Unleash the Night
Aimee took a deep breath as she entered the back door of Peltier House. This was the last place she wanted to be, but she better than anyone else understood why she had to return.
Her family would kill Fang and his entire clan if she didn't.
Steeling herself for what was to come, she closed the door and headed for the stairs.
She'd only gotten as far as the hall table when her brother Dev came out the door that led to the kitchen to see her. She saw relief in his eyes a second before it was replaced with anger.
"So you're back."
"It's my home."
He scoffed at her. "I would find another one, if I were you."
She stiffened at the coldness of his tone. "I'm being thrown out?"
"You're being warned. You picked your side and it was the wrong one."
"Leave us."
Aimee looked up at her mother's commanding tone. Maman was at the top of the stairs, glaring down at them. Dev shook his head at Aimee before he headed back toward the kitchen.
She flashed herself up to her mother's side. "Don't even think about striking me, Maman. I'm not in the mood for it. And I will hit back this time."
Her mother narrowed her eyes on Aimee. "You would sacrifice all of us for a hybrid orphan without clan?"
"Never. But I will not stand by and see an innocent condemned for nothing. Can you not see the lie that is being told, Maman? I know Wren. I talk to him. He's no threat to anyone but himself."
Still her mother's face was angry and cold. Her family, and in particular her mother, wasn't stupid. Aimee had no doubt that her mother and father knew she'd left voluntarily with Fang.
"You betrayed us all."
Aimee sighed. "If doing the right thing is betrayal, then yes, I suppose I did. So what are you going to do now, Maman? Kill me?"
Her mother growled ferociously at her, but Aimee stood her ground.
The air around them sizzled an instant before something shattered in Wren's room.
She followed her mother, who rushed to the door and slung it open. Aimee half-expected to find Wren there.
She could tell by the scent that it was a tiger all right, but the blond man wasn't Wren.
"What are you doing here, Zack?" her mother asked.
The tiger curled his lips as he opened a drawer. "The bastard escaped us. I need something with his scent on it to disseminate to the Strati."
Aimee arched a brow at that. The Strati were elite Katagaria soldiers who were carefully trained to hunt and to kill. Her brothers Zar and Dev, along with her father, were Strati warriors.
"You need nothing of his," her mother said, to Aimee's surprise. "Get out of my house."
Zack didn't listen. He moved to open another drawer.
Her mother used her powers to slam it shut. "I said for you to leave."
The tiger moved to confront her. "Don't screw with me, bear. You have as much to lose by this as I do."
"What do you mean?"
But Aimee already knew. "You're the one who spoke out against Wren at the Omegrion. You lied."
Her mother jerked her head to look at Aimee. "Do not be foolish, cub. I would have smelled a lie."
Aimee shook her head. "Not if the animal makes a habit of lying. He could easily mask his scent."
Zack took a step toward her only to find his path blocked by her mother.
"Is Aimee telling the truth?"
Zack answered with a question of his own. "Were you?" He arched a brow at her. "Do you really think Wren's gone mad? Honestly? You just wanted him out of here and you seized on any excuse to expel him. Admit it, Lo. You don't want anyone here but your family and it galls you to have to play nice with the rest of us."
She growled low in her throat.
Zack narrowed his gaze. "If Savitar ever learns the truth, he'll come for you and all your cubs. There won't be a brick left of your precious Sanctuary."
Her mother seized him and threw him against the wall. He landed with his back against it, but it didn't appear to faze him at all.
Zack actually laughed at her. "What happened to the rules of Sanctuary, Nicolette?"
Aimee caught her mother before she could attack the tiger again.
"Get out, tiger," Aimee snarled. "If I let go of my mother, there won't be enough left of you to worry about Savitar or anything else."
Zack pushed himself away from the wall. He glared at them both. "You have even more to lose than I do. Give me what I need to cover both our asses."
Now it was her mother who laughed. "Are you completely stupid? Wren has never left his scent on anything. Look around you, idiot. There is no personal item here. As soon as an article of clothing comes off his body, he has always washed it or destroyed it. He even keeps a monkey here so that its scent camouflages his own. You will never be able to track him. Face it, Zack, the cub has more intelligence than you and your father combined."
