Listening to her voice, Kitty slowly eased back onto his haunches and then lay down on the floor. Then through their mental connection, she told him that they only wanted to help. She started to smile at the progress they’d made, when the front door squeaked, making them all—including Kitty—jump.
With awful timing, Soroyan walked inside. Thaniel’s leopard sat up and hissed again. Surprised, Soroyan paused and glanced from the cat to the three of them as Kitty began to advance on him. Eyes narrowing, Soroyan shot a wave of power through the room, making the leopard whimper and cower back in fear.
“Enough!” Tierney glared at Soroyan. “I just calmed him down, and now you’re stirring him up again? Leave him alone. He’s scared enough as it is.” Then she turned back to find Kitty backing away, shaking. “Thaniel, you’re okay. Soroyan will not hurt you,” she said, glad the connection to him remained open.
The shock on Soroyan’s face that she’d stood up to him, quickly changed to his usual scowl. Tierney bit back a grin. Ha! Bet no one ever dares talk back to him, or tell him off. Finally, her grin slipped free as she cautiously moved forward.
Though Thaniel’s leopard watched her, he didn’t move. Encouraged, she took another step and then crouched in front of him. “You’re okay, he won’t hurt you. You’re safe.” Careful not to startle him, Tierney reached out, and after sniffing her, Kitty rubbed his face against her hand. He began to relax and finally let Tierney rub under his chin. Then, a faint purr sounded as pale-blue cat eyes stared up at her.
“You’re either very stupid, or very brave,” Soroyan said before turning and walking back outside. Still grinning, Tierney used her connection to tell Thaniel to change back. They needed to get going. But the cat yawned, and lowered his head to his paws, ready for sleep. Surprised, Tierney stood and glanced back at Jax and Sami.
“Maybe he needs to wait a certain amount of time before he can change back?” Sami suggested.
“Never thought of that.” She turned and stared at the now calm, but very large cat.
“Getting Kitty to the car is gonna be fun, if that’s the case,” Jax remarked, as they all imagined trying to convince a scared, spooked leopard to climb into the back of Jax’s car.
Tierney used her connection to ask Thaniel to change back again, and waited. Thaniel’s eyes never left hers, but a moment later the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, as he started to transform. This time, he went from animal to human in a matter of seconds, and it appeared painless.
Tierney quickly covered him with the blanket as he lay on the floor. “Are you okay?” she asked, crouching in front of him once again. Thaniel sat up and averted his eyes as he pulled the hoodie back on, before wrapping the blanket around himself. Then his gaze finally met hers. “What are you?” he asked, staring at her suspiciously.
Chapter Seventeen
Mind Power
TIERNEY COULDN’T ANSWER Thaniel. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to tell him the truth, but they never told anyone their secrets. As she stood up, Jax saved her from having to say anything. “C’mon, we’ll talk later.” He held the door open. “Right now, we need to get out of here before something else happens.”
But Thaniel didn’t move.
Tierney looked at him. “Thaniel, we’re looking for someone named Toren. We want you to come with us. Who knows, maybe we’ll find Real. But either way, I don’t want to leave you here.” Actually, she hated the thought of leaving him behind.
“Yeah and dude, you need some clothes,” Jax said. Tierney shot him a glare. “What?” he asked all innocent like, making her want to roll her eyes.
“Nothing,” she said instead, and held her hand out to Thaniel. “C’mon, we’ll get you some food and something to wear.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he finally took her hand, got to his feet and followed her out the door. “W-who is that?” Thaniel asked as he peered timidly at Soroyan who stood leaning against Jax’s car with a bored expression on his face.
“That’s Soroyan, he won’t hurt you,” Tierney said drawing a scowl from the big guy. “Soroyan, can you ride up front with Jax? Sami and I will climb in the back with Thaniel.”
Without answering, Soroyan went around the car, opened the front passenger door and climbed inside. Glad Soroyan hadn’t given her a hard time, Tierney smiled at Thaniel before sliding into the backseat and over to the middle beside Sami. She could see Thaniel’s indecision, but after a slight hesitation, he got in beside her and closed the door.
“Hey, where’d you go man?” Jax asked Soroyan.
