Page 21 of Catch a Tiger

Rolling back over, she touched one toe and then walked her finger over to the next, wondering if his claws were bigger than hers. Vix looked at the ones coming from the tips of her fingers and sighed.

This was all she got, wasn’t it?

His tail swished through the snow, instantly catching her attention.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” It swished again, disturbing her pile of snowflake kisses, and Vix bared her teeth at it. “Catch a tiger by the toe.”

She pinched one gently between her thumb and forefinger as that tail swished again.

Releasing him, she felt her muscles tense and the next time it moved, shepounced.

His snarl made her laugh and she rolled to the side but didn’t let go, tugging on his tail as she avoided the swipe of his claws. If they tore into her then he was definitely real, right?

It was so cute the way he was trying not to kill her, teeth doing nothing more than holding the back of her neck like she was being naughty. His tiger didn’t want to play with her though and she released his tail as that horribly familiar sensation of not belonging washed over her.

Her gaze dropped down to her black claws again and she barely registered the way he pinned her onto her back, those murder mittens pressing down on her shoulders now.

She’d forgotten—forgotten just like she had so many other things.

Not possessing a scent…other shiftershatedit. So few could stand the nothing he’d made her into.

“He took everything,” she whispered to the god of winter above her, pleading with him to understand. Her eyes found hisand they looked like they’d been carved from ice. “He even took my scent.”

The wildness surrounding them held its breath as he considered her and Vix closed her eyes, waiting patiently for his judgment. Would he abandon her too, now that he knew just howwrongshe was?

Abomination.

Rain was right, winter never ended for her, did it?

“He took your scent?”

Her eyes flew open and she found green ones staring down at her instead of blue.

The strangest thing happened then. That endless pumping—thumping…it stopped.

Frost filled her lungs, and she couldn’t breathe as she stared at the jade-green, trying to understand where all her ice had gone.

“Breathe,” he snarled, lacing the word with the strongest alpha command she’d ever felt.

This one didn’t tickle. Ithurt.

Still, her body refused to comply.

“I saidbreathe.”

She’d been pretty sure that first command couldn’t get any stronger, but she’d been wrong. This one took hold of her body and forced air that felt like it was made of glass shards into her lungs. Vix tasted blood on the back of her tongue as her chest heaved to obey him.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, his deep voice suddenly soothing and calm.

She didn’t trust it. “Don’t talk like that.”

One dark eyebrow raised at her, and he pulled back slightly, but this shifter was still pinning her to the snow like they were quite familiar with each other.

She supposed he had let her touch his murder mittens.

“Talk like what?”

“That voice sounds likelies,” she hissed, grabbing him by his shirt to throw him off her.

---