Chapter Fourteen

Cyrus took Cella’s hand and took a step toward the door to lead her out and down into their chamber so they could talk. And by talk he was thinking about getting horizontal and connecting on a physical level. Several times. But then he remembered the bomb that had happened twenty-four hours earlier.

He turned to face the family. “The bomb.”

Brone’s purple eyes narrowed. “We didn’t know how much you remembered, if anything at all.”

His nostrils flared as Cella tucked herself close to him. Damn, he wanted her. He felt like he had a thousand things to make up for, the most glaring thing being that he’d behaved like an ass in their chamber. He looked down at her. He could see her features even more clearly; she was gorgeous on a hundred different levels, and he was in awe of how lucky he was to have her in his life.

“This is important,” she said, as if she could read his mind and the bedroom-thoughts that were straying into it.

“So are you.”

Her lips split into a sweet smile. “This first. The coven could still be in danger.”

Cella was one hundred percent right. And if the coven was in danger, it meant that she could potentially be in danger, and that was unacceptable. He pushed back the part of him that wanted to rush her off into a dark corner and make her come a dozen times and focused on the event in question. As he thought over what happened, he could see it as clearly in his mind as if he were watching a movie. He explained to the family what happened, from scenting a strange, artificial tiger to seeing the bomb in the ceiling, trying to get as many workers out as possible, and then the pain and darkness that followed. It was odd to consider he’d lost a whole day because of the turning. It felt like the explosion had just happened.

Temple joined them with a tablet computer, which showed a split screen of four camera angles from the restaurant – one at the front and back doors, and two inside the kitchen.

“How does someone get tiger scent in the first place?” Rage asked. “What’s the purpose of a product like that even existing?”

Cyrus checked the time stamps on the videos and rolled them back to the beginning of the second shift and set the footage speed to fast forward at three times the normal rate. While he watched the first shift leave and the second shift come on, he knew each and every tiger that stepped foot in the restaurant. As the footage raced by, he had no trouble seeing every detail, and he briefly wondered if it was due to his turning and whatever strange thing had happened to him because of it. He was the same but different. An anomaly.

He paused the footage. “First and second shift are normal. No one who doesn’t belong there. As for the faux tiger scent, it’s off the market in the States, but it’s available in other countries and on the black market. It was used in the States a few decades ago for hunting tiger shifters. It mimics the scent of a tiger to allow someone to infiltrate an ambush. The problem is that the scent isn’t really true. To a tiger shifter, it scents of a strange tiger at first but it takes only seconds to figure out that it’s artificial.”

“It’s outlawed in the States?” Harmony asked.

“When shifters fought for legal rights and won, yes. A few years ago there was a company selling the tiger essence to homeowners as a protective measure, saying they could lay the scent around their house and keep other predators away. They were shut down fast, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there still selling it on the down low.”

“Does it work?” Cella asked.

“Not to keep shifters away. Any shifter would smell that the essence is fake. But it might work on a human, maybe light up that place in their brain that tells them to avoid places that could get them killed.”

Mishka hummed. “It has to be the church.”

The church made Cyrus’s hackles rise and his fangs throb. Damn humans holding a grudge had nearly cost him his life and his chance at forever with his beloved.

While the family discussed the church and their motives for bombing the restaurant, Cyrus turned his attention back to the tablet, restarted the footage, and let out what he’d come to think of as his new growl, a mixture of his tiger and vampire. It had a rougher edge to it, the sound dangerous in a way that the tiger by itself had not been.

A male wearing coveralls with a baseball cap low on his head strode into the kitchen with the ladder, set it up under the light, and climbed up. He worked efficiently, on the ladder only two minutes before he scurried down, leaned the ladder against the counter and exited out the front of the restaurant, away from the back of the building where the crews entered and exited.

Cyrus rewound the footage. Where had the male come from?

He stared at the screen and watched the video, slowing the speed way down. The male, recognizable by the dark cap, came in from the right of the kitchen. Cyrus thought back to the room he’d worked for weeks in and realized where the male must have come from.

“I need to go into the restaurant,” Cyrus said. He turned the tablet over to Mishka. “This is the male that doesn’t belong. And we need the footage from the alley.”

“We checked it already, but we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Ven said.

“Because you didn’t know what to look for,” Cyrus answered.

“Let’s go,” Brone said.

Cyrus took Cella’s hands in his. “I don’t want you going with us, it’s too dangerous.”

She frowned and he thought she’d protest. Instead, she just nodded. “I’ll be here waiting.”

“Actually,” he said with a low voice, “why don’t you wait in our chamber? We have a lot to discuss.”

