CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Tiger’s chest felt hollow, as though someone had kicked him repeatedly. He needed Carly with him every second—every moment away from her was one too long.

“Tiger?” Walker said.

“Fine.” Tiger made himself turn away. “We should go.” Better get there and meet up with her again as quickly as he could.

“Follow me, and don’t deviate,” Walker said. “We’re going into a dangerous area—drug runners and coyotes use it. Coyotes meaning the guys who run people across the border in exchange for their life savings, not the mangy animals that howl.”

Tiger had heard of these coyotes, and the drug runners who shot those who got in their way. But they were the least of his worries. In fact, he’d make sure that they needed to worry about him.

He paused for a moment to remove his clothes while Walker discreetly looked the other way. Once undressed, Tiger packed his clothes into a waterproof belt pack Walker had brought for him, handed it to Walker, and shifted to his tiger.

The world changed. Scents and sound rushed at him, the beast gleeful to be in open country, far from the confinement of Shiftertown. Tiger stretched, shaking himself out.

Walker had gone wide-eyed, his scent betraying his startled wariness at watching Tiger’s change. Then Walker swallowed his misgivings, came to Tiger, and hooked the belt with Tiger’s clothes around his middle.

The appendage felt a little strange, but Tiger would have to get used to it. He raised his head, sniffed the wind, and followed Walker down the hill, slinking into the shadows of the rocky hills.

* * *

Carly breathed a sigh of relief when the SUV hit pavement. The jarring and rattling stopped, and the ride became smooth.

She didn’t pass many cars as she turned onto the highway, heading back up toward the I-10. Even if she didn’t have a map, the chances of getting lost out here were minimal. There were only a few paved roads that went anywhere.

The distance gave her time to think. Too much time. She knew she had the option of turning right at the 10 instead of left, and heading back to Austin. The Shifters would pry out of her that she’d driven Tiger this far, but then they’d go after him themselves, or alert the Shifter Bureau. They’d leave her alone, not needing her anymore.

Carly could go back to her life. She’d find Yvette’s car where she’d left it at the chain hotel and take it back to her, finding some way to apologize. She could go back to dealing with her broken engagement and figuring out how to keep Ethan from ruining her life. She might have to find another job, but maybe she could sell her house and move in with Althea and Zoë for a while until she got herself sorted out.

If Yvette didn’t fire her, Carly would go back to the trivia of day-to-day work, trying to convince people with large disposable incomes that they wanted to use their money for quality artwork. After work, she’d pick up something at the grocery store on the way home, and while away nights in front of the television.

Carly realized now that she hadn’t spent all that much time with Ethan, even after their engagement, and that they’d only gotten together when he wanted to. She’d been too caught up in planning the rest of her life to notice.

Back to a world where people captured a wild, beautiful man to study him, dissect him, trap him, bind him. Tiger deserved to be free, and Carly was going to make sure he was.

When she turned onto the freeway—choosing to head west, not east—blue and red lights flashed behind her and a sheriff’s car signaled her to pull over. Heart in her throat, Carly slowed and stopped on the freeway’s shoulder, waiting for an eighteen-wheeler to lumber by before she lowered the window. A sheriff’s deputy walked up from behind and leaned to look into the window.

“License and registration, ma’am,” he said.

“Is there a problem, officer?” Carly kept her smile in place as she plucked her license out of her wallet and reached into the glove compartment to find the registration. Her mouth went dry when she didn’t see the registration paper at first, but there it was, tucked under a packet of tissues.

She handed both license and registration to the deputy, glad she’d slid the maps Walker had given her inside her purse. “I know I wasn’t speeding. I’m careful about that.”

The deputy peered for a time at the license, then the registration. “This isn’t your vehicle, ma’am.”

“No, it’s not. My boyfriend’s. He let me borrow it for the weekend.”

“Mind if I ask where you were coming from down that highway? You’re a long way from Austin.”

“Marfa.” A lie. “I have friends there.” The truth. “It’s so pretty.” Also the truth.

“And now you’re heading for . . .”

“El Paso. More friends. We’re going to Juárez, to bargain hunt.”

Carly did her best to look like an empty-headed girl who lived to visit her friends and spend money.

“You still never said why you pulled me over.” Carly smiled again as she took back her license.

“Looking for someone.” The officer gazed, keen-eyed, into the SUV’s interior, over the backseat and the space behind it. He straightened up. “You have a nice afternoon, Ms. Randal. You’re about seventy-five miles from El Paso. Drive safely.”

“Thank you. I will.” Keeping her pleasant tones, Carly rolled up the window and pulled slowly away and back into traffic.