Tiger Striped

by Jennifer Ashley

  “Connor!” He was running to rescue Tiger, the big sweetheart. Except that was a sure way to get himself killed.

  Carly hurried after him, following Connor through room after room. Every single one had once had a thick door with an electronic lock closing it off. Every single door was now a mangled wreck beside the opening it had sealed.

  The rooms at last ended in one that must be a hundred feet long. By the flicker of a fluorescent light, Carly saw thick iron bars enclosing the far end of the room, with a solid wall behind that. No more doors.

  Tiger stood in the middle of this room, fearsome in his half-man, half-tiger form, facing down at least a dozen men. Carly recognized the black fatigues of the guys from the SUV. They’d been joined by others, though she’d seen no one else come up the road. That meant the other soldiers had already been here.

  Connor joined Tiger, who snarled warningly at the men surrounding them. One soldier brought up a tranq rifle and shot at Connor, but Connor wasn’t where he’d been a second before. He sprang from all four paws straight into the air, twisting himself around to land in front of another startled soldier.

  The tranq dart flew past Connor and at Carly. She didn’t have time to duck, but the trajectory let the dart sail past her with an inch to spare, before it embedded itself in Tyson’s shoulder.

  Tranqs for Shifters were strong. Tyson took one step before his legs folded up, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he went down.

  His radio crackled, a voice demanding to know where Tyson was and what was going on. Carly ignored it but picked up Tyson’s pistol from his slack hand and tucked it safely back into its holster.

  The man with the tranq rifle tried frantically to reload. Tiger knocked the gun out of his hands and the man to the floor after it.

  Another of the soldiers raised a tranq rifle, a look of triumph on his face as he shot a dart straight into Tiger’s stomach.

  Tiger grabbed the dart, yanked it from his furred flesh, and tossed it aside. The shooter’s eyes widened just before Tiger grabbed the rifle from his hands and broke it in half.

  Tranqs didn’t always work on Tiger. He had to be shot multiple times before they even slowed him down. Connor called him a Super Shifter, and told Tiger he should wear a cape. Tiger never answered this, but last Halloween, he’d taken some cubs trick-or-treating through Shiftertown with a red blanket hanging down his back.

  The laid-back, cub-loving Tiger was absent here. He had these guys terrified, but they were holding him at bay, keeping Tiger from reaching the cage at the end of the room.

  Why?

  Carly, unnoticed by everyone except Tiger, slipped around them all and made for the far wall.

  The first thing Carly noted as she neared the cage was the smell. The stench of waste and unwashed being hit her with a slap.

  The second thing was the sound. Tiger’s snarling and now Connor’s had covered the growls of the other animal in the room.

  Those growls escalated to a near shriek as Carly drew near. The cage was in deep shadow, and Carly crept closer, wishing for a flashlight.

  Something moved beyond the bars, a being that paced restlessly, a wild thing trapped. Occasionally that thing leapt against the cage. The bars rattled under the assault but held.

  Back to pacing, the sound coming from the beast’s mouth frantic and enraged. Carly had become more attuned to wild animals after living for a year with Shifters, and she understood that beneath this creature’s rage and frustration was terrible fear and pain.

  This was what Tiger must have sensed, the beast’s call for help that reached across eight hundred miles of desert.

  “It’s all right,” Carly soothed as she took the last steps to the cage. “Tiger’s here to help you.”

  The creature chose that moment to slam itself into the bars, inches from Carly.

  In the dim light, Carly saw a body of thick fur, long, razor-sharp claws, and a red mouth with huge, gleaming teeth.

  But that was not what made Carly step back in shock. What made her gasp was the fact that the fur was striped, and the eyes that glared at her with such ferocity were a wild, golden yellow.

  Tiger eyes.

  Chapter Seven

  Tiger knew when Carly made a connection with the other tiger. The constant wail of fear dimmed as surprise sparked through it.

  The men fighting Tiger did not want Tiger or Connor at the cage. They were stubborn, desperate—one yelled into a radio that they needed more backup.

