Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (2 page)

Despite Williams’ best efforts, though, Daniel refused to drop his hold on Sarah. Whatever strength the man’s psychosis gave him, he wasn’t strong enough to beat an angry male tiger in a contest of wills.

“Let her go, asshole. Or I swear…”

“What?” Daniel asked, his voice low.

“You won’t want to live when I get done with you.”

Daniel stared into Williams’ eyes and saw just how crazy he was. A deep, dark insanity robbed him of any humane qualities. If Daniel had been a human man, maybe even a less well-trained tiger, he might have been scared. After all, this man had succeeded in capturing, torturing, and killing one of their people—no mere human woman, but a tiger with speed, strength, and rapid healing far outstripping any human.

Granted, Su-jin wasn’t as strong as most tigers, but even the weakest of their people could overpower a single human. Most of the time. That this man had held her against her will meant he wasn’t to be taken lightly.

A growl lodged in Daniel’s throat. He forced down the need to meet Williams’ challenge, though every instinct screamed at him to attack and kill the human. Especially because Williams was a threat to Sarah. Daniel couldn’t afford to answer the threat. The point of being here was to get Sarah away without either of them killing the human.

He held the man’s stare without responding and waited for him to let go.

In the distance, Daniel heard the sounds of a tiger fight—at least one side of it. Victor was mute in both human and tiger form, so there was only the sound of Joseph’s chuffs and growls.

Williams’ eyes narrowed, as if he detected the noise coming from the woods, too, and Daniel, once again, had to re-evaluate the man still holding his arm. Those sounds should have been too quiet for a human to hear. There was more to Bradley Williams than was apparent, even to acute tiger senses.

“We’re leaving now,” Daniel said. “It would be best if you backed off.”

Williams finally let go with a snarl. “You’re a dead man. You messed with the wrong guy.” He looked around Daniel and smiled at Sarah. “I’ll call you, baby.”

Daniel hoped the look he gave William told him if he went anywhere near Sarah again, he’d regret it.

Williams met his look without flinching. “You and I will be seeing each other soon.”

Daniel bit his tongue. Every instinct, every fiber of his being, wanted to rip this man apart, to tear through flesh and bone until there was nothing left but bloody pieces. Only the feel of Sarah’s warm skin in his hand kept him from acting—remembering he was here to save her from doing something rash.

“Don’t call her again,” he said through clenched teeth. Then he jerked Sarah into motion and stalked into the trees.

CHAPTER TWO

Over the faint sounds of their passage through the sparse undergrowth, Daniel listened carefully for the human they’d left behind. The hairs on his neck rose as he anticipated an attack, but none came.

Despite her earlier protests, Sarah stopped resisting his hold, allowing him to guide her through the trees. Her cooperation put him on alert. She wouldn’t give in this easily. Like Victor and Alexis would have to do with Joseph, Daniel would have to keep her somewhere safe until he could talk sense into her.

Unfortunately, while the others could stay at Victor’s retreat for as long as it took, Daniel didn’t have that luxury with Sarah. She was less than four days away from her estrous. He couldn’t keep her from the Mate Run without raising questions. Questions he wasn’t prepared to answer because they could get both Sarah and Joseph locked away for years “for their own good”.

He had to convince her to give up her need for revenge, or at least find another way to get it, because killing Williams was not an option.

As they approached Daniel’s truck, he listened for traffic on the side road. Only the faint whoosh of cars on the distant highway reached him. One less thing to worry about. They reached the truck without Williams following, and Daniel allowed himself a moment to relax his guard.

Then anger and fear for what could have happened reared. He spun Sarah to face him and took her face between his palms. “I don’t want you anywhere near that psycho again. Do you understand me? If he was able to kill Su-jin, he could kill you.”

Daniel’s heartbeat hammered. Sarah had been alone with that man. What if Daniel hadn’t reached her in time? What if he hadn’t learned of her and Joseph’s plan? What if Williams had done to Sarah what he’d done to Su-jin?

The thought shot a bolt of terror through Daniel so strong he could barely breathe.

“He deserves to die for what he did,” Sarah said, her eyes narrowed to slits, her voice rough with emotion.

She trembled with rage. He couldn’t blame her for that, but knowing the danger she’d been in swamped him, overwhelming every other sensation, even his own anger.

“Yes, he does,” he murmured. “But we have to let the humans take care of him. Do you understand?”

“No! No, I don’t. He killed one of
our
people and we let it go? We let him get away with it? Do you know what he did to her, Daniel?”

“Yes, damn it, yes. I know exactly what he did to her.”

Rage and fear made his own voice tight. He’d been charged with recovering Su-jin’s body from the morgue before the humans could do their autopsy. He knew first hand exactly how much Bradley had tortured her. And in that moment, all he could think about was that very thing happening to Sarah. His chest tightened along with his hands on her face. He had to work to relax his muscles.

Sarah was alive and safe now. He rubbed his thumbs gently along her cheekbones, affirming her skin was warm and she was okay.

Tears filled her eyes. “How can you let him go?”

Her tears tore at Daniel and churned his emotions into a completely different kind of pain. “Oh, love.” He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her. “I would like nothing more than to break him into little pieces. If he were a tiger, he’d already be dead.”

For just an instant, she let him comfort her. For just a breath, she softened in his arms. He closed his eyes and absorbed the sense of rightness he always felt with her.

Then she jerked away, forcing him to drop his hold.

She swiped at the tears leaking across her cheeks. “I want him
dead
.”

“I know.” And he did. More than she would ever understand. “But I want
you
alive.”

Before she could do anything rash, like bolt back toward Willams’ house, Daniel lifted her into his arms.

