White Tiger

by Jennifer Ashley

  “Know the combination?” Kendrick asked.

  “No.” Tiger moved past Kendrick and let his finger hover over the keypad. “But . . .” He hesitated a few seconds, then touched numbers.

  The lock clicked, and the door opened.

  “Remind me to ask you how you did that,” Kendrick said as they peered into the room.

  It was dark. Kendrick’s Shifter vision saw plenty of shapes but he couldn’t make out anything clearly. Tiger, on the other hand, scanned the room as though he saw everything without a problem.

  “Light switch there,” he said, pointing a little way down the wall. “If you need it.”

  Tiger didn’t sound superior; he was stating a fact. Kendrick moved toward the switch, which was a push button, and pressed it.

  Lights flickered to life. By them, Kendrick saw that every cabinet door was either open or hanging broken from its hinges, and that glass cases that had decorated the middle of the room had been smashed. Any valuables that they’d housed were gone.

  “Dylan needs to see this,” Kendrick said, turning.

  Tiger was just inside the doorway, looking around. As soon as Kendrick swung back to him, Tiger jerked his head up, peering sharply at the ceiling.

  The big man shouted, “No!” then a sharp, grating sound cut off the word.

  The main door was set back in an alcove. From the top of this alcove, a solid metal door screeched downward, cutting Kendrick from the entrance, and Tiger.

  The door was a single, smooth sheet, no handles, keypads or anything on it. Tiger slammed into it from the other side, but the door stayed in place, not budging.

  All the lights in the treasure room went out. The darkness was complete, even to Kendrick’s Shifter vision.

  He drew his sword, hearing it but not seeing the flash of the blade or flicker of runes. Tiger thumped the door from the other side again, and then there was nothing.

  Kendrick was alone in the dark and the silence.

  * * *

  Addie had never shot through the town of Loneview so fast in her life. Zander was riding far over the speed limit—if the local police wanted an easy ticket, they’d have it today.

  Not that Zander would bother to stop for them. Addie clung to him as they zoomed past the town square, Zander following her bellowed directions to her house.

  Ben came behind them on another motorcycle, riding with Jaycee. She was taking seriously her commitment to not leave Addie alone for a single moment. She’d made arrangements for the strongest of the Shifters left at the ranch, and Charlie, to take care of the cubs.

  Ivy’s house loomed up in the heat of the afternoon. Addie’s heart thumped as Zander halted in front of the familiar Bermuda grass yard with the live oak tree, Josh’s bike resting against the garage door.

  Addie was scrambling off the motorcycle before Zander shut it down. She ran for the front door, but Jaycee caught her, spinning her back.

  “Don’t even go in there before we check it out,” Jaycee said sharply. “Don’t be a too-stupid-to-live heroine.”

  “My sister and her kids are in there!” Addie yelled. “With that monster.”

  Jaycee’s grip on Addie’s arms tightened. “Addie, he’s just a Shifter. Zander and I are plenty tough enough to fight him, and I’m guessing Ben can do something to help, or Kendrick wouldn’t have left him with us. Plus Zander’s a polar bear, and they’re just big. We’ll take care of this.”

  “Lachlan is a Shifter with a love for firearms,” Addie pointed out. “It won’t matter how strong or fast you are if you have bullets in your body.”

  “We can also surround him and take him down, no matter what weapon he has.” Jaycee’s words were low and rapid. “But you don’t go rushing in when you don’t know what’s waiting for you.”

  Addie forced herself to acknowledge the truth of this. Still, it was very difficult for her to remain hidden behind the thick bole of the tree while Zander disappeared around to the back of the house, Ben went to the side window, and Jaycee approached the front door.

  Jaycee went into a crouch. As Addie watched, her limbs started to change, becoming larger and more muscular, the seams of her shirt tearing.

  Jaycee didn’t change to a leopard—she became a leopard-beast, with the height and dexterity of a human but the lithe strength of her wildcat.

  She leaned to the door, listening. Jaycee was motionless, somehow blending into the shadows around the overhang of the entrance. The way the leopard-woman became almost invisible was uncanny.

