by Dianna Love
Lincoln turned to a shifter on his right and ordered, “Get the two female wolves.”
“But, boss. What about—”
“Don’t ever question me. Get. Them.”
Gan said, “All three.”
Having dispatched his mouthy guard, Lincoln smiled at Gan. “You would leave those women and disappoint Scarlett? She’ll come back on her own and make a new deal.”
Gan had no answer for that, which told Lincoln all he needed to know.
When the guards brought out two ragged-looking women, Gan recognized the tall one as Jazlyn, who continued to look worse every time he saw her. The other woman’s head drooped forward with hair covering her face. She made awful sobbing sounds.
That had to be Fayth.
“I am not releasing them until you are closer, Gan,” Lincoln told him from where he stood inside the entrance with arms crossed.
Gan walked forward to stand between the large rectangular pedestals rising above his shoulders and displaying a ten-foot-long bronze tiger facing toward anyone who passed through.
Stopping next to the sculpture on the right, Gan said, “Is close enough. Send them.”
Lincoln bled excitement through his grin and his scent. The guard who had resisted bringing the women, pushed the two wolf shifters toward Gan, but remained behind as the women reached him.
Holding Fayth up by her arm, Jazlyn slowed next to Gan. “What are you doing acting like some hero?”
“Not hero. I am tiger.”
She rolled her eyes. “Scarlett will kill you for this.”
All joking gone, Gan told her, “Take Fayth. Do not let Scarlett come. I do this to keep her safe. Lincoln will hurt her. That cannot happen.”
Jazlyn gave him a look of wonder. “You really are protecting her.”
Why did she have such a difficult time understanding? “Yes. Go. Sooner you leave, less chance Scarlett comes.”
She took a breath. “I will. Thanks.”
“Welcome.”
Jazlyn kept hobbling along with Fayth, who had not even lifted her head. No mama should be treated that way. He would make everyone here pay once he freed Adrian.
Lincoln said, “Well?”
Gan held up a hand. “I will come when they are gone.” He made everyone stand that way until the women passed through the gates at the street. A minute later, he heard the howl of two wolves.
They’d shifted, which he hoped meant they were on their way. That was the best he could do.
Gan said, “I will not fight guards. I want to see male wolf shifter.”
“You are done giving orders,” Lincoln shouted. Then he called out, “Azalina!”
“Move,” a feminine voice boomed from somewhere behind the cat shifters.
Those in human form and cats scattered as if afraid to be touched.
Lincoln smiled at someone Gan might have called pretty, before meeting Scarlett.
Her red hair glowed with half of it bound up on her head and the rest falling to her waist. She had porcelain skin, so smooth and white it didn’t appear to be real. Long lashes and deep-red lips. The shimmering silvery gown seemed odd for a young woman in today’s world, but she walked as if she wore a crown.
Gan had been caught up in her odd attractiveness until she turned black eyes, empty as a pit of death, to him.
He stepped back.
She noticed his reaction and smiled, then spoke to Lincoln. “Yes, Tiger King?”
Indicating Gan with a wave of his hand, Lincoln said, “This is my tiger shifter. I want you to use the spell and compel him.”
Her smile turned sour. “I am still working on the spell. I told you I would have it by two this morning.”
Gan took that to mean midnight had passed. No Scarlett. Good sign.
“I want it now,” Lincoln ordered.
“It will only work for a short time if you use it too early. Once it has been placed on someone, the spell will always work the same way. Do you want minimal obedience from your new pet or a permanent leash?”
Gan’s stomach turned at what he heard. He had expected to be used in some way, but not to give up control of his life to a witch. He told his tiger, I am sorry, Gemelo. I try to find place to live free. I thought this would not be worse than camps, but I am wrong. This was not plan.
His tiger asked, Was plan to protect mate?
Yes.
This is plan. We will escape.