Her eyes flashed to the dark color he loved. “Okay.”

To the family members, he said, “I’ll be back in a few,” then he walked Cella to the elevator and paused before pushing the button. “You look tired. Have you had SyBl or fed since the explosion?”

“No.”

He detoured them to the kitchen, where he popped the top off a bottle of SyBl, poured it into one of the stoneware mugs in the cabinet, and heated it in the microwave. When he took the synthetic blood from the microwave, he sniffed it.

“You can taste it.”

“It smells like human blood. I mean not really since it’s clearly synthetic, but I didn’t want real human blood so I sure as hell don’t want the fake stuff. I wonder...” He didn’t finish his thought.

But Cella seemed to know what he was going to say. “You wonder if you’ll have to feed daily from a shifter, because there’s no version of SyBl that’s more like shifter blood than human blood.”

He let out a sigh. “Yeah. There aren’t any shifters who work in the club as food. I could maybe get my family to donate blood, but every day? There’s no way. What if I can’t sustain myself and I do something awful like go on a killing spree?”

She put the mug down and cupped his face. “Slow down, Cyrus. We don’t know anything yet. I’ll point out that shifter blood is stronger than human and sustains us longer. But aside from that, you’re not just a vampire, you’re something different – a combination of your tiger and me and your human side. We just don’t know what you’ll need to deal with because we have zero information on a tribrid. But no matter what, I’m by your side. As long as you still want me.”

Her face shadowed and he snarled, “Why wouldn’t I want you?”

“You were so angry when you woke.”

“I couldn’t control my emotions and I didn’t feel like myself. I was pissed about being turned because I wanted you to be able to be part of my ambush. But, damn it, Cella, tell me that you know I’d choose you over anything else in the world.”

Her eyes glittered with emotion. “I do. I was scared though.”

“I’m sorry for everything I said to you in the chamber. Thank you for saving my life.” He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. “I get you for eternity. However that happened is what our destiny is, and I’m grateful to you.”

She shuddered in his arms and he once more realized what a raging jackass he’d been. It was a wonder she hadn’t walked away from him entirely, but that was the mark of a good female. She’d stuck by him even when he was out of his mind.

“When I woke up, all I could think about was how different I felt. I didn’t feel like I was in the right skin, if that makes sense, and everything I felt was magnified by a thousand. I couldn’t control being angry that our plans had changed.”

“I understand.” She eased away from him a little and picked up her mug to take a drink. “The wild emotions are part of it. For humans, everything is amplified – eyesight, hearing, touch, taste – and it takes a lot of getting used to. When humans are turned, they have to stay with their maker until they can handle the change. Some newbies go off the rails, mixing feeding and sex and trying to experience everything. It can be dangerous, especially for the food. Mishka made sure I didn’t hurt the humans I fed from, and he didn’t let me out of the chamber for a few days. After that, I was always with him or one of the family members until I could handle myself. But your change is so different from mine.”

“How so?”

“You’re in complete control. I mean, you had a willing human female offer you a vein. I expected you to fall on her like a hungry beast and to have to try to restrain you. When you were faced with her offering, you kicked her out of the chamber. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. And then, you didn’t try to hurt Bridge or Tamar when you were feeding. Bridge said he was feeling light headed and you stopped without anyone having to force you to.”

One thing had stuck out to him. “Why is sex and feeding dangerous?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“You said that newbies have trouble with the two actions together.”

She put the mug down and leaned against the counter. He couldn’t help but notice the way the overhead light made her skin glow. She was so sexy.

“Newbies are suddenly strong and fast, and their hunger is so great during the first few days that they have to be watched carefully so they don’t kill someone during a feeding. You have a new vampire who is experiencing everything in high-definition for the first time, and generally food of the opposite sex is offered. There can be a sexual undertone to feeding because it’s intimate.”

He nodded in understanding. “If a maker’s not paying attention, and the food is willing, it can go overboard.”

“Exactly. Before we came to Cleveland when we were still traveling and looking for a place to settle, we heard word of a maker who had turned several people at once – all family members – and then he was killed suddenly. So there was a small band of hunger-crazed newbies running around, with no one to guide them. They basically gave into every urge they had, including having sex and feeding at the same time.”

“What happened to them?”

“The council sent Hunters to put them down, but they killed a whole lot of humans before that happened.”

“You say hunters like it’s a job title.”

“It is. Hunters are vampires who keep the rest of us in line. Occasionally there will be a rogue vampire who will go on a killing spree or try to take over a coven by killing off vampires. Hunters go in and investigate. A few years ago, there was a were-fighting ring that was created by a vampire who called himself The Doc. He was operating in Cleveland under the radar, abducting shifters and forcing them to fight for their lives. Hunters stepped in – with the help of the wolf pack – and killed the bad guys and set everyone free.”

