Here There Be Tigers (8 page)

By the time they reached the garage next to
Tim’s house, and his truck behind the garage, Nila was out of
breath, but Mitch hadn’t sensed the other tigers yet. His instincts
still gave them a few more hours to get away. Without speaking, he
handed Nila up into the cab of the old four wheel drive then he
hurried to the driver’s side.

He dropped the visor and the spare keys fell
into his open palm. When he turned the ignition, the truck coughed
and wheezed, but the engine caught and roared to life. He let out a
breath and reversed out to the dirt path that wound back to a main
road. As he passed in front of Tim’s house, Tim stepped out onto
his porch. Mitch waved to his neighbor who nodded back and raised a
hand in greeting, though his brow was creased in a
frown.

He’d have to thank Tim for getting the old
machine running and explain all this—somehow—when he got a
chance.

“
Where to now?” Nila
asked.

“
Still working on that
part.”

He glanced at her. Her skin was waxy-looking
and pale. She was covered in sweat from the run, and her eyes were
wide with shock. No doubt seeing a tiger turn into a human had
completely freaked her out. Yet she was holding up under the
strain. He’d half expected her to start screaming and not stop
after that abrupt and brutal confirmation with the reality of tiger
shifters. The fact that she wasn’t curled into a ball of quivery
fright proved just how strong Nila was, and his admiration for her
grew.

Hoping to focus her attention on something
other than the process of a tiger shift, he said, “When I’m
comfortable we’ve got enough space between us and Petrov, I’ll stop
somewhere so we can get clothes and supplies.”

“
I don’t have any money. Everything,
my passport, my wallet, is back at the cabin. The only thing I have
is my cellphone. I recharged it last night, but the plug is still
in your guest room. And my dad wants me to get a new phone anyway.
You’re sure we can’t go back and get a few things? The gun you took
from that man last night is still in your SUV. I hate guns, but it
might be…useful given what we’re facing.”

“
We can’t go back. Petrov would know
if we doubled back. He’d wonder why.” And he might figure out that
someone had tipped them off, sending them running far earlier than
Mitch wanted him to think. Mitch had no idea what Vlad was up to,
or why he’d helped them get away. But because Vlad had helped,
Mitch didn’t want Petrov finding out about his oldest son’s
betrayal.

Nila sighed, a sound so sad, it made his chest
ache. He reached out and squeezed her hand where it rested on the
bench seat. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

“
You have your wallet with
you?”

“
Yes. And I have
resources.”

“
I really hate losing my passport. I
have some good stamps in there.”

She sniffed and a bolt of panic shot through
him. But when he glanced at her, her eyes were dry. “We’ll get it
back. You’ll get all your stuff back,” he promised. He gave her
hand one last squeeze then released her, because holding her hand
was entirely too comfortable, too natural, and this was not the
time to forget himself. From the corner of his eye he saw her
squirm in the seat. “What’s wrong?”

She snorted. “Oh, nothing.”

He glanced at her again, but she was staring
out the window so he couldn’t see her expression. “Nila, I swear,
I’ll take care of you.”

Inside, his tiger roared in agreement. Whatever
it took, he’d make sure Nila was safe.

CHAPTER SEVEN

They were on the main road before Mitch
broached the subject of Vlad shifting in front of her. “Nila, do
you… Are you okay after seeing Vlad change?”

She snorted, a half-laugh, half-choking sound.
“Not even a little, Mitch. I am pretty sure I’m insane now, and I’m
wondering which hospital I’ll wake up in when I come out of this
delusion.”

“
You’re not insane.”

“
I’m much more content thinking I
am, you know.”

He didn’t quite know what to say to that. He
was just grateful she wasn’t crying.

“
Vlad said something…”

Because he knew she was on the edge, he waited
quietly for her to finish her question.

“
He said he was the reason Petrov
and my mother married. Is that true?”

Mitch nodded.

“
Explain that, please. What did he
mean?”

“
You sure you’re ready to hear
this?”

“
Of course not. But I just watched a
Bengal tiger change into a man who then told me he was my half
brother. Whether I want to or not, I need to learn more about what
I’m facing.”

Just then her stomach growled and he remembered
they’d left their breakfast behind. “You’re hungry.”

“
Start talking and we’ll worry about
food when we pass a drive thru.”

“
Fine,” he said. But where to start?
At the beginning. “Okay, you know how I told you the tigers are on
the edge of extinction?”

“
Yes.”

“
For reasons our scientists are
still trying to figure out, the number of female tigers has
dwindled down to only about ten percent of the
population.”

“
At one stage, was it was closer to
fifty-fifty, like humans?”

He nodded. “Males always outnumbered females to
a certain extent. But the percentages were more like fifty-six to
forty-four. There were enough of both to keep a healthy
population.”

“
Now?”

“
The drastic decrease in female
numbers became obvious a couple hundred years ago. At that point,
panic set in. The males got…carried away in their attempts to
mate.”

“
Meaning?” She adjusted her position
to face him.

“
They started having death match
fights over females. Groups ganged up on individual females and
raped them—frequently killing the female in the process and making
the situation even worse. The entire population descended into
chaos.”

“
Couldn’t they have found another
way that didn’t involve death matches and rape? I wouldn’t
particularly want to live this way, but was multiple…matings I
guess you’d call it, polyandry, taking on multiple males for each
female considered?”

