Connor snorted a laugh. “In a bear hug.”
“If necessary,” Tiger said with a straight face.
“Wow.” Connor peered at him. “What have you been doing to him, Carly? I think he just made a joke.”
“We will have breakfast first,” Tiger said, pulling out a chair for Carly.
Carly finished draining her glass of juice. “You bet we will. I’m starving. I can’t remember when I’ve been this hungry.”
Connor burst out laughing. “Well, you would be, wouldn’t you? After that all-nighter?” He winked at Carly as he carried a plate piled high with pancakes to the table. “Better eat up, Carly. I have the feeling you’re going to get hungrier.”
* * *
Filled with delicious pancakes—buttermilk, blueberry, and chocolate chip—Carly walked with Tiger across the yards of Shiftertown to visit the Shifter called Ronan.
Carly had told Tiger he should go to Ronan’s alone while she went home, but he asked her to come with him. Asked her, but with a hint of need, and truthfully, Carly didn’t want to go home, not yet. Her time with Tiger was crazy, but she was floating in a bubble of comfort and warmth, and she didn’t want to burst it. Not yet.
She held Tiger’s hand as they walked, his gentle on hers. He didn’t seem to mind the other Shifters staring, but Carly did.
She saw right away that they weren’t staring at her, but at Tiger. Carly might have been a fly on Tiger’s back for all they noticed her. The Shifters’ gazes were for Tiger, faces unmoving but bodies tense, men subtly stepping in front of the few female Shifters they passed. All looked Tiger up and down, assessing.
Tiger noticed—how could he help it? He turned his head to meet stares, and gazes dropped swiftly when he did that. Heads would lift as soon as he passed, but none of the Shifters would lock eyes with him. That would be a challenge. Tiger might turn from his path, come over, ask why they were watching him.
The Shifters were afraid of him.
No one else wanted me in their house, Tiger had said in the car before the terrible wreck. Carly remembered only bits and pieces of the crash, but she fully remembered the bleakness in Tiger’s voice when he spoke the matter-of-fact words. Tiger lived in Liam’s house because he had nowhere else to go.
Carly grew suddenly angry at these Shifters who watched Tiger as though he were a strange monster in their midst. She thought of how Tiger had picked up baby Kenny this morning, how delicately he’d handled the boy, how trusting Kenny had been with him, and how trusting Katriona had been with him yesterday. The little boy, Kenny, was Sean’s, if Carly understood the relationships right, and Sean hadn’t worried a minute. Andrea had watched, as mothers did, but she didn’t worry either.
These Shifters who pulled back or looked away, afraid to confront Tiger but happy to stare, made Carly’s rage boil. She hadn’t said the phrase since childhood, but it seemed appropriate now.
“Take a picture,” she called out. “It lasts longer.”
Two Shifter men standing together—brothers from the looks of it—suddenly switched their gazes to Carly. Tiger growled, and they abruptly turned away, the two heading in opposite directions across a yard.
“You have fire, my mate,” Tiger said, squeezing her hand more tightly. “And no fear.”
The mate thing again. As soon as they figured out why Walker had been spying on Carly, and what he knew about the accident—she would sit Tiger down and have that long discussion with him.
But for now . . . Carly twined her fingers through Tiger’s as they walked on in the sunshine.
Ronan’s house sat well back from the street behind a garage that had been enclosed to make what looked like a guesthouse. Beyond that was a two-story house, larger than the others Carly had seen.
The door of the house popped open, and out ran a white-furred polar bear cub. Without stopping, the cub galloped straight for Tiger.
Tiger released Carly’s hand, dropped into a crouch, spread his arms, and took the full impact of the bear cub’s charge. Bear and man rolled over on the ground, dust and dried grass flying upward. The cub growled and snarled, but Tiger was silent as he pretended to wrestle with the little bear.
They writhed on the ground for several moments longer, the bear cub swiping black paws at Tiger, Tiger deflecting them gently. Finally Tiger was flat on his back, spread-eagled, the bear cub standing on top of him, growling his victory.