Aimee was suddenly impressed by her mother. She'd never really thought about why Wren had arrived at Sanctuary with Marvin, but obviously her mother had known all along.
Zack's nostrils flared in anger. "This isn't over."
"Oui, but it is. You come here again and code or no code, I will see you dead."
Growling, Zack vanished.
The tension in the air eased considerably.
Her mother let out a slow breath as she turned toward her. "Aimee, call your wolf and warn him what has happened. I am sure he knows where Wren is and he can warn him that the tiger is cornered and desperate. In his position, Zack is capable of anything."
She frowned at her mother's sudden reversal. "I don't understand. Why are you being unbelievably understanding all of a sudden? No offense, Maman, it scares me."
Her mother gave Aimee a harsh stare. "I have no love of Wren, this you know. But I respect the predator within him and I do not appreciate being manipulated by another. Nor do I relish being made a fool." She shook her head. "I should have questioned why Zack and his father continually called to check on Wren after he was sent here. I allowed them to plant seeds of doubts in my mind and I saw in him what they wanted me to see. I can't believe I was so foolish."
Her gaze softened. "I give you credit, cub. You weren't blinded. Now we must repair this before the weight of Savitar's wrath comes crashing down on all of us." She urged Aimee toward the door. "Go warn them. You, they will listen to."
"What are you going to do?"
"I am going to speak with your father and brothers. I fear we are on the edge of a very dangerous situation and I want them all prepared."
Aimee took a step toward the door, then paused. "I love you, Maman."
"Je't'aime aussi, ma petite. Now go and let us make this as right as we can."
In tiger form, Wren located his mother on a bench in Central Park. Luckily the place was crowded, which would help conceal his scent and allow him to blend into the background.
Hiding in a copse of bushes, he flashed into a human with black hair, jeans, sunglasses, and a Ramones T-shirt. The kind of human his mother would never pay attention to. He probably could have kept blond hair, but he looked enough like his father that he didn't want to chance it.
Watching her as she rummaged in her purse for something, he had to give her credit, she was beautiful in human form. Elegant. Her white business suit and red silk blouse set off her impeccable figure to advantage. Many human males paused to try to speak to her, but she quickly chased them off with caustic barbs.
For an animal, she had a great command of the human language. Her tongue was as deadly a weapon as her claws.
Shaking his head as she emasculated another would-be admirer, Wren stayed back until he saw his uncle approaching. With blond hair and dressed in a navy pin-striped suit, he was the masculine equivalent to Wren's mother. The two of them looked like a Fortune 500 power couple.
Grayson inclined his head to her as he sat down on the opposite edge of the bench. Wren noticed that his uncle kept a safe distance so that he could bolt if Karina suddenly lunged at him... smart man.
"So what's up?" Grayson asked.
Wren drifted a little closer so that he could hear them plainly.
"The tiger has lost its mind," she said evasively. "You were right. It's been spending time with its offspring while I was away."
She gave him a peeved glare. "Aristotle would have been suspicious, and since we haven't been on the best of terms in the last twenty-five years, I thought it in my best interest to leave it alive."
Wren clenched his teeth at her words. Even now it was hard to hear her callous condemnation of his life.
She curled her lips in anger. "He's now cut me out entirely. I've been given a tiny hovel in New Jersey of all places. My credit cards have the limits of a human peasant. He's left me with nothing."
Grayson's eyes lighted as if her rage amused him. "I told you not to flaunt your lover in his face. My brother is a proud beast. You're lucky he hasn't killed you both."
She scoffed at that. "I defy him to try it. I assure you, I can hold my own against any tiger."
Grayson passed a doubting look to her. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so arrogant. You know tigers are known to tear the throats out of leopards."
"Only in your dreams." She leveled a sinister glare at Grayson. "I want out of this relationship. So long as that tiger lives, I can't mate within my own species."
"I thought you loved him."
"Love?" she spat. "Are you stupid? Love is for humans."
She jerked the white glove off her right hand and held it up for Grayson to see. "I mated with him because of this. Mating is what our species does when the mark appears. It never equates to love for the Katagaria, you know that. Do you love your mate?"
