Tiger Magic

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Tiger’s chest felt hollow, as though someone had kicked him repeatedly. He needed Carly with him every second—every moment away from her was one too long.

“Tiger?” Walker said.

“Fine.” Tiger made himself turn away. “We should go.” Better get there and meet up with her again as quickly as he could.

“Follow me, and don’t deviate,” Walker said. “We’re going into a dangerous area—drug runners and coyotes use it. Coyotes meaning the guys who run people across the border in exchange for their life savings, not the mangy animals that howl.”

Tiger had heard of these coyotes, and the drug runners who shot those who got in their way. But they were the least of his worries. In fact, he’d make sure that they needed to worry about him.

He paused for a moment to remove his clothes while Walker discreetly looked the other way. Once undressed, Tiger packed his clothes into a waterproof belt pack Walker had brought for him, handed it to Walker, and shifted to his tiger.

The world changed. Scents and sound rushed at him, the beast gleeful to be in open country, far from the confinement of Shiftertown. Tiger stretched, shaking himself out.

Walker had gone wide-eyed, his scent betraying his startled wariness at watching Tiger’s change. Then Walker swallowed his misgivings, came to Tiger, and hooked the belt with Tiger’s clothes around his middle.

The appendage felt a little strange, but Tiger would have to get used to it. He raised his head, sniffed the wind, and followed Walker down the hill, slinking into the shadows of the rocky hills.

Carly breathed a sigh of relief when the SUV hit pavement. The jarring and rattling stopped, and the ride became smooth.

She didn’t pass many cars as she turned onto the highway, heading back up toward the I-10. Even if she didn’t have a map, the chances of getting lost out here were minimal. There were only a few paved roads that went anywhere.

The distance gave her time to think. Too much time. She knew she had the option of turning right at the 10 instead of left, and heading back to Austin. The Shifters would pry out of her that she’d driven Tiger this far, but then they’d go after him themselves, or alert the Shifter Bureau. They’d leave her alone, not needing her anymore.

Carly could go back to her life. She’d find Yvette’s car where she’d left it at the chain hotel and take it back to her, finding some way to apologize. She could go back to dealing with her broken engagement and figuring out how to keep Ethan from ruining her life. She might have to find another job, but maybe she could sell her house and move in with Althea and Zoë for a while until she got herself sorted out.

If Yvette didn’t fire her, Carly would go back to the trivia of day-to-day work, trying to convince people with large disposable incomes that they wanted to use their money for quality artwork. After work, she’d pick up something at the grocery store on the way home, and while away nights in front of the television.

Carly realized now that she hadn’t spent all that much time with Ethan, even after their engagement, and that they’d only gotten together when he wanted to. She’d been too caught up in planning the rest of her life to notice.

Back to a world where people captured a wild, beautiful man to study him, dissect him, trap him, bind him. Tiger deserved to be free, and Carly was going to make sure he was.

When she turned onto the freeway—choosing to head west, not east—blue and red lights flashed behind her and a sheriff’s car signaled her to pull over. Heart in her throat, Carly slowed and stopped on the freeway’s shoulder, waiting for an eighteen-wheeler to lumber by before she lowered the window. A sheriff’s deputy walked up from behind and leaned to look into the window.

“License and registration, ma’am,” he said.

“Is there a problem, officer?” Carly kept her smile in place as she plucked her license out of her wallet and reached into the glove compartment to find the registration. Her mouth went dry when she didn’t see the registration paper at first, but there it was, tucked under a packet of tissues.

She handed both license and registration to the deputy, glad she’d slid the maps Walker had given her inside her purse. “I know I wasn’t speeding. I’m careful about that.”

The deputy peered for a time at the license, then the registration. “This isn’t your vehicle, ma’am.”

“No, it’s not. My boyfriend’s. He let me borrow it for the weekend.”

“Mind if I ask where you were coming from down that highway? You’re a long way from Austin.”

“Marfa.” A lie. “I have friends there.” The truth. “It’s so pretty.” Also the truth.

“And now you’re heading for . . .”

“El Paso. More friends. We’re going to Juárez, to bargain hunt.”

Carly did her best to look like an empty-headed girl who lived to visit her friends and spend money.

“You still never said why you pulled me over.” Carly smiled again as she took back her license.

“Looking for someone.” The officer gazed, keen-eyed, into the SUV’s interior, over the backseat and the space behind it. He straightened up. “You have a nice afternoon, Ms. Randal. You’re about seventy-five miles from El Paso. Drive safely.”

“Thank you. I will.” Keeping her pleasant tones, Carly rolled up the window and pulled slowly away and back into traffic.

Looking for someone. Her heart thumped. The officer hadn’t been about to tell her who. Obviously not Walker, because his name was on the registration. And not her. That left Tiger.

