Free Her Warriors by Bianca D'Arc Page B

mountain for good, their land would have
to be reunited with the larger parcel the Millers had sold to
Geir.
    It was a friendly arrangement. Geir was
content to have Millers and their kin on the land, but no
strangers, and they had supported his idea to include that
provision in the contract. As it was, Tad and Mandy had volunteered
to be responsible for their part of the perimeter, which was low on
the mountain, right up against a public road. But they also had
made it clear that Geir was welcome to prowl there and send his
scouts along the perimeter to check for breaches.
    The Millers had a cub to protect, and they
welcomed Geir and his students to help keep them all safe. By the
same token, they didn’t want to be the loose link in the chain that
protected the Nyx. There was a long tradition of being Royal Guards
in the Miller family, though they had always served the tiger
monarchs. Still, they understood the value of the oaths Royal
Guards—even the trainees—took, and the importance of dealing with
anyone who would try to interfere with shifter monarchs in this
troubled time.
    So it was that Beau and Geir crossed over
the boundary of the Miller place and found themselves very close to
the public road. It wasn’t much of a road. It didn’t get a whole
lot of traffic, but some of the locals used it as a shortcut from
time to time—especially during heavy rain when the bigger road,
lower down the slope, flooded.
    The few local kids picked up the school bus
each day from this road and that was about as exciting as the
traffic on it ever got. Except for today…
    Both Geir and Beau paused at the same
moment. Something smelled off. Old cigarette smoke wafted on the
wind and the smell of oil and grease lay faintly on the ground. The
tigers went instantly on alert. Beau started to track the scent as
Geir played rear guard.
    Keeping to the cover of trees, they found
the spot where a car had paused on the shoulder of the dusty road.
An oil stain could be easily seen several yards away. The vehicle
was long gone, but Geir found it disturbing that it had stopped at
all. The amount of oil indicated a slow leak and the amount of
smoke odor hanging on the leaves meant the occupant of the vehicle
had spent enough time here to smoke at least one, if not two entire
cigarettes.
    Shifters didn’t smoke. At least not
casually. It might occur in a ritual occasionally—especially among
the more Native American species—but in general, it was very out of
character. So who had stopped their car up here to smoke, and
why?
     
    This wasn’t good. Beau became immediately
suspicious of the vehicle and its smoking occupant. He didn’t think
it was more than one person. He could only see one set of tracks,
but he would have to come back in human form to get a closer look.
And he wanted to do that as soon as possible.
    He turned back to Geir and jerked his head
back in the direction of the house. Geir nodded, clearly
understanding the gesture. They both loped off at a quick trot,
breaking into a faster pace as soon as it was safe to do so. The
sooner they got back to the road and checked things over, the
better.
    All the other shit that had happened today
was immediately pushed to the back of Beau’s mind. He’d been in a
bit of turmoil since the big showdown with the ladies. Beau didn’t
know what to think about the idea of sharing Jacki with Geir.
Frankly, he wasn’t sure if he could.
    While his tiger seemed okay with the
idea—much to Beau’s shock—his human side just couldn’t wrap his
head around it at the moment. Going furry and prowling the
perimeter had seemed like a good thing to do to clear his head, but
instead it had brought possible danger to their attention—which was
also a good thing, if not exactly helpful with the mating
conundrum. Ultimately, they needed to know if someone was watching
them, even from a distance. Security was of the utmost
importance.
    Beau was a warrior first and foremost. A
perimeter incursion