“I’m not a man,” Soroyan snapped, and Tierney didn’t think he was going to answer. “I caught Toren’s scent. He left in a vehicle,” he finally said, surprising her. Maybe he did have some manners after all.
“Huh.” Jax grunted and started the car. “And?”
“Lost the trail down the road,” Soroyan said.
“Oh.” Jax didn’t say anything else and with a quick glance in the back, Soroyan nodded at Thaniel.
“Where’d you find this one?” Soroyan’s harsh voice made Thaniel cringe, and had Tierney itching to punch the big guy.
“We found Thaniel locked in a soundproofed room in the basement,” Sami said with barely concealed anger.
Soroyan studied Thaniel. “I didn’t sense him in the house.”
“You didn’t go in because you didn’t sense anyone?” Tierney frowned.
“Correct. I picked up the scent of blood and death, but did not detect a heartbeat,” he said and Tierney caught the twinge of guilt in his eyes before he turned away.
Huh, probably a good thing. Soroyan would have added to Thaniel’s fear.
“You and Sami okay back there with Kitty?” Jax asked, worried.
“We’ll be fine. He won’t hurt us, but we need to get him some food,” she said.
“Sure, we’ll find some Kitty snacks. Hopefully the big bad wolf here won’t shit a bird when we stop at another drive through,” Jax said.
Soroyan bristled with indignation. “I am a wolf, and I don’t shit birds.”
“Yeah. Forgot you could hear us.” Jax grinned without taking his eyes off the road and Tierney did her best to keep a straight face. Jax hadn’t forgotten.
“Nor do I mind you getting ‘Kitty’ some snacks,” Soroyan added.
Tierney smirked at his sarcasm. “Just drive,” she said, stifling a laugh.
All the way to the nearest McDonald’s, Thaniel peered at Tierney through his hair. After putting in a large order, they pulled up to the next window, and Jax handed the bags back to Thaniel. Tierney tried not to stare as he gobbled up an insane amount of food in a matter of minutes.
She couldn’t help wonder where he put it all, and for a moment, she worried he might make himself sick, eating so much—so fast. But she didn’t have the heart to tell him to slow down. And really, he had just changed into a leopard—that had to use up plenty of calories. When he finished, Thaniel peeked at her from behind his matted hair.
“H-how’d you do that?”
“Do what?” Tierney asked, unsure what he meant.
“You know, get in my head.”
Tierney shrugged, still not sure how to answer.
Sami saved her by changing the subject. “Thaniel, do you have any idea what happened to the rest of the Pack?”
Thaniel shook his head. “No.”
“Well, when did you last see anyone?” Jax asked, looking at them in his rear-view mirror.
Thaniel thought about it for a second. “When Raymund brought me food.”
His answer left Tierney feeling horrified and sick, with more questions flying through her mind.
“How often did you normally see someone?” Sami asked.
“Once a day, sometimes twice.” Thaniel lowered his eyes to his lap again. “Real tried to sneak down when he could. The pack barely tolerated him, but he refused to leave. He kept me up to date on everything, brought me extra food. He wanted to get me out when I could control myself.” He peered u
p at her. “Do you think he’s dead?” he asked softly and dread filled her. She tried to speak, but nothing would come out. She prayed, for Thaniel’s sake, that Real was alive, but the whole situation stank.
Sami stared at Thaniel with compassion in his eyes. “We hope not.”
Thaniel nodded and turned back to the window. “That’s okay, everyone leaves.” There was so much pain and loneliness in that comment that it tore at her heart.
“Do you think Real is Gabreal?” she asked Jax and Sami, thinking about the note she found in Zander’s study.
“I’d say it’s a good bet he is.” Sami said and Jax agreed.
A minute later Thaniel turned back to her. “Did you know Justin?”
“No, we didn’t,” she answered, then glanced at Soroyan.
“Kyrian did,” he said with no emotion whatsoever.
She turned back to Thaniel. “Soroyan’s brother, Kyrian is the one who knew Justin. He gave us the address to where we found you.”
Thaniel nodded and lowered his gaze. “I only met Justin once. Real said he was a good man, and he seemed nice.” Thaniel glanced up at her, making her smile.
