CORAM

by Bonnie Burrows

  Rummaging through his pockets, Tom hadn’t been disappointed when he pulled out a set of keys and a parking stub, showing the parking lot where the man had left his car. Tom dragged the man into his tent to hide his body, taking his supplies and heading down the trail to the lot. With any luck, wild animals would find the man before rangers did. Either way. Tom would be long gone.

  A loud bang pulled Tom from his musings. He tensed, poised to spring, but the noise was only someone in the hallway loudly banging trash bins around while they emptied them. He smiled to himself. The cashier wasn’t very subtle, and was likely trying to be in the hallway when he emerged so that she had an excuse to talk to him again.

  Even filthy, injured and unshaven, Tom was a hit with the ladies and always had been. If she was already that smitten with him when he was unkempt, Tom could only imagine how she would fall all over herself to help him when he was looking his best. He would get what he wanted from the girl. Maybe a little more.

  A shaving mirror hung in the shower stall. Tom used it to shave, watching the grizzly stubble melt away, revealing the silky-smooth face he knew and loved. He blew his reflection a kiss, completely oblivious to his narcissistic behavior. He was a beautiful man. Everyone he encountered told him as much. There was no need to hide it from the world and himself. No, Tom embraced everything about himself without shame or guilt.

  He was loath to get out of the shower, but he had things to do. He rinsed quickly after washing his wound one more time. This time, it stung a little less. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Tom dried off quickly, wiping the steam off the full length mirror. He studied the wound, twisting and turning to look from every angle. The bullet had grazed him and he didn’t see any shrapnel embedded in his flesh.

  He opened the kit again, selecting a long needle and drawing lidocaine into the syringe and injecting it around the wound. It burned, but the blessed numbness was worth the pain. He set the needle and syringe back in the kit, testing the flesh around it before picking up the suture needle and forceps.

  Tom had stitched up many recruits over the years, but never himself. He wasn’t surprised when he excelled at it, tying off a neat row of stitches before spreading a thick salve over the wound and bandaging it once more. While he wasn’t very happy that his perfect body had been marred, he knew it would work to his advantage later in life. There was nothing an unsuspecting woman loved more than a bleeding heart story.

  He dressed quickly, disposing of his trash and gathering his things into the shopping bag. Looking around to make sure he hadn’t left anything of value or consequence behind, he stepped out of the shower area and to the bathroom door.

  The bathroom mirrors that lined the wall followed him as he went, clinging to his beauty when he stepped from mirror to mirror. He was pleased with what he saw. There was no sign of the hell he’d been through in the past several days, nor would anyone suspect that he was part of the bloodbath all over the news.

  He walked through the hall, a spring in his step. He felt human again, and ready for his next mission.

  But first, lunch.

  The same pretty cashier was standing behind the register, clearly bored with her day. When she looked up and saw him, she smiled brightly.

  “Are you here all alone?”

  “There’s a gas station attendant, but that guy sleeps in the back until I buzz him.”

  “Want some lunch?”

  The cashier looked around. The sandwich shop was in the same building, but around the corner and out of sight of the register. “I can’t.”

  “What if I brought lunch to you and we sat on the bench there? Then no one could come in without you seeing them first.”

  She twirled her hair around her finger, clearly considering his proposal. “Okay,” she said, bouncing a little with excitement. He stared at her breasts as they bounced beneath her tight shirt for a moment then smiled at her again and winked.

  She gave him her order and he returned within minutes, leading her out to the table and sitting across from her. He handed her a sandwich and bottle of cola, which he opened for her with a flourish. They talked between bites, and the woman told him her name was Britney and she’d just graduated high school.

  Tom made small talk with her for some time, polishing off his sandwich and wiping his face. He stared deep into her eyes as she talked, careful to keep his face light. She was boring him to tears and he was fantasizing about taking her right there on the bench and slitting her throat when he was done. The thought warmed him, and his smile softened. Britney mistook the expression for interest, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

  “Did you work every day this week?” he asked innocently.

  “I did. I have tomorrow off, though.”

  Her invitation was clear, but Tom didn’t take the bait. He didn’t have time to deal with the woman, though the image of her life force draining out on the mulch surrounding the bench would live forever in his mind.

  He squeezed her hand back, reaching into his wallet with his free hand before releasing hers to open the leather wallet and fish out a folded picture.

  “I can’t stay, but I was hoping you could help me, Britney. Have you seen this girl?”

  Britney’s expression changed. “Is that your girlfriend?”

  “Oh no,” Tom assured her. “She’s my baby sister. She was kidnapped earlier this week and I’m searching for her. I was hoping they came through here and someone saw them.”

  Britney grabbed the photo out of his hand and Tom fought the urge to punch her for being so rude. He smiled instead, giving her a moment to look the photo over. He could see the instant that recognition dawned on her. She looked up, watching the car drive away in her mind, trying to remember every detail so she could share her knowledge with Tom.

