Tiger Bitten (Ambush #2)
Chapter One
He couldn’t do this.
Marsden Ledger frowned at the incoming video call, but instead of answering, he set his phone face-down and closed his eyes, waiting for his brother to stop calling.
Dame had been blowing him up lately, and he knew why.
This weekend was the one-year anniversary of the Ledger brothers’ oath to meet up again in Salt Lake City.
He’d had the best intentions when he’d agreed to annual meetups with his brothers, Dame and Stellan, but Mars was supposed to fix his life and have something positive to share when he made it back to his old hometown.
Mostly he’d just fallen apart in the year after their mother’s passing.
Everything that could’ve gone wrong, had gone wrong.
He couldn’t bring that to his brothers’ doorsteps.
Her scent whispered to him in the wind, and Mars jerked his attention to a red, two-door Bronco.
The striking woman had the top off of it today, and he watched her parallel park next to the curb.
Her curly hair was pulled into a high messy bun, and she wore a pair of oversized sunglasses on her pixie face.
She wore dangly earrings that sparkled in the morning sunlight.
The door to her Bronco opened and she stepped out.
Today she was wearing black slide on boots, high socks, and cut off shorts, paired with a paint-splattered T-shirt with a band logo he didn’t recognize.
Three chunky necklaces were layered and falling right between her perky breasts, shaping them in such an appealing manner.
She reached into the car and grabbed a coffee, then settled an oversized, fringed purse over her shoulder and gathered a stack of records in her free arm, then looked confused.
She bumped the car door closed and two of the records slipped off the top of her stack.
“Ballsack,” he heard her curse on the wind.
Mars half-stood. Should he blow his cover and offer to help? No. That was just his inner tiger manipulating him.
He was trying to get closer to her faster.
“Stop,” he gritted out under his breath.
A trio of women walked past on the sidewalk, obstructing his view of the woman.
One of the ladies helped her stack the records in her arms and she smiled. It was Marsden’s first time seeing her smile. God, she was so pretty.
Did those women know what they were talking to? Probably not. Humans had terrible survival instincts.
Her scent was filling his head now. He wondered if she was a tiger, like him. She was some kind of Cat. He’d known it from the first time he scented her last week. She smelled like a Cat, but also different. His mouth watered, and he had to swallow hard and shake his head to focus.
She waved to the ladies and told them, “Have a good day!”
Gah, that smile. A low, rattling growl vibrated from his chest. Steady.
He wished he could leave. He wished he could get in his truck and drive away from here and never think about her again. He didn’t even know her name. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to know anything about her. It would make this harder.
She balanced the stack of records onto her leg as she fumbled to unlock the store. He didn’t know if she owned it or just worked there, but it was an interesting profession, he supposed.
There was one record store in this town, and truth be told, he’d never noticed the tiny storefront until he’d scented her inner Cat on the wind and followed her here.
He hadn’t realized record stores were still a thing.
She unlocked the door and eased open the door handle with her forearm, then disappeared inside. Something inside of him clenched the second she left his sight.
Mars dropped his head and tried to swallow down the growl. He’d been sitting on this bench seat for an hour, nursing a coffee, and waiting for her. He shook his head and stood.
No, he couldn’t answer Dame’s calls. His brother would be able to tell immediately that something was wrong with Mars.
How could Mars face them?
How could he face his brothers after everything they had gone through with Stellan and his Rabbit hunt?
After all of the pain, and worry, and stress, how could Mars tell them he had found his own Rabbit?