Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(29)

“That’s us,” Tamsin said, grinning at him. “Inconspicuous. I’m Tamsin, by the way.” She stuck out her hand to him. “Fugitive from Shifter Bureau. It was nice of you to help out.”

Reg shook the offered hand, mystified. “I’m Reg McKee,” he said as Angus drove on. “Hey, Angus is a friend and fellow tracker. He says come to Lafayette Cemetery and give a ride to a red-haired Shifter woman on the run, I do it. He said I couldn’t miss you. I see why.” He shot Tamsin a smile that had Angus bristling.

Tamsin returned the smile as she withdrew her hand. “I like him,” she said to Angus.

Angus let out a snarl, and then wondered why he was becoming so defensive.

“Is that them?” Ciaran pointed over the back seat out the dark rear window.

A sleek black SUV had pulled from St. Charles Avenue into the lane where they’d left the station wagon.

“Looks like it,” Angus said. Only Shifter Bureau would drive something that flashy while trying to be covert. “Are they coming?”

Ciaran watched for a time as Angus drove slowly onward. “No,” he said, righting himself in the seat. “I bet Haider’s yelling at them all. One of the guys was nice—he let me keep playing games when the others wanted me to sit there and be quiet—but the rest of them . . .” He made the small growling sound of an angry wolf cub. “Shitheads.”

Angus relaxed a bit. They hadn’t broken him. They might have threatened him, but Ciaran hadn’t let himself be bullied.

Angus continued along the street, behaving like any other motorist trying to get somewhere. Not attracting attention.

The question was where to go next. Even if they’d ditched Haider, Angus couldn’t go home or back to the club. Haider would have men waiting at the gates of Shiftertown and at the door to the club. Angus had to take them away somewhere—forever, or at least until Haider died of old age.

This was his own fault. When Tamsin had bolted down the street behind them and leapt into the station wagon, Angus could have kept walking. The keys had been in the car’s ignition, and he’d retrieved Ciaran. Angus could have walked away with Ciaran, found Reg, and had him drive them back to Shiftertown, leaving Tamsin to get away from them best she could.

But no, Angus had turned aside, gotten himself and Ciaran into the car, and sealed his fate. He’d made the choice to give up his sedate life to help an un-Collared fox Shifter on the run, one who’d been a follower of his crazy brother, and he didn’t know why he’d made that choice.

Tamsin watched him from behind the sunglasses, as though discerning his thoughts.

“You can dump me out anywhere,” she said. “Tell Haider I coerced you to drive me away, threatened your cub or something. He’ll believe it. I stole one of their tranq pistols.”

She brought it out from her jacket pocket.

Angus swerved as he eyed it. “That thing loaded?”

“Not anymore. The dart is buried inside Haider.” She laughed, a warm sound. “Let me out wherever, tell Haider I jacked you, and you’ll be off the hook.”

Reg and Ciaran said nothing behind him. Angus felt the weight of their silence, while they waited to see how he’d respond.

Tamsin had a point—Angus could let her off in any of the neighborhoods between here and Shiftertown or take her back out to the bayous, and then drive to the club, fetch his motorcycle, and drive Ciaran home. He could tell Haider and his men she’d forced him to take her to wherever he let her out, and she’d run off again.

Angus would be free of her, of this situation, and he could go home with Ciaran. Make sure he was all right, catch some sleep, and be back at the club for his shift tonight.

Tamsin would be left to run alone from Haider and Shifter Bureau, to fight off whatever tracker Haider coerced to go after her next time.

Fuck that.

Angus stepped on the gas, darting down a side road that led to an on-ramp to the expressway going north. He’d take Tamsin somewhere safe, make sure she was well hidden, and then go home. He’d worry about what to tell Haider and Shifter Bureau later. Angus had Ciaran with him, which gave him a huge advantage—there was nothing else in the world Haider could hold over Angus to force his obedience.

Ciaran knew without being told what Angus had decided. He whooped.

“Yeah, we’re badasses now!”

Reg looked relieved. The man had no clue what was going on, but he hated Shifter Bureau as much as any Shifter did, and he didn’t mind causing them a little grief.

Only Tamsin looked worried. “Seriously, Angus, don’t get into trouble for me. I’ll be all right.”

“I’m already in trouble.” Angus didn’t look at her, keeping his eyes on the cars he had to avoid. “So sit back, relax, and accept that I’m helping you out. All right?”

Tamsin sat back, but she didn’t relax. Angus drove with fierce determination, his eyes as gray as the rainy skies outside. This morning, he’d been her captor, ready to take her to Shifter Bureau at all costs. Now he was assisting her, risking being labeled a fugitive with her. The only thing that hadn’t changed was his grim look.

The last thing Tamsin wanted to do was drag Angus and Ciaran into her troubles. They didn’t deserve that.

So why did her heart lighten? Why was she so relieved she wouldn’t have to say good-bye to Angus and his cub right away?