The Dark-Hunters (331 page)

“She satisfies me.”

Karina got a faraway look on her face as if she was remembering something in the past. Sadness marked her perfect features. “I, too, was satisfied once,” she said softly. Her face hardened again into the bitch countenance Wren knew so well. “Until I saw what our mating produced. I am the very last of my kind. If I can’t prolong the snow leopard breed, then at least let me reproduce a pure leopard and not some freakish hybrid.”

Thanks, Mom. Love you, too.
He would love to show her exactly what her freak was capable of.

Even she would be impressed with his ability to rip her throat out before she could even defend herself.

Grayson folded his arms over his chest and spoke in a calm, level tone as if they were discussing the weather and not the life and death of Wren and his father.

The very nonchalance made Wren want to kill them both.

“Then you know what you need to do, Karina.”

“It’s not that simple now,” she said with a sigh. “He’s left everything to the mutant. I’m quite sure it will see me out in the cold before it allows me near it.”

Grayson snorted. “What does a leopard care about a tiger’s will?”

She hissed at him. “Don’t be stupid. Our habitats are dwindling every day. At least in the facade of a wealthy human I can make sure that I always have a refuge to be in my true form. I also know how badly you want Tigarian Technologies, but Aristotle is too suspicious of you to ever trust you at his back again. So here’s what I propose. I kill him and the mutant, and you give me a share of the estate.”

“If I say no?”

“Then I take my chances with the mutant.”

Yeah,
Wren thought angrily. That would be an even worse mistake. Even as a cub he’d hated his mother. Too bad she hadn’t taken her chances with him.

Grayson fell silent as he considered her words. “Very well, I accept.”

Duh, like he’d expected his uncle to say anything else. But then, Wren was watching a history that he already knew the outcome to.

“Good, but I know you, Grayson. I don’t trust you, either. I want some assurances.”

Wow, Karina actually had had a brain. At least for a moment. Too bad her assurances had failed her in the end, but maybe they would give Wren some way to prove Grayson guilty of this deed.

“And what would that be?” Grayson asked.

“I want you to set me up as a major stockholder in your own company and I want a million dollars up front, transferred from your account to mine before I make any moves against the tiger.”

Even Wren could tell that went over like a weighted cannonball with his uncle. Grayson’s features actually looked pinched and drawn. Wren half-expected the tiger to tell her to shove it.

He didn’t. “How long do I have?”

“Not long. I know Aristotle. By now, he’ll have me banned entirely from the house. But he did say that he wanted me to look at the mutant. I feign interest. Tell him I’ve calmed down and would like to see it. When he opens the door, I can kill them both.”

Now that pleased his uncle. His eyes were actually alight and happy. “I need time to liquidate a few things to have the cash for you.”

“You have forty-eight hours.” She pulled a business card out of her purse. “That’s my account. Once the money is in there, you’ll be a far richer man.”

Wren watched as she stood up and walked off. It was the hardest moment of his life to stand there and let history make itself when all he had to do was lunge at them both and kill them.

I could save my father’s life …

But his father was supposed to die. If he didn’t, then Wren wouldn’t go to New Orleans and he would never meet Maggie.

She’s not your mate.

It was true. As his mother had pointed out to Grayson, it wasn’t in his people to love. Not like humans did, and yet Wren felt something for Maggie that defied any other explanation.

He only wanted to be with her and yet he knew he had nothing to offer her.

But right now, he could save his father’s life …

And lose Maggie forever.

His father or Maggie. But then, there was no real choice. If Wren saved his father, he would alter many more fates than just his own.

His mind turned back to when Vane had been living at Sanctuary. One of Vane’s packmates had come to kill him. Only Wren had kept him from pursuing Vane.

If Wren hadn’t been there …

Vane might be dead now. And that was just one instance that Wren knew about. One life touched hundreds of others, either directly or indirectly.

“The slightest stirring in the air can set a hurricane in motion a thousand miles off.”

Chaos theory. The Dark-Hunter Acheron had been the one to teach Wren that years ago. To change even the smallest thing could have extremely damaging repercussions.

