“Show off,” Dylan muttered under his breath, leaping into the air and shifting in mid-air, hitting the ground on four orange paws and passing his brother on the way across the field.
There was another roar, followed by another. They were halfway down the trail when they heard Samantha scream. Rage fueled them, pushing them further and faster than they were already going.
They came upon a partial clearing, behind Grant and a few hundred yards away. Still running, they watched Grant bearing down on Samantha, who was trying desperately to get up off the ground and run after falling onto her back.
Out of nowhere, a second lion sailed through the air, slamming into Grant and knocking him out of Samantha’s path. Jacob and Dylan watched in shock as the pair fought, roaring and striking at each other, one lion clearly trying to keep the other away from Samantha.
Mabel, Jacob thought. It had to be Mabel.
I thought we told her to take the north trail.
We did, but she was here when Samantha needed someone and we were on the wrong trail.
Grant is distracted. Maybe we can grab Samantha and get her someplace safe while one of us helps Mabel.
No sooner had he thought it then Samantha jumped up, stick in hand, heading straight for Grant. The twins stopped, staring in incredulity as Samantha advanced on Grant with murder in her eyes. She was half his size and wobbly on her feet. She couldn’t possibly think she was going to win this.
She’s something else, Dylan thought.
One of us should circle around while he’s distracted and try to get where we can grab her.
I’m on it.
Hurry. I don’t know how long this can go on before someone other than Grant gets hurt.
As if to punctuate Jacob’s thoughts, Samantha screamed in anger, with no trace of fear.
“Get off her,” he heard Samantha shout, her voice low and angry.
Hurry up, Dylan, Jacob thought. Mabel struggled to get up, but Jacob could see that she was injured. Jacob couldn’t tell what was wrong with her, but she was pinned beneath Grant in a pool of her own blood. Grant stepped off her, turning his attention to Samantha again, completely oblivious to the two tigers that stalked him in the brush.
Jacob searched the trees, inwardly relieved when he finally spotted Dylan getting into position.
Jacob watched as Samantha stooped down, grabbed a handful of heavy rocks, and threw them at Grant from less than ten feet away from him. Grant flinched visibly but didn’t turn to Samantha. She was trying to distract him from the task at hand and he knew it.
Yelling in frustration, Samantha flung herself onto Grant’s back, wrapping her legs around him and bringing both hands high over her head. She brought the rock down as hard as she could on the back of his neck. It landed with a sickening thud and for a moment, Grant stopped moving.
Jacob couldn’t reveal himself while Samantha was on his back, so he hung back, cursing internally. Samantha was too brave for her own good, but she didn’t know that help was there, and she was fighting for her life and Mabel’s. The only way to let her know was to reveal himself.
“Mabel, run!” Samantha yelled, hitting Grant again with all her might.
Grant swung around, violently hurling Samantha through the air as he did. He watched her fall, hitting the ground and rolling until she finally came to a stop. Satisfied that Samantha wouldn’t be bothering him again, he turned his attention back to Mabel.
Jacob could see Mabel was turning, losing her fight to hold onto her shifter form and morphing back into human. There was no more time to wait for the perfect moment. Samantha was out of harm’s way and Mabel was in mortal danger. Smaller and weaker than Grant already, in human form she had no chance at survival.
Jacob caught Dylan’s eye and nodded. Quietly, Dylan slipped out of the bushes from behind Samantha, creeping up on her, all the while keeping one eye on Grant’s back.
Satisfied that Dylan was close enough to Samantha to protect her should things go badly for him, Jacob stepped out of the bushes and into Grant’s line of sight. But Grant was so focused on Mabel that he didn’t seem to notice the tiger in the distance.
Jacob let out a loud, angry roar that shook the very trees around him. Grant stopped, looking up with a startled expression that almost looked human. He bypassed Mabel’s naked, broken body, growling low and heading straight for Jacob. Jacob stood his ground, drawing Grant away from the two women.
Can you hear me, Tiger?
Of course I can, you fool, Jacob responded.
She’s mine. You can’t have her.
She doesn’t want you.
I don’t care. She will love me.
She will never love you. You can’t follow her the rest of her life. She doesn’t love you.
I’ll have her and I will kill anyone who stands in my way.
Even your own sister?
She betrayed me.
You betrayed yourself.
Grant roared ferociously, pulling back on his haunches before he launched himself at Jacob. Jacob waited until Grant was on top of him, then he rolled, using Grant’s own momentum to fling him off his back. Jacob pounced on him, claws digging into him mercilessly. Grant struggled beneath his weight, clawing at Jacob and biting at the air in frustration.
Jacob glanced in Dylan’s direction, glad to see that Samantha was already climbing onto his back, though the effort seemed monumental in her weakened state. When Dylan stood, Samantha shot a look in Mabel’s direction but kept her mouth shut. Mabel was beyond help at the moment, and much too close to where Grant and Jacob were fighting.
