Of course, in the old days, before Collars and Shiftertowns, Liam had said, a Shifter male could choose his female by locking her away and having sex with her until she agreed she was his mate and filled his house with cubs.
Either way made no sense to Tiger. Mates were bonded to each other, no need for enticing each other or trapping each other. They were already one.
“I’ll show you.” Carly formed her lips into a pucker again, waiting for Tiger to imitate her.
He pulled his lips into the round shape Carly made, but instead of kissing him, she burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “But you look so funny.”
Tiger relaxed his mouth, liking her laughter so much that her words didn’t sting. He put his hand behind her neck and pulled her down to him.
“Kiss me,” he said.
Her laughter died, her eyes went soft, and Carly touched her lips to his mouth. This time, Tiger shaped his lips to match hers, meeting hers pressure for pressure.
“Oh,” she said, her breath brushing his skin. “That’s nice.”
Much more than nice. Tiger touched his lips to hers again, learning how to add and release the pressure as she did. It wasn’t the same as when he’d tasted the inside of her mouth, but good. Very good.
He slid his hands down Carly’s spine, finding a gap between the waistband of her shorts and her warm back. From there he could dip his fingers inside, brushing the waistband of the panties with the tiny polka dots. Tiger remembered her walking away from Ethan in nothing but her high heels and panties, her legs gorgeous, bare back straight.
He’d already been rock hard from watching her slide off the dress and throw off the bra, and the little wriggle in her hips when she’d walked off in fury had spiraled the mating frenzy through him. Tiger couldn’t help but follow her. He’d told himself he was protecting her, but Tiger knew his reason for going after her had been far more basic.
The skin of her buttocks was smooth, hot from the weather and from being enclosed in the shorts. Tiger wanted to push the shorts out of his way, but he couldn’t because it was so tight in this little car. When he got Carly back to Shiftertown, he’d peel the clothes from her and touch her all over.
Carly drew back from the kiss. “What are you doing?”
“Touching you.”
Tiger brought one hand up between them and cupped her breast, easily feeling it through the thin shirt. He lightly pinched her nipple, watching it firm to a point. Carly drew in a little breath, her eyes fixing on him.
“You shouldn’t do that,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
She leaned closer. “It makes me want to do bad things.”
Good. The things wouldn’t be bad though. Sex was never bad with a mate. “Do them with me,” Tiger said, fingers going lower on her buttocks.
In the front Ellison reached to the middle of the dashboard. “I’m turning on the radio. Right now.” He pushed buttons until a country song filled the car, a man and a woman singing about kissing each other. Ellison chuckled. “I guess that was just my luck.”
The song seemed to galvanize Carly. She wrapped her arms around him as the strains of the music went on, and kissed his lips again.
Tiger returned the kiss, learning how to match what she did. He tugged at her nipple while their lips met and parted, met again.
Ellison pulled up at a stoplight. A man in a truck next to them looked over, then he started to whoop and honk. Carly lifted her head, her face bright red.
Tiger didn’t care. Let them, as Ellison liked to say, eat their hearts out.
Ellison pulled away through the intersection, and the truck beside them turned off, the man giving a thumbs-up sign as he went.
Carly unwound herself from Tiger, pried his hands from her body, and sat down next to him. “How embarrassing. Sorry, Ellison.”
Ellison was grinning. “Hey, Shifters don’t care. I once came out of a bar to find my back-door neighbor and his human girlfriend going at it, full throttle, on the hood of my pickup. I had to wait ’til they were done. My neighbor said he was being discreet by using my truck instead of a total stranger’s.”
“Nice of him,” Carly said. “So Shifters really don’t care about romantic hotel rooms, rose petals, and champagne?”
“We can,” Ellison answered. “But when the mating frenzy hits, all we need is a surface that doesn’t give too much.”
“Mating frenzy,” Carly repeated. “Connor mentioned that.”
“Every Shifter has it. That crazed need to lock yourself in a room with your mate and go for it as much as and for as long as you can. We don’t come out for days, sometimes.”
