Waking Her Tiger (2 page)

When the cart was loaded, she hopped into the transport and drove down the carefully marked path to the plane waiting for the luggage. Her cousin Kelly was on ground crew, and he waved her into position for the loading.

Their cousin Mike pulled up in another small transport with no carts. He would be catching the luggage inside the plane while she tossed the bags onto the belt.

Her hardhat and ear protection let her focus on her work, and she moved the heavy bags first while the passengers were boarding. In her jumpsuit and orange vest, she was just one of the guys. She deliberately left her clothing loose to obscure her sex. Folks tended to get a little freaked out when they saw she was a girl.

When the plane was loaded and the last-minute additions were on board, Mike sealed it up and Maddy drove her tiny train back to the sorting bay.

It was lunchtime, and cousin Robert was going to be doing the next small commuter on his own.

Maddy took off her safety gear and hung it up before scrubbing her hands and heading for the food court. She got her usual—two burgers and fries—before heading to a seat in the court. The cousins on her shift joined her, and they sat, laughing and rolling their eyes at the designer carryon that a woman nearby was hauling.

Maddy’s ears could hear everything in the food court, and she heard the woman muttering to her companion, “Can’t they eat downstairs or something?”

“What did you just hear, Maddy?” Mike looked at her warily.

“Oh, nothing. Just testing the baggage coverage after lunch.”

The rest of the table broke into wary chuckles.

“Are you sure you should do that?” Mike perked his head up and looked around, finding the source of her irritation without any trouble. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Pretty sure.”

She finished her second burger, dragged her last fry through the puddle of ketchup and drank her iced green tea. “You, gentlemen, enjoy your meal. I am going for a walk.”

Her cousins nodded and continued their break. Maddy needed to stretch her legs; she did it every day.

Her walkie-talkie squawked.

She took the unit off her belt and pressed the button, “Maddy here, what’s up?”

“There are high-security visitors in the offices who want a tour of the baggage facility. They have asked for you.”

She could hear the nervous tension in her manager’s tone. Her aunt was practically giddy with excitement.

“I am on break.”

“Please, Maddy. This feels important.”

Maddy sighed. “On my way.”

She stretched her legs as she was hiking up the gangways through the service corridors of the municipal airport. There was an elven guard outside the office, and it warned her that something was up.

An extremely tall man was holding a clipboard and flipping through the safety manifest for the department. All their checks and balances were on those documents.

A small woman was standing near Maddy’s Aunt Aggie. “Good afternoon, Mary Alice.”

The woman blushed, and Maddy realised that it wasn’t what she thought. The woman wasn’t blushing; she was losing her glamour.

Maddy stepped back, and the man snapped the paperwork down onto the clipboard.

“Madeline Black, I would like to introduce you to the elven king’s right hand, Suran Yffa. He requires a tour of the security points for the king’s visit.”

Maddy didn’t look at him, though she could feel his gaze boring into her. “Bullshit. The fey king transports where he wants to go. He doesn’t take commercial or private aircraft.”

A light breeze tried to pull at her hair, but it was tightly braided and not moving.

“Interesting that you are aware of that.”

Maddy’s knees wobbled when the deep voice rolled through the room. She stiffened her spine and told her ears to stop thinking he sounded sexy. Maddy looked at the tanned figure with the grey eyes, and she noted the resemblance to Mary Alice.

“I can work the internet just like anyone else. Are you her father or her cousin?”

He raised his deep-purple eyebrows and smiled. “You caught on to that?”

Maddy tried not to rub her eyes. He was undergoing the same shade fluctuation that Mary Alice was.

“Why am I here? I am sure that security would fight like gladiators for the honour of your company. I was on break.” She was irritated, and the emotion surprised her. Something about their colour changing was making her angry.

Mary Alice’s eyes widened, and she cleared her throat. “Suran, may I speak with you a moment?”

He looked at his companion. “Now?”

“Now.”

He must have read something in her eyes, because he took her arm and they left the office for a moment.

Aggie was in shock. “Have you ever been this close to one before?”

“Apparently. Mary Alice was the woman who came to the house last week, now shh. I am trying to listen.” Maddy waved her aunt to be quiet.

Mary Alice hissed,
“She can see the glamours.”

“What?”
Suran’s voice boomed even in a whisper.

“I didn’t think it was actually a thing, but it is more than rumour. When our coverings shifted, she got physically angry. You might want to either drop the mask or hold it tight.”

“You are joking.”

“I am not. Their other senses get a conflicting reading and they get confused and aggressive. We just learned about it because no one has bothered to ask before.”

“Right.”
Maddy heard him sigh
. “She is smaller than I thought.”

“It is only because you are a giant. Now, self-control and go back in.”

Maddy straightened and patted her aunt’s shoulder. “They are coming back in. Let’s just get this over with.”

When the two entered, the man obviously fey and the woman trying to look human, it now made more sense. Neither was what they seemed. Once she accepted that, she could ignore the blaze of fury that their magic ignited.

“Mr. Yffa, would you care to take that tour?”

He blinked and inclined his head. “Yes, Ms. Black, I would.”

She headed out of the office, grabbing her vest and helmet.

Maddy beckoned him. “This way. I am not taking you into any secure areas unless you have been authorized by security, so we are going to the offices first.”

“You are seriously having me submit to a security check?” He was amused.

“Yes. My job, my regulations. If you don’t like it, you can leave.”

Aggie gasped at the bald statement, but Mary Alice had a delighted grin that Maddy could see through the plate glass of the office wall.

She glanced at him and raised her eyebrows in challenge. He inclined his head.

“As you like, Ms. Black.”

“Regulations are regulations.” She found the largest hardhat for him, and he put it on with a grin.

