Page 23 of Tiger Born

And as she watched him leave her apartment with whatever cleaning supplies she’d had here, she kind of wished she was a Cat, so she could hear if there was a lie in his voice or not. Would everything be all right? Would it really?

Misty made her way to the front window and looked out to see Dame jogging down the last of her apartment stairs. He made his way directly to her car, parked up front, and he opened the back door, and was partially hidden from view. Pity.

With a sigh, she made her way to the bathroom and dried and curled her hair, and by the time she made her way back to the window, there was a shiny black Ram truck pulled up behind her car and another man standing near Dame, talking to him. They mirrored each other with their hands on their hips. He looked similar to Dame but not identical.

Mars.

She checked herself in the mirror because she wanted to make a good first impression on his brother and then grabbed her keys and made her way down the stairs.

Marsden did a double take when he saw her. His eyes filled with sparks of fire, and they brightened from a dark brown to a bright gold. He slid an angry glare to Dame. “Are you fucking serious man?”

Dame chewed the corner of his lip and lowered his head.

“Is that who I think it is?” Mars demanded.

“H-hi,” she said, offering her hand. “I’m Misty.”

“I know who you are,” he gritted out, ignoring her hand.

“I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?”

“Yes,” Mars said at the exact same time Dame said, “No.”

“You exist,” Mars spat out. “You’re the fuckin’ Rabbit.”

“Mars,” Dame warned in a snarl.

“She doesn’t know?” he asked. He let off a cruel laugh as he paced away, running his hands through his hair. He shook his head and walked back to them. “You’re dead.”

“Enough!” Dame barked, stepping between them.

“What do you think he’s going to do when he smells her on you?” Mars asked. He tossed her a furious look, and then his eyes dropped to her arm where the bandage was.

“Mars,” Dame gritted out.

His brother stepped forward and in one smooth, blurred motion, he ripped the bandage off.

“Ow,” she yelped, and Dame grabbed him and drove him straight back into his truck with a huge bang.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch her again, do you hear me?”

Marsden’s eyes were glued to the marks on her arm as she peeled the bandage off completely. She would need a clean one.

He dragged his glare to Dame and lifted his arms in the air in surrender.

Dame shoved him and released him, then backed off.

“You marked her?” Mars asked in a shocked tone.

It was Dame’s turn to run his hand through his hair. “I messed up.”

“That’s all you’ve been doing since I got here—”

“No, you don’t get to do that. I’m allowed to make mistakes, Mars. You owe me grace. Good God, you owe me so much grace. I’m always on. I have to be perfect because my own fucking brother abandoned me to take care of Stellan. And I do! And I never complain, do I? It’s hard and my whole life revolves around it, so if I want a mistake or two to slip when you’re here to help me, I think it’s fair.”

“I’m not a mistake,” she murmured softly. She hated this conversation.

Dame cast her a glance but then focused on Mars again.