Top Gun Tiger: Protection, Inc. - Book 7

by Chant, Zoe

  But the eyes of the T-Rex were embedded in cavern-like sockets protected by scales as tough as Kevlar, and the dinosaur wasn’t as reckless as the hell pig had been. It ducked and weaved, making itself an impossible target. Every one of his bullets bounced off its scaly armor.

  Disbelieving, Ethan heard his gun click on an empty chamber.

  “The tower,” whispered Destiny. “It’s our only chance.”

  He grabbed her hand, and they sprinted for the entrance. The T-Rex roared angrily, loud enough to make their ears ring. The thud of its footstep shook the ground, nearly knocking them off their feet. Ethan didn’t dare look back. He put on an extra burst of speed, giving it everything he had. With his longer legs, he outpaced Destiny, so he was half-dragging, half-carrying her as they burst through the open doorway.

  An immense reptilian snout slammed into the narrow doorway, shaking the tower. The T-Rex roared in frustration, sending a fog of hot lizard breath over them.

  Destiny and Ethan began tearing up the spiral staircase that wound around the inside of the tower like a gigantic spring. The T-Rex couldn’t get in, but the T-Rex was also a man with a tranquilizer rifle and no doubt a regular gun as well. But once they got to the top before him, they’d have a massive advantage. It was far too tall for the T-Rex to reach, and no one in their right mind would want to climb a narrow staircase to try to attack enemies above.

  Once again, Ethan’s legs gave him the edge in speed. There was just enough room for two to walk abreast, so he put his arm around her waist and hauled her up with him. They reached the roof in record time, then dropped down, gasping and panting. They’d just run flat-out up the equivalent of ten steep flights of stairs. Even for a Recon Marine and a shifter, that was a lot.

  But they only took a moment to catch their breath before looking down. The T-Rex was still a T-Rex, stomping around the base of the tower and roaring impotently. Every time it thudded its foot down, the tower quivered.

  Doubtfully, Destiny asked, “Think if we stay here long enough, he’ll go away to call for backup?”

  Ethan shrugged. “I’m hoping if we stay here long enough, he’ll get frustrated enough to turn back into a man and try climbing the steps. Then we take him out the instant he pokes his head into reach.”

  The T-Rex cocked its gigantic head. There was a cunning gleam in its reptilian eyes that Ethan didn’t like one bit. The dinosaur edged closer until it got a grip on the tower with its little front arms. They didn’t look strong, but the entire tower shook hard enough to knock Ethan and Destiny into each other’s arms.

  She was very warm and very soft, and he regretted it very much when she untangled herself. But then the T-Rex shook the tower again, and they once again had to grab on to each other. This time she didn’t let go, and he certainly wasn’t going to. Stealthily, he lowered his head and inhaled the intoxicating scent of her hair.

  “Of everyone I’ve ever known, you’re the one I’d most want to have on my side when I’m out of bullets and treed by a T-Rex,” she said.

  “Same here. Also on the bright side, it is literally impossible for this situation to get any worse.”

  The T-Rex shook the tower and roared. There was a sharp bang. A hairline crack appeared in the marble beneath their feet, and a piece of a turret split off and shattered on the street below.

  Ethan’s belly tightened. He’d thought they were safe as long as they stayed where they were, but not if the T-Rex could shake the whole tower down like a Jenga stack.

  Destiny’s eyes glinted with a greenish spark that alarmed him; he’d last seen it right before she’d nearly lost control and become a tiger. “I could shift and jump down on it. If I landed on its back, I might be able to get my teeth around its neck.”

  His arms tightened around her in instinctive protectiveness. “Absolutely not. That thing is twenty feet tall and bullets bounced off it! It’d knock you off and stomp you flat.”

  “Got a better idea?”

  “Anything that doesn’t involve you committing suicide!” Ethan thought for a moment. “I could jump down on its head and stab it in the eye.”

  “That’s not better!”

  The tower shook violently. There was another loud crack, and the split in the marble widened. Ethan thought frantically, but he couldn’t come up with any better ideas. Stab in the eye it was. He let go of Destiny and stood up, drawing his sword.

