Tiger Tracks (Alaskan Tigers Book 9) (5 page)

“What’s that?”

“If you like to be in control, why don’t you command your own clan?”

He let out a deep sigh before shaking his head. “You remember your reaction when you heard my name. It’s always the same. No matter where I go, the reaction is always the same. There’s even some among the Alaskan Tigers who
still
question my loyalty. It’s better now, but I know there’s some who look at me and see my past or the rumors they’ve heard. I can never get past it. Who would want me to lead them?”

“You’d be an Alpha who could protect them. I’d give anything to have an Alpha to protect me instead of the one I got saddled with.”

“The fear would be there, and some people would question why anyone would follow me.” He leaned his head back. “Anyway, I’m happy with my position with Tabitha and Ty.”

“Happy doesn’t mean it’s all you want.”

“Now’s not the time.”

She wasn’t sure if he was referring to becoming an Alpha, or the conversation itself. She might have pressed harder, but Theodore interrupted them.

“It should be a quick flight, but if you need to get up, go ahead.”

“We’re fine. Just want to be there.” Styx rolled his shoulders. “All of us are exhausted, so we’ll spend the night there and start west after we’ve slept. I’ll speak to Jinx to make arrangements.”

“It’s too close,” Mira said. “What if they’ve followed? They’ll find me.”

“No one is going to find you.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re safe now. I promise.”

“They’ve followed me everywhere so far. Staying with another clan puts them in danger, too.” Fear coated her words.

“Jinx is the Alpha of the West Virginia Tigers. His clan is located near Snowshoe, and in order to find it they’d have to know the area. It’s desolate, believe me. Even so, there are ground guards, and you’ll be safe. He knows the situation. He sent Garth and Red as back-up, and they’re prepared. Relax. Let me do the worrying. I promised I’d keep you safe, and I’ll stick to my word.”

The terror rose within her, and she tried to stuff it aside. Styx’s fear of flying had already tinted the air with a rancid scent. She didn’t need to add to it. She asked for help, and now she had it, so she’d have to trust them—even if it went against everything inside of her.

Trusting people had brought her to this situation in the first place. What horrors would befall her next because she placed her trust in someone? Would Styx end up dead because he helped her? The very thought of someone losing their life because of her made her ill.

What have I done?

The airplane came to a stop, and relief coursed through Styx’s veins. There’d be another plane trip in a few hours, but to be back on the ground again was all he could focus on. Tomorrow he’d worry about the longer trip back across the country. Mira had made him consider the humor in his fear, but if there was one thing he’d learned about things that terrified someone, it was they didn’t have to make sense. When it was someone’s time to die, they did, and nothing could be done to stop death. Even shifters weren’t immune to death.

He unclicked his seatbelt, stood, and held his hand out to Mira. “Come on. It’s going to be okay.”

“I don’t like the idea of endangering others.”

“Even so, you wanted our help, so let me do my job.”

“Is that
all
I am to you? A job?”

He could hear the pain in her voice, but wasn’t sure how to answer her question. If he said yes, he’d be denying the mating connection that was blooming between them. On the other hand, if he said no he would be accepting that she was to be his mate. Was he ready for that? He wasn’t sure. It was a question that would require thought and exploration.

“The clan Elders are waiting,” Theodore hollered back to them as the engines shut down.

“We can’t keep them waiting.”

She rose from the chair and zippered her jacket. “I guess that’s enough of an answer.”

He slipped his bag over his shoulder and reached for her, but she pulled back from him. “It’s not what you think.”

“What am I thinking? Can you read minds or something?” she remarked snidely.

He shook his head. That was one ability he’d never want. “Catnip, you’re very easy to read.”

“I know. It’s gotten me in trouble with my Alpha in the past.” She slipped her hands into the pockets of her coat, and met his gaze. “Why do you call me
Catnip
?” she asked tentatively.

“Beautiful Mira, your scent is to my tiger as catnip is to kittens.” He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her against him. “That, Catnip, should answer your question. I can’t get enough of you.”

“One minute, you act one way…and the next you act differently. It’s confusing.”

“Let’s meet with the Elders of the West Virginia clan, and then we can talk more about this. We don’t know each other at all, so things are bound to be uncertain. We have to overcome a few things, for starters.” He stepped away from her, and pushed down the planes steps. “First of all, you’ll have to trust me. The compound here is safe, Jinx has ground guards on the perimeter, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Trusting someone has been disastrous for me in the past.”

He leaned close to whisper in her ear. “I know you trusted someone with your secret and they betrayed you, leaving you no choice but to run for your life. But that brought you to me, and I’d rather fall on my blade than deceive someone on our side. I will not betray you.”

