Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (12 page)

“I have a scalpel set mom and dad got me for my birthday.”

“They bought you scalpels?”

“Can we discuss their horrendous gift-giving skills later? There’s still the big problem of getting Daniel inside. Is he…?”

He looked around as he trailed off and she realized his neighbors could appear at any moment. Quietly enough only he would hear, she said, “He’s tiger.”

“Oh, good. That makes it so much easier.” With a sigh, he said, “Wait a sec while I get something on.” As he moved back into his apartment, she heard him grumbling, “How the hell are we gonna get a tiger inside without being seen?”

She studied the hallway. If they could get Daniel from the truck, through the back door, and into the building, they stood a decent chance of getting him inside before any of the neighbors caught them. The hall was extremely quiet. She heard a TV set at the far end and some movement in a few of the nearer apartments, but hopefully it was still too early for them to start leaving.

When her brother rejoined her, he had on a t-shirt, jeans and slip-on tennis shoes. He glanced down at her bare feet. “Not too obvious.”

“I’ll explain later. Let’s just get Daniel inside. He can’t stay hidden for long.”

“Where is he in the truck? Backseat? Cabin? Flatbed?”

“Cabin.”

“Maybe anyone passing will think he’s one of those giant stuffed animals.”

She punched her brother’s arm, none too gently, and followed him into the elevator down to the parking lot.

They searched the lot as they moved to the truck, Sarah scenting the air. So far so good. Tension bunched her muscles as she opened the driver’s side door. Daniel raised his head just enough to spot Ryan, his eyes narrowing.

“Best you’re gonna get,” Ryan said. “Seeing as how you happen to be with my sister outside the Run, I wouldn’t go casting aspersions.”

Daniel flopped his head back onto the seat for a beat, then very slowly climbed up onto the bench, crouching with his paws under him, prepared to leap from the truck. They checked the lot again.

“Okay, wait,” Ryan said. “I’ll go open the door. Get inside as fast as you can. Your injury slow you down?”

“Yes. He can’t move anywhere near as fast as normal,” she answered for Daniel.

“Just…As fast as you can. Wait till I get the door.”

Ryan trotted back, opened the metal door, then motioned them forward. Sarah nodded to Daniel and stepped back so he could jump to the ground and pad on silent feet to the building. She took up the rear after closing the truck and hurried into the cool dark interior at a rush. The hairs on her arms and nape lifted as tension made her pulse race. She hadn’t noticed anyone, hadn’t even felt that telltale tingling along her skin when she was being watched. With luck, they’d been unobserved.

Their luck held all the way back to Ryan’s apartment. When he closed and locked the door behind her, she dropped back against the wall and released a long, loud sigh.

“Don’t relax yet,” Ryan said. “I still have to jump years ahead of my current experience level.”

“You can do it,” she said with confidence.

He tilted his head. “You’re not just saying that, are you?”

“Of course not. I trust you to take care of Daniel.”

“Well, hell. Guess I have to now.”

She grinned, then hurried after the man she loved, finding him settling onto Ryan’s charity store couch. He turned his wounded shoulder up, ready for inspection.

Ryan gave the wound a quick look, poking around Daniel’s fur at the edges of the injury without actually touching the bullet hole. A pinkish red covered half of his shoulder and leg, but the wound itself had stopped bleeding and was already starting to close.

“Gonna have to cut it back open,” Ryan told Daniel with a hint of regret in his otherwise clinical tone. “I don’t have any kind of drugs to help stave off the pain. Can you take it? Or do you want me to go out and find something we can use?”

Daniel shook his head and flicked his shoulder in Ryan’s direction, then lay back against the couch, relaxed and ready.

“I guess that means we get this over with now.” Ryan rose and disappeared into his room.

Sarah knelt beside Daniel and stroked his fur-covered cheek. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. The fact he couldn’t answer back made this easier. But since her brother could hear them, she kept her words vague. “I’m sorry you were dragged into this. And that you were hurt.”

He grunted, a noise that sounded irritated. They had a lot to talk about when he could shift back to human.

Ryan returned with towels, rubbing alcohol, a box of latex gloves, a roll of bandage tape, some gauze pads and a leather wrapped bundle. He set everything on the coffee table, then disappeared into the kitchen, returning this time with a bowl full of hot water.

He motioned Sarah aside, then took up a place next to Daniel, staring at the wound as he moved towels to the floor under the couch. “Can you lift up?” he asked Daniel, who complied so Ryan could move towels underneath his upper body.

“Sorry about your couch,” Sarah said.

“You don’t want to know what’s happened on this couch,” Ryan said.

Sarah glared. But he was right. There were some things a sister did
not
need to know about her brother.

Ryan unwrapped the leather bundle and laid it out flat, revealing a series of surgical tools, all shiny and chrome. Sarah recognized a couple of the scalpels, but the rest were a mystery.

“Nice,” she commented.

Ryan just grunted. He pulled out two gloves and slipped them on, then selected a scalpel. As he worked, he said, “I’m not going to try stitching the wound. Even after I cut this open again, it’ll heal fast enough to prevent infection. I’ll bandage it just to keep it neat until the skin closes over.”

He raised the alcohol and winced. “Sorry, this is going to sting, but I want to make sure the area is sterilized as much as possible.”

He used one of the gauze pads he doused with rubbing alcohol to pat the area around the bullet hole. Daniel tensed and then relaxed. Sarah’s stomach turned.

As Ryan set the sharp point of the knife against Daniel’s skin, Sarah’s nausea rose and black spots danced at the edge of her vision. Afraid she might pass out, she turned her back on her brother’s work but knelt down near Daniel’s back legs and set her hand on his hip, trying to comfort even though she couldn’t watch the procedure.

