“You want to lock him up and cut off the ends of his fingers?” I stood and began pacing at a feverish pace. “He didn’t even know what he was doing!”
“We have to make a statement, Titus. If we let him off easy, we’ll be eroding our authority. Inviting insurrection.”
Bullshit. “What about Robyn?” I demanded. “How much is left on her sentence?”
Wade’s silence made the hair at the back of my neck rise. “She broke her word. We can’t let that go unpunished either.”
“You won’t touch her,” I growled, my hand clenching around the phone. “No one touches her.” Too late, I realized they would hear the truth in my voice. In my words.
Fuck them all.
Suddenly it seemed so simple.
Robyn belonged with me, and if a single one of them tried to lay a hand on her, I’d bring the war to them.
“Of course no one’s going to touch her,” Wade insisted. “We’re just extending her house arrest. To one year, from the day she returns.”
“A year?”
“It’s a very generous offer!” Paul Blackwell’s shaky, angry voice was easy to identify. I hadn’t even realized he was on the call.
“Yes, and it comes with a time limit,” Wade added. “You have twenty-four hours. After that, the deal goes away, and we’ll have no choice but to come for Robyn and Justus. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Hand over my brother and my girlfriend, or you’ll invade my territory, kidnap Robyn, and kill Justus.
Let them try it. We’d be ready for them.
“You’re coming in loud and clear, Rick. You’ll hear from me soon.” I hung up the phone. Then I threw it at the wall.
My cell shattered into a thousand shards of glass, aluminum, and electronic guts.
The office door opened. Robyn’s curvy silhouette appeared in the doorway, backlit by light from the hall. She squinted into the room, then turned toward the kitchen. “Hey Naveen, Titus is going to need a new phone!”
“I’m on it!” he shouted.
She stepped into the room and closed the door. “I take it that didn’t go well?”
“See?” I smiled in spite of the circumstances and pulled her close. “I told you you were smart.”
“Asshole.” But she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder.
I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. “They offered me a deal. They said they’d take the death penalty off the table for Justus if I agree.”
Robyn stepped back, her eyes wide. “That’s great! What do they want…?” Her question faded into pained silence as comprehension crashed over her. “They want me.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Well, that’s no real surprise.” She nodded, thinking aloud. “I was prepared to ask for his immunity in exchange for my return anyway. And it’s only temporary.” She stood on her toes and whispered the rest into my ear. “I’ll be back as soon as I can convince them I’m all better. No more than a month, and we’ll have thirty days’ absence to make up for.”
“You’ll be gone longer than a month, Robyn.”
“What?” She dropped onto her heels and frowned up at me. “Why?”
“To punish you? To punish me?” I exhaled and spat out the rest of it. “They’re extending your house arrest for a year.”
“A year? A fucking year? With no school? No family? No…you?”
I nodded, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth were starting to creak.
“And if I don’t go, I’ll be signing your brother’s death warrant.”
“And even if you do, they’re going to declaw him and lock him up in someone’s basement.” They’d locked Faythe up once. And one of her brothers, though I’d heard he’d deserved it. “But it’s not going to come to that.” I tilted her chin up until her gaze met mine. “We’re going to fight.”
Her frown deepened into skepticism. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not giving either of you to the council, Robyn. I can’t live with that. They’re going to come in and try to take you, and we’re going to fight. There are more of us. They don’t even know how many more of us there are. They have no idea what they’ll be marching into.”
“No!” Suddenly she looked horrified. “Titus, most of your strays are untrained. Many of them are new and still adjusting, and fully half of them don’t even recognize your authority yet. You promised to bring them acknowledgment, support, and respect from the council, but you’re giving them war. They’re not going to fight for you. And I won’t ask them to fight for me. To die for a woman they’ve never even met. They deserve better than that.”
“I know.” As usual, Robyn was right. “But those are our options. And I’m not using you as a bargaining chip.”
