Authors: Asha King
The rain had slowed since the afternoon but just barely. Wind still whipped it back and forth. The yard was dark. She flicked on the flashlight and the beam highlighted rain-slick grass.
Her porch was screened in with a hole cut in the door leading to the yard, just big enough for the cats to slip in if they needed to. She left food and water out there for them but only a few would come that close to the house. The ones she’d been able to catch, who seemed like they’d been people’s pets, always went to the local rescue group to be placed in new homes. Unfortunately, too many were left outside without being neutered or spayed, and as a result feral colonies had sprouted. Periodically the rescue groups would trap, alter the animals, and then release them again, to at least keep the population down despite the fact that they weren’t suitable for homes.
The ferals out there were nowhere to be seen in the storm, but she had a shed set up away from the house where they could slip in. She moved swiftly across the creaky porch and took a deep breath before slipping outside.
Rain blasted her face immediately. She blinked against it, bowed her head, and kept going. Her flashlight beam caught the battered shed. The door was locked but still rattled on old hinges. Holes were cut on both sides to allow the cats in.
The keys waited in her pocket, and she fished them out to fumble with the lock. The metal was slippery but opened and she ducked in the shed as the door swung wide.
Eyes glowed in the darkness, peering from the various cubbies and boxes. Tiny “mews” sounded; a female had whelped in the corner about two weeks earlier, in a space blocked off so the babies couldn’t slip out. Addie went for the sealed bucket of food and scooped out two cups into a communal bowl, which she left in the middle of the shed. Right now, they wouldn’t go near it, but once she was gone they’d dive in.
“You guys be careful,” she said as she sealed the bucket once more and cast a look around at all the eyes watching her. Nothing she could do beyond offer them a safe space and food, but still, she felt bad for them. Her grandmother thought cats were good luck and Addie had always had a fondness for them.
She stepped back out into the storm and once again locked the door shut. Hopefully everyone got in for the night. Her feet slipped on the grass and wind pushed against her as she turned away from the shed.
Her flashlight caught a shimmer in the tall grass around the shed.
Addie froze and swung the beam back around again. Grass and weeds twisted with the violent beat of wind as her flashlight shone around the side of the shed.
Again the light caught it, two small, glowing balls of amber in the tall grass. Addie frowned and squinted against the wind, wondering what the hell—
It stepped forward suddenly and the grass parted. The face came into view first, amber eyes watching her, and then the shoulders pushed forward. Large, heavy paws pounded on the ground.
Her heart caught up somewhere near her throat at the sight of the massive tiger walking toward her.
Addie blinked but it remained—not a whisper of a shifting vision or a trick played by her eyes. A real, live, enormous predatory cat was only eight feet away.
And getting closer.
Trembles ran down her arms and she tightened her grip on the flashlight until her knuckles were almost white. Her throat closed and she couldn’t draw in a breath or even think; she could only stare.
The large cat took another step forward.
Her rational brain pushed at her to flee even as she knew wild animals could sense fear and that
this
wild animal was close enough that she couldn’t get away. Still, she took an experimental step backward.
The tiger padded forward.
Another step back. The rain beat against her face but she couldn’t look away and her entire body shook as fear raced through her veins. The flashlight beam bounced on the tiger, flickering back and forth with her trembling.
She could scream but no one would hear her. A few more steps and she was halfway to the house but the tiger had broken free of the grass and was passing the shed. He was huge, his shoulders coming up to her waist. Her eyes flickered down to his paws. Claws dug into the soft, wet dirt as he stalked forward.
Irony of ironies, the neighborhood cat lady is going to die being eaten by a tiger
. She couldn’t quite laugh at the absurdity of the situation, not as the beast continued toward her.
Then he stopped abruptly. His head dipped forward and shoulders slumped. Addie continued backing up but the tiger didn’t attack, didn’t surge in her direction to make the kill. His attempted step forward was shaky and weak. He wavered, tottering from side to side, before stumbling and landing in a heap.
