Predator's Refuge (25 page)

“Working together, and not against each other. Right, Mittens?”

Anton glared at him for a moment, but then nodded.

Chapter 15

Marci concluded her teleconference with the resort’s main supplier of linens, feeling stressed. The meeting had gone well, finishing early; in fact, she’d talked them into giving them a cheaper price on the tablecloths they provided for the resort restaurants. Ryland would be happy about that. He always grumbled about how the supplier gouged them on those tablecloths.

As she documented the details of the call in an e-mail to Ryland, she realized she should feel a lot more proud of herself. She’d always been the sort to shy away from negotiations. However, when talking to the supplier, she kept hearing Anton’s pissed-off royal voice in her head, saying, “Are you going to accept that, lynx?” It had spurred her on to close the deal the way she wanted it.

But right now, she just didn’t care about tablecloths. A few days ago, a conversation about resort linens would have made her giddy. However, knowing she’d stormed away from Anton, she couldn’t muster up any satisfaction.

Big, stubborn Anton.

He’d gone through personnel files. It was exactly the sort of behavior that made her want to wag her assistant manager finger. What was he thinking?

He wants to keep us safe. Nothing more
, her lynx replied, calmly licking its paw.

“What do you know?” Marci countered angrily, looking down at her belly as if the animal cowered there. “This is just another example of his sense of entitlement. While we little people have to follow rules, people like him get to do whatever they want. If he’s going to be my mate, he’s going to have to learn a bit of humility and…”

She stopped midsentence, aware of how foolish she appeared, talking to herself.

If she were trying to protect her mate, wouldn’t she pull out all the stops too? If someone was out to hurt Anton, hell, yes. She’d lie and cajole and cheat and do all sorts of things she wouldn’t normally do. If it meant keeping him at her side, she’d do a lot worse too.

Maybe she’d been too hard on him.

At the same time, she couldn’t have him manhandling Killian or any other employees here on a whim. Okay, there might be some disturbing elements to Killian’s past, but Anton had freely admitted the same. Did that give him the right to intimidate others? No.

Perhaps she ought to find them and see if she was needed to break up any simmering fights. With that intention, she scooted out of her chair, out of her office, and hurried out of the lodge.

As she dashed along the pathway toward the programming office, her lynx launched itself at her insides with a horrible thrust. Marci clutched at her stomach, reeling at the sudden pain. “What the…?”

The animal pounced again, demanding her immediate attention.
Don’t go there. Go there!
The animal indicated the walkway leading to the cabin area. It rammed her rib cage again for effect.

Marci put her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths. Why did her spirit animal have to be a capricious lynx? Why couldn’t she have been something sedate and sweet, like perhaps a turtle or a hamster? No, she had to get saddled with a rabid, scruffy cat.

The lynx raked its claws over Marci’s large intestine in response.

“Oh, okay, I’m going,” she muttered, setting off toward the cabin area. “Care to tell me what you want me to do there?”

The lynx did not respond but crouched, poised and on guard, in her dark corner.

Absorbing her animal’s prickle of unease, Marci meandered quietly, keeping an eye out for anything that looked amiss. Everything seemed fine. A couple of shifter moms chatted outside one of the cabins, waving to her. She waved back. A group of fishermen headed on another path toward the lake. They looked happy enough, laughing and carrying their fishing rods and tackle boxes.

She continued in the same direction and realized she was just about to pass Gabi’s cabin. Wondering if he’d found a flight to Hungary, she decided to check on him. She felt a little guilty that Anton had decided to stay with her, instead of leaving with his brother. Okay, she felt a lot guilty. And even though Gabi had lashed out at her in anger, the inclination to clear the air with Anton’s brother was strong. After all, she supposed they were related now, sort of.

She always wanted a brother.

As she approached the side window of her new brother’s cabin, her sensitive lynx hearing picked up on a hushed voice inside it. From the gaps in the conversation, she could tell Gabi was on the phone with someone. It all seemed innocuous enough until she heard his final, vehement statement.

