A Tiger's Claim (13 page)

“It’s the Pack magick you feel.”

He watched her look around at the crowd then whirl around at the sudden shift in the air pressure. Travis followed her gaze to see Luna and Keegan entering the circle. Josie grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the Alphas.

They came to a stop in front of them, and Luna knelt down to eye level with Josie. “You are a very brave little girl.”

“I don’t like being sick.”

Luna kissed her forehead. “Neither do I, honey.” She rose and peered up at Travis. “Can you light the fire?” She gestured to the fire pit in the center of the circle.

He nodded, and in the next moment, the wood ignited in brilliant orange and red flames.

His mother came to stand beside him at the same time Shay stood between Luna and Keegan. He was about to ask what was going on when Luna started to speak.

“We are here on this beautiful night for two reasons. One, I’d like everyone to meet the newest Pack members: Travis, Robyn, and Joselynn Hunter. The second is for a forced transformation.” Several gasps sounded around them. Luna held up her hand, and everyone fell silent again.

“Little Josie has been infected with the mutant virus. Our Healers, with the aid of a geneticist from our friends and allies in the Birchwood Pack, were able to make an antidote. However, the cure alone will not be enough.” Luna lowered to her knees in front of Josie and cradled her hands. “Josie’s wolf is already awakened but is confused. I will assist in bringing on the shift that will allow the antidote to do its job.”

Rising to her feet, Luna pulled out a small knife and sliced her palm. She then handed the knife to Robyn, who repeated the act and passed the knife to Travis, before clasping hands with Luna. Travis sliced his hand and offered it to the Alpha when she moved to stand in front of him. They linked fingers, pressing their palms together.

“With blood I welcome you into MoonRiver, and through my bond to the Ashwood Alpha, you are also connected to the leopards. Welcome to Ashwood Falls.”

Travis staggered back a step at the unexpected surge of power. Being disconnected from a Pack for the last two years had hurt him more than he’d realized. He reached out to take his mother’s arm. She leaned on him. Happiness, sadness, and relief whirled around them.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I should have found you and Josie a Pack.”

She pulled back and narrowed her eyes. “There will not be any self-loathing. You are stronger than that.”

Even though it came out as a whisper meant only for him, the motherly demand was heavy in her words. He kissed her cheek. “Yes, Mom.”

Still humming from the new bond with the Packs of Ashwood, Travis focused back on Luna, who clenched her fisted hand over a cup Shay held to allow her blood to mix with the antidote. He understood why. While Luna’s blood was needed to progress the shift, the Alpha wasn’t going to make a child drink the blood directly.

Taking the cup, Luna handed it to Josie. “Sasha says it’s strawberry flavored.”

Josie clasped the cup with both hands. “It’ll still taste bad. All medicine does.”

“But you’re a brave girl.” When Josie smiled and nodded, Luna continued with her instructions. “We’re going to step back a little to give you room. It will hurt less if you don’t fight it. Do you understand?”

Josie nodded. “Shay said my bones will hurt, but I’m gonna have to think about turning into a wolf.”

Luna and Keegan stepped back, the rest of them did the same. On Luna’s nod, Josie drank the antidote in one gulp. When she lowered the cup, she made a face.

“It doesn’t taste like strawberries.” Josie crinkled expression changed a split second later to fear, and then she doubled over, the cup falling to the ground with an echoing clank within the circle.

Travis moved to go to her, to hold her until the pain went away, but Shay and his mother grabbed his arms. Shay pressed a kiss to his shoulder but didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. He sensed her distress as if it were his own.

“She’s fighting it,” he breathed out. His baby girl was struggling. The parent-child bond he shared with her allowed him to feel her confusion.

Closing his eyes, he reached out through the bond and touched her wolf. She was ready to come out and play, but the human half wasn’t so sure. “
Josie, baby. Let the wolf take over, let her come out to play.
”

He opened his eyes to see Josie on her knees and her arms wrapped around her middle. Magick enveloped her, circling her in sheer iridescent waves, but she was still struggling.

In a flash of soft white light, Luna shifted into her wolf. She was larger than most females he’d seen in his lifetime, but then again, she was an Alpha. Covered in reddish-brown fur, she stalked toward Josie, whose stare fixed on Luna.

