Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (12 page)

His shadow leaped high above him, undulating with fear.

That's
right,
I
snarled.
You
should be afraid, old man. Here's something to really be scared of.
Not those invisible shadows you've wasted your life talking to.

“
You!
I should've known they'd send you for their deliverance. The Gods
always choose a demon to bring the black veil. Blood against blood.
Dark against light. Tigers, crouching in the forest, preparing to –“

I jumped. Brahm tumbled against the wall and collapsed
beneath me.

His walking stick clattered to the floor. I shattered it
underneath one paw. I grinned as I heard a few old bones snap when he
hit the hard stone.

He wouldn't suffer long. I yawned wide and plunged my
teeth into his brittle shoulder, tearing at flesh and blood, sinking
deep to bone. One bite silenced his psycho-babble forever.

Inside me, my tiger let out a deafening roar, loving the
taste of salt and iron. He was a hungry cat, perhaps too hungry, and
even the ruddy taste from one of our own electrified his senses.

Later, I smacked my lips, looking down at the Elder's
broken body. As hungry as I was, I didn't dare stop to devour the
evidence.

Cannibalism wasn't my thing. I still had a shred of
civility, after all.

I wiped the blood away as best as I could with my paws
and carefully walked to the cavern's entrance. When I was outside in
the chilly night air, I shifted.

I needed to scale the mountain again for my gear. I
carried down the big bag and packed up my rope and hook. Taking out a
canteen and flashlight, I washed myself, taking extra care to flake
away the caked blood around my lips.

It took several hours to clean up. Before I wrapped
Brahm's corpse in a shroud I'd brought and carried it outside, I
pulled the small canister from my bag and unscrewed the lid.

My cousin's fur fit perfectly near the rock where I'd
left the Elder's blood. I collected it from a fallen hollow in the
woods where he always stopped to scratch his back.

Erik was a bastard, but he was also a creature of habit.
The most innocent things would be his downfall – especially the
girl.

My laughter echoed down the deep tunnels. He wouldn't
see it coming.

I smiled into the darkness, standing over the Elder's
neatly wrapped body.

Everything was falling into place, dark and beautiful.
Maybe the old kook laying on the cold rock wasn't as crazy as
everybody thought.

The Gods wanted this to happen. And they had appointed
me, Rufus Nordclaw, to deliver their will.

I
only hoped they were as rewarding as the old religion promised. To
serve the gods well meant treasure, flesh, and a thousand kinds of
power.

Not to mention a succulent kind of irony most mortals
couldn't fathom. But I did.

Soon, the one who'd been exiled would exile those who
deserved it most.

I
smacked my lips, thinking about what else waited for me. Nobody would
stop me from becoming Alpha. And with my new friends,
anything
was
possible, including claiming the hot chubby half-blood my cousin had
dragged to his home.

I'd show her what a real tiger could do. I'd make her
bear my cubs, and fuck her deep until she forgot all about Mister
Tall, Dumb, and Soft.

Oh, yes.

It took awhile to carefully lower the Elder's body down
the mountain. When it was at the base of the fountain, the first tiny
glimmer of icy autumn light was beginning over the mountaintops.

I stuffed my tools and the bloody tarp into my back.
Wouldn't be hard to dispose of later.

Then I dragged cold Brahm to the base of the fountain.
There, I lifted his old body with ease, and dumped it face down into
the water.

“
Old
bastard. That's where you'll find your gods. Though honestly, I'm way
more interested in someone finding you.”

I retreated to the woods. Fishing out the small cell
phone in my bag, I flipped it open. I had no use for human
techno-wizardry, but they'd insisted I carry it.

“
Expeditionary
line,” a gruff voice answered on the other end of the line.
“Who's calling?”

“
It's
Rufus. Tell Tarken it's done. I'll be standing by tomorrow morning
near the kill site so the
real
fun
can begin.”

VI: Wounds of Exile (Erik)

I woke up in a fit, my arm still thrown across Jenna's
warm curves. I wasn't dreaming the crazy pounding in my ears.

Who the hell's beating on my door at the ass crack of
dawn?

I threw on my cloak and staggered to the cabin's front
door. Christian waited on the other side, shaking his fist. The pale
dawn sunlight caught the silver cross he wore around his neck,
filling my eyes with bright stars.

“
What's
the matter?”

“
It's
Elder Brahm, sir. He's dead. Jinx and Marabella found his body in the
old fountain on their morning walk. Pulled him out of there
themselves...but it was far too late. Jesus, it's terrible. You'd
better come see for yourself.”

My heart stopped. “What happened?”

“
Dunno,
sir. He's real mangled. Beat up. Bloodied. Looks like a tiger got to
him with tooth and claw, or maybe a much larger animal.”

I eyed the pallor filling his face. As cubs, we all
pretended there were monsters deep in the mountain caves, but nobody
really believed it as an adult.

The only strange and dangerous creature up there was
Brahm himself, and now he was dead.

Fuck. Were Jenna and I the last ones to see him
alive?

“
Let's
go. I'll leave my girl sleep.” I straightened my cloak and
stepped out, closing the door gently behind me.

With all the stress she'd been under after yesterday's
visit, the last thing she needed was more worry over Brahm and his
insane prophecy. If what Christian said was true, then no one would
ever fret much about anything the Elder predicted again.

