Max bent down and picked up a large stick. He poked it through the fence and prodded the larger cat. It leapt back with a growl, and then turned and launched at the fence.
Max lurched backwards, vaulting over the visitor rail as the tiger’s weight impacted the heavy fence. He bent double and laughed until he was gasping for air.
Dylan watched him, stunned. He hadn’t warmed to Max and he knew the man hated him, but he had assumed he would love the animals in his care.
He turned and walked back to the Playbarn, letting himself in and locking the door behind him. He went through to his tiny office, shut the door and picked up the phone. Sophie’s card was propped up on his computer screen. Taking a deep breath, he dialled.
‘What do you want,’ she said, picking up on the first ring.
‘I need to log a potential issue with one of the keepers.’
‘Seriously? You’ve only been here a day.’
‘I went over to see the tigers after I’d locked up, and the keeper was behaving very strangely. I thought you’d want to know.’
She sighed. ‘Did you recognise the keeper?’
‘I did. His name is Max.’
‘And what exactly do you think you saw?’
‘I know I saw him interacting very closely with two angry tigers. I saw him poke them with a stick, and with his fingers, and I heard him threaten to go into the cage with them.’
Silence.
‘No members of staff are allowed in enclosures with large predators,’ Sophie said, her voice clipped. ‘Max is a very experienced keeper. You must have misunderstood.’
Dylan sighed. ‘He was in the exclusion zone between the tigers and the public. He goaded them until one charged at the fence, and he only just vaulted over the handrail in time.’
‘Did you get a picture, or a video?’
‘No, my phone ran out of battery.’
‘Convenient.’ Sophie’s voice was pure acid. ‘I know Max winds people up, but that’s a huge accusation you’re making, and I suggest you don’t go down that road unless you can back up your story. We’re a community here. If you think you can waltz in and target established members of staff with false claims, you are not in the right place.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of making a false claim,’ Dylan said, his voice clipped. ‘But I would have thought you might want to investigate an allegation of animal abuse, rather than rebutting it.’
‘I suggest you watch your tone. And if you insist on pushing these ridiculous accusations, find proof before you call me again.’ She hung up.
Dylan closed his eyes and took deep breaths.
Maybe he was in the wrong place if this was how they worked here. He would give it a week. No more.
25
Dylan
Dylan was drenched. The rain was drumming hard on the pavement at his feet, bouncing on the tarmac and adding to the growing number of puddles. His thin coat was soaked through.
The road was empty of people as he ran for his mum’s house, unable to face meeting up with Linden at home. He looked in his pockets for a key, and then swore, realising he’d left it at home.
He pounded on the door with his fists, and then waited as quiet footsteps padded towards the door instead of the hum of his mum’s wheelchair. Dylan frowned. Who was there?
The door opened. Tabitha stood in the doorway, her copper hair damp, her huge eyes wide and bright. ‘Dylan,’ she said, stepping back. ‘Come in out of the rain. Have you walked all the way from the zoo?’
Dylan hadn’t realised how cold he was until he stepped into the warmth of his mum’s hall.
‘Dylan? Is that you? I wasn’t expecting you.’ Rachel wheeled towards him from the kitchen. ‘Why don’t you have a shower and get changed before you drip any more weather on my floor.’
‘Sorry,’ Dylan murmured, not looking away from Tabitha. She looked so relaxed here in his childhood home. Her pale skin shone with vitality in the warm light of the hall, her large, blue eyes glinting. Her lips curved into a smile.
‘Sorry, he murmured again, and then inched past her, trying not to drip water on her clothes. As he brushed against her arm, the warmth of her skin was a shock to his system. He fought to keep his breathing steady, knowing his mum was watching him, but he saw his surprise mirrored in the widening of Tabitha’s eyes.
‘Come on, Tabitha, let’s get the kettle on and we can all sit down for a drink when Dylan is warm and dry.’ Rachel’s voice was so normal it jarred against Dylan’s sensitised nerves.
