Page 38 of Tiger Betrayal

Mars rested his hands on his hips, mirroring Stellan’s stance now. Geez, they looked so similar, it was crazy.

“There’s beer in the barn,” Mars muttered.

“I’m aware, dipshit,” Stellan responded. “I’m the one who stocks the beer fridge.”

Mars rolled his eyes closed and inhaled a long breath. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Would you and Laramie like to drink a beer with us?”

“I want to,” Laramie said, raising her hand like she was a second-grade student with the right answer. “I need a drink after this crazy day.”

“Let’s go,” Ren said. “If we start walking, they might follow. Or they might fight. It’s still kind of up in the air.”

Laramie fell into step with Ren and cast a glance back at Stellan. “Are you coming?”

****

“Are you coming?”

Stellan just stared at Laramie as she walked away with this cheeky smile on her lips. She was so damn pretty in her little cut-off jean shorts, and hiking boots and her skintight royal blue tank top that sometimes lifted high enough so he could see a sliver of her stomach if she lifted her hands in the air.

Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that bounced this way and that with her gait, and when she turned back around to say something to Ren, he got struck by the moment.

She’d just seen his tiger.

She’d really seen him.

She’d seen him, and he hadn’t wanted to hunt her, and he hadn’t worried about her getting scared and running. He’d just gotten protective of her and wanted to be right by her side. Up until the point where he panicked because he felt like his fight with Mars was way too close to his mate.

His mate.

Mate.

“She’s got you all tied up in knots,” Mars said from beside him.

“Does not.”

Mars huffed a laugh and shook his head and started following the girls. “Whatever you say, man.”

And yeah, yeah, Stellan had heard the lie in his own voice as well.

He winced and lifted the edge of his shirt. At least the claw marks were already sealed shut and healing. They would be sore for a day or so and probably bruise for a few hours as they worked through the scarring phase.

Bright side, Mars’s shirt was soaked in blood too. Served him right for sneaking up on them in Stellan’s favorite spot. Idiot should’ve known better. Stellan had marked that territory for years. That section of the creek belonged to his animal. And Laramie. She could have everything. If she asked for Utah, he would mark and defend the whole damn state for her.

Up ahead, Laramie had stopped at the sliding barn doors, waiting for him. She wore this pretty, inviting smile, and she was buzzing with happiness. He could tell.

She just didn’t get scared off, that one.

The stretch of his answering smile was still so strange for him. He couldn’t remember smiling this much ever. Not in the after. After he’d died. After he’d been reborn as this…this…thing.

She was bringing his humanity back, wasn’t she?

He strode toward her and reveled in the fact that she didn’t disappear inside when he was close enough. She waited to touch him. She waited with a hand stretched out, so she could clutch onto his shirt and lift up on her tiptoes and wait for him to kiss her.

God, what was this feeling? He would do anything for her. Be anything for her.

He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in, kissed her, tasted her. Consumed her like she consumed him.

Mars was right.