Tiger set down the glass he’d just drained. “Disappeared where?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have said disappeared. Seems that someone tipped off Shifter Bureau, the army, and the media that Sheldon ordered the fire to be set in the community center. He’s public enemy number one. Post vacant, and I was offered it, as I was XO and knew all about the training and projects at the camp anyway.”
“Someone tipped them off, eh?” Sean said at the stove. “I have to be wondering who did that.”
“Couldn’t say,” Liam said, coming into the room. “These rumors, how do they get started?”
He and Sean shared a conspiratorial grin.
“Anyway, I’m now in charge of all research concerning the tiger Shifter,” Walker said. “Who’s not to be harmed, by the way, because he’s become a freaking superhero.” Walker leaned forward, looking Tiger in the eyes, a gleam of excitement in his. “And I’ve figured out, my friend, what you were made for.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Tiger lifted his head, waiting, his heart beating rapidly, but Walker only sat there, hands around his coffee cup, grinning.
“What?” Carly asked, fists on the table, her impatience heightening her scent. “Don’t keep us in suspense.”
Walker cleared his throat and moved his coffee cup on the placemat. “Sheldon thought Tiger was a weapon. A perfect soldier who never gets tired, heals right away, and doesn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep for long stretches of time. As I mentioned, Sheldon wanted to use Tiger as a prototype. He wanted to take Tiger to Afghanistan and demonstrate how well he heals from being shot up or burned. Sheldon’s plan was to breed more Shifters like Tiger, except ones more easily controlled than him, using Collars and other things. He regarded Tiger as his beacon, one guiding Sheldon all the way to brigadier general and higher.”
Liam sat down in his usual lazy way, holding a mug of steaming coffee. “The Fae bred us a couple thousand years ago to be the perfect soldiers,” he said conversationally. “We’d fight their wars so they wouldn’t lose so many Fae, who are, of course, the most important beings in the universe. The Fae found out the hard way that they couldn’t control us, when we fought a war with them and won our freedom. They’re still trying to control us, but in, oh, about a thousand years, they still haven’t figured out how.”
“But you wear Collars,” Walker said.
Liam’s eyes widened. “Well, now, that’s true, isn’t it? How about that?”
Connor snorted a laugh from the stove. “Too right.”
“Anyway,” Carly said. “Back to Tiger. Is that what he was made for, to be a soldier?”
“I thought so at first,” Walker said. “Then I did some digging, back to the original experiments. My old friend Dr. Brennan knew a few of the people from the research team way back when. He consulted with them, as a Shifter anthropologist. I hunted up a couple who were still around and talked to them. The project had been shelved and most of the files sealed, and more was lost when the building in Area 51 burned down. But the researchers had kept their personal notes, and they gave them to me.” Walker shot Tiger a look of sympathy. “They put you through hell, didn’t they? Believe me, I’d never do that.”
Tiger gave him slow nod. “I believe you.”
“You thought so at first,” Carly broke in, still watching Walker. “What do you think now?”
“That Tiger wasn’t bred to be the perfect killing machine,” Walker said. “Yeah, he has all those qualities I mentioned—stamina, rapid healing, a body that adapts to extreme stress.” He fixed his gaze on Tiger again, the excitement still in his eyes. “But you’re not a killing machine, my friend. You’re not a gun to point and shoot.” Walker stopped, letting them all stare at him, waiting, including Sean and Connor, who’d turned from the stove.
Kim came into the room with Katriona, dropped a kiss to Liam’s cheek, and sat down next to her mate. She fixed Walker with a steely glare. “Well, come on, then. Spill.”
Walker grinned. “Search and rescue.” He delivered the words, then sat back and drank his coffee.
They sat in stunned silence, until Liam said, “Ah. Yes.”
Tiger said nothing, but Walker’s words made something click inside him. Something right.
I know what I was made for. What I’m meant to be.
Carly, though, still looked bewildered. “Search and rescue? You mean like with people trapped after a disaster or missing out in the middle of nowhere?”
