Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 25)

Pride's energy flared from across the small space and his gold tiger spoke to me and Dev, because that was still his original beast. The wash of gold tiger helped slow down my lioness but woke up the shadow of gold inside me. Her base color was white with pale golden stripes, but I knew she wasn't a white tiger, because when that rose inside me she was almost completely white with few, if any stripes. It was like snow with muscles and teeth. Gold was like honey that could bite.

"Guys, tone it down until we need the muscle," I said, and my voice was breathy.

Jake and Kaazim didn't flare any more than Nathaniel did. His regular job was stripping onstage and shapeshifting onstage. He had to have nearly perfect control of his inner leopard to be safe around the customers at Guilty Pleasures. The other two were just older than dirt and had the control of millennia of practice.

I smelled other tigers and knew it was either Domino or Ethan in the other vehicles thinking at me, asking what to do. I lowered my shields so that I could hear better. I saw the other interior from a higher height than I had, and it was only the more dominant thinking that let me know it was Domino until he moved his hand enough for me to see it, too. I'd never tried this much mind-to-mind with him, and it wasn't a perfect match yet. Mind-to-mind takes practice, and we hadn't. Ethan was looking at Fortune, and I knew her blue tiger had triggered his, so she wasn't trying to be as calm as her Harlequin counterparts here. I thought soothing thoughts at both of them. Nathaniel sighed beside me and said, "God, I can't keep fighting," and his inner beast spiraled upward like sweet smoke to join the rest. I managed to say, out loud, "Unless you want these expensive rides torn apart, start explaining why you locked us in, Nolan."

I smelled wolf, but it wasn't my wolf. It didn't smell right and it didn't smell like Jake, because I knew his scent. I opened my eyes and hadn't even realized I'd closed them and looked around the van until I was looking at Nolan. His brown eyes were paler, almost wolf amber, which isn't the same shade of amber as lion.

"We need to talk," he said.

"Not while my people are locked in," I said, and I could feel the men in the other trucks waiting for me to give the word.

"We're moving, Blake. I can't unlock anything until we stop."

"Why lock us in at all?" Nathaniel asked that.

"Because the government thinks that the wereanimals contained in these three trucks are the most that have been in Ireland in decades. The plan is to take you to our base and meet the rest of my team."

"And then what?" I asked, in a careful voice, because I was really close to just telling Nicky to make a hole. We were done.

"We're supposed to use some of our own people to test and see if you're what Forrester said you would be."

"And if we don't pass your tests, what then?" Nicky asked.

"We'd put you back on the plane and send you home as too dangerous to deal with."

"But instead you're going to share your secret with us, because the government doesn't know what you are, do they?" I said.

"Yes, and no, they don't."

I thought at Domino and Ethan to wait. We were all right; just be calm.

Edward was leaning away from Nolan as far as the seats would allow. "When did you get attacked?"

"I didn't," he said in a voice that was more bass than it had been before.

"I can feel it."

"You weren't this sensitive to it when we first met."

"I know what I'm feeling now," Edward said, staring at his old friend.

More wolf filled the room, so that thick, almost sour smell started to override the other beasts. Jake's eyes were wolf amber. "Brother," he growled.

"We are not pack," Nolan said.

"Are you saying you were a werewolf when we met?"

"Yes."

"Son of a bitch."

"Accurate," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Edward asked.

"You are a born wolf," Jake said.

Nolan looked at the other werewolf and said, "Yes."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Werewolves are the only native lycanthropes in Ireland," Jake said.

"They pride themselves on being lycanthropy free," I said.

"You can't catch what I have," Nolan said. "You have to be born to it."

Everyone's animal had calmed, because we were all surprised, and shapeshifters were willing to give each other more credit, or so I'd noticed. "Explain," Edward said, and he wasn't happy at all.

"My mother's maiden name is MacTire, MacIntire."

"What the hell does that have to do with this?" Edward said, staring at him.

"It means wolf," Jake said.

Edward stared at him. "Are you saying your mother was a werewolf?"

"She was a born wolf and so was I."

"Your da? Your gran-da?" Edward asked.

"No, just my ma."

"You must have cut off your tail," Jake said.

"I had to."

"Then you are tail-less in wolf form, too."

"Yes."

"That throws off your balance."

"Yes, but my ma urged me to do it as I got older and it was harder to hide."

"I met your family. They were normal."

Nolan looked at Edward. "They still are."

"Wait," I said. "What do you mean, you had to remove your tail when you got older? If you spent that much time in animal form you'd have other secondary characteristics that were permanent. You'd never pass for human again once you got far enough to have a tail in human form."

Jake said, "As with the eyes for the clan tigers that are their beast halves at birth, so with the werewolves of Ireland."

"You mean wolf tails, or is it ears sometimes?"

"Always tails, though there are stories of some of us born with ears, but people thought we were part of the gentle folk, not werewolves."

"I've read stories of Fey with animal ears; are you saying those were types of lycanthropes?"

"Not all wolves, but many of them, yes."

"How did you pass the blood test for the army?" Edward asked, and he'd sort of recovered himself, or at least his voice was cold and distant. It was a voice that told you nothing except that you should be wary of him.

"My blood work comes up human." He looked at the other men in the van as we picked up speed. We were on a highway, I thought, but in the enclosed vehicle we really couldn't tell. "Devereux, Christensen, your card says that your type of lycanthropy is t

iger. Blake's file says she runs with clan tigers--is that what you both are?"

They looked at each other--and then both of them looked at Jake. He gave a small nod. "Yes," Pride said. Dev just nodded.

"You said their card. Didn't you smell their beasts just a few seconds ago?" I asked.

"Normally, I wouldn't answer that, because it would be letting you know what I'm capable of, and what I'm not, but I knew I couldn't hide from this many of you, so no, I didn't smell the type of beast. In human form my nose isn't nearly as sensitive as a more standard werewolf."

"How do you know that?" Jake asked.

"I've had to trust other shapeshifters with my secret before."

"But you didn't trust me," Edward said, and his voice wasn't cold now. There was too much emotion in it for coldness.

"Are you bothered that I didn't tell you my secret, or bothered that I'm a werewolf?"

"The first part, and that I didn't spot it. I pride myself on being able to spot the monsters. It's part of what keeps me alive in this business, and you totally got by my radar."

"It was a genetic condition that I could ignore most of the time. I didn't tell anyone."

"A lycanthrope could have smoked me on the PT tests, but you and I were always neck and neck for the top time, number, whatever. Did you hold back so I wouldn't guess you weren't human?"

"No, you pushed me to work as hard as I could to keep up with your arse. Being a born wolf doesn't give you much more than human physical abilities. I'm in the top percentage of most PT and I'm not aging out of it yet, but you pushed me, Forrester, which means you're in the top percentage, too. I'm part wolf--what's your secret?"

Edward tried to keep frowning, and then smiled and stared at the floor as we slowed down. Either we were in traffic or we'd turned onto a smaller road.

"Do I say, No secret, I am just that good, or do I say, Lying bastard? Every type of lycanthrope I've met is better than human-normal, like superhero better. I'm good, really good, but I'm not superhero good and you should be."

Nolan shook his head. "I swear to you, I did my best to beat you, or at least keep up with you. I'm too damned competitive for anything else."

Edward gave a small smile. "You seemed to be."

Nolan looked at the two weretigers. "Are you both that much above human-normal physically?"

They both said yes, and then Pride added, "Are you saying that your type of lycanthropy doesn't show up on a blood test that's specifically looking for it?"