Tiger Magic

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.”

“You’re not nobody. You’re different. And I mean more than you being the only Bengal tiger around.”

Tiger sat straight in his chair, liking that Carly was so near. Her presence, her scent, the lingering feeling of being inside her, gave him strength. “When you find out all about me, what will you do?”

Walker shrugged. “Don’t know. Whatever my commander and the Shifter Bureau decides.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Carly said.

“They’ll study you, probably,” Walker said. “Find out what makes you different.”

“Still not sounding good.” Carly’s indignation touched Tiger with a scent like wood smoke.

“We need Liam.” Ronan broke in from down the table. “I don’t like this.”

Tiger didn’t like it either. His heart beat faster, sending tingles of fear through his body, though he didn’t let himself show any discomfort. “They’d experiment on me.”

“Maybe,” Walker said. “Not really my decision.”

Carly tensed behind Tiger, the wood smoke scent turning sharp with her anger. “What do you mean maybe?” she demanded. “You don’t experiment on a person. That’s weird, and wrong.”

“Like I said, not my decision.”

“Then whose decision is it?” Tiger asked.

“My commanding officer’s. Or the head of the Shifter Bureau. I don’t know. I’m not that high in the food chain.”

Carly leaned forward, resting her arm on the table. It just touched Tiger, the warmth of her stilling his fear again. “I bet you’re higher than you let on,” she said.

Tiger knew she was right. Walker was playing the junior man, pretending he knew only what he’d been told, giving up to them nonessential things that Shifters could have found out without much effort. Tiger was willing to bet Liam already knew most of what Walker had said.

Walker hadn’t lied to them—any Shifter would have detected that. But he hadn’t said everything he could have.

Tiger wasn’t sure what to do now. He’d been bred to fight, not to interrogate prisoners or think up strategies. Every test on him had been about strength, endurance, stamina—not problem solving.

“Find out,” he said.

Walker blinked, his blank expression finally cracking. “Sorry?”

“Go back and find out what they want to do, and why, and then tell me.”

Ronan growled. “What are you talking about, Tiger? If we let him go, he’ll run back to the Bureau and report this little escapade, especially the part about being chained to the wall. I don’t need human cops arresting me and messing with my family, or coming to Shiftertown at all.”

“They won’t,” Tiger said. “Walker will make sure of it, because he’s interested in me for his own reasons. He reported me to his bureau because he wanted them to find out about me, but he’s afraid they messed up and tried to kill me instead. He’s angry at them for that, but he’s still curious about me. I am too. I want to know what they know, and so does Walker.”

Tiger felt their stares—Carly’s, Ronan’s, Rebecca’s, Elizabeth’s. Ronan cleared his throat. “What, now you read minds?”

“Scent,” Tiger said. “What he said with his words and what he said with his scent are two different things.”

“Shit,” Walker said softly. “Remind me to take a shower before I talk to you again.”

“Yeah, I read scent too,” Ronan said to Tiger. “But I didn’t catch all that or figure out what he didn’t say.”

“He wants to know about me,” Tiger said. “And he wants to use me, maybe, but not for a bad reason.”

Rebecca said, “Huh. That comes to you through smell? All I get is that he’s nervous, really curious about Tiger, and wonders what it would be like to sleep with me.”

Walker went beet red, and Ronan rumbled, “Becks, would you cool it? I swear, we need to get you mated. You’ve rejected, like what, twenty mate-claims?”

“Haven’t met anyone who turns my crank. Not enough to stay with him for the rest of my life anyway.” Rebecca smiled at Walker. “Shifters have long lives. I’m only a hundred.”

Walker was growing more and more uncomfortable. Tiger read his desire for Rebecca loud and clear. He didn’t need to be a super Shifter to get that.

“Make a promise to me,” Tiger said to Walker. “Go back to your Shifter Bureau. Find out what they know about me, and share the information only with me. In return, I’ll tell you what I know about myself.”

Ronan let out another growl, this one louder. “No. We wait for Liam.”

For answer Tiger reached over and broke the chain that held Walker to the wall, then pulled the handcuff open from Walker’s wrist.

Ronan was on his feet. “Damn it, Tiger. What are you doing? And did you have to break the chain? We need it for Scott.”

Carly picked up the end of the chain and examined the place where Tiger had sheared it off. “Sheesh, who is Scott, and why in the world do you have to chain him to your wall?”

“Scott’s going through his Transition,” Elizabeth answered, as though chaining people up was commonplace in her house. “When his fighting instincts get too bad, we have to restrain him. It’s either that or replace the furniture every day. And Scott worries he’ll hurt Coby.”

