Tiger Born (18 page)

He stilled. “Who told you?”

“Jake did.”

“Jake said—”

“Damn it, to hell with Jake!” She rushed up to Ward and took hold of his shirt in her fists. “You better explain to me what happened and why you think Heath is missing right now!”

He started to turn away. “We’ll discuss more on the way—”

“We’ll discuss it now, or I’m not leaving this room.”

He stared her down for a few minutes and then blew out a breath of resignation. Behind him, Deja spotted Joe and a few of his other men. She had the feeling if she resisted, they’d force her over to Ward’s house, and that worried her even more. Why would Ward need to bring a small army to make sure she was okay, and where the hell was Heath? Her insides churned, and, of course, because it was morning, she felt the beginnings of morning sickness. She ignored the call of the bathroom to toss up whatever food she hadn’t digested the night before to hear what Ward had to say.

He walked over to the bedroom door. “Everybody outside!”

They all grunted but moved in an instant to obey. On top of the order, he closed the bedroom door, and Deja sank down on the bed because her legs refused to hold her any longer. Ward faced her, and his gaze swept her from head to foot. She couldn’t fathom from his expression what he thought, but she’d glimpsed worry before he hid it away. Everyone knew Ward’s devotion to Heath because he was the son of the woman Ward still loved to this day.

“Last night, we got a couple of calls, reports on planned abductions.”

“And you didn’t think it was a trap?”

He glared at her. “Of course we did, but one turned out to be real, a fifteen-year-old tiger-born girl visiting McAllen with her friends.”

Deja’s eyes widened. “They’re allowed to go to the city alone?”

“No, they aren’t.” He ground his teeth. “The friends called in a panic. It so happens I had a couple men there. They were able to track the girl and ki…take care of the abductors.”

“You were going to say kill! Ever heard of questioning people, Ward?”

“Of course I have,” he roared. “I’m not a fool. Nor am I merciless. There was a fight. The humans were apparently given orders to take someone back dead or alive. Damn it, one situation is handled, and then another rises. On our side, we cannot afford to let anyone get away to give out our location.”

“Funny, I’m thinking our location is already compromised.”

He stared her into silence. “With so many fights among ourselves, all of my men were occupied last night. I had to send Heath to check out the second call. He never reported back.”

“You sent him alone?” She struggled to her feet.

“He is stronger than any of the others put together.”

“I know you’re proud of him, and that might be true, but he should have had backup.”

“It was on the way.”

She pushed her feet into her sneakers without socks. “Whatever. I’m going to look for him.”

“You’re not.”

“Don’t try to stop me, Ward. I’m his mate. I’m going to find him.”

“Oh, so now you acknowledge it?”

She had been heading past him toward the door, but he grabbed her arm. She wrenched free. “Don’t even go there with me. This is your fault. You dragged him into working with you, knowing he didn’t like it. Even still, you made all the dumb decisions…”

“You will not disrespect me!”

Deja wavered, almost ready to fall to her knees, but Ward held her up. She blinked at first at the shock in his expression and then at the apologetic air. Gently, he led her to the bed and pushed on her shoulders to make her sit down.

He stooped in front of her, still holding her in place. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I’m worried about him too, Deja, and I know you love him.” He sighed, dropping his head. When he looked up into her face, his expression displayed resignation. “You can’t go, honey. You will stay with Coreen and the boys. I’m taking a group out to look for Heath. We
will
find him.”

Deja clenched her hands into fists, and a shudder hit her so hard, she had to take deep breaths not to throw up. “I remember what it was like in one of those places. If they take him there and hurt him…I don’t know… Oh, goodness,
please
,
Dad,
find him!”

Pleasure lit his eyes, and he smiled. “I will. You just take care of yourself and…” He dropped his gaze to her belly.

She gave a small squeak of surprise. “How did you… Oh, that wave of power.”

“I didn’t mean to do it. It does come in handy to give me a sense of locations of my people and their state. Not miles away, if that’s what you’re about to ask.”

She shook her head. “Heath.”

He stood and patted her shoulder. “He won’t know until you tell him. Now, let’s go. Okay?”