His smile looked slightly wrong in his features. She shook her head and led him through the service areas still under construction until they could take their helmets off and tuck them under their arms.

When they entered the security office, everyone froze.

“Toby, I need a security check on Suran Yffa of the fey court.”

Toby was frozen at his desk.

She whistled sharply. “Toby!”

He jerked and cleared his throat. “Suran Yffa?”

She nodded. The other officers in the room were staring at the fey in their midst. Fortunately, Toby could skim through the data files with all the grace of an otter.

He printed off the security clearance and generated a tag for the elf to clip to his suit. It was a priority visitor’s badge. He could go anywhere in the airport with it.

Maddy looked down at her badge. He had better clearance than she did.

She turned to Suran. “Well, if you want a complete tour, you are better off with one of our security guards.”

His lips tightened briefly. “I am sure they are very capable, but Mary Alice speaks highly of you.”

Maddy sighed. “Right. Well, thanks, Toby.”

She left him trailing after her out of the security office before entering a service hallway that was largely unused. Maddy turned on him. “What did you want to see?”

He smiled. “You are direct.”

“And you are hiding what you look like. Next comment?”

“I have been asked to convince you to go to the Crossroads. The fey there are going without glamour and you might be able to find your match.”

She cocked her head. “Why would I want to have a fey as a mate?”

He looked around and gestured at the airport at large. “If this is a sample of your people, I believe that you need a bit more of a challenge in your life.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

Suran gave her a slow smile. “I know that you try to defer to those of greater age than you, but they all look to you for protection and guidance. You try to go through the motions of regulations, but you have to push those around you into doing your will and it is tiring.”

Maddy blinked. It was an impressive assessment considering she had known him for ten minutes. “Fine. You know some things about me, but I am not leaving my people today to chase off to the Crossroads.”

He inclined his head. “I understand. The king will be taking his private plane from gate three through the airport, and your team will handle his luggage. I wish to see where that would be.”

She cocked her head at the subject change. “Very well. Please, come this way.”

She started on a genuine tour and showed him how they treated the luggage as well as the special-handling section. When she finished her tour, she walked him through the route the king would take and was surprised that he took the investigation seriously. Back at the baggage office, Mary Alice was having coffee with Aggie. The guard was stoic and standing near the door.

From just outside the door, Maddy whispered, “So, if you are the king’s security, who is he?”

Suran smiled, “Mary Alice’s bodyguard. When she is out on the king’s business, she has to have a guard at all times.”

“Why?”

“She is my niece and her mother is a woman of tremendous influence. Capturing her daughter could put that influence at risk.”

“Oh. Right. Sure.”

Before they entered the office, he flicked his fingers and a richly detailed business card flicked out. “If you change your mind about the Crossroads, call her. Mary Alice is a very good transporter.”

She took the card, and he inclined his head before gathering his two companions. They disappeared in a shimmer of light and the scent of cinnamon.

Aggie looked at her. “What was that about?”

Maddy tucked the card into the neckline of her coveralls, and she shrugged. “I have no idea. I guess the fey are as weird as they say.”

“Right, well, Mike is struggling with the current outbound. Go and help him.”

Maddy chuckled and left her aunt to her paperwork while she headed out to toss a few dozen bags around.

Nothing like baggage handling to blank one’s mind.

She flicked the card in her fingers for the thousandth time.

Her father looked at her and jerked his head. They rose to their feet and left the rest of the family to their dessert.

“What is it that you want for your future, pet? You are playing with that card like it is a dagger.”

She put it in her pocket and sat in the wingback chair near the fireplace. “I don’t know what to do.”

Her father sat across from her as he had a dozen times in the last year while she explained her refusal to go for any promotions at work. She had turned down her aunt’s job when airport management had offered it to her and kept from being turned into shift supervisor. Her reluctance to advance in her job had concerned her parents.

“Think about it. There is nothing here that can bring you to the next level. You cannot fit in the burrow, and your mother and I have been worried about your chances at having a family.”

Maddy brought her head up and stared at him. “What? What do you mean a family?”

He smiled and leaned forward. “I see how you look at the little ones. You want your own, but the men in the town are petrified that you are going to eat them. I know you try, but we see how you look at us when we are all wearing out beasts.”

She felt her skin go clammy. “I would never act on that.”

“What? That you are a predator and we are prey? Since the day you first shifted, we knew that you would be faced with a decision. A choice has been offered to you...it is time to make it.”

Maddy winced. She had spent her entire adult life trying to blank her mind to the future, and now that future had arrived to lure her into a situation, she was not prepared to deal with. She should have been prepared for it, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

Her dad reached out and took her hands. “Call the transporter. Listen to your beast. If she finds someone she wants, you will know it, just as your mother and I knew it. Our beasts wanted what they wanted, and we were along for the ride.”

Maddy chuckled. “Mom says she got used to it.”

“As did I. Now, make the call. Your mom has your bags packed already.”

She was startled into laughing, and he grinned, perking up as his kind always did when they heard the noise of a predator nearby. Her heart ached at the reflex, and she nodded. When he freed her hands, she pulled out the card.

Maddy ran her thumb over the embossing of the name
Mary Alice.
Light swirled in the room, and the elf in question was standing there, but this time, she was wearing a tanned blue skin instead of her mahogany colouring.

She smiled. “Are you ready, Madeline?”

Maddy’s father nodded. “I will get the bags. Maddy, go out and say your goodbyes; I think it best if you remain in here, madam.”

Maddy stood and Mary Alice took her seat. It was set, she was going to hug her family farewell and head off into a swirl of magic to take her chances with creatures she had only ever seen on the news and once in person.

What fun.

“Put this charm around your neck. You haven’t been blended with fey magic yet, so your body won’t take kindly to my energy around you. The charm acts as a sort of cling film that will keep the energies from touching directly.”