“Days.” She sounded hesitant.
“Ellison.” Tiger thought of the phrase Liam and Connor used so often. “Shut it.”
“Goddess, now you’re starting to sound like a Morrissey,” Ellison said, never losing his good-natured drawl. “You’ve been living with them way too long.”
“Why do you live with them?” Carly asked Tiger. “You don’t want a place of your own?”
Ellison answered before Tiger could. “Shifters don’t have a choice. Only so many houses in Shiftertown, and we’re not allowed to live outside it. In my house, there’s my mate, Maria, Deni—she’s my sister—and Deni’s two sons, and hopefully a cub of my own soon.” His voice warmed when he spoke of the potential cub. “Tiger’s from . . . out of town, and there weren’t many houses with room for him when he arrived. Liam’s is one of the largest houses, and after Sean and his mate moved in with Dylan and Glory, Liam had an extra bedroom.”
“And no one else wanted me living in their house,” Tiger finished.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He spoke the bare truth, but Carly stared at him, aghast. “Why not? Did they say that?”
“They didn’t have to,” Tiger said.
Tiger closed his mouth, unsure how to explain, but Ellison spoke up. “Remember what he did in the hospital room? Yeah, I heard all about it. Plus he nearly took out that human, Walker. The other Shifters are afraid he’ll do something like that.”
“But that’s not fair,” Carly said. “In the hospital, they had you scared to death. You knocked out Walker because he was spying on me and was carrying a loaded pistol. I mean, who does that?”
The warmth in Tiger’s heart escalated. Carly was looking at him in dismay, not fear, radiating anger at others for not understanding him.
They had scared him in the hospital—he’d been afraid he’d never see Carly again.
“And anyway,” Carly went on. “If you were attacking to hurt people, your Collar would have stopped you.” She pointed to the inert black and silver chain around his throat. “Shocks you when you get aggressive, right?”
Again Ellison jumped in before Tiger could speak. “You bet it does. Hurts like a mo fo.”
Tiger remained silent. Carly was his mate, and he trusted her, but he didn’t want to frighten her too soon with the fact that his Collar was a fake.
Carly leaned forward in the seat. “Ellison, you missed the turnoff. You take Koenig so I can get out to the gallery.”
Ellison glanced back through the mirror, looking at Tiger. Tiger gave him a nod.
“Sorry.” Ellison slowed and turned at the next intersection, driving north to make for the 290.
“Thanks. I really appreciate this,” Carly said.
Ellison had been heading for Shiftertown, knowing Tiger wanted to be alone with her. But Tiger was curious to see this gallery where Carly worked, wanted to make sure all was well there.
Carly settled back, her scent sweet and spicy, but also conveying to Tiger her underlying nervousness. Not fear for what Tiger and Ellison could do to her—it was more subtle than that, buried deep. Carly feared to trust at all. The man Ethan had taken her trust in him away from her by blatantly sexing the other woman. His house had still smelled of that encounter, despite the cleaning solution scent over it. The house had also smel
led of Tiger’s blood.
Tiger had never trusted easily either. The things the researchers had done to him had made him close himself off, fearing to believe in anyone. Liam and his family were trying to instruct Tiger in how to trust, and so far, they’d not betrayed him. But when the researchers had taken away Tiger’s cub and then told him it had died, Tiger’s last spark of hope had died with it.
He’d watched the spark die in Carly when she’d seen Ethan and the woman. Whatever people had done to her in the past, they, like Ethan, had made promises, then withdrawn them, just as the researchers had poked things through the bars of Tiger’s cage to see what he’d do. As a cub he’d needed touch and caring, and he’d received none.
And then they’d left him alone. Completely alone, abandoned, not even having the courtesy to kill him.
Tiger would never let Carly feel that alone. Never. Not even if he had to stick with her day and night until she understood.
