Wild Shadow : A Sweet Paranormal Romance

by Martha Dunlop

  Max was gesturing, but she wasn’t letting him in. He was getting more agitated now, pointing up at the sky and his now-soaked clothes. Then he went inside. Something streaked through the air over Max’s head, and then the door closed behind him.

  ‘Damn,’ Dylan muttered to himself. What was the man up to now? Every time Dylan got close to Tabitha, Max got in the way. He could tell how much Max put Tabitha on edge and that just exacerbated his own irritation.

  Pulling on his raincoat and dragging the hood as far as he could over his head, he picked up the bottle of wine from the kitchen worktop and ran out into the rain. His feet were soaked in moments from the enormous puddles on the road, but he was beyond caring. Max was in there with Tabitha, and he didn’t trust him.

  He hammered on the door and it swung open.

  Max leaned against the door frame, a tight smile on his face. ‘And what might you be doing here?’

  ‘I was invited. What’s your excuse?’

  ‘Tabitha, is that true?’ Max turned but didn’t move his bulk out of the narrow doorway.

  ‘Yes. Let him in.’

  His brows pulled together, but he stood upright and stepped back. Dylan ducked as he came through the low door.

  He pulled up short and straightened. Two barn owls sat on the windowsill, their sleek white forms silhouetted against the sky while they watched him with inky-black eyes.

  Tabitha stood next to him, her long, copper hair framing her delicate face. Her bright blue eyes were so familiar he felt his heart squeeze. She was his tiger and the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. How could it have taken him so long to realise?

  He swallowed. Reaching out his hand, he offered her the bottle of wine.

  She took it, smiling. ‘Would you like some?’

  He nodded, his throat too dry for words.

  ‘I’d love some, thanks for asking.’ Max cut across the connection, breaking the mood. His lips compressed and his eyes narrowed as he glared at Dylan. ‘It looks like we’re all going to be stuck here together for a while, unless you’re planning to head home, Dylan? After all, I’m sure it’s safe to cross the road, even in this weather.’

  ‘I was invited. Were you?’ Dylan repeated, allowing irritation to flow into his words.

  Max stepped back, his jaw tightening. ‘Some of us don’t have the luxury of living nearby. Luckily I have good friends willing to take me in during a storm.’

  ‘How poetic.’ Dylan said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Boys, boys, please stop the tantrums.’ Tabitha turned on a small TV in the corner and set it to a twenty-four-hour news channel. ‘Here you are.’ She handed them each a large glass of red wine, and then gestured to the table next to the small kitchen. ‘Help yourself to nibbles. I only catered for two, but I’m sure I can pull more together if anyone’s still hungry.’

  ‘This is perfect, thank you.’ Dylan took the wine. Putting a canapé in his mouth whole, he wandered over to the paintings and stopped in front of the picture of the white tiger that had caused so many problems before.

  ‘This is my favourite,’ he said, turning to Tabitha and holding her bright-blue gaze. ‘I have a soft spot for white tigers.’

  A smile played around the edges of her lips. She sipped her wine but said nothing.

  ‘I prefer the yellow kind myself.’ Max scowled. ‘They seem fiercer, somehow. More primal. White tigers are every bit as dangerous, but for some reason we’ve romanticised them. They are killers, predators to be feared not adored. Only a fool believes anything else.’

  ‘You’re right,’ Tabitha said, putting her wine down and walking over to him on feet as silent as the cat she was barely containing. Her voice was soft, but deadly. ‘You won’t hear the tiger coming and you’ll be dead before you know she’s there, unless she wants you to live. Never underestimate her.’

  Max shuddered. ‘I saw one, you know. I saw it outside your house and then again in the cat enclosure playing with my tigers. By the morning it was gone, and nobody else had seen it. Nobody apart from Dylan.’

  ‘Then you’re lucky.’ Tabitha leaned on the edge of a wooden display table, crossing her delicate arms across her chest. ‘How many people can say they’ve seen a white tiger on the streets near their home?’

  ‘Near your home,’ Max said, eyes narrowed.

