Chapter Three

“That was impressive.”

I turned to look at DeLuca who’d not even bothered to stand up. “What?”

“Most people can’t pull back the shift when they let out that much power. You just turned it off as if it were child’s play.”

I cocked my head and looked at him. I didn’t understand his point, but it really didn’t matter. When I turned back to the circle, Thomas was walking to his clothes, blood streaming down his back from the neck wound. Injuries in our alternate bodies were still injuries. Shifting between them didn’t fix it. In fact, depending on what kind it was, it could make it worse.

“Well, considering the excitement, I have a bit of advice, Lady Sasha.”

With liquid grace, Lord DeLuca surged to his feet to stand next to me. The laughing man from moments before had disappeared to be replaced by the diplomat.

“What’s that?”

“Send everyone home. There’s too much dissention in the ranks to risk a hunt tonight. Someone will end up dead in the woods that isn’t prey and they’ll try to pin it on you.”

He was a smart man. I can take advice, so I did exactly what he said. By the time formal leave had been taken from the nine House Lords, the car was waiting with a full escort. This time, Cole didn’t sit up front with Henry of no last name. Instead, he slid into the seat across from me and rolled up the security glass.

I waited until Henry had pulled out of the drive and onto the main road before I pulled back my fist and punched him as hard as I could in the jaw. It hurt, but it was worth it to see the look on his face.

“What was that for?”

“That was for setting me up. What, exactly, did I get suckered into tonight?”

“Sasha…”

Something in my face stopped him and he slid across the seat to sit on the opposite corner from me. I guess he didn’t feel safe. Imagine that. Of course, I’d gotten in my blow. He was too much a gentleman to strike me back so I was hardly going to sit there and beat on him. Then again, if he were the kind of man who would hit me back, he wouldn’t be sitting here to begin with. It made me stop and think about my choices.

I could have chosen one of my grandfathers or one of my uncles to guide me. Why, exactly, had I chosen him? Because, in the brief time I’d known him, he made me feel safe in a way none of the others did. They all wanted to use me and turn me into a puppet. Cole and his faction wanted to use me, but I don’t think they were of a mind to be puppet masters. Playwrights, maybe, but not puppeteers.

Well, if they thought I was going to read from their script, they had the wrong girl.

“You could have gotten me killed. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Probably better than you do.”

His tone was sharp and the angry look on his face didn’t bode well for me. Of course, I’d expected him to put up a fight, but if I couldn’t handle one alpha tiger, the chances of me handling an entire society of them were absolutely nil. One at a time sounded good to me. Plus, like it or not, I needed this one, but that didn’t mean I was going to let him start out with the upper hand. That was just asking for disaster.

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because we had to know if you were strong enough.”

Now, what did that mean, exactly?

“Strong enough for what?”

Suspicion was rife in my tone and his chuckle filled the car with enough force to make me shiver. It wasn’t that he was using power. Quite the contrary, it was just a normal reaction. But, it was full and completely male. It said more than words that he knew the score on the sexual balance running between us. Until that moment, I’d not realized he felt the same pull to me that I had to him. Maybe that was his intention, to sidetrack me, but it wasn’t going to work.

“Strong enough?”

“Strong enough to keep things from falling apart.”

“How about we start at the beginning? All these cryptic hints are beginning to give me a headache.”

His mouth turned up in a half smile.

“You’ll feel better when you get home and get your run in.”

“And what makes you think I’m going to go dance under the moon after all this?”

“Because I’ve felt your power. You’ve let so much out tonight that you won’t have any peace if you don’t.”

I hated that he was right, but I let it go.

“You sound like you’re talking from experience.”

“Trust me, I know. The very alphic of us have that problem. Tonight, you had power brushing around you from everywhere and your tiger is ready to embrace all that power. It’s simply evolution of the species. Together, we’re stronger than we are apart. The strong bolster the weak and feed off one another on a magical level.”

“And if I go home, take a bath and go to bed?”

“You’ve never woken up among shredded sheets, have you?”

