Page 28 of Tiger Betrayal

“What I read about them in books.”

“Wait, you read books?” he asked.

A laugh escaped her at his shock. “Yes, I read books. Lots of them. I’m even part of an online book club.”

“A book club,” he murmured softly. “So, there are more people like you?”

“A lot more people. Readers can form tight-knit communities.”

“And you all read about werewolves?”

“So, are you one?” she asked, guiding him back on track.

“No. Werewolves don’t exist.”

“That sounds like something a werewolf would say,” she pointed out suspiciously.

Stellan leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, stayed an inch from her face as his eyes blazed gold with his words. “I’m a Cat.”

“What’s a Cat? You mean like a cat shifter? Can you turn into a cat? What kind of cat?”

He didn’t answer though. Instead, he got out of the truck and jogged around the front, and opened the door for her, and helped her out.

She wanted to ask one trillion more questions, but at that moment, a little red car zoomed past them and honked. Two ladies hung out the window and whistled at Mars and Dame, and Laramie laughed. She bet these were Stellan’s sisters-in-law. She couldn’t remember their names, but that was okay.

Stellan told her as he led her up to the barbecue place, “That’s Misty and Ren, the two most annoying females on the planet.”

“Are they Cats too?” she asked softly.

“Misty is just like you,” was all he said. So, okay. He meant Misty was human.

Lunch was short on account of their hour-long lunch break, but Laramie had so much fun. Stellan didn’t let her pay and ordered what she thought was way too much food for them, but he polished off everything she couldn’t finish. It was a relaxed place with long picnic tables with checkered red and white table cloths in an outdoor seating area with strands of outdoor lights overhead. It was probably really pretty here at sunset. Mars and Dame were easy jokers and loosened Stellan up, though he was naturally quieter than them. Misty and Ren blabbed easily to Laramie in a nearly constant fashion, and she loved it. They were funny and happy and seemed to just be living in the moment. They explained they didn’t get to see each other except when Mars and Ren were visiting Salt Lake City. Mars and Ren were visiting for the week for some Ledger family reunion, and that was the first time she’d learned Stellan’s last name. Stellan Ledger. What a cool name.

Ren and Misty both hugged her goodbye like they’d known her forever and invited her out for drinks with them later tonight. She’d planned to do a memory lane adventure, but that could wait. She looked up at Stellan to see what he thought, but he was smiling at something Mars had said, and right now, he was holding Laramie’s hand right here in front of everyone. His answer would probably be yes.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll be there.”

It wasn’t just her who felt lighter. On the way back to work, Stellan kissed her knuckles three times absently, like he wasn’t even thinking about it while he told her this story about the night he and his brothers had to spend the night in jail when they were eighteen because they got drunk on top of some water tower and had the cops called on them.

She liked this side of him. He’d let down his guard, and his eyes weren’t glowing. They were just a light brown.

She was so curious about the Cat stuff, but she had this feeling that Stellan was wrapping his head around trusting her and being more open. She just had to be patient and not push him too hard.

He would tell her what a Cat meant when he was ready. She believed that now.

Stellan was going to be a slow-open book, but to her, those were the best kinds.

Chapter Twelve

“Can I see you in my office?” Murph asked, startling Laramie out of lala land.

She’d been replaying memories from last night, when she’d gone out with Stellan and his family to a bar that had a band playing live music. It had been one of the most fun nights of her entire life.

She looked around his computer desk right behind her workstation and frowned. “You have an office?”

“Yes,” Murph ground out, striding past her desk and into a door at the back corner of the shop that she’d never paid attention to.

He sounded angry.