Tabitha licked her lips, and then walked past him into the kitchen, her hips swaying. She turned as she reached the kitchen workshop, her gaze locking with his one more time before his mum shoved him down the hall to his room.
‘Go on,’ she whispered furiously. ‘Tabitha isn’t going anywhere, but you’re soaked and cold. Your hands are shaking. Get in the shower, warm up, put on some dry clothes and I promise Tabitha will still be here when you get back.’
He reached the bathroom in two strides and pulled off his top and trousers, slamming the door behind him. He cranked up the shower head as far as he could take it, allowing the steaming water to pound onto his aching back. It had been such a strange day, so full of elation and challenge. One day in the job and he’d probably blown it already. Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut about Max? He leaned his head against the shower. If he managed to keep this job, it was certainly not going to be ordinary.
Warm at last, he climbed out of the shower and dried off. He sprinted across the hall in a towel, ducked into his old room and threw open the wardrobe. It was mainly full of his mum’s things now, but he kept a few clothes there for moments like this. Pulling on his favourite of the two outfits, he combed his hair and made his way to the kitchen.
Tabitha was sitting at the table opposite Rachel, nursing a large mug of coffee and laughing. Dylan leaned against the doorframe, taking a moment to watch her in this unguarded moment. She turned around and smiled at him, pushing back the chair next to her and filling a large mug with steaming, black coffee.
‘How was your first day?’ Rachel asked, tilting her head and smiling.
‘It was … interesting.’ He took a sip of coffee, and then pushed out the chair next to him, propping his legs on the seat. ‘I saw Max,’ he said, letting out a long breath. ‘He thought he was on his own, and he was poking the cats through the bars and threatening to go in there with them.’
Tabitha’s eyes widened. ‘That’s not good. Can you report it?’
Dylan sighed ‘I’ve already logged my concerns with Sophie, but she accused me of making trouble on my first day. Unfortunately, my phone ran out of battery so I couldn’t get any pictures or video. Without that, she’s not going to listen to me.’
Tabitha frowned. ‘I’ll let Ursula know. This is just the kind of thing she’s after, although I’m not sure she’ll be able to do much without evidence either. Thank you, though. You did the right thing, whether Sophie appreciated it or not.’
Dylan nodded. ‘Although, if he goes into the cage like he threatened, I’m pretty sure the cats will look after themselves.’
Rachel gaped. ‘Go into the cage with them? Are you serious?’
Tabitha rolled her eyes. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me. He’s so hot-headed.’
‘It sounds like you have some plotting to do,’ Rachel said with an attempt at a smile, but Dylan could see she was troubled. ‘I’m going to leave you to it. I have a film I’ve been dying to watch, so I’ll head to bed and enjoy it in comfort. Please help yourself to food, light a fire and make yourselves comfortable. Dylan, are you staying here tonight?’
‘Do you mind? I don’t want to see Linden at the moment.’
Rachel nodded. ‘Your bed is made up. Sleep tight my darlings.’ There was silence as she left the room.
Tabitha shifted in her chair.
Dylan swallowed then cleared his throat. ‘Would you like a proper drink? Mum always has a good supply of gin in the cupboard.’
‘I’d love
one, thank you.’ Tabitha smiled.
Dylan went out to the kitchen and came back with two glasses filled with clear liquid. He handed one to Tabitha. ‘Do you mind if I ask what’s going on between you and Max?’
There was a pause. Tabitha flushed. ‘Nothing’s going on.
Dylan put her drink on the table in front of her. ‘I know he wants me to stay away from you, but do you want me around?’
‘Would I still be here if I didn’t?’
Dylan let out his breath, feeling his chest relax. ‘Do you want Max around you?’
Tabitha sighed. ‘No. At least not in the way you mean. Max is okay when he’s not trying to make moves on me, but when he is, he’s as much of a predator as the tigers he cares for. I do want to be around the tigers and he is their keeper, so I don’t burn my bridges. But believe me, I can look after myself and I know how to deal with predators.’