The large wolf nuzzled Josie’s cheek. Within a few moments, another flash of light erupted, and a small white wolf pup sat, scared and cuddled into Luna’s side. The Alpha nudged Josie toward Travis.

The pup whimpered. Travis squatted to the ground. “Josie.”

Her little ears perked up, and she locked gazes with him. He smiled, and she yipped and ran to him, tumbling over her new little paws as she did so. Scooping her up, he struggled to hold her squirming body. “Slow down, Josie.” He laughed and stroked her white fur. “She’s white. Mara was a black wolf.”

Shay ran her fingers through Josie’s fur. “I’m sorry I didn’t think that my DNA would alter her coloring.”

He kissed her forehead. “Both my girls are beautiful. Let’s go home.”

Chapter 14

“Look, Shay.”

Shay lifted her gaze from the book she was reading to peer at Josie. A small yellow butterfly perched on her index finger. Its wings rose and fell in slow movements. “I see. You must be very special to have a butterfly land on your finger.”

Josie’s face lit up, and she bent to sit the butterfly carefully on a nearby wildflower. It was hard for Shay to believe that only the day before Josie had been fighting for her sanity and life. She was also surprised by how well the little girl had adjusted to being able to shift into a wolf. A beautiful white wolf.

Her lips raised in a smile. Apparently the recessive white gene that made Shay a white tiger had reacted to whatever genes had been used to create the mutant serum, turning Josie’s coloring white with a hint of a pale smoky gray. It was a perfect contrast to her green eyes.

A soft breeze kissed her bare arms. She shivered at the cool caress of the leftover winter wind mixed with the oncoming of spring.

Josie plopped down on the blanket beside her. “Can we go hunting?”

Shay studied her for a moment before asking, “Does your wolf need out?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

Frowning, Shay reached out to feel her forehead. Thankfully, the fever hadn’t returned, and Josie seemed to be recovering fine. Dani said she’d take another blood sample tomorrow to check the progress of the antidote.  What worried her, Travis, and Robyn was how much Josie would understand about the changes her little body was going through.

“When your father and Nana get here, and after lunch, we’ll go for a run.”

Her brown curls danced around her shoulders as she bounced in excitement. “You, too?”

Smiling, Shay bent to touch her nose to Josie’s. “Yes.”

“Yay!” Josie flung her arms around Shay’s neck.

Out of instinct, Shay twisted slightly to stop her soon-to-be stepdaughter’s knee from hitting her stomach. Josie must have noticed the small movement because she pulled back to peer at her.

Shit
.

Travis needed to be the one to talk to Josie. It was too early in the pregnancy to tell people. Anything could go wrong. Besides, she still wasn’t used to the idea, although she couldn’t imagine a future without Travis and Josie. It was crazy, she knew, but she’d found her heart, and her tiger had welcomed them.

Wasn’t it moving too fast? Yes, she would admit it. But, she never was one for patience. Besides, Travis was hers. Her tiger had already chosen him.

The tigress had great taste in males.

 “Shay.”

Josie’s annoyed tone brought Shay out of her thoughts. Meeting the girl’s stare, she smiled. “Sorry, hon. What did you say?”

“What’s that smell?”

Fear stilled her and she scented the air. The scents of the earth, oak, and wildflowers were the strongest scents, but she dismissed those and searched for others. Then it hit her. The smell of spoiled meat met her nose. Her stomach churched.

Frantic, she started gathering up their things. “Get Hello Kitty and your book; we need to go back to the den.”

Josie poked out her bottom lip. “Why?”

Shay grabbed her upper arms and made eye contact. “There are very bad men headed our way.”

Josie went pale and started to shake.

“Come on, baby girl. We have to move.”

Like a switch being flipped, Josie picked up her things and held them close. Shay took her hand, started to pull her back toward the den and sent out a mental alert to Blaine. “
Rogues and mutants.
”

“
Hayden is on his way to you.
”

Shay picked up her pace. “
They’re too close. I’m heading—
”

She cried out at the sharp pain that stabbed her shoulder that traveled down her back to her legs. Another stabbing pain hit her leg, and she went down. “Josie, run!”

