A Growl, a Roar, and a Purr Page 13

  Dellan was at the cage door and through it before anyone could utter a word. Dellan go with mates.

  “I guess that answers that question.” Roadkill stilled as Dellan approached him. “Hey, beautiful kitty.” He kept his hands to himself, however. Dellan sniffed the tranquilizer gun and his lips curled, revealing his teeth. Roadkill hastily put it in his bag, and Dellan stopped growling.

  “Crank, you copy this?” Horvan said. “It’s a go. On our way to the roof.”

  “Affirmative. Be quick. The streets below are filled with cops.”

  Roadkill was on his phone, peering at the floor layout. “Okay, the stairs to the roof are through that door.”

  “That’s Anson’s office,” Rael told him.

  Roadkill tried the handle, then growled. “We ain’t got time to be subtle.” He took a few steps back, then ran at the door, hitting it with his shoulder. The door went flying, and he dashed into the room, Rael behind him with Dellan, Horvan bringing up the rear. Roadkill glanced around the room. “That door. That’s it.” He peered at it, then kicked it in, splintering it off its hinges. “Okay, there’s two flights of stairs. Can Dellan manage that?”

  Before Rael could convey that to Dellan, the tiger made a sound that was unmistakably a snort, then headed through the doorway and climbed the stairs.

  “Apparently so.” Rael followed, trying to keep up, Roadkill and Horvan behind him. At the top was a metal door and no sign of a lock. “Roadkill? Hashtag, you seeing this?”

  “Affirmative. Roadkill, blow the door.”

  “Isn’t that more your skill set?” Roadkill asked with a grin before reaching into his bag and pulling out a pale brown putty-like substance. He pressed a thin thread of it around the rim of the door, then set a fuse. “Okay, stand back.”

  Rael protected Dellan with his body, Horvan doing the same, both of them jolted by the explosion. Through the gaping hole, he heard the chopper, and his heart sang. We made it.

  “We’re not there yet,” Horvan told him. “Let’s get airborne. Then we can relax a little.” He led them out onto the roof, where a dark olive-green helicopter was touching down, its door slid back. From the front next to Crank, Hashtag was waving them on energetically.

  Heads down, they sprinted across the landing pad, Dellan in the midst of them. Roadkill clambered aboard, followed by Horvan. Dellan appeared reluctant, backing away.

  Please, Dellan. You have to get on, Rael pleaded with him.

  When that didn’t work, Horvan gave the tiger a hard stare. Now, Dellan. Get your furry ass up here.

  Dellan leaped into the seating area, Rael behind him. Rael and Horvan strapped themselves in. “What about Dellan?” Rael shouted.

  “We hold on to him, okay? I’ll take the butt end, you take the head.”

  Rael did as instructed, leaning forward, his arms around Dellan’s neck. He had no idea if Dellan had flown before in human form, let alone as a tiger. Judging by his agitation and the low growls that escaped him, Dellan wasn’t happy. Thank God it was a short flight. Rael did his best to soothe him, stroking him and keeping up a litany of calming thoughts.

  “Get us out of here, Crank,” Horvan shouted.

  “You got it.” Seconds later, the chopper lurched into the air. “Flight time is gonna be under thirty minutes. I’ll radio ahead to Pickle.”

  Horvan got on his phone. “Jase? We’re up. You and Finn get out of there—once you’ve shared the good news, of course.” He disconnected, then ran his hand along Dellan’s flank. You’re safe, Dellan. Safe.

  “Jesus! You should hear what I’m hearing,” Crank yelled above the noise of the chopper. “Sounds like the end of a Beyoncé concert, all the cheering and clapping going on down there. Mind you, with the flashing lights, it looks like one too.”

  “When we land, send the signal to the others to post on social media,” Roadkill hollered to Hashtag, who gave him the thumbs-up.

  Rael wasn’t even looking at the world beneath them. His only concern was Dellan. He held on tight, aware of Horvan doing his best to keep Dellan calm.

  He must be so confused. First one mate, now two.

  Horvan stroked Dellan’s back. “He’s coping better than I thought he would.”

  Roadkill leaned forward. “Can I touch him?”