Grant finally got some leverage, tossing Jacob off himself and lunging at the tiger. This time, he slammed into Jacob, the impact knocking the wind out of Jacob and slamming him into the ground. Grant had Jacob pinned, sharp, blood covered teeth bared, trying to bite Jacob’s throat before Jacob could stop him.
In one quick movement, Jacob pulled his back feet up and under Grant, launching him into the air and slamming him into a tree. Grant shook his head and stopped.
Where is she!
She’s gone. You can’t have her.
I’ll find her. I always find her. I won’t stop searching until one of us is dead.
I was afraid of that.
Jacob lunged at Grant, this time grabbing Grant’s neck in his mouth and twisting with one swift, sickening movement and crushing his windpipe with his jaws at the same time. There was a snap and Grant went limp. Jacob dropped him to the ground, watching him slip into human form as the life drained out of him. His eyes were open, almost pleading with Jacob as he coughed and choked on his own blood.
Jacob turned away, letting the madman die in peace and going to Mabel, who lay in the same place she’d fallen. He heard a rustling in the bushes but he didn’t bother looking up; he knew it was Dylan and Samantha.
Jacob shifted quickly, kneeling beside Mabel and checking for a pulse.
“Is she alive?” Samantha asked from atop Dylan’s back.
“Barely. She needs a hospital and fast.”
“What about Grant?”
“He’s gone.”
“Can you check?”
Jacob looked at Samantha but he did as she asked. He bent down, looking for a pulse and finding none.
“There’s no pulse, he’s dead,” Jacob said.
“Good. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder.”
Jacob went back to Mabel, scooping her up and holding her against himself. Dylan gestured as if to ask if he should lie down so that Jacob could ride while holding Mabel, but Jacob shook his head.
“You two hurry back to that house and call for an ambulance. She doesn’t have much time and they need to be here when I get her down the trail. I don’t want to jar her running because it might injure her further. At this point, that could be the difference between her living and dying. I’ll be fine.”
He looked at Samantha, seeing her injuries more clearly now that the fight was over. He hated what she’d gone through an
d wanted to tell her as much, but now wasn’t the time. Dylan took off, racing down the trail as fast as he safely could with Samantha clinging to his hide.
Mabel stirred in Jacob’s arms, eyes fluttering as she tried to focus on his face and figure out what was going on.
“Shh,” Jacob said. “Don’t try to talk. I’ve got you, and an ambulance is on the way.”
“Grant?” she croaked.
“Dead.”
“Good.”
She closed her eyes, letting her head fall against his chest as she lost consciousness. Jacob walked as fast as he could, wishing they were already at the house and the waiting ambulance. She was trembling in his arms, and he feared that the shudder might be her body’s last ditch effort to bring her back from the brink of death.
It felt like an eternity before he finally saw a break in the trees and heard the sound of the siren in the distance. It echoed off the mountains as it raced around the winding highway so that it was impossible to tell if they were right down the street or a mile below them.
Dylan met him at the tree line with a thin quilt, already wearing jeans. He had a second set of jeans slung over his shoulder.
“Give Mabel to me and get dressed. They’re almost here.”
“How are we going to explain the nearly dead, naked woman in a quilt?”
“I’ve already told them that we found a man assaulting her in the woods and had to kill him to save her life. Samantha knows what to say and I don’t think Mabel will be talking anytime soon. The investigation will be open and shut before Mabel is out of the hospital so I’m sure that it will be fine.”
“Good,” Jacob said, pulling on the jeans and buttoning the fly. “Good thinking on reporting an assault.”
“I figured it would be less messy for us.”
“Agreed.”
Jacob picked up a length of the quilt that was dragging on the ground and tucked it up around Mabel.
“How is Samantha?”
“She is scared, hurt, and pissed.”
“What is she mad about?”
“That I called her an ambulance, too, even though she says she’s fine.”
“She’s not fine.”
“I know.”
“She’s a feisty one.”
“We’re always saying that we like feisty.”
“Yes we are.”
“I think we may have found the one.”
Jacob smiled at his brother, the expression mischievous.
“I think you might be right.”
*
Dylan sat in the jumper seat of the ambulance, expression wrinkled with worry as he watched the paramedic work on Samantha. His eyes went to hers and he smiled, try to reassure her that it was alright while he tried not to think about her extensive injuries. She’d gotten away without breaking any bones, but her luck had ended there. The gash on her forehead had opened up and would require stitches. Her ribs were bruised and she had a concussion.
As if that wasn’t enough, at some point during the fight, she had dislocated her shoulder. The paramedic had popped it back into place and wrapped it up, pinning her arm at an odd angle across her stomach to keep it still until the ER doctor could get a good look at it. Amazingly, Samantha hadn’t so much as whimpered when the joint had moved back into place, and Dylan was in awe once again at her strength.
“You’re going to be okay,” he said, feeling like his words were clichéd and pointless.
Of course she was going to be alright, but would she ever get over the horrors of the last few days? He wanted to think so, but she was only human. She’d gone through so much. It broke his heart to see the look of defeat in her eyes, how the weak smile she offered him from time to time never quite reached her eyes. She was holding it together because that’s what strong women did, but Dylan could tell that she wasn’t feeling anything near strong at that moment.
