“No. It’s like stretching. There’s a pull and tension, but not pain. This is what I’m born to do. There’s nothing odd about it to my body. After, it’s like a release of tension, and I feel really good and strong.”
“Going human to tiger?”
“Either way.”
“You think Zoe’s body is trying to make her do that?”
“I know that’s what’s happening. It’s trying to do something natural, but her little mind is getting in the way. Our young—”
“Wait, how many of you are there?”
“Not as many as there used to be. But that’s a much longer story.”
Curiosity sparked but she pushed it aside so she could focus on how this affected her daughter. “Can Zoe just not do that? Can you teach her how to do for herself what you did for her in there just now? Then she doesn’t ever have to be…” She trailed off. She’d been on the verge of saying Zoe wouldn’t have to be a freak. But she realized that would insult Vlad. “I just want her to have a normal life, be a normal kid,” she finished.
“She isn’t, and she’ll never be a normal human child, Rose. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be normal for what she is.”
“This just can’t be real.”
“If I’d thought this might happen, I would have…”
When he didn’t finish, she narrowed her eyes, trying to see into his soul. “You would have what?”
“I would have prepared you, given you the choice of whether or not you could live in my world. And if you couldn’t, I would have found a way to give you up before you got pregnant.”
She remained silent for a long time as she worked her way through that admission.
Vlad was the first to break the silence. “We need to find someplace for you and Zoe to stay for a bit while I draw my brothers off.”
“I’ll take care of that. Why do you think they’ll hurt us?”
He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the sunflower clock, his mouth flattened into a tight line. “It’s complicated without giving you a lot of tiger shifter history—which we don’t have time for now—but basically, they think any offspring from tigers and humans are…abominations that must be killed. They learned that lesson and attitude from my father.”
“Your father?”
“He…” He swallowed visibly, then faced her, his expression impossible to read. “He tried to kill my half sister, Nila, because of what she is. My brothers hunted her down with him and would have happily helped kill her if they’d gotten the chance. They’ll try to kill Zoe.”
“They might try. They won’t succeed. I’ll rip them apart.” Even as she said it, she flashed back to his shift and that huge tiger facing her with Vlad’s intelligent eyes. She shook off the moment of fear and panic. Didn’t matter what she was facing. This was her daughter’s life. She’d tear apart all the demons of hell to protect Zoe.
A slight smile broke Vlad’s expression. “You’re as fierce as any tiger mom I’ve known. I’m glad. Our daughter obviously has a wonderful mother.”
“How can I kill a tiger shifter? Can I just shoot them?” She ignored the little thump of her heart following his compliment. She didn’t have time for it. But the fact that he thought she was a good mom pleased her a lot more than she wanted to admit. She couldn’t trust the comment, though, not after he’d as much as called her a bad mother earlier for letting her daughter remain in pain. She grabbed on to the anger that thought produced and thrust it in front of her more complicated emotions like a shield.
“It takes some seriously heavy ammunition and more than one shot,” he said, “but yes, you can shoot a tiger shifter dead. Especially if you shoot them in the head.”
“No special bullets needed?”
“We’re not werewolves. But we do heal incredibly fast, so one bullet isn’t likely to work—unless it’s one of those military grade explosive things or you hit the shifter in the head in just the right spot. A broken neck, done just right, will work. But you’d have to practically rip a tiger’s head off to make sure they’re dead. It takes a lot of damage to overcome our healing speed.”
“Can you kill another tiger? How would you do it?”
“I’d tear them to pieces while in tiger form.”
She shivered a little, not sure if it was from fear or a rush of excitement, and not inclined to look too closely at what either might mean. “I don’t have that option. I’ll just have to get a few big guns.” She started mentally scrolling through her father’s inventory. She’d have to swing by their house.