Gan wished he could believe in his tiger’s words, but he argued, You have not met witch before now. I saw witch in other country. They have power. This one speaks of spell to control us. We will be puppet used to do bad things.
It took a few seconds, but his tiger finally understood and started beating his insides. Free me. I kill them all now.
Gan clenched his muscles against the upset tiger.
He had run out of ideas. The women were free. Now that Jazlyn was gone, he would call in the Guardian if he knew how, but he didn’t know if Gallize could call the eagle shifter to them the same way their boss called them.
Probably not. Eagle shifter was powerful.
He couldn’t help Adrian if Lincoln took control of Gan’s free will. Adrian had been right when he told Gan he needed field training.
That wolf shifter would have done this differently.
While Lincoln and his witch continued to argue, Gan swept a quick head count of the cat shifters gathered behind their leader. Maybe twenty.
He could not take down twenty, especially if Lincoln shifted into a tiger and joined the battle.
But he would not deny his animal.
Gan told his tiger, You want to fight? We fight. Now is time to turn into monster we can be for any chance to escape.
The change flowed over him fast, sucking the air from his lungs as his body twisted into a new shape. His tiger burst out, full of energy and ready. Just to give him more reason to do his best, Gan said, We fight to keep Lincoln from hurting our mate, Gemelo.
The witch started chanting.
Lincoln appeared shocked that anyone would challenge him.
His guards still in human form, fell to the ground, fighting out of clothes to change.
But the four already shifted charged Gan’s tiger.
Chapter 30
Gan’s tiger battled panthers, mountain lions, jaguars ... until his back legs buckled from the weight of being piled on and blood seeped from his body. Teeth and claws tore into his coat. He gave as much as he got.
Lincoln’s voice roared, “Get off my tiger!”
His power washed across Gan’s animal as it reached all of Lincoln’s men.
In the next instant, jaws unlocked from his body and legs. The weight on his tiger’s back lightened, then all of them were gone.
The only reason his tiger had not suffered a ripped throat or worse had to be due to Lincoln’s men knowing he would kill them for destroying his tiger shifter.
Gan’s tiger moaned, No. No stopping.
He understood and supported his crazy animal, but said, Lincoln stop them. He wants us alive. The witch still close. Stay down and heal, if we can.
Must kill all. Stop bad tiger.
Gan kept talking to his animal, trying to keep the animal still while their body mended itself. He explained, If you rise now, bleeding and broken, Lincoln will have witch compel us. If you stay quiet, he will wait to see if we are dying.
The thick smell of blood filled each breath. His tiger had killed six shifters.
Lincoln would likely punish them in some way for that loss.
“What have ya done, Lincoln?” a smooth male voice asked in an odd accent.
Gan’s tiger lifted his head to see who had spoken.
A man with searing green eyes sat on the back of one tiger sculpture with his legs dangling and dressed in a black suit, but not like the Guardian’s. This one had a high collar and shined as if it picked up light when he moved. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, staring calmly at the bloody scene.
“What are you doing here, Robert?” Lincoln sounded angry.
Gan’s tiger sniffed the air and said, Bad tiger scared.
Lincoln feared this stranger? That was interesting.
“Where is she?” Robert asked in a quiet voice that carried a deadly threat.
“I don’t have her. If I did, I would have called.”
Robert looked over at Gan’s tiger. “Who do ya have here?”
“No one. A tiger I just acquired.”
Robert studied Gan’s tiger, the dead shifters, then he pushed his gaze to Lincoln again. “Ya be hiding somethin’ from me, Lincoln. Did ya learn nothin’ in our last meetin’? I suggest you begin tellin’ the truth.”
Gan smelled what his tiger had pointed out a moment ago. Lincoln feared Robert and that fear jumped another level to terror.
Lincoln shook his head. “No. We have a deal. I will make good on it. I just need ... time.”
Robert made a tch-tch sound. “Have yar tiger shift back to human.”
“Why?”
