Her Black Tiger (Alaskan Tigers Book 11) (2 page)

W
ith the officer’s
apartment empty, Carran stood in the middle of the city, wanting to let his tiger out to follow her scent until they found her. Even as the time grew later, cars whizzed by. Unlike in Alaska, Pittsburgh never seemed to sleep. There were always a few cars on the road, and sirens wailing in the distance. His sense of smell was better than any human’s, but it wasn’t as powerful as it could be if he let his beast free. In his other form, he’d be able to locate her in half the time, but in a city that was out of the question. There was no way to explain a tiger strolling down the street. If he wasn’t shot, he’d be tranquilized and thrown into the zoo. On display at the zoo, his black tiger would draw people from around the world and not everyone would come just to see a live black tiger—some would come to study him. It was a kind way of defining what they’d do to him as they tried to determine what caused his rare coloring.

He could hear the clans’ comments if he ended up in that predicament. After everything he overcame in the past, only to end up at the mercy of humans… He shook his head, unwilling to think about that because it came too close to what they were fighting for. Tabitha would eventually make their presence known, and ending up at the mercy of humans was just one of the possibilities. Though, it was just as likely they’d be exterminated.

“You going to stand here all night long, or are we going to find this woman?” Red waited next to the door of the SUV, his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, looking at ease as he scanned the area. “The wolves have already been here, but I don’t smell any blood. So it’s likely she was gone before they arrived and they’re following her scent. If we’re going to aid her, we need to get moving.”

Knowing he was right, Carran tugged the keys to the SUV from his pocket with one hand and with his other he unhooked his phone from his belt. With the wolves having a head start on them, they needed to find an advantage. That was their very own wolf—Connor. He sent him a text and told him to find out everything he could on Officer Armstrong and run her credit card numbers. If she was out in the city somewhere, it was likely they’d get a hit. Most people used cards over cash and tonight that might give them another advantage. Otherwise, all he knew was that she’d headed toward downtown. Maybe a club, or restaurant. Hell, for all he knew she could be at a friend’s house and he wouldn’t be able to barge in on them. Their best chance was a public location where they could access her easier, but that also gave Donovick’s family access to her.

“Leave the window down,” Carran told Red as he dropped his cell phone into the cup holder and started the engine. “I left Alaska in such a rush Ty didn’t have time to give me the full details. Who’s our backup?”

“I’m not enough?” Red joked. “Theodore and whoever else is up will fly in for it. I believe from your clan the twins Jayden and Drew, along with Thomas, are coming. Hugo is part of the West Virginia Tigers, and he’ll fly in with Theodore. When this is all over we’ll drive back to Snowshoe together. Unless we run into issues, I don’t think any of the other Brown brothers will join them. Taber and Tad are both eager to get back to their mates.”

“This should be an easy mission.” At least he hoped.

This mission is important…it needs to be you…valuable member of the team…more so in the coming months.
Ty’s words seemed to hold a hidden message, warning him it wouldn’t be easy. Something would happen here and if he understood what Ty was trying to say, it would make him more valuable to his Elders. How, he didn’t know. He would have to trust them and see it through to the end.

R
eaper’s appeared just
as Brooklynn expected. The bar was full of criminals, bikers, and wannabes, and none of them would be happy if they knew she was a police officer. Not for the first time, she wondered why she was there. Not only did she stand out because she wasn’t one of them, but bars and clubs had never been her scene. She barely drank, not even when she turned twenty-one and her friends got plastered at her birthday dinner. She’d only had a single glass of wine. To her, that was letting loose. Her younger sister, Abagail, thought she was aging beyond her years. At twenty-three, Brooklynn had her life together whereas her sister—a little more than a year younger—didn’t have any idea what she was doing. She had changed majors three times before finally taking a break to bartend.