Dylan blinked. For a moment he had thought the tiger was snaking around Tabitha’s chair, but it flickered out like a candle being snuffed out. ‘Shall we go through to the living room? I wouldn’t say no to a fire after that soaking.’
Tabitha followed him to the other room and sat down on the sofa, her legs curled up underneath her. She sipped her gin and tonic in silence and watched him build the fire. He felt her gaze on his back and his heart rate rose. Finishing, he dusted off his hands and sat on the sofa next to her. She was so close, but the distance between them felt insurmountable. As she stared into the fire they might as well have been in different worlds.
The silence stretched out.
‘How’s the painting going?’ he asked, grasping for something to say.
She frowned, pursing her lips. ‘That question is more loaded than you intended, I think.’
Silence.
‘Maybe I can help you figure things out?’ Dylan’s voice was rough and he coughed to clear his throat.
Tabitha sighed. ‘I’m supposed to be working on a huge commission and I really can’t afford to be late with it. But every time I sit down to paint I see images in my mind and I know I have to draw them.’
‘What kind of images?’ Dylan leaned forwards. There was a weird tension about her, as though she was crouched, ready to pounce. It filled him with expectation.
She reached into her satchel, pulled out a sketchbook and handed it to Dylan.
Dylan took the book and started leafing through. At first there were pictures of the tigers, pages and pages of them. Then he turned the next sheet and froze. His own eyes stared at him from the page. He gasped. ‘How did you make me look so …’
Tabitha frowned. She tilted her head and looked at him through narrow eyes. ‘That’s how you look when you play the drums. That’s the light that shines out of your entire body. Haven’t you seen it before?’
Dylan shook his head, not sure what to say. ‘Could I … buy this?’
‘No. Have it. She took the book and carefully detached the picture. ‘I shouldn’t really have drawn you without permission, so it’s yours anyway. Keep going. You haven’t got to the pictures I was talking about.’
He turned the page and found an action sketch of him wrestling with another man. His head was being forced around so that he could see his own profile, twisted in a grimace. The other man was furious. His teeth were bared in a snarl as he pushed his face into Dylan’s space. It was Max.
‘You’ve been seeing this image?’
‘Repeatedly. I see it when I’m asleep. I see it when I’m drawing. It pops into my head when I’m walking along the street. I can’t shake the feeling that something is coming, and it has to do with you and Max.’
Dylan closed the book. ‘It’s just a bad dream. It isn’t real. Max is a bully, but I can take care of myself.’
Tabitha sighed. ‘I’m sure you can, but you’re a good guy. Max has no scruples. He is all about winning. Nothing else matters.’
‘What makes you so sure this is real?’
Tabitha shifted in her seat. She untucked her legs and sat up, dropping her head into her hands. ‘I don’t know. But these visions won’t let go of me.’
Dylan looked at her. ‘Do you have other visions?’
‘Like what?’
Dylan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she might understand, he just hoped he wasn’t about to make a fool of himself. ‘Do you ever see a white tiger walking around Wildley Forest Village?’
Tabitha frowned. ‘It sounds as though you do?’
Disappointment settled in Dylan’s chest. ‘Oh, no. It’s nothing.’
Tabitha leaned forwards, resting her elbows on her thighs. ‘You shouldn’t dismiss it. Visions exist to tell us something, even if it’s not immediately clear what the message is. Tell me about your tiger.’
Dylan’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned back on the sofa. ‘I’ve been seeing her more and more, but nobody else notices. She can’t be real, but I don’t know what she is, or where she comes from.’
‘How do you know it’s a she?’
‘I just know.’
‘You don’t think she’s real?’ Tabitha’s eyes were wide.
Dylan couldn’t help thinking there was a right answer to this question, but he wasn’t sure what it was. ‘Well, that’s not quite right. She’s real, but a real what? She’s not a flesh-and-blood tiger. She’s not a ghost either. I’ve touched her and she’s solid and warm, but other times she vanishes into thin air. I don’t know what to make of her.’
‘Is she frightening?’ Tabitha’s voice was soft, quiet.
