White Tiger (A Shifter's Unbound Novel) (6 page)

Addie became aware that other eyes were on them, two pairs of bright green ones and one steadfast gray.

“Dad,” Zane said in his small but surprisingly strong voice. “Addie
is
going to be our new mom, isn’t she?”

Addie turned to him in surprise. Zane was looking up at her, so much eagerness in his expression that it broke her heart.

“Zane,” Kendrick said, admonishing.

Addie held up her hand, her heart beating faster. “No, wait. This is interesting. Has there been discussion on the topic?”

“No.” Kendrick’s brows came down, and the word was abrupt. “The cubs, they’re . . . missing their mother.”

Who wasn’t around anymore
, Addie took it. “What happened to her?”

“Dead.” Again Kendrick’s word was abrupt, devoid of emotion.

“I’m sorry.” Addie felt bad for prying but she was coming to understand that with Kendrick, information had to be dragged out of him a piece at a time. “What about Robbie?”

“His parents were killed. They left him to me.”

“I’m sorry, Robbie,” Addie said, turning to him. “I lost my mom and dad too. My sister took care of me from the time I was fourteen.”

Robbie only looked at her. She read sorrow in him, sorrow he tried to hide while he dealt with it. It was wrong for kids to lose their parents, their anchors in the world, too soon.

All of them, Zane, Brett, Robbie, and Kendrick, had sadness in their eyes. Too much of it. Addie wanted to do something to see the kids laughing and happy, if only for a few moments.

“So, now what?” Addie lifted the purse she’d dropped to a chair and rummaged through it. “I should call my sister and let her know I’m all right—”

A large hand clamped over her cell phone and firmly took it from her. “No.”

Addie reached for it. “She’ll be worried about me. I was arrested—well, almost arrested.”

“Addison.” Kendrick held the phone away from her. “I can’t let them track a call here.”

“I understand that. But I’m going to have to call someone, somehow. You’ve kind of stranded me out here.”

“I know.” Kendrick remained in place, the phone in his hand. He stood rigidly, his eyes holding a darkness but also the tiniest hope. “Addison, I don’t have anywhere to take you where you’ll be safe. Not right now.”

A lump lodged in Addie’s throat. She hadn’t really thought he’d brought her here so he could sweep her into his arms, shower her with more wads of cash, do a striptease for her . . . The tingle in her heart swelled to scorching.

“I was thinking about heading to New Orleans,” she said. “You could always buy me a bus ticket.”

Kendrick’s brows slammed together again. “Bus. Alone and vulnerable, prey to any human who looks at you and wants you.”

“Paranoid, much,” Addie said, folding her arms. She felt suddenly cold, though the small room was warm, the AC faulty. “What do you suggest? I’m in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with no transportation. Sure, I’ll just walk out onto a lonely back Texas highway and hitch a ride. Nothing can possibly go wrong with
that
.”

K
endrick couldn’t move. Addison stood like a sharp blade of grass, or maybe a strong young tree, ready to face the world and not be broken by it. Fragile and not knowing she was.

Human women couldn’t defend themselves like Shifter women could. A female Shifter could kick a male Shifter’s ass, and everyone knew it. Human males over the centuries had subjugated their females until their women believed themselves weak.

Addison was human, and vulnerable. The thought of her wandering in the dark, open to every person driving by, made him furious. “You won’t have to walk away alone,” Kendrick said, his voice edged. “I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

“And then where will you go?” Addison looked pointedly at the boys’ bags Robbie had readied and lined up, waiting to be loaded onto the motorcycle in case they had to go. Which they did now.

“Far from here.”

Addison met his eyes without fear. Humans weren’t supposed to be able to do that. Kendrick was an alpha, a
Guardian, and few were his equal. Most Shifters dropped their gazes or looked away to avoid his stare.

Addison simply looked at him, unimpressed. Her blue eyes caught him, and he saw in them a spark of lightness that his life had forgotten.

He’d known her only a brief time, and they’d barely spoken, but Kendrick knew that if he said good-bye to her tonight, he’d grieve. He should send her away from him, safe and free, but the very selfish part of him, the one he’d never been able to indulge, wanted her close. Wanted her where he could put out his hand and touch her.

“You mean you’ll never tell me,” Addison was saying in her cheerful voice. “You won’t get in touch or let me know how the kids are doing or come into whatever diner I work in next for a slice of pie.”

Kendrick cleared his throat. “It has to be so.”

Addison took a step forward. “Why does it?” She drew a breath then blurted out the next words. “Take me with you, Kendrick. Wherever it is you’re going. You need someone to look after your kids . . . I mean, your cubs. Right? If you’re going to be fighting people, you need someone to take care of them. And I need a job. So . . . how about it?”

Kendrick stopped. “So you want to, what? Be my cubs’ nanny?”

