The Tiger’s Ambush

by Tate James

  “Well,” he huffed, folding his tattooed arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at me. “Kill Jackson if you want, but I’m banking on the fact that you’ll more than have your hands full with your girlfriend and this war that’s knocking on her door.”

  Fuck, he knows more that he’s not letting on here.

  “You’re an asshole, Yoshi,” I snapped, glaring death at him while my mind raced with this war he’d just mentioned. Christina just couldn’t catch a break, it seemed.

  “Quit crying, kid,” he snickered, like the maniac he clearly was. “You’ve known this was your heritage for almost ten years, ever since you first apprenticed for me. Now keep quiet while I make a call.” He squinted at me. “Actually, I can’t trust you not to try something.”

  Pulling a gold washable marker from his pocket, he forced my head to the side with one strong hand and sketched a rune against my skin, rendering me speechless. Literally. My mouth worked with the curses I wanted to throw at him, but no sound came out.

  Motherfucker. Part of Yoshi’s unique power was that he could imbue any ink with his will. A simple design on skin held the spell in place for however long the image remained. Add Jackson’s blood to the ink, and they could perform feats of magic most mages only dreamed about.

  Master Yoshi picked my phone up from the ground where I’d dropped it during our brief scuffle that had resulted in me tied to this fucking chair. I truly hadn’t stood a chance against him, despite my Omega training; I was currently only human. Not for long though, if Yoshi’s plan succeeded.

  He flicked through my contacts and hit dial, then swirled a quick design on the back of his hand so that when he spoke, it was in my voice. Fucker.

  “Hey, Cal. Yeah, it’s me.” Yoshi curved a nasty grin at me while my voice poured out of his mouth. “He’s doing good! I should be done here in a couple of days, and Yoshi is retiring to Costa Rica.” He paused while Caleb spoke for a bit, and I mouthed obscenities at him. “Yeah, I know he’s been saying that for years, but this time he means it. Hey, can you send me Kit’s new mobile number? I need to ask her a question.”

  A shock of relief washed over me, and I fought not to smile. I’d never called Christina by her nickname before, and Caleb knew it. He’d for sure know something was fishy about this.

  “You’ll text it to me?” Yoshi continued, curving a triumphant smile at me, and my stomach sank. “Great, thanks bro. Hey, maybe let her know I’ll be texting, in case she thinks someone stole my phone and is setting her up or something.” He chuckled, like it was all a big fucking joke, and I screamed at him soundlessly.

  “Yeah, you too. Sweet, see you in a couple of days, then.” Yoshi disconnected the call and raised his eyebrows at me, looking like he’d just won. He hadn’t, though. Not yet.

  “Is it just me, or has your brother become far too trusting?” he pondered aloud. “Then again, I imagine he has a lot on his mind at the moment, if he’s just come into his magic. I sorely doubt Jackson has put his hand up to teach him how to control it, either.”

  The deceptively young-looking man tapped at my phone, no doubt sending a text to Christina that would set her into enough of a panic that she’d come down here and try to save my sorry ass.

  Despite what I’d said, I knew she would too. Damn woman was too fucking soft hearted for her own good, always trying to save the world. Didn’t she realize not everyone needed saving? Or deserved it, for that matter.

  “Oh, don’t give me that look; you know he’s handling it just fine. Probably found a local witch or something to help him get some control. Besides, if he had paid a lick of attention to the lessons I tried to give you both growing up, he’d be fine to handle it on his own. Like you will be.” Yoshi sighed heavily and gave me a disappointed look.

  For all appearances, he wasn’t a day older than me. Medium height and build with short, spiky black hair and more ink than even I had decorating his skin. The difference was, though, his ink contained magic.

  Of course, he assumed I was worrying about my brother in that moment and not about the red-haired temptress who haunted my every waking thought.

  “I really wish you weren’t forcing my hand in this, but your Ban Dia came into her powers months ago, and you still haven’t given her reason to restore your magic. Any of you. I give the rest of your little team some allowance as they were unaware of what they are, but you and Caleb...” He shook his head, tsking. “You knew better.”

