Page 36 of Tiger Bitten

“Stellan, this is Ren,” Misty called.

The man crossed his arms over his chest and nodded once in a subtle greeting.

She didn’t like him. A small growl rattled her throat. It was still such a strange sensation. He’d invaded her and Mars’s privacy with the texts, and whatever he’d done to Mars to get him here, she wasn’t a fan. She looked away from him and gave him her back without greeting him as she made her way into the barn behind Misty.

In the entryway, Ren froze. Time slowed. Mars was across the cavernous room in a twelve-by-twelve cage with thick metal bars and a padlock on the door.

He was standing there, his arms resting on the crossbar, eyes trained on her. The second he saw her, he huffed a breath and stood to his full height, rolled his head back and stared at her down his nose, his eyes full of emotions she didn’t understand. The first words out of his mouth were, “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” she asked, walking slowly closer.

Mars gestured to the room and shook his head. “For all of it.”

His eyes were so full of regret, and of something more. Hurt? His face was tight, and his features sharper, as if he was close to a Change.

There was a man standing to the side, his arms crossed, gold eyes trained on her as she passed. Dame? He nodded to her and she offered him a little wave. “Not too close, yeah?” he rumbled in a snarling voice.

“Okay,” she said softly.

Misty brought her a camp chair, and set it ten feet away from the cage, then told her, “He won’t be able to reach you here.”

Mars squatted down and buried his face in his hands, rubbed his face.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Don’t let him trick you,” Dame murmured. “Whatever he says, just don’t go closer.”

“I don’t want her to come closer,” he snapped at Dame.

Ren could hear the lie in his voice, but she wasn’t going to point it out.

Dame did. “Lie.”

“Fuck off. Can I have a minute with her?”

“No,” Dame muttered, but at least he made himself busy organizing a stack of boxes in the opposite corner next to a sink.

Misty blew out a nervous breath. “This is different.”

“What do you mean?” Mars asked.

“You don’t feel sick to me.”

Mars pulled his face from his hands and winced as if he were in pain. “I’m not sick.”

Misty was staring at him with such confusion in her eyes. “I’ll be right over here,” she told Ren. To Mars she added, “With a loaded gun.”

Ren’s eyes were tearing up, but she couldn’t explain why. This was all a lot, and the dynamic was so confusing. They were treating him like a grenade with a pin that was barely hanging on.

But he was Mars. He felt the same as when they’d last seen each other.

He was angling his head down at the ground, trying to sneak glances up at her.

She could tell he was hurting. “Headache?”

“Stellan damn-near overdosed me with whatever he put in my beer. The light hurts. I just woke up.”

Digging in her purse, she found her travel sized painkiller container and tossed it to him. He reached out of the bars and caught it easily.