White Tiger (A Shifter's Unbound Novel) (12 page)

They shared with Kendrick the extreme confidence that ran to arrogance, the graceful way of doing something as simple as walking, and a way of being aware of every detail around them.

A third Shifter, younger than the other two, jogged through the parking lot toward them. The first two stopped and waited for him.

One of the older Shifters was tattooed on his neck, down his arms, and on his chest—the tatts obviously ran under the T-shirt. He had more swiftness of movement than the other two, his brown eyes quick. He wore his hair buzzed almost completely, with only a black shadow on his head.

The younger was restless, but no less large than the tattooed guy. He had dark hair, a thick shock of it, and unlike the other two, had a ready smile and laughter.

The third made Addie halt for a stride. He was larger than the others, and he looked uncomfortable to be in this parking lot, surrounded by people, cars, and even his fellow Shifters. His hair, though, caught her attention most of all. It was black streaked with a distinctive red-orange.

Except for the color, it looked very much like Kendrick’s hair.

A tiger.

At that moment, the tiger Shifter’s gaze moved to fix directly on Addie.

His eyes were yellow-gold, distinct even at this distance. His face was still, as was his body, no movement at all,
though his friends were speaking to each other, their voices rumbling with the same deep timbre of Kendrick.

Addie made herself continue walking but the golden gaze trained on her, and she couldn’t look away.

The younger Shifter noticed the tiger’s motionlessness. “What’s up, big guy?” The sentence floated across the shimmers of heat off the parked cars.

The tiger dragged his gaze away from Addie and answered in a low growl. Addie, released, jogged a few steps to catch up with Charlie.

Her breath came fast, her need to rush to the safety of the pickup overwhelming. From the vantage point of the passenger seat in Charlie’s truck, Addie watched the three Shifters move on together toward the hardware store.

The tiger one turned around, and Addie was sure she felt his stare go right to the truck, and to her inside it.

T
he second incident wasn’t so much an incident as it was Charlie. In spite of Addie’s nervousness at seeing the Shifters, Charlie followed the plan of stopping at the big grocery store a few exits down the freeway and loading up with food and other supplies.

No Shifters appeared, and Addie told herself to relax. Those Shifters couldn’t possibly have known who she was or that she even knew Kendrick. She was just another Texas girl shopping in town with her elderly relative.

She made herself enjoy picking out the foodstuffs she’d use to create meals and buying kitschy toys for the cubs, but she remained nervous until they had the truck loaded up and were heading back out of the city.

Once they were on the road, Charlie decided to grill her. “You and Kendrick aren’t husband and wife, are you?” He gave her a stare as perceptive as any Shifter’s.

Addie’s face went hot. “No. We’re not.”

Charlie shrugged, hands on the wheel. “Well, now, I’m not a stickler for getting a piece of paper saying a couple is together. I grew up in the sixties and was a wild boy for a time. Edna and me lived together for a couple years before
we finally tied the knot—to the relief of our parents.” He chuckled in memory. “But that’s not what I meant. You two aren’t together at all. It’s like you’re strangers.”

“Sort of,” Addie said. “Kendrick was a customer in the diner. I came here with him to help him look after his cubs.” She paused as Charlie watched her, the man knowing there was more to it than that. Addie groped for explanations, uncertain of her own motives. “I wanted to make sure the cubs were all right. And Kendrick. I just wanted to.”

“Uh huh. But he doesn’t wear a Collar like those Shifters we saw did.”

“I know.” Addie closed her mouth after that. What Kendrick had told her could get him killed.

“Hmm.” Charlie pulled out around a slow car on the two-lane highway then concentrated on getting back before an oncoming eighteen-wheeler reached them. “You need to be careful, honey,” he said as soon as he was back in the right lane. “Shifters aren’t like us. I don’t mean he’s evil or anything, but they have different ways of looking at things. I mean, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we got back and found him and his cubs gone. Nowhere to be found.”

“I know,” Addie said, glumly this time. She feared that too. Kendrick had no obligation to her. He’d sprung into her life and could disappear back out of it without much effort.

“So don’t pin your hopes on him,” Charlie said. “You’re a nice young woman. I’d hate to watch you get your heart broken.”

“It might be too late.” Addie let out a sigh. “I’ve been burned in relationships before. You’d think I’d learn to be cautious.”

“The heart does what the heart does,” Charlie said. “We can’t pick and choose who we fall for. Nothing’s that nice and neat. You might find yourself madly in love with someone who doesn’t have any feelings whatsoever for you back. It’s the chance we take.”