“Ask if he saw Toren or Zeveride,” Soroyan demanded.
Tierney glanced over at him in exasperation. “He’s been locked up all this time, I can’t imagine he saw either of them.” Soroyan tensed up. “Although his friend may have mentioned them,” she added.
“You ask or I will,” he said.
“Fine, I’ll ask. You’ll scare him.” She looked back at Thaniel. “Did Real ever mention anyone named Toren, or Zeveride to you?”
Thaniel nodded. “Not Zeveride, but Real said Toren came from the mountains.” Soroyan turned and focused on Thaniel, making him nervous. Shooting Soroyan a wary glance, Thaniel continued. “Real said Toren was different from the other Were’s, he’s who you’re looking for?”
“Yeah.” Tierney nodded.
“Is he a friend of yours?” Thaniel asked.
“We’re trying to find him for a friend,” Tierney said.
“Oh.” Thaniel bit his bottom lip, but didn’t say any more.
“Where to?” Jax asked.
“Well, Thaniel needs clothing—go to Walmart. We can get everything he needs there,” Tierney said.
But when Jax pulled into the parking lot, Soroyan stiffened up and, like a hawk, kept his gaze trained on everyone walking in and out of the store and around the parking lot. “I’ll stay here,” he said tensely.
Sami nodded beside her. “Yeah, we’ll keep Thaniel company.”
But Thaniel’s anxiety spiked when Jax parked, making Tierney think he was scared to be alone with Soroyan.
“You’ll be okay. No one will hurt you,” she tried to calm him, but he just shook his head.
“No. I, I don’t have money.” He looked ready to bolt.
“Hey man, don’t worry about money,” Sami said and Jax turned and glanced back.
“It’ll be a gift,” Jax added.
“No-no-no-no—” Thaniel started to freak out and Tierney could feel his panic.
“Shhh, Thaniel.” She laid a hand on his arm to soothe him, and waited for him to look at her.
“We can figure the money out later,” Jax said, also trying to reassure him, but it backfired.
“Nothing is f-free. W-what do you want me to do?” Thaniel asked, heart beating faster, as his eyes went from one of them to the other apprehensively.
“Do?” Jax and Sami asked simultaneously, before understanding finally dawned.
“Ah—you can pay us back later, if you want,” Sami said.
Jax turned away without a word, to stare out the driver’s side window.
Thaniel frowned at Sami in suspicion. “Pay you back how? I don’t do guys.”
“Hey man. What? No! We’re not like that.” Sami grimaced, horrified at the idea.
“Jax, you okay?” Tierney leaned forward and touched his shoulder. He nodded without looking her way, but she sensed his growing anger along with … despair? She wasn’t sure as his shields were blocking her from picking up anything else. She decided she’d talk to him outside of the car, and turned back to Thaniel. Having experienced so little kindness, he didn’t trust anyone. “Thaniel, we don’t want anything from you, we just want to find our missing people, that’s all.”
Not buying it, Thaniel shook his head. “Everyone wants something.” The bitterness in his voice belied his past experiences, saddening her, and once again, she wished she could pull him into a hug.
“No one will make you do anything you don’t want, ever again!” Soroyan roared with such anger that Thaniel stilled, and his eyes grew really big. He stared at Soroyan for a moment, before his gaze flicked to Tierney and then lowered to his lap. She expected him to quake, but instead he seemed to calm right down and accept it.
Huh. Go figure. Tierney took a deep breath and let it out. It was going to be a long day. “All right. C’mon Jax,” she said and then waited for Sami to open the door and let her out, she wanted to go before Thaniel changed his mind.
Tierney glanced at Jax as she walked into the store beside him. “So, what’s wrong?”
“What? I’m fine.” Jax scowled and avoided her eyes as he grabbed a buggy and pushed it through the doors.
“Yeah, I know you, you’re not fine,” she said, worried about him. But Jax just wheeled the buggy over to the menswear section. She didn’t say anything, just waited.
Finally, he paused. “Please, leave it alone.”
Knowing how stubborn he could be, Tierney pursed her lips, though she remained silent as she followed him.
