“Tell you what, y’all—I’ll think about it. Don’t worry, little guys, I won’t run away yet. Your father and I will talk about this first.” Addie gave Kendrick a meaningful look, which he returned, his eyes sparkling.
Robbie ran around Addie’s feet, tail waving. Brett yelled, “Yay! Yay! Yay!” until Zane jumped on top of him with his little tiger body.
Tiger—not ignored; no one could ignore Tiger—rose slowly to his feet. He gave Addie another golden-eyed stare, this one approving, then turned around and walked away, his striped back swaying.
“Where’s he going?” Dimitri asked nervously.
“Probably to get his clothes,” Kendrick said. “Addison, go unpack. Dimitri, get inside and lie down. Jaycee . . .”
Kendrick turned to her. He didn’t lose his sternness, but his voice softened as though he knew Jaycee’s feelings for him, had always known. “Jaycee, walk the bounds. Check out anything odd and report. I’m going to talk to our tiger friend.”
He turned away before anyone could say a word and walked off after Tiger. The sun was fully up and shining hard, falling on his bronzed body and tight backside.
“I guess that’s why he’s the leader,” Addie remarked. “He leaves before you can argue with him.”
Dimitri nodded. “You hit the n-nail on the h-head.”
“He’s right about you, though,” Addie said, frowning at him. “Inside with you and into bed. I’ll ask Charlie to check on you later.”
“Aw,” Dimitri said, giving her a mock sigh, but he moved up the steps and into the house, a little unsteady on his feet.
Jaycee had already disappeared to obey Kendrick. Addie knew she needed to think very hard about what Kendrick had done, but she was numb as she walked to the pickup to fetch her bag.
* * *
Kendrick found Tiger a little way down the drive. He’d turned human—a giant of a man with orange and black hair—and was rummaging in a duffel bag he’d pulled from his motorcycle. Shifters liked duffels—easy to throw all kinds of clothes into them in case they had to shift away from home.
Tiger had already put on jeans and now eased on a blue T-shirt with “SoCo Novelties” on the front, silently unfolding it down his torso. He gave Kendrick a critical once-over, turned back to the duffel, then pulled out and tossed him a T-shirt and sweatpants.
Kendrick got into the clothes, more to keep the sun off his skin than any worry about modesty. He and Tiger were nearly the same size, Tiger a little larger, Tiger’s eyes a golden version of Kendrick’s green ones.
“What does Dylan want?” Kendrick asked him.
Tiger gave him a slow blink, looking slightly puzzled. “Dylan didn’t send me.”
Kendrick beckoned him under the shadows of a mesquite. Shade could take ten degrees off the three-digit temps that happened even in May. “Then why are you here, and how did you find me. Seamus told you where I was?”
“I haven’t talked to Seamus,” Tiger said. “I saw your mate in San Antonio. Knew she was yours. I looked for her to make sure she was all right. And your cubs.”
Kendrick followed the disjointed speech with growing uneasiness. “How did you find us? How many others know? I can’t have the entire Shiftertown coming out here.” Not to mention the Shifters who wanted to kill him. If too many knew about this place, his plans would have to change again.
Tiger waited until he finished. “I can find people. It’s what I do. She broadcast scent—yours—in a big way. It took me two days to track her down. I told no one, and they did not notice what I did.” He huffed in some irritation. “Now you tell me I could have hitched a ride with Seamus.”