White Tiger (A Shifter's Unbound Novel) (33 page)

Jaycee sighed in exasperation. “Sometimes it sucks being a tracker. Especially a tracker with an unreasonable leader.”

“You can yell at me later,” Kendrick said. “Tiger—there are other Shifters down here. Some remained Lachlan’s followers, but it doesn’t matter. They’re
all
my Shifters, and we need to find them.”

Tiger nodded. “On it. You next, though.”

Kendrick knew damn well he wouldn’t leave this place until all his Shifters were accounted for and Addison was safely above. “What about Lachlan?” Kendrick asked. “Tell me someone found him and gutted him. Don’t worry about saving him for me.”

“Haven’t seen him,” Tiger said.

“He tricked me into thinking he’d taken my sister and her family hostage,” Addison told him. “So he could get you.
I
want to gut him.”

“I bet he’s as trapped down here as you,” Jaycee said. “Caught under all the rubble like he wanted you to be.”

“We need to make sure,” Kendrick said. “Tiger, send as much help down as you can.”

Tiger gave another nod and assisted Darien up over the rubble. Tiger boosted Jaycee out then looked Kendrick and Addison over with his strange eyes.

“Touch of a mate,” he said, then he scrambled up over the rocks and was gone.

Addison looked after him in bewilderment then turned to Kendrick. “What does that mean?”

Kendrick opened the bottle of water and took another
welcome drink. “Touch of a mate heals,” he said. “When the mating is true.”

“Did he mean you were hurt?” Addison’s hands moved over his chest again. Kendrick was sore, cut, bruised, and aching but he’d live. Not that he’d stop Addie touching him for any reason.

“I’ll be all right,” he said.

“Did Lachlan do this?” she asked. “Cause the cave-in?”

“Yep. He came down here, robbed the Shifters that lived here of everything they had, lured me down, and collapsed the tunnels, trapping me
and
his own followers. That’s the kind of fine Shifter he is.”

“I thought he’d taken Ivy. I couldn’t stay at the ranch and let that happen.”

Addison spoke defiantly, as though she expected Kendrick to grow enraged, but he only kissed her soft hair.

“A leader has to make decisions like that,” he said, enjoying her warmth. “You weigh your safety against that of others and make your choice. I don’t blame you for going.”

“Really?” Addison blinked at him in the glow of the flashlight Jaycee had left. “Jaycee was convinced you’d skin her alive.”

“She kept you safe. That’s all that matters.” Kendrick made himself release Addison. “They should be out by now. Show me the way.”

He boosted her to the top of the rubble then handed her the flashlight. Kendrick turned to retrieve his sword from where he’d stuck it point-first into the rocks and watched in momentary confusion as the boulders seemed to part and turn to dust.

A flash blinded him, then came a roaring in his ears. “Addison!” he shouted, but couldn’t hear his own words. “Go!”

The rock in front of him parted and became dust, the rest of the room falling on him. He saw Addison roll back down toward him as a slab fell on the opening she’d been about to crawl through.

Rock and debris rained down on Kendrick’s back. Addison slammed into him, and Kendrick swiftly put her under him, trying to block the worst of the fall from her. He was
pinned, trapped, and the rock was crushing him, filling his mouth, his nose, his lungs.

A light shafted through the dust, and into it strode Lachlan. He kicked Kendrick’s head where it protruded from the rock fall, and another blinding flash flared before Kendrick could see no more.

A
ddie wriggled and squirmed, trying to fight free of the weight crushing her back. The flashlight had gone out, buried, but a pinprick of light pierced the blackness.

She heaved herself onto her hands and knees, and the weight slid away, along with a cascade of pebbles.

Coughing, Addie turned, groping in the darkness. “Kendrick,” she sobbed. “Kendrick . . .”

The light brightened, something underneath a pile of stones making them glow. Addie shoved away rock and halted, stunned, when she saw that the light came from the Sword of the Guardian.

It lay lengthwise, unsheathed, the naked blade and hilt flashing silver fire. Addie turned her head from the sudden glare, her eyes screwing shut.

After a time, she pried her eyes open again, a crack at a time, letting herself adjust to the light. She saw that the chamber they were in was small and now crammed with even more rubble. The sword’s light illuminated it better than the brightest flashlight. By that light, Addie saw Kendrick.

He lay facedown, half buried in rock, and she realized
he had been the weight she’d climbed out from under. His shirt had been torn open, revealing his spine and neck covered in blood. His white and black mottled hair, which Addie had admired since the first time she’d seen him, was now drenched with dirt and gore.

“Kendrick!” Addie shouted.

She scrambled back to him, the sword flaring with still more light. Its glow brushed the broken wreck of Kendrick’s hand that reached out toward the sword. The hand was unmoving, as was Kendrick’s entire body.

Addie quickly slid her hand to his neck, searching for a pulse. She found nothing—no beating to tell her he was still alive, no breath, nothing.