* * *
Armand’s art gallery lay outside the heart of Austin in a tiny town called Karlsberg that was being built up and gentrified. Large, historic homes mingled with new mansions, and several streets of art galleries, restaurants, and gourmet food shops attracted well-heeled tourists.
The long stretch of road where Carly had first met Tiger was again deserted as Ellison drove along it. They passed the place where the Corvette had broken down, not far past the sign saying that Karlsberg was thirty miles away.
Tiger recognized the spot too. He looked over at Carly, giving her his full stare. Nothing hinting or coy about it.
She knew she should talk to him. She should say, I can’t rush into another relationship right now. I need to figure out how I feel about my fiancé turning on me, and I have abandonment issues. Don’t make me care about you, only to have my world pulled out from under me again.
Carly would say all that if she were sensible. But no, she’d decided to kiss him, and to teach Tiger to kiss her. She’d fantasized about having crazed, intense sex in Ethan’s dressing room with Tiger, and not just as payback to Ethan.
She should slow down, until she was not needy, and then assess what she was feeling for Tiger. Things were moving too fast, as fast as Ellison racing down the highway.
But Carly would feel awkward saying such things in front of Ellison, Tiger’s friend and right now his watchdog. Watch-wolf? She’d have to wait until she and Tiger were alone, but that would be dangerous too.
Not that Ellison was paying attention to Carly right now. He kept looking into the rearview mirror, but not at Carly or Tiger. Carly saw a flash in the side-view mirror and turned around to see an SUV coming up behind them, very fast.
This wasn’t unusual. People got out here on these stretches of back highway and let it all go. It was dangerous, particularly on this two-lane road, but that didn’t stop people.
The SUV—black, like the one Walker and Brennan had used yesterday—zoomed closer. It pulled around their car into the oncoming lane, slackening its speed to run side by side with them. The windows were tinted, hiding the view of the driver and any passengers.
Tiger moved to look around Carly at the SUV, his gaze fixing on it.
“Ellison,” he said. “Go.”
“I hear you.”
Ellison floored it. Carly’s fairly low-performance car sputtered as it leapt ahead of the SUV, then it smoothed out and sped away.
The other vehicle sped up next to them. Ellison grinned out the window at them and pressed the accelerator even harder. Carly’s car zipped forward, but the other kept pace with it.
“Get away from it,” Tiger said abruptly.
“Can’t outrun them.” Ellison took his foot from the accelerator. “Have to do this another way.” He stepped on the brakes.
The SUV zoomed ahead as Ellison suddenly slowed. Carly assumed that would be the end of it, but red brake lights flashed on the SUV ahead, and it made a U-turn, driving halfway off the road to do it.
“Shit,” Ellison said.
The SUV came toward them. “Go!” Tiger shouted.
Ellison said, “Hold on,” right before he slammed on the brakes and spun the car to face back the way they’d come.
He jammed on the gas, racing back toward Austin, which loomed in the distance, the buildings of UT and the capitol area hugging the horizon.
“He’s still coming,” Carly said.
“Yeah, I see that.” Ellison hunkered over the wheel, his foot down, as though he could make the car go faster by pushing it.
“Do you know who they are?” Carly asked Tiger.
“No.”
But it couldn’t be good. Carly’s body tightened as they raced on toward the city. Ellison was going plenty fast, and they might reach town in time to lose themselves in traffic.
The black SUV put on a burst of speed—no unmodified vehicle could have decreased the distance between themselves and Carly’s car so quickly. The SUV pulled up alongside them.
Another car came over the rise in the oncoming lane, straight at the black SUV. That other driver saw and swerved to move as close as possible to the shoulder, which was minuscule in this stretch.
“Son of a . . .” Ellison muttered.
The SUV pulled ahead of Ellison, clipping the front fender of Carly’s car. Ellison jerked the steering wheel sideways, but too late. Carly’s car jarred as the other vehicle bumped it, then Carly’s car hit the drop-off on the road’s shoulder, tires spinning on the dirt and grass beyond.
