Shifter Challenge

by Selina Woods

  “Yeah. Off the backs of the common folks.” I gestured toward the books on the desk. “From the looks of those, he’s got quite a pile stashed. It might be in here someplace.”

  Turning to stare at me, she said, “It’s all yours now.”

  “I reckon so,” I answered with a shrug.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Try to get into your pants.”

  A shocked giggle popped from her mouth, then Kiana covered it with a glower. “Am I permitted to say no?” she inquired in a teasing tone.

  “Of course,” I answered, annoyed that she felt the need to ask such a thing.

  “Just checking,” she said, moving into my arms. “You know what power can do to some people.”

  “I’m still the same guy,” I murmured, and then she kissed me, and all coherent thought went straight out of my head.

  Chapter Five

  Laughing, whispering, kissing, we fumbled at each other’s clothes while trying to walk a straight line to the huge bedroom and its bed. We made it with my jeans and her uniform top off but halted just short of tumbling onto its covers. Kiana pulled my shirt off over my head, then stopped short, staring. “Oh, my.”

  Her fingers lightly traced the neat rows of stitches that coursed over my shoulders, back, and chest, walking around me as she closely examined them. “How close a fight was it?” she asked.

  “Pretty close. It was pretty much over once I chewed his front leg off.”

  Kiana made a choking noise behind me, and I wasn’t sure if it was a gag or a laugh, or perhaps something in between. Pacing around in front of me, her eyes wide, luminous, her hand caressed the length of my shaft. “The lion wins the prize,” she said softly.

  “Hey, now,” I protested, “you’re no prize. I mean, you are, but not in that way.”

  She laughed low in her throat. “I know what you mean. You’re the strongest predator in the city, and you want me. Of all the females you could choose, you chose me.”

  I cupped the palm of my hand on her cheek. “I did. I could fall in love with you. But this won’t happen unless you want me, too.”

  “I do, Logan. Ever since I saw your kindness, your generosity.” Kiana grinned. “Your good looks, I’ve been fascinated with you. Given half a chance, I could fall in love with you.”

  Bending, I scooped her up into my arms and set her on the bed. My lust rising with every beat of my heart, I pulled her short skirt off and lay beside her. “You are one beautiful lion,” I whispered.

  Kiana pulled my head to her and kissed me, taking my wrist to put my hand on her breast. She was no stranger to making love, for which I was glad. I bedded a virgin once and inadvertently hurt her and didn’t ever want to do that again.

  My tongue was toying with Kiana’s, heat spreading from my loins to my belly, my member straining to be inside her. Still, I took things slowly, kissing her deeply, my palm cupping her breast while my thumb played with her nipple. Rolling half on top of her body, I trailed my hand down to the split in her legs.

  Her moist and warm button had already swelled under her arousal, and she moaned as I teased her fully. Dipping my finger into her tunnel, she thrashed under me, making a guttural growling noise in her throat. Taking my lips from her mouth, I sucked and licked her neck, nipping, wringing more groans from her.

  “I need you,” she muttered thickly.

  “You’re not ready.”

  “I am.”

  “Prove it.”

  Kiana heaved me off of her and rolled me onto my back. In a swift move, she pounced on me, straddling my hips. “Gotcha,” she gloated, gazing down at me.

  Lifting my thick shaft, she raised her body high enough to point its head at the entrance to her tunnel. “Ready?” she asked.

  Before I answered her, she speared herself on me, throwing her head back as I slid deep into her, gliding on her wetness. A long groan came from us both as her tightness clenched around my staff. After a moment of letting her body accept my size, she rocked her hips back and forth. Tilting her head back to better feel me, her eyes closed. Kiana moved slowly, erotically.

  While I certainly enjoyed what she was doing, I needed a bit more. Gripping her around her tiny waist, I rolled her over while still deeply buried within her. Kiana locked her legs around my hips as I thrust into her, her arms around my neck. My chin in her shoulder, I pounded her nest, gasping for breath, sweat from us both mingling on our bellies.

