The Baby Of The White Tiger (BWWM Shifter Romance) Page 4

  Dom watched as Rosa dodged one more attack as she swiped at his chest, trying to force her claws through his ribcage. She was trying to rip out his heart, but he managed to pull back before she could grab the organ. The creature responded with another violent jab of his weapon, trying to stab Rosa. He managed to strike her, but it was a grazing blow in the arm that she had moved up to block. The coyote howled in pain as she raked the vampire once again with her claws. The creature recoiled a little after the attack, a large gash forming across his chest as the shifter’s claws struck him. Dom could imagine the sickening sound of flesh ripping.

  The pregnant witch had made it the length of several football fields when she spied one of the most painful sights of her life in the rear view mirror. As the vampire thrust his knife into Rosa’s furry chest, she used the moment of weakness to finally get her fist around the vampire’s heart. The look on his face was one of panic and her face was covered in a look of sheer determination. Dom gasped in terror at the light leaving her companions face. She had never seen someone die a violent death before, and she knew that this moment would affect her deeply, change the very nature of her being for the rest of her life. She watched both the vampire and the shifter fall to the ground together as she drove out of sight. She felt the tear fall onto her face as she drove into the darkness that surrounded El Paso. She didn’t know what to do, but she had to do something. She didn’t have any paperwork, she had no money, no identification and she was driving down the highway at night in her pajamas. It wasn’t going to be nice or pretty. That was until she noticed the stuff sitting in the legroom of the car. It looked like her purse and a small bag of gear. She didn’t know how Rosa had gotten it there, but she was thankful to the woman for giving her life for her and making sure that she had the things she needed. Looking at the gauges she noted that the tank was full and she could drive for quite a while without having to stop.

  Chapter5

  Dom found the silence of the open highway deafening. Tear after tear fell down her cheek as she drove down the lonely stretch of highway. She didn’t know how far she had driven out of El Paso, but it felt like an eternity. She had moved her purse up to the passenger seat and made sure that her wallet was handy in case she was pulled over. Her hair was a mess and all she did was push it up, back away from her face. After doing this three times she got frustrated and reached over to dig in her purse. She pulled out a headband and hair band that she kept in the main pocket and steadied the steering wheel with her knees as she put her hair up in a band and pushed the band up to keep the hair out of her hair.

  When she finished, she looked down at her phone, unsure if she should try to call Gregor and tell him what had happened. She didn’t know what she should do. She reached to pull her phone out and found two of them in the same pocket. Neither of the phones was hers. They both had the markings of pay as you go carriers; she could see that much as she passed under a streetlight. She put them in the center console and focused on getting away from the tribal lands of the wolves. She didn’t know exactly where she was going to go, but knew that she had to get away from there. She knew that she shouldn’t be so distracted while she was driving, but it was a lonely, empty stretch of highway. There was no one in sight in any direction as she reached for her wallet.

  She opened it up and saw that it only had about a hundred dollars in cash inside. She sighed. It wouldn’t be worth it to risk using the credit cards, but she knew that she would have to figure something out quickly, because money wasn’t going to last forever. She drove, vaguely noticing that she was passing mile markers at lightning speed. When she did finally slow herself down, she was glad as she passed a police officer pulling someone else over. It wasn’t until she passed another sign that she realized that she had been traveling into New Mexico. She stopped in Las Cruces, eager to get some gas and something cold to drink. It was a hot desert night and she hadn’t been running the air conditioner at all. She must not have been on the road for very long, because Las Cruces was less than sixty miles from El Paso, but it had felt like longer. She looked at the fuel gauge, it was barely under full, but she still felt the need to stop.

  The gas station was a truck stop at a busy part of the interstate. She pulled in, knowing that she should put some money in the tank and get something to drink. Climbing out of the car she knew that she must look strange in her pajama pants and t-shirt, but she didn’t have any other clothes. She thought about heading to one of the local Wal-marts before she got on the road again and pick up something to wear, but decided against it, she needed to conserve her money because she wouldn’t know how long it was going to last.

  She had just finished paying for her gas and was pumping when she heard the phone ring from the center console in the car. She reached into the car through the open window and looked down at the number as she pulled her hand out, she recognized it immediately. She quickly swiped the screen to answer the call and held it to her ear. “Hello.”

  Gregor’s voice was tense, but relief washed through it when he spoke. “Thank God you’re OK”

  “Physically, I’m fine.” She answered, but her voice wavered. She knew that the tiger could sense the pain that she was feeling.

  “I’m coming down, can you drive?”

  “Yes, I can drive for a while, but I don’t have a lot of money.”

  “I might be able to help you. I can send you some money through Wal-mart. You should be able to go there to pick it up.”

  “That would be nice.” Dom hugged herself while she talked. She knew how much of a mess she was, and wasn’t eager to be seen by too many people. The gas finished pumping and she pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank. On a whim she opened the trunk. Inside it she found a small duffel bag. Unzipping the bag she could see that there were several simple outfits inside of it. She pulled the bag out of the trunk and moved it to the front of the car as she climbed behind the wheel and restarted the engine. “Where are we going to meet?” She had no idea how all of this was going to work, and her mind wasn’t working well enough to think ahead as of yet, perhaps, given time, her mind would get back in track. She just hoped that it would be sooner rather than later.

