Page 27 of Ignited

A lot they knew. She was always in charge of her own life. Only… she was starting to feel sick again. Cramps rippled across her back, and she felt fur sprout and recede.

Maybe a militia encampment wouldn’t be a bad place to regroup. They might have the local intel she needed. At least she had all her stuff, and her cash.

“I can pay you,” she said. “For hiding me for a day or two.”

“Don’t start that again,” Boomer said.

His brother just muttered “For fuck’s sake,” and shut the window between them.

It seemed to take forever to get wherever they were going. The potion had helped her, at first—or maybe it was just the adrenalin spike of almost getting killed.

They’d checked the potion bottle Boomer had saved, but there were only a few more drops in there. And that was the last of it. No more fights; no more potion. If her tiger won their battle for control, she might have to end up depending on Boomer to pull her out of it again.

And she couldn’t afford to depend on anyone. Especially not for something that important.

But soon she stopped worrying about that, because the cramps and muscle spasms were getting worse, and it took all her focus to hold the tiger back.

Not now, Karisma told her, again and again. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she came out in this tiny enclosed space. What if she panicked, and really did claw Boomer to death?

She still couldn’t believe it was him, sitting here right next to her. The soft-hearted kid who’d set her free from the sorcerer’s cage all those years ago had turned into this tough, hard, wild-ass lunatic.

Who was obviously some kind of trained soldier, him and his brother both. She was still betting on some kind of militia group. They had that look.

Another muscle spasm rippled over her, followed by a wave of nausea. She gagged.

Her hands Changed to paws.

Boomer picked up the one nearest him and activated the pressure point again. The nausea receded, but her hands stayed paws.

That didn’t seem to bother him. His fingers moved over her pads, bit by bit, massaging gently, and then moved on to spread her tiger toes and massage between them.

The knots in Karisma’s stomach eased, and she felt herself relaxing. His touch felt so good, and that terrified her.

For a second, she almost wished the brother was the one who had set her free, all those years ago. Who was sitting here beside her.

Because she understood who he was. A soldier and a formidable enemy, who wasn’t swayed by his emotions. If he had any.

Boomer was something else. Confusing. Sexy. Tough, a fighter, but she could sense that he was also wild, impulsive, unpredictable. And he still had that soft heart.

She wanted—needed—to keep the upper hand, and she wasn’t sure anymore that she could have done that with either of them.

But Boomer had her all churned up inside, not knowing who she was or what she wanted, destroying her hard-won control. He’d called her out of her tiger when she didn’t want to come. Who knew what else he could make her do?

And that was what scared her so much. Ever since she’d escaped from the carnival, she’d sworn no one would ever, ever have power over her again. Whatever else happened in her life, she’d held on to that.

And now, in a bizarre twist of Fate, Boomer was back—the only other person who’d been there when this whole thing started. Just when she was about to get the last item she needed to take her revenge on Maximilian and undo what he’d done to her.

But she wasn’t a victim of Fate. She was in charge of her own life, and she was taking the power back. Boomer could help her, or he could get out of her way. But no one was going to stop her. Not when she was this close.

Chapter 13

By the time they got back to Outlaw Ridge, Karisma was asleep with her head on Boomer’s shoulder. Her paws had turned back into hands, but now and then her muscles still rippled with almost-changes, and she was making constant little growly noises.

And Boomer was still holding her hand. He couldn’t seem to let go.

All the while, his mind was telling him how massively fucked up this situation was. He was bringing an unauthorized shifter onto a mostly-secret base without asking anyone. One who not only couldn’t control herself, but was under the influence of some kind of magic.

But he just kept coming to the same conclusion, which was: what the hell else was he supposed to do? This was the only safe place for her. He couldn’t abandon her again.