“Why?” she growled, sitting up. Nausea hit her, and she fell back down. Heath let out an oof and shifted from under her.
“It would be simpler to get it.” He leaned out, but she smacked his hand.
“Not you. It’s only been two days since you’ve been back. No one should be calling you, and I’m going to tell that and a few more choice words to whoever has the gall to disturb us.”
She squinted at the caller ID on her cell but didn’t recognize the number. After stabbing the connect button, she shouted, “This had better be good or—”
“They’re going to kill the humans.”
“What?” She didn’t get a chance to fully form the question before the person hung up. Deja tossed her phone aside and turned to Heath, who had fallen back asleep. She shook him. “Heath, wake up. I think some shifters are killing the humans. I don’t know where Ward is. We have to go see what’s going on.”
Heath sprung up and checked his phone. “I must have put it on silence last night. I have a text. Ward says we’re to meet at city hall, and looks like we’re an hour late.”
“Damn.” She scrambled into her clothes and ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Heath did the same, and within five minutes they were outside running toward his truck in the driveway. “I’ll drive.”
“I’m done with the babying, Deja. Get in the other side.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he gave her a shove, and she had no choice but to give in. All the way over to city hall, her stomach knotted, and she had to keep swallowing between taking deep breaths to keep from throwing up. Apparently, morning sickness refused to give her a break in this emergency.
Outside the building where Heath and his dad worked, a crowd had formed. In fact, it looked like almost all of Siberia was in attendance. Guards around the parameter moved forward when they spotted Heath and Deja to force the crowd to part and let them through. All around her, people shouted, and some cried. Deja had a really bad feeling about this. Heath grabbed Deja’s hand and weaved through the crowd until they reached the front door. He opened it and escorted her through. The long hall between offices was surprisingly empty. Toward the back, she picked up voices of people arguing.
“Heath, there you are,” Ward snapped. “I was just about to send someone to drag your ass here. Sorry, Deja.”
She raised an eyebrow at him and folded her arms over her chest. “What’s going on, Ward?”
Joe sat leaning back in a chair as if this were a typical day, and Carter stood with hands clenched into fists, his face red. She guessed he’d been the one arguing with Ward. When their leader glared at the man before taking his seat behind his desk, she assumed she’d been right.
“I have passed a new law,” Ward announced.
Heath’s eyes narrowed. “Without talking to me?”
“Last time I checked, Son, I am the alpha.”
Deja stepped up to his desk. “Yeah, and last time I checked, you acted like you and Heath were joined at the hip and you couldn’t make any decisions without him. What’s the new law?”
“Watch your tone,” he warned.
Heath pulled her to his side. “Don’t threaten Deja, or you’ll have me to deal with. What’s the new law?”
Rather than be angry at Heath’s words, Ward seemed pleased, and Deja rolled her eyes. A man couldn’t love his son more than Ward loved Heath. She realized Abel and Aaron would have to go through a lot of growing up before they looked at Heath without resenting him. Ward was not the subtle type.
“All humans who haven’t been mated to a shifter at least five years are to be killed. No new—”
“What?” Deja shouted. “Are you out of your damn mind?”
Heath stared at his dad. “That’s the wrong decision, Ward, and you know it.”
Ward winced at Heath calling him by his name rather than calling him dad, but he didn’t comment on it. “I’ve already made the announcement. You two would have heard if you’d bothered to come to the meeting on time.”
Deja cut in on the conversation. “Sure, that leaves your wife safe, doesn’t it, but what about everyone else? What about Carter and Melanie? What about Jake? He risked his life to save your son, or doesn’t that matter to you?”
Ward slammed his fist on the desk and stood up. “You think I came to this decision easily?”
“I don’t care how you came to the decision. It’s wrong and dumb. Not all humans are bad, and it’s obvious not all shifters are good. You seem to forget you were once human and not tiger born.”
