“Feel better?” he asked.
“Yes. Let’s find our baby. Can you track her from here?” She nodded to a spot on the ice-covered river and said, “Looks like a cub print.”
Vlad looked closer. She was right. “I love that you’re a hunter, too.” He glanced at the Tracker. “You go ahead, but if you find her come get us. She’s scared and probably won’t come out to you.”
The tiger nodded its huge head and tore off into the trees, following the same scent drawing Vlad on.
“I’ve got her scent, but the snow makes it a little harder. Keep your eyes open for more signs of her trail.”
“She’s not used to hiding. She won’t have thought to cover her tracks.”
As they crossed the stream and headed up the opposite embankment, following the faint trail of cub imprints in the snow, Rose said, “Can you feel any other tigers? Besides the other Trackers?”
“Hard to tell because some of them are just at the edge of my ability to sense them, but I’m pretty sure the tigers left in the area are all Trackers. They’re heading in this direction now.”
They hunted through the underbrush, careful of their steps as they followed Zoe’s trail. She could move as fast as any shifter cub, but she was scared and alone. Vlad didn’t want to rush and miss signs that she’d doubled back or gone to ground to hide.
The other Trackers were in the area now. Vlad could sense them moving through the underbrush, careful and quiet so they wouldn’t spook Zoe. Her scent got stronger as the breeze shifted. Vlad changed direction to follow it.
“You know,” he said, “once she learns how to stalk and hide properly, she’ll be really hard to find. Since tigers can’t sense her, if she learns how to disguise her trail, she’ll be able to outsmart any who come looking for her.”
“Some comfort in that, I guess. If I call to her, will she hear me?”
“Probably. Her scent is getting stronger. She’s close.”
“Zoe,” Rose shouted. “It’s Mommy. Can you hear me? Come on back, baby. You’re safe now. The bad men are gone.”
In the distance, Vlad heard a rustling in the snow. He paused. “Keep calling. I think that’s her.”
“Zoe!”
One of the Trackers was closer to the location where Vlad had heard her. He waited, listening as the Tracker edged toward her. A moment later, the hiss and tiny roar of a tiger cub split the night, along with the growling whine of a hurt adult tiger.
Vlad tried not to laugh. “Hurry. This way. She’s attacking the Tracker. We’d better go rescue him.”
“That’s my girl,” Rose said as they took off at a trot toward to sounds of a scuffle.
When they found the source of the noise, Vlad released a breath and for the first time since Zoe had gone missing, he started to relax. The sight of his daughter in all her tiger cub glory hissing and swatting at an animal five times her size made him proud. The Tracker sat a few feet away, licking his front leg just above his paw. Little dots of blood colored the white and russet fur around his wound.
“Zoe,” Rose called as she set her rifle on the ground.
The cub spun to face her, paused, then launched through the air with such speed Vlad couldn’t react fast enough to catch her. To his amazement, though, Rose caught the white and orange blur securely and without being barreled over. He blinked. Damn, but her reflexes were quick for a human.
“Oof.” She chuckled and cuddled Zoe close. “Oh, baby, I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay? The bad men didn’t hurt you, did they?”
Zoe licked her face, then settled her head on her mom’s shoulder, hugging her as best she could in her tiger body.
Rose hugged her back. “I’m so sorry that happened, baby. Don’t worry. Mommy and Daddy are taking care of the bad people. We’ll make sure this never happens again. You’re safe now. You did very good, going tiger and biting the bad man. That was very brave of you.”
Vlad held perfectly still as Rose continued to coo reassurances to her daughter. She’d called him “Daddy” to Zoe. He was certain she’d done it by accident. And the slip would mean a lot of questions once Zoe returned to her human form. But the fact that Rose had referred to them as a family, as parents that would protect their daughter, made his heart pound hard.
He was so stunned and overwhelmed by the moment, he didn’t realize the Tracker had shifted back to human form until he spoke.
“Feisty daughter you’ve got there,” he said wryly. “She got me good.”
Vlad laughed and leaned over to pick up Rose’s abandoned rifle. “You okay?”