Ellison cranked the steering wheel, trying to pull the car out of its spin. The car skittered and danced. Tiger grabbed both headrests of the front seat, and Carly grabbed on to Tiger.
They might have made it if the SUV hadn’t turned around again. The first oncoming car went past, the driver twisting to see what was happening. The SUV timed its own pass to ram the left back end of Carly’s car.
The car lost hold of the pavement and rose into the air. Carly’s stomach rose with it, her view of the rolling hills distorted as the car flipped once, twice. She only knew that Tiger was solid beneath her, one constant in the churning world.
The car landed on its side, slid down into a ditch, and then came down on its tires, slanting with the ditch, half on grass, half in mud and dirty water. The engine hissed and spit and then all went quiet.
* * *
Tiger broke the window of the bent door and crawled out of the car, his large torso catching on the frame. He grunted and heaved, tearing apart half the door, but at last he pushed free.
Carly lay on the seat behind him, her eyes closed, blood on her face. Tiger’s heart thrummed with panic, but when he touched her, he felt the warmth of her skin, the press of her breath. Alive if not awake.
Ellison, in the front, was likewise slumped, the steering wheel propping him up. His face sported bruises, but he too breathed.
Tiger braced himself on the side of the car, leaned back in through the window, and wrapped his arms around Carly’s torso. He pulled her out, trying to be gentle, but needing to get her out.
He lifted her once he got her clear of the car and laid her on the grass about ten yards away. At least the grass was dry, warm from the morning sun, which was beaming brightly.
Tiger went back for Ellison. Ellison was Shifter and strong—he’d come around quickly—but Tiger had learned from Connor the dangers from gas or other liquids leaking from a car. Best to get away from the wreck until they knew it was safe.
He was halfway back to the car when the driver of the black SUV, which had stopped, got out and came toward them. For a second, Tiger thought the man was Walker, but quickly realized that he wasn’t. This man wore black, like Walker, and he had a similar build and close-shaved hair, but the scent was wrong.
Like Walker, the man carried a gun. Tiger didn’t know much about guns, but the one he’d broken apart last night had looked lethal, and so did this one. The man looked for a moment at Tiger, then turned and made directly for Carly.
Tiger became the Bengal in the space of
three seconds. He was too far from the man, who was raising the black, square-looking gun to aim at Carly.
Tiger changed direction and sprinted for Carly. His tiger was faster than any other Shifter he’d encountered, and he landed on Carly just as the first bullets left the gun.
He felt the bullets enter him, pain blossoming, reawakening yesterday’s wounds. Unlike the slow bangs of Ethan’s pistol, though, this pistol shot so fast Tiger couldn’t count the retorts. He only prayed the bullets didn’t go through his thick tiger body and into Carly.
“Hey!” Ellison’s yell cut through the pain. “Aw, shit!”
Two more flat shots sounded, one clanking on the car, the other thudding with a meaty sound as it went into Ellison. The shooter walked to Tiger, Tiger smelling him coming.
Walked. Deliberately. Slowly. He reached Tiger where he lay dazed and in pain, dusty black boots halting by Tiger’s head. The man didn’t shoot. He stopped, watched, waited.
Then two more bullets went into Tiger’s back. Tiger gave up trying to know anything and let himself succumb to darkness.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Tiger.”
Tiger heard Carly’s voice as he rose toward consciousness, toward a mountain of pain that waited for him. They’d shot him in the basement of the research facility, repeatedly, to see how much he could take, but they at least let him rest between bullets.
“Sean.” Ellison was nearby, voice heavy. “I think you’re gonna have to bring the sword. No, not for me. For Tiger.”
Tiger heard the exclamation on the other end of Ellison’s cell phone, which must have survived the crash and the shooting. The thing was as resilient as Tiger.
“He’s waking up,” Ellison said. “Who the hell was that?”
“Hell if I know.” Carly’s voice held tears, and two hot droplets fell onto Tiger’s face. “I don’t care right now. He’s still alive. Thank God.”
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