  I knew I succeeded in pleasing her when she frantically clutched my head, her fingers knotted in my hair. Her moans in my ear and spasming around my pulsing rod informed me she had climaxed. Wondering if I might bring her to a second orgasm, I hammered her body with my shaft, but only succeeded in my own explosion erupting.

  “Ooohh,” I groaned, the pleasure of spurting my seed, the ecstasy of releasing and blasting into her, shook me from head to toe. I saw stars behind my closed eyes, my body trembling on top of hers.

  At long last, I relaxed, just wanting to lie there on her, feeling her heart in her chest against my skin. Instead, I rolled off of her and snuggled against her body, my arm over her stomach. Kiana caught her breath, her fingers lightly stroking my face.

  “Now I’m further along,” she murmured.

  I lifted my head to peer at her blearily. “Along?”

  “In love with you.”

  “Oh.” I grinned and nuzzled her neck. “Me, too.”

  Content to lay there for a while, just holding her, breathing in her sweet scent, my mind naturally wandered to keeping her with me forever, a mated pair, little ones. But that brought me back to the perilous situation we were both in, and I sat up.

  “Logan?”

  Bending, I kissed her. “Hungry?”

  “Ravenous.”

  “I’ll order room service.”

  Padding naked from the bedroom, I went to the intercom and ordered a thug to bring food up. Heading to the bathroom, I found Kiana there ahead of me, running hot water for a shower.

  “This luxury is going to spoil me,” she said with a grin.

  I ran my hands down her sleek, soft curves, kissing her neck. “Don’t get used to it, babe. Unless I become the monster Duke was, we cannot stay here.”

  Her grin faded, and she nodded, then stepped into the water. We scrubbed each other’s bodies, with Kiana taking care not to scrape my wounds. The elevator pinged as we finished dressing, and with our hair still damp, we went out to find an enforcer with a huge platter of food standing in the foyer.

  “As I don’t know what you like yet, sir,” he said, setting in on a table. “I brought you a bunch of different things.”

  “Great,” I replied, breathing in the delicious scents. “Thanks.”

  He left via the elevator and left us alone to eat and, of course, talk.

  Nibbling on fried chicken legs, I asked, “How difficult would it be to set up a democratic council?”

  Pointing her finger at me as she chewed her mouthful of food, Kiana finally swallowed. “You, as the new president of the republic of Miami, announce a general election. The people select their candidates, who must pass a vote to be our new leaders.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” I said, throwing the chicken bone in the trash. “Except four hundred and seventy-five thugs with guns who may not like the idea.”

  “I don’t suppose they’ll surrender their weapons peacefully if you order it.”

  “Not likely. These guys enjoy what they do; they want that higher status to kick folks around. Maybe some will go along with it, but most will fight to the death to maintain the privilege of being able to kill people.”

  Kiana stared at me thoughtfully while chewing another bite. “Then it’ll come down to war.”

  “I hate like hell for it to come to that,” I told her, “but yeah. It will.”

  “We’ll have to gather people in secret,” she said. “Tougher folks like lions and wolves.”

  “Kiana,” I said, my tone gentle. “How many tough people are wi
lling to risk their lives and those of their families to fight?”

  Her fine brows lowered over her nose. “More than you think,” she snapped. “How many are like me and Tony, Albert? Who lost loved ones to monsters like Duke and his gangs? How many will be overjoyed to find someone at the top who will turn this city into a place of freedom and hope?”

  Staring down at my plate, I muttered, “Can I really lead an army, Kiana? To order people to kill other people?”

  “Can you order your enforcers to kill an innocent who can’t pay his taxes because he has nothing to give?”

  She leaned over the table toward me. “Would you order your goons to kill me and my brothers because I don’t have the cash to pay?”

  “Of course not.” I shunted my face away. “To both those questions. I can’t order bloodshed.”