Tiger brought his arms up and started rubbing the bear, pulling him down into a hug. The cub made baby bear noises and nuzzled Tiger’s face.
Then the cub turned its head and saw Carly. He climbed quickly off Tiger and romped toward her.
Carly stepped back, waiting for the cub to jump and knock her flat too, but the cub only stopped and sniffed curiously around her feet. When it lifted its head, Carly put one hand down to stroke it. She found fur soft and yet wiry, rather like Tiger’s, but deeper, the pelt of a cold-weather animal.
The bear cub closed its eyes and leaned on Carly’s legs, rumbling in its belly. A warm delight worked through Carly as she kept petting, the cub crooning its pleasure.
“Olaf.” A petite young woman of about thirty, her dark hair streaked with red, had come out onto the porch. She carried a tiny baby in one competent arm, its shock of hair a rich red brown. “Let them come inside.”
Olaf nuzzled Carly’s hand one last time, then he took off across the yard, barreling past the woman and into the house.
“I’m Elizabeth,” the woman said as Tiger picked himself up off the ground and brushed grass from his jeans. “Ronan’s mate. You must be Carly.”
Carly walked up to the porch and stuck out her hand. “I sure am. Word travels fast.”
“You have no idea.” The woman was human, no Collar around her neck, cute in her cropped top and jeans, but with eyes that had seen a lot in life. The baby couldn’t have been more than a couple of months old, serenely sleeping in its T-shirt.
“This is Coby,” she said, a note of pride in her voice. “Our new little son. You two have come to see Walker.”
Carly looked up from where she’d been gently tickling Coby’s stomach. “That’s right. How’d you know?”
“Shifter gossip. Faster than e-mail. Come on inside. I’ve got cold bottled water for you—it’s a hot one today.”
“That’s Austin in the summer,” Carly said.
“You’ve lived here long?” Elizabeth led the way into the house, Carly following, Tiger close behind her.
“All my life,” Carly said. “Born and raised.” By a great mother and three sisters who’d pulled together for survival.
“I’ve been here about seven years. But I love it. Been in Shiftertown less than that.” Elizabeth bounced the little boy. “You get used to it.”
Do you? Carly wondered.
Ronan’s house was large, the floors polished hardwood with rugs, and had big, solid furniture all around. Carly guessed why the furniture was so sturdy when she saw the people sitting at the dining room table—a giant of a man and a woman who, Carly saw when she stood up, was tall, curvaceous, and absolutely gorgeous. The Collar around her neck only enhanced her sensuality.
The way she flicked her attention to Tiger made Carly’s possessiveness rear its head.
Not ten minutes ago, Carly had been thinking that she should tell Tiger they needed to slow down and get to know each other before they proceeded with a relationship of any kind. But as soon as this Shifter woman so much as glanced at him, Carly wanted to glare at her and say, Back off.
Weird, she’d never felt that way about Ethan. Carly had never worried at all with Ethan, until it was too late.
The Shifter woman must have seen the jealous glitter in Carly’s eyes, because she broke into a smile that threatened to become a laugh.
“Ronan,” she said and wandered to an open door that led to a kitchen. “They’re here.”
“I can see that.”
Ronan rose, the man larger even than Tiger. Walker sat behind him at the tab
le, one wrist in a handcuff, the handcuff chained to a ring in the wall. Why Ronan’s household had a heavy ring in the wall in the dining room, Carly wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Tiger,” Ronan said. Unlike the Shifters they’d passed on the way, he didn’t drop his gaze before Tiger or stare at him in hostile fear. “You’re looking good for a Shifter who should be dead.”
“I feel good too,” Tiger said. He rested his hands on Carly’s shoulders. “Not so surprising.”
Ronan’s brows went up, and he breathed in. “I see,” he said. “You work fast. But we can talk about that later. You came to interrogate Walker, right? Just remember that he won’t be able to talk if you break his jaw, knock him out, or rip out his throat.”