  “I did see her. It was the other morning, really early. I came to work at three in the morning and they were sitting in the car parked right there,” she pointed to the spot a few places down from where they were.

  “I was on my break, sitting on that chair by the restrooms. They used the outdoor restrooms, they didn’t even come into the building. I remember them because the girl was waiting for him against the car and he said he was surprised she didn’t run.”

  Tom squeezed her hand encouragingly. “Did you see which way they went?”

  “I didn’t, but I heard him say they weren’t stopping again until they hit Alabama.”

  An odd look came over her face, and she looked at Tom. “What’s happening to me?” She was beginning to panic, and he could tell she wanted to run.

  He laughed softly. He’d slipped enough Ketamine into her drink to tranquilize a small horse.

  “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt, but you won’t remember anything when you wake up. If you wake up.”

  Britney started to tremble slightly, her words slurring until they became a jumbled mess and then silence. After a few moments, only her eyes moved and her head slumped forward onto the table. Tom arranged her arms under her head, turning it to the side so she looked like she’d fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.

  He sat beside her, his face inches from her so he could look deep into her eyes. It wouldn’t be long before she lost consciousness, but for now, she was still trying to make her lips work and her feet were moving. The movement was small and feeble, but she was giving it her all, fighting against the drug.

  “I like your spunk. If I had time, I would enjoy you now. You can’t imagine how much you would love making love to me for hours on end. But I have things to do.” He brushed her hair from her face and chuckled softly as a single tear slid from her eye. “Don’t cry. Maybe someday I’ll come back and we can have each other. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  She couldn’t answer, and Tom continued stroking her hair as he listened to her feet swishing over the tall grass beneath the table. No matter how hard she fought, she would soon be paralyzed. The light swish sound of the grass beneath her feet as she tried to force her b
ody to get up and run away was music to his ears. People could say what they wanted about pretty girls with vapid personalities, but Britney was a fighter. Tom watched her for a moment longer before getting up to walk away. He could hear her moaning behind him, trying to cry out for help but unable to force her paralyzed muscles to work.

  He got into the car and cast one last look at Britney, slumped forward onto the picnic table, looking very much like she’d fallen asleep on her break. By the time the dinner crowd came calling, she would be coming to. Until then, she was at the mercy of any passerby that happened along.

  Tom sighed. How he longed to spend some time with the beautiful woman, to watch her suffer and see if she lived through it. But he was on a mission and he had to find Cambria. He couldn’t let the shifter have her, and Britney was nothing to him.

  Cambria hadn’t gone willingly, of this he was certain. When he got his hands on that dirty shifter, he would make him pay for what he’d done to Cambria. But even if she’d fallen for his charms, he had to rescue her from the man. Shifters were known to be wily, and even the smartest woman could be fooled.

  The more he thought about his sweet Cambria, trapped somewhere with a tiger shifter of all things, the more angry he got. He had no right to take up with a human woman, and Tom hoped the man would fight when Tom finally found the pair. He would kill the tiger, maybe even taking a trophy to remember the experience. Cambria would be grateful to be saved and they would live happily ever after.

  But what if the shifter had cast a spell on her, winning her trust and convincing her that he wasn’t bad? Tom shook his head angrily, carrying on an internal dialogue with himself as he pulled away from the rest stop. No, she wouldn’t be fooled. She was too strong for that, he thought. She might trick the shifter into thinking that she’d been fooled, but she would hold fast to her beliefs and she would prevail.

  No matter what, he had to find her and take her away from the awful place and bring her back where she belonged. She and Tom were the only members of the resistance left that weren’t dead or in jail. If their anti-shifter movement was to continue, and all the tigers were to be eradicated for good, they were going to have to start rebuilding their army.

  Tom got onto the highway, heading northwest and after his woman.

  *

  Cambria stepped out of the tent, filling her lungs with the fresh scent of the recent rains. It had been raining almost nonstop since they’d arrived nearly a week before, and she was ready for some sunshine. The valley below was cut down the middle by what was left of the runoff, but the bison had already come out to graze, undeterred by the damp earth beneath their feet. Cambria was hoping that this was a sign that the rain was over for a bit.

  She sat down on the large boulder overlooking the valley, enjoying the warmth it had soaked up from the sun. Stretching slowly, she watched the bison move lazily below them, wincing from time to time as she worked kinks out of her sore muscles before moving to the next. They’d been trapped in the tent for most of the time they’d been there. As much as she loved snuggling with him, there was a lot to be said for having room to stretch out and breathe after so much time spent in such a confined space.

  Footsteps behind her announced Egan was awake. It had rained on and off all morning, and Egan had taken advantage once again, making love to her until the both fell back, too exhausted to move. They’d slept half the day away, and the late-afternoon sun was already starting to dip towards the horizon.

  He slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to lean against him. “You were gone when I woke up.”

  “The rain stopped. I wanted some fresh air.”

  He nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent and trailing tender kisses from her jaw to her shoulder as he did.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  “Of course I am.” His lips brushed against her when he spoke, sending shivers up and down her body. She rolled her eyes, wondering how her body could continue to respond to him when she was so sore and so tired.