It was no surprise there were only a few dim lights in the bar, offering privacy to anyone conducting illegal activity. In the time that she’d been with the department, she heard plenty about this bar and those who frequented it. Even if she hadn’t, her years as an officer would have been enough to know there were dangers lurking here, and the farther she ventured inside, the higher the danger. She didn’t have backup and no one even knew she was there. Despite her unease, the stares from bar patrons, or the little voice inside her telling her to leave, she continued on.

She ordered a bottle of beer and sat down on one of the bar stools, giving her a view of the room without making it obvious she was watching anyone. She was here for answers. If she was going to find their suspect, she needed to come back to the place that had been at the root of it all. Internet searches about Reaper’s told her more than she wanted to know, but it also supplied rumors of shifters at this location.
Shifters…as in multiple. Unbelievable. If I can only catch one…convince them to prove it to my bosses…

Her thoughts were interrupted when a man dressed head to toe in leather stepped up next to her. He laid his hand on the bar counter and invaded her personal space, letting out a low whistle. His gaze traveled over her as though she was available for purchase. He let out a deep breath, sending the horrid scent of alcohol right at her face. “Sexy…take a ride with me. It’ll be one you won’t forget.”

His long hair stuck out from the bandana tied around his head, and a glint in his eyes that told her if she’d been in uniform he’d have climbed back on his bike and headed away from this club. Her years on the force give her a sixth sense and she knew he was trouble. Half of the tattoos that covered his arms were jailhouse tats. What he spent time for behind bars, she wasn’t sure, but she could take a couple of guesses.

“I’m waiting for someone.” She pretended to glance behind him toward the door, as if expecting someone to walk in at any moment.

The bartender moved away from them, his interest focused on clearing the counter—anything but what was happening with her and the mystery man. A clear sign he’d seen this happen before and it was anything but friendly. Mystery man’s offer for a ride sounded more like an order, but she tried to brush it off as paranoia. He was accustomed to bossing people around and when he saw a new woman come in, he thought she’d be easy prey, but he was messing with the wrong girl. She tried to tell herself she was just overacting. After the day she’d had, it was to be expected.

“Listen here, bitch…” The smile was gone and anger vibrated in his voice as he took a step toward her. “We’re going to walk to the door, nice and quietly, and if you make the slightest move to run, I promise you’ll pay for it. Do you understand me?”

Unable to stop herself, she took a step back from him. The guy was imposing and nearly twice her size. She wasn’t going anywhere with him. She was off duty, but she was still had a gun at the small of her back, tucked in the waistband of her jeans. If the situation slipped so far out of control that she needed her weapon, she couldn’t let the nagging thoughts stop her. She was already in enough trouble at the police department and this was the last thing she needed. With her evaluation in two days, she needed to keep her head low and worry about convincing them that what she reported had been the truth or that it was all part of her concussion. She didn’t need to be part of another incident, especially not at Reaper’s Bar, a known criminal establishment. She glanced around to see if anyone saw their interaction and would come to her aid.

“Bitch, no one is going to rescue you. Not here. You should have considered whose bar you were walking into when you stepped through the door.” He closed the distance she had put between them, forcing her back against the wall, so they were almost hidden in the shadows. “Now, I said we’re leaving.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Pressed against the wall, she couldn’t get to her gun and the only other weapon she had was a knife tucked safely between her calf and her boot, but she couldn’t get to that either. Her beer bottle was on the counter. She might be able to reach it if she pretended to go with him. Even if she did, and managed to crack it across the top of his head, she wasn’t sure it would bring him down. If it did, would she be able to get past the others without incident? Or would bashing the mystery man over the head only heat the already sizzling air and cause more problems?

He wrapped his hand around her neck, cutting off her breathing. “You’re going with me of your own free will or I’ll knock you unconscious. The choice is yours.”

His grasp was so tight she could hardly breathe, let alone answer him. Panic made her body tremble. She clawed at his hand as he pushed her up the wall until her toes barely touched the ground. As she struggled to breath, his eyes glistened. He was enjoying watching her suffer.
Don’t let me die like this.
Darkness closed in around her, her fight stolen from her like the air from her lungs, and as she lost consciousness she swore she could hear a new voice.

