Free The Liger's Mark by Lacey Thorn Page B

for a cougar,” Gabriel said.
    “I’m not sure I am,” she confessed.
    “Pretty sure cougars are going to have cougars,” he told her.
    “The thing is, I don’t think she was my mother. I’m not sure exactly who she was.”
    “Then why was she checking on you?” Gabriel asked.
    “I’m hoping the answers are in the box I was given.”
    “Where did you get the box?” he demanded.
    “When I left Colorado, I went looking for the Marshalls. I thought I’d see if they knew anything from when they adopted me. We never talked about it. Things were so awkward at the end that I didn’t feel comfortable asking them anything. Plus, I had the social worker’s word she’d give me the information I wanted. The Marshalls were gone, though. A neighbor said they’d left just after I headed to basic training.”
    “So what about the social worker? This Ms. Karsey?”
    “Deceased,” Kenzie answered. “The new woman couldn’t find any record of me. It was as if I’d never been in the system. I went back to the place I’d seen the cougars, but they weren’t there. There was another man living there who sent me to another address, and so on until I finally came across the woman with the box.”
    “None of this is making any sense,” he said, looking concerned.
    “I know. Trust me, I know.” She hadn’t even told him the things the woman had said.
    “What do hunters have to do with any of this?” he asked.
    “That’s the thing,” Kenzie admitted. “Before you found me in that cabin, I overheard one of the hunters having a conversation on the phone. He said they’d found her, and he was excited about it.”
    “You?” He sat up straighter, as if he were suddenly on full alert. “Why would they be looking for you? What else did you hear?”
    “He said I had the mark they’d left.”
    His gaze narrowed as he thought. “The one on your ass. Turn over and let me see.” He reached out and gripped her hips, ready to flip her so he could see the spot.
    “Excuse me,” she said, slapping at his hands, but he was bigger and stronger and had her turned while she was still arguing. She’d wonder how he’d known about it, but he’d had her on her knees in the back of his vehicle. Not a memory she needed in her head right now.
    His fingers traced over the spot. “Not a birthmark then,” he murmured. “I should probably get a picture.”
    She scrambled away as soon as he removed his hands and scampered off the bed, fists planting on her hips as her chest heaved with anger. “You’re not taking a picture of my ass,” she fumed. “Now do you want to know the rest or not?”
    “There’s more? Christ!”
    “You don’t have to be involved in this at all,” she snapped. “I’m more than capable of taking care of it without you.”
    “Yeah, I can see that,” he sneered. “Should I remind you of the hunters who almost took you? Of just how long you’ve been passed out in this bed with me?”
    “Holt’s the one who kept them from taking me and apparently got a bullet for his effort. I would have been just as safe passed out in this bed without you.”
    She saw the temper and dominance suffuse his face even before his gruff reply.
    “You were ice cold when I took you in my arms. I’m the one who heated you, the one your body craved to be close to.”
    “I’m sure my body would have accepted any source of warmth, even—”
    “Throw him in my face one more time, and you might as well sign his death certificate.” He stood from the bed and prowled around the foot of it toward her. “Make no mistake. You’re mine. My woman. My mate. I’ll rip the throat out of anyone who challenges that.”
    “Even me? What if I’m the one who challenges?” She leaned her head back, exposing her throat to him. “Still feel the urge to rip?”
    “You I’ll throw on that bed and fuck into submission,” he assured her, stopping in front of her. His cock stood thick and proud again, the tip glistening with the