“More than that,” Walker said, animated. “Search and rescue, domestically, or behind enemy lines. He was going to be put in with A-Teams, to go deep into enemy territory. He’d find civilians hurt by the fighting, like kids and moms, fix them up, keep them safe. The same for civilians of allies or our civilians when war comes to them.”
The sense of rightness spread through Tiger, weaving around him as strongly as the mate bond. Yes, his entire body said. I was made to protect.
Carly’s surprised look fled. “Of course,” she said to Tiger. “That’s why you’re so adamant about the cubs.”
“All Shifters protect the cubs,” Kim said.
“Yes, but Tiger goes above and beyond,” Carly said. “He looks out for every cub in Shiftertown. Anyone who’s vulnerable, actually, like the clerk in the convenience store.”
“She does have a point,” Liam said. He sipped coffee, looking the least surprised of everyone.
“And the cubs aren’t afraid of him,” Carly said. “They all adore you, Tiger. The adult Shifters look at you like you’re some sort of Frankenstein’s monster, but the cubs are always thrilled to see you.”
“That’s true,” Connor said. “I’m still a cub, and I like Tiger.”
“So do the little kids, like Olaf and Jordan,” Carly said. “They trust Tiger completely, no matter how much the adults try to say that Tiger needs to be controlled and contained.”
“That’s because cubs are smart,” Connor said, his expression serious.
Katriona laughed and held out her hands toward Tiger. “Tigger.”
Tiger couldn’t stop himself from rising, going to Katriona, and lifting her from Kim. He touched a light kiss to the little girl’s forehead, sat down again next to Carly, and balanced Katriona on her little feet on his knee. In about a year, he’d be holding his own cub, with Carly at his side.
The conversation around him dimmed and became unimportant.
“See?” Walker was saying. “There’s something inside Tiger that makes the kids seek him out and trust him. Makes sense if his mission is to find them and get them to safety. They’d need to trust him completely.”
Liam nodded in silence. Sean had gone back to making pancakes, and Connor, after one more long, thoughtful look at Tiger, turned to help him.
“One thing I don’t like about your explanation,” Carly said to Walker. “You say the kids trust Tiger because there’s something programmed into him, some genetics thing.”
“Probably having to do with pheromones,” Liam put in. “And scent and so forth.”
Carly waved that away. “Maybe, but could you consider that cubs trust him because they can see he’s just a wonderful guy? Caring, protective, amazing?”
Liam chuckled, lifted his coffee, and patted Kim’s knee. “Spoken like a true mate.”
Carly frowned at him. “I refuse to believe that Tiger’s the way he is because a scientist mixed something in a test tube. People don’t work that way. A lot of what makes Tiger Tiger is . . . Tiger.”
“Exactly,” Kim said. “Well said.”
“All of us are a bunch of chemicals stuck together,” Liam argued. “Even you, love,” he finished, with a warm look at Kim.
“I don’t believe that entirely,” Carly said. “My sisters and I share the same genetic makeup and we’re all very different. So even if people were created in test tubes, even clones, what would come out of each test tube would be different.” Carly looked at Walker, sudden concern in her expression. “Wait, you didn’t mean you wanted
to make clones of Tiger, did you?”
“Sheldon did,” Walker said. “I’m of the mind that we don’t have the technology yet to get cloning exactly right. But studying you could tell us a lot, Tiger. And you could do your rescue thing and train others in search and rescue. We could sure use you.”
“Wait a minute,” Carly said. “You are not going to do experiments on him and torture him and treat him like a guinea pig. Tiger’s a person. And I’m going to marry him. Or mate with him, as Shifters call it. I accepted his mate-claim.”
Her announcement fell into stunned silence, and Tiger looked up. Carly had already declared to Tiger that she was his mate, but he hadn’t expected her to state it to other Shifters, in terms they’d waited to hear.
Connor let out a wild whoop from across the room. He threw his spatula into the air, scattering droplets of batter, rushed to Carly, and dragged her up and into a hug.
“Another mating,” he shouted as he released her. “Sun and moon. Time to par-tay. Get on with it, Liam.”