  “No!” Destiny shouted. She grabbed his arm, snarling. Her eyes were now green as the forest, the pupils contracted into slits. She was about to shift.

  He sheathed the sword and held her tight. “Easy. Easy, history nerd. You can control this…”

  A pterodactyl swooped out of the sky.

  It was like some hideous cross between a giant bird, a giant bat, and a flying lizard, with immense yellow-green wings made of thin membrane. Its vicious fanged beak opened wide as it dove toward them. Ethan let go of Destiny, leaped to his feet, and whipped his sword from its sheath to slash at the diving pterodactyl. It veered away, but not before he clipped one of its wingtips. It let out a piercing shriek, then circled in the sky above them like a vulture.

  The T-Rex gave the tower its hardest shake yet, knocking Ethan and Destiny sprawling. He heard crashes as pieces of it came off and smashed on the ground.

  Okay, Ethan thought grimly. I was wrong the first time. But now the situation can’t get any worse.

  Shredded cloth flew out in all directions as Destiny suddenly became a tiger. Roaring ferociously, she leaped over the edge.

  “No!” Ethan yelled. He rushed to the turret, his blood running cold with terror, just in time to see the T-Rex get a faceful of angry tiger.

  Chapter 12

  Destiny

  The tiger landed on the T-Rex’s snout. Berserk with rage and predatory instinct, she forgot everything but the urge to attack. The tiger slashed and bit wildly, digging in her claws to stay on as the T-Rex bellowed and shook its head. She would bite. She would kill. She would drink the big lizard’s blood and roar her triumph to the skies!

  Waves of fury and bloodlust washed over Destiny like she was caught in a storm at sea, helplessly tumbled head over heels by something far stronger than herself. She felt tiny and weak beside her tiger’s ferocity and strength. Besides, what good was Destiny? She was just a woman—a woman who didn’t even have a gun. The tiger was what Ethan needed, not the woman.

  Destiny tried to make her tiger lift her head so she could see how Ethan was doing. But Destiny wasn’t in control of her body, and the snarling beast ignored her. The tiger, losing her grip on the dinosaur’s snout, sprang forward and sank her teeth into the back of the great reptile’s neck. Yes! Here was the place. Now she could kill her prey!

  The T-Rex swung his great head in a panic, trying to knock the tiger off. Its head crashed into the tower, sending a huge crack up its side. But the tiger dodged the blow, then once again sank in her teeth, using all her strength to try to close her jaws.

  Stop! Destiny cried. The tower! Ethan’s on the tower!

  That got through to the tiger, which glanced up. Destiny and her tiger felt the same jolt of protective fear as they saw Ethan atop the leaning tower, bracing himself with one hand on a turret as he fought the pterodactyl that swooped and dove above him. He slashed at it with his sword, but the flying reptile was fast, dodging his blows and snapping at him with its long toothed beak.

  We will kill the big lizard, growled her tiger. Then we will kill the flying lizard. That’s the best way to help him!

  Not if he gets killed when the T-Rex knocks down the tower! Destiny shouted.

  But her tiger, too filled with protective fury to listen, chomped down harder on the T-Rex’s neck.

  The dinosaur let out an ear-splitting roar of pain and rage, and threw itself against the tower, desperately trying to dislodge the tiger. Her claws lost their grip on its back, but her jaws held tight. Destiny could only watch in horror as more cracks opened in the golden marble of the tower, and it began to t
ilt inexorably toward them.

  As the tower started to fall, Ethan dropped his sword, as if in panic, and tipped his head to stare up at the pterodactyl. Seeing his unprotected throat exposed, it dove in for the kill, claws first like a hawk dropping down on a rabbit.

  Ethan leaped upward and grabbed its feet just as the tower toppled. Screeching, the dinosaur flapped its leathery wings in a frantic attempt to stay airborne, but Ethan’s weight sent it spiraling down toward the ground.

  Within the tiger, Destiny experienced the surreal slowing of time she’d experienced before in combat, allowing her to see many possibilities in a split second that felt like an eternity. The T-Rex, distracted by her attack, was too busy trying to throw her off to notice that it was about to be squashed flat by a hundred tons of golden marble. But her tiger had sure noticed. Her muscles were bunched to leap off the T-Rex. And once she did, the T-Rex would look up and jump clear as well. Their one chance to kill it would be gone.

