Claiming Bite

by Silvia Violet

  “I will be. I promise.”

  I might as well have had my fingers crossed behind my back when I said it, though. Because as soon as Henley drove away, I informed Jax that I was going to track down King and have a very long talk.

  “King is working from home today, or at least I assume so, because his car and driver and his guard are still here.”

  “Then that’ll make my search very easy.” I walked past Jax and headed for the main house. Luckily for him he didn’t try to stop me, but I did hear his footsteps following behind me.

  There was a guard standing by the back door, but Jax called out, “Let him through.”

  The guy looked uncertain, but ultimately he did as Jax said. I stomped into the house and then stood there, not knowing what to do. I turned to Jax. “Where’s his office?”

  “I got you in here. I’m not getting any more involved in this. I’m just here to see to your safety. That’s all.”

  I began peeking in each room along the hallway that led from the back of the house to the front. I found an enormous kitchen, an even more enormous dining room, a room that was probably at one point called the parlor, and an office that was empty. Suddenly Storm came racing down the stairs. “Emerson, what are you doing here?”

  “I know about all of it. Your family’s business, what King is trying to do, and—” I was about to blurt out the thing about being mates, but I decided to keep that to myself. That was simply a guess, something that could maybe explain the intensity of my feelings, but what if I was just that vulnerable to King or that crazy?

  Storm’s eyes widened. “How? Never mind.” He took my arm and pulled me into the empty office I’d just passed. “Depending on how much you actually know, you may not fully understand.”

  “I know King is trying to make things better. I just don’t understand why he didn’t tell me. Couldn’t I help protect myself better if I knew more details?”

  “You know those lions who had you cornered at Tooth and Claw?”

  I shuddered at that memory. The longer I was with King, the more I realized I probably wouldn’t have survived the night if I’d gone with them. “I do.”

  “The men they work for. That’s where the danger comes from. Those guys would’ve hurt you, but they’re just the muscle, the support network. Their bosses, one man in particular, he’s the biggest challenge to King making the changes that he wants. If he smells the least bit of weakness, he’s going to exploit it.”

  “So that’s why King’s been so stressed.”

  Storm snorted. “King’s always stressed about something, but yes, there’s a lot on his shoulders right now.”

  “Then why don’t you and your brothers help him?”

  “King doesn’t like asking for help, or accepting it. No matter how much we try, he takes too much on himself. He’s stubborn as fuck, and it seems like you are too.”

  “Where is he?”

  Storm frowned. “He’s busy now.”

  “I’m going to tear this house apart until I find him.”

  “I think Garrett was right,” Storm said. “You’re exactly what he needs. He’s on a phone call. It’s very important that it goes well. I’ll take you to him, but you have to promise to wait until he’s done.”

  “I want to be alone with him so we can talk.”

  “You do know that King isn’t really one to talk things out? He gives orders and you take them or he finds a way to punish you for it.”

  “I’m going to have my say, and I’ll take whatever punishment he wants to give out.”

  Storm smiled. “This is going to be a wild ride for him.” I almost did say something about fated mates then, but I knew I should ask King first.

  “Please take me to him. I promise not to disturb him until he is done with this call.”

  “Follow me.” Jax began to follow too, but Storm held up a hand. “Jax, you can wait in the kitchen or the rec room. I’ll let you know when Emerson is ready to go back to the guesthouse.”

  “I’m not going back to the guesthouse. I’m here to tell King I belong here with him, and if he can’t accept that, I need to go start building my own life.”

  Storm made a noise like he was choking. “Don’t push him too far in one day.”

  “He needs me. And I want to help. I’m going to make sure he lets me do that.”

  “Good luck.”

  14

  King

  “Let me be very clear on one point,” Damian said. I paced my office as I waited for what would surely be yet one more surprise of the evening. Nothing about this phone call had gone as I’d expected.

  “Absolutely no harm will come to Henley James. If it does, no matter how powerful you think you are, there will be retribution, and you will suffer.”

  “Who the fuck is Henley James?”

  Damian chuckled. “I have a feeling you’re going to be finding out soon enough.”

  A creak had me whirling around. Storm entered my room, followed by Emerson. I scowled at Storm, but he shook his head and mouthed, “Later.”

  A chilling thought ran through me. Was Damian watching the house? Had he known Emerson was here? Surely not. What would Emerson know about the business we were discussing?

  “Talk to Bernice. She’s going to take some convincing, but you can win her to your side if you’re half the smooth talker I think you are.”

  I’d never been under the impression the bear shifter leader was one to be swayed by charm, but there was no harm in doing as Damian said. “Why are you helping me?”

  “Because we have the same goals.”

  “That wasn’t evident at the meeting today.”

  “Some of us prefer to challenge from behind the scenes.”

  So like a cat. Slinking around in the darkness, then coming out to surprise you. Wolves were more direct. But then, so were bears. Maybe Bernice would appreciate some straight talking if his charm didn’t do the trick.

  “If I can bring her on board, you’ll speak out in support of us?”

  “You have my word.”