“Give us a chance, Connor.” Liam was out of his seat too, waiting while Kim crushed Carly in an enthusiastic embrace.
Carly had tears on her cheeks when she emerged. “I didn’t realize y’all would be so happy.”
“Of course we’re happy.” Liam caught Carly in a hard hug, ruffling her hair. “Tiger needs a mate, and you’re perfect for him. Another mating means more cubs, more Shifters.”
“There will be more cubs,” Carly said, and she smiled. “Sooner rather than later.”
Connor let out another whoop, and this time five pancakes went to the floor. Instead of scolding him, Sean shoved Connor out of the way and came to hug Carly himself.
“Now, that’s a fine thing,” Sean said, wrapping his arms around her.
“I thought you were up the spout,” Liam said to Carly, still holding on. “I scented the change. But I was waiting for you to say.”
“You waited more patiently than Tiger did.” Carly laughed from within their embrace. “He blabbed to my whole family.”
“A cub,” Walker said thoughtfully. “Congratulations. That will be interesting.”
Tiger shot Walker a fierce look. He got to his feet and hoisted Katriona to his shoulder. “I will help you, Walker,” he said, taking on a hint of a growl. “But you will stay away from my cub.”
Walker stared up at him, his blue eyes taking on a wary look. But then he relaxed, nodded, and stuck out his hand. “Deal.”
Tiger studied Walker’s hand without touching it. “And no shooting me to see how fast I heal the next time. That fucking hurt.”
“No more worries about that,” Walker said. “If you help us, you’ll work with us, not be a test subject. I’ve even put in the paperwork to create a new position for you if you’ll take it—Shifter Liaison to the Shifter Bureau South, Special Assignment. With a salary.”
Tiger stared at him in wonder, not quite taking it in. Walker was saying he wanted to give Tiger a job, with money paid to him, which meant Liam wouldn’t have to provide for Tiger’s every meal. Most Shifters didn’t worry much about money and were happy to share, but the idea that Tiger could pull his weight with them, as even Connor did, gave him a feeling of satisfaction, of belonging.
“Deal,” Tiger said and shook Walker’s hand, human-style.
Kim hugged Tiger around the waist. “I’m so happy for you, big guy.”
Tiger returned Kim’s hug carefully, not wanting to squash Katriona in the rejoicing. He handed the giggling Kat back to her mother, then he stepped to where Liam and Sean still hugged Carly, took them by the backs of their necks, and peeled them away from her.
“Hands off my mate.”
Sean laughed, shook off Tiger’s hold with surprising strength, and returned to the kitchen.
Liam stepped back, making a gallant gesture. “She’s all yours.”
“Yes,” Tiger said. “She is.”
Carly laced her arms around Tiger’s neck and pulled him down to her. “I love you,” she whispered before she kissed his lips. “My mate.”
Warmth flowed from her, and her words, to fill all the empty spaces inside Tiger. Nothing left out.
Walker had declared that he’d figured out what Tiger had been made for. But Tiger already knew.
He’d been made to find this woman, Carly, this mate of his heart. He’d been made for the bond that stretched between her and him, and he’d been made to bond with the child that grew inside her.
Tiger always seemed to know things before others did. Maybe that was part of his programming, a mechanism that let him find those in danger, as he had Olaf in the fire. He would work with Walker to figure out how he knew these things, and all about what he could do.
He did know, as he held Carly and kissed her back—the best new activity he’d learned since meeting her—that the child inside her was a boy. And that he’d live, and grow up, and be a tiger like his father. There would be more cubs, and Tiger and Carly, together for as long as it took.
Liam had told Tiger about the Fae spell that let humans live as long as their Shifter mates, as Kim would with Liam. Tiger would grab the Fae called Fionn and make him perform the spell on Carly right away.
Tiger saw their days stretched before them, Carly with him, and all their cubs. He pulled Carly close.
“I know what I was made for,” Tiger whispered into her ear. “I was made for you.”
That, and happiness. Tiger had reached for happiness in the past, only to have it shatter like a glass bubble when he closed his hand around it.