“
It was. Unfortunately, it didn’t
work as a consistent answer to the problem. A few polyandrous
unions succeeded, but they were rare. Most tiger males are too
jealous and competitive to share a female long term. And, like you,
the majority of tigresses didn’t want to live that way.”

“
In the wild, tigers don’t mate
beyond the time it takes to procreate, and the females are very
territorial. I take it tigers shifters are different.”

“
Part human, part tiger. The human
part wants a partner for more than just reproduction.”

“
Do they… Can they fall in
love?”

“
You’re wondering if your mother
loved Petrov?”

“
Well, yeah, it’d be nice to know if
she loved the man she left my father and me for.”

He glanced at her and realized there was more
she wasn’t saying. He could guess, though. She was wondering if
Anaya had ever loved Nila’s father, Leo. Though whether that
knowledge would make Nila feel better or worse… “Yes, tiger
shifters fall in love. Once they mate, once they marry, it’s as
long term as a human marriage might be. Some last, some
don’t.”

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out.
Finally, she asked, “So…is it still chaos? Rapes and death matches
for mates?”

“
No. About a hundred and seventy
years ago or so, the elders instituted the Mate Run.”

“
Mate Run. That was one of the
things we didn’t get to last night. What is it?”

“
Basically, a substitute for death
challenges among the males, a way for them to compete for a female
in a semi-fair way without everyone getting killed in the process.
During a female’s estrous cycle—”

“
Wait, do the women have menstrual
periods like human women?”

“
No.”

“
Lucky bastards,” she
muttered.

He had to work not to grin. “A female’s estrous
cycle lasts for three days.”

“
Consistently or is there a range,
like the three to six days for ordinary tigers?”

“
They range by a few hours but not
by days.”

“
How often do they cycle? Does it
depend on the climate? Are there differences among the subspecies?”
She frowned. “Are there subspecies?”

“
Yes, there are subspecies. No,
there aren’t differences in how often females cycle among the
subspecies. Shifters cycle about once every five weeks, give or
take, and continue to cycle throughout the year.”

She nodded, her gaze turned inward.

He wanted to ask what she was thinking.
Instead, he continued explaining the Mate Run. “At the start of
estrous, a female will run and all the males in the area chase her.
Whoever catches her gets to…be with her for that cycle.”

“
Sex?”

“
Yes.”

“
Does the female get any say in who
catches
her? Or does she just have to fuck whichever male
happens to beat out the others?”

“
It’s completely female choice,” he
reassured, hearing the bite in her tone. “While the Run is designed
to feel like a competition between the males to satisfy their need
to ‘win’ a mate, in practice, a female allows the male she wants to
‘catch’ her.”

“
And then they have sex for three
days?”

“
Three days and three nights of
little else but sex.”

“
Ordinary tigers do something
similar.” She was silent for a moment, then said, “Sounds like
fun.”

Mitch’s pulse kicked at her comment and
fantasies of spending three days fucking Nila instantly filled his
imagination. Three hot, sweaty, erotic, lusty days of Nila naked,
panting, coming as often as he could make her.

Swallowing, he held his breath for a heartbeat
then let it out very slowly. The sudden onslaught of lust took him
by surprise. Oh, he wanted Nila. Badly. He’d spent the dawn hours
fighting the urge to join her in the guest room. And when she came
down to breakfast, the smell of her was more delicious than the
bacon he’d cooked. He’d been busy talking himself out of dragging
her back upstairs to a bed when he’d sensed Vlad’s
approach.

Since then he’d been so worried about keeping
her safe, he’d let his guard down. Now, with his fantasies taunting
him, he noticed her scent again, the strong cinnamon-sugar flavor
of it like a treat just waiting for him to taste. Very carefully,
he flexed his fingers on the steering wheel and kept his gaze on
the road. If he looked at her now, he wasn’t sure his control would
hold. He needed to focus. She was in trouble. He had to concentrate
on the job of keeping her alive, not getting into her
pants.

A road sign announcing food ahead provided a
good excuse to change the subject. “You hungry?”

“
Yeah, that’d be good.”

Her voice sounded as breathless as he felt. He
risked a quick glance at her. Her cheeks were a charming shade of
pink, and when he allowed himself another taste of her scent, he
realized he wasn’t the only one affected by talk of sex.

Damn but that was dangerous. So very
dangerous.

And oh so tempting.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Back on the road, Nila started where they’d
left off. “So when a male catches a female, they’re mated
permanently?”

“
Not that simple,” Mitch said as he
pulled back onto the highway. “The couple is only allowed to be
together permanently if they get pregnant. Until a female
conceives, she continues to run every estrous cycle.”

“
Can she choose a different male
each time?”

“
If she likes.”

“
Huh.”

Her curious, interested sound caught his
attention. “What?”

“
Well, I was just thinking
scientifically, in a strictly biologically sense, this Run is
logical. It’s like taking male competition to its purest level and
yet still allows for female choice. Which I assume makes most
tigers happy?”

“
It’s mostly worked since it was
instituted.”

“
No more fights or
rapes?”

“
Tigers are aggressive, so there are
still plenty of fights. But no more death matches, no more gang
rapes and murders of females.”

“
And that’s enough to keep everyone
following the…is it a law?”

“
It’s a law. And yes, the fact that
it somewhat keeps the peace, along with serious financial penalties
for breaking the law, keeps most tigers in line.”

“
Most? Not all?”

“
There was one recent
exception—little over twenty years ago now. That was a unique
situation, though. It was the woman who’s like my sister. Her and
her husband. And they only just finished paying back the
fine.”