Tiger Magic

by Jennifer Ashley

  Carly had never thought much about Shifters one way or the other. She knew the ones in Austin lived in the Shiftertown, which was out by the old airport, but she rarely had cause to drive that way in the course of her day-to-day life.

  “Look at this car, Liam,” Connor said when they reached the Corvette. “Isn’t it awesome?”

  “And not mine,” Carly said. “I need to take it back to Ethan’s.”

  She stopped, the words sticking in her throat. Carly never wanted to drive up his driveway again, to see the house that she was supposed to have moved into next week. She’d never look at it again without experiencing a vision of Ethan, pants around his ankles, thrusting hard and fast into the woman on the counter.

  A knife-edge of pain went through her heart. She gasped for breath, and then Tiger’s hand was on her arm, turning her to him. He laid a large hand gently between her breasts, right over the hurt.

  Carly looked up through tears at him. His golden eyes held sympathy, understanding. “You were never his,” he said.

  “I guess not.” Carly tried to laugh. Tiger’s hand was warm, his touch over her heart soothing. The image of Ethan blurred, the pain still there but moving away from her immediate focus.

  Connor broke in. “Hey, if you need me to drive the car back, I’ll do it.” He held out his hand. “I’ll be careful. Honest. Or, I can wreck it for you, if you want.”

  “Sean will take it,” Liam said sternly. He looked around the little group. “And Spike.” His smile came back as he observed the six-foot-six, tightly muscled man with the shaved head and tatts all over his body.

  Sean laughed. “Good choice. Can’t wait to watch this.”

  Carly too would love to see Ethan’s face when first the handsome Sean and then the edgy biker-from-hell Spike emerged from Ethan’s beloved ’Vette.

  Carly had to turn from Tiger to hand the keys to Sean. Tiger stayed next to her, not even a step away. “Be careful,” Carly said to Sean. “Ethan has powerful friends. I don’t want him arresting you for stealing the car, or for scaring him.”

  “Don’t you worry about that, lass,” Sean said, closing his hand around the keys. “I’ll keep Spike on a leash.”

  Spike growled, a wildcat sound, and showed his teeth in a smile.

  “Sure I can’t come with you?” Connor asked hopefully.

  “No,” Liam said. “I’m giving Carly a lift home—or wherever she wants to go—and you’re taking Tiger back to Shiftertown.”

  “Carly stays with me.” Tiger’s growl cut over Liam’s order. His warmth covered Carly’s side, straight through the white dress that wasn’t so white anymore.

  “Hmm.” Liam didn’t jump to tell Tiger to let her go. The others hung back as well, as though hesitating to come between a dog and his treat.

  I guess it’s up to me.

  “Tiger, honey, I have to go.” Carly rubbed his forearm, then rubbed it again, liking the feel of tight skin over steel. “I’m sorry I dragged you into my problems, and that you suffered for them.”

  Tiger stared down at her as though her words were meaningless to him. The stare was intense, unnerving.

  “I’ll come see how you’re doing tomorrow, all right?” Carly said.

  “Stay with me.” The words were a statement, not a request.

  “I can’t. I have to go home. Look at me, I’m a mess. Then I have to find Armand and explain to him why I left him in the lurch today of all days. If I’m lucky, he’ll be sympathetic and give me a few dollars severance pay when he fires me.”

  Again, Tiger’s eyes didn’t register the gist of her words, only that she was speaking. When she finished, he tilted his head, like a cat examining its prey. “I will take you.”

  “No, you won’t.” Carly tapped his chest gently, avoiding the bandages under the shirt. “You’ll go home and rest, like the nurses said, and take your medication. If you run around the city, you’ll open the wounds again and need another clean shirt. I said I’d come see how you were doing, and I’m not lying. Least I can do.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, tasting the bristle of whiskers. “I like you, Tiger.”

  Tiger’s eyes softened as he looked down at her. Carly was aware of the others listening, poised, amazingly still. No human being could stand that still.

  Tiger touched his cheek where Carly had kissed him, then he touched her cheek. His fingers were featherlight, though she’d seen him break apart the bed in the hospital as though it were paper.

