A Tiger's Tale (A Call of the Wilde Mystery) by Laura Morrigan Page A

time, I would get within inches and he would prance off.
    A game?
    I glanced at my watch and saw I had time before I was supposed to meet Kai for pizza. If the little donkey wanted to play, so be it.
    How about hide-and-seek?
    I turned in a circle and began scanning the pen. Since Jack-Jack wasn’t going to let me come to him, maybe he’d come to me.
    The donkeys, being grazers of the highest order, had shorn every blade of grass to oblivion. Their main source of food was a large pile of hay by the barn.
    A small lean-to protected the hay container and feed buckets from the elements. I walked to the structure and looked for a good place to lie in wait. A glance over my shoulder told me Jack-Jack still stood with his back to me.
    I edged closer to the hay, leapt into the pile, crouched, and covered myself as quickly as I could. I brought up my mental shield so I wouldn’t inadvertently broadcast my plan, and settled in with my back against the barn wall.
    Now, all I had to do was wait for Jack-Jack to get close and I’d be able to touch him. Simple enough.
    After a few minutes, I started to itch. Nothing horrible—just enough to make me want to squirm. I held still so I didn’t give myself away.
    I could do this. Mind over matter.
    The thought inspired a random Dr. Seuss quote to float through my mind.
    “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
    My mother had told me this repeatedly as a child.
    It didn’t matter that I was different.
    Different was beautiful.
    But after the age of about five, people no longer thought it was cute when I told them I was talking to the squirrels. They thought it was weird.
    Mom had stuck to her guns. “Your true friends will like you the way you are. Forget everyone else.”
    I’d learned to forget a lot of people. Even people I thought loved me.
    In college, I’d been dumped in spectacular fashion by Dane Harrington—of
the
Harringtons, one of the oldest, wealthiest families in the Southeast. He’d broken it off when I’d finally revealed my ability. Not because he thought I was crazy but because he thought I was a freak.
    For a long time, I’d used that as an excuse to stay closed off, never letting anyone in.
    Then I’d met Kai. A man of science who believed in my psychic ability despite everything he’d been taught. A man who made me feel things that scared me. A man who . . . was probably already on his way to meet me for dinner while I was hiding in a haystack trying to ambush a donkey.
    I wasn’t crazy and I wasn’t a freak, but sometimes, I was really stupid.
    I shot to my feet and staggered out of the hay, brushing myself off as I marched past the donkeys, who were clustered in the shade of a tree around a salt lick.
    Jack-Jack coughed out a laughing bray—which I ignored—as I walked through the gate. As I climbed into Bluebell, I caught sight of the bag of Halloween candy. I knew one mini-donkey who would not be getting any more Skittles from me.
    • • •
    I managed to make it to the Pizza Bar only a few minutes late. Like always, I felt a little rush when Kai saw me and smiled.
    His smile widened as I slid into the booth across from him.
    “Is that a piece of straw in your hair?”
    “Probably.” Stupid donkey. I reached up and began patting my head as I inwardly vowed to retaliate. After a few seconds, Kai leaned across the table and gently pulled the stalk free.
    He held it up, then locked his eyes on me. “You haven’t been rolling in the hay with someone else, have you?”
    “Uh . . . nope.” I met his gaze, ignoring the heat that threatened to flush into my cheeks.
    The waitress arrived, saving me from having to come up with anything better. We ordered a couple of beers and a half-veggie, half-pepperoni pizza.
    “How did everything go with your call?” The restaurant was packed and noisy enough that I knew we wouldn’t be overheard talking about a murder