“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Stay back unless I call for you.”
“What the fuck is going on?” the red-haired man snarled as he caught sight of the tiger shifter. “Daresh, why the hell are you just standing there?”
“Whoa,” the blond said, crouching down in front of the tiger and waving a hand in front of his face. “He’s like a statue or something.”
“By the Ur-God.” The third man, a stocky guy with long brown hair pulled back into a tail, grabbed blondie by the belt and dragged him away. “Someone’s cast a spell on him! There must be a witch in this forest.”
“It must be one of those shamans!” the redhead howled. “Daresh must’ve run across the Coazi, and now look what’s happened!”
“Are they still somewhere around here?” Blondie swiveled his head around frantically.
“I dunno, but I’m not gonna wait to find out! I knew this was a bad idea, having them send us out without any kind of protection against these magic-wielding savages. You guys do whatever you want, I’m getting out of here before they come back and turn us all to stone!”
Red sprinted from the clearing as though his pants had caught fire, and his companions quickly followed, not even sparing a glance at their shifter comrade. I arched an eyebrow at the tiger shifter, who was still capable of glaring daggers at me – his eyes were practically shooting flames.
“Guess your buddies aren’t real big on loyalty, are they?”
Surprise radiated from the tiger – he’d been so shocked by my spell he hadn’t realized he could still use mindspeak. “Their loyalty is to the Resistance, not to me specifically,” he growled. “I don’t blame them for running from an abomination like you. What the fuck are you?”
I dropped from the tree, landing in a crouch about ten feet away from the tiger, and gave him a taunting smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“A hybrid.” Disgust rippled through his words. “I’ve heard rumors a shifter with mage powers existed, but I thought it was a legend.” He didn’t sound impressed.
Ignoring him, I turned my head in the direction I’d scented Fenris and Annia from earlier. “You guys can come out now. It’s safe.” Sitting down, I rested my back against the tree, then drew my knees to my chest and rested my forearms across them as I waited. A few minutes later, Fenris and Annia entered the small clearing. Their eyes widened at the sight of the frozen tiger shifter.
“Is that guy still alive?” Annia asked, awe in her voice as she crouched down in front of the tiger shifter and waved her hand in front of his face, much like his companion had done to him earlier. “He looks like a taxidermist went to town on him.”
“Tell her to get her hand out of my face,” Daresh growled.
“Or what?” I sneered. “You’ll bite her hand off?”
The tiger shifter said nothing, but the scorching fury burning inside him was so palpable I thought he’d set the tinder-dry forest on fire.
“Yes, he’s still alive, and really put out about the fact that you’re waving your hand in front of his face,” I told Annia. “He told me to ask you to stop.”
“Really?” Laughter tinged Annia’s voice. “That is just too weird.” Grinning, she patted the tiger on his head, then stood up and turned to face me. “How the hell did you do that to him?”
“I’ve got skills.”
“Indeed,” Fenris said dryly. “Have you used any of those skills to get information out of him, about the Resistance camp and Iannis’s whereabouts?”
“Not yet. Figured I’d wait until you guys got here first. Do you want to do the honors?”
“Certainly.” Fenris turned toward Daresh. “What business does a Resistance camp have in Coazi territory?”
“I’m not telling anything to the likes of you.”
I stood up and approached the tiger shifter, lifting my right hand in the air as I did so. Blue-green fire snapped and crackled from my palm, the flames licking at my fingers. “I’m not sure if the rumors mentioned this or not, but fire is kind of my specialty. Now that you’re not moving around anymore, there’s no reason I can’t slow-roast you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” The tiger sounded indignant and fearful all at once.
“Wanna bet?” Reaching out, I trailed my hand above his spine, letting the flames come within a breath of his fur.
“Alright, alright!” Panic screeched through the tiger’s mental voice. “I’ll tell you. Just get that away from me!”
“Talk first, and I might.” I raised my hand slightly so that I wouldn’t accidentally set him on fire, but remained close enough so that he could feel the heat of my flame.
“The Resistance has always had a camp out here,” the tiger shifter said hurriedly. “We negotiated with the Coazi a while back to let us hide out on their lands, as we do with a lot of the tribes across the country. They’re not allies, but because they hate mages too, they let us stay here as long as we respect the land and follow their restrictions.”
“So you’re not out here for any specific reason?” I pressed as Fenris relayed the information to Annia verbally. “Like, say, to take down an airship of mages passing through?”
“We didn’t take down the airship, but we were told to expect the delegates’ arrival.” Daresh’s voice turned smug. “We prepared some very special accommodations for them.”