Daniel’s teeth lengthened, his cat flashing in his eyes. Claws leapt from his fingertips, his knuckles growing fur and his muscles bulging beneath his jacket. Wrapping an arm around Angela’s waist, he sank his teeth into her neck, a vicious snarl rising between them. Angela moaned, the sound half pain, half intense enjoyment.
John’s eyes were glued, his actions stopped mid-unbuttoning, as Daniel dropped a series of bites along Angela’s neck and shoulder. He looked…efficient. Angela practically writhed against him, but Daniel focused on his duty. Catherine’s reassurance rose further.
“Christ,” John muttered. “It’s practically sexual. I don’t know how I feel about Daniel doing that to me.”
“It’s all for show,” Catherine said in a low voice. “She’s the only one enjoying it. Daniel could bite your arms if you prefer.”
“Yeah. I think I would.” John hesitated, then said, “Or, you could do it?”
Catherine’s mind raced. “I can’t,” she said. “For a few reasons—my pride leader has to approve all who want to join, and I’d be in major trouble if I turned you. Also, the elixir you took is tuned to tigers, not lions. You’d be risking a lot if someone else turned you right now.”
John nodded. “Makes sense. Whereas, Daniel’s not tied to a pride, I guess?”
“Nope.” Not yet, she thought.
“I guess…I’ll be the leader of my own pride,” John commented. “Because I’ll be the one turning all of these men.”
Catherine nodded, though her heart twisted. Why did the man have to go and get all human on her? He had a wife, children. Was it right to take him from them? He seemed to genuinely care about his employees. “Why are you doing this, John?”
He cocked his head, his eyes straying back to Angela. “I want to help my guys. I want them safe.”
“You’re hitmen,” Catherine said slowly. “Doesn’t danger come with the territory?”
John shrugged. “I don’t hate the people we kill. I don’t love them either. Our clients pay a fortune for our services, because we risk everything to do this. We had a hand in taking out Saddam, you know. It isn’t always greedy people wanting someone dead for the hell of it. Sometimes there’s justice.”
“But only if there’s enough money involved,” Catherine countered. “You didn’t kill an evil dictator because it was the right thing to do. You did it because someone offered you a hell of a lot of money.”
“True. That’s life, though. This is a good business decision. My guys stay alive, I don’t have to train new ones as often.” John grinned at her. “Daniel was my star employee for years. And now, we can all get away without leaving human footprints.”
Catherine’s momentary sympathies faded. “Good luck,” she whispered.
“Thanks.” John started to slide his pants to the ground, then cleared his throat and turned away. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Nudity is normal for us.”
Daniel had finished with Angela, and laid her gently on the ground. The woman barely breathed, her neck and shoulders a canvas of bleeding bites. He turned to John. “Ready?”
John nodded, and held out his arms.
As with Angela, Daniel was efficient. His teeth scraped John’s arms, leaving long gashes that bled profusely. John winced, but didn’t make a sound. A few bites, and it was done.
Looking dazed, John stared at his wounds. “How long?”
Daniel shrugged, his teeth shrinking back to human proportions. “A few hours?”
“You stay until it’s done,” John said. “If it doesn’t work, I don’t want to have to hunt you down. And it would be a shame if anything happened to Meredith.”
Catherine walked forward to slip her hand into Daniel’s. “It’ll work,” she told John. “I want to go find Meredith. You don’t need me to stay, John. Daniel is here.”
John looked at them for a moment, then nodded. “Go ahead. When you find her, bring her back here, and I’ll have one of my men drive you home.”
“We’ll just make our own way home,” Catherine said, keeping her voice diplomatic. “Honestly, I’d rather just get her as far from here as possible. I know you treated her well.” I hope. “But she’s probably scared witless right now.”
“It’s a long way,” John protested. “We’re probably seventy miles from town.”
It occurred to Catherine how ridiculous it was that they were calmly discussing this, extending courtesies and refuting them like trusted associates. “It’s fine,” she said. “Meredith will probably need some time to calm down, anyway, and she might not want to get back into one of your vehicles.”
