Free Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane

the tears thicken her voice. “God, I’m sorry.” She tried to wipe them away but he took her hand.
    “Sorry for what? Loving your family? Don’t apologize for hurting on their behalf.”
    “I don’t cry like this.” She shook her head, as if denying it to herself as vehemently as she did him.
    “So you left because she blames you?”
    “She wants to run the hunters on her own. It’s hard for her to see me because I’m evidence of that time she failed so badly. Jaansens don’t fail.” She bit her lip. Failure to their father had been worse than just about any wrongdoing other than lyingor cheating. “Honor is everything. I… needed to get away so she could find her feet again. Without me. And while at first our differences in style were good for the corps, I don’t think it’s so true now. Now I worry we’ll peck each other until we can’t remember that once we were close and united.”
    “Maybe you need to find your feet too.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Thank you for sharing that story with me. I’m sorry things are so hard right now. It sounds like you’re doing the right thing for you and your sister though. I hope she sees that.”
    Lark liked to think of herself as a badass, but his last sentence snagged into her heart like a burr. She hoped that too.
    As if he realized she was too wobbly to talk about it anymore, he stood and she took the opportunity to look at him better. Better to look at that physical perfection than to think of her troubles. Good sweet baby Santa, he was a fine specimen. Tall. Broad shouldered. She got to her feet and moved closer.
    “What are these marks?” He had a full-sleeve tattoo on each arm and up the shoulder. She’d only seen them when they’d run together and he wore T-shirts. “Also, don’t let this go to your head but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a flatter stomach. The chicks must just jump on you right and left. Ha, why did I say that like I guessed it instead of having to wear armor just to get through the packs of them competing to see who gets to take you home every night.”
    He sent her a raised brow but the smirk ruined any authority he might have been trying for.
    “I do all right.” And then he frowned momentarily. “By the way, I noticed you and the werewolf, what’s his name, seem to have gotten pretty friendly.”
    She grinned. “His name is Tad. And yeah, he’s nice. I met him when I had a meet with the local pack. He’s a regular at your club, which is handy as I am there so often.” She loved Heart of Darkness. It was one of her places, made the transition to Seattle easier.
    “They’re all right. But be careful.”
    He was so grumpy about other wolves. It was sort of cute. “I’m going on a date with him day after tomorrow. I haven’tdated in a while. It’ll be good to do something different. Maybe even make out with someone.”
    One of his brows went up and she snorted because he was ridiculous and still sexy at it.
    He ran a hand up his other arm, over the marks. “Well, to get back to the subject, the tattoos are my family marks. With each achievement the pack Elders will mark the warrior’s skin. My grandmother did them all.” He pointed. “This is the first one. They took me twenty miles away to another valley east of my home and dropped me off. I had to find my way home.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Time works a little differently there, but it’s close to seven years old or so. This one is for the first time I drew blood in battle.”
    Seven? Jeez, she thought her dad was hard core. When she looked closely she could see wolves in the tribal markings. Without thinking, she touched his skin, so warm and taut. “Amazing work.”
    The place where she touched him tingled. She stood so close, he could scent her skin, the magick like warm spice. He was pretty sure she hadn’t touched his bare skin up to that point other than for a hand up or something innocuous.
    “Hurt like a motherfucker though.”
    She laughed. “The