  Rael brought his mouth to Dellan’s round ear. “Not food, remember?” When Dellan chuffed, Rael sighed inwardly with relief. At least he seems to have a sense of humor.

  Roadkill blinked. “Gee. I’m glad you reminded him of that.” Tentatively, he stretched out his hand and stroked Dellan’s side. His eyes widened and his lips parted, but he said nothing.

  It didn’t seem long before the chopper touched down in the middle of a field. Rael spied the motor home and car awaiting them. Are you hungry? We have food for you. Dellan gave him a long lick, and Rael laughed. “That tickles.”

  “Everybody out,” Crank yelled. “This is a quick stop. We don’t want to attract attention, remember?”

  They were off the chopper and sprinting toward the vehicles in a matter of minutes, the blades still turning. A short guy dressed in black greeted Crank with a firm handshake.

  “You got your heading?” Crank shouted.

  The guy nodded. “Now get outta here.” His jaw dropped at the sight of Dellan. “Holy fuck.”

  “You saw nothing, all right?”

  The guy held up both hands. “Hey, I wasn’t even here.” He climbed aboard the chopper.

  Roadkill was speaking with another man beside the car, who then ran to join the chopper pilot. Roadkill got into the car after dumping his bag in the trunk. “First stop is half an hour from here, guys. You know the route. Let’s haul ass.”

  Crank climbed into the driver’s side of the motor home, and Horvan, Rael, and Hashtag got on board, once Dellan had stepped almost delicately inside. Rael led him through to the rear, where there was a queen-size bed. He covered it with a heap of blankets. Dellan jumped up, pawed at the covers for a moment, then curled up on them while Rael went looking for a bowl to fill with water.

  Hashtag strapped himself into a seat, then got on his phone, his fingers flying over the keys. After a minute or so, he looked up with a grin. “That’s it. Eight simultaneous posts, all claiming responsibility for snatching Dellan. Wagons roll, boys. We’ve got a long way to go.”

  Dellan raised his head from his task of lapping up water. Where we go?

  Rael stroked his ears. Somewhere safe.

  “Hey, Hashtag. This is some swanky RV Roadkill got us. I know I should probably have asked this before now, but where’d he get it?” Horvan asked. Rael had barely glanced at the interior; he’d been too concerned about getting Dellan settled. But now that he looked, he was impressed. It seemed well equipped, perfect for their needs.

  “Found it online,” Hashtag replied. “We offered cash to the seller, who was more than happy to pass it on to us. Then we wired the money to Danno, who collected it and took it into the shop. They made sure everything was in running order, then stripped off the license plates and replaced them with… borrowed ones.”

  Rael narrowed his gaze. “Borrowed? Why?”

  Horvan joined him. “Misdirection and obfuscation. If somehow we have a picture taken, the plates will lead them back to a different vehicle. We usually have two other sets so we can change them out.”

  “But borrowed from where?” Rael wanted to know.

  “Danno keeps up the registration on a few junkers back at the shop. That’s where the plates come from. The police are less likely to keep looking if the plates don’t show up in a stolen vehicle database.” Horvan cupped Rael’s cheek. “I know it seems like overkill, but—”

  “Can’t take chances. I get it.” And he did. This was Dellan’s life they were talking about. Even if everything around him was like living in some kind of TV show, he had absolute trust in Horvan.

  Horvan gazed at Dellan in obvious wonder, and Rael smiled. “Well, now you know he doesn’t bite—he just licks
you to death—why don’t the two of you get acquainted?” He got onto the bed beside Dellan, then beckoned Horvan closer. “Crank is driving, and we’ve got half an hour before the first stop, so let’s spend some time with him.”

  Horvan returned his smile. “That sounds good.” He lay on Dellan’s other side, and both of them snuggled closer to Dellan, who relaxed visibly beneath their touch.

  Mates.

  A sigh shuddered through Rael. That’s right. Mates. Now all they had to do was pray Dellan remembered how to shift back.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “UH, HORVAN?” Crank regarded him with a quizzical look. “Why are you growling?”

  “What are you talking about?” Horvan brought his attention back to the road ahead. They were in southern Minnesota and making good time. Behind them, Hashtag was driving the car, and Roadkill was keeping him company. Rael had taken a nap, curled up on the bed next to Dellan. Horvan had been sorely tempted to join them, until he considered their continued combined weight might be more than the bed could stand. Besides, it was his turn to relieve Crank with the driving.

