Page 24 of Tiger Bitten

“I won’t hurt you either,” she promised.

A sad looking smile cracked his face, and he released her. “Yeah, well I’m not your Rabbit.”

And before she could ask him anything else, he grabbed her hand and led her past Abe and Taryn, and back into the brightly lit barn, where a new song had begun.

Chapter Six

What the hell was he doing?

Mars glanced over at Ren for the tenth time since he’d started driving her home. She was opening this little wedding favor box of Hershey Kisses. Her Uncle Ronnie had insisted she take a bunch of them because he knew they were her favorite candy. The back seat was littered with a comical number of them.

She was so damn pretty.

It was midnight, and she’d nursed her third glass of wine, and was probably fine to drive, but he’d insisted. Why? Because his animal needed to be near her. Fuck, he needed Stellan to pick up his calls. He had so many questions. Maybe he could do this better than his brother. Maybe he could spare Ren the trauma when his urges to hunt her kicked in. And they would. He wouldn’t be able to fight it.

But for now, for tonight, he had this beautiful moment with the woman he couldn’t leave alone.

She’d given him her home address last night for him to pick her up today, and whatever he’d expected as he pulled up to the address, he hadn’t expected this.

The smokey blue painted one-story looked like a dollhouse. It was trimmed in white. White shutters around the windows, white shingles at the peak of the face of the home, and white gutters. The landscaping was full of brightly colored flowers, and there was a young tree in the front yard. The porch light was on and the gold halo of light looked so inviting.

“This is your place?” he asked, impressed.

“This is home sweet home. I don’t own it though. I rent it. I used to rent it with two roommates when I’d first moved out of my mom’s house, but now it’s just me. The roommates have all married and have kiddos now. You’ll meet them at some point. I see them all over town,” she chattered on absently as she unwrapped a trio of chocolates and lined them up on her lap. “Pick one,” she said, looking up at him with those pretty glowing gold eyes and a soft smile painting her lips.

He pointed to the one in the middle, and she told him, “Good choice,” as she freed it from its wrapper and held it out.

God, she was cute. He leaned forward and she fed him absently as she continued. “The thing about small towns is you get to know a lot of people. It’s less lonely.”

He frowned. “Are you lonely now?”

“Sometimes.” She’d answered with such honesty, that it drew him up. “But it’s okay. I’m tough.”

He knew she was. She was navigating a mostly human world, and making it look smooth. Glowing eyes and all.

She’d created a system for herself with people who didn’t ask questions any longer about what she was. No one had even looked at her strangely tonight. She had just lit up the room and danced the night away after they’d gone back inside.

A dozen people had given him strange looks. It was the eyes. They always made humans uncomfortable. Ren didn’t make anyone uncomfortable though. It was the opposite. She made people smile.

“Wait there,” he murmured as she reached for the door handle.

“Whoa, are you going to open my door for me?” she asked, genuine surprise etched onto her pretty face.

He hid a smile and put the truck in park, then cut the engine. “Let me pretend to be a gentleman for a couple more minutes.”

“You’re doing great at pretending,” she joked before he shut his door.

He huffed a laugh as he walked in front of his truck. He opened her door and offered his hand. She put her remaining two chocolates in his hand and hopped out.

He snorted and popped the candies in his mouth.

“I’ve been thinking,” she started as she meandered toward her door, stride for stride with him.

“That sounds dangerous.”

“I think I want to go to Salt Lake City with you.”

“Really?”