Authors: Milly Taiden
TEN
It was a garden by the river. She couldn’t take her gaze off it. The patch of grass he’d chosen was surrounded by wild flowers and a stream that veered off the river. Her breath caught at the beauty of the spot. She figured she had the world’s stupidest grin on her face and she couldn’t make it go away.
“I like to come here when I’m stressed or need to be alone,” he said softly.
She squeezed his hand in hers. He was sharing his favorite spot. This was big in the way of communication. She flung her arms around his waist and smiled. “You got some brownie points. This place is gorgeous.”
His laughter warmed her heart. “I never know what’s going to come out of your mouth.”
She winked at him and pouted. “How about we go back to the cabin and...”
He hugged her tight. “And?”
“Get some food, I’m starving.”
He dropped a kiss on the top of head and sighed. “You see what I mean?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now let’s go eat.” She tugged him back to the cabin. “Next time we’ll bring a picnic and I can watch you laze around in your tiger body.”
The image of pancakes and coffee made her jerk at his hand harder. “Come on you big lazy tiger. Move your ass.”
She pulled him all the way to the cabin. When they neared the back door she rushed inside ready to scavenge for food. Gray was a few steps behind her.
“Hurry up!” She removed a pin from her hair. The damn things just wouldn’t hold back the crazy mass of curls. She still had it in her hand when all hell broke loose.
Gray entered the kitchen and the smile he’d had since she’d woken up that morning dropped from his face. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but was left speechless. He broke out of his skin and clothes in a change so fast she would have missed it had she blinked. In a heartbeat, she had a massive tiger in front of her. He roared loud. So loud her heart felt like it stopped in her chest.
Buzz
Something broke through the air and hit Gray. He reared back, standing on his hind legs to cover her. Another zip and something else hit him.
She glanced around but saw no one. Then, when Gray roared again, a third buzz sounded. Everything happened so fast. Within the space of thirty seconds, she’d been left standing there, watching Gray roar and slam to the floor.
She dropped down to her knees, wondering what the hell she could do. The two guys she’d seen before, Eli and Lucas, appeared after a second. Lucas had a dart gun pointed at Gray and Eli had a real gun pointed at her.
“Don’t try anything and we won’t have to kill you... right now.”
She swallowed back the vile that hit her throat. Poor Gray. She needed to help him. She nodded and curled her shoulders into her chest to appear weak and scared.
“Let’s take them to the other room and chain him up,” Lucas said.
“What about her?” Eli asked.
Lucas threw her a hate filled glare. “She’s human. She couldn’t break through anything. Pathetic weaklings.”
She ignored his evil words and instead slipped her hairpin into the back pocket of her capri pants.
“I have handcuffs.” Eli grinned. “I’ve been carrying them around to see if I can get my mate interested in trying but she keeps laughing in my face.”
“That’s because you’re a fucking idiot,” Lucas growled. “Bring one of the kitchen chairs to the living room and cuff her to it. I’ll get the chain for Gray.”
“Then what?” Eli asked.
“I don’t fucking know. Is not like we started out with a plan.”
Eli winced. “If we kill Gray, you can challenge for prime leader.”
Lucas nodded. “I know, but there are others stronger than me that will want to take over.”
Eli motioned for her to walk ahead of him while he pointed the gun with one hand and carried a chair with the other. In the living room, he put the chair by the fireplace.
“Sit!”
She sat down and kept her arms behind her, hoping he wouldn’t make it harder for her and put them over the chair. Eli was too preoccupied watching Lucas drag a massive passed out Gray into the living room to pay her much attention. He cuffed her hand to one of the wooden bars on the chair.
“Fucking hell,” Lucas groaned. “Why did I shoot him when he was shifted? I tried to hit him the moment he entered but he was too fast.”
Gray must have realized right away they were in the cabin and shifted before Lucas shot the first dart.
Eli turned to glance at her. “You stay right there, little human. Don’t make me kill you right now.”
“Get the chain,” Lucas ordered.
Lucas continued to struggle to drag the giant tiger into the living room while Eli was gone.
“Why are you doing this?” The question slipped out before she had a chance to stop it.
Lucas huffed and stopped, dropping the tiger’s head on the floor with a loud thump. “Why?”
She nodded and stared at him, her free hand reaching into her back pocket to make sure she hadn’t lost the pin. Awesome, it was still there.
“This is the only way we can have a shot at prime leader. With Gray out of the way things will be easier.”
She frowned and bit back the urge to call him a coward.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “Why kill Gray? Because he’s a danger. He’s too strong to be stopped.” He pointed at the tiger. “Look at him. He’s only dozing on a dosage of a tranquilizer that should have killed him. Is he dead? No.” He kicked the tiger with enough force that she had to clench her teeth to stop from saying something that would get her into more trouble.
“You said there are others that can challenge for prime leader once Gray is out of the way.”
Lucas bent down and grabbed clumps of the tiger’s fur and pulled him again. He dragged Gray until he reached her side. Then he let go of the tiger and leaned on another chair.
“There are others. We might have to get rid of them until I’m the most likely to win in a challenge for prime leader.”
What a fucking loser. There were obviously pathetic excuses for men in the shifter world too.
Eli returned, dragging a massive chain. They twined it around the tiger along with a thinner chain to keep him bound in case he tried to shift. The chain appeared to be really tight around his neck and middle.
Lucas turned to Eli. “I’m going to go get something to try and get rid of him. Those darts knocked him out but he’s still alive. I need something stronger.”
Eli nodded. “I’ll watch him.”
Lucas rushed toward the kitchen, leaving her alone with Eli.
Eli sat on the sofa and started channel surfing. “There’s never anything to watch.”
