But no, Angus had turned aside, gotten himself and Ciaran into the car, and sealed his fate. He’d made the choice to give up his sedate life to help an un-Collared fox Shifter on the run, one who’d been a follower of his crazy brother, and he didn’t know why he’d made that choice.
Tamsin watched him from behind the sunglasses, as though discerning his thoughts.
“You can dump me out anywhere,” she said. “Tell Haider I coerced you to drive me away, threatened your cub or something. He’ll believe it. I stole one of their tranq pistols.”
She brought it out from her jacket pocket.
Angus swerved as he eyed it. “That thing loaded?”
“Not anymore. The dart is buried inside Haider.” She laughed, a warm sound. “Let me out wherever, tell Haider I jacked you, and you’ll be off the hook.”
Reg and Ciaran said nothing behind him. Angus felt the weight of their silence, while they waited to see how he’d respond.
Tamsin had a point—Angus could let her off in any of the neighborhoods between here and Shiftertown or take her back out to the bayous, and then drive to the club, fetch his motorcycle, and drive Ciaran home. He could tell Haider and his men she’d forced him to take her to wherever he let her out, and she’d run off again.
Angus would be free of her, of this situation, and he could go home with Ciaran. Make sure he was all right, catch some sleep, and be back at the club for his shift tonight.
Tamsin would be left to run alone from Haider and Shifter Bureau, to fight off whatever tracker Haider coerced to go after her next time.
Fuck that.
Angus stepped on the gas, darting down a side road that led to an on-ramp to the expressway going north. He’d take Tamsin somewhere safe, make sure she was well hidden, and then go home. He’d worry about what to tell Haider and Shifter Bureau later. Angus had Ciaran with him, which gave him a huge advantage—there was nothing else in the world Haider could hold over Angus to force his obedience.
Ciaran knew without being told what Angus had decided. He whooped.
“Yeah, we’re badasses now!”
Reg looked relieved. The man had no clue what was going on, but he hated Shifter Bureau as much as any Shifter did, and he didn’t mind causing them a little grief.
Only Tamsin looked worried. “Seriously, Angus, don’t get into trouble for me. I’ll be all right.”
“I’m already in trouble.” Angus didn’t look at her, keeping his eyes on the cars he had to avoid. “So sit back, relax, and accept that I’m helping you out. All right?”
* * *
• • •
Tamsin sat back, but she didn’t relax. Angus drove with fierce determination, his eyes as gray as the rainy skies outside. This morning, he’d been her captor, ready to take her to Shifter Bureau at all costs. Now he was assisting her, risking being labeled a fugitive with her. The only thing that hadn’t changed was his grim look.
The last thing Tamsin wanted to do was drag Angus and Ciaran into her troubles. They didn’t deserve that.
So why did her heart lighten? Why was she so relieved she wouldn’t have to say good-bye to Angus and his cub right away?
She tamped down those thoughts—time enough for regrets and soul-searching later. For now, Angus was helping her, and he was right—shut up and take it.
After about fifteen minutes on the expressway, Angus drove off on an exit that led to the lake. Cute, older houses with well-kept lawns lined the road that wound its way north. Tamsin imagined the sorts of people who’d live in these houses—they’d be retired, mostly, and like to garden, read, cook, and take care of their grandkids. Tamsin envied them as Angus drove calmly past.
Shifters should be able to have this, she thought. Angus had claimed that Shifters already did—in Shiftertowns.
But that was wrong. They had the illusion of a decent life, not true freedom.
Angus turned along a grass-lined drive to a park that skirted the huge Lake Pontchartrain, lying blue-gray and untroubled under the rainy sky. Joggers moved along the path at the water’s edge, lovers strolled hand in hand behind them, and kids played in the grass. The other side of the street was lined with tiny, narrow lake houses, quaint and inviting.
“This is me.” Reg had the door open. “Unless you want me to go with you.” He gave Angus an inquiring look.
“I want you to have nothing to do with it,” Angus told him firmly. “I’ll be ditching this ride too, but I’ll leave it somewhere safe and let you know where it is. You going to be all right getting home?”