  Tabitha laughed. ‘Yes, near my home.’

  Max stepped closer, tilting his head to one side. ‘I just think it’s strange, that’s all. You turn up with a tiger obsession and suddenly a white tiger is prowling the streets of Wildley Forest Village and playing with the tigers you like to draw. Then it turns out you have a painting of an identical tiger in your showroom, set to sell for a small fortune. I know you draw from life. You’re there by my tigers every day doing just that. So which particular tiger modelled for this picture, I wonder? Private collections are a risky business when you’re talking big cats.’

  Dylan let out a bark of laughter. ‘You think Tabitha has a tiger stowed away in here somewhere?’

  ‘Well, not in the showroom, obviously. But I’ve never been out the back, or upstairs.’

  ‘Good to know,’ Dylan said, not caring that the grin spreading across his face was a direct taunt.

  ‘What are you getting at, Max?’ Tabitha said, her jaw tight. ‘Were you really unable to get home, or is there something else you wanted?’

  He tilted his chin up. ‘I’d like to have a look around. If there is a tiger here, we need to get it secured as soon as possible.’

  Tabitha rolled her eyes. ‘Have you seen the size of my home? Can you really imagine a tiger in here?’

  ‘Maybe that’s why it’s getting out. Dylan and I were lucky to escape that last encounter alive. Next time, it will confront someone who doesn’t know what to do.’

  Dylan raised his eyebrows. Max had not been so self-assured when the tiger faced him down, but he was doing an admirable job of pretending otherwise. If Tabitha hadn’t actually been there, she might even have believed this story. He suppressed a smile.

  ‘Oh for goodness’ sake, have a look then. The back door’s over there.’ Tabitha inclined her head towards the rear of the shop. ‘But this is your one and only chance, so you’d better do a thorough job. Make sure you check the shed and the path around the side of the house. Oh, and the gap behind the rockery. A tiger could definitely lie in wait there. Wildley Forest is relying on you, Max. Don’t let them down.’

  48

  Dylan

  Max slammed into Dylan’s shoulder as he walked to the back door.

  Dylan grunted, but didn’t react.

  The door clattered against the wall as a gust of wind shoved it out of Max’s hand, knocking it inwards.

  ‘I’d like to have a door at the end of the night please,’ Tabitha called after him. ‘Particularly if there are tigers on the loose.’

  Max’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing as he stepped outside and shut the door behind him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Tabitha said with a sigh. ‘I didn’t invite him. He just turned up, but I couldn’t send him packing in this weather.’

  ‘I know. I saw him arrive and I saw how pleased you didn’t look. But I can’t believe you’re letting him poke around.’

  Tabitha sighed. ‘I know, but I wanted to speak to you alone, and I couldn’t figure out another way to get rid of him. Don’t worry, there’s nothing tiger-like out there. There’s nothing tiger-like anywhere apart from my paintings.’

  ‘And you.’

  She nodded. ‘And me. But Max wouldn’t understand that.’

  ‘I’m not sure I do either, but I’d love to try if you’ll give me the chance?’

  Tabitha looked at him for a moment. ‘What happens in your mind when you play music?’

  Dylan furrowed his eyebrows. She watched him, her huge, blue eyes glowing in the dim light. He was breathless, but forced his voice to sound steady. ‘I step out of my normal reality and into something bigger. I connect to the people I play
with through the music, but also through the way my body interacts with my instrument. When I’m performing well and my audience are loving it, we are all part of the same, beating organism, flying together.’

  Tabitha smiled. ‘It’s the same thing. When I draw or paint, I feel that too. But I actually take the next step and travel consciously outside of my body.’

  ‘But sometimes you’re solid. I’ve felt the tiger’s fur. It’s so soft.’

  Tabitha shrugged. ‘I’m not really sure how I do that. But when I’m travelling, the difference between light and matter isn’t an issue. I can be whatever I want to be.’

  ‘So could you travel as a different animal? Like these barn owls, for example?’