  It was clear that their lovemaking was still on his mind. Not that Cambria was complaining, but they couldn’t spend every day in bed.

  “I meant for food. You’re insatiable.”

  “Only when you’re involved.”

  She doubted that, but she let it slide. Egan had professed his love multiple times, but Cambria had shied away from saying the words. No man had ever actually loved her, and over the years she’d come to find that “I love you” had been used to manipulate her time and time again.

  It felt different when Egan said it; like genuine for the first time in her life. But she’d thought that before, so she was trying to guard her heart and stay cautious. Someday, she might say the words, but for now, her actions were going to have to be proof enough.

  Egan stood, jogging over to the tree and climbing up a few branches to retrieve their food from the pack secured above. There weren’t any bears in the area, but there were plenty of coyotes and other scavengers, and Egan wasn’t willing to risk their food supply by leaving it in a lower, more accessible place. He rummaged through the food options, pulling out Cambria’s favorite meal replacement bar and tossing it to her before taking their canteens to the quickly moving stream and filling them both.

  He returned, handing her one canteen and keeping one for himself. He sat on a rock in front of hers, facing her as they shared a meal. Cambria drank the chilly liquid, enjoying the fresh taste that never got old. The water at the compound had come from a well, but it had an odd taste to it. More than once, she voiced her concern over it, but her words were dismissed, much like everything else she said or did.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “Why?”

  “You’re scowling again. You get lost in thought all the time, and when you do, you make that face.”

  “I’m thinking about you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Her words were a little harsher than she meant them to be, and she immediately felt bad.

  But Egan chuckled, leaning forward and squeezing her calf affectionately as he looked into her eyes. “I’m not worried about what you think of me. Your body does an excellent job of letting me know exactly how you feel.” He winked, and Cambria felt her face flush. He was such a tease, constantly bantering back and forth with her, sometimes for seemingly no reason.

  At first, she’d found his lighthearted demeanor and constant quipping exhausting. But once she grew accustomed to it, she realized he was just a happy man. His happiness was infectious, and Cambria found herself feeling more relaxed and upbeat around him than she had been for as long as she could remember.

  She took a deep breath, wondering how much of her life with Laskin and the others she should reveal. She’d spent most of her life hating shifters, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “I was just thinking about how no one ever took me seriously before, and I guess I’m still angry about being brushed off all the time like my opinion was nothing because I’m a woman. I understood why Laskin treated me like a child. At least, I thought I did, but I wonder now if he ever cared for me.”

  “He must have, on some level. He saved you and protected you. Laskin was an evil, vile man, but evil isn’t black and white. Bad people have good qualities, no matter how bad they are. Which is why you’re struggling with it so much. If he was just bad, you could write him off and walk away unhurt. But he was like family, and he betrayed you. I understand.”

  “Do you? I mean really? How could you understand?”

  “I’d known Laskin my entire life. He spent plenty of time in my home for me to get to know him. I didn’t really like him, but I never knew the real him. He was just the harmless man who followed the elders around, taking notes and serving them drinks. I was just as surprised as you when he came after us and I found out that, not only was he the son of a human, but that he was the driving force behind everything that was going wrong in our world, amongst the other tigers.

  "When he attacked us five y
ears ago, that’s when we found out. Until he shifted in front of us and he had the silver coat of the mixed breeds, we had no idea that he wasn’t full-blooded shifter. I was only eighteen at the time so it was a lot to absorb. He didn’t raise me though, so I can only imagine that the betrayal you feel is infinitely more painful than what I felt.”

  “You’re probably right. I just can’t get over the fact that he left me behind when everyone else went off to fight. After all the training I did, and how hard I worked, he just pushed me aside.”

  “If he hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have been alone when I came to get you. It would have gone completely different.”

  Cambria considered that for a moment, smiling at the thought. “You would have had to work harder to catch me.”

  “You beat the hell out of me all on your own. You did a damn fine job of protecting yourself.”

  “True. But you were relentless.”

  “I was driven by love.”

  Cambria’s smile faltered.

  “I wish those words didn’t freak you out. I love you. I loved you before I met you and I’ll love you the rest of my life. That’s a good thing, not something to fear.”

  Cambria didn’t say anything about what he’d said, instead, changing the subject.

  “So you’re not silver then? I mean, when you change?”

  “No. I’m orange and black. Like a normal tiger.”

  “There’s nothing normal about tiger shift—" her hands flew to her mouth to stop herself, but it was too late. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

  “It’s alright. It takes a lot to break down prejudices that have been ingrained in you for so long.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek tenderly. “I have faith that you’ll move passed it.” He started walking towards the tent, but Cambria called out to him and he stopped.

  “Can I see you? I mean you as a tiger?”

  He turned, taking a deep breath before he spoke. “Are you sure? It can be,” he searched for the word, “intimidating. We’re much bigger than actual tigers. And I won’t be able to talk to you.”