by Dianna Love
If he was a Gallize, the Guardian would know what to do.
The Guardian could call any of his shifters to him by putting the command out to the universe, but only if he’d first called up their animal.
Getting Siofra to trust him enough to convince Baatar to meet the Guardian? Yeah, that was another issue, but he’d find a way.
All those thoughts brought him to the most difficult one.
Should he even consider mating her when he might be dying? He would not take her to mate to cure him. He’d never put that burden on her shoulders, so if he wanted to mate he had to fix the problem with his jaguar.
But damn if he knew how.
She had trust issues and believed the Gallize were worse than the Cadells. He’d have to cross that minefield when he came to it.
But if she’d consider staying to be with him, she deserved a healthy mate.
When he’d reached that point in his analytical thinking, his heart took over and vanquished all doubt. They were a mismatched pair, but he wanted Siofra as his mate.
If she said yes and the Gallize couldn’t accept a Cadell among them, he’d leave so that she wouldn’t have to live under a cloud of suspicion the rest of her life.
Mate. More and more, the word echoing in his brain came from him and not his jaguar.
He did want to live.
He did want a mate, but only Siofra.
He’d damn well figure out how.
Bells chimed on his phone.
She jerked and pushed up. “What time is it?”
“Six. We’re good. You can grab a shower and get dressed. It’s already light outside. We have an hour to make a ten minute ride.”
Stretching and yawning, she said, “Okay.”
When she started to move, he pulled her back to him so he could whisper, “I loved every minute with you last night. I love your touch and just being with you. We’ll find Baatar, then I want to talk to you ... about the future.”
He held her as she took a couple of breaths before saying, “We’ll talk.”
With that lie, she got up and went to the bathroom, leaving his heart blown apart.
He’d just figured out that he wanted her forever. Fool that he was, he’d been assuming he could convince her to stay and give him a shot. Now? He had no idea what to think. He had to tread carefully here, or he could end up without his Gallize brothers or the mate he wanted.
Ferrell rumbled softly inside Rory. He sent an image of Siofra walking off into the sunset and his jaguar crying out in pain.
Give me a break, Ferrell. I’m trying to figure this out.
His jaguar sent back, Ó Fearghail.
Rory grumbled, ignoring his jaguar. He had a duty to keep Siofra safe and to determine if Baatar was indeed the missing Gallize tiger shifter.
Siofra stayed in the bathroom until she was fully dressed. He felt cheated that she hadn’t come into the room to finish like every other time.
When he stood to take his spin in the shower, she came over to him and put her arms around him. That was all. She let go and moved over to the sofa to put her shoes on.
He jumped in the shower and finished in record time. Washing his face, he stared at a man who used to know how his life would play out, but that had changed.
He had changed. He wanted more time and to be with Siofra.
There were healers in other countries that might be able to tell him what to do about his jaguar dying.
Siofra had healed his body, but the connection to his jaguar still felt hollow.
Ferrell snarled in a panic. Mate!
What the hell was that all about?
Rory cocked his head and listened. Normally he could hear Siofra even if she was only turning pages in a magazine. It was too quiet on the other side of the door.
Hairs stood on his neck. Had someone found them?
He slowly opened the door and his stomach dropped.
Her scent remained, but she was gone.
“Fuck!” He hurried to pull on his jeans then raced over to grab a shirt and shoes. But his clothes were gone, as was his phone.
Screw it.
He found the keys to the new Expedition and his wallet he kept hidden, then ran out of the room. When the elevator didn’t open immediately, he raced down eleven floors to the garage, but had to slow to human speed when he got there.
Hurrying through the parking garage, he reached the vehicle and found all four tires slashed.
A curse ripped out of him that should have blown out car windows. Everyone stopped pulling rolling luggage and walking through to stare.
He started to leave then paused. That was a shifter scent, one he knew. He inhaled again to be sure.
Scarlett?
She’d done this? Was she kidnapping Siofra?
No. He’d have smelled Scarlett’s scent upstairs.
He grabbed his head and leaned back against the hood to think.
The only way Scarlett could have spoken to Siofra was if Siofra called the shifter. He’d bet money there was an outgoing call on his hotel statement.
Why had Siofra done this?
Because she’d intended to meet up with her brother and run all along.
That cut him to the bone.
When they talked last night, everything she’d said sounded so sincere. Yeah, he’d fallen for her. Loved her, dammit, and lost a few IQ points as it happened.
Had she pushed him away so that she could shower alone this morning and he’d have to wash second? That was so simple it was brilliant.
Looking at his watch, he had four minutes to reach the store. They’d planned well, but they’d underestimated him.
Chapter 31
Siofra walked quickly across the grocery store to the bulletin board with Scarlett on her heels. Only a few other shoppers had entered at seven when they unlocked the sliding glass doors.
“There it is,” Siofra whispered as if shoppers would care about the cryptic message she’d just located on the pegboard.
Scarlett kept her back to Siofra, watching for any threat. “Do you have the location?”
“Yes. He will be there at ten.” Siofra reached up, pulling the torn piece of paper off the board and ripping it into pieces.