  One of the others must have signaled her, because Jaycee instantly became alert. The next moment, she dug immensely strong fingers through the crack in the doorframe, and yanked the door from the wall.

  Addie heard screaming inside. Without being aware she moved, Addie dashed across the yard and barreled into the house in Jaycee’s wake.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Addie followed close behind Jaycee as the woman raced into the kitchen. Tori, the dark-haired eleven-year-old girl standing next to the refrigerator, dropped the full glass of iced tea she was holding and screamed.

  Her screams joined those of Ivy, who had picked up a chair to face Zander. Zander hadn’t shifted or become a beast like Jaycee, but he was plenty scary with his snapping dark eyes, giant bulk of a body, and wild hair.

  Only Josh wasn’t yelling—he was heading for the cell phone that rested on the counter.

  “Ivy!” Addie shouted into the cacophony.

  Her sister jumped and swung around, her eyes going wider still. “Addie! Look out! What . . . ?”

  Addie lifted her hands. “Could everyone please stop screaming!”

  Tori closed her mouth and the sound cut off. Tea spread in a pool at Tori’s feet amidst ice and broken glass.

  Ivy’s chest rapidly rose. “Addie . . . What is going on?”

  “Where is he?” Addie demanded.

  Ivy blinked. “Where is who?”

  “Not here.” Ben came in from the living room, holding something his hand. “I’m thinking he never was.”

  Addie stared. “What are you talking about? What is that?”

  “Webcam.” Ben held the small piece of white plastic with lens in his palm. “Positioned on the tree so it would look into this window.” He indicated the wide kitchen window that gave onto the side yard and another live oak. “From the angle, it would seem like someone standing outside looking in. What he showed through his phone was probably feed through a computer monitor.”

  Addie could barely breathe. “What the hell?”

  “Addie!” Ivy raised her big-sister voice. “Who are these people? What are they?”

  “Jaycee, could you . . .” Addie waved her hand.

  Jaycee looked annoyed but she gave a leopard snarl and sank down into her human form. Her torn shirt showed glimpses of her ample curves.

  “These are my friends,” Addie said. “Ivy, I thought you were in danger. Did anyone come here today?”

  “Today? No.”

  Tori spoke up. “Yesterday some guys came to repair the electricity on the house next door.” She pointed out the kitchen window.

  “They set the camera,” Zander said. “Probably Lachy’s thugs.”

  “Why?” Jaycee demanded. “Why would they trick Addie like that?”

  Zander gave her a hard look. “To get us all out here, of course. We’d charge to the rescue, while Lachlan slips back around to do his evil deeds.”

  Addie gasped. “The cubs!”

  “Are protected,” Zander said. “Some of Kendrick’s and Dylan’s best Shifters are at the ranch. No, what Lachy-kins really wants is—”

  “Kendrick,” Jaycee and Addie said at the same time.

  Jaycee whirled, running out. Zander went after her. “Wait—Jaycee—” He stopped at the door to the living room. “Damn it.”

  �
�Addie.” Ivy’s fear was fading, anger rising. “You tell me what’s going on right now. And where have you been? The police came here—they think you’re on the run. I told them you were just trying to calm down and get over what happened at the diner—I had to lie to the police, Addie.”

  The kids were watching Addie in bewilderment. Josh at least hadn’t gone for the phone.

  “I’m sorry.” Addie’s heart squeezed. “Truly, I am, and soon I’ll sit you down and tell you about my adventures. But right now, I have to go, and I have to ask you not to tell anyone you saw me. All right? I’ll explain when I can. Please, Ivy—trust me.”

  Addie looked at her in appeal. Ivy had supported Addie through all her woes—her failed engagement, her need for a place to live, her hope to start working her way through school. In it all, Ivy had kept her big-sister attitude—Poor little Addie needs help again.

  Now Addie was asking Ivy to trust her as an equal. Ivy shook her forefinger in Addie’s direction. “It had better be a good explanation.”

  “Oh, it will be entertaining, I guarantee. Ben, do you know where Kendrick went?”

