“Tiger, listen to Connor,” Carly said. “This guy’s not worth the jail time, or being executed over.”

Tiger’s growls rippled through him, vibrating through Carly. Walker lay motionless, the bruise on the side of his head explaining why he was out. Alive, though, thank God. She could hear his ragged breathing.

“If you hurt him,” Carly went on, “if they take you away, I’ll never see you again. I’d hate that. I want to see you again.”

Another huge growl rumbled, and then Tiger changed. The fur under Carly’s hands rapidly became human flesh, and in a few seconds, Carly found herself sitting on her damp lawn with her arms around a large, well-muscled, naked man.

Tiger pulled her close, his strength undiminished, the heat of his body intense against the cooling night. His hot skin was smooth under Carly’s fingers, and she couldn’t resist running her hands down his back.

Tiger leaned in, and Carly thought he’d kiss her, but instead he brushed his nose along her cheekbone, then nuzzled her from forehead to chin.

Carly had never had a man nuzzle her before. She’d never realized how sensual that could be, how intimate.

She touched Tiger’s cheek, which was bristly with whiskers, his golden eyes still as he watched her. Tiger turned his face against her palm, and the tip of his tongue brushed her fingers.

The heat of him, the touch of his mouth, made Carly go shaky, hot and cold, giddy. Warmth blossomed in her female spaces, as did the need to have him touch her there with his strong hands.

Lust. Must be. That and reaction to her vast hurt and anger at Ethan.

But Tiger’s presence was blotting out Ethan’s face, his voice, his mean sarcasm. Ethan drained rapidly away as the hot sensations of Tiger snaked through Carly’s body.

Tiger nuzzled her again, his breath warm. The tip of his tongue touched her cheek, hesitant, then again, bolder, a trail of fire. Tiger drew back then, hands coming up to cup Carly’s face as he studied her.

Connor cleared his throat. “So, um, does this mean you aren’t going to kill him?”

Tiger’s fury came back into his eyes. “He threatens my mate.”

“Maybe that’s true, big guy. But, like I said, if you damage him more, we aren’t going to be able to cover it up.”

“You won’t be able to anyway,” Carly said. “When Walker wakes up, he’ll tell the police that Tiger knocked him out, or he’ll tell the Shifter Bureau, probably both. What do we do about that?”

Connor looked down at Walker, stretched out and silent. “I don’t know. But we can’t kill him. No matter how we tried to hide that, someone would find him and figure out he was at one time mauled by a Shifter.”

“I wasn’t suggesting killing him,” Carly said. “Sheesh. I meant maybe putting him to bed and reasoning with him when he wakes up.”

Connor huffed. “Reason with an armed Special Forces dude, who’s probably trained to take out Shifters with his bare hands?”

“He didn’t take out Tiger.”

“Yeah, well, Tiger’s different.”

Tiger paid no attention to Connor. He continued to look down at Carly, smoothing back a lock of her hair with gentle fingers.

Connor groaned and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Goddess help me, why do I have to make all these decisions? Carly, you have any duct tape?”

“Probably.” Carly looked at Walker and shared Connor’s dismay. “Crap.”

“Hurry. Before he wakes up.”

The hardest thing was convincing Tiger to let her go. Tiger rose with Carly, towering over her, a giant of a man. A naked giant of a man. In her yard.

“I’ll be right back,” she said to him. “I’m only going to the garage. You stay here, and keep out of sight. If my neighbors see you, they’ll have every cop in the city up here.”

Tiger took a step back into the shadows. At least he understood the danger. Carly felt Tiger’s hard gaze on her back as she ran across the yard, though, remembering at the last minute to dodge the patio chair on her way to the open window.

* * *

Blood. Tiger smelled the saltiness of it, the tang that made the beast inside him want to feed. Animal triumph had shot through him when he’d smacked Walker with his paw, one blow knocking him out. His claws had raked the man’s face, drawing blood, waking up the carnivore he was.

Carly’s scent had blotted out the blood smell, sending Tiger’s thoughts in a wildly different direction. He smelled her female need, her ongoing anger at the man Ethan, her worry about Tiger and Walker lying at his feet.

Her scent had wrapped around Tiger’s senses, soothing him down from his anger. He was able to change to human, to touch her, relax into her.

Nuzzling her made him forget all about Walker and even Connor; licking her had been even better. Tiger had observed Liam and his mate—and Sean and his mate, Spike and his mate, and others—touching mouths. Kissing.

Tiger wanted to do that with Carly, but he wasn’t sure how it worked. When he’d asked Connor about kissing some time ago, Connor had laughed and said that Tiger would figure it out when the time came.

Tiger wasn’t so certain. He was pretty sure there was more to it than pressing lips together, and he wanted to get it right with Carly.

Now that Carly was gone, back into her house, her scent wasn’t as intense, and the blood smell came back. The need to make the kill surged. The tiger in him wanted to finish this, to rip out Walker’s throat for threatening Carly, slam his body down, and walk away. Quick, efficient, satisfying.

Tiger clenched his fists, his growl barely contained. Connor was right that if he hurt Walker the humans would find Tiger and take him away, and then they’d discover that his Collar was fake. Liam and his family would pay the price for that. Then Tiger’s captors would put him into a cage again and experiment on him, or simply shoot him full of drugs until he died.

Tiger started to shake. He wanted to run . . . Run, never stop. Never let them take you.

Never see Carly again.

No. Tiger needed her and needed her touch. Only Carly.

Carly came out of the house again, this time through the back door. Her scent drifted to him from across the yard, calming the fight-or-flight instinct to where Tiger could manage it. He exhaled.

“Found it.” Carly held out a roll of dull silver tape to Connor.

Connor took it. “Hurry. I think he’s coming around.”