“Fine.” She backed away from me, determination etched into her expression, and I could practically feel a gulf opening between us. “But this is my decision, and I’m going to make it. I’m not going to let everything you’re building here fall to pieces because of me. And I’m not going to let them hurt your brother.” She pulled her phone from her pocket.
“Robyn…” My voice held a firm edge of warning. “What are you doing?”
She clicked on a name in her contacts list, and I heard the phone ring. Then someone answered.
“Ms. Sheffield?” Rick Wade sounded as stunned as I felt.
“Yeah.” Robyn turned away from me and paced across the dark room, toward the far wall of bookshelves. “I’m calling to renegotiate.”
“Robyn, hang up the phone,” I said, but she waved me off with a scowl.
“I’ll turn myself in, and in exchange, you let Justus go. He had no idea what he was doing, and he’ll never do it again. But I broke your rules on purpose. And I’m the one you want anyway.”
Wade cleared his throat. “I’m afraid we can’t do that. However, we might be willing to reduce his sentence. But not unless you’re willing to make more of a long-term commitment to the council.”
“I wouldn’t be calling if I weren’t.”
“Robyn!” I whispered frantically, panic bubbling in my gut. But again she ignored me.
“I’ll join the Southeast Pride—as a permanent member—if you agree to…six months rehabilitation for Justus. No other disciplinary measures.”
“No!” I reached for her phone, but she pushed me back, fire flashing in her eyes.
“That’s an interesting proposal,” Wade said over the line. “I’ll take it to the rest of the council, and—”
“Not good enough,” she snapped. “You commit right now, or I’m withdrawing my offer. I’ll serve out my year with the Di Carlos, then I’ll leave, just like Abby, and you’ll lose me forever. Your call.”
“Robyn, please…” I whispered, and everything else faded into the darkness of the room as I watched her. I couldn’t see the shelves, or the couches, or my desk. Nothing else existed, except what I was about to lose.
The woman I was no longer sure I could live without.
“I can’t do that without consulting—”
“Bullshit,” Robyn spat into the phone. “You’ll be a hero, and we both know it. Ten seconds. Nine… Eight… Seven…”
“Fine.” Wade exhaled heavily. “You have a deal. Your permanent citizenship in exchange for a six-month rehabilitation sentence for Justus Alexander. Effective immediately. We’ll send someone to pick you both up.”
Robyn nodded, though he couldn’t see her, and a growl rumbled up from my throat. “Send Marc Ramos,” she said. “He’s the only one I trust, other than Faythe, and I know she’s exhausted.”
“Done,” Wade said. “He’ll be there in eight hours.”
She hung up the phone and turned to me. Tears stood in her eyes, but her voice was steady. “Take care of your brother, when he gets back. Take care of your men. And don’t be so eager to get them all killed for a girl you just met.” Then she turned and ran out the door.
“Robyn!” I shouted after her. But she w
as already gone.
I’d already lost her. The only woman I’d ever truly cared about, other than my mother.
Fuck. That.
I marched into the kitchen. “Knox, I need your phone.”
“Sure. Here.” He dug his cell from his pocket with one heavily tattooed hand and slapped it into my palm. I dialed by memory.
Marc answered on the third ring.
“It’s me,” I said.
“Hey, Titus, I’m so sorry about how that went down.”
“I know.” I sank into a barstool at the island, well aware that Knox was listening. “Are you alone?”
“Just me and little Greg. We’re letting Faythe get some sleep. Why?”
“Rick Wade’s about to call you. And I need a favor. From one stray to another…”
TWENTY-FIVE
Robyn
I closed the drapes in my bedroom and tried to sleep, but wound up staring at the ceiling instead. For hours. Trying not to think about what I’d done. About the rest of my life spent in Atlanta, where I didn’t have a single friend.
How long would it take them to wear me down? How long before I agreed to marry some tom, just to shut them all up?
Never. Happen.
I didn’t realize I’d finally drifted off until a knock on the door woke me up. “I’m busy!” I sat up and ran my hands through my hair. If I’d wanted to see Titus, I would have come down for lunch.