I blinked and shook my head. Something like pain flashed across his face, but he just shook his head.

“You’ll learn. You’re not seeing any humans, are you?”

The abrupt shift in topic made my mind stall before I glared at him. He was serious as he stared back at me. His face told me he had a point to make and I’d see it, if I’d just pay attention. Well, my attention span was shot for the evening. He was just going to have to be a little plainer.

“What has my personal life got to do with anything?”

He gave a long sigh at my indignation before shaking his head.

“Nothing except have you considered what could happen if you shifted in your sleep and the person sharing the bed with you couldn’t defend themselves against claws or teeth?”

Oh. My face must have shown my horror at the thought, because he nodded.

“Exactly. Now that you’re going to be around alphas, you may want to cut back on dating any plain people until you understand how all that energy is going to affect you. Your power level is above anything I’ve ever seen, so the only way to see how much it’s going to affect you is to wait and see. The genie is out of the bottle and there’s no telling just how the wishes will go.”

And stay away from people who can’t defend themselves. Yep, sounded like a plan to me.

“Well, I don’t date humans, so we’re safe.”

The fact my parents had always discouraged it was none of Cole’s business. Of course, since I was banned from the tiger community, it meant that there hadn’t been a lot of dates over the years.

“Do you date at all?”

“None of your business. Now, back to the issue at hand?”

“How do you know that’s not part of the business?”

“Call it a hunch. You may want something from me, but it’s not just a date.”

“We don’t have enough time to tell you everything. I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to want more than the bare details and I’ve had a hard night. I’d like to get to bed before dawn, unless you’re offering to let me stay over?”

He said it with a totally innocent smile that could mean oh-so-many things.

“Thank you, but I don’t let strange men into my bed. It’s a rule.”

His smile broke into laughter. He laughed so hard that his shoulders shook with it and tears ran down his face.

“I was actually thinking of one of your spare rooms. Your house has several of them. But if you’re thinking that way…”

The blush flaming my cheeks gave me away. I felt sixteen with my first crush. I didn’t know him, at all, and had no idea how to handle the attraction.

“No. I don’t know you nearly well enough for any of that.”

“Well, why don’t you take advantage of the chance to get to know me?”

Now, that was the perfect opening on more than one level.

“What’s the story between you and Thomas?”

The teasing tension in the car was gone in a snap. On one hand, I was relieved, on the other, disappointed. Oh well, I needed to know what was going on with him if this was going to get in our way. Something told me it was.

“I would refuse to answer and tell you it’s none of your business, but you’ve a right to ask. You need to know why I’m not aligned in the power struggles that are crippling us. We’re brothers, but then you knew that already. My mother is an artist from Madrid. She came here to study art at the college. My father and Thomas’s mother were already committed to a political marriage when she presented herself to the local community. She was beautiful and exotic and everyone wanted her. I think my father was more interested in possessing her to prove that he could, over any real feelings. My mother was young, powerful, naïve, and on her own for the first and only time in her life. She was easy prey for them.”

He paused and I didn’t interrupt. I could imagine what it was like not only for him, but for his mother, all those years ago. Watching him, I learned several important things because he was too lost in thoughts and memories to remember to control his body language. He felt things deeply, but more than that, he could see beyond the personal to the objective.

“I was born ten months into her year here. She took me with her when she returned to Spain, but her parents were furious. To them, I was an obstacle to a beneficial marriage. When I was four, my mother did marry. After she bore my brother Enrique…things were hard for her. Her family refused to accept me and her husband’s tolerance was limited to how I directly affected his heir. When I was seven, my mother sent me to boarding school in Switzerland. I attended Oxford after that, but then found myself with no here to call home. If I’d been lower on the power scale, I could have petitioned for bachelor status somewhere, but no one would believe I didn’t have aspirations to be a king. So, I called my father. I suppose, truth be told, it could have been worse. If my father hadn’t acknowledged me when I was born, then my grandparents would have been within their rights to slaughter me in the cradle. If he hadn’t sponsored me here, I would have been living rogue, going from territory to territory living until I was run off. Thomas, to answer your question, likes being the golden boy and my coming threatened that because I’m stronger than he is. His mother indulged him and made him weak. He’s powerful enough, magically, but not a true alpha, and his core is weak because he doesn’t understand that everything isn’t supposed to come easily to you.”