  “And you have mine that unless he harms my mate or a member of my family, no harm will come to Henley James, whoever he is.”

  “Mate, is it?”

  Holy fuck. How had I made a slip like that? I’d not told anyone but my brothers, including Emerson who was now staring at me wide-eyed. “It is, but I expect you to keep that to yourself.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Have a good evening, Damian. We’ll be talking soon.”

  I ended the call, placed my phone and headset on my desk, and allowed myself one slow breath before turning to face my mate and my brother.

  Emerson was still staring, mouth hanging open. “Damian? The Damian who’s a panther shifter?”

  Rage flooded through me. What game was Damian playing? He hadn’t seemed surprised at all to learn I had a mate. “How do you know about Damian?” My voice was so wolfish it was barely intelligible.

  “Oh, um… My friend…”

  “The friend who came to visit you this afternoon?”

  “How did you know—”

  “I make it my business to know what’s happening with you.”

  “My friend was helping me figure out why you believe I’m in so much danger. He knows Damian, so he talked to him. That’s why I’m here, King. I want to know why you’ve kept all this from me.”

  My heart pounded. First, half the things I thought I knew about the dynamics of the council turned out to be wrong. And now Damian and some friend of Emerson’s had been poking around in my business. “This friend. His name.”

  Emerson glanced at Storm as if asking him for permission.

  “When I ask you a question, you answer.”

  Storm held up his hand and stepped between us. “King, I know you’re upset. I know it’s been a hell of a day for you, but I’m not leaving this room until I know Emerson is safe here.”

  “Emerson will come to no harm, but clearly we have a lot to discuss.”


  “My friend’s name is Henley.” Of course it was. “He’s a… He works with computers. He’s good at finding information.”

  “He’s a hacker,” I said.

  “Yes. And Damian is one of his clients.”

  My mind spun as I tried to piece this all together.

  “Why did you call Henley?”

  “Because I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on with you, with us. I’m tired of being told I need protection, but not being told why. I needed to know, and I knew Henley could help me.”

  “And he called Damian.”

  “Yes,” Emerson said, voice barely a whisper.

  And that was why Damian knew about Emerson, Emerson knew about Damian, and Damian would assume I would want to harm Henley. Damian was right, except I wanted to rip the traitorous panther apart even more. He might be an ally, but he was also dangerous. I could not lose sight of that.

  “Did you get your answers?”

  “I did.”

  My heart hammered. Was he going to tell me it was over? Did he want to leave? I couldn’t let him do that. But I also couldn’t keep him here against his will. Sure, I’d forced him to accept having Jax watching over him, and I’d told him he couldn’t drive his own car, but I couldn’t actually hold him prisoner, not and remain the man I was trying to be.

  My wolf growled inside me. He wasn’t nearly as civilized. I felt Storm’s wolf too. He was gearing up for a fight.

  “Emerson knows you’re trying to change things,” my brother said. “But it’s time you talk to him. He has questions, and he deserves answers.”

  “And you get to decide how I talk to my mate, why?” My wolf snarled. He was ready to go after my brother and Damian and this Henley James who’d started all the trouble. My wolf and I would do whatever was necessary to make sure our mate stayed with us.

  Storm ignored me, and Emerson spoke next. “Henley also said we were likely mates. He thought that was why I’m so obsessed with you—”

  I growled, the sound echoing in the room. “How does Henley know anything about shifter mates?”

  “I… I think he’s just studied shifter culture, or maybe Damian told him.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to push my wolf back down. If I didn’t calm down, Storm wasn’t going to leave me alone with Emerson without a fight. I had to stay human. Emerson wasn’t prey for me to bring down, no matter how much I wanted to eat him up.

  “King, can you handle this?” Storm asked.

  I focused on my brother. He looked both frightened and ready to fight me in order to protect my mate. I loved that he would do that, even when it meant standing in front of me when I was filled with wolfish rage. “I will not harm Emerson.” Just saying the words helped me settle into my human self. “Truly. You may leave.”

  “I will go, but I won’t go far. I need to know you’ll remind yourself a mate is supposed to be a confidant, a partner, even when your mate is human.”

  Damn, I hated it when my little brother was smarter than I was.

  “I tried asking you,” Emerson said after Storm had left the room. His voice shook slightly, and I could smell fear rolling off him. I was already hard, and his scent just made it worse. I wanted him afraid and begging for mercy, but I pushed that desire away.

  “And I told you it wasn’t something you needed to know.”

  “But it is. If I’m going to be with you, if I’m going to help you—”

  “No!” Emerson flinched as the word reverberated in the room, but he held his ground.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you defying me?”

  “I don’t want to, but I can’t stay here if I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  I sighed. He was human, and even if he was a shifter, this wasn’t the old days when alphas snapped their fingers and everyone did their bidding. “It’s still true that the more you know, the more danger you’re in.”

  “Is it? Isn’t simply being with you enough to put me in danger? Storm said the lion’s leader would go after any weakness he could find, but even if I was a wolf, I would still be weaker than you, and if I’m your mate…”

  He was right. I was fooling myself. Telling myself that if I didn’t involve him, if I didn’t go out publicly with him, he would be safe. While it was true that right now I didn’t know how many people were aware of him, it wouldn’t be long before someone other than Damian figured out I had a new submissive. I just prayed they didn’t find out he was my mate.