“It’s me,” he called from the hallway. I scowled at the door, ready to tell him that I knew who he— “Justus.”
Oh.
“It’s open.”
The younger Alexander brother came in and closed the door, and to his credit, he didn’t say anything about me lying alone in a dark room, in the middle of the day.
“Marc called.” He sat on the edge of the bed, and I scooted forward to join him, my legs dangling over the side. “He’s a few minutes away.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“I want you to know that you don’t have to do this.” Justus pinned me with his serious gaze, and it was like looking at a younger version of Titus. “I made mistakes, and I’m ready to pay for them.”
“You had no idea what you were doing.” I scrounged up a small smile. “You need training and support, not punishment.”
Justus nodded. And for a moment, we sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence.
“Are you packed?” he asked at last.
I glanced at the suitcase standing next to the door. I had packed it, but… “I’m not taking anything.” Wearing the clothes Titus had bought me would only make it that much harder to forget him.
And I had to forget him. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life in the Southeast Pride, thinking about what I’d lost. What I’d given up.
“Abby can have the clothes. She’ll have to have them taken in, though.” I shrugged. “Or the guys can donate them to charity.”
“Robyn, I…” Justus cleared his throat and started over. “I wanted to say thank you. My brother would never have found me without you. Drew would have killed me.” He threw his arms around me in a hug that smelled like Titus, but felt much more…fragile.
Justus felt so young.
“Oh, hon, Titus would never have let that happen.” I rubbed his back, blinking away tears. “He would take care of you no matter what. He let himself get kicked out of the Pride to protect you.”
“And you’re doing the same thing. I just… I want you to know how much you mean to him.” He let me go and met my gaze with a teary one of his own. “Titus has never called anyone his girlfriend before. It sounds stupid, but that’s huge for him.”
I sniffled back more tears.
From outside came the swelling rumble of an engine as it drove closer. Marc had arrived.
“Thank you for telling me that.” I pulled Justus into another brief hug, blinking away my tears. “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to hate every second of their ‘rehabilitation’ but you’re going to be fine.”
The vehicle stopped out front, and the engine died. I turned to the window as a car door closed. Time’s up.
I stood, and Justus stood with me. “At least we’ll be together. For the drive, anyway,” I said.
We found Marc in the kitchen, contemplating a leftover omelet Knox was trying to get him to eat. He seemed to be hesitating over the arugula.
They both turned when they heard our footsteps. “Robyn.” Marc held his arms open, and I reluctantly accepted a hug, in spite of the tiny handprint-shaped stain on his shirt that smelled like SpaghettiOs. “And you must be Justus.” He let me go and stuck one hand out for Titus’s brother to shake.
“Yes. Sir.” Justus accepted the hand and shook it firmly. He looked terrified, yet dignified. Just like his brother. “I want to say thanks for this.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” Marc grinned. “You won’t truly know what you’ve gotten into until Faythe hauls you out of the bathroom because pregnant women always have dibs.”
What? Justus got to spend his rehabilitation with Faythe and Marc, while I got stuck with the Di Carlos?
“You ready?” Marc asked him, as Titus appeared in the doorway.
Titus looked at me, and a world of emotion swirled in his gray-eyed gaze. I wanted to go to him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and kiss him goodbye, at least. But that would make this so much harder.
Justus nodded. “What do I have to do?”
“Just follow my lead,” Marc said.
I glanced around in confusion to see that Lochlan, Naveen, and Brandt had all filed into the kitchen and stood watching, their expressions carefully blank.
What the hell?
“Justus Anthony Alexander, do you hereby vow to follow orders from your Alphas, to remain loyal to your Pride in all things, and to put nothing before the good of the Pride?”
“I sure as hell do.” Justus looked straight ahead, his formal bearing in contrast with an answer that drew a chuckle from both Marc and Titus.
