Here There Be Tigers (5 page)

“
You lied to me. My whole life has
been a lie.”

“
No! Not a lie. You are who you are.
Don’t start doubting that.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I lied, because
you’ve been hurt, but I would do it again to keep you
safe.”

“
How is this keeping me safe? I
don’t feel very safe at the moment.”

“
If I’d told you the truth, you
would have tried to find your mother, maybe even others like her.
Don’t you understand? I never wanted them to know about you. And
you would have ignored the danger to track down Anaya.”

Hearing this story from her father was like a
sharp stab to her heart. She wasn’t even sure how to feel about any
of it anymore, though betrayal and sadness and love for her father
all tangled into the mix. She grabbed the wooden railing
surrounding the porch and squeezed hard, trying to ground herself
in a world that seemed upside down.

“
They would have killed you, Nila.
Don’t you see that? Anaya’s people would have killed
you.”

“
They’re still trying to kill me,
even after all the deception.”

“
What do you want me to say? I don’t
regret what I did, and I would do it again. I’m sorry if that means
you don’t trust me anymore, but I did what I did for you. My only
regret is that Petrov found out about you anyway. If I could, I’d
kill him myself to keep you safe.”

He sounded so fierce she actually smiled,
though her lips trembled a little. “You’re not a murderer. But
thanks for the thought. We have a lot to talk about when we see
each other.”

“
Yes.”

She swallowed and released the porch railing.
“I still think we should all stick together. I don’t know why we’re
trusting this stranger to look out for me.”

“
Because he knows more about what’s
going on than any of us. Because my mother has promised me he’ll
protect you with his life.”

She snorted. “Well, I can’t risk Grandma’s Evil
Eye by not believing her, can I?”

“
We’ll see each other soon, love.
Just stay safe. Whatever it takes.” He took an audible breath. “I
am sorry you’re in the middle of this mess.”

“
Stay safe, too, Dad. Keep Grandma
safe.”

“
I will. Talk to you soon. I love
you.”

“
Love you, too.”

For a long moment, she stared into the dark
woods beyond the porch. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the
whole situation. Her dad had said Mitch was telling her the truth.
She just couldn’t bring her logical brain to accept it. This wasn’t
a movie. Shapeshifter-anythings weren’t supposed to exist in real
life. Your supposedly dead mother certainly shouldn’t be
one.

But according to her dad, it was all
true.

Now what the hell was she going to
do?

CHAPTER FOUR

Mitch watched Nila through the front window
while he waited for the water in the kettle to boil. Because he
could hear both sides of her conversation, thanks to his tiger
hearing, he’d tried busying himself with checking his cabin to give
her some semblance of privacy. He gave up the pretense when he ran
out of chores.

She didn’t move for a long time after she hung
up, and worry wound through his gut. He stretched out his senses to
assure himself they were still safe. He could sense his own kind at
a great distance even compared to other tigers, but more than that,
he knew the night wildlife was still active and undisturbed. The
area wouldn’t be so active if a strange predator was in the area.
Since this was his territory the wildlife was used to
him.

Nila was as safe as she could be for now.
Unfortunately, they’d have to leave again tomorrow, but they could
rest here tonight and make plans. They still had a lot to talk
about.

When he had two cups of English breakfast tea
ready, he took them out to the porch. Nila looked up at him, her
expression difficult to read. With only the light from the cabin
shadowing her features she looked mysterious and vulnerable at the
same time. He breathed her in, realized she’d used his soap, and
had to swallow a growl of satisfaction that she had part of his
scent on her skin. The instinctive reaction surprised him enough
that he just stared for a moment. She raised her brows, and he
remembered himself.

He held up a mug. “Tea. I didn’t know how you
took it, so it’s just black.”

“
Thanks.” She smiled, took the
offered cup, and sipped.

He had to force himself not to stare as she
licked her lips and sighed. She was in emotional turmoil. He knew
this was all a lot to take in so suddenly. She didn’t need him
gawking at her and considering how she’d look with her hair down,
mussed from his hands, the dark silk fanned out across his
pillow…

He blinked and took a gulp of his own drink to
wet his dry throat.

“
You okay?” he asked
quietly.

“
No. No, I’m not. I keep hoping this
dream will end soon. I don’t even know how or what to think right
now.”

“
Would you feel better if we sat
down and talked? Or…do you want to be alone? I can show you to the
guest room.”

“
No,” she said, straightening. “I’d
rather we talked, if that’s okay?”

“
Of course. Are you cold? I can
start a fire?”

“
I don’t need a fire, but I wouldn’t
mind sitting.”

He motioned her inside, watching her as she
looked around the ground floor. He wasn’t sure she’d even noticed
her surroundings before, but he could tell she was taking in
details now—the wide open floor plan, the sunken seating area
surrounding a stone fireplace, the huge kitchen off to the right,
the pool table and large entertainment center to the left. He
couldn’t help wondering what she thought of the place. Did she like
his home? What did she see when she looked around?

This cabin was the closest thing he had to a
real home. Most tigers lived in cities or towns but eventually
bought second homes in remote, wooded places to serve as their
retreats and territories, places they could shift and run freely in
their animal forms. He was on the road so much for his job, he’d
never bothered settling anywhere. He only had this place—his
territory—and he loved it here so much it never mattered that he
didn’t have a main house anywhere else.

When she didn’t say anything right away,
curiosity got the better of him. “Well. Will this do?”

She glanced at him. “Nice. Just
you?”

He nodded. “As I said, no girlfriend, no wife,
no kids.”

