Page 37 of Tiger Bitten

“Thank you,” he murmured hoarsely. He opened it and swallowed four down without any water.

She’d seen a case of waters near the sink, so she got up and retrieved one, then tossed it to him.

Mars caught it and downed it. “Fuck, it’s good to see you, Ren.”

Ren down in the chair Misty had positioned a healthy distance away from the cage. “Why do you want to hurt me?” she asked softly.

“I don’t.” Truth.

A box fell behind her, and when she twisted around, Dame was staring right at Mars. He’d dropped the box he’d been holding. His eyes were trained on his brother, unblinking.

“Ask him more questions,” Dame demanded, striding closer.

In the open doorway, Stellan appeared and leaned on the frame, eyes trained on Mars.

“I don’t know what questions to ask,” she said.

“Want a drink?” Misty asked, holding up a pair of canned margaritas she’d pulled from a stainless-steel fridge.

“Um, sure. It’s been a long day. Maybe it’ll loosen me up.” As Misty brought the cold drink to her, Ren looked back at Stellan and aimed at him. “Fuck you, by the way, you asshole.”

Stellan’s dark eyebrows arched up. “What did you say to me?”

“Fuck. You.”

Mars snorted, and it morphed into a chuckle. Dame ducked his head too, but not before Ren saw the smile he was trying to hide.

“Give me his phone back.”

“Or what?” Stellan said, cocking his head.

“Or I will punch you in the dick,” she promised, standing.

“I don’t like you,” Stellan said.

“The feeling is mutual.” Ren held out her hand.

“Chh,” he spat out, then pulled a phone from his back pocket and tossed it to her. “Good luck not dying.”

Ren tossed Mars his phone. He caught it, and retreated to the back of the cage, into the darkest corner. The sleeping cot in there creaked as he sat down on it and rested his face against a bar in the back of the cage. She knew he was in excruciating pain. She could tell.

“Can you drink some more water?” she said softly.

Mars nodded and downed the rest of his water. “Thank you,” he said.

“For what?” she asked.

“For caring. For still showing up. For telling Stellan you are going to kick him in the dick. That was probably one of the best moments of my life.” He tossed her a tight smile. Handsome man.

A soft laugh escaped her. He was still Mars. He was really himself.

“Fifteen minutes and that medicine will kick in,” she assured him, checking the time on her phone. She wished she could take some of the pain away from him. She took a long drink of the mango flavored canned margarita, and then set the can in the cupholder on the camp chair.

He nodded and squeezed his eyes tightly closed. “I missed you.”

He’d said it so softly, she almost missed it. “What did you say?” she asked, needing to hear it again. She needed to hear that it wasn’t just her after everything that had happened.

“I missed you,” he rumbled. “I miss you still.”