White Tiger

Addie unhooked her name tag from the uniform and dropped it into her purse. She wadded up the ugly dress and tucked it under her arm before she left the bathroom. When she emerged, Kendrick was studying her phone, which he still had, turning it over in his hands.

As she opened her mouth to ask him to return it to her, Kendrick ripped the back from the phone, took out the sim card, and broke the phone into two pieces.

Addie gaped. “Hey, those aren’t cheap!”

“I’ll give you the cost of it.” Kendrick cracked the case and card into smaller pieces, stepped into the bathroom, and flushed them down the toilet. “They can be used to track us,” he said when he emerged.

Addie had known that, but her heart beat faster. “I still need a toothbrush,” she pointed out.

“I have one you can use.”

Addie put her fists on her hips, hands shaking. “Now, hey, I like you, but that’s going a little too far . . .”

Kendrick flicked her a surprised glance. “It’s in a package.”

Addie had figured that’s what he’d meant, but Kendrick obviously took things literally. She was going to have to work on that. Addie winked at the boys. They drew closer to her, their eyes shining with delight.

Kendrick picked up the bags and slung them over his shoulder, heading for the door.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” Addie said.

“Somewhere not here.” Kendrick opened the door and led the way out.

*   *   *

Kendrick paid for the room at the office, then returned to the bike where Addison had already gotten the boys settled in. He helped her on, started up the motorcycle, rode from the parking lot, and flowed out of town, heading south into the night.

No one followed. This late there were no vehicles at all on the highway, only Kendrick’s motorcycle in the darkness, with his cubs, Addison clinging to his back. The warmth of her cut the growing chill of the wind, and her arms around him were more comforting than anything had been in a while.

Her impulsive kiss earlier tonight had tapped at the mate frenzy inside him, the needs he’d suppressed for years. Something had snapped in him and Kendrick had fallen into the kiss, crushing her up to him, imbibing her, feeling her wrapped around him.

He felt as though he’d been sleepwalking for years, and Addison’s kiss had jolted him awake.

Too dangerous to be awake and aware of Addison. Kendrick had to concentrate on rounding up his trackers, finding a new home for his Shifters, taking care of his cubs. No time for indulgences like mate frenzy or even burying himself in a woman and breathing her scent. His body throbbed with her nearness, berating him for his denial.

The moon had set and the night was dark. Typical for nights in the open desert in spring, it started to get cold. No lights shone anywhere, the darkness complete.

South Texas was vast, miles upon miles of flat country, towns few and far between. The land was filled with ranches, some working, some abandoned, and oil wells, pump jacks cranking, their heads going up and down like strange, rusting, hungry beasts.

Kendrick and his cubs knew how to spend the night outdoors, huddled together for warmth in sleeping bags, the little ones curled up in their animal forms. Addison wouldn’t be used to sleeping rough, though, and he doubted she’d ever had a wolf and two tigers trying to share space with her.

Kendrick would need to find a house, even an empty one, to get them out of the cold. Storms could brew up quickly out here as well, the weather going from calm to tumultuous in a matter of minutes.

His fuel would run out soon, so he’d need to find a town somewhere. He’d gassed up once he’d reached the motel last night but then he’d driven north to fetch Addison and back, and now they moved down this highway at a fast pace.