“My sister…she’s young and naive. She thought it would save her.”

He glanced at her one last time, and saw the tears shinning in her eyes. She was on the verge of a breakdown. Was it just because of what her sister done and what that decision had cost her? “It didn’t, though, did it?”

“Now’s not the time.” She nodded toward where he knew Jinx and the others were waiting. “Let’s go, and I’ll explain later.”

He wanted to force the subject, but common sense won out. To leave Jinx and the others waiting outside as he questioned Mira further would not only be rude, but uncalled for. There’d be time for it once they were inside, after he explained the situation to Jinx so he could alert his guards. He tugged his bag up his shoulder, and descended the stairs.

“It’s good to see you again, Jinx.” Styx held out his hand to the man waiting below. “Thank you for opening your compound to us. This is Mira, and Theodore will be along in a moment. Mira, this is Jinx, his mate, Summer, and their daughter Claire.” He nodded to the woman who held a toddler in her arms.

She lowered her head as if to respectively nod, but it was the curtsy that followed that had Styx taken aback. It had been centuries since anyone curtsied for ruling Alphas. That had been done away with since Alphas had their members vow their loyalties, creating the bond between them. That’s when they had done away with some of the barbaric rituals of their past.

“There’s no need for that.” Jinx smirked, and adjusted his cowboy hat. “We’d don’t do that anymore.” He appeared curious, and just as surprised as Styx.

Styx wasn’t surprised that Jinx’s comments mirrored his very thoughts. If Styx had followed another Alpha, it surely would have been Jinx. They were similar in many ways, but the biggest was that they both fought feverishly for what they believed in.

“I apologize…” Seeming uncertain, she bit the corner of her lip. “My Alpha requires it any time you’re in his presence.”

The men shared a look as Lukas joined them, his red hair sparkling as fresh snow fell on the moist locks. “Are we going to stand out here in the cold all night? Come inside. Garth and Red will be here in a few minutes, and will meet us inside.”

“My Lieutenant has a point. We’ll warm up, and you can bring me up to speed on the situation.” Jinx slipped his arm around Summer’s waist and turned.

“Can I have a moment, Styx?” Mira placed her hand on his arm.

“We’ll meet you inside in a moment with Theodore,” Styx told them as the others headed toward the building in the distance. “What’s wrong?”

“How come you didn’t tell me they had a child? We’re not only risking Jinx’s clan, but his mate and that little girl. What is she, a year old? How can I risk her, just so that I’m safe?”

“Claire is two and has been through hell and back. They rescued that child from the Texas Tigers’ former Alpha, where he had her hidden away in the tunnels under the Manetka Resort. They’ve taken her in as they own.”

“What about her parents?” She glanced toward the receding backs of Jinx and the others.

“Her father, Cliff, abandoned his clan and children. Claire’s older sister is Ashley, she’s mated and recently had her first child. They are unable to care for Claire in her current condition.” He held out his hand before she could ask. “She’s rarely spoken since she saw her mother murdered before her eyes. She’s attached to Summer, and has made some progress since she came here with them.”

For a brief moment, he was taken back to that mission to eliminate Avery, the former Texas Tigers’ Alpha. Jinx had risked himself to go undercover in the resort to try to determine which underground passages might lead them to Avery. That mission had brought Jinx his mate, but at the cost of Summer’s sister. So many had died at Avery’s hands, but no longer. Jinx had killed him, and Tex had taken over the clan.

“I heard about what happened in Texas. You killed the Alpha.” The accusation was clear in her voice.

“You heard what Frank wanted you to know. Otherwise, you’d realize it was Jinx who actually killed Avery.” He paused to let that sink in before explaining what led to his death. It wasn’t just that they stormed the place and killed him while he was lying in bed. Would they have done that? Hell yes, because of what he was doing to his clan, but that wasn’t the way it went down. “When we arrived at Manetka Resort and entered the underground tunnels, Avery had a woman stretched out on a table with members of his clan watching her torture. That woman was Autumn, Summer’s sister. Jinx didn’t know that Summer was his mate yet, but none of us would have let Avery live after what he had done to her. She wasn’t the first victim, but we made sure she was the last.”

“Frank and Avery were close,” Mira said. “I won’t say friends because I’m not sure Frank lets anyone close enough to be considered a friend. He believes you’re coming for him.”

“Now we are.” Styx looked up as Theodore exited the plane.

