“She rejected your claim in front of witnesses, son,” Liam said. “That makes her free of you.”
“She is free.” If Tiger explained carefully, maybe they’d get it. “But she is also my mate, and I will protect her from you.”
“Damn it.” Liam’s anger returned. “I’m the one trying to protect you. The other Shifter leaders are ready to get rid of you, the Shifter Bureau is delving into who you really are, you’re claiming a mate who doesn’t want to be claimed, and you’re threatening me. You don’t threaten a leader unless you’re challenging for dominance, and you don’t want to go down that road.”
“I don’t want to lead this Shiftertown.” Tiger couldn’t keep the disgust from his voice. “Shifters shouldn’t have leaders. I don’t want to live here either. I want out.”
“Too bad,” Liam said. “If you leave Shiftertown, you’ll be hunted down. Slaughtered. Not given a chance. At least here, I can give you a chance.”
“Then stay away from my mate.”
“Shite, Tiger. I don’t want your mate. And she’s not your mate. You scent-marked her, and you claimed her, but you can only complete the mating ceremonies with her consent. You know that.”
“Your words and rituals are not important. Carly is my mate. Doesn’t matter what words I say, or she says, doesn’t matter if she wants to run away and never see me again.” Tiger touched his fist to his chest. “The mating is real. She’s of my heart.”
Carly’s voice cut through Tiger’s words. “Damn, I knew you were a sweet-talker the minute I met you.”
Tiger turned his back on Liam and Dylan to face Carly. He heard Dylan’s growl, the man taking Tiger deliberately turning away as a slap. Tiger didn’t care. Hierarchy meant nothing to him. Protect the mate, protect the cubs—nothing else mattered.
“You are my mate,” Tiger said to Carly. “Even if you run from me, if I never see you again, you will always be the mate of my heart.”
Carly’s face softened. She was looking at him as she had on the highway, one hand on her hip, her gaze roving him. Her eyes, so beautiful with their gray on green, met his. “You’re flattering, I’ll give you that.”
She came to him, her scent filling him, calming him. Tiger forgot about Liam trying to challenge him, Dylan ready to kill, even Connor waiting anxiously in the doorway. Carly was Tiger’s world.
He smoothed her hair and pressed a light kiss to her lips. Kissing was a fine thing.
“I really have to go,” Carly said. “Stay here and talk to Liam about whatever he needs to say to you, or he might burst a blood vessel. But I promise, I’ll come back, and we’ll have that long talk.”
Tiger touched her face. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight, not without protection. But he didn’t want the Morrissey brothers, or their dad, anywhere near her. “If I stay, Spike goes with you.” He gave Liam a hard look. “I trust him.”
Liam moved his hands out to his sides, though the grim lines didn’t leave his face. “At least you’re giving me that. Stay put, Tiger—please. There are some things you need to know.”
* * *
Tiger made sure Carly was safely away, driven by Spike in Dylan’s truck, with Connor on her other side. Tiger didn’t fully believe the two of them could keep her safe, but he also knew that the strike yesterday had been against him, not Carly. The man had shot at Carly so Tiger would protect her.
He thought of the way the man had stood next to Tiger after he’d fired the first shots, watching. The man had been waiting for something. Testing him. And he hadn’t killed Tiger, had left him and all the others alive.
“There’s no easy way to put this,” Liam said when they walked back into the house. Dylan followed them to the kitchen—Tiger knew the man would stay until satisfied that Tiger was no longer a threat. “The other Shifter leaders want me to put a Collar on you. A real one.”
Tiger touched the silver and black chain with the Celtic knot at his throat that Sean and Liam had manufactured. Unlike real Collars, this one wasn’t laced with Fae magic and microchips. Who the Fae was that had turned out the new Collars, happy to help the humans subjugate Shifters, Tiger had to wonder. And why someone like Dylan hadn’t killed him, Tiger wondered as well.
“I won’t wear the Collar.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Liam said. “They’re scared of you. They want you to take a Collar or else for us to kill you.”
“You can’t kill me.” Tiger knew that. None of them could.
“I don’t want to,” Liam said. “I want to help you. But you have to cooperate.”
“I can’t take a Collar,” Tiger repeated. “I can’t do what I’m made to do if I have a Collar.”
Liam had been reaching for the refrigerator, probably to take the edge off their tension with Guinness, but he stopped. “Now that’s interesting. What were you made to do?”
“I don’t know. But I know the Collar will prevent me.”
“I see.” Liam opened the refrigerator and reached inside, coming out with, yes, a dark brown bottle with Guinness Stout on the label. “What do you think it might be?”
“They never told me. But the way I recovered from the shooting must be a part of it. The second time faster than the first. I’m changing.” He let out a breath. “It’s tiring. I’ve never felt this tired before.”
Liam lowered the beer, not drinking. “You also had a lot of sex, my friend. Hours of it. Can’t blame you—she’s a lovely lady. As far as I know, that’s the first sex you’ve had since you arrived. Sure you’re not just exhausted from pleasure? It can wipe you out—in a different way from fighting. And much more fun.”
“Being with Carly didn’t tire me.” Tiger warmed, remembering rolling her onto her back, still inside her, with her pliant to take him. He’d loved her slowly, kissing her while she kissed him. He’d never wanted to stop, never wanted to leave the bed. Real life had been far away, unimportant. “The healing though. That burned.”
“I’m sure.” Liam shook his head. “I wish we had a Shifter healer here to look at you. Andrea’s good, but her talent is natural, not learned. She hasn’t made a study of Shifters.”