A child came running around a bookshelf and stopped. “Who are you?” he asked in Greek. She was about to answer when he yelled in delight and threw himself into her guide’s arms. “Jaison!”
“Augie,” Jaison exclaimed throwing the boy into the air to be rewarded by a chuckle.
“Is Kali back, too?”
“She is.”
“Augie, I told you we would see her after lunch tomorrow,” a very pregnant woman informed the young child. “Brother, welcome home.”
“Mabyn.” Holding the boy on his hip, he kissed his sister’s cheek. “You cannot know how happy we all are to know Kali is back. Leo has been a tyrant the last few days.”
“He wasn’t great to deal with over the phone, either.”
“Remember when he worked twenty-three hours a day? Those days were back.” Mabyn smiled through the words. She turned her golden eyes, so similar to Jaison’s, on Paighton. “You must be the librarian. You are much younger than I expected.”
With a strong hand on her lower back, Jaison pushed her toward his sister, at the same time putting her in contact with his hip. Intimate and subtle, but the meaning was clear enough. He was letting his sister know of his interest. The silent proclamation both thrilled and terrified her. “There was a change. Ms. Knight was kind enough to fill in when medical reasons kept Ms. Porter from coming.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Mabyn reached out a welcoming hand then paused and stared at her brother, openmouthed. She recovered from whatever shock hit her, but not before Paighton saw it. “Ms. Knight, I’ve tried to clean up, but it’s not really organized.”
“Please call me Paighton, and this library is a breath of fresh air.”
“We have children’s storytime in here.” Mabyn ruffled Augie’s hair. “May I make a request?”
“Of course.”
“When you organize this library, can you keep the young children’s books by theme instead of author? When a child is interested in spiders, that’s all he is interested in.”
“Not spiders, Mama. Volcanoes.”
“I stand corrected. Volcanoes.”
“Which reminds me.” Jaison took his hand and led the way to one of the boxes in the entryway. He moved them until he found one that had Augie’s name along with a few others on it. Ripping the tape, he opened the lid, picked up The Picture Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, and handed it to Augie. “I told you she would remember.”
“Mama, look.” The boy jumped up and down before lying under one of the tables on his back with the book above him.
“I know what we’ll be reading every night for the next month or so. I don’t know if I should be thankful yet.” Mabyn leaned down to see under the table. “Augie, bring your book, Daddy is going to be calling soon.”
“Where is Taki?”
She straightened and rubbed her belly. “Rio, I think.”
“I thought Gio went to South America.”
“I believe Leo wanted to try diplomacy before brute-alpha machoing.”
“So Gio will be going in a week?”
“I think he is already there, just in case.” Mabyn bent over again. “Now, Augie.”
The little boy pouted but followed his mother’s orders, pressing the book to his chest. “Bye bye.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Paighton,” Mabyn said then eyed her brother. “We have to chat.”
Once the mother and son left, she turned, somewhat defeated. She supposed it was inevitable that even if he was interested, others would find her lacking. “I don’t think your sister liked me much.”
Jaison hid his cringe. There was no way to explain that his sister’s reaction to her at his side as more than the temp librarian had nothing to do with her but everything to do with the situation. Had he by some miracle met her before Kalista came to the island and bonded with Leonidas, perhaps it would be different. After all, no one had even lifted a brow when Cosima mated with a human. But to have the prime, his sister, and now his second beta all mating with humans, that would cause a stir. But more than that it caused a conflict for Jaison.
“She’s concerned about me.”
“What risk could you possibly have from me?”
“You might be surprised.” He led her to the sofa in the far room. “I’m in danger of losing myself in you.”
“Please. We just met.”
“And you do not believe in love at first sight?”
“Are you saying you are in love with me?”
“And if I am?”
“I would say it doesn’t exist, and you need to stop reading those romance novels.”
He brushed his knuckles down her cheek, needing to touch her to diminish the disappointment her words brought. He knew she couldn’t understand what he went through, but he had still hoped. Hoped her connection would have been at least some of what his prime had experienced the year before.
When she pulled back, his hopes were dashed. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“I know you say you want me, but I don’t want this. I don’t want a relationship.”
Getting back to his feet, he looked about the room, swallowing down hard the disillusionment. Some of his kind in other prides would force the bonding and be damned what the other person wanted. He was not that man; he would do everything in his power to keep a wide berth from her and the libraries for the next thirty days. “Do you wish to stay and work here?”
She seemed unsure what to say. “I’d rather stay here, but the main house library is where my talents are best suited at the moment.”
“Then, shall we?”
They left the little village with its white walls in silence. The sun began to make its slow decline to the horizon and as the island cooled, many woke from their naps and emerged into the streets. He stopped once or twice to introduce her, mostly to the elders of their pride. All offered their assistance. If his little librarian only knew the knowledge they each held, she would never get back to the library.
