Free The Liger's Mark by Lacey Thorn Page A

that was just the woman. She had the urge to bend down and taste him, just one slide of her tongue from tip to base and back up again.
    “Is that a yes?” he asked, voice soft and soothing.
    She forced her gaze back to his. “You wanted answers.”
    “We can do both,” he offered. “I’m great at multi-tasking.”
    She had a feeling giving in to him sexually would weaken her stance, weaken her resolve to settle for no less than an equal partnership. As much as she craved him, she couldn’t give in.
    “Let’s talk,” she said and shifted reluctantly off his lap before sliding back under the cover and pulling it up over her breasts. She nodded pointedly at his lap and almost busted a blood vessel forcing her attention to stay focused on his face.
    He jerked a pillow over his lap instead and nodded at her. “Why are they after you?”
    “I don’t know,” she answered and repeated it when he gave her a look of disbelief. “I really don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out, but I’m not getting any answers. I was hoping there would be some in the box…” She trailed off and looked around.
    “What box?” Gabriel asked.
    “I was given a box that contained stuff left for me by the woman I thought was my birth mother. I’m sure Holt grabbed it for me.”
    There was that rumble of displeasure in his chest again. “Why would your birth mother leave you a box?”
    “I should probably start from the beginning,” Kenzie said then shook her head.
    “What?”
    “I’m realizing how little we actually know about each other.” She rubbed her fingers over the spot where he’d bitten her.
    “Do you think others who have mated knew everything about each other when they first met?”
    “Maybe not,” she admitted. “They learned over the first few weeks they were together.”
    “I robbed us both of that,” he admitted huskily. “I hurt you, and for that I’m incredibly sorry. I’d give anything to remove that emotion from your eyes.”
    “You can,” she told him, but they both knew they were at a stalemate there. She needed one thing, and he truly believed he wouldn’t be able to accommodate her wish.
    “Let me introduce you to Kenzie Marshall, the woman behind the mate mark. I was left in a hospital when I was weeks old. Abandoned. I made it into the foster system, where I got shuffled between homes until the Marshalls adopted me. They tried to understand me, to accept me, but I was an unusual child, and my unique abilities made people uneasy.”
    “Your animal spirit?” he asked.
    “The heightened animal senses and instincts were there—sense of smell, hearing. The Marshalls grew scared of me, but despite their fear, they kept me until I graduated from high school. I stayed in contact with a social worker named Ms. Karsey. She promised to give me information on my birth parents if I still wanted it when I turned eighteen.”
    “So they knew who left you?” he asked.
    “According to Ms. Karsey, the woman checked on me a few times through the years, to see how I was adjusting.”
    “The woman was watching to see if your beast emerged. I’m guessing she checked at twelve and again at sixteen,” he stated.
    “Yes,” Kenzie agreed with a nod.
    Both of those ages when animal emergence often occurred in a shifter. Something to do with hormone changes during puberty. Some developed the symbiotic relationship with their animal side early, while others waited until later in life. Sometimes the beast was so still and silent inside that a shifter never became aware it was there until a time of extreme crisis or danger. There were so many variables where shifting was concerned.
    “Before I left for boot camp for the Marines, I went to look for her. When I finally found her, I stayed as far away as I could, watching her and her husband through binoculars. They lived in a heavily wooded area. I saw them shift into cougars and run off. I wanted to be with them.”
    “I wouldn’t have pegged you