We ran as fast as we could down Tiger Tree's stony
streets, and then through the forest leading to the majestic
fountain. Except with the old torn tarp covering the Elder's body,
the scenery was far from pristine.

I wrinkled my nose. The sour scent of suspicion filled
my nostrils before I smelled blood, wild death drying on the Elder's
flesh.

“
Something's
not right here, Erik. Something unholy.” Christian reached into
his cloak and gingerly clasped his cross.

I sighed, gently pulling away the tarp. I stared at
Brahm's lifeless body and a terrible tremor shot through my body.

I hit my knees and screamed. My roar resounded through
the mountains, scaring the women who were gathered nearby to watch
the grisly scene.

It was custom to make the whole world grieve for a
fallen tiger, especially a high ranking one like an Elder. But I
wasn't just grieving for Brahm.

The world I knew had died with him next to this
fountain, and now Tiger Tree was under a very dark cloud. Inside, my
tiger growled, matching the imaginary thunder overhead.

He knew one hell of a storm was on the way.

“
How
could this happen?”

“
Are
we safe?”

“
Tell
us about the monster in the cave!”

I waved my arms, trying to quiet the people down. The
town meeting in the great hall had attracted everybody who wasn't
cowering inside their cabins with doors locked.

All eyes were on me.

“
All
right, everybody calm down! One question at a time. Good ones only.
First, there's no monster. I can promise you that.”

Several people grumbled in the wooden pews, shaking with
disagreement. These were the folks who were most upset, devout tigers
who truly believed Elder Brahm was an extension of the gods.

With his death, they felt an apocalypse around the
corner.

“
I
don't know what the hell happened up there, but I promise you this.
We'll get to the bottom of it. I've got men up there as we speak
scouring his cave for any trace of foul play. Whoever killed our
Elder
will
pay,
and pay with wrath this village hasn't seen in generations. No one
crosses a tiger, human or animal. Especially an elder.”

I flashed my teeth. Several villagers nodded, agreeing
with me for the first time. I'd given them red meat, and I was gonna
keep it coming.

Keep going. You're winning them over. But what about
you?

What do you believe?

Jenna's eyes in the front row hurt the most. I sensed
her intense horror since she'd learned about Brahm's murder, and it
seeped into my soul.

I'm sorry. So fucking sorry this had to happen after
I insisted there was no prophecy.

I still refused to believe there was. Someone had chosen
the worst moment in the world to strike against all Tiger Tree.

“
What
if the killer wasn't human? A person would've used a gun!” A
man I recognized as Flynn stood up near the back, shouting
frantically. “What if it's one of us?”

Voices babbled. Eyes rolled around the room
suspiciously. I paced to the center of the big table where tigers sat
in judgment.

The gavel was heavy in my hand. I picked it up and
slammed it down hard.

Crack!

The chatter ended. All eyes were on me again.

“
There's
no evidence to accuse anybody yet. At this point, our best guess is a
rogue trespasser, human or tiger. We're going to find evidence up
there. Moore says he can use his tools to identify the precise shade
of fur and cross-check with medical records.”

“
On
the contrary,” a new voice said darkly. “All the evidence
you need is right here, Alpha.”

I suppressed a growl as Rufus stepped out from the
shadows in the back. He walked down the central aisle, heading toward
me and my guys, a neat plastic bag in his hands.

Dark spots lined his face, all the nicks and cuts I'd
carved on his skin during the last big fight.

“
I
thought you were under house arrest?” I snapped, as soon as he
was in range.

“
You'll
be glad your men have been slacking off. I went up to the cave myself
this morning while you dragged your feet. Collected this fine fur
myself. There's still some up there, if anybody else wants to check.
Here you go, cousin.”

I wanted to rip the bag in half. Rufus' face looked
strangely mellow.

Was this an olive branch or a trick? Regardless, I
couldn't have a meltdown in front of my people and sew further doubt.

I passed the bag to Zee. “Make sure this gets to
Moore, pronto. I want the results by evening.”

“
You
got it, boss.”

I returned to the place where the gavel rested. Clenched
in my hand, I planned to lay it against the wood and adjourn this
awful gathering.

Before I could strike, a hand darted out, and I looked
up to see Rufus glaring with a dead look in his eye, digging his
fingers into my wrist.

How
dare you!
I
thought.

My tiger paced restlessly, ready to emerge and put the
upstart back in his place, even if the last thing Tiger Tree needed
was another public brawl.

“
Get
your hand off me. Now.”

Rufus winced, but obeyed. He didn't break the icy gaze.

“
Break,
but don't adjourn the meeting. All of Tiger Tree deserves to know if
there's a killer in our midst.
I
deserve
to know. You'll have the results soon, won't you?”

I swallowed another growl. No contest, Rufus always knew
how to rile me up and provoke a fight. But not this time.

I'd give the jealous bastard what he wanted if it would
shut him up.

“
Okay,
listen up!” I made sure to yell the words uncomfortably close
to Rufus' ear. “We're gonna have a recess. We'll pick up here
at three o'clock this afternoon. Moore will have the results by then.
Until then, everybody clear out so I can hear myself think.”