Page 80 of Another Damned Storm
Lily raised her hand and gave it a little wave to get Never’s attention. “We’re here to help.”
“To get yourselves killed, you mean? To cause me an eternity of grief and heartache when I lose control and hurt one of you? Or all of you?” She turned back to me. “Take them back.”
Her temper was rising fast, tugging the fine hairs along the back of my neck up along with it.
“That isn’t up to him,” Matt cut in. He and Angie had been hanging back closer to the cabin, but I had no doubt they’d heard everything. He turned to his daughter. “Go inside, Ang.”
I half expected her to argue, but she glanced at Never and gave her a confident nod. “You’ve got this, Aunt Never.”
“Please go inside,” I said politely. My intention was to rile Never up, but not while her niece was outside with all of us. “And be sure to lock the door behind you.”
She moved quickly, ducking inside and flipping the lock loud enough for us all to hear.
“Lily, would you mind?” I tipped my head toward the cabin.
She nodded and moved silently out of sight behind the small building.
“What are you doing?” Never asked, alarm skating across our connection.
Matt and I had discussed our next moves, but he still seemed genuinely startled when Lily prowled back into sight. He held his hands up, as if that would ever be enough to defend himself from the lithe tiger stalking toward him with her head ducked low and a growl rumbling from between her pointed teeth.
At that point, I was all eyes on Never. Lily had excellent control of her animal, so I didn’t have to worry about Matt. My hope was that witnessing a threat like that approaching her brother would trigger Never’s defensive side. The only problem was, we had to do it cut off from each other. Using me as an anchor to keep her power in check might work in a training situation, but she needed to be able to reel herself in on her own.
Matt backed away slowly. I caught his movement in my periphery, but even if I hadn’t, Never was watching the two of them like a hawk. Her eyes were still their deep ocean blue, which meant we needed to turn up the pressure. Lily must have sensed as much, because she lunged forward with a snarl and a swipe of one enormous paw.
“Shit!” Matt yelled, stumbling backward.
Never’s eyes lit with amber light and she edged toward them. “I know what you’re doing,” she said. “It won’t work.”
That glow said otherwise.
The tiger cast her a sideways glance and bared her teeth.
“I mean it, Lily. Back off.”
The display was clearly pushing her buttons, but it wasn’t enough.
I flashed in front of Matt. “Make it look like a struggle,” Isaid under my breath. Then I grabbed him by his rough canvas jacket and hauled him up off his feet.
He wasn’t much smaller than I was, which meant when he swung at me, he had enough reach to connect. Harder than I’d expected. I tossed him aside, careful to aim for open space. He was good, tucking his big body enough before he hit the dirt to prevent an injury, but still making it look like a violent landing.
I pressed the back of my hand to my bloody lip. At least he was taking the challenge seriously.
A look of fury distorted Never’s face. “Stop,” she commanded, the order rippling through the air.
Lily stilled, turning just her head to growl back before launching at Matt from the opposite side.
“Fuck!” He scrambled away from her, headed straight for Never, but I caught him by the back of the jacket and flung him toward the cabin.
I’d barely released him when Never’s smaller body crashed into me, throwing me off balance and sending us both tumbling to the dirt. There was a short scuffle, during which I managed to pin her to the ground, and when she tried to use her strength to roll me to my back, I let her.
Red eyes glared down at me, glittering with a mixture of violence and triumph. She peeled her lips back in a sneer.
What she didn’t do was attack. That alone was progress.
“Good,” I said, battling to find my own calm. Even though I’d known it was coming, seeing her eyes turn red again still sent a shot of alarm through me. “Now, like we practiced earlier. Find your control.”
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