Page 25 of Tiger Betrayal

He fuckin’ hated himself.

A soft snarl rattled his throat, and he swallowed hard and crossed his arms over his chest, like that would keep his emotions inside. He’d said some cold stuff, but it wasn’t a slight to Laramie. He just didn’t want Mars to put attention onto her. He wasn’t ready.

He’d gotten territorial. It had been a long damn time since he’d reacted like that. He hated that Mars had just showed up at his shop, his safe spot. He’d hated that he’d clearly talked to Laramie before Stellan had even introduced them. How did Mars know about her? How had he found her?

Stellan clenched his teeth together hard and wished he was still alive. Wished he was human. Wished he was normal. Laramie deserved normal.

Clearly, she was going through something, and he was feeling unsteady with it all. He’d kept her in the bedroom all weekend. He’d kept her hormones racing and her mind numb and hadn’t asked her about…well…her. And now she was in a random library sketching a specific window and crying silently, and he would give anything to know what she was thinking. He wished he knew where the tears were coming from.

She unwrapped Craig’s candy bar and he couldn’t watch her eat it.

He inhaled deeply and pushed off the bookshelf, then made his way out of the library without exposing himself to Laramie.

He needed to Change again before he met up with Mars tonight. He was so damn tired of bleeding everyone who gave a damn about him.

He’d verbally bled Laramie today, and he winced as he remembered how loud he’d been, and how the guys had all poured out of the shop to see what was going on.

She’d probably been so embarrassed.

He was such a fuckin’ asshole.

She deserved so much better. He’d known it from the start, but for some reason today, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he wished he could be a better man.

Chapter Eleven

Just like the last three days, there had been a small cluster of blue flowers bound in thin twine sitting in the cubby hold she kept her purse this morning.

She’d done a search on the internet for them to find the name. They were Bachelor’s Button flowers. Like the last three days, she added them to the vase she’d picked up from the store on her lunch break.

Stellan hadn’t tried to talk to her anymore. From what she could tell, he wasn’t talking to anyone. He came in, did his work, and left. He seemed tired any time she saw him.

She got that part. She hadn’t been sleeping very well lately. She stayed up at nights thinking about him. Not that she would ever admit that out loud.

Craig kept commenting on the flowers and asking her what her favorite ones were, so she was pretty sure they were from him. She could tell he liked her and was finding more ways to talk to her. She wasn’t interested, but he wasn’t crossing any lines, so she was being polite with the vase.

The bell over the door dinged and she looked up to greet a customer. To her shock, it was Mars and another tall guy that looked like Stellan. Dame?

“Heeey,” she drawled out warily.

“I come in peace,” Mars said immediately, holding his hands up in surrender. “Stellan knows we’re coming this time. He’s going to lunch with us.”

“Oh, okay.” She looked at the clock. “Ten minutes and he’s all yours.”

“Laramie, this is Dame,” Mars introduced them. “Dame, Laramie.”

“Good to meet you,” Dame murmured, shaking her hand.

The two giants exchanged a glance, and Dame’s attention drifted to something behind her. “Where did you get those flowers?” he asked.

Laramie had been typing out some notes on an order but twisted around to look at the Bachelor’s Button flowers. “Secret admirer maybe. Or someone who felt sorry for me from the day I met ol’ Mars here.” She scrunched up her face. “It wasn’t my favorite shining moment.”

“I heard,” Dame said low. “Those flowers aren’t from some secret admirer though. They’re from Stellan.”

Laramie frowned. “How do you know?”

“When we were growing up, he used to give them to our mom when she was angry,” Mars explained softly.

“She was always angry,” Dame said. “Stellan was always trying to fix it with little blue flowers.”