Dark Power Untamed (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Book 50)

by I. T. Lucas

  Kevin smirked. “Handsome fellow, isn’t he?”

  “I guess.” Cassandra pretended indifference. “Since when is the charity called Save Them? What happened to Save the Girls?”

  “Some of the trafficking victims are boys, so they changed the name to Save Them.”

  “They could have called it Save the Girls and Boys. ‘Save Them’ sounds weird.”

  Kevin arched a brow. “Are you putting your foot in your mouth again, Cassy? That’s not PC. What if some of the victims don’t identify as either?”

  “Right.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “They need to reinvent the language and call everyone they and them. As is it now, it’s too damn confusing.”

  Cassandra was only thirty-four, but she was already too old to understand the new generation and its new rules of propriety. Half of her altercations with her employees and coworkers were over perceived offenses. At least she was spared being called racist, but it was only a matter of time before someone found a way to pin that on her as well.

  Kevin, who was more than a decade older than her, had a good grasp on all that PC stuff. She wondered if he had secretly researched the latest guidelines or was just better at absorbing them than she was.

  “Distinguished guests!” Onegus’s rich baritone sounded over the loudspeakers. “It’s a great pleasure for me to be here today.”

  He looked straight at Cassandra as if he was addressing her alone.

  “First, I want to share with you the tremendous difference your contributions have made in the lives of the rescued victims of trafficking. Without your help, we would have been forced to limit the number of residents in our sanctuary and in the halfway house, sending these young people back into the world before they were ready. Instead, they can stay for as long as they need to, allowing time for healing and recovery. The support we provide is so much more than just a temporary shelter. We are providing them with the tools necessary to not only survive, but also to flourish, so when they are ready to spread their wings, they can do more than fly away. They can soar.”

  There was a round of applause, after which Onegus told a few personal anecdotes, and how he had been inspired to help trafficking victims after a friend’s daughter had been lured into a trap but saved in the nick of time.

  He finished with a couple of jokes and then encouraged the guests to donate lavishly, pledging to match each contribution to double the evening’s proceeds.

  The guy was charming, funny, compassionate, and looked like a movie star. The audience was eating it up, and Cassandra wasn’t immune, catching herself gazing at him dreamingly and imagining what it would be like to have a man like him.

  Except it was all a show, and the guy was probably a spoiled playboy who hadn’t worked a day in his life. The international conglomerate most likely belonged to his family, and he was just the pretty face that they used for public speaking.

  She was willing to bet that all that charm was an act, and that in real life, the guy was a stuck-up snob with a stick up his ass the size of a flagpole.

  When he was done and people rose to their feet and applauded him, he bowed his head politely, and smiled that panty-melting smile of his.

  “Thank you.” He dipped his head again.

  As Onegus stepped down, someone else got up on the podium. “Let’s give it up one more time for Mr. Onegus McLean.”

  Everyone clapped again, and then it was Kevin’s turn to give his speech.

  “Come on, Cassy. Do your part.”

  Plastering a smile on her face, she followed him up to the podium and struck a pose. That was her damn part. To be Kevin’s prop for the evening, and for her so-called Cinderella story to provide him with free publicity.

  “You owe me big time for this,” she hissed.

  He kept on smiling while the photographers went into a snapping frenzy. “Whatever you want, it’s yours. You’re worth it.”

  13

  Onegus

  Onegus pretended to listen to Kevin Brunswick’s speech, smiling politely and clapping when everyone else clapped, but his entire focus was on the stunning lady standing next to the guy.

  When Kevin turned and smiled at his companion, though, Onegus snapped to attention.

  “I would like to introduce my Fifty Shades of Beauty creative director, Cassandra Beaumont.”

  Everyone clapped again.

  “Cassandra started in my company as a model, but she soon proved to be so much more than that. If there is one person I should credit with my company’s rapid success, it is my beautiful and incredibly talented vice president. Give her a round of applause.”

  As the guests clapped and the photographers snapped away, Cassandra forced a smile and dipped her head. “Thank you,” she said to the microphone and then moved aside, giving the stage back to her boss.

  She was comfortable in front of the cameras, striking a well-practiced pose and turning her head to just the right angle so they would get her best side. Still, Onegus could tell that she didn’t like being up there and was struggling to hide how pissed she was. Her smile never reached her eyes, and she glared daggers at her boss.

  Evidently, she hadn’t been on board for his little publicity stunt. A beauty rising from rags to riches thanks to hard work and extraordinary talent made a good story, and the free publicity Fifty Shades of Beauty would get out of it was priceless.

  He had her name now, and she wasn’t just a pretty face, a piece of eye-candy on Kevin’s arm. She was a creative director of a large cosmetics company and Kevin’s vice president. Pretty impressive for such a young woman.

  No wonder she radiated confidence.

  Cassandra wasn’t a kid, though. Onegus estimated her to be in her late twenties or early thirties, which made her absolutely perfect. He liked his women to be more mature and to have a mind in addition to looks.

  And as an added bonus, she wasn’t at the gala to snatch a rich husband or a sugar daddy.

