“He’s not my friend,” Carly said. “I didn’t like him, if you want to know the truth. I didn’t tell him I’d work for him, because I already have a job—which reminds me, I need to go so I can get to it and not lose it. My boss cut me some slack, because my day yesterday was truly shitty, but he’s not going to give me a permanent vacation.”
Leaving. No. Tiger’s hand tightened on Carly’s shoulder. Not leaving, not for the wide world and its dangers, not without him.
Liam wasn’t finished with his interrogation. “And what is this job?”
“I’m an assistant and receptionist at an art gallery. And no, that doesn’t mean I sit and do my nails. I take orders and keep track of them, do the inventory, sell to walk-in customers, set up receptions and such for the artists, and set up exhibit openings, which are a lot more work than they seem, believe you me. Basically anything Armand needs help with, I do.”
Liam’s gaze didn’t move as he took in her words, also taking in, Tiger knew, her scent, her body language, and the nuances behind them.
“All right,” Liam said as Carly wound down. “You go off and get ready for work, and we’ll deal with duct-tape man.”
“I will go with her.” No way would Tiger let her drive off alone, into danger. The professor’s gun-toting friend might have been rendered harmless for now, but there might be more like Walker out there. Plus, when Walker’s disappearance was discovered, Carly’s house would be first on the list of places to look.
“It’s all right,” Carly said quickly, looking up at Tiger. “I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be fine. I’ll go with you.”
“Yes, you will,” Liam said to Tiger. “But not just you. Let me see which of my trackers is in need of something to do.”
“What are you talking about now? Damn it.” A cell phone pealed, and Carly dug through the giant bin of her purse until she brought it out, nearly dropping it in the process. She looked at the readout, frowned in a puzzled way, and answered it.
“Hello? Who is . . . ?”
Her face changed from curiosity to outrage in the space of a second. “Are you kidding me? Are you . . .” She looked around at the Shifters, all of whom were watching her closely, and let out a breath. “Hang on. I have to take this.” She lowered the phone as she walked out through the kitchen and onto the back porch. Tiger, bouncing Kat, went right after her.
“Say that again?” Carly yelled into the phone, pressing it against her ear. “Ethan wants to sue me?”
“He has a list of complaints, including bringing a Shifter in to attack him.”
Carly’s rage changed from the simmer to which she’d managed to lower it to a full-blown boil. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
The smooth voice of one of Ethan’s friends, who happened to be a lawyer, continued: “You returned his car damaged and are in possession of a number of expensive items he’s given you, including a sixty-thousand-dollar engagement ring.”
“Sixty-thousand?” Carly thought about the ring that was tucked into her jewelry box, with no lock, no alarm system on her house. “What, is he stupid?”
“If you want, Carly, you and I can settle this. It doesn’t have to go to court.”
“To court? He cheats on me, and he wants to take me to court?”
“Now, Carly, calm down. We can—”
His voice cut off as Carly slammed her thumb on the End button. She stopped herself from flinging the phone off the porch and into the green, because it was her phone, and expensive. She settled for throwing it—hard—back into her purse, where it clattered against her sunglasses case.
She turned around to find Tiger standing three feet behind her, the glower on his face telling her he’d heard everything. Didn’t matter. Ethan was a dickhead, and she didn’t care who knew it.
“I have to go,” Carly said. The hour was early enough that she’d have time to go home, get changed, stop at Ethan’s, and drive to the gallery. The stop at Ethan’s wouldn’t take long.
“I’ll go with you,” Tiger repeated. He’d planted himself so stubbornly in her path, she’d never get around him even if she tried to force her way.
“Fine. I don’t have time to argue. You might want to leave the kid, though. My language is going to get ugly.”
Tiger held Katriona out, not to Liam but to Sean, who was approaching through the backyard. With him was a guy with a cowboy hat who studied Carly and Tiger in open curiosity.
Sean took Katriona into his hands with a bemused expression. Carly pushed past him and descended the porch steps, hurrying around the house and down the driveway to her own car. Tiger was right behind her, sliding into the passenger seat as Carly climbed behind the wheel and started it up.
Before she could pull from the curb, the back door opened and the cowboy dove in. He yanked his feet clear and shut the door as Carly peeled out into the street.
Other Shifters were out in the early-morning sunshine, walking or just standing in yards or on porches. Every single one stopped what they were doing and stared the predatory stare as Carly sped down the road to make her way out of Shiftertown.
“Whoa,” the cowboy Shifter said as the car rocketed forward. “Maybe I should drive.”
“And you are?” Carly asked, tearing around a corner and sending him down into the seat.
The man righted himself and clicked on a seat belt. “I’m Ellison Rowe. Lupine Shifter.”
“Lupine?” Carly asked, distracted. She whisked the car around another corner and onto Fifty-first, heading west.
“Wolf, darlin’.” Ellison clutched the back of the seat as Carly sped between two cars and around a truck. “Take it easy, sweetheart. I’m just mated. I want to live long enough to put a cub in the nursery.”
“I’m so sorry,” Carly said, putting on her sugary sweet voice. “I’m just mad at all things male right now, and would really like to know what are you doing in my car?”
“Liam sent me.”
“To keep an eye on me?”
Ellison pointed at Tiger. “No, to keep an eye on him. You seem to have things under control.”
“Then you’ll have to put up with how I drive.” Carly smiled at him in the rearview. “And you can help me carry things.”
Ellison tossed his hat onto the seat beside him, scraped a hand through blond hair, and grinned back at her. “That’s what I live for.”
Carly got herself showered and dressed for work in record time, including doing her hair and makeup. She enjoyed sliding into her prettiest sheath dress, a silk moiré that was bright green to go with her eyes, plus jewelry that Ethan hadn’t bought her—her earrings had come from her mother, the dangling gold necklace from her oldest sister, Althea.
She put on killer high heels that made her legs look wicked and red lipstick that made her mouth ready for kissing. But not for Ethan. Oh, no.
Carly headed out to the front room, where Tiger and Ellison were doing what Connor had enjoyed doing when he was here, watching sports on cable television. While she moved down the hall, she heard Ellison saying to Tiger, “No, see, this guy over here caught the ball, so even though this guy hit it well, he can’t stay on first base. He’s out.”
A full-grown American male who didn’t understand baseball? Shifter or not, that had to be a first.
Carly nearly danced into the living room, and Ellison rose swiftly from the couch. “Well, damn.”
Tiger said nothing at all. His gaze roved Carly, lingering on her legs and then on the curve of her waist.