“I hope so,” was all he could manage. If Nigel went up on his own volition, no telling what the reckless kid had in mind. Ryan hadn’t been part of the pride run for years, so he didn’t know how strong the elder’s tiger was. If Nigel pulled a stupid stunt, he hoped Mr. Dunbury could hold his own.
Outside the elder’s dual-story cabin, Nigel’s car sat out front. A shot of relief, anger, and fear burst through him. After parking behind the other vehicle, Ryan assisted his mate out of the SUV, and they hurried toward the front door.
Lifting his hand to knock, a loud groan came from inside. Not caring about social norms at the moment, Ryan threw open the door.
On the floor, Mr. Dunbury’s legs stuck out from behind the sofa, toes down, and Nigel stood over him, something in his hand. Ryan couldn’t control his animal’s rage at what the boy had done to the elder.
He shifted so fast, his clothes exploded from his body. He was airborne a foot inside the door, sailing through the air, claws extended and aimed at Nigel. Ryan had to give the boy credit for knowing when he was going to die. The fear on the young face was satisfying compared to the know-it-all smirk he usually had.
Just as he reached the boy, a blur slammed against him, taking him to the floor, sliding into the wall. “Alpha,” Mr. Dunbury barked, “what the hell are you doing?”
Ryan’s tiger released control quicker than ever before. Amazing what utter embarrassment could do. Ryan, now back in his human form, sputtered, “I am killing the boy for killing you. What do you think I’m doing?”
Ryan had never heard Parker laugh as hard as she was now. It was also the first time he’d ever seen Mr. Dunbury smile. Climbing to his feet, Ryan couldn’t hide his heated face. Fucking hell. What just happened?
“All right, all right,” Ryan grumbled, offering a hand to the elder on the floor. “Maybe I jumped to conclusions a bit quickly.”
Mr. Dunbury slapped him on the shoulder. “I appreciate the effort, Alpha, but my tiger can still kick ass.”
“We heard a groan from outside,” Ryan said in his defense. What was he supposed to do?
“Like this?” Dunbury got down on his knees, letting out an identical sound to what he heard at the door. “My knees aren’t what they used to be.”
Ryan dropped his chin to his chest and mumbled, “Fucking hell, I’m an ass.” His heart slowed to normal, and his tiger was in hiding from being mortified about the mistake.
Still kneeling, Mr. Dunbury put some old items in a box then gestured to Nigel. “This one’s ready to go up.” Nigel ran the tape gun in his hand over the flaps, sealing the box closed, then carried it up the steps.
“Mr. Dunbury,” Parker cleared her throat, “we couldn’t reach you and were worried that something had happened to you and Nigel. So we came up to check.”
Mr. Dunbury smiled at Parker. “Mighty nice of you, Alpha Mate. I can use all the help I can get at the moment.”
“What are you doing?” she asked. Ryan wanted to know the same thing.
“I’ve been working on updating the albums with the previous alpha’s passing, and the news on finding his daughter’s body. With the storm coming, I need to re-box it and get it upstairs in case the house floods.”
Nigel hurried down the stairs. “Have you seen the stuff he has? Some of it is almost two hundred years old. It’s pretty cool. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The excitement in the boy’s voice shocked Ryan. “I’ve seen some of it,” he answered.
His mate left his side, going toward Nigel. “Yeah? Like what?” The boy showed Parker items and photo albums not yet packed.
“Alpha,” Mr. Dunbury said, “there’s a pair of sweatpants and T-shirt in the top dresser drawer in my room. If you want clothes, that is.”
Nudity was normal for shifters, but so was wearing clothes. From the dresser, Ryan pulled out gray bottoms and a black tee. After dressing, he joined the group to help pack.
Ryan glanced around, noticing the few boxes left to be stored. “Looks like you have most of it done.”
“I started packing this morning. I knew this was going to be a doozy of a storm.”
Nigel drew his brows down. “But we didn’t get word of the weather until an hour or so ago. How did you know?”
Mr. Dunbury looked up at the boy and sat back on his knees. “Experience, Nigel. There are some things you can’t understand until you’ve lived through them. My tiger sensed the drop in air pressure and knew what was coming.” He climbed from his place on the floor. “Tape this one and put it with the rest then come into the office.”
Nigel picked up the tape gun and repeated his previous actions.
“Alpha, Alpha Mate, would you like something to drink?”
Parker came back to his side.
“Call me Parker, please,” she scrunched her nose. “When you say mate, I think you’re talking Australian.”
The old man’s eyes widened. “Have you been there?”
“Yes,” she replied. “It’s so different from here.”
“They have some beautiful land down there. Perfect for tigers to roam around in.”
A small smile flirted on her lips as if she remembered her time in Australia. “I agree,” she told him. “And no drink. Thank you, Mr. Dunbury.”
“I’ll take one,” Ryan said to the elder, needing a cold beverage.
“Call me Philip,” Mr. Dunbury said to his mate, “only students call me mister.”
Huh? He thought back to his entire life. The old man was right. He never knew Mr. Dunbury’s first name. It had always been Mr. Dunbury even years after school. The elder glanced at him and winked. The man knew what he was thinking.
Nigel came down the steps. The elder pointed across the room. “My office next. Need to box up some important papers.” The group moved inside the small room.
“Holy shit,” Nigel whispered as he ran his hand over a wooden gun cabinet stocked with old bows and arrows. Ryan thought the furniture was an incredible work of art. In relief, symbols and images of the pride’s past were etched out of the wood. A scene of tigers fighting, wrapped in each other, filled a side panel. He’d never seen such detail in a piece of wood.
“This must’ve set you back thousands,” Nigel gasped, ogling the other side.
“Didn’t cost a cent,” Mr. Dunbury replied with a grin.
Nigel whipped his head around to face them. “You stole it?”
The old man broke into deep laughter. That was the first time Ryan had heard his teacher laugh. First a smile and now this. Wow, things changed when becoming an adult.
“No, cub,” he answered after stifling his howling, “I made it from a fallen tree here on the mountain.”
Nigel’s jaw dropped. “No way! How?”
Mr. Dunbury smiled. “Just something I learned along the way of living.”
“Do you remember how to do it? Can you teach me how to do this kind of stuff?”
“Sure,” the elder nodded and winked at Ryan. “You have to get your hands dirty. You okay with that?”
Nigel shrugged. “They wash.”
Ryan nearly fell over from the unexpected words from the cub.