Page 35 of Tiger Born

The smile fell from his face slowly. “No. And if you were a Cat, you could hear the oath in that. Stellan won’t touch you. You might be his Rabbit, but you are mine in every other way. The game has changed.” He glanced at her clothes on the floor. “Get dressed. We need to get out of here.”

“But…I have a shift…”

“Call in. Let me regroup us. Stellan is out of his mind tonight with the hunt. Unless you drag me in with each of your patients as your bodyguard, you aren’t safe here. Your patients either. Mars is trying to get him under control, but I don’t want him to find a way through us. The world would know Cats exist after tonight. I need you with me.”

She nodded. “I’ll call in.”

He leaned in and kissed her quickly, then twisted and looked at his back in the mirror. Her claw marks were uniform, matching on each side. She hadn’t scratched him deep, but they looked red and swollen. His smile was devilish in the mirror, and his eyes flashed such a bright gold. “You did good.”

“It looks painful.”

“My animal knows what those are. He will heal them slowly and make sure they leave a mark.” He leaned in and cupped her face, his eyes so intent on hers. “You really are mine now.”

Misty could feel the slow stretch of her answering smile. “I think I already belonged to you.”

The pleasure in his gold eyes filled her up with butterflies. She cleaned up and dressed quickly, then followed him out of the bathroom. He grabbed her hand and kept her angled behind him, leading the way with strong strides. It was right back to the skywalk and elevator, and directly to her car where she made a quick call to the hospital and feigned food poisoning.

Chris would probably make a stink about her calling in after he’d seen her, but that was a tomorrow problem. Right now, she was staring at Dame’s giant hand wrapped around hers as he drove her car up a level and parked it behind a matte black Harley Davidson motorcycle.

He kissed her hand and told her, “I’ll follow you.”

“Where?” she asked.

“This address,” he said, typing into his phone. “I need your number.”

She recited it and he texted her the address.

“We both marked each other before we exchanged phone numbers. I just wanted to point that out.”

He snorted. “We are doing this all backwards.”

“It doesn’t feel backwards,” she murmured. “I need you to take it back.”

The smile faded and he kissed her knuckles. Eyes boring into hers, he told her, “You aren’t a mistake, Misty, just so you know. I’m sorry I said that. I’m so sorry. I can’t get the vision of the hurt in your eyes out of my head. It has ruined me every hour of every day of the last three weeks.”

Oh, he’d known what had hurt her the most. Smart boy. She didn’t have to beg for an apology. The seriousness in his inhuman eyes tugged at her heart. She pulled his hand to her cheek and pressed it there for a three count, then opened her door and got out, letting her hand slip from his.

“You have a motorcycle,” she said as she hesitated at the driver’s side door, watching him throw a leg over the seat.

“I use it when I need to get somewhere in a hurry.”

“You needed to get to me in a hurry tonight?”

He nodded and fired up the roaring engine. It was so loud. God, he was hot.

He’d backed it into the parking spot, so his headlight illuminated her car as she got in and put her seat belt on. She threw the car into drive and headed for the exit signs.

He swung out of the parking space, and she could hear the loud hum of the Harley engine as she took the turns to exit the parking garage.

He wasn’t even wearing a helmet. Unsafe, but also, she’d seen him heal. He would probably be fine.

He scanned constantly. She could see him doing it in the rearview any time she looked back at him.

This man had every red flag imaginable, and she was smitten with him. Hell, she’d put her claw marks right on him after being heartbroken for weeks over his little ghosting move.

Misty would beat herself up later. Right now, she was too happy.

She couldn’t help herself.