Page 98 of Catch a Tiger

Even his monster paused at that.

“You were not capable of being rational, and she looked to me,” Mylo murmured, rolling his shoulders back like he needed to settle in his skin. “Somehow, our little vixen knows I’m an alpha andshe looked to me.”

Those words turned into a deep growl, a match for Samuel’s monster and that horrible darkness rose up, slamming into whatever was left of his silver, making him growl in response to the challenge.

“No one knows. We made sure of it,” Samuel argued, taking a step forward before he could stop himself. His teeth were sharp in his mouth and his claws ached to tear into flesh. “There’s no way she could know since it’s not exactly a mortal alpha, is it?”

Mylo actually laughed and Samuel felt the madness rise up to drown him.

This fight had been on the horizon for a long time, and somehow it seemed fitting that the mate he’d never wanted was the cause of it all.

“Why are you so fucking convinced she’s clueless?” Mylo demanded, that laugh dying so fast it left a sharp note in the winter air to clash with the growl of his words. “Do you really think someone raised as an assassin – one without wings, isn’t capable of figuring it out? She may just be the only non-avian raven assassin to exist, but there’s more, isn’t there?”

His chest was heaving with the effort it took not to rip out Mylo’s throat. It didn’t matter if he was right, because Samuel would destroy everything just because he could. Logic wasn’t his strong suit when he got like this, and they both knew it.

Mylo was purposefully pushing him deeper into the madness, and he didn’t have the fucking humanity needed to figure out why.

“She’s a fox,” Mylo practically purred. “A littlevixen…which reminds me, what did that fox say while investigating our warehouse?”

His hand was around Mylo’s throat before he’d even finished the question.

It was infuriating this asshole was just a little taller than him, and Samuel considered breaking his knees to force him lower.

“Oh, yes, I remember now.” Mylo grinned and wrapped a hand around Samuel’s wrist. “Foxes feed on chaos and pain.”

The way his second just peeled the hand from his throat was a reminder that he wasn’t dealing with a normal tiger alpha, and even his monster had to be careful of this one.

They’d never seen him quite like this before and Samuel stared into those ice-gold eyes that didn’t show even a flicker ofhis animal, wondering what had given Mylo the foundation he’d needed to be so sure this was the right path.

“Do you know what that means?” Mylo asked, squeezing his wrist until the bones broke just like Vix’s had. “She can see our pain and why it’s there. I doubt she’s looked too deeply, but I find it odd how much more bearable my agony is since she’s arrived, don’t you?”

Except Samuel didn’t feel pain the same way these two did and that might just be why he was going fucking insane.

Because he wasbrimmingwith chaos.

“You hurt her,” Mylo stated, holding his wrist so it wouldn’t heal. “Twice.”

Before he could stop him, Mylo slammed his hand into Samuel’s side, claws slicing through flesh the same way Vix had stabbed that blade into her side.

It was a fitting punishment, so Samuel didn’t bother defending, even when that monster inside Mylo managed to make it hurt in a way he actually felt, forcing a snarl from him, but he grabbed onto Mylo’s shoulder and held on instead of pushing him away.

Rune’s brutal strength was a cannon that could destroy the strongest enemies, but Mylo was the impenetrable fortress that shattered mortal cannons like they were nothing more than pebbles. Getting him to use that strength though…it had been impossible.

Until now.

“That golden-eyed raven is actually a fox,” Mylo whispered, his eyes merciless as he watched Samuel suffer the pain. “But she’s more than that, which is why Morgan is being such a bitch right now.”

Samuel shoved the other tiger off of him then, not bothering to stop the bleeding. It would take a while to heal thanks towhatever shit Mylo did when he used that strength. The other tiger had never explained it to him.

Never had to.

“I told Morgan I would do everything in my power to keep her safe,” Samuel reminded him. “That is a promise I refuse to break.”

“Vix was right. You’re making a mistake because you’re tooinflexible.” Mylo eyed the blood on his claws. “It would be a lot easier to keep that witch safe if we put her in a cage until she explains why she’s been withholding information,whyshe is creating complications between you and the woman she crossed her heart and hoped to die is your mate.”

The mate Rune had nearly lost because he’d been too conflicted.

“We can’t keep her in a cage,” Samuel reminded the other tiger. “She’s too powerful.”