Kendrick folded his arms. “Now that you know where we are, what are you going to do? Report to Dylan? To Liam?”
Tiger shook his head. “I report to no one. Except to my mate.” His hard face softened in a hurry. “Carly worries about me.”
Kendrick couldn’t blame her. Tiger had been created in a human laboratory, how, Kendrick didn’t really want to know, and maybe even Tiger didn’t know fully. Tiger had abilities that other Shifters did not—every sense heightened plus an uncanny way of knowing when things were going to happen. Kendrick had only met him once before but he’d been struck with how the quiet Tiger knew more about the world around him than any Shifter he’d ever met. He also didn’t quite fit into that world, only looking comfortable when he talked about his mate, a human woman called Carly.
“Again, I ask—what are you going to do?” Kendrick said. “I don’t want my Shifters, my cubs, my mate to be compromised. I have things to do, actions to plan.”
“Is she all right?” Tiger asked, looking concerned. “Your mate? When I saw her in San Antonio, I knew she was with you, and I knew something was wrong.”
Kendrick’s alarm grew. “Something wrong? With Addison? What?”
“I don’t know.” Tiger said the words slowly. “That’s why I came.”
Kendrick looked up the drive toward the house. The door was closed now, everyone inside, Jaycee presumably walking the borders of the property, obeying orders no matter what her feelings.
He was going to have to have a talk with Jaycee about Addison. It would hurt Jaycee, which hurt him, but he needed her to understand.
“I haven’t done anything to Addison,” Kendrick said. “She’s been caught up in my life. I could have shut her out, but I didn’t. I want her to be with me. I know I should have let her go today.”
Tiger studied him, his golden eyes shrewd. “It wouldn’t matter. If you’d sent her away, you’d have found her again, or she’d have found you. If you are meant to be together, you will be together.”
“The Goddess has planned it, you mean?” Kendrick asked skeptically. As Guardian, he had a measure of Goddess magic inside him, but he knew that the Goddess didn’t interfere in Shifter business more than she could help it.
Tiger shrugged. “I was not made by the Goddess, but I know mates find each other. Why else would I have been running in the exact spot that Carly’s car broke down? Why else would you have been with Addison when your life went wrong?”
“Went wrong-er,” Kendrick corrected him. “We can argue about fate or destiny or the Goddess all day, but meanwhile I have shit to take care of.” He met Tiger’s gaze, neither of them looking away.
Kendrick knew that in the Austin Shiftertown, Tiger wasn’t a clan leader or a leader of any kind—he wasn’t regarded the same way other alphas were. But his dominance existed without question.
Tiger answered to no one and didn’t care who answered to him. Within seconds of meeting him the first time, Kendrick had known that.
“I could use your help,” Kendrick said. “If you’re so good at tracking . . .”
Tiger cut him off. “I know all about you Kendrick Shaughnessy. Walker Danielson—the human who invaded your compound with smoke bombs and flash grenades—is my friend. He told me everything. Seamus is also my friend. You seek the rest of your Shifters, the ones you lost. You seek to build a new place for them. You are afraid that some of those Shifters have turned on you, will destroy you and all you have worked for. You aren’t wrong. These are the same who are working to destroy all Shifters, hurting my friends.” He stopped, tamping down growing anger, and gave Kendrick a quiet nod. “I will help you.”