For the first time, he lifted his eyes and we looked at one another. That was a lesson we both knew all too well.

“Do you have aspirations to be a king, Cole?”

A ghost of a smile colored his face. “If I said I hadn’t thought about it before I met you tonight, it would be a lie. You don’t strike me as the type to forgive lies easily, so I’ll admit it. Now that I’ve felt you, no, I don’t have any desire to take your throne. I think you’re much better suited for it.”

I returned his smile and felt the car slowing. A glance out the window told me I was home. Henry pulled the car into the long circular drive designed to accommodate carriages instead of cars. I faltered in my good-bye, suddenly feeling awkward.

“Well…”

“I’ll be in touch tomorrow, princess. We’ve put together some files for you to help you become more aware of the precariousness of our situation.”

“Thank you, Cole.”

“You’re very welcome, princess.”

Henry reached in to help me out of the car and gave me a low bow. Standing on the porch, I watched them drive back down the driveway.

Cole had been right about one thing, though. I needed a run. Undressing in my bedroom, I slipped on my favorite robe to walk out onto the back porch. It seemed crazy to dress just to walk outside and drop the robe, but I was being particularly self-conscious, all of a sudden.

Dropping the robe on the shadows of my porch, I let the magic take me. The rush of freedom was intoxicating. Staring down at my gold paws, I stretched like the cat I was. Gathering myself, I leaped from the porch and the race was on. Some nights, I stalked and hunted for the sport of it. Tonight, I ran. I ran for the joy of it.

Running through the trees, I ignored all caution. By the time it dawned on me that I wasn’t alone, I was deep in the forest. I repressed a moment of panic and realized I had home field advantage. Angling to a clearing on the edge of my property, I scented the breeze as I led them into my trap. Unfortunately, just the tickling of power at my back told me they were there. Whirling on my heels, I stopped in a crouch, my tail whipping behind me. The two tigers came into the clearing and I don’t think I was really surprised to see Cole drop onto his belly in the moonlight. The massive orange tiger beside him had to be Henry. He settled into the grass, watching and waiting.

Growling, I warned them off. This was my land and my refuge. I didn’t want company. Not tonight, anyway. Cole rose and strolled toward me, all grace and beauty. Stopping just before me, he purred at me before taking that final step to rub his cheek against mine.

Something gave inside me and I realized it was the wall I’d built against the loneliness. Tonight, just for tonight, I had friends to run with. What harm was that?

Whirling on my quarters, I bounded away and stopped to look over my shoulder.

Well, come on.

With that, I bolted across the clearing and felt them bound after me. No longer trying to be sneaky, Cole’s power flowed out and mixed with mine. Henry, much to my surprise, was also powerful enough to cast his power with ours so that we were fueling each other as we darted through the trees. Angling back to the beach, I was beginning to enjoy myself when Cole crashed into me, sending me tumbling into the surf. Coming up, sputtering water, I glared at him only to have him give me an innocent look back.

Oh, the game was on.

Unfortunately, he outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds of tiger, so by the time we reached my dock, I was dripping with salt water and he was only marginally wet from the one lucky shot I’d managed to get in.

With a sniff of indignation, I trotted up to my back porch and had a moment of indecision. I couldn’t shift to get back into my robe without flashing them, and I couldn’t get into the house without shifting. If I waited, would they go away and let me have my privacy?

Glancing back, I saw Henry sitting with his back to me, but Cole was dropped onto his belly, watching me. If a cat could laugh, his face was laughing at me. With a sigh, I turned back to the back door and shifted, grabbing for my robe before I was fully human, again.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen his backside tonight, too.