by J. K Harper
She glanced up and Tina gasped. “What?”
“You are like super pissed.” Tina’s brows slowly lowered. “Who did it?”
“This man is going to make me tear him limb from limb,” she hissed.
“Don’t do it. I don’t think our company insurance covers dismemberment.” Tina lifted the glass of wine to her lips and stared at her with curiosity. “What is it he’s doing and who is he?”
“Thane Dreki.”
Just thinking the name did something to her. When they’d spoken on the phone, the sound of his voice had made her tigress purr. No fucking way she’d talk to him on the phone again. It took her three days to stop dreaming of him saying dirty things to her just from hearing him once. She couldn’t go through that again.
“Oh!” Tina gasped and gave her the same look Stephanie had earlier. Like she’d spoken some rock star’s name.
“What?”
“Have you met Thane?”
“No, so?”
Tina grinned. “I love my husband and my heart is only his, but holy crap, Thane Dreki is hot. He’s like one giant Viking you want pillaging and plundering you.”
Lily almost choked on her wine. “Seriously?”
Tina shrugged. “What can I say? I like big men with that domineering look. It’s what won me over from Brett.”
“Um, isn’t he your mate?”
“Yeah, but that’s just part of me. The human side wanted a strong man that loved me. Wait ‘til you meet Thane and you’ll see what I mean.”
She wasn’t impressed. “Oh, I’ll be meeting him, all right. Then I’m giving him a piece of my mind.”
They stopped their conversation when their food arrived. There was a moment of quiet before Tina spoke again. “Come on, tell me what he did.”
“He’s treating me like I am to bow at his feet for whatever he wants. And if that isn’t bad enough, Royce told him about the newest proposal I have and he wants me to send the damn file to his home.”
Tina stopped her fork mid-flight to her lips. “The cabin in the Cranwood Mountains?”
She nodded and bit down on the piece of steak with a lot more force than necessary. “Yes. Who in their right mind would go up there?”
“Well, we have a helicopter messenger that would go if you needed, but I think you should go personally.”
She gulped her sip of wine and put the glass down. “What?”
“Yes,” Tina said with more conviction in her voice. “He’s clearly treating you in a way you dislike. You should go up there, take the files, and tell him to stop acting like a dick.”
Hmm. The idea had merit. After Louis, she refused to let any man treat her like she was less than him. While that wasn’t the impression she got from Thane Dreki, she disliked feeling like he thought she was some kind of joke. She glanced at her plate, most of her food sat untouched. Oh well, she’d make something later at home.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea!” Tina said as their plates were cleared. She glanced up at the waiter and smiled. “We’re going to the share the chocolate lava cake and two mini cannoli.” She glanced at Lily but quickly turned back to the waiter. “Oh! And we’ll need two decaf lattes, as well.”
“Will be right out, ladies.” He chuckled and walked away.
“So,” Tina gave her that look that screamed Lily was going to get in trouble, “I can get you his address right now.”
“I have his address.” Was she really considering this? Yes, she was. She needed to explain to him she wasn’t his assistant. Okay, dammit. What she really wanted was to meet him now that both Tina and Stephanie had reacted so strangely fan-girl like about him. She was dying to see what he looked like.
And to know if that voice sounded just like she heard over the phone.
“Stop thinking so hard and do it,” Tina encouraged. “Besides, you looked pretty pissed when he sent you that message. Didn’t you say he was treating you like you were at his beck and call?”
She nodded.
“Then you need to put him in his place. Don’t stand for that stuff. You’re a strong woman.”
She giggled. “I know I am.”
Tina nodded vigorously. “And this would give you the chance to finally discuss the proposal Royce got before he did. Maybe talking to the guy in person would make a big difference.”
She was right. Lily hated phone calls. She hated phones period. Listening to Thane had already done weird things to her body. And the impersonal emails made things worse. Perhaps a face-to-face was the best thing.
The waiter put their desserts and coffees on the table and left the check, which Lily didn’t get a chance to grab before Tina snatched it out of her reach.
“Hey!”
“We’re celebrating my baby.” Tina grinned.
“Exactly. So it’s my treat.”
Tina rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry. “No way! I ate a lot more than you. Besides, you paid last time. Don’t think I forgot.”
She laughed at her cousin’s raised brow and put sugar in her latte. They ate their dessert while Tina continued to push her to go up the mountain to see Thane.
“You sound more invested in this than me.” Lily giggled. “You’d think he owes you money or something and you want me to get it.”
“No, but I think a live conversation with you both in the same room where there can be no more miscommunications about tone or text would be good.”
“You’re right.” She sipped the last of her latte and didn’t mention that Tina ate most of the cake and both cannoli. She was eating for two anyway.
Vinnie brought their coats a moment later. “It was lovely to have you both here tonight.”
Tina smiled and slid out of the booth. Lily did the same. “Same here, Vinnie.”
“All right, Lil. Get your butt in gear and go now.”
“Now?” Lily glanced at her clock. It was seven thirty. Wasn’t it too late to head up the mountain now?
“Yes. Now. If you talk to him tonight, you can take the morning off because it counts as a late night.”