John gave a thoughtful nod. “True enough. Okay. We’ll bring Daniel back to Windham later, and it’ll be the last you’ll ever hear from us.”
Catherine squeezed Daniel’s hand, then stepped from her jeans and pulled her blouse over her head. “I’ll see you soon,” she murmured.
He gave a tight nod. “Find my daughter,” he whispered.
No point in hiding what she was. Catherine closed her eyes, then felt her human half slough away. Mutters and gasps sounded from the gathered crowd, then they backed away quickly as she padded through, heading for the path Meredith had taken. A broken branch was her first clue to the girl’s direction, and Catherine loped off into the forest, trying not to think about what might happen if Maisie’s potion didn’t work the way the witch had promised.
* * *
Daniel squinted up at the sun, wishing he knew what its position meant. Time dragged, and he grew more worried, bored, and restless by the minute. Though most of the crowd had dispersed, a few had stayed, most of them watching Angela’s comatose form. John remained conscious, a towel from one of the motel’s bathrooms wrapped around his hips as he slowly paced the dirt lot. No one suggested covering Angela up, and after thinking about it, Daniel decided she probably would have been dismayed if they had. It was June. It wasn’t like she would get cold.
“Should she still be out?” John glanced at his receptionist. “She’s been like that for a while.”
Daniel shrugged. They’d cuffed him again, but they’d brought him and John each a chair, so at least he got to sit. “I didn’t wake up until the next morning.”
John nodded.
Another bleak timespan dragged by. More pacing from John. The remaining bystanders eventually grew bored, and began discussing TV shows. Daniel listened passively as they talked about a popular crime drama, then his attention jerked to Angela when she rolled over and groaned.
“Something’s happening.” John looked excited as he jogged to the woman and knelt beside her. “Angela? How do you feel? Are you awake?”
For answer, she groaned again, her arms wrapping around her middle. “Don’t ask.”
John put a hand on her forehead. “She’s hot,” he stated.
“Probably normal,” Daniel offered, hoping he sounded reassuring.
“You don’t know dick about what’s normal. You’ve never changed anyone before.” John glared at Daniel. “She’d better come through this.”
“She will.” Daniel’s stomach churned. She wouldn’t.
Angela panted, clutching her stomach. Her eyes opened wide. To Daniel’s shock, they were blood-red, the irises lost in a pool of crimson. “It’s like I’m on fire!”
“Daniel, what the hell’s going on?” John looked visibly panicked now, his eyes swinging from Daniel to Angela. “What the fuck was in that shit you made us drink?”
Before Daniel could answer, John seized, his body contorting. A choked yell came from his throat, and he toppled, hitting the ground and succumbing to violent convulsions. His eyelids flew wide, revealing the same frighteningly ruby orbs.
“What the fuck!” Daniel heard weapons cocking, shouts for backup. The barrel of a gun poked into neck. “What’s happening to them?”
With a wild snarl, Daniel ducked away from the gun and began his shift. White-hot pain sliced through him as his expanding body fought the metal, then blessed relief as the
cuffs snapped and fell away. With a mighty roar, he jumped, landing atop the minion who’d aimed the rifle at him.
The yard dissolved into chaos. With a quick bite, Daniel broke the neck of the first man, then leapt for a second. Shots sounded, and Daniel felt a sharp pain in one shoulder.
“There’s more of them!”
Daniel swung his gaze toward the forest, his heart leaping as at least a dozen lions poured from the trees. The pride had come! Catherine had told him they would in the final text message, but still, the sight was miraculous. Snarls and roars filled the air, the screams of men a satisfying harmony. Daniel returned to the man he’d tackled, taking grim pleasure in ripping out his throat.
Then a smaller form caught his attention; a blur of white fur. Meredith?
