Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (13 page)

The gavel crashed to the table, loud as a bullet.

“
I'm
scared, Erik.” Jenna's pleading eyes matched her soft, small
voice as I sat on the bench next to her.

“
Don't
be.” I threw one arm around her plush shoulder, pulling her in
close, right where she belonged.

The hall had been empty for several hours. Only Egil and
Harry hung around while a few villagers napped on the back benches.

“
I
know exactly what you're thinking.” I wouldn't say the p-word
and give the idea life in her head. “That's not what's
happening here. I swear it. Moore's gonna find out it was a rogue
tiger who came up here from another clan, probably one of the groups
we've clashed with in the last ten years. Things can get pretty
damned heated over hunting rights.”

“
I
hope you're right. Gods, if this turns out to be someone in the
village...”

I choked her off, pressing her face to my broad chest.
Hugging her tight meant I was supposed to be her support. Secretly,
she was mine too.

I didn't know what to think, what to believe, what the
hell was going on in my own village anymore.

No Alpha had faced a murder case in Tiger Tree for
generations.

In those days, they hung the offenders high on top of
the mountains, sending their hated souls to the gods as quickly as
possible. Death came quick and ruthless to those who deserved it.

Whoever had killed the Elder wouldn't make it out of
here alive. It sickened me to think about putting down a brother or
sister, but I had no choice. When Heavens and Earth demanded blood
and justice, an Alpha's duty was to answer.

I spent the next five minutes stroking Jenna's sides,
running my hands down her soft curves.

A door swung open behind us and slapped the wall. She
jumped in my arms, and I gently released her, standing up to receive
the new guests.

Moore walked down the hall with a serious look on his
face, flanked by Christian and Zee.

“
We've
analyzed the samples. I suggest calling the village back together for
this...sir.”

I eyed him suspiciously. I'd never seen Moore look so
uncomfortable before. His face was flushed and sweat lined his brow,
as if he'd been drinking too much for too long.

Inwardly, I shrugged. Stress could do strange things to
people. Even guys who were normally stoic and level headed hit the
bottle under pressure.

“
Christian!
Go out back and ring the bell. We'll have our friend here announce
the results in twenty minutes.”

I sat on the bench with my boys nearby, waiting for
everybody to come together. Rufus was still in the back, stalking in
the shadows. He was one of the last villagers to take his seat.

When the hall was newly packed, I clapped the gavel on
its base, bringing the meeting to order.

I had no idea what to expect. I made sure Harry sealed
the huge doors leading into the great hall before we resumed, a
precaution in case the samples turned up a murderer in our midst.
He'd have to be arrested immediately.

“
This
is the moment you've been waiting for, citizens. Moore tells me he's
completed a comprehensive analysis, and it's definitive. The fur and
matter found in the cave
will
tell us who did this terrible crime. Mister Moore?”

The researcher stepped forward. His hands shook
slightly, clutching the folder of printouts to his chest. He stood
tense before the whole village, looking like he had a bad case of
stage fright.

“
Give
it to us straight,” I ordered.

“
My
friends...my people...I ran this fur analysis three times and it
doesn't lie. I didn't want to believe it. I don't know how to say
this...” His voice cracked, and he paused, gathering his
thoughts.

My heartbeat picked up, pounding like a bass drum in my
chest.

Oh, Gods. It's going to be one of us, isn't it?

“
It's
him!” Moore said in a huff, spinning around. “It's Erik's
fur! Our own Alpha had something to do with the Elder's death.”

Hushed gasps filled my ears. Moore trembled in place,
pointing his accusatory finger right at me. Somewhere in the back,
there was a nasty chuckle that sounded an awful lot like Rufus.

You fucking creep. What have you done?

Clenching my jaw, I picked up the gavel and slammed it
down hard. “Order here, people. Mister Moore, your job is to
deliver science. Not make wild accusations.”

“
I
can't believe you're the murderer.” Moore licked his lips,
shaking on his thin legs. “I just can't. But the results don't
lie. Maybe you didn't kill Brahm, but you were there to cover
something up. There's only one outsider in our town who would've been
worth covering for.”

He turned his head, staring right at Jenna.

“
No!”
I began to bang the gavel, over and over, screaming the instant his
eyes went to her. “No, no, no, no! Jenna had nothing to do with
this. She was with me the whole time.”

“
With
you when you went up to the Elder's cave?” Delilah's shrill
voice rang up from the front.

I cringed. Damn it, I'd nodded at her with Jenna in tow
on the misty morning when we headed up there. For all she knew, we
were the last ones with him before his untimely demise.

“
What
are you hiding, Nordclaw?”

“
Gods,
you haven't grown soft like they say...you've turned downright
corrupt!”

Each shout from my audience seethed with anger. I turned
to my boys at the walls. My eyes met theirs, one by one, praying
their loyalties hadn't fled.

Unease shone in their pupils, but they still trusted me.
I stood, just as several burly tigers slid out of their seats and
began to approach the front.

“
No
tiger crosses the white line here without my permission! The law
still holds.”

“
What
law is that, cousin?” Rufus roared from the back. “The
law of an usurper whose half-blood mate killed our Elder?”

Total anarchy started. I ran to the front, pulling Jenna
off her seat before anybody could grab her. Angry tigers came rushing
the front, blocked only by Harry and Egil.

