by Thorne, Elle
* * *
The group of shifters and humans rested in Isabel’s sitting room. Throwing out ideas and trying to come to solutions to get Pepper out of the country without being noticed and to do it as quickly as possible because things were escalating for Astra, as evidenced by the constant restless flinching in her sleep.
Something she’d been doing on and off for the last two hours. Kane held Astra while she slept, though restlessly, because, every so often, a twitch would make her jump.
Anya was just barely dozing, on and off—leaning against Bryson, who had one arm wrapped around a lightly snoring Pepper and the other around Anya’s shoulders. She woke up when Astra flinched.
“She’s got to go. The two elementals…” Kane shook his head. “I called Mae. She said they’re battling. She’s got to get the whole thing sorted. I’d hate to see what happened to Bianca happen to her.”
“Could the two elementals do that to each other?” Bryson looked down at the sleeping Pepper.
“I won’t risk finding out.” Kane’s voice was edged in steel.
Rafe held up a hand. “Someone’s coming.” His words were the slightest whisper.
They’d already figured out that of all of them, Rafe had the best hearing.
“Whoever it is, is not bothering to conceal his approach. He’s just walking up here, as if he owns the place.” Rafe’s eyes narrowed. He lowered his head as if concentrating harder.
When Rafe raised his head, he said one thing, and one thing only. “This can’t go well.”
A knock on the door was loud and insistent.
Pepper started, eyes wide, she looked at Bryson.
“It’s okay,” Bryson whispered.
Kane leaned Astra to the other side of the couch and was already at the door.
“You don’t need to do that,” Rafe said. “He’s not here for you.”
“He?” Kane frowned. “He who?”
“My father.”
Isabel had been walking toward the side door. Rafe’s words made her pause. She turned around slowly.
“Giovanni is here?” Her voice held a core of strength that was lined in vulnerability. She shook her head. “He can’t be.”
“I’ll get the door.” Rafe waved his mother away. “He’s not going to get a chance to hurt you again.” His hands were clenched into fists. “Jax, will you—”
He didn’t need to finish his thought. Jax had jumped up, taken Isabel’s hand, and was guiding her to the sofa where she’d been sitting with Rafe.
Rafe opened the door, and in stepped a man who looked so in charge, even the sun needed to get permission to rise. Handsome, in a suit that was tailor-made, with a head of leonine hair, a look that proclaimed predator, he surveyed the room with flinty eyes.
His gaze finally settled on Isabel, but there was a softening in the hardness. “Tito said I should come check on the property.”
“That’s not it, Gio.” Isabel Tiero, beautiful, her hair in an immaculate updo, full-figured and gracefully sexy, rose to her feet.
When Jax rose with her, putting a hand on her shoulder, Isabel gave Jax and Rafe a look that said she could handle it and turned dark-brown eyes toward Gio, the father of her children.
“Why are you really here? It’s not like you couldn’t send one of your henchmen to come check on things. Are you having me vacate the villa?”
Gio squared his shoulders and stared down at the short beauty.
The chemistry between them was palpable. It was sexual and so much more.
He nodded. “Yes, Isabel. I want you off the premises within twenty-four hours.”
Isabel’s lips parted as if a gasp was going to make its way out, but she clamped them closed.
Jax put her hands on her hips. “You can’t do that to her. Why are you such a—”
Rafe put his arm around Jax. “Don’t. There’s no use.”
Isabel’s spine straightened. She gave Gio a disdainful look. “I never thought…” She turned gracefully, as though she were on a stage in the performance of her life. “I’ll be gone.” Her eyes flashed a golden color as she turned her back on Gio.
“I’m not done, Isabel.” He was in front of her quickly, his tiger’s speed preternatural. “You’ll be back in Rome on the first flight I can book for you.”
She raised her chin haughtily. “You have gone too far, Giovanni Tiero. How dare—”
“You’re right about this. I have gone too far. Much too far. And I’ve been a fool on so many levels.”
He looked at Rafe then Sophie then Jax and Niko. “Such a fool to throw away things other men can only dream of. Come home for Christmas, cara mia.”
“Just so easily, you want her to forget your accusations?” Rafe stepped in front of his mother, facing his father.
Isabel put her hands on Rafe’s shoulders. “Let me handle this with him, privately.”
Gio nodded and followed her from the room.
“Wow.” Anya didn’t realize she’d said it aloud until Jax nodded.
“There’s some kind of crazy chemistry between those two.”
“Always has been.” Rafe took Jax’s hand.
“Think the storm’s blown over?” Jax asked him.
“For now. But there’s always turbulence with those two.”
“True,” Sophie agreed, but there was a smile on her face.
Chapter Fifteen
Pepper was in the room next to Anya and Bryson’s at Isabel’s home. Anya lay next to Bryson, thinking of the way her life had changed. She studied his handsome profile and wondered how she’d ever been able to think she could do without him in her life.
Next to the bed, on the nightstand, her phone vibrated. She glanced at it.
Cas.
