Liam stood there, feeling uneasy. Clearly, Ginger wasn’t eager to tell her story, leaving him to wait her out. If they were going to make this mating work, she’d have to tell him for them to move past it; otherwise, they’d lose their opportunity at happiness. There was only one mate for each shifter. If they rejected that person, they’d be destined to spend the rest of their days alone. He wasn’t eager to spend his life alone, never knowing the comfort his mate had to offer, never having a woman he could snuggle next to every night.

“Let’s do this inside.” She brushed past him as she hurried to the door.

Without a word, he followed her inside and shut the door behind them. She took a seat on the only chair in the room, her action was a clear statement that she didn’t want him near her. So, he settled on the sofa, as far from her as he could be in that space.

“We don’t have to do this now,” he offered with mixed emotions. He wanted to know the complete story instead of the bits and pieces he’d gathered from her exchange with Garret. What had happened between her and this lion? If someone hurt her, he’d kill them.

“It’s been nearly a year ago now but what happened stays with me every day. It was supposed to be an average day but when I arrived at the bar, I found the place deserted. All of the staff received calls that there was a water line break and the bar would be closed. I never received that call and I ended up walking in on something I shouldn’t have witnessed. Tap, my boss and the owner of the bar, was bribing a private detective to hide evidence of him killing a woman.” She wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to chase a chill away, and stared at the floor. “I don’t really remember but I think I dropped my bag. Next thing I knew, Tap had me up against the wall and stuck a syringe into my arm. Everything went black.”

“What happened when you woke up?” he pressed when she remained silent.

“I woke up in the apartment above the bar, locked in the guest room. I had been there when the former owner, Jim, lived there. He’d been an avid photographer and because of that, he’d covered and sealed the window to use the space as his dark room when developing pictures. The only way out was the door and it was locked.”

“Tap was a lion?” He tried to put the pieces together. If the man who’d kept her hostage was a lion, it would explain why she freaked when she smelled his beast.

“A bear.” Her nervousness seeped from her and she rocked back and forth. “His friend was a lion. He was there when I tried to escape. Tap beat the shit out of me and chained my ankle to the floor. I was terrified and he had broken my will, but even if not, the chains were too heavy. I couldn’t break them. I couldn’t even lift my foot off the floor more than a couple of inches. When Tap was done with me, his friend had his chance. The lion wasn’t satisfied to use me as a punching bag. He wanted…”

“Sex?” Growling, Liam shot to feet. The attack on his mate was enough for him to want the asshole dead but the thought of a man forcing himself on her made him want to torture him before ending his life. He couldn’t sit there and do nothing if this asshole was out there, possibly picking another victim.

“Nothing happened. Tap had his faults and they were lengthy but he never kept me prisoner for sexual reasons. It wasn’t about that.” She took a deep breath and let it out again. “He knew I’d go to the police with what I heard and he didn’t want to go back to prison. That’s why he held me. He knew that if he killed me, he wouldn’t get away with it. Garret would have never let him have a day of peace if he so much as suspected Tap was behind my murder. So he kept me locked in that room while he tried to figure out what to do with me.”

“He never…it was never sexual?” Some relief set in at that but still, this man had hurt her and he couldn’t stand for that.

“Never.”

“I still want him dead. Both of them.” He balled his fists at his sides. “Where are they?”

“Dead.” As the word left her mouth, she seemed to relax a little. “I was only there a couple of days, but during that time he beat me whenever he was around. The night the lion was there and I tried to escape was the worst. When the lion attacked, Tap must have heard my screams from the other room and he came in. Tap killed him right in front of me, splattering me with the man’s blood. As I watched the life drain from his eyes, I thought I was going to be next but Tap hauled the dead man out of the room without a word, leaving me alone.”

“Who was this lion?”

“I never knew his name. I had never even seen him before that night.”

“And Tap?” Knowing they were dead did nothing to eliminate the anger coursing through him. He wanted to kill the bastards himself.

“Jase was pissed but Garret killed him.”

“How does Jase play into it?” He tried to hold back his anger until he knew. Surely, the tribe’s Chief couldn’t have known that Ginger was being held hostage. Jase wasn’t the man to turn a blind eye if someone needed his help.

“He was there, I guess, spying on Sin to make sure she was safe, and he bumped into Garret. Somehow, Garret talked him into backing him up and he’d owe Jase for it. I don’t know what happened between the two of them that night. I was in rough shape and honestly, I didn’t care. I asked about it later but Garret wouldn’t talk about it. I only know Jase was livid because I remember him yelling. I couldn’t tell you what he said though.”