Carly sped up a little, making sure she didn’t exceed the limit enough to get pulled over again, and headed for the horizon and the city of El Paso.

Tigers liked water. When they reached the Rio Grande, Tiger had no problem wading into the muddy stream, the water cool under his paws. Scrub and trees were green here, fed by the main river and little rivulets that made the ground soggy.

Tiger came out the other side and shook himself off. Walker took more time, holding his belt above his head as he waded then swam the deepest parts. Tiger waited, the beast in him pleased by the open country, the vast sky overhead. In such a place he could run through the night, sleep under trees during the day. If bad men were out here hurting people, Tiger could take them out, as he had done the robber at the convenience store. That was what he was meant to do, he thought. Crush bad guys.

“This way,” Walker said once he was settled.

He led Tiger on across wild land, pushing through tough brush and trees to forge a path. They were going north and west, Tiger could tell, to meet Carly, which made his heart sing. She wouldn’t have been good on this cross-country walk, but she had the comfort of the SUV, and its relative safety. Tiger looked forward to seeing her again, if this all worked, if only for a little while.

They saw no one. Tiger had half hoped the hills would be teeming with people who needed taking down, but it wasn’t to be. His fighting blood was up, his need to run, strike, do what he was meant to do.

At one point a plane flew overhead, high enough up to be a small smudge against the late afternoon sky. Walker ducked under the spread of a tree, and Tiger lowered himself to the ground, letting shadows camouflage him. The plane went straight on, not circling or returning.

Tiger rose and moved on, following Walker’s guidance, feeling the mate bond pull him back to Carly.

Carly drove over one of the bridges that connected El Paso to the Mexican city of Juárez, crossing the border after a wait of about an hour or so. The sun was setting, and plenty of cars were on the streets on both sides, people going home or leaving the cities after the weekend.

Carly knew Walker had picked El Paso as the place she should cross because the cities on both sides were busy, plenty of Americans crossed back and forth daily, and families lived on either side, crossing one way or another for visits. She’d navigated crazy traffic in Juárez before, and she drove out of that city after a time, heading south for the town of Chihuahua.

Now she began to feel a bit uncomfortable. The afternoon was waning into evening, and she was alone, in another country, in a vehicle that was better than most she passed on the road. Carjackings weren’t unusual. She’d be safer not to stop until she reached the meeting point.

The sun sank as she drove south then turned down a lonely stretch of road that Walker had marked. Carly had to drive slowly, through ruts and along ungraded stretches, down dry washes where her tires spun in soft earth.

The thirty miles of this road took Carly well over an hour as the sun slipped over the horizon. Twilight didn’t linger long in the desert, and soon it was dark.

Carly parked at the designated meeting point and killed the engine and lights. She peered at the empty darkness, a flat plain of desert. In the dark, she could see no more than that, and she couldn’t see Tiger or Walker either.

No matter. She’d sit here until they came. Tiger and Walker were the kind of men who’d make double sure and triple sure the way was clear before they showed themselves.

Or, if they didn’t come by morning, Carly could turn around and head back to Austin. She knew why Tiger had agreed to split up—he’d been giving Carly the chance to go home and leave him if she decided that course was best. Splitting up also gave Tiger the choice whether or not to come back for Carly. As he’d told her, he could move faster without her.

The watch Carly kept in her purse let her keep track of time, which crawled slowly. Agony. The longest day of her life to this point had been the one when she’d realized her father had left for good. This one might just beat it.

Carly caught movement out the back window. Tiger? She turned to look, but remained inside the SUV. Could be anyone out here.

Her heart pounded until her head hurt as whoever it was moved slowly forward. Stealthily. Like a Shifter.

But the Shifter who looked into the window wasn’t Tiger. He had a shaved head and tattoos down his neck and a look of fury in his brown eyes. Spike.

Behind him was Sean, then Ellison with his cowboy hat. The large bear Ronan was approaching the other side of the SUV with Dylan, and Carly’s rearview mirror showed her Liam walking nonchalantly toward her out of the darkness.

Tiger stopped, scenting the Shifters well before he saw them surrounding the SUV that waited in the spot Walker had chosen.

Liam, Dylan, Sean, the trackers. Tiger also smelled an airplane, far away, but near enough for Tiger’s enhanced senses to catch the scent. That explained how the Shifters had managed to be there first, in the plane that had flown over them. Tiger hadn’t known enough about airplanes, and it hadn’t flown low enough, for him to recognize it as Marlo’s.

Tiger shifted to become his human form, sliding his now-loose belt from his waist. He went to Walker. “I need you to take care of Carly,” he said before Walker could speak. “And my cub.”

“I’ll get you to safety,” Walker said in a low voice. “But we have to go now.”

