Page 39 of Tiger Betrayal

She had him all tied up in knots, and he didn’t even want to escape.

Laramie’s arms slipped around his shoulders, and she melted against him even more. God, this feeling. This feeling.

He slid his hands to her waist and squeezed gently. He wished he could take her back into the RV and fuck her senseless, but stupid Mars was cracking open beers for them right now. He could hear it.

“Later,” he promised her as he eased out of the kiss.

“Oh, I know,” she murmured, her eyes sparking with wickedness. She was perfect.

He swatted her gently on her perfect ass as she turned and led him into the cavernous barn.

“Whoa, what’s that?” she asked, pointing to the cage against the back wall. It looked like a jail cell with its metal bars that stretched from floor to ceiling.

“It’s a sanctuary,” he told her.

She looked at it with her head cocked, and a disturbed look on her face, and he knew he needed to do better at explaining.

“It was for me when I didn’t have much control.”

“And me, when I didn’t have enough control too,” Mars said. That was weird. Mars had said it like he was taking the edge off of Stellan’s admission. “Dame’s been in there a time or two also.”

“What? When?” Stellan asked, trying to rack his brain.

“When you got pissed at him and locked him in there.”

“Oh yeah.” Stellan grinned. “I forgot about that.”

“Monsters,” Laramie said, but he could tell she was teasing. Her eyes were dancing with humor. Pretty woman.

Ren had pulled some camp chairs into a loose circle around a tub of shop trash and handed Laramie a canned margarita. Stellan usually stayed on the outskirts of hangouts like this but today felt different. He wanted to be near Laramie.

Stellan offered his hand while she lowered down to a blue chair and then settled into his own. He pulled the metal arm of her chair until she sat right next to him, and he was sure Mars was going to make fun of him, but he didn’t. Mars had done the same thing with Ren’s chair and wasn’t paying attention to him at all.

Okay.

Dame and Misty were both working today, but this was kind of nice—hanging with Mars and Ren. Usually, they were all in a big group. Dame and Misty would drift in here eventually, when they got home, but Stellan settled into the two hours of just absorbing the easy conversation between Laramie, and Mars and Ren.

Laramie could carry conversation with anyone. He liked that about her. He’d watched her through the service window sometimes when she was talking to customers and loved the way her face got all animated when she talked. Now, she was smiling so much, and it was hard to look away from her.

He really would do anything for her. Someday he was going to find a way to make her understand that. He would prove to her that she was always safe and would never have to feel uncertain about her place in the world ever again.

“You really don’t mind that we Change?” he asked suddenly, interrupting her and Ren’s conversation about favorite music.

Laramie drew her knees up to her chest and angled them toward Stellan. “You told me what you were already.”

“Yeah, but you saw it. You saw us.”

“I read werewolf books, remember?”

“Umm, which ones?” Ren asked.

“You read?” Laramie asked hopefully.

“I read dark romance. I’m open to werewolves though.”

Laramie’s grin transformed her entire face. “I don’t know if you’re ready for this conversation.”

“How about on a girl’s day, we go to a bookstore, and you can school me on what books to get, and then we can go to a record store, and I’ll point out a few records that will change your entire life?”