The light turned green. Aiden released Lexa from his intense scrutiny. Her emotions balanced on the edge, teetering toward the plunge. She touched her neck. Another turtleneck covered the bandages. The stitches would come out next week.
As the silence lengthened, she puzzled out the only logical explanation for his request. “Your dog attacked me.”
“I don’t have a dog.”
A painful knot tightened her throat. “Did you see what attacked me?”
“No. Yes. It’s complicated.”
Shit. The bottom rose to meet her.
Aiden pulled into the pound’s lot. “Please do this, and I swear, I’ll explain everything.”
Officer Reed met them in the lobby. “Ready?” he asked.
Lexa nodded. It was all she could manage. They entered the back room, and the dogs immediately started barking.
The volunteer seemed surprised. “Must be the uniform,” he muttered.
The accused dog matched Lexa’s description. The huge Mastiff had a black muzzle, and it had black stripes on a fawn-colored coat, which could be mistaken for gray in the dark. It growled, baring its sharp teeth when it spotted them. Its tail tucked under its body.
Without warning, a clear image from the attack flashed in her mind. This dog didn’t match at all. The muzzle was too droopy, the ears weren’t cropped, no white on its face, and it didn’t have long whiskers. Whiskers?
Aiden stood behind her. His hands rested on her shoulders as if he lent her support. Officer Reed eyed him with interest. Conflicting emotions struggled for dominance, Lexa didn’t know what to do. However, she believed Aiden when he promised no one else would be hurt.
“That’s the one,” she said.
“Really?” The volunteer scratched his goatee. “Normally, he’s a real sweetheart.”
“It’s obvious he doesn’t like her,” Officer Reed said. “Case closed!”
Aiden kept quiet as he drove toward campus.
Unable to endure the silence, Lexa said, “You were going to explain.”
“I will in Coach Hakim’s office. You—”
“Take me home.” The blonde at the game had been right, it’s all about hockey. Aiden had probably been running with the Coach’s dog that morning.
“But don’t you—”
“No. I don’t care. I just killed a perfectly good dog for you. We’re done.”
“But you need to talk to Coach.”
Fear’s icy fingers squeezed. “Are you kidnapping me?”
“No.” He drove her back to Runkle Hall.
Returning to her dorm room, she plopped on her bed, feeling numb. Her phone rang. If that’s Aiden … It was Ben. Disappointment stabbed. How crazy is that?
“I’ll pick you up at four twenty-five tomorrow,” Ben said.
“Tomorrow?”
“Campus weather. Remember?”
Barely. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I have pepper spray, and I need to do it myself. Like that old adage about getting back on the wagon.”
“Getting back on the horse,” he corrected. “Are you sure?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Except she wasn’t fine. Not at all. She stood outside Runkle Hall the next morning, holding her phone in one hand and the pepper spray in another. Convinced a huge dog lurked in every shadow, she couldn’t move.
“Lexa?”
She spun ready to push buttons when she recognized Ben. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“Sorry.”
“What are you doing here?”
He gave her a don’t-be-stupid look.
She drew in a deep breath. “Sorry. Thanks for coming.”
“I’m surprised Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor isn’t here. You guys have been spending all your time together.”
They headed west on Curtain Road.
“You were right about him,” she said. “But you’re not allowed to gloat.”
“Not even a little?”
“Nope.” After a couple minutes, she asked, “Do you know if there are any she-woman men haters clubs around that I can join?”
“Nope, but I’m sure my fellow he-mans won’t have any trouble swearing off men.”
The morning weather shift flew by. Lexa had an hour before her first class. She wasted time surfing the net instead of working on her thermo homework. Curious, Lexa pulled up pages on various big cats found in Pennsylvania, searching for one that matched the image in her mind. None. Remembering a neighbor who owned an exotic pet shop, she expanded to panthers and tigers. On Wikipedia, she leaned forward, clicking on the pictures of tigers to enlarge them. A wave of nausea hit her. That’s close. Except the creature that attacked her wasn’t orange, but gray.
Following a few links, Lexa found an article about a subspecies of the South Chinese Tiger which was rumored to have a slate-gray coloration called a Maltese Tiger. She swallowed as she peered at the artist’s rendering. Bingo.
What was Aiden doing with a tiger? He had wanted her to talk to Coach Hakim. She read Coach Hakim’s bio online. He was born in the city of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. He spent every free moment of his childhood playing hockey. In 1980, he started skating for the Hong Kong Tigers.
The team’s name triggered a connection. Hong Kong was near South China. She read on. Hakim became head coach of the Tigers in 2003. After the Tigers won every single tournament in Asia, Coach Hakim was hired by Penn State.
When asked why Hakim moved half way around the world, he replied that he loved a challenge, and wanted to show Penn State fans that hockey was, “the coldest [coolest] game on earth.” The brackets translated the Coach’s meaning since English wasn’t his first language. From what Lexa knew about Hakim’s players, perhaps he had meant coldest.
She mulled over all the information. Did the coach own a Maltese Tiger? A tiger breed that has never been seen before? The World Wildlife Foundation would freak.
She startled when Ben tapped her on the shoulder.
“You missed thermo again,” he said. “Do you want to copy my notes?”
“Uh. Sure.”
Ben studied her. “Is Depressed Girl back?”
Lexa examined her psyche as if probing a sore tooth with her tongue. An ache for her sister flared, but nothing like the all consuming grief. “No. Depressed Girl is gone.”
“That calls for a celebration.”
“No time. I have to work on thermo for Monday’s test or I will fail the class.”
“I can help you with thermo. After all, I nursed you through meteorological instrumentation.”
“Thanks. Where?” she asked.
He gestured to the weather center. “This place is a ghost town on Friday nights. We’ll start right after dinner.”
After Ben left, she searched a few more sites on Asian ice hockey and tigers. She uncovered an odd link to a write up about a folk legend popular in Java, Indonesia that claimed were-tigers existed. When killed by a were-tiger, a man would lose his soul. The victim couldn’t reclaim his soul until he, in turn, killed another. Villagers in Java would watch the men closely, seeking the signs of soullessness—cold, emotionless, and without joy.
That description could easily describe the Ice Men. Which was ridiculous—another example of Lexa’s overactive imagination. Besides Aiden hadn’t acted like that at all. Without thought her fingers stroked her neck.
Even with thermodynamics to occupy her mind, Lexa felt Aiden’s absence. It started with a sense of loss. She couldn’t focus at all on Saturday night especially not during game time. Exasperated with her lack of concentration, Ben called it a night. They headed to the G-man to have the first men hater’s club meeting.