The Blind Tiger: An Unusual Paranormal Romance

by Dawn Steele

  “It was not a time she particularly wished to revisit.”

  “Why do you think that is so?” Zach paused, enjoying his rhetoric. “She gave me her body freely. She enjoyed being a submissive. She loved me – a fact she does not deny to this day.”

  “We all must transcend our pasts.” Noah swallowed the hard lump in his throat at the thought of Zach touching his pregnant wife.

  “Indeed. We are all complicated creatures, are we not? We are never black or white. In some phases of our lives, we must appear as villains. In others, heroes.”

  There was an undercurrent here – something Noah couldn’t grasp at the moment. All he knew was that he had to listen very carefully.

  Zach said, “Did Karen ever tell you that I was a student of psychology?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I was. Four years of college at my adopted father’s insistence. He wanted me to understand the condition of the human mind – how it can be elevated or broken.” Zach paused again. “I became very interested in human conditioning.”

  “So interested that you even had your own lab rat?” Noah shot back.

  Zach laughed. “I’ve had many lab rats, as you so quaintly put it. And it has not always been about domination for me. When I graduated, I was a submissive for half a year to an older woman. Ah yes, you seem surprised. Call it experimental. After that, I decided that I much preferred to be a dominant. Next, I moved on to the psychology of interrogation. You can imagine the myriad streams of processing that can run through a man or woman’s mind during such an ordeal.”

  “Is that what you’re doing to me now? Interrogating me?”

  “Not all of us play such cookie cutter roles, Jonas. You see your brother as a villain. Rightly so. He seeks your annihilation for his own purpose. He sees your children as threats. However, turn this the other way. Your brother also has a family. Ah, I can tell that you are surprised.”

  Noah rarely inquired about his brother for obvious reasons.

  “You’re both victims of your own heritage and customs. Your brother is not a villain in his own mind. In his mind, he’s merely a father trying to protect his own children, and he will do whatever it takes.”

  “Are you done?” Noah said evenly. He did not plan to discuss his twin’s motivations with Karen’s ex-lover.

  “Not quite. Interesting customs you shifters have. The determination of an alpha by duel.” Zach laughed. “It’s so 19th century.”

  “I’m sure you can relate to it in your line of business.”

  “But you lost to him once, didn’t you? You lost because, unlike your brother and myself, you never did have that killing instinct within you. Not when it comes to your own kin. Not when it comes to anyone.”

  So he knew. Noah grimaced. Zach was right, of course.

  Eight years ago, he had denied his brother the pleasure of killing him in a duel. He had robbed Kyle of the uncontested right to declare himself alpha against all odds, especially with the niggling presence of a live twin in the background. Those kinds of things rankled an alpha, especially one as deathly competitive as Kyle.

  Now he was to be given a second chance to die like a hero so that his brother would have uncontested alpha rights. Not that he had ever contested it in the first place. But such things did not matter to those who practiced the old ways, like the tiger shifters.

  “Well, know this then. If you plan on dying when your brother is finally through with you, he will take your daughter and give your wife to me for my own pleasure.” Zach’s voice wore a smile. “Knowing the way your brother does things, let’s see how long they both will last.”

  MORNING

  Karen was asleep on the bed with Kitty when the door to their bedroom opened. She rose, immediately tense. It was Zach.

  He smiled at her. “Rise and shine. You have exactly thirty minutes to get your daughter ready.”

  “Ready for what?” she demanded.

  “Ready for the duel. Your husband has been given a reprieve. He will meet his brother, Kyle, in single combat.”

  The door closed.

  Karen swung her legs out of bed. It was too late for her to try to escape. The die had been cast, and the bait had been taken. She had known that Noah would come. She would have done the same thing without hesitation if their positions had been reversed.

  Single combat? Her heart leaped. Noah had come for her, and his brother didn’t kill him outright. As long as they were all alive, there was hope.

  “Kitty,” she said in a gentle voice. “Wake up.”

  Kitty stirred.

  “Mmmmm, Mommy?”

  Karen wondered if it was a good idea to bring her daughter to the duel. But then, she wasn’t given a choice. It would be traumatic for Kitty to watch her father die today.

  No matter what happened today, she would shield and protect her daughter for as long as there was breath in her body.

  *

  Once they were ready, Zach came for them again.

  He studied her. “You’re beautiful.”

  Her captors had provided her clothes – summer dresses, billowy print kaftans, island khaki wear. Zach had been as good as his word. They had been treated with utmost care.

  She had chosen a blue summer dress, pretty much like the one she had worn when they had hosted Noah. Not that Noah would ever see her or the dress. But she wanted to remind Zach of that night – the night she had chosen Noah over him.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  She picked Kitty up. Kitty was dressed in a white frock.

  “Where we go, Mommy?” Kitty asked.

  “To see Daddy.”

  Zach only smiled.

  Outside, Karen and Kitty were ordered into the back of the same black van they had come in. No windows. Just the same two sullen local thugs for company. Their journey was uneventful, though after a while, the van seemed to ascend.