Reg descended and came to Angus’s window, nodding without worry. “I’ll call Casey to pick me up—he needs something to do.” He gave Angus a pained look. “Don’t scratch it, all right? It might look boring to you, but I have it running fine and it’s good for hauling supplies.”
Tamsin wondered what supplies. But Reg looked harmless and normal, so it couldn’t be for anything sinister.
“One piece, I promise.” Angus reached out the window and gripped Reg’s shoulder. Shifters, especially friends, usually embraced when they parted, but Angus didn’t have time, and two large men in a fond hug in the middle of a park would draw attention. “Tell Spence not to worry about me. That is, if he notices I’m gone.” The last came out with dry bitterness.
Reg returned the squeeze, gave Ciaran a thumbs-up, and then turned away, jogging out to the path along the breakwater. As Tamsin watched, Reg started to run, his dark legs in running shorts moving faster and faster.
“Holy crap, look at him go,” she said, her jaw dropping. “What kind of Shifter is he?”
Ciaran leaned forward between the seats. “Serval. Reg can seriously run.”
“I see that.” Reg overtook several joggers, passing them with ease. His high-necked shirt hid his Collar, and the joggers simply moved aside for him without worry. “What supplies?” Tamsin asked in curiosity as Angus turned the SUV to head out of the park.
“Woodworking.” The answer was short, to the point.
Ciaran filled in the rest. “He’s really good at it. He makes furniture—they’re like artwork.”
Tamsin looked back to try to see Reg, but he was already out of sight. “Serval, huh? That’s unusual. But explains a lot. The smaller cats are usually fast.” She laced her fingers as she sat forward again, happy that her hand was whole and well. “So are foxes.”
Angus scowled at her as he turned the SUV onto the street. Ciaran hung on to both front seats as he stared at Tamsin. “Wait, you’re a fox? I didn’t know there were fox Shifters.”
“We’re rare.” Tamsin winked at him.
“Dad, you really need to do some full disclosure. They didn’t tell me anything when I was trapped in that crypt.”
“Once upon a time,” Tamsin began when Angus only frowned, “a fox was being chased by some mean Shifter Bureau agents. But they couldn’t catch her, so they sent a Lupine tracker to find and capture her.” She pointed at Angus. “But the fox was sooo cute, and sooo nice, that he couldn’t stand to give her to the mean agents. So he busted his son out of prison, and now he’s taking the fox Shifter . . . somewhere. And maybe they’ll all live happily ever after.” She gave Ciaran a big smile. “I guess we get to find out.”
CHAPTER NINE
Tamsin wasn’t familiar enough with New Orleans to know exactly where they were, but Angus navigated with ease. He had them on a road heading west, and soon the city fell behind, as did the suburbs. Not long after that, they were out into bayou country.
The freeway became a bridge stretching across a watery landscape. Flat, swampy land poked up along stretches of gray water, the occasional boat zipping by beneath. Clouds had rolled in to make the sky bleak, and rain pattered on the windshield, swept away by the SUV’s wipers in a steady rhythm.
Tamsin leaned back against the seat, humming a tune in her throat, but tension kept her muscle
s stiff.
Ciaran was the only one of the three who was excited. He peered eagerly through the windows at the rain and traffic.
“Are we going to the haunted house, Dad? I bet Tamsin’s right that it blocked the tracker on the car. We can hide out there.”
Angus shook his head. “He’d find the house sooner or later. He’ll start from where the tracking device cut out and search in a circle from there.”
“Oh,” Ciaran said, disappointed. “You’re probably right.”
“Ben will be there,” Tamsin said in concern. “Should we warn him?”
“Ben and the house can take care of themselves,” Angus answered. “Ben’s not Shifter. Shifter Bureau has no jurisdiction over him, and the house is owned by a human woman. They’ll have to leave it alone.”
“What is Ben, exactly?” Tamsin asked, trying to distract herself. “He said gnome or goblin, but those are human words, used in place of that unpronounceable name he told me.”