“Kendrick.” The word turned to a sob. Addie collapsed onto Kendrick’s back, choking with tears, her body watery with fear. “Kendrick, please, no. I love you so much.”

“Aw, very sweet.”

Addie jerked her head up to see Lachlan climb into the room from the direction the blast had come. The sword’s light flooded his face, half of it ruined by old scars from Kendrick’s claws.

Addie launched herself up, fury and grief giving her strength. She slipped, her leg throbbing, and fell to the rocks beside Kendrick.

“No, stay there with him,” Lachlan said. “That way I can skewer you together. Won’t that be nice?”

Lachlan reached down and snatched up the sword.

The next instant, he yelled and dropped it, wringing out his hand. Addie saw a black streak, like a brand, burned across his palm.

“Son of a fucking . . .” Lachlan snarled, and he shifted into his half-wolf, half-beast state, his T-shirt and jeans splitting as he did. His hands became wolf claws, his face fierce and terrible, half its fur gone, revealing scarred, bare skin.

Beneath Addie, Kendrick moved the slightest bit. Addie’s relief, fear, and anger twisted together until she could barely see, barely think.

“Addison,” Kendrick whispered. “Sword.”

Lachlan struck. Addie tried desperately to deflect him, but he was too swift, too strong. Lachlan’s blow landed on Kendrick’s back, claws digging in. Kendrick grunted in pain, and blood flowed where Lachlan ripped.

Kendrick needed the sword. But it was white-hot—Addie had seen it burn Lachlan. She wouldn’t be able to pick it up.

She grabbed for Lachlan, getting her fingers around the waistband of his torn jeans. She tried to pull him away from Kendrick, but she might as well have tried to pull over a well-rooted tree. Lachlan shrugged her off as though he barely felt her and went for Kendrick again.

Damn it. Addie wrapped her shirt around her hand and lunged for the sword.

As she seized the hilt, she realized it wasn’t hot at all. In fact, no matter how much light the sword radiated, it was comfortably cool.

Surprised, Addie freed her hand from the shirt and grasped the hilt with her bare fingers. The sword flashed, but was easy to hold, not as heavy as she’d feared.

Behind her, Lachlan struck at Kendrick again. Kendrick managed to drag himself up enough to grasp Lachlan around the waist and pull him down to him.

The two men grappled on the rocks, slipping and sliding, Kendrick trying to get a lock on the man’s throat. But he was hurt and Lachlan was whole, strong, unyielding.

Addie snarled at Lachlan and smacked him with the sword.

Lachlan scrambled up and spun around, his gray wolf eyes widening. “Hey, watch where you’re swinging that.”

Kendrick got to his hands and knees. Lachlan turned and kicked him in the stomach. Kendrick, blood dripping from his mouth, went down.

Addie shrieked. She held the sword in both hands and started beating Lachlan with it, not sure whether she hit him with the flat or the edge. Lachlan, a ferocious beast with a scarred wolf face, backed under her onslaught.

In a moment, he would turn on her, batter the sword away, and kill her. Addie knew that. But then he’d kill Kendrick, and Addie would prevent that for as long as she had breath.

“I’m a
waitress
,” she yelled at Lachlan. “I’m supposed to make
coffee
, not fight mythical beasts with magic swords. Why don’t you just go
away
?”

“Don’t play with that, little girl,” Lachlan said, his voice a guttural snarl. “Stroking Kendrick’s sword won’t get you anything from him. Why don’t you stroke mine instead?”

Addie’s rage escalated. She continued beating him, then behind her, she was aware of a long, low, growl.

The growl held the fury of ages, an old, old anger that reached back to its ancestors, who’d been forced to fight for the princes of the hated Fae. A white tiger, battered and bloody, rose from the debris, his ears flat, his body moving with the deliberate, slow, almost trembling stalk of a cat intent on its kill.

Lachlan howled, the primal cry of a wolf. He went for Kendrick, his massive arms spread, his claws primed to gouge his enemy.

Addie heaved the sword in her sore arms, brought it around, point-first, and drove it straight into Lachlan’s side.

Lachlan’s howl turned to a roar of anger. He grabbed the sword’s blade that stuck out of his ribs, then cried out again as the sword burned him.

The sword was still cool to Addie’s hands. She stared as Lachlan fought it but she didn’t let go.

Blood gushed from Lachlan’s side, but Shifters, it seemed, were tough to kill. Lachlan jerked himself around, the sword tearing from him, and lunged for Addie, his wolf mouth open and ready to rip into her.

Kendrick sprang. He was filthy with dirt, his front leg hung askew, and blood coated his mouth, but his spring was true and elegant.

He leapt directly at Lachlan, a cat moving in a precise arc to take down his prey.

Lachlan whirled from Addie to face Kendrick’s attack, but he didn’t have a chance. Kendrick landed on Lachlan without flinching, opened his tiger jaws, and tore out Lachlan’s throat.

