Her mother gave Aimee a harsh stare. "I have no love of Wren, this you know. But I respect the predator within him and I do not appreciate being manipulated by another. Nor do I relish being made a fool." She shook her head. "I should have questioned why Zack and his father continually called to check on Wren after he was sent here. I allowed them to plant seeds of doubts in my mind and I saw in him what they wanted me to see. I can't believe I was so foolish."
Her gaze softened. "I give you credit, cub. You weren't blinded. Now we must repair this before the weight of Savitar's wrath comes crashing down on all of us." She urged Aimee toward the door. "Go warn them. You, they will listen to."
"What are you going to do?"
"I am going to speak with your father and brothers. I fear we are on the edge of a very dangerous situation and I want them all prepared."
Aimee took a step toward the door, then paused. "I love you, Maman."
"Je't'aime aussi, ma petite. Now go and let us make this as right as we can."
In tiger form, Wren located his mother on a bench in Central Park. Luckily the place was crowded, which would help conceal his scent and allow him to blend into the background.
Hiding in a copse of bushes, he flashed into a human with black hair, jeans, sunglasses, and a Ramones T-shirt. The kind of human his mother would never pay attention to. He probably could have kept blond hair, but he looked enough like his father that he didn't want to chance it.
Watching her as she rummaged in her purse for something, he had to give her credit, she was beautiful in human form. Elegant. Her white business suit and red silk blouse set off her impeccable figure to advantage. Many human males paused to try to speak to her, but she quickly chased them off with caustic barbs.
For an animal, she had a great command of the human language. Her tongue was as deadly a weapon as her claws.
Shaking his head as she emasculated another would-be admirer, Wren stayed back until he saw his uncle approaching. With blond hair and dressed in a navy pin-striped suit, he was the masculine equivalent to Wren's mother. The two of them looked like a Fortune 500 power couple.
Grayson inclined his head to her as he sat down on the opposite edge of the bench. Wren noticed that his uncle kept a safe distance so that he could bolt if Karina suddenly lunged at him... smart man.
"So what's up?" Grayson asked.
Wren drifted a little closer so that he could hear them plainly.
"The tiger has lost its mind," she said evasively. "You were right. It's been spending time with its offspring while I was away."
"I told you to poison the cub before you left."
She gave him a peeved glare. "Aristotle would have been suspicious, and since we haven't been on the best of terms in the last twenty-five years, I thought it in my best interest to leave it alive."
Wren clenched his teeth at her words. Even now it was hard to hear her callous condemnation of his life.
She curled her lips in anger. "He's now cut me out entirely. I've been given a tiny hovel in New Jersey of all places. My credit cards have the limits of a human peasant. He's left me with nothing."
Grayson's eyes lighted as if her rage amused him. "I told you not to flaunt your lover in his face. My brother is a proud beast. You're lucky he hasn't killed you both."
She scoffed at that. "I defy him to try it. I assure you, I can hold my own against any tiger."
Grayson passed a doubting look to her. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so arrogant. You know tigers are known to tear the throats out of leopards."
"Only in your dreams." She leveled a sinister glare at Grayson. "I want out of this relationship. So long as that tiger lives, I can't mate within my own species."
"I thought you loved him."
"Love?" she spat. "Are you stupid? Love is for humans."
She jerked the white glove off her right hand and held it up for Grayson to see. "I mated with him because of this. Mating is what our species does when the mark appears. It never equates to love for the Katagaria, you know that. Do you love your mate?"
"She satisfies me."
Karina got a faraway look on her face as if she was remembering something in the past. Sadness marked her perfect features. "I, too, was satisfied once," she said softly. Her face hardened again into the bitch countenance Wren knew so well. "Until I saw what our mating produced. I am the very last of my kind. If I can't prolong the snow leopard breed, then at least let me reproduce a pure leopard and not some freakish hybrid."
Thanks, Mom. Love you, too. He would love to show her exactly what her freak was capable of.
Even she would be impressed with his ability to rip her throat out before she could even defend herself.
Grayson folded his arms over his chest and spoke in a calm, level tone as if they were discussing the weather and not the life and death of Wren and his father.
The very nonchalance made Wren want to kill them both.
"Then you know what you need to do, Karina."
"It's not that simple now," she said with a sigh. "He's left everything to the mutant. I'm quite sure it will see me out in the cold before it allows me near it."
Grayson snorted. "What does a leopard care about a tiger's will?"
She hissed at him. "Don't be stupid. Our habitats are dwindling every day. At least in the façade of a wealthy human I can make sure that I always have a refuge to be in my true form. I also know how badly you want Tigarian Technologies, but Aristotle is too suspicious of you to ever trust you at his back again. So here's what I propose. I kill him and the mutant, and you give me a share of the estate."
"If I say no?"
"Then I take my chances with the mutant."
Yeah, Wren thought angrily. That would be an even worse mistake. Even as a cub he'd hated his mother. Too bad she hadn't taken her chances with him.
Grayson fell silent as he considered her words. "Very well, I accept."
Dun, like he'd expected his uncle to say anything else. But then, Wren was watching a history that he already knew the outcome to.
"Good, but I know you, Grayson. I don't trust you, either. I want some assurances."
Wow, Karina actually had had a brain. At least for a moment. Too bad her assurances had failed her in the end, but maybe they would give Wren some way to prove Grayson guilty of this deed.
"And what would that be?" Grayson asked.
"I want you to set me up as a major stockholder in your own company and I want a million dollars up front, transferred from your account to mine before I make any moves against the tiger."
Even Wren could tell that went over like a weighted cannonball with his uncle. Grayson's features actually looked pinched and drawn. Wren half-expected the tiger to tell her to shove it.
He didn't. "How long do I have?"
"Not long. I know Aristotle. By now, he'll have me banned entirely from the house. But he did say that he wanted me to look at the mutant. I feign interest. Tell him I've calmed down and would like to see it. When he opens the door, I can kill them both."
Now that pleased his uncle. His eyes were actually alight and happy. "I need time to liquidate a few things to have the cash for you."