  “Connor,” Tiger said, the deep rumble in his voice again. “Go with her.”

  “I said I’d take her home,” Liam broke in.

  “No.” Tiger’s word was harsh. “Not you. Not anyone but Connor.”

  Liam studied Tiger a moment, then switched his gaze to Connor, who was trying his best to look innocent and neutral. Finally Liam nodded. “All right. Connor.”

  “Keep her safe,” Tiger said sternly.

  Connor relaxed from his watchful stance. “You got it, big guy,” he said to Tiger. “This means I get to take your bike, right, Sean?”

  Sean got in on the growling, looking annoyed, but he pulled out his keys and tossed them to Connor. “Not a scratch, not a speck of dirt.”

  “Would I let you down, Uncle Sean? Come on, Carly, it’s a sweet ride.”

  They expected her to go home on the back of a motorcycle? In this dress? Well, it was a day for the bizarre.

  Tiger didn’t let Carly go that easily. He pulled her close, leaned into her, and buried his face in her hair again. She thought maybe he’d try to kiss her, right there in the parking lot, and wondered what she’d do if he did. Being kissed by Tiger would be . . .

  She had no idea, but her body went hot and shivery at the same time. He was strong, powerful, and a little bit crazy.

  Tiger straightened up. He didn’t kiss her, but he traced her cheek, staring down into her eyes again before he finally lifted his hand away.

  Connor took that as a cue to walk toward the row of motorcycles parked in front of the clinic, gesturing for Carly to follow him.

  “See you, Tiger,” Carly said, then walked off after Connor. Her shoes were killing her, so she paused to take them off and sling them from her fingers. She’d be more comfortable riding without them.

  When she looked back over her shoulder, she saw Tiger’s gaze still fixed on her; he stood motionless while the others made moves to go. Carly gave him a little wave and turned to follow Connor again, but she felt Tiger’s stare on her back the whole way.

  * * *

  “Why did Tiger want you to bring me home, and not Liam?” Carly asked as she let Connor into her house.

  She tried not to look at the suitcases she’d pulled out of the closet so she could pack to move in with Ethan. Good thing she hadn’t had time to start moving her stuff into storage, even though she’d already put a lot into boxes. Ethan had encouraged her to hang on to her house and rent it out—it wouldn’t be as good as owning a commercial property, but it would bring her some real income, he’d said. He didn’t consider being an art gallery assistant a viable or long-lasting occupation.

  “Hmm?” Connor asked. He contemplated the few small paintings on the living room wall that artists had given Carly as gifts. “Why me? Because I’m a cub. Not a threat.”

  “A cub?” Carly looked him up and down. “You said that before. You can’t be much younger than I am.”

  “Just turned twenty-two. That’s cub age for a Shifter. When I hit about twenty-eight, or maybe later, I’ll start my Transition, which I’m so not looking forward to, trust me. But after that, I’ll be full grown, ready to find my own mate. That part I’m looking forward to.”

  Carly saw a young man, college-aged, lanky but tough, as tall as his uncles if not as bulked. When he was twenty-eight and looking for his mate, women were going to line up for him. She was surprised they weren’t following him around now, drooling.

  “But I’m not a Shifter,” she said. “Why should you have to wait six years before you
go out with a human woman?’

  “I don’t. But I’m not in a hurry. Not having reached my Transition means I don’t have the mating frenzy yet. So, sure, I could go out with you, or whatever human girl took my fancy, and we could kiss and cuddle, and even have sex. But I wouldn’t feel the need to scent-mark you, hide you from all other males, and have sex with you until we both couldn’t walk, or until you started a cub. Whichever came first.”

  Carly stopped. Her shoes still hung from her fingers, her feet enjoying the cool of her tile floor. “That’s what Shifters do?”

  “Yep. Females as well as males.”

  “So, Tiger was afraid that if Liam drove me home he might . . .”

  “Drag you off to bed and sex you ’til you screamed? Aye, he was. Even though Liam has a mate of his own, and a little cub—Katriona; she’s so cute—to Tiger, he’s just another full-grown Shifter male, not to be trusted.”

