Walk on the Striped Side

by Jessie Lane

  The tiger’s tail was slowly swishing back and forth, hanging down from the beam, while it continued to watch them. Elena debated shooting the tiger with the tranqs now, but her Aunts had told her that shifters didn’t turn back to their human form when they were unconscious or dead. There was no way she and her sisters could drag that big bastard back to the car. Hell, even if they could drag it to the car, it wouldn’t fit in the trunk. So she stood there, warily observing the tiger for any small, subtle movement while it continued to watch her.

  Suddenly, the tiger jumped down from the beam to lay on the ground. Elena brought her gun up in front of her, ready to pull the trigger if she had to. She stood there with her sisters, and watched in fascination as the tiger’s body started to shudder. Loud popping and grinding noises started to come from the beast as it started to shift back to its human form. Hair started to recede from the body, claws disappeared, and the tiger’s thick muscled cat body morphed into slimmer parts. It was enough to turn Elena’s stomach a little because it looked excruciatingly painful, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away. In a matter of minutes the very large tiger was gone, and in its place was a tall, slim, beautiful redhead. Lulu?

  The redhead got up from the floor in a smooth, almost elegant move, and then started walking their way. Naked. Elena did not want to see a naked lady. Even if she had to grudgingly admit that she was a drop dead gorgeous naked lady. But she couldn’t take the chance of telling her to go get clothes because the shifter might grab a weapon instead of the garments and use it on her. Keeping her gun trained on her target, who was closing the distance between them with a smile on her face, she pulled the trigger two times in quick succession.

  The redhead’s smile turned into a grimace, right before she let out an unholy roar that damn near made Elena go deaf and fell to the floor. It seemed Lulu hadn’t thought that Elena would actually pull that trigger. She snorted. That was because the woman didn’t know her at all. Elena’s personal motto was shoot first, ask questions later.

  “Holy shit, you actually did it!” Delta squealed.

  Giving her sister a ‘duh’ look, she asked. “Did you think I was joking when I told you the plan?”

  Shaking her head frantically, “No, but I thought four sure you would change your mind once you saw her.”

  “And there’s another reason why you’re not getting a weapon. First rule of weapons training is that you don’t point it at anybody unless you’re ready to use it. Stick to your computers Delta, you, and everybody else, are safer that way.”

  Delta rolled her eyes and Elena turned back to the unconscious redhead sprawled out on the floor. “Come on you two, let’s get her to the car and get out of here.” Chloe walked over to the couch and snagged the green throw blanket. “Good thinking. I’m getting tired of seeing this broad’s breasts.”

  “Well then stop looking at them you perv.” Chloe draped the blanket over the redhead’s body.

  “How can you not look at them? They’re like yours, unnaturally large. I can’t help but stare at the women who have too much of what I don’t have enough of.”

  Chloe bent over to grab the tigress’ hands. “You’re jealous of my beautiful girls. Grab her feet Ms. No Boob At All.”

  Elena went to bend over and grab the woman’s feet, but movement out of her peripheral vision stopped her. There, standing in the doorway in nothing but a towel was another redhead. She could damn near be the twin of the one Elena had shot with the tranquilizer darts a moment before. How many of these damn redheaded, funky ass, tiger shiftin’ broads were there?

  Redhead number two’s jaw was gaped open in shock. “What the hell is going on here? Let go of my grandmother right now you crazy bitches!”

  Grandmother? Elena looked back down to their unconscious victim and swore. She’d traqued the wrong chick! Bare feet slapping in quick succession drew her attention back up to the woman who she was now sure was the real Lulu Ivanov. Lulu was running towards them with her claws half shifted, her mouth open in a loud growl, and some gnarly as fangs hanging out. Elena didn’t have time to scream ‘HOLY SHIT’ like she wanted to because she’d never known they could partially shift their bodies like that. No, she had just enough time to raise her gun, point it out the blur that was approaching her almost too fast for the human eye to track, and fire two shots.

