“But now they’re ready to take me in. I’m pretty sure Liam will let them—and he won’t be given a choice.”

“Why would Liam let them take you?” Carly asked. “He seems pretty protective of the Shifters, at least from what I’ve seen.”

“The other Shifter leaders want him to put a real Collar on me. Or kill me. Liam’s choice. Except he told me to make the choice. He might see handing me to the Shifter Bureau and their special team as a way out of the problem.”

Carly blinked. “Liam told you to choose between putting on a Collar or letting him kill you? What the hell?”

“Liam’s job as Shiftertown leader is to protect all Shifters. I’m a threat, a danger to the Shifters in his Shiftertown. He has to contain the danger any way he can.”

“Tiger.” Carly pointed a polished fingernail at his face. “Don’t you even sit there and tell me that he’s right. If Liam’s supposed to protect all Shifters, that means all Shifters. Individually. You as well as all the others. None of this needs of the many crap.”

She was so beautiful, her eyes flashing, her face pink with anger and indignation. Carly was angry for him, at Liam and the Bureau, not at Tiger.

When Walker had called him and told him the Shifter Bureau wanted to start experimenting on him again, Tiger’s instincts had told him to run and never stop running. He could have simply disappeared, using his incredible ability to survive to see him through.

But Tiger had a mate now. He couldn’t go and never see Carly again. He knew he risked exposure and capture by calling her and coming here with her, but Tiger needed her. He needed to breathe in Carly’s scent, and touch her skin, if only one last time.

Carly came around the counter and leaned on it beside him. The stance pushed her br**sts toward him through her thin dress and washed him in her scent.

“So, what are we going to do?” she asked. “You can’t go back to Shiftertown, obviously—that’s why you had me give Spike and Connor the slip. I’m betting the guy who shot you before will be after you too.”

“The Bureau doesn’t realize I’m gone yet. Walker met me on the edge of Shiftertown and gave me a ride halfway to where I met you and told me to disappear. I didn’t tell him I was going to call you.”

“I’m glad you did.” Carly leaned to him and slid her arms around Tiger’s shoulders, her warmth soothing the shaking deep inside him. “We should be safe here for a while, but eventually they’ll start checking with my friends and relatives. I’ll have to pull some cash if we’re going on the road, because credit cards are too easily tracked. And we have to get a different car. That one won’t hold up fifty miles. I bet the guy left his keys in it hoping it would be stolen.”

She wanted to come with him. Tiger sat in stunned silence as he realized that Carly was calmly planning how they could get away from Austin and anyone after him.

But the cruel fact was that Tiger could move faster and farther without her, could cover his tracks in ways she couldn’t imagine. He’d survive, but he’d have to do it alone.

Alone. Without his mate. Or his cub.

Tiger touched Carly’s lips. “You are my mate. You always will be and no other. But you will stay here and be safe, and I will go. Once I am gone, and they know you don’t know where I am, they will leave you alone.”

“No.” Carly jerked away from him, rising and taking away her warmth. “You’re not running out on me.”

“Keeping you safe,” Tiger said catching her wrist in his big hand. “I can run for days without stopping, I can live for days without food and sleep. You can’t.”

“But you can’t run forever,” Carly said. “The best thing to do is to hide in plain sight. As long as I can get my money in cash before we go, we can go anywhere. Mexico—I’ve always wanted a trip to Mazatlán, or Cabo. Once your neck heals, and if you hide your hair or dye it, we’ll fit right in. A young couple in a rental on a Baja beach. Sounds good to me.”

“It’s that easy to leave the country?” Tiger asked. He was skeptical. There were papers and cards for humans, and Shifters were forbidden international travel.

“They don’t pay much attention to a young woman hell-bent on shopping at every bazaar in a border town, or buying bikinis in Baja. You, Mr. Stealthy, can go cross-country when we get close enough to the border, and I’ll pick you up on the other side. Once we’re settled in Cabo, I’m sure I can find some enterprising person to make me a new ID.”

“You’d never be able to come back,” Tiger said. “Or see your family again. Taking a Shifter out of the country is illegal. You’d be arrested, maybe imprisoned.”

Tiger saw Carly’s indecision when he mentioned her family. The hope that had flickered within him for a few moments withered and died.

“I wouldn’t be taking you out,” Carly said. “Meeting you in a different country is a different thing.”

Tiger shook his head. “Too risky for you.” And for their cub.

Carly straightened and planted her hands on her hips. “Now, you listen to me, Tiger. I’m not letting you go.”

“I treasure you.” Tiger looked up into Carly’s eyes. “If the world changes, if Shifters are freed, then I’ll be back. I will always come back to you, my mate. No matter how long it takes.”

* * *