Here There Be Tigers (39 page)

Petrov lay on the ground, his white coat dark
with blood, his throat a gaping hole of blood, ravaged tissue, and
bone. More blood seemed to pool under his stomach, though from her
position, Nila couldn’t see that injury. Petrov tried to rise,
despite his wounds, and took a single step toward Mitch. One of his
back legs hung uselessly behind him, and more blood rained from his
abdomen and chest. He made a wet, huffing sound before collapsing.
He didn’t move again.

Slowly, Nila edged away from the tree, careful
to keep her distance from Petrov’s body. She couldn’t tell if he
was dead, but she wasn’t taking chances. She’d seen how strong
tiger shifters were. She’d witnessed Mitch healing from some truly
horrendous wounds in only a half hour. She didn’t think Petrov
could survive being gutted and having his throat ripped out, but
she’d avoid his body just in case. She glanced at the others and
realized one of the tiger’s who’d arrived with Mitch had shifted
back to human form.

Alexis motioned her closer. “Are you okay? How
badly hurt are you?”

“
I’ll heal. Nothing is broken. They
didn’t get a chance to rape me before you arrived.”

Alexis pulled her in for a hug. Nila was so
relieved and so emotionally strung out, she couldn’t even care that
the woman was naked. She returned her hug, fiercely grateful to see
her again.

After a moment, Alexis set Nila at arm’s
length, keeping her hands on Nila’s shoulders as she studied her
face. “You look like hell.”

Nila chuckled, unable to hold in the reaction.
“I feel like hell. How’s Victor? His leg?”

Alexis nodded to one of the tigers guarding
Stephen and Joseph. “He’s fine. Though, I’m probably going to have
to step in between him and Joseph soon.”

“
There’s history there.” Nila wasn’t
asking, she’d seen the way the two men had looked at each
other.

“
Yes, there is,” Alexis
said.

Glancing back at Petrov, Nila said, “I should
do something to help him. I’ve never sat by and let an animal die
before.” She faced a frowning Alexis again and said, “But I’m
finding it hard to care if he dies.”

“
Don’t. This is a just end to his
crimes. Killing a human is punishable by death among our people,
and technically, you’re a human and he was trying to kill
you.”

When Nila didn’t immediately agree, Alexis gave
her shoulders a little shake.

“
I’m not letting you anywhere near
him anyway,” the former Tracker said. “Even after he’s dead. You
can blame me for preventing you from helping him if that makes you
feel better.”

“
I’m too old to lie to myself like
that.”

Nila nodded to the other tigers. Everyone was
standing in place, watching Petrov bleed. Even Stephen and Joseph
seemed uninterested in helping their leader. Joseph’s dead eyes
remained as emotionless as ever. Stephen, on the other hand, had a
fierce expression as he watched Petrov.

“
You don’t want to help him?” she
asked the man who’d tried taking her from the airport and who’d
been content to let her die.

Stephen shrugged, but he didn’t turn away from
his fallen boss.

Joseph surprised her by answering the question.
“He killed his mate. Can’t condone that.”

Again, the lack of emotion in the man’s voice
made it difficult to know if he felt that way or if he was voicing
Stephen’s motives.

“
You knew he’d done that,” Alexis
said. “Why follow him?”

“
He told us she committed suicide,”
Stephen said, finally coming into the conversation. Unlike Joseph’s
voice, though, there was emotion in Stephen’s. Dark, and deadly,
and full of suppressed rage.

The fact that he’d still intended on letting
Petrov torture and kill her, however, didn’t redeem Stephen in her
eyes.

“
What will you do with them?” she
asked Alexis, nodding to the two men who’d never made an effort to
join the fight.

Alexis gestured to the tiger guarding Stephen.
“He’s one of the illusive Trackers. He’ll take them to the elders
for judgment.”

“
What about Petrov’s sons?” Nila was
more than a little worried about the fact that neither of the two
sons supporting Petrov’s hunt for her where here.

“
On the run,” Mitch
answered.

The sound of his voice made her jump and spin
to face him. She hadn’t noticed him moving off to shift back to
human form. But the sight of him, whole and here and remarkably
uninjured made her heart rate triple. She let out a sound somewhere
between a sigh and a sob and threw herself into his arms. The feel
of his strong, warm embrace broke the hold she’d kept on her
churning emotions and tears poured down her cheeks.

“
I’m so glad to see you,” she
muttered inanely. “And unbelievably glad you’re not
dead.”

“
Same,” he said as he tunneled the
fingers of one hand into her hair and kept his other arm firmly
around her waist.

She could feel the rapid thumping of his heart
against her breasts and hugged him closer, giving and taking
comfort as she let her relief flood her overwrought
system.

“
I need a holiday,” she
whispered.

His chuckle made her muscles finally
relax.

Even more quietly, she said, “I love
you.”

His arms tightened. “I love you,
too.”

When she could stand to loosen her hold, she
eased back and glanced at Petrov. “Is he dead?”

The white tiger wasn’t moving, blood was a
thick pool beneath his body, and from her vantage, she didn’t see
the rise and fall of his chest anymore.

“
If he’s not, he’s close,” Mitch
murmured.

“
Will he stay like that, in tiger
form?”

Mitch nodded.

“
There are at least two bodies
inside the cellar of the barn where they were holding me. Human men
who were helping him.” She tried not to think about Petrov’s threat
to throw her remains into that very same cellar.

“
See,” Alexis said. “The elders
would have
had
to execute him. We’ve just saved them the
trouble.”

Mitch stared at the motionless tiger for a long
moment, then squeezed Nila closer and said, “Let’s go. The others
will clean this up. I want you somewhere safe.”