No, he had to let history play itself out.

Grinding his teeth, he turned away and drifted into a secluded area so that he could shift back to his father’s house.

*   *   *

“You two can stay in here once Wren returns,” Wren’s father said as he closed the door to seal the two of them into a guest bedroom alone.

Marguerite frowned at his actions as something inside her became frightened. She didn’t want to be alone with Wren’s father. But it didn’t make any sense. Aristotle had only been kind to her so far.

Still, she felt extremely uncomfortable.

Aristotle took a deep breath as he fidgeted with a small porcelain box on the cherrywood dresser. “Do you think Wren will be able to find the evidence he needs?”

“I hope so.”

Aristotle shook his head. “My mother always told me to watch out for Grayson. She said that he had too much human in him for his own good.”

Marguerite frowned at his words. “How so?”

Aristotle put the lid on the box, then turned and leaned back against the dresser. “Animals as a rule aren’t particularly jealous, but Grayson always was. He was the eldest of my parents’ offspring. I was the youngest … born very late in their lives. I had two littermates who didn’t survive. Because of that, my mother doted on me. I can remember being just a cub and catching Grayson eyeing me with malice. My mother was always afraid to leave us alone together. It was why I banned him from my company a long time ago.”

Marguerite could understand Aristotle’s concern, but his actions struck her as extremely paranoid. “Yes, but jealousy doesn’t always make people homicidal.”

He laughed at that. “We’re not talking about people, Maggie. We’re talking animals. In our world, it’s survival of the fittest. Winner take all.”

He crossed the room to stand before her. “You love my son, don’t you?”

“I…” Marguerite hesitated. But in the end, she knew the answer. There was no denying it. “Yes.”

Aristotle smiled. “A human’s love. I couldn’t wish anything better for him. Animals protect what they know. They protect what they are bound to, but humans … humans have a greater capacity for sacrifice for those who live in their hearts.”

Before Maggie could move, Aristotle grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground. She tried to scream, only to find that she couldn’t even get air into her lungs.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t fight. It was as if some unseen force held her paralyzed.

His eyes blazed at her. “Forgive me for doing this to you. I hope you’ll understand in time.”

Her desired scream came out as a whimper as he changed into a tiger and bit her shoulder.

Marguerite was completely paralyzed as pain ripped through her. She saw colors swirling around as a foreign buzzing started in her ears.

Her breathing became labored, painful. It was as if she were suffocating.

She was dying. She knew it.

Why?

Why was he doing this to her? Her thoughts turned to Wren. He would be devastated.

Fight, damn it, fight!

But she couldn’t. She had no control over her body. No control over what his father was doing to her. It was terrifying.

I’m so sorry, Wren.

It was her final thought before everything went black.

*   *   *

Wren found himself alone in his father’s bedroom. He cocked his head as he heard faint music playing from another room. It was the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

Wren snorted. No doubt it was his father’s way of letting Wren know where they were.

He cracked open the door to the hallway and looked down it to make sure his younger self wasn’t about. Not that there was much chance of that. If he remembered correctly, he only ventured out after dark and then only a time or two. He’d been too afraid to let his father see him. Afraid of how much more his father would hate him if he knew what he could do.

God, he’d been such a fool. The very thing that had caused his father to change his feelings toward him had been the thing that had scared him most.

If only he’d known.

Wren headed down the hall, in the opposite direction of his childhood room. He found the door where the music was playing.

Just in case he was wrong, he knocked lightly on the door.

No one answered.

Hesitant, he opened it slowly to find a large white tiger on the bed. He froze not so much at the sight but at what he smelled. The air was thick with the scent of tiger mixed with that of Maggie.

But there was no sight of her.

Wren’s heart hammered at the significance. “What did you do?” he snarled at the beast that lay facing the opposite wall. “How could you eat my girlfriend, Dad? She was all I’ve ever had. Damn you!”

His rage boiling over, Wren charged the bed, intending to kill his father as he changed into a tiger’s form. He caught the tiger, then skidded to a halt.