“Then I hereby accept you as a member of the South-Central Pride, on behalf of myself and of my co-Alpha Faythe Sanders, who is unable to be here, because the doctor said she’s already traveled too much for her seventh month of pregnancy and needs to rest.”
Titus and the other guys laughed.
I stared around the kitchen in absolute astonishment. “What?” I looked at Marc, wide-eyed. “Did you just induct him into your Pride?”
“Yes.” Marc shook Justus’s hand again. “And now that he’s officially a member, he’s guaranteed a trial. A chance to prove himself innocent. No matter what.”
“What?” I turned to Titus, mystified. “What’s going on? What am I not understanding?”
He held up one finger, a small smile haunting the corners of his mouth. “Wait a minute. This is the best part.” Titus pulled his new phone from his pocket and dialed. “Hello, Rick? It’s Titus. I have an answer for you.”
“Um…I don’t understand,” Rick said over the line. “Robyn already gave us an answer.”
“She didn’t have the authority to negotiate on behalf of my brother or me. Justus has just been sworn in as a member of the South-Central Pride. Which guarantees him the right to a fair trial, no matter what happens with my territory, or with Robyn. And since you no longer have any leverage over me, I think Robyn should have a chance to make a more informed decision. Hang on, and I’ll let you talk to her.”
Titus held the phone out to me.
Are you serious? I mouthed.
He nodded with a huge smile.
I looked around the room and found all of the guys—Marc and Justus included—grinning at me. They’d clearly known about this the whole time.
I held the phone up to my ear, my heart pounding deep in my chest. “Rick? Thank you so much for entertaining my earlier proposal, but as I’m not currently a member of one of your Prides, I’m withdrawing my offer in order to join the Mississippi Valley Pride. If you want to keep me under the council’s authority and influence, you’re
going to have to acknowledge my Pride and the authority of my Alpha. Titus Alexander. We look forward to hearing from you when you have a decision for us. Bye!” I hung up the phone while Rick Wade sputtered in shock.
I gave Titus back his phone. My head spun. “I can’t believe I just did that.” My hands fell to my sides. “What if they invade?”
“They won’t,” Marc said. “Right about now, Faythe is reminding them that you never officially joined the Southeast, or any other Pride, which means that they have no authority over you. And that if they decide to fight the Mississippi Valley for you, they’ll also be fighting the South-Central Pride. And the Appalachian Pride. They might be willing to go to war with Titus, but they won’t be willing to fight another civil war so soon after the last one.”
“How did this happen?” I whisper, stunned.
Titus pulled me into a hug and smiled down at me. “I called in every favor I could. Faythe and Marc stepped up. And Abby’s brother came through, with Jace’s former Pride. It turns out he’s tired of being a pawn and ready to sit at the grownups’ table.”
“I can’t believe you did this for me.” I stood on my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I couldn’t lose you, Robyn. You are the smartest, sexiest most infuriating tabby I’ve ever met. The Mississippi Valley Pride is honored to call you our own.”
“Here, here!” came the chorus from around me.
“That’s good!” I glanced around the room, tears in my eyes, a grin glued to my face. “Because you misfit bastards are all stuck with me!”
“They can welcome you to the territory later.” Titus took my hand and tugged me toward the stairs leading to his bedroom, the heat in his eyes burning into me. “For the next few hours, you’re all mine…”
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Blind Tiger! I hope you’re enjoying the Wildcats series, a spinoff of the Shifters series, which launched my career. If you haven’t already read it, don’t forget to check out “Hunt,” the short story that bridges the two series.
When I ended the Shifters series in 2010, I thought I’d run out of stories to tell in that world. Then when I was revising the “Hunt” story four years later for an independent re-release, a throwaway line about Jace’s tenure as Alpha sparked the idea that became the basis for the Wildcats books. What if there was a Pride made up entirely of strays? How would the Territorial Council react? What challenges would this new Pride face? Who would lead it? How would its social and political structure differ from what we’ve seen in the established territories? And most importantly, how will all those strays ever find love in a world that rejects them based on their very nature?
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