Here There Be Tigers (10 page)

“
Max, I can protect myself and help
you both protect Nila. She can’t shift either.” Irina paused and
faced Nila, her eyes wide. “You can’t, can you? I mean, seeing Vlad
shift…”

“
I never even knew there was such a
thing as real shapeshifters until that guy tried to kidnap me. And
I didn’t fully believe Mitch until I saw it with my own eyes
yesterday. No. I can’t change into anything but new
clothes.”

Irina grinned. She faced Max again. “See? I can
help even in human form. In fact, it might be better that I can’t
shift. I’ll be able to protect her while you two hunt.”

Mitch raised a hand before Max spoke again. “I
am not here to put you two in danger. Especially not you, Irina.
Don’t argue. You know how we all feel about this. There’s no way
I’ll allow you to risk that precious new life. We’re not staying. I
was just hoping you’d be able to point us toward a hiding place.
Somewhere isolated. And not in either of your names. I need to use
cash, so cheap is good, too.”

“
Do you have enough cash? We’ll give
you what we have here.” Irina rose and hurried down the
hall.

Nila noticed Mitch didn’t argue and wondered
how tight their budget was. She couldn’t even help, despite the
fact that she had plenty of money sitting in her bank account,
because she didn’t have so much as a driver’s license on her
anymore. She made a mental note to pay Mitch back everything he had
to spend keeping her alive. That was, if she managed to stay
alive.

“
Petrov will be able to find mine
and Irina’s retreats,” Max said. “Irina’s in particular. Every male
on the east coast knows her territory.”

Irina came back out at that moment and said to
Nila, “My territory is where I go when I need to…be my other self
and can have privacy from the males. They aren’t allowed there
without my permission. Which means every single one of them knows
exactly where my cabin is located. All female territories are
common knowledge.”

“
All
territories? That must
be a lot. Do you mean here in the US? How many are there?” Nila
knew females were rare, but knowing
all
the female
territories in an entire country were well known started to put the
limited numbers into perspective.

“
All female territories around the
world are known,” Irina clarified.

Nila felt her mouth drop open and had to
consciously close it. “That can’t be good. How many females are
left?”

“
Worldwide, exactly five hundred and
sixty-seven—including young, mated, and old.”

“
In the entire world? How many here
in the US?”

“
A hundred and forty-seven in total.
Of those in the US, ninety-one are unmated.”

“
And how many males?”

“
Around three thousand in the US.
Very roughly fifty-five hundred to sixty-five hundred worldwide.
But male numbers aren’t monitored as precisely.”

“
Holy shit.”

“
Exactly,” Mitch said with feeling.
“You see the problem.”

Nila let out an audible breath. “Yeah. Not even
six hundred females to six
thousand
males worldwide? That
really isn’t good. Is this creating a genetic
bottleneck?”

Even if they managed to keep making babies,
limited genetic diversity could make extinction unavoidable. Real
tigers were facing a similar problem—though their decreases in
numbers were the result of poaching and habitat loss. And real
tigers were down to just over three thousand in total. But given
the low numbers of tiger shifter females, the shifters might
actually be closer to extinction.

“
Our scientists think we’re okay for
the moment.” Max answered her question. “But…well, there’s
debate.”

Nila’s stomach hollowed out. This species she’d
only just found out about were struggling against extinction, and
according to Mitch, she might be their salvation—or at least a new
hope for alternative ways to breed—
if
she was able to have
kids with a tiger shifter.

The possibility was so mind blowing, so
overwhelming she couldn’t even comprehend it. She was an ordinary
woman—or had thought she was just two days ago. How the hell did
this happen?

Mitch leaned closer and put a hand on her
shoulder. “We need to get on the road again soon. I don’t want to
stay too long and risk Petrov coming here. Thanks for your
help.”

“
Where will you go?” Irina said as
she handed Mitch a handful of bills.

“
How about John’s place?” Max
said.

“
John’s place.” Irina drew out the
words as if she should have thought of that answer
sooner.

Max faced Mitch. “I have a human friend who has
a hunting cabin at the edge of Green Ridge State Forest. He travels
a lot so I keep an eye on the place when he’s gone. We have spare
keys. You can stay there.”

“
He won’t mind? I’m assuming he’s
away now?” Mitch said.

“
He’s out of the country and not due
back for another two months,” Max said. “The place is pretty basic,
but there’s an indoor bathroom, a bed in the bedroom, and a couch
in the living room. Enough room for the two of you. He’s also got a
couple of hunting rifles stored there. Might come in
handy.”

Nila blew out a breath. She hated guns, but
given the circumstances, having a weapon like that seemed
prudent.

“
I’ll give you the key to the gun
cabinet,” Max continued. “You can stay there the full two months if
you need to.”

“
Perfect. That’ll give us time to
find somewhere to go after.”

“
Wait.” Nila held up a hand. “You
don’t think we’ll be on the run for two
months
do you?” She
turned in her seat to look up at Mitch. “I’m supposed to be in
Texas in a week.”

“
Why?”

“
One of the zoos has a female
leopard due to give birth soon. She’s had trouble in the past—lost
a few cubs—so the resident vet has asked me for help.” She leaned
forward in her seat, a move that dislodged Mitch’s hand from her
shoulder. “I’ve made a commitment. I have to be there.”

“
A week?” Mitch frowned. “Nila,
Petrov is smart and has a lot of resources. And he’s avoided the
Trackers this long. We could be on the run for months.”