“You and Edna worked out,” Addie said. She’d seen plenty of pictures of the woman around the house, from very young woman to an older woman still flushed with the beauty of her youth.

“Don’t try to change the subject.” Charlie’s mouth twitched. “It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for us either. Her father couldn’t abide me, a ranch hand who was always dirty. He wanted Edna to marry someone rich and powerful, who worked in an office. That was never going to be me. I was drafted into ’Nam, and when I came back—thanking God every day that I’d made it—I grabbed Edna and said we were going to be together. I wasn’t risking losing her. Her parents kicked up a fuss, and we ran off together, joined a commune, and shacked up.” He laughed. “We thought we were rebels. We were just poor as dirt and madly in love. We finally decided we wanted a real house with a bathroom we didn’t share with ten other people, and left. I went back to ranching, and Edna and me married. We still didn’t have much money, but we didn’t care. We were together forty years.”

Addie listened, her eyes moist. “That’s a sweet story.”

“It ain’t sweet, young lady. It was real life.”

“Yeah, but I like your real life.”

Charlie softened. “My point is, me and Edna both wanted the same thing. That’s important. You need to find out what Kendrick wants, what he can give you. If you both need something too different, you should brace yourself for having to say good-bye. Sorry to have to tell you that.”

Addie nodded, not trusting herself to answer. The green fields around Hill Country gave way to hot, dusty flatlands as they went south and west, back into the nothingness from whence they’d come.

Charlie was right, and she knew it. Kendrick’s life was vastly different from Addie’s. He was running from people who wanted to shoot him, hiding out from other Shifters. She understood why he’d needed to hide from humans, who wanted to sequester Shifters for the good of humanity, which Addie had never agreed with. Not that she’d ever given it much thought, she realized uncomfortably.

The three Shifters in the parking lot had seemed like friends to each other, companions. The younger one had stood close to the others, talking and laughing in perfect trust. In that respect, they didn’t seem much different from humans.

But they were different, the news media was always quick to emphasize. Shifters looked human and could take human traits, but they were different,
other
. And always would be.

Charlie pulled into to his drive past the split-rail fence and headed up for the house. Addie held her breath as she looked about for signs of Kendrick, then released it in relief when she saw the motorcycle still parked behind a clump of mesquite. Kendrick hadn’t gone.

No one was in the house, however. Addie checked all the rooms but found no Kendrick, no Robbie, no Zane and Brett.

She was about to rush back out to voice her worries to Charlie when she spotted them outside the back door, in the shade of a clump of live oak Charlie said he’d planted once upon a time.

A huge white tiger lay stretched out on the ground, his large paws in front of him. As Addie watched, one very tiny white tiger jumped onto the tiger’s back and slid off; another was busily chewing on one of the big tiger’s ears. A wolf pup, tail waving, darted in and out, avoiding the smaller cubs’ claws and teeth, while he teased both them and the large tiger.

Kendrick kept a careful eye on where the cubs were, Addie saw, while he let them tug on his ears, his paws, his tail. He rumbled deep in his chest, and the tiger cubs answered in mewls and yowls. Robbie gave the occasional yip.

“Oh, I wish I had a camera,” Addie said.

Kendrick raised his head. His green eyes focused on her, and the rumble grew to a soft snarl.

The cubs leapt away from Kendrick and swarmed to Addie. They ran around her feet, bodies wriggling in excitement, the tiger cubs trying to climb her blue-jeaned legs.

Kendrick rose to his feet and ambled over in a stride that showed the rippling strength of his shoulders, the power of his tiger body. He caught the cub trying to climb Addie by the scruff, lifting him high.

Growling admonition, he carried the tiger cub, dangling from his mouth, into the house. Charlie held the door wide for him. The other two cubs abandoned Addie and rushed after their father.

By the time Addie entered the house, the four had
disappeared, but soon the little boys, shifted and dressed, ran back to the kitchen.

“What did you bring us?” Brett demanded at the top of his voice.

“Lots of stuff,” Addie said, as excited as he was.

She rummaged in the bags and brought out little cars and other toys her nephew had liked when he’d been their age, coloring books and crayons, colored pencils for Robbie. She’d also brought comic books and magazines, not knowing what little Shifter boys would like to read, or even if they could. They lost no time in grabbing everything in sight and racing back to their room to go through it.

Addie helped Charlie put away the groceries. By the time they’d finished Kendrick emerged, the sheathed sword in his hand. He’d dressed fully, but the eyes regarding her were pure Shifter.

“I need to talk to you,” Addie said to him, jerking her head at the back door.