The man waved his previously wounded forearm. “All healed.” He glanced around as the other Trackers—six in total—joined them, coming from different directions. “It’s late and cold out here. We’ve gone too far from the cars to try and get you all back tonight. The Mate Run cabin is just a few minutes hike up that way.” He nodded behind him, a direction a little farther west. “Stay there tonight and we’ll head back out tomorrow morning.” He motioned to the six surrounding tigers. “We’ll sweep the area, make sure it’s clear, and then keep watch. You’ll be safe.”
“Thanks,” Vlad said. “Thanks for everything.”
The Tracker glanced at Zoe and grinned. “No problem at all.” He started to shift back to tiger as Vlad directed Rose and Zoe toward the cabin.
Rose carried Zoe the entire way, despite the fact that she was still in tiger form and weighed more as a cub than she did as a little girl.
Vlad didn’t argue with her. If Zoe got too heavy for her, he’d take over carrying her. He completely understood Rose not wanting to let her go. They’d come so close to losing her, the reality of that was only just starting to sink in. He hadn’t allowed himself time to even consider the worst-case scenario. But hearing Jameson admit they’d intended to leave Zoe in the wild to die… He saw red just thinking about it and panic made his gut clench, despite the fact she was safe.
When they reached the cabin, Vlad started a fire in the fireplace while Rose settled Zoe and waited for her to shift back to human. After she finished, Rose wrapped her up in the spare clothes they’d brought as well as a blanket from the huge bed which dominated the cabin’s single room. Once Zoe was warm, Rose pulled her close and hugged her, murmuring quietly into her hair, soft words of reassurance. Zoe snuggled against her without speaking, staring at the fire as the flames flickered higher.
“Are you warm enough now, sweetie?” Vlad asked.
Zoe nodded. Her little face was set in serious lines, and she didn’t look away from the fire.
Vlad frowned at Rose. She looked at him over Zoe’s head and shrugged. “You tired, baby? It’s been a scary night, huh?”
Zoe nodded again and buried her face against Rose’s shoulder. “I scared, Mommy.”
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. We’ve got you now. You’re safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I swear it. We won’t let any other bad men get to you.”
“Yes.” Zoe waved a little hand in Vlad’s direction. “Hug,” she ordered.
He couldn’t have resisted even if he’d wanted to. He dropped down onto the rug and wrapped his arms around them both, holding them tightly. His family. All the fear and worry of the last few hours drained away slowly and left him with a rush of overwhelming relief and love. He kissed Zoe’s head, then kissed Rose on the lips.
They stayed that way, watching the fire, until Zoe drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Seventeen
After they’d settled Zoe on the bed, Rose went back to the fire and sat on the thick rug. Vlad followed.
She stared at the flames for a moment. Then she started to cry. Not a loud, sobbing cry, just the quiet drip of tears down her cheeks and a few gasping breaths.
“Rose.” He pulled her into his arms.
She clung to him as her tears dampened his neck. For a long time, he just held her and let her cry, rubbing her back.
After a while, she took a stuttering breath. “Thanks, for this and for helping me tonight.”
He lifted her chin. “She’s my daughter, too, and I couldn’t have done anything else. I’ve never been so terrified, or angry, in my life.”
“It’s tough, isn’t it? The worry and fear. You love them so much, you know it’ll cost you your soul if you lose them.” She glanced at the bed and their sleeping daughter before facing him again.
“Worth it, though,” he said, brushing her hair back from her face. “Worth every minute.”
She stretched up and kissed him, a warm, comforting gesture that turned needy in an instant. All the anxiety and adrenaline of the night had left him both exhausted and desperate to assure himself those he loved were whole and well.
He hugged her closer, kissed her deeper, and poured all the love and relief he didn’t know how to put into words into his kiss.
They kissed, and held each other close, and murmured soft reassurances, and for a time, Vlad’s world was perfect.
“The Tracker called this the ‘Mate Run cabin,’” Rose said, settling her head on his shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“We keep this place for couples to use once a female has been caught during her Run. Some couples never bother with it—they like being outside. But it’s useful in the winter. And I’d guess a bed is a nice change of pace from the wilds of the forest.”
“When was it last used?”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. The sheets are changed out regularly. The last Run was a few weeks ago.”
