Page 87 of Chasing Stripes

“Now,” The Collector instructed, gesturing to two hooded assistants who approached with ceremonial daggers, “remain still while my associates prepare the containment vessels.”

Behind her, renewed struggle erupted as someone—likely Thora with her sabertooth strength—struck a particularly forceful blow against the barrier. The magical field rippled, momentarily thinning before stabilizing again.

“Problems with your prison?” Artemis asked, deliberately drawing The Collector’s attention.

His glamoured features tightened with annoyance. “Nothing that concerns you.”

As he turned to examine the fluctuating barrier, Artemis caught movement in her peripheral vision—something impossible. Two tiny shapes crawled through a drainage channel near the floor, a passage barely large enough for their small bodies.

Lily and Jade. The twins.

Horror and hope battled in Artemis’s chest. The girls should be safely at the pride house with babysitters, not here in this dangerous chamber. Yet their unexpected presence opened possibilities. Movement behind the magical barrier caught her eye—Mimi had spotted her daughters and was frantically gesturing something to Kalyna, who nodded with sudden understanding.

Artemis needed to keep The Collector distracted.

“Before we begin,” she called out, “I want to know why. Why target my family for generations? Why the bakery specifically?”

The Collector turned back, irritation warring with ego. Villains, Artemis had noticed, rarely resisted opportunities to monologue.

“Why?” His voice dripped with ancient bitterness. “Because the Blu family stole what should have been mine.”

“My family stole nothing,” Artemis countered, watching from her peripheral vision as the twins emerged from the tunnel. Each clutched a juice box—grape for Lily, apple for Jade—standard pride house snacks. Their golden-brown eyes reflected the magical light as they crept along the wall, unnoticed by the guards.

“Your precious bloodline,” The Collector hissed, glamour slipping to reveal features that eerily mirrored her mother’s, “hoarded potential for generations through selective breeding. When my great-grandmother manifested a tether with her vampire lover, your ancestors forcibly severed it rather than allow ‘impure’ blood to strengthen the line.”

His voice cracked with pain so old it had calcified into hatred. “They destroyed her—left her a hollow shell who withered away from the loss while they continued their precious magical dynasty.”

Behind the barrier, something extraordinary happened. Mimi—sweet, bubbly Mimi who baked cookies and kissed scraped knees—began to shift. Not a full tiger transformation, but a partial one that emphasized certain... attributes. Her curves became more pronounced as tiger stripes rippled beneath her skin in hypnotic patterns. She tossed her head, letting out a soft growl that sounded distinctly like a mating call.

Kalyna sidled up next to her, eyes dancing with understanding. Mimi whispered with a wink.

Kalyna summoned her fox magic, creating tiny, dancing illusions around Mimi that enhanced her display—subtle sparkles that followed her movements and made her tiger stripes seem to glow and pulse.

The effect on the male guards was immediate. Their heads swiveled toward the sound and sight, an instinctive response they couldn’t control. Even The Collector’s assistants looked momentarily distracted.

While the guards’ attention diverted, Thora and Kalyna moved in perfect synchronization toward the weakest point in the barrier—fox magic and sabertooth strength complementing each other.

SEVENTY-EIGHT

“I’m sorry for what happened to your grandmother,” Artemis said, genuine compassion mixing with strategic distraction. “But that doesn’t explain the bakery. Why target my parents?”

The Collector’s face twisted with something beyond hatred—a personal grievance nursed for decades.

“Your parents discovered my plans,” he said, venom dripping from each word. “They realized I intended to use the bakery’s foundation stones—the original magical cornerstone of Enchanted Falls—to channel ancient power. They threatened exposure.”

Ice flooded Artemis’s veins. “So their car accident...”

“Was no accident.” No remorse softened his admission. “They became obstacles to justice. I simply... removed them.”

The confirmation of what she’d suspected hit harder than Artemis had prepared for. Her parents hadn’t simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’d been murdered protecting the town they loved. The pain of loss, freshly reopened, mixed with pride in their sacrifice and fury at their killer.

Bartek sensed her distress. His tiger form hurled itself against his prison, claws extended, determined to reach her.

“You killed them,” she whispered, hands trembling not with fear but with rage.

“I removed an obstacle,” he corrected with clinical detachment. “As I’ll remove your tiger if necessary. Enough stalling.”

At that moment, several things happened at once.

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