by Dianna Love
His tiger banged back and forth demanding, Free me. Kill wolf. Threat to mate.
Gan snarled at Adrian. “Tiger was good. You make him angry. You leave!”
Adrian stood with hands on his hips. “I can’t do that. The Guardian knows you lied about having full control.”
“You lie, too.”
“True, but I admitted the truth to the Guardian and I can keep my wolf in right now. He wanted to send Vic to check on you, but I asked to come instead.”
“Why? You hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, but I was sick of your tiger making life insane the last two weeks in Wyoming. You said you want to be free. That won’t happen if your tiger takes control. I can’t help you if I have to call in the Guardian.”
Gan grabbed a fist full of his hair. “I will not live like this.”
“Like what?”
“I was prisoner whole life. I will not live as prisoner again. You do not understand. You were trained. You live free life. Your wolf not stranger. You are free to come here alone.” Gan glared at him, angry the wolf shifter didn’t get it.
“It wasn’t all roses,” Adrian shot back. “My wolf and I were close at one time. I have enough control to be here now, but I’m going back to Wyoming as soon as I do one task.”
“Why?”
“My wolf can’t be saved. I was captured by an enemy force and locked in a titanium cage too small to move or shift in for most of a month. It drove my wolf insane. We were close once, but no more. I know I have to be put down, but I’ve got to take care of something first if I don’t screw up and get sent back early.”
The tiger raged on. Curling his hands into fists, Gan spoke through clenched teeth. His tiger was determined to kill the wolf shifter. He held his chest muscles tight to the point of trembling, squeezing out, “Do not go back. Run. Be free.”
He couldn’t believe he was trying to help this wolf shifter.
Adrian cursed. “That reminds me of something you need to know. Running won’t work for me or you. The Guardian would just call me home.”
“What?” Gan cocked his head. His teeth chattered from strain. “What is call home?”
“Our boss has the ability to call any of us to him, no matter where we are in the world, at any time.”
Disappointment hit Gan so hard he struggled to stay upright. Cold clutched at his heart.
He would never be free.
Never.
His tiger must have sensed his distraction. The animal battered him a second time. I save mate!
Gan struggled to think past losing the one thing he’d lived for this whole time. To be free. He told his tiger, Stop. Wolf will not harm Scarlett.
Wolf bad. Wolf sick. I kill.
Claws shot out of Gan’s fingers. He mentally yelled at the tiger. Stop!
His tiger roared and slammed his insides.
Muscles began twisting and bones cracked with the impending change.
Adrian pleaded in a hushed voice, “Don’t do this, Gan. Stop your animal so I can tell the Guardian you’re doing okay.”
Gan’s jaws stretched. His teeth elongated.
Chapter 20
Scarlett finished toweling her hair.
Was she really not going to dry her hair because a man had asked her to leave it natural?
Evidently so.
Even stranger than that? She laughed at the woman in the mirror.
She was no insecure female who had to prove a point by not doing what Gan had asked.
That was the bottom line.
In his blunt way of speaking, which included an explanation that sounded like a compliment, he had asked her to let it dry naturally.
Chica purred happily.
Not that it was unusual for her cat to be content, but this purr sounded like she had something on her mind.
Scarlett asked, What’s going on, Chica.
Tiger is two.
Pulling on shorts and a knit top, Scarlett headed to the bedroom to do some stretching. What do you mean two?
Human, tiger, human.
Scarlett had found a bottle of skin cream and paused in smoothing it over her arms. Her cat could be highly perceptive. For that reason, Scarlett listened closely when Chica wasn’t distracted by a butterfly or catching a whiff of raccoon. For some reason, Chica liked those critters as much as deer.
I don’t understand, Chica. Why two humans and one tiger?
Not two. One shadow human and tiger.
Scarlett put the lotion back and stretched her legs out to bend and twist at her waist. Could her cat be talking about a ghost? She asked, Could you see through the shadow human, Chica?
Yes. Chica purred some more.
Scarlett asked, When did the shadow human show up?
Always with tiger.
Scarlett stopped twisting and straightened. She struggled to make sense of that, but what if Gan’s tiger wasn’t just like other shifter animals?
Could that be one reason Gan and his tiger fought for control?
Chica came alert. Tiger in trouble.
With no hesitation, Scarlett raced downstairs and out the back door, took one whiff and turned to her right. Seeing Gan, she headed toward him.
His shoulders twisted out of shape.
No. No. No!
Gan howled, “Stop!”
She tore across the yard to help him.
He couldn’t hold the tiger in.
She called up her energy, the one she kept secret. No one in the far houses could see any of this. She hit Gan with her energy ten feet before she reached him.
His back arched.
She stopped and held her breath, but his body kept moving. What? Had her power not worked on him?
He stopped shifting, but he should have frozen in place like a statue.
In the next three steps, she released her magic’s hold on Gan’s body. Misshapen parts shrunk back to human size.
She sucked in air from panic more than running. As a cougar shifter, she could run fast for long periods. Worry over Gan had rattled her more than she would have expected.
Gan gripped his head, holding it while he breathed deeply. “I feel not right.”
Shit. Her magic had definitely hit him.