“Leave her the hell alone.”

C
arran’s tiger
brushed along the inside of his skin, wanting to come out and teach the asshole how to treat a woman. If he was working with the Donovick pack, they’d have more problems to deal with before they left town. No matter what the pack thought of her crime against them, having a human deal with it was unacceptable. Especially when he was strangling her in front of human witnesses, which would only create more problems. There were other ways to deal with the police report and officer who tried to expose their kind. The situation didn’t call for her death just because they couldn’t keep their city under control.

“Leave her the hell alone!” He stalked through the bar, straight toward them, and as he did so he picked up the scents of the room, searching it for any shifters. There was one, but he wasn’t a wolf, just a drunk leopard. The Donovick pack wouldn’t work with a leopard, making him less likely to be a threat. Carran’s back would be to the leopard so he would have to keep his senses open and rely on Red to watch him. The wolf pack might work with humans, but they believed the leopards couldn’t be trusted, making the humans in the bar more of a threat.

“Who the fuck are you? This is my bar.” He glanced back at Carran but didn’t take his hand from her neck. Instead he lifted her higher so that her toes were a foot off the ground. She was unconscious but alive.

“Sir, please…” The bartender glanced around to see if anyone would help him but more than half of the customers were already making their way to the door. “We’ve just got the place put back together after the last time.”

“Shut up, Dix. This is my bar and if I want to destroy it, that’s my right.” His gaze left the bartender and turned back to Carran. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not welcome here. Get out!”

“We’ll leave with the woman.”

The man loosened his grip on her neck and turned to Carran, swinging wide as he did. Carran took the opening and swung. His fist connected with the other man’s cheek, the sound of the bone cracking echoed through the bar a second before the man cried out in pain. Carran grabbed hold of his collar and threw him to the floor. “What part did you misunderstand? I thought
leave her alone
was fairly easy to comprehend. Even the simplest-minded assholes should understand that.”

Blood splattered across the floor, and the man’s jaw was angled awkwardly, clearly broken. The fight seemed to drain from him while Carran ached to go a few more rounds. He forced himself to step around the man and let him lie curled up in a ball. The woman’s eyes had opened when the hand was removed from her neck and Red was having trouble controlling her.

“Woman, stop that!” Red took her wrist in his hands to stop her from beating her fists against his chest.

“Brooklynn…” Carran joined them.

Her attacker was already rising off the floor. “She’s mine.”

“I got him. You can deal with her.” Red dropped her wrists and spun around. “Jinx would kill me if I left a mark on her while I was trying to keep her safe.”

Carran didn’t have a chance to reply as Brooklynn tried to slip past him. She made it back to the bar and knocked the stools over in her attempt to make a run for the door. The bar stools didn’t stop him. He hopped over them and landed directly behind her. He wrapped his arm around her and pushed her against the wall, just as she made contact with the gun he felt in her waistband. “I wouldn’t.”

“Back up or I’ll have you arrested.”

“Arrested…” He chuckled and then tipped his head down so that his lips were next to her ear. “I know who you are,
Officer Armstrong
, but trust me when I say you don’t want that to become known to anyone who was in this bar before we arrived.” He kept his voice low, so low that even the leopard wouldn’t have been able to hear him over the sound of Red and the other man fighting.

“What do you want?” Her body went stiff and she stopped fighting him but still had her hand on the gun.

“You to leave the gun where it is and let me get you out of here.” He placed his hands on either side of her, leaving her nowhere to run. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Really?” He leaned back so that he could look her in the eye. “Because you didn’t seem to be doing a very good job when we arrived. He had you pressed up against the wall with his hands around your throat. Is that how you want to die, Brooklynn?”

“I…”

Carran sensed more than saw the leopard rising from the booth. “Trust me.” He let his gaze linger on her for a moment longer before checking whether the leopard had plans of his own. Red had the other man on the floor again, his boot pressed against the man’s chest. From the way he gasped for breath, Carran suspected he had a couple of broken ribs, if not more extensive damage.

