To Tempt A Tiger(69)

“There’s some soundproofing on the guest rooms, but not enough to prevent a tiger from eavesdropping if he wants to. It’s not like the meeting hall. That’s designed to keep even tigers from hearing what’s going on inside.”

Zoe flopped into a new position, making a little grunt of irritation, and a frown creased her brow.

Rose whispered, “If I can watch the door, it should be okay. You’ll hear her?”

“I’ll listen closely. We can be back in here the instant she wakes.”

Rose nodded and they moved across the hall. She stood in his doorway, staring at Zoe’s closed door while he brought out two chairs from inside.

“That meeting was…” She sighed. “Those bastards can argue. I swear some of them kept playing devil’s advocate just to be contrary. Most of them contradicted their own arguments at different points.”

“They’re all old enough to have seen a lot, and most of them love the debate. They like fighting and discussing and one-upping each other.”

“How the hell do they get anything done?”

“Eventually, they hold a vote and come to a consensus. I’ve been told the vote is usually a lot more straightforward than the debates preceding it. Most of them have made up their minds before the debates even start.”

“Then why all the fuss?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, they like it.” Vlad felt Elizaveta approaching, her scent reaching him well before she turned down the corridor.

Rose followed his gaze. “What?”

“Elizaveta is coming. Alone.”

“That’s…not normal?”

She turned the corner, all quiet, deadly grace as she approached. Vlad wouldn’t have admitted it to his father, or anyone else for that matter, but he’d always found the female elder magnificent and terrifying. It was impossible to read her body language or her scent for clues to her state of mind. She was gruff and serious, her expression often set in severe lines, and she didn’t pull punches when she spoke. She was probably the most outwardly undiplomatic of the elders—besides maybe Pavel—but she didn’t have to be diplomatic because she was so damned powerful.

Yet, there was always a spark of mischief in her gaze. And he knew from his father that Elizaveta’s machinations were deep and complex, impossible to fathom.

She was both intimidating and compelling in a way Vlad had never been able to define precisely.

She and his father had been at odds for years, so Vlad mostly avoided her, but now he needed her support.

“It’s not normal,” she said, answering Rose’s question when she was near enough to talk comfortably. “In this place, my assistant and his aides are usually trotting at my heels, ushering me here and there. It is a nuisance.”

Her Russian accent was still strong, despite the fact that she spent as much time in the US as she did in Russia these days, maybe more. The accent reminded Vlad of his father’s mother, who’d passed away when Vlad was only eight.

“Why are you here alone, then?” Rose asked.

“I came to offer a personal apology. That nonsense about taking your baby from you was an abhorrent suggestion. You should know it was not a serious one. It was designed to provoke reaction and cause argument. As Vlad said, we like to argue. But some of us occasionally take things too far. Your daughter is not under threat here. And neither are you.”

“I thank you for the apology, though you already gave one in the meeting hall, so this one isn’t necessary.”

“Yes, it is. My colleagues are a bunch of idiots. Pavel is not a father, so he doesn’t fully understand what he said. If you had our sense of smell, you would have known that most of the tigers in that room were appalled by the suggestion. And they admired you for your threats. Like one of our tiger mothers. While the suggestion was poorly done, your reaction and the reaction it caused among our people were actually a good result. Things will go easier for you and your daughter among our kind if they believe you are strong. And dangerous.”

“I am. When it comes to my daughter, I am.”

Elizaveta smiled at her, closed lipped and tight, but a smile.

“I still feel under threat here,” Rose said, “despite your assurances. And I’m not sure I like the idea that you elders think you can dictate Zoe’s life.”

Elizaveta gave a tiny shrug. “I understand. But she is a tiger—hybrid or no—and that makes her subject to our laws. It is important she is integrated into the community. For her own safety. Without the protection of tiger law, there is nothing to stop a desperate male from trying to take her.”

“There’s the rifle and handgun I intend to keep close by from now on.”