Tiger shook his head. “You’ll be too slow. Promise me. Don’t let them hurt her, or take the cub.”

Walker assessed Tiger, then gave him a nod, not an argument. “I promise.”

“Thank you, Walker Danielson.”

Tiger put his hands on Walker’s shoulders and pulled him into a quick embrace, Shifter fashion. Walker’s scent betrayed his discomfort, but he took the hug, thumping Tiger on the shoulders in return.

Tiger resumed his belt and pouch and shifted to the Bengal again.

Every one of Tiger’s instincts and his heart fought him as he turned and slunk off into the darkness. But the best way to help Carly was for Tiger to disappear. Liam would see that Carly came to no harm, and so would Walker. Tiger had to take care of what he needed to, as much as it killed him to do it.

“We’ll find him,” Liam said to Carly.

Carly sat on the open back bed of the SUV, arms folded, Rebecca the bear Shifter next to her. Liam stood with his hands in the pockets of a leather jacket, the desert night having turned cold. Rebecca had laid a blanket around Carly’s shoulders, but Carly barely acknowledged the gesture.

“Where’d you leave him, Walker?” Liam asked. His voice was quiet, but Carly sensed the anger behind it, tight, ready to strike.

Spike and Ellison had found Walker in the desert, striding toward them, the man alone. Walker gave Liam a stoic look now and pointed into the darkness. “Over there. But he’ll be long gone by now. He’s not an average Shifter.”

Liam nodded in agreement, but he peered into the desert as though he could see behind every tumbleweed, which he possibly could. “Ronan, Dad, Spike. See what you can do.”

The three Shifters at once walked away into the dark, without looking at Carly. Spike was furious with her, she knew, though he’d not said a word. After his first glare of rage, Spike had stepped back, out of the way, and let Liam take over.

Liam swiveled his gaze to Carly. “Where is he heading?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Carly said. “We planned to meet up here, and beyond that, we hadn’t decided.”

Liam made a noise that was a cross between a grunt and a growl. “Damn it, Carly, I’m trying to help him.”

“The last time Tiger heard, you wanted to either put a Collar on him or kill him,” Carly said. “Real helpful.”

“And last time I checked, this guy wanted to lock Tiger back into a research center.” Liam jerked a thumb at Walker, who remained as silent as the Shifters. “And now he’s Tiger’s best friend?”

“Walker changed his mind,” Carly said.

“And you trust him?”

“If he’d been lying to Tiger, Tiger would have known.”

“Aye, that’s true enough. But shite.” Liam turned on Walker. “Why didn’t you come to me? Tiger’s my responsibility. Anything he does can have a backlash on all Shifters, everywhere.”

“Not really my problem,” Walker said. “I want to find out what Tiger is and what he can do, what his original mission was.”

“Why?” Liam asked. “Why so interested? Other than following orders from the Shifter Bureau?”

“I have my reasons.”

Walker could be as stubbornly obtuse as Liam. Carly believed now that Walker didn’t wish to see Tiger locked away again, but he kept going on about wanting to know what Tiger had been made for. Walker wanted Tiger away from the Shifter Bureau, true, but for his own agenda. He’d said nothing about his motives during the ride, and neither had Tiger, but whatever he’d told Tiger must have satisfied.

“Rebecca,” Liam said. “Can you give me a minute alone with Carly?”

Rebecca rose, obedient, but she gave Liam a warning look as she walked away. “Don’t hurt her or upset her. Kim gave me those orders. Don’t make her mad at me. Hey, Walker.” Rebecca smiled at the man and slid her hand through the crook of his arm. She was taller than he was by about an inch. “How about a moonlight stroll?”

Walker’s stance became suddenly nervous, but he walked away with Rebecca. Ellison followed them, limping a little, still recovering from being shot, while Sean moved off into the desert, watching the darkness.

Liam settled himself comfortably next to Carly, resting his hands on his knees. With his worn jeans, leather coat, and dusting of unshaven dark whiskers, he might be a biker sitting back for some rest before continuing on the road.

“Do you know how we tracked you down?” Liam asked, his voice calm.

“I know you’re going to tell me,” Carly said.

“Connor was watching the morning news. There was a local story about a man who’d gone into a convenience store and stopped a robbery in progress. The hero broke the robber’s gun into about ten pieces, knocked the guy down, and then broke his hand. And knocked him out. The amazed clerk described his rescuer as a very large man, hugely strong, and wearing a baseball cap. And then this superhero disappeared. Tiger was gone, no one knew where, and you’d vanished out of your gallery—don’t think Spike didn’t get an earful about that. How brainless would I have to be not to figure out who this hero was?”

“He couldn’t help himself,” Carly said. “It’s who he is.”

