Page 55 of Tiger Bitten

She sat there half-on, half-off her seat, ready to run but unable to move a muscle under his stare. She sat here frozen, like prey.

“And then your eyes never change color. There is no shade difference at all. I know. I’ve watched. At first, I thought maybe you were wearing colored contacts, and pretending to be one of us, but that’s not it either, is it?”

A wave of nausea took her stomach. Oh no.

“And then I thought maybe you got your Cat killed. I’ve heard about that happening before. Big fight, and the Cat dies but the human side somehow splits off and lives. But you don’t have any scars on your arms or legs. It’s like you’ve never been in a fight at all.”

“Stellan, please,” she uttered, doubling over.

“What are you going to do when he wants to Change with you?” Stellan asked low. “How long are you going to trick him?”

The mention of a Change rolled the sickness through her entire body.

She had to go.

“You’re lying to him. You’re lying to my brother. There’s no Cat at all, is there.”

“Stop,” she pleaded stumbling for the front door. She needed air. She needed somewhere safe, and it was never inside when she lost herself.

Another wave of agony washed through her, and this was the part where her bones were supposed to break. This was the worst part, when her body was supposed to break, and reshape and find relief in her animal.

She hit the ground hard on her hands and knees and retched, then shuddered in the pain of an oncoming Almost-Change.

Mars would see her like this. Everyone would see her like this.

There was commotion behind her, and when she looked back, Mars’s fist cracked right across Stellan’s jaw. He was yelling at him. “What did you do to her?” he was screaming.

Misty was running for Ren, but time had slowed. Her face was full of worry. Dame was behind her, yelling as Mars pinned Stellan to the bar.

The first seizure took Ren, and she closed her eyes against it. Couldn’t help it. She wouldn’t be in control of anything anymore.

Something was shoved in her mouth. Something hard. Her jaw clenched as her body seized. Her bones should be breaking. Her bones…her bones…her worthless frozen bones…

“I’ve got you.” Was she imagining his voice?

Mars?

“I’ve got you.” It was him. He’d said it again.

Her body relaxed out of the seizure slowly, and she grunted at the relief of just being able to draw a big breath. His warmth saturated her, chasing the cold from her veins. He was holding her so tightly against his chest. Her skin tingled and burned like she’d been struck by lightning.

She eased her eyes open, and he was looking up, watching where he carried her. “Door,” he gritted out. “Thank you.”

Dame shoved the door open ahead of them, and the night air enveloped them.

“Here. Stop biting down,” Misty murmured from beside them. She pulled something from Ren’s mouth. A stack of coasters? Misty was a nurse. Ren knew what she’d done. She’d kept her from biting her tongue.

God, Mars was seeing her like this. She couldn’t move yet. Everything hurt.

Misty’s hand slipped around hers. “We’re taking you to some woods. It’s going to be okay.”

“No woods,” she choked out. “I can’t.”

Mars frowned down at her with a frown of confusion. “You’re just fighting the Cat too hard.”

She winced as she moved her neck in a headshake. “Half…Cat…”

“Half-Cat?” Mars uttered on a breath.