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One of the tigers growled deep in his throat. He stepped toward Bain. Golden eyes shone in the late afternoon light which flooded through the window. He was beautiful in a terrifying, deadly kind of way.
"Have it your way." Bain shifted back into his wolf form so quickly, all I saw was a blur of darkness.
I thought he'd leap at them, but he stayed back for now. When the tigers stepped toward him, he moved to the side, so they started to circle around the room.
Cats and dogs playing with their prey, I thought. Then I realised the tiger guards might not know I had a strong, pleasant scent in my hand to overcome the odour.
One of the tigers broke off from Bain and started toward the bathroom door.
I sniffed my petals and drew in a ton of power. I could have blasted the room apart, but I wouldn't risk hurting Bain as well. Sure, a bit of me was still pissed at him for helping Helene to kidnap me in the first place. He sent Knox along to keep an eye on me, but if he had told Dex and me, I could have stayed here, out of harm’s way.
The tiger reached the doorway.
I realised how wrong that assumption was. I wasn't safe here either. Helene would have found a way to grab me, or found someone else to help free Comus.
Either way, the shit that happened, happened, and all I could do was deal with it. That included my newest tiger friend.
"Hey asshole," I greeted. "Fun fact, but fifty percent of tigers who entered my room are dead already. You really want to add to that statistic?"
He moved toward me slowly, claws clicking with each step.
I assumed that was a yes.
"Okay then." I started to form a thread of power, intending to bind him the way I bound Nico.
Before I could, he shifted into person form.
A moment later I was thrown back and pressed hard into the wall.
"What the fuck?" My attacker stood in front of me, hands by his sides, intense expression on his face.
"Right, hemitheos," I said half to myself. "That answers the question about being able to shift. Can I do that too?"
I didn't expect him to answer, and he didn't.
I chewed my lip for a moment. "You're the only one with power, aren't you? Otherwise Nico and the others would have used it."
The set of his jaw confirmed that suspicion.
"Okay, so when Bain deals with the other guy, he'll be right at your back. Then what?"
He bared his teeth. On anyone else, it might have been a smile. On him, it looked like a derisive sneer. "You think I can't handle you both? Your power is weak and untrained."
"If Helene wasn't dead, she wouldn't like to hear you say that," I pointed out.
He flinched.
"Oh, you didn't know she was dead? Yeah, your old friend Comus, you know about him? He wanted her to serve him. Apparently he likes them dead."
"Helene was a fool," tiger-man said. "She turned her back on the council."
"Is that why you're trying to kill me?" I asked. "Because I worked with her? Let me assure you, I didn't do that by choice. I was a captive." Which led to the question, "Why are you here? Who did I piss off so much you want me dead?"
"This is bigger than you," he said.
I cocked my head. "See, that might be the case, but there are four tigers here trying to kill me. Nico didn't even know why. Or did he, and you just told him what to say?"
I frowned while I thought. "Is the Hemitheos Council trying to stir up trouble between the Keeper and the Watcher?" As far as I could tell, it wouldn't take much for that to happen. If the tigers killed me and Slade was blamed, Dex would go after him. Maybe not for me, as such, but because someone took his toy away.
