Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(29)

As she called in the fire, he found the building and pulled up in front. Sure enough, smoke was already beginning to curl from one of the open windows.

Tighe tossed Delaney the car keys. “Wait for me.”

“Yeah, right.”

As he opened his door, she jumped out, pulling the gun he’d seen her take from the cop, as she ran for the building. Hell. Tighe raced after her. There was no way he was going to be able to talk her into staying outside. Any more than she’d talk him into it.

He pushed past the frightened residents rushing out the front door, following Delaney, who was threading her way through the crowd. He forced his way in and was heading for the stairs when he heard Hawke call, “Stripes!” The lean, dark-haired warrior crossed the foyer to his side.

“You catch him?” Tighe asked.

“No. No sign of him anywhere. Neither of us can sense him. Either he’s fled the scene, or he’s lost his draden smell.”

“The latter. The son of a bitch set that fire just to create fear so he can feed off it. No way would he leave now. He’s here somewhere, feasting on the terror.

Hawke nodded. “That explains it, then. Kougar found the apartment and said it was the source of the fire.”

“What about the woman?”

“There was no one alive in there.”

Crap. “Find Kougar and cover the exits. I’m going to try to flush him out. Delaney’s with me.”

Hawke lifted a brow but said nothing.

Tighe started up the open stairs, pushing past frantic residents. Children cried. People shouted, calling for one another. As he breached the throng on the landing and started up the second flight, he saw the woman from the vision and felt a quick, sharp empathy for her and relief that she, at least, had survived. Another woman had her arms around her hunched shoulders as she cradled both arms against her body.

Fury stirred at her unnecessary suffering.

The woman looked up, her eyes dazed until they landed on him. Stark terror flared in her eyes as a strangled scream wobbled from her throat.

The sight of terror directed at him from a woman’s eyes slammed him with memory, igniting his fury. Gretchen, you should have known.

Deep inside him, the chaos leaped, wrenching him back to the present.

No. I can’t go feral. Not here. Not now.

Tighe tore his gaze away from the woman’s terrified face as he pushed as far to the right as he could. Keeping others between them, he ran past her and up the stairs. But he was losing the battle, that inner rage riding him, clamoring to be set free.

His fingers began to tingle. His teeth ached.

No! He wouldn’t lose it. Not when he was so close to finding his clone. Not with Delaney here.

He pushed through the crowd in a growing panic as his claws slowly unsheathed. He couldn’t lose it here. He couldn’t lose it here.

At the top of the stairs, he saw an open doorway and dove through. With his last ounce of free will, he no longer fought the imminent change, but rode it through the feral, straight to the tiger as he shifted into his animal.

Only in his animal form could he call for help, unless one of his friends had already shifted.

With a surge of relief and joy, the change swept over him, and he raised his beast’s head to the ceiling and let out one long, rumbling growl.

To his surprise, the storm inside him began to abate. He apparently had better control in his tiger form than his human. Until a woman’s scream had him swinging toward the open door. A woman stared at him in horror, as a man grabbed her shoulders and pushed her past.

Wildness clawed at his control all over again. Fury leaping to be set free.

They’re running from a tiger, his logical mind roared. Any sane human would be terrified.

In his animal form, he managed what he hadn’t been able to in his human form and slowly beat back the chaos. Before he shifted back to human, he took advantage of his tiger’s ability to scent draden. But he smelled nothing but humans. And smoke.

He called to his friends. Any sign of him?

None. Hawke’s voice. We’ve got the exits covered as best we can with only two of us.

Good. Delaney’s in here somewhere. I’m going to try to send her out. Keep an eye on her. Do not let Kougar near her.

I’ll do my best.

Tighe shifted back into his human form, then ran into the hall to search for Delaney. If she had to face that clone again, she was doing it with him at her side.

Chapter Ten

Delaney stumbled down the hallway from apartment 331, her lungs sore and burning from coughing. Her nostrils fried from the stench of burning flesh. Her heart aching. Dear God, he’d burned the children.

In the hallway, the air was quickly filling with smoke. Even if Tighe’s twin were here, she wasn’t sure she’d see him.

A figure appeared at the top of the stairs. Her heart lurched at the familiar sight. Tighe or the killer? But the angel wings in her head fluttered with pleasure, and she knew it was Tighe. But at the sight of him, at the thought of what she’d just done, her stomach spasmed with guilt. She’d just gotten off the phone with Phil. FBI SWAT was on its way.

“Did you…find him?” she asked, coughing.

“No.” He quickly closed the distance between them, his hands going to her shoulders. “Get outside, brown eyes. You need some fresh air.”

“We’ve got to find him.”