Hidden Passions (Hidden, #7)(45)

A moment was all it took. Chris's paws hit the floor, heavy but silent. He lifted his tiger's head, pulling back his lips to test any new scents across his tongue. He located the intruder with no trouble. He'd been moving faster than a human, blurring through the shadows where their sight couldn't follow him. He was at the back door now, jiggering the lock. That was too close for comfort. Chris had to head him off.

"Wait," Tony said.

The wolf couldn't change on demand. He needed the moon for it. In his current shape, Chris's tiger thought him too small to be of use. Chris butted him once for reassurance, then streaked off down the steps.

~

Watching Chris change stole what breath Tony had after their cut-off kiss. The way the other man looked at him, as if Tony were the center of his longings . . .

That marvel was shoved to the back burner by the effortless wonder of Chris's shift. In a literal twinkling, he became his tiger. His face went still, bright white sparks shot out from his center, and there his beast self was.

He was huge, his ears as high as Tony's shoulders, his black-striped flanks rippling with muscle. His cat's eyes glowed, their orangey color finally making sense. When his head lifted to sniff the air, Tony fought not to jump. Chris's fangs were longer than when he was in human form, maybe as long as five inches. If a person were caught within those toothy jaws, they weren't getting out.

Tony wanting to pet him in spite of this was admittedly crazy.

Once he'd overcome his distraction, he had a second to identify the scent that had sent Chris into protective mode.

"Wait," he said.

Chris's tiger butted Tony's side with sufficient force to make him stagger. Tony was still catching his balance when Chris's fur-covered muscles coiled. He streaked away before Tony could grab him.

"Fuck," he cursed, tearing after him down the stairs. "That's my brother-in-law! Don't attack!"

Johnny had just succeeded in picking the back door lock, after which he sped at shifter velocity up the hall. Why he hadn't knocked, Tony didn't know, but being leaped on by a thousand pounds of snarling tiger was unlikely to have been his goal.


Chris smashed Johnny to the poolroom floor, his immense weight stunning him.

"Shit," Johnny gasped as Chris bared his forest of teeth and growled.

"No!" Tony cried, jumping on Chris's back like a circus daredevil. He clenched both hands around the looser skin of the tiger's hackles, hauling backward with all his might. Chris grunted but didn't budge much that he could tell.

"Friend," Tony barked. "This wolf is Ethan's dad."

"Please," Johnny seconded. "If you don't stop growling, I'm gonna pee myself."

Chris's attack posture began to ease. Tony swung off him and retreated. Thankfully, Chris followed.

Freed from his weight, Johnny rolled--relatively slickly--onto his feet.

"What is your problem?" Maria cried, rushing forward from the others. Amazingly, Chris wasn't the object of her ire. They knew this because it was her husband's chest she punched.

"My problem," Johnny complained, rubbing it.

"You couldn't warn us you were coming? You had to pick the lock?"

"I was trying to be stealth. I figured you'd recognize my smell. Also, I have this cat I need to get rid of."

"I'd recognize you," she said, hugging him. "Some of the shifters here don't know you."

Johnny shifted his gaze to Chris. Still in tiger form and definitely still alert, he stood next to Tony with the dropcloth-shrouded bar behind them.

"Johnny Surrey," he said to Chris's inscrutable cat face. "And my wife, Maria Lupone."

Maria shoved him again. "He's met me, you idiot."

"Stop scolding," Johnny said, a smile softening it. His arms wrapped snugly around his wife, who didn't resist the embrace. "I thought you and Tony might like to know your brother is all right."

"Really?" Maria pressed her hands to her mouth. She looked at Tony, and both their eyes welled up. For a moment, it was like being kids again, before life and its complications made them more separate. Rick was their big brother: their unasked-for boss, their playmate and friend, their rock-solid dependable protector. The idea that he might be harmed was intolerable.

"Really," Johnny assured her. "I dropped him and the others at a top-secret location. I'm afraid you guys can't stand down yet. Rick killed the first bad faerie, and his new girl and her dad are safe, but there's one more you-know-what hunting fae unaccounted for. On the bright side, Adam seems to think we'll have the second pureblood in our trap soon."

Chris's furry head butted him again. Giving in to temptation, Tony scratched him behind the ears. His fur was incredibly thick and soft.

"Okay," he said, voice hoarse with relief at hearing his brother was alive. "What's this you were saying about a cat?"

"Hold on," Johnny said. "I left her inside the back entrance."

He returned carrying the sort of plastic bucket professional plasterers used. As he reached Tony and Chris, a desperate scrabbling noise issued from inside. Tony peeked into the lid's air holes, which appeared to have been punched by Johnny's claws. Green eyes stared accusingly up at him. They had vertical pupil slits.