The young tigress jumped, catching a guard by surprise. He screamed, the butt of his gun swinging wildly and knocking Meredith on the jaw. Daniel wove through the melee, determined to get to his daughter before…
A lioness leapt through the fray. Her teeth clamped the guard’s neck, and a froth of blood spurted, staining Meredith’s white pelt. Daniel slowed in amazement, taking in the sight of his mate protecting his daughter. Catherine dispatched the man with easy efficiency, then butted her head against Meredith’s. Meredith’s eyes closed, her tail arching as Catherine licked the blood from her muzzle. The love between them was clear to see.
He loped over, receiving his own share of nuzzles and growls. Meredith batted at him, her eyes sparkling with fun, and he crouched, feeling the urge to play. The scene of destruction and mayhem around them was winding down, the rest of the pride picking off the few who’d managed to run. All seemed well.
Until a boom thundered in Daniel’s ears.
Meredith’s eyes widened, and her jaw fell open as a yowl of pain rent the air. Catherine screamed. Daniel turned his head and spotted a gunman with a rifle tucked into his shoulder. Everything slowed, time itself stretching out.
Meredith collapsed, her body falling like discarded stuffed toy. Dust rose around her in little whirls, a shroud that obscured Daniel’s view.
A wash of red filmed his vision. He turned, spotting the enemy who’d dared to shoot his little girl. An infuriated roar sounded, seeming far away. He sprinted, his legs eating up the ground.
The gunman lifted his weapon again, his eyes big and his hands shaking. He cocked his weapon and aimed, the barrel pointing straight at Daniel.
Thunder. And then darkness.
Chapter Twelve
“Eric Adams.” The crowd cheered as the first of the seniors strutted across the small stage, his tassel swinging and his robes billowing in the afternoon breeze.
Catherine watched, her hand clasped tightly in Daniel’s. The past few weeks had been the hardest of her life—both her mate and her daughter shot. Luckily, neither injury had been life-threatening. The two of them had been healed in a matter of hours…apparently, John’s men had forgotten that regular bullets weren’t a match against shifters.
From her place in the line, Meredith spotted Catherine, and gave her a lighthearted grin and a thumbs up.
“She’s pure sunshine,” Catherine murmured as she leaned her head on Daniel’s shoulder. “I don’t know many teenagers who can get shot, then show up for graduation like it’s no big thing.”
He didn’t respond, but his hand squeezed hers.
The pride had come through. After leaving Daniel at the motel lot, Catherine hadn’t gone far. She’d barely entered the woods when Samuel had stopped her. Meredith had been intercepted, as well, and the two of them joined the others, who watched from a distance. An emergency meeting of the pride had been called after Sam’s meeting with Catherine and Daniel, and no one had hesitated. They would protect their own. The plan had been simple. Take out the leaders with the tiger’s eye elixir, then mop up the inevitable chaos. No one trusted those men to stop hunting them. To survive, they’d had to strike first, and strike hard.
There’d been a few injuries, but no one had died. No lions, anyway. Even so, the moral implications of what they’d done haunted Catherine. Two dozen people slaughtered, and their families left to mourn. The past two weeks had been full of nights when she’d woken in a smothering panic, only to roll over and cry herself to sleep. How she wished it could have been different. If only John Dearborn hadn’t kidnapped Meredith.
Once the situation had been handled, Samuel had led them away and sent half the pride to care for the members who were injured.
It was decided that the bodies should be buried. The motel itself was an abandoned property, far off the beaten track, and hadn’t been formally used in years. Catherine suspected that John’s company might have owned it, and kept it for special circumstances. The lions cleaned up the lot, buried the bodies in a mass grave, then left. With no one to report anything to the authorities, there would hopefully be no repercussions.
Catherine had wondered about the families of the hitmen. Wouldn’t they file missing persons’ reports? Wouldn’t it seem odd that over twenty people had gone missing all at once?
She got her answer a few days later, when the evening news reported an interesting story. “A local investigation has revealed a business, no longer in operation, in New York City that catered to something…a bit out of the ordinary. What we have to show you may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.”
