Page 3 of Catch a Tiger

“Sammy…” he sang, grabbing the bars again as his shattered bones healed, leaning back like a kid on the playground to make his bright red hair swing behind him. “I won’t kill everyone…just a few of them.”

“No.”

“Okaaaaaay, what about a little torture then? It always gets the tongue wagging.” Rune gave him a feral grin, his green eyes sparkling.

That was the most disturbing part of these breakdowns.

Not a single fucking sign of his tiger showed in Rune’s eyes.

They shouldn’t have taken that job, but he’d owed the raven a blood debt.

What’s done was done.

“Torture?” Rune asked, sounding hopeful as he pressed his face against the tight bars, the silver collar around his neck sizzling against his skin. “You like torture, don’t you, Sammy?”

“You can torture me, but no one else,” he conceded, reaching up to loosen his tie.

“Inadvisable,” Mylo murmured.

Samuel slid his gaze to the side as he pulled off his tie, watching as Mylo pushed his enchanted glasses up his nose, eyes on the tablet in his hand. For a tiger, his second was pretty slim, but he was just as tall as Samuel with broad shoulders.

Every inch of his skin was covered in scars or ink, hidden by the pristine suit he wore. It did nothing to cover up the back of his hands or his neck though, or the surgical slice across his face. Silver glinted on Mylo’s fingers, burning through his tattoos and skin just like the collar around Rune’s throat.

“And why is that inadvisable?” he asked, seeing the single, fraying thread that was the only thing keeping Mylo together.

Samuel unbuttoned his shirt as Rune snarled at Mylo like he hadn’t just been cuddling with him on the couch this morning. “You’re just jealous, you prick.”

The glare on his glasses made it impossible to see Mylo’s eyes, all Samuel could see was the feral grin spreading across his face like a nightmare. “I am jealous,” he admitted, chuckling ashe tapped something on the tablet. “Maybe I want you to torture me instead.”

“Oh.” Rune’s nasty expression disappeared, and he looked thoughtful as he considered the second of their pride. “Let me out and I’ll make you scream, Mylo. Come ooooon…let me out…you know you want to.”

The tablet cracked and glass shattered, tinkling on the floor in a sweet melody that had Samuel back in that place where this kind of thing was a regular occurrence – expected even.

If anyone found out about this, he wouldn’t just lose his position on the Council of Paranormals. No, they’d beexterminated.

Samuel couldn’t let that happen.

He set a hand on Mylo’s shoulder when the other tiger started to drift toward Rune’s cage like he was being called by a siren. “I have a better idea.”

Both tigers turned toward him, absolutely ravenous.

“Play with each other,” he said, gently taking the broken tablet out of Mylo’s hands. “But no irreparable damage.”

Rune groaned like a disappointed child, but Mylo took his glasses off and handed them over.

“Whatever we want?”

“Nothing that will leave a permanent mark.” Samuel tossed the broken tablet over his shoulder and tucked those enchanted glasses in his pocket before pulling Mylo closer. “If you stay in that cage and play nice together, I’ll reward you.”

Their eyes finally gleamed gold.

“Really?” Rune asked, releasing the bars and taking a hesitant step back. “You promise?”

“Really,” Samuel murmured, his voice gentle and soothing, which made them both shiver.

Only Mylo and Rune knew what that tone meant, and he grabbed Mylo by the back of the neck, eyeing the beast of a manin that stupid cage. Rune took another step back, hands up with a crooked smile on his face.

“You try to escape as I put him in there with you and I won’t do it.”

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