Ok, new fic! I seem to be a little stuck on OTE, so I wrote this instead. Hope you like! Pls review!

Chapter 1

A loud knocking sounded in the silence of the apartment house. There was no answer from its inhabitant, so the knocking turned into hammering.

Taylor’s eyes flew open at the noise, and his senses became instantly alert to the environment around him. The apartment was still dark, the shutters effectively blocking out the sun and creating an almost eerie atmosphere. Taylor’s ice blue eyes carefully scanned his den, immediately looking for an intruder. There was no one, no foreign scent to indicate his shelter had been trespassed upon. It took only a second for him to realize this, and to realize that the noise that had woken him up was coming from the door. A low growl rumbled from Taylor’s chest; whoever was knocking would find out what the phrase pulling the tiger by its tail actually meant.

“Carlson! Come on already! I know you’re there! Open the door!”

At the familiar sound of a woman’s voice, Taylor’s annoyance increased tenfold. He suddenly had an indecently sadistic image of her eyes widening in fear at witnessing his true form. Naturally, this could never be, but one could only dream. And right now, his dream was that the bitch would just leave him alone. His head was pounding, since he hadn’t had any sleep in more than 72 hours. Why would she bother him at a time like this?

In truth, Taylor was amazed at the sudden appearance at the woman at his door. Lisa practically loathed him; she had hated him from the very moment of his arrival and continued to do so. There could be any number of reasons for her disgust: first, he was white and she harbored an inbred hatred for his race. Second, he was gay and his arrival here had spurred all sorts of disturbing circumstances for her family. Third, he wasn’t actually human; of course, Lisa didn’t know this, but her legacy did make her feel more than the white man. American Indians were truly underestimated.

Taking account these facts of life, Lisa and him made a conscious effort to avoid each other while in town. It was more than unusual that she would visit him out of her own personal will. And Taylor knew there could be only one reason why she would go against her disdain for him: her little brother Josh.

Taylor hastily got up from last night’s chosen location of sleep – which was amazingly the bed – and swiftly retrieved a pair of jeans from under his bed and a shirt, inwardly surprised that they were clean. “Come on already, Carlson! I’m serious!”

The man made a face at Lisa’s impatient voice. “Coming! Hold your horses, woman!”

Inwardly shrugging, he swiftly headed to the bathroom and found his contacts; he couldn’t risk going out without them. Blinking, he looked in the mirror and nodded his head in satisfaction. The contacts did their job well enough, and his unnatural colored eyes were masked under a normal shade of blue. He passed a comb through his fair, frowning when he realized the white was starting to show. He’d have to dye it again soon.

Well, he didn’t have time for such concerns now. If Lisa or anyone else noticed, he’d just have to use his normal excuse of suffering of albinism. Of course, that wasn’t entirely false; it was just not the whole truth.

Swiftly tying his sneakers and grabbing his jacket, he opened the front door.

“Finally!” Lisa’s dark eyes threw him a glare that would have made a grizzly cower back in fear.

Ignoring it, Taylor got out of the little apartment. “So what’s up with Josh now? Who is it this time?”

When she didn’t say anything, Taylor analyzed the woman more carefully. His alarm grew when he realized Lisa had tear marks on her face and her lips were trembling as if she was trying to stop bursting into sobs.

“Hey, Lisa… What’s wrong?” He asked in a soft tone.

His gentle question was enough to cause the woman to start crying hysterically. “Josh… It’s Josh…” She said between sobs. Taylor hugged her awkwardly, holding her while she wept and very much aware of the weirdness of the situation.

“It’s Josh…” Lisa repeated, her words muffled by the fact that she’d buried her face in his shoulder. Well, that was next to useless. Taylor had already realized that Josh was the cause of her impromptu visit. He needed to know exactly what was wrong with the boy.

Just like Lisa, Josh was the son of a white man and an Amerindian woman. Taylor had met the youth when he’d first arrived to the reservation, and they’d immediately made friends. Josh had seemingly been fascinated with Taylor’s knowledge of vehicles and at the time, Taylor had actually pretended to believe him. The truth was that, in the beginning, Josh had had more than a little crush on Taylor – a crush that had thankfully vanished in time.

Lisa had never forgiven Taylor for those first days, though. She was convinced that Taylor had seduced Josh and probably turned him gay. It had led to a rift in their family, and to this day, Taylor had difficulty forgiving himself for that.

He had once thought that perhaps, this was why he kept busting Josh out whenever he got in trouble. But the truth was that he liked the kid, even if he was a juvenile delinquent.