Kendrick’s brows went up, but he walked past her without a word and outside. Charlie watched them go, giving Addie a warning look.

“You like to talk,” Kendrick said as they stopped in the middle of the backyard. He laid the sword beside him. Charlie had once had a lawn here, it was obvious, but weeds had taken it over and now it was a field of brown, dried wisps. “Maybe we should go to the barn.”

“I don’t think so.” Addie shivered then gave him a severe look. “I want to actually
talk
this time.”

The amusement in Kendrick’s eyes was warm. “I can’t for long. I’ve set up the meeting with Seamus. He’ll be there soon.”

Addie’s worries returned. “Do you still think you should meet him alone? Can you trust him?”

Kendrick shrugged. “I have to find out one way or another.”

Addie looked up at him. “Kendrick, when I was in San Antonio, I saw some Shifters.”

He stopped, any merriment he’d found in the conversation gone. “Where?”

Addie quickly sketched the scene and described the Shifters. “I think one of them was a tiger.”

Kendrick’s face had gone grim, his eyes lightening almost to gray. “Did he see you?”

“Yes.”

“Shit,” Kendrick said softly.

He turned away from Addie, put his hands on his hips, and stared up at the cloudless sky. His fingers quivered against his jeans.

“I don’t think they could have known I had a connection to you,” Addie said. “I was just another customer coming out of the store, for all he knew.”

Kendrick turned around. “How close were you to them?”

Addie thought about it. “A couple car lengths plus the width of the lane, I think. How much is that? Twenty feet? Thirty? Hell if I know how long cars are or how much space is in parking lot aisles.”

Kendrick’s jaw tightened. “It might have been far enough. Especially with all the cars, exhaust, people . . .”

He was speaking to himself, Addie realized, trying to sound reassuring. “Far enough for what?”

“Shifters can scent. Sometimes that sense is stronger than sight or hearing. If they were close enough, they could have scented me on you.”

Addie wrinkled her nose. “Seriously? That’s unsettling.”

“It’s normal. But those Shifters have never met you, and I met them only once. They might not remember my scent from so brief a meeting six months ago. Since then, no Shifter from their group has seen me except Dylan.” Again, he sounded as though trying to reassure himself.

“Would they smell your scent on Dylan?” Addie asked, thinking it through. “If he spends time with you, then goes back home . . .”

“Dylan’s careful about what scents he carries. He’s the most cautious Shifter I’ve ever known. If Dylan didn’t want his son’s trackers to know my scent, he’d keep it from them.”

How, Addie wondered? Long showers? Special soap? Her thoughts kept turning. “How do you know they were Dylan’s
son’s trackers? They could have been Shifters from anywhere, right?”

“If they’re in South Texas, Dylan knows them. Besides, you described them to perfection. There might be other Shifters who look like Spike and Connor, but there aren’t any other tigers. Except me.”

The note of sadness in his voice tugged at Addie. Of course, his parents would have been tigers, and he’d never spoken of them. Because they’d passed away? “No? I thought there’d be all kinds of big cat Shifters, tigers most of all.”

Kendrick shook his head. “Felines tend to be mostly lions and leopards, with a few jaguars and smaller cats. There might be more tigers in the world but I don’t know about them. I didn’t know about that particular tiger until I met Dylan.”

“He watched me pretty closely,” Addie said. “Scared me a little.”

“Good. You should be scared of him.” Kendrick stepped to her, his hands on her arms cutting the chill. “Be a little scared, Addison. It will keep you safe.”

“Maybe, but what will keep
you
safe? I want to go to this meeting with you.”

Kendrick’s gentling look hardened again. “No.”

“Come on, Kendrick, think about it. What if Seamus turns on you? Who’s going to run for help? Plus I could keep him covered with Charlie’s shotgun. I know how to use one.”

Kendrick growled, fingers pressing down. “The last thing I need is you waving around a firearm. Humans with guns are even more dangerous than Shifters. If I think Seamus is about to betray me, I’ll . . . take care of it.”

Addie stopped. “You mean you’d kill him.” She let her voice go quiet. “Like you did those Shifters at the diner.”

Kendrick gave her a brief nod. “If I have to.”

The pain in his eyes told Addie much. He wanted this Seamus to be trustworthy, his friend, but he feared betrayal. The look of grief she’d seen when he’d thrust the sword through the other Shifter hadn’t been feigned.

“You need someone you can trust to watch your back,” Addie said.

“I need someone I can trust to watch my cubs,” Kendrick
returned. “Looking around at all the candidates, that would be, hmm,
you
.”