She cuddled the little boy, who was already waking up. Coby looked around with unfocused brown eyes at the many people gathered in his house, opened his mouth, and let out an annoyed yell.

The sound went straight into Tiger’s brain and stirred a basic, primal instinct. He and Ronan moved at the same time, Elizabeth saying, “It’s all right. He’s just hungry. And wants attention. Don’t you, little guy?”

Tiger reached Coby before Ronan did, and Elizabeth relinquished him to Tiger. As Tiger lifted the boy, Coby unscrunched his face, stopped crying, and gave a few happy kicks in the air.

“I love how Tiger can do that,” Elizabeth said. “It’s like magic.”

Tiger nuzzled Coby’s forehead, then handed him back to his mother. “I should see Scott,” he said. “Make sure he’s okay.”

He headed for the kitchen, where he knew Ronan’s three foster cubs lingered, listening to the adults. Behind him, Ronan said, “Walker’s gone.”

Tiger paused at the kitchen door, but he’d already known Walker had made use of the open window to escape. “He’ll be back,” Tiger said.

“Shit, Tiger,” Ronan snarled, his bear temper coming through. “Why are you doing this to me? Liam’s going to skin me alive. I’ll end up a bear rug on his living room floor.”

“Walker will be back,” Tiger repeated, knowing he was right. He went on into the kitchen.

Scott, a black bear Shifter in his late twenties, whose change from cub to full-grown male was making him crazy, grinned at Tiger and held up his hand. Tiger, who’d learned about high fives from both Scott and Connor, slapped his palm, then caught the young man’s hand in a tight clasp.

Cherie, the female cub going on twenty-one as humans figured years, gave Tiger an impulsive hug. Olaf, who’d changed back to his ten-year-old boy form and resumed shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers, flung his arms around Tiger’s leg.

Tiger sensed Carly behind him. She was watching him with wonder on her face, surprise at his camaraderie with the cubs coming through her scent, but her smile warming his world.

“I’m going to work today,” Carly said as they walked back to Liam’s house. “It’s Saturday, we get a lot of tourist traffic, I wasn’t hurt in the wreck, and I need the paycheck.”

“Too dangerous,” Tiger said. He held her hand again, and again the other Shifters shot him looks of wariness. Carly stared right back at them and squeezed Tiger’s hand.

“Too bad,” Carly said to Tiger. “I’m going.”

“Then I go with you.”

Carly pictured the giant Tiger standing in the gallery while yuppie tourists strolled around him, trying to look at paintings around the pillar of Tiger. He wouldn’t fit in there, among slender people who shopped for art as casually as they shopped for postcards.

Or maybe he would. Tiger had raw strength and wild beauty that was the stuff of art.

“Fine by me,” Carly said. “But I’m going.”

She expected Tiger to argue more, but he said nothing as they walked on, hand in hand, through the sunshine.

They arrived back at the Morrisseys’ to find Liam and Spike climbing tiredly out of a small pickup. Spike lifted a hand in greeting to Tiger but said nothing at all as he turned and jogged away down the street.

Liam gave Tiger a sharp look and motioned for him and Carly to follow him into the house.

Sean and Andrea had gone, but Connor was there, wiping the kitchen counters with a large blue dishcloth. “I love Sean’s pancakes,” Connor said when they came in. “But damn, he makes a mess.”

Liam glanced at him but kept the frown on his face, his gaze moving back to Carly and Tiger. Wherever he’d gone, whatever he’d done outside of Shiftertown, he’d returned in a black mood.

“Well, I have to be going,” Carly said into the tension. “Don’t worry about me. Tiger’s coming along to keep me safe.”

“No.” Liam’s word was flat, final. “Tiger’s not leaving Shiftertown.”

Tiger tightened his grip on Carly’s hand. “Then Carly stays.”

“Oh, no, she doesn’t,” Carly said. “I have a million things to do. Not only do I have to work, I need to start unpacking my stuff again, and explain to everyone I know why my engagement ended, which is going to be extremely humiliating. My car’s totaled, so I have to see about getting a new one, not to mention talk to my insurance company—I doubt Shifter Bureau is going to come forward and admit they deliberately wrecked my car, and pay the damages. Plus I’ll need to deal with Ethan and whatever he’s going to throw at me. A full day. Can’t handle all that sitting here.”

“Then I go with you,” Tiger stated.

The look Liam shot at Tiger made Carly’s next words die on her lips. Before this, whenever Liam had pinned Tiger, his gaze had been steady and strong, the stare of a man no one messed with. But this look held depths of rage.

