Feral Magic by Robin D. Owens

defense warmed him, as did pride at her intelligence and quick thinking.
    "She attacked you first," Brandy said sharply.  "Came out of that damn hole ready to kill you."
    "Yes."
    "And she'd have moved on to me and the baby."
    "Yes."
    Brandy jerked a nod.  "Then I did the right thing."  Her eyes went to the mirror where she could see out of the back of the vehicle, and check on Favel.  Dak looked back, too.  The baby was sleeping.  Beautiful.
    "Absolutely."  Though he could yet smell the terrible chemicals.  She'd set the cylinder in the car with them.  "Horrible smell."  His nose twitched.  "Burns my nostrils."
    She glanced at him and he wished she hadn't taken her gaze off the road.
    "Can you stand the odor until we get home?"
    Until they returned to her home.  His was through a damned erratic portal.  His people would be waiting for him.  His brother didn't even know their nephew was safe.
    "Yes, I can stand the smell."
    "You won't have to deal with it in the house.  Wasp spray won't hurt regular cats in general, but I don't know about if it gets in the eyes or in...wounds."  She swallowed.
    "You did what you had to."
    "I know."  Her grip tightened on the wheel before her.  She slid a glance toward him.  "Your enemy will be waiting inside the portal for you and Favel."
    Dak grunted, wondered whether to tell her the truth, decided to do so.  "More likely she'll come through when she can, hunting us."
    "Oh."  Brandy's shoulders had tensed but this time she kept her eyes ahead.  Dak was glad of it because traffic had picked up.
      Dak took the ruby from his pack, twisted to point it in all directions.  He got a faint pulse from the north.
    "Is the portal still around?"
    "Barely within distance of this meter, which would measure about one hundred of your units – miles.  Not enough to exactly locate from here.  North."
    "Oh.  Does Bretine track as well as you?"
    "No, that is my profession."
    She sighed.  "That's good."
    He saw her small, white teeth nibble on her lip, an odd habit.  She said, "Your enemy is a white tiger with black stripes."
    An instinctive growl escaped him before he answered, "Yes."
    "Does she know anyone here in Colo– on Earth?"
    "No."  The thought made him smile.  "And she is not so pleasant a tigerwoman that she will find a soft-hearted person to help."
    "A fool," Brandy murmured.  Her fingers, which had relaxed on the wheel, gripped tight.
    "No.  Not a fool.  When we met, you must have known that you had my nephew in your power and I would have done anything to keep him safe."
    She snorted.  "Yeah, like kill me, and he was in my power for all of – what? – two seconds."
    "You found him and cared for him, protected him.  I and my klatch are forever in your debt.  To repay honor with dishonor will eventually erode the soul and turn a pantherman mad."
    "Huh."  She paused a moment as cars zoomed close.  "Back to Bretine.  She's a white tiger with stripes.  And the ruby meter shows the portal north."  Brandy's lips curved.  "A white tiger with black stripes will be noticed.  Even in Wyoming."  Once more she glanced at him.  "Though there's an awful lot of empty land in southern Wyoming."

Chapter Eight
     
     
    When they walked – all right, he had to suppress a limp – from the car through Brandy's back gate, Dak carried Favel.  Brandy's tomcats moved from lounging in the shade and hissed in reaction.
    Dak would have to deal with the cats.  He could handle anything they could dish out, but he didn't want them ganging up on Favel.  They could do some damage to the baby, take his eyes, or a finger or two, a toe.  The child would regrow them, but the trauma at so young an age could hurt him.
    Favel had already had enough trauma; he knew his parents were gone forever.  Not how, but those special bonds, that loving bubble had been wrenched away.  Replaced by the fierce love Dak and others had for him, but it was not the same as the enveloping love of a