Dimitri yelled once, then let the yell cut off to be replaced with snarls. No words this time, just noise.
Charlie came hurrying with bandages and a sling. Kendrick had Charlie hold them while he quickly and competently wrapped Dimitri’s arm. He’d done this kind of thing before—setting breaks, sewing up shallow wounds, removing bullets and pellets from Shifters who ran into hunters. Trackers had their jobs; Kendrick had his.
Dimitri’s face was chalk white, moisture in his eyes, but he bore up, letting Kendrick settle his arm in the sling.
“You keep it still all day, even when it feels better,” Kendrick admonished. “Perfectly still, you got that?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Dimitri said, his voice barely above a whisper. Apparently, he remembered English again. “H-hey, Addie, wanna play n-nurse?”
“He’s all right,” Jaycee said, her usual robustness dimmed.
“Good,” Addison said. “Now what are you going to do about the tiger on the porch steps?”
She had a point. Kendrick approached, lifted a protesting Brett from Tiger’s back, and nudged the Bengal with his foot. “You need to talk to me.”
Tiger glanced up at him, worry in his tawny eyes. She was trying to leave. She must stay.
Kendrick didn’t need to ask who he meant. His gaze shot to Addison. “Where were you thinking to go?”
She gave him a stubborn look. “Home. Only I didn’t want to make a big production of it. Obviously, that ship has sailed.”
“Why?” Kendrick asked, but he was drowned out by his sons who swarmed off Tiger and made for Addison. They clung to her legs, the little tigers’ mewling shrill. Robbie sat down and howled.
“You can’t leave the cubs,” Kendrick said firmly. At the same time, he wanted to howl too. The thought of her going, and him discovering her absence too late, made a hole open up inside him. “You volunteered to help with them, remember?”
“You have plenty of people to take care of them now,” Addison said. “I came along to make sure they were all right, and they are.”
“Dimitri’s down for a bit,” Kendrick continued. Dimitri gestured at his sling, agreeing. “I need you here.” Kendrick turned his head and scowled at Jaycee. “Jaycee, why didn’t you tell me she was trying to leave? You were supposed to be watching out for her.”
Jaycee flicked a hard glance at Addison. Addison returned the look neutrally.
Jaycee swallowed. “It’s my fault,” she said in a quiet voice. “I told—”
“No, it isn’t,” Addison broke in quickly. “I’m feeling bad about leaving my sister alone, that’s all. I knew I couldn’t stay here forever.”
“Why?” Kendrick demanded. “Why can’t you stay?” Robbie’s wolf howls increased, an eardrum-piercing pitch.
Addison shouted over them. “Why? Because I have a life.”
“The life where you work low-paying waitress jobs, go home, get up, and start all over again?” Kendrick snarled. “That’s what you told me.”
“Don’t throw that back at me.” Addison pointed her forefinger at him. “It’s a better life than many people get. Plus I love my sister and kids, and they need me.”
“I need you.” Kendrick moved swiftly to her. “Get that through your head, Addison. Grab your things out of Charlie’s truck and put them back in our room.”
Addison didn’t move, except to lower her hand. “And if I choose not to?” she asked.
“You. Can’t. Choose. Not to.” The words jerked out of Kendrick, his desperation growing. He couldn’t let her out of his sight, and he couldn’t safely be around her either. This was going to kill him.
“Way to woo a girl, Kendrick,” Addison said, sparks in her eyes. “Who can resist commands and an implication that she’s slow on the uptake?”
“What?” Kendrick had no idea what she was talking about. Addison belonged with him, the cubs loved her, he needed her, end of discussion. Why Dimitri looked like he wanted to burst out laughing, Kendrick didn’t know. A second ago Dimitri had been tight with pain.
Jaycee, on the other hand, looked ashamed. Kendrick didn’t know the why of that either. In fact, the only being in this group who didn’t look tense was Tiger.