“Where is it?”
Siofra whispered, “Fort Knox. Is that here in Maine?”
As she and Scarlett left the store, Siofra dropped the tiny pieces into a garbage can.
Scrolling on her phone, Scarlett said, “Yes, that fort is two hours north on the coast. We should make ten with no problem.” She hurried them to her truck, which she’d parked at the edge of the lot for easy exit.
Siofra went through the motions, doing as Baatar had instructed, but her mind was somewhere else.
She should be elated over getting Baatar’s message. Instead, guilt over leaving Rory to find the empty room with no clothes, no vehicle and not even a note ate at her.
That was behind her now. Let it go.
Baatar needed her. That was what mattered.
Rory had opened up a place in her heart where she stored every second she’d spent with him. She’d cherish that time one day when she’d gotten over how he’d disappointed her in the end.
She could forgive him. He was doing his duty and she was doing hers.
That eagle man expected loyalty from Rory and she owed hers to Baatar. She and Rory had never had a chance. She’d been foolish to think she could have a man like him and a normal life. She wanted to be furious with him, but Rory had only been doing his job.
Frowning, Scarlett said, “You probably don’t know this, but Fort Knox is literally on the Maine coast. Pretty exposed.”
“Baatar would not choose a place unless there were a lot of trees nearby for us to disappear easily. He’ll expect me to get as close to that spot as I can, then wait so he can see who is with me before he comes out. We may have to sit for an hour until he feels sure no one is using me as bait.”
“Good thinking. What are you going to do when you two meet?
” Scarlett asked, driving her truck to the interstate. This was no late model truck, but one from the sixties and refurbished. Had Scarlett been the one who lovingly restored the red pickup?
“We’re going to disappear. I’m the only one who can watch over Baatar,” Siofra answered, mesmerized by the Cape Cod style homes she’d only seen in photographs. The real world was so much better.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“I don’t know,” Siofra admitted. “Neither does he, but we both think it has to do with his power. He said he was strong and happy until he reached his twenties, then he started struggling physically and emotionally. He’d have moments where he wanted to pull himself inside out.”
“Ugh. That sucks.” Scarlett flipped on her blinker and moved smoothly onto the interstate. “What if he gets worse?”
“I don’t know,” Siofra admitted. She had no answer for that question. She’d asked herself that a hundred times, but until they were both free to hunt for help she’d just keep him as stable as she could.
“Do you think he’s a tiger shifter?”
Scoffing with a dark laugh, Siofra mused, “Why does everyone want to explain his problems as being a shifter? He’s twenty-five and he’s never shifted into anything. Don’t shifters change the first time as a kid? When did you first shift?”
Scarlett’s profile turned serious. She answered the question in a roundabout way. “Most shifters go through their first change somewhere between one and five years old. I’ve heard of two who were late bloomers, shifting at eight and ten, but an adult? Nope. Can’t say I’ve run across that.”
“See? Makes no sense.”
“Why did Rory think he might be the tiger I’m tracking for his boss?”
Siofra’s brain stalled. “What? When did he tell you that?”
Glancing over at her, Scarlett said, “Before you two left Spartanburg, Rory asked me to dig around and let him know if I ran across any information that might lead to finding Baatar. I called him yesterday to tell him I had a tip. When he called me back, he said he thought Baatar might be the tiger his boss asked me to hunt.”
“Wait. Why would Rory ask you to help find Baatar when we were on our way to meet up with Baatar?” Siofra had a sinking feeling about Scarlett’s answer.
Keeping a steady speed, Scarlett shrugged. “He said something about you having a limited time to locate your brother and he’d pay out of his pocket for any information on Baatar if I’d put feelers out. I heard about a guy who could be your brother. Bounty hunters captured him in Vermont.”
“When?”
“Doesn’t matter, because he escaped and evidently is waiting for you at Fort Knox,” Scarlett reminded her. “Now that we’re not on a dead run, tell me why you think Rory is going to lock you up?”
“I thought ... ” Siofra ran back through it all in her mind. She’d thought his phone call was about helping his people hunt Baatar. She’d called Scarlett and said she had to sneak away for any chance at gaining her freedom.
“You thought what?”
Siofra started to understand the sick feeling she’d been suffering. “I was in the shower when you called and I thought he was talking to his boss after he swore to me he would not tell his boss what I’d said about Baatar. I told Rory the Cadells all believe that Baatar can shift into a tiger, but he can’t.” She could hardly breathe. “I thought Rory was conspiring to capture Baatar and lock him up.”
For the next few minutes, Scarlett wove around traffic until she had a clear lane again. “To be honest, if Baatar is the tiger shifter Rory’s boss is hunting, then I’m supposed to bring him in. But from what you say, he can’t be.”
Sitting back, Siofra sank into a new level of misery.
She’d hurt Rory. She’d feared being locked up and losing any chance to find Baatar before everyone else did, but now she wished she’d risked her own freedom by confronting Rory over what she’d heard to get his side of that phone call. Years of being lied to and yanked around by men, shifters in particular, had colored her thinking. She’d jumped to the most obvious conclusion ... that Rory was going to betray Baatar and her by stealing their freedom.