“Sounds like Jase.” Liam had no one to kill. All of the ones that hurt his mate had already been taken care of but he wanted to do something. Setting aside his anger, he went to her, reached down, took her hand, and pulled her up until she stood in front of him. “Evil exists everywhere but I’m sorry you had to witness it. To have a lion instill the fear in you that has you shying away from me makes me want to kill him. I want you to know that I’m nothing like him—just as Jase is not like Tap. You can’t paint the whole species with the same brush because of them.”

“I…” She glanced at up him, meeting his gaze for the first time. “Maybe I have done that but it’s hard to separate the memories and fear from the scent of a lion.”

“There are other lions throughout the tribe and none of them mean you any harm. I’ve known most of them all of my life. I’m not going to hurt you and neither will they.” He wasn’t sure how he would prove that to her but he was determined to find a way. “After breakfast, let me show you around, introduce you to some of them.”

“I don’t know.” She tried to step back from him but she hit the chair and he wrapped his hand around her bicep before she could fall back.

“I know you’re afraid, but let me prove to you that I’m nothing like the last lion you had contact with.” He let go of her arm and stepped back. “Do you honestly think Garret would have left us alone if he thought I was anything like that asshole? Do you think I would be one of Jase’s guards if I were like that? Garret trusts me with his mate and with you, yet you don’t trust me enough to let me show you around and introduce you to some of the residents here.” Her attitude against lions had started out directed at someone else but now it was becoming personal. What did he have to do to prove to her that he was different? And more importantly, how was he supposed to do it if she couldn’t even stand to be alone with him?

He let out a sigh. “Tell Garret thanks for the invitation, but another time.” He turned his back to her and strolled toward the door. Perhaps he was being unreasonable as he’d only known her for a short time, but already, he was tired and her attitude was more than he could handle without getting his lion edgy. Another reason why he had no doubts this woman was his mate. From the moment he set eyes on her, she’d gotten to his head.

“Liam,” she called to him, but he didn’t stop.

He needed to put some distance between them and think things through. How was he supposed to handle his mate’s hatred toward his animal? If it continued, he’d be destined to spend the rest of his life a lonely bachelor.

* * *

The door slammed shut, leaving Ginger alone with her regret. Her wolf snarled at her, demanding to know why she let her fear get the best of her. They were better than this. Wolves fought; they didn’t give in at the first sign of trouble. Her human side was weak and willing to let the terror from her past spill into the future she could have, while the wolf within grew angry at the very thought of allowing the past to control them any longer. She needed to rise above it all and fight through the horror to grab a hold of her mate. She only wondered if she could do it.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, lost in her own thoughts, regret, and feeling sorry for herself, but when she opened her eyes again, Garret was squatting in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. He shook her.

“Ginger!” He shook her shoulder again.

“What?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded different—weak and distant. She tried to blink away the fog that had settled around her and focus on her brother.

“Damn it! You scared the shit out of me. I knocked and you didn’t respond. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m…” Her voice broke, forcing her to swallow before trying again. “I’m fine.”

“Where’s Liam? How could he leave you like this?”

“He left before.” She rubbed her hands over her face and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “He’s angry that I can’t trust him and you know what…I don’t blame him. What hell it must be to have a mate who can’t stand you because of the animal you shift into. Every time he comes near me, all I can think about is what happened. His lion scent reminds me…”

“You’ve known other lions before this happened to you. Focus on them.” He rocked back on his heels and took her hands in his. “Focus on the happiness you can have. Finding Sin changed my life and I’ve never been happier than I am now. You can have that too with Liam. He’s a good man, a protector.”

“I already have one of those.” She grinned at him. “You’ve always been there when I’ve needed you.”

“And so will Liam.”

Maybe he was right but it didn’t ease the tension within her. The idea of being mated to a lion chilled her blood and made her want to run. Her wolf was eager to find a mate, but even the idea of a lion made her wolf’s hair stand on end. She had been at the receiving end of the lion’s claws and didn’t want to find herself there again. Maybe spending her life alone would be the better option than finding herself stuck with an evil lion. Liam might be different when they were alone and behind closed doors. By then, it would be too late.

No, I’m not willing to do that. I’d rather be lonely than deal with that.