Caged

by Diana DeRicci

  Her first reaction was to collapse at the unconcerned reply, then her claws came out. “How?” Her skin itched to change, to eradicate this male before he did more damage. They had to keep their secrecy. It was imperative their species never be discovered.

  “Males can scent.”

  She blinked, trying to calm her ragged breathing. “What?” Rhys echoed her outburst.

  Robbie tipped his head in her direction. “If you know about her, then I know I can trust you with my secret.”

  Rhys shook his head, raking his hand through his hair, harder, creating grooves. “Seriously? I’ve known you for sixteen years, man.”

  “Dude,” Robbie said. “Remember? I’m adopted.” This time when he grinned, a huge row of jagged teeth and sharp canines filled his mouth, his jaw partially elongating to allow for it. They disappeared as quickly as they’d appeared. “I found out by dumb luck. There’s only one other in the city that I know of, and no, I’m not saying who.” He laughed, rather mirthlessly. “Why do you think I still live at home? My folks don’t need me there. I’m there to protect them, and me. They know.”

  Rhys sank to his couch. “Holy shit.”

  “For the longest time, Dad thought I was sin incarnate when he found me in my room, or actually, a rather stunned jaguar, when he was expecting his son.”

  Rhys raised a stricken look to his closest friend, and Mira’s heart bled for him. “No. They love you.”

  “Now they do. For about a year, when they discovered what I could do, they were torn between sacrificing me and having me locked away.”

  “How…?” Mira licked her lips, suddenly realizing that what Robbie knew could help her. “How did you stay hidden? The blood? And you’re a cop.” Her voice rose on the last.

  “That’s a little harder,” he admitted. “But it can be done. On the basic molecular level, we’re the same as they are. The differences are on a DNA and atomic scale. Unless we end up under a mad scientist’s microscope, we’re safe.”

  She lifted a hand and covered her mouth as dawning realization occurred to her. “You took the risk to find out. You could have jeopardized all of us!” A hard growl vibrated her throat, real claws beginning to appear on the ends of her hands.

  Robbie’s hands warded her off, his explanation pouring free. “No! I had a plan if something did come out of it. I had been doing studies on myself since I was sixteen. I was my own mad scientist, okay? I knew the depth I could reach before the differences occurred, then I looked for a job that fell beneath that ceiling. Weeell beneath that ceiling. I can’t ever have a DNA test, but I can do what I feel I need to do.” He glanced toward a still stunned and silent Rhys. “And I can protect my parents because they raised a fucking alien.”

  “Dude.” Rhys finally snapped out of his shock. “Shut up.” Jerking to his feet, Rhys stalked up to Robbie. “I never want to hear you say that again. Do you understand me?”

  Robbie crossed his arms over a wide chest, grinning broadly. “What are you going to do about it, skinny?”

  Rhys sucked in a breath, then all his anger and the hard emotions seeped out of him. “You haven’t called me skinny since the ninth grade. I haven’t been skinny since then.”

  “Still skinnier than me.”

  Rhys snorted. “Jockstrap.”

  “Yep.” Robbie didn’t argue at all. Then turning to Mira, he pointed with a thumb toward Rhys saying, “I might have been football, but lugnut here was all auto shop. He never weighed more than a good wet blanket.”

  “Public school?” Mira gaped at him.

  “Didn’t you?” Robbie tipped his head questioningly.

  She shook her head. “No. I was home tutored. My mom was too terrified of being found out with all the inoculations and check-ups needed.”

  Robbie frowned. “Is that common?”

  “I think it is,” Rhys said. “What you did hasn’t occurred to anyone else to even try.”

  “I didn’t have a say. Mom put me in school like any other kid. It didn’t take me long to figure out that changing into a jag or tiger wasn’t normal. I didn’t share it with anyone because, hell, it terrified me too, for a while, knowing I was different, and not in the ‘different kid from a different state’ kind of way.” Robbie shrugged, then he said, “It’s probably best done slowly, then, if they’re interested in knowing how it can be done.” Robbie asked Mira, “Do your parents know others? Would they be willing to relay information, if I supply proof?” On a pause, he added, “Because they’re going to want to see it.”

  “If it can be done, I think she’d be thrilled to know there are options. Most are like me, flying under the radar, as close as possible to being underground as we can get.”

  Robbie nodded. “So tell me the truth about what happened at the cabin.”

  Rhys wrapped his arms around Mira, bringing her to the couch to sit with him. Robbie took the extra chair, getting comfortable. It only took a few minutes to explain her capture, and her release.

  “Now I know why he wanted me to tell you you’re out of your mind earlier,” Robbie said a few silent minutes later. Rhys held her hands, his fingers threaded through hers.

  “Told you.”

  “But she has a point.”

  “What?” Rhys glared at Robbie. “Thought you were on my side.”

  “I am, but if this guy knows about Mira, or at the least about the big cats, then she is in danger. All of the Felids are. By the way, his real name is Charles Selles. I wasn’t going to tell you anything about him, but under the circumstances, might as well let you know. ‘That guy’ is just redundant.”