  Not yet, Destiny told her tiger.

  The big cat’s instinctive fear of death was overwhelming. Her panicked shriek filled Destiny’s mind. Jump! Jump! Jump!

  Her tiger was too strong for her. She was going to jump off, and then the T-Rex would kill her. And Ethan.

  She had to save him.

  Destiny fought her tiger, locking her muscles in place and her claws into the T-Rex’s neck. She watched, her blood like liquid ice in her veins, as the dinosaur thrashed and her tiger shrieked and the tower fell and fell as if in slow motion, blotting out the sky.

  NOW!

  Destiny released her hold on her tiger. The edge of the collapsing tower brushed against her tail as they jumped clear, then rolled head over paws on the marble street. A reptilian bellow was abruptly cut off as the tower smashed into the T-Rex with a tremendous crash.

  Chips and fragments of marble flew out like shrapnel, and a cloud of golden dust rose up. When it settled, she saw a giant pile of shattered marble, and, protruding from opposite ends of it, a gigantic claw and the tip of a scaly tail.

  But Destiny had no time to relax and be relieved. A furious reptilian screeching arose from the other side of the rubble pile, then a very human yell. She raced around it, intent on helping Ethan in his battle. She skidded around the corner, her paws slipping on the smooth marble, and found Ethan and the pterodactyl engaged in a desperate struggle on the ground.

  The flying dinosaur’s toothed beak snapped, its razor-sharp talons slashed, and its immense leathery wings flapped wildly. It was so much bigger than Ethan that at first she couldn’t even see him. Then both wings slapped into the ground at once, and she saw that he was astride the pterodactyl with his strong arms locked around its neck, his face buried in its back to protect his head from its beak and claws.

  Before she could do anything to help him out, the muscles of his arms bulged. There was a sharp crack, and the pterodactyl went limp. He had broken its neck.

  Ethan jumped free, standing with his back to her. Instantly, he bolted toward the tower, shouting her name.

  Unable to speak, she roared. Ethan turned around so fast he almost fell, then ran to her. He dropped to his knees before her, stroking her and burying his face in her fur. When he finally raised his head, she saw that his cheeks were wet with tears.

  “I thought you were dead,” he saw, his voice raw and choked. “I was yelling at you to jump, but you didn’t. I couldn’t get free of that thing until it was too late.”

  She was a tiger—a tiger who couldn’t even control herself enough to become human again—but he’d run toward her, not away from her, without even a second of hesitation. Even as she felt his arms around her, it seemed impossible.

  As if he’d guessed her thoughts, he said, “I’m not afraid of you. I could never be afraid of you. Your tiger isn’t a monster, it’s a part of you—the part that’s wild and fearless. Angry and willful and stubborn, maybe, but that’s part of you too. That’s okay. I’m like that too. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be Marines and bodyguards, we’d be accountants or interior decorators or baristas. But no matter how fierce your tiger is, it’s only as fierce as you are. She’d never do anything that isn’t in your own heart. You’d never hurt me, so neither will she.”

  It’s true, her tiger said. I’d rather jump into the big lizard’s mouth than hurt him.

  I believe you, Destiny replied. Though she couldn’t speak aloud, she intended her words for them both.

  It was no struggle to become a woman again. As she did, she watched as Ethan’s expression changed from one of intense relief to one of mingled desire and guilt, as if he was looking at something he knew he shouldn’t be. His face flushed pink, and he pulled off his shirt, turned his back, and held it out to her without turning around.

  Only then did she realize that she was stark naked. Again. She snatched the shirt from his hand and pulled it on. He was tall enough that it functioned as a short dress.

  “You can turn around now.” Her own voice came out choked and thick as she added, “That was the best thing anyone ever said to me. Thank you.”

  Ethan swept her into his arms and held her tight. Only then did she relax and let go of the adrenaline rush of battle. He was so strong, and his muscular body felt so good against hers. For the first time in what seemed like years, she felt safe and protected. If another T-Rex came stomping in, they’d face it together.