Addie paused warily.
She should run, she knew—her brain screamed at her to flee, to lock the door and call the entire county emergencies forces down to catch the thing. Instead, some buried instinct rose and cautioned her.
Wait. Just...wait
.
She did, trusting that inner voice that sounded like her grandmother’s even as her heart hammered.
The tiger’s pelt rippled as her flashlight swung over it. Orange and black stripes shuddered and shrank, fur rolling back like water and disappearing into pale skin. Muscles and bones twisted and contorted, snapping painfully, until an entirely new shape lay on her lawn.
Addie stared down at a bruised, bloody, and completely naked human man.
Chapter Three
Adelaide continued to stare, the rain and storm around her completely forgotten.
Definitely a man. A man who had just been a tiger. But now no sense of the animal remained. He was sprawled on his stomach, one arm bent awkwardly beneath him. Dark hair was plastered down and his head was still turned away from her so she couldn’t make out his face. Whoever he was, he seemed strong and young, with broad shoulders and a muscled back. But his ribs were prominent enough that he couldn’t have eaten well for some time. Bruises were dark and wide over his torso and scores of dark red crisscrossed his skin.
She waited there, debating. Police—she could call the police. And an ambulance.
For the man who was a tiger a few minutes ago. Oh my gods, I’ve gone insane.
He shifted and she tensed, readied herself to run back for the door, but he didn’t make a move to rise. Instead he merely lifted his head and half-lidded, groggy amber eyes met hers.
“Please,” he murmured, his voice barely carrying over the rain and distance between them. “Sanc...” His body curled inward as he let out a wracking cough.
Thunder boomed above and the sky lit her lawn for an instant, shaking Addie from her thoughts.
She’d still get the police. In the meantime, she wouldn’t leave him on her lawn.
Addie crept forward, squeezing the flashlight and ready to brandish it like a weapon if necessary. But even as she tried to remain tough and firm, her heart softened in empathy at the clear beating he’d taken at some point.
“I’ll still bash you over the head if you try anything,” she muttered as she knelt at his side. Water rolled down her hairline and into her eyes and she blinked furiously against it. Though it was the middle of summer, a chill had settled into her bones from the wild winds and she shivered.
The man was at least still conscious. He responded when she touched his bicep and gathered himself onto his knees, but ended up leaning heavily on her to rise and start toward the house.
He stood at least a foot over her and despite being on the underfed and bony side, he was built massive and broad, obviously powerful with corded muscles everywhere. She managed to avert her gaze from any of his personal parts and instead focused on getting him to the back door.
His arm was a heavy weight on her shoulder and each step toward the house seemed to take several minutes. Eventually they reached the porch and he stumbled up, launching into the screen door that gave and swung under him. He fell forward and she couldn’t stop it, could do nothing but stand there as he landed hard on the old wood porch floor. Vibrations ran up her legs through her feet from the force.
Move, think, get him sorted, then figure out what to do.
Of all people, it was her grandmother who entered her mind, her wrinkled face crinkling with a knowing smile and eyes mischievous. Addie could almost
see
the elderly woman there.
Addie took a deep breath and moved past the man for her house. Immediately she kicked off her shoes and stripped out of the hoodie, found her hand caught in the sleeve and realized she’d forgotten to put down the flashlight. She left everything in a heap on the kitchen table and rushed across the bungalow for the hall closet by her bedroom.
Blankets, towels—she stared at everything for a moment, still trembling from the water and the aftereffects of fear, trying to get the thoughts to stop jumbling around in her head. Her entire body was buzzing with energy that she could feel running along her skin—it was real, an electric charge she’d never quite felt before.
She grasped a pair of fluffy beach towels along with an old quilt and then rushed away from the closet. Her feet splashed through water she’d dripped on the hardwood but she barely paid attention as she ran back through the house. Candlelight flickered and shadows played against the walls as she passed them. She spared the briefest of glances to the fireplace. If she allowed him inside—and why she was even
thinking
of doing that, she couldn’t say—it might be a good idea to let him dry off there. Though the bungalow was warm with the summer heat, even she was shaking from the cold rain.