  Ben nodded. “I know the place.”

  “Good. Zander—follow Ben. And maybe could you be a little less speedy on the turns?”

  Zander grinned as he herded her out after Ben. “Hey, this is tame. You should see me when I open up my bike on the ice floes. I can really get going then.”

  Addie would have shuddered, but her thoughts were all for Kendrick, far away and in danger.

  * * *

  The darkness was absolute. Shifters could see in the dark, but that was because there was usually more light in a space than human eyes could detect. In the absence of all light, Shifters were as sightless as any human.

  Kendrick sheathed the sword and shifted to his between-beast, half man, half tiger. He bent all his strength to the door, trying to wrench the steel slab back up into its slot. He heard Tiger on the other side attempting the same thing.

  The door didn’t budge. It was a thick piece of metal, and the mechanism that dropped it had locked it in place. Kendrick considered tearing his way through the walls themselves, but this was a vault, built to withstand fire and natural disasters. The walls would be solid concrete reinforced, likely several feet thick.

  Tiger would make his way out and bring help. Dylan and Kendrick’s Shifters would get the door open sooner or later.

  For now, Kendrick was the mouse in Lachlan’s trap, waiting for it to spring.

  “That won’t work.”

  Lachlan’s voice came from behind Kendrick, on the other side of the room. Kendrick couldn’t see the man, but he could hear and smell him. He didn’t need sight to attack a target.

  He rushed Lachlan, not waiting to ask questions or issue a challenge. At the instant before he should have contacted him, Lachlan leapt aside, and Kendrick smashed into the far wall.

  His reflexes had him cushioning the blow, pushing himself away and to his feet even as he hit.

  Kendrick grabbed for Lachlan again, and again Lachlan moved at the last minute. The man shouldn’t be able to see any better than Kendrick, and Kendrick didn’t remember Lachlan having superior hearing or scent. If anything, Kendrick, the full-blood Shifter, should have the advantage.

  “You’re wearing night-vision goggles,” Kendrick realized, trying to catch his breath. “You see my body heat.”

  “You’re like a flame, my old friend,” Lachlan said. “Fire in the darkness.”

  “Take them off or turn on a light. Fight me straight up.”

  “Why?” Lachlan said. “I want to win. Shifters fight dirty all the time, so don’t give me any crap about honor.”

  “I won’t,” Kendrick said. “I just want to see your face when I rip off the other half of it.”

  “Fine.” Kendrick heard a rustle and then lights flashed on.

  Kendrick quickly dropped his gaze to the floor, blinking to adjust to the sudden glare. Lachlan discarded his goggles on an empty table.

  He straightened and faced Kendrick, neither his jeans nor T-shirt showing the telltale bulge of a gun. That didn’t mean Lachlan didn’t have one holstered somewhere else about his person, though Kendrick smelled no metal or gunpowder.

  “It’s going to take your new friends time to open the door,” Lachlan said. “We might as well discuss a few things.”

  “No, I’m just going to kill you.” Kendrick drew his sword. “I’m guessing there’s another way out—you weren’t in here when we came in.”

  “Of course there’s another way out. The last leader of this Shiftertown must have been one paranoid son of a bitch. There are tunnels and shafts all over the place, some not rising to the surface for miles. Sounds like a place you’d love. You always liked multiple exits and contingency plans.”

  “For good reason,” Kendrick said. The sword’s hilt felt good in his hand. “It’s not safe to be a Shifter these days.”

  “Not when you weigh yourself down with clingy Shifters who can’t make a go of it on their own,” Lachlan sneered. “You should have cut them loose, let humans round them up and slap Collars on them. Saved us a lot of bother.”

  Kendrick’s heart burned with rekindled anger. “I believed you when you said you wanted to keep Shifters free. I didn’t realize you meant only select Shifters you chose.”

  “The strongest, yes. Shifters will only prevail if we band together and attack our captors. Like the Shifters did the Fae—we need to become the Battle Beasts again, but for ourselves.”