When Robert spoke this time, his voice turned deep and rang with power. “Do as I tell ya or we end our deal here and now. I promise ya will not be likin’ that much if ya force me to show ya who be in charge.”
Lincoln ordered Gan, “Shift back!”
When power rolled over him and continued past, Gan tried to decide if shifting was a good idea or not. He asked his tiger, What do you think? Do we shift or not?
His tiger replied, You ask me?
Yes. We must figure out together.
Lincoln shouted the order again.
Another shot of power buffeted his animal’s body. His tiger asked, What is best?
As if Gan knew? Then he realized he did know. Let me have human body. I can talk. Maybe find out if man on wall is better place to go. Someone we can escape.
Just like that, Gan shifted to his human body. Unwilling to lay on the ground in his human form, he stood, though wobbly. His tiger had healed much of the damage as they’d stayed down, but he still had wounds and cracked bones to heal. But this speed of healing was an improvement over their days in Wyoming. Maybe getting along had also improved their healing.
“Who are ya?” Robert asked him.
Before Lincoln could interfere, Gan said, “I am Gan.”
“Do ya know Isleen?”
“No.” Gan shrugged. He had no idea who the man talked about.
Lincoln jumped in, sounding anxious to please Robert. “He does know her, but as Scarlett. I sent word to meet with her tonight so I could capture her, but he showed up instead. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t know her.”
Gan stared at Lincoln, confused over the words he spoke. Scarlett was called Isleen? Two names?
Why had she not told him?
Why did this Robert search for her?
Not slowing down, Lincoln told Robert, “I’ll have my men hold the tiger shifter while you torture him to find Scar ... er, Isleen. That way, my part of the bargain is fulfilled.”
Gan told Lincoln, “You will die for your words and if you touch Scarlett.”
Gemelo made a growl of agreement.
Robert had been studying Gan while he spoke and now gave him an order. “Turn around, tiger.”
With no reason to deny the man, he turned a complete circle.
Robert snapped his fingers. “He carries a claw mark on his shoulder. ’Tis her doin’. I want him.”
Everyone looked at Gan.
He couldn’t see the back of his shoulder.
Scarlett had marked him?
That made Gan ridiculously happy. He had to be important to her to mark him.
Robert dropped to the ground as if he floated. He brushed off the arms of his jacket, but nothing had soiled the fine material. “This tiger shifter be goin’ with me now. I shall find her. ’Tis fortunate for ya, Lincoln, that I be callin’ our agreement settled.”
“No. Not the tiger, you Scottish dick,” Lincoln argued. “You said one woman. Isleen. That was all.”
“For this tiger to be standin’ here, ya lost Isleen. I won’t be makin’ that mistake.”
Lincoln yelled, “Azalina!”
The witch came forward much quicker this time, cast an ogling eye over Gan’s naked form and declared, “I’m still not ready, but I can start on him.”
“Not yet with the tiger. This Power Baron thinks to steal what is mine.”
Giving a casual sigh, Robert said, “Do ya really think a forest witch is any match for me?”
“You arrogant excuse for a mage,” she shoved back at him.
Before another word was said, she lifted her arms and called up a black cloud that surrounded all of them, spinning as it gained size.
Gan’s skin crawled.
His tiger banged back and forth, panicked and trying to get out. We run, Gemelo shouted at him.
If Gan thought his tiger could fight their way out and escape, he would do just that. He told Gemelo, Wait. Too many shifters to escape. Watch this man. See what happens.
Robert stood calmly with his arms crossed, a picture of confidence in the face of black smoky shapes that began forming from the cloud. One form stepped forward, growing into a ten-foot-tall hideous dragon-like beast, but unlike anything Gan had ever seen. This thing had jaws wide enough to cut the man in half.
Additional odd creations surrounded Lincoln.
Gan backed up slowly while the witch distracted everyone.
As he did, he caught the fleeting movement of a wolf leaping over the thick walls of dense bush out to the right of him. The streak of golden wolf vanished just as quickly, headed in the direction of the cages.