  Crank chuckled. “You don’t even know you’re doing it, do ya? You’ve been making the same noise for the last hour. Is this a bear thing? You need to go find a tree to get rid of your back itch, is that it?” He snorted. “Why am I suddenly thinking of The Jungle Book?”

  “Call me Baloo and you’re dead.” He focused on his driving. Crank was talking out of his ass.

  “Horvan?” Rael stood beside Crank, holding on to the back of the seat. “What’s wrong?”

  “I thought you were sleeping.”

  “Yeah, well, I was until you started growling.”

  What the fuck? Horvan snorted. “You guys are hearing things.”

  Except I heard you in my head. Explain that.

  Why the fuck would I be growling? The mission so far was a success, and his mates were with him.

  His mates. Fuck. Horvan breathed in the scent pervading the RV and scowled.

  “I can smell it too. My lion isn’t happy, but what can we do?” Rael squeezed Horvan’s shoulder.

  Yeah, Rael had nailed it.

  “Smell what? What the fuck are you two talking about?”

  Horvan gave Crank a weary glance. “The other shifters Dellan has been with. We can smell them on him, and it’s angering our beasts.”

  “Why? It’s not like either of you is a virgin.” Crank’s breathing hitched. “Jesus. You’re not, are you?”

  Rael sighed. “No, but now the three of us know what we are to one another, it’s a struggle. My lion wants to find those women and… do bad things to them.”

  “And by bad things, we’re not talking naughty, I take it?”

  Horvan admired Rael’s understated rage. Horvan wanted to tear them to shreds.

  Before he could respond to Crank’s question, Dellan intruded.

  Dellan out now. Now.

  “I’ll go see what’s wrong.” Rael left them and headed toward the rear.

  “What’s up?” Crank asked.

  “Dellan wants to get out of the RV.” Had he awoken and panicked?

  Crank snickered. “Well, sure he does. When a tiger’s gotta go, he’s gotta go. And he sure isn’t gonna use the bathroom, right?”

  Shit.

  Yeah, shit. Exactly. Get Roadkill to find us someplace to stop. And how come neither of us thought of this?

  Rael had a point.

  “Get Roadkill on the phone,” he instructed Crank. “Tell him we need to get off the road someplace isolated enough to let Dellan out of the RV. And soon, otherwise it’s going to get messy in here.” He snuck a glance at Crank. “And then get some sleep. Which is what you’re supposed to be doing right now.”

  “Pfft. I’m rested enough. I’ll be ready to swap with Hashtag at the next stop.”

  “What about me?” Rael called from the back. “When do I get to drive?”

  “You don’t,” Crank retorted. “And before you start griping about it, you have an important job to do. Your task is to take care of Dellan, to keep him calm. There are four of us to share the driving. That’s plenty.”

  I get what he’s saying, but I’m not happy about it.

  Horvan was about to remind Rael that Dellan’s well-being was the focus of their mission, when Crank’s phone buzzed.

  “Okay, he’s found us a stop, but it’ll be another twenty minutes or so. Think Dellan can hold on that long?” When a low roar came from the rear of the RV, Horvan glanced at Crank, who shivered. “Christ. I’ll tell Roadkill to step on it.”

  “Be thankful Dellan can communicate with us. If it was only a tiger, we’d probably be up to our pits in tiger poop,” Horvan remarked, picking up speed, aware of the car behind them keeping up.

  Crank snorted. “If it was only a tiger, you wouldn’t catch me within two feet of this RV.” He hollered toward the back. “Cross your legs or something, Dellan.”

  When another growl emanated, Horvan chuckled. “Care to translate that, Crank?” Not for the first time, he wondered what Dellan was like as a human. From their brief internal conversations, Horvan couldn’t get a real handle on his personality, which was only to be expected in the circumstances.

  When was the last time Dellan had been human?

  By the time Roadkill indicated they should come to a stop at the edge of a forest, Dellan was pacing up and down inside the RV. Given there wasn’t all that much space to pace in the first place, Crank and Rael were keeping out of his path. Horvan switched off the engine, and Rael opened the door.

