Again, Tiger looked slightly nonplussed by his words, but as usual, he didn’t worry too much about it. To Tiger, other Shifters were the crazy ones, not him.
“Cubs are wonderful things,” Tiger said “You should have one. Or many.” He glanced behind Zander and Zander knew exactly who he was looking at.
Rae tripped across the sand toward them, the sword on her back catching the light. Zander had known she was coming before he turned around—her step, scent, and the lightness in the air when she was near was embedded on his senses.
“I’m working on it,” Zander said, giving Tiger a meaningful look. “Please keep your cryptic hints to yourself.”
Tiger only kept staring past him at Rae, not acknowledging him. Rae reached Zander’s side, gazed at Tiger without fear, and held out her hand.
“Are you Tiger? I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
Tiger frowned in puzzlement at her outstretched palm then put both his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You are Guardian,” he said.
Rae flushed. “Some people think so.”
Tiger’s frown deepened. “No, you are Guardian. Whether only some think so doesn’t matter.”
“We’re working on that too,” Zander told him.
Tiger glanced at Zander, his golden eyes troubled. “You must protect her. She is of the Goddess.” Tiger leaned down, put his arms carefully around Rae, and drew her into a Shifter hug.
Rae started, but she lifted her arms to encircle Tiger’s big body and hug him back. Tiger relaxed slightly once he had Rae in his embrace, his eyes closing almost in relief.
If he were anyone but Tiger, Zander would be bristling and telling him that was enough touching of his mate. But Tiger was insanely in love with Carly, and flirting with someone else’s mate was a concept his brain didn’t wrap itself around. Tiger was reacting to Rae as herself, as Guardian, as Goddess-touched.
Tiger loosened his hold but spoke into Rae’s ear before he stood up. He might think he was whispering, but Zander heard every word.
“You must take care of Zander as well,” Tiger told her, then tried to drop his voice even lower. “He’s a little crazy.”
* * *
Dylan and Eoin arranged the attack with military precision. Rae couldn’t help a dart of pride as her father did what he was best at—organizing and taking care of Shifters.
Tiger and the other trackers had gone scouting and had pinpointed the feral Shifters. They’d set up an encampment deep in the woods and they’d chosen the site well. No approach could be made without the ferals knowing about it and, in fact, they were already well aware that the other Shifters were here and gathering to strike.
“But wait,” Zander said to Rae as Eoin turned to discuss a detail of the plan with Dylan. “There’s more. Humans have joined them.”
Rae blinked. “Really? What humans would join Shifters?”
Zander, who’d gone on the scouting mission with Dylan’s trackers, shook his head. “I think humans call them survivalists. People off the grid.” He chuckled with grim humor. “You can’t get more off the grid than feral Shifters.”
Broderick put in, “They’ve built a sort-of encampment with a fence and booby traps. Like that will keep us out.”
“It’s weird,” Zander said. “The humans seem to be running the show, but that can’t be right. Shifters don’t take orders from humans. If these Shifters are feral, they’ll tear apart any human who tries to out-dominate them. Which tells me the Shifters are using these humans, for whatever reason.”
“Hiding,” Rae suggested. “If the local police find out about the encampment, they’ll think all inside are human survivalists, not Shifters. Any hint of Shifters hiding out here, and Shifter Bureau comes in with the army.”
“Could be,” Zander said. “These Shifters are canny, but they can’t be that canny. I’ve evaded Shifter Bureau for twenty years without going feral, attacking innocent people, or hiding behind humans with illegal weapons.”
“You do hide behind humans,” Rae said. “You hide in human towns, in plain sight, making friends so people will look the other way.”
Zander’s gaze darkened. He was tense, coiled like Jake the Snake ready to strike. Rae sensed his growing need to fight, the violence that lurked inside every Shifter wanting to come out. Zander didn’t have a Collar to stop him, and his polar bear was ready to do damage.
Rae couldn’t feel worry about that, or blame him. She wanted to lash out too. She sent him an understanding look then turned from him, ready to rejoin the others. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Zander’s hand landed on her shoulder. “Is it any use for me to tell you to stay on the beach and keep out of danger?”
Rae shot him a grin. “What do you think? I’m a wolf, sweetie. She-wolves are the most ferocious of all. Haven’t you heard?”
The answering glint in Zander’s eyes ramped up Rae’s excitement. He gave a mock sigh. “You’re going to make my life hell, aren’t you?”
“You better believe it, Big-Ass Bear,” Rae said, and hurried away before he could try to stop her.
* * *
Zander made himself feel better about Rae coming with them by having her in his squad. Eoin gave him a look that told him Zander had better make sure she stayed in the rear and didn’t come up against any dangerous action. Zander knew that wouldn’t be easy, but his giant polar bear could knock her out of harm’s way if necessary.
Carson was also in Zander’s squad. Eoin had tried to dissuade him from coming along, saying that fighting Shifters who were probably feral was certain death for a human, but Carson didn’t care. Zander couldn’t join in the argument—Carson was avenging his mate, and Zander would never stop the man from doing that.
“Your mate’s still alive and needs you,” Zander reminded him. “Just remember that.”
Carson looked white about the lips but nodded. He was armed with a pistol and a tranq rifle, the only one of them who carried weapons.
Projectile weapons anyway. Zander had brought his samurai sword and Rae had the Sword of the Guardian, broken though it might be. Zander would make certain the samurai blade was ready for Rae’s use if she needed it.
Tiger and the trackers had discovered that there were twenty rogue Shifters in the ferals’ encampment and about as many humans. Dylan and Eoin had brought enough Shifters between the two of them to counter that number with some left over.