Liam’s eyes flicked from sinful blue to almost opaque silver, and he took on the stillness Carly had observed in the Shifters before. In one instant, Liam changed from tired man weary from whatever journey he’d taken to a dangerous enemy ready to strike.

Tiger growled in response. The same rumble that had shaken Ethan’s house flowed from Tiger’s throat, the kitchen windows humming with it. Connor looked up, eyes wide.

Liam’s face elongated until it was the muzzle of a lion, the hair on his head flowing into a formidable black mane. Tiger kept his hands clenched but didn’t change, his low tiger growl going on and on.

Tiger’s growl was matched by Liam’s, both blending into it and vibrating the air. Connor tried to flatten himself against the counter, as though fearing they’d turn and see him, weak and vulnerable, and strike.

Another growl sounded at the back door. Dylan stood in the opening, still in human form, but his eyes were the same white-hot color as Liam’s.

Carly took a step back, then another and another, silently and steadily making her way back to the door to the living room. She understood how Connor felt, hoping the Shifters wouldn’t turn around, see her, and send that building pool of aggression toward her.

Connor slid around the edges of the kitchen, his back to the wall, to join her. His eyes had taken on the same white-blue hue as the others’, but with fear, not rage. When Connor reached Carly, he grabbed her by the wrist, pulled her out of the kitchen, and started heading for the front door.

“Wait,” Carly said, trying to stop.

Connor shook his head. “If they start tearing it up in there, the best place for us to be is not here.”

“But they can’t really fight each other, can they? The Collars stop them. Right?”

Her words died into uncertainty as Connor stared down at her. “Carly, you’re naive. My granddad’s a killer. So is Tiger, and the Collars don’t change that. Do you know what’s going on in there? Liam’s trying to make Tiger back down and obey him, but Tiger’s saying he won’t. Dylan came because he sensed Tiger was snapping Liam’s control. Liam hasn’t really ever been able to control Tiger, and it’s been harder since Tiger met you.”

Carly’s mouth went dry. “Oh, sure, blame this on me.”

“No, not your fault. Tiger’s decided you’re his mate, and that makes him stronger than ever. Shifters will do anything to protect their mates, including defy their leaders if they have to. And I don’t think Tiger has ever recognized Liam as his leader. I’m thinking he’s been obeying Liam just to be nice.”

“But I never said I’d be his mate,” Carly said, her throat tight. “We’re not even dating. Last night was . . .” She broke off, her face heating. “We’d been hurt and scared, and we were celebrating being alive.”

“Not in Tiger’s mind. He’s convinced you’re meant to be together—forever. Probably he’s reacting this way because his mate died, and his cub. The researchers threw them together, then dragged them apart, wouldn’t even let him say a proper good-bye when they died. I bet that’s why he’s clinging on to you, afraid that will happen again.”

“I know about his mate. He told me, the poor guy.”

They peeked through the open door to the kitchen where the “poor guy” was facing Dylan and Liam, his powerful hands clenched to fists, the snarling match still going on. No sign of sparks from any Collars, no signs of pain. Just Shifters facing each other down, violence hovering in the air.

“What can I do?” Carly asked, twining her fingers together in worry. “There has to be something.”

“You could reject the mate-claim,” Connor said. “If Tiger is told he’s no longer obligated to protect you, he might calm down.”

“Might calm down?”

“That’s all I’ve got.”

Carly drew a breath. “All right. What do I do?”

Dylan was going to kill him. Tiger scented that without doubt. The former Shiftertown leader had run out of patience, and now he was here to protect his son. To Dylan Tiger was a danger, an aberration. They could kill him, have Sean send his body to dust, then hack into the human databases again and wipe out his presence. No trouble at all.

Liam would be sorry, Tiger sensed, but relieved. Liam had never known what to do with Tiger, had been looking after him only as a favor to Eric and Iona. Dylan had never been happy with Tiger here at all.

“Tiger.” Carly was in the room again, with Connor behind her. The scent of his mate twined around him, giving him strength. Tiger knew he could defeat both Liam and Dylan, and protect her and Connor.

He scented Carly’s terror as well, which made him shift his stance slightly, making sure neither Dylan nor Liam could get past him to her.

Carly stepped closer to Tiger. She shouldn’t do that—Dylan was unpredictable, and Carly moving made her harder to guard.

Tiger was so focused on where Carly was and how to keep the other two Shifter males away from her that he was completely unprepared when Carly cleared her throat and then stated in a loud voice, “Tiger, I reject your mate-claim.”