The Seed of the White Tiger (6 page)

“Let’s get dressed, I’ll go with you.” Gregor hopped out of bed, eager to move and help her with anything she needed. They dressed quickly and Dom looked out the window into the back. The devastation was mind boggling Her greenhouse was shredded and torn down in places. The glass was shattered in every pane and she just stared. Every plant was ripped out of the ground, destroyed, smashed and demolished.

“What happened?” She asked, still in shock.

“They must have come a little closer than you thought.” Gregor looked worried. “They destroyed everything. I’ve got to see what I can save.” She burst into motion, flying out of the door and starting to sort through the devastation. It was similar to the devastation caused by various natural disasters, but it wasn’t until she got out of house that she got to see the true extent. There was nothing living in her back yard. A white powder had been sprinkled on the remains and the faucet that was attached to the hose was broken off. Water was spraying everywhere, dissolving the white powder and seeping it into the ground. It didn’t look like anything was going to be growing in the ground here any time soon.

Chapter6

She wanted a chance to clean up, but she didn’t get it. She turned off the water to the spilling faucet and walked back into her house to answer her trilling cell phone. She saw the caller ID and had a sudden thought. What if they had known what happened? She chastised herself, she knew that there was no way they could have known, she had just found out. She answered.

“Hello.” Her voice was short and curt. It was obvious that she felt she had better things to do with her life at that moment and this call was just a waste of her time.

“Is Gregor still there? He’s not answering his phone.” It was Anna again. The woman had obviously taken offense at the frustrated manner in which the younger woman had answered her phone.

“He’s here. We were just outside dealing the damage. I’ll go get him.”

“Wait a second, what damage? Was someone hurt?” Anna’s voice grew soft with concern.

“No one was hurt, but someone destroyed my entire garden.”

“I’ll send out investigators, but you have to get into the office and stay here for a bit. Bring Gregor with you. They’re ready to sit down again and hammer out the fine details.” Anna’s voice was hurried. She wanted her pregnant employee to get in to the office where they could protect her.

Dom thought about what had happened in the first set of talks. “I’m not sure I’d be any safer there.” She reminded the woman of indeterminate age.

“We’re going to put you in a room that the shifters can’t get into. You’ll be fine and can listen to the talks over the intercom.” Anna’s words were rushed. “You need to get in here now.”

“I’ll get moving. Give me a few minutes to get us on the road.”

“Don’t worry about eating. I’ll make sure there’s something here for you guys to eat. Get dressed and get here.” The hint was subtle, but it wasn’t surprising. Anna had amazing senses that served her very well in her line of work. It was almost like the woman was omnipotent at times.

Dom hung up the phone and stepped back outside. She saw Gregor working carefully, piling trash and what he believed was salvageable into different piles. He was diligent and considering each piece, wanting to save as much of her garden as possible. She watched for a long minute, seeing him work to save her dream and her life before she interrupted her. “We need to get going.”

Gregor nearly jumped as he turned around to face her. “Are we going someplace safe?” He asked.

“No, well yes, I have to take you to the office. They’ll have breakfast out there and a set of investigators coming out to see what they can find out.”

“Do you think they’ll be able to track down who did this?” Gregor started to walk inside.

“I don’t know, but if anyone can, they can.” Dom reassured him as the shifter reached into his suitcase to pull out something to wear that day.

“Do you think we have time to take a shower?” He asked as he noticed the smell of sex that still lingered around them.

“I don’t see why not, as long as we hurry.” Dom tried to stay calm; she didn’t want him to get upset when he had to go finish the peace agreements between the local shifter clans. Gregor climbed into the shower and was out less than five minutes later. Once Dom had finished her shower she felt significantly better. She climbed out the shower and examined the dark circles under her eyes while her hand rubbed her stomach. She still couldn’t believe that there was a baby in there. She got dressed in a hurry and walked out of the bathroom to see Gregor holding her purse. The sight of the big tough man in front of her carrying her handbag made her smile.

“I’m glad to see you laugh.” He said as he handed her the bag and opened the door for her. They got out of the house and into the car safely.

“So far so good.” Dom noted as she started the car and pulled into the street. They drove all the way to the office and entered through the same old janitor closet, exiting into the room full of cubicles. They made their way through the maze of people on the phone or working on computers and went into the back of the room.

Gregor walked into the conference room and the guard at the door directed Dom as to where she would be listening to the conversation. She walked inside just in time to hear Gregor’s voice coming from the speakers. “Oh, this looks delicious. They’re treating us well.” His voice held a hint of a joke. The others in the room laughed along with him, there was obviously something quite amusing about the spread of food. “I’ll get someone to bring us some sausage or bacon. We’re not built to be vegetarians.” Dom felt herself laughing along as she surveyed the food in her room. It was a beautiful buffet made for everyone in attendance, and it had an over abundance of breakfast meats.

“I think that this is their food.” Dom pointed to the table.

“At least some of it is.” Another attendee muttered. He obviously wasn’t extremely happy about the thought of giving up the sausage on his plate. She could hear Gregor asking the guard to check to make sure they got the right food.

It didn’t take long for several people to come into the room and start rearranging the food and that would make everyone happy. There was an equal amount of vegetarian options now in both rooms, along with a good selection of breads and eggs and meat. Dom licked her lips and grabbed a plate to dig in. “That was a brilliant move of his.” Someone else in the room noted.

“What do you mean?” Dom asked him.