Blood, hot and red, gushed from the wolf as he howled and scrabbled, trying to get Kendrick off him. Kendrick
yanked his head back and spat blood. Lachlan’s hands slipped from Kendrick’s white fur, the howl quickly becoming a drawn-out cry of agony.

Kendrick shifted back to human, his naked body shaking under the glow of the sword, his face stark, his broken left arm folded across his chest.

But his eyes were green and steady as he turned to Addie. “Addison. The sword.”

Addie grabbed it, the blade coated with Lachlan’s blood. Kendrick snatched it by the hilt, tried to get to his feet, and fell back to his knees. Addie was next to him, her hand under his shoulder, helping him up again.

Lachlan was still breathing, blood all over his throat, chest, and face as he slowly shifted back to human.

“Fuck you, Kendrick,” he whispered. “I’ll see you in the Summerland—and I’ll best you there.”

“You’ll see me,” Kendrick said. “Goddess go with you, Lachlan.”

Kendrick touched Lachlan’s face. Lachlan, who’d moved feebly to bite him, suddenly sank back, the enraged expression vanishing from his face. He gazed up at Kendrick with pain in his gray eyes, and sudden loneliness and need.

“Guardian,” Lachlan said, his voice fading. “Don’t leave me this time.”

Kendrick brushed Lachlan’s hair from his forehead. “I won’t,” he promised, his voice gentling. “See you on the other side, my old friend.”

Lachlan gave one feeble, very brief nod.

Kendrick drew a long breath. He raised the Sword of the Guardian, which flared anew, lighting every facet in the rocks around them and making them glitter like jewels.

He thrust the sword unerringly into Lachlan’s chest. Lachlan flinched, then breathed a sigh, and smiled. “Thank you, Kendrick,” he whispered. Then his eyes closed, his body shimmered, and he slowly dissolved into dust.

Kendrick bowed his head, the sword point resting where Lachlan’s body had lain. A moment later, Kendrick threw his head back and roared, a sound of grief and pain so heart-wrenching that tears sprang to Addie’s eyes.

She wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head between his broad shoulders. Kendrick’s roar died into a moan and tears wet his face.

“He was my friend, once,” Kendrick said, then he drooped, falling against Addie, who fought to hold him.

Kendrick lost his grip on the sword, which fell full-length with a clatter, the brilliant light fading until it was only a faint glow. Kendrick’s breath rattled in his throat, and he sagged down into the rubble, Addie clinging to him all the way.

“No, Kendrick,” she sobbed. “Don’t leave me.”

“Love you,” Kendrick whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut, taking shuddering breaths.

Addie held him, anguish gouging her. “We have to get out of here.
Kendrick
.”

“The sword,” Kendrick managed. “Get the sword.”

Addie groped for it, her heart pounding. Did he mean for her to use it on him? Or to take it out to the other Shifters?

“Keep it for me,” Kendrick said, his voice ragged. “And hold me again, Addison. I need you to.”

Addie lay down right beside him and wrapped him in her arms, clutching the glowing sword tightly in one hand.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Kendrick lay very still for a moment. Then his body shuddered,
moved
.

He was shifting. For a few seconds, Addie lay half on Kendrick’s human body, then she was lifted from the rock as he expanded into the form of his tiger.

Addie found herself on the white tiger’s back, her fingers sinking into his warm fur. With a grunt and huff of breath, the tiger moved painfully forward, stumbling over the rocks to the opening Lachlan had made.

Though he limped, and one paw dragged, Kendrick slunk out into the tunnels so adeptly that Addie never brushed any of the low ceilings or fallen debris. She hung on to him, feeling every move of his body as he crept on elastic muscles.

The tunnel outside went on, up and up, the tiger flowing like water, his footfalls silent. Addie felt as though she moved under the deep night sky on the back of a magic
beast. The Sword of the Guardian was still in her hand, the rocks above her reflecting its light like twinkling stars.

When the tunnel finally ended at a narrow opening, through which came night air and true starlight, Kendrick stopped, his sides heaving. He collapsed just inside the tunnel, Addie with him.

His body jerked, and Kendrick became a man again, naked and bruised, his skin dark with blood. He gazed up at her with green eyes that burned into her heart.

“Love you so much,” Kendrick whispered. Then his eyes filmed over, and he went still.

Addie gave a cry of anguish. “No. Please, we’re almost there. Kendrick, please, I can’t lose you.”

Her sobs were drowned by the sound of grating rock, and she raised her head with a gasp. But instead of the cave-in she expected, a tiger as large as Kendrick, but orange and black, snaked through the opening and stopped, studying her with yellow eyes.

Behind him came Zander, the healer, and Kendrick’s trackers—Seamus, Dimitri, Jaycee. Ben too, with Dylan, all of them wading in to help.

The three trackers and Zander lifted Kendrick gently between them, carrying him out. Ben got Addie onto her feet, his touch tender with understanding.

They carried Kendrick out and laid him under the stars, where he lay still. The sword Addie held flashed once, then its light cut out and vanished, leaving them in darkness.