Maybe it was a good thing nothing worked out between her and Rory.
He deserved a better woman than she was, but she still wanted to turn around and go back to beg his forgiveness. What must he be thinking right now? That she never actually cared?
Lies are stupid.
She’d just given him reason to believe that everything between them had been a lie when it had been anything but.
Siofra’s gaze went to Scarlett’s mobile phone. She started to ask to borrow it, but remembered that she and Scarlett had tossed Rory’s phone to slow him down. He’d said it was a burner that couldn’t be traced, so Scarlett had no new number for him.
Besides, Rory would demand they turn around and come back. She couldn’t do that.
She’d find Baatar and get him safe, then she’d make good on her promise to share Cadell information with Rory’s boss once that eagle man could not come for Baatar. She’d also tell Rory’s boss that she’d tricked Scarlett and not to hold it against her.
Once she got all of that out of the way, she’d ask to speak to Rory so she could explain what happened.
But would he actually talk to her?
It took just over two hours of driving north to find the fort that spread over a wide-open spot with the ocean as a backdrop.
Just as she’d thought, a forest thick with trees bordered one side.
Scarlett parked and tossed her phone into her pocket. She paid for two tickets and led Siofra into the historic sight.
Most people were fascinated by the cannons and taking pictures with the ocean behind them. She and Scarlett were headed to the other side of the fort.
As soon as they had an opening, Siofra and Scarlett snuck off and wove their way through the musty interior of the fort structures. After a couple of tries and misses, they found a way to the outside of the fort where the rear faced the woods.
Siofra chose a place in the middle of the wall of cut gray stones to lean back against. “Now, we wait.”
She felt eyes on her more than once, but did not try to locate Baatar. Instead, she spoke to Scarlett, asking her about what she did exactly.
“I help shifters, especially cat shifters. I normally wouldn’t have gotten involved in your case, but the woman you helped with the little boy felt bad that bounty hunters captured you. She pleaded with me to make sure you were okay and told me ... ”
“Told you what?”
“Shoot. I hadn’t meant to say that, but it’s in the past. She said she felt your energy, but didn’t think you were a shifter. I’m on the board of a foundation which helps shifter females and their children, but I figured we could make room for someone who wasn’t entirely human.”
Siofra said, “Thank you for at least being open to helping me.”
“You’re welcome. Sure you’ll be okay once you and your brother take off?”
“Yes,” Siofra said, hoping it wasn’t a lie. “Will things be a problem with Rory’s boss for you helping me?”
“Hell, no. I’m my own person. They owe me right now. If they give me grief, I won’t share any more intel with them.”
At least that lightened Siofra’s burdened heart.
“Is that him?” Scarlett whispered.
Siofra turned to see Baatar striding across the expanse of grass between them and the woods. She jumped away from the wall and ran to him.
He grabbed her and wrapped her in his big arms, swinging her around. Her brother was a giant.
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Baatar.”
“Happy to see you, too,” he said. “Who is that?”
Pulling back, she twisted around to find Scarlett a few steps behind her.
“I’m Scarlett. I know who you are, but not what you are.”
Baatar grumbled, “I am me. That is all you need to know.”
Scarlett sniffed. �
��No, I think there’s more to you than meets the eye.”
“Then close eyes. We are done.”
Siofra frowned during that exchange and told Baatar, “Be nice. Scarlett helped me reach you.”
“Where is man I saw yesterday?”
“You saw Rory?”
“Saw this man hug you. Did he send you as trick to make me come out?”
“Oh, boy,” Scarlett grumbled. “Paranoid much? No, he didn’t set her up and neither did I. Siofra, I hope you have a good life. Baatar, best wishes on getting through life with that boulder on your shoulder.”
He gave Scarlett a confused expression, looked at each shoulder, then back at her. “Hope you do not get lost with bad eyesight.”
Siofra said, “Oh, good grief, you two.” She told Scarlett, “I’ll explain the boulder reference later. Thank you and be safe.”
“Will do.” Scarlett turned and walked away.
Siofra was ready to get out of the open, but Baatar kept staring at Scarlett so she pointed out, “Scarlett is a very nice person and very intelligent.”
“I do not see. Talk too much.” He turned with his arm around her shoulders. “We must go. I have no transportation.”
“How’d you get here?”
“Ran.” He headed them into the closest woods.
Shaking her head, Siofra said, “Lucky for you that Scarlett likes me and gave me a hundred dollars to help us out.”
“What?”
“Yep, the woman you were rude to is the reason we will be able to pay someone for a ride and buy food. Feel bad now?”
“Always feel bad,” he mumbled.
She stopped teasing and put her arm around his waist as they entered the cooler shade. “We’re going to find someone to help you. I’m here now. Everything is going to be okay.”
Something sharp stuck in her back.
Baatar jerked away and reached for his back. When he did, she could see a dart jabbed into his skin. Her legs turned to rubber and the woods around her blurred.
She heard a distorted voice order, “Hurry up and get them loaded.”
Chapter 32