“Tony!” But the tiger only had eyes for the man who’d walked out of the house. “Oh crap.”
“Cecil, look out!”
But it was too late. Tony tackled the guy and had him pinned a second later.
Everyone took off running toward the house.
Two really nice-looking ladies came out of the backdoor next. One of them had a broom. The other a rolling pin.
Broom lady swatted at Tony, and he snarled at her. She bopped him on the nose. “Behave yourself!”
Tony whined and hid his face in the poor guy’s neck whom he was currently crushing.
“Byakko,” Crushed Guy gasped. “My friend.”
“Byakko,” Sawyer said softly.
Tony turned to look at him then abandoned his place on top of the one guy and darted toward Sawyer. He stopped in front of Sawyer, and they locked eyes on each other. It was really intense. Pip didn’t quite understand what was happening, but it was somethingbig.
Magic began to build again. It pulled at Pip, urging him closer.
The other guardians reacted as well. They formed a circle around Sawyer and Tony. Sawyer leaned his forehead against Tony’s. It was kind of sweet, actually. Like they’d been apart for a long time. Maybe they had been. Maybe Tony was really Sawyer’s pet or something and he’d been taken just like Pip was? Not that having a tiger for a pet was particularly a good idea. But there was definitely something between them.
Pip wouldn’t have been surprised if big surging music began to play. He felt like he was in the big finale of an epic film at the moment. The magic began to ease and Sawyer looked up at the guy by the door with tears in his eyes. “Cecil.”
“This changes things,” Cecil said.
The lady with the rolling pin spoke next. “Is the tiger the new guardian? Because that’s really cool.”
Sawyer and Cecil shared another look. “No, Viv. The tiger isn’t my guardian.”
Sawyer turned to Pip with a smile. “Do you have a mark? Like a tattoo, but it’s been on you for a while.”
“How did you know?” Pip asked.
“Can we see it?” Henry asked.
Pip took a step backward. “Um. No.”
Henry frowned. “Why not?”
“It’s… um… well… see…”
“It must be somewhere naughty,” the lady with the broom said. “We’ll see it soon enough. No one can keep their clothes on for long around here.”
“Justine!” Sawyer said. He was laughing though, and she shrugged.
“I speak the truth and you know it. And if that tiger sheds all over my nice clean floors, I’ll… well, I’ll clean it up. But try to ask it not to shed, okay?”
“He doesn’t shed,” Pip said.
“That’s good. Oh honey, you’re such a cute little thing, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Our boys here will take really good care of you. Draco, you better be gentle with him, you hear me? Use extra oil. You go all cave man on him before he’s—”
“Justine!” Sawyer said again.
She mimed zipping her lips.
“She has a point,” rolling pin lady added. “Pretty sure Saeward isn’t going to fit.”
