Page 23 of Catch a Tiger

He already carried so much pain, she really didn’t think he needed more.

Calculating green eyes watched her and she felt like she remembered…

Her fingers reached out before she could stop herself, tracing the line of his strong chin and sharp jaw. The skin was smooth as if no hair grew there. His lips pursed slightly, drawing her attention to how full and soft they looked.

Vix skipped over his throat and found her eyes back on his chest. The sight of it was making her feel things she hadn’t felt in such a long time, things she’d once thought were the answer to her emptiness.

Things that made herravenous.

The human ink on his forearm was done in geometric patterns and she gently trailed her claws over it, realizing it looked familiar.

“Samoan?” she asked, tilting her head as she tapped each of the empty triangles. “Or Maori?”

No response, so she started tapping the black triangles that led her to a new, curving pattern.

“Maybe Hawaiian?” Rings on his fingers stung, telling her they were made of silver too, but this time she didn’t flinch. “And those green eyes tell me there’s something else.”

“How would you know?” he asked, settling his hands on her thighs.

She froze, eyes dropping to those large hands…almost as large as his paws had been.

“Vanya.” She shrugged one shoulder and shifted her gaze back to his face. “Did you come here to steal from me too? Maybe seduce me so I’ll give it to you willingly?”

“That’s not what I came here for.” He pushed up to a sitting position, suddenly much closer than before.

The intensity in those jade-green eyes made her want to shy away, but Vix couldn’t look away from them even if she wanted to. “I don’t have anything left for you to steal,” she whispered, feeling something between them that almost felt like they were tied together by the thinnest thread of silver. “But I could trade…”

Was it the scent of alpha curling around her that made her wrap her arms around his neck? Or maybe it was the smell of hibiscus, red ginger, and frost. It drew her in, and she wondered what her own scent would?—

“What are you doing?” the strange tiger asked, his jade-green eyes staring right into her soul. The question didn’t sound mean or accusatory, but almost like he was…enchanted.

“I like your scent,” she whispered. Just alittlecloser. “Can I taste it?”

Those jade-green eyes suddenly lookedstarvedand he leaned in like he might just let her…

Snow didn’t crunch this time but she still sensed movement when her magic shivered at their approach. Vix didn’t want to look away from this beautiful man, but those two weredangerous.

Her gaze shifted to the shadows slinking toward them, weaving through the trees as they slowly approached.

“More winter?” She tilted her head and then she saw a flash of orange.

No, they definitely didnotbelong here. What the hell were jungle creatures doing inherforest?

Vix tried to scramble back as those orange tigers slunk toward them, but the alpha grabbed her hand to keep her there. She narrowed her eyes as their paths crisscrossed before circling around her.

Wings made the air shift above her as the bird landed and Vix suddenly felt the weight of a raven’s attention.

She looked up and stared at those glowing red eyes, not recognizing her scent at all. Baring her teeth at it, she challenged the intruder to come down and fight her with nothing but fangs.

“I’m right here,” she whispered, knowing the raven could hear her. “Kill me, assassin. It would be so easy…or would it?”Come play with me.

Green eyes blocked the raven from view and the alpha glared down at her, sotallwhen he stood like a human. “She’s with me.”

“A winter raven?”

All the winter ravens werehers.

Frowning, she slid her gaze to the massive tiger on her right who was about the same size as the alpha if a bit slimmer. “Doesn’t make sense, does it?”

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