Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (17 page)

“He’ll tell you about evidence in an active investigation?” Daniel spoke highly of his contact, Pete, when he’d told her about the man while they were driving back to Philly. A man that dedicated to his job didn’t sound like the kind of person who would break rules, even for a friend.

“He knows I’ll keep it to myself,” Daniel said. “And he kind of owes me a favor.”

“What for?”

Daniel frowned a little. “I kept him from getting run over by the car of a fleeing murder suspect. Long story. Anyway, he won’t tell me anything that might compromise the case. But we can discuss hypothetical tests that could be run to check for anything they might find in her files without hurting anything.”

“Daniel, does he know
…does he know you’re different?”

“He thinks I’m a bounty hunter. All my human contacts in the various law enforcement agencies think the same thing. It’s a good cover and explains a lot.” He shrugged. “Essentially, it’s not far from the truth.”

As they ate, she considered his job. She’d never worried about him before, never stopped to consider how his work might affect their lives. Now that they were having a baby, she realized his job put him in a lot of danger.

“I really hate to bring this up,” she said, not even sure how to broach the subject.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just
…I fell in love with you knowing exactly what you do and who you are. But with the baby coming, I’m worried about you getting killed, and I don’t know what to do about that.” She held up a hand when he opened his mouth. “I’m not asking you to change jobs or anything like that. And I know you’re good at what you do, so I trust you not to get yourself killed, but…stuff happens.” She squeezed her face up in an embarrassed scowl. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Ignore me. I must be getting hit with hormones already.”

He reached across the table and took her hand, squeezing lightly. “It’s perfectly valid for you to worry. Even more so after what happened to Su-jin. I do have a dangerous job and things do happen. You’re marrying a man who hunts other tigers for a living. I won’t dismiss your worry, but I am good at what I do. I’ve been trained by the best. I’m not easy to kill.”

“I know.” She nodded fast and pulled in a shaky breath. “I know. I’ll adapt. I promise.”

He kissed her knuckles just as the doorbell rang, interrupting what she wanted to say next. Just as well, because she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say next.

“I’ll get it,” she said. “Finish your meal. What does Pete look like?”

“Tallish, mid-forties, dark blond hair. Reminds me of a young Colombo.”

“Who?”

“TV detective?”

She shook her head. “Never heard of him.”

“Oh, you have missed out on some excellent classic television, my love. But don’t worry. I’ll introduce you.”

“If you say so.” She chuckled as she went to the front door and looked out the peephole. A dark blond haired man stood with his back to her door. She sucked in a deep breath to pull in his scent as she opened the lock and realized a second too late the smell of the man outside was much too familiar.

For an instant, shock kept her from reacting. Williams spun and kicked in the door. She leapt away, avoiding the swinging door easier than any human would have, but her momentary shock had let a crazy man gain access to her home.

She didn’t know how he’d found her, but her hackles rose, and a low growl rumbled in her throat. Rather than the fear she knew he expected, her anger surged back. This man had killed her best friend and shot her future husband. He’d made a serious mistake coming here.

He didn’t seem to recognize his mistake, though because he smirked at her. “You think you could fool me with a fake last name?” he said, smug and confident. “I recognized you from the bar, you little bitch. I know you’re that other bitch’s friend.”

Daniel launched out of the kitchen and landed in front of Sarah before she could attack. Whether he was protecting her or keeping her from ripping out Williams’ throat, she wasn’t sure.

She couldn’t shift now that she was pregnant—she’d lose the baby if she did—but she was still stronger and faster than a mere human man, and his gloating, arrogant, insane face made her see red. Instinct to keep her baby far away from him was the only thing keeping her from pushing Daniel aside.

“Figures you’d be here,” Williams said to Daniel.

He hadn’t seemed to notice that Daniel moved faster than he should have been able to, or if he did, he didn’t find it surprising.

That couldn’t be good.

“You two are responsible for all this, aren’t you?”

“For what?” Daniel asked, his voice deep and quiet.

“The cops. That body. That was you in the woods. Who did I shoot?” He narrowed his gaze. “You.” He nodded at Daniel. “You keep jumping in front of her.” He ran his gaze over Daniel’s body. “Damn. Guess I didn’t hit anything vital. Too bad.”

“Since I’m not sporting any bullet holes,” Daniel said, “you’d have a pretty hard time implicating me, or Sarah, in anything. Not to mention trying to explain why you think we might have been there in the first place. Or why you shot me.”

Williams narrowed his eyes and stalked closer. “I know you know. But you can’t stop me. My father will take care of this little
…hiccup. Then you’re both dead.”

“What, too scared to try killing us without drugging us first?” Sarah shot, too angry and disgusted to hold her tongue. She sucked in another breath to say more and caught a faint whiff of that strange medicinal smell from the chemist’s body. For the first time since Williams barged in, she hesitated. He actually had brought that drug into her home. Shit.

“Know about that, huh?” he asked. “How?” He sounded genuinely curious, as if it was a particularly interesting puzzle but nothing dangerous to him. “Seems I’ve made a few mistakes. But don’t worry. I’m learning. I’m getting much, much better.”

Sarah’s stomach rolled as what he said sank in. “Have there been more?”

He grinned without actually admitting anything. It made her want to throw up.

“What are you doing here?” Daniel demanded.

Williams’ gaze jumped to Sarah. “Well, I had hoped to find you alone. We never did finish our date.”

Sarah lunged forward. The drug wasn’t in his hands. She could kill him before he got anywhere near it. But Daniel stopped her, blocking her with his entire body.

“Such fire,” Williams said. “Your little friend was fierce like that. She took a lot. A lot. And I can’t help but think you’d be just as exciting. Something about you…”

Sarah’s tiger roared. The sound that ripped from her throat was both anguish and rage and not quite human.

