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  Beau might try to seem casual in his attitudes towards most things, but he was big on loyalty and honor. That was at the base of why he’d chosen to remain a lone tiger rather than pledge himself to the usurper ruler of his species who had been recently overthrown. Beau could have gone back to the tigre d’or, now that there was a new king and the usurper and his cronies had been dealt with, and maybe he still would. But for the moment, Beau was content to stay allied with the Kinkaids.

  Especially now that he thought he might have a shot at finding a mate among them. Mating was not to be trifled with. If Jacki was meant to be his—and he hers—he would move heaven and earth, and forsake all other allegiances, to be with her. Mating was that important.

  Ria and Jake had someone drive the trio down to Geir’s place, which was a little farther down the mountain. Beau wondered what kind of place it was. He had heard rumors about this very special mountain and its facilities, but he was quickly learning that the rumors were pale reflections of the reality.

  The first sight he had of Master Geir’s new house was impressive. It was built in old farmhouse style and it was pretty darn huge. Antique-looking, it fit into the surroundings beautifully. When the dirt road widened, Beau saw that the house was only a small part of a compound that consisted of several outbuildings, including a huge barn that didn’t really look like it contained livestock.

  First of all, most prey animals like horses, cows, sheep and the like, wouldn’t be very comfortable around a tiger shifter like Master Geir or his students. Secondly, what would he do with livestock? Geir didn’t strike Beau as a gentleman farmer. In fact, he was anything but. Geir was called Master because he had earned the right to train all the pantera noir Royal Guards, and approve those that eventually took their place protecting the Nyx.

  It was a hell of a responsibility. Only the most talented of fighters earned such an honor. Geir had to be an expert in many different disciplines in order to give his pupils the widest possible training. Beau looked forward to getting back in shape, and he hoped they were here long enough for him to put Geir through his paces—or, more likely, the other way around. It would be good to spar with one of his own species again. It had been a long time. Perhaps too long…

  Geir saw the van coming down from the big house. He had been living here only a few days, but the place already felt like home. It helped that the remaining Millers—Tad and his mate, Mandy—had made him feel so welcome in their former family home. Tad and Mandy lived down at the edge of the vast property and Tad had been helping Geir the past few days, cleaning up and getting ready for more people to inhabit the place.

  And here came the first few newcomers. Geir could hardly suppress his tiger’s desire to pace. She would be here soon. As would the other tiger. Geir wasn’t sure how he felt about Beau’s presence. He knew the other tiger had the potential to be a rival for Jacki’s attention, but while one part of him resented the idea, the tiger inside him looked forward to being around another of his kind again.

  He had been training pantera noir for many years now. He liked the queen, and the various family lines that bred black panthers of different species—mostly leopard and puma. But there was something about being near other tigers. This house, for example, had been built by tigers and made comfortable specifically for tigers. The very wood was permeated with tiger scent and it made Geir feel welcome on an unconscious level.

  Geir walked out the front door, wiping his hands on a rag as he went. He wanted to greet the new arrivals, but he didn’t really have time to clean up. He’d been working on a few repairs around the house and was wearing serviceable work clothes—jeans and a T-shirt. Not his best, but it would be okay, he hoped. He wasn’t sure what he should do to greet Jacki Kinkaid, but suspected that if he tried to dress up—or do anything too far out of the ordinary for him—he would only end up looking like a fool.

  The van pulled up by the front door and Geir helped Jacki hop down from the front seat. He must have paused a little too long, feeling shaken by her presence. She smelled so damn good, it scrambled his senses for a moment. Luckily, she came to his rescue.

  “It’s good to see you again, Master Geir.” Jacki’s soft voice floated up to him and shook him out of his frozen state. He let go of her hand and stepped aside so she could move away from the van. “Thank you for putting us up while my brother and Beau get back on their feet.”

  “I’m happy to have you here,” Geir said, going with her to open the back doors and help her brother get out of the van.