  He turned and headed to the door, clearly intending to leave the mute spell active on my skin. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. I’ll check on you again later, but for now I have clients waiting.”

  As he left through the door, the distinctive buzzing of tattoo needles could be heard, and I screamed silently in frustration.

  15

  KIT

  Lucy and I were tucked up on the couch together watching a movie when my phone vibrated. Wesley had input all of the guys’ numbers before he’d given it to me so I’d know who it was if one of them contacted me.

  After our non-eventful combat training today and with still no word from either Jonathan or the girl I’d healed, Lucy and I had decided to have a girls’ night in. We’d ordered pizzas and were watching cheesy rom-coms. Not because we were particularly into them, but because the guys looked like they’d rather pull their own teeth out than watch with us. All except Wesley, that was.

  “Oh God,” he groaned. “She’s not seriously falling for that, is she?”

  Lucy and I shared a small grin, and I stole some more popcorn from Wesley’s bowl. The girl that this love story followed was a bit of a ditz, but Wesley’s running commentary was just priceless.

  “You guys want more drinks?” Lucy asked, standing up with a groan and taking our empty glasses.

  “Shhh, Luce!” Wesley hissed, waving her out of the way, and I stifled a giggle into his shirt. Somehow over the course of one and a half movies, we had gone from sitting on opposite ends of the couch to me snuggled into his side with his arm draped over my shoulders.

  Feeling my phone buzz in the pocket of my sweatpants again, I fished it out and swiped my thumb across the screen. Two messages flashed at me, one from Vali and one from Caleb.

  “Looks like everyone is putting that text blocker to good use then?” Wesley commented quietly, glancing at my phone. He’d been working on a new software that allowed us to text on a different frequency or bandwidth or something—I tuned out on the technical terms—but it meant we could securely message each other without fear of Omega intercepting it. He was still working on the one for voice calls, though.

  “Uh-huh,” I murmured, opening Caleb’s message first. He was not home again, and I was starting to get worried he was in some sort of trouble. So far, neither he nor Wesley had shown signs of being anything more, so I was hoping my magic had run out before getting that far.

  “Weird,” I muttered, reading it.

  “What is?” Wes asked, looking down at my phone again as I showed it to him.

  “Why would Austin ask for my number?” I frowned. The message just said that Aus had called and wanted my new number so he could text me.

  “Maybe he wants to check how you’re doing after the car crash?” Wesley suggested, and I snorted. One of the things I loved about my dorky new boyfriend was his ability to see the good in everyone. Including Austin the Ass. Ugh, I just called Wesley my “boyfriend” inside my own head. Damn, when did I become so gooey?

  “Why are you blushing, sweetheart?” Wes asked suspiciously, running the back of his finger across my cheek. “Are you thinking dirty things about me again?”

  “Um, no. I’m going to help Lucy get those drinks.” I awkwardly shot up from my seat and hurried through to the open-plan kitchen where Lucy was taking a very long time pouring sodas.

  “Luce,” I hissed, catching her giggling while she sent a rapid fire text to someone. “You’re not text-flirting with Finn are you?”

  She looked up at me with a deer-in-headlights
expression, and I groaned. “Luce... please be careful with him? I am begging you. Has he said anything about being, you know, other?”

  “No... but I also haven’t brought it up.” She shrugged. “It’s not really the sort of thing we talk about, anyway.”

  “Uh-huh,” I deadpanned at her. “And what do you talk about?”

  Lucy blushed and I groaned.

  “Oh my God, you’re fucking him, aren’t you? Lucifer Jones...”

  “None of your business, Christina Davenport!” She pursed her lips at me with a shut the fuck up look on her face. “Now, why are you in here and not having a quick makeout with your sexy nerd?”

  “Don’t call him a nerd, Luce,” I muttered defensively, and she rolled her eyes.

  “I can ’cause I am one too. Now spill.” She whacked me on the ass with a tea towel, and I scowled back at her.