A large cooper wolf rushed by her. She hissed in a relieved breath as the familiar scent of cedar and rosemary filled her senses.

Hayden.

Thank God
.

Hayden was Luna’s eldest son, and as wolf Marshal, he was as deadly as Blaine, if not more so.

A soft white spark drew Shay’s attention to the small white wolf beside her. “Oh, Josie, I told you to run.” She went to gather the ball of fur in her arms but stopped when hot, acidy pain shot through her shoulder down her arm.

Blaine materialized with a scowling Travis. His scowl turned to fear then concern when he saw her. “Fuck.” Travis dropped to his knees and looked from Josie to her.

“Josie is fine. I think she got scared and shifted.” Shay’s words came out in breathy gasp as she fought back the consuming wave of pain.

“You’ve been shot,” Blaine said sharply.

“You think?” Shay retorted.

He lifted her off the ground. She smiled as she heard Travis grumble something, but it was too low for her to understand what he’d said. Then again, it was hard to concentrate while in excruciating pain.

Blaine kissed her temple and whispered, “Sleep, snowball.”

She smiled at the nickname he’d given her after her first shift. Before she could come back with an insult, she fell into a welcoming sleep.

***

Travis paced the small waiting room of the medical center, heart thumping in sporadic beats. Shay had been rushed into surgery as soon as he and Blaine arrived. Dani blurted out something about the bullet below the shoulder may have hit an artery. If it wasn’t for Blaine’s teleporting abilities, they’d never have gotten her to the medical center in time.

“Sasha is an excellent surgeon,” Blaine said from his perch against the wall next to the operating room door, his face marred with worry and anger.

Travis nodded. That was the third time the Marshal had said it, and Travis knew Blaine was reminding himself as much he was the others who were in the room.

A soft whimper broke through Travis’s fear-induced panic. Turning, he peered at his daughter, still in wolf form, wiggling in his mother’s arms. Poor Josie was so scared and worried for Shay that she was unable to calm enough to shift back.

He walked over, picked up the white pup and held her close. “Shay will be okay. Everything will be okay.” He ran his fingers through her soft fur, soothing her. Yet, she still fought sleep.

The front door to medical center flew open, revealing Cam. Fear ghosted her chocolate-brown eyes. She stormed past him to wrap her arms around Blaine’s waist and rested her head on his chest.

Blaine kissed the top of her head and absently stroked her long braid. “She’ll be okay,” he said, repeating Travis’s words.

Travis’s chest tightened further, and he looked away from the couple. But, his eyes fell on Keegan and Luna. The female Alpha had looped her arm around Keegan’s and rested her head on his shoulder. There was nothing remotely romantic between them, not even a spark beyond the Alpha bond that linked the two Packs together, unlike the younger couple in the room who seemed to fight their attraction. But, the support between them, the friendship and trust they held for one another, tugged at another of Travis’s heartstrings.

He had to get out of there. The cascade of emotions, the love and strength was almost too much right now. The powerful urge to hunt down the bastards that dare to hurt him and his was strong. If he didn’t release some of his mounting energy soon, he’d lose control.

At that moment, Luna’s eyes lifted to meet his.

Fuck. He couldn’t leave now.

Luna was his Alpha now, and Ashwood was his and his family’s home.

The OR door opened, and Travis spun as Danica and Sasha exited the room. Danica meet Travis’s waiting stare and offered a tired smile. “She’s resting. We were able to remove the bullets and stop the bleeding.”

Travis stepped forward at the same time Keegan stood and Blaine pushed off the wall. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Can we see her?”

Dani nodded. “I’m going to snuggle with my mate.”

Travis smiled weakly, knowing Danica’s human mate wanted to be there to show his support. For Nevan as an empath, the mix of emotions were too strong for him to shield. So the male waited at his office in the business building next door.

After Danica left, Travis entered the room, feeling Shay’s family and friends shuffling in behind him. His heart dropped at the sight of Shay motionless on the bed, except for the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Josie whined then wiggled to be put down. The ache in his chest sharpened. Josie had already grown attached to Shay, and to be honest, so had he, more so. Sighing, he set the pup on the bed beside his mate and watched as Josie snuggled into her side.