  That backup would arrive soon, and they might have enough tranqs or bullets between them to knock out Tiger. Then they’d take Connor and Carly, and the tiger he’d come to rescue wouldn’t stand a chance.

  But no way in hell would he give up. He wasn’t leaving the tiger behind, not if he had to crush every man in his way.

  “Tiger!” he heard Carly call.

  Tiger didn’t dare take time to respond, continuing to feint against the men who surrounded him. He didn’t want to kill any of them, but he would if they left him no choice.

  He still didn’t know exactly who they were, but he knew what they were. Guards charged with keeping the beast in the cage from ever leaving, with keeping Tiger away from it. Whether they understood why or were just following orders, Tiger couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter. They were the enemy at the moment, and he had to get past them.

  Connor fought and ducked with the agility of a young cat, twisting and turning, never taking a hit. A soldier aimed at him with another tranq rifle.

  Once again, Connor leapt to be elsewhere when the tranq gun went off. The dart bounced harmlessly off the floor, its barb breaking.

  Connor came down into a low crouch. When he sprang again, he sailed over the heads of their attackers and landed by Carly and the cage.

  The tiger inside roared in fury. It slammed against the bars, huge claws trying to thrust through. The bars were too narrow for that, and the tiger’s paws stuck. It yanked them free, more enraged and terrified than ever.

  Peace, little one, Tiger tried to tell it through whatever link they’d formed. He didn’t speak in words but with the sense of them. He’s a friend.

  He felt the tiger latch onto the last word, puzzling over it. Friend. It didn’t understand the concept.

  Which was why Tiger was taking the beast out of there and home with them. He’d fight every man in this room and whatever truckloads of backup troops they threw at him to make sure it happened. He’d fight to his dying breath.

  Through the mate bond, he knew that Carly understood. Tiger’s heart flooded with love for her. She knew. They had a connection like no other.

  There was a reason Tiger had known Carly was his mate from the first moment he’d seen her. The other Shifters had told him he was mistaken—Shifter mating didn’t work like that—but Tiger hadn’t listened to them. And he’d been right.

  Thank you, Tiger whispered through the bond, and felt Carly’s love in response.

  The tiger threw itself at the bars again. Carly backed a step, but Connor had gone completely still, his lion eyes wide.

  Then Connor’s limbs began to crackle, sinews stretching and twisting as he rose into his human form. His black mane shrank down to become human hair, and his nose receded to make his blue eyes prominent.

  A few seconds later, he was on his human feet, without a shred of clothing, his muscles as hard as his uncles’. He’d grown into his man’s body in the last year, his lankiness nearly gone.

  “Holy fucking shit.” His words were soft, Connor caught in astonishment.

  The tiger, who’d stilled while Connor had shifted, switched its full focus on him, no more snarling or striking.

  Now Carly heard its bones and sinews crackling as Connor’s had, even over Tiger’s roaring and the soldier’s shouts.

  The tiger shrank down into a lithe human body, as honed as all Shifters were. The fur became black and orange hair, like Tiger’s, only this hair was long and filthy, a tangled mass. They’d need a ton of shampoo and co
nditioner to save it.

  “Holy fucking shit!” Connor’s statement was loud this time.

  “Exactly,” Carly whispered, her throat closing.

  The Shifter in front of them was female. She stood almost as tall as Connor, who had the Morrissey height, but she wasn’t a youngster. Her breasts and hips were full, and her face, which was stark with fear, held the softness of a young woman, one around Carly’s age, maybe a little younger. Shifters aged differently from humans, and Shifters in their twenties were still considered cubs. This girl could be on either side of the line.

  Carly would call her beautiful if not for the cuts and bruises all over her body. She realized that the pattern of bruises on her thighs and sides came from the cage’s bars, the cuts, from her own claws.

  The poor thing was crazed with terror and frustration, anger and despair. She’d only ceased rampaging for the moment because of her astonishment at Connor.

  Connor managed to close his gaping mouth. “It’s all right,” he told the tiger-girl cheerfully through the bars. “We’re here to rescue you.”