  “Don’t ever believe there’s anything wrong with you,” he murmured. “You’re perfect. And your tiger is perfect too. You just took down a fucking T-Rex!”

  “It mostly took itself down, but I’ll take the credit for distracting it,” Destiny said. “But you! You took down a pterodactyl all by yourself. Bare-handed!”

  With his face pressed against hers, she felt as well as heard his chuckle. “Is that more or less cool than doing it with a sword?”

  “That is a question for the ages,” Destiny said. “But you started out with a sword, so I’ll give you credit for both.”

  He didn’t reply. She was so happy that he was alive and she was alive and they had won and he was holding her that she assumed he was just savoring the moment, as she was. His skin was so warm…

  No. Not warm. It was hot. And getting hotter by the second.

  Alarmed, Destiny broke free of their embrace to look at him. Ethan’s face was very pale, with a bright red flush along the cheekbones. As she watched, he broke out in a sweat.

  “I think the herb’s wearing off.” He stopped to cough, a painful, tearing sound. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse and weak. “Goddamn it. I didn’t want to be a burden—”

  Then his knees buckled, his eyes closed, and he started to collapse. Destiny leaped forward to catch him. He was a dead weight, nearly knocking her down. She staggered, then crouched and pulled him over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Then she stood up, lifting from the knees. She could carry him, but he was much bigger than her, and heavy. She wouldn’t be able to get him very far, very fast…

  …but the real problem was that they had no good place to go.

  I suppose back to the palace is the best of a bunch of bad choices, she thought. With any luck, Ayers is the only one who managed to track us here, and now he’s dead and can’t report back. And anyone else who comes hunting us will find us just as easily in the jungle as in the city.

  She carried Ethan back along the streets. Her tiger’s presence was strong in her mind as it paced back and forth, its tail swishing with anxiety and unfocused anger, but it didn’t try to take over. Destiny was less worried now that it would attack Ethan, and more that it would decide to run off into the jungle to hunt when she needed to stay human to take care of him.

  No, I won’t, growled her tiger, sounding exasperated. Would you run off when he needs you? If you wouldn’t, I won’t either. After a moment, she added hopefully, But fresh meat would give him strength. Shall we make a soft, safe lair, and then hunt for him?

  Let’s see how he is when we get to the lair, Destiny replied. But
you’re right, he probably could use some nice, nourishing venison broth. Though I don’t think the lair will be safe if we leave him…

  Her tiger snarled angrily, as unable as Destiny was to see any way to keep Ethan safe if they left his side. For her own part, Destiny was afraid that he might not be safe no matter what she did. His skin burned hotter and hotter, and every breath sounded like it might be his last.

  Weight or no weight, she flat-out ran back to the palace. She stopped at the drawbridge, listening for any sound of something inside.

  Let me help, her tiger offered. I can hear and smell better than you.

  You can’t shift, Destiny warned her. I’m still carrying Ethan.

  I know. Just let me come a little closer to the surface.

  Nervously, Destiny didn’t fight as she felt her tiger enhance her senses. Her hearing became much sharper, her sense of smell a hundred times more so. But hard as she sniffed and carefully as she listened, she heard nothing but the whisper of wind, the flutter of leaves, and the labored rasp of Ethan’s breath, and smelled nothing but dust and herbs and Ethan’s sweat.

  She laid him down on the floor to pull up the drawbridge. When she stooped to pick him up again, fear struck through her heart at how pale and vulnerable he looked. They might be safe from enemies inside the palace, but his most deadly enemy was inside his own body, and there was no fighting that.

  Just like me, Destiny thought, trying to keep the thought in the back of her mind, safe from her tiger’s prying claws. Neither of us has ever been afraid of what’s outside. Only of what’s inside…

  She picked him up and brought him back to his bed, where she took off his boots and belt and tiger claws, and tried to make him as comfortable as she could. Destiny hated to leave him alone, but all her supplies were in the kitchen. She left the tiger claws on the bed beside him, just in case; she couldn’t imagine he’d be able to use them, but if he woke up, he’d at least know she was near. No one else would know to leave them by his hand as a defense and a comfort. Then she bolted out of the room.