“
Go
out the back! We'll help you get to the cabin,” Zee shouted.

He and Christian were right behind me and Jenna. We ran,
one heartbeat away from shifting. If I could avoid it, I needed to
keep human form, if only to gather our things as quickly as possible.

There couldn't be anymore doubts. All hell had broken
loose, and where it would stop, I had no idea.

Halfway to my cabin, Jenna stopped, jerked her hand away
from mine, and began screaming. “We have to go back! You have
to tell them, Erik. Tell them we had nothing to do with killing him!”

“
I
can't.” I spun, putting my hands firm on her shoulders.

Jenna tried to twist away, but I held on. Damn it, I
needed her to move while we still could. Not put up a fight that
would only waste precious seconds.

“
I've
seen tigers get angry in my time, and the village is beyond reason
right now. Of course we're being fucked over! Probably by my
treacherous cousin. I'll settle with Rufus, Jenna, I really will. But
we can't do it now.”

“
Then?”
Her eyes were huge.

“
We
have to leave. No delays. We'll find a place far from here and wait
out the storm. The townspeople won't listen to Rufus for long if he
tries to take control. Bastard's always been an outcast. We'll
regroup and chart a way to take back what's ours.”

“
He's
right.” Zee backed me up, staring at her very seriously. “I
don't care if Moore says the boss killed women and cubs in cold
blood. We've known him long enough to know this is some insane
bullshit. Everybody's scared and looking to blame with the murder.
You have to go until their heads are screwed on straight again. We'll
help sort things out here in Tiger Tree.”

Behind us, Christian nodded. Three against one.

Jenna moved, slowly and reluctantly, but at least she
was moving again. When we tumbled into the cabin, I headed straight
for the bedroom.

I hadn't packed a bug-out bag so fast since my early
hunting days. I threw fresh cloaks, underwear, flashlights, and a few
toiletries into the big bag. The last thing I grabbed were those
steaks in the freezer.

Heading straight for the door, I found Jenna on the
sofa, staring sullenly out the window. Her eyes were red and puffy
like she'd been crying.

“
I
really thought I belonged.” I approached her, and her voice
sounded absent. Saddened. “I thought this was home.”

Snarling, I grabbed her by the wrists, pulling her
close. There wasn't time for this. Soul searching could wait, and I
had to snap her out of this funk in the gentlest way I knew how.

I kissed her, hard and ruthlessly. My tongue stroked
hers, passionate and hot, until I felt her moving back against me.

“
You're
my mate, Jenna. You understand that, right? Say yes.”

She nodded. Her eyes were still filled with icy dams
waiting to break.

“
Then
have some faith in your man. We're gonna get out of this and put
things right if it's the last thing I do. But we can't get messed up
or depressed about it right now. We have to keep moving.”

“
Yeah.
I guess...”

“
We
do. Now, I want you to do one thing.” I waited until I knew all
her attention was mine. “I want you to let go of the human
girl. Bring out your tigress. Embrace the instinct, the wild
resistance in your blood. I know you feel it, even if you're only
half-tiger. Forget everything and move with me. That's step one
before everything else.”

I held her eyes fixed in my stern gaze. A few long
seconds passed. Then Jenna took my hand, clasping her fingers tight
to mine, and picked up the heavy bag.

She helped me throw it over my shoulders, and didn't
wait for me to lead the way out into the long evening shadows. My
words had awakened the tigress in her soft human exterior, and she
took control, guiding the beautiful woman in front of me straight
past, into the unknown.

“
Come
on!” Jenna's words floated behind her. “You're right. I'm
going to shut my stupid brain off and do this. I can handle a few
nights roughing it out in the wild if it means getting back at
whoever did this to us.”

I smiled into the broadening darkness. Finally, Jenna
was balancing her two sides, just when they needed to be balanced the
most.

It was a long cold walk into the night. I couldn't shift
for added warmth, much as I wanted to. The giant bag on my back was
enough to tip me over on four legs.

And so, I just kept moving, ignoring the cold. Christian
and Zee took us all the way through the passages we'd cut for
hunting, across shallow streams and tall grasses where grizzly bears
and caribou roamed.

When we came to the base of the nearby mountain, I
stopped, gathering energy for the climb. My extremities were bone
cold, and Jenna looked just as uncomfortable. I promised myself I'd
warm her up some way once we got up there.

“
See
that little shack up on the second cliff?” I pointed.

With the crescent moon rising, providing just a tiny
sliver of faint light, a person could just trace the outline. The
place was an old hunting post somebody had turned into a small cabin
decades ago, and then subsequently abandoned for good.

The cliff was high, but not to the point of being
dizzying. It would hide us and allow us to scope out what was going
on in Tiger Tree. I had binoculars for a better view.

I shook my boys' hands and sent them on their way as we
began our ascent. An hour later, over rough uneven rock and a path
that hadn't been tended since the gold rush days, we were free.

Taking Jenna's hand, I led her to the door. It popped
open without much pressure. It was ramshackle, but it would do.

Better than a tent for hiding and planning vengeance,
anyway.

“
This
is it, wildcat. Welcome to our new home.”

I could tell Jenna wasn't impressed, but she wasn't
complaining. After the hellish climb up here, anywhere to roll out
some blankets, light a fire, and flop down would do.