Page 70 of Catch a Tiger

She blinked and her blue eyes were suddenly warm gold once more. “Do you want me to tie you up? Or maybe…break your hands? They’d heal eventually, and I’d take your pain so it doesn’t hurt.”

Mylo felt his tiger panic at the thought of forcingmoreof his pain on her and he dropped his head, overwhelmed with the opposite of everything he’d expected.

This damaged creature they’d made him into didn’t want to give her more pain if he didn’t have to. He didn’t want to test her limits or see what she could take. All he wanted was to give her what she could enjoy.

A small bit of pain from his claws marking her, the sharpness of teeth in flesh, all of that was just enough to give her pleasure as well, but not enough to ruin her.

She really was made for a monster, wasn’t she?

“We don’t have to fuck, vixen. I can just hold you until you go back to sleep,” he told her, his voice actually hoarse with all the emotions she’d provoked in him.

It was mortifying how much she made himfeel– so much so it was affecting his body like he hadn’t spent the last seven years forcing it to obey him and him alone.

“Mylo.” Her voice was so soft he wasn’t sure if she’d said his name out loud or if she’d whispered it into his mind like they were both nothing more than a fox and a tiger. “It would hurt me more if you didn’t fuck me.”

That made no sense.

Forcing his eyes open, he studied her face and what it was telling him. Rune was right. Scent wasn’t everything if she’d tell him what he wanted to know – if he could see what she was feeling…hear it in her heart and blood.

“I need you to want me,” she whispered, her golden eyes nearly as haunted as her blue ones. “You’re my mate. Samuel is too, but he didn’t want me even after kissing me and I need to feel wanted. I know it’s disgusting that I have no scent and I’m so sorry it’s gone. If I knew how to get it back, I would. I’d even carve the magic from my body if it would work. I could try it again if you want—please, just tell me what to do.”

His tiger was roaring inside to prove to her she was averydesirable creature, but he wanted to hear what else she might say given half a chance.

“Mylo?”

That small, scared voice was too much for him to ignore though, even if his tiger hadn’t been tearing into his flesh from the inside.

“What is it, kitten?” For the first time in his godforsaken life, he felt the urge to comfort someone and Mylo didn’t bother fighting it. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, humbly accepting his fall from grace.

Her shaky breath was like ice against his hot skin, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, claws tickling his back. “Do you want me?”

Clever fox.

Vix had already asked him this question, but now she hoped for a different answer.

“Do I want your body, or your bond?”

“Just my body.”

He didn’t dare ask if she still wanted to give him that bond. Mylo would have to earn it if it was even still available to him.

Though the thread between them no longer felt like it was going to snap. It was a bit thicker actually, and it pulled him toward her until all he could think about was how to make it even stronger instead of how badly he wanted to pull away.

It irritated him that Rune had seen so clearly what he could not, but the bastard had always been like that. He saw so much more than everyone else thanks to what they’d done to him. The other tiger had known she was his mate because he’d felt this thread and hadn’t denied its meaning.

Mylo had been so focused on her lack of presence to his usual senses he’d ignored every other sign pointing him to the truth.

He sighed and brushed her hair back so he could see her slightly pointed ears with the small tuft of white fur on them. An arctic fox. It suited her so well, and he found himself wishing he could see her in her fur.

Maybe he could somehow get it back for her.

Even if this thread between them disintegrated, he owed it to her for easing so much of his pain. If she’d hoped he wouldn’t notice, she shouldn’t have taken so much of it.

“The reason I hate you is because of how badly I do want you, despite everything they did to me,” Mylo admitted. “I’ve never wanted to touch someone before or have them touch me. Not myskin. It makes it difficult for me to trust you and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your lack of scent, even if it would help me understand you.”

She grabbed his face then and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth like she’d die if she couldn’t taste him.

It set his entire body on fire, and the urge to take her overpowered him.

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