Page 37 of Tiger Betrayal

“Yes,” he answered gruffly.

“Stellan, put me down!” she demanded.

He settled her on her feet in front of the RV. “Inside,” he gritted out.

“Why?”

“Because I have all of these feelings inside of me right now, Laramie! I want to kill my brother. I want to kill him. He was too close to you.” He dragged a deep breath in, and paced away from her, then back. There was this helpless look in his eyes. “I can’t have you around other Cats yet. Not when they’re Changed. It’s too dangerous and I want to…I want to…”

“Stellan!” Mars was jogging out of the tree line, pulling a T-shirt on over jeans.

“Mars, it’s bad fucking timing right now,” Stellan snarled. “I need a minute.”

Ren came running from the tree line, tugging a tank top over a black bra and cut off jean shorts. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she trailed Mars.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Mars crooned, slowing as he approached, his hands held out. “I swear we didn’t know you were going to be out in the woods.”

“It was her first time seeing me, man!” Stellan barked out. “I just needed five fucking minutes of peace.” He closed the distance between him and Mars so fast and shoved his brother hard. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice echoed through the clearing.

“We wanted to,” Ren said, huffing breath. “We had plans for the reveal. I was practicing so I wouldn’t be awful at Changing when I showed you.” Her eyes were full of some deep emotion Laramie didn’t understand.

Stellan twisted his head from side to side, cracking his neck, and then disappeared inside of the RV.

“What’s happening?” Laramie whispered, confused.

Mars gestured to Ren. “Ren is a Half-Cat. Her animal was stuck inside of her for her entire life. She couldn’t Change, but I Turned her.”

Ren’s eyes were filling with moisture now. “He woke up my animal.”

“Oh my gosh,” Laramie whispered. “Can I hug you? Is it too soon? Does your skin hurt or anything?”

Ren laughed thickly and tears fell to her cheeks as she closed the distance between them. “A hug would be nice.”

Laramie hugged her up tightly, trying to imagine how it must’ve been to live with a stuck animal. She had so many questions, but the door to the RV creaked open, and Stellan came out in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that was already staining with blood on his ribs.

He didn’t say a word. He just picked both Laramie and Ren up in a hug until their legs dangled from the ground.

“Fuck, Ren. You should’ve told me. Our animals weren’t supposed to meet like that.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” she whispered brokenly.

Stellan squeezed them again and set them down. Ren laughed thickly and released Laramie from her hug, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Well, Laramie, you got to meet half the Ambush in one go. And also, what the hell, Stellan?” Ren shoved him hard in the arm. “Were you going to attack me?”

“I don’t know! Maybe!” Well, at least he was honest. He jammed a finger at Mars. “And you! You were twenty yards off of her, and she’s a new Changer. What if it hadn’t been me?” Stellan barked out. “She could’ve gotten hurt!”

“First off,” Mars said, “Ren is a panther. She has claws and teeth the same as you and me. She’s not fragile. And second off, we were just chilling out there, two hours into a Change. I had let my guard down. I was…distracted.”

“I swear to everything, if you say you were chasing a chipmunk, I’m going to punch you in the dick.”

Mars pursed his lips and didn’t say anything.

“Seriously?” Stellan griped.

“They’re fast, man! It’s a challenge.”

“Oh my God, I can’t talk to you right now.”