Between the two of them, they picked out a bunch of clothing, a jacket, footwear and some toiletries, before heading to the checkout. Then Jax added some potato chips to the buggy, while Tierney grabbed them all some water and chocolate bars.
Finally, she couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Jax, what are we going to do with him? I mean, if we don’t find Real. With nowhere to go, and no control, he can shift into his leopard at any time—” Tierney had sensed a connection to Thaniel building within herself, along with feelings of responsibility.
“Well I guess we’ll take him home,” Jax stated, not looking at her.
What? Tierney blinked, not sure she’d heard right. “Really?”
“Yeah. Why not?” His jaw clenched in anger.
Tierney stared at him. “C’mon Jax, what’s going on? Something’s bothering you.” She was even more worried about him now.
Finally, Jax met her eyes for a fraction of a second before glancing away. “Nothing.” He continued toward the checkout.
But Tierney caught up and touched his arm. “Please Jax, talk to me.”
He got in line, and Tierney was starting to despair that he wouldn’t tell her. “That could’ve been me and Sami, living on the streets. No home, no nothing.” He still refused to look at her and the images his words conjured brought tears to her eyes.
“Well it wasn’t,” she whispered and waited for him to look at her.
Seconds ticked by and finally a pair of blazing blue eyes met hers. “Yeah but, what if we didn’t have you and Zander?” he asked, and Tierney’s heart broke for what he and Sami had gone through so many years ago, and she suddenly understood. He didn’t like or dislike Thaniel, but rather he found himself relating to him.
“You’re right. Kitty needs to come home with us.” She smiled and watched the tension leave him. I’m glad Dad and I were there for them.
“You and me both,” Jax mumbled, and Tierney realized he’d caught her thought.
Half an hour later they left Soroyan with the car again, and took the cargo elevator up to the seventh floor of their Spokane apartment so that Thaniel could clean up and dress. “I don’t think the big bad wolf likes confined spaces,” Jax said as the elevator stopped on their floor.
“Well, he sure doesn’t like to be around people,” Tierney muttered, wondering what made Soroyan hate people so much. Or did his wolf not like pe
ople?
“Yeah,” Jax and Sami agreed. Thaniel didn’t say a word.
“You should be careful calling him the big bad wolf, wouldn’t want to feed his ego, or make him think we are scared of him,” Tierney added, staring pointedly at Jax.
“Well what about calling him Cujo? He is big, and always foaming at the mouth,” Jax asked.
Tierney rolled her eyes, but Thaniel’s snort, and the tiny curving of his lips, made them all grin even wider.
Once in the apartment, Jax showed Thaniel to the bathroom where he could clean up and dress while they waited in the kitchen. Sami made up some coffee and they began to compile a list of the local theaters. But when Thaniel finally walked in, they could only stare, shocked at the transformation.
Although still skinny, Thaniel looked almost ethereal. Clean and dressed, he had a beauty that most girls would envy, and looked like someone had carved him out of the finest ivory. Waist length hair, freshly shampooed, brushed and blown dry, shone a pale blond and appeared silky soft.
Now that the grime and dried blood had been washed away, Tierney noted long golden lashes, with darker eyebrows, even if he still hid behind his now luxurious hair. He stood in the doorway looking nervously at them, but she was relieved to see he wasn’t frightened anymore. In fact, he actually stood a tiny bit taller.
He seemed so young, so innocent. Until you caught sight of his eyes. Eyes filled with a lifetime of pain, suffering, loneliness and fear. “Thaniel, you’re beautiful!” She grinned and watched him turn beet red. Suddenly feeling bad, she got up and went over to him. That’s when she realized he stood about the same height as her. Huh, didn’t notice earlier. She took his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” She led him to a chair at the table. “Come, sit.” She tried not to stare as he drank the coffee Sami handed him, and hated how he kept his gaze lowered, as if afraid to make eye contact.
“Thaniel, how old are you?” she finally asked.
His cup stilled halfway to his lips. “W-why?” He peered up at her, suddenly wary.
Tierney smiled. “No reason, I’m curious. You seem so young.”
Bk 1 Dracones Awakening Page 18