Page 7 of Catch a Tiger

So many saw shifters as their fairy-tale promise when it was never that fucking easy, and when it was…

His lip curled in a silent snarl at the thought.

“Alpha…” Morgan’s voice shifted again and she almost sounded…nervous. “If I find her for you, I need you to promise me something.”

Those deadly instincts rose up to choke him and the only thing he could think of to say was, “Is she fae?”

A huff of a laugh. “No.”

Relief had him taking a step outside so he could feel the full brutality of winter. It was bracing and those husky whispers on the wind called to him.

“Then what promise is it you need?”

“She’s…different.” Morgan sounded like she was chewing on her fingernails again.

“Stop that.” Annoyed she was fraying just like the rest of them. “It’s why I bought you that ring.”

Silver spinning reached him instead and the fragment of his role as a protective father those bastards had managed not to kill settled down.

“I haven’t found her for you yet because I was hoping…I was hoping you wouldn’t need her,” Morgan admitted, her words the frightened confession of a child who only wanted his approval.

He ran his hand through his hair and let a rumble escape him, one he knew would soothe her. Thinking about what could possibly have Morgan this scared…

That was a problem for a different day.

“Come to this house tomorrow and we’ll finish our discussion, Morgan. You need some rest.”

A long silence followed and then he heard that tiny voice whisper, “‘Kay.”

“You can come now if you like, but I wouldn’t advise it,” he warned. “Wait until the sun rises. His ghosts are harder to see then.”

“I’ll be there after dawn with a friend of mine,” Morgan promised, sounding like that little girl he’d taken in so many years ago. “I can’t lose you, Alpha.”

Samuel took those words and used them to reinforce his wall, reminding him why he’d chosen to becomethis. “I will doeverything in my power to keep you safe,” he promised. “You’re mine, witchling…my favorite.”

“Don’t lie.”

The sound of tears choking her was a sharp pain in his chest, almost as excruciating as the pain he felt every time he watched Rune shatter his body against those bars.

“I’m not lying,” he rumbled. “Jessica James is a friend, but you aremine, Morgan Acantha Lai Fay. I am the only one who possesses your full name, aren’t I?”

“Yes.” Morgan audibly swallowed, but her tone became almost teasing. “Names have value, don’t they?”

“If you have someone’s true name, you own them,” Samuel murmured in that soothing tone, memories slamming against his mental wall as he rolled his shoulders back, feeling the weight of all those names pressing against his skin like they were trying to get out. “Which means you’remine, sweet witch. Come home, and we’ll talk about what has you so scared.”

“‘Kay…” Morgan took a deep breath, and Samuel felt a little more stable as the silver on her thumb settled into the same pulsing rhythm as the one on his. “You should get back down there, or Mylo is going to kill Rune.”

Before he could say anything, the call ended and there was nothing but static in his ear.

The urge to throw his phone against the wall to hear it shatter almost won, but he turned and set it gently on the console table as he passed.

All he had to do was get them through this night, then the promise of a mate would distract them enough from the horrors widening the cracks of who they’d built out of rubble and ashes – creating new pathways their monsters would use to claw through and destroyeverything.

When he stepped down into the basement, Samuel slipped his shirt off and rolled his shoulders back, exposing all thenames he’d collected over the years that only a handful could even read.

“Now, who wants to play with me?” his monster crooned, cackling at the flash of fear and lust in two pairs of golden eyes. “I’m feeling a little left out, you see.”

Mylo grinned, Rune’s bloody jaw in one hand. “Then come over here and punish me, Alpha.”

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