The Tiger's Heart (3 page)

* * *

Back in the solitude of his quarters,
he pulled his cell phone out.

“
Leo. You’re cleared to
bring her here. We’ll expect you tomorrow. But make it clear to her
that if she brings danger to our clan, it will be her life on the
line.” He didn’t wait for Leo to respond but ended the call.
Jessica could hold the key to finding Pierce, or
she could be the key to our demise.

Chapter Five

Sometime in the early morning hours,
the sandman finally visited. It wasn’t restful. He tossed and
turned, dreaming strange and terrifying dreams. His mind was in
turmoil, and it was playing out in his dreams.

The ear bud that he kept in his ear at
all times sprang to life. When he was off duty, he set it to only
disturb if there was an emergency.

“
Raja, you’re needed in
Ty’s quarters.”

He growled. “I have another few hours
until I’m on duty. What is this about?”

“
Situation has arisen, and
you’re needed. Report immediately.”

Situation?
He didn’t bother to take the time to dress; his
pajama bottoms would have to do. He grabbed his handgun from the
nightstand and strapped his knife to his thigh before rushing down
the hall to Tabitha and Ty’s area.

Only a short hallway separated their
quarters, allowing Raja to be there in a moment’s
notice.

Felix opened the door, while Ty
comforted Tabitha. There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger,
but Tabitha appeared to be distraught over something.

He stood waiting, knowing that Ty
would fill him in.

“
Tabby, there’s no use in
you being here for it again. Why don’t you go into the study?” Ty
said, trying to calm his mate.

“
No. I’m fine.”

“
Tab…”

“
If I’m to be Queen, I
have to face even the worst things.”

“
You are Queen, but you
don’t have to do this. I won’t argue with you. There’s no time if
we’re going to save her.”

Confusion masked Raja’s
face.

“
Hit play and you won’t
have that look of confusion any longer.”

The laptop sat on the table, calling
to him. He stepped toward it and pushed the play button.

A young girl filled the screen. His
eyes filled with terror, her blonde hair matted with dried blood.
Her pleas, then her screams, filled the room as a man hit her over
and over again.

“
Bethany here will die
unless you give up Tabitha Leigh. We tried to be civil about this
and confront you directly. Now we’ll kill innocent women until we
have her. If you want the girl to live, drop Tabitha off in front
of the Fairbanks International Airport at midnight. Once she’s in
our custody, you’ll receive the girl’s location. If you wish to
play more games, she’ll be the first of many dead women I leave in
my wake.”

“
Shit.” He ran his
gun-free hand through his hair. “Did you put a trace on
it?”

“
Connor’s working on it
now.” Ty nodded, his arm still wrapped tightly around
Tabitha.

“
I can’t let her die
because of me. If we can’t find where this was sent from, I’ll meet
him.”

“
The hell you will,
Tabitha!” Ty roared.

“
That girl has nothing to
do with this. She’s innocent.”

“
Ty’s right. You would
just be trading one life for another. There’s no way we’ll allow
you to do that.”

“
Raja, I wasn’t asking
permission. I won’t let her die in my place. She probably has a
family that would miss her.”

“
What, and you have no
one?”

“
That isn’t what I meant,
and you know it.”

Raja could see that Ty’s anger was
only holding on by a thin thread. Since finding his mate, his
emotions were more on edge, especially when it came to her. The
large living room that only a few days earlier held over two dozen
of their soldiers was starting to close in around him.

“
We don’t have time for
this now. Tabitha, get rid of the thought. It isn’t happening. I
will lock you in one of the cells until this is over if you even
think about leaving the grounds. I’ll do whatever I can to save
Bethany, but you’re our first concern.”

Bethany. I love the way it
rolls off the tongue. I wonder if she’s as sweet as the
name.
He shook his head to clear the
thoughts. He didn’t have time to think about what she might taste
like.

“
Felix, go to my room,
there’s a black box on the dresser. Bring it here. Then find out
where Connor stands on locating the transmission.” Raja realized he
was still holding his handgun. His pajama pants didn’t have the
elastic to keep the gun at the small of his back as he would
prefer. “And grab my gun harness. It should be on the dresser as
well.”

“
Now you, Tabitha, sit
down. We need to discuss a few things. I need some coffee to think
straight.” He didn’t bother to ask for some. This was his home away
from home. He strolled to the kitchen. He pulled the coffee grounds
out of the freezer, placed what was needed in the grinder then put
the rest back in the freezer. “I know we have told you that if
you’re killed before you can carry on your line, then all tiger
shifters will cease to exist. So why would you be willing to risk
everyone’s life?”

“
I can’t let someone die
in my place.” The desperation was apparent in her eyes, as the
glisten of tears threatened to fall. He understood her desire to
save the girl, as he felt the desire as well, but he couldn’t allow
her to risk her life to save another.

“
Then to save one person
you would sacrifice hundreds, if not more, tiger shifters? You have
to admit that doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Raja hit the start
button on the coffee machine. As the smell of coffee filled the
air, his body woke, his mind able to start processing their
options.

“
You should be able to
understand this. You put your life on the line every day to protect
the clan members.”

He realized Tabitha was losing her
fight. Her emotions were pulling in too many different ways for her
to understand what was happening. Tears flowed freely down her
face.

Ty went to her, pulling her tight
against his body. He knew Ty was trying to ease her pain. Mated
couples claimed their feelings and pain calmed with their mate’s
touch.

“
It doesn’t make sense, I
know, but leaving that girl to die in my place doesn’t work
either,” her voice weak and her face tear-streaked.