“The clerk, who’s now Tiger’s biggest fan, volunteered to me that he saw him getting into a dark SUV. Easy for our Sean to look at traffic cams for that hour and find likely SUVs and their plates. Easy for him to hack into the title records database to find that Walker Danielson had bought a vehicle with that description only yesterday.”

“I got pulled over on the freeway,” Carly said, her voice flat.

“Aye. I asked my friends in counties all over the state to look for the SUV but not to make it official. And not to arrest anyone, but to tell me where the SUV was and where it was heading. Another friend at the Bridge of the Americas gave me another clue, and my Shifter friend Eric has access to a plane.”

“Who else did you tell?” Carly asked. “The Shifter Bureau?”

“Now, why would we be doing that?” Liam gave her an incredulous look. “No, lass, I told no one.”

“And no one will wonder why half of Shiftertown left Austin tonight?”

“The few of us here are a long way from half of Shiftertown. Most of Shiftertown goes out at night anyway. Bars, dance clubs, the fight club. It’s not unusual to have Shifters prowling the town until two thirty in the morning, which is our curfew. Many of us come from nocturnal breeds.”

Carly listened impatiently. “What about the Shifters who want you to put a Collar on Tiger?”

“Carly.” Liam rubbed his hands on his thighs. “I agreed to look after Tiger because I felt for him. No one should do to a Shifter what was done to him. I’m trying to protect him. And I’m trying to protect him from himself.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“I know you don’t believe me, lass. He can wind you around his finger, can Tiger. He’s got a way with him, as my mum used to say. But what happens if he attacks someone, like he did the robber? If I’m not around when daft humans try to arrest him, what will Tiger do to them? Or the authorities might try to kill him, which would cause even more havoc. I’m not in favor of putting a Collar on Tiger, or terminating him either, trust me. But we need to control him somehow.”

“Why do you need to control him at all?” Carly demanded. “Why can’t you leave him alone?”

Liam blew out his breath. “If you haven’t noticed, Tiger is dangerous. Look at the havoc he’s wreaked only the last few days.”

“All in self-defense and in defense of others. He told me that if you put the Collar on him, it will probably kill him.”

Liam looked off into the distance of the starry night. “I admit that when we tried the first time, I thought it would kill him. That’s why I took it off.”

“And you want to put it back on? What kind of logic is that?”

“Mmm.” Liam fell silent for a long time as the cool breeze from the desert and the hills beyond flowed to them. The SUV’s settling engine emitted a pop and a small hiss.

“I’m going to tell you something,” Liam said. “I need to swear you to secrecy on it, but if it helps get you to believe me and help me, then it’s worth it. I’m trying to find a way so that no Shifter has to wear a Collar ever again.”

Carly gave him her grudging interest. “How are you doing that?”

“Experiments. Me and Dad and Sean. On ourselves—not anyone else. I’d like to get Connor out of his before his Transition. I made Tiger a fake Collar, which was good enough to fool the humans. So far, we haven’t been successful at removing Collars, but what I’d like to do is see if we can make one that’s even more realistic, say delivers a mild shock or the show of one when a Shifter starts an attack. Tiger would be perfect for this. I could learn how to tone down the Collars, or make better fake ones, and the other Shifter leaders would get off my back about Tiger.”

“Experiment on him,” Carly said.

“Yes, but in this case, I’d be searching for ways to not hurt him.”

Liam argued a good case, and his charming voice made Carly want to believe him.

“That’s all very nice,” she said. “But still, all I’m hearing is about how people want to use Tiger. Walker is helping him, but he’s still trying to figure out what Tiger is and how he can be useful. You think Tiger’s the perfect guinea pig, and you believe you’re being nice by taking him home and sitting on him while you try out your Collars. You all want him for your own benefit. You don’t want him for himself.”

“I like him, Carly,” Liam said in a patient voice. “I want to see him happy. I can’t believe he’ll be happy running wild in northern Mexico, having to hunt for his food.”

“How do you know?” Carly glared up at him. “Have you ever once asked Tiger what he wants?”

Her eyes blurred with sudden tears. Having Carly near him had made Tiger calm and happy. Knowing she’d started a cub had made him happy.

“He’s a hard one to understand, I admit,” Liam said. “I truly want to find him to keep him from harm. And to keep others from being harmed by him.”

Carly wiped her eyes. “He won’t attack. Not unless someone deserves it.”

“And how can we be sure he’ll understand whether someone deserves it? Or when that line won’t be clear for him?”

“He knows.” Carly met Liam’s gaze without fear, and she spoke with conviction. “You could trust him, Liam. Let him go. Let him be free.”

Liam let out another long breath. “Love, if the humans find out I’ve lost a Shifter, hell will rain down upon me.”

Carly had no sympathy, not anymore. “Liam,” she said, “suck it up.”