Tiger Betrayed

by Tressie Lockwood

  Just as he said he would be, Joe stood at the side of the road leading out of Siberia. Deja came to a screeching halt, and he jumped in. Before he’d even shut the door, she peeled off down the road. Fifteen minutes later, they rolled to a stop, and Deja leaped from the car, leaving Joe to throw the vehicle into park so it wouldn’t smash into a wall. She ran toward the cutesy little shop with bright colors and dancing figures eating ice cream cones on the brick walls. Police units surrounded the place, and bystanders blocked her path. Deja barreled through.

  “Whoa, ma’am,” one officer said, stepping in front of her. “This is a crime scene. You need to stay back.”

  Deja balled up her fist, ready to put it in his face, but someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her backward. She coiled to fight, but Joe spoke into her ear. “Her scent isn’t strong here. It’s fading, and so are the girls. Calm down so you can be of help to them.”

  She bit off the curse she started to fling at his head and realized he was right. Wherever her family was, it wasn’t inside the ice cream shop, but only a serious crime like murder would make the police cordon off the store, and realizing that brought home to her agitated mind the heavy scent in the air—blood.

  She opened her mouth to tell Joe, but he beat her to the punch. “That’s not shifter blood. It’s human.”

  “But Coreen is—”

  He dragged her to the edge of the crowd and farther to the trees. When they were out of sight of the humans, Joe shifted, leaving his clothing behind. Deja didn’t think twice about joining him. Their paws pounded the ground, eating up a mile in moments. Deja narrowed her eyes and sniffed the air. Her daughters’ scents seemed almost visible, and she followed, desperation gripping her chest. Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay.

  The scent grew stronger, and when Deja topped a rise in the landscape, following Joe who was quicker, she spotted the overturned forest green SUV, Coreen’s vehicle. Her heart skipped a few beats as she pictured her tiny daughters in the wreckage hurt and frightened. She doubled her speed, ignoring the twigs and rocks tearing into the pads of her paws. The tiger’s cry of anguish ripped from her chest, but hope rose when over the blood pounding in her ears, she heard them crying.

  Joe reached the car before she did and shifted. In one mighty pull, he ripped the passenger door from its hinges and tossed it aside. Deja shifted, shoved past him, and crawled into the back seat. Her daughters were both still in their car seats, and with hands that shook almost too much to work the release, Deja freed them. Her babies tumbled into her arms, and she dragged them to her chest.

  “It’s okay, babies. Mommy’s here. Mommy’s here. Shh, don’t cry.”

  Maia and Neve clung to her, their tiny fingers tangling in her braids as if they had no intention of ever letting her go again. Only when she crawled back out of the SUV and had examined her little ones from head to toe for injuries did she let go of the pent up breath. A dollop of blood stained Maia’s forehead, and a small gash marred her sister’s leg. Nausea and guilt turned Deja’s stomach.

  “Easy, pumpkins. They’re only scratches. Dr. Sylvia will get you fixed up in a jiffy, and Mommy’s going to be right by your side the whole time.”

  Her daughters stopped sobbing, but they continued to shake. At that moment, she wished she were the one with alpha blood. Then maybe she could use the power to ease their trauma.

  Joe speaking into his cell phone caught her attention, and shame washed over her when she realized she hadn’t once thought of Coreen. Now worry tightened her chest once again. She stood up holding the girls and turned to Joe. He bent over a dead man. When she saw the accident, Deja had concluded it was just that, but with the man here and no other vehicle, she began to wonder. Joe ended his call and looked at her. His expression gave an answer to what she suspected.

  “Spiderweb.”

  She swallowed. “Where’s Coreen?”

  He hesitated, and she ran around to the driver side of the SUV. Coreen lay on the ground, a jacket bundled under her head. Deja screamed, and when her babies started whining, she struggled to calm down.

  “We have to get her to the hospital, Joe.”

  He moved up behind her. “She was vomiting blood when I got her out. I’m worried she has a punctured lung or even a broken neck. We can’t risk doing it ourselves. She’s human.”