“
I’m glad you realize it
doesn’t make sense. My Queen, you’re a strong and brave woman, but
you are my Queen. It’s my duty to protect you. We’ll do our best to
save the girl and to stop whoever Pierce has behind this this
abduction, but for us to be able to focus on that we need to know
you won’t be running off to do something stupid.”

The coffee machine had a pause button.
He hit it and filled up three mugs before letting it finish its
duty. Then he handed mugs to Tabitha and Ty before wrapping his
hands around his own. Taking a deep breath of the fresh coffee put
all his facilities on full alert. The first sip hit his tongue,
making him want to purr with appreciation. Strong, dark coffee was
a gift from Heaven.

“
I’m not going to do
anything stupid,” Tabitha stated in a reluctant tone, folding her
hands around her own mug.

Just in time.
Felix entered, handing over the stuff Raja
requested before heading to Connor’s cabin.

“
Good. Then you won’t have
a problem wearing this,” Raja said, slipping the lid off the black
box before passing it to Tabitha.

Inside the box laid a plain silver
bracelet on black tissue paper. Ty was eying him
suspiciously.

“
A bracelet?” The
questioning tone sounded in Tabitha’s voice.

“
Yes. It has a tracer
installed in it. That way we’ll always know where you are. I want
it to never leave your wrist.”

“
How does it
work?”

“
It’s an app that I
created. I have it on my cell phone, and once the tracer is
activated, you will show up as a little dot.” He pulled his cell
phone out of his pocket, hitting a few buttons before handing it to
Tabitha. “Tora has one. That’s her dot. Yours would be a different
color. We can also install it on Ty’s and Felix’s
phones.”

Leaning against the kitchen counter,
he watched Tabitha mull the idea over. He knew she was trying to
come up with a reason not to wear it, but he wasn’t going to let
her off the hook unless Ty decided to back his mate.

“
I think this is a good
idea.” Ty finished his coffee before moving to the coffee pot to
pour another cup.

“
You would like to see me
on a leash.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. “How did Tora
ever agree to this?”

“
Marcus and I didn’t leave
her a lot of choice.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Before we
moved to Alaska, some of Pierce’s clan attacked. We couldn’t find
Tora and thought they got her. Marcus was almost insane with anger.
Turns out your mate is pretty good in battle.” Raja chuckled. “He
got her out of danger. Nearly died protecting her. I can never
repay Ty for saving her that night.”

“
It was nothing. You would
have done the same if it was the other way around.” Ty’s hand went
to the scar that marred his chest from that attack.

“
So what do you say? You
going to wear it?”

“
I don’t think I have a
choice. Ty seems convinced this is needed.” Reaching in the box,
she pulled out the bracelet and put it on her wrist.

Raja leaned over the counter to her
wrist. He pulled out a little pin from the bracelet that she didn’t
notice. “Now I’m happy.” Her little dot showed up on the screen of
Raja’s phone that still lay on the counter.

“
I’ll get my phone, and
you can put that app on there.” Ty strolled toward the
bedroom.

“
Great, now I’ll never get
rid of him,” she teased.

Raja let out a heartfelt laugh. “You
can’t fool me that easy. I know you don’t want to get rid of
him.”

* * *

They’d just finished programming Ty’s
phone when Connor and Felix rushed through the doorway.

“
We got the location,”
Connor said, sliding to a halt in front of them.

Raja’s heart fluttered, making him
feel like a schoolboy. The pain and hatred in Bethany’s eyes was
nearly enough to break his heart. Through the years he saw a lot of
pain, suffering and tragic events, but the video of the girl cut
deep into his soul.

“
Where are they?” Raja’s
voice sliced through the air like a dagger.

“
Just on the other side of
Fairbanks. It seems to be a remote hunting cabin.”

“
I’ll suit up and leave
immediately.” Raja was already moving across the large room big
enough for a shifted tiger to stretch out.

“
You?” Ty
asked.

“
Yes. I’ll scope out the
location. See if they’re still there. If not, I’ll track their
scent.”

“
We can send a team to do
that. There’s no reason you should be the one.”

“
It’s something I have to
do.” Raja didn’t know how to explain it, but he had to do this. He
needed to be the one to find the girl and to make sure the man
who’d hurt her paid with his life.

“
Ty, let him. I can feel
this is something he needs to do. But Raja, don’t do anything to
get yourself killed. We can send in a team. We need
you.”

He nodded to Tabitha and Ty before
jogging out the door. He had to get to his room, suit up and be
gone before Ty could change his mind.

Chapter Six

“
You want to run, do you?”
her captor screamed in her face as he pulled her hair, holding her
in place. Tears streamed down her face, her throat closing with
anxiety and making it hard to breathe.

“
Please…” Her voice cut
off when he lowered his body to sit on her chest before he wrapped
a hand around her throat.

“
Begging for your life,
are you? It will do you no good. I only need you for a few more
hours and then your life will be worthless.”

“
This will ensure you
don’t try that again.” He grabbed a steel bar that laid a few feet
away from them on the cabin floor.

The fear was clear in her
eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
God
help me. He’s going to kill me. Mom, I should have listened to you.
If I get out of this, I’ll never doubt you again.

He placed the steel bar to her neck.
“I could push this against your throat until you couldn’t breathe.
Your death would bring you peace. That’s what you want, isn’t
it?”

“
I don’t want to die,” she
whispered.

“
You’ll be begging for
death before long.” He raised the bar from her neck. Moving off
her, he raised the bar above his head.

Her body screamed for her to move, to
get out of the way before he used the bar to beat her head in. She
couldn’t move, was frozen in place. He slammed the steel bar down
on her knee, causing her to scream out as stars filled her eyes.
The pain stole her breath and made her stomach roll with
nausea.