Page 26 of Tiger Bitten

Control it.

He inhaled sharply and pulled back suddenly. Ren stumbled forward, and he caught her by the shoulders, steadying her.

“I’ll send you the travel information,” he said gruffly.

And with that, he forced himself…forced himself…to leave her on that porch, in front of that beautiful life-sized dollhouse, watching him leave, those pretty Cat eyes trained on him.

“Control it,” he gritted out to his animal.

He climbed into his truck and shut the door too hard beside him, gripped the steering wheel and then started the engine.

He hated himself for not doing better at keeping her safe from him.

He knew what he was doing. His tiger was encouraging him to bring her in closer. It would be an easier hunt, and there was such deep tragedy in that.

He hit the gas and drove away from her as fast as he could.

He called Stellan. Again.

And again, just like all the other times he’d called him over the last year, it went to an automatic voicemail.

This time, unlike the others, Mars left a message.

“Hey brother, I need you. I think I found my Rabbit. She’s…I don’t want to do this. Call me back. I need help. Please.”

Chapter Seven

Ren stared in shock at the flight information.

Mars really did it. He’d really booked her a flight. She’d gotten a notification a few minutes ago that a flight had been added to her airlines account. Sure, she’d given him her member number and birthday, and full name just in case, but after the strange way he left earlier, she’d thought for sure he wouldn’t want her to go to Salt Lake City to meet his brothers now.

And yet…

And then there was the second surprise. He hadn’t just booked them a twenty-four-hour trip like he’d originally planned. Nope. He had sent her the flight information where the departing flight was three days away from the return flight and then texted her a screenshot of her hotel information for three nights. The hotel looked really nice, too.

A thrill of excitement zinged up her spine.

Immediately, Ren texted her mom, asking for the time off work. She needed two shifts covered.

The flight was scheduled for tomorrow night.

Mind racing, she looked around the room, planning what to pack. She needed to do a load of laundry and probably drop by the store in the morning for travel sized toiletries. She hadn’t flown anywhere in years. She hoped their seats were right next to each other.

She texted him, hands shaking slightly. Should I bring dress clothes? Or is it just relaxed? Send.

Maybe bring one dressy outfit. I know a good steakhouse right in the city. We’ll probably only hang out with my brothers for an hour or so and then we can get a little time to visit the city. I’m from there, so I know some good spots I think you’ll like.

She squealed and kicked her feet. There was a red cotton maxi dress hanging in her closet right now with the tags still on it. She’d started to think she would never have a good occasion to wear it.

A video call came in from Mars, and she panicked and threw her phone across the bed. It bounced off the edge and clattered to the floor.

“Oh geez,” she muttered, scrambling to retrieve it. She answered it fast but caught a glimpse of herself in the camera and yelped and slammed the phone facedown. “Cold-calling someone on a video chat is ridiculous,” she said.

“You look fine. I need to talk to you before this trip. I won’t be able to sleep unless I tell you something.”

Ren narrowed her eyes and yanked the phone up. “Is this the part where you tell me you have a girlfriend, or a wife, or seven kids and I need to be a secret?”

“What?” he asked.