  Not that he had any objections to being the latter, but she didn’t need his money. He had no doubt that the position Cassandra held in Kevin’s company came with an appropriate salary.

  The only question was whether she was taken.

  Several rings adorned her long, elegant fingers, but none looked like a wedding or an engagement ring. Except, that didn’t mean a thing these days. She could be married and not wear a wedding ring, or she could be cohabiting with a partner.

  Onegus had a rule against seducing married women, and that included those who had live-in boyfriends.

  When all the speeches were done and everyone had made their pledges, dinner was served, and after that the mingling part of the event finally arrived. Usually that was the part of the evening he hated the most, but not tonight.

  Excusing himself from his dinner companions, Onegus beelined straight to where Cassandra and Kevin were standing and talking with several of the other guests.

  “Good speech.” He clapped Kevin on the back and smiled at Cassandra.

  “Yours was too.” The guy offered Onegus his hand. “How much was collected tonight?”

  “I have no clue.” He offered his hand to her. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Beaumont. I’m Onegus McLean.”

  “I know who you are, Mr. McLean.”

  She reluctantly put her slender hand in his, and it was like getting zapped with a high-voltage current, but not in a sexual way.

  “Wow.” She pulled her hand out of his. “Static electricity.” She smoothed it over the side of her dress. “It must be the fabric. Or maybe the shoes.”

  As she stuck one dainty stiletto-clad foot out from under the long skirt, Onegus had the absurd urge to kneel on the floor, wrap his hand around her ankle, and remove the shoe.

  Why?

  He had no clue. It wasn’t as if he had a shoe fetish, and he’d never gotten excited over a woman’s foot, but hers was just so perfectly shaped, and her skin so perfectly smooth that he wanted to lick it all over.

  “If you�
��ll excuse me.” She smiled nervously. “I need to powder my nose.”

  Onegus stifled a chuckle. That used to be a polite way for ladies to say they needed to use the bathroom, but nowadays it had a very different meaning that had to do with a certain drug that was in powder form. He wondered whether Cassandra knew that. She was too young for the old expression, but perhaps a little too old to realize what the latest generation of young humans used it for.

  In Cassandra’s case, though, it was probably neither. For some reason, she wanted to get away from him.

  Perhaps the curious sparks between them had unnerved her.

  She arched one perfectly shaped brow. “What’s so amusing? Did I miss a joke?”

  He leaned closer. “I’ll tell you when you return from powdering your nose.”

  As her lush lips thinned out into a stubborn expression, he expected her to insist that he tell her now and not later, but she must have thought better of it and forced a polite smile before turning to start toward the bathrooms.

  Damn, she had a fine ass. And that runway walk was causing him all kinds of trouble.

  With an effort, Onegus tore his eyes away from her sashaying hips.

  He had no intentions of letting her escape. She couldn’t run off without Kevin, who was most likely her ride home, and Onegus planned on keeping him engaged until Cassandra’s return.

  Perhaps while she was gone he would coax more information about her from her boss, specifically whether she was married or had a steady boyfriend.

  14

  Cassandra

  As Cassandra turned away from the infuriatingly handsome billionaire, she let out a muted relieved breath. Walking toward the restrooms, she could feel his heated gaze on her back, and the contrary part of her decided to give him something worth looking at, a version of a runway walk that would leave him panting for what he couldn’t get.

  Damn, the guy was hot. If he made a move on her, it would take all her formidable defenses to keep him at arm’s length.

  And what in the name of the devil was that electrical current that had arced between them?

  Cassandra was attracted to Onegus, so she’d expected some reaction when she put her hand in his large paw, but instead of a pleasant tingling or excited butterflies in her stomach, she’d produced an energy zap that had nearly knocked her off her Louboutins.

  Hopefully, it wasn’t her witchy power reacting to him. Or perhaps it was?

  Other than being too handsome, too tall, too rich, and too charming, Onegus McLean hadn’t done anything to aggravate her enough to cause such an instant spike.

  It must have been her subconscious thought process that had caused her power to suddenly unleash, and now that she had allowed those thoughts to surface, her anger simmered close beneath her skin. It was good that she’d released some of it earlier, or she would have been in trouble.

  The guy probably thought he could get any woman he wanted, but if he tried anything with her, he would discover that wasn’t so. Cassandra didn’t do hookups, and she didn’t compromise on anything less than a man’s full and dedicated attention, and a genuine effort to win her heart. Onegus was too smooth and too everything else to be anything other than a player.

  It was a shame, and a tiny part of her hoped that she was wrong, but her rational mind knew better. If McLean ever had a serious relationship, it would be with an heiress, someone just as rich as he was. People like him didn’t marry for love. They married for political gain or business advantage or both and had lovers on the side.

  Prejudice much? A small voice in the back of her head whispered. Perhaps he was a perfectly nice guy who was looking for the love of his life?

  Right.

  Onegus wasn’t freaking Prince Charming, and she wasn’t freaking Cinderella.

  It was true that she’d come from basically nothing, but Cassandra had made something of herself with hard work and dedication. If anyone was her Prince Charming, it was Kevin, and thankfully he’d done it not because he’d fallen in love with her, but because he’d recognized her talent and believed in her.

