Carly touched her lips to the corner of his mouth again, then she lifted away, her brows drawn down over her gray green eyes.
Her scent had changed, ever so slightly, but Tiger sensed it. She’d been nervous, worried, angry, confused. Now into the mix came wanting. She desired Tiger. That fact spun around and settled in a hot point deep inside him.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, her puzzlement rising again. Carly touched his face with light fingertips, then she gave him a surprised smile. “Haven’t you ever kissed anyone before?”
“No.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No.”
Tiger had had a mate, the female ripped away from him after he’d impregnated her, but they’d never kissed. It had been animalistic, that mating, though he’d become fervently attached to her, had come apart in grief when she’d died. What Carly had just done was different from anything he’d ever experienced.
“Wow.” Carly skimmed her fingertips across his lips, drawing fire. “I don’t think I’ve met a man who was a virgin.”
“I had a mate. She had a cub.”
“Ah. Then not a virgin. But you’ve never kissed?”
“No.”
“That’s weird. Wait, you had a mate?” Carly asked, her smile going away. “Where is she now? And your kid?”
“They died.”
The words came out flat and didn’t say everything he needed them to. Words couldn’t. Ever.
Carly’s look became shocked, her scent tinged with compassion. “Oh, Tiger, I’m so sorry.” She ran her hands over his shoulders, as though trying to soothe the tension there. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tease you.”
“Their deaths were not your fault.” Again the words fell flat. Tiger couldn’t explain, couldn’t make her understand why he wanted her to feel better.
“I mean, I’m sorry for you. That she died. That the child died. That must have been awful.”
“Yes.”
Carly’s voice softened. She exuded sympathy, even more than had Iona, or any other Shifter. “There’s more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there?” she asked.
Tiger wasn’t sure what that meant—he knew English, but he’d learned it from scientists, who didn’t so much talk to him as at him or over him.
When he wasn’t certain, he didn’t answer, but Carly didn’t seem to mind. She continued to touch his face, her eyes on his, her smile returning.
“Aw, Dad, what the fuck?” Liam’s Irish tones boomed.
Tiger saw no reason to turn from Carly as Liam banged his way into the living room where his father was wrapping more duct tape around Walker on the floor. Tiger scented Liam and his daughter, Katriona, but not Kim.
“Dad, what did you do?”
“Talk to your nephew and Tiger,” Dylan said calmly. “The man on your rug is Shifter Bureau.”
Liam went silent as he contemplated the situation. Tiger noticed that Connor had disappeared upstairs.
Liam, a talker, didn’t stay silent long. “Why is he here, passed out and trussed up, and why are you here?” He pointed a blunt finger at Carly.
Liam’s daughter, a year and a few months old, was perched on her father’s shoulders, her dark curly hair and blue eyes proclaiming her the Morrissey she was. She saw Tiger and stretched out her hands.
“Tigger!”
Tigger was the name of a character in a children’s story, and Katriona insisted on giving the name to Tiger. Tiger didn’t mind. He turned away from Carly and walked slowly to Liam, indicating he’d take the cub if Liam was willing to hand her off. He wouldn’t reach for her uninvited, no. Liam needed to make the decision.
Liam’s stance exuded more annoyance than anger. He hauled Katriona from his shoulders, holding her out to Tiger before joining his father over Walker’s body.
Tiger closed his hands carefully around Katriona’s torso and lifted her high into the air. She squealed and laughed as she always did, then cuddled down against his chest as he held her close.
Katriona’s curly hair tickled Tiger’s chin as she looked around with interest at everything happening in the living room. Tiger’s body unclenched, as it always did when he was around the cubs. When his instincts got out of control, a cub’s presence could make his animal nature stop and his thoughts cease whirling.
“Well, aren’t you the cutest thing?” Carly poked Katriona in the tummy. “What’s your name, honey?”
“’Trina,” she said.
“Katriona,” Tiger rumbled. “She can’t say the whole word yet.”
“A pretty name for a pretty girl.” Carly seemed delighted with Kat.
“’Nk you,” Kat said.
Liam’s scent broke Tiger’s focus on Carly and Kat as Liam himself stopped in front of them. “Excuse me, if I can be interrupting this sweet little moment. Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on? Seeing as I heard Connor lock himself in his room, which means he’s scared about what I’m going to do, and that means there’s something for him to be worrying about. Isn’t there?”
CHAPTER NINE
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Carly said. She broke into a smile again as she tickled Katriona’s stomach. She couldn’t know how beautiful she looked when she did that. “All I know is, his name is Walker Danielson, he was spying on me, and Tiger caught him and knocked him out. He’s also friends with a professor who wants me to come and talk to you and write reports about you for him. For a research project, he said. Wants me to be his assistant. Anyway, Connor was worried Tiger would hurt Walker even more, so I thought, why not bring him to you and have you talk to him? He’s from the Shifter Bureau, and y’all are Shifters.”
Liam listened, his blue gaze trained on Carly’s face. “And Connor wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would he?”
“Connor was doing his best,” Carly said. “He was scared. Give the kid a break, all right?”
Liam moved the slightest bit closer to her. “And you? Are you scared?”
Carly stepped back into Tiger, and Tiger put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m a little afraid, sure,” she said. “It’s not every day I slap a piece of duct tape over a man’s mouth and stuff him into my trunk. And y’all are not reassuring. If Tiger weren’t here, my knees would be knocking together. But your daughter is obnoxiously sweet.”
Liam’s expression softened as he glanced at Katriona. “You only say that because you’re not chasing her all hours of the day and night. Mum goes to the office, and Da stays home and looks after this wee monster. I thought it was bad when she was crawling.”
“Looks like Tiger makes a good babysitter.”
“He does, that,” Liam said. “But he spoils her rotten. Lets her get away with way too much.”
“She’s a Shifter, right?” Carly asked. “What does she turn into?”
“Nothing yet. Her mother’s human, so Kat was born human, and she won’t start shifting into her beastie until she’s about three. She’s a Morrissey, so she’ll have mostly lion in her. Feline Shifters were bred from all big cats, but families tend toward one species or the other. Except Tiger. He seems to be all tiger, interestingly enough.”
“Tigger,” Kat corrected him.
“Yes, love. Is that the kind of thing your professor friend wants you to be reporting?” The dangerous glint was back in Liam’s eye. But Tiger knew Liam wouldn’t hurt Carly, not physically. First, because Liam only attacked true dangers, and second, because Liam would never get through Tiger to touch her.