by Em Ashcroft
Seth had never been so lonely.
He got to his phone in time and pressed the answer button.
“Is she still there?” Chris demanded, his tones far more agitated than they’d been an hour ago.
“No, why?”
“It’s not Moretti.”
Rage built in Seth, from a small ember at the back of his mind to full-blown fury. What the fuck? He repeated the information back slowly. “The. Body. In. The. Car. Isn’t. Moretti.”
“That’s about it. We don’t know who it is yet, but we suspect it’s somebody else from the medical team. He died before the explosion. Lead can be as fatal as fire. This guy is on the downward spiral. He started with carefully targeted suspects, and he’s progressed to blowing them up. He doesn’t give a shit what happens to him––”
Impatiently, Seth interrupted with a simple, “I’m on my way.”
He cut the call and began to strip, tearing his clothes off in preparation for a change. It was time to let his cat run free. What did he care about the motives or the reasons? All that mattered was Reilly. He’d die for her.
He might be about to prove it.
Chapter Thirteen
Numbness invaded Reilly, a welcome change from the fury she’d felt when Seth confessed he’d taken her for a ride. Because what else could she call it? He’d lied to her. The only reason she let Brennan take her into town was that he was as shocked as she was. Seth hadn’t told him, too. But she cut off any romantic words. She didn’t want to hear any of that right now.
“I have a store to open and a job to do,” she said as they drew up in the parking space at the back of the store. “That’s what I’m focusing on now. If you want to help, I could use it, but nothing else. Clear?”
Brennan sighed heavily. “Clear.”
They went into the store. It was early, so there weren’t many people about on the street, and the air smelled fresh and clean. An overnight shower had washed everything clean. If it wasn’t for Brennan hustling her, Reilly would have paused to savor the atmosphere, but she was inside the storeroom at the back before she realized it.
She turned with a laughing, “Hey!” only to have Brennan haul her into his arms and kiss her. Before she could protest, he had his tongue in her mouth. His desperation transmitted itself to her, physically as much as mentally, and she pulled away far enough to watch him.
He traced her mouth with his thumb. “I love you, you know that?”
She shook her head violently. “You can’t. You don’t know me.”
“I know you as well as I know anybody. As well as I know my breed partner. But to keep you, I’d even give him up.”
She caught her breath in a gasp. “You can’t do that.”
“I can. Breed partners live apart sometimes. I won’t let you go, Reilly.” He sounded desperate, his eyes piercing hers, his brow furrowed with anxiety.
She swallowed. “Brennan, I can’t say anything now. I’m sorry, but I can’t. Give me time.”
He released her, and her body felt bereft, abandoned. She wouldn’t allow herself to think about that.
“Don’t leave the house,” he said abruptly. He turned, heading for the coffee maker perched on a stack of boxes in the corner. Reilly didn’t want a coffee, and she guessed he didn’t either, but she’d give him that respite. He continued to talk while he went through the motions of coffee making. “If you want, I’ll ask Seth to leave. But you need to be safe.” Water poured into the glass jug before he returned it to the box. “The windows in our house are bulletproof, did you know that? No, why should you. But since the stuff was available, and cheap, we installed it. We wanted to show our customers the state-of-the-art examples.”
A question was pulled out of her. “Do they see everything?”
He paused, and turned to face her while the scent of coffee permeated the room. They were about three feet apart, but it seemed like a mile.
“Do they see the breedmate’s room, you mean?” Smiling, he shook his head. “No.”
Relief swept through her, for reasons she didn’t understand. What business was it of hers who they showed their house to?
“We don’t show it to many people anymore. When we first arrived in Goldclaw, we used it to advertise what we could do. We held parties and offered to host events there, even the local book club for a while. But we don’t need to do that anymore. We have show houses if we need them, and people spread the word for us, once we’ve done a good job for them.”
A statement remained unspoken, but it hung there. She wouldn’t say it, wouldn’t tell him how she felt. “So we’re not bonded?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “No. But that doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I want you, not the children you might or might not have. I’ll do what I have to to keep you in my life.”
Shocked, she considered his question. Maybe Brennan wasn’t so easygoing after all.
He turned back to the coffee machine, which had hissed its readiness. He lifted the glass pitcher, full of fragrant, brown liquid.
As if it was a movie in slow motion, Reilly watched the jug shatter into tiny, sharp shards that sparkled in the morning sun slanting in through the window. The sound of breaking glass was louder than it should have been––because the window had exploded, too.
Blood spurted, and Brennan spun sideways, turning once before plunging to the floor.
Everything shot back into real speed. With a cry, Reilly lurched forward. Heedless of the glass surrounding him, she knelt down to where Brennan lay, flat on his back now, with blood pouring out of his throat.
Her mind was a block of ice. How did she stanch a wound? What could she do? Quelling her panic, Reilly tried to think. Someone had shot him. He coughed blood, and she watched anxiously as his chest heaved once, then again.