“Fine,” Kendrick said, his voice hardening. “I’ll woo you. Addison Price, under the light of the Father God and in front of witnesses, I claim you as mate.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“What?” Jaycee’s shriek jangled Addie’s nerves worse than Robbie’s howls—which had cut off abruptly as soon as his foster father had said the words, I claim you as mate. “Kendrick, you can’t!” Jaycee cried.
Zane started yowling again, and Brett morphed to human and threw his fists in the air. “Yesss! I told you she was going to be our new mom!”
Addie waved her hands. “Hold on a sec, hold on a sec. I have no idea what that all means.”
Dimitri boomed a laugh. “He mate-claimed you, sw-sweetie. This is awesome.”
Addie felt herself losing control of her life, of everything, very fast. “What the hell is a mate-claim?”
“It means that I desire you to be my mate,” Kendrick said. “I put my claim on you so all others will know you’re no longer fair game. In time, we will go through ceremonies, one under the sun, one under the full moon, and join as one.”
“We will, will we?” Addie’s stomach had squeezed into a tight ball. “Says who?”
“Tell her she can refuse it,” Jaycee said quickly. “Don’t leave that part out.”
“Suck it up, Jaycee,” Dimitri cut in, sounding happy. “It’s Kendrick’s choice, not yours.”
“I’m just saying, he can’t force her. She should know that.”
Kendrick remained silent, watching Addie with eyes that gave nothing away. The look eased the tightness in Addie’s stomach, but her thoughts spun in confusion. She and Kendrick needed to have a very, very long talk.
The look on Jaycee’s face was unmistakable—Kendrick’s declaration had been a blow to her. Addie hadn’t imagined her flash of despair. That despair made Addie speak gently instead of shouting as she wanted to.
“Tell you what, y’all—I’ll think about it. Don’t worry, little guys, I won’t run away yet. Your father and I will talk about this first.” Addie gave Kendrick a meaningful look, which he returned, his eyes sparkling.
Robbie ran around Addie’s feet, tail waving. Brett yelled, “Yay! Yay! Yay!” until Zane jumped on top of him with his little tiger body.
Tiger—not ignored; no one could ignore Tiger—rose slowly to his feet. He gave Addie another golden-eyed stare, this one approving, then turned around and walked away, his striped back swaying.
“Where’s he going?” Dimitri asked nervously.
“Probably to get his clothes,” Kendrick said. “Addison, go unpack. Dimitri, get inside and lie down. Jaycee . . .”
Kendrick turned to her. He didn’t lose his sternness, but his voice softened as though he knew Jaycee’s feelings for him, had always known. “Jaycee, walk the bounds. Check out anything odd and report. I’m going to talk to our tiger friend.”
He turned away before anyone could say a word and walked off after Tiger. The sun was fully up and shining hard, falling on his bronzed body and tight backside.
“I guess that’s why he’s the leader,” Addie remarked. “He leaves before you can argue with him.”
Dimitri nodded. “You hit the n-nail on the h-head.”
“He’s right about you, though,” Addie said, frowning at him. “Inside with you and into bed. I’ll ask Charlie to check on you later.”
“Aw,” Dimitri said, giving her a mock sigh, but he moved up the steps and into the house, a little unsteady on his feet.
Jaycee had already disappeared to obey Kendrick. Addie knew she needed to think very hard about what Kendrick had done, but she was numb as she walked to the picku
p to fetch her bag.
* * *
Kendrick found Tiger a little way down the drive. He’d turned human—a giant of a man with orange and black hair—and was rummaging in a duffel bag he’d pulled from his motorcycle. Shifters liked duffels—easy to throw all kinds of clothes into them in case they had to shift away from home.
Tiger had already put on jeans and now eased on a blue T-shirt with “SoCo Novelties” on the front, silently unfolding it down his torso. He gave Kendrick a critical once-over, turned back to the duffel, then pulled out and tossed him a T-shirt and sweatpants.
Kendrick got into the clothes, more to keep the sun off his skin than any worry about modesty. He and Tiger were nearly the same size, Tiger a little larger, Tiger’s eyes a golden version of Kendrick’s green ones.
“What does Dylan want?” Kendrick asked him.
