And when the Fae are involved, something is usually really wrong, especially for any humans caught up in their intrigues.
I pulled Tess up and hugged her, and then she kissed me. And it was at least a minute or two later when I reluctantly let her go and watched her trudge toward her room. At the doorway, she turned.
"Jack. Be careful. Please."
"Always," I said, both of us knowing it wasn't true.
She looked like she wanted to argue, but shook her head and entered her room, gently closing the door behind her.
I made a silent promise to anybody who might be listening that nobody was going to hurt that woman, and then I walked out the front door and leapt off the porch. By the time I landed on the grass of her front yard, I was a tiger.
In my tiger form, I'm still me, but also different. My senses are sharper, and my focus is more pure. As a tiger, I'd tear into anyone who tried to hurt the people I protected without a single thought of rules, laws, or consequences. As a human, I was slightly more … contained? Constrained?
Circumspect, maybe.
I scanned the area with a slow sweep of my head. Tiger eyes are specially adapted to see very well in the dark, since they often hunt at night in the wild. We need six times less light to see than humans do, because our eyes contain several layers—called thetapetum lucidum, or "carpet of light," to be precise—that reflect light and send it back through the retina. This is also what makes tiger eyes and house cats like Lou's eyes seem to glow in the dark.
Superior vision or not, though, I saw nothing out of the ordinary in Tess's yard or the driveway. I slowly padded around the side of the house to the back, through the yard, and into the woods that bordered her property. We'd found evidence that an intruder had been spying on her from those woods in the past, and I'd added them to a semi-regular patrol of her grounds that Tess wasn't quite aware I did.
Duty and vigilance fade hard in an ex-soldier.
But tonight, what Tess would call my overprotectiveness paid off. I heard quiet voices from a good hundred yards away and raced toward them, as silent as the wind.
It was Logan.
Even worse, he was talking to someone who could only be an Unseelie Fae. The bulging muscles, sloping shoulders, and asymmetrical facial features would have gotten him banished or killed in the Seelie Court.
It crossed my mind that someday I'd have to mention to Tess that banshees like her grandmother were traditionally associated with the Unseelie Court, but I flicked my ears and dismissed it.
Tigers don't worry about tomorrow.
I gathered myself to spring and leapt a good twenty feet through the air to land in the clearing right next to Logan, who pretended he hadn't known I was coming.
I knew better, having been on both sides of fights with him in the past—his hearing was almost as good as mine.
The Fae jumped a foot in the air and landed hard, fists up in front of him, yellow hair hanging in his face, and growled at me.
"What is this treachery? Logan Mackenzie, I demand an explanation."
I moved to stand between them, raised my head, and roared.
The Fae tried to stand his ground, but even creatures of the dark can be intimidated by the roar of an adult tiger. We are apex predators, and everyone knows it.
Almost before the sound of my challenge faded, I transformed back to human, swung sideways so I didn't have my back to either of them, and raised an eyebrow at Logan. "I wouldn't mind an explanation, either. Why are you meeting with Unseelie Fae in … my friend's backyard?"
Giving the Fae your name is always a bad idea. I certainly wasn't going to hand over Tess's.
"He claimed to have information about my sister. So far, I haven't heard anything I believe."
The Fae, who was maybe five feet tall, four feet wide, and built like a fireplug crossed with a wooly mammoth, bared a mouthful of teeth that was the most terrifying thing about him.
His breath was second.
"Whew." I took a step back. "Have you heard of toothpaste in the Unseelie Court yet? Or are you still cleaning your teeth with the bones of your enemies?"
"I'll clean my teeth with your bones, tiger," he growled.
"So scared," I said blandly. "Eek, even."