  So they were climbing, Karen thought. Bali had many mountains and cliffs.

  They finally arrived. The van doors opened to bright sunshine and green, green jungle. She was right. They were on a mountain. Other vans and cars were gathered there, as though for an event.

  Zach announced, “Welcome to the arena.”

  THE DUEL

  “Hello, brother.”

  Noah raised his head towards the familiar voice.

  It was his voice – though it was tougher, more rugged, more confident.

  He was in darkness, naturally. But there was a brittle tang to the air, and he knew that there were many people around them, watching.

  “We meet, finally,” Kyle said.

  Noah did not say anything. He was using all his senses to assimilate the situation. His brother would be his mirror image. He remembered the last sight he had seen – more than eight years ago.

  *

  Hello, brother.

  Kyle’s face was before his eyes. Smiling.

  Jonas lay on the ground. They were in an arena at the edge of a cliff. All around them were hills and forest, and the air was sharp and crisp with the tang of blood. Their kin surrounded them – cousins, elders, the children of elders.

  He had been defeated in the duel. His body wore grievous wounds. Both his brother and him had metamorphosed back into their human selves. They were both naked.

  Kyle said, “This is the moment I kill you so that you can no longer be a threat to my reign.”

  Jonas has many broken bones in his body, but he felt them knitting even as he lay there in excruciating pain.

  His brother went to get the sword. Earlier in the duel before they had transformed into their tiger aspects, they had both used swords in the mandatory ten-minute fight in their human forms, as was the custom. Jonas knew what awaited him next.

  Decapitation.

  Desperation gave him strength. He got up. As his brother returned with the sword, he knew he had no more energy to fight his brother.

  With one last boost of whatever power was left to him, he rolled his body to the edge of the
cliff. Then he let himself fall into the ravine.

  He didn’t remember much what happened after that.

  All he knew was that when he woke up, he was in total darkness. There was a searing throb in his head. Perhaps he had been in a coma for weeks. Perhaps not. But he could no longer see in his human form. The part of his brain that afforded him sight had been damaged in his human form forever.

  His final sight had been of his brother, coming at him with the sword with his face. His mirror image. His brother was the possibility of what he might become if he gave in to the greed and darkness that had always been the shroud of their family.

  As he lay in the bottom of the ravine, his body recovering, he swore an oath:

  “For as long as I live, I will never take a human or shifter life. I will not become my brother. I will not give in to the darkness that plagues our tiger kin.”

  But that was then.

  Now, he had a family to protect.

  *

  “You have been the elusive one.” Kyle’s voice in front of him was mocking, beguiling. “Do you know where you are?”

  “In one of your arenas, no doubt.”

  “You denied me a clean victory the last time we met, brother.”

  “Why don’t you just kill me now and spare us the theatrics?” Noah said caustically.

  “Then where would the pleasure be, brother?”

  “At least let my mate and child go.”

  “So that they would be a constant thorn of revenge in my side?” Kyle laughed. It was the same laugh that Noah remembered from childhood.

  I beat you in everything, little brother. Though we are only minutes apart, I’m far better than you are in everything.

  “Then you are no better than a coward,” Noah replied. He was aware that some of their kin had been gathered around them, as was the custom. Elders and kin were needed to witness total alpha victory if such duels were carried out. “Only cowards seek sport with others weaker than themselves.”

  “And only cowards run from their fates, as you did, brother.”

  “I have no quarrel with you, Kyle. I did not wish us to harm each other. That was why I ran.”

  It was true. He had no wish to embrace the darkness within himself.

  “I have no quarrel with you either, Jonas. Your only bane in life was to be born minutes after me. But you are right in many ways. It would be no victory for me to defeat a blind man. Therefore, we will duel in this manner. There will be no requisite ten-minute combat with weapons of our choice in our human forms.”

  He paused. Noah was tense, listening to everything – not only to what his brother was saying, but other possible sounds that might betray who was in the audience.

  Kyle continued, “We will proceed to do combat in our tiger incarnations. I have learned many things about you in your absence, brother. I know that you can see in your tiger aspect. So it will be a fair fight.”

  Noah nodded slowly. It was as fair a deal as he could get.

  Only . . . Kyle was a battle-hardened warrior in either one of his aspects. Noah was merely a survivor with a pregnant mate and child.

  “Are you ready to begin?” Kyle said.

  ABOVE THE ARENA

  The arena was merely an area of flat, rocky land at the edge of a cliff. Around them were lush, verdant mountains. The cliff plunged to the tree-filled ravine a couple of hundred feet down.

  Karen shivered. It wasn’t cold. Bali was eternally tropical. But she had a bad, bad feeling that something momentous was about to happen here.

  She was not allowed to go closer to the arena, but she could see what was happening down there from her vantage on higher ground. More than a dozen people were gathered around the arena.

  “Do you see him?” Zach said from behind her.

  She strained her eyes.

  Then she saw him.

  Noah!

