Page 47 of Mated
“What happened?” His voice is softer, closer.
My head whips over. One tan arm is stretched out toward me, close but not quite touching my arm. And I would give so much for him to even lay his palm on my skin.
“Cancer,” I breathe.
His lips contort into a grimace. “Damn.” His palm is shockingly normal feeling against my bare arm. Calloused, rough. I have a flash of what his hands would feel like rubbing up my legs, sides—
I inhale sharply. “It was years ago.”
He watches me. “That doesn’t make it easier, Nisha. Were you close?”
“As close as I could be,” I mutter. “Him and mom had already gone through a divorce.” Another brow raise. “He cheated. Several times, actually.”
Tanner winces. “Ouch.” And the inflection in his voice sounds like he genuinely means it.
“We found out a few months later. Mom didn’t want me around him, and by the time I was able to see him … He was so far gone that he didn’t recognize me at all.”
The cancer had eaten away at his mind as much as his body. Or maybe it was all the chemicals and medicines they had to use to keep him pain free and sedated. The memory of him in that damn bed … He had wasted away to nothing from the towering presence I grew up with.
And a part of me still resents mom for keeping me away. Dad made mistakes. But so did she.
Tanner’s hand flows up and down my arm in a tingling caress. “Come back to me, Nisha,” he says gently. I look at him, and his eyes are grey again. The color of his cat form. He offers an almost timid smile. “There you are.”
“Is that an alpha thing too?” I ask, watching him from under my lashes. “Being able to pull me out of the past?”
His smile turns sad. “No. But it might be a friend thing.”
Friend?
Oh yuck.
I do not want to be friend zoned with him. Not that I should even be considering anyone after Chuck. Especially not so soon.
I force myself to smile. “Friend is good,” I say instead, and my stomach takes that moment to grumble. Loudly
Tanner snorts. “Hungry, are you?”
My face flames brighter. “No dinner with everything that happened.”
Some of the grey in his irises fades as he grins. There is something almost mischievous in the expression. Playful. And considering he is a giant cat in his second form, it makes so much sense. “Well, lucky for you, I happen to know this great place …” He starts walking down the hall toward the door.
I blink and then run after him. “And where is this ‘great place’?”
He tosses another smile over his shoulder. “You’ll just have to trust me and find out.”
***
Tanner’s great place winds up being back at the camp ground. The man is not only gorgeous, but he knows his way around a grill.
We sit on the floor of my cabin and eat while Caine sprawls over my unused bed. Horan took up position outside on guard detail, and I am trying hard not to think about why we need a guard at all.
The TV flickers brightly over the walls, and I am surprised to find the demon watching reruns of old sitcoms.
Tanner chuckles at my expression. “Don’t say a word,” he whispers as he passes me another burger before turning back to the show playing. “I love this episode.”
I look between them and roll my eyes. But my grin hasn’t faded since we got back here.
There is something about the easy camaraderie between all the guys. It really is like being at the station. They have this … family mentality. One you only get when you have seen the fires of hell together and came out to tell stories about it.