That was true, but still. “I don’t know if I want to drive an hour and a half up that mountain.”
“Psssh,” Tina whistled. “It’s not that long. An hour tops. And besides, you’ll feel better afterward. I know you, Lily. You’ll keep thinking about this until it makes you crazy.”
Dammit! Tina knew her so well.
Chapter 5
Lily glared at her speedometer. Why in the hell had she let Tina talk her into going up this mountain at night?
The sound of her ringing phone filled the inside of her Prius. She didn’t recognize the number displayed on her dash.
“Hello?”
“Lily?” said a voice she’d never wanted to hear again. A voice she had told herself not to hate but couldn’t stop the rage at the sound of it.
“Louis? What the hell do you want?”
“What do you think I want? Money,” he said with an attitude that made her wish he was in front of her so she could run over him, back up, and run over him again.
“We are divorced, you dick! I don’t owe you anything. You took all my money and left me broke. Even if I had some now, the last person I’d give it to is you.”
“You’ll give me money, Lily.”
She hissed, her tigress ready to rip that smug grin off him. Even though he wasn’t in the car, she could hear it in his voice. “Yeah? What makes you think that?”
“Because you give two shits about the stupid shelter I’m on the board of.”
She frowned. There was only one shelter she cared about. The local wildlife shelter where displaced animals were taken when something happened and then reintroduced to their local habitats again. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
“I mean, you’re going to get me some money or I’m going to make it my business to shut the place down.”
“You scumbag piece of shit!” she screamed inside her car, hati
ng the sound of his laughter. “We’ve been divorced for a year. I owe you nothing.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her tigress.
Louis was the worst fox. A lot smaller than her and clearly too full of himself to realize she wasn’t going to let him get away with whatever he had planned. He had no idea how lucky he truly was that she’d given him a chance to live after all he’d done to her. All because she’d felt stupid that she bothered with a different species. She should have never even tried to have a relationship with the rat bastard. Now she knew better.
Louis had even used the best lawyers in the city to get her last cent. She wondered why he needed anything from her when his grandfather led the largest crime family in the state. It amazed her to hear him calling her at all.
“Get me my money. All two hundred and fifty thousand of it. I know you keep a stash. You have a week, Lily, or say goodbye to your precious animals.”
The line went dead and she struggled to keep her eyes on the road instead of screaming at the top of her lungs. Her cat wanted out. She wanted to run wild and hunt. To kill and see blood flowing, imagining it was Louis. Soon enough. His time would come.
The falling snow caught her unawares. At first they fell in a few random flakes. But the closer she got to the top of the mountain, the harder and thicker the flakes got. Her visibility dropped to a few feet and she had to slow her car.
Thank goodness she was only minutes from the cabin or she might find herself stuck in the middle of the road. Suddenly, there it was. It was damn big for a cabin. At least two stories high and made of gorgeous wood and glass. She shut her car off and grabbed her bag, glad she’d worn her coat now that she realized it was damn near freezing up there.
Shifters adapted to lower temperatures but when in her human body, she was still more likely to get cold than when in her tigress. Of course, that wouldn’t apply if she was in heat. Then she would happily walk around naked from how needy she’d be.
Her shoes sank into the foot of snow and her feet soaked. She ran to the front door and pounded loudly on it.
“Hello?”
There was no answer. She did it for several minutes until she realized the stupid man wasn’t home. Fuck. The storm was picking up, blowing flakes harder. She couldn’t simply leave the folder at his front door. It’d be buried in minutes, if not blown away first.
She peeked around to the side of the cabin where she saw windows. She’d bet the guy was so sure of himself that he didn’t check on his security. She pushed up on the first window and it slid up with little problem. Stupid ass.
She wasn’t the tallest woman in the world so trying to hoist herself up the window ledge and into the cabin was as ridiculous as it got. One leg up and over and she sat precariously with the ledge between her legs before finally falling into the cabin and landing on the ground with a thud.
Thank god the man wasn’t around to catch her breaking into his house. All she needed was some time to wait out the snow before she got out of there. As soon as she could drive, she’d leave the papers and go home. First thing she’d take was a nice hot bath and open the biggest bottle of wine in her fridge.
She took her coat off and hung it by the door. Her shoes came off as well. The last thing she needed was to wear the soggy heels any longer.
Thankfully, he’d left a nice warm fire going so she could sit and wait for him if she wanted to. Nah. Curiosity wouldn’t kill this cat, but she really wanted to know how Thane Dreki lived.
The cabin was bigger than it appeared from outside. With large comfortable brown sofas and wood furniture, it really brought the outside in. Plants were everywhere, too. Bamboo and some larger ones with braided leaves. No photos, though, something she found very peculiar.
She continued through the cabin, past the dining area where a massive wooden table with chairs sat. Upon close inspection, because she wasn’t doing a half-assed job of snooping, she realized the table didn’t appear used at all. Weird, didn’t the guy eat?
The table and chairs appeared to be antiques with a gorgeous scroll design fit to be in a museum. The entire set looked straight out of a castle. The wood looked heavy, as if someone had cut a tree down to make those pieces. None of that shitty compressed wood things were made from nowadays. This was the real deal.