  Then she barely tackled Chloe out of the way in time before that blur kept going straight for where the two of them had been huddled over Grandma Ivanov. Lulu’s uncoordinated limbs tripped over her grandmother’s prone form, and then went flying like a naked human airplane out the front door. Elena didn’t think the sight of a naked flying Lulu could get any funnier, but she quickly figured out she might be wrong when she promptly heard a loud startled squeak from Delta, followed by a crashing thud.

  Elena and Chloe scrambled to their feet and then to the front door to make sure that the angry tigress was really unconscious from the drugs Elena had shot her up with. What they found was Delta laying stunned and confused sprawled on the ground on her stomach. Lulu had collided into her and then landed with her face down in Delta’s derriere and the rest of her body pinning poor Delta’s legs down so she couldn’t move. The tigress’ nose was buried right in the crease of Delta’s backside, creating a sight neither Chloe nor Elena would be forgetting anytime soon.

  Elena heard Chloe’s phone make a noise and didn’t bother turning her head. “Did you just take a picture of this?”

  “Yeppers. I wanted photographic evidence that cats do in fact sniff asses just like dogs.” Chloe sang the words instead of saying them. Elena tried not to laugh. Really. She tried. But as she watched Delta struggle to pull her legs out from the deadweight of unconscious shifter, and heard Chloe’s phone continue to take more pictures, she lost the battle and burst out with uncontrollable laughter.

  When Delta glared at her for her laughter, then flicked Chloe’s camera off… she laughed harder. “Just think of it as research Delta!”

  CHAPTER-EIGHT

  Gage

  He knew something was wrong the second he got out of his truck. With his sharper Other senses Gage could see the drag marks through the gravel of his driveway where something heavy had been pulled from his house. Whatever had transpired had to have happened earlier in the day though because he couldn’t scent anything strange in the air around him. Jogging up to his home’s front door he heard his brother’s truck pull up and park behind him. As soon as he opened the door the unique smell of his mate filled the air, along with the scents of her sisters.

  If circumstances were different, coming home to Elena’s scent would be one of the best experiences of his life. The fact that he was also smelling an unusual dusty, clay type smell that didn’t belong here probably meant that this was not going to be something that made him happy.

  “Babushka?” He called out as he stepped into his home. A gravelly crunch sounded under his foot. He looked down at the floor, but even with his enhanced eye sight all he could make out were tiny rocks. Why were there rocks in his house? If this was his grandmother’s idea for turning his house into one giant ass Zen rock garden he was going to be pissed. As Gage walked over to the wall to turn the light on, he heard Alec walked in behind him.

  “Yo bro, what the fuck do you have on your floor?”

  Good question, Gage thought to himself right before he flicked the light switch on. Of course, the minute the lights came on he wanted nothing more than shut them back off again.

  “Is that-?” His brother started to ask.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Gage growled.

  Alec’s boom of laughter echoed through the house as he closed his eyes in anger. Trying to pretend that he wasn’t looking at a very obvious message from his angry, devious mate. Oh, when he got his hands on her he was going to strip her naked, throw her on to his bed and paddle her ass for this! A soft, plush object collided with his head before he heard it hit the floor at his feet. Opening his eyes and looking down he saw a small stuffed m
ouse that he could smell was full of catnip. It was a goddamn cat toy. That his brother had just thrown at his head.

  Snarling, he lost his temper and roared at his brother. The bastard seemed to care less that he’d pissed Gage off because he was now laughing so hard that he was bent over with his hands resting on his knees, gasping for air. Gage did his best to ignore the idiot as he looked around his home. Cat litter covered his hard wood floors everywhere that he could see. Since the litter was even covering the floor in the hallway, he suspected he would find it in the bedrooms and bathrooms as well. His Elena hadn’t stopped there though. There were cat toys all over. Little stuffed mice like the one Alec had thrown at him. Sparkly little balls. A brightly colored pop-up tunnel for house cats to play in. A scratching post over by the French doors on the other side of the room. When he saw the motorized mouse scurry across the floor he almost flipped his shit. There had to be dozens of ridiculous cat toys spread throughout his house.