  “First of all, keep your voice down.” I glanced over to the living room area where Wesley was still watching our sappy movie. There were no walls dividing the kitchen from the rest of the apartment, but there was a dining area between us, so hopefully he couldn’t hear us speaking.

  “There’s nothing to spill; I just kind of referred to Wes as my boyfriend inside my head and then panicked. That’s all.” I shrugged awkwardly and turned to browse the fridge. For what? I had no idea. Sometimes you just needed to browse the fridge.

  “Uh-huh. But... isn’t he?” Lucy asked. “I mean, I heard you call Cole your boyfriend yesterday, and I can’t imagine River let that slide without jumping on board?” I blushed scarlet, remembering when I’d asked River to be my boyfriend. “What about Caleb?”

  “No idea. We’re together, and he seems fine with the whole sharing aspect, but he hasn’t really been around much since we got here. He’s out doing God knows what every evening, then comes in and sneaks into my bed at night.” I turned back to my best friend who was looking severely unimpressed.

  “Like... as a booty call?” she clarified, and I smiled.

  “No, Lucy, you freaking horn-dog. Just to sleep. And cuddle. It’s nice; I miss him not being around, so I kind of look forward to late night cuddles.” I smiled. “But I don’t know. Wes and I... it’s so new, you know? I don’t want to go freaking him out by being all ‘Oh hey, you want to be my fourth boyfriend?’ kind of thing.”

  “Uh-huh, I see how that could be awkward. But he does already know you’re involved with his team so... would it really be such a shock?” Lucy suggested. She had a point, too. “What about this Vali guy? It kind of sounds like you guys have an attraction there too?”

  “Ugh, yes. No. I don’t really know. He has a girlfriend, Elena, and she’s stunning.” I sighed, then remembered his message I hadn’t read. I pulled my phone from my pocket again and flicked into the message.

  Texting isn’t the same as talking. Followed by a sad-face emoji.

  “Girlfriend, huh?” Lucy muttered, reading over my shoulder. “Sure doesn’t sound like it from his messages.”

  “Oh stop it.” I locked my phone and put it back in my pocket before she could get too nosy. I’d been texting with Vali on and off all evening, seeing as I’d decided to hang with Lucy instead of jogging out to the property perimeter to call.

  “And what about Austin?” Lucy prodded.

  “What about Austin?” I repeated, frowning at her.

  “Anything going on between the two of you?” she asked, the picture of fucking innocence, like she knew something I didn’t.

  “Nothing. You know how he is, arrogant and dickish as ever.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why? What do you know that I don’t know?”

  “Me? Nothing. Why would I?” She was suddenly dodging eye contact with me, so I knew for sure she was keeping secrets.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Luce. Maybe because you two became besties while I was being kidnapped and sold at a slave auction?” I smiled so she knew I was joking. Subjects that heavy had the potential to turn a bit depressing. “What did he say to you about me?”

  “A better question, Christina, is why do you care?” She smirked at me and sashayed out of the kitchen carrying the sodas that we had come in here for in the first place. Fuck her, she was right. Why did I care?

  Just as I was about to follow her, my phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out to check it.

  Hey, it’s Austin. I’m in trouble. Can you meet me? You can’t tell the guys, though. It concerns them, and I don’t want them hurt.

  My eyes scanned the short message several times before I replied. Is this about me? What I am?

  There was a short pause before his message came back. Yes. Then a second later, another message with just an address in San Francisco. Please come alone. And hurry.

  Austin, this makes no sense. Why can’t I tell the guys? What sort of trouble are you in? I typed quickly and hit send.

  After a few moments, no reply came back, so I tried again. If this is another one of your tricks, I’m going to kick your fucking ass.

  Still nothing. My teeth worried at my lower lip as I thought it over. It was such a clichéd move, come alone and tell no one. But... what if Austin really was in trouble? I was hardly a poor, defenseless victim anymore, and had Sergei not surprised me with fucking chloroform, he never would have been able to kidnap me.

