Here There Be Tigers by Kat Simons Read Free Book Online Page B

counter which was so
astonishing she gasped. An instant later, he had his arm around her
waist and was pulling her toward the rear of the house.
    “ Wait. The car…”
    “ No time. He’s out
front.”
    Nila swallowed her panic and jogged at Mitch’s
side so he could stop dragging her. He led her to a panel near the
first floor bathroom, hit a space on the wall, and a hidden door
quietly slid open, revealing a wide staircase leading underground.
Raising her brows, she squelched her questions. They had to get
away first, then she could ask him why a seemingly normal man had a
hidden escape route in his mountain cabin. As they navigated the
dark steps, she realized the word normal wasn’t quite right for
Mitch.
    “ We have even more to talk about
now,” she whispered.
    “ Later.”
    “ Do you have a plan?”
    “ It’s progressive.”
    “ Oh, good.”
    She nearly ran into his back when he stopped,
and she realized they’d reached the bottom of the stairs. Glancing
back at a noise, she watched the door above them close. Darkness
engulfed them. “No lights?” she asked.
    “ Don’t need them.”
    Which raised more questions, but they’d have to
wait. Keeping a hand on his shoulder for both balance and
reassurance, she waited while anxiety crawled over her skin. She
heard the sounds of a lock turning, then bright light flooded the
darkness.
    “ Come on.” Mitch grabbed her hand
and pulled her outside.
    They came out a few hundred yards from the
house, lower on the mountain so she could only glimpse the second
floor from this angle. When the door behind them closed, she
realized it was camouflaged from this end to look like part of the
hill.
    “ Clever trick,” she
murmured.
    He grunted in response while studying their
surroundings, then pulled her to the right, away from the house. He
moved quickly and easily through the trees and across the leaf
strewn ground. Thanks to the summer heat and lack of rain, the dirt
was dry and crumbly, so at least she wasn’t worried about slipping
in mud.
    “ Where are we going?” she asked
quietly, though she wasn’t sure why.
    Mitch didn’t have any trouble hearing her.
“Neighbor’s house first.”
    “ How far?”
    “ About three miles.”
    “ Shit.”
    He glanced back and gave her a sympathetic
look. “You can do it.”
    “ I know. I’m used to hiking. I just
thought I’d get a break from it once I got back to New
York.”
    He squeezed her hand but didn’t slow his pace.
They moved at a steady trot, but she had to concentrate to keep
from stumbling over uneven ground. The tension and an empty stomach
left her wobbly. A twisted ankle now would be a very bad thing, so
she focused on where her feet landed and let Mitch lead the
way.
    Once, because she thought she heard something,
she glanced over her shoulder. There didn’t seem to be anyone
following, but a tingle of anxiety crept down her spine again. She
could practically feel something back there, liked she had
in the airport parking lot.
    At the same moment, Mitch picked up the pace so
they were nearly running. She had no idea how far they’d come or
how far they had left to go, but she knew their pursuer was
catching up even if she couldn’t explain how she knew.
    This time, Nila did plowed into Mitch when he
suddenly stopped, sending her stumbling and falling to her knees.
She barely had time to feel the sting of scraped skin through her
cargo pants before Mitch used his grip on her hand to lift her back
up. As soon as she had her balance, she realized what had halted
their progress.
    Not ten feet away stood a huge Bengal
tiger.
     

CHAPTER SIX

    Nila stared, unable to believe her own eyes.
This wasn’t possible. Who the hell kept tigers in this
area?
    A sneaky little voice in her head reminded her
that the people after her were supposed to be tiger shifters, but
faced with one of the huge cats, she preferred believing someone’s
pet had escaped and gone wandering through the woods.
    Mitch shoved her