He escorted her into the main villa and down the hall. As requested, there was a box outside the room marked with the words book return in big block letters and already three books lay inside. But next to it was an antique wooden library cart that had seen better days.
“Oh my. That is gorgeous.”
He looked at the ugly dilapidated shelves on wheels and then at his mate, who looked to have won the lottery. “I’ll have someone come and check the wheels on it for you.”
“Yes, please, but don’t have them do anything else. It would ruin the beauty of it.” She tried to push it, but the rusty wheels refused to budge, so he lifted and placed it in the center of the room.
“Is there anything else you might need?”
“I guess I need to be shown where I am staying.”
Showing her to her room was a very bad idea. “I’ll have someone come down and escort you up. Dinner is usually around eight. And we eat as a group. If you would prefer to have some privacy, I’m sure they can bring you a tray.”
“No, dinner with everyone is fine.” She seemed uncertain as he prepared to leave. He chalked it up to being in an unfamiliar place with very few people she knew.
He gave a light bow and excused himself. He didn’t want to push, and every instinct screamed for him to claim her. Had she been a shifter, she would feel the pull, too. Although they couldn’t bond until seven days into Leo, they would be up in his room mating.
As he reached the stairs, he ran into Leonidas coming down. “Where is your mate?” his prime asked.
He threw his hands up. Good god could Kali keep one thing to herself. “Kali told you?”
“Actually, no. This might surprise you, but your name has not passed her lips since she got home.” Leonidas chuckled. “I could sense it immediately when I got on the boat. But it took a second to figure out it was you, not Nikolas.”
He should have known. “Do you have a minute?”
“For you, I have more than a single minute
. Let’s walk.” He indicated the open double doors to the veranda.
“You do not wish to stay close to your room in case Kali needs you?”
“She shall not wake for a while yet,” he said but showed no sign of boasting. He glanced up the stairs. “I do wish she would confide in me what is bothering her, though.”
“I’ve nothing to say on the matter.”
“Easy, friend. I wasn’t asking. I was voicing a concern.” He led the way outside to the veranda. “Now what bothers you?”
“She’s human,” he said because he knew Leonidas would understand.
“She is.” The other man paused, staring out at the sea. “Are you worried because of the pride, or are you upset because you didn’t want a human mate?”
“I’m concerned for the pride and I worry she won’t accept who I am. But where Kali couldn’t keep her hands off you, Paighton pulls away.”
Again, his prime remained quiet. Jaison knew better than to say anything, so he waited. “There are a great many differences. The main one being the timing. You’ve over a month before you can even bond. I believe if you give her time and space, the fire will build.”
He hoped so because he wouldn’t wish what he saw Kali go through on anyone, least of all his mate. “There is another issue.”
“Your conflict of interest.”
He would like to be one step ahead of his prime just one damned time. “Yes, I worry I can’t protect Kali if someone should go after my mate.”
“And if your mate were a lioness, she wouldn’t need your protection, so there wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Basically.”
“Before you arrived, I was talking with Damen who is with Taki and Gio on a diplomatic trip to South America. Gio is concerned that they are trying to go after you to get to the queen.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We’ve someone deep undercover, as you know. What we’ve gotten from them is that they plan to challenge you for the ability to be Kalista’s guardian.” Leonidas lifted a hand in the air, stopping his objection. “We do not know if it is possible, but they are trying. Because of it, your mate being on the island is more timely than we could know. We need to locate the scrolls on the rules of challenge. I haven’t seen them in years, but they’re sure to be in that mess.”
“I’ll up my training.”
“Not a bad idea, but there is something else. If we discover that this is the case and they can indeed challenge you for the right to guard the queen, Damen will be challenging you first. And I want you to throw the match.”
His jaw dropped. Damen was Leo’s second. He spent most of the time in the background observing and counseling the prime. He trained with him all year. Jaison wasn’t sure anyone but Leonidas could beat Damen in a challenge. But that his prime would ask him to throw the fight infuriated him. “Prime?”
“Easy, friend. Please hear me out.” Leo leaned against the railing. “First, if they are going to challenge you, they’ve been learning your fighting technique, not Damen’s. Second, if you throw the match, then both of you are in top health. You’ll need to be when they challenge. You can focus on your mate, whose being human won’t help our situation with that racist pride. Once you have bonded and we are into Virgo, I’m happy to have you take the role of guardian back. Damen is my second for a reason. I need him, and Kali needs you. You make her safe. Let me reiterate I would trust her only to you if given the choice.”
His ego took the news harder than his brain that said this made a hell of a lot of sense. It would prevent the strongest of the South American betas from challenging again. Each lion was allowed but one challenge in a given year. They had learned the hard way last year that challenging the prime was an endeavor no one could win. He had heard Cedro still walked with a limp. Being the queen’s guardian had been an honor he had never expected but was privileged to carry.