And the main point was that right now, his young friend probably needed him. If Lisa would stop crying for a second, maybe he could find out.

“Hey, Lisa, come on! Stop crying!” He softly said, gently caressing her head. “Come on, tell me what’s going on.”

Either the caress or his urge made the woman snap back into bitch mode, because she immediately pushed away from his arms. “Don’t touch me, pervert!” She said venomously.

Wiping her eyes with her hands, she continued to speak as if she hadn’t just insulted him. “So, as I was saying… My brother is in trouble. But it’s not his normal trouble, you know the bar fights and all that.”

Taylor nodded, gesturing for her to follow him to his Jeep. “This guy showed up this morning at the lodge. He said that… he said that… that Josh killed someone.” The barely contained tears started flowing again.

“Excuse me? Killing someone? Who the hell would Josh kill?”

True enough, the kid had gotten himself involved in many bad stuff before. He’d spent some nights in jail because someone had insulted his sister or his parents. It wasn’t easy to be a gay kid and it was even harder to be a gay American Indian kid. It was a good thing that Josh knew how to defend himself; still, he’d never go so far as to kill someone.

“You know how he always used to fight with that group of white kids. And he got in trouble because of them all the time.”

“Yup, Johnny Masters and his little lap dogs. What’s up with them? Did they accuse him or something?”

“No, you idiot!” Lisa glared at him again as they entered the Jeep. “Josh is accused of killing them!”

“Say again?” Taylor couldn’t hide the disbelief in his voice. “All of them? That’s ridiculous.”

Lisa nodded. “Yup. They always banded together and there’s no way he could have possibly bested them all, even if he did have help. But there’s this guy that’s saying that all these white kids suddenly vanished without a trace. And everybody knew Masters had issues with Josh.”

Taylor’s fists tightened on the steering wheel as he drove the Jeep out of the garage of his mechanics store. “That’s bullshit!” He practically growled.

Revving the engine, he speeded to the police station, where undoubtedly Josh was yet again being held.

The town of Blue Ridge, Montana, wasn’t by any means, remarkable in its size or appearance. Taylor had chosen it for his residence because of its lack of notability and its closeness to the wilderness. However, the fact that it was so remote had its downsides, mostly because of unusual inhabitants – such as Josh and his family – weren’t exactly well thought of.

Their mother had followed their father here, in hopes of building a family away of the prejudice of her own people. As it turned out, the Amerindians had been right about one thing; that trusting the white man was a bad thing and she would get hurt. Both her and her husband had died in an oh-so-accidental car crash.

Josh and Lisa had been raised by their grandfather, who’d left the reservation to take care of him. It hadn’t been easy and the two had many times considered leaving altogether. But right now, this persecution could actually be extremely dangerous for Josh. As he was over 18, if he was found guilty of murder, he’d be sentenced to prison, God knew how many years. And a young kid like him, he’d probably die in jail. Taylor couldn’t have that. If he had to, he’d force this idiot who was claiming his young friend was a murderer to leave the town; he had a wide variety of methods at his disposal, most of them involving claws, fangs and tearing into human skin. There was an advantage to being able to transform into a tiger.

Lost in his murderous thoughts, Taylor didn’t even realize how fast he was going until they were already at the police station. Inwardly shrugging, he removed the keys from the contact and urged the woman out. “Come on, Lisa! We’ll show this guy who he’s messing with.” The woman nodded enthusiastically, and it occurred to Taylor that it was perhaps the first time that Lisa agreed with him in any issue.

Together with Lisa, Taylor entered the police station, his countenance fully showing righteous fury. He’d had enough of the abuse his friend was taking. Being different wasn’t a crime. But by the time this day was over, he’d show these people what a different person was capable of.

Blayne made a face as he read the file on Joshua Foster. “I don’t know, Mike.” He frowned at his partner. “It simply doesn’t fit.”

Blayne’s partner gave him a skeptical look. “You always see things where there isn’t anything to see, Gallagher. There’s a motive, there’s an occasion, hell, there’s even a murder weapon.”

The younger agent frowned at his partner. Most of the time, Michael Williamson was a good cop, but like older agents, he had a lot of prejudices; often, he let them take precedence over his cop instinct and people got hurt. Blayne wouldn’t let that happen, not it he could help it.

“Well, that may well be, Williamson. But said murder weapon is only a knife and not a remarkable one at that. It could have been used in previous conflicts, not necessarily to take these other kids out. Also, the victims of the disappearances didn’t really have an impeccable file, so to say; they were bound to have other enemies.”