Had Jazlyn come back to free Adrian?
He hoped they both got away while this was going on.
Screaming a gut-wrenching noise, the repulsive dark smoke creature swung its head down to chomp Robert in half.
Before that could happen, the Power Baron, whatever that was, opened his hands, palms out flat, and blasted out words Gan had never heard in a voice that did not sound human.
The witch’s creation stopped as if caught in a huge fist.
Black scales formed over the smoky body.
In fact, scales covered all of her creatures.
With more strange words, Robert turned the creatures around toward Lincoln whose face lost all color. He started shifting into his tiger.
The magic beasts attacked him partially shifted. A misshaped leg went flying with blood spilling from it. The witch yelled demands. Her words were lost in the sound of Lincoln’s animal screaming horrible noises until everything fell silent at the same moment.
The Power Baron’s counterattack was over in less than a minute.
The shifters lifted their mouths and howled together.
Gan had heard jackal shifter guards from the same pack cry out that way when they lost one of theirs.
His tiger had calmed down, watching.
Azalina turned crazed black eyes to Robert. Her hair erupted into fire and her mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. She spewed a string of words and lifted bony fingers with curved claws sprouting from the tips.
Was she a witch, shifter, or both?
Robert already had his hands up, shouting her down.
Flames erupted at spots on his jacket.
He ignored them. His lips moving nonstop with a constant blast of strange words he directed at her. His voice gained power until he stabbed a finger at her and slashed downward.
Her body split in half from neck to hips, then her organs spilled out. Black eyes rolled up, leaving white sockets. She fell back, crashing to the ground.
Grass shriveled and died anywhere it touched her skin.
The flames on Robert’s jacket disappeared, though scorched spots were left behind.
Still wild-eyed furious, Robert ordered the shocked shifters, “Kneel now, beasts!”
Every shifter dropped to his knees, even those who fought the action. The Power Baron had forced them down against their will. They all bowed
their heads.
Gan still stood.
Robert gave him an odd look. “Did ya no hear me? Perhaps ya need a personal order.”
Gan cast a glance at the shifters and said, “Kneel to a weak man and you will never stand again.”
Half the shifters lifted their heads, eyeing him with disbelief.
Robert unleashed the full force of his earlier order. “Gan the tiger shifter, ya will kneel now and do as I say from here forth!”
Gan struggled against the power that wrapped him, determined not to lose this battle. His muscles ached and his bones felt driven into the ground, but only for thirty seconds.
Then the power slid away.
The fact that Gan remained standing had Robert more perplexed than angry now.
He had made a major power move and failed, but Gan saw what the man could do if he intended to kill someone. If Robert had not wanted to keep Gan alive to find Scarlett or use Gan to trick her into showing up, he would be dead.
Without hesitation, Robert pointed at two cat shifters and ordered, “You two. Change into yar animals and attack this tiger shifter!”
Gan turned in time to face a jaguar and a panther coming at him. His tiger shouted for him to shift.
There was not enough time.
The cats would maul him in mid-shift.
Two wolves hit the cats before they reached Gan.
Instead of fighting the wolves tearing into them, the cats tried to break loose and continue going for Gan. They couldn’t disobey Robert’s order even to save their lives.
The wolves took advantage of the compelled cats, ripping them apart.
As the cats fell to the ground where blood flowed freely, Robert focused on the golden wolf Gan knew as Jazlyn. Gan shook his head at her and cocked it to the side in a get out of here motion.
She ignored him and snarled at Robert.
Adrian’s big red wolf hadn’t stopped making demonic guttural sounds. This probably looked like playtime for that messed-up animal.
While he had those two watching his back and keeping Robert busy, Gan called forth his tiger that had been waiting at the edge. It hadn’t been as fast as before, but not slow either. Now standing on four legs, he and Gemelo had more killing power than he’d had as a human.