She should explain how that was a residual effect of magic forcing him to stop mid-shift. She wanted to, but telling him about her extra gift would not go over well. He hated people controlling him, which she never wanted to do.
But she would not back away from keeping him safe.
Climbing off her guilt trip for a moment, she asked, “Are you okay, Gan?”
“Yes, better. Tiger wanted out. I try to stop change.”
“Looks like the change did stop,” she said carefully so she could skirt the truth.
“But ...” He shook his head. “Why?”
“Do you think your control is getting better?” She hated to tangle the truth with a leading question, but she had no idea how much his ability to scent a lie had improved. What would he say if she told him she had actually prevented his shift?
Would he look at her like everyone else who had stolen his ability to choose what he wanted done or not done?
Chica said, You change human.
Scarlett had a moment of dread. She’d marked Lincoln with a black claw shape on his chest. The tattoo-like mark didn’t appear for a day after she’d hit him with a load of her power and the mark couldn’t be removed.
Rumor was he’d tried.
She searched Gan’s neck and moved around to his face, trying to see what Chica saw. She finally asked her cat, What change?
Head glows blue. When you stop shift, his head turn blue like bright sky. Pretty.
Shit. Had she also put a claw mark on Gan that would appear later? Scarlett worried on that for a moment, then pushed it off. All she did was help him manage his shifting.
What was a little blue aura?
No harm, no foul, right?
She’d need scuba gear soon to breathe under the load of guil
t she kept piling on.
Yes, she’d provided him control surreptitiously, but she’d rather he feel stronger about his ability to manage his animal than to think she could control his body.
That hadn’t been her intention at all.
Deep down, she had a feeling this was going to eat at her for a while. Hadn’t they just talked about being honest with each other?
This proved she couldn’t have someone in her life, not if she couldn’t share all her secrets without getting that person killed.
Chica said, Wolf close by.
That’s when Scarlett turned her attention to her senses. She knew that scent.
She gave it another sniff. Not Jazlyn.
Adrian.
Her pulse jacked out of sight. She turned toward the woods. “Might as well come out, Adrian.”
Gan groaned. “Hate that wolf.”
“That’s not nice,” Adrian said as he stepped back into the moonlight. “Hi, Scarlett.”
“Don’t hi me, wolf. What are you doing sneaking around out here? And how did you find ... ah, shit. You tracked Vic’s sport utility.”
Twisting his neck until it popped, Gan asked, “How did you follow truck?”
Scarlett answered that. “They used an electronic device. I’ll explain it later, but first I want to know why the Guardian did this after I called to clear taking Vic’s wheels.”
Raking both hands over his head, Adrian explained, “This is not about you, Scarlett. I helped Gan convince our boss that we were okay to get out of Wyoming. I had to come clean with the Guardian and tell him I’m still questionable on control. I’m good for now, but if I’m out in the public for very long I’ll be fighting my wolf more and more. After that conversation, he realized Gan would have less control than me.”
“Maybe not,” Gan argued.
“Really, tiger? Because I just watched you almost break out claws and fur a moment ago.”
Scarlett held her breath.
What had Adrian seen?
Opening his arms wide, Gan said, “I am not changed. Your wolf has problem, but I am not tiger. Is good, right?”
Scarlett studied Gan. He would normally be chiding Adrian, but Gan sounded angry. Or hurt?
Adrian locked his hands behind his head, his dark gaze jumping from Gan to Scarlett. “What do you say, Scarlett?”
“I’m guessing you were probably here when our cats went swimming. That should answer your question.” She gave him a look that dared him to counter her point.
“I saw.” Adrian’s sharp gaze slashed over at Gan. “I admit I was surprised at the control you showed changing back right after Scarlett finished her shift.”
“Now you know. You are done.” Gan made that statement in a flat tone, but Scarlett could hear the anger simmering beneath his words. “Go home. Remind Guardian he said three days. I have two more.”
“Shit.” Adrian dropped his hands and stalked one way then the other, looking like a wolf pacing in a cage. He stopped short. “I hate being in this position. He wants me to shadow you for a few days, but not in secret. He’s too fair for that. He felt if you knew you were being observed you’d do your best. I’m only following orders and doing what I’m told. If you make it through this initial period, you’ll understand later on when you have to do the same for another of our shifters.”
Scarlett didn’t miss how Adrian avoided saying the word Gallize. They had shared some details with her weeks ago when she and the Gallize had rescued Gan and his foster sister.
She expected to learn more later on as long as her friendship of the Gallize status remained intact.
Gan sent a sad glance at Scarlett. “I did not ask for this. I want to help you, but I can only make Adrian leave if I go.”
He was reminding her that she couldn’t allow Adrian to be nearby when Jazlyn showed up tomorrow.
Why did everything have to get so screwed up?
She’d been looking forward to spending a night with Gan beside her while they killed the last of the twenty-four hours Jazlyn had set as a minimum.
Was that too much to ask?
Now he would be on edge with Adrian so close and she needed Adrian gone way before Jazlyn’s window of time to meet.
Warm fingertips brushed across the side of her face, pushing her hair out of the way. Even though they were all shifters, he whispered, “It will be okay. I will go.”