“Reap…there are plenty of other women who’d take you up on your offer.” The leopard swayed on his feet and almost toppled over before continuing. “Go find Stacie. She’s in the back room doing inventory.”

Red took his foot off the man’s chest and allowed him to scurry away. It took him some effort to get off the floor but when he got his feet under him he gingerly made his way behind the bar toward the open door. A moment later, the sound of a woman’s voice asking what had happened to him drifted toward them and any doubt that the other man would try to escape out the back door was gone.

Most of the bar guests had made a discreet exit sometime during the fight, leaving only the leopard and a few who were hoping to see some action.

“Get out! The bar is closed,” the leopard hollered and when there were a couple of complaints, he added, “You know Reaper. If you want to stick around and deal with his temper once Stacie patches him up, then be my guest. He’s going to be itching for a fight and when he kicks the shit out of you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With those words spoken, the patrons threw money on the table and headed for the door. The youngest of the group kept looking over his shoulder, checking to be sure Reaper wasn’t coming up behind them. It appeared Reaper had made a name for himself, enough that he’d scared some of the toughest bikers right out the door, but Carran had been up against worse assholes than him.

Red grabbed a couple napkins from the bar and did the best he could to wipe the blood off his hands as he came around the tables to where Carran now stood. He guarded Brooklynn, using his body as a barrier between her and the leopard. If the drunk thought he was powerful enough to deal with Carran and Red, they’d take him down quickly, before he could lay one paw on her.

“I know who you are.”

“That makes one of us, then.” Carran raised an eyebrow in a silent question, asking the man to explain who he was.

“I’m Speck, the Alpha of the local leap. My leopards and I have heard about your Queen and we want no trouble around here.” Seemingly unsteady on his feet, he grabbed hold of a chair and used it to keep himself upright. “If we’d have known she was one of yours, we’d have stayed out of it. Reaper is a good lad, bit of a troublemaker, but nothing you should concern yourselves with.”

“A troublemaker?” Red tossed the napkins on the tabletop, clearly disgusted.

With Red’s anger thickening the air, Carran tried to get something useful from the conversation before Red was tempted to pummel Speck. “I’d say that’s more than troublemaking. He tried to kill her and if you weren’t inebriated, you’d have seen that. It takes a lot of liquor to have that result but you were ten minutes from passing out drunk when we came through the door.”

“That’s my business, not yours.”

“You’ve made it mine when you sat there watching and did nothing to save her.”

“It would have been quick…unlike what Donovick’s planned for her. She exposed them and put Officer Donovick in a difficult position. He’s ready to explode and if he gets his hands on her, it will be worse than anything Reaper could have done.”

Carran kept his face blank, not offering any sign that Speck just gave him another tidbit of information he could use to save the woman. “So he’s working with Donovick then? Seems unlikely a wolf pack would bring a human on to help them. They like the thrill of the hunt too much to give someone else the joy.”

“No.” Speck dropped onto the chair and reached into his pocket for a flask. “Stacie ran into her cousin today…Officer Donovick. He was coming out of the hospital as she was going in. Stacie is, you could say, the black wolf of the family, but she and her cousin have remained somewhat close since she distanced herself from the pack. She told Reaper and when he saw her, things just got out of control. He offered to take her for a ride…”

“You mean take her to Donovick?” Carran pressed, wanting to hear him say it. “And you’d have stood by while he handed over an innocent woman to a pack of angry wolves?”

“It’s not my problem.” He took a long swig from his flask. “My leap is small and we’d stand no chance against a pack that size. In this world, you do what you have to do in order to survive.”

“Where is Donovick? Why does he want me…” Her words trailed off.

“Dead?” Speck supplied. “You filed a police report that could cost him his job, that could out his kind, and now you’re standing there wondering why he wants retribution. You deserve everything that’s coming to you.” Speck brought the flask toward his mouth but stopped before he pressed it to his lips. “Take her and get out of here before I alert the pack to your presence, too. The fun they could have with the two of you, while he takes his anger out on the woman. Now
that
could keep the pack off my people for a while.” He appeared to be debating whether or not to make the call.