He rocked back on his heels. “I remember hearing about that. There weren’t any tigers who’d been abducted. I didn’t realize that vampires took the ring down.”

“It involved vampires, and the higher ups in the vampire world – specifically the Council – don’t like anything to tarnish the general image of our people.”

“Tigers don’t have a council like that.”

“I think it’s only wiccans and vampires, but I don’t know every shifter and supernatural group out there.”

She finished her drink and put the mug in the dishwasher. He took her hand and led her to the elevator. There was silence between them, but it wasn’t strained, and he was glad for that. The doors opened smoothly and they entered the cab. She pressed the button to go down and when the doors shut, he pushed the stop button.

He pushed her gently against the wall, caging her in with his hands flat on either side of her head. He stared down at her, tracing the features of her face with his gaze. He could see her so clearly now because his senses were heightened.

“If I hurt your feelings at all when I first woke, I apologize.”

“You already did,” she said.

“I know, but it pains me to know that I couldn’t talk to you about what was going on with me. I know I hurt you, I know you were trying to help, and I treated you badly.”

She hooked her hands on his forearms and tilted her face toward him. He brushed his lips over hers, the odd purring from his tiger rumbling in his chest.

“You sound different,” she whispered against his lips. “I like it.”

“Do you?” he chuckled. “I feel so strange. I need time to process everything and figure out exactly what I am now and how I can keep you safe.”

“Me? I’m not the one that found a bomb and nearly died.”

He chuckled. “Good point. I’m a little worried about how I feel now, it’s like the two parts of me are warring.”

“Three parts. Human, tiger, and vampire.”

“Right. Three. That’s even stranger. I wish there was a tribrid I could talk to.”

“Me too. Mishka has some very old books about different species and some mythology of our people because he’s a collector of that kind of thing. I’ll see if I can get access to his library and do some research.”

“I’d appreciate it. Tell me, besides you feeding me when I was nearly dead, who else did?”

“Mishka, Temple, Merrix, and Rytel.”

“I’ll have to thank them.” He kissed her again then pressed the button to continue the downward momentum. The elevator made a light thud as it connected with the floor and then the doors opened.

When they were in the chamber, he asked a question that hadn’t been front and center in his mind because of all the other shit he’d been dealing with.

“Does my family and the ambush know what happened?”

“I called your parents, because the bombing made the news, and of course Mishka had to talk to Midas about it because it was too dangerous to continue the work until they figured out what happened. I told your parents that you’d been near death and I saved your life by turning you, and Mishka told Midas.” Her mouth turned down and he leaned in and kissed one corner and put his arms around her. Just settling her against him made whatever mix of supernatural creatures he was very happy.

“How did they take it?”

“They were shocked at first, but they had no doubt that it was done to save your life and they were thankful. They want to see you, but I told them we weren’t sure when you’d be up for an in-person visit. The way you’re acting though, makes me think you don’t have regular hunger issues like a normal vampire. But we’ll still have to clear it with Mishka.”

“I wouldn’t want to attack my family.”

“Yeah, that might put a crimp in family get togethers.”

He chuckled, and it was the first time since he woke that he actually felt some relief. He was still him, he was just different. The most important thing in all of it was that he and Cella were alive and well, and that he’d be able to talk to his parents without having to break the news to them about his change. Cella had paved the way.

“Were you worried how they’d react?” he asked.

“A little, actually. I didn’t know if they’d be angry at me for turning you or if they’d hate that you were different. You can be sure that I called them with my heart in my throat, ready to defend my decision.”

It was his turn to frown. “What do you mean ‘defend your decision’?”

“There are people in our coven whose families said they’d rather they were dead than a vampire. Your parents and ambush were accepting to me as your mate, but I didn’t know how they’d feel when faced with your turning.” She gave him a sweet smile. “They’re pretty amazing, but of course I’m not surprised because you are too.”

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he read the screen. “Brone said they’re ready. I should go. I don’t want to, trust me.”

“It’s important though. I hope you’re able to figure out who’s behind the bombing. We’re just lucky no one died.”

“That’s very true.” He kissed her again, forcing himself to not toss her to the bed and reacquaint himself with her sexy curves. “If you need me, call.”

“I’ll be safe down here. You just come back to me.”

He walked out of the chamber before he spent any more time in her distracting presence. He had a job to do, and ensuring her safety was one of the most important things he could do. He waited until she locked the chamber door before he strode down the hall and returned to the first floor. The sooner he dealt with this, the better.

His beloved was waiting.