"She satisfies me."
Karina got a faraway look on her face as if she was remembering something in the past. Sadness marked her perfect features. "I, too, was satisfied once," she said softly. Her face hardened again into the bitch countenance Wren knew so well. "Until I saw what our mating produced. I am the very last of my kind. If I can't prolong the snow leopard breed, then at least let me reproduce a pure leopard and not some freakish hybrid."
Thanks, Mom. Love you, too. He would love to show her exactly what her freak was capable of.
Even she would be impressed with his ability to rip her throat out before she could even defend herself.
Grayson folded his arms over his chest and spoke in a calm, level tone as if they were discussing the weather and not the life and death of Wren and his father.
The very nonchalance made Wren want to kill them both.
"Then you know what you need to do, Karina."
"It's not that simple now," she said with a sigh. "He's left everything to the mutant. I'm quite sure it will see me out in the cold before it allows me near it."
Grayson snorted. "What does a leopard care about a tiger's will?"
She hissed at him. "Don't be stupid. Our habitats are dwindling every day. At least in the façade of a wealthy human I can make sure that I always have a refuge to be in my true form. I also know how badly you want Tigarian Technologies, but Aristotle is too suspicious of you to ever trust you at his back again. So here's what I propose. I kill him and the mutant, and you give me a share of the estate."
"If I say no?"
"Then I take my chances with the mutant."
Yeah, Wren thought angrily. That would be an even worse mistake. Even as a cub he'd hated his mother. Too bad she hadn't taken her chances with him.
Grayson fell silent as he considered her words. "Very well, I accept."
Dun, like he'd expected his uncle to say anything else. But then, Wren was watching a history that he already knew the outcome to.
"Good, but I know you, Grayson. I don't trust you, either. I want some assurances."
Wow, Karina actually had had a brain. At least for a moment. Too bad her assurances had failed her in the end, but maybe they would give Wren some way to prove Grayson guilty of this deed.
"And what would that be?" Grayson asked.
"I want you to set me up as a major stockholder in your own company and I want a million dollars up front, transferred from your account to mine before I make any moves against the tiger."
Even Wren could tell that went over like a weighted cannonball with his uncle. Grayson's features actually looked pinched and drawn. Wren half-expected the tiger to tell her to shove it.
He didn't. "How long do I have?"
"Not long. I know Aristotle. By now, he'll have me banned entirely from the house. But he did say that he wanted me to look at the mutant. I feign interest. Tell him I've calmed down and would like to see it. When he opens the door, I can kill them both."
Now that pleased his uncle. His eyes were actually alight and happy. "I need time to liquidate a few things to have the cash for you."
"You have forty-eight hours." She pulled a business card out of her purse. "That's my account. Once the money is in there, you'll be a far richer man."
Wren watched as she stood up and walked off. It was the hardest moment of his life to stand there and let history make itself when all he had to do was lunge at them both and kill them.
I could save my father's life...
But his father was supposed to die. If he didn't, then Wren wouldn't go to New Orleans and he would never meet Maggie.
She's not your mate.
It was true. As his mother had pointed out to Grayson, it wasn't in his people to love. Not like humans did, and yet Wren felt something for Maggie that defied any other explanation.
He only wanted to be with her and yet he knew he had nothing to offer her.
But right now, he could save his father's life...
And lose Maggie forever.
His father or Maggie. But men, there was no real choice. If Wren saved his father, he would alter many more fates than just his own.
His mind turned back to when Vane had been living at Sanctuary. One of Vane's packmates had come to kill him. Only Wren had kept him from pursuing Vane.
If Wren hadn't been there...
Vane might be dead now. And that was just one instance that Wren knew about. One life touched hundreds of others, either directly or indirectly.
"The slightest stirring in the air can set a hurricane in motion a thousand miles off."
Chaos theory. The Dark-Hunter Acheron had been the one to teach Wren that years ago. To change even the smallest thing could have extremely damaging repercussions.
No, he had to let history play itself out.
Grinding his teeth, he turned away and drifted into a secluded area so that he could shift back to his father's house.
"You two can stay in here once Wren returns," Wren's father said as he closed the door to seal the two of them into a guest bedroom alone.
