Page 46 of Catch a Tiger

The tiger recognized her as a threat and didn’t trust her yet, but that was because he worried about the others in the house he’d laid claim to.

It wasn’t really a surprise since it had taken a while for Rain to accept her as well. She’d had Kimeya’s motherly instincts to speed things along, but this shifter only really had ties to his second and third.

And the witchling.

Whatever this tiger sensed in Vix that made herother, that was why he was so wary of her.

The man?

Samuel didn’t like her either even if she had no idea why. Part of it though? It wasthis.

He’d seen her interrogate and execute that angel. She knew he had because it was right there in his eyes and scent when he looked at the glyphs on her shoulder like he knew exactly what they were.

There was no other reason for him to be this conflicted.

Horror warred with admiration and respect. Disgust rose and fell, making way for the most interesting scent of all.

Chaotic desire.

Her purpose conflicted with whatever it was he wanted from her, and Vix needed to find out why. It wouldn’t help fix the issue he clearly had with her hobbies, but it might help her explain why she was doing it in a way that would make sense to him.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, breaking their intense silence with a question that was so anticlimactic the towel fell from her lifeless fingers.

Vix stared at him as all those scents started to get tucked away until nothing but his essence was left.

Wow.

Whatever he wanted from her must be something he couldn’t live without, because why else would he ignore such a visceral reaction to what she was capable of? His desperation was almost as interesting as the way he ignored her nakedness and set some clothes on the sink.

His new pants were dry – the exact same black tactical pants ravens and hunters preferred to wear. The alpha hadn’t bothered with a shirt and his feet were still bare. It felt even more intimate somehow than if he’d been completely naked.

Vix flinched when his thumb brushed against the scar and the magic in the glyphs faded. “It doesn’t hurt exactly.”

Warm fluff settled on her shoulders and Samuel tied the robe around her with quick, efficient movements – soverycareful not to touch her skin again.

“Normally, I can’t even feel it.” Vix rolled her shoulder back to ease some of the ache. “Mylo reminded me it was there.”

In her mind, that scar didn’t exist until it suddenly did. Then it became excruciating as she carved those names into her skin to atone…

Because he’d left her here in purgatory.

Hadn’t she read over and over that she’d be allowed back into heaven if she atoned?

Vix considered the oldest column, knowing she’d collected those as Gabriel’s warrior, not as Kenji’s vixen. Why?

She had no idea what she’d done wrong, but the way to fix the problem had always been to hunt down the cockroaches destroying mortal lives. No matter how she tried to look at it, that was the answer.

Even Gabriel had made her collect names.

If she atoned, then all she had to do was find a way to die without killing herself, right?

Vix smirked when she imagined the look on Gabriel’s face whenshewas the one he had to welcome into his heavenly realm.

Kenji had always told her there was more than one way to skin a cat, hadn’t he? He’d be so proud of her when he saw she’d been listening and learning.

But…

Purgatory might not be so bad if she didn’t have to suffer it alone.

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