  He looked worse than Geir had expected. Weak as a kitten and pale, as if he was very ill. Geir’s brow furrowed. He had seen something like it before, and knew the other man’s continued weakness wasn’t a good sign.

  Beau came around from the other side of the van and stood next to Geir as the two selkie siblings headed toward the front door. Geir sensed the other tiger’s presence, but it was a welcome feeling, not the combative response he’d half-expected from his inner beast. As the brother and sister moved slowly into the house, Geir stopped Beau with a restraining hand on his arm.

  “How long has he been like this?” Geir asked urgently.

  “Since the battle. He hasn’t rallied and frankly, I’m worried, but his sister is still in denial.”

  “The heart sees what it wants to see,” Geir reflected, then turned to face Beau. “It’s good to have you here, brother. Whatever else may happen, I am glad of your presence. I’ve been too long away from other tigers.”

  Beau seemed surprised, but Geir didn’t give him a chance to respond. His guests were waiting for him to direct them and the selkie male would need to find his rest sooner rather than later, if Geir was any judge. He vowed to do all he could to help Tom. Geir would consult with every last healer he knew, including the snowcat elders in Tibet, if it would help the other man.

  For Tom was Jacki’s brother, and Geir didn’t want to see her grieve for her brother. If there was anything Geir could do, he would do it. Sadly, he feared it wouldn’t be enough to save Jacki’s brother.

  Geir entered the front hall, glad to see that he hadn’t kept Jacki and Tom waiting too long. They were admiring the front foyer which, while not exactly grand in the traditional sense, was large, welcoming and homey. Geir liked the feel of the place and he could tell from their expressions that the selkie siblings did too.

  “This place is beautiful,” Jacki said, confirming Geir’s hunch.

  “It’s big,” Geir agreed. “A tiger couple built it and lived here, raising their many cubs, which makes it ideal for our purposes at the moment. There are several bedrooms on the first floor. Let me show you the options.” Geir led the way down the hall, moving slowly in consideration of Tom’s injuries.

  “I’ve moved in to the room at the far end of the hall for the time being,” Geir told them as they walked along. “The upstairs still needs a little work. The house was in very good repair, but I decided to do a little upgrading while everything was empty and easy to work around.”

  They stopped at the first door and Geir reached around to open it. “This is typical of the rooms on this floor, and most have their own attached bath.” He went inside and opened the inner door that led to the gleaming white bathroom, so they could see it.

  “We’ve got a winner,” Tom said in a voice filled with relief. “If nobody minds, I’ll just park myself here for now. You guys go on ahead. I’ll just rest for a bit.”

  Jacki was at Tom’s side, helping him to the freshly made bed. She drew back the covers as her brother kicked off his shoes and sat wearily on the side of the bed. She helped him settle, and tucked him in with obvious love and care. Geir felt a pang in the region of his heart even as his spine tingled with alarm. Something was very wrong with Tom. Geir very much feared they were going to lose him.

  Geir didn’t care to think what that would do to Jacki. It would be awful for her. Geir didn’t want to see her in any kind of pain—especially not the pain of losing a brother. Geir had been there,
done that, and wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Especially not a woman as special as Jacki Kinkaid.

  Tom insisted he would be fine and that he just wanted to rest for a bit. Eventually, Jacki was convinced to go find her own room. She joined Geir and Beau in the hallway. There was no question but that she would take the room right next to her brother’s. It also just happened to be the room next to Geir’s.

  Beau settled on the room across the hall from Jacki’s and dropped his gear before rejoining them. Jacki had asked to see where the kitchen was. She also wanted a tour of the rest of the house. Beau joined them.

  Geir enjoyed showing his guests around—particularly Jacki, of course—but he found rather surprisingly, that he enjoyed Beau’s observations about each new defensive position and chamber in the building. The house had been built with defense in mind and Geir was pleased that Beau caught on to that fact rather easily. It wouldn’t be obvious to most, but Beau seemed to see beyond the walls and into the function of the design.

