Jennifer Ashley - Tiger Magic

Liam blew out his breath. “If you haven’t noticed, Tiger is dangerous. Look at the havoc he’s wreaked only the last few days.”

“All in self-defense and in defense of others. He told me that if you put the Collar on him, it will probably kill him.”

Liam looked off into the distance of the starry night. “I admit that when we tried the first time, I thought it would kill him. That’s why I took it off.”

“And you want to put it back on? What kind of logic is that?”

“Mmm.” Liam fell silent for a long time as the cool breeze from the desert and the hills beyond flowed to them. The SUV’s settling engine emitted a pop and a small hiss.

“I’m going to tell you something,” Liam said. “I need to swear you to secrecy on it, but if it helps get you to believe me and help me, then it’s worth it. I’m trying to find a way so that no Shifter has to wear a Collar ever again.”

Carly gave him her grudging interest. “How are you doing that?”

“Experiments. Me and Dad and Sean. On ourselves—not anyone else. I’d like to get Connor out of his before his Transition. I made Tiger a fake Collar, which was good enough to fool the humans. So far, we haven’t been successful at removing Collars, but what I’d like to do is see if we can make one that’s even more realistic, say delivers a mild shock or the show of one when a Shifter starts an attack. Tiger would be perfect for this. I could learn how to tone down the Collars, or make better fake ones, and the other Shifter leaders would get off my back about Tiger.”

“Experiment on him,” Carly said.

“Yes, but in this case, I’d be searching for ways to not hurt him.”

Liam argued a good case, and his charming voice made Carly want to believe him.

“That’s all very nice,” she said. “But still, all I’m hearing is about how people want to use Tiger. Walker is helping him, but he’s still trying to figure out what Tiger is and how he can be useful. You think Tiger’s the perfect guinea pig, and you believe you’re being nice by taking him home and sitting on him while you try out your Collars. You all want him for your own benefit. You don’t want him for himself.”

“I like him, Carly,” Liam said in a patient voice. “I want to see him happy. I can’t believe he’ll be happy running wild in northern Mexico, having to hunt for his food.”

“How do you know?” Carly glared up at him. “Have you ever once asked Tiger what he wants?”

Her eyes blurred with sudden tears. Having Carly near him had made Tiger calm and happy. Knowing she’d started a cub had made him happy.

“He’s a hard one to understand, I admit,” Liam said. “I truly want to find him to keep him from harm. And to keep others from being harmed by him.”

Carly wiped her eyes. “He won’t attack. Not unless someone deserves it.”

“And how can we be sure he’ll understand whether someone deserves it? Or when that line won’t be clear for him?”

“He knows.” Carly met Liam’s gaze without fear, and she spoke with conviction. “You could trust him, Liam. Let him go. Let him be free.”

Liam let out another long breath. “Love, if the humans find out I’ve lost a Shifter, hell will rain down upon me.”

Carly had no sympathy, not anymore. “Liam,” she said, “suck it up.”

Liam stared at Carly in shock, then he started to laugh. “Are you related to my wife, by chance? When Kim knows she’s right, can she ever scold.”

“Are you saying I’m right?”

“I’m saying you can shake your finger in a man’s face and get your point across.” Liam stood up. “Sean,” he called, “bring back the others, will you?”

Sean turned around from the edge of the brush, moonlight shimmering on the sword slung across his back. “Why? Do we know where he’s gone?”

“No, we don’t. Go get Marlo, will you? Pass on the word that we’re going home.”

Sean stopped in surprise. “We are? You didn’t answer me why.”

“We’re letting Tiger go.”

Carly jumped up from her seat, shedding the blanket. “Thank you, Liam.”

“Go?” Spike snarled out of the darkness and then appeared, stark naked from a shift and covered with tattoos. “Are you saying you brought us all the way out here, away from our cubs and mates, to hunt him, and now we’re going to let him go?”

“Yes,” Liam said calmly. He shot Carly an amused glance. “Suck it up, Spike.”

“Shit.” Spike turned around and walked away, his back as covered with tatts as his front. The dragon across his back was impressive.

“I’m thinking Iona won’t be best pleased,” Sean said.

“I know,” Liam answered. “I expect I’ll get more scolding from her. But Carly has shamed me. Tiger needs to be left alone, without interference from any of us, to be his own . . . tiger. Besides, you think we have a snowball’s chance of finding him when he’s alone and not wanting to be found? If any Shifter can take care of himself in the wild, it’s Tiger.”

“Shite,” Sean said softly. “I’m already worried about him.”

“Me too. But I have the feeling that if he wants to be found again, he will be.”

“Damn it.” Sean started to walk away, off to find the others.

“Sean?” Carly called after him. “ Rory? Really? He didn’t like the name.”

Sean turned around, walking backward while he spoke. “A bit of a joke.”

Carly held her thumb and forefinger up, half an inch apart. “A little bit.”

“’Twas what Andrea said.” Sean chuckled as he turned around again and vanished into the desert.

Marlo, a lanky man with thin hair who looked every bit as dangerous as any drug runner, flew them back to an airstrip outside of Austin in his small plane. All except Walker.

“I’m going to keep looking for him,” Walker told Carly in his quiet way before she let the others take her to the plane.

Carly stared at him in dismay and anger. “I just talked Liam into letting him go. Why can’t you leave him alone?”

“Because I need to ask him for his help. If he can give it.”

“Help for what?”

Walker gave her an evasive look. “I have unfinished business. Tiger might be able to help me, I don’t know. Not until I find him.” When Carly continued to glare, Walker spread his hands. “I can’t hurt him, Carly. Not even with this.” He patted the pistol on his belt. “He can kill me a damn sight faster than I could him.”

That was true. Carly dropped her anger, stepped to Walker, and touched a kiss to his hard cheek. “If you find him, tell him I love him.” She sank back and squeezed his hands. “And don’t go AWOL.”

“Hope I don’t have to.”

Walker left her then to start up the SUV. He drove away, the headlights cutting through the darkness. His red taillights grew smaller and smaller, but could be seen for many miles, glowing back at them.

What was normal? Carly couldn’t find it anymore.

Normal wasn’t waking up alone in her house, brushing her teeth, donning her cute dresses, and driving to work. It wasn’t collecting money for her wrecked car from her insurance company and having Althea help her pick out a new car. It wasn’t pizza after work at what Zoë called the house of the Weird Sisters, or even meeting up with Liam’s mate, Kim, at a coffee house and catching up on how the Shifters were doing.

They’d never heard anything from Tiger. After a week, Walker returned, came to Carly’s house, and told her he’d never found a trace of him. While Carly was glad for Tiger’s sake, her hunger to hear something of him turned to stark sorrow. She knew she’d never see Tiger again.