“Sure, why not? You can pay me a little salary, I’ll look after them, and you keep the cops from putting me in jail. You owe me, since they suspected me of robbing the place because of your overzealous generosity.”

She was serious. Addison stood there, quivering with optimism, and with worry that he’d walk away from her, like he should.

“You have no idea what you’re offering,” he said, voice hard. “No idea of the danger.”

“Probably not. But people shot at you, Kendrick. I won’t sleep easy thinking that your kids—cubs—are in that kind of situation again. I want to
know
they’re safe.”

She didn’t mention it, but it was also Kendrick’s fault she was now jobless. If Kendrick had kept himself away from the diner and not given in to the temptation of seeing her,
she’d be happy and well, at home with her sister, anticipating another day waiting tables.

Again, his anger stirred. Addison was watching him, eyes wide, still wearing the ugly salmon pink one-piece dress that hung shapelessly on her body. The dress was supposed to hide her—though nothing could ever truly hide her beauty.

She should be in lovely clothes that complemented her curving body, with jewels on her wrists and at her throat. A man should be taking her out in a luxurious car, showing her off to the world. But no, she was in a dingy motel room, with a man who had the money to give her everything, and didn’t dare.

Kendrick hardened his voice. “Addison, if you came with us, it would be the end of your life as you know it.”

“Oh, yes?” Addison put one hand on her hip. “The end of my low-paying waitress jobs? Hoping I don’t get stiffed on tips too many times, working late into the night, with maybe one day off a week if it’s not too busy? The end of that life? Yeah, ’cause that would suck.”

“I meant being with your sister, her children, your friends.”

Addison’s gaze flickered but her lips firmed. “My friends all grew up, got married, and had kids. They remember to invite poor Addie over once in a while and they try to fix me up with friends who either turn out to be total losers or interested in someone else. My sister is divorced, devoted to her kids, and making ends meet. She lets me live with her because she feels sorry for me. I almost got married once but it didn’t work out.”

He heard anger, sadness, and frustration. Kendrick wanted to know what dickhead had let her go but he had no time to ask for details.

He tried to sound stern. “If you come with me and it gets too dangerous, I’d have to ditch you somewhere. For your own good.”

Addison’s blue eyes sparkled. “Who decides if it’s too dangerous?”

“Me. If I say go to ground, you go to ground.”

“With the cubs?”

“If necessary.”

Addison bounced on her toes, like Robbie did when he
grew excited. “Well, we can argue about that later. Where exactly are you going?”

“I don’t know yet.” Kendrick hated that. “I need to find a place that’s safe, round up my trackers, start over.”

“I see. While we’re on the subject, why aren’t you with other Shifters in the places called Shiftertowns? And why don’t you have a Collar-thingee?” Addison waved her hand at his bare neck. “Not that I think you should wear one—I’m just curious why you’re not.”

“Now that is a very long story.” Kendrick broke from her, swept up the bags Robbie had gathered, and dumped them on the bed. “I can’t promise you safety,” he said. “I’ll do my best but the Goddess only knows what I will find when I start looking. Or I can send you somewhere safe, far from me. Make your choice now.”

Kendrick snapped his mouth closed, waiting for her answer with more anticipation than he’d have liked.

He wasn’t sure why he was giving her the choice at all. He didn’t have time to look after a human woman, even if she’d offered to play babysitter for the cubs. She was excess baggage, and he needed to keep everything simple right now.

And yet, he knew if Addison didn’t come with him, Kendrick would forever be looking for her—around every corner, waiting to hear her voice, see her face. He’d been forced to sever many ties over the years—this one wasn’t even a knot yet—but he didn’t want to cut it loose.

They were both on the brink of something, Kendrick and Addison, and he wasn’t quite sure what.

Robbie broke the silence between them. “Please, Addie. Come with us?”

Zane and Brett took up the chorus. “Yes, Addie,
please
!”

Addison turned her cocky smile on all three. “Of course I’m coming with you. Your dad is just making things complicated, like guys do. Let’s go. Oh, yeah, I’ll need a toothbrush.”

*   *   *

A
ddie asked Kendrick to at least let her change her clothes. With relief, she shed her uniform in the bathroom and pulled on the jeans and loose, flowered shirt she’d kept in
her car. She was tempted to dump the now smelly uniform in the trash but someone might find it, and who knew what suspicions that would lead to?

Addie unhooked her name tag from the uniform and dropped it into her purse. She wadded up the ugly dress and tucked it under her arm before she left the bathroom. When she emerged, Kendrick was studying her phone, which he still had, turning it over in his hands.

As she opened her mouth to ask him to return it to her, Kendrick ripped the back from the phone, took out the sim card, and broke the phone into two pieces.