Marguerite frowned at his actions as something inside her became frightened. She didn't want to be alone with Wren's father. But it didn't make any sense. Aristotle had only been kind to her so far.
Still, she felt extremely uncomfortable.
Aristotle took a deep breath as he fidgeted with a small porcelain box on the cherrywood dresser. "Do you think Wren will be able to find the evidence he needs?"
"I hope so."
Aristotle shook his head. "My mother always told me to watch out for Grayson. She said that he had too much human in him for his own good."
Marguerite frowned at his words. "How so?"
Aristotle put the lid on the box, then turned and leaned back against the dresser. "Animals as a rule aren't particularly jealous, but Grayson always was. He was the eldest of my parents' offspring. I was the youngest... born very late in their lives. I had two littermates who didn't survive. Because of that, my mother doted on me. I can remember being just a cub and catching Grayson eyeing me with malice. My mother was always afraid to leave us alone together. It was why I banned him from my company a long time ago."
Marguerite could understand Aristotle's concern, but his actions struck her as extremely paranoid. "Yes, but jealousy doesn't always make people homicidal."
He laughed at that. "We're not talking about people, Maggie. We're talking animals. In our world, it's survival of the fittest. Winner take all."
He crossed the room to stand before her. "You love my son, don't you?"
"I..." Marguerite hesitated. But in the end, she knew the answer. There was no denying it. "Yes."
Aristotle smiled. "A human's love. I couldn't wish anything better for him. Animals protect what they know. They protect what they are bound to, but humans... humans have a greater capacity for sacrifice for those who live in their hearts."
Before Maggie could move, Aristotle grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground. She tried to scream, only to find that she couldn't even get air into her lungs.
His eyes blazed at her. "Forgive me for doing this to you. I hope you'll understand in time."
Her desired scream came out as a whimper as he changed into a tiger and bit her shoulder.
Marguerite was completely paralyzed as pain ripped through her. She saw colors swirling around as a foreign buzzing started in her ears.
Her breathing became labored, painful. It was as if she were suffocating.
She was dying. She knew it.
Why?
Why was he doing this to her? Her thoughts turned to Wren. He would be devastated.
Fight, damn it, fight!
But she couldn't. She had no control over her body. No control over what his father was doing to her. It was terrifying.
I'm so sorry, Wren.
It was her final thought before everything went black.
Wren found himself alone in his father's bedroom. He cocked his head as he heard faint music playing from another room. It was the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
Wren snorted. No doubt it was his father's way of letting Wren know where they were.
He cracked open the door to the hallway and looked down it to make sure his younger self wasn't about. Not that there was much chance of that. If he remembered correctly, he only ventured out after dark and then only a time or two. He'd been too afraid to let his father see him. Afraid of how much more his father would hate him if he knew what he could do.
God, he'd been such a fool. The very thing that had caused his father to change his feelings toward him had been the thing that had scared him most.
If only he'd known.
Wren headed down the hall, in the opposite direction of his childhood room. He found the door where the music was playing.
Just in case he was wrong, he knocked lightly on the door.
No one answered.
Hesitant, he opened it slowly to find a large white tiger on the bed. He froze not so much at the sight but at what he smelled. The air was thick with the scent of tiger mixed with that of Maggie.
But there was no sight of her.
Wren's heart hammered at the significance. "What did you do?" he snarled at the beast that lay facing the opposite wall. "How could you eat my girlfriend, Dad? She was all I've ever had. Damn you!"
His rage boiling over, Wren charged the bed, intending to kill his father as he changed into a tiger's form. He caught the tiger, then skidded to a halt.
Wren's gaze locked with the tiger's, whose eyes weren't blue...
They were brown.
They were Maggie brown.
And they were large in panic.
Wren let go of her and changed back to human form. Scared of what he was seeing, he reached out to touch her, half-expecting this to be a trick of some kind. How could Maggie be a tiger?
She was human. Completely human.
"Baby?" he whispered, stroking the tiger's face. "Is it really you?"
The tiger crawled closer to him. She nuzzled his bare chest and raised a paw to rest on his hip. He could sense her fear that was mingled with relief.