“Hey, careful with what you say. Remember what we’re here to do? What the boss told us?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Blayne answered darkly, glaring at his partner. “Still, I’d rather we don’t stick an innocent in jail, especially taking into account he’s just a kid. We still have to question the suspect’s sister and anyone else who knows him. So far, we have the testimony of the accusing party and little else. Plus, don’t forget there isn’t a body. There’s no way we could possibly buy a conviction without a body and solid evidence. Don’t you agree?”

“Of course, Blayne. If you say so…” Mike said in a mocking tone.

The younger officer opened his mouth to snap at his partner, but he was interrupted by a sudden noise outside. Making a face, he cursed at whoever was outside; he needed to get some work done, look around the file some more. Then, he needed to go out and interrogate the suspect’s acquaintances. Getting up, he opened the door of the office where they’d been looking over the file. A man and a woman were the source of the commotion; the woman was gesturing wildly, cursing at the officers who tried to placate her. Blayne recognized her instantly. She was the sister of his suspect, Lisa Foster.

Blayne turned his attention towards their other visitor. The man had long blond hair, tied back in a pony tail and blue eyes. There was just something about him, something dangerous that made all the people around him move back. It was beyond sexy; it was hot, so hot it turned Blayne’s insides into lava.

“Give me a moment here, Lisa!” He rumbled softly at the woman.

Obviously knowing that the man would more success than her, the metis woman quieted down, giving the nevertheless gorgeous specimen of manhood a dark glare. The blonde just ignored them and turned his attention to the officers. “Can you please tell me who is in charge of the case of Joshua Foster?”

Blayne inwardly cursed his luck. Naturally, it was obvious that the man would have an interest in the suspect, and him, as the officer who had put the youth behind bars, would be considered the enemy. Damn. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with…

The officer shook himself, berating his own weakness for just standing there and admiring a man. Regardless of the attraction he felt, the truth was that he had a duty to uphold here. Doing his job was more important than his neglected libido. Plus, his partner would be breathing down his neck half the time; if Williamson found out that he was gay, there was a good chance he’d be kicked out of the force.

Without another second of hesitation, Blayne stepped forward. The officers inhabiting the small town allowed him to pass in obvious relief; the local sheriff was futilely trying to deal with the man, but only an inarticulate stutter managed to escape his lips. Blayne would have actually chuckled, if not for the fact that the officers’ intimidation was more than justified.

Oh, well. The fears of some small town officers were of no consequence. It wasn’t like he was scared of the blonde man. Making a sign to his partner, he decisively stepped in front of the sheriff. “That would be me. Lt. Blayne Gallagher.” He outstretched his hand in greeting; for a minute, he thought that the man would actually ignore it, but he didn’t. “Taylor Carlson.”

The blonde’s grip was firm, his hands warm and strong. Now that he was closer, Blayne noticed that blonde wasn’t actually the natural hair color of the man; the roots of his hair were white. It was a little weird, but Blayne couldn’t concentrate on analyzing it now. He was suddenly extremely aware of the people present in the room and he knew that he could not give his feelings away. And he couldn’t help the wave of heat that passed through his veins at the man’s penetrating gaze. “Could we speak with you for a second?”

The man’s words were polite, but the tone had nothing to do with manners. There was a real threat behinds those words. A threat and something else, something Blayne couldn’t quite identify.

Berating himself for stupidly seeing things, the officer made an attempt to forget about the man standing before him and focused on the woman instead. Nodding in the direction of the two, he answered “Of course. Miss Foster, I can understand that you must be concerned for the details of the arrest, since it was so unexpected.”

“I want to see my brother.” The woman hissed, glaring at him with midnight-black eyes.

“I’m sorry, but you cannot allow you to do so at this point. There are certain issues that you are not familiar with.”

“Issues. What issues?”

“Basically, just asking some questions. I was going to come to your house, but it’s much better and faster like this. If you’d please follow me…”

Carlson arched a brow at him. “Somewhere more private then?”

The dark-haired officer suddenly had a vision of what it might be like to really be in private with this man, hands roaming naked skin, mouths feasting on each other, bodies entwined passionately. He stiffened as the man gave him a mocking look. Damn it all to hell! The fucking bastard had seen right through him! Blayne glared at the man only to annoyed and aroused evern further when Taylor’s perfectly shaped lips twisted in a knowing smirk.

Luckily – or unluckily – as Taylor signaled to the woman, Blayne could feel the hostility emanating from him. The eventually of a tryst between the two of them was so low, it was beneath sea level. Hell, he didn’t even know if the man was gay. Probably not, taking into account the disdain he directed towards Blayne.