“Answer it,” Bryson said.
“I thought you were sleeping.” She picked up the phone, pressed to accept the call. “Cas.”
“How’s everything?” The voice that had been her safety net for her adult life asked.
“Fine.” She looked at Bryson, wondering if Cas knew what had happened.
“I told him,” Bryson mouthed.
“It’s better now,” she amended her statement.
“But…”
Cas always knew when there was a but. How could she tell him she was going to be with Bryson, that she wouldn’t be one of Cas’s operatives anymore?
“Bryson mentioned moving to the U.S.” Cas opened the subject.
This wasn’t going to be easy. Cas had been there for her when she’d had her darkest moments.
“You’re like a sister to me,” he continued.
Is he giving me an out? “You know I feel the same way,” she said.
“So, I want you to be happy.”
“Are you firing me?” That would make things easier.
“Nope. I’m telling you I have offices all over the world.” He laughed.
And with that, he hung up.
“That was odd.” Anya set the phone down.
“What’s that?”
“I think Cas just said I could have a job with him no matter where I live.” She raised an eyebrow. “What did you tell him, exactly?”
“I told him…” He tugged on her panties, his thumb hooked into them at the waist. “I told him that…” Another tug.
He leaned forward, taking her mouth, completely overwhelming her senses. He dove in deep with his tongue, one long stroke after another, claiming, owning, taking, giving, promising, demanding—and completely utterly delicious in his manliness.
She pulled back and stared into those eyes and looked for the amber of his leopard, seeking with her tigress.
“Bryson?” Doubt colored her voice, though she fought hard to keep it from showing.
“Do you really need to ask? Listen to your tigress.” His gaze was locked on hers.
He was right. She didn’t need to ask. She knew the answer.
He pushed clothing aside, stripping both of them with the quickness that only a supernatural being could. Hi
s lips crashed into hers as he eased her back, sliding into her wetness with the ease of two interlocking pieces finding each other. His warm hands explored her body, traveling up and down, over her flesh. He rubbed her breasts, full and swollen with want.
Her nipples pressed against his chest, their tightness painful, only satiated when he’d rolled them between fingertips, pinching and pulling. Each touch created a reaction deep in her body that made her tighten around his shaft.
Slow and languid, he plunged in then pulled out. Her breath quickened as his thrusts picked up speed.
She tensed, ready to release, her muscles tightening and relaxing around his hardness. Her head rocked back. She sensed the change in his body before he began to climax.
Something in him sent out vibrations that connected with her tigress. Those sensations pushed her into a set of orgasms that wracked her body, leaving her breathless and seeing tiny spots. In the midst of the largest one yet, he pulled her close and latched onto her, sinking canines into the spot where her neck met her shoulder.
Her gasp gave away the searing pain of his bite. With a long swipe of his tongue, he licked the blood seeping from the puncture wounds. The impression changed from pain to an apex of pleasure as she realized he’d bonded her.
His thrusts grew stronger, more insistent, as he pummeled into her with a fierceness, the whole time releasing himself deep inside. With a final groan, Bryson pulled her close and held her while their pulses beat where their bodies were joined.
They lay motionless, senseless, letting time seal what nature had created. Their hearts beat as one, their pulses slow in contentment.
Later, Bryson pulled her head back and kissed her lips. Anya tasted her blood, iron and salty on his tongue.
“What do you think about Bear Canyon Valley? Or elsewhere? Where would you want to go?”
“Not sure. Maybe New York?”
“I could deal with that. Like Cas said, he has offices everywhere.”
“He does.”
“Going with?” Bryson tugged on her hair gently, pulling her head back to kiss her.
“Wouldn’t dream of not going with you,” she answered into his lips.
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
Epilogue
“Merry Christmas!” Pepper bounced up and down.
She was the recipient of a slew of presents, trucked in by Giovani Tiero, who proclaimed, “I better get used to this, what with all the little Tieros that will be running around.”
Niko put his hand on Sophie’s belly.
Sophie beamed at her father.
A shrill ringing sound interrupted the gift opening.
“Ever heard of vibrate?” Rafe muttered as Gio took out his cell phone.
“Giovanni Tiero,” he said. Then, “Why are you having Maia followed?”
Gio paused, a frown on his forehead.
“Slow down, Federico.” Another frown. “What do you mean your men lost her? Why are you having her followed?”
Anya looked at Bryson. She had zero clue, none at all who Maia was.
Jax leaned in. “She’s a leopard shifter. Loner. Came here after… God, it’s a long story, Callie told me. First, Maia worked for Vax in Dallas, then she moved here and Rafe gave her job. Then, one day, she vanished.
Bryson put his arm around her, his lips resting on her temple.
She may not have known who this Maia was, but she hoped her ending was as happy as her own.
Foreplay
Curvy Maia’s got a secret and she goes to extraordinary lengths to keep it. Even if those lengths include stripping for men in a seedy club in Rome.