Williams just laughed. “Yes, something very interesting there. A mystery. I love mysteries. I can’t wait to spend more time with you.” His gaze jumped to Daniel. “You’ll never be safe, you know. I’ll be back for her. And you won’t be able to stop me.”

“Wouldn’t count on that.” Daniel’s voice had gone almost inhuman sounding now, too.

Sarah glanced at him and realized he was only barely in control of his own rage. But if he killed the human…She gripped his arms and very quietly said, “Don’t, Daniel.”

His big body trembled, his muscles tensed, but he didn’t move any closer to Williams.

“You two think you’re so smart.” Williams snarled and stalked closer. “You can’t stop me. And I have plenty of time for you.”

Sarah couldn’t believe he was crazy enough to attack without a weapon. Right up until the instant he lunged at Daniel, fists swinging. Daniel must have been surprised by the ridiculous move, too, because he just stood there and took a punch to the face. The blow knocked his head to one side and might have thrown a human man sideways.

Daniel was no human.

He looked back at Williams, and before the man could throw another punch, Daniel backhanded him, sending him flying across the room to slam into a wall. Williams hit so hard, the drywall behind him cracked. He slid to the floor like a rag doll, eyes closed, then didn’t move.

“Shit,” Sarah said, starting forward. “Oh Daniel, you didn’t kill him, did you?”

“No, Sarah, wait!”

But panic for what would happen to Daniel sent her rushing to Williams’ side to check his pulse. As she leaned over him, he opened his eyes and grabbed her arm, a sick smile spreading over his face.

He jerked her in front of him and looked around her at Daniel, who was moving toward them. “Ah-ah,” Williams said. “Back off or I break her neck.”

Sarah stared at Daniel. His anger was a living thing in the room, his frustration evident in the flexing muscles of his jaw. She was more irritated than scared. But knowing Williams had that drug somewhere on him kept her from acting rashly again. She kept her gaze on Daniel and her senses on Williams, waiting for an opening.

Williams used the wall at his back to rise while still keeping her in front of him like a shield. Stupid, stupid man, she thought. She almost laughed when she realized he probably thought she was the stupid one. Little did he know. Without that drug, he was the one in trouble. She didn’t care how crazy he was or what heightened skills his psychosis gave him, he’d messed with the wrong tigress.

“Catch a tiger by the toe,” she murmured.

“What?” he snapped, his breath hot and wet against her cheek.

“I’m about to holler, and you’d better let me go,” she said.

He laughed. “Now now, little one. We’re going to walk out of here, and you’re going to accompany me to the airport. Call the cops,” he said to Daniel, “and you won’t even recognize her body when I dump it.”

Williams edged toward the door. He held her with one hand on her arm and stroked his fingers down her cheek with his other hand.

Daniel tracked them as they moved, but he didn’t get closer. She held his gaze, letting him see she wasn’t scared. Williams hadn’t pulled out any syringes yet. She might not be able to turn tiger, but she still was one, and her anger was matched only by the fierce protectiveness she felt for her growing baby. This man would not threaten their lives. If she had to break every bone in his body—without killing him—she would.

“You,” Williams said against her temple as he backed toward the gaping door, “are going to be a good little girl all the way to my car. You’re going to walk out of here nice and quiet. If you struggle, if you resist, by the time I’m done with him, your hero there will beg me to kill him.”

Actually, Sarah thought, breaking every bone in Williams’ body sounded like a wonderful option.

She reached across her body and grabbed the fingers holding her arm. Then she squeezed, with all her strength. Williams cried out as she heard his bones crunch.

He punched her in the side of the head, hard enough, she dropped her grip on his fingers. Daniel shouted her name. Williams moved to punch her again, but she ducked under the blow, spun to face him, grabbed his uninjured fist and squeezed again until more bones cracked. He screamed and lunged forward, forcing her to stumble back or fall on her ass.

She regained her footing just as he swung his free arm toward her. Daniel stopped that blow and wrenched Williams’ arm around. More bones shattered.

And then a new, calm voice from the doorway froze them all in place. “Well, well. What do we have here?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sarah dropped the hand she was still crushing and stepped back from Williams, facing the new potential threat, ready to attack. The person in the door was tallish, with dark blond hair and a generally rumpled appearance, despite the fact that he wore a suit. Detective Peter Kelly, she thought, and relaxed her stance.

He had a hand on the butt of his gun, but hadn’t pulled it from his shoulder holster. Yet.

“Mr. Williams,” he said. “Interesting finding you here of all places.”

“These two attacked me,” Williams screeched. “I’m pressing charges. They were going to kill me!”

“Now,” Pete said, without taking his hand from his gun, “seems to me, you’re in Dr. Chu’s apartment. And I did just hear you threaten to kill Mr. Borowski if Dr. Chu didn’t cooperate with you taking her
from
her apartment. That speaks strongly in favor of them defending themselves. Doesn’t it, Dan?”

“Oh, definitely,” Daniel said. “Self-defense all the way.” In Williams’ ear, Daniel said, “You’re not the only one with connections.” To Pete, he said more loudly, “Think we might have broken some bones here, Pete. Better call an ambulance.”

“On it. Should get here right along side my backup.” He pulled a cell phone from his pants’ pocket, flipped it open and hit a button all without taking his eyes off the situation. He did, however, take his hand off his gun.

“I don’t know what you think you heard,” Williams said to Pete, noticeably trembling, sweat dripping down his cheeks. “But you’ve got it wrong. They broke my arm, my hands! For no reason! You have to arrest them.”

“Not how it works, Mr. Williams,” Pete said. He flipped his phone closed. “But I do have some questions for the lot of you. Perhaps we better put you on opposite sides of the room until the ambulance arrives.”

“You can’t just let them go! My father will have your badge.”