Tiger nodded gravely. “I’ll remember.”
“How long do we have to keep him?” Ronan went on conversationally. He moved to Elizabeth and took up his son, using the same care with which Tiger had lifted Sean’s cub. “I expected Liam to come for him, but I guess Liam has better things to do. Tasting new batches of Guinness or something.”
Ronan spoke lightly, but Carly saw his tension. Liam had left town for an important reason, one Ronan wouldn’t talk about in front of Walker, or maybe even Tiger.
Walker looked tired but whole. The bruises and scratches Tiger had left on his face were healing, and he looked all right. No one here had tortured him.
He seemed subdued though, and not because his hand was chained to the wall. Walker glanced at Rebecca, and red stained his cheekbones.
Tiger pulled out a chair and sat, leaning forward with elbows on knees. He looked into Walker’s face, just looked at him. Walker returned the look with the same blank expression.
Elizabeth pressed a cold, damp bottle into Carly’s hand. Carly took the bottle of water and opened it, watching Tiger and Walker while she drank.
Tiger waited, and minutes stretched by. Walker was getting nervous, or so it seemed from the sheen of perspiration on his forehead. But he said nothing and didn’t move.
Ronan handed his baby back to Elizabeth and seated himself at the head of the table, close enough so he could dive between Tiger and Walker if needed. The polar bear cub had disappeared, perhaps knowing that the dining room was about to become an interrogation cell.
Tiger said nothing. Carly couldn’t see Tiger’s eyes from where she stood, but Walker started sweating more, his hand twitching where it was cuffed.
“They want to know what you are,” Walker said after fifteen solid minutes of silence.
Carly was the one stretched to her limit. Men enjoyed staring at each other until one of them broke, but she always believed that if you wanted to know something you just asked.
“Who wants to know?” she broke in. “The Shifter Bureau?”
Carly expected Tiger to be annoyed with her for interrupting, but he only waited with her for Walker’s answer.
“Shifter Bureau,” Walker said, giving Carly a nod. “And the commander of my unit. We’re always on the lookout for Shifter anomalies. That order isn’t classified; it’s common knowledge.”
“Not to me,” Carly said. “Why so much interest in Tiger? He’s just another Shifter, isn’t he?”
Walker’s tight mouth twitched. “No, he’s not. And everyone in this room knows it. He can do things other Shifters can’t. When he landed in the hospital, I was sent to report.”
“And shoot him,” Carly said testily. “You came with plenty of firepower.”
“We were only to shoot if necessary. And it almost became necessary. And then you showed up.” Walker’s gaze moved from Tiger to rest on Carly.
Carly understood then that Walker wasn’t a pushover, a man doing his job, controlled by others. He was smart—he’d seen how Carly had calmed Tiger in the hospital and gotten him back into bed, had wondered why she’d been able to make him see reason when no one else had.
“That’s why you and Dr. Brennan came to see me,” Carly said. “You were interested in me, not my observations on Shifters.”
“We thought you could provide insight on the tiger. When you kicked Brennan out, I stayed to watch you, to see if you’d run to the Shifters and tell them everything. But the tiger showed up instead.”
“He was worried about me,” Carly said, because Tiger remained silent. “With good reason. You were lurking in my backyard, up to no good.”
“And now I’m here.” Walker gave her a wry look and raised the hand with the cuff.
“Don’t let him fool you,” Rebecca said, coming back into the room. “He’s a master at escaping. He’s gotten himself out of duct tape, a zip tie, and once from that cuff already. He put it back on to be polite.”
Ronan rumbled, “Easy to pick open a cuff, hard to get past two Kodiak bears in bad moods.”
“I have PMS,” Rebecca said. She smiled at Walker. “Not a good time to piss me off.”
“Why do you need insight on Tiger?” Carly asked. “He tore it up in the hospital because he was hurt, and because your little army was trying to take him down. I hate hospitals myself—all those machines beeping and people poking at you and sticking you with needles filled with who knows what. You know Tiger wasn’t trying to attack anyone there, because his Collar would have shocked him. That’s what it’s for.”