  “I can catch a flight in a few hours. I’ll be in Oklahoma city by midday tomorrow.” She could hear him typing away on the computer. “I’m making a reservation. Can you get to Oklahoma City?”

  “I think that I can get there, at least I hope that I can get there. They packed some clothes for me so I should be able to get changed. It looked like they had the vehicle set up for me to make a quick escape.”

  “You should check to see if they left you with any money.” Gregor’s suggestion made sense. Dom started the car and moved it into a parking spot before she started sorting through the bags and checking all of the consoles.

  “I’ve found a hundred dollars in this duffel bag.” Dom said triumphantly.

  “That’s good. That will help you get here. It should cost you less than a hundred dollars in gas to get to Oklahoma City.”

  “Are you on MapQuest?” Dom asked him.

  “Yeah, I’m trying to help.” Gregor’s voice sounded so helpless. He didn’t want to be in this position, so far away from the action, unable to really help.

  Dom continued to check out the car. She noticed that it had been cleaned out fairly well, but there were bills of varying denominations stuck in many different cracks and crevices. “I just keep finding more and more money in this car.” Dom’s voice was full of marvel as she searched the place.

  “They might have expected an attack.” Gregor’s voice held doom.

  “We have to stop this.”

  “I know, I know. How much have you found?” He was dancing around the real question.

  “Almost five hundred dollars, that should get me there comfortably, but I’m going to need an oil change when I get there.” It was a silly thought, but she couldn’t keep her maintenance schedule out of her head. “How did you get this number?”

  “T
hey gave me several numbers that I could use to reach you if I needed to. When the coyotes called to tell me about the attack and that they couldn’t find you, I started to cycle through them.”

  “How many phones did they have stashed for me?”

  “I have the number for ten phones.”

  “I only have two.” The conversation was growing habitual. The series of questions was just filling the space until the hard questions were going to be asked, one of them just had to find the courage to ask them.

  Finally Gregor worked up his nerve. “Is the baby?” He couldn’t finish the words. His voice cracked at the end of his sentence and premature grief had already invaded his words. He had heard the pain in her voice. It was a sound of grief and pain, one that was associated with a life being snatched away too soon. He knew that someone had died, and his mind immediately went to the worst possibilities. He worried about his child; it was a natural reaction and definite sign of the fact that he was going to be a very involved parent.

  Dom knew what he meant and took note of all of the meanings behind it. “Everything seems fine. The only injury I sustained was to my arm when the vampire ripped me out of my hiding place, so I think it will be fine, but when I get a chance we’ll see a doctor just to be sure.” Her words stumbled over each other. She was worried about the child as well. It was well known that extreme stress this early in a pregnancy had a chance to cause a miscarriage.

  “I would give anything to be there with you.” Gregor’s voice broke as he said the words. “I’m so worried about you. If I had a choice you would never have been in this situation. I won’t feel better until you are here with me.”

  “I know. I don’t want to go through this alone.”

  Gregor sounded like he was shocked. “You don’t have a guard with you?”

  “She sacrificed herself so that I could get away.” Dom choked back a sob, trying to sound strong so that she wouldn’t worry Gregor as badly.

  No matter how hard she tried to hide the sadness in her voice, he still heard it. There was no way that the kind of pain that she was in could not be heard from someone as close as he was to her. He heard her heart break in those words. “I’m so sorry.” It was all he could say; he didn’t know how to help her pain and would have given anything in that moment to make her feel better about her situation.

  “I know, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. I have to get back on the road soon; I don’t plan on letting Rosa’s sacrifice be in vain. I have to get away and we have to stop this or everything will be a waste.” Dom’s voice grew stronger as she spoke.

  Gregor was struck silent for a moment. The woman’s strength astounded him. Most women, most people in fact, in her position would give up, quit and hide, just trying to wait for it all to end. After several long moments bathed in silence he cleared his throat, trying to rid his voice of the catch. “I know you’ll make it up here.”

  Dom noticed that he didn’t sound very convinced, but she chose to ignore it, instead focusing on the hope that lingered in his words as well. “I know, I will it’s just going to be a lonely trip.”

  “I would give anything to be there for you.”

  Dom didn’t answer right away; instead she grabbed the bag from the front seat and walked into the gas station locking the doors behind her. She was eager to try to clean up a little. “I know I’ve been quiet, but don’t hang up on me yet.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I’m going to put you on speaker while I clean up and change. This truck stop has showers that I can rent. I just hope that one is open.”

  “I would join you in a heartbeat if I could.” His voice held naughty promises.

  Even with all of the events of the night preying on her mind she couldn’t help but smile again. “Do you know how inappropriate that kind of talk is, considering what just happened and how many people gave their lives to save me.”

