“What’s the power charger for?”
“Never you mind.”I turned off the water and met his eyes in the mirror.“To answer your previous question, I’m a tiger.”
After drying our hands, we switched off the light and moseyed down the hallway.
“Tigers aren’t native to Africa,” he said as if solving a puzzle.“You mentioned your father’s from Africa.”
“Shifters aren’t native to any one place.We traveled across continents long before humans—we might even be older than them.”
Lucian halted.His cheeks puffed in and out as he pulled in the air and tasted it—something I’d seen Chitahs do before.Even my tiger did the same thing.
“What’s wrong?”I tried not to sound alarmed.
“Smoke.”
I rushed toward the kitchen, but Lucian jerked the chain, stopping me in my tracks.
“It’s not coming from there.”He turned around and stalked toward the back door while tugging the chain to quicken my pace.
In the twilight hour, stars twinkling in the horizon, a fire danced on my back property.I flung open the door and sprinted toward an old shed on the back lot, glad that Lucian was keeping up.
A white sheet of paper on the ground caught my eye.I picked up the rock that pinned it to the dirt and read the note.All it said was:Watch Your Back.
“Who’s it from?”Lucian grabbed the paper.
“I don’t know.”
He pulled it to his nose and inhaled.A snarl ripped through him as he scanned the property.“It’s that prick from the jailhouse.”
“Marcus?Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
I dropped the rock.“Let’s go inside.”
“I can track him.”
“I’m not leaving my father alone.”
Glowing embers danced beneath the billowing smoke as they ascended to the dark skies above.I coughed when I inhaled a lungful of smoke.“Let it burn out.The hose doesn’t reach this far anyhow.”
“Your house could catch fire,” he argued while following behind me.
“There’s no wind, and it’s humid out here from all that rain we’ve been getting.This old timber isn’t worth saving.”
“You should own a fire extinguisher.”
“Add it to my list.”
I was fuming.Lucian pulling a scent from a piece of paper next to a burning building wasn’t hard evidence.Even if it was, we couldn’t do much about a threat.Our laws weren’t all-encompassing.Arson was only a serious offense if they burned down a house, business, or injured someone in the act.In those cases, reparations were sought, not jail time.
I shut the back door and watched the flames quickly die out.“We get threats all the time, Lucian.Last month, Hiroki received a letter detailing how they were going to dispose of his body.We can’t build giant prison systems, and whatever space we have is reserved for serious crimes.It’s also important that we’re consistent, so I can’t lock up one person for arson but free another.”
“Threatening your life is pretty serious,” he growled while securing both locks on the door.“Have you considered an underground home?I have a friend who had one for security reasons.”
“That’s not the life I want to live.Anyhow, it’s not worth it.In most cases, they’re empty threats.They think if they intimidate us, we’ll be lenient on them or quit our posting, but nobody’s running me out of my home.Nobody.”
He leaned against the wall and sighed.