Wren’s gaze locked with the tiger’s, whose eyes weren’t blue.…

They were brown.

They were
Maggie
brown.

And they were large in panic.

Wren let go of her and changed back to human form. Scared of what he was seeing, he reached out to touch her, half-expecting this to be a trick of some kind. How could Maggie be a tiger?

She was human. Completely human.

“Baby?” he whispered, stroking the tiger’s face. “Is it really you?”

The tiger crawled closer to him. She nuzzled his bare chest and raised a paw to rest on his hip. He could sense her fear that was mingled with relief.

Wren wrapped his arms around her to hold her close in comfort. “It’s all right,” he said, stroking her soft fur. “I’ve got you.”

Two seconds later, she was lying as a naked human in his arms.

Wren pulled back to see those familiar brown eyes.

“I’m scared, Wren,” she said, her voice trembling. “What’s happening to me?”

He cupped her face in his hands. “I don’t know. What happened while I was gone?”

“Your father brought me into this room and I thought he killed me.”

Wren frowned at her words. “What?”

“He attacked me as a tiger, then everything went black. When I woke up, I was…” She changed back into a tiger before she could finish speaking.

Her panic doubled.

“It’s okay, Maggie,” Wren assured her. “Take a deep breath and imagine yourself as a human.”

She came back to him.

“That’s it,” he said with a smile he didn’t really feel. But he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. “Stay focused as a human and you’ll remain one.”

“I have to tell you, being a tiger really sucks.”

He laughed darkly at her words. “Sometimes. Sometimes it’s not so bad.”

“This isn’t one of those times.”

He smiled as he gently stroked her hair. “No, I guess for you it isn’t.” He tilted his head as he tried to sense his father, but all Wren could feel was Maggie. “Do you know where my father went?”

“No, but the next time I see him, I intend to return the bite.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll bite him for you.” Wren pulled back from her. “How do you feel right now?”

“Woozy. Do you ever feel like you’re going to vomit when you change shapes?”

“It usually goes away quickly. Stare at something for a minute and your senses will settle down.”

She stared at his lips.

Wren didn’t know what it was about that that turned him on, but his body reacted instantly to it.

“You’re right,” she said. “It helps.”

Wren kissed her lightly. She moaned deep in her throat as he parted her lips to taste the sweetness of her mouth. His body hardening even more, he gently cupped her breast in his hand.

He rolled her to her back just as someone knocked on the door.

He quickly dressed them both as the door opened to show his father. Hesitating in the doorway, he appeared sheepish. “I didn’t know you were back. I was coming in to check on Maggie. How’s she doing?”

Wren left the bed as rage took hold of him. “What did you do to her?”

He looked past Wren to the bed where Maggie was still lying in human form. “I’m so sorry, Maggie. But it’s for the best. You’re stronger now. You’ll live longer than you would have as a human. Believe me, you’re much better off this way.”

Wren grabbed him and slammed him back against the wall. “What did you do to her?”

“I gave her my mother’s powers.”

Wren couldn’t have been more stunned had his father racked him. He loosened his hold on his throat. “You did what?”

“I gave her animal powers. I figured that by the weekend I wouldn’t need them anymore anyway, right?”

Wren shook his head in denial. “It’s impossible. No one can give up their powers.”

His father snorted at that. “Yes, they can. It’s not something done often. Very few of our kind are willing to let go of their magic. But it can be done.”

Wren still didn’t believe it. “No. I know a Were-Hunter who’s mated to a human. She has no powers.”

“Because he didn’t share them with her.”

“Believe me, if Vane could share his powers with his wife, he would.”

Wren’s father arched a brow at that. “Even if it meant weakening his own?”

Wren hesitated. No, maybe not. “How is it I’ve never heard of this?”

“It’s not exactly something that’s talked about in open circles. I learned about it from my mother, who gave up her powers to me when she knew she was dying of cancer. I was young and she was terrified Grayson would kill me. So she made me strong enough to hold my own against him. Now I’ve passed her gift along to your girlfriend.”