“How do you know that?”
“We all know when Runs happen, which female is running, who she lets catch her. If she gets pregnant or not. Females are so rare, their every move is watched closely.”
“That’s a little creepy. Do any of them…I don’t know, rebel against all that hovering and attention?”
He hadn’t really considered it from that perspective before. There were so very few females left, it seemed normal for them to be monitored. Since he’d grown up under the scrutiny of his own father, and later played cat-and-mouse games of spying on his brothers while they spied on him, he’d never actually considered there might be another way to live than under a microscope.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve never talked with a tigress about the pressure they’re under and the constant attention they receive.”
“It’d drive me crazy.”
“You’re going to have to deal with it from now on, you know?”
“Because of Zoe or because they’ll be watching me?”
“Both. Despite…what happened at the meeting, what I said, some tigers will still consider you available and try to court you. The entire community knows about you and Zoe by now, and the fact that you can have a baby with a tiger male is enough to make you a kind of celebrity, I guess.”
“I’m not
available
,” she grumbled.
He stopped breathing for just a moment, afraid to believe she was admitting what he hoped she was admitting. When she didn’t say more, he said, “You called me ‘Daddy’ to Zoe tonight. Did you realize you did that?”
She winced. “Caught that, huh? I’m hoping she didn’t notice. I’d still prefer to tell her in a calm moment when she can understand.”
“But you do want her to know I’m her father?”
“Of course.” She shrugged. “Okay, I wasn’t sure at first, right after you came back. Not if you were just going to leave again. I didn’t want her to be hurt.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Rose. I’m here to stay. In whatever way you’ll have me.”
“And I’m starting to believe you, which is probably why I slipped up tonight. I guess my subconscious was already settled on telling her before my conscious mind acknowledged it.”
“What will you…?” He paused, not sure how to phrase it. “Where will you tell her I’ve been? What reason will you give for not telling her about me earlier?”
She stared at his shirt, patting the flannel with one hand as if smoothing out a wrinkle that wasn’t there. “I’ve been considering that. I think we tell her as much of the truth as she’ll understand. When she’s old enough, we can tell her the whole story. But I don’t want to lie to her now just to make things easy. Especially after…”
She waved her hand toward the door, but he knew she meant the kidnapping.
“I want to be as honest with her as possible,” she finished.
“What will you say?”
“I’ll tell her you had to go away before she was born, and you came back when you realized we needed you. I’m not sure she’ll understand much more than that now.”
“She’ll ask why I left.”
“Probably. I don’t know how to answer that one without fibbing.”
“Would she understand if I told her I had to go off to school?”
“How is that not a lie?”
“Technically, I had to learn some lessons before I could be with you two. It’s not a complete lie.”
She frowned. “Semantics.” She shrugged. “But probably a technicality we could get away with for the time being.” She continued to stare at his chest, a crease between her brows.
He lifted her chin and made her look him in the eyes. “When she learns the full story, she’ll understand. And I’ll be there, Rose. I promise.”
“I believe you. Because you were with me tonight.”
She kissed him again, soft and full of emotions he was afraid to name.
When they pulled apart again, he cupped her cheek. “Are you hungry? Or ready to sleep? You take the bed with Zoe. I’ll stretch out here.”
“On the floor? That’s not going to be very comfortable.”
“I’ll shift. Sleeping on the ground in tiger form is comfortable enough.”
“What happens tomorrow? An elder tried to kill our baby. What do we do now?”
“Go back and make sure he’s punished.”
“We killed the one man who could actually verify Lei was responsible for all this. Will that make things more difficult?”
“The Tracker who was with us heard Jameson confess. Killing a female tiger is considered a heinous crime among my people. They’ll want blood for that.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Will we have to prove Lei was involved? He can lie, make something up to explain his scent in the area, the reason it was his associate involved?”
He wanted to tell her Lei wouldn’t be able to lie in front of other tigers because they’d smell it, but he knew that wasn’t true. And so did she. Instead, he said, “Zoe might have witnessed something that will help.”
“She’s three. And she’s in shock. She’s not going to make a good witness. I don’t want to put her through an interrogation anyway. She’s been through enough.”