“Gregor had planned this last night. He wanted to help establish a better rapport with them or something like that.”

“That makes sense.” Dom sat down at the table to listen to the talks.

“Have we gotten anywhere on the land?” Gregor asked the other shifters in the room with him.

“We’re letting them live there for now.” Dom knew from context that the wolf was speaking.

“There hasn’t been any fighting.” The coyote was happy to report the fact.

“Well then, let’s see if we can get this hammered out. It’s a very simple process in which each party gives something and each party wins.” Gregor explained. Dom could picture him standing at the head of the table, looking at the two men sitting near him.

“After breakfast.” The coyote must have been licking his lips at the savory aromas that were emanating from the table.

“Yes, let’s eat.” The wolf agreed seeming just as hungry as the coyote.

“Since everyone seems to be in agreement, who am I to argue? If this keeps up I might just be able to go home early.” Gregor’s pleasant demeanor rang through in his voice. Dom didn’t know if she was imagining it or not, but she thought that she heard a slight edge under his good humor. If it was really there, she knew that it was because of the vampires that might be threatening these talks. She wondered as she ate how long it would take him to bring up the threats that had been happening for the last day.

They finished eating, or at least were slowed down because Gregor started to talk again. “Well, now that we’ve got some food in our bellies, I wanted to tell you about something I’ve recently found out.”

“What’s that?” The coyote asked. You could almost hear him panting for the information as he spoke.

The wolf’s response was much more measured. “Is there a problem?” He asked. Dom could hear him chewing through the speaker.

“We seem to have some others that are interested in the talks.” Gregor’s voice was deadly serious. The lightness of his previous words was gone and Dom could almost see the goofy grin leaving his face, only to be replaced by a scowl that indicated how much danger everyone was in.

“Who?” The coyote asked.

“Is it the vampires?” The wolf asked. His voice grew quiet.

“Yes.” Gregor’s answer was firm. “Did you know anything about this?” He asked.

“They threatened my mate.” The alpha wolf admitted. “They caught her outside of the grocery store and told her that if I came to these talks they would kill her and my children.”

“That sounds very familiar. They threatened the young woman who was letting me stay at her house.” Gregor explained it carefully. He didn’t want to refer to her the wrong way.

“I’ve smelt her on you.” The wolf stated. “They threatened your mate, as well?”

“We could help you out. We can post guards on her to keep her safe.” The coyote volunteered eagerly.

“That would be very kind, but I don’t think that she would like that very much.” Gregor told them.

“She’s your mate. You can make the decision.” The coyote panted, eager to help the powerful shifter.

The wolf sighed before he started to explain. “Humans aren’t like us. They don’t like being ordered into protection, and they don’t like being claimed as mates.” Dom nodded in agreement, staying silent and listening to the entire situation. The wolf continued. “He can’t just claim her as his mate, he has to convince her to go along with it.”

“Ah, I see, why would they do something like that? It doesn’t make sense.” The coyote asked. His voice was always rushed and Dom could picture his eyes darting around, looking for something to scavenge or some advantage he could have.

“I will speak to her, if she agrees to take your protection, I would like both of you to work together on it; if so, it might help both groups get along a little better.” Gregor makes no promises, but both parties agree quickly to his suggestion. “Right now, with the vampires coming into the situation, we don’t need to be fighting amongst ourselves.”

Dom listened in awe. He was keeping them calm. They were willing to talk. Both parties had found common ground, and they hadn’t even started to talk about the land. She didn’t know what Gregor’s end game was, but they knew that they weren’t really ready to start fighting again, especially not with an outside threat that had thrown their hat into the ring. “I agree.” The wolf said after thinking for a minute. “The last thing that we need right now is to fight.”

“Do you think the vampires are going to do anything?” The coyote’s eyes must have gotten as big around as saucers. His voice was starting to sound a little panicked.

“I don’t know.” The tiger said. His voice was thoughtful, it was obvious that he was considering all of the possibilities and the worst ones were running through his head.

“I don’t run from bloodsuckers. That’s why I’m here.” The wolf noted the fact that he wasn’t going to give in just because of a few threats. Dom could picture him sitting there his arms crossed militantly across his chest. “You should go speak to the woman and see if she’ll accept the protection. If you’ll be staying in the same house, it will make our job a little easier.” He was speaking to Gregor. “We’ll make sure that everyone involved is safe.”

“We’ll be helping as well.” The coyote reminded Gregor of their part in this entire thing. “It would be better if we have more people to protect her.

“Let me go out for a minute and I’ll ask her. She’s in the building right now. I hope that she takes the help.” Dom could hear the door open and close and prepared to see Gregor’s face once again.

Dom waited calmly for Gregor to walk into the room. When he arrived he looked at her, his goofy smile hiding the ulterior motive. “Would you consider accepting? If I can get them to work together it might help them work together.”

“I don’t know if I want a bunch of shifters at my house. I like my privacy.” Dom didn’t look like she was very comfortable with the idea.

“What do you think that we should do?” Gregor asked her. “This could be important to their peace talks. I promise that I will make it up to you.”

“Is this about keeping me safe, or about your talks?” Dom’s words had a slight edge to them.

“If I was to be completely honest, it wouldn’t matter to me which reason made you agree to it.”

He tried to diffuse the situation with humor.

“If I agree, what would that mean?” Dom asked.

“I will do my best to keep them as out of sight as much as possible.” Gregor’s suggestion was starting to sound vital.