  “What about Tiger? I guess I don’t have to worry about this mating frenzy with him—he’s just been shot.”

  “I don’t know.” Connor shook his head. “I can’t tell you lies, Carly. Tiger’s my friend, and I want to help him, but he’s dangerous. And tough. And not quite right in the head.” He touched his temple.

  “He didn’t seem that scary to me. Although . . . see what a great judge of character I was about Ethan.” Carly heaved a sigh and walked on into her bedroom. “Be right back.”

  She closed the door so she could shimmy out of the dress and into some comfortable shorts and a top. In her bathroom, she washed her face and hands, remembering that she’d expected to come home and cry and cry. Worry about poor Tiger had erased that need, but now that her immediate adrenaline rush had gone, she felt shaky and weak. And hungry.

  “Want me to order some pizza?” she asked Connor as she walked out. “I’m starving. You can take one home with you. Least I can do.”

  Connor had lounged back in her living room armchair and was flipping channels with the remote. “Oh, I’m not going home. When Tiger said, keep her safe, he meant twenty-four seven. Or at least until I take you back to Shiftertown.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  As Carly stared at him, Connor looked away and skimmed through more channels. “Hey, you’ve got the sports package. Sweet.”

  Carly grabbed the remote from him and clicked off the TV. “Twenty-four seven?”

  “Come on, lass. I don’t get these channels at home. Shifters aren’t allowed. Been forever since I saw a decent football match.”

  “You’re to stay with me until I go back and visit Tiger? I said I would. Doesn’t he believe me?”

  Connor let out a slow sigh. “He believes you. If you’d lied, he’d know—if you lie about anything, he’ll know. He wants you protected. He’s old-fashioned, is Tiger, but he’s not wrong. I got the job because, like I said, I’m a cub and right now the only Shifter he trusts with you.”

  “He wants me protected from what? My mama raised me to take care of myself, and I made it to twenty-six without a bodyguard. Why do I suddenly need to be protected?”

  “Because he’s Tiger. He gets a little . . . focused. Besides, he scent-marked you. While that technically means other males have to back off, there are enough asshole Shifters out there who still might try to steal you, now that they know you’re friendly to Shifters.”

  “Friendly to Shifters? I didn’t know any Shifters until today.”

  Connor gave her a tight grin. “And you didn’t run away screaming. That puts you ahead of most human women, except the groupies. And they don’t necessarily want a Shifter for a mate—they’re just in it for the titillation.”

  “There are Shifter groupies?”

  “Sure. They come to the bar Liam manages, or to the dance clubs, wanting to be with Shifters. Men and women alike. Shifters are usually game for a little grope in the corner, so the groupies go away happy. But they don’t want to move in with us.”

  “Does Tiger think I’m one of those?”

  “Don’t think so. Tiger doesn’t understand the groupies. He’s not interested. Besides, most of them take one look at him and flee the other way.”

  “Why?” Carly sank to the sofa, still holding the remote. “Tiger’s big, so I suppose that could scare people, but he was nice to me. I know he went crazy in that hospital room, but he had three guys pointing guns at him after they’d chained him to the bed. I’d go crazy too.”

  “He’s . . .” Connor moved his hands as though trying to find the right words. “He’s different from other Shifters. More . . . intense.”

  “Since I don’t know much about Shifters at all, how am I supposed to tell?”

  “People did bad things to him before he came to live with us. I can’t tell you about them until Liam says it’s okay, but trust me—bad things.”

  Carly thought about the pain she’d seen in his eyes, wells of it that went deep. More pain than what he’d suffered today, much more. “Poor guy.”

  “Huh. That poor guy is strong as a truck, lass. Tell you what, let me hang out and watch a match or three, and when you’re ready to go to Shiftertown, I’ll take you. I’m not in a hurry, give it a day, a week. As long as Tiger thinks I’m looking after you, he’ll be cool.”

  “You’d stay with me for a week, would you?” Carly asked, standing up again. “Watching my television and eating my pizza? Don’t you have school or something? Or a job?”

