Page 87 of Ghost
What was it Miles had said about shikigami and shifters?
Then, one second the two creatures were snarling at each other, and the next, the tiger had leaped forward. It made an unreal sound, and then Mr. Williams was under it, whining before the tiger ripped out its throat.
Mr. Williams was already dead. Because of that, I didn’t expect to see a gruesome spray of what appeared to be silver blood splatter through the air. Or for the wolf’s form to spiral into a ball, only to be swallowed by the tiger in one vicious bite.
Now I really hoped the tiger was a shikigami, otherwise I’d be next.
While the tiger licked its paw, I went to move toward the door. Unfortunately, it noticed. And before I had moved an inch, its head snapped toward me. The tiger’s unblinking golden eyes capturing mine.
The warm feeling began to spread, but my mouth felt dry. Didn’t shikigami have human level intelligence? Kasai seemed to…
“Hello…” I forced out, trying to recall if you weresupposedto maintain eye-contact with a tiger. I didn’t want to appear to challenge it.
It moved, lightly striding toward me, and I was almost too terrified to breathe. It was a huge animal, larger than a human male. And a whimper escaped as it lowered its head toward my hands. My eyes squeezed shut in terror.
My hands, they were going to be eaten first.
I was mentally going through all the things I’d never be able to do with my limbs again, when the feeling of silken fur pulled me from my panicked thoughts. My eyes popped open.
The tiger had nudged my hand until my arm rested on its head. Its eyes continued to watch me, and after a moment it nudged its head up. As if it were a cat waiting to be scratched.
So… itwasn’tgoing to eat me.
“Are you a shikigami? Who summoned you?” I hesitantly obeyed its silent command.
It closed its eyes as I reached its ear, leaning into my touch. It almost was cute, in a terrifying king-of-the-jungle sort of way.
A shout—Miles screaming my name—snapped through the moment. Within the span of a moment, the tiger jerked its head up, glancing toward the door and vanishing right before Miles stormed into the room.
“Miles.” I fell to my knees, the shock from the last few minutes wearing off.What had happened with his fight? Did he win?“H-How did you—”
“Bianca.” Miles fell to the ground in front of me, kneeling on the hard floor. He gasped, pulling me into him, and his arms held me imprisoned against his chest.
His very naked chest.
He sounded breathless. “What are you doing in here? I should have warned you… You have to be careful, there’s a—”
I blinked up at the underside of his chin. “He was eaten.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mr. Dungworth… Well, Mr. Williams. Damen was t-talking about him yesterday. Bryce said he was drawing too much a-attention. His name isn’t Dungworth. He’s gone, but he didn’t want to go.” My teeth began chattering.
Miles pushed me back, his hands clenched around my arms. His eyes were frantic. “You exorcised someone?”
“No.” I shook my head, burying my face back into his chest. “A tiger did, I think?” To be totally honest, I had no idea what had happened. “I asked him to leave, he didn’t want to. He tried to eat me. Then a tiger came.”
Miles stilled, his heart beating furiously against my cheek. After a short moment, his hand ran down the back of my head. “I don’t feel a shikigami. Are you certain? It made Mr… Williams go away?”
No, that wasn’t right.
“Itatehim. He didn’t want to go away.”How was Miles not understanding?I already said that Mr. Williams had clearly been eaten—in a spiritual slurpee manner.
Miles cursed, getting to his feet and pulling me with him. “Bianca, I—”
“What’s going on here?” The familiar tones of my arch-nemesis broke through the moment.
I glanced toward the door in time to see Bryce Dubois enter the room. He paused, taking in the scene, before he turned his attention to Miles. “What happened, Montrone? I felt an influx of—”