Tiger gave him a slow blink, looking slightly puzzled. “Dylan didn’t send me.”
Kendrick beckoned him under the shadows of a mesquite. Shade could take ten degrees off the three-digit temps that happened even in May. “Then why are you here, and how did you find me. Seamus told you where I was?”
“I haven’t talked to Seamus,” Tiger said. “I saw your mate in San Antonio. Knew she was yours. I looked for her to make sure she was all right. And your cubs.”
Kendrick followed the disjointed speech with growing uneasiness. “How did you find us? How many others know? I can’t have the entire Shiftertown coming out here.” Not to mention the Shifters who wanted to kill him. If too many knew about this place, his plans would have to change again.
Tiger waited until he finished. “I can find people. It’s what I do. She broadcast scent—yours—in a big way. It took me two days to track her down. I told no one, and they did not notice what I did.” He huffed in some irritation. “Now you tell me I could have hitched a ride with Seamus.”
Kendrick folded his arms. “Now that you know where we are, what are you going to do? Report to Dylan? To Liam?”
Tiger shook his head. “I report to no one. Except to my mate.” His hard face softened in a hurry. “Carly worries about me.”
Kendrick couldn’t blame her. Tiger had been created in a human laboratory, how, Kendrick didn’t really want to know, and maybe even Tiger didn’t know fully. Tiger had abilities that other Shifters did not—every sense heightened plus an uncanny way of knowing when things were going to happen. Kendrick had only met him once before but he’d been struck with how the quiet Tiger knew more about the world around him than any Shifter he’d ever met. He also didn’t quite fit into that world, only looking comfortable when he talked about his mate, a human woman called Carly.
“Again, I ask—what are you going to do?” Kendrick said. “I don’t want my Shifters, my cubs, my mate to be compromised. I have things to do, actions to plan.”
“Is she all right?” Tiger asked, looking concerned. “Your mate? When I saw her in San Antonio, I knew she was with you, and I knew something was wrong.”
Kendrick’s alarm grew. “Something wrong? With Addison? What?”
“I don’t know.” Tiger said the words slowly. “That’s why I came.”
Kendrick looked up the drive toward the house. The door was closed now, everyone inside, Jaycee presumably walking the borders of the property, obeying orders no matter what her feelings.
He was going to have to have a talk with Jaycee about Addison. It would hurt Jaycee, which hurt him, but he needed her to understand.
“I haven’t done anything to Addison,” Kendrick said. “She’s been caught up in my life. I could have shut her out, but I didn’t. I want her to be with me. I know I should have let her go today.”
Tiger studied him, his golden eyes shrewd. “It wouldn’t matter. If you’d sent her away, you’d have found her again, or she’d have found you. If you are meant to be together, you will be together.”
“The Goddess has planned it, you mean?” Kendrick asked skeptically. As Guardian, he had a measure of Goddess magic inside him, but he knew that the Goddess didn’t interfere in Shifter business more than she could help it.
Tiger shrugged. “I was not made by the Goddess, but I know mates find each other. Why else would I have been running in the exact spot that Carly’s car broke down? Why else would you have been with Addison when your life went wrong?”
“Went wrong-er,” Kendrick corrected him. “We can argue about fate or destiny or the Goddess all day, but meanwhile I have shit to take care of.” He met Tiger’s gaze, neither of them looking away.
Kendrick knew that in the Austin Shiftertown, Tiger wasn’t a clan leader or a leader of any kind—he wasn’t regarded the same way other alphas were. But his dominance existed without question.
Tiger answered to no one and didn’t care who answered to him. Within seconds of meeting him the first time, Kendrick had known that.
“I could use your help,” Kendrick said. “If you’re so good at tracking . . .”
Tiger cut him off. “I know all about you Kendrick Shaughnessy. Walker Danielson—the human who invaded your compound with smoke bombs and flash grenades—is my friend. He told me everything. Seamus is also my friend. You seek the rest of your Shifters, the ones you lost. You seek to build a new place for them. You are afraid that some of those Shifters have turned on you, will destroy you and all you have worked for. You aren’t wrong. These are the same who are working to destroy all Shifters, hurting my friends.” He stopped, tamping down growing anger, and gave Kendrick a quiet nod. “I will help you.”
