Page 28 of Ignited

They were pulling up to the gate at Outlaw Ridge, and one of the night guards came out to talk to them. Their truck was first, with Cisco and Matéo behind them, looking like just a normal return from a night out at the fights. Boomer made sure Karisma couldn’t be seen from outside the truck.

“Hey,” said the guard. “What happened to Boomer? Didn’t leave him behind, did you?”

“He’s in the back,” Bro said. “Drunk.”

Even through the closed pass-through window, Boomer could hear the guard sniffing. “Sheeyit, man. Did he get in a fight with a wildcat or three? You need one of those little pine trees you can hang from your mirror, to get the smell out.”

“Fuck off,” Bro said, which was his usual response to shit like that, and would arouse no suspicion.

They drove through the gate, across the valley, and up the hill to their cabin. Being on the edge of the testing field, it couldn’t be seen from the rest of the compound.

Which was a damn good thing, because as soon as the truck stopped, Karisma awoke with a start, her eyes feral green.

She growled.

Oh, fuck.

Boomer’s brother came around and opened the back. “Everybody still alive?”

“So far,” Boomer said. “But you might want to get out of the way, because—”

Too late. Karisma scrambled to her hands and knees and exploded out of the truck like she’d been shot from a cannon, knocking Bro to the ground. She landed in a patch of dirty snow and turned full tiger, her claws scrabbling as she turned around.

She crouched, snarling. Boomer scrambled out of the truck, trying to get between her and his brother.

“Shit,” his brother muttered. “We can’t keep her here. We have to take her down to the holding cell.”

He could not be serious. “Are you high?” Boomer said, rounding on him. “Don’t you remember how we found her? There is no way I’m putting her back in a cage. Ever.”

“Look at her!” Bro threw his hand out and gestured, and Karisma snarled again. She apparently didn’t like sudden movements. “She’s going rogue. Even if she won’t hurt you—and there’s no guarantee of that—she’ll hurt someone else. Gunn will lock her up—assuming no one shoots her before that happens.”

Boomer ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I know that,” he said. “Don’t you think I know that? But I can’t lock her up again. I have to at least try to get through to her.”

“And what if you can’t save her? This isn’t your fantasy, Bro. It’s never going to be.” Brutally honest as usual. And it hurt, as usual. “Didn’t you learn anything when she almost got you killed the first time?”

“Apparently not.”

His brother gave a huff of laughter, but there was no real amusement in it. He put his hand on Boomer’s shoulder in a rare gesture of affection. “I know how you want this to turn out. I know that inside you,” he tapped Boomer’s heart, “you’re a sentimental bastard. I was always glad one of us could be.”

He shook his head. “But reality is what it is. You can’t rewrite the past. And no matter how many people you have on that cork board, you can’t save everyone.”

“I know.” But he didn’t believe it. His brother did. That was the difference between them. “But I have to try.”

His brother nodded, resigned. “You know I’ll back your play. But I still think this is going to turn into a shit storm.”

“Doesn’t it always?”

Bro looked over at Karisma, who was still growling. “I think I’m freaking her out, and I need a run in the worst way.” He touched his dog tags. “Call me if you need me.”

“I will.” He clapped his brother on the shoulder. “And thanks. For everything.”

His brother gave him a nod, and then walked off into the dark.

Boomer couldn’t get Karisma to turn human, but he managed to coax her tigery ass into the cabin, where she huddled in the corner near the fireplace.

He stood in front of her, hands on his hips. Now what the fuck did he do? He was the most irresponsible member of the Outlaw Ridge pack. Crazy. Impulsive. A danger to himself and others. Everybody said so.

And yet here he was. The two things he was worst at in the world—taking responsibility and taking care of other people—and he was trying to do both.