Sexy, silent black panther shifter Franco could spell devastation or be the answer to a prayer. But he’s got the cash to pay for infinite private dances…
Chapter One
There were many things in life Maia knew she’d never do. It simply wasn’t in her nature.
Except, as of today, she had already done several of those things.
Kill.
Check.
Abandon someone she loved.
Check.
Take her clothes off for money.
Maia’s stomach soured with the thought.
Check.
And she was still engaging in the final thing on her list.
Bile rose to her throat, bitter. As bitter as the sensation she had every time she performed her act. She glanced in the mirror, her gold bra and matching thong shimmering. The body glitter glistened. It was carefully sprinkled over the makeup she’d applied on the multitude of scars covering her body—remnants of her days in the underground fighting ring, fighting other shifters while in her leopard form. It was kill or be killed.
Do what you gotta do to survive, right?
Right?
Unless you’re a Tiero and born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
Hatred joined the bitterness, maybe even masked it.
It’s one thing to know who your father is, it’s another to know he would reject you for all that you are, and that which you aren’t.
Except he didn’t know he was her father. And the few times when they might have run into each other at After Dark—the club she worked at after the underground fighting ring ordeal was over—she’d stayed out of sight.
But when she saw Manuel’s men at After Dark, she’d asked Vax, the owner, if there was a position in Rome for her, and she’d left on the first available flight.
Maia was a leopard shifter. She couldn’t help what she was. She was not a white tiger shifter. Just because her father was a white tiger shifter didn’t mean she’d be one. She took after her mother.
Old-school shifter code, which the Tieros—at least the old-school Tieros—abided by, stated that shifters shall only bond with their own kind.
Sure, they can fuck whatever swung their hips or moved their tails out of the way, but heaven forbid the Tiero should create any offspring that weren’t white tigers. The hypocrisy of their lives made her hate the Tieros, and, at the same time, she cringed deep inside because she’d never be one of them. She’d never be accepted.
No matter how much she wanted to be her father’s daughter, she’d never attain that status.
Not really.
Yet here she was, deep in the tigers’ den, so to speak; deep in Rome, which was Tiero territory.
What was I thinking?
Coming to Rome, where the man who sired her might possibly see her? The place where she might run into him and he could possibly recognize the resemblance to her mother?
Fool. Fool.
She stared at the stranger in the mirror as she swiped a crimson shade across her lips. Against her ivory skin and ebony hair, the slash of red was foreign and stark. Also foreign was the scar traversing her cheek, bisecting it with a glaring, jagged white line that she’d, for the most part, hidden with concealer.
She lined her eyes in gold and brushed a shimmer across her lids and beneath her brows. Her face was more than just the face of a stranger. It was an expressionless mask that gave nothing away—no joy, no sadness, no fear.
The perfect mask.
It didn’t matter anyway. Who would be watching her face?
She shook the diaphanous cape, twirled to let it settle around her. That and her thong were the only things that would be left after her bra departed her body.
“You look great,” Brandy said.
Brandy, an old hand at this, had taken one glance at Maia her first day at the seedy strip club, a few weeks ago, and told her she needed to go back to whatever country club she’d come from. It had been a rocky start, but now they got along, more or less.
Maia adjusted the thong, making sure the parts needing to be strategically covered were. Carmen’s song was dying down, and Maia had to be ready to go when her song started.
She opened the dressing room door, stepped out, turned the corner, and—
“Oomph!”
She ran into six feet seven inches of muscle and attitude.
Bouncer. Though he liked to call himself assistant manager.
He steadied her with one ham-like hand while looking around her and yelling, “Brandy. You’re up next. Let’s go.”
“I’m up next,” Maia countered, not that she was anxious to get naked on a stage in front of a bunch of pervs.
“You have a special engagement.” A smirk made creases in his fugly face. He reached a thick finger out, tracing the hem of her bra, then crossed the boundary of the fabric and flicked her nipple.
Maia flinched before she could stop herself. She studied his vulture-esque features. A long nose that would double as a scavenger’s beak. Dead eyes, and skin that resembled plucked bird flesh.
“What special engagement?” she asked, cringing away from his touch.
It was normal after their performances for the girls to have occasional calls to perform private dances.
Which Maia did.
And sometimes more than dances.
Which Maia did not do.
But a private dance before the act? That was unheard of because most of the patrons were first-timers, foreigners, mainly, often American.
“Who is it?”
“As if I know every horny dick that comes in the place?”
He grabbed his crotch for emphasis, wrapping fingers around the hardness, making sure she noticed. His thick Italian accent made the word “dick” sound like “deek.”
He scoffed. “You were requested. You will…” He glanced up and to the right, as if scouring for the right word. “You will comply.”
“I don’t do private dances.”
Untrue.
She did do private dances, but she said that every time because she didn’t want to do the private dances. At least, her private dances didn’t end up with Maia on her knees with a cock in her mouth, or on all fours while splayed wide, with some asshole drilling her. However, her dances did end up in one of the same little rooms as the others. Ones that have curtains separating them from the others—without even the dignity of a door or walls.