The sliding door was wide open still and even in the poor candlelight from the kitchen, she glimpsed him on the porch. She steeled her spine and tucked away any nervousness, focusing instead on moving forward and solving this issue before she freaked out.
Though she was about to hand him a towel, at the last minute she thought the better of it and set them on the floor, unfolding the quilt instead. It was bigger and would offer him a bit more modesty, though thus far he hadn’t shied at all.
“Here.” She draped the quilt over his trembling shoulders and knelt at his side. Her knees sank into droplets of water but her yoga pants were soaked through already. “Can you walk?”
He was hunched over, head bowed. Water dripped from his hair. Eventually he nodded and tipped his head to the side, peering at her with sharp amber eyes. “Sanctuary,” he managed in a deep, warm voice.
Fresh shivers rushed through her and her grandmother’s voice spoke in her mind.
Give him sanctuary.
Addie felt the air swell and seem to pop, scattering goose bumps down her arms. She let out a heavy breath, an odd warmth running through her.
Sanctuary
.
She blinked and gave herself a mental shake, thrusting back all the weird emotions threatening to overtake her. Instead she focused on him, on his watching her. A bruise ran under his right eye and brushed his cheekbone, and a cut flared bright red. It wasn’t bleeding but it hadn’t stopped that long ago, and it was only one of many wounds.
Addie swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to smile. “Come inside. I’ll help you.”
And hope like hell I don’t regret this.
****
The human was taking it...well.
Erik leaned on her somewhat unwillingly—he resented that his strength had left him so completely, but he was hungry and injured, too weak to do more than shamble. The quilt wrapped around him had soaked up much of the rainwater. It smelled of fresh laundry with hints of herbs he couldn’t place, warm and comforting.
The house itself had the same scent to it, not just lived in but
living
. Something was off here, something he couldn’t quite place, but he was too exhausted to dwell on it.
His eyes were heavy, barely able to remain open, but he managed to watch the ground at his feet. The floor was hardwood and creaked beneath his heavy steps. The woman said nothing, just led him on.
“The power’s been out since this afternoon,” she said, and though she was right next to him, her small body under his heavy arm, it sounded as though she spoke to him through a tunnel. Darkness crowded his vision and he didn’t think it was merely the shadows in the room from the handful of candles.
Once they reached the living room, she eased him onto the couch. He ached straight to his bones, swore he heard them rattle every time he moved. He coughed again, pain spiking through his lungs. Maybe something was cracked. Maybe he’d made it this far to just up and die.
The woman stepped past him, a blur in his field of vision, and crouched off to the side. “I know it’s already warm in here but this’ll help you dry off.” Sulfur filled the air a moment before the scent of burning did and wood crackled. A fireplace sat directly to his left, close enough that he could already feel the warmth on his skin.
And that warmth was too much to pass up. He slid off the couch and onto the floor, still tucked in the quilt.
The human sat back sharply, her dark eyes alert and wary.
Rationally, he realized she’d been fairly trusting thus far and he should be more careful, but he couldn’t find the words to reassure or apologize. His gaze dragged over her, taking in her long, tangled black hair that rolled over exposed shoulders to rest on her soaked tank top. She was young, twenty-something. Pretty with a round face and wide, expressive eyes. Her full lips were set in a cautious straight line, like they might part to scream at any moment.
She took him in, yes, but she wasn’t a stupid woman.
Firelight cast orange over her medium brown skin and gave her dark eyes a glow. Energy crackled around her and for the briefest of moments he wondered if he’d stumbled across a witch, but if she had any talents in that area, she hadn’t indicated it. She just seemed...human.
“Will you tell me your name?” she asked.
He could do that. “Erik.”
“Erik. I’m Adelaide. I can offer tea, while you get dry?”