“He’s a forgotten race from Faerie,” Ciaran said with the confidence of one in the know. “They were exiled a thousand years ago. The Fae killed almost all of his people and banished the rest to the human world. Most of them died out, and Ben is left.”
Tamsin listened with growing sympathy and horror. “Stupid Fae bastards.”
“That’s what I said.” Ciaran studied Angus. “Then where are we going, Dad?”
Angus didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Somewhere you’ll be safe.”
Ciaran’s face fell. “Aw, don’t dump me. I want to go with you.”
“I’m not dumping you. We’ll go to Kendrick’s compound, and you can spend some time there. You like visiting Dimitri and Jaycee, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather stay with you.” Ciaran’s brows came down, jaw tightening in rebellion.
“I’d rather you stayed safe with Shifters who know how to hide you,” Angus said. “You’ve already been captured by Shifter Bureau once. How many times do you want it to happen?”
The scowls of father and son were so identical Tamsin wanted to laugh.
“Tamsin can stay there too,” Ciaran announced. “They’re un-Collared Shifters, hiding out,” he told her. “They have a big ranch—it’s so cool.”
“Which is supposed to be a secret,” Angus said with a growl.
“It’s all right if Tamsin knows. She’s un-Collared too. Besides, you just said we’re going there.”
“I was keeping the details to myself.”
Ciaran heaved a long sigh and slammed himself into his seat. “Fine. Whatever.”
Tamsin slid off the sunglasses and gave him a look of understanding. “Where is this supersecret enclave of un-Collared Shifters?” she asked Angus.
The answer came from behind her before Angus could speak. “Middle of Nowhere, Texas.”
“Awesome. I’ve always wanted to go to Texas.”
Angus said nothing. He was tense all over, hands tight as he concentrated on the road.
He was a hard man, tough. Tamsin had seen him soften when he’d crouched down to Ciaran in the cemetery, making sure he was all right, and again when he let Ciaran lie against him in the station wagon. He’d softened a little bit also when he’d told Tamsin the kiss they’d shared was good. Started a shiver down inside her, those words had.
She ran her gaze over the well-muscled arms, taut as he clenched the steering wheel, his chest hugged by his T-shirt. His close-cropped beard framed his square face, and his dark hair managed to be wolf shaggy, even cut short.
His eyes were as gray as the sky above them. Clear gray, rain gray.
Her hunter and captor had switched to being her savior. Why, Tamsin wasn’t sure. Feeling sorry for her was one thing. Spiriting her away from Shifter Bureau was something else.
Tamsin had been stunned to learn that Angus was Gavan Murray’s brother. The two men couldn’t be more different. Gavan had been electric, outgoing, courageous, and, in the end, utterly selfish. Angus was closemouthed and growling, but his love for his cub shone like a beacon of pure light.
His mate had left Angus for Gavan? She had to have been crazy. Tamsin hadn’t known Angus long and not under the best of circumstances, but she already recognized he was the better man.
“So, who’s Spence?” she asked him.
“Our Shiftertown leader.” Angus closed his mouth immediately, indicating this was another subject he didn’t want to get into.
“He fired Dad,” came the answer from the back seat. “Dad was his second. Then Uncle Gavan went off the rails and Shifter Bureau came after Dad and Spence. Spence booted Dad out of being second in command to save his own ass.”
“He didn’t have a choice,” Angus said tightly. “They’d have removed him as leader and replaced him with a total dickhead. I understood. I stepped down.”
“That was eight years ago. I was just a baby,” Ciaran put in. “But Spence hasn’t asked Dad back to be his second, or even to be a tracker for the Shiftertown again. Reg is second now—he’s a good one, and everyone likes him—but it should be Dad.”
“All right,” Angus said firmly. “That’s enough.”
“Dad is in Spence’s clan,” Ciaran rattled on. “Reg’s clan is down in the pecking order, though Reg is pretty dominant. Even Reg thinks Dad should be second, with Reg as third.”
