A flash of movement coupled with a growl had Tanner spinning around to see Sage rushing toward him, her curved claws ready to slash him to ribbons.
Tanner tried to stay in control, tried to let just enough of the animal out to allow his feline reflexes to kick in, but with Zarina still in danger, that control slipped away like sand through his fingers.
Claws and fangs coming out, he blocked Sage’s right arm, then shoved her back, knowing he had to put some distance between them before he shifted all the way and lost complete control. Sage charged at him again, rage filling her glowing red eyes as she yowled in frustration. While she would probably never hurt him, the beast in charge at the moment sure as hell wanted to.
He blocked another slash, fighting the urge to strike back. If he landed a blow with his larger claws, he’d tear the smaller woman nearly in half. Instead, he reached deep down and found the control to retract his claws.
Sage blinked at him, like she was almost as shocked as he was that he’d done it. He thought for a moment the move would be enough to get her to calm down and back off. But then something behind him caught Sage’s attention, and her eyes went feral again.
Tanner glanced over his shoulder, and his heart lurched. Both guards had come into the cell, one holding a Taser, the other a dart gun that Tanner knew was loaded with a sedative. The only problem was that the idiots had left the cell door open behind them. If Sage got past the men, she’d be through it in a flash. Then the only thing standing between her and freedom would be Zarina.
Zarina, heaven help her, was standing resolutely in the open doorway like she thought she could stop Sage by sheer willpower.
As Sage poised to leap at the guards, the guy with the Taser froze, while the one with the dart gun was shaking so much it looked like he was about to wet his pants. Sage was going to get through those two before they could blink. Then she’d be on Zarina.
Fury overwhelmed Tanner like a tidal wave. One moment, he was standing there, wondering what the best move would be. The next, he’d shifted completely and let out a roar loud enough to shake the walls. Claws extended to their full length, he went for Sage.
She backpedaled, the red glow disappearing from her eyes.
At the same time, Dart Guy dropped his weapon and really did piss himself, while Taser Man jerked back and fired his stun weapon into the ceiling, burying the high-voltage electrodes in the soft acoustic tiles.
Sage ran for her bedroom, sobs tearing from her throat instead of growls, while both men made a beeline for the cell door.
Zarina ran past Tanner, hurrying after Sage before he could stop her. Now that Sage was back in charge of her body, all she’d be interested in doing was hiding away from the rest of humanity in horror and shame. Tanner knew what it felt like to lose control, especially in front of people you considered friends. Hopefully Zarina could console Sage and remind her that she’d done well—right up until Tanner had slipped up and mentioned Derek.
He took a deep breath and got himself under control. A few moments later, his fangs and claws retracted, leaving him feeling drained and weary. Outside the cell, the two guards stared at him in revulsion. Abruptly realizing he was aware of their attention, the men turned and headed outside. But the distance wasn’t great enough to prevent him from hearing what they said to each other, especially the part where they muttered about having to babysit those damn freaks.
Those two might have been total d-bags, but it still reminded Tanner that in the eyes of most of the people left at the DCO, he and Sage were little better than poorly behaved animals. It made him wonder how much longer Dick would tolerate their presence.
* * *
Tanner was still sitting on one of the benches overlooking the obstacle course when Zarina finally came out of Sage’s cell an hour later. He’d spent the time thinking about all the ways the situation in Sage’s holding cell could have gone wrong—and there were a lot of them. Worst among them wasn’t the possibility of Sage getting past those guards but the fact that he might have been the one who put the men down—right before he lashed out at Zarina. The thought chilled him to the core.
Zarina walked over to join him, sitting down on the wooden bench with a sigh. Some of her long, wavy, blond hair had come loose from its bun to hang down around her face, and it was all he could do not to reach out and gently take the silky strands between his fingers.
“How’s Sage doing?” he asked.
“She feels horrible. But at least she’s not sobbing uncontrollably now,” Zarina said. “I told her that she did very well on the exercise, but she’s still upset she lost control and attacked you.”
He shrugged. “She got her animal side back under control pretty fast.”
Zarina pinned him with a look. “You know that’s not true, and so does she. Sage only gained control because you roared at her. If not for that, she would have tried to attack those two guards and probably me, too. She’s terrified she might kill someone while her animal side is in control.”
Tanner didn’t say anything. He knew exactly how Sage felt. He was afraid of the same thing.
“It’s so strange to see the obstacle course completely empty,” Zarina said in that soft, beautiful accent of hers. “It’s like this place is falling apart in front of our eyes.”
Tanner couldn’t help but think that there was more to Zarina’s words than the literal interpretation. While the facilities were already showing signs of neglect, it was like the soul of the DCO was rotting away from the inside out as more and more good people left to be replaced with dirtbags. Soon, there’d be nothing left to show for all the work John had put into this place. Over a decade of hard work gone in the blink of an eye.
“The new teams don’t do a lot of training,” Tanner said.
Zarina let out a delicate snort. “The new teams don’t do anything but sit around and eat. And the only time they leave the complex is to go traipsing off to some far corner of the world chasing after Ivy and Landon or one of the other teams. If Dick and Thorn knew just how close they really are to the DCO complex, they’d go crazy.”
Tanner chuckled. She was right. Dick in particular would pass out if he knew that almost all the shifter teams were hiding less than two hours away from the Washington, DC, area.
“Speaking of Ivy and the others,” Zarina said, glancing at him, “do you think you’ll be seeing Kendra and Declan anytime soon?”
Kendra MacBride and her bear shifter husband were expecting twins any day now, so it wasn’t really the best time to be on the run. Tanner looked around before answering. He doubted anyone could have snuck up on them without him knowing, but he checked anyway. “I won’t risk going to see them. Not unless they call me, which I doubt they will.”
