Page 58 of Catch a Tiger

Mylo needed Rune’s dark strength to stay sane. He needed his alpha to remind him there was someone even more stubborn than he was so he wouldn’t give in to those urges, whispering hecould take them both down and command them to kneel at his feet.

For whatever reason, his feral little mate didn’t incite those urges.

No, the only thing she made those whispering voices say was that he should claim her before anyone else could – that she was wearinghisscent more than the others and her essence changed it into something impossibly alluring when it mixed with Rune’s, Sammy’s, and those oils.

The only thing stopping him was the doubt he felt creeping back in at the lack ofmatein those scents.

“She’s very chaotic and unpredictable.” Samuel sighed as his strong fingers eased the tension in Mylo’s neck even with the risk he’d get those fingers bitten off. “I’m sure it’ll get worse before it gets better. We’ll have to be careful.”

Would she be able to handle them at their worst?

Mylo tucked her hair back and eyed the delicate tuft of white fur sprouting from her slightly pointed ears. All that messy hair had hidden them before.

His fingers traced the shell of her ear, careful not to touch her fur in case it drew him even further into her wildness – taunting and teasing him to let go and join her in that endless forest of death.

Those ears…

Mylo’s lip lifted in a silent snarl when it occurred to him what had been done to her. “She can’t shift.” This was as far as she could get, it seemed.

How many had he seen in a similar state when their minds finally shattered and their humanity was destroyed?

“She is shifted.” Samuel leaned over them to study her delicate ear. “White fur…interesting.”

A lot of animals had white fur, including the alpha.

“She isn’tfullyshifted,” Mylo insisted. “She’s locked into this form, half-human, half-animal – wild and untamed.”

But she could use magic somehow without an enchanted tattoo or any charms. It made him wonder if she was like him…or something else entirely.

“Are you sure?” Samuel pulled back, giving them space.

“I’ve seen it before.”

Mylo couldn’t stop himself from tracing her scarred rune peeking out of his sweatshirt as horribly familiar thoughts took hold of his mind.

Someone had done this to her—torturedher the way he’d been tortured.

It would take a long time to cut each of their fingers off in perfect thirds when he finally found them. Then one cut for the hand, two for the arm. The feet were just as complex and he had to cut around the ankle on both sides. How long until they felt the pain she did every single day she couldn’t shift, locked in this form?

They should have looked for her sooner.

Or never.

“I’ll get Rune,” Samuel told him. “We’ll let her sleep for now. You should too, if you can.”

Listening to his alpha leave the room should have made him uncomfortable. It should have terrified him. At the very least it should have repulsed him to be left here alone with a person he didn’t know.

A stranger without a soul.

Don’t let her go, those whispers told him – sounding so insanely desperate.Keep her close.

They wouldn’tshut upand Mylo wanted to rip them from his skull.

Every time he thought he had a handle on things, they whispered at him to touch her, to comfort her, and maybe even taste her.

Protect what is ours, his tiger whispered, soothing some of Mylo’s doubt and suspicion.

If he were being honest…and there was no reason not to be when he was alone for the first time in years…

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