Wren wrapped his arms around her to hold her close in comfort. "It's all right," he said, stroking her soft fur. "I've got you."
Two seconds later, she was lying as a naked human in his arms.
Wren pulled back to see those familiar brown eyes.
"I'm scared, Wren," she said, her voice trembling. "What's happening to me?"
He cupped her face in his hands. "I don't know. What happened while I was gone?"
"Your father brought me into this room and I thought he killed me."
Wren frowned at her words. "What?"
"He attacked me as a tiger, then everything went black. When I woke up, I was..." She changed back into a tiger before she could finish speaking.
Her panic doubled.
"It's okay, Maggie," Wren assured her. "Take a deep breath and imagine yourself as a human."
She came back to him.
"That's it," he said with a smile he didn't really feel.
But he didn't want to scare her any more than she already was. "Stay focused as a human and you'll remain one."
"I have to tell you, being a tiger really sucks."
He laughed darkly at her words. "Sometimes. Sometimes it's not so bad."
"This isn't one of those times."
He smiled as he gently stroked her hair. "No, I guess for you it isn't." He tilted his head as he tried to sense his father, but all Wren could feel was Maggie. "Do you know where my father went?"
"No, but the next time I see him, I intend to return the bite."
"Don't worry. I'll bite him for you." Wren pulled back from her. "How do you feel right now?"
"Woozy. Do you ever feel like you're going to vomit when you change shapes?"
"It usually goes away quickly. Stare at something for a minute and your senses will settle down."
She stared at his lips.
Wren didn't know what it was about that that turned him on, but his body reacted instantly to it.
"You're right," she said. "It helps."
Wren kissed her lightly. She moaned deep in her throat as he parted her lips to taste the sweetness of her mouth. His body hardening even more, he gently cupped her breast in his hand.
He rolled her to her back just as someone knocked on the door.
He quickly dressed them both as the door opened to show his father. Hesitating in the doorway, he appeared sheepish. "I didn't know you were back. I was coming in to check on Maggie. How's she doing?"
Wren left the bed as rage took hold of him. "What did you do to her?"
He looked past Wren to the bed where Maggie was still lying in human form. "I'm so sorry, Maggie. But it's for the best. You're stronger now. You'll live longer than you would have as a human. Believe me, you're much better off this way."
Wren grabbed him and slammed him back against the wall. "What did you do to her?"
"I gave her my mother's powers."
Wren couldn't have been more stunned had his father racked him. He loosened his hold on his throat. "You did what?"
"I gave her animal powers. I figured that by the weekend I wouldn't need them anymore anyway, right?"
His father snorted at that. "Yes, they can. It's not something done often. Very few of our kind are willing to let go of their magic. But it can be done."
Wren still didn't believe it. "No. I know a Were-Hunter who's mated to a human. She has no powers."
"Because he didn't share them with her."
"Believe me, if Vane could share his powers with his wife, he would."
Wren's father arched a brow at that. "Even if it meant weakening his own?"
Wren hesitated. No, maybe not. "How is it I've never heard of this?"
"It's not exactly something that's talked about in open circles. I learned about it from my mother, who gave up her powers to me when she knew she was dying of cancer. I was young and she was terrified Grayson would kill me. So she made me strong enough to hold my own against him. Now I've passed her gift along to your girlfriend."
Maggie sat up slowly on the bed. "Why not give it to Wren?"
His father gave an odd half laugh. "His powers are enough that he can hold his own against virtually anyone. But you... you would always be a weakness for him. Now you're not. In a few days, you will grow accustomed to your new life and you will master those powers."
"But we're not mates," Wren said, still unable to believe this was happening.
"You will be. I know it."
Wren shook his head. "Maggie is the daughter of a U.S. senator, Dad. How is she supposed to go back to her life now?" He watched as the horror of that sank in.
"Why didn't you tell me?" his father asked.
"Had I known you were going to foist our world on her, I would have. But I never dreamed in my wildest imagination that you could do this."
Maggie touched Wren's arm as she joined them. "It's okay, Wren. Although to be honest, a choice in this would have been nice. Your father's heart was in the right place. You can't be angry at someone who did something because they loved you."