“Go ahead. Call them. See how that works out for you.” Red went to the door, opened it, and looked out to make sure things were clear. “Let’s go.”

Carran tipped his head toward the exit, signaling her to go ahead. “Things are changing,” he told Speck. “You might want to consider whose side you’re on, otherwise you could find your leap at the mercy of others…and I can promise you, the pack will be the least of your problems.”

“That’s tiger business, not mine.” Speck tipped the flask back, finishing the last drop, and tossed it across the room. “I’ve got enough to deal with, without worrying about what’s happening with your species.”

With better things to do, Carran headed for the door, keeping the leopard in his sights. One day, the drunk would realize that if he’d spent more time dealing with shifter issues and less time with the bottle, things would have been different. Carran only hoped it wasn’t the leap that suffered.

T
he cool air
whipped around Brooklynn as she stood in the doorway of Reaper’s, not sure if she was safer inside or outside. Reaper could have killed her if they hadn’t shown up, but what kind of danger was she in now? She wanted to turn back and ask the older man what he meant when he said he knew who they were and didn’t want any trouble. What kind of trouble? Who were they?
Tigers.

Shifters—she knew what kind of trouble they could bring. She had already been tossed across an alley and was on the verge of losing everything, all because she had the bad luck to run into one. Getting involved with more would only bring her more trouble. She wanted to get one on film so she could prove she was sane. She wasn’t about to mingle with two; it would be more than she could handle.

Without giving it a second thought, she inhaled deeply and took off in a full out run. She’d already witnessed the lion was quicker, and unless she got a head start she’d never escape. Outrunning them wasn’t an option. She just needed to get farther away so she could hide somewhere. It was too far to her apartment and the only places that were open at this time of night were other bars. After her last experience, she wasn’t in any hurry to rush into another bar full of bikers and drunk assholes.

At the corner she slowed just a little to look both ways to make sure there weren’t any cars, and that was all he needed. A hand grabbed her just above her elbow, the grasp tight without being too firm. He pulled her backward and pressed her against the building and instead of it being the man who’d held the door, it was Carran. His hair fell down around him like a curtain and she couldn’t see much of his face, except for his eyes. She tried to determine the vibrant color of his eyes, but every time she decided they were blue, she thought she saw a greenish tint. Aquamarine might’ve been too pale in comparison to the beauty they actually held. They seemed to sparkle at her, transfixing her until his words shook her back to reality.

“Stay very still.”

“Why? Are you going…” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. Fear rose within her, tightening her throat and cutting off her words. Was he going to kill her? She tried to dismiss the fear. He wouldn’t have just saved her only to kill her. Would he? Maybe her attempt at escape made his animal angry and he was about to shift.
Damn it! Why did I leave my camera in the car? What am I thinking? I’d be dead before I could use it.

“Quiet.” He pressed his body along the front of her. “There’s a wolf down the block. I don’t know if it’s Donovick, but we don’t need to draw attention.”

She started to turn her head to look but he reached up, curling his hand along the side of her neck, his thumb brushing against her cheek, electricity sizzling through the touch. “Ah…” Part of her wanted to arch into him to feel the heat coursing through his body, while another part screamed for her to attempt escape.

His body stiffened until every muscle was taut and even though he was just as close, he was no longer pressing against her. Something changed, but she wasn’t sure what. He slid his hand over her lips, silencing her before she had a chance to ask. Each second seemed to tick slower than the last, her patience slipping. The heat from their touch was fueling her rage. Who did he think he was? He couldn’t just press her up against the wall and clamp his hand over her mouth to shut her up.

“Let’s go.” He took his hand from her mouth and stepped back.

“Go? What makes you think I’ll go anywhere with you?” She kept her voice low as she glanced down the street to where he’d said a wolf had been lurking.