“This doesn’t mean you aren’t the one I want guarding her. But this does free you up to help your mate deal with the trials that are about to befall her. No one but you can ease the pain she will go through.” Leonidas placed a reassuring hand on his beta’s shoulder. “Think on what I’ve said. If you believe in your soul that this plan isn’t the best for Kalista, I’ll trust you.” He gave Jaison’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts now.”
Jaison gripped the railing and stared off into the Mediterranean Sea. Damen could watch Kali as well as he did. Jaison didn’t doubt the power and skills the other man held. But his presence by the queen’s side left the prime without his second. And Kali liked to chat, where Damen was happiest in the corner quietly observing. The fates must be bored.
He didn’t know how long he stood watching the sun make its way to the horizon, but a shimmer up his spine alerted him his mate stood close by. Turning to glance up at the Marble Room’s balcony, he met her gaze. She froze, caught in the act of watching him. Every fiber of his being said to climb the trellises and claim her, but his alpha’s words rang in his ears. So he nodded in greeting before turning back to the sunset. He could feel her still watching him. After a moment longer, he moved into the building, made a beeline for the kitchen and asked if he could have a plate sent to his room. He needed to get an extra training session in.
With that accomplished, he made his way to the training center and field. There, he could get his aggression out and work through what might be best for everyone involved. Perhaps even with a clear head. But he wasn’t banking on it.
Chapter Four
Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she ran a hand down her face. She’d slept better than she had expected to in the situation. Unfortunately, she had dreamt of Jaison in positions and doing things to her that made her blush just thinking about it. The clock on the bedside table read 5:34 a.m., which placed it past her bedtime at home. Jet lag was a bear, but she couldn’t blame this on the time change. She placed the inability to sleep square on Jaison’s broad muscular shoulders.
She showered, got dressed and quiet as a mouse, made her way down to the library. She had made no headway in the mess yesterday. Today, she hoped to get some of the books that didn’t belong here out, making room for what did. She needed to know her budget. To get books rebound or to buy supplies. She made her way down and caught the light coming from under the doors. Had she left the lights on? She would have to be better about that. Opening the door, she jumped back, confronted by four people sorting through the piles of books and papers. “What are you doing?”
A voice from the second landing sent her skin alight. “Sorry. We hoped to be out of here before you woke.”
She came farther into the room and arched her neck to see Jaison going through some scrolls. “Do you have any idea how old those are? You should be wearing gloves.”
“Yes. They are very old.” He gave her a wink before turning back to the shelves before him.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. What are you looking for? Let me help so you can get out of here and I can clean up the mess.”
“Ms. Knight, actually Jaison has been having us sort as we go,” the young man from yesterday said. “Not sure how you wanted to organize, so we started placing the scrolls by year and into three categories. Folklore, family history, and finally, business.”
“Oh, you can read these?” She was shocked because it had taken her a great deal of time to figure out that they had been written in an unusual mix of ancient Greek and Latin.
“Jaison and I can,” Aiden replied. “The others are looking at the drawings.”
“Some are easier than others to decipher,” a young woman grumbled. She remembered meeting her the night before at dinner. Naya, her name was.
Her attention again flew to Jaison who seemed unaffected by her presence while she had a great desire to rub her body all over his. When he hadn’t shown up to eat, she had been relieved, at first, for a reprieve from the intensity he created. But that soon changed to frustration. The amazing rich
food held no interest. What didn’t help was the not-so-subtle innuendoes about the man they called their prime and what he was doing to their queen. She could only imagine. And those images made the longing she experienced worse.
“How long have you been in here?”
“Since after you went to bed.”
“You’ve been in here all night?” she asked in shock.
The teens shrugged as if it was no big deal. Jaison made no indication he heard the conversation below him at all. Why should his sudden indifference to her matter? Didn’t it prove what she thought? He was a player who saw her as an easy lay. Sure, he had a good game and perhaps she, for the first time, had wanted it. But that didn’t change the fact it wasn’t long lasting. He would get bored and she would be left feeling at best silly and worse, like a lovesick idiot.
But the sudden switch from attentive suitor to indifferent acquaintance gave her whiplash. It wasn’t fair. She wanted to stomp her foot. Instead, she pulled her hair into a tight bun. “Tell me what we’re looking for and I’ll help to get you all out of here quicker.”
“It’s a scroll called the Rules of Challenge,” Jaison answered. “If you have gloves, by the way, we would be happy to wear them.”
“If there are any here, I haven’t uncovered them yet.” But she had put them on her list of things to ask for, if and when Kalista surfaced from her bedroom again. She climbed the spiral staircase to find the area with the scrolls at least passable, where it had been a danger yesterday. “What is so important about this scroll that you all had to be up all night searching for it?”
“Leonidas needs it.”
And that explained it all, she supposed. “Immediately?”
He opened another scroll, read for a second then rerolled and placed it on a shelf to the right of him. “Sooner rather than later.”
“Because it’s been in here for years and it’s suddenly dire?”
“Could be.”
“And its official name is the Rules of Challenge.”
Prowling for His Mate Page 5