Daniel’s muscles bunched under her touch, tense and hard. Ryan murmured a running commentary of what he was doing—which didn’t help Sarah much, but it was better than watching.

Unfortunately, she heard everything too clearly. The sucking sound as Ryan extracted the bullet made her gag. She buried her fingers in Daniel’s thick fur and tried concentrating on the warm feel of him, the scent of his natural musk underneath the metallic smell of blood, the steady sound of his heartbeat.

“You can look now,” Ryan said after a few minutes.

She released a low breath and closed her eyes, letting her body relax. Daniel’s body relaxed too, his muscles easing under her palm.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Daniel staring down the length of his body at her. She smiled weakly, then looked at the work her brother had done. The area around the wound was clean now, most of the blood washed out of Daniel’s fur. A clean white bandage was set against the wound, the tape wound around the top of his leg.

“You need to rest,” Ryan said to Daniel as he cleaned his tools and put them away. “You can probably shift back now, but I’d recommend waiting another hour, until the wound has closed up. It’s deep enough, if you shift, it’ll remain open. If you wait, the shift should heal it completely. Won’t even know it was there.”

He looked up at Sarah and blew out a breath, his eyes wide. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

She grinned. “I had no doubts.”

“You almost passed out, though, didn’t you?” He smirked.

“Did not.” But she couldn’t meet his gaze.

He chuckled as he gathered up his tools. “You want to stay on the couch?” he asked as he stood. “Or you can take the bed. You need sleep. Even though you handled that well, your body won’t be happy to have gone through surgery without drugs. You’ll heal quicker if you sleep.”

Daniel let out the tiger equivalent of a sigh and stayed where he was.

“Couch it is, then.” Ryan returned to the bedroom with all his gear.

When he was out of the room, Sarah murmured, “I have to leave to make the call. I’ve waited too long as it is.”

Daniel nodded. Then shook his head, his big eyes narrowing.

“I’ll come back when I’m done. I’m going to use a payphone so it can’t be traced. And if I wait any longer, the chances of…” She glanced toward the bedroom, then said, “I want everything in place.”

Daniel chuffed and started getting up.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, putting a hand on him. “You heard Ryan. You need rest. Sleep. I won’t be long. You’re safe enough. There’s no way—and no reason for that matter—for
him
to come here.” She paused when Daniel jerked his head in her direction. “I gave him a false last name and occupation, and I met him at a neutral location for our ‘date’. He doesn’t know where I live, or have my real name to track me. Besides, Ryan uses our father’s last name and I use our mother’s. He has no way to find us here, even if he wanted to.”

Daniel still lifted up so he was lying on his stomach instead of his side and he held her gaze.

It took her a moment to realize why he still objected. Then she remembered she hadn’t had time to discuss her epiphany with him.

“I’m not going after him,” she whispered, close to Daniel’s head in hopes her brother wouldn’t hear. “I can’t discuss it now, but I realized in the woods, he was better off alive than dead.” Even quieter, she said, “If there are
…others, still alive…”

He pulled back and blinked at her. He wrinkled his nose and his ears twitched. After a moment, he thumped his tail twice against the couch. Then he shifted back onto his side and relaxed.

Sarah smiled. She wasn’t sure if he trusted her again, but he was willing to take a chance that she was telling him the truth.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ryan came out of his room as Sarah stood to leave.

“Who’s
him
?” he asked.

“No one.”

“Have anything to do with why you’re with Daniel outside the Run?”

“Don’t push, little brother. I mean it.”

“You do realize you have to be at the Run site tomorrow night? A lot of males are gonna be really pissed off if you don’t make it.”

“That won’t be a problem. I have an errand to do now. Then I’ll make my way down.”

Ryan glanced at Daniel. “You still running?”

Daniel growled, low in his throat, a warning Sarah couldn’t interpret.

Ryan seemed to understand, though, because he raised his hands. “Okay, man, no reason to get grumpy. You’ll be ready. Just don’t get shot again between now and then.”

Daniel grunted and laid his head back on the couch.

Sarah hurried to the door. “Where’s the nearest payphone?”

“I’ve got a phone,” Ryan said, following her.

“Need a public phone.”

He narrowed his eyes. “There’s one outside the convenience store a block away. You know the place?”

She paused with her hand on the doorknob, remembering she didn’t have any money on her. Or any shoes. “Can I borrow some change? And a pair of shoes?”

Her brother rolled his eyes and returned to his bedroom, coming back with a handful of quarters, a twenty dollar bill, and a ratty pair of tennis shoes that were two sizes too big for her.

When he handed her the twenty, he said, “In case you need more change.”

“Thanks.”

“If you don’t, get me a coffee.”

She ignored his request. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Make him rest.”

Ryan snorted. “Yeah. I can make Daniel do stuff. You know what he does for a living, right?”

“Stop being an ass. Just look after him. I’ll be back soon.”

She listened for her brother to lock his door behind her then hurried down to the street. She walked to the shop as fast as she could without attracting attention. Lifting the payphone receiver, she paused. Who to call? If she called 911, they might not get the message to the right people quickly enough. But she didn’t know who else to contact.

The Philadelphia police had been investigating Su-jin’s murder, though Sarah didn’t know which precinct. But the buried body was in a public park. Another agency would have jurisdiction, wouldn’t they? Only she had no idea which one. State police? Park security?

In the end, she decided her only choice was 911. An innocent bystander would only know to call 911 anyway.

When the operator answered, Sarah said, “I need to report something anonymously. I’m not sure
…I saw a guy in the woods at Ridley Creek State Park. He was digging and the smell…the smell was horrible like something dead. And he had a rifle.”