The older fellow retrieved the tablet and rummaged in Sarge’s pocket until he withdrew the box key. He then stalked to the parked ATVs, all without saying a word to Phoenix.
Would he seriously leave without talking to them at all? Phoenix strode after him. “Excuse me, sir.”
“No.”
“But I haven’t asked anything yet,” he exclaimed.
The old fellow whirled. “I do favor. I let you live. We done,” was the heavily accented reply.
“Who are you?”
The fellow pursed his lips. “Johan.”
“I’m Phoenix. I came here looking for people like me.”
Johan eyed him up and down. “Not the same.”
“My skin color might be different, but I’m a tiger shifter like you.”
“No like me.” Johan’s lips pinched. “Smell is wrong.”
“Most likely because I wasn’t born a shifter. I was made into one.”
Johan recoiled. “Lie. No make harimau.”
“No, I swear. It’s the truth. Someone injected me with a series of— I don’t know what the fuck was in those syringes, but the end result is if I get hurt, I change into a tiger.”
“Who do this?”
“General Davidson, a high-ranking Canadian officer, although I’m not sure my government sanctioned it.”
“He make you harimau?” Johan sounded incredulous.
Phoenix nodded, and Johan turned thoughtful as his gaze fell on Nadirah. “She is not of the people.”
“No, I’m not.” Nadirah shook her head. “Until I met Phoenix, I thought the harimau were just a legend.”
“You tell her secret?” It wasn’t Johan but the woman who’d also shifted, who exclaimed.
“It was an accident,” Phoenix stated.
“Should kill,” the woman advised, and Johan appeared to actually contemplate it.
Nadirah quickly tried to explain. “It wasn’t his fault. Phoenix was a tiger when we met. He was captured on a cargo ship that came into port and was brought to Negara Zoo, where I worked.”
“She was the tiger attendant,” Phoenix added.
Johan’s brow raised. “Zoo where all tigers died.”
Nadirah winced, and Phoenix jumped to her defense. “It wasn’t her fault. The people after me are responsible for that massacre.”
“These people know about the harimau?”
“Yes. I told you, they made me what I am.”
Johan began a rapid-fire conversation with the woman, and Nadirah sidled close to whisper a translation. “He wants to find out more about your situation, but she’s advocating our murder so as to not bring any trouble.”
“Who do you think is going to win the argument?”