  His gamble on her had paid off big time. From a small company that had been barely making it, Fifty Shades of Beauty had become a national brand, and it wasn’t thanks to how great the products themselves were, but thanks to her cohesive branding and marketing.

  After finishing in the restroom, Cassandra fixed her lipstick, checked her updo for any strays, and when there was nothing else to justify her prolonged stay in the ladies' room, she squared her shoulders and walked out.

  Hopefully, Onegus had moved on to his next victim, and she could grab Kevin and tell him that she wanted to leave. Josie’s concert should have ended a long time ago, and he was no doubt eager to go home to her.

  No such luck.

  Onegus and Kevin were still standing in the same spot she’d left them.

  Cassandra huffed out an annoyed breath. So be it. She wasn’t embarrassed about asking Kevin to take her home in front of their host.

  Onegus must have sensed her approaching and turned around, flashing her that beautiful panty-melting smile of his. “Here you are. I thought that you got lost.”

  She arched a brow. “I’m surprised you’re still here.” It was rude, even she knew that, but he was pushing her buttons without intending to.

  Onegus leaned closer, his breath tickling her ear. “I promised to tell you why powdering your pretty nose amused me, and I never break my promises.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Come dance with me and I’ll tell you.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell me now.”

  Kevin chuckled and then waved at someone. “I’m going to say hi to Bob Grinberg.” The traitor walked away, leaving her alone with their host.

  “Come on, Cassandra. Just one dance. I promise not to bite.” He winked. “For now.”

  He was so full of himself. But to refuse was to admit that he scared her. Well, not that he was scary. It was her attraction to the bad boy billionaire that was frightening.

  “Fine.” She put her hand in his and let him lead her to the dance floor. “But just so you know, I have two left feet, and I don’t know these kinds of dances.”

  He looked down. “Your feet look absolutely perfect to me.”

  Finding them a spot on the crowded dance floor, he put his hand on her waist while holding the other. “Just let loose and follow my lead.”

  The man knew how to dance, and he was being a perfect gentleman, not trying to bring her too close against his body or holding her too tightly, and after a minute or two she started to relax.

  Well, she wouldn’t call it relaxed when her body hummed with need, and she was reining in the traitorous rioting hormones with sheer willpower.

  “Where did you learn to dance like that?” she asked just to break the silence.

  “My mother taught me.”

  “Are you close to your mother?”

  “We talk once a week, and I visit her at least twice a year. She lives in Scotland.”

  A man who cared about his mother couldn’t be too bad.

  “What about your father? Are you close to him?”

  “He passed away a long time ago.”

  After leaving his fortune to his son, but still, the fact that Onegus hadn’t pissed it away indicated that he was at least a decent businessman.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “As I said, it was a long time ago. How about you? Are you close to your mother?”

  Cassandra smiled. “Very. I still live at home.” That usually cooled down most guys.

  “That’s lovely.”

  She eyed him from under lowered lashes. “I’m thirty-four.”

  “So?”

  “So, most men find it strange that I still live with my mother.”

  “I see nothing wrong with a daughter taking care of her mother. I value family above all.”

  “How do you know that I take care of her?”

  “You didn�
�t mention a father, so I assume he is not around and your mother has no one else. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stayed. You are too strong-willed and independent for that, and it’s not a financially driven decision either because you must be making a very good living.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “True, but no one achieves the level of success you have by being meek.” He leaned closer. “I bet that you are supporting your mother, financially and emotionally.”

  He was either a very good judge of character, or what was more likely, he’d learned all of that from Kevin the traitor.

  “I see that you had an interesting conversation with my boss. What else did he tell you about me?”

  Onegus grinned. “Nothing that I didn’t know already. He said that you are one of a kind and that he’s very fortunate to have you. Then he threatened me with bodily harm if I tried to steal you from him.”

  Cassandra laughed. “He’s so full of it.” Kevin was in good shape, but he was tiny compared to Onegus who seemed to be built from solid rock. “Nevertheless, I love him for saying that.”

  15

  Onegus

  Onegus’s good mood had gone straight to hell. “Is there anything going on between you and your boss?”

  Her lips a thin line, Cassandra glared at him and then smiled wickedly. “A lot. We spend hours together nearly every day, our heads bent together as we whisper secrets to each other.”

  She was mocking him, taunting, but that didn’t answer his question and he had to make sure. “Are you in love with Kevin?”

  Cassandra tilted her head, her dark eyes so intense that he half expected to see flames in them. “You are lucky that you didn’t ask if I was sleeping with him, because I wouldn’t have deigned to answer and would have just walked away. But you asked whether I was in love with him, so I’ll humor you. I love Kevin, and I also love his wife. They are like family to me. Kevin was already married when he took me under his wing, believed in me, and supported me when I doubted myself, and I’m grateful to him for it. But there were never any romantic feelings between us, and all he ever wanted from me was my talent and work ethic. Kevin thinks of me as his little sister and has never hinted at anything else.”