She grunted and smacked him on the shoulder. “What the hell are you doing? Put me down.”

Instead, he adjusted his hold on her so he could open the truck door, then he set her inside, fastening the seatbelt around her while she continued glowering at him.

“I’m not a fucking child.”

“Believe me; I’m very well aware of that.” Though he’d made the effort to keep his attention on the situation, he allowed himself to finally look her over.

She wore a tight dark-colored tank top that revealed the soft swell of her breasts, the curve of her waist, and tight blue jeans that accented the sexy but slight flare of her hips. She was a small, slim woman, almost delicate looking. But he knew for a fact the strength and passion beneath her seeming delicacy. She might appear easily breakable, but for the last seven Runs, she’d taken everything he’d had to give and returned it. With Sarah, looks were deceiving.

His gaze lingered on her lips as memories of their last Run danced through his mind. Sarah naked and laughing as she ducked behind a tree, teasing him, letting him get just close enough to almost grab her before spinning away and racing through the forest. The satisfaction he felt when he out maneuvered her. Her squeal of pretend shock when he caught her. The way she melted against him, hot and eager, as he lifted her off her feet and kissed her. Her smile against his mouth. The spicy flavor of her tongue tangling with his.

She licked her lips, and Daniel almost groaned aloud. He dragged his gaze from her mouth to look her in the eyes. She blinked, the tears no longer falling, something besides sadness and anger in her expression. Her scent curled up around him, floral and spice, with an extra sweet tang of desire.

Without meaning to, he leaned closer, the need to kiss her, to assure himself she was safe and alive was so strong he couldn’t resist. He felt the brush of her hot breath on his mouth before he realized what he was doing. Still, he didn’t back off immediately because he couldn’t make himself give up her nearness, her heat.

He settled his hands on the doorframe with some half-formed intention of pushing back. Instead, the leverage gave him room to move closer, to let his lips just touch hers. So soft…

In the distance, the sound of a passing car broke through his haze and reality punched him back to the moment. What the fuck was he doing? They were still too close to Williams’ house for this. Besides, he wasn’t even supposed to be with her outside the Run. Kissing her would be a dangerous mistake. Because if he started anything now, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop at just a kiss.

With a grunt, he pushed away and closed her door very gently, his control stretched to its breaking point. Then he walked around the truck, clenching and unclenching his fists in an attempt to calm his emotions. He slid in behind the wheel and took a few deep breaths.

A mistake. Inside the closed confines of the cabin, her scent wrapped around him with a tighter hold, and the smell of her desire mingling with his almost destroyed him. He closed his eyes, but it was useless. He couldn’t resist the temptation to face her.

His gaze lowered to her breasts again, remembering the feel of them against his palms, the taste of them in his mouth. His palms warmed with the phantom feel of her, and it took every ounce of his willpower not to reach out and touch her. When he looked up, her lips were damp and slightly parted, her breathing heavy and deep. His groan slipped out and his hands clenched so tight his fingernails dug into his palms.

Dangerous. Being with her, alone, now
…so very, very dangerous.

They needed to get on the road, to get away from this place. He desperately needed the distraction of driving. But he didn’t start the car for another long, tense moment as he held her gaze and let her scent wash through him.

Finally, he faced the road, blinking away the haze of lust. Damn his lack of control. This wasn’t the time or place. She was angry and hurting. He was here to keep her from destroying her life by taking revenge—or worse, getting herself killed by a crazy man. And they were outside the Run. He risked any hope of a future with her if he gave in to his desires now.

If they still had any hope of a future after tonight.

She might hate him for preventing her from taking revenge. Something he would have to deal with. Right now, his priority was protecting her—from herself, from that psycho Williams, even from Daniel’s own needs. Her safety, her life was the important thing now.

He strapped himself in, cranked over the motor, threw the truck into gear, and drove toward the highway. She was going to be even more pissed when she discovered he had no intention of taking her home to her Philadelphia apartment.

The next few days weren’t going to be easy. Talking her out of trying to kill Williams was always going to be difficult, but the job was made worse by the fact that Daniel understood her need for revenge. On a visceral level, he actually agreed with her. Williams deserved to die, and they should be the ones to kill him.

When Daniel had broken into the morgue to recover Su-jin Lee-Bennett’s body, the sight of her, the damage done to her poor body
…he had never felt rage like that before. The only thing that could have made it worse was if it had been Sarah on the slab.

Even the idea of that made his throat close and his blood pressure rise. If that man had killed Sarah, had tortured her in the same way he had Su-jin, Daniel
knew
he wouldn’t stop until he’d ripped out Williams’ throat—Daniel’s job as an enforcer of tiger law be damned. The last eight years of upholding his people’s rules, all the good he’d done as a Tracker, would mean nothing to him if Sarah were murdered.

So, how could he ask her, sincerely, to let go of her own anger and give up on killing the man? How could they expect Joseph to forget about revenge when it was
his
only sister who had been murdered?

Daniel didn’t have an easy answer to those questions. He only knew he loved Sarah—even if he hadn’t admitted it to her—and he did not want her locked away for life. He would do anything to keep her safe. Anything.

He risked a glance at her. She stared out the side window, silent and distant. The thought of losing her punched him in the chest. But he couldn’t let that fear stand in his way. He might lose her, but she’d be safe, alive, free, able to go on, and have a life.

He focused on the road, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel as he tried to ignore the rich scent of her natural fragrance swirling around him. Protecting Sarah was worth any sacrifice. He’d give her up if he had to. If she decided she didn’t want him after this, he’d let her go.

What happened after that…he couldn’t find it in him to care.