  One of the owls shrieked and Tabitha laughed. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I could. I’ve never tried. I don’t set out to be a tiger, that’s just how I look when I’m on the move.’

  ‘That’s how you knew all that stuff, isn’t it? You knew about my compositions, that I’d made up with my friends, and more.’

  Tabitha nodded.

  ‘You supported me. I remember. You sat on my feet when I needed strength. You stopped me from being alone, but do you watch me when the tiger isn’t there too? How do I know when I have privacy?’

  Tabitha swallowed. ‘Most people can’t see me when I travel, but you always have. If I’m there, you’ll see me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to spy, but I’m convinced there’s a purpose to all of this. That kind of magic doesn’t appear without a really good reason.’

  ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think … I think I’m trying to convince you that I’m not crazy, that I’m not some kind of weird stalker.’

  Dylan walked towards her, slowly. ‘I don’t think you’re crazy. I never have. I’m a bit embarrassed that you’ve seen my unguarded moments. You saw me composing, arguing with my friends, goodness knows what else. Have you seen me in the shower? In bed?’

  ‘Nothing like that. I swear it. I have only been pulled to you when I was needed or when there was something I needed to know. I saw you arguing with your friends because you needed the support I had to offer. I’m not sure why I saw you composing, but I’m so glad I did. Your music is incredible.’

  ‘When you turned up, things started to flow. I have been thinking of you as my muse. Every time the white tiger arrives, I become the best version of myself, but I thought she was a part of me. Now it turns out she was you all along. Part of me loves the idea, part of me is mortified. I really don’t know what to think.’ He sat on the armchair in the corner of the room and dropped his head into his hands.

  Tabitha knelt on the floor in front of him. She took his hands in her own and a thrill ran through him at the touch of her skin. ‘All I did was make you feel you weren’t alone. Everything else came from you. I didn’t give you creativity or confidence. I just showed you an image of something fierce, as a reminder that you can be fierce too. You stood up to your friends by yourself. You wrote that music by yourself, and recorded it too. I was privileged to be there with you, but that’s all I did.’

  Dylan turned to face her. She looked as beautiful as ever, her long, copper hair falling in waves around her shoulders, her huge eyes staring at him. For the first time, he saw something that looked like fear in her gaze. He reached up and stroked her cheek. ‘Tabitha, I—’

  The door rattled and then slammed open, caught by a gust of wind. ‘There’s nothing bloody well out there, and you knew it.’ Max stomped inside.

  Tabitha let out her breath in a rush and sat back on her heels. ‘Of course I knew it. I told you I wasn’t keeping tigers. You can look upstairs too if you like, but there’s nothing there either. There are signs of my tiger obsession in every inch of this house. I make my living drawing and painting them. It fills me up to have them around in every way I can, but I’m no fool. I’m not going to keep an enormous predator in my home. I wouldn’t want to even if I could. My dream is to take your tigers and release them into the wild so they don’t have to live in a cage and be subjected to your abuse, day in day out.’

  ‘You visit the zoo often enough and pay money for that access. That makes you just as much a part of the tigers’ captivity as me.’

  Tabitha reached out and traced one finger over the painting of the white tiger. She took a few deep breaths, before she turned to him again.

  ‘I know.’ She swallowed. ‘I spent a lot of time talking to the staff at the zoo before I joined. I moved here because Wildley Forest Zoo is doing so much conservation and reintroducing so many animals to the wild. I could have moved anywhere in the country to find tigers. I came here, for that reason and that reason only.’

  Max’s face coloured. He ground his teeth but said nothing and turned to look out the window. The wind was roaring, and a bin skittered down the street as though it were an empty wrapper. Rain lashed at the glass. A car horn blared, and the brakes squealed.

  Tabitha sighed. ‘Look, since we’re all stuck here together, have something to eat. Sit down. Chat with us, but stop picking fights with Dylan, and stop trying it on with me.’

  Max ground his teeth again. ‘I’m going to get some air.’

  ‘Max, there’s a storm outside, for goodness’ sake, come and sit down.’

  He yanked the front door open, stepped through and slammed it behind him.