Ward’s eyes narrowed. She knew she’d pushed his temper too far, but she didn’t fear him. Someone needed to speak up, and if she didn’t, they’d kill Jake. Just the thought of losing her friend, the one who had stood by her even after Heath hurt him, didn’t sit right with her.
“Watch your mouth, Deja,” Ward growled. “You show me respect.”
“Watch yours,” she snapped back, and Heath grasped her arm.
“Deja, don’t goad him.”
She rounded on Heath. “You can’t agree with this just because you hate Jake.”
He frowned. “I don’t hate him. In fact I’m grateful for his help since you told me he went with you to rescue me.” He eyed his father. “While my father and his men were led on a wild goose chase.”
Ward gritted his teeth. “I told you we were pinned down with more Spiderweb bastards. You know I would always come for you. We’d finally extricated ourselves and were doubling back when I heard Deja’s roar for help.”
Deja wasn’t aware it had been a call for help, but she let it go. “You’d rescue me and Heath but not Jake, you who claimed to love all the citizens of Siberia. You said this town was a haven, and you offered it to Jake when Spiderweb tried to turn him but failed.”
“You seem pretty interested in that man when your mate is right here.” Ward walked around the desk toward her, but Heath stepped between them. He put a hand up to his father’s chest to push him off a step. Ward didn’t budge.
“Deja and I are fine, Ward. You don’t need to question her relationship with her friend. She doesn’t want anything to happen to him, and neither do I.”
Deja stared up at Heath, her heart swelling with love. He trusted her, and more, he backed her up in standing against Ward. She glanced over at Carter and met the hope in his eyes. The man loved Melanie, but she wondered if Melanie really felt the same. Still, she wasn’t a bad person either, and she didn’t deserve this kind of treatment just because she wasn’t a shifter. At shouts outside, she moved over to the window and peered out. A van pulled away from the curb, and she narrowed her eyes. Something occurred to her, which she hadn’t noticed coming into the building.
She turned back to the others. “Where are the humans, Ward?”
“They’re safe. Look, I’m only doing this because I have to do what’s in the best interest of the shifters. I have to think of their safety first and about keeping Spiderweb out of Siberia. The truth is I’d be a fool to believe we’re not already compromised, and you know what that means? It means uprooting everybody from their homes, their jobs, and their schools. You’re right. This is a haven, one that I have lived in for more than thirty years. I let myself get soft. I’ve let in humans—ones that haven’t even been screened to determine if they’re a threat.”
She walked over to him and put her hands up to cup his face, then kissed his cheek. Several men in the room gasped. They probably thought she was crazy—one minute yelling at Ward and disrespecting him and the next kissing him like he was her beloved father-in-law. He fit the role, she decided, despite how crazy he drove her.
“I get it,” she said. “I know it’s hard, and you want to do the right thing. We bullied you, said you were too lenient letting everyone bring in whoever they wanted and not putting up a fuss.”
Ward’s eyebrow rose at her insinuating the alpha could be bullied.
“I understand it’s hard,” she went on, and took one of his hands in hers. “But I beg you n
ot to do this, Ward. My landlord, he’s human, and he’s a decent guy. I have no idea how long he’s been here or if he’s mated to a shifter. All I know is shifters have treated him like crap, and now he seems to live in fear. They’ve vandalized his office, and his secretary, who was a shifter, has quit. No one should have to live like that, or, for that matter, die because of some evil person who just wants to make a buck. I know there’s a problem, but killing all of them is not the answer. Please find another way. Please.”
Guilt and sadness glimmered for a second in Ward’s eyes, and then he moved away out of her reach. He turned his back on everyone and ran a hand over his face. “Just give me time to think. Everyone out.”
* * * *
“We’re going,” Heath announced, and Deja ran a scathing look over him from head to toe. The look didn’t seem to faze him. “I’m not impressed by the attitude, baby. We need to be at that dinner tonight at Ward’s.”
She sucked her teeth. “Why? So I can sit around his table with the rest of you, pretending there aren’t people somewhere suffering, who might not even be getting food to eat?”