“Have you tried watching reality shows?” she mumbled, reaching into her pocket to pull the pin out.
“What are those?” Eli said, flicking through the TV stations.
“Oh, they’re great. If you check out the DVR I have some you might like recorded on there.” Having dealt with the idiots she’d had relationships with, she knew not to underestimate a man and make him feel stupid. “Try Jerry,” she suggested.
A few seconds later an episode of multiple strippers fighting for one man came on the screen and Eli was absorbed in the women dancing on the pole to show why they were better than the other girl.
“Thanks. For a human you’re not so bad,” Eli said, glancing at her and away from the TV for a second. “We still have to kill you, you understand.”
She gave him a humorless smile. “Of course.”
Gray huffed and shook against the chain. She had to hurry or he’d wake fully and make it harder for her to open his locks.
Eli was once again engrossed in the show and she was just gotten her cuff off without making a sound. She was lucky Eli’s back was turned mostly away from her. It allowed her to check on him every few seconds while she leaned down and tried to open Gray’s lock.
She watched Eli and jiggled the pin into the first lock holding the chain around Gray. The chain rattled. She held her breath and glanced up. Eli shifted positions in his seat but leaned forward to continue watching the women showing their boobs. She hurried to the second lock and was glad it was of the same type as the first. Easy peasy.
Lock number two was undone. Now to do the last one. Thankfully, they hadn’t used anything too difficult. Once she was done unlocking them, she removed the locks and put them under the cushion of the chair next to hers.
The dart gun was on the sofa next to Eli and she couldn’t reach it without getting caught. She sat up on her seat. Gray needed to wake up soon or they’d be out of time.
She removed her shoe and rubbed the big tiger with her foot. “Wake up, Gray.”
“He can’t hear ya,” Eli said. “He’s out like a light. Those were some powerful tranqs.”
She swallowed hard and shoved the tiger harder with her foot, making the chain rattle.
His tail moved. Thank God! She wiggled her foot between the chains and pushed him again.
“I’m back!” Lucas yelled from the kitchen entrance.
She couldn’t wait any longer. Lucas put something down on the kitchen table and started walking toward them.
She prayed Gray would wake up with what she was about to do because if not they were both dead. Her heart hammered so hard she thought she might pass out and throw up.
With a hard wiggle, she made her chair fall sideways, on top of the tiger. She kicked him hard on his side and whispered by his ear, “Wake up! I need you.”
“Hey!” Eli yelled, coming toward her after she fell. “I told you, you won’t be getting out of those cuffs.”
Lucas rushed forward. He picked both her and the chair up. “Do that again, and I’ll shoot you myself. I have no problems killing you. Do you understand?”
That’s what did it. A loud roar broke through the living room. Chains rattled and the massive tiger next to her jumped to his feet. It was like he’d never been out. He didn’t waste any time. He grabbed the closest one, Lucas, and bit into his leg.
“Ahhhh!” Lucas screamed and pushed the giant tiger off him to no avail.
“Hang on, Lucas,” Eli yelled and tried to head for the sofa where the dart gun was located. It was her turn to do something. Instinct drove her actions. She grabbed a poker from the fireplace on the other side of her chair and hit Eli over the back of his head before he got a chance to reach the dart gun.
He turned around with a growl, his eyes glowing gold.
Fuck. Shit. Fuck.
He was going to shift. She couldn’t even think about what the hell was going on with Gray and Lucas when this one looked ready to kill her.
She hit him with the poker again. He started bleeding profusely. Another hit and she got him in the neck. He tried to shift. His muscles contorted but she hit him again. And again. Blood sprayed over her. The neck area appeared to be his most vulnerable. She went for it again and again. Not thinking, just doing. Her stomach revolted at the sight of so much blood. Especially since a lot of it was on her.
Gray and Lucas were fighting behind her. She could hear the sound of roars and furniture breaking. Her arms ached and she wanted to drop the poker but as long as Eli kept moving, she kept slamming it down on him.
She hit him one final time and he stopped moving. There was a massive gaping wound on his neck from when the poker stuck through the flesh and pulled back. She didn’t stare at it for long but turned to Gray and Lucas.
Gray had Lucas on the floor. He was digging into his chest with his paws. There was blood everywhere. On the tiger. It was clear Lucas was dead but the tiger didn’t stop chewing on his arm or pawing at his neck and chest.
She winced and reigned in the urge to vomit. “Gray?”
The tiger stopped. He dropped the arm he’d been chewing on and moved closer to her. She dropped down on a sofa chair and watched him. His golden eyes were those of a predator. Yet she wasn’t afraid. Gray was in there. She only hoped he knew how to control the animal. That he knew it was her sitting there in front of him.
She held out a shaking hand, palm up and open. The tiger sniffed at her hand and pushed his massive head into it. She slid her fingers into the thick furry coat and sighed. What the hell had she gotten herself into? Love.
The tiger glanced at her and sat down by her feet. He leaned forward, putting his head on her lap. She stroked his blood splattered fur and hoped that love was worth this amount of strange.
Gray shifted to his human body a few minutes later. He didn’t speak and neither did she. He called his guards to come clean up his house. A short time later the cabin was surrounded, but only Tynder and Stripes came inside.
“We’re not really shocked they showed up to attack you, Gray,” Stripes said, dragging what was left of Lucas through the kitchen exit.
“There had been a rumor about getting rid of you, but they had mentioned waiting for Alyssa to be gone,” Tynder added.
Great. She’d been the only reason they hadn’t tried to kill Gray sooner.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyone else who wants to challenge is welcome to do so. But in order to get the pride they’ll have to follow our rules.”