  Walking across the litter covered floor he saw the little yellow piece of paper taped to one of the support columns. He snatched the note and instantly recognized Elena’s messy scrawl.

  Dear Garfield,

  Don’t forget to scoop out your litter after you take a shit.

  Elena

  P.S. I have your grandmother and sister with me.

  Don’t worry, you’re the only one I want to make a tiger skin rug out of.

  Strangely, Gage wasn’t worried about Babushka’s safety. Because he believed Elena when she said that he was the only one she wanted to make a rug out of. He was worried that Elena would do something stupid though, like turn his sister over to the demon’s Ninth Circle Council. Lulu might be guilty of being a twit for getting involved with a mated demon, but she wasn’t a murderer. Gage knew that about his sister. She didn’t have it in her to murder the demon. Or anybody for that matter. She was a lover, not a fighter.

  Crumpling the little note in his hand, he stood perfectly still trying to regain his composure. His tiger was going ape-shit in his head. The beast wasn’t mad at what their mate had done. No, the beast was angry because the scent of their mate was finally in their den, but she wasn’t here to stay. And the tiger blamed him. There was nothing he could say to the animal half of himself because the beast was right. This situation was all his fault.

  The tip of his ear suddenly tingled and he ran his hand over it to rub the odd feeling away. The tingly sensation happened again at the back of his neck and as Gage swiped his hand over the area the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end because someone was standing behind him. Turning around he found Alec standing there holding a wand with feathers on the end of it.

  “Hey, can we keep all the toys for your future cubs with the Amazon?”

  Elena

  “Where were you the night of October 28th?”

  “Really? You’ve got me handcuffed to this raggedy ass armchair in a dark room with a light in my face asking me ridiculous questions? You’ve watched one to many shitty cop movies, haven’t you?” Lulu huffed in annoyance at Elena, who stood on the other side of the table between them, eyeballing her with disdain.

  “Just answer the question Lulu.”

  “And why should I answer your question Amazon? Why should I do anything that could possibly help you when you’ve got me detained here without telling me why? And what kind of fuckin’ handcuffs are these?” She rattled the handcuffs against the chair to make a point.

  Ignoring the handcuffs question, Elena murmured back. “I’m here to help you Lulu.” Somehow Elena managed not to cringe at the half lie. True her intentions had changed a little. Now instead of persecuting Lulu she was back on the right track to see if the woman was truly guilty or not. That Elena had once been bound and determined to turn the Ivanov sister over to the Ninth Circle just to hurt her brother was of little consequence at the moment. Or, at least that’s what she was telling herself so that the regret of her actions didn’t eat her alive.

  “How the fuck are you helping me right now? I didn’t sign up for some kinky slap and tickle classes, so uncuff me skank!”

  “I’m not going to take the handcuffs off until we get a few things straight.”

  “Yeah, like what?” Lulu snapped.

  Elena crossed her arms over her chest. “Like where you were on October 28th.”

  Baring her teeth in a snarl, “I’ll tell you what I know.”

  “Good.”

  “You’re a twat-waffle. That’s what I know.” The tigress tried to lunge at Elena again, but the titanium handcuffs covered in a ridiculously expensive strengthening spell cast by one of the most powerful witches of this century kept her hostage in the chair.

  Sighing in frustration, Elena glanced at her watch. Eight o’ clock. Shit. They’d had Lulu and Vera Ivanov for several hours now. It was only a matter of time before Gage showed up hissing and spitting like the pissed off kitty he’d turn into once he figured out where she had the two women. She really needed to hurry this interrogation along. If Lulu hadn’t slept so long because of the tranquilizers, Elena could have been done with this already. She was going to have to stop her quiet ‘Good Cop’ routine if she wanted any answers before Gage got here.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared down at the pissed tigress. “Look, I don’t give a flying fuck if you don’t believe me when I say I’m trying to help you out here. It’s in your best interest to let me know where you were the night of October 28th or I guaran-damn-tee that you’re going to regret not telling me.”