  Mira smirked. “Want to know my plan then?”

  “I’m sure I don’t,” Robbie remarked. “But I have a feeling knowing is my only option, because there’s no way in Hell I’m letting you do something stupid and piss off my best friend.”

  Rhys’s surprise was clear in the pressure of his hands on hers. “I’ve been a suckass best friend, dude.”

  Robbie wasn’t offended, making an offhand wide gesture before relaxing in the chair. “Not really. I couldn’t let anyone close either. Glad it was you, actually. But now, you’re the only other one who knows besides Mom and Pop. I don’t hold it against you.”

  “Gee, thanks,” he smarted back.

  “Any time, lugnut.”

  The constant poking and prodding of their back and forth teasing managed to relax Mira and she laughed. Robbie no longer made her nervous, though now she understood why he did. It wasn’t just that he was a cop, but that he was like her, a Felid.

  Looking at the two of them, she realized with their help, her plan was going to work.

  The only problem? Getting them both to agree.

  Because in Robbie’s words, it was going to piss off Rhys completely.

  Chapter Seven

  “She’s insane. You know that, right?” Robbie followed the red tracking dot on his GPS with unblinking attention.

  Rhys followed the same slow moving dot on the screen, his stomach a tied pretzel with fear for her. Lifting up, he searched the darkening woods behind the cabin, repeating what he’d done at least half a dozen times since she’d disappeared out of sight. He knew she was gone, out there, prowling. And for the moment, safe.

  Rhys rubbed his eyes. “Is the tooth going to hold?”

  “Should, unless she tries to gnaw through a tree.”

  He glared at the man next to him. “Not funny.”

  “Getting worked up before the action has even started isn’t going to do you any good, either,” Robbie cautioned. “It was the best I could do on short notice. A canine mold isn’t exactly the most handy to find around the precinct.”

  Rhys forced air in and out of his lungs. “I know.” He uncurled hands that had formed fists as his worry and terror for Mira rose. “How did you find one?”

  “Mom.”

  Rhys grinned for a scant heartbeat. “Good ol’ mom.”

  “She may not be Felid, but she’ll fight for her son and any
of us as if we were her own cubs. She talked her crafts instructor into creating a—” he made quote signs in the air “—shepherd size tooth mold to make necklaces out of.”

  “And he bought it?” Rhys gaped at Robbie.

  “Hook, line and sinker. She’s a very persuasive lady. She doctored it a little, and voilá. Instant tiger canine.”

  “I think I idolize your mom, now.”

  Robbie’s cheek reddened just enough to show, a sign of his love and affection for his parents. “Yeah. Get behind me.”

  Silence lengthened as full darkness fell over them. “What are the chances Charles knows we’re here?”

  Robbie snickered quietly, then drawled, “Well, if your mom played it right, then there’s no doubt he knows.” His dark blond brow arched. “He has been calling asking about you. She’s only doing the neighborly thing and letting him know when you’d be around.”

  “Devious bastard.”

  “Why, thank you.”

  Rhys laughed a short bark. “Yeah, you too.”

  Although he was playing it down, Rhys knew Robbie had called in favors to get the tracking chip. It was the only tie he had to Mira at the moment. Thankfully, the dot was still moving.

  Robbie lifted a hand and pointed, as though able to read Rhys’s mind. “She’s about a quarter mile north, that way.”

  She was circling back around to come from the other direction to the clearing where they both believed she’d been spotted. It was also damned close to the other cabin.

  “What happens if she’s knocked out?”

  Robbie shifted on his spot on the step, stretching his legs out. “Like with a dart?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She’ll stay in form. It’s a conscious decision to take any shape. Even this one. Cats are actually our natural skin, but we’re born humanoid.”

  “How are you so human looking?”

  Robbie looked out, thinking. “I think humans, and us, are only two of a large mass of species who are humanoid.” A cocked grin hit his mouth. “Of course, try to tell that to a scientist, or historian and they’ll crap their pants to convince you you’re wrong, but there’s you, and us. What’s to say there aren’t more?”

  “Even other shifter species?”

  “Sure. Probably even others who are more advanced, and some who are still in the dark ages. It’s a matter of environment. You see it all over this planet, and it’s a single system.” He held up the GPS. “Take this. We’re advanced with all kinds of gadgets and electronics, then there’s the pygmy tribes in Peru who have no idea what a plane is. There are common comforts here that they don’t have in parts of the Middle East or Africa. So what’s to say there aren’t other planets out there with shifters, brainiac geniuses, or sword toting knights who still fight real dragons?”

  Rhys leaned on a shoulder to the side of the porch, doing anything he could to distract himself from the danger Mira was willingly putting herself into to be bait. Even a five-hundred pound tiger could be helpless given the worst case scenario. He didn’t want to let his mind figure out just what that would be.

  “Do you wish you knew of others?” Rhys quietly asked.

