Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (5 page)

She glanced at him then looked out the window again. Everything in her ached. There was no way to get her revenge and still keep him. Confined, she wouldn’t be given a choice of mates. She wouldn’t be allowed to marry. They’d let her have babies—through artificial insemination—because they couldn’t afford not to. But she’d never have the freedom of a real family life and a husband who loved her.

Yet how could she live with herself if she didn’t avenge Su-jin?

Bradley Williams had a lot to answer for, she thought with a bitter knot clogging her throat.

They reached the farm half an hour later. Neither of them had spoken much in that time and Sarah’s nerves were raw from the silence. She jumped out of the truck just to fill her lungs with fresh air and release some of the tension tightening her muscles.

The farm smelled of horses. The scent made her tiger rise with predatory interest. She hadn’t eaten much since her friend’s body had been found a week ago. She had to eat or she risked her tiger getting the better of her.

“You’re hungry,” Daniel said.

She frowned. He knew her too well.

“You look pale and thin.”

“I’m fine.” She should have realized he’d notice. Daniel had always been very observant. “But yes, I’m hungry.”

“Bastard didn’t even feed you?”

“We were just going into the house when you pulled me out of the car.” She waved that away. She didn’t want to discuss the details of her fake date. “Are you going to feed me or do I have to go hunting?”

She quickly scanned the surrounding farmland. She’d be taking a big risk by shifting and stalking through the hills in such open countryside.

Daniel’s eyes had narrowed when she gazed back at him. She returned his stare, making it perfectly clear she’d follow through on her threat to go hunting.

He broke eye contact first. With a grunt, he motioned toward the front door. “Mary should have something in there to make a meal.”

She followed him to the house, taking it in for the first time. It was two stories, small but well-kept, painted a light color she couldn’t make out in the dark with a pitched roof. From the outside, the place looked cozy. Homey.

Again, she found herself wondering about this nurse and her relationship with Daniel. Damn the man for bringing her here. Anywhere else and she’d be able to focus on her real goal.

Opening the door, Daniel led her into a small mudroom just off a very large kitchen. The first thing Sarah noticed was how clean the place was—scrubbed and spotless. It still smelled faintly of pine oil and citrus.

“Your nurse is very neat,” she commented as she paced the length of the kitchen.

“Yes, she is. Comes with the territory.”

Sarah scowled when he didn’t correct the “your nurse” part of her comment. Under the clean scent, she caught a whiff of the human who lived here. A tang of soap, female musk and, strangely, pipe tobacco.

“She smokes a pipe?”

“Picked it up from her father, yes.”

“That’s
…unexpected in a nurse.”

“We all have vices.”

Sarah snorted and started digging through the cabinets. Cans of soup, vegetables, bags of beans, a couple tightly sealed canisters labeled “sugar” and “flour”, some sealed packages in silver wrap, unopened bags of crackers, and exactly three boxes of macaroni and cheese sealed in one large plastic bag.

Daniel reached around her and snatched two cans of beef stew. “This okay?”

“It’ll do.” She wasn’t sure how she would stomach food, but stew did sound surprisingly good.

She watched Daniel move around the kitchen as if he knew it well, and that nagging sense of jealousy poked at her again. Rather than give in to it, she settled at the large, wooden kitchen table and flipped through the mail someone had piled neatly in the middle. When she found a magazine on guns, she pulled it from the pile and started turning pages.

Once the soup was ready, Daniel set a steaming bowl before her. “Interested in guns now?”

“Maybe.”

“It won’t make any difference if you use a gun.” He settled across from her. “Guns can be traced. You’ll still call attention to yourself. There will be questions, investigations, and a serious chance of our secret being uncovered. The elders won’t stand for it.”

She tossed the magazine aside, purposefully avoiding his gaze. Damn it. If she could find a way to take her revenge without it calling attention to her people, she’d be able to live with herself and maybe still have a life. But, how?

“Eat,” he ordered, distracting her. “I can hear your stomach rumbling.”

She pulled the bowl close and spooned up the surprisingly tasty meal. “Little salty,” she commented just because she was annoyed.

His mouth turned up in a smile.

The look set her heartbeat to pumping a little faster. A curl of heat settled in her core. She dropped her attention to her soup, focusing on eating. He made it so hard to concentrate. Without doing anything but smiling at her, he captured her full attention. How could he do that when she was still so upset?

Yet, being with Daniel also made her feel…safe. A harbor to escape all the anger and grief. She didn’t want to let go of that anger, though. Not while Williams still lived. The internal conflict kept her silent as she ate.

She hit the bottom of the bowl before she realized it. “Was hungry,” she muttered, pushing the bowl away.

“There’s more.”

“No. Thanks.” For the first time in a week her stomach wasn’t churning with nausea the moment food hit it. She didn’t want to risk upsetting the balance.

She hadn’t slept much more than she’d eaten since Su-jin’s murder either, and the exhaustion weighed on her.

“What time is it?” She glanced around, but the microwave clock blinked a little blue twelve, and there was no sign of another clock in the large room.

“About eleven,” Daniel said. “You can sleep in the guest room. I’ll show you the way.”

“And you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He stared at her long enough that she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Finally, he said, “I’m finding it hard to believe you’ve given up on revenge this quickly.”

“I haven’t.”

“Then I won’t sleep.”

She cursed and stood to pace the kitchen. “You think I’m going to just leave without telling you?”

“Yes.”

