Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (11 page)

Frustrated that she couldn’t say all this to Daniel, she adjusted her position just a little, angling ever so slightly closer to him. Without taking his gaze off the trees ahead of them, Daniel moved a few inches closer to her.

She saw the flash of a rifle blast seconds before she heard the sound of the shot. A blink later, to her horror, Daniel was in front of her and she heard the bullet thud into him. The smell of blood and hot metal washed over her as Daniel dropped to his side.

She roared in denial, dropping her bundle of clothes. The sound echoed off the trees, shocking even her after the almost perfect silence. Another bullet thumped into the tree she’d been crouched behind, hitting where her head had been only moments before. They had to get out of there.

She grasped the thick skin and fur covering the back of Daniel’s neck in her mouth and dragged his heavy body deeper into the trees, faster than a real tiger would have been able to move.

The rifle shot had given her a good idea of where Williams was, but she wanted to be out of range faster than he could catch up. When she felt she was a safe distance, she dropped her hold on Daniel and nudged around him, looking for the wound. A thick band of red ran down his shoulder. The bullet was still in there, but had hit him in a non-fatal location, thankfully. A wave of relief left her nauseous.

She had to get Daniel help, to get the bullet out. His tiger healing would take care of the rest. Already, the blood flow was slowing. But with a bullet still inside him, even if the wound healed over, they’d have to open it up again to get it out.

Shit.

She raised her head and tested the wind, angling her ears to pick up Williams’ location. He was working his way toward them. She nudged Daniel. His low, quiet burble, almost but not quiet the sound of a domestic cat’s purr, washed a sense of relief through her. She nudged again. If he couldn’t walk, they were in trouble. She could drag him, maybe even carry him back to the truck if needs be, but not while Williams was still hunting them. She’d move too slowly with the weight of a full grown male tiger in tow. And dragging him had surely left a trail. One Williams might be looking for even now.

To her relief, Daniel slowly rolled up to his feet. He couldn’t run, his front left leg barely took his weight, but at least he could move.

She jutted her head back in the direction of the truck. The problem with that way, though, was that Williams was still between them and the vehicle. They hadn’t gotten enough space to circle safely around him yet.

Daniel shook his head and nodded deeper into the woods.

Oh, no. He was in no shape for that. Lightly, she gripped his neck in her mouth, then nodded at a wide angle to circle around Williams back out of the woods. She saw the consideration in his deep blue eyes, watched him weighing up their options. And she knew the idiot would try protecting her, just like he had by jumping in front of that bullet.

Well, she was having none of it. She forced his hand by moving the direction she wanted to go, knowing he’d follow rather than let her get too far away. This time, she closely tracked Williams. As they moved, the wind shifted and she finally caught his scent. Ah, that was better. She pinpointed his location easily, even though he’d stopped moving again and she couldn’t hear him.

She stalked silently, slowly, taking her time and giving Daniel plenty of room to keep up. Williams was still trying to locate them. He had to suspect he’d wounded…something. Had he seen them? Or was he shooting at a flash of color, a flicker of light in their eyes, something hinting where they were but didn’t actually allow him to see what he was shooting at?

She’d roared. Williams would know he was tracking animals now. If he was a hunter, he might even recognize the sound as tiger. She wasn’t sure if that made the situation better or worse. But there was nothing she could do about it now. Not while Daniel was injured. Not when they still had a lot of ground to cover.

When Williams moved again, he continued heading in the direction they’d been. Sarah flicked her ears back and forth. He’d lost track of them and didn’t realize they were circling around him. That would have been a relief if he were any other human, but she didn’t trust him to give up or lose them so easily.

The journey to the truck was a tense, slow, painful progression. They were halfway there when she caught the sounds of Williams moving toward them again. He was a ways away, but no longer moving in the wrong direction.

Their lead was sufficient enough that they reached the truck with time for her to shift. She and Daniel had both dropped their clothes in the place where he’d been shot, a mistake that might come back to bite them in the ass later. Evidence of human presence, the possibility the clothes could somehow be traced to her and Daniel, was disastrous. But she didn’t have time to go back and recover the clothing.

As she forced her tiger down and retook her human form in a snap of bone and stretch of muscles and tendons, she realized they had a few more problems.

She would be driving nude. With a wounded white tiger in the front of the truck. And if they went to any of their people’s doctors, Daniel would get banned from the Run for being with her. Yet, she couldn’t go to a human doctor. Or even a human vet. Daniel would heal too fast, especially once the bullet was removed. They’d risk exposure—the very thing they were trying to prevent with all this subterfuge.

What a fucking mess.

Guilt caught in her throat as she opened the truck for Daniel to jump into the passenger seat. He didn’t dare shift until they removed the bullet for fear of complications. But he was too big to be inconspicuous. Especially sitting next to a naked woman. She rounded the truck to the driver’s side and then poked around in the small area behind the bench seat. Ah, Daniel, you genius, she thought with a grin. He had a change of clothes stored there. Smart, smart tiger.

The sweatpants were huge on her, large enough to cover her completely all on their own. She slipped into the huge sweatshirt, then climbed behind the wheel.

The clothes smelled of Daniel, overwhelming her with a combination of peace and anxiety.

She opened the ashtray and snapped up the keys Daniel had left there when he’d first gone to check out Williams’ house.

“Don’t worry,” she said aloud, putting the truck into drive. “I’ll get you help.”

He grunted and settled his head on the bench next to her hip, his nose nearly butting her. She reached down without looking at him and ran her fingers through his thick fur, clenching and releasing the softness covering his neck.

