The Tiger's Heart by Marissa Dobson

three
other guards. Their gazes met briefly. As she walked past him
toward the bed, she whispered low enough only a shifter would hear.
“There’s another video,” her voice full of sadness.
    Shit!

Chapter
Thirteen
    Raja found Ty, Felix,
Marcus and Thomas sitting at the conference table looking
shell-shocked. Connor was working on a laptop at the other end,
paying no mind to anyone else. The room was silent, the coffee sat
in front of many of them untouched. What
was in the damn video to get to these warriors? These are men I
would trust my life with, and now they sit before me looking
defeated.
    Sitting in the last chair, Jessica
Black crunched into a ball. Her body violently shaking with silent
sobs as she hugged her body close to her.
    “ There’s another video,”
Ty said quietly, coming to stand next to him.
    He nodded. “Tabitha said. That
bad?”
    “ Worse.”
    “ Have Connor put a trace
on it, and let’s get a team there. Maybe we will get lucky
again.”
    Ty just stood there shaking his head.
“Connor’s tracing the place it was sent from, but we know where the
video was filmed. It’s too late.”
    “ Too late?” Raja didn’t
want to believe it. Ty nodded, still not making eye contact. “I
need to see the video.”
    “ It’s not
necessary.”
    “ I think it is. Ty, what
aren’t you telling me?”
    “ The attack was in
Virginia.” Ty ran his hand through his hair.
    “ So. Just spit it out.”
Raja’s nerves were making him edgy.
    “ It was Bethany family in
the video.”
    His heart sank. “Are
they…?”
    Ty nodded. “It’s too late.”
    “ I want to see the
video.”
    * * *
    Rather than sit in front of the
laptop, Raja wished he could bolt to the bathroom to throw up. The
fact that he was about to watch the murder of his mate’s family
made it that much worse. He was warned that it wasn’t easy to
watch. The men he had been in battle with, who fought to protect
the compound, were shocked. What he was able to watch would haunt
him.
    “ Was it sent to Tabitha
again?”
    “ Jessica received it.
Someone saw her with Leo and Connor.”
    He couldn’t postpone it any longer. He
slid the headphones over his ears and hit the play
button.
    A family room came into view, the sun
shining in the windows, illuminating the photographs. Bethany at
graduation in her cap and gown, standing next to people he assumed
was her parents. Another of her and her sister at an amusement
park. The camera scrolled through the pictures that lined the
fireplace mantel, stopping at each of them for a brief
moment.
    “ Bethany’s happy family,
or so it would seem. Do you think anyone ever told the girls their
uncle is a raving lunatic? I doubt it, but tonight it will all
become known. Tonight the family will have to face the beast their
uncle created,” a voice cut in.
    The camera shut off for a moment
before turning on again to show three people sitting down at the
dinner table.
    “ This will be the last
meal they enjoy as a family. Tonight their life will end as mine
did all those years ago. Poor Bethany will be begging for me to
kill her when I find her.”
    The camera cut out again, only to come
back to show the father’s throat slit and the women tied to the
kitchen chairs. The forgotten food scattered across the clean
kitchen floor.
    “ The man wasn’t worth my
time. Tonight is about the women. They will suffer, begging for me
to kill them before they finish serving their purpose and I finish
them.”
    The camera was set on the table as he
went to the young girl. Sniffing her neck, he whispered, “How good
you smell. I’m going to enjoy you.”
    The mother tried to scream through her
gag. It sounded as if she was begging for her daughter’s life.
Pierce didn’t care—he grabbed a Bowie knife lying on the table and
threw it at her. It found its home buried deep in her chest, below
her breast.
    “ The fear pouring off your
body smells so good. I’m going to enjoy this.” Pierce’s face
contorted,