  Apparently, that was all the signal Dellan needed. He took a leap from the door as soon as Rael opened it and landed on the ground with a dull thud.

  I’ll go with him, make sure we’re not spotted, Rael told Horvan.

  Keep your distance, okay? Give him some private time?

  There was a pause. Yeah. Of course. Just thinking how I’d feel if you were watching me take a dump.

  Horvan chuckled. Yeah, but we’ve already established you’re a dainty thing, right? He glanced at the clock on the dash. At the rate they were going, they’d be at the cabin by midday the following day.

  Horvan was fine with that. As long as Roadkill was already working on future stops for Dellan. He had to smile.

  A tiger’s gotta go when a tiger’s gotta go. Cute.

  It wasn’t long before Dellan was back on board the RV, and Crank was in the car’s driver’s seat, insisting he wanted to be on his own for a while. Horvan wasn’t going to argue, but he was definitely intrigued. When Roadkill took the wheel of the RV, Horvan commented on it.

  Roadkill laughed. “I know why he wants to be alone, but I ain’t tellin’. He’d kill me.” He flashed the indicators to tell Crank they were ready to leave. Roadkill looked over his shoulder. “Everything okay back there now?”

  Rael laughed. “Someone is purring.”

  “Wait a minute.” Roadkill frowned. “Okay, I’m not claiming to be an expert in these things, but I’ve never heard of a tiger purring. I didn’t think any big cats could purr.”

  “They can’t,” Rael said simply. “House cats can purr because they have this rigid bone, the hyoid, that allows them to purr continuously. In big cats, the hyoid is flexible, meaning they can roar but not purr.”

  “Then how can—”

  “Dellan isn’t a tiger. He’s a shifter. And in big-cat shifters, that bone is different. It allows them to purr, making them sound like overgrown kitties.”

  Roadkill smiled. “A happy kitty. This is what we want.”

  What Horvan wanted was Dellan whole again.

  HORVAN HANDED around the sandwiches he’d made, then took a seat. Dellan was off the bed and lapping water from his bowl. Rael watched him from the bed.

  Normal eating times didn’t exist on this mission. They were about eighteen hours into the trip, and it was two in the morning. Horvan had gotten the munchies and had assumed the same was true of the others. Roadkill was in the car, and Crank was
driving the RV.

  Hashtag glanced up from his phone. “Where are we?”

  “Just crossed from South Dakota into Wyoming.”

  Hashtag nodded before returning his attention to his phone. “Do you know how many posts there have been claiming responsibility for releasing him? Fifteen. There are groups we didn’t even contact who are claiming responsibility. They have no idea how much this helps us.” He grinned. “Well, it’s official. No one has a fucking clue where Dellan is.”

  “And we’d better hope it stays that way,” Horvan added.

  “You said it. Especially now the FBI will be involved.”

  What the fuck?

  Horvan glanced in Rael’s direction. “Did we not mention that part? Sure, Chicago PD will be all over this, but when someone steals an endangered exotic animal, it becomes a federal investigation.”

  Rael gaped. “We’re going to have the FBI on our tail?”

  Hashtag shrugged. “Maybe. We’ve run interference as much as we can, but if they do decide to investigate, there’s little else we can do.” He gave Rael a confident smile. “Don’t be worried. I’ll be setting up cameras around the perimeter of the property. We’ll know if someone starts taking too much interest.”

  “What did you mean—you’ve run interference?” Rael demanded.

  “We have a source in the FBI,” Hashtag told him. He gave Horvan a sideways glance. “What I didn’t know until three days ago was that he’s also a shifter.” He chuckled. “Horvan felt it was safe to reveal that particular piece of information.”

  “Hey, it was a need-to-know thing,” Horvan remonstrated. “Not that he can help us all that much. He can’t control all aspects of an investigation.” He looked past Rael to where Dellan was settling down once more on his blankets. “I bet he can’t wait to get out of the RV. It must feel like exchanging one cage for another.”

  Rael shook his head. “At least he knows he’s out of there.” His gaze met Horvan’s, and the anxiety in his eyes was all too obvious. “No sign yet that he can shift.”