The Tiger's Offer

by Lila Jean

  A surge of protectiveness hit Anthony square in the chest at the idea of anyone taking her home from her. He brushed his thumb over her knuckle to comfort his woman, and she smiled warmly in return. He didn’t care what it took. It was his duty to keep her safe, and he would have gone to Epara himself to hunt down the traitor if it had come to that.

  For once, however, he didn’t have to save the day. It was honestly kind of refreshing.

  The plane hit a rougher bump of turbulence, and the cabin shook violently. Everyone fell, thrown off balance. Anthony caught Tina seconds before she hit the ground and lifted her into a nearby chair.

  The fasten seatbelt sign popped on, but a familiar twinge of worry snaked down Anthony’s spine. The sensation that something was very wrong once again reared its head, and he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

  At the back of the plane, Killian peeked out of a window. “Zane, I take it this isn’t your hometown?”

  Anthony leaned across Tina to see what Killian was referring to. A large stretch of asphalt cut through a dense and swampy forest, the isolated runway devoid of even a single building. Clear to the horizon, there was nothing but ocean and woods.

  In a few effortless strides, Anthony reached the reinforced door between the cabin and the pilot and slammed his fist against it, leaving only a dent despite his enhanced strength. This was a plane meant to carry dragons, and the reinforced steel had been constructed with a dragon’s immense strength in mind.

  “Open this door!” Anthony shouted at the pilot.

  “Right, because that’s going to work.” Draven rolled his eyes.

  “Tina, can you control the man in the cockpit?” Anthony asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, she nodded. “Only one guy is in there.” She frowned. “He’s terrified. I think I could stop his heart, but the plane would crash.”

  “Okay, Plan B,” Flynn said, tapping his finger on the top of the seat.

  Anthony growled and slammed his fist against the door once more, if only to vent his anger.

  “Anthony, sit down.” Tina tugged on the back of Anthony’s shirt. “It looks like we’re landing, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  He obliged her, nudging her toward the window so he could be between her and anyone that tried to board the plane or leave the cockpit. His mind raced with possible options and outcomes as he debated how to best handle the situation. He had no idea what would be waiting for them on the ground, nor how to best prepare for the chaos that was about to ensue.

  His phone chimed, and a group text appeared on the screen with Zane’s recommended battle strategy. Even though Draven was the only one with a known greater power so far, he had the best chance of getting into the pilot’s cabin since his sheer draconic strength would eventually bring down the door if his flames couldn’t. Meanwhile, Flynn, Killian, and Anthony would take out the attackers until Draven could join them. Zane would stay behind to guard Tina as he had back in Indonesia.

  Anthony tilted one eyebrow in confusion. “How the hell did you get my number?”

  The tiger shifter just winked. Beside Anthony, Tina chuckled.

  The plane’s wheels descended and, not long after, the jet landed roughly on the tarmac. The engines roared, reversing to slow them down, and the plane quickly came to a halt.

  “Wolves,” Flynn said, staring out the window on the other side of the plane.

  Anthony gritted his teeth in anger. No wolves would dare come after what was his. He, Flynn, and Killian stood by the door, Anthony’s body brimming with the need to shift, to put these traitors in their place.

  Something ripped the door open from the outside, and Anthony bolted out at the first opportunity. He shifted midair, the brief blisters of pain from his changing body fading the second his massive paws hit the ground. He growled, surveying the battleground to get a feel for how bad it would be.

  Ten familiar wolves prowled the tarmac, all of them slightly smaller than him. They were his father’s advisors, generals Anthony had fought beside before, and men Anthony had come to respect over the years at his father’s side.

  He snarled with anger, disgusted that men he and his father trusted so dearly would betray him.

  Unless … they weren’t betraying his father. His father had sent them.

  The words his father had spoken back in Indonesia, back when Anthony had first told him about Tina and Damara suddenly sprang to Anthony’s mind.