“I tell you, Anton will not live to see another day. He may think he can swan in to claim my throne whenever he feels like it, but I’ll teach him the error of his ways.”

Anton? Surely he meant Istvan?

Marci took off her shoes and drew closer to the cabin, hoping to hear more, but Gabi had clearly ended the call.

As her lynx shrieked inside her, she sought to quiet the forlorn animal. Surely what Gabi said was a mistake. Surely it was a slip of the tongue.

And if not?

Oh hell, she needed to find Anton.

As quietly as possible, she turned on bare feet and took a step, only to hear the cabin door creak behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, suddenly terrified of what she’d see there.

“Come now, Ms. Lennox,” Gabi crowed, leaning with a casual air against the doorjamb. “We both know you won’t tell my pig brother a thing. I’ll make sure of that.”

She didn’t waste time arguing with him. Quick as lightning, Marci shifted into her lynx self, bursting through her work clothes. Her change was so swift she fell to her paws, landing hard on the thick pads. And as furiously as she moved, Gabi was faster. He transformed into his immense tiger with a speed that astounded her. And before she could aim for the path to the programming office, he blocked her, forcing her into the woods.

He wanted a chase? Well, she’d give him a chase. She knew this island better than almost anyone and could give him a run for his money. She’d be sure to steer him away from Anton until she could call to her mate and warn him.

Moving with sheer adrenaline and a whole lot of panic, Marci shot into the woods. Even though she felt the presence of the great predator right behind her, she kept moving, and prayed.

* * * *

Anton and Killian stared at the files before them. Anton ran a hand through his hair. He had to confess, he had no idea so many unsavory characters had found their way to Gemini Island. He’d have to have a long chat with Ryland when he returned from his honeymoon.

Honeymoon. Would Marci like a honeymoon? He supposed they had to get married first, although in the shifter world, a mating signified an even stronger bond than traditional marriage. He knew hundreds of mated shifters who’d never bothered to officially tie the knot, which was more of a human custom.

Still, it would be nice to exchange formal vows. Really nice to see Marci get dressed up in a pretty white dress and dance all night with him. Then he could slowly remove that white dress. He grinned at the thought.

Killian elbowed him hard. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Mittens.” He cringed. “You can think about playing with your mate later.”

Anton couldn’t help but roll his eyes in frustration. “That’s if she will have me back. She was really mad that I would dare to question her good friend Killian.”

Moon offered him a slow, smug smile. “See? She really does like me better.”

Anton scoffed. “She might like you better, but she loves me. So go fuck yourself.” When Killian began to chortle, he turned his eye to the files before them again. “What about this man? This Leon Price? He’s on record for assault.”

“I don’t know. I’ve met him. He seemed okay.” Moon ran a hand over his face. “Maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree. If you dig deep enough, I’d bet every shifter is on record for something. We’ve all had to struggle. We’ve all been forced to fight.” His long sigh expressed his frustration at their process.

Even though they’d combed through information on many of the guests and other employees, nothing had stood out as a real red flag. In most cases where shifter guests had been accused of crimes, charges had been dropped. Killian wasn’t exaggerating when he stated most shifters had a past. In a world full of prejudiced humans who didn’t know any better, shifters often stood out as weird or threatening. That didn’t make them actual criminals.

No, this all seemed off. Wrong, somehow. Anton had been pleased at first that Killian had invited him to review his files, but now he was struck with the uneasy sensation that they were wasting time. That he needed to be somewhere else. His tiger prowled inside him, looking about as if he’d lost something, his low growl a warning.

For some reason, his tiger placed a picture before his eyes, and Anton winced. It was the memory of Mariska lying dead in his suite at home. Her body had been mauled, but the killing wound had been a large tear in the back of her neck. Her attacker had severed several blood vessels, killing her painfully.

Why would his tiger make him think of this now? This was not the time to consider avenging Istvan’s crimes. His concerns were definitely more local now.

And then his tiger showed him another memory, one of Istvan’s other victims. The man had been an opponent of their father’s, vocal in his opposition. Istvan had taken care of the man by ripping out his vocal cords. At the time, he’d commented to Anton about how much he enjoyed making a kill from the front.