The news anchor went on to describe John’s company, which apparently had been ransacked by the FBI. Files found, decades-old murders uncovered. “A remote facility was discovered first, which then led to the now-abandoned business in the heart of the city. Police found employee files, though they provided little information. There are no real names, only pseudonyms, and no addresses or employee photographs. Law enforcement is searching for any sort of information, but so far there is little to be found. However, many families can rest easy tonight, their loved ones’ fates finally brought to light.
“The FBI is hopeful that the killers themselves will soon be apprehended, but so far there is little to go on. We can only assume that they have gone into hiding. A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators of these crimes.” The reporter went on to offer a phone number, and then moved on to the next story.
Catherine had stared at the TV, nonplussed by their good fortune. What were the odds that the FBI would intervene, just as John and all of his men went missing? She’d asked Sam about it later, and he’d confessed to tipping off the Feds. “We grabbed a flash drive from that technology room they had going,” he’d told her. “It had Daniel’s tracked locations mapped out. We saw where the tracking started, and figured that must have been that remote facility he was being kept in. I guess the FBI took it from there.”
“And that flash drive is now destroyed, right?” Catherine had asked nervously.
“Melted down.” Sam had squeezed her shoulder, then given her a decidedly “dad” sort of look. “If I didn’t know Daniel’s got the heart of a prince, I’d be nervous about your choice, Cat.”
“I know.” She’d given a sad laugh. “How does one justify what he’s done? Will the pride accept him? Or will we have to leave Windham?” More than anything else, this was what Catherine had been most nervous about. Her mate was a hired killer, and had a bloody past. No amount of excuses could cover up Daniel’s actions.
A tribunal was held a week after the incident. Daniel had stood before everyone and told his story, leaving nothing out. The silence was huge, and when he’d finished, there was quiet for another few moments before anyone spoke.
“Why did you choose to become a killer?” one lioness asked eventually.
Daniel had taken a deep breath, then said, “I was so afraid of what I’d been turned into. I thought I was a monster, and that I was destined for hell. I killed my wife in a horrible accident, and it almost destroyed me. I couldn’t help but feel that if I kept my daughter, I might kill her, too.” He’d looked up then, his eyes meeting Catherine’s and Meredith’s. The
girl had huddled close, and Catherine could feel her shaking. “More than anything, I wanted to protect Meredith. I brought her to Windham and gave her to my parents, then left. Before I was a tiger, I’d worked as a bouncer and a bodyguard, so I’d feared hurting the people I was supposed to protect. I was at loose ends, and practically suicidal. Life didn’t seem worth living.
“That’s when I saw the ad for a job that required a lot of nerve, and promised unheard-of pay. There was a screening at a remote location—probably the warehouse where I was kept. I never saw anyone. I was picked up by an enclosed van, then walked about half a mile through the woods to the main building, then followed signs to a little room with a chair and a one-way mirror. As soon as I walked in, I heard it lock behind me. A speaker was built into the wall, and they spoke to me through it. They asked me a lot of questions. I guess they were weeding folks out, slowly leading me toward what the actual job was. Eventually, I heard it all, and they made me their offer.
“I don’t know why I accepted.” Daniel’s voice was heavy. “The money, I guess. I had no idea what else to do, and I thought, well, I’m a killer anyway. Now, maybe I can make sure my daughter has a good life.”
More silence. Samuel looked at Daniel. “The accounts you’ve built up. It’s blood money.”
“Most of it belongs to Meredith,” Daniel said in a defensive voice. “I want her to have it.”
“That’s admirable,” Samuel agreed. “But you earned it through murder.”
Daniel hung his head. “I could donate it,” he offered after a moment. “There are a lot of organizations that could use it, I’m sure.”
“If you did that, what would you do with the rest of your life?”
“Anything,” Daniel said, his voice earnest. “I don’t care if I clean toilets. I want to be with my daughter, and with Catherine. I know I can control myself now. I can go months without turning if need be. I’m not a danger.”
“We don’t go months without turning,” one man spoke up. The rest of the lions had chuckled, the sound gentle and friendly.
Tiger’s Eye_Bad Alpha Dads Page 10