“
No. I have too many people
depending on me. I have a life and an important job. At least to me
and the animals I help. I can’t just disappear for months. What
about my grandma and dad? They can’t stay in hiding indefinitely
either. No. If this goes on for more than a week, Petrov and I will
just have to meet and settle this.”

“
Christ, Nila, he wants to kill you.
Do you not understand that? He’s not going to bother talking to you
to settle anything. He sees you, he catches you, he kills
you.”

She felt the tension radiating from Mitch even
though they were no longer touching. Irina stepped closer, worry
making a crease between her brows. Max remained where he was
standing near their fireplace, but he studied her
thoughtfully.

“
I am not staying in hiding for
months, Mitch. One way or another, this thing needs to be settled
before I’m due in Texas.”

“
What good will you do anyone if
you’re dead?” Mitch hissed and paced away from her. “This other vet
will just have to do without you.”

“
And what about the others who are
expecting me at some point? I have work to do.”

He whipped around and faced her, his eyes
glittering with heat and emotion. “It will have to wait, damn it.
We’re talking about your life.”

Mitch’s words hung in the air, followed by a
ringing silence. She held his gaze, despite the difficulty of
staring down all his righteous anger. She didn’t want to be stupid
with her life. She definitely didn’t want to die. But these people
had to understand she was also not prepared to hide in some
isolated cabin for the rest of her life just to survive. She would
run for now because it gave her time to learn more about her
situation. But if this stretched on too long, she was fully
prepared to turn and fight to finish things.

As she stared at Mitch, an image of Vlad
shifting from tiger to human flashed through her mind. She forced
back a shudder, but her resolve wavered. She’d faced down many big
cats before. But these weren’t just any animals. These were
something mythical, something that shouldn’t even be real. She
realized with a growing dread that she didn’t know
how
to
fight a tiger shifter. Did you need special weapons to kill one?
Like a werewolf?
Could
they be killed?

She hated this, hated not knowing, hated even
more the knowledge she did have because every little bit she
learned made her want to shut down. She wanted this to end, to be a
nightmare she’d wake up from, a coma induced hallucination she’d
eventually come out of. Anything would be better than
this.

She finally broke eye contact with Mitch, not
wanting him to see her uncertainty. She realized with no little
surprise he was the one thing about this mess she actually hoped
was real.

But if he was real, then the rest was,
too.

Where the hell did that leave her?

CHAPTER TEN

They didn’t speak again until they’d left Irina
and Max’s home, keys in hand to their friend’s cabin. Mitch wasn’t
even sure how to start. He was so angry she might take any chances
with her life that he could barely see straight. Yet the sane,
rational part of his brain recognized that on some level she was
right. If he were in her position, he wouldn’t want to go into
hiding forever when he had a life to live. He’d turn and fight,
too.

But he was one of thousands. She was rare.
Special. And the thought of Petrov getting anywhere near her made
him insane.

He clenched the steering wheel and took long,
slow breaths until he had his temper under control.

She’d never listen to his reasoning if he
shouted or bellowed orders. Her grandmother had made that very
clear. Nila was stubborn and strong minded. She was not the kind of
woman he’d be able to intimidate or bully into doing what he wanted
her to do. A fact he’d concluded for himself over the last two
days.

So far, she’d held up under the strain. She was
cooperating and allowing him to help her. For the moment. But he
had to convince her to let him continue helping her until the
Trackers found Petrov and his people. He just wasn’t exactly sure
how he was going to do that.

“
You can’t fight Petrov,” he
blurted. Then grimaced. Not exactly a diplomatic opening. But once
he’d started he couldn’t stop. “You don’t know what you’re facing.
He’s stronger, faster, more vicious, and that’s in human
form.”

“
I know,” she murmured.

He opened his mouth to continue his rant then
realized what she’d said. “What?”

“
I said I know.” Turning in her seat
a little to face him, she said, “I know I can’t fight him one on
one. He’s…nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I don’t even know
how to fight him. Can he be hurt? Are tiger shifters…I don’t know,
it sounds silly to even ask, but are they immortal, or do you need
silver bullets or…? Would a gun work? I hate the things, but…
Anyway, I know I don’t know enough or have the skills to go head to
head with him.”

Mitch took a deep breath and let his shoulders
relax.

“
Yet.”

That single word tightened his muscles
again.

“
Mitch, I can’t hide forever.
Neither can my father and grandmother. They won’t have the funds,
and I’m sure neither of them expected this to go on very
long.”

He tried keeping his tone reasonable but an
edge of panic taunted him. “I realize this isn’t easy, and I
understand that you don’t want the situation to continue
indefinitely. We’ll think of something. Maybe a trap to lure Petrov
out, if I can coordinate it with the Trackers. But you won’t be
involved. You have to stay alive and safe. I promised my
grandmother. I promised
your
grandmother.” And he’d promised
himself. “We can hide for a while before we need to do anything
more drastic. Give the Trackers time to do their job. Petrov is
focused on coming after you. That means he’ll be more likely to
make mistakes covering his own tracks. They’ll find
him.”

She sighed. “It better be soon.”

But she didn’t sound confident. At least she
wasn’t running off to find Petrov on her own. That gave him time to
do…something.

He glanced in the rearview mirror, about to
switch lanes and get onto the freeway, then paused, frowning. That
blue car had been behind them for a long time. Could just be his
imagination, but…

Rather than get on the freeway, he took the
surface roads and headed in a very roundabout way to a chain store
where they could buy supplies. He kept his gaze jumping to the cars
behind them. No sane person would take this route to get to this
particular store, so if the blue car was just coincidentally behind
them, it would turn off somewhere before the store, or continue on
after.

“
We need to pick up some stuff,” he
said aloud.