Reilly reacted instinctively, going into the mode she’d had for so long as a nurse. The blood was from the carotid. That needed dealing with first before he bled to death. She couldn’t apply a tourniquet, but she saw where the bullet had ripped past his throat. She pinched the edges together with one hand, and with the other, applied pressure to the pulse point.
Shaken out of her shock by the necessity of getting help, Reilly opened her mouth and shouted. Nothing came out. She tried again, and achieved a croak. The third time was the charm. Her scream rattled the remaining glass in the window. At least it did until a huge form destroyed what was left of it.
The massive shape of a magnificent tiger rippled next to her, moving like a shadow in the forest. As she coped with this double shock, Reilly saw the form dissolve. It turned into the familiar, and equally magnificent, naked body of Seth.
His face was creased with concern. “We need him to shift. Unless he does, he can’t heal, but as a tiger, he has a chance.”
“How?”
“We reach his mind.” Seth ducked as another bullet zinged past his head. “I’m shape-shifting again,” he said. “It’s safer. Keep down, and do what I say.”
The ripple, as if she’d trailed her hand through water, happened again and Seth became a tiger once more. Reach deep. We’ll go in together.
Ignoring her flinch, he moved closer, and stood between Reilly and the window. Wind your mind with mine. There can be no secrets, no barriers between us. Do it, Reilly, if you want Brennan to live.
The last words did it. Reilly opened her mind, stripped herself bare and let Seth guide her. Brennan wouldn’t die, he couldn’t, surely he would live! Seth pierced Reilly’s mind better and less destructively than the bullet had tried to do.
Reilly concentrated, winding her senses around Seth’s and letting Brennan guide her into him. They received no response and no action. Not at first, but then a spark twinkled deep in his mind. They went toward it, each with their own mission, but united in love for this remarkable man who meant so much to them both.
They found a spirit, bewildered but still conscious. The rest of his mind was sleeping, preparatory to dying, but they would not let
that happen.
They nurtured the spark. Reilly was dimly aware of the occasional sound of bullets, and a siren coming toward them, but nothing mattered now other than getting Brennan back. He was leaving them, the spark faltering.
Reilly fanned the fire. Without conscious thought, the images she flooded into Brennan were of bed and making love. Yes, it was making love, she was sure of that now. She opened her mind, displayed her body shamelessly, showing him everything he would leave behind if he left them now.
Then a child, small and playful, a little girl of around two toddled in. Hastily, Reilly changed her visions into warm, maternal thoughts. A child should not see what she had been showing Brennan.
The spark wavered, then grew stronger. It moved toward them instead of fading. Do it! Show him more! Seth urged.
Reilly found another girl, then a boy, laughing and running close behind. Her children. She knew it just as well as she knew her own name. A litter, a clutch, a delight of children. They would not exist if Brennan died now. She would only have children with these men, and it took both to achieve it. I want them, she told Brennan. You don’t have the right to take them from me.
A soft, weak laugh returned to her. A smile, just a shape, as if the rest of the face was in shadow. He’s coming back! she told Seth.
So he is.
* * * *
Seth watched the miracle of his breed partner returning to life. He supported Reilly, but all she had needed was to be shown the way. When he was sure she had Brennan firmly, he set to the practicalities, returning to the world in order to deal with the mess that waited for him there.
Brennan, still a great tiger, lay on the floor, his flanks heaving with his breath. His wound was closing. When the blood had reduced to a trickle, he knew Brennan had a chance. But not even shape-shifting tigers were invincible. The internal injuries might yet kill him. There and then, he vowed he’d avenge his breed partner, and even more importantly, care for the woman they both loved so much. Even if he hadn’t been able to acknowledge it until now, even to himself.
Another bullet zinged past, and Seth turned to the window with a snarl. Nobody would deal with this except him. It was his right.
Seth went on the hunt.
He could attack head-on, which his tiger screamed at him to do, but that might get him killed. Then he’d have to leave Reilly to the care of someone else, and that notion stuck in his throat. He couldn’t do it. Forcing his mind to work, bringing his tiger instincts to the fore helped.
Seth barked a sharp order to Reilly. Keep Brennan still, and lie down next to him. Stay low. After seeing her nod, he put his mind to work. She would do as he told her. Reilly might be feisty, but she wasn’t stupid. He could trust her to do as he told her.
Another voice came to the forefront of his mind. Are you okay in there?
Brennan’s down, but he’s shifted, so he has a better chance. Reilly’s unhurt, but she’s in here with me, he told the police chief. What’s going on? How many?
One. But we don’t know what else he has planned.
I do, Seth replied grimly. He has several firearms strapped around him, and his silhouette is bulky. He’s wearing a jacket, zipped up.
He didn’t have to say any more. A bulky silhouette and a jacket on a fine day like this? The man was loaded with explosives. If he wasn’t, it didn’t matter, because he’d be treated as if he had a bomb strapped to him. Where is he?
Outside the back of the store.
He knew that already. So do you have a marksman in place?
Not yet. Just got here. Hold tight and give us a minute. Literally, a minute.
