Wish Upon a Tiger: A BBW Weretiger Shifter Romance (Fountain of Love) (16 page)

We all got on the ground and shifted, releasing our
tigers. We gave the beasts inside us exactly what they'd been waiting
for – permission to fight, claw, and taste our enemy's blood.

It was a quick run into Tiger Tree, just before dawn.

Two men were in the big SUV near the main entrance, one
inside the cabin sleeping, and another on top with his gun drawn. How
many hours had he been up there?

Long enough to get bored and lazy. Zee trotted toward
the truck alone, in open sight, moving through the darkness like a
sleek feline shadow.

The man on the truck's roof jerked up and grabbed the
trigger. Too late.

The three of us surrounded him at once, pouncing on the
hood, the trunk, and onto the roof. I listened to his screams as
Harry and Egil tore into him.

I rammed my head into the glass, shattering it and
giving the man inside the rudest wake-up call anybody could ever get.
In his case, the last wake-up call.

My tiger ripped through the shattered windshield. My
teeth sank deep into his throat and I tasted triumph, tasted revenge,
the sweetest nectar I'd had since Jenna's soft kisses.

Hang in there, my little wildcat. I'm coming for you.

Nothing would stop me. Human or tiger.

I licked the blood from my chops and squeezed out of the
broken SUV. My men were behind me.

We hit the first sentry near the town hall the same way.

This human group got off a few shots, but none of them
were aimed in the right places. Doors belonging to cabins along the
main stretch flew open, and cautious tigers sighted the commotion.

Harry tore at another man's leg behind the truck. He
dropped his radio and ran, losing half his pants and smearing blood
into the fresh snow. I watched him carefully to make sure he wasn't
running toward the mountain to alert his buddies.

Nope. He was going, going gone, crazed with terror into
the mountains.

I threw myself down and shifted. “Let him go,
guys. If he comes this way again, there'll be plenty more to hold him
prisoner. Letting a few of these meat-bags surrender might be good
for information.”

“
You
got it, boss. Are we gonna push this thing over or what?”
Harry's naked muscles bulged.

He was already leaning on the truck's side. The three of
us joined him and threw our strength into it, pressing the cool metal
sides with tiger's strength.

The big truck made one hell of a clatter when it hit the
ground. The whole town was awake now, and men were streaming out onto
the streets, wiping dazed expressions from their eyes. Most hollered
behind him at their mates to keep indoors.

“
Let's
go. The whole human camp has to know what's happening now.”

Zee ran up the town hall's steps and broke the glass,
unlocking the door inside. It swung open and we all shifted again,
four big tigers barging inside.

The human presence inside was sparse. I growled when the
two inside the old meeting room dropped their weapons and threw their
hands up.

It meant they weren't protecting anyone or anything
important. Not my traitor cousin, and certainly not my Jenna.

I'm coming for you. No setback's going to stop it.
I'm coming.

Those words moved me on. I ran straight through the town
hall and out the back door, not even stopping to free Moore. He was
tied to a chair next to the main judgment bench like something out of
an old movie.

A little more discomfort would be good punishment for
jumping to conclusions with his data. My real beef wasn't with Moore,
though.

It was with the men and the tiger who'd taken the one I
loved most captive. And their evil scent was getting stronger as I
approached the edge of town.

The next truck there was empty, its door open and the
automatic rifle on top abandoned.

Cowards. I was right: these fools have nothing to
fight for. The professor hasn't coughed up enough dollars to give
them any spirit.

Recent snowfalls made the trek through the forest a
little harsher. I saw the olive green tops of the human tents thrown
up near the old fountain. I stopped and listened to the whir of a
generator and several trucks.

Snarling, I shook my head. The bastards had set up camp
in the same spot where Rufus had laid our Elder's corpse.

Ironic. Or intentional.

I waited for my boys to catch up. For this next assault,
we had to go all in. The villagers would mop up whatever else
remained of the guard in town.

Now, we had to hit them and sew chaos before they
regrouped, before they came in force.

I looked at the four tigers next to me and nodded my big
furry head. They snorted, understanding I was about to take the lead.

They were right behind me as I took the bushy, snow
laden route parallel to the old walking path. It gave us a little
extra cover. We'd come out at an angle where human guards weren't
bound to be swarming like hornets.

I peered through the trees as I moved. No sign of human
movement yet. Our ambush worked so well they hadn't had time to
scramble a resistance force against Tiger Tree.

It's almost over,
I
thought hopefully.
Just a few more to kill and run off, and
then I'll have her.

A vision of Jenna filled my mind. She was tight in my
arms, and I kissed away whatever horrors they'd inflicted on her.

My love disappeared in a gush of adrenaline as I emerged
from the trees and saw the machine gun nest. It was military grade,
its deadly black barrel perched inside a stack of sandbags piled near
the fountain.

Worse, it was trained right on me.

I barely had time to leap to safety before it began
firing. Tigers howled behind me as I went flying through the air.

My paws clapped the frigid pavement. I landed, bounced,
and launched myself up again, letting instinct carry me through the
fiery contrails whizzing past.

All around me, men shouted. I knew at least one of my
guys had survived when I heard a human gurgling his last breath.

One more leap and I was over the sandbags. I knocked the
two guys manning the gun flat on their backs. I spun around and faced
the little slit where they'd been training their gun on us.

A tiger was down on the ground, lifeless in a dark red
pool.