  They grew somber again as Dominique stepped into the shower she had rented. It was a tiny private room with a toilet, sink, bench and a shower with a curtain. The shower took up half of the room, and Dom put the phone on the shelf. “You’re on speaker now.” She heard her voice echo in the tiled room, and was sure that Gregor could hear it too.

  Gregor listened to her voice. “You could probably use a nice hot shower.”

  “I’ve rented it for half an hour. I’ll try not to take that long.” Dom stripped down and examined her body. She had a few scrapes and bruises, the most notable being a welt that wrapped around her forearm from the vampires grip and the redness around her shoulder where it had almost been ripped out of its socket. She looked down to examine the rest of her body and noticed the red stains on the bottom of her pant legs. She could also see that her slippers had been stained. She sighed and looked at the dark circles under her eyes. “You wouldn’t want to see me right now.” She admitted.

  “I wouldn’t care what you looked like; it wouldn’t matter to me, as long as you’re safe.” Gregor told her. “I’ve been seeing you in my dreams lately. I just want to be near you right now.”

  “I know. It may be hard to hear you right now. I’m going to turn the water on.”

  “I will listen to the water beat down on your body and wish that I was in its place.” He knew immediately how badly placed his joke was. Dom sighed and turned the water on, not answering his comment. He had been trying to make her laugh, but it was obvious that in the state of mind that she was in, there was no use trying to get her to laugh. He listened to her shower; the rushing water prevented them from hearing each other. He didn’t say a word, but hoped that the cleansing water would help ease her pain long enough for her to reach his side. Once she was there he would be able to protect her. He thought about seeing her again, holding her in his arms. He hoped that she was feeling the same thing.

  He heard the water stop. “Are you feeling any better?”

  “I think that I am. I’m ready to get back on the road.”

  “Make sure you have a map.” Gregor warned her. “You should buy one before you leave.”

  “Thank you for reminding me. I don’t have a GPS built into my car.”

  “There might be one on the phone if it’s a smart phone, but if you lose reception it isn’t going to work very well.”

  Dom nodded and then realized that he couldn’t see the motion. “I’ll take care of it. I’ve got to get dressed then get back on the road. I should let you go.”

  “Make sure you try to eat something soon. You need to keep your strength up.”

  “I’ll try. I promise.” She ended the call and finished dressing. Eager to get underway, needing to be with someone as soon as possible.

  Chapter6

  Dom knew that she had to go north, but wasn’t exactly sure how to get to Oklahoma City. She had showered and changed already, bought something to eat to bring with her and was ready to get moving once again. She reached down to one of the smart phones and opened up a GPS application. She typed in her destination and waited for her route to load. In her purse, she found a car charger for the phone and she plugged it in, knowing that the phone would die soon. Sighing, she started the car and pulled onto the street carefully following the direction that her phone told her. “I’ve had better days.” She groaned, frustrated with the turns her life had taken her. “I have no idea how I’m going to make lemonade out of these lemons.”

  It was a long dark drive in the desert in the dead of night. She drove through Alamogordo and turned onto the road that led into the mountains. It didn’t take her long to realize that on curvy mountain roads, headlights didn’t do a whole lot of good. She couldn’t see around the next bend as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She had a long time on the highway and couldn’t afford to fall asleep at the wheel. “Stay awake, Dom. You have to get away.” She was talking to herself as she turned on the radio to find only static. She sighed in frustration and reached between the seats to pull out her CD case. She didn’t really check to see which album she ha
d in her hand, but immediately placed it into the stereo. The slumbering words of Billie Holliday rang through the car, soothing her pained nerves.

  She was instantly transported to a better place, somewhere where she wasn’t alone. Somewhere where her life hadn’t been turned upside down, for a moment she was safe in her house with her grandmother cooking in the kitchen. It didn’t take long for everything to come flooding back. She was alone, on the run from vampires because she had become the mate of a were-tiger that was supposed to negotiate a peace between rival shifter clans. Her home had been nearly destroyed and a friend had lost her life defending her. The world felt like it was falling apart at the seams.

  Dom tapped her foot as she put the cruise control on. She started to sing along to the song, enjoying the memories the song brought her back into. Her grandmother had played Billie Holiday for her as a child, when she had been sick or sad the crooning scratchy voice would always make her feel just a little bit more comfortable. She gave herself over to the song, singing along and trying to change her life back to the way it was before.

  As she drove, she tried to think about anything but the situation she had found herself in. She was just about two months pregnant and it seemed like everything was going crazy. This child hadn’t even been brought into the world and already his world had been filled with adventure. Every moment of her life since she had met Gregor had been filled with changes. Dominique wasn’t entirely sure she liked the changes yet, but now wasn’t a time to make a decision like that. She should wait until it ended, but there was a problem with that plan. She didn’t know how this was going to end, but she hoped that her child would make it through. She sent up a silent prayer, hoping that everything would go uneventfully from here on out, but when the headlights started to shine brightly in her rear-view mirror she instinctively knew that her wish was not going to come true. They were on a long stretch of empty highway. There was no one around to get help from and the car rode her bumper.