Kendrick exhaled in relief. Tiger would make a formidable ally—or an unstoppable enemy. He’d take ally any day.
“Thank you,” he said to Tiger. “Here’s what I need you to do . . .”
* * *
The ancient being known as Ben did his best research in bars and dives. He told himself this as he sat in the run-down bar in a hole-in-the wall town on the outskirts of Houston.
The giant city had grown out to swallow the countryside, but in this little town, the seedy dive was about all there was for entertainment. The roadhouse drew people from up and down the highway, or from out of the metropolis, giving them an alternative to chain restaurants or slick new gastro-pubs serving ultra-organic food no one had ever heard of.
This place was real enough. Gang bikers stopped off here, as did disreputable-looking men with nothing to do but down beer and stare at the small television above the bar.
Shifters came here too, ones hiding their Collars under hoodies and others with no Collars at all.
They didn’t pay much attention to Ben, but then, Ben wasn’t Shifter. Occasionally one of the Shifters would send Ben a puzzled look, but that was because Ben didn’t smell human either.
He also wasn’t Fae, but was technically a product of Faerie. More things lived in Faerie than the hoch alfar, or High Fae—those over-the-top arrogant but very powerful and cruel bastards who ruled the place. There were beings far more ancient in the Fae realms—the dokk alfar—Dark Fae—and the things like Ben, who were considered monsters by all but their own kind.
Ben had been living in the human world for a thousand years. He’d learned to look human, quickly growing tired of humans screaming and fleeing at the sight of him, or worse, trying to hunt and kill him. Humans in Ben’s first days out of Faerie had called him demon and wanted to do unspeakable things to him, when all Ben had wanted was a beer.
Now he looked human, like one of the guys in this bar. The tatts helped him with his disguise and also kept more aggressive people away from him. No one wanted to tangle with a dude who looked like he broke necks for a living.
Ben had used this guise up in Las Vegas when he’d helped out Misty Granger—sweet girl—and her not-so-sweet mate, Graham. Well, those two kids were happy now and cubs would be coming to them soon.
In North Carolina, he’d taken the guise of Gil, part Native A
merican cop and all-around nice guy. There, he’d helped another sweet woman, Kenzie, when she and her mate had been beset with problems. He’d worn out his welcome, though, at least with Kenzie’s take-no-shit mate, Bowman, and decided to hit the road.
Why did the nice ones always end up with the hard-asses? Ben shook his head regretfully. He’d have to find him a woman who wasn’t immune to the charms of Ben, the magical and all-wise.
Addison, now. She was pretty, and another sweetheart. He sighed. She’d gazed at Kendrick with obvious longing in her eyes, and Kendrick’s look back at her told Ben that the man had already lost his heart but just didn’t want to admit it.
It had to be the height, Ben decided. Shifter males were all about a foot taller than Ben, who clocked in at five eight on a good day. He’d learned how to change his appearance to blend in with humans, but so far, Ben had never been able to change his height. So unfair.
He hadn’t come here, however, to think wistful thoughts about beautiful women, Shifter or otherwise. He’d come to eavesdrop on Shifters.
He could easily hear the ones who met at a table in the far corner—not because of any magical spell, but because he’d put a bug under the table where they habitually gathered. A small spell kept them from accidentally finding the little microphone, that was true, but technology definitely helped.
“Twenty more in place,” a Feline’s gravelly voice came in through the receiver in Ben’s ear. “What about the stash?”
“Hard to get to,” a Lupine answered him. “Dylan keeps it pretty protected, and it’s not easy to get past Dylan. I don’t want him retaliating on me, or mine.”
“We’ll have to think of another way then,” the Feline said.
“No shit. How did they get it in the first place?”
“The Austin Guardian’s mate,” the Feline said. “She’s their ‘in’ with the Fae. But there are ways around that. But Collars are not our first priority, not yet. We’ll work on it. Top priority is—have we found a place?”