The better to witness their fear
.

Because the dead man had been no better than a thug himself, supplying his mother with some of her black market drugs, Anton hadn’t bothered to avenge him. Good riddance, he’d thought at the time.

So why hadn’t Istvan killed Mariska the same way? Wouldn’t he have enjoyed drinking in her terror while he ravaged her? Rather, he’d attacked from behind, never letting her see her killer. It wasn’t his style at all.

If he allowed himself to dwell on it, April’s and Charlotte’s wounds had looked very similar to Mariska’s, only in the latter case, the wound had been fatal.

No, surely not
.

“I’m going to check on Marci.” He pushed away from the desk and stood.

Sweat broke out on his skin. A chill infested his body, and the hairs on his arms stood on end. Without saying more, he lunged for the office door.

“Hey, wait,” Killian called.

“What?”

Killian’s eyes widened and he put his hands up. “I was just going to say it’s nice being on the same side with you, but…”

“Sorry. But I can’t help feeling something’s not right.”

Moon was on his feet in an instant. “With Marci?”

“Yes, with Marci. Who the hell else?” He paced in front of the door. “The attacks on April and Charlotte. You said they had the hallmarks of a tiger attack. I’m starting to think they were indicative of a particular tiger.” He paused, his head pounding. “I need to find Marci … and my brother.”

Killian didn’t hold him up another second. Anton raced out the door, shifting into his tiger self, and Killian the jaguar followed.

Chapter 16

Shit!
She’d forgotten how fast tigers moved.

When Anton sprinted after her in the woods a few days ago, the chase had been oddly exciting. She could admit now that she was actually looking forward to him catching her. But that chase had ended with them finding April on the ground.

April.
Oh, God
. Could it be Gabi had something to do with the attacks? No. He’d arrived on the island after she was attacked. She was sure of it.

Unless…

She wasn’t about to stop and ask him to clarify his comings and goings. She needed to get out of the woods and back to the relative civilization of the lodge. Around other shifters, he wouldn’t dare lay a paw on her, but here in the forest, no one could stop him.

But only if he could catch her.

The deep rumble from his animal throat sounded like a laugh. Pompous bastard.

Marci veered to the left and leaped over a boulder. She landed easily, tore through a clearing and over several fallen trees. On either side of her lay networks of caves. Did she dare escape into one of them, hoping he wouldn’t discover her? No. His senses were too keen. She just knew it. And she would not allow herself to get cornered in the dark where Anton could never find her.

Where to go? Where to go?
He was so close behind her she could feel his hot breath through the tufted fur at her ears. She danced around a cluster of maples, swearing at all the fallen leaves on the ground, making the surface harder to grip. She spun around a large oak, thankful for the tree coverage and yet cursing it at the same time because she needed to use all her dexterity to weave around them.

The trees.

Taking a chance, Marci raced up the nearest tall tree. Lynx were naturally strong climbers, and were often known to hide in trees in the wild. With her small lynx body weight of eighty-five pounds, she flew up the gnarled trunk and perched on a high branch, spinning around to watch Gabi.

The tiger spotted her, leaned back on his haunches, and showed his teeth. Once again, the low rumble from his chest made her heart sink. With his black lips pulled back, he appeared to be offering her a vicious smile.

She knew it was unusual for tigers to climb trees, certainly to be as stealthy as lynx. Their bulky body weight often prevented them from climbing very far, and it wasn’t unheard of for tigers to get stuck in trees. However, others could climb just fine. She watched as Gabi moved back a few paces, took a running leap, and latched onto the thick trunk.

With an ominous grumble, he moved one large paw in front of the other, slowly ascending. Clearly, he was the variety of tiger that could climb.

She didn’t wait for him to reach her on her branch. Even though her lynx was ready for a fight, raising a paw to swipe, Marci overrode its decision and jumped from one branch to another. From her new perch, she avoided his extended paw and raced down the other side of the trunk. He let out a growl of frustration.