Island Stripe Pride - Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Bruno walked behind Mara, watching her unlock the door, and step inside. He’d almost lost her tonight. The realization sat heavily on his shoulders, and he frowned. He should’ve been there with her.
If he was good with words, she wouldn’t have kicked him out of her office earlier. He could have explained why he didn’t give her his bite earlier that day. Bruno was a physical man. He was accustomed to using his body to express his wants and desires, but being with Mara was not like anything else he’d ever experienced.
She was so beautiful and good. He’d watched her with her sister. Saw how she worked with her staff. Always so reliable, respectful, responsible. She was so good. So very, very good. And he was a monster.
Bruno’s strength and size had helped propel him up the ranks of the Pride. But when it came down to it, he got here by using his fists and fangs. He was a natural born brawler. There was nothing soft about him, and Mara deserved soft. She deserved safe.
He was not that. Look what disaster he’d brought to her door. That freaking Lioness. How many others had there been over the years? How many times had Big Cat Prides tried to take him against his will?
Dean had run interference for him when he’d been too young to do it himself. He’d saved him from his father’s last pitiful attempt to trade his only son for money and power. He’d turned down matches that would have won the powerful allies, and why? All for the sake of Bruno having a choice.
Dean was a good Neta. He’d helped Bruno keep his freedom. But he could not help him now when he had to lay his heart bare for the only woman in the world who could give a monster like him peace. She had it all wrong. She thought he didn’t want her. But he’d been trying to protect her by not claiming her like he wanted to.
Bruno followed her inside, watching with greedy eyes as she stripped off her work clothes and turned on the shower. She didn’t say a word, only turned around and pulled his borrowed t-shirt up over his head. Next came his boots and his sweats. Mara took his hand gently, led him to the shower, and he followed her.
Sweet, sexy mate.
He took shampoo and massaged it into her scalp, loving the feel of her short, silky hair. Rinse, condition, and repeat. She moaned softly, and the sound was like a siren’s song wrapping around him and pulling him towards her. There was no stopping it now. Bruno was helpless against her magic, and she was magical.
Beautiful, soft, magic woman.
Her small hands ran over his body, soothing aches and hurts he didn’t even realize he’d gotten during the battle with those two Lion assholes. They were lucky he hadn’t killed them in his haste to get to her. When he saw that Lioness go after her, something awful happened inside Bruno.
His beast damn near broke. It was all he could do to focus hard enough to not turn into a killing machine. He didn’t think she’d like him like that. And Bruno really wanted Mara to like him.
“Mara,” he whispered as he turned off the water and wrapped in her big fluffy towel.
“Shhh, I got you,” she whispered, nuzzling his cheek with hers.
His beast purred inside him, and the rumble carried through to his skin. Did she even know what she was doing? Marking him with her scent. Getting him so damn addicted, he was clinging to her like a fucking barnacle.
Courageous woman. Tiger tamer.
Bruno laid her down on the bed and kneeled beside her. She looked confused, but rolled on her side, petting his shoulders and chest, waiting patiently for him to explain.
Good, caring woman.
“What happened tonight was my fault. You should not have been in that position, Mara.”
“I disagree. It was Lorraine’s fault. She’s a psycho bitch and I won’t let you take the blame for her attack on me,” she said sternly, her blue eyes shining with her inner Bunny.
Damn. She was beautiful when she was angry. He felt her heat, her energy, and it warmed the beast inside of him. Bruno hissed out a breath. He had to keep going. She deserved to hear it all from him.
“It’s not easy for me to explain, but if you let me, I’d like to try,” he started, continuing when she nodded her pretty little head.
Fuck.
She was so perfect, and this part was hard. He wanted to keep her, but was not sure she would let him after he told her how broken he really was. But brave, bold Mara deserved the truth from him.
“My father was a White Tiger, like me. He was a breeder, a stud, used by Prides to sire cubs for the sake of passing on his unique genetics. The bastard left me in the care of my grandmother when I was a cub. He was a real winner too,” he snarled, lost in the memory of his sire.
“I’m sorry,” Mara whispered, but he pushed on.
He didn’t want to tarnish her view of him any more than it already was, but if Mara was going to pick him, offer her neck like she already had, she needed to know what she was asking for and from who.
“My father was not like others. He never paid Nonna. Not one fucking cent in child support. Never called on my birthday. Never came to a single football game or school event. He was too busy hiring himself out to Prides who wanted a unique White Tiger in their ranks. He fathered over a dozen cubs in his lifetime. All my half brothers and sisters, not that I ever met them. From the information I’d gathered, only three of them turned out to be White Bengals, like me.”