  Connor shrugged. “It’s summer break. My final year starts in mid-August, then I grad-ee-ate. I help out in the bar between semesters if Liam needs me, and when I want some cash, but he’s good for now.” Connor leaned back, crossed his booted feet, and held out his hand to her for the remote. “Plenty of time for me to be catching up on sports action.”

  Carly sighed and slapped the remote into his open palm. “Well, you might be able to turn into a snarling beast, but in my world, you’re still a guy.”

  “Thank you.” Connor clicked the TV on. “Oh, righteous.” He punched the air as the soccer players on the screen did something Carly couldn’t follow.

  “Want a beer?” Carly asked him, an ironic note in her voice.

  “Sure, if you’ve got one. I like a good Guinness, but I’m not picky. Nothing too watery, love. Go, go, go! Aw, you bastard.”

  He yelled at the television, and Carly ducked back into the kitchen to see what beer she had in the fridge, if any. She needed to go grocery shopping—she hadn’t stocked up, because she’d thought she’d be moving out.

  Everything was reminding Carly of Ethan and his infidelity. What a frigging mess. She’d have to give him back the giant diamond ring she didn’t wear because she was terrified of losing it. She’d have to tell her family and all her friends that the wedding was off before it was even planned. She’d sent out invitations to a big party at Ethan’s for next Saturday, to celebrate the engagement. Well, Ethan could call off that party himself. His own stupid fault.

  The why of it kept screaming through her head. If Ethan had asked Carly to move in with him, if he’d given her a rock worth who knew how much, if they’d arranged a party to show off what a brilliant couple they were, why had he been screwing another woman on his kitchen counter?

  Why were men so fucking stupid?

  Carly popped the top off the bottle of beer she’d brought out for Connor and threw the cap into the sink with extra force. She took a gulp of beer before she realized it. Never mind. The cold, fizzing fullness of it tasted good.

  She needed to call Armand and explain what had happened, but she put it off some more. Armand could bluster, even though he might be sympathetic. He had a temper and could go on and on, even when he wasn’t mad at Carly.

  Carly heaved another long sigh and upended the beer bottle again. Then she looked at it. “Damn it, this was supposed to be for Connor.”

  She turned back to the refrigerator to fetch another when the opaque square window of her kitchen door darkened, and someone knocked politely.

  As Carly went to answer the door, she
saw out the window that a black SUV had pulled up in front of her house, its windows so tinted she couldn’t see inside.

  She opened the door, beer in hand. Two men stood there, a smaller man in a suit nearly hidden behind a tall guy in black fatigues, the head soldier who’d been in Tiger’s room. She remembered his light blue eyes, his shaved head with pale-colored stubble, his hard face.

  “Carly Randal?” the soldier asked.

  “He’s not here,” she said, still holding the door. “He went home.”

  The soldier gave her a careful look. “Who?”

  “Tiger. The injured man you tried to shoot. He went home like a good boy. What do you want?”

  The suited man looked around the soldier. “To speak with you, Ms. Randal.” He sounded nervous, not smooth as someone who’d arrived in a sleek SUV should sound. “About Shifters.”

  “Why? There are plenty in Shiftertown.” For some reason, Carly did not want these men in here, did not want them to find Connor in her living room. In spite of Connor being taller than she was, and strong—she’d felt his strength when she’d held on to him during the ride home—Carly sensed that here in her house, Connor was vulnerable.

  Would she have thought that if he hadn’t explained that he was a cub? She didn’t know. All Carly did know was that she did not want this trigger-happy soldier to start pointing guns at Connor.

  “Please, Ms. Randal,” the suit said. “It’s important.”

  “Let us in, Ms. Randal,” the soldier said, his blue eyes hard. “We have a warrant.”

  Carly’s knowledge of police procedure came mostly from television, but she thought that a warrant meant they could come in and search her place legally, whether she liked it or not. But search for what?

  Worth it to battle it out in court? Or let these guys in, try to keep them in the kitchen, and see what they wanted?

  If Ethan had anything to do with this, she’d . . .

  Damn him, she should have told Sean to shove the Corvette off a cliff.