She followed him from the room having no choice. For now, she would go to Ward’s house and bide her time. All the while, she prayed that any second Heath would call or come home to keep his promise. Something deep inside feared she would never see him again.

Chapter Thirteen

A day had passed, and Deja was still holed up in Ward’s house. Coreen hadn’t said anything about suspecting Deja of being pregnant, but that was the least of either of their worries. As Ward assured her, he’d taken a group of his best men to search for Heath. What pissed her off beyond reason was that the skank Tina had gotten to go along. She wondered how that was fair. How did a woman who had clear designs on Heath get to search for him but his own mate did not?

Deja would have blown this damn place long before now if she could have, but Ward had left the house surrounded by a few of his men. All were big and burly. She might be ten times stronger than the average human, but her ability did not come close to a male shifter.

She swore and strode for the millionth time over to the front window to peer out. A small group of men leaned on pickups and smoked cigars. They flicked ashes and used butts on the ground, and she gritted her teeth. She’d tried going out her bedroom window only to be caught and brought back within minutes. How humiliating.

On top of being held prisoner, she hadn’t been allowed any visitors, so even though she talked to Jake on the phone, he couldn’t come by. Nor could anyone else. She’d had it with Aaron’s and Abel’s complaints that they weren’t permitted to see their friends, but she understood how they felt.

“I can’t take this anymore,” she shouted.

Coreen came from the kitchen holding a plate of cookies. Abel and Aaron jumped at them and would have eaten every one if Coreen didn’t smack their hands. She approached Deja. “I know you’re worried, sweetie, but you just have to trust Ward and the others.”

Deja rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like he trusts us locking us in here?”

“It’s for our own good.”

“It’s for
your
own good,” she snapped. “I should be the one saving my mate, not that skank.”

Coreen smiled, and Deja huffed. An odd scuffling outside caught her attention, and she turned back to the window. Her mouth fell open and eyes widened. Jake stood shaking like a leaf over several unconscious men.
What the hell?

She ran to the door and wrenched it open. “Jake, what did you do?”

He held up a flask and an empty plate with a weak smile. “Imagine how desperate you feel when you haven’t been allowed to drink for a few days, and I didn’t have to be a good cook to throw together a box cake. A little something added to help them sleep for a while. Are you coming?”

“Hell, yes!”

She didn’t look back or acknowledge Coreen’s shout as she scrambled across the driveway. Jake headed to his car, but she wrenched open the door to one of the pickup trucks. Without surprise, she found the keys in the ignition and hopped in. “You coming, Jake?”

“But my car…”

She gunned the engine, and Jake groaned then got in the other side. They peeled out of the driveway and onto the road, kicking up dirt, which had settled in a light layer over the asphalt. With the windows rolled all the way down, the wind whipped about their heads. Deja only sped up, not caring about anything other than putting enough distance between herself and Ward’s men so she’d have a good start at finding Heath. “What made you decide to help me?” she called over to Jake.

When she glanced at him, she found his cheeks red, and his hands clenched on his legs. “No reason.”

She laughed and reached across to touch his hand. “Thank you so much. You’re a great friend. You never abandoned me, even with all the mess that’s going on, and even with how Heath hurt you. I appreciate that, and I’m sorry.”

He twisted away toward the window, and she knew he was embarrassed. She let him be. After a few moments, he sat up straighter. “Hey, wait, stop by my house first.”

She frowned. “Why? I thought you said you were going with me.”

“I am. I need to get something.”

She shrugged and did as he asked, but when she waited behind him as he unlocked the door to the bar and then followed him through to the back stairs that lead up to his place, her patience wound tight to the point of snapping. All thought of shouting that he needed to hurry the hell up left her mind when he pulled two guns from a case in the back of his bedroom closet, along with a few boxes of bullets.

“Whoa, buddy, anything you want to tell me?”

To her surprise, he glared at her as he stood tucking one in the back of his waistband. “I don’t have claws.”

“Point taken.”

Jake checked that the other gun was loaded and stuffed it into a jacket pocket. “I got this.”

She laughed. “Okay. I trust you.”