  Snarling, Lulu exposed her lengthening fangs and snapped them in Elena’s direction like she wanted to take a bite out of her. “What is one little Amazon going to do to me? You’re not strong enough or fast enough to take me on before I could rip your throat out.”

  “Speaking of ripping things… that’s why we’re here.”

  “Because you want me to take a bite out of you? Really Amazon? You’re pretty and all, but I don’t swing that way.”

  Elena snorted. “Don’t worry, you’re missing a few vital parts for me too. No, I was referring to you taking a bite out of Andrew Holden, your lover.” When Lulu’s face turned to confusion, Elena added, “You know, the dead one.”

  Lulu’s confusion melted away to a blank mask.

  Irritated at the obstinate woman for clamming up on her, she snapped. “Holden’s brother sits on the Ninth Circle Council Lulu. He’s the one who hired us to hand you over on murder charges. If you don’t start talking, giving me something to help you out here, you’re as good as dead by torture. Is that what you want?”

  Shaking her head, “How are you going to help me? There’s not a damn thing you can do. You’re almost as weak as a human in our eyes. Mind your business Amazon and let me go. I was exactly where I needed to be to get help when you kidnapped me.”

  Well didn’t that snarly little comment just piss her off to no end? The tigress thought she was too weak to handle this? Pursing her lips, Elena decided to show Lulu what this weak little Amazon would do when pushed to her limits. She’d already sized up her captive to be a prissy girl like her sisters, so for the most part, she knew what made the woman tick. Or scream for that matter. Looking down to the floor as if she saw something, Elena gasped “Holy shit! That’s a big one!”

  Sprinting out of the small room, as if she were in a panic, Elena jogged into her Aunt’s kitchen with a smile on her face. This was going to be so much fun. Rooting around in one of the cabinet drawers she found the hammer she’d used a few weeks ago when she’d seen a big hairy spider she’d wanted to kill in the worst way, and grabbed it. Elena internally shuddered at the memory of that spider. God she hated all of those eight legged freaky little bastards with a passion. Her absolute homicidal hatred of the arachnids was just about the only girly quality she had. Walking at a brisk pace back towards the room she’d left Lulu in, she passed Chloe who give her the stink eye when she saw the hammer Elena was holding.

  As Elena passed her, Chloe asked, “What ar
e you doing? You’re not supposed to hurt her.”

  Elena smiled. “Oh, I’m not going to hurt her.”

  Chloe walked quickly behind her to catch up. “You’re not supposed to kill her either.”

  “Not planning to.”

  “Then what the hell are you doing with that hammer? Decided to hang a picture of your ugly face where she could see it as a new torture technique?”

  Elena ignored the insult. “Nope again. This is sooooooo much better than that.”

  She could tell her sister was seriously worried now, but Elena continued to ignore her. Her plan was simple: Make Lulu Ivanov think she was one seriously unstable chick on a mission. What better way to do that than to fuck with her head, freak her out, and then scare the shit out of her? Picking up her pace until she was sprinting into the room. Pretending to act hysterical she ran in front of the table so Lulu could get a good look at her wild crazy eyes and the hammer in her hand.

  “Where did it go?” Elena yelled, pretending to look around the floor around the table.

  The tiger fidgeted in her chair, trying to push it backwards from Elena. “What the fuck is your problem Amazon? Did you forget to take your crazy pill today or something?”

  Feigning an exaggerated fear, Elena searched the floor, then under the table before she screamed, “There’s the big bastard!” Elena smacked the hammer harshly on the table leg closest to Lulu’s leg, causing the tiger to try and jump away from her.

  “Jesus you crazy bitch you almost hit me!” Lulu roared at her.

  Elena was having the damndest time trying to hold her laughter in, but she had to pretend for just another minute or so before she could drop the charade. “DAMMIT! I missed the big furry monster. That’s got to be the largest spider I’ve ever seen! Where did he go? I fuckin’ hate spiders! Do you see him?” She screeched.