  “Sit down.” I gestured to the window seat that was tucked into an enormous bay window overlooking the back lawn and the slope down to the guesthouse.

  Emerson did as I said. He looked wary, and I could still smell his fear, but as much as I wanted him compliant, I admired the hell out of him for standing up to me and doing what he needed to be comfortable enough to stay. He could’ve tried to run. In fact, I couldn’t believe he hadn’t once he’d learned more about me. Did that mean the mate call was as strong in him as it was in me?

  I sat next to him, but I didn’t touch him. That would distract me too much. “I suppose you know my family is one of the most powerful in shifter society, going back over a hundred years to the time when humans didn’t know of our existence. And I’m the head of our family now.”

  Emerson nodded and leaned closer, encouraging me to keep talking.

  “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. My ancestors have done far worse. I’m working to put my family in a position where we aren’t constantly compromising what’s right in order to stay rich and powerful. But it’s complicated. There are things I can’t simply back away from, not without endangering everyone around me. Protecting my family is my number one priority, followed only slightly by a need to protect the rights of all the shifters in the city, in the country. I’m not just doing this because I’m some do-gooder who needs to escape from the life of crime my family thrust me into, though. While some things my family have done are horrible, there are some areas of our business that I wouldn’t mind continuing. But if shifters have any hope of being more accepted, our wealth and power can’t all be based on the black market.”

  “You protect everyone at the club too. I was being an idiot the night we met, but I’d actually done some research on shifter clubs, before my boyfriend kicked me out. Yours was supposed to be the best.”

  “I only accept the best. In my businesses, my family, and my mate.”

  Emerson sucked in his breath. “So it’s true. You believe we’re mates, that some supernatural force has drawn us together.”

  “You don’t have to make it sound so ridiculous. No matter what humans think, fated mates are real for shifters. I felt the pull of the mate bond the first time we met. I was pulled toward you more strongly than could be explained by normal desire.”

  “I was drunk and scared and you were really hot and you rescued me. I didn’t know there was any more to it than that.”

  I smiled, remembering what a mess he’d been and the way he’d begged me to give him what I’d denied him by taking him away from the lions. Just the thought of those bastards who wanted to get their hands on him, who would no doubt have left him bruised and bleeding and possibly dead, made my wolf rise up ready to hunt, ready to kill.

  Emerson shivered and scooted away. “Y-Your eyes.”

  I blinked, realizing my eyes had gone wolfish. “Forgive me. I was thinking of the lions who wanted to harm you. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  Emerson gave me a shaky smile. “I don’t know if I’m more scared or turned on.”

  His words made my cock jump, and I had to clench my hands into fists to keep from touching him, knowing once I did, there would be no more talking. “It turns me on when you’re afraid of me. I don’t want you to truly fear that I will hurt you, because I won’t. I can’t hurt my mate. My instincts won’t allow it. I can only do things to you that bring you pleasure.”

  “I feel like I have so few limits around you, like I could let you do anything to me.
And that scares me, more than your claws or your wolfish eyes. I guess you saw the other night that I’m not always that good at knowing what’s best for me.”

  “You were drunk and those lions took advantage of you.”

  “But I came to the club and I snuck in when you have rules against humans.”

  “That was foolish, but if you were already feeling called to me, you might not have been able to help yourself.”

  “Really?”

  “If our fated mate bond was calling to you, that’s why you’ve had such an interest in being with shifters. That pull would be very hard to resist, especially once you’d had enough drinks to overcome your fear.”

  “Seriously? How does this mate bond work exactly? Henley said I might feel sick if we were apart for too long.”

  I frowned. “The bond isn’t easy to explain. It’s not something that can be understood by human science or analysis. Sickness like that can happen before a fated mate pair is fully bonded. The need for a mate can be all-consuming.”

  “Yeah, it can be. And we’re not bonded now? That wasn’t what happened when you fucked me?”

  I smiled. “No, to complete our bond, I claim you with a bite to the neck that will leave a mate mark, letting everyone know you’re mine.”

  Emerson shivered and a beautiful blush rose from his neck into his cheeks. “Are you…? Will you…?”

  Yes, my wolf said. Claim him.

  I was tempted to sink my teeth into his tender neck and mark him forever, but we needed more time. I needed him to understand what being with me truly meant. “Not yet. Once we’re bonded, it’s permanent. The claiming ritual is sacred for shifters, and I don’t want anything distracting us from it. I want to end this business with the lions before we make that decision.”

  He frowned, and I saw confusion in his eyes. “But you feel it too, this thing between us? I’m not losing my mind or so desperate for something new and dangerous that I’m throwing myself into some crazy obsession?”

  I slid off the bench, knelt between his legs, and took his hands in mine, no longer able to resist the need for skin on skin contact. At this point it was beyond sexual. I needed to touch and be touched. I felt like I might go insane without it.