  She belongs to Wolfcrest. We can’t let her fall into the enemy’s hands.

  Anthony stilled as a sobering suspicion tore through him. His father wasn’t trying to steal Tina away because he wanted to claim a goddess who had accidentally stumbled into this world. Rather, the old man merely wanted to finish what he had started.

  If that were the case, the sovereign ruler of Wolfcrest had forced Damara onto Earth. He had probably chosen Amy because of her connections, her loyalty to the wolves, and the ease with which he could kidnap her.

  The old man had been actively trying to start a war by illegally summoning and hoarding immense power.

  The hair on Anthony’s haunches shot up as his anger, hatred, and disgust boiled over. His claws dug into the tarmac, gouging the runway as he snarled with revulsion. As the breeze picked up, he could smell another four wolves hiding in the forest. These had to be the reserves, who would go after Tina when the princes were occupied or outright dead.

  The wolves on the landing strip snarled, teeth bared as they warned Anthony to back down.

  Never.

  Anthony charged for the nearest wolf, but the world around him suddenly blurred by. In the blink of an eye, he crashed into three wolves that had been at least a few dozen yards away, not entirely certain of how he traveled so far so fast. His body hummed with the same energy he had felt during his time in Tina’s bed, and he realized suddenly that Flynn wasn’t the only one whose powers had manifested.

  Anthony’s gift was speed.

  It’s perfect.

  He growled, the grating sound a sultry blend of happiness and bloodlust.

  Anthony tore into every wolf nearby, his powerful jaws ripping into fur and bone. He bolted across the tarmac, his incredibly new speed carrying him from wolf to wolf before anyone could so much as lay a claw on him. Blood dribbled over his teeth as he surrendered to the hatred. These wolves had come after Tina. If Anthony’s suspicions were correct, they had also come with orders to kill the other princes and maybe even him.

  These fools made a mistake for giving into his father’s thirst for power.

  Anthony darted over the battlefield, the world beautifully crisp despite his new abilities. He tore throats and ducked blows, too fast for even his father’s best soldiers to stop him. The taste of blood seared his tongue, and he constantly circled the plane to keep any encroaching wolves at bay.

  These men had threatened Tina, and they would die for it.

  49

  Draven

  Draven railed on the cockpit door with all his enhanced strength, but the damn thing wouldn’t budge.

  He didn’t want to be on the plane at all. He wanted to be out in the chaos, in his dragon form, doing everything he could to ensure no one got on this jet. The pilot clearly worked for the wolves, though, and he had access to communication equipment that would let him radio for backup. Draven had to make sure the pilot didn’t get the chance.

  Furious, ready to rip yet another traitor in half, Draven repeatedly punched at the door while Zane protected Tina at the back of the jet. Draven growled, smoke rolling from his nose as his internal fires raged with hatred.

  “Open. This. Damn. Door!” he shouted.

  As he lifted his fist to punch the entry yet again, fire engulfed his fist. It didn’t burn his flesh. In fact, if not for the crackle of fire next to his ear, he wouldn’t have even noticed it.

  Still lost in his fury, Draven landed one more blow on the cockpit door. The fire raging over his ski
n consumed the steel, melting the metal as though it were ice. In seconds, a sizeable hole in the door revealed a terrified pilot cowering behind a chair.

  For a moment, Draven’s anger sizzled away into sheer amazement. This was his gift, his new ability from Tina. Though he had briefly experienced it once before, he hadn’t been able to control it until now. A surge of victory shot through him, and his dragon twisted with pride. As long as he had Tina, he didn’t care if he got special powers or not, but this was beyond anything he had even dreamed of. Even better, his new magic had come when he needed it most.

  Draven grinned. When they made it out of this battle, he would have to show Tina just how grateful he was for her gift.

  The pilot whimpered and hid behind the chair, as though that would save him. Draven sneered at the traitor. “Let’s have a little chat, shall we?”