Farther down, she entered a giant open kitchen with top-of-the-line chef-inspired appliances. Either Mr. Dreki could cook, or he had someone that did. Her stomach chose that moment to remind her she’d barely eaten dinner, being so preoccupied with Thane Dreki and his habit of frustrating her to no end.
She glanced around the kitchen for fruit or something easy to eat. Nothing. Damn. She should not look in his fridge. He’s not here. What’s the big deal? Her feline had a death wish. She pulled out the makings for a sandwich and glanced out the kitchen window. Big, fat flakes fell fast and hard. This wasn’t just a quick bit of snow. It was a storm.
Fuck! She gulped down the sandwich then glanced at her cell phone. Of course. No service. There was locked Wi-Fi available but she needed a password. She grinned at the Wi-Fi host name: TooOldForThisShit.
Her tigress wanted to run. She’d had a rough day and the animal needed out. She sighed and found what she assumed was a guest bathroom and took off her clothes. Hopefully he wouldn’t return while she was out on a quick run and wonder who the hell left a dress in his house.
Once outside, she let the tigress roam. It was the animal’s turn to take control. The fact she was on a mountain with thick forest gave her peace of mind. She wouldn’t need to worry about coming up on a human or a group of kids that would freak out over seeing a giant tigress in their backyard. Now all she had to do was let the animal calm herself running the woods.
Chapter 6
Thane knew something was off the moment he came through his back door. There was a distinct scent of something that made his dragon rise from sleep. A hot, sweet scent that turned him rock hard and had him searching the house for the culprit.
He inhaled hard, placing the scent in his first level bathroom. Marching through the house, he came up on the bathroom and found a dress and women’s underwear.
The scent curled around his heart and warmed his still chilled bones. No. He refused to believe it. It couldn’t be! His mate? But how? Who? And more importantly, why?
He curled his fist around the soft dress material and brought it up to his nose. With a deep inhale, he knew without a doubt this was the woman. His.
The dragon inside him roared awake, ready to take his mate and make her his. The animal told him he’d live. She’d come to him. Found him. But Thane didn’t want a mate. He didn’t want to share his life with any one person, to make himself vulnerable to a woman that could destroy him.
The vision of his sister emaciated and dying of a broken heart thickened the walls around his own heart. No fucking way. If she’d come to him, then she could go the same way.
He paced the entirety of the house, sniffing here and there, looking for the places she’d touched. A strange connection between him and the female who wasn’t even present began to take place.
He stood in the darkened spot that separated the kitchen from the dining room, staring at the back entrance, willing her to come to him. Then it happened. The back door opened and the vision stole his breath away.
A short woman, no more than five-five with long curly auburn hair and curves that made him want to drop to his knees, walked in. Naked. She was wet and naked.
She glanced around the kitchen and inhaled. Her gazed jerked to the spot where he stood. Her eyes turned a gold color he knew all too well. The scent of her animal reached him then. Feline.
“Do you make a habit of breaking into people’s houses, naked?”
She let out a slow breath, her eyes glowing brighter by the second. He had to steel himself to keep from rushing over, grabbing her in his arms, and taking her full lips to find out if she tasted as good as she looked.
“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “Do you mind if I ge
t my clothes? They’re in your bathroom down the hall.”
He was tempted to make her stand there, showing him her body, but he’d already tattooed every glorious curve to the back of his lids and could bring up the visual at any point.
“Be my guest.”
She didn’t run, she padded quietly down to the bathroom and for a moment he had to fight every instinct along with his dragon. She wasn’t his. Not his mate.
Yes! Mine! Mine! Mine!
No!
The dragon argued fiercely, but Thane wasn’t a kid who lost control of his animal. He was ancient. He wasn’t changing his mind.
He marched to the fridge and got a bottle of water. The cold plastic cooled some of the heat inside him. He drank the entire thing without stopping to take a breath.
“Sorry about…that,” she said from the kitchen entrance.
He turned to face her. It didn’t matter that she had clothes on again, he still saw her naked in his mind.
“Who are you?”
She cleared her throat and glanced down his body. “Lily Cruz, Mr. Dreki.”
Fucking hell! He should have known. Even from a distance, something about her had made him want to communicate with her. “I guess I should be impressed.”
Her dark gaze rushed to his. “By what?”
“The fact you chose to bring the proposal yourself, during a storm, instead of sending it via messenger.”
Fire lit in her gaze. He’d annoyed her. Good. They didn’t have time for any of that mushy emotional crap. He didn’t want or need a mate. Not a human. Not a feline. Not another dragon.
“Yes, well, you did say it was urgent,” she said with a bite.
“There’s just one problem, Ms. Cruz.”
She raised her brows and folded her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up and precariously close to the edge of the neckline of her dress. “What’s that?”
“I’m guessing you weren’t planning on spending the night?” He grinned.
Chapter 7
Lily wanted to throw a table at him. Or at very minimum a chair. Something. Anything. The stupid man was trying to annoy her on purpose.