Shifters Unbound [5] Tiger Magic by Jennifer Ashley Page B

Shifters. More . . . intense.”
    “Since I don’t know much about Shifters at all, how am I supposed to tell?”
    “People did bad things to him before he came to live with us. I can’t tell you about them until Liam says it’s okay, but trust me—bad things.”
    Carly thought about the pain she’d seen in his eyes, wells of it that went deep. More pain than what he’d suffered today, much more. “Poor guy.”
    “Huh. That poor guy is strong as a truck, lass. Tell you what, let me hang out and watch a match or three, and when you’re ready to go to Shiftertown, I’ll take you. I’m not in a hurry, give it a day, a week. As long as Tiger thinks I’m looking after you, he’ll be cool.”
    “You’d stay with me for a week, would you?” Carly asked, standing up again. “Watching my television and eating my pizza? Don’t you have school or something? Or a job?”
    Connor shrugged. “It’s summer break. My final year starts in mid-August, then I grad-ee-ate. I help out in the bar between semesters if Liam needs me, and when I want some cash, but he’s good for now.” Connor leaned back, crossed his booted feet, and held out his hand to her for the remote. “Plenty of time for me to be catching up on sports action.”
    Carly sighed and slapped the remote into his open palm. “Well, you might be able to turn into a snarling beast, but in my world, you’re still a
guy
.”
    “Thank you.” Connor clicked the TV on. “Oh, righteous.” He punched the air as the soccer players on the screen did something Carly couldn’t follow.
    “Want a beer?” Carly asked him, an ironic note in her voice.
    “Sure, if you’ve got one. I like a good Guinness, but I’m not picky. Nothing too watery, love. Go, go,
go!
Aw, you bastard.”
    He yelled at the television, and Carly ducked back into the kitchen to see what beer she had in the fridge, if any. She needed to go grocery shopping—she hadn’t stocked up, because she’d thought she’d be moving out.
    Everything was reminding Carly of Ethan and his infidelity. What a frigging mess. She’d have to give him back the giant diamond ring she didn’t wear because she was terrified of losing it. She’d have to tell her family and all her friends that the wedding was off before it was even planned. She’d sent out invitations to a big party at Ethan’s for next Saturday, to celebrate the engagement. Well, Ethan could call off that party himself. His own stupid fault.
    The
why
of it kept screaming through her head. If Ethan had asked Carly to move in with him, if he’d given her a rock worth who knew how much, if they’d arranged a party to show off what a brilliant couple they were,
why
had he been screwing another woman on his kitchen counter?
    Why were men so fucking stupid?
    Carly popped the top off the bottle of beer she’d brought out for Connor and threw the cap into the sink with extra force. She took a gulp of beer before she realized it. Never mind. The cold, fizzing fullness of it tasted good.
    She needed to call Armand and explain what had happened, but she put it off some more. Armand could bluster, even though he might be sympathetic. He had a temper and could go on and on, even when he wasn’t mad at Carly.
    Carly heaved another long sigh and upended the beer bottle again. Then she looked at it. “Damn it, this was supposed to be for Connor.”
    She turned back to the refrigerator to fetch another when the opaque square window of her kitchen door darkened, and someone knocked politely.
    As Carly went to answer the door, she saw out the window that a black SUV had pulled up in front of her house, its windows so tinted she couldn’t see inside.
    She opened the door, beer in hand. Two men stood there, a smaller man in a suit nearly hidden behind a tall guy in black fatigues, the head soldier who’d been in Tiger’s room. She remembered his light blue eyes, his shaved head with pale-colored stubble, his hard face.
    “Carly Randal?” the