“How is she doing?” he asked the paramedic when he’d finally stopped fussing with wires and checking her over.
“She’s going to be alright, but her injuries are pretty severe. I don’t know how she’s still conscious, let alone coherent. She’s lucky you guys found her when she did.”
“What about our friend?”
“I can’t really tell you obviously, because I only know what I saw before she was loaded up. But it doesn’t look good. There’s already a surgical team standing by for her. That will be her best hope for survival.”
Dylan looked at Samantha, who remained silent save for the single tear that slid down her cheek. She grabbed Dylan’s hand, holding on as if her life depended on it as she let the darkness pull her in. In a few seconds, she was asleep, too exhausted and injured to hold onto consciousness any longer.
Her grip didn’t loosen on Dylan’s hand even as her face went slack and her head drifted to the side.
“She’s unconscious,” Dylan said, feeling like a fool for stating the obvious to a medical professional.
“I gave her a sedative,” the paramedic said, stowing the empty syringe Dylan hadn’t even seen him pull out and inject into her IV bag.
“Why?”
“Her blood pressure spiked at the mere mention of her friend. She may be doing better than her friend, but her condition is pretty bad as well. She needs to remain as calm as possible. It will make the ride to the hospital easier on her.”
“That’s good. Life has been rough on her for a while. It’s about time things start getting easier for her.”
“I overheard you giving your statement to the police. Is it true that she was fighting him off when you two showed up?”
“She was,” Dylan smiled at the memory. “It was quite a sight. She wasn’t even worried about her safety when she attacked him with anything she could get her hands on.”
“That’s amazing. When we first pulled up, I was afraid you guys were going to say that they got attacked by a mountain lion or something. It’s hard to believe that a human did that kind of damage to another without a weapon.”
“Nope,” Dylan said. “Definitely not a mountain lion.”
“Whatever you call him, he’s a monster and both of these women are very lucky to be alive.”
***
Jacob watched the ambulance drive away before he turned to the detective that had been sent out to clear the scene. A few crime scene officers were already inside the house, collecting evidence in case it was needed in court, but they were really just going through the motions. Without having to say anything, they’d all taken one look at the two women and agreed that the perpetrator was better off dead.
“Can you show me where the body is? I know you’re eager to get to your girlfriend, and I’ll try to get you out of here as soon as I can. I just need to get some details from you so that I can clear this case.”
“Clear it?”
“We come into these with an open mind and we don’t make decisions until we have all the facts, but I have a hard time believing that there is any way that this is anything but self-defense. It’s obvious that both women would be dead if you and your brother hadn’t found them in the woods and stepped in. They’re very lucky that you got there when you did.”
“I can’t even think about what would have happened if we’d been just a few minutes later,” Jacob said, starting to make his way across the field and towards the trail.
He pointed out things he thought might interest the detective, and the man took pictures of anything that could be considered evidence before leaving a tiny, orange cone with a number on it and photographing it once more.
“You’re the only one coming to look at the body?”
“The techs have their hands full with that house. We’ll send some guys down the trail to collect evidence once the Coroner has pronounced the man legally dead. But for now, there’s really no reason for it to be more than just you and me.”
“I see.”
“You have nothing to worry about. We’re just talking.”
Jacob wasn’t so sure that was the case,
but what choice did he really have?
The pair walked to the scene in silence, the only sound the occasional click of the camera’s shutter when Detective Harold Bruce found something he deemed useful.
When they finally made it to the body, Jacob was glad to see that Grant lay exactly where they left him, very clearly dead. A small part of him was worried that Grant would rise up and disappear as soon as they were out of sight.
That would leave Samantha looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life, and they didn’t want that. They would protect her to the ends of the earth and back if they needed to, but the thought of always have to wonder if Grant was going to pop up was unappealing at best.
“You look relieved,” Detective Bruce said.
“I was a little afraid that he might get up and walk out of here when we weren’t looking.”
The man chuckled softly.
“I’ve heard that a few times in my career. It’s not uncommon to ascribe supernatural powers to the must wicked among us. Sometimes, it feels like they’re invincible when they’re so evil.”
“Exactly.”
They walked up to the body, careful not to disturb the scene while he took what seemed like hundreds of photos from every angle.
“So, I’m hoping that we can be a little more honest with each other here.”
Jacob’s stomach lurched but he played it cool.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m not medical examiner, but I’m going to say that those aren’t human teeth marks on this man’s neck.”
Jacob shrugged.
“We left him here a while ago, maybe an animal got to him.”
Detective Bruce gave Jacob a withering look, crouching down beside Grant and getting so close that his breath moved the hair that brushed the back of Grant’s neck.
“These are most definitely animal bites. And this man was still alive when he was bitten. So either you’re not telling me something, or you’re keeping something from me.”
Jacob laughed.
“That’s the same thing.”
“Exactly. It’s just you and me here, and this is completely off the record. Can you explain the bite marks on this man so that I don’t have to try and piece it together?”
Her Tiger Twins Page 15