He leaned over the bed and grasped her wrist to drag her up. She swatted at him, but he hauled her to his chest. No matter how angry she got, he didn’t seem to get riled, and it pissed her off because she couldn’t really get mad at him either, despite the high-handedness.
“You know Ward better than to ill treat the humans.”
“He’s commanded that they be killed.”
“Well, they aren’t yet.”
“How do we know that?”
He frowned. “You can make an additional case tonight over dinner.”
She settled her hands on his shoulders. They were having a serious conversation, but for some reason, Heath had gone hard. His cock twitched between them. “But you said I should let him stew and think about changing his mind.”
“And now I’m worried because he can be stubborn, so I want to be there to offer some other ideas.”
Deja’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” He smacked her ass. “So you can get dressed and go with me, or you can stay here, and I’ll tell you about it when I get back. Your choice.”
“Fine, I’m going, but I won’t like it.”
“Yes, ma’am!” He swatted her ass again and this time held on to give it a squeeze.
Deja wriggled free and put the bed between them. “You’re getting frisky. I told you the doctor said no sex for a week.”
“I will have you tonight when we get back.” His eyes turned golden, sending a delicious shiver down her back. “Or maybe I should have you now.”
“Heath, think about your health.” Her pussy clenched with desire, and she just knew he could smell her wetness, damn the man.
He leaned across the bed reaching for her. “I am thinking about my health, and right now I need a dose of my woman.”
She wavered, wanting it as bad as he did. Sleeping in the same bed with him, lying in his arms and not doing anything, had been outright torture. Up until now, Heath hadn’t challenged the doctor’s order, although a thousand times he’d rubbed her down with his hands and kissed her lips numb until she came close to an orgasm. From the look of him at that moment, he was done with waiting.
“Think of the humans who might die any minute,” she squeaked when his fingers closed around her wrist. He froze.
“Good way to throw icy water on a man’s libido. Thanks.”
She offered him a broad smile. “You’re welcome. I guess I’ll go take a shower and be ready in twenty minutes.”
He sighed and stomped from the room grumbling.
Half an hour later, they were on their way to Ward’s place. Deja was glad to feel better since the morning sickness had passed. Refreshed from her shower and rested since she’d taken a nap that afternoon, she felt ready to tackle Ward again. The fact that Heath would suggest alternatives to Ward’s decision gave her increased hope, so she couldn’t wait to get to his house.
Ward and Coreen’s home, as usual, carried a friendly, inviting air. The boys were nowhere in sight. From the looks of it, only Joe and Carter would be joining her and Heath with Ward and Coreen. The surly expression on Carter’s face said he was there strictly to push his case that Melanie be allowed to live. The predinner chat seemed stilted as they stood around holding drinks. No one wanted to be the first to bring up what was on everyone’s mind, and no one could fully participate in shooting the breeze about nothing when the important topic was left out of the discussion. At last, Coreen announced they should all move into the dining room, and Deja breathed a sigh of relief.
Sitting across from Carter and two seats down from Ward, Deja tried catching Carter’s eye. He seemed reluctant to be the first to question Ward. Why did they all have to be so afraid of him? He was only a man after all. So what he could put them on the floor without a touch? He wasn’t likely to kill any of them. No, it was the humans who were in danger, and if she and Carter and Heath didn’t speak up for them, who would?
She glanced at Heath, sitting at her side. He was the most relaxed of all of them, eating his food and taking swigs of his beer. He chatted without reservation with his father. She knew he wasn’t afraid of Ward, and he would stand with her no matter what, but he also knew she liked to have her say, so he waited. Resisting the urge to jump into his arms and hug him, she settled for squeezing his thigh under the table. Heath broke off his conversation and looked at her. The warmth and encouragement in his gaze choked her up. Please, I’m not scared of your father either!
Amusement lit his blue eyes, and she knew he’d seen her defiance.
“Ward, did you come to a final decision yet?” she asked, and Ward froze with a bite of food at his mouth.
Coreen forced a smile. “I’m sure this conversation can wait until we all finish eating.”