  The tiger-girl gave him another look of confusion, right before a wave of madness twisted her face. She doubled over as though cramps wracked her body, and she clutched at her hair, tearing out a hunk. Her fists balled and she struck the floor, screaming in agony.

  Carly’s heart twisted. She wanted to help the creature but had no idea how. The cage had no lock or door she could see—the bars were drilled directly into the walls and ceiling. They probably shoved food through those bars to her, too afraid to go inside. Bastards.

  They would take her out of there. They had to. Not only was this woman a Shifter, but Carly put together the stories Tiger had told her about himself and his past, the time factor, and Tiger’s strange and desperate need to reach this place.

  Carly understood everything. She wanted to break down and cry, but that wouldn’t do any good, would it?

  Tiger must know that this was more than a simple search and rescue. Carly wondered if the soldiers trying so hard to stop him knew too. They were like the men Tiger had told her about who’d guarded him in Area 51, soldiers charged with helping the researchers keep him confined and subdued.

  Meanwhile, the tiger-girl was bellowing her anguish. She shifted into her half-beast, her screams turning to nonstop snarls. She was fearsome—towering over both Carly and Connor, her claws long and curved.

  “Hey!” Connor shouted at her. “It’s all right. If you don’t fight it, it won’t be so bad, at least that’s what Scott told me.” He let out a breath and turned to Carly. “Shit, do you think she can understand me?”

  “I don’t know,” Carly said shakily. “Depends on how long she’s been locked in there. And if people bother to talk to her.”

  Connor put his hand around the bars. The tiger-beast swung to him, her yellow eyes fixed on his face. Carly held her breath, waiting for an attack, but the tiger-girl only stared at Connor.

  “Tran-si-tion,” Connor spoke the word slowly and carefully. “That’s what’s going on with you, lass. All Shifters go through it when they’re coming of age. I guess it’s your time.”

  The tiger-girl breathed heavily, growls in her throat. But she’d quieted, cocking her head at Connor’s voice.

  “There you go,” Connor said. “It’s hell, I’m told. I can’t wait to experience it, right? I have a few more years to go, if I’m lucky. Though Uncle Sean tells me the males of my family reach it faster than most. My dad went through it when he was only a year older than I am. Just great, I said.”

  The tiger-girl shifted back down to human with a rapidity Carly had only ever seen Tiger achieve. Most Shifters struggled a bit, and the ability varied from Shifter to Shifter.

  The tiger-girl continued to stare at Connor, her sides rising and falling with her sharp breaths.

  “Can you understand us?” Carly asked her in a soft voice.

  The tiger-girl jerked her head to look at Carly without comprehension then moved back to Connor.

  “It’s all right,” Connor said to her. “Like I say, we’ve come to rescue you.”

  The noise of more soldiers rushing in to join the fight put paid to that claim. Men in black fatigues poured through the door, all carrying firearms, of which some were tranq rifles. Kirk and several other DPS officers plus the park rangers came behind them, Kirk rushing to Tyson to pull his inert body out of the way.

  Carly’s heart sped with fear. Even Tiger was no match for thirty men with weapons. She imagined him going down, bloody and fighting for his last breath.

  No. Carly thought of baby Seth waiting for them back in Austin, his silky hair with the orange and black stripes of his father. She glanced at the tiger-girl, savage with isolation and fear, trapped behind permanent bars, a prisoner for who knew how many years.

  No!

  Carly ran toward the men who flowed around her mate, pushing herself between them and Tiger. She held out her hands.

  “Y’all have to stop!”

  A few of the men did halt, if only in shock that a small woman with messy hair and a Texas accent had darted in to scold them.

  “Come on now,” Carly went on, trying to get the words out before she lost her nerve. “You have a helpless young woman in a cage, for crying out loud. I know she’s Shifter, but she should go to a Shiftertown. With us. We’ll take care of her now.”

  Brave words. No one lowered a weapon. Tiger had paused, but his growls didn’t cease. Carly knew that as soon as she was safely out of the way, he’d attack again. His protective instinct wouldn’t let him stop.