‘Not since the first time. I feel a connection to her, as though she’s my muse, or something. That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?’
‘Not to me.’ Tabitha smiled. Her face was alight with something that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Whatever test had been set, he had obviously passed.
She took the sketch book and started leafing through the pictures. ‘Is this her?’
Dylan’s breath caught in his throat. The tiger looking at him from the page was achingly familiar. The expression in the wise eyes was so human it was hard to believe she was an animal at all. He swallowed. ‘That’s her. You do see her too?’
Tabitha laughed. ‘In a manner of speaking.’ She seemed to find this funny and he wasn’t sure why. But her smile warmed his insides, beginning to thaw the isolation that had set in when the gulf widened between him and his friends.
‘I know that tiger well. You can be certain she’s looking out for you.’
Dylan felt a flutter in his chest. Tabitha’s leg was very close to his now. One small movement and there was just a breath between them. He felt air tingling across his skin. His sense of her was so strong and familiar that he couldn’t imagine ever letting her walk away. He thought of nothing but her. The life he had lived for so long suddenly looked brutally empty.
‘Tabitha,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
She just looked at him and held his gaze, her eyes huge, liquid pools of turquoise blue. Her lips were parted, her chest rising and falling with each breath. She reached up, paused, her hand in mid-air, and then brushed away a copper strand of hair. ‘So why are you running away from Linden?’ she asked, leaning back on the chair.
Dylan swallowed. ‘We had a row, a fight, even. I need to move out. Things aren’t working anymore.’
Tabitha paled. ‘I hope you weren’t arguing about me.’
Dylan sighed. ‘Don’t pay any attention to them. I’d rather spend time with you any day.’
Tabitha shook her head. ‘I won’t get between you and your friends. They irritate you because you love them. You think they’re holding you back from the career you want, but what if it’s not their fault? What if it’s always been fear that has got in your way and they’re just a convenient scapegoat? Do you really think they’d stop you going after your dreams?’
Dylan frowned. ‘How do you know all that? We’ve never talked about my career.’
Tabitha flushed, pulled on her shoes and stood up.
‘Never mind.’
‘Please don’t go!’ Dylan leapt up and put a hand on her arm.
She turned to look at him.
He let out the breath he had been holding. ‘You saw how angry Linden was.’
Tabitha shrugged. ‘I saw a man who felt humiliated on stage. I saw him lashing out because he was embarrassed. I saw a group of guys who have built their identity around a band, and who know that one of the members is going to leave them because he’s too good to stay. I saw their fear at what they would become without you, at whether they could ever be good enough without your heartbeat lighting them up and holding them together. I saw men who are hanging onto the last vestiges of boyhood, because guess what? It’s bloody hard to become an adult and all of us get angry at some point when we are pushed to rise to the challenge.’
Dylan stared at her, his eyes wide. He swallowed. ‘But why would they treat you the way they did?’
‘Because they looked at me and couldn’t make sense of what they saw. They knew I was different, but they didn’t understand it and that scared them.’
Dylan shook his head. ‘How do you know all this stuff?’
Tabitha smiled, but her eyes were sad. ‘Because they’re right: I am different. I see things other people haven’t learned to recognise. Let’s just say I have a lot in common with your tiger.’
Dylan stepped towards her. They were standing so close now that the air hummed between them. He reached up one hand, paused, and then touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers. Tingles ran up his arm from the contact and a shiver ran through him. Her skin was warm and unbelievably soft. He could hear his own breathing mingle with hers, could feel their heartbeats in sync though they were barely touching. Her lips were full and parted. He began to lean in, and then reached out one hand and found the tips of her fingers with his own.
‘No.’ Tabitha stepped away, breaking the contact. ‘Your friends matter. I won’t be the reason you lose them. You can mend this, and then there will be other moments.’ She turned away, walked out through the living room door and into the hall. She reached up to the hooks, took down her raincoat and pulled it on.
Wild Shadow : A Sweet Paranormal Romance Page 10