  50

  Zane

  At the back of the plane, Zane gaped at the fire burning along Draven’s arm. Beside him, Tina’s jaw dropped as well.

  “That was awesome,” she muttered.

  Zane opened his mouth to reply, but the scrape of twisting metal interrupted him. The emergency exit door ripped away at the rear of the plane, and a gray wolf jumped into the aisle. It lunged forward, too quickly for Zane to shift. Snarling, its maw opened as it aimed for his throat.

  To Zane’s horror, Tina jumped between him and the creature. In the split second he had to reach her, time slowed. It suddenly seemed like he couldn’t move fast enough, like his feet were trapped in mud or quicksand, and he could only watch in terror as the creature ran for her.

  She set out her hands and, as he ran for her to pull her out of the way, her entire body glowed. The wolf gurgled and yelped, writhing in pain at whatever she was doing. Seconds later, it fell limply to the floor.

  “Oh my God,” Zane said quietly. He pulled her close. “Are you okay? What did you do?”

  “I used Damara’s magic.” She stared at the wolf lying dead in the plane aisle, a mixture of pride and horror on her face. “I killed it.”

  Zane held her, gently rocking back and forth as relief flooded through him. For a moment, he had thought she would get hurt. He thought briefly of the throne room, of the way she had controlled his and every other man’s heart, of the way she had brought them to their knees.

  Her powers were growing. She could control them now, at least somewhat, and while the fact should have made him happy, he felt a blurry mixture of pride and concern. He loved how strong she was, how determined and clever she could be, but he wanted above all else to keep her safe. If she fought their battles with them, she might get hurt.

  Something scraped against the gaping hole that was once the plane’s back exit. Another wolf ran in, a dark blur of fangs and claws. It charged him, and he gently pushed Tina into the nearest seat to get her out of harm’s way.

  In the split second he had to think about his options, Zane acted out of impulse rather than logic. With all his might, he punched the wolf square in its face.

  His blow should have split open his hand, barely making an impact on the wolf. The wolf’s pounce should have sent them both sailing into the seats, ripping apart the leather chairs as they struggled.

  Instead, the wolf flew backward from Zane’s blow as if it had been shot in the face. It smashed against the back wall of the plane, its body denting the metal. It tried to rise, but whimpered and collapsed, its snout hanging at an unnatural angle.

  Tina’s eyes widened as she stared at the fallen wolf. “You’re all getting your powers, aren’t you?”

  “It would appear we are, darling.” Zane studied his hands, baffled and simultaneously amazed at his newfound strength.

  Though they appeared to be outnumbered, the odds had just shifted in their favor.

  51

  Anthony

  Anthony charged through the battlefield, drenched in the blood of his enemies.

  A bolt of lightning cut through the perfectly clear day, and Anthony rolled out of the way as the jolt crashed into two of the wolves who were chasing him. He twisted around, unable to figure out where that had come from in the clear day, and found Flynn staring in shock at his smoking palms, lost in surprise.

  Flynn’s gift from Tina was lightning, of all things. Considering the demigod’s storm powers, it was a perfect complement to his natural abilities. More and more, Tina’s abilities continued to surprise and impress Anthony.

  Another wolf crept along the forest line, gaze focused on the exposed demigod in the center of the landing strip. Anthony growled and leaped for the wolf, his jaws biting down on the shifter’s throat. Sandwiched between Anthony’s jaws, the wolf yelped with its dying breath.

  “Thanks, buddy,” Flynn said, snapping out of his gaze and returning to the melee.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Anthony caught the glint of a dagger flying through the air. The blade sailed toward Killian, lined up perfectly with where he would be in just a moment. A silhouette darted back into the forest not far away, the man shifting as he ran into the woods.

  Anthony bolted toward Killian, howling in warning and desperate to reach somehow jump and grab the blade before it hit, a feat impossible even with his newfound speed. Killian’s beak twisted toward the blade, eyes widening in recognition. He tried to twist out of the way, but it was too late.