Walker glanced back at Tiger, his gaze going to Tiger’s Collar. Tiger hadn’t taken his eyes from Walker for one second.
“Collar shocks hurt like hell,” Rebecca said. She leaned forward so her breasts clearly filled the V neckline of her T-shirt. “We avoid it, trust me.”
“Another question for you,” Carly said. “What about the attack on us yesterday? The black SUV chasing us and the spectacular crash at the end? We could have all been killed. And then Tiger gets shot, repeatedly. Was that meant for me? Or him? Both of us?”
“I don’t know,” Walker said. “You already had me here, remember?”
“The SUV was similar to what brought you to my house, and the shooter wore the same outfit.” Carly indicated Walker’s black T-shirt and pants, combat boots completing the ensemble.
“The Bureau might have sent someone to find out what happened to me when I disappeared,” Walker said. “But I don’t think they would have ordered a hit. They don’t work that way. We’re interested in Shifters while they’re alive; we’re not interested in killing them.”
Tiger finally spoke. He leaned forward and said, “Tell me everything your bureau knows about me, and why they are looking.” It was a command, not a request.
Walker didn’t answer right away. Tiger returned to watching him with his Shifter stare, but Walker looked back without flinching.
“You told me you were in a Special Forces unit attached to Shifter Bureau South,” Carly said, again unable to wait for Tiger to win the stare down. “What does that mean? What does the Shifter Bureau do, exactly?”
“Welfare of Shifters,” Walker said. He talked readily when given questions he felt comfortable answering. “Set up twenty years ago to look into the problem of integrating the Shifters with humans, and to liaise with Congress and other departments who regulate Shifters.”
“They created the Shiftertowns, you mean,” Carly said.
“Necessary to protect and reassure the general public that dangerous people weren’t moving into their neighborhoods or becoming threats to their children. If the Shifters lived apart for a time, proving they can do so peacefully, they’ll be more accepted when it’s time for them to integrate with the rest of the population.”
“Sure,” Carly said, wrinkling her nose. “Like that idea has worked so well in the past. All right, you’ve given me the spiel, the mission statement, but what do you do, in your Special Forces unit? Spy on Shifters?”
“Oversight. Make sure Shifters aren’t living outside the parameters that would cause danger to humans, or that humans aren’t causing danger to Shifters.”
“Outside the parameters,” Rebecca said casually. “Like a bear with PMS?”
“What name?” Carly asked. “In the database? Wait, there’s a database?”
“The name is Rory Sylvester,” Walker said. “Any ideas?”
Tiger didn’t change expression. Carly shook her head. “I haven’t met enough Shifters to know.”
“Someone has a sense of humor,” Walker said while the bears and Elizabeth remained silent. “Felis silvestris is a wildcat. Rory . . . maybe for roaring? Whoever inserted that name thought he—or she—was being funny.”
“Doesn’t the Shifter Bureau input the records?” Carly asked. “The name had to come from somewhere.”
“I know it did,” Walker said. “I look at the databases every day. When the name popped up overnight, and no one at the Bureau admitted to entering it, I decided I wanted to know who it belonged to.”
“I don’t like that name,” Tiger said flatly, breaking in. “It isn’t mine.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Walker was the only human Tiger had met so far who didn’t immediately look away from him. Except Carly, of course. She looked at him fully, with no fear, no submission.
“We’re on the same side,” Walker said to Tiger, holding his gaze, ignoring Tiger’s statement about the name. “We’re trying to figure out who you are, where you came from, and why you can do what you do. You should be dead, but you’re walking around. Not even in pain.”
No, Walker was wrong about the pain. Tiger’s pain had been immense, and he was still sore. Being with Carly helped, but the healing wasn’t instantaneous.
“Why do you want to know who I am?” Tiger asked. “I’m nobody. I live with Liam and help Connor fix Shifters’ cars.”
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