He motioned to the couch and she settled into
the deep cushions.

“
I know it’s extremely personal
since we just met, but…” She stared up at him. “But you said you
weren’t likely to have a wife or girlfriend or kids. Why? Is there
anything…wrong?”

“
No, nothing is wrong with me. I
just don’t think it’s going to happen.”

“
You don’t want them?”

“
I’d love kids, it’s just…” Among
his kind, the only way to have children was to win a mate in the
Mate Run and get her pregnant. The stain of his father’s crimes
hung heavily on him and his two older brothers. None of the rare
tiger females were ever likely to take any of them as mates, so
he’d resigned himself to never having kids a long time
ago.

But before he could even begin to explain all
that, he’d have to tell Nila about the Mate Run, and the serious
trouble the tigers were in. As for the story of his mother’s
suicide and his father’s mental break…

He frowned. “It’s just that we have other
things to talk about first,” he finished because he wasn’t sure he
even wanted to tell her about his parents. Most of his people
looked down on him, and he was loathe to see that same disgust from
Nila.

She leaned back against the couch, cradling her
mug in her palms. “I know. I’m just not sure what to ask or where
to start.”

He sat, keeping to the opposite side of the
couch so he didn’t crowd her—despite what his tiger wanted him to
do. “Do you believe that tiger shifters exist now?”

“
No. Yes. I don’t know. I guess I
have to, don’t I?”

“
You’ll be safer if you accept
they’re real. Beyond Petrov’s money and power, he’s physically
dangerous, too.” Mitch had asked Rossa if Nila showed any signs of
being able to shift. She confirmed Nila was as human as a
human-shifter hybrid could be. That was part of the myths, too—that
the offspring of a tiger-human mix could either be human or
shifter. Because Nila had been born mostly human, she didn’t have a
tiger form to give her any protection in the shifter world. That
made her infinitely more vulnerable.

“
Fine,” she said after taking
another sip from her mug. “Weretigers—tiger shifters?”

He nodded at the preferred way his people
referred to themselves.

“
Okay. Tiger shifters exist. My
mother was one. Petrov is also one. My mother managed to have me
with my human father, which shouldn’t happen. And now Petrov wants
me dead. So far so good?”

“
Yes.”

“
Does he want me killed because I’m
a mix?”

“
Those like Petrov consider you…
They think you’ll dilute tiger bloodlines and destroy the species.
In fact, according to my grandmother, Petrov has been very
vocal—and fanatical—in his opposition to even the idea of a
tiger-human mix. Apparently, during a debate among a group of
powerful tigers, Petrov announced he’d kill any ‘abominations’ he
came across. At the time, everyone just thought he was talking. But
over the years he’s gotten even more fanatical in his beliefs, and
his current actions prove just how serious his threat
was.”

“
Why is diluting tiger bloodlines an
issue? How could that destroy the species?”

“
Tigers are in a lot of trouble,
biologically. The sex ratio is extremely skewed—too many males, not
nearly enough females. Female births continue to be rare. Tiger
shifters are heading for extinction if a solution to the problem
isn’t found soon.”

“
Ah. So…a mix that produces an
ordinary human is…bad?”

“
It’s a little more complicated than
that. If your mother could have you, there’s the possibility that
you could have children with a tiger shifter, too. That possibility
is…well, it’s hope to a lot of the males that would otherwise never
be able to have children.”

“
How is that a bad
thing?”

“
The tigers that think like Petrov
believe those mixed matings will drive us closer to extinction,
that they’ll produce mostly humans and after a while, completely
breed out the shifters.”

“
Will that happen?”

She asked with genuine curiosity— no judgment,
no disgust—as if they were discussing a topic that didn’t directly
impact her life. He wasn’t sure if that was good. On the one hand,
it meant she wasn’t running away screaming into the night. On the
other hand, it was hard to tell if she even believed what he was
telling her. He took in her scent, searching for clues, but there
were too many layers of emotion for even his tiger senses to sort
through.

“
No one knows,” he answered. “No one
even believed someone like you could exist. Well, except my
grandmother. She’s done a lot of research into the
possibility.”

“
Your grandmother… How did she and
my grandma meet?” She narrowed her eyes and he could see she was
starting to make some connections.

“
Anaya went to my grandmother when
she found out she was pregnant by a human.”

“
Why?”

“
Elizaveta is an elder—a member of
the tigers’ governing body. She’s the only female elder and one of
the most powerful as well.”

“
Ah, so what better person to go to,
then. When Anaya left me with my dad…?”

“
Elizaveta befriended your
grandmother so she could keep an eye on you. And protect
you.”

Nila snorted. “Right. Some
protection.”

“
She doesn’t know how Petrov learned
about you. But as soon as she discovered he’d found you, she sent
me to help, and she’s got the Trackers—essentially our police
force—after Petrov as we speak.”

“
Will they be able to catch
him?”

“
Yes.” He spoke with more confidence
than he felt. Petrov wasn’t a tiger to take lightly. “But it will
take some time. We’ll have to get moving again tomorrow to stay
ahead of him.”

“
Whoa, wait. I thought… Why do we
have to go anywhere?”

She leaned forward, a move that brought her
close enough he could feel her heat, and her scent washed over him
in a delicious wave. He forced himself to pay attention to the
conversation.

“
That guy at the airport—the one who
tried kidnapping you—he got a look at my face and took in my scent.
It won’t take long before they figure out who I am and were to find
me. This is my primary home. I’ve never bothered hiding
it.”

“
So Petrov will be able to find
it.”

“’
Fraid so. It’ll be the first place
they look.”