After they were back in the truck, she drove out of Siberia and stopped at the edge of town to sniff around. Heath’s scent mingled as usual with a number of others, but she didn’t think it was recent. The next place she stopped was outside McAllen. Here her lover’s scent was stronger. She glanced around. Cars whizzed by, a few heads turning in their direction.

“I need to get off the road into a less populated area,” she commented.

“On it.” Jake hopped out of the truck and came around to her. He spread a map over the hood of the truck and squinted his eyes against the sun as he studied it. “How about here? It’s not too far, and you can shift.”

She looked at him, noting the seriousness of his tone. If Jake could get over his fear of shifters, he could have a job protecting the town. At the least, he could go on missions to take down Spiderweb. They never fought against shifters, only humans, so it was no more dangerous for him to get involved than the rest of them.

Rather than voice her new respect for her friend, she climbed into the truck, and they pulled out. Some minutes later, they turned onto a narrow, dirt road, which stretched between a line of trees on both sides. Deja scanned the area and sniffed the air. No one appeared to be nearby. She stopped and turned off the truck’s engine.

“Watch yourself, Jake. I’m going to shift and explore a little bit.”

He nodded.

She began removing her clothes and tossing them into the truck. She felt Jake’s eyes on her, but he must be used to seeing shifters naked. Few had much shame about their bodies, and since one either removed clothes or had the tiger rip them off, one got over modesty. She shifted quickly and padded out into the trees. She’d run a good half mile before she began picking up familiar scents. Ward and his men were all there, and then she breathed in Heath, and her heart ached. She sniffed around a little more and whined. A step behind her caught her attention, but she’d already known Jake followed her.

He stepped from the trees. “What’s wrong, Deja?”

She shifted, crouched down to the ground. “I smell Heath in that direction, and Ward and the others followed, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re all good trackers, aren’t you? And if Ward went that way, shouldn’t we?”

“You’re probably right.” She was about to shift, when he made a noise. “What?”

He hesitated.

“Say what you’re thinking, Jake, because I don’t want to get this wrong. He could be in pain, and I’m going to tell you right now, you’re going to see a whole different side to me if those bastards have done something to him.”

Her friend stared and then swallowed hard. “If it’s a simple thing of finding Heath in that direction, wouldn’t Ward have found him before three days passed? There’s no way that whoever they are caught the alpha and the rest of his guys, right?”

“Right!”

She shifted and ran off in the direction she sensed she needed to go. The farther she ran, the stronger the feeling became, and then she recognized it for what it was. Heath called to her. The same way he had that night she went to the house half out of her mind with need for him because he pulled on her.
I’m coming, baby. I know you wouldn’t call me out here if you weren’t in bad trouble. I’m coming!

They ran for what felt like hours. Several times, Jake fell behind because she could easily distance him, and his stamina wasn’t as great. When Heath’s pull made her heart ache and her need to be near him grow to unbearable levels, she forgot about her friend and left him behind. She opened up and gave everything she had to running. Her paws ate up the ground, and she lost track of time. Her lungs burned, and her throat dried.

Then, through her haze of depending only on Heath’s pull, she began to scent again. Other people were out here and not shifters. She slid to a stop, panting for breath. She sniffed the air. Humans. Lots of them. While she calculated whether she could take them all, she came to another realization that almost made her roar in frustration and anguish. The whole reason she became aware of everything around her was that Heath’s call had been cut off abruptly. Not even the smallest niggle of suggestion remained inside of her.
What if they…?
No, she couldn’t think that way. She had to stay focused and rescue him at all costs.

Deja sniffed the air in several directions. Men were trying to surround her. They must have equipment like motion sensors and trackers. Despite that, Heath wasn’t close. She picked up a faint trace of his scent, but wherever they held him, he was far from the place they left the truck. Off in the distance, she picked up the sound of a vehicle, and if she wasn’t worried, she’d have laughed. That damn Jake had gone back for the truck. How he maneuvered around the trees over rough ground, she didn’t know. Well, at least she’d thought ahead to take a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and since her arrival wasn’t a surprise to the humans, she didn’t have to worry about them hearing the truck’s engine.