  “Meanwhile, all those cubs and less dominant Shifters should be rounded up and shocked, experimented on, confined, barely allowed to live?”

  “Some of them like it,” Lachlan said, with a laugh of disbelief. “They think it makes them stronger. Trust me, when I was trying to build a group from the Shiftertowns around here, I ran into that screwed-up way of thinking time and again. Shiftertowns made us a community, gave our cubs a safe place to grow up. We’re getting stronger. Goddess, they reminded me of you.”

  Kendrick held his sword steadily but at the same time watched every twitch Lachlan made. The moment the timing was exactly right, Kendrick would be on him.

  “We are getting stronger,” Kendrick said. “Having more cubs. What I’m proving is that we don’t need human controlled Shiftertowns and shock Collars to do it. What did you do with all the goods in this room? The treasure of this particular Shifter clan?”

  “Stole it,” Lachlan said. “We need it for bribes to get the Fae gold.”

  “Fae gold?” The statement caught Kendrick off guard.

  Lachlan made a noise of disgust. “It’s the secret to getting Shifters safely out of Collars. Didn’t Dylan share that with you? My reward to Shifters who follow me is to rid them of their Collars. No waiting their turn or until the Shiftertown leaders think it’s safe or any of that bullshit. Every Shifter who follows me will be out of his or her Collar, and I’ll lead them to victory.”

  “But only the strong ones, right?” Kendrick finished. “All the others are SOL?”

  “Doesn’t matter. They’ll be freed sooner or later, when we win.”

  “Meanwhile, every Shifter, whether they follow you or not, gets slaughtered trying to rise against the hundreds of millions of humans in this country. Well thought-out.”

  “It’s that kind of attitude that will always keep you on the run. Join me, Kendrick. We made a hell of a team once. Dylan already trusts you—get him to join us too. Nothing will be able to stop us.”

  Kendrick was done. “You killed a cub and the woman you wanted as mate when they tried to get away from you. You killed the humans who helped you. We don’t kill those we protect. That’s the end of it.”

  “I killed my mate and cub to protect them from you. I knew what you’d do to them if you captured me.”

  “I would have released them to return to
their families. You killed them because you wanted to. I tried to avenge them then—I’m back to finish what I started.”

  Lachlan gave him a pitying look. “You poor, deluded bastard. You’ll learn, though, with that cute little woman you want as mate. Do you think she obeyed you, sitting at home where you told her to stay? No, the minute your back was turned, she rushed home, convinced her sister was in trouble.”

  Kendrick’s rage burst through him along with a cold wave of fear. He tried to tamp both emotions down—Lachlan was baiting him. “If you’ve touched her or her family . . .”

  “You’ll what? Kill me faster? Or slower? No, no, I just distracted her and your friends. I love the Internet. With a webcam and a tablet even the rankest amateur can create the illusion that he’s somewhere he’s not.”

  Kendrick’s fears escalated but he wasn’t going to scream them at Lachlan. “Shut up, and let’s do this.”

  Another condescending look. “You didn’t think I’d bring you down here so I could fight you one-on-one, did you, my friend? Live and learn.”

  He clicked something in his hand and the lights went off again.

  Damn it. Kendrick had started moving as soon as he’d seen Lachlan press his thumb down, sword going for its target. Lachlan moved, but not fast enough. The blade caught Lachlan and he grunted.

  Not a lethal blow. Kendrick heard the man rushing away through the total darkness.

  The night-vision goggles—had Lachlan snatched them up, or left them? Kendrick groped his way to where he thought the table was. He bumped into it, painfully, and then his hand landed on plastic and soft straps.

  In two seconds, Kendrick had the goggles oriented and on. He glanced around the room in time to see Lachlan duck out through another opening.

  He followed, sword held out of his way. Lachlan was sprinting, unencumbered, down the cement reinforced tunnel.

  The best thing about chasing Lachlan down tunnels under a Shiftertown was that Lachlan was here. Not at the ranch closing in on Addie and his cubs or lying in wait at Addie’s sister’s house. The man was where Kendrick could put his hands on him. He’d finish him off, go home, and celebrate.