She left the truck lights off and slowly eased the vehicle to the main road, cracking the window so she could catch Williams’ scent if he got close. When she’d slipped the sweatshirt on, she knew he was still far enough away that he’d have to run to reach them, and even then, he wasn’t likely to see more than just a dark colored truck. At least, she hoped so.

She checked the rearview mirror again.

Then she heard Williams’ car starting up in the distance and her pulse jumped. Shit. If she didn’t hurry, he’d catch them before they could get to the main road or anywhere near the highway.

Tossing caution to the wind, she put her foot down and sent the truck careening down the street, bumping along in a way she knew was uncomfortable for Daniel.

“Sorry,” she said.

Daniel just grunted and adjusted his position on the floor. He was so large, he couldn’t fit on the bench next to her without his head hitting the roof and was too long to stretch out beside her. His butt on the floor and his upper body on the bench couldn’t be a pleasant way to ride, but it was better than the truck’s bed.

She reached back and pulled the seatbelt across, clicking it into place. She was sitting at the edge of the bench because she couldn’t adjust the bench forward without crowding Daniel, so she wasn’t sure the seatbelt would help at all, but it was something to keep her stabilized as she forced the truck to accelerate.

The wheels spun as she fishtailed onto the main road leading toward the highway. She gunned the poor truck again, pushing it to move as fast as it would go. She still heard Williams’ car behind them. His Jag was a whole hell of a lot faster than the truck. He’d catch them if they couldn’t reach the highway soon and lose themselves in traffic.

She glanced at the dash. Four am. Wasn’t going to be much traffic outside semi-trucks, but it was something.

She ran red lights and blared past the two cars she encountered, but she wasn’t fast enough. In the rearview mirror, she spotted the Jag’s headlights catching up. Fuck, that car was fast. She realized her own headlights were still off, though, which meant unless she hit the breaks, he’d have a hard time seeing the truck even under the streetlamps. So she kept the lights off until just before hitting the highway on ramp, then flicked them on and raced onto a mostly empty road, her pulse pounding.

A fleet of semi-trucks appeared ahead, at least five of them traveling close enough to give her cover. She raced toward them, continuously checking the mirror. Williams’ Jag hit the highway just as she moved in front of the rear truck.

She wasn’t sure if he’d seen her or not, but she did know he’d catch up with them on the smooth road without other traffic to complicate things.

As she was considering her options, the trucks around her all suddenly slowed. She had to break hard to keep from slamming into the back of the one in front of her. Daniel grunted at the sudden change of momentum.

Panic started her trembling. What the hell was happening? Why were they…?

Then she spotted the speed trap. And a moment later, she heard the sound of sirens on the road behind them.

Changing lanes so she could see behind the barrier of the trucks, she caught sight of Williams’ car being pulled over. She laughed. Then hooted, “Thank you, highway patrol!”

She never thought she’d be so grateful for human authorities. She was sure Williams wouldn’t give them reason to check his trunk. But sunrise was only an hour away. This would slow him down. Chances were good he wouldn’t be able to get back and move the body until nightfall. That gave them time to point the authorities toward that burial spot.

And hope for the best.

She shook off the sense of relief and triumph when she considered the predicament she still faced. Daniel needed help. He wasn’t going to bleed to death, but he was in pain and that bullet would continue to cause problems until it was removed. They needed a doctor, preferably a surgeon…

The answer was one she was sure Daniel would hate. Especially since, technically, Ryan was still a medical student. Her younger brother was years away from his residency. But he was a genius. He’d be able to help.

She hoped.

CHAPTER TEN

The sun was up by the time she parked the truck behind her brother’s apartment building. She turned off the ignition and momentarily watched people starting to move around, getting their day started. Then she said to Daniel, “Wait here. Try staying out of sight.”

He blinked slowly at her, a look that wasn’t hard for her to interpret.

“Yes, I know you’re too big to hide. But…try?”

He settled his head on the seat and closed his eyes. She frowned.

“You’re not going to pass out are you?”

He opened his eyes and shook his head, then settled back down, closing his eyes again.

Worry gnawed at her gut as she hurried to her brother’s door. His car was still in the lot, so she hoped he was home. Ryan was spending the summer in Philly, doing an internship at the lab where she worked. Their parents insisted he support himself between semesters. She’d had no way of knowing that by getting him a job, he’d be close enough to help her with Daniel.

He opened the door dressed only in a pair of pajama bottoms, his messy black hair hung like a mop above his handsome face.

His eyes narrowed when he saw her. “Sarah. What are you doing here?”

“Why aren’t you dressed for work?”

“It’s only six a.m. And I have the day off. What the
hell
are you wearing? You raid the men’s department?” He smirked and leaned against the door jam, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I need your help.” Her serious tone made him straighten. “And I need your
…discretion. Okay, I need you to keep a secret. From
everyone
. I mean everyone.”

“Mom can ferret out secrets.”

“You have to keep this one even from mom. Promise me.”

“What’s going on?”

“Promise first.”

“Fine, fine, I promise. What’s the problem?”

“I have Daniel in a truck out back. He’s been shot. The bullet’s still in his shoulder.”

His dark eyes narrowed to slits. “You have a lot to explain.”

“Later. We need to get him inside. And I need you to remove the bullet.”

He gaped at her. “I’m not a doctor yet.”

“You know what to do?”

“Yes. Theoretically. I’ve never performed surgery before though.”

The last was filled with sarcasm. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. He’ll heal. We just have to get the bullet out. Do you have a sharp enough knife?”