“Just like Avery, Frank made his choices and we’ll have to make ours,” Theodore said, coming down the steps. “There are other supporters within your clan who will need to be freed. It’s doubtful he’ll step aside and let someone else take over. That will be his undoing.”

“Mira, we can’t leave Alphas who are against Tabitha and the prophesied future in a position of power. Anyone who does not support a future with Tabitha as the Queen of the Tigers is an enemy.” He touched her arm, slowly caressing his way up to her shoulder. “We’re doing this for the betterment of our kind. Alphas like Avery and Frank should have been eliminated by their clan long before but they gained control. Now, the clans are too scared to fight back.”

“They’ve seen too much bloodshed and torture. Even death…and we’re hard to kill.”

Even without the mating connection being complete, he could feel the horror surface within her. What terrors had she witnessed over the years since Frank had become Alpha? “When you’re one of us, you already know our weaknesses. When there’s an Alpha with a clan too scared to stop him, there’s nothing holding him back from the evil within him.”

“Now it’s our job to stop them,” Theodore added, as he closed the plane up.

“There’s more to it than that, but the bear’s right. Tabitha will be protected, and we’ll make sure the future happens no matter the cost, because we realize what it will do to our kind. Since your Alpha seems to share gossip, did he tell you about the Minnesota Tigers?”

“You mean that Milo, one of the bears, and a human who went and killed the Alpha?” Her tone was flat, as if what she said didn’t matter, even though her eyes said otherwise. “After we were told about that, it was the first time my sister questioned how I could support Tabitha and what was happening. Frank made her and the others believe you were killing Alphas to put your own men in control.”

“Then he left something out,” Styx said. “Christian was born and raised among the Minnesota Tigers. Until Milo, Thaddeus, and Courtney came along, none of us had met him, and they had already planned to take Calvin from his role of Alpha. So, we haven’t been setting our own people up as Alphas.”

“What about Ohio? One of the Alaskan Tigers took over the role of Alpha there when Randolph killed the former leader.”

Styx nodded. “True, but that was because no one within the clan was in the right mind frame to do it. Like the Texas Tigers, they had suffered under the hands of their Alpha too long. Korbin went there to take over and pull the pieces back together. Jinx went with him to help. He’s done wonders for that clan, even though he was not a member to start with. Even now, they’ve begun construction on the old warehouse just south of the Ohio compound to build a resort similar to Manetka. It will be a safe place for shifters as well as provide more space for his clan.”

“Those on the run, like you, would have a safe place to go to receive help,” Theodore added. “All of us working together will make for a safer world.”

“It would have been nice to know there was somewhere safe to go once I left my clan. I didn’t know where to go, so I went to the only place I could think of. I went to Washington D.C. when I was very little. I remembered wandering away from Mom while we were sightseeing, and she freaked out. Even with her heightened scenes of smell, she couldn’t find me in the mix of all the tourists. I was hoping it would have been the same with whoever Frank sent after me, and that help would arrive first.” A shiver passed through her, making her tremble.

“We did, Catnip, and you’re safe.” He pulled her against his body. “We’re going to deal with Frank, but first I want to get you somewhere safe.”

“Getting me to safety might cost others their lives. There’s been enough bloodshed because of me.”

“Because of you?” Theodore stepped closer to them. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

“Things were a mess when I took off. It’s the only reason I was able to escape.” The snow picked up again, sending flurries dancing around them.

“Let’s go inside and you can explain what happened.” Styx mentally berated himself for not questioning her further on their flight, but with her safely next to him all he could think about was the fact they were in the air. Normally, when he flew he had his mind on something, or if they were on their way back from a mission everyone was so exhausted it didn’t matter if they were in the air or on the ground all their brains could focus on was sleep.

Maybe the mating desire was building within him enough that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been. That bothered him more than anything, because he had to be at his best if he was going to protect her and do his job for the Alaskan Tigers. Mating wouldn’t change his duties. He owed everything to Ty, Tabitha, and Shadow for giving him a second chance. One that allowed him to put his skills to use for a good cause, instead of being an assassin. That was something that meant more to him than he’d have admitted—until Mira strolled into his life.

* * *

With Styx’s arm around Mira’s waist, she had no choice but to move with him as he began the trek after Jinx and the others. She could see the footprints in the snow, leading the way to the house that sat slightly elevated above the rest. She glanced around the property, but it was the home that drew her attention more than anything.

“That’s the Elders’ house. Jinx’s family has taken over the third floor, with his Lieutenant, Lukas, living on the second. Two of the Elder guards, Jackson and Carson, are on the first floor,” Styx explained, seeming to realize her fascination with the house.