“She’s three. And she’s in shock. She’s not going to make a good witness. I don’t want to put her through an interrogation anyway. She’s been through enough.”
“Agreed. It’s possible Victor and Alexis will find something.”
“But just as possible they won’t.”
“Elizaveta knows Lei is responsible for this. She’ll make sure he’s taken down.”
“And in the meantime? If we bring Zoe back there, will he just try to take her again?”
“We have to go back. The elders haven’t actually—” He stopped short when what he was about to say sank in. “Sonofabitch. Sonofabitch.”
“What?” She frowned, glancing at Zoe who was still snoring quietly despite his hissed outburst.
“Zoe hasn’t been formally claimed as a tiger shifter yet, which means, technically, she isn’t covered by our laws. But because she’s a tiger shifter, she’s not covered under the ‘don’t kill humans’ law either.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning Lei timed the kidnapping perfectly. At the moment, Zoe is in a legal no-man’s-land—neither officially tiger nor human. And, technically, her kidnappers didn’t even try to kill her. Lei just arranged to have her turned loose in the wild. While practically speaking that could have been a death sentence for her, he can argue she might have been fine if she went tiger and was able to hunt.”
“She’s a baby. How often do I have to say that? Even baby tiger cubs would have trouble surviving without their mothers. He can’t possibly claim this was anything other than an attempt to kill her.”
“You saw the way they argue. He can turn this from a murder attempt to a simple test—just like Jameson called it. Fuck me.”
“So what are you telling me, Vlad? That he can’t be punished? That no one can do anything about the fact that he kidnapped a child with the intent of leaving her in the forest to die?”
He knew she was upset when she didn’t scold him for cursing while Zoe was in the room. That only made him want to curse more, but the truth was, legally, there wasn’t a lot that could be done. “The kidnapping, by itself, is a crime that will require some form of punishment, but because she wasn’t hurt and he’s an elder, he’ll get a slap on the wrist and a huge fine. Since he’s extremely wealthy, he can afford the fine.”
“He’ll be able to remain an elder?”
“Possibly. It takes a lot to remove an elder. Short of death.”
“So my daughter’s future standing in the tiger community remains in the hands of someone who tried to kill her, and there’s nothing that can be done about it? Are you serious?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I’m gonna kill him, then. Which one is he?”
“You can’t kill him, Rose. He’s protected by his position. Killing an elder is a death sentence.”
“I’m not a tiger. Your people don’t have any jurisdiction over me.”
“They’ll turn you over to human authorities.”
“Will they? Do they want his body autopsied to prove murder?”
“They’ll find a way around that.”
“Vlad Dubrovsky, I am not letting that man get away with this. Do you understand me? I want my daughter to feel safe, and she won’t so long as that man is allowed to remain in a position of power. Especially if that position gives him some say in her life. No. It’s not going to happen. We find a way. You call in favors. We pay bribes. We doctor tapes. I don’t care. Whatever it takes. Because if he’s not taken care of any other way, I will shoot him between the eyes just like I did Jameson.”
Vlad had no doubt whatsoever that she meant every word. And the part of him still seething from what had been done to Zoe was right behind her. He’d hold Lei down while Rose put that bullet into his brain.
But they couldn’t simply kill an elder without bringing down a world of trouble on their heads—and that would leave Zoe vulnerable. He couldn’t allow Rose or Zoe to get hurt that way.
“Give me some time to think about this. I’ll figure out a way to make sure he’s removed.”
“In the meantime?”
“We get Zoe formally accepted into the community so she’s fully covered by our laws. We call for an immediate vote—no more debating—because we can’t risk her remaining in this legal limbo. Since you’re human, no one can hurt you without risking an automatic death sentence under our laws, but we also need to make sure they don’t try to subject you to our mating laws.”