  After the tour, Jacki and Beau each headed to their rooms to unpack and get comfortable. Eventually, they all ended up back in the kitchen and Geir realized it was almost lunch time. Jacki offered to make tea while Geir got to work on the meal he had planned once he’d heard he was going to have guests. It was kind of sad how much thought he had put into this meal and all the other preparations he’d made for their arrival. Geir didn’t like being solitary, though that had been his path more often than not. With Jacki here, he had a chance to discover if maybe—just maybe—he would no longer have to walk his path alone.

  If she turned out to be his mate, as he very much suspected she was, he would count himself the luckiest bastard to ever roam the earth. But he had to get close enough to her first, to find out if what he suspected was true. He had to kiss her, but it wasn’t in Geir’s nature to accost a lady on short acquaintance. He would have to find a way to work up to it slowly, in the natural course of things.

  Somehow.

  “There’s a small farm on the other side of the valley that supplies meat for us. They were given startup capital by the tigers who lived here before and have a top notch organic operation. The steaks are some of the best I’ve ever eaten,” Geir promised as he grilled the aforementioned steaks on the state of the art kitchen grill.

  The big kitchen gleamed with stainless steel, professional-quality equipment. Everything was built on the large side, and built to last. Geir liked it and was pleased to see that his guests appreciated it too.

  “Anything to drink other than tea?” Beau asked.

  “In the fridge,” Geir answered, still working at the grill. “Help yourself.”

  Beau reached into the gleaming metal refrigerator and took out a bottle of beer, automatically getting one for Geir, which was nice of him. Beau popped the tops off and handed the cold bottle to Geir as he came over to admire the grill and the bounty upon it.

  “This is quite a place,” Beau observed. “Thanks for putting us up.”

  “You are more than welcome here,” Geir said, being sure to include Jacki by meeting her gaze briefly. “It’s a big place for a bachelor, though I suspect it’ll fill up fast once the rest of the Nyx’s people get here. They intend this compound to function as a garrison and first line of defense, which is similar to how the tigers used it.”

  “How many can you fit in the house?” Jacki asked, looking around again as if to try to calculate how many people would fit into the rooms he had showed her.

  “This was home to a rather large family of tiger shifters, but you might’ve noticed some of the outbuildings as you drove up. A couple of those structures can function as barracks and there are cabins all around the property, and all around the mountain, in fact. The idea would be to have everyone train here in the dojo—the big barn you probably saw as you drove up—and live in various locations around the perimeter of the mountain, similar to the way the tigers ran it. We’re moving a few things around, of course,” Geir added. “We need to make this place our own and not rely completely on all the work done by the tigre d’or. It’ll be good for the Nyx’s Clan to have permanent homes near her, for those that choose to move here.”

  “Clan Kinkaid is a little different from most others since we’ve got two major groups of shifters under our banner, though there are way more lions than there are selkies,” Jacki observed. “Still, the pantera noir is something else altogether, since black cats can come from a variety of species.”

  “And the Nyx has been on the run almost all her life,” Beau put in. “No roots. It’s hard to run a Clan when you don’t have a base of operations anywhere.”

  Geir was pleased they both seemed to realize the challenges Ria would face in uniting her scattered people.

  “That’s all going to change now,” Geir said, as if making a promise to himself. “She’s going to make her stand here and her Royal Guard will follow her anywhere. They will form the nucleus of the Clan, as they have for many years.”

  “How did you come to be the Master of the pantera noir Royal Guard?” Jacki asked. Geir’s tiger strutted around inside his brain, pleased that its potential mate was curious about his background.

  “I was born in Iceland, as you can probably tell from the accent I have never quite managed to lose.” Geir paused to smile. His story wasn’t exactly a cheery one, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to tell all of it. It wasn’t really a secret—just something he preferred not to discuss most of the time. But if he was going to tell anyone, it would be Jacki. And he realized he didn’t really mind Beau hearing it either. Beau was a brother, of sorts. A lone tiger who had chosen a solitary path. If anyone would understand Geir’s choices, Beau probably would.