Addie gaped. “Hey, those aren’t cheap!”

“I’ll give you the cost of it.” Kendrick cracked the case and card into smaller pieces, stepped into the bathroom, and flushed them down the toilet. “They can be used to track us,” he said when he emerged.

Addie had known that, but her heart beat faster. “I still need a toothbrush,” she pointed out.

“I have one you can use.”

Addie put her fists on her hips, hands shaking. “Now, hey, I like you, but that’s going a little too far . . .”

Kendrick flicked her a surprised glance. “It’s in a package.”

Addie had figured that’s what he’d meant, but Kendrick obviously took things literally. She was going to have to work on that. Addie winked at the boys. They drew closer to her, their eyes shining with delight.

Kendrick picked up the bags and slung them over his shoulder, heading for the door.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” Addie said.

“Somewhere not here.” Kendrick opened the door and led the way out.

*   *   *

K
endrick paid for the room at the office, then returned to the bike where Addison had already gotten the boys settled in. He helped her on, started up the motorcycle, rode from the parking lot, and flowed out of town, heading south into the night.

No one followed. This late there were no vehicles at all on the highway, only Kendrick’s motorcycle in the darkness, with his cubs, Addison clinging to his back. The warmth of her cut the growing chill of the wind, and her arms around him were more comforting than anything had been in a while.

Her impulsive kiss earlier tonight had tapped at the mate frenzy inside him, the needs he’d suppressed for years. Something had snapped in him and Kendrick had fallen into the kiss, crushing her up to him, imbibing her, feeling her wrapped around him.

He felt as though he’d been sleepwalking for years, and Addison’s kiss had jolted him awake.

Too dangerous to be awake and aware of Addison. Kendrick had to concentrate on rounding up his trackers, finding a new home for his Shifters, taking care of his cubs. No time for indulgences like mate frenzy or even burying himself in a woman and breathing her scent. His body throbbed with her nearness, berating him for his denial.

The moon had set and the night was dark. Typical for nights in the open desert in spring, it started to get cold. No lights shone anywhere, the darkness complete.

South Texas was vast, miles upon miles of flat country, towns few and far between. The land was filled with ranches, some working, some abandoned, and oil wells, pump jacks cranking, their heads going up and down like strange, rusting, hungry beasts.

Kendrick and his cubs knew how to spend the night outdoors, huddled together for warmth in sleeping bags, the little ones curled up in their animal forms. Addison wouldn’t be used to sleeping rough, though, and he doubted she’d ever had a wolf and two tigers trying to share space with her.

Kendrick would need to find a house, even an empty one, to get them out of the cold. Storms could brew up quickly out here as well, the weather going from calm to tumultuous in a matter of minutes.

His fuel would run out soon, so he’d need to find a town somewhere. He’d gassed up once he’d reached the motel last night but then he’d driven north to fetch Addison and back, and now they moved down this highway at a fast pace.

A length of split-rail fence loomed up out of the darkness, marking the edge of a property along the road. Barbed wire was more commonly used out here, effective for keeping cattle within a range, but ranchers sometimes lined the drives to their houses with split rail, a decorative choice.

Kendrick saw no lights, no closed gates, nothing to tell him the place was inhabited. The house at the end of the drive might be half fallen down or abandoned and full of vermin. Most mice, rats, and snakes would vanish when a wolf walked in, however, even if he looked like an innocent little boy. They knew. A full-grown white tiger was nothing they wanted to encounter either.

Kendrick slowed and turned onto the rutted track that met the road at the end of the fence. Addison’s hands tightened on his middle but she said nothing, asked no questions. Kendrick sensed her exhaustion, her need for rest.

The dirt drive led up over a rise filled with mesquite and scrub, effectively curtaining whatever was back here from the little-trafficked road. About half a mile later, Kendrick pulled the bike to a halt in front of a long, low house whose windows and roof were still intact. A front porch ran the length of the house, and rocking chairs had been placed at intervals so inhabitants could sit and watch the night.

Kendrick turned off the motor, carefully swung his leg over the front of the bike, and stood up.

The silence was immense, which Kendrick liked. Cities made him itch. He couldn’t properly use his Shifter senses in a town—he was assaulted by too many scents, sights, and sounds, which ran together to form a jumbled mass.

Out here, the night was vast, the sky thick with stars, the constellations that humans called the Big and Little Dippers hanging sharp against the fainter stars around them.

Addison swung down from the bike, yanked the helmet from her head, and rubbed her backside. “Where the heck—”

Kendrick motioned her to silence. The cubs hadn’t said a word. They knew to let Kendrick surveil a possible campsite, waiting quietly while he sussed out any dangers.

He approached the front door of the house from an oblique angle, staying in the blackest shadows. The place
didn’t smell deserted but he detected the scent of only one human.