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.”