  She strode after him and peered through the glass pane on the door. Coming back into the room, she shook her head. ‘He’s sitting on the doorstep. He won’t come to any harm there. I have tried so hard to head this off. Some people just don’t listen. He hears just enough of what I say to launch into his own story, never enough to understand.’

  Dylan’s hands were still clenched into fists. He could hear his pulse throbbing in his ears. ‘Has he ever threatened you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Has he ever actually tried it on with you?’

  ‘He’s made plenty of suggestions, but he’s never done anything I couldn’t get out of easily.’

  Dylan swallowed. ‘Okay then.’

  ‘I know he’s confrontational. I know you don’t like him and he’s done everything he can to wind you up. I get all that. But I need you to let it go. I have been dreaming about you and Max fighting for weeks. I’ve tried to keep you out of my head, but something is coming, and someone out there wants me to know about it. I can only assume that’s so I can do something to stop it. Please, don’t let him wind you up. Don’t give him that power over you. This storm is enough by itself. There’s something in it. I’m not sure what’s going on, but this energy is volatile. Barriers are breaking down and it’s up to us whether we use that for good or for bad.’

  A shiver ran down Dylan’s spine. ‘How do you know this?’

  ‘I can feel it. I can see what could come. It keeps playing out on the back of my eyelids, in my dreams both sleeping and waking. Believe me or don’t, but it is more real than anything else and could change the course of everything. Max is a difficult guy. Don’t let him spill over into your life any more than he needs to.’

  The door opened and Max came back in, a frown furrowing his forehead. ‘It’s getting worse out there.’

  There was a crash outside. One of the barn owls screeched and fluffed out its wings. Tabitha peered through the window. ‘The tree has blown down. Thank goodness you came in when you did. And thank goodness the owls were in here too. She crouched down, eye level with the birds and looked straight into their dark gaze.

  Dylan watched, his heart beating fast as some kind of silent conversation went on in front of him. Tabitha nodded and then stood up, reached for the TV remote and turned it up.

  Travellers are being urged to stay at home tonight as lashing winds reach unprecedented levels. There have already been numerous fatalities from falling trees and branches. Livestock have been seen roaming the increasingly flooded roads, released by fallen fences and broken gates. Unless it’s an emergency, stay indoors. Bring your pets in and keep warm.

&n
bsp; ‘What happens to the zoo animals in this kind of situation?’ Dylan asked, wandering over to the window. The glass was cold and the wind was blustering through the wooden frames and old-fashioned glass.

  ‘They stay in their sleeping quarters,’ Max said. ‘There’s always staff at the zoo and the rest of us are on-call. They’ll be fine.’

  ‘We won’t find them wandering the flooded streets of Wildley Forest Village then?’

  Max laughed. The sound was grating and added to Dylan’s unease.

  A sharp ringing cut through the tension. Max pulled his phone out of his pocket. He walked over to the window as he listened, turning his back to the room.

  ‘Look, Dylan …’ Tabitha held his gaze. She reached out one delicate hand.

  His heart beat faster. He took it. Her skin was warm and sent tingles through his own hand and up his arm. He swallowed.

  ‘Lock them in their sleeping quarters.’ Max’s voice jarred Dylan out of his reverie. Max lapsed into silence, listening to the voice on the other end of the phone. ‘Well try to get them back in. I’m on my way.’ He slid the phone back in his pocket, grabbed his coat from the hook opposite the door and shoved his arms into the sleeves.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Tabitha said, frowning. ‘It’s not safe out there.’

  ‘I’ve been asked to check on the tigers. One of the trees is leaning towards the perimeter. I need to make sure the cats are secure.

  ‘You can’t go out in that,’ Dylan said.

  ‘I have to. If a tree breaches the wall of the enclosure, who knows what could happen.’

  49

  Dylan

  Dylan blinked. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, and then opened them again. The world felt distorted. The wind howled around the tiny, stone cottage and one of the barn owls on the windowsill shrieked. It fluffed its feathers and then settled back down.