  The blade hit him and, to Anthony’s utter amazement, bounced off of Killian’s body as though the dagger had hit steel.

  For a moment, Anthony was frozen in shock as he tried to process what he had seen. If Anthony’s speed had kicked in, perhaps Killian’s gift had manifested as well.

  Another sharp screech brought Anthony back into the moment. Killian soared by, thankfully unharmed, and he snapped his beak at Anthony as if to tell him to snap the hell out of it.

  Relieved beyond belief that his friend hadn’t been killed, Anthony barked in thanks. He and the other princes had a war to win. He could figure out the exact nature of Killian’s new power at some other time. Determined to take down the remaining wolves, Anthony raced into the melee, snapping at the shifters who were swarming the plane.

  One by one, the wolves fell to his jaws, Killian’s talons, and Flynn’s lightning. As the traitors released her last breaths, their bodies shifted back to their human forms and littered the ground around the small jet. Anthony tried his best not to look at their familiar faces, to stay focused on the task at hand.

  With only three wolves left on the tarmac, the largest of them howled into the air. They scattered, each of them running in a different direction as they abandoned the onslaught. The scent of the four wolves in the forest faded almost instantly as they, too, retreated.

  In the fleeting moment of panic, Anthony wondered if they had already grabbed Tina and run while he was distracted. He sniffed the air, but her rosy perfume lingered on the plane. His shoulders relaxed slightly. She was safe.

  Despite the shred of relief, Anthony growled with frustration, torn between his need to protect Tina and his desire to leave no survivors. Though half of the attacking forces had been killed, the survivors would still have valuable information to report to his father, intel that might come back to haunt him if he allowed them to escape.

  In the end, Tina mattered most. Anthony slunk toward the plane, eager to check on his woman.

  52

  Tina

  In the aftermath of the deadly battle, no one spoke.

  Tina sat at the front of a new plane provided by Zane’s family, her chair angled such that she could see the entire cabin and the five princes who sat silently staring out of the windows.

  Once Draven had forced his way into the pilot’s cockpit, Zane made her cover her ears. She could still hear the pilot’s screams, though, and it had quickly become obvious as to how Draven had managed to get the identity of the priest who had betrayed her.

  Her eyes drifted to her dragon. Any other woman might have feared him, but Tina knew better. Everything he did, he did to keep her safe. />
  Anthony stood, the sudden motion jarring in the still cabin. He approached her with powerful strides, his broad shoulders intimidating as he took a seat across from her. He held her hands, leaning forward as he stared at the floor.

  She leaned her forehead against his. “Are you okay?”

  He caught her eye, his expression intense and deadly serious. “I believe my father was behind the wolves’ attack.”

  The four other princes turned their heads toward him. Each man stood and approached, staring at Anthony in either horror or disgust.

  “That’s quite an accusation,” Zane said, arms crossed.

  Anthony nodded. “I knew every one of those wolves, some of them since I was a child. They were my father’s advisors, his generals, and his best warriors. He sent them as a clear message to me. He wanted me to back down, to allow them to take you, Tina. He thought my history with them would stop me from fighting to protect you.”

  Tina was overwhelmed by a surge of panic at the boldness of the wolf king, ready to murder all her princes just to have her. She stuttered, trying to find the right words. “Were they going to … I mean, they wouldn’t …”

  Anthony nodded, looking around at each of the princes as he spoke. “It was a well-trained hit squad. They were going to kill all of you, take Tina, and force me to surrender.”

  “Your father doesn’t know you very well,” Flynn said with a hearty smack on Anthony’s back.

  They all chuckled, the laughter halfhearted with the looming implications of the attack.

  Zane cleared his throat in the awkward pause that followed. “Anthony, do you think your father was the one who forced Damara into this world in the first place?”

  Anthony rubbed his temples, but eventually nodded.