  Tears flooded Deja’s eyes. “We can’t just leave her here on the ground. She’s my mother-in-law. She’s the girls’ grandmother. They love her. I love her, and Ward…”

  A haunted darkness descended over his features. He ran a hand through his hair and squatted to reexamine Coreen, which he must have done a hundred times while she’d been rescuing her girls. Blood covered most of Coreen’s face and chest. More clotted in her hair. Her body still, she appeared lifeless. The only reason Deja knew she lived was because she heard the breath going in and out of Coreen’s lungs. The shallowness of it worried her, and she fought helplessness. To do nothing seemed cold. To move Coreen without any medical training might kill her.

  “Someone is coming,” Joe promised.

  “Ward?”

  “Him too. He didn’t sound good.”

  Deja licked her lips. If anything happened to Coreen, how would Ward take it? He’d lost his true mate years ago, but she didn’t doubt for a moment he loved Coreen. Not to mention her two teenage sons, whom she’d had with Ward.

  To Deja’s frustration, more shifters arrived before the ambulance. Ward led the pack, running full tilt. He slid to a halt beside Coreen and shifted to his human form, eyes wide and flashing with pain. No words left his lips as he leaned over her, holding her in his arms.

  “Ward, we shouldn’t move her,” Joe warned, but Ward ignored him.

  A siren in the distance pierced the air. Joe touched Ward’s shoulder, but the alpha shook him off. He growled low in his throat as if he thought someone was about to attack.

  “Mom!” Abel and Aaron, Ward’s younger sons came running. Someone swore, and Deja turned to look. She recognized one of the men from Siberia who’d voiced his negative opinion about Ward’s way of running the town for a while now. Karl Jennings never hid the fact that he hated Ward and definitely didn’t respect him.

  “We’re in danger of exposing ourselves in more ways than one,” Karl snapped. He pointed to two men. “You, erase the evidence of shifter blood. You, get rid of the body.”

  No one moved at first. They all glanced at Ward, but the alpha didn’t look up. Deja knew as much as she didn’t want to agree, Karl was right. “Do it, guys. We have to get out of here now. You know that. Scott, you have clothes?”

  Everyone sprang into action, and Karl cast her an annoyed expression, his nostrils flaring. So the feeling of dislike was mutual. She didn’t give a damn. He was not the man in charge. When Ward saw that his wife was out of danger, Karl would find himself back in the place he belonged.

  Scott removed the bag he wore around his neck and chest. The design allowed for more room than the one Heath carried. He tossed Deja pants and a shirt, and another of the men provided clothing for Ward. Joe wrestled him into putting them on. In moments, the Spiderweb operative had disappeared, and all traces of Deja’s daughter’s blood and their car seats were removed. The shifters vanished into the trees just as the ambulance pulled up, along with a couple police cars. Deja stood by her father-in-law, answering questions as Coreen’s prone figure was loaded onto a gurney and hauled to the ambulance.

  Ward stood in the middle of the deserted road, confusion clouding his blue eyes. Deja reached for Ward’s arm. “Come on, Dad. We need to go to the hospital with them.”

  Ward stumbled forward, but he halted, and she gave him a shove. His heavy muscled body made it tough.

  “When she wakes up, she’ll want to see you there beside her. You don’t want her afraid and alone.”

  That got him moving. He climbed into the back of the ambulance and held his hand out to her. She shook her head.

  “Only one person can ride
back there. I’m going to meet you at the hospital. I promise. Get going. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Ward didn’t make a sound, which worried the hell out of her.

  “Ma’am, do you need a ride?” an officer offered.

  “Um.” She hesitated and looked toward the trees. The officer looked as well, suspicion in his gaze. She sensed her people still nearby and heard the impatience and fear in Abel and Aaron. They sounded like animals, and she didn’t worry that the officer would identify the chuffing. Joe had moved farther away with the girls because they could not be seen or heard by the officer or their cover-up would be exposed. She knew they were afraid being without her, and she needed to get them to Sylvia for their own examination. “I…no, thank you. I already called my husband, and he’s two minutes out. I don’t want to be gone when he gets here.”