  “A lot of tigers live there,” Beau added, nodding. “Not my people, but some of our relatives, I think. Did you leave when King Frederick went into exile?”

  “Yes,” Geir confirmed. “Right around that time.”

  Chapter Three

  Geir couldn’t quite bring himself to explain exactly why he had left Iceland. He let them think it was because of the king’s exile—and it was connected in a way—but Geir’s true reason for leaving was much more personal and too painful to poke at right now. It was enough he was telling them anything about that time. He rarely spoke of it. This new openness would take some getting used to.

  Baby steps. That’s what he needed here. Small disclosures over time, so the pain wouldn’t be so raw. It was his chosen strategy, and he was going to stick to it for now.

  “I was young, though,” Geir continued. “I went to my aunt, who had married into the pantera noir. The former Master saw to my training and sent me abroad when I needed to learn certain skills he could not teach me. Eventually, I ended up in the snowcat enclave in Tibet. That’s where I first heard about Jake, the Nyx’s new mate. He’s something of a legend there. He may be only human, but he earned the respect of the snowcat elders, which is a rare feat. Jake is a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it. He will be good for Ria. For too long has she been alone with her burden. It’s good that they found each other.”

  Now, how had he gotten onto that subject? Mating wasn’t something Geir ever really talked about, but he guessed maybe his inner tiger was pushing the thought into his brain. The cat wanted to find out if Jacki was the woman for them. It thought she was already, but it needed confirmation. And his human side definitely needed that confirmation before he could commit his emotions any further.

  “They’re a really good couple,” Jacki agreed with a wistful sort of look on her face that Geir understood all too well.

  “So how did you get from Tibet back to the Nyx? I’ve heard that few who train with the snowcats find their way back home. Although…I guess Iceland is your home,” Beau observed, a question in his tone.

  “No, my home is with the Nyx now. I’m sworn to her service and more than that, I fit in here. I know I’m needed. If the day ever comes when I’m not, or I fail to serve her to the best of my ability, I’ll leave. Fo
r now though, I choose to stay with her.”

  Whoa. He hadn’t meant to get quite so serious. He needed to lighten the mood, but Geir wasn’t much good at conversation. His social skills were already stretched and they had only just arrived. He definitely had an uphill battle on his hands here, but he wasn’t a quitter. Geir smiled as he finished off the steaks and began putting them on plates.

  “Besides…” he tried for a joke, “…have you seen the tiger stronghold in Iceland? It’s really cold there on the glacier. I may have a fur coat, but I don’t like to freeze all the time.” They smiled as they helped themselves to the side dishes they had all helped prepare. He put the sizzling steaks on the table. “Should we call Tom or bring him something later?” he asked, thinking of the missing man from their group.

  “He’s sleeping,” Jacki said, a worried look on her face. “I peeked in on my way here. I’ll bring him a plate later.”

  They started eating and conversation lagged a bit while they dug into the tasty meal. Geir was glad he had planned ahead. The steaks had come out very well and the side dishes complimented the meal nicely. He’d made a good showing for his first luncheon and he felt quite a bit of relief about it.

  “So…Tibet?” Beau prompted after they’d had a chance to enjoy their food for a couple of minutes.

  “Yeah. Tibet,” Geir repeated, trying to recover his train of thought. “They wanted me to stay on and teach, but a seer among the snowcat elders told me I had a different road to travel. My path was with the Nyx, she said. I offered myself to Ria as a Royal Guard and came up through the ranks to become Master when the old Master could no longer keep up with the duties. He died shortly after that, which caused great sadness to all of us who had trained under him. He was well loved and much missed. But it helped that I’d had his blessing to take his place. The pantera noir took me in at first for the sake of my aunt, but after the old Master named me his successor, they welcomed me on my own merits and I found my true calling, as the snowcat seer said I would.”