Well, there was no use crying for spilled milk. As it was, the circumstances of the case were already dubious; he wasn’t entirely convinced that Joshua Foster was a murderer, despite the fact that the case against him was pretty solid. It had a lot of loop holes, but with the right judge and jury, it would be easy to put the youth behind bars. There was just something in his gut telling him that young Foster was innocent, and Blayne’s instincts were usually correct. Still, taking into account his ancestry… Well, some judges weren’t very lenient on American Indians.

Therefore, the best thing he could do was put the unexpected complication of Taylor Carlson out of his mind. The best thing to do was to focus on the case, and perhaps find out the true perpetrator. Signaling the two to follow him to the office, the officer steeled himself for a very difficult afternoon.

As he entered the office, he arched a brow at the sight of his partner examining the file again. Williamson raised his eyes but didn’t bother to get up. Blayne inwardly sighed, wishing that he’d been assigned with someone else for the case. Alas, the string of disappearances in the area had finally reached boiling point when the son of a powerful man had suddenly vanished into thin air. Masters had accused Joshua Foster of being behind it all and the chief had selected him and Williamson as the main investigators. Why Williamson, Blayne had no clue. There was no way the older man could have an objective view over the situation.

They hadn’t needed to look around much to find suspicious aspects regarding Foster. The son of a white man and an American Indian woman, Foster had been involved in several illegal activities after the death of his parents. A discrete investigation in town had indicated that indeed, he tended to be violent and a trouble maker; some had even him capable of killing someone. They’d finally decided to bring the youth in when they’d found a bloody knife with Josh’s fingerprints all over it and the DNA analysis had indicated that the blood belonged to Masters. Still, that was only one person and many more had disappeared. There was something there that didn’t quite fit and Blayne knew he had to find out.

While thinking this, he automatically introduced Carlson and Lisa Foster to his partner.

“This is my partner, Michael Williamson. Williamson, this is Taylor Carlson. I’m sure you remember Miss Foster from this morning.”

Williamson nodded, but made no move to greet the new arrivals. Instead, getting up, he directed a blank look at the two. “We had a few questions regarding your brother’s case, Miss Foster.”

“I want to see him first!” The woman said again, her voice dripping with hatred. “You’re capable of doing anything to him!”

Blayne inwardly sighed; the words of the woman was right. Still, he had to pacify her, if only for the good of the case. “Please, Miss Foster. I assure you, we’re not doing anything that isn’t completely necessary. And on this note, we must apologize for this morning. I’m afraid we were a little… blunt.”

“Blunt? You were blunt? You freaking dragged my brother from the house! Like he was some sort of criminal!”

“I hate to break it to you, Miss, but he is a criminal. A murderer at that…”

Blayne glared at the “Williamson!”

“What? You know it as well as I do?”

“What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” Taylor asked sarcastically.

Blayne gave his partner an exasperated look. “I am sorry about that. I assure you, we have no intention to keep you from seeing your brother. Once the questioning is done, you will be able to visit him.”

The metis woman just glared at him again, obviously prepared to spit some more insults out. But she was cut off by Carlson. “And what about Josh’s freedom? When will we be able to get him out?”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, taking into account the accusations and the case against him.”

“The fuck!” Carlson growled, grabbing his collar and lifting effortlessly off the floor. Blayne’s eyes widened in surprise; after all, lifting a fully-grown male with one hand wasn’t a usual characteristic. But he managed to maintain his composure.

“Mr. Carlson.” He said coldly. “If you would please put me down… The faster we deal with the investigation, the better it will be for your friend.”

The blonde gave him an unreadable look, and after a second dropped him back on his feet. Blayne inwardly cursed as his partner muttered a “Yeah, right…” under his breath. He could see Taylor tense again, prepared for an attack.

Blayne considered his precarious situation. The natural course of action would be that Williamson and himself separately interrogate one of the individuals present. But he was stuck as to whom he should allow in Williamson’s clutches. Mike was know for his dislike towards peoples of different colors and nationalities living on the American soil. From African Americans, to American Indians, they were all a subject of Mike’s loathing. But then again, Mike hated a lot of people, including the entire GLBT community. He was bound to attack Lisa Foster until she was an emotional wreck.

But the other option, allowing Mike in the same room with Taylor Carlson wasn’t very wise either. Carlson was already severely irritated and for some reason, Blayne didn’t want to see the sexy bastard in jail for assault against an officer.

The brunet closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. With the details of the case so blurry, Mike so hostile and the added intrusion of Taylor Carlson, his future was looking glum. What was he going to do?