  “Hey,” Wesley’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts, and I looked up from my phone to see him leaning on the kitchen counter near me. “Are you okay? You went kind of funny, and you’ve been in here for a while... I hope I didn’t, um, make you uncomfortable or anything?”

  “Huh? No, sorry, I just...” I waved my phone. “Austin messaged; it threw me. He doesn’t really like me much, so I’m a bit confused why he’s messaging.”

  “Ah, yeah. He’s... complicated.” Wesley ran a hand through his floppy blond hair, and I smiled. It was such an obvious nervous tell; he’d be awful undercover. “Did you want to finish the movie?”

  “Yup, let’s do that, and I can deal with Austin later.” What I really meant was hopefully he would reply to my messages soon. Otherwise... I didn’t even know. Would I go to the address he’d given me?

  Surely it couldn’t be too risky to go and see him for a day? He may not like me much, but he was one of my dianoch. For better or worse, we were stuck together, so maybe trusting him on this one, small thing might be a step toward building a better relationship between us.

  16

  The address that Austin had texted me turned out to be a tattoo parlor named “Ink Bats”, and thankfully it seemed to be open.

  After hours of sending messages and getting nothing back, I’d decided to pull what was likely to be a stupid-as-fuck move and sneaked out of the apartment in the dead of night to drive some fourteen-odd hours from the Omega Base to San Francisco. By the time I’d arrived, I was tired, cranky, and my phone had lost all battery from the guys blowing it up with calls and messages. Granted I did have a charger in my car, and had recharged it, but that was the excuse I was going to stick with.

  When they’d first noticed me missing, probably when Caleb got home and didn’t find me in bed, I’d answered their calls. But they hadn’t been happy accepting my vague answers on where I was, so I’d simply stopped answering.

  A happy bell chimed as I pushed open the door, and a young girl behind the reception desk looked up.

  “Hi, hon. You got an appointment?” she asked, eyeing me up and down as though it wasn’t believable I was here for a tattoo.

  “No, I’m looking for a friend of mine, Austin King?” I hesitated only because he hadn’t responded to any of my recent messages, so I had no idea if he was still here or not. The girl’s expression seemed to frost over, and she gave me another look.

  “He’s busy.” The sneer on her face spoke volumes. She clearly had a crush on my frustrating friend.

  “Okay, well he asked me to come here, and I just drove, like, fourteen hours, so I think you can move your scrawny ass, go back there, and tell him Kit’s here.” I paused. “Christina. I mean
, tell him Christina is here.” The girl glared at me with a look that could fucking murder, and I snarled at her, “Go!”

  Okay, so that probably wasn’t the most polite I had ever been, but she scurried off her stool and into the back of the shop, so whatever. It got the job done.

  “You’re Kit?” A handsome man, covered in tattoos, asked. He’d just come through from the back of the shop, where the buzzing of tattoo guns could be heard, and I looked at him with suspicion.

  “Yeah, and you are?” My arms remained firmly crossed, and I didn’t take the hand he offered to me to shake. His ink was stunning but interspersed with runes and symbols as well as the usual animals, flowers, and so on.

  “I’m Yoshi; I own Ink Bats,” the guy said with a smile that reminded me a bit of a shark.

  “Yoshi?” I repeated. “Master Yoshi?”

  “Ah yes, that’s what they call me around here because I’m considered an Ink Master. You’re here looking for Austin?” His smile didn’t waver for a second, but it also didn’t reach his eyes. Something... wasn’t right.

  “Yeah, he texted me to come and meet him here? You know, I was expecting someone older... Austin mentioned you’d had a stroke?” I narrowed my eyes at the guy who couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five, and a cold chill ran down my spine. I should know, better than most, that appearance was no indication of age when it came to supernaturals.

  “Silly misunderstanding.” The guy, Yoshi, smiled his shark-like smile. “Austin’s in the back. If you’ll follow me?”

  “Sure... um, just one sec?” I held up a finger and slipped my phone from my pocket. As quickly as possible, I copy-pasted the address from Austin’s message and sent it in a group text to all of the guys, Vali included. If nothing else, it’d give them a starting point when looking for my body.