Another shot whined through the room, passing clear through the door into the store. No, not even a minute. Besides, the primitive inside him wasn’t interested in capturing the bastard. Blood pounded in his head, forcing the tiger’s killing fury through his veins. He wanted him dead. By attacking the two people nearest to his heart, Moretti had signed his own death warrant. And he, Seth, was the executioner.
He prowled to the other side of the door. In this shape, he couldn’t sneak up behind Moretti. There wasn’t enough cover. Attacking him might prove fatal, but at least it was only fatal for the two of them. When shape-shifted, his form was even bigger than his animal counterpart, even though the tiger was the biggest cat in the wild. Outside, it was natural wood, stone and the green of the trees beyond. Nothing he could blend in with.
So an all-out attack would have to work. Spreading out his senses, Seth hunted the human.
He found him. Around the perimeter, beyond the confines of the yard behind the store, a group of people and shape-shifters were spread about. No doubt they were waiting for Moretti to make his move. Then there was a solitary being, a human, perched in a tree above. That was why they couldn’t get a clean shot. If they did, he might have his hand on the trigger for the bomb. Nobody was willing to take that chance, except for Seth.
Maybe he could stun him first, mind-to-mind. Sometimes humans were open, didn’t care about the state of their senses.
He concentrated, but a few seconds later had to give up. Moretti was protected. These days, people in public office were trained to close their minds against possible intrusion. Most humans still didn’t entirely trust shape-shifters, and that had included Reilly.
At the reminder of her name, he took a moment to reassure her, to touch her mind and comfort her. He found her waiting, but he couldn’t stay. She might guess what he was about to do, and he couldn’t have that.
He closed his mind to her and concentrated.
There was no way through that mind, which would make his task more difficult. Before he could out-think himself, Seth leaped into the air and plunged through the broken window, landing softly on the hard stones of the parking area outside. He turned to avoid the bullet he knew his enemy would loose. It cut through the air and ricocheted against the stone, sending up a shower of chippings, before burying itself harmlessly in the wooden fence. Another bound to the side brought another shot. The man had a rifle, but he didn’t know how to use it.
The next bullet came from a handgun, sending up more pellets, the sound subtly different to the one before. Good. Seth wouldn’t give him a chance to reload the rifle. The fewer weapons the man had, the better. Just as well he wasn’t a sniper, because there was no way Seth could hide, although with the twists and turns he was making, he was avoiding the bullets.
Most of them. One scored a heated line down his side, instantly stinging. He ignored it. It wouldn’t kill him, although he didn’t hold out much hope for landing square on a bomb. Not even a shape-shifter could survive that one.
But he’d lied to the woman he loved and alienated his breed partner. He’d never forgive himself for that. This seemed like the best way of making amends. In any case, somebody had to do this, or more people would die. Reilly’s store was in the middle of a row of six, and more lay behind the strip of trees. An explosion could take an untold number of people and shifters out. The cops would evacuate the area, but that would take time, and this insane doctor was unpredictable. Better Seth kept him busy.
Another shot caught him. He felt the bullet burrowing deep into his front paw. Blocking the pain, he continued to dodge and weave until he was at the base of the tree. The guy was in here, and now he had him.
Without hesitation, Seth leaped to the first branch and began to climb. All cats could climb trees, and even tigers were no exception as long as the branches could take him. This one groaned under his weight, but held.
He bounced up to another branch.
“I’m the angel of justice. I was blamed, but it wasn’t my fault. The crew turned against me, and for that, they’re going to die.”
Seth didn’t reply, except with a low, warning growl.
“You can’t get me. I’ll kill us both first,” Moretti growled. His voice was deep and harsh, a man used to giving orders but not taking them. A bit of humility might have saved him, but nothing would save him now.
&n
bsp; Go ahead, Seth said, and made the last leap.
He went for the heart, tearing through clothing and flesh, uncaring of what he dislodged or destroyed. He found hard, cylindrical objects packed into a camouflage vest, but he didn’t pause.
“I warned you.” That was the last thing Moretti said before he opened his hands.
Chapter Fourteen
Reilly hated the silence. Waiting, when she could do nothing, was the worst thing in the fucking world. She stood before the closed doors, bracing herself to go inside and face the music. Start the rest of her life.
The doors formed a tangible barrier between this world, the one she’d known all her life, and whatever was to come. But she’d made her decision. There was no going back.
Briefly, she recalled the moment when she thought Seth was dead. Brennan was still breathing, still lying in a pool of his own blood, a giant, furry cat under her soothing hands. Whatever fear she’d had for the tigers she’d unwittingly fallen in love with was gone forever. She just wanted them both healthy, waiting for her.
So here they were, three weeks after Seth had sliced Moretti’s heart out of his body, at the start of a new life.
Someone unseen opened the doors. The woman next to her, Chris’s wife Renata, handed her the fragrant, perfectly arranged bouquet she was to carry up the aisle.
She started up on her own. She’d insisted on it, not wanting anyone to give her away. She knew what she wanted, and it was this.
Two men waited for her, one either side of the aisle. They watched her approach with eyes that bore promises she couldn’t wait to claim. Heat sparked between them as they saw her for the first time in two days.
The ceremony began.