The fact he didn’t even hesitate made it embarrassingly clear he knew her too well. “You can’t stay awake forever.”

“I can stay awake as long as it takes to talk you out of doing something stupid.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Daniel led her upstairs without any further comment. She followed, steaming, wanting to argue more. But after he showed her to the guest bedroom, he left. No “goodnight”. No “I’ll see you in the morning”. No “stop looking for revenge”.

Nothing.

Sarah blinked, not entirely sure what had just happened. She’d expected arguing. Even anger.
Something
.

Daniel never just backed off. Not when he had a point to make or an argument to win. They’d spent more than one night in heated debates, though those arguments typically devolved into another round of sex. This was a different type of disagreement, but still. Having him walk away like that was
…frustrating.

“What the hell, Daniel?” She called after him.

When it was obvious he wasn’t coming back, she gave the room a cursory glance. The pale yellow paint and light wooden floor made the small space bright and open. A double bed with a white wooden headboard had been placed beside a large window, covered with white filmy drapes. A single closet broke up one wall, and a small chest of drawers filled up another. And that was it. Simple, small, but clean and lovely.

She checked the window and confirmed it was locked, but from the inside. She could easily slip out once Daniel fell asleep. A two story drop was nothing to a tiger.

More guilt poked at her conscience, but she pushed it aside. Now that she was thinking more clearly, and Daniel had made the dangers vividly apparent, she knew she needed to get to Williams before Joseph. While she’d rather find a way to kill Williams without it calling attention to her people, she knew she didn’t have time to make a better plan. Joseph wouldn’t stop, and she didn’t want him to be executed. If she killed Williams herself, she would ensure no one else was punished and still get rid of that bastard murderer.

She glanced at the open door, listening intently for Daniel’s movements. All was quiet, so quiet she was only aware of his location because she could sense him. He was in the living room.

The guilt tightened in her stomach, uncomfortably churning her still digesting meal. Daniel had always had a solid moral compass. The trait made him an excellent Tracker and was something she admired in him. He wanted her to leave Williams to the humans—even though he understood her need for revenge. Was she wrong to still go after the murderer?

She shook off the doubt. She didn’t have time for it. Victor and Alexis would keep Joseph contained for a few days—maybe—but no more. Williams had to die soon, and she had to be the one to do it so Joseph wasn’t executed.

She crossed to the bathroom, another neat little room painted yellow. When she was finished using the facilities, she splashed cold water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She had circles under her eyes that looked like bruises, and her skin was pale and dry. She wasn’t sure how Williams hadn’t seen through her makeup. As she stared, she realized she looked…hollow, as if a part of her was missing. She certainly felt that way.

With an irritated grunt, she returned to the bedroom, made up the bed, slipped off her shoes, and laid down without taking her clothes off. She stared at the ceiling, her brain numb. She couldn’t even plot anymore. She just wanted to sink into sleep and forget about everything that was wrong in the world. She wanted to pick up a phone and call Su-jin so she could tell her about the argument with Daniel.

Knowing she’d never be able to do that again brought tears to her eyes.

Despite an hour of trying, sleep eluded her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Williams’ smug, crazy face, or the sweet, open face of her dear friend.

Thoughts of Su-jin led her to remember the autopsy was finished. That meant they’d be laying her friend to rest. Soon.

Sarah sat up, threw her legs over the edge of the bed, and stared into the dark. She had to know when.

“Will there be a funeral?” she asked when she reached the living room.

Daniel sat on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table, his hands behind his head, his eyes closed. He blinked them open in response to her question. She sat across from him in a big, stuffed chair, leaning forward with her arms resting on her knees, too restless to relax.

“They’re cremating her tomorrow,” he said quietly, “and her ashes will be buried at the elders’ compound.”

“Joseph won’t be there. They’ll wait for him.”

“Unless Victor and Alexis can talk him down, he’s in no shape for a funeral.” Daniel stared at her for a moment before asking, “Do you want to go?”

“I should be there.”

“But?”

She pressed her lips into a firm line. “I
…I don’t want to see…”

“It’s harder with cremation. Or I should say it’s easier to believe they’re not really gone.”

“Your father?” That was the only person she knew of that he’d lost.

He nodded. “When he died, I had a hard time coming to terms with him not being around anymore. Even after the funeral, I kept expecting him to call or surprise me with a visit, to give me a hard time about getting a mate and giving him grandchildren.” He smiled faintly. “I didn’t see him before the cremation because I was on assignment, so I found it very difficult accepting he was gone.”

“I’m sorry.” A band of empathy tightened around her chest. They’d never discussed his father’s death before. Daniel always grew distant when she mentioned him so she hadn’t wanted to bring up the topic. Now, it seemed important to know. “How did he die?”

“Aneurism. Sudden and unexpected.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again. Because there was nothing else she could say.

He titled his head in a slight shrug.

“Do you…Does it ever get better? Does the ache go away?” she asked.

“No.”

She waited for more, some platitude about time healing all wounds. None came. Oddly, Daniel’s simple response filled her with an unexpected peace. Or maybe it was that she could finally relax. She knew he didn’t expect her to get over Su-jin’s death quickly. He wasn’t tossing around bullshit and putting pressure on her to heal immediately like her parents had. He understood. His honesty did more for her grief than anything else had so far.

She pulled in a long, slow breath and leaned back in the chair.

“Do you want me to take you to the funeral?” he asked. “We’ll have to leave at dawn to get there in time.”

“We can’t show up at the elders’ compound together.”