“I said enough,” Angus said in a hard voice. “It’s the way it is. Talking about it doesn’t change it.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tamsin said. “I think talking can change a lot of things. It’s helped me out of trouble so many times. Maybe you should tell Spence how you feel.”
The look Angus turned on her could have flattened a forest. “I’m not talking to Spence about it. He won’t make me second again just because we get all touchy-feely and sing campfire songs. Doesn’t work that way in a Shiftertown.”
“I wouldn’t know.” Tamsin made a sweeping gesture. “I stay far away from those.”
“Which is why you’re on the run, taking help from a Lupine you met last night. Is this what you’re going to do the rest of your life?”
“If I have to. You going to take shit from Shifter Bureau the rest of your life?”
“If I have to.” Angus scowled at her. “As long as Ciaran is safe, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Gee, thanks,” Ciaran muttered. “Blame it on me.”
“Ciaran deserves better,” Tamsin said. “My mother thought Shiftertown was the safer place for her family. Glynis ran away because Shifters were being taken in to be experimented on. Running was a better option, or so she thought. I ran too, but in a different direction.” She tasted sorrow, anger with herself for not being with her sister on that fateful day.
“I’m sorry.” Angus’s eyes held sympathy, but his voice was harsh. “But if you’re questioning how I take care of my son, you can bail out.”
Tamsin sat up and looked around for a likely spot to dive and roll. “There,” she said, pointing to a wide place on the shoulder. “Dump me there. I’ll hitch to Middle of Nowhere, Texas, and tell them you sent me.”
Angus didn’t slow. “Stay where you are.”
“Hey, you told me to bail out.” Tamsin clasped the door handle. “If I stay, I’ll keep on asking questions, so I might as well go.”
Tamsin had no intention of diving out of a vehicle moving at seventy miles an hour, but she couldn’t resist seeing how far Angus would take his threat. She pushed the button to unlock the door.
Angus reached out with alarming swiftness, wrapped one arm around her, and hauled her to him, never slowing or swerving the SUV. Tamsin found her nose buried in his side, where she inhaled warmth and the scent of male.
“Oh, this is nice.”
Angus started to unwind himself from her, but Tamsin burrowed in, nuzzling him and closing her eyes. In spite of the console between them, s
he was able to nestle into his shoulder, enjoying his strength.
She’d had a long night, little sleep, and a long day. The touch of Angus’s body against hers, the soothing rocking of the SUV, and the rhythm of Angus’s breath under her cheek unwound all the knots inside her. Tamsin fully meant to tease him a little and rise back to a sitting position, but her exhaustion took over, and she dropped almost instantly into sleep.
* * *
• • •
“I think she likes you.” Ciaran’s voice was hushed.
Angus kept his arm around Tamsin’s shoulders as he drove with his free hand. Her red hair spilled over his lap like a stream of fire, her head resting trustingly against his side.
He couldn’t think of a way to answer so he settled for, “Mmph.”
As far as Angus could tell, no one had followed them out of New Orleans. Abandoning the station wagon and driving carefully away in Reg’s anonymous SUV seemed to have done the trick.
The best place to leave Tamsin was in Kendrick’s capable white tiger paws. Kendrick knew how to deal with rogue Shifters, seeing as he was the biggest rogue—or un-Collared Shifter—out there. He’d held together a group of rogue Shifters in freedom for more than twenty years.
Kendrick’s band lived in secret and had to be very careful when interacting with humans. They also wore fake Collars when they went to Shiftertowns so no one would report a Shifter without a Collar running around there.
Kendrick wouldn’t thank Angus for bringing in a fugitive. This would only work if they didn’t pick up a tail.
They’d have to switch from Reg’s SUV before they hit the Texas border. Reg had said he hadn’t registered it with Shifter Bureau, but other Shifters would know he owned it, and if Shifter Bureau went sniffing around the NOLA Shiftertown, they might mention it, even in innocence. And not all Shifters were loyal to Spence and Reg. Jostling for dominance happened all the time, and if a clan thought being in thick with Shifter Bureau was the way to advance, they might tell the agents what close friends Reg and Angus were, and all about Reg’s missing SUV.
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