Kenny gripped Tiger’s shirt, trying to stand on his arm and start climbing him. Tiger put up his other hand so the boy wouldn’t fall.
Sean answered without turning from the stove. “He got a call and had to leave town. Nothing to worry about.”
The words weren’t exactly a lie, at least, the part about Liam having to leave town wasn’t. Tiger smelled the lie in the second half of the sentence.
Nothing to worry about, my ass. “I need to talk to him.”
“Well, he’s needing to talk to you, Iron Man,” Sean said. “When he and Spike get back.”
“Spike went?” Tiger came alert. “Who’s taking care of Jordan? And where are Kim and Katriona?”
The need to know where the cubs were while their fathers were out of Shiftertown rose in a wave of worry. Cubs were vulnerable. Fathers should be with them.
“Kim’s at work, and Katriona is at Ellison’s being babysat by him and Maria. Jordan is being looked after by Myka and Spike’s grandmother.”
“You need to bring Jordan here, or send Dylan and Glory to him.” Tiger’s words came out as orders, staccato, firm. “There’s a danger in town—Walker—and Myka is human. Not strong enough to defend the cub against him. Neither is Spike’s grandmother.”
Sean turned around, spatula in hand. “Calm yourself, now. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but there’s no need for panicking. I’ll tell Dad.”
“Walker is secure?”
Sean’s eyes widened a little at all the military-like talk, but he nodded. “He’s still at Ronan’s. Ronan and Rebecca have got him covered.”
“I will talk to him too. Find out what he knows. No, I won’t kill him.” Tiger handed Kenny back to Andrea, making sure the baby was safely in his mother’s grasp before he let go. “I’ll let Ronan take care of holding him.”
Connor snorted a laugh. “In a bear hug.”
“If necessary,” Tiger said with a straight face.
“Wow.” Connor peered at him. “What have you been doing to him, Carly? I think he just made a joke.”
“We will have breakfast first,” Tiger said, pulling out a chair for Carly.
Carly finished draining her glass of juice. “You bet we will. I’m starving. I can’t remember when I’ve been this hungry.”
Connor burst out laughing. “Well, you would be, wouldn’t you? After that all-nighter?” He winked at Carly as he carried a plate piled high with pancakes to the table. “Better eat up, Carly. I have the feeling you’re going to get hungrier.”
Filled with delicious pancakes—buttermilk, blueberry, and chocolate chip—Carly walked with Tiger across the yards of Shiftertown to visit the Shifter called Ronan.
Carly had told Tiger he should go to Ronan’s alone while she went home, but he asked her to come with him. Asked her, but with a hint of need, and truthfully, Carly didn’t want to go home, not yet. Her time with Tiger was crazy, but she was floating in a bubble of comfort and warmth, and she didn’t want to burst it. Not yet.
She held Tiger’s hand as they walked, his gentle on hers. He didn’t seem to mind the other Shifters staring, but Carly did.
She saw right away that they weren’t staring at her, but at Tiger. Carly might have been a fly on Tiger’s back for all they noticed her. The Shifters’ gazes were for Tiger, faces unmoving but bodies tense, men subtly stepping in front of the few female Shifters they passed. All looked Tiger up and down, assessing.
Tiger noticed—how could he help it? He turned his head to meet stares, and gazes dropped swiftly when he did that. Heads would lift as soon as he passed, but none of the Shifters would lock eyes with him. That would be a challenge. Tiger might turn from his path, come over, ask why they were watching him.
The Shifters were afraid of him.
No one else wanted me in their house, Tiger had said in the car before the terrible wreck. Carly remembered only bits and pieces of the crash, but she fully remembered the bleakness in Tiger’s voice when he spoke the matter-of-fact words. Tiger lived in Liam’s house because he had nowhere else to go.
Carly grew suddenly angry at these Shifters who watched Tiger as though he were a strange monster in their midst. She thought of how Tiger had picked up baby Kenny this morning, how delicately he’d handled the boy, how trusting Kenny had been with him, and how trusting Katriona had been with him yesterday. The little boy, Kenny, was Sean’s, if Carly understood the relationships right, and Sean hadn’t worried a minute. Andrea had watched, as mothers did, but she didn’t worry either.
These Shifters who pulled back or looked away, afraid to confront Tiger but happy to stare, made Carly’s rage boil. She hadn’t said the phrase since childhood, but it seemed appropriate now.
“Take a picture,” she called out. “It lasts longer.”
Two Shifter men standing together—brothers from the looks of it—suddenly switched their gazes to Carly. Tiger growled, and they abruptly turned away, the two heading in opposite directions across a yard.
“You have fire, my mate,” Tiger said, squeezing her hand more tightly. “And no fear.”
The mate thing again. As soon as they figured out why Walker had been spying on Carly, and what he knew about the accident—she would sit Tiger down and have that long discussion with him.
But for now . . . Carly twined her fingers through Tiger’s as they walked on in the sunshine.
Ronan’s house sat well back from the street behind a garage that had been enclosed to make what looked like a guesthouse. Beyond that was a two-story house, larger than the others Carly had seen.
The door of the house popped open, and out ran a white-furred polar bear cub. Without stopping, the cub galloped straight for Tiger.
Tiger released Carly’s hand, dropped into a crouch, spread his arms, and took the full impact of the bear cub’s charge. Bear and man rolled over on the ground, dust and dried grass flying upward. The cub growled and snarled, but Tiger was silent as he pretended to wrestle with the little bear.
They writhed on the ground for several moments longer, the bear cub swiping black paws at Tiger, Tiger deflecting them gently. Finally Tiger was flat on his back, spread-eagled, the bear cub standing on top of him, growling his victory.
Tiger brought his arms up and started rubbing the bear, pulling him down into a hug. The cub made baby bear noises and nuzzled Tiger’s face.
Then the cub turned its head and saw Carly. He climbed quickly off Tiger and romped toward her.
Carly stepped back, waiting for the cub to jump and knock her flat too, but the cub only stopped and sniffed curiously around her feet. When it lifted its head, Carly put one hand down to stroke it. She found fur soft and yet wiry, rather like Tiger’s, but deeper, the pelt of a cold-weather animal.
The bear cub closed its eyes and leaned on Carly’s legs, rumbling in its belly. A warm delight worked through Carly as she kept petting, the cub crooning its pleasure.
“Olaf.” A petite young woman of about thirty, her dark hair streaked with red, had come out onto the porch. She carried a tiny baby in one competent arm, its shock of hair a rich red brown. “Let them come inside.”
Olaf nuzzled Carly’s hand one last time, then he took off across the yard, barreling past the woman and into the house.
“I’m Elizabeth,” the woman said as Tiger picked himself up off the ground and brushed grass from his jeans. “Ronan’s mate. You must be Carly.”
Carly walked up to the porch and stuck out her hand. “I sure am. Word travels fast.”
“You have no idea.” The woman was human, no Collar around her neck, cute in her cropped top and jeans, but with eyes that had seen a lot in life. The baby couldn’t have been more than a couple of months old, serenely sleeping in its T-shirt.