Chapter 53 - Tiger
~ ZEV ~
With no one else on their feet, Zev and Xar had a clear view of each other as Xar—older than Zev remembered, more rugged, his burnished skin more wrinkled, his forehead taller than it used to be, and his once-brown hair now far more gray—strode toward him in that rolling, catlike stride that always sent ice down Zev's spine. He wore the stole of the Alpha as if it were a formal occasion. Zev would have laid money that the male had the ritual blade shoved into the back of the belt that circled his robes—and revealed the beginning of a pot-belly on the old Alpha.
Though Xar's eyes hadn't hazed at all, they flashed with cunning and intelligence, and the certainty of his dominance.
All the shorthairs on Zev's body stood up in warning, but he forced himself to stand easily, to hold Xar's gaze, and to smile.
"It's good to see you, Xar, congratulations," he said quietly. The others had all gone silent. Xar would have no trouble hearing him. He prayed Sasha still could.
"Do not greet me as a friend," the Alpha snapped. "Traitor."
Zev let his smile fade, but didn't defend himself. He simply held the Alpha's eyes and waited. And prayed that if this went bad, Yhet would just pick Sasha up and run. No one would be able to catch them.
That wasn't what he planned, though. Zev hadn't returned intending to take the Clans back. But the more he saw here, the more he wondered if it was needed. And the more his own dominance itched for release.
He would not undermine his own authority by submitting to Xar in case the time to challenge came faster than he expected.
Xar stalked him through the crowd, until he was just a few feet away. The old Tiger's shoulders were thick—thicker than Zev's—and he was almost as tall. Zev knew he would be a difficult opponent if it became necessary to beat him hand-to-hand. Or beast to beast.
In nature, the alpine wolves and Siberian tigers were natural competitors that generally avoided each other except in the contest for food—when the tigers usually won.
The human researchers had been trying to determine which species would be better suited to influence the human gene pool.
But despite Xar's strength and human traits, the old male was far more cat than human in his thinking. The researchers had succeeded in developing more humanity with Zev, with the wolves, first. The Tigers were no longer a primary gene pool for trials. He wondered if Xar knew this? If the old Tiger knew his people's time was ticking away?
Zev fought a sigh. It wasn't Xar's fault that feline DNA didn't like to blend with others.
It was a mark of them as Chimera, as well, when he thought about it.
The old King came to a stop in front of him and they regarded each other warily.
Around them, all the Chimera had submitted, averting their eyes. While Zev knew every Alpha had need of the submission of their people, he'd never required that kind of devotion to be displayed just because he showed up.
What else had Xar done to his people?
"Your return, without warning, is an offense," Xar growled, his voice taking on the warning growl that resonated in his chest.
"There was no chance for warning. I did send Lhars ahead."
Xar snorted. "By what, a minute? Two? It hardly counts, Zev."
"It was the best I could do. There was no warning for me that I was returning."
"I find that very, very hard to believe. Our human friends will have a different story to tell, I'm sure," Xar purred.
Zev's eyes narrowed. "How would you know what stories the humans have to tell? Aren't they the ones that have taken all our females?"
Xar's face hardened. "I do not answer to you, traitor. You are the one who abandoned the people! You are the one who left the hierarchy fractured, and our home torn from the inside. You abandoned us to our fate, so you have no grounds to return and question where we have ended up."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But isn't it convenient that you can dodge the question—"
Xar hissed and flowed forward, one massive fist aimed straight for Zev's ribs.
Zev twisted and blocked the blow, but it left them chest to chest, both snarling, Zev's grip on the older male's arm shaking with the effort to keep him from taking another swing.
"You are no Alpha, Zev. An Alpha would die in defense of his people—not run like a pup with his tail between his legs."
"I did not run," Zev snarled. "And I certainly never allowed the humans among our people with the access and strength in numbers that would give them an opportunity to steal our females. Our offspring."
"Do not speak to me of what you do not do, Zev," Xar snapped. "Our females were taken because the clans were weakened by your disappearance. We were in chaos—dominance changing day after day, week after week. The humans took advantage of our confusion and by the time we understood what was happening it was too late. All because of you, you fucking—"
"He brought a female!" a voice called from the edge of the crowd.
Zev wanted to close his eyes and curse the male who'd said it. But instead he did the opposite, raising his eyebrows and holding Xar's gaze as the male scanned the crowd until his eyes fell on Sasha and Yhet.
His surprise was evident, but he held it in check.
"You brought a human to Thana, then think to lecture me?" he purred, turning back to Zev.