Page 89 of Catch a Tiger

“Even if I accidentally withheld a piece of information I couldn’t possibly know as an outsider, you attacked Rune.” The low growl was a threat, inviting her to try him if she didn’t like that statement.

Did she attack Rune? Vix blinked as she tried to remember, but all she could think about was the fucking raven gloating.

“You attackedRune!”The monstrous voice that came out of the tiger shocked her. It was dark and deep, echoing with the sound of a thousand voices screaming to be set free, and all she could do was stare up at him, lips parted in wonder. “Tell me why.”

The command was a thousand knives this time, digging into her body, and Vix wanted to tell him, but she didn’t remember. Her eyes burned with unshed tears and her whole body bowed off the floor as she resisted that command.

Fighting alpha magic had never hurt this bad before, it had neverhurtin her chest quite like this to see her mate so furious with her – so fucking mad over something he could never understand.

Vaguely, she was aware she was crying, that Mylo and Rune were somewhere nearby and arguing as their voices rose, but only the pain and the alpha above her existed as shescreamed,fighting that command with every tiny piece of her that she could, down to the very last shard.

It would be simple to call one of her angel blades, or activate any number of glyphs, but Vix really didn’t want to hurt him if she could help it. Her stupid winter tiger wasn’t making it easy though, was he?

“You don’t knowanything,” she growled, tasting blood as her canines tore her lips when they descended farther than they’d ever had before. “Soconceited.” Another breath to steel herself against the overwhelming pain.

This was going to hurt.

So much.

Letting out that breath, she tasted frost and summoned another raven’s blade. No one had the time to react to the new threat before she sank it into her side. It was impossible not to scream when some of her magic released, shredding through her mind and body as well as the pain from the alpha’s command.

It was enough to clear her mind and reset the alpha’s magic. She gasped when Samuel pulled on her wrist, removing the metal from her body.

Blood bloomed on white and suddenly everything was so loud. She rolled her head to the side, her head fuzzy as shewatched Rune try to reach for her, those horrible green eyes reminding her why she’d been running in the first place.

Mylo was staring at her, barely keeping the other tiger back, his mouth tight as he resisted every instinct he had not to run to her.

Somehow, she’d ruined everything just like she always did.

She was nothing but poison.

Magic coursed through her veins, it was pulsing in her head and keeping out the alpha’s magic that was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. Nothing on earth could match that power, and she looked back up at him, seeing the slight fear in his eyes as he tried to stop the bleeding.

Vix wished she didn’t have to do this, but she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity either when he could be so stubborn.

Kicking him off of her as hard as she could, she rolled to her feet, summoning another blade to replace the one the alpha had stolen. She pressed her hand to her side and glared at the raven.

Only the two of them could understand why any of this had happened at all.

Vix moved, placing her body between the raven and the orange tigers. Giving Mylo her back was a little bit terrifying, but she was more worried about Samuel interfering.

The raven held her gaze, neither of them moving. At the very least she wasn’t attacking, but that didn’t mean anything. This raven – thisValentinacouldn’t be trusted.

But she didn’t know what to do. How could she get them to understand when they were outsiders? These three idiots were still her mates. If she left them here with this raven, she could be sentencing them to death.

“A golden-eyed raven,” Valentina said, flipping Vix’s blade to test the balance and weight. “An eye for an eye then?”

“You owed them a little pain for your lies. Now leave.” Vix tapped her blade just under her left eye to warn the raven shecould do so much worse. “Or I’ll make sure you’ll never use that eye again, which would be a shame, because red is such a pretty color.”

“Very pretty,” Rune whispered in agreement.

Vix smirked and took a step to the side, giving her the room to make an exit. “I won’t ask twice,Valentina.”

“She can’t leave.” A husky female voice wove through the room like smoke, harsh almost with the tiny bit of fear hiding in those words. “I need her here with me.”

Sliding her gaze to the newcomer standing in that cursed doorway, Vix found the source of the dark magic all over this place.

The witchling.

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