Here There Be Tigers (9 page)

“
Twenty years later? Wow, some
fine.”

“
As far as the elders were
concerned, if it wasn’t outrageously huge, it wouldn’t be enough of
a deterrent to others.”

“
But breaking the law only comes
with a monetary fine? Nothing worse?”

He cut her a glance, trying to gage how she was
taking all this information. “There would be worse punishments if
the situation had been different. The circumstances around this
particular breach only warranted the fine.”

The elders had forced Alexis and Victor’s
hands, leaving them little choice but to break the rules of the
Run. If the elders had imposed anything more serious than a fine,
Mitch new for a fact Alexis and Victor would have rebelled and gone
into hiding. Since their second child turned out to be a girl, the
elders made the right choice. Otherwise, the community would have
lost a valuable female. Mitch smiled a little at thoughts of Alexis
and her family.

“
I understand the need for something
to help control the chaos,” Nila said, breaking into his thoughts.
“And as I said, biologically speaking, it makes sense. But how does
this work on an emotional level? You said tigers fall in love.
Where does love come into all this?”

“
Love and emotional ties definitely
play a part in the Run, in the choices the females make, in the
consistency of a pair to come together Run after Run until they
conceive. But it can complicate things. Jealousy is still a
difficult problem.” He considered whether or not he should mention
the growing discord among the young tiger males, but decided that
could wait. She had more than enough to deal with at the
moment.

“
Getting married once a female is
pregnant isn’t a requirement of the Run,” he continued. “She can
select a new male for each child she wants to have, though she has
to run again if she wants a new partner. But love drives most
couples to get married, and then they tend to remain monogamous.
This leaves a lot of males without mates or any hope of children.
Still, the Run has kept the population from descending completely
into anarchy and extinction, so overall it works.”

Nila was silent for long enough Mitch started
getting restless. What was she thinking? How did the Run affect her
impression of his people? And most importantly, was the Run
something that appealed to her? She’d liked the idea of three days
of sex. Did that mean she’d want to take part in a Run if she had
the chance? Although, how that would work, he couldn’t guess since
she wasn’t physically capable of it.

Curiosity finally got the better of him. “Would
you enjoy something like the Mate Run as a way of finding a
partner?” he asked. He tried keeping his tone neutral and mildly
curious, but he heard the hint of a growl creeping into his voice.
He felt her stare on the side of his face and refused to look at
her.

“
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t survive
the running part,” she said, light and sardonic. “But I’m an old
fashioned girl. I prefer meeting a man, deciding I like him, and
going from there. I’m not knocking the process, necessarily. It
sounds like the Mate Run serves its purpose and has probably saved
a lot of lives.”

He nodded.

“
That’s fair enough. But it wouldn’t
be for me. Does…does a female ever end up with a male she doesn’t
like?”

“
Not that I know of. There are
plenty of males to choose from.”

She was silent for a moment. “Then Anaya at
least liked Petrov?”

“
They were married until her death
and had four children together,” he said softly. That didn’t
exactly answer her question, but he wasn’t sure what to tell her.
He’d never met Anaya or Petrov. He had no idea what kind of
relationship they’d had behind closed doors. He only knew they’d
been married for years.

“
So Vlad was the baby Anaya and
Petrov conceived during a Mate Run,” Nila said. “That's what he was
talking about.”

Mitch nodded.

Nila fell silent again, and Mitch concentrated
on his driving, allowing her the time she needed to consider
everything he’d told her. He was used to this world, these stories,
the intricacies and complications inherent in his people’s struggle
for survival. To Nila, this must be like entering an alien world,
even given all her work with big cats. Her time with ordinary
tigers couldn’t have prepared her for something like tiger shifters
and their much more complex social order.

Nearly half an hour passed before she spoke
again. The sun was just starting to set.

“
Where are we going? Or are we just
going to keep driving until we run out of gas?”

He smiled. She was an amazing woman. He’d
thought he knew strong women, but Nila’s strength humbled him. “I
have a friend in Baltimore. He just recently married. He’ll help
us.”

Elizaveta had warned him to avoid the elders’
compound in West Virginia and to stay away from other tigers if he
could, without explaining in much detail why. He could guess,
though. They had no way of knowing which tigers would support
Petrov in his efforts to kill Nila. Better to avoid all tigers,
just in case. But Max was his best friend. Mitch knew he could
trust Max and his wife with Nila’s life.

“
Human or tiger shifter?” she
asked.

“
Tigers.”

“
Will we stay in
Baltimore?”

“
We’ll have to move on. Cities
provide good cover in some ways. There’s a lot of anonymity. But
there are also a lot more humans who might see and report your
location to Petrov’s people. We’ll have to stay in more isolated
locations and hope Petrov is captured before he finds
us.”

“
If others are hunting him, how is
he still able to come after us?”

“
He’s clever and an extremely
efficient predator. He’s also wealthy, and money can buy a lot of
secrecy.”

“
Can he bribe the people your
grandmother sent to capture him?”

Mitch didn’t respond at first. That thought had
crossed his mind on more than one occasion. The Trackers enforced
tiger laws and went after those who broke the laws. Alexis was a
former Tracker, the only female Tracker in recent memory, and she’d
been training new Trackers since she retired, so Mitch had a lot of
respect for the office. But they weren’t infallible. A corrupt
Tracker, or Trackers, was possible.

“
There are enough tigers who
disapprove of Petrov trying to kill you. They will want him
caught,” Mitch finally said, mostly confident he was telling her
the truth. “But he won’t be easy to find. Our only hope is that
we’re more difficult for him to find than he is for the Trackers to
locate.”

“
You don’t make that sound
easy.”

“
It won’t be.”

