Free White Tiger (A Shifter's Unbound Novel) by Jennifer Ashley

what
he
thinks.” Kendrick set the larger duffel bag and the long bundle with his sword on an empty table. “I have some shirts in there you can wear for something to sleep in.”
    “Sleep.” Addie turned her gaze to the bed. It was a highwooden bedstead, the kind with steps. It looked comfy, but . . .
    When she turned around, she saw that Kendrick was no longer watching her. He was pacing the room, examining the walls, ceiling, windows, flashing his light everywhere. A fireplace took up the far wall, which backed onto the fireplace in the big living room. The same stone lined it, the whole wall part of the chimney.
    Kendrick ran a hand over the fireplace wall, then slapped the stones, which gave off a solid sound. He glided his light over the ceiling, examining the beams.
    He reminded her of a guy on one of the house remodeling shows. Any second now he’d say something like, “Good bones.”
    “You planning to buy it?” Addie leaned against the bed, the mattress soft against her back.
    “Maybe,” Kendrick said absently.
    “An old house in the middle of nowhere with a busted generator.” Addie nodded gravely. “The ideal home. I bet you could get a good deal on it. The question is—why?”
    Kendrick switched his light from the ceiling to her, snapping off the beam just before it would blind her. “We have to live somewhere. A den in the ground might have done for my ancestors but I like indoor plumbing.”
    He was trying to be funny. Addie’s big, silent warrior had tried to make a joke.
    The only light came from her lantern flashlight now, which she’d set on a nightstand. By it she saw his eyes on her, glittering like a cat’s.
    “Very amusing,” she said. “But you’re avoiding the question of our sleeping arrangements.”
    Did he expect her to curl up in bed with him? Did he expect she’d throw off her clothes and demand to have sex with him? She imagined his welcoming look as he drew her against his big, strong, unclothed body . . .
    Addie sucked in a sharp breath that nearly drowned out Kendrick’s next words.
    “You take the bed,” he said, sounding indifferent. “I rarely use a bed, and I need to have a look around.”
    “Ah. Right.” Addie kept the disappointment from her voice. Not that she’d been ready to throw off her clothes and slide into bed with him . . . All right, maybe she had been.
    “Settle yourself in and get some sleep,” Kendrick said. “I’ll go see if I can help Charlie with his generator.”
    “Are you an electrician?” Perhaps that’s how he made a living and was able to buy pie every night.
    “I know something about it.”
    “What about the cubs?” Addie asked. “Are they going to be all right?”
    Kendrick hesitated. “They’re off the road, safe for now, under my protection. They’ll be fine. Robbie knows how to look after the little ones.”
    “Yes, but who looks after Robbie?” Addie thought about the look Kendrick had given him, the one that told Robbie he needed to make sure the smaller cubs were okay. Robbie sometimes looked crushed under the weight of responsibility.
    “
I
look after him,” Kendrick answered. “Go to bed. Long day tomorrow.”
    “Why? What’s tomorrow?”
    Kendrick gave her an unreadable look. “I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
    “Kendrick.” Addie took a step forward.
    Kendrick turned back to her, looking impatient to be gone. “Something you need?”
    “A lot of things. Like who is after you, why you don’t live in a Shiftertown, why you don’t wear a Collar, and why you want to buy this house in the middle of nowhere. The documentaries say Shifters aren’t allowed to buy houses. Which is a stupid rule, but I don’t want you getting into trouble.”
    Kendrick came back from the door to halt a foot or so away from her, right in her personal space. He could change from quiet, enigmatic man to dangerous predator in a heartbeat.
    He leaned down and spoke quickly and softly, his eyes glittering