  The officer hesitated, but she tried to look confident and calm. Maia and Neve needed her. Why did they have to hide like this? Why did that damn company have to interfere with their desire to live a peaceful life after all the pain they had put them through? They were already dealing with a killer, and now Spiderweb knew of her babies’ existence. The outside world wasn’t safe, and now neither was Siberia.

  At last, the officer nodded and took his leave. Deja sighed in relief. When the police car drove out of sight, Joe appeared carrying Maia and Neve. They wriggled from his arms and toddled to Deja, Maia in the lead. She bent and scooped the girls into her arms just as another vehicle appeared around the bend. This time, Scott drove and stopped to pick them up. Ted brought the child seats from the trees, and after Deja buckled them in place, she arranged the girls in them with her in between. They held hands as they made their way back to Siberia and Sylvia’s clinic. When she was sure her little ones were fine, she would join Ward at the hospital.

  Lying against the seat cushions, she shut her eyes, muscles aching as if she’d been the one in the accident. “Joe,” she murmured, “you reached Heath, right? When will he get back here? Did he say?”

  Joe didn’t answer, and she looked up. He sat in the passenger seat at the front, so she couldn’t see his expression.

  “Joe?”

  “He didn’t answer.”

  She blinked at him, unable to take any more issues today. “What do you mean he didn’t answer? Heath knows he needs to stay in touch. Give me your phone.” She held out her hand. Joe looked over at Scott, who dug into his pocket and produced a cell. She snatched it from him and punched in Heath’s cell number by heart. The phone rang and rang and then went to voicemail. She took in a deep breath and then tried again…and again. Why wouldn’t he answer?

  Joe met her gaze, and she did her best not to show the emotion bubbling out of control. Still he seemed to sense it. “Don’t worry. He’ll check in soon, and we’ll let him know what’s happening.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s following a lead.”

  She frowned. “I heard all that before. Now I want to know where the fuck my husband is—specifically!”

  Chapter Five

  The moment Joe opened his mouth to answer her query, something thumped against the car and had it rocking. Scott swore and jerked the wheel to the left, swerving around several people standing in the road. Maia and Neve began screaming.

  “Scott, what’s going on?” Deja shouted looking around. “You need to drive better than this. The girls have just come through an accident. They don’t need to be in another one.”

  “I’m sorry, Deja. It’s not my fault.” He pointed out the windshield to an even larger crowd of people. “Something’s going down. I need to get you to the doc’s so I can come back and find out.”

  Joe was already on a radio talking to someone. The message from the voice crackling over the airwaves sent a chill racing down Deja’s spine. “It’s a coop. They’re calling for the alpha to step down.”

  “Shit,” Scott spat. He met Deja’s gaze. “Sorry, ma’am.”

  “Get me to Sylvia’s. Now!”

  “You got it.”

  Deja had scarcely stepped out of the car with her kids when Scott tore off down the road. From a distance, shouts rang through the air, and someone spoke into a megaphone. Where the hell had she returned to, and where was her quiet town? Dismissing them all, she darted into the clinic Sylvia ran and bypassed the people sitting in the waiting room. The technician called out a greeting, which Deja returned but kept moving. The woman knew better than to ask her to sign in and wait. Not that Deja made a habit of dismissing the doctor’s scheduling, but her girls came first.

  Sylvia might be human, but she was well-versed in their history and their needs. She’d been there for Heath when the killer attacked him, and Deja trusted her more than any random doctor outside of Siberia. She strode into Sylvia’s office to find her sitting behind her desk making notes on a pad. When she spotted Deja, she smiled.

  “Deja, you’re not due for a checkup, are you?”

  “No, it’s the girls. They were in an accident with Coreen. They look fine, but I won’t feel right until you give them a thorough look over.”

  Sylvia surged from her chair. “Of course!” She clicked a button on her phone. “Zee, reschedule my appointments.”

  Deja’s eyes widened. “Wait, I don’t want to mess up anyone else. Just—”

  “Maia has a laceration on her head.” She began gently running her fingers in Maia’s hair. “And a bump here. How long ago was the accident?”