  But wait, there was another man who looked just like him. It had to be Kyle, Noah’s twin. They were speaking to each other. She couldn’t hear what was being said. They were too far away.

  “Talking terms of the duel, no doubt,” Zach said, clearly enjoying himself.

  He was deplorable, she thought.

  Then Kyle backed off.

  Karen’s heart bolted to her throat. The twins were going to fight. One of them was going to die, and she knew that the odds were stacked against her husband.

  Just then, Kitty pointed at the arena.

  “Daddy!” she cried.

  THE RALLY

  Noah heard his daughter’s cry from somewhere up there, and he knew that she was watching this.

  He felt rather than heard his brother shift, and he shifted, too. The body of the beast tore his clothes apart. The power surged through him, and his sightless eyes were filled with images once again.

  Foremost among them was the image of his brother, the alpha tiger, springing at him – teeth bared, claws out.

  Noah feinted and rolled on the ground in a whiplash move. His brother crashed onto the rocky bed beside him.

  I can’t lose. My family needs me.

  Both tigers attacked each other, growling and snapping at anything within reach. Noah felt his brother’s teeth sink into his flank even as he wrapped his jaws around his brother’s leg. It was going to be a very tough fight. Whatever wounds they inflicted upon each other would immediately start healing. Flesh would close up. Blood vessels would contract to minimize bleeding.

  It would take a very large beating to knock one of them out. Pretty much like the one his brother delivered to him eight years ago. Even a bite to the jugular would not guarantee victory.

  Claws slashed, delivering what would be killing strokes to another animal or human being. Fangs ripped fur and flesh. Dust flew around their writhing bodies. As the fight continued, Noah was acutely aware of a keening in the background. His daughter was crying.

  In a snapshot, he took in who the spectators were. His cousin, Argyla, and her brother, Ken. Three of the elders. Pascale, the mediator. Then, higher on the mountain – on a natural ledge – his wife clinging onto his daughter. Zach flanked them along with his goons.

  As he fought, the strange conversation he had with Zach replayed in the back of his mind.

  I became very interested in human conditioning.

  You lost because, unlike your brother and myself, you never did have that killing instinct within you.

  If you plan on dying when your brother is finally through with you, he will take your daughter and give your wife to me for my own pleasure.

  Noah suddenly realized what Zach had done.

  The entire vicious exchange had been a motivational tool. Zach had basically been telling him to break out of his fugue and KILL, and he gave him a reason to.

  Give yourself up to the darkness of killing for a nobler cause. And there is no nobler cause than the lives of your wife and child.

  But how could you kill a being that was almost impossible to kill? Even Kyle couldn’t kill him all those years ago. They could both wear each other down, but it might take hours – like the last time. And Noah suspected that he wouldn’t be the one left standing if he let natural combat take its toll.

  And Noah didn’t really want to kill his brother, despite everything. It would break something fundamental within his soul, and it would forever haunt him.

  So he would leave it to the fates.

  He summoned every ounce of power in his body. His brother’s back was to the cliff. Then he lunged at Kyle with all his momentum and strength.

  He could see the momentary look of surprise in Kyle’s eyes as they both sailed over the cliff.

  This time, he could hear Karen scream.

  THE FATES

  Dow, down, they went – two hundred feet down into the ravine. Noah was aware of Kyle’s rage as they both fell together in their tiger bodies. He also remembered the last time he had fallen off a cliff. He had barely survived and been permanently blinded in his human form.

  The topmost tree
branches struck his body. After that, it became a rapid succession of blows as the lower and bigger branches struck him. The impact was very severe, and he blacked out before reaching the ground.

  The last image before his eyes was of Karen and Kitty – their faces pleading with him and their arms flung out.

  Don’t leave us.

  It was too late.

  At least, if he died and took his brother with him, it was all up to the gods to decide, as such things should be.

  *

  Noah opened his eyes.

  At least, he tried to open them.

  People surrounded him. He heard voices, and he sensed that he was in his human form because his eyes saw nothing but blankness.

  So that hadn’t changed. He was still blind.

  “Noah!” It was Karen’s anxious voice.

  He tried to call her name, but the darkness swallowed him once more.

  *

  When he woke up again, he was lying on something soft. A bed, perhaps. A tube was stuck down his windpipe, and his limbs were numb. He didn’t even feel pain.

  A familiar hand clutched his.

  “Noah.” Karen’s gentle voice. “You’re safe. Just rest. We will take care of you.”

  She was here! Which meant that she was safe. Kitty was safe!

  He could rest now and let his body mend.

  He lapsed into unconsciousness again.

  *

  He went through many starts and stops like this, until one day, his consciousness seized hold of him and didn’t let go.

  “Karen?” His voice was feeble, weak, and his throat was parched.

  Her hand, gripping him once more. “I’m here.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Two weeks. But you’re mending.”

  “Where am I?”

  “With your cousins, Argyla and Ken. They rented a safe house. Their healers have done what they can for you. You’re going to be alright.”