Page 34 of Tiger Bitten

Ren shook her head and opened the text thread to Mars. I’m here. I’ll see you so soon! Send.

“Oh,” Misty said, looking over at her phone. “If that’s a text to Mars, you don’t have to do that yet. Stellan has his phone.”

She put the phone back into her pocket, then started walking with Misty again. “Why does he have his phone?”

“Ummm, okay. Storytime. Once upon a time, Stellan drugged and kidnapped Mars, and drove him across state lines, and dragged him to our house, and he used Mar’s slumbering face to unlock his phone and reset his password.”

Ren skidded to a stop as the blood drained from her face. The memory of their conversations since last night ran through her mind. “Come again?”

“Um, Mars has been unconscious all day. Whatever was sent to you was Stellan playing a game that I’ve already lit him up for, and so did Dame. And for sure, Mars will set him on fire when he wakes up.”

“So…Mars is unconscious?”

“Technically, yes.”

“And I’m messaging Stellan?” she asked, holding up her phone.

“Also yes.”

“But he told me he loves me.”

“Oh my freaking gosh, I’m going to kill him,” Misty gritted out.

“But I said it back,” Ren said, her voice raising an octave.

Misty just stood there with sympathy in her eyes. “There’s more.”

“How could there possibly be more?” she demanded, enraged heat creeping up her neck.

“Well, it seems you’re Mars’s Rabbit.”

“Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. What does it mean? What is a Rabbit?”

Misty pursed her lips. “Perhaps we should discuss this in the car.”

“No, now.”

Misty tilted her head toward a family with two young kids walking this way with their suitcases.

The handle of Ren’s suitcase creaked with the pressure of her grip as she began walking again. Stellan, that motherfucker. She didn’t even know him, but she hated him.

He’d said he loved her. He’d said he loved her! And like a stupid girl, she’d been reading and re-reading that text since he sent it, all mushy like she’d finally found the one.

When they walked the marathon back to Misty’s car and got in, Misty told her what a Rabbit is for Cats. She told her the story of how Misty had been Stellan’s Rabbit. About how she’d been clawed by him outside of her home and then hunted for years while Dame tried to keep her safe. She told Ren about the night at the hospital Stellan had tried to kill her, and then again at Dame’s house, and every word sounded like a horror story.

“Why did he bring me here then?” Ren asked, voice shaking slightly.

Misty shook her head. “We’ve been trying to figure that out. Maybe to keep you safe? Dame and Stellan can stop Marsden’s tiger if they are together. Maybe to figure out if you are really his Rabbit? Maybe because he couldn’t convince his Tiger to leave his Rabbit for the few days Mars planned on being here in Salt Lake City? I don’t know. I was overthinking about it all on the way to the airport to pick you up. Do you still want to meet up with him?” Misty asked earnestly.

And Ren thought about it. She really thought about it.

She could change her flight and head back home right now. She could block his number and never talk to him again, but if Misty was right, Mars wouldn’t be able to stop hunting her.

“Is that why he kissed me?” she asked. “Because of the Rabbit obsession?”

Misty shrugged. “Stellan for sure never tried to kiss me. Only kill me.”

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, rubbing her hands over her face. She felt a hundred years old right now.