us know what we are to one another, it’s a struggle. My lion wants to find those women and… do bad things to them.”
“And by bad things, we’re not talking naughty, I take it?”
Horvan admired Rael’s understated rage. Horvan wanted to tear them to shreds.
Before he could respond to Crank’s question, Dellan intruded.
Dellan out now. Now.
“I’ll go see what’s wrong.” Rael left them and headed toward the rear.
“What’s up?” Crank asked.
“Dellan wants to get out of the RV.” Had he awoken and panicked?
Crank snickered. “Well, sure he does. When a tiger’s gotta go, he’s gotta go. And he sure isn’t gonna use the bathroom, right?”
Shit.
Yeah, shit. Exactly. Get Roadkill to find us someplace to stop. And how come neither of us thought of this?
Rael had a point.
“Get Roadkill on the phone,” he instructed Crank. “Tell him we need to get off the road someplace isolated enough to let Dellan out of the RV. And soon, otherwise it’s going to get messy in here.” He snuck a glance at Crank. “And then get some sleep. Which is what you’re supposed to be doing right now.”
“Pfft. I’m rested enough. I’ll be ready to swap with Hashtag at the next stop.”
“What about me?” Rael called from the back. “When do I get to drive?”
“You don’t,” Crank retorted. “And before you start griping about it, you have an important job to do. Your task is to take care of Dellan, to keep him calm. There are four of us to share the driving. That’s plenty.”
I get what he’s saying, but I’m not happy about it.
Horvan was about to remind Rael that Dellan’s well-being was the focus of their mission, when Crank’s phone buzzed.
“Okay, he’s found us a stop, but it’ll be another twenty minutes or so. Think Dellan can hold on that long?” When a low roar came from the rear of the RV, Horvan glanced at Crank, who shivered. “Christ. I’ll tell Roadkill to step on it.”
“Be thankful Dellan can communicate with us. If it was only a tiger, we’d probably be up to our pits in tiger poop,” Horvan remarked, picking up speed, aware of the car behind them keeping up.
Crank snorted. “If it was only a tiger, you wouldn’t catch me within two feet of this RV.” He hollered toward the back. “Cross your legs or something, Dellan.”
When another growl emanated, Horvan chuckled. “Care to translate that, Crank?” Not for the first time, he wondered what Dellan was like as a human. From their brief internal conversations, Horvan couldn’t get a real handle on his personality, which was only to be expected in the circumstances.
When was the last time Dellan had been human?
By the time Roadkill indicated they should come to a stop at the edge of a forest, Dellan was pacing up and down inside the RV. Given there wasn’t all that much space to pace in the first place, Crank and Rael were keeping out of his path. Horvan switched off the engine, and Rael opened the door.
Apparently, that was all the signal Dellan needed. He took a leap from the door as soon as Rael opened it and landed on the ground with a dull thud.
I’ll go with him, make sure we’re not spotted, Rael told Horvan.
Keep your distance, okay? Give him some private time?
There was a pause. Yeah. Of course. Just thinking how I’d feel if you were watching me take a dump.
Horvan chuckled. Yeah, but we’ve already established you’re a dainty thing, right? He glanced at the clock on the dash. At the rate they were going, they’d be at the cabin by midday the following day.
Horvan was fine with that. As long as Roadkill was already working on future stops for Dellan. He had to smile.
A tiger’s gotta go when a tiger’s gotta go. Cute.
It wasn’t long before Dellan was back on board the RV, and Crank was in the car’s driver’s seat, insisting he wanted to be on his own for a while. Horvan wasn’t going to argue, but he was definitely intrigued. When Roadkill took the wheel of the RV, Horvan commented on it.
Roadkill laughed. “I know why he wants to be alone, but I ain’t tellin’. He’d kill me.” He flashed the indicators to tell Crank they were ready to leave. Roadkill looked over his shoulder. “Everything okay back there now?”
Rael laughed. “Someone is purring.”
“Wait a minute.” Roadkill frowned. “Okay, I’m not claiming to be an expert in these things, but I’ve never heard of a tiger purring. I didn’t think any