She started to turn then stopped in mid step, wanting to let him know how much he meant to her. “You were on my mind all day and I worried about what they were doing to you, hoping you’d be okay. I was looking forward to spending time with you tonight, but I understand if you need to stay inside the beast form.”
Kierce snorted and staggered to his feet, emitting a yowl as he did so, sounding like he was in pain. A flash of light caught her attention, and she gasped as he stood rigid in the center of a maelstrom of swirling colors flowing over his head and tail like gossamer ribbons, sending thin streamers to wrap his legs in rainbows. Golden sparks danced in the center of the colors, bouncing off his body and floating into the night sky, winking out like exhausted fireflies.
Elianna held her breath as the tiger began to morph, becoming ghostly, losing its definition, and a kneeling man became visible within the riot of colored light. The process was silent, which she found odd—all the energy being expended should have generated some kind of sound to her way of thinking. She had no idea how long it lasted but suddenly the lights were all gone, save for a few lingering golden sparks drifting away. Kierce lay in the grass, shaking.
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