  One man lowered his weapon and moved toward her. “Orders, ma’am. We contain the Shifter. No one takes it.”

  “Her,” Carly said angrily. “She’s a her, not an it. And I wouldn’t touch me, if I were you.”

  The man ignored the warning and reached for her. “You need to go. If I have to carry you out I will.”

  Carly took a step back from his outstretched fingers and stumbled into Tiger. “I’m his mate. If you touch me, he’ll kill you, and I don’t think I can stop him.”

  Tiger steadied Carly and an instant later was between her and the soldier. That man’s eyes widened in alarm just before Tiger’s fist caught him on the side of the head. He went down in an ungainly heap of black fatigues.

  The other men took that as a signal to attack. Carly screamed and ducked as guns went off.

  Over at the cage, Connor had changed to his lion-beast. He was pulling at the bars, encouraging the tiger-girl to join in trying to break them. Carly saw the tiger-girl putting her hands above Connor’s, both of them tugging, but to no avail.

  At the same time three tranq darts and a couple of bullets went straight into Tiger.

  Tiger went very still. At a shouted command, the men ceased fire.

  Tiger turned his half-beast’s head to study each of the men in turn, pinning them with his golden gaze even as blood flowed down his furred torso. The men froze, staring at him in a daze. Though they’d likely been trained to fight Shifters, Carly could guarantee they’d never seen anything like Tiger before.

  Tiger watched them watch him, the rumbles in his throat not diminishing.

  It usually took five or so doses of tranquilizer meant for a normal Shifter to bring down Tiger, and then only if he was tired. He’d shrug off a bullet or two as well. The researchers who’d made him had designed him to survive long after any other Shifter would have died.

  Carly slowly stood up, reaching to slide her hand over Tiger’s clenched, clawed one. The touch of mate healed, he’d told her, and Carly would hold him together with all her might.

  “Captain—Sergeant—whoever you are,” Carly said rapidly to the one who’d given the command to cease firing. “If Tiger decides to, he can kill everyone in this room without sweating very much. He doesn’t want to, which is why y’all are still alive. Can’t you see how cruel it is to keep that poor woman in a cage? Let us take her away with us.”

  The man she addres
sed had the hard-eyed expression of one who wasn’t going to be easily swayed. “She’s a dangerous animal, ma’am. Not like a Shifter. Our orders are to keep her here, and we’re keeping her here.”

  “Who do you work for? Shifter Bureau? Or the army? Or the Fae?”

  He watched her with an impenetrable gaze.

  “What if you had different orders?” Carly persisted. “What if you had orders to let her go?”

  The man’s eyes narrowed. “But I don’t, do I? I respect the chain of command. And this really isn’t your business, ma’am.”

  “She’s a Shifter, so yes, it is my business. Now, I’m going to make a phone call. All right?” Carly pulled her phone from the purse she was still madly clutching. The phone thankfully had a charge, though the readout showed she wasn’t getting any reception.

  “Okay, so I’ll have to go outside to make the call.” Damn it—why did the brilliant technology of the twenty-first century fail when it was needed most? “Just put the blood bath on hold, all right? Shifter Bureau’s going to want to know about this.”

  Shifter Bureau was far more interested in containing Shifters and subduing them than helping them, it was true. But one man, the liaison between the Austin Shiftertown and its local Shifter Bureau, could help. Walker Danielson was mated to a Shifter—a Kodiak bear—and he understood Shifters better than any human in the Bureau ever could.

  If she could get Walker involved, he could talk to the Shifter Bureau for this state and have the tiger-girl transferred to the Austin Shiftertown. This would take an unbelievable amount of time, but if Walker put things in motion, at least these fanatic men might stop trying to kill Tiger.

  The man in charge flicked his fingers. “Take her out.”

  Not to make a phone call, Carly was thinking. Three men detached themselves from the group and came at her.

  Tiger spun, yanked the pistols from two of the advancing men’s grips, and crushed them between his fingers. As the pieces of metal rained to the floor, every gun barrel trained on him.