“Have you met them?”
“No. Never. With his stats being what they were, Dominick D’Italia found it more and more difficult to find Prides willing to pay top dollar for his seed. So, the bastard found another way to earn.”
Bruno paused, sucking in a deep breath. This part was hard. Harder than he realized, but as if sensing his distress, the sweet little Bunny moved. Mara got off the bed, sinking down to the floor next to him. She tugged on his arm till he was sitting behind her, and she was all snuggled between his legs, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, head beneath his chin. Bruno exhaled again, rubbing his cheek on the top of her soft, damp hair.
“When I was twelve, my father showed up in the middle of the night. I did not have a Pride then. It was just me and Nonna. I was getting in trouble all the time, and I didn’t understand the changes happening to me and my animal. The Tiger gets harder to control during puberty, and I was already big and strong.”
He growled, but Mara just squeezed him tighter. Her hands, like magic, rubbed his back and she kissed his chest with her soft, sweet lips. The woman quieted his beast, settled the monster inside him with her soft ministrations, and Bruno continued with his sordid tale.
“Dominick came and told me he understood what I was going through, said he could help. He took me from Nonna’s apartment when she was sleeping, buckled me up in his old Ford, and brought me to this Pride out in Texas. The females there were going into heat, and the Neta wanted a White Tiger among their ranks.”
He felt Mara stiffen, and he hated she would know his greatest shame, but Bruno was in it now. He had to finish the story. Had to let her hear everything so she could really make the choice.
“The Nari got to me first. She was much younger than her mate, but way older than me. I didn’t understand what was happening,” he whispered that part.
“I was young and scared, and I couldn’t do what she wanted me to do. So she had me beaten, tied up, forced to change. I was left in that room for days, could have been weeks. I don’t know. When the Nari thought I’d had enough, they brought in a younger female. This one was kind. She washed my wounds, gave me food and water, candy when I was good. Fuck. I was so hungry in there, but I still did not understand what they wanted until they brought my father in. He’d been beaten too, and he was so mad at me. He raged on and on about how I was weak. He told me I had to be a man. I had to give the Nari and the females there my seed to pay the debt my father now owed.”
“Oh my gods,” Mara said, and he felt warm wetness against his skin where her face was pressed against him.
“The next night they brought me to the Nari, chained and cleaned, they’d sprayed me with a soap and ice cold water from a hose, so I didn’t foul up her sheets. Man, I hated that woman. She was ice cold and cruel. Her words stung more than her blows, and I was volatile and half-starved. My Tiger had been unpredictable at best, but the animal had been put through too much. He decided it was enough, and I turned right there in that bedroom. My Tiger broke through the chains, and I had that nasty female’s neck between my jaws before the guards could stop me.”
“Did you kill her?”
Bruno paused a moment. Eyes closed, he nodded, then said the word aloud.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
That Mara was glad he’d killed someone should have shocked him, but his beast rumbled in contentment. The animal had no remorse for killing that evil she-Tiger. She’d had it coming. But Bruno was surprised that Mara was still holding onto him tightly, like she didn’t think he was bad at all. Didn’t seem to care he was an admitted killer. His Tiger was head over heels already, and if his human side was not already in love with her, he would have fallen hard right then.
Brave, loyal, fierce mate.
Oh, Mara had a claim on him. Bite or no bite, it didn’t matter. She was his, and he was hers. Always.
Now to finish it, he thought.
“Nonna had been going out of her mind trying to find me. She found the in New York, this little human had marched right up to Dean Romero and demanded he find me. And he did. Minutes after I’d killed that Nari, Dean and his men came busting through the doors to rescue me. That’s why I never want cubs. I don’t ever want to risk him or her being taken,” he growled.
“Oh Bruno, how awful,” she whispered, and he felt her heart breaking, but he was powerless to fix it.
“We’ve broken up half a dozen underground Shifter breeding rings like the enemy father was part of since. It still happens. People like Lorraine, who think they have the right to own people, still operate. It’s not okay, Mara. The Enforcers pair up with other Prides or Packs and hunt them down, get back the Shifters they steal. I’ve done bad things to protect the victims of these rings, Mara. Terrible things,” he whispered the last.
Bruno waited for his words to sink in. This was it. This was when his future would be decided. His heart already belonged to Mara Casabella. No matter what, that part could not be changed. The rest was up to her.