Iona couldn’t see what was in that space as she slipped inside, opening the door only enough for her wildcat to slither through. She stopped, waiting to let her panther’s eyes adjust.
Gradually, she saw the dim forms of square pillars, as though people had removed walls down here but left supporting posts. Or perhaps this had once been a loading dock, garage, or storage area. It was empty now, the silence and cold vast.
The scent came from about halfway down the room. Iona slunk that way, her hackles up, paws making no noise on the cement floor. Against the wall, she found the cages.
She remembered Jace explaining how he’d seen jeeps taking cages to the desert compound. Whether these were the same cages, Iona had no way of knowing, and Eric said he hadn’t found them all when he’d gone in to rescue the wolves.
These cages were about five feet tall and three wide, a few of them six or so feet high. Large enough to contain Shifters, but even these cages would make for tight fits, especially to the larger Shifters, like bears or the bigger wildcats.
But what better way to keep a Shifter penned than give him or her barely enough room to turn around?
Or, Iona thought, a chill stealing through her, they were for smaller Shifters. The young.
She counted more than twenty cages stretching in front of her. She went down the line, the scent of animal growing stronger as she walked.
Each cage Iona passed was empty, until she came to the cage at the end.
This was one was about seven feet high, had thicker walls. The bars that closed it were at least six inches in diameter. Behind those bars was a snarl and a smell.
Iona backed away, her fur standing straight up, growls coming from her throat. She wanted to lie flat on her belly in a stalking-cat slink, teeth ready to rip out the throat of whatever was behind those bars.
The beast inside the cage growled in return. Iona saw eyes in the darkness, yellow with rage. The Shifter smell was strong but not quite right.
Iona forced her panther to calm. Whoever was in the cage was a Shifter, trapped, taken against its will. She should help it, not fear it.
But the waves of emotion that emanated from the cage had Iona’s defensive instincts roaring. She shifted back to her in-between beast, the shift a little slower and more painful this time.
“It’s all right,” she said, her voice the guttural one of the beast. “Who are you? I can help you.”
Another snarl of pure, aggressive rage. The yellow eyes flashed red and a body slammed into the bars of the cage.
Iona jumped back, but the cage held, which seemed to enrage the creature even more. It pressed its face to the bars and glared out at her.
Tiger.
Iona stared at the animal in surprise. Feline Shifters could be any wildcat or a combination of wildcats, each family tending toward the traits of one more than the others. Iona’s father obviously had a lot of panther in him; Eric’s family, snow leopard.
While in Shiftertown, Iona had met Felines whose wildcats resembled lions, lynxes, pumas, and one family of cheetahs, but no tigers. Cassidy sometimes looked after an orphaned cub who was a white tiger, but he was the only one.
This Shifter was a Bengal, orange and black striped, and gigantic. His scent was overwhelmingly male. No Collar gleamed around the tiger’s neck, and his eyes held madness.
He’d gone feral.
Iona stared at him in horror, finally realizing what Eric had been trying to tell her would happen to her if she didn’t control the beast within her. This was what he meant.
Crazed, furious, out of control, dangerous to herself and everyone around her.
Looking at the feral tiger in the cage, the untamed beast inside Iona tasted a tang of his madness and liked it.
Iona quickly shifted fully to human. “Who are you?” she asked again. “Did they capture you? Why don’t you have a Collar?”
The tiger’s face distorted, nose receding, eyes growing more human, but the Shifter settled into his half man, half beast form. “Let me out.”
The pheromone scent that came to her was loud and clear. Crap. He was an uncontrolled Shifter male facing a female who’d recently entered her mating years and was a bit wild with the mating heat. He wanted her.
Iona took a few steps back. “And have you jump my bones? No, thank you. I smell what you want to do.”
“I smell it on you. You want to mate. You want cubs.”
“I have a mate. He’s the leader of the Shifters. He’ll help you.”
“No one can help me.” The words were matter-of-fact.
“Where’s your Collar?” Iona asked.
The yellow eyes narrowed. “What collar?”
Interesting answer. “How long have you been in there?”
Surprise flickered in his eyes, as though he’d never considered it. “Always.”
“Who captured you?”
“I was never captured,” the tiger said. “I have always been here.”
The chill in Iona’s blood grew. “Where are the humans who run this place? They took a cub. I need to find her.”
“A cub.” The voice became sharp, more alert, more enraged. “Don’t let them have the cub.”
“I’m trying not to. Tell me how to find them.”
The tiger went silent a moment, claws scratching the floor. “Let me out. I’ll show you.”
“How about you just tell me? I’ll find the cub, and my mate, and he’ll help you. Promise.”
“No promises. Promises are lies.”
Iona took one bold step toward the cage. She couldn’t show fear. She had to calm him, to make him understand.
The dominance game, she understood with sudden clarity, wasn’t about fighting. It was about making the challenger know what would happen if things came to a fight. Iona might be smaller than the tiger, but she had to prove that she was fast and strong, and smart enough to win.
“I’m not one of the humans who put you in here. I’ll find the cub, with or without your help, and I’ll come back for you. That’s how it will be.”
The tiger fixed her gaze with his crazed red one. Iona didn’t flinch.
Staring him down was harder than staring down Shane or even Graham. But not tougher than facing Eric.
Eric, as calm and laid-back as he pretended to be, had dominance down to an art form. He didn’t need to challenge anyone, because he knew he’d already won before the game even started.
Defiance in the face of Eric’s will was almost impossible, but Iona had managed it. And she knew that if she could withstand Eric, she could withstand Tiger Man.