  “About an hour ago, I think.” Her gaze met Sylvia’s, and she swallowed. “Shouldn’t she have healed by now?”

  “Possibly. Remember they haven’t had their first change. They may be on a level similar to humans for the time being.”

  Alarm flooded Deja’s system. “But you said they were born leaning toward the tiger side. How can they be human?”

  “Easy, Deja. I’m not saying they’re human. They are definitely not. If you’ll recall, I said they are born leaning toward the animal side of their DNA, but find balance a bit later. I also said it’s iffy because every shifter is different, and Maia and Neve have one tiger born parent. Nothing is set in stone, but I guarantee you, I will do all in my power to ensure that they are fine. Now. First things first. Let’s give them something to calm down a little. I’m sure the accident was a trauma for them.”

  Deja stood by her babies until Sylvia had given them something to calm them. As the doctor explained it, the medicine would work longer than it would in Deja or Heath as the tiger in both girls lay somewhat dormant until they shifted for the first time. Hearing this brought back memories of how Heath had gone most of his life not knowing a tiger lurked deep inside him. Yet, his issue had been that the man he’d thought was his dad had created a drug to suppress the trait, all to protect Heath.

  Neve fell asleep right away, and then Maia. Deja kissed their sweet faces and let herself out of the office. She reached the empty waiting room just as Ted entered. “Your phone.”

  She took the phone and thanked him. “How is everything out there?”

  He shook his head. “Not good.” He went to the window and peeked out then glanced at Zee. “I’m not supposed to say anything, but…”

  Deja knew she should tell him to shut his mouth with Zee there, but she had to know. “But what?”

  “Before the accident, Ward was in an important meeting.”

  Deja recalled the cryptic way Joe had said “people” when she asked where Ward was. “About what?”

  “About his position. Some people want him to step down as alpha. A few with alpha blood have risen up.”

  She gasped. “Risen up to do what exactly?” He didn’t have to say. The nightmare of Tina challenging her made it clear what these people wanted. If there existed an ancient law that would allow Tina to challenge her, of course one would let another alpha challenge Ward. She already knew there were some who thought he was too soft on the humans, others who felt he’d been too hard. No matter his decisions, pleasing everyone was an impossibility
. “The timing couldn’t be more off.”

  “This is the best time,” Ted countered, and she glared at him. He held up his hands and stumbled back a step. “I don’t mean for me. I’m loyal to my alpha—no matter who he is.”

  “Which means you don’t care either way.”

  He didn’t deny it. “If they want to overthrow Ward’s leadership, the best time to do it is when he’s distracted because of his wife.”

  “Damn it! You’re right.” She dismissed him and dropped into a chair. Examining her phone, she found it wasn’t damaged and checked the display. No calls or texts had come in from Heath. That wasn’t like him. He wouldn’t go this long without contacting her to make sure she and the girls were fine. If he were back, none of those people would dare rise against Ward. Heath also had alpha blood, boiling and powerful if she had anything to say about it. Anyone challenging Ward would have to come through Heath first.

  She dialed her husband and waited. The voicemail came on. “Heath, I need you. No, Ward needs you. Please call me back. Better yet, come home. I don’t know what you’re doing, but your family is more important.”

  Deja smoothed Coreen’s hair away from her face and kissed her cheek. Her mother-in-law hadn’t stirred for a couple days, and with the oxygen mask and machines hooked up to her, she appeared tiny and pale. Every time Deja visited, a needle of pain and fear took hold until she felt it hard to breathe. They could do nothing for Coreen except wait and hope her mind healed on its own.

  “She fought them off,” Joe, who’d brought Deja to the hospital, said. “There were two of them. I don’t know how she got the drop on him, but she left one for dead at the ice cream shop.”

  Pride tinged his words, and Deja smiled. “Ward taught her self-defense.”

  He nodded. “The other man managed to get her to leave the shop with him and your daughters, but she overturned the truck.”

  Tears filled Deja’s eyes. “She did it to protect Maia and Neve.”