“I love you, my mate,” Tiger said, touching the softness of her cheek.
“I love you, Tiger,” Carly said again.
This time, as Carly smiled up at him, her green eyes the most beautiful things Tiger had ever seen, happiness stayed with him, whole and warm, and surrounded his heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Carly didn’t thoroughly understand the Shifter mating ceremonies, though Kim and Andrea had done their best to explain the symbolism. The circle dances called the Goddess and the God to the place; the flower garland in Carly’s hair represented nature, eternity, and fertility. The ritual sealed Carly and Tiger so that their union was sacred under the moon—the Mother Goddess—and under the sun—the Father God.
What Carly did understand was that the ceremony itself was brief, Liam saying, with a smile, “Under the light of the moon, the Mother Goddess, I recognize this mating.”
She also understood the party into which the solemn ceremony degenerated, music blasting from Sean’s back porch, the beer flowing, meat grilling, Shifters dancing, talking, laughing. Carly’s mother and sisters, who’d come to Shiftertown for the event, fit right in—Althea and Zoë already had Shifter admirers. Janine and Simon, her husband, were a little more reticent, but Olaf and Jordan soon had their son playing with them, and Andrea and Sean had the couple laughing and talking.
Likewise Yvette and Armand had come for the ritual, Armand with gifts of food and his beneficence, Yvette with a wise smile for Carly for following her heart. Yvette immediately joined Liam at the grill, first discussing with him and then arguing about cooking techniques, marinades, and what should be served with what.
Liam was in a particularly good mood, even beyond his excitement at presiding over a mating. The other Shifter leaders, he’d told Carly and Tiger before the ceremony, had agreed it was a good thing that Tiger would work with the Shifter Bureau in learning about himself. The arrangement kept Tiger out of trouble—in other words, made him someone else’s problem. And the Shifter leaders, particularly Bowman, Eric, and Graham, were interested in Liam testing out Collar changes on Tiger. Tiger had agreed to help in figuring out ways to get the Collars off Shifters, especially after Liam mentioned he wanted to get the cubs out of the Collars first.
As the night deepened and the food and beer were consumed, some Shifters started slinking into darkness to be alone together. Mating rituals stirred the mating frenzies, Kim had said.
&
nbsp; Carly also understood how she and Tiger ended up in his bed under the eaves, moonlight streaming in to caress them.
They were alone in the house, Liam and company still out reveling. To thumping strains of party music coming from next door, Tiger gave himself over to Carly as though theirs would be the last coupling on earth.
Carly didn’t mind, as her body rose to his, her hands gripping the sweet tightness of his buttocks to pull him inside her. She arched to him, sweat hot between them, dripping to the sheets.
Tiger wasn’t silent, and tonight he wasn’t gentle. Gripped by the mating frenzy, Tiger drove into her with ferocity, and Carly, bound to him, wound up into frenzy herself.
Tiger opened points of pleasure in Carly she’d never known existed. Sounds escaped her mouth, incoherent, her throat aching with them.
Tiger filled her and loved her, his hands everywhere, his mouth a place of heat. He was one with her, and she with him, and that was all Carly wanted.
After a long time, Tiger growled, his eyes flashing golden as he neared his peak. He continued to rock into her, and she was crying out in joy by the time he spilled his seed. They fell together, spent and shaking, and the room went silent.
Carly lay in the tangle of sheets, her body scalding, with the hottest part of her the place where they were still joined. She ran her hands down Tiger’s back, his skin slick with sweat. But he was whole, healed, hers. The touch of a mate.
His touch healed her in return. Carly had never felt so well, so cared for, in all her life.
Tiger would never desert her. She understood that now. Even when Tiger had been gone, he’d been taking care of her.
Because he cared. Carly’s father had cared for only himself, had seen his family as an obstacle, a distraction. And so he’d left them.
Tiger saw Carly as his anchor in the roiling stream of life, and she now thought of him in the same way. Not because of a magical mate bond, but because he loved her and she loved him. Love, not programming, not magic.
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