Page 55 of Catch a Tiger

Such vague rules.

Mylo gritted his teeth as he considered all the ways she could slice them up without actually killing them. Just like those people had done to him over and over andover?—

“I also asked her not to go anywhere without saying something to one of us, and to tell us if there’s anything she needs since we’re not mind readers.” Samuel slipped a long-sleeved shirt on that was identical to the one Vix was wearing, but Mylo didn’t bother commenting on it. “She agreed, so I suppose that’s progress.”

“You told her we’re not mind readers?” He considered those words and decided they needed to be more careful with what they said. She was too fucking smart and would most definitely take advantage of any mistakes they made. “Try not to give her any ideas, Alpha. It’s not difficult to deduce you know a mind reader if you specify something like that.”

Samuel ruffled his hair and sighed, looking exhausted, which was to be expected after not sleeping at all the night before and then dealing with…her. “You think she’d put something like that together?”

“She’s feral, not stupid.” No, she was far from it actually. “You think she’d be able to quote ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake to you so effortlessly if she was?”

It disgusted him how clueless his alpha could be about this woman he was so ready to believe was their mate just because a witch said she was. It was almost worse than Rune, who hadsimply decided she would claim him with no evidence to provewhyhe thought that.

“Poetry isn’t the same as being able to read between the lines, especially on a subject so few even know anything about,” the alpha said, the words more of a growl than anything. It was a clear warning that Mylo was about to overstep.

He was given a lot of freedom, and there were many things his alpha let him get away with. Mylo could push and challenge, but only to a certain point. How fucking annoying Samuel was choosing to be difficult aboutthis.

“She’snotstupid,” Mylo snarled softly, feeling the flash of gold take over as his tiger rose to the challenge with psychotic glee. “Assuming she does not understand subtext will get us killed. Her mind is a chaotic mess, but she’s extremely intelligent. Would you like to know how I’m soverysure of that?”

Golden eyes met his, and Samuel’s alpha scent rose, forcing Mylo’s to come out and play for thesecondfucking time that day.

“She doesn’t touch me.” The quiet words echoed like the tolling of bells warning of danger. “Not once has she touched me first, and yet…she isalwaysreaching for Rune.” The one who desperately needed someone to reach for him. “How do you think she knows exactly what to do when we’re strangers to her?”

Stepping into the room, he headed for the door connecting to Rune’s space. Then he paused and glanced back at his alpha who was breathing hard, like he was desperately fighting the urge to force Mylo to the ground and submit.

His sharp grin split his face and he tipped his head back, breathing in the fiery rage of alpha tiger, releasing his own sharp alpha scent that sliced through Samuel’s blue flames like blades made of hell-forged iron.

It was an eternal dance – a constant balance between them.

“I assume she knows exactly how to play each of us, and so do you. Why else would you be so defensive? We don’t know her or who she is – who shewas.” Mylo stared up at the industrial lights hanging down from the ceiling over the nightstand. “What did she do to you, Alpha? Did she give you her name? Maybe she tried to take yours…funny how she never asked for it though.”

Chaos sang and Mylo waited with bated breath for Sammy to accept the invitation to play his deadly game.

Chapter 17

Mylo

Disappointment filled him when that delectable scent of rage started to ease, but Sammy’s alpha scent still danced with his.

“Jesus Christ,” Samuel breathed. He took a deep breath, still easing out of his sudden flash of anger. “How did you know? Were you listening?”

“She’s an odd one.” Mylo shook his head and his alpha scent disappeared like it had never existed. “A raven with golden eyes who is just as obsessed with names as the fae…two truths and a lie.”

Which was the lie though?

“I wasn’t listening to what I assume was afascinatingconversation because I was watching Rune gather vegetables from the greenhouse,” Mylo admitted. “Then he started cooking steak, humming the whole time. Kept asking me what she’d like to drink other than angel blood and to be frank…I couldn’t think of an alternative. So, Rune opted for water butinsistedhe had to filter it at least four times or she’d know he didn’t care about her.”

“He what?” Samuel demanded.

Mylo sighed and wandered over to the door where Rune’s dark room pretended to be anything other than what it was – a cage. “He’s cooking again.”

How long had it been since the third had found enjoyment in any of his human hobbies? At least two years by his count.

Just like last time, his gaze was drawn to the kitten curled up in the bed he shared with Rune so that the other tiger would know it wasn’t really a cage if someone was next to him when he woke in the middle of the night – confused by the memories that replayed in his dreams in the guise of nightmares.

It worked to Mylo’s benefit as well, though he’d never admit that to anyone. Ever. It was just…sometimes he needed the weight of another person to hold him together when it felt like he was going to come undone, all his seams ripping open until he was nothing but a pile of butchered meat.

At least his feral kitten didn’t chop bodies up in tiny little pieces…but she sure made a splash, didn’t she?

---