Tiger Born by Tressie Lockwood Page B

onto his dad. “What happened then?”
    “I attacked him, tried ending his life. Only Coreen brought me from the edge. Carmine went to the hospital, and I hid out in the woods, waiting for the dogs to be set out on me. Day after day I waited, but none came. Eventually, I dared to visit Coreen and, to my surprise, she didn’t reject me. I could see she was afraid, but she loved me. She came to Siberia to stay with me, and, well, I didn’t hear anything more from Carmine for a few years, not until he was appointed with his current position as a boil on my ass.”
    Heath frowned. “Nice visual. Thanks.”
    Ward shrugged. “So you need to be really sure, Son, regarding our solution to the situation.”
    They stared at one another for a long time. Heath knew what his father would do. Something told him right from the start Ward would kill for his people’s safety. If it came right down to it, Heath would do the same to keep Deja safe. No one would threaten his family and get away with it. That included Coreen, his dad, and especially his brothers, who still hadn’t accepted him.
    “I can remove him from office,” Ward said. “You don’t have to be involved.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’ve done it before.”
    Heath shoved up from his chair. He’d killed his fair share of bad guys back at the Spiderweb lab, all of them human. This felt different. He paced to the same window where his father stood a moment ago and put his back to it, crossing his arms over his chest. “Dad, we take that step and it gets out into Siberia… You know the peace right now is tenuous. All it takes is a single incident to push one of the humans too far. Just like we were discussing the other day, there’s a separation, even among those who are mated to shifters. Some of the humans have just been here long enough to consider it home. They’re single, but I believe loyal.”
    “Agreed, but what other choice do we have? I’ve been putting up with Carmine’s bullshit for years. He’s not going to back down, and I think he knows I’ve been more concerned with keeping a lid on our secret than going after him. He’s gotten cocky. When I approached him about buying that extra land and having it deeded as Siberia land, he was in hog heaven. He tightened his fist around it, and there’s no way he’s letting go without drastic measures on our part. But the land is not a problem.”
    “Hmm, it’s the day he decides to rat us out to the higher-ups. Then we’ll have government people crawling up our asses, poking us.” Heath clenched his hands into fists. “That child will not be the only one taken.”
    “So we’re doing this?” Ward raised an eyebrow in query.
    “Yeah, I guess we are, together.”
    Ward stood up. “Okay, we’ll do it when you and the others get back. For now, keep it under your hat. Not even Deja, got it?”
    “That’s easy. Deja isn’t speaking to me.”
    Ward grunted and shook his head. “Young people.”

Chapter Eight
     
    “What do we have, Joe?” Heath inquired when Joe returned from scouting the area surrounding the neighborhood where Tina’s cousin lived. He and the rest of his team had kept to a designated spot some miles away, under cover of trees. The heavily wooded surroundings turned out to be perfect, but they lay low anyway during the day and only stirred at night. He had instructed everyone to dress in all black and to stay together. In some respects, he felt like they were playing spy, but this was serious business. None of them could afford to be caught by Spiderweb.
    The group dropped back from Heath a few steps to let Joe through. While Heath waited for the man to report, he was more keenly aware of Deja at the edge of the group. Every atom in his body seemed to strain toward her, yet from her expression she didn’t give him a second thought. Her attention had been taken up by another man he didn’t know well. Coltrane, a big African American shifter, stood close to Deja but didn’t