CHAPTER NINE

Nila studied Mitch’s friends with a great deal
of curiosity. Maxim Rudikov was a large, well-muscled man with dark
hair and eyes. His features were broad and sharp, giving him a
rugged handsomeness. His wife, Irina Gorban, was a beautiful woman
with long, light brown hair and green eyes. She wasn’t nearly as
tall as her husband but was still several inches taller than
Nila.

Though Mitch had told her Irina was pregnant,
the woman had only a slight bump. If she were human, Nila would
guess she was less than five months along but had no idea if tiger
shifters carried children the same nine months as humans or closer
to a normal tiger’s four months. She found herself incredibly
curious about everything to do with tiger shifter reproduction, and
having a pregnant one sitting across from her made it hard to
resist asking all her questions. This didn’t really seem like the
right time for that kind of conversation, though. They had more
important things to discuss.

Unfortunately, they weren’t actually discussing
those things yet either.

They’d arrived a little after eight in the
morning, driving most of the night with one break at a truck stop
to sleep for a few hours. Since knocking on Max and Irina’s door,
they’d gone through the niceties: coffee, tea for Irina, an
exchange of small talk. They settled in the couple’s comfortable
living room and chatted about innocuous thinks like Max’s new car
and their new house extension. The process nearly drove Nila
insane. She was running for her life for god’s sake.

Finally, they took mercy on her.

Max asked, “Okay, Mitch, what’s going
on?”

“
You know how my grandmother’s been
researching the legend?”

Irina and Max nodded without comment. Mitch had
told Nila the story of the ancient couple on the drive down.
Apparently, the tigers had a myth of a human woman being able to
have children with a tiger male. They’d had a bunch of kids—both
tigers and humans—and according to Mitch the story was wreathed in
romantic “crap”. His disregard of the romance had made her laugh.
The name of the couple, even the origins of the story, had been
lost to time, so most tigers didn’t believe it could really
happen.

Obviously, they were wrong.

“
Nila’s mother, Anaya Pujari, was
likely a descendant of that first couple,” Mitch said, “because
Nila’s father is human.”

Silence rang loudly in the cozy room as all
eyes turned to her. Nila squirmed in her seat and set her coffee
aside. Their stares made her feel like a bug under a microscope.
The silence stretched on so long she very nearly stood and left the
room.

Irina was the first to look back at Mitch and
break the tense, uncomfortable moment. “You’re sure? There’s no
mistake about her parentage.”

Nila scowled. “No talking about me like I’m not
here.”

Irina cringed. “Sorry. It’s just… If what Mitch
says is true, you shouldn’t exist.”

“
Yeah, so he keeps saying. But my
dad is definitely not a tiger shapeshifter.”

“
You’re sure about your mother?” Max
asked.

“
No. I never even knew my mother was
alive until two days ago when I was almost kidnapped at
JFK.”

Irina’s gaze snapped back to Mitch. “What
happened?”

“
It’s complicated, but my
grandmother has known about Nila all along. After Nila was born,
Anaya returned to the Mate Run as soon as her cycle started again.
She ended up mated with Petrov Dubrovsky. About three weeks ago, no
one is sure how, Petrov found out about Nila. My grandmother is
pretty sure he killed Anaya because she was discovered dead right
before Petrov started hunting for Nila.”

Irina gasped. When Max growled, the sound made
the hair on Nila’s arm raise.

“
Petrov killed his mate?” Max asked,
his voice deep, his anger a tangible thing in the room.

“
We think so. There’s no proof so
the elder’s haven’t been able to take measures, but there’s no
doubt he’s after Nila now. And he’s made no secret of the fact that
he wants her dead.” Mitch paused and met her gaze. “Yesterday, she
met her half brother, Anaya and Petrov’s oldest son,
Vlad.”

Irina faced Nila. “What did he do? Did he try
hurting you?”

“
Thank you for talking to me,” Nila
said, trying to hide her irritation. “No, he didn’t hurt me. He
warned us that Petrov was only a few hours away.”

“
He shifted in front of her,” Mitch
said quietly.

It was the first time he’d broached the subject
since right after it happened. Nila still did not want to discuss
what she’d seen. She’d blocked the whole thing to avoid going
completely insane. When her life was no longer in danger, she’d
allow the nightmares and terror to take her, but now she didn’t
have time.

“
You weren’t prepared, were you?”
Max asked.

“
I’m not ready to talk about that.
We need a place to hide. That’s all.”

Max nodded in understanding. “He knows who you
are, Mitch?”

“
The man who tried taking Nila from
the airport got a good enough look and was in contact long enough
to hold my scent. Vlad confirmed Petrov knows who I am.”

“
Then Petrov also knows who your
grandmother is. He’ll know the elders have sent the Trackers after
him.”

“
With his resources, I wouldn’t
count on the Trackers getting to him quickly. They haven’t even
been able to prove he killed Anaya.”

The statement made Max growl again.

“
We can’t take any chances with
Nila,” Mitch finished.

The couple nodded in unison and glanced at her
again, a strange sort of awe filling their expressions.

After another uncomfortable moment, Max said,
“He’ll look for you with your friends, but you can stay here if you
want. I’ll help you keep her safe.” He looked directly at Irina
when he said, “You can go stay with your father.”

“
Oh, no, Max, don’t even think of
sending me away. I might not be able to shift, but I can still
help.”

“
You know how I feel about this. You
keep the baby safe. I keep you safe.”

She smiled, a gentle expression filled with so
much love Nila’s chest ached to see it. Did people really love each
other that much? Was this what it was like for mated tiger
shifters? That thought reminded her that her mother’s mate was
trying to kill her. She didn’t want to think that Anaya had loved
Petrov this way, but what if she had? And he’d killed her. Nila
shuddered.