His words were only for her.
Her stomach hurt at the thought of him leaving.
Once again, she had to do what was right for everyone else, though. Would the day ever come that she could do what was right for her?
No. She would always take care of those she loved.
Licking her dry lips, Scarlett said, “I want—”
Something came crashing through the woods on the far side of the property.
They all jumped around, prepared to face a threat.
Scarlett recognized the person who burst from a thick stand of trees at a full run.
Jazlyn.
The smell of fresh blood hit her.
She took off to meet her friend.
Chapter 21
Scarlett raced across the lawn with Gan at her side and that blasted wolf shifter following right behind. She didn’t have time to shield Adrian from seeing Jazlyn.
Her friend had to be in bad trouble to show up now and this way.
“What happened?” Scarlett called out. As she closed the distance, she realized Jazlyn carried a bundle wrapped in a brown cloth.
Jazlyn stumbled.
Scarlett reached her in time to grab her arm and pull her upright.
“Take her.” Jazlyn shoved the bundle at Scarlett just as the baby whimpered. “They have Fayth.”
Denial screamed through Scarlett. She had failed the one person who needed her most. “What happened? Who did this? Where’s Fayth?”
Jazlyn swiped a wash of blood out of her eyes. Her body had been clawed and beaten. “I had her safe in a house down the lake.” She swallowed between rasps. “I don’t know how they found us. I covered my trail. Someone tripped a wire I’d set for security. I gave Fayth directions and sent her to you, but she wouldn’t leave, fucking hardheaded woman. She hid the baby in a closet upstairs and dug out a bottle she’d had ready with a mild sedative. She’d anticipated needing to keep Lily quiet at some point. I would have grabbed them and run here, but I couldn’t risk there would be more than three or four coming for us. I was right. I couldn’t shift, but I had a titanium knife. She had barely shifted seconds before eight shifters ran into the front yard. She didn’t want them in the house to find the baby. We took off and made a hundred yards in different directions to split them.”
“You should have called me,” Scarlett shouted, hands fisted and needing to hit something.
Jaz snapped right back. “I did. Got no answer.”
“Dammit. Sorry. I forgot. That was the phone that got trashed.” Scarlett had to stop panicking over Fayth and calm down so she could think.
“We’ll find her,” Jaz assured her. “We fought them, but I got separated from Fayth. I heard her scream when they dragged her away. I threw the knife and hit one shifter in the throat, then the second one came for me. When I took him down, I went after her. Another cat shifter hit me. I gutted him. By the time I broke free, Fayth was gone. That left one I drew away from the house then doubled back to catch him.”
Scarlett didn’t ask if she’d killed that one.
That was understood.
Jazlyn took a fast breath. “By then, everyone was gone, probably thinking the one they left behind with a vehicle would bring me in.” She grabbed Scarlett. “Fayth made me promise if anything happened to her to get Lily to you. Take the baby and get out of here now. I’ll find Fayth.”
Adrian said, “Were they all cat shifters?”
Jazlyn seemed to just notice the men. “What are those two doing here?”
Scarlett dismissed that question. “It’s a long story. Right now, we need informat
ion.”
Gan asked, “Who did this?”
“Lincoln, dumb shit,” Jazlyn shoved a furious glare at Gan. “Just like you. Another fucking tiger shifter.”
Scarlett racked her brain. “How could Lincoln have found Fayth now when he clearly hadn’t while the Pagan Nomads had you?”
“I don’t know. Someone figured it out.” Jazlyn coughed up blood and spit it to the side.
Adrian repeated his question. “Were all the shifters cats?”
That drew Jaz up short. She frowned with her eyes flicking back and forth as she thought. “No. I smelled a wolf and a hyena, maybe two.”
Scarlett clutched the baby to her. Worry jumped a new level. “Hyenas and wolves? Lincoln hates anything that isn’t cat.”
Jaz cursed. She grabbed her head, staring down. She started mumbling, “I got clobbered with a limb ... I killed that one.”
“Back to hyenas,” Gan reminded her. “How do they find you?”
Scarlett clarified, “No, they found Fayth.”
Jaz froze and growled. “Shit. Who has a knife?”
Gan and Scarlett said, “Why?”
“I just realized why my shoulder is burning and I can’t shift. If the odd shifters belong to the Pagan Nomads, they could have stuck a tracker in me, in all of the captives.” She turned her back. “Knife now. Right shoulder. Look for a lump from—”
“—a capsule,” Adrian finished as he flipped open a switchblade. “Not my first rodeo, wolf.” He ran his hand over the back of her shoulder. “Found it.”
The only indication that Adrian cut into Jaz came from her quick intake of air.
“Looks like a tracker.” He smashed the small capsule between his palm and the butt of the knife. “They were tracking you.”
Jaz added, “But the cats were looking for Fayth. I heard one say Lincoln said to be sure to find the baby.” Turning to Scarlett she rushed on. “You have a head start. I’ll stay and block for you. I can get away again.”
Scarlett believed her, but she also believed the tinge of doubt clinging to her friend’s words.
Gan shifted his gaze to Adrian then to Scarlett. “We need to go but have plan to meet again.”
