Wicked As He Comes (Tiger in Her Bed)

It looked like a nightmarish scene from Dexter. The place Alfred used to hold his mother and the twins was covered in sheets of plastic from the ceiling to the floor; Alfred Benedict’s personal kill room.

Trent had the bastard beneath his mighty paw, dazed and cowering.

Then, there was Savannah, laid out on the work table, naked, wrapped in cellophane while the twins were gagged, handcuffed to a pipe at the far end of the room. John let

out a deep roar that shook the room, furious. He checked his mother first. She seemed to have been sedated. Next, John quickly ran over to the kids and partially shifted to try and free them.

Harry’s eyes widened, but he didn’t seem scared. “Cool,” he said after John removed his gag. “Are you a superhero?”

George didn’t say anything.

Quinn, Vanessa, and Jane burst into the room. Jane quickly rushed to the twins, in tears. “Are you okay George? Harry? Thank God.”

Trent kept pinning Alfred to the ground, snarling fiercely at the wretched old man. Alfred was utterly caught off-guard, reeking of fear. The bastard had no idea who he was dealing with. In panic, he tried to reach the knife that Trent had knocked out of his hand earlier.

Quinn hurried over and kicked the knife farther from him. “I don’t think so,” he said.

Vanessa found the handcuff key on the floor and quickly freed the twins. John shifted fully again, swishing his tail. Jane caught his eyes—she understood when he motioned to the door with his glance. Vanessa helped Jane usher the twins to safety.

With them out of the way, John focused his attention to Alfred. Oh, how he wanted to tear that old bastard to pieces.

Quinn used Alfred’s knife to cut through the plastic that was binding their mother. She started to come out of the drug-induced sleep.

“Mom, are you okay?” asked Quinn.

Their mother muttered something. When she finally completely regained her awareness, fury consumed her. She quickly slipped into her tiger skin and let out a fierce roar. The tigress matriarch crouched on the table, glaring down at Alfred, full of hatred.

He’s mine, she said.

Alfred took the momentary distraction to try to scramble away, darting out from under Trent’s massive paw to sprint for the exit. In the flash of an eye, Savannah whipped towards him and pounced off the table, and John heard bones break as she landed on top him. She bit Alfred’s neck and shook him like a rag doll.

Quinn cursed. Trent and John hurried to restrain their mother but Quinn halted them. “Mom’s in a frenzy. You can’t stop her until it passes.” When a weretiger in the clan was overwrought by anger and hatred, they slipped into a state of mind called “frenzy.” The weretiger would lash out and rage toward the object of their anger until the victim was dead, usually mauled to pieces. And if anybody tried to interfere, they would likely be torn apart as well. Quinn turned to John; his expression was stony. “Go take care of your wife and the twins. I’ll handle this.”

John growled and pounced through the door. The smell of blood made him agitated.

He wasn’t far from the room when the wailing scream behind him finally stopped.

Five

Jane rested her head against the backseat of the car while John drove, letting the twins hug her tight on each side. Her breath was slow and steady, but the heartbeats of the two children seated next to her were the most precious thing she’d ever felt in her life.

The twins were quiet. She’d checked them over for injuries, but it looked like they were fine physically, if more than a little shaken emotionally. Harry had been clinging to her from the moment they’d gotten out of the warehouse. George still seemed out of it, and that concerned her. Usually George was the level-headed one.

None of them spoke on the way home.

The chain of events had stopped abruptly, and it felt like a train had hit all of them. At least, Jane thought, that’s how it affected the humans. She wondered whether John could come in and out of adrenaline highs like that whenever he wanted.

John got a message from Quinn as they pulled up to the apartment, letting him know he and Savannah were right behind them. John helped her and the twins up to the apartment, and as they walked inside, the very pregnant Arielle threw her arms around the twins, and Jane couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

“I came as soon as I got Trent’s message,” she explained. The questions came quickly. “Was anyone hurt? Where’s Savannah?”

“Hold the questions for a few minutes,” John asked Arielle. “Give them some air, won’t you? It’s been a hell of a day.”

“Of course. Sorry.” Arielle did as he asked.

John gave her a once over with critical eyes. “You okay? Trent said you didn’t feel well.”

“I’m fine now. Don’t you worry,” Arielle waved him off.