Wren ground his teeth. "Sure I can."
His father looked stricken.
"But I won't."
His father pulled Wren into his arms and hugged him.
She smiled at them. "So before I shift into a tiger again, did you learn anything about your father's murder?"
Wren nodded as he pulled away and moved to Marguerite's side. "My mother's brilliant plan is that she kills Dad and me, and then she and Grayson split the estate. He's to wire a million dollars into her account in advance of the murders."
"But she doesn't kill you," Marguerite reminded him. "After your father dies-"
"You know," his father said between clenched teeth, "it really disturbs me to be talking about my death like this."
"I'm sorry," Maggie said. She looked at Wren. "Are you sure we can't save him?"
"No," Wren said. "It would alter things and the Fates would punish us for it."
His father concurred. "And I'd most likely end up dead in some other fashion within a few hours of his saving me. The Fates have an eerie way of keeping things in balance."
Marguerite felt for Aristotle. "So how do we prove their involvement?"
"I don't know," Wren said. "The deposit doesn't mean anything. I suppose I could get a copy of it, but Grayson could lie and say that he put the money there for another reason. His argument will be based on the fact that both of my parents are dead. He'll say I killed them both."
"So you'll need to find out who killed your mother and provide proof of it."
Wren nodded. "Could Grayson have been in the house when she died?"
Aristotle shook his head. "It's not possible."
"Are you sure?" Wren asked.
"Positive. I banned Grayson from here a long time ago." Aristotle turned thoughtful. "What all do you remember about the night of my death? I need every detail."
Wren passed an uncomfortable look to Marguerite. "It happened around ten. I remember because I heard the clock chime just as something crashed. I sensed that something was wrong, so I left my room to go to yours. I found you there and I held you."
She saw the pain on Wren's father's face.
"Then I heard them laughing and I went to kill them. Mom's lover attacked me and knocked me out. When I woke up, the house was on fire and I escaped when the floor burned out from underneath me. A fireman took me outside and I escaped into the woods. There was a man there who called out to me. He said he would take me to Sanctuary."
His father frowned. "What man?"
"I don't know. He never told me his name and I don't even know why I trusted him, in retrospect. He just seemed to be honest."
Marguerite considered that. "What did he look like?"
Wren shrugged. "He looked and smelled human. He was really tall, with black eyes and long, dark brown hair."
Aristotle shook his head. "I don't know a human who looks like that."
"Are you sure?" Wren asked.
"Positive."
"How weird," Marguerite said as she considered that. "Who could he have been then?"
Wren shook his head. "I don't know."
Aristotle let out a long, tired breath. "Very well then. It doesn't sound like there's much we can do until the night they kill me. I'll have the bank keep me posted about your mother's account. You stay here and teach your girlfriend how to use her powers."
Wren's frown increased. "Where are you going?"
His father gave Wren a meaningful stare. "I want to go spend a little time with my son so that he won't hate me entirely when he finds me dead."
"I didn't hate you, Dad."
He smiled sadly. "Thanks, Wren. I'm glad to know it before I die."
Marguerite was amazed by the man's strength, at the fact that he could face his death so bravely. It was unbelievable. "You're being incredibly understanding about all this."
He scoffed at that. "Only on the outside. I assure you, inside I'm screaming right now. There's nothing worse than knowing you're going to die and not being able to stop it."
She cringed at the very thought. "No, I guess not."
Aristotle opened the door. "I'll be back in a few hours. In the meantime if either of you need anything, have Maggie buzz me on the intercom."
"Okay."
As his father started to leave, Wren stopped him. "Thanks, Dad."
He patted Wren on the arm before he left them alone.
Wren sighed heavily. "This has been one seriously fucked-up day, huh?"
"You might say that. This morning it was 2005 in New Orleans, I was staring at you wondering what it would be like to have the ability to change into a tiger. Now it's the day before I enter the world in 1981 and I can turn into a tiger. Yeah, just your average day... if you're in a Ted Raimi production."
Wren snorted at her sarcasm.
Marguerite rubbed her arms as the real horror of all this settled deep inside her heart. "What's going to become of us, Wren?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it should be interesting."
"And that is what really, really scares me."