  Robbie ran his thumb up and down the side of the GPS, stroking it for a silent moment. “Sometimes, so much I feel like I’m going to explode. I have to keep a huge chunk of my life secret. Who can I trust? Will I ever find a person to share it with?” He slid his gaze toward Rhys, a longing and deep sadness in his eyes that Rhys had never guessed at. Robbie had never allowed it to show. “What you have now with Mira gives me hope, but I was so fucking jealous when I walked up to the table and knew she was Felid, and with you.” A harsh breath fled, rocking his shoulders. “For just a second, I wanted her, then I caught your scent all over her and knew I didn’t have a chance in Hell.”

  “If we can do it, and she hasn’t killed me, I know you can.”

  “But will I? That’s the million dollar question.”

  Rhys wanted to tell him something, anything to eliminate the hollow need in his best friend’s eyes, but couldn’t tell him something that he had no control over, so he said nothing.

  “It’s okay, Rhys. I haven’t given up hope. Finding Mira with you actually makes it easier. She’s mated to you, my best friend, so she’ll be nearby. Kind of like finding a long lost cousin.”

  Rhys grinned crookedly. “Not kissing cousins?”

  “Oh hell no!”

  They both chuckled at his exaggerated horror.

  The dot on the GPS began to move faster. A lot faster. They both noticed it at the same time. “Is that her running or is she being carried somewhere?”

  Robbie studied it for a minute. “I think she’s being carried. Or driven. She’s moving too fast even for an animal at full run.”

  Rhys almost threw up. He knew what that meant. Both men leaped up and raced to the front of the cabin. Robbie tossed the keys to Rhys then both jumped into Robbie’s car, an unrecognized black Camaro. “Don’t scratch the paint.” Rhys didn’t waste any time, maneuvering the car out onto the rural road to follow in the wake of the GPS dot.

  * * * *

  Mira picked her way cautiously around the area where the net had been camouflaged and hidden before. The trace of any scent was long gone. If he’d laid the trap again, it wasn’t there waiting for her. Lifting her head, she sought through the shadows with her keener eyesight, slow breaths reporting the world to her. She was alone, for the moment. Most animals instinctively avoided a full grown tiger anyway, whether they knew what she was or not.

  Her tongue absently rolled over the lower canine Robbie had fashioned. It was attached with a semi-permanent cement. It wasn’t coming off until she wanted it to. Or if she changed. Then it would fall off, not able to change shape with her. That tooth was her only lifeline to the men at the cabin. One she loved completely, both she trusted with her life.

  It hadn’t been easy getting them to agree to her plan. Robbie was the one to come up with the chip idea. The tracking chip had been the key that swayed Rhys to agree to begin with. He’d been dead set against her doing anything to try to catch the man who had laid the traps. He wanted to leave it to the cops, but it could take them months, maybe years to get a full investigation done, especially if he traveled between the two countries hunting for game. Rhys hated the whole plan, Mira being kitty bait, but they had to stop the man who had captured her before. Even if he wasn’t a poacher, he knew enough to be hunting for the cats. Her tail swished around behind her, slicing the air into little currents as she continued to survey the ground and trees for any sign of what may be coming. She couldn’t see it, but it was there.

  Methodical steps moved her closer to the clearing where she was positive she’d first been spotted. She was hunting, though not to eat. She was hunting for the hunter, stalking through the night, seeking.

  It was odd that there was no scent whatsoever of the man who had trapped her before. He was there somewhere, biding his time. She was sure of it. Mira never did figure out who he was talking to when Rhys had snuck in to rescue her at the warehouse. If he was trying to find a buyer, or maybe something even more sinister. If he knew the truth about her ability, or about the existence of Felid’s on Earth, then he could have just as likely been trying to find a way to exploit that. An uneasy shiver caused a ripple to run down her spine beneath her coat. She shook her shoulders, not wanting to think about the latter. The first possibility was bad enough.

  Crossing the clearing, she padded between trees on the other side, listening intently to the sounds surrounding her. Branches slid down her side like fingers. She paused behind a leafy bush, sniffing the air. Every nerve was on edge. Something was going to happen. She just couldn’t see where it was coming from. Or what it was.

  The last thing she expected was to have a single male step in front of her from behind a tangle of trees and vines. He’d been hiding upwind, and as still as death to not be seen.

  “Hello, kitty,” he said, pointing the rifle he held rig
ht into her face. Caught of guard, her lips rose into a hissing snarl. “I don’t think so, young lady. I know you can understand me. I’ve been waiting a long time to get you again. Been tracking you all night since you left the cabin.”

  Mira couldn’t stop the snarl, but his words chilled her. To get the tiger, or the cheetah? A shiver made her tail whip harder. He stood less than six feet in front of her, a few inches taller than Rhys, and about twenty years older by the harsh weathering of his face. The rifle didn’t waiver in the least in his grip. The muzzle of the weapon was trained on her, a direct hit between the eyes.

  “I thought I had imagined cat shifters. Now, I have proof you exist. I don’t know how you escaped last time, but it won’t happen twice.” Her tail lashed back and forth, her snarl deepening as she studied him. “I wouldn’t do that. No matter what you are, I don’t think anyone can survive a bullet in the head.” He turned over a shoulder and spit. “Now, I have some people who are really interested in meeting with you, in any form.”