Alexis fell in beside them as they all walked
quietly through the woods, back toward the barn and her cavalry’s
waiting cars.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE

Alexis and Mitch threw on clothes once they
reached the cars, and Alexis offered Nila something to change into
as what she had on was torn, dirty, and blood-stained. Since none
of the tigers bothered about nudity, she went ahead and changed
beside the car, too. She couldn’t face being alone just yet, but
she couldn’t stand staying in her current clothes when she had an
alternative.

“
A shower will be good,” she said as
she pulled a t-shirt over her head. The spare clothes were Alexis’
so they hung on her like pajamas, but at least they were clean. She
studied her wrists. “I need a first aid kit.”

A soft growl drew her attention. Mitch stared
at her arms, looking like he could kill again.

“
Don’t worry,” she told him. “This
will heal.”

He drew her to him, gently, and studied her
wrists in the uneven light from the SUV’s interior. “Shouldn’t
scar,” he said.

She could still feel tension thrumming through
his hands and the muscles along his arms bunched.

“
I should have torn him to pieces,”
he said.

“
He’s dead. The rest is
just…drama.”

Her response finally cracked his serious mood,
drawing out a very slight smile. But when he looked up, his
expression was solemn again. “I’m so sorry we didn’t reach you
sooner.”

“
You found me. That was more than I
was expecting. How
did
you find me anyway?”

“
We should get moving,” Alexis said
as she climbed into the driver’s seat. “There’s a first aid kit
under the backseat. Do you need help bandaging your
wrists?”

“
I’ll help her,” Mitch said before
Nila could answer.

He helped her into the backseat, pulled out the
first aid kit, then following her into the car, snuggling close.
His presence proved so comforting, she refused to move to one side
of the seat and had to use the center seatbelt so she could stay as
close to Mitch as possible. Alexis put the car in gear and Mitch
went to work cleaning and bandaging Nila’s wrists. As they pulled
onto the road, two cars sitting on the roadside opposite the barn
pulled out behind them.

When Nila straightened, Mitch hurriedly said,
“They’re with us.”

“
More friends?” She settled
down.

“
Reinforcements from the elders,”
Alexis said. “More Trackers—ones I know we can trust.”

“
But…?” She looked at Mitch for
explanation.

“
The original Tracker team had
problems as you might have guessed. That’s still being worked out.
Elizaveta mobilized this team in the last thirty hours. They found
us just as we found Victor and Irina.”

“
So you tracked me with their help,”
she guessed.

“
We tried. But that barn is sitting
right in the middle of what used to be a pig farm and abattoir. The
stink in this area kept us from pinpointing where they were holding
you. We’ve been hunting every house and barn within miles of this
location.”

Tension radiated from his touch up her arms. He
finished bandaging one wrist and moved to the other.

“
So you found this barn through
elimination?” she asked.

“
No. Vlad contacted us.”

“
He told you where I
was?”

Mitch nodded, but his jaw muscles
jumped.

“
Where is he? His
brothers?”

“
Petrov sent his sons away so they
couldn’t be charged by the elders in any of this,” Alexis said.
“Apparently, he knew Elizaveta had sent out more help and his time
to kill you was limited. He wanted his sons away and
safe.”

“
Vlad, too?”

Mitch nodded. “Clever bastard that one. His
father never knew he was helping us. Took the sonofabitch a long
time to tell us where you were though.”

“
He probably couldn’t any sooner,”
Alexis said quietly, glancing at them briefly in the rearview
mirror.

Nila had a feeling this point had come up
before. She squeezed Mitch’s forearm with her free hand. “He did
contact you, and you found me. Everything is all right
now.”

Mitch shook his head and kept his gaze on her
wrist as he finished the last bandage. Then he put the kit away and
settled back with his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight
to his side.

They fell silent. The quiet thrum of the car’s
engine, the solid wall of muscle and heat next to Nila, the gentle
but firm grip of Mitch’s hand on her shoulder all worked to make
the rest of the day and night seem almost unreal. If not for the
cuts and bruises, the raw red wounds around her wrist, she might
have been able to imagine the nightmare she’d just lived through
had been a dream.

Loath to break the quiet but too curious not to
speak, she finally asked, “Where are we going?”

“
To West Virginia,” Alexis
answered.

“
The elders’ US compound,” Mitch
added. “Elizaveta will meet us there.”

“
She’s in the States now?” As far as
Nila knew, Elizaveta had still been in Russia when Nila and Mitch
were stuck with the young tigers, just two days ago.

“
Along with the full council of
elders,” Mitch said.

All Nila’s peace fled and her stomach
tightened. “I’ll be meeting the elders? Already?”

He nodded, his jaw clenching again as his mouth
compressed to a hard line.

She wasn’t sure what to say to this news, or
what it would mean. She’d hoped for at least a day or two to
recover, to make sure her dad and grandma were okay. To shore up
her resolve so when she did finally face them, she could make her
position clear in a calm and logical way.

Now, she didn’t feel at all calm and logical.
She was in shock. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a
group of old, powerful tigers who thought they could determine the
course of her life.

Finally, she grunted and said, “Well, they’ll
just have to wait. I want a shower, a rest, and to make sure my
father and grandmother are safe. I’ll deal with the elders when I’m
ready.”

She swore she heard Alexis chuckle. Mitch’s
mouth softened into a half grin, and he dropped a brief kiss on her
lips.

“
The elders will wait,” he agreed,
then kissed her more fully.

She sighed into his mouth, taking comfort and
strength from his touch. With Mitch’s love, she’d face the bastards
and let them know exactly how she felt about this mess. And they’d
just have to deal with it.