A world shattering roar exploded from my throat. When I
saw one of my boys dead, I lost my humanity. Rage and tooth and claw
took hold, moving my body like a vicious puppet.

The killers' throats split open around my teeth, and I
shook their bodies, refusing to let go until they were dead.

Their blood tasted sweet and sour all at once. I sunk my
fangs in anyway, drinking deep, ripping into their bodies with muzzle
and claws.

Whoever they'd killed – Harry, Zee, Christian,
Egil – their souls would accompany his to the Heavens as a
sacrifice.

I was so deep in murder I didn't realize the firing near
the trucks had stopped. The screams had too, human and tiger alike.

I released the broken human neck clenched between my
teeth and gazed through the slit above the machine gun. My three boys
stood over the dead tiger, who'd turned into a man.

Walking around the encampment, I joined them when I saw
it was safe. I shifted and stood on two legs.

“
Oh,
Gods! Merciless, cruel, forsaken Heavens...” Zee's whole body
shook.

He crouched to Harry's shattered body, pale and cold and
bloody in the snow. I almost shifted back to an anguished tiger just
standing there, the blinding rage painting red all around me.

Jenna! No, I can't let anything distract me from her.
We're so damned close.

“
Zee,
it's okay.” I planted a firm hand on his naked shoulder and
squeezed. “All of you, let's move into their camp. We can mourn
our brother after we've avenged him.”

Zee got off the ground. All three of my boys nodded
darkly.

We moved, shifting into tigers. Before we'd even reached
the first tent, a tall figure in a cloak emerged, flanked by two
guards sporting big rifles.

Rufus.

Cousin. Traitor. Killer!

“
My,
my, my. Is this what a former Alpha does with his sweet time?”
He shook his head, never once softening the poison smile on his lips.
“You could've just slunk away in peace, cousin. I gave you that
chance. Wishful thinking, I suppose, while I have the girl...”

Snarling, I approached, ready to stalk and destroy. The
men next to him raised their rifles in warning, but Rufus spread his
arms out, a signal not to fire.

I growled, baring my teeth. This wasn't even a tiger's
warning growl, but a promise of imminent death.

“
Is
that all you have to say to me for the last time? Well, no matter.”
In one quick jerk, Rufus ripped away his cloak, hurling it to the
ground.

“
My
friends and I will put you all out of your misery. You've caused
enough mischief in Tiger Tree for one day. Guess I finally understand
and Alpha's burden. It's my
job
to
put you down, cousin, to protect my town and my mate.”

I launched myself in the air and tackled him. The men
fired, and the other tigers bounded up next to me.

Rufus shifted too quickly for me tear into him while he
was a man. We tumbled on the ground, flattening half a tent, rolling
and clawing and snapping our jaws.

I fought with mad bloodlust. The meaning of life or
death echoed in my hot brain. The fever to destroy, to avenge, to
vanquish evil boiled my blood.

And this force animated my claws. I kicked and scratched
at his soft belly, not stopping until he deafened me with his roars.

One more brutal kick with my back legs sent claws deep
into his stomach. Screaming, he nipped at my neck, biting so hard my
paws wrapped around his head shook furiously.

Damn! I lost my grasp in the struggle.

Rufus twisted away. He ran, dripping blood across the
snow. I followed him like lightning, home free now that my boys were
feasting on his men.

My nostrils flared. I swung my claws at his tail, but
missed.

The wily instinct to survive possessed him. He leaped,
collapsing the top of the smaller tent, then bounded again off the
machine gun's sandbags and into pool surrounding the fountain.

Without thinking, I followed.

The icy water was an instant shock. My body adjusted,
but not as quickly as his.

In a single second, Rufus was on top of me, biting my
ears and shoving my head underwater with his huge paws. Snarling with
surprise, I breathed in water, and choked.

I went wild beneath the water, bucking against him,
grabbing his stripes in a deadly embrace. When my claws found his
wounds and opened them wider, he lost his brute hold.

My head sprang up from the pinkish water, gasping for
air. I was sick and sore and utterly drained. But I couldn't give up.

I thought about Jenna and lunged, sinking my teeth into
his neck. Tiger's skin was furry and thick, hard to fatally pierce
even with these sharp teeth.

I bit down and wouldn't let go. Rufus screamed,
thrashing at my body, blinding me with splashes. His claws raked my
sides again and again.

Blind pain exploded through my body. I poured all of my
focus into making my jaw work, stabbing him deeper, a death bite to
save my Jenna.

Blood poured out around the harsh bite, into my mouth,
reddening the water around us. I coughed up gore and kept biting,
looking him in the eyes when his mad grip began to weaken.

This is for Tiger Tree. This is for Jenna. This is
for a whole life of being such a soulless little shit.

I'm the only Alpha here for as long as I live. And
you, cousin, are dying.

I saw the life drain from his eyes. The darkness there
swelled, fogged, and blurred into a great nothingness.

I was still biting a limp, cold, and very wet body when
the pain overwhelmed me.

Panic hit hard. I realized I couldn't force my paws to
swim. I started to sink, straight toward the bottom of the shallow
pool, listening to the fountain's eternal trickle somewhere above.

“
Wake
up, sir! Come on, come on, you have to wake up!”

A hand hit my face. Hard.

I was human again, being held at the edge of the
fountain. The frigid waters numbed the terrible gashes in my sides.
It couldn't stem the blood loss, though.

“
Jenna...Jenna?”
I opened my eyes.