“I’m sure it can’t.” Deja didn’t look away from Ward. “The humans are locked away wherever you have them while we’re enjoying tea and crumpets. So, I’m asking, have you decided?”
Ward frowned and thumped his fork down on his plate. “You seem to see things one-sided, never considering the big picture.”
“I’m one-sided? Are you serious? All you see is your side. You can’t feel how this affects real people. Not even just humans. You’re breaking the hearts of shifters. Look at Carter. You’re killing him.”
Ward sneered. “Carter is the poster child for one-sided. You know Melanie, Deja. Does it seem to you that she’s devoted to Carter, that she loves him?”
Several others gasped, and Carter paled.
“Spoken like the coldhearted bastard you are.”
Ward bolted to his feet, and a wave of power rippled over the table, almost toppling her out of her chair. If it weren’t for Heath’s reflexes to catch her, she would have hit the floor. He roared like a tiger and sent a fist into his father’s chest so strong, the man slid backward and crashed into the server against the wall. Several crystal pieces Coreen had set there for decoration fell to the floor and shattered. Although Heath’s punch had been strong, Ward shook it off as if it were no more than a tap. He growled at his son, but Heath snarled back. Deja tried to get out from behind Heath, but he held her in place with a grip of steel.
Deja scanned the room. Everyone had stood to their feet when Ward jumped to his, and when Heath punched him, Joe and Carter coiled as if ready to attack. What she couldn’t tell is whom they would back. Of course they’d have to side with Ward, being the alpha, but they didn’t appear happy about facing off against Heath.
“Sit down, everybody,” Ward said after some time. Joe, Carter, and Coreen took their seats immediately, but Deja couldn’t sit until Heath let her go. His hold hadn’t lessened. Neither did he bend his knees. Ward sighed and held up his hands palms out. “Please. Sit down. Let’s finish our food. No, Coreen, leave it. We can clean that up later. It was my fault anyway for losing my temper.”
Heath squeezed her hip and then patted it bef
ore removing his hand. Deja sat down, and so did he. When she slid her chair up closer to the table, she glanced across and caught Carter’s angry gaze. She could read the meaning. “Stop provoking him.” She resisted a chuckle that rose inside.
“I know you think I don’t care about anyone but myself, Deja, but do you think it didn’t affect me when I saw the pain and tears in Coreen’s eyes when I told her my decision? It’s not easy running an entire town. Instead of judging me, perhaps you should think about what you would do if it were all on you.”
She could say nothing to that. She’d yelled at him and called him names, thinking his heart dead, but in the end, could she make the tough choices? Now that she had calmed a little, she thought about the other thing he’d said as well. Did Melanie love Carter? Quick as a whip the woman had turned her back on shifters to stick with a woman who obviously hated them. Jake had risked life and limb and never blinked twice about sticking by her. Still, just because Melanie was weak of character didn’t mean she didn’t care about Carter. Deja thought she did. She was just scared of giving over to it. Anyone could see Carter adored Melanie.
“I have a few suggestions,” Heath said, and every eye turned to him. “No humans allowed in Siberia, except those who have a sworn commitment to a shifter as their mate of at least five years.”
Ward nodded. “I’ve already decided on that much. Go on.”
“The rest are asked to leave.”
Voices erupted at that point, everyone shouting an opinion about what Heath meant. Ward was shaking his head frowning. He slammed his fist on the table. “Son, have you forgotten we’re still looking at having to move the town? Spiderweb has infiltrated. That much we know. We can’t just ask the humans to leave. The perpetrators will just run off and inform our enemy.”
Deja leaned forward. “Well, if everybody will shut up, maybe Heath will explain what he means.”
Heath grinned at her, and the rest scowled. She wasn’t moved.
“I believe there are humans who have been with their shifters less than five years, yet they love them.” He nodded to Carter. “In that case…I think the shifter needs to leave with his human and take responsibility for him or her outside of Siberia.”
Tiger Born Page 16