  “You have to if you want to live. It’s either you stay the boss and collect taxes, slaying those who don’t or can’t. Or it’s war. Your choice.”

  No longer hungry, although I’d eaten only half of what I put on my plate, I stood up to pace to the balcony. Leaning against the rail, I gazed at the sun sinking under the horizon, turning the sea into a golden red, and thought of all the people hurrying to get into their homes before dark fell.

  “People shouldn’t have to be afraid of the dark,” I muttered. “Am I strong enough to provide a city where business can continue after sunset? Where night hunters are cleaned out, and people can walk the streets in safety?”

  “Yes. You are.”

  I didn’t turn around as Kiana joined me to stare out over the ocean.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she murmured.

  “I guess so.”

  Together, we watched the sun set and darkness creep in on silent feet.

  Chapter Six

  “What are you doing?” I asked Kiana as she rummaged in Duke’s closets the following morning.

  Finding a nice skirt and blouse, she held them against her to see if they might fit her. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Duke’s tastes in females is the same as yours. I think these will look good on me.”

  “You’d look good in rags,” I replied, sitting in an armchair watching her. “Better yet, naked.”

  Kiana grinned. “You’re as randy as a billy goat with two peckers.”

  “You have no idea.”

  While she dressed in the clothes of some long-gone lady friend of Duke’s, I continued. “Are you going to go back to work? Will you stay here with me? I suppose we can bring the boys here, too, but I’m scared that if I do, the gangs will have leverage over me if and when they turn on me.”

  Kiana came over and sat in my lap, her arm around my neck. She nibbled on her lower lip in a way that made me want to kiss her. “By now they’ve figured out I mean something to you,” she said.

  “Yeah. And if they hold you hostage, threaten to kill you, then I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”

  “Perhaps I should leave here.”

  “Kiana—”

  She pressed her fingers to my lips. “Just a minute. We have to somehow make them think I don’t mean much to you but still enable us to see one another. We have to be able to talk, to figure this out, so I need to be able to come back.”

  “I can always say you’re a hooker, and I’m paying you for sex. But I hate that.”

  “No. It makes sense. I’m just a whore you picked up. We can even have a scene where you piss me off, but I keep coming back because you have money.”

  I chuckled. “We can have a fight as soon as we step off the elevator.”

  Taking my face in her hands, Kiana kissed me slowly, deeply. “You’re the one in the most danger, Logan,” she said, her eyes big and luminous so close to mine. “And you have no one to watch your back.”

  Taking her small hands in mine, I held them to my cheek. “Do me a favor,” I said. “Don’t go home. Stay near Derek. After you leave, I’m going to go see him, and I’ll ask him to look after you.”

  “You’re so sweet.”

  “I’m not being sweet, Kiana. Your life hangs along with mine. If things go south, I want you, your brothers, and Derek to get out of here. Go north. Get to Denver.”

  Kiana straightened and stared hard at me. “Denver? Why there?”

  Why the name popped out of my mouth I’ll never know, but my gut told me I was dead on. The odd calling in my blood came from there; I was sure of it. Denver was safe; it was where we would all be safe if we could just get to it.

  “I can’t really say,” I replied. “My gut says so, and my gut doesn’t ever lead me wrong. Promise me you’ll stay close to Derek when you’re not with me.”

  “Denver sounds like a nice place.” Kiana smiled, then slid off my lap. “Come on; time to get a fight going. What are we going to fight about?”

  “You refused to give me a blowjob.”

  The elevator door opened as Kiana and I screamed insults at one another, ignoring the startled faces of the guards in the building’s lobby.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” I bellowed. “Trashy whore.”

  “Next time you want a blowjob, suck your own dick,” Kiana snarled back.

  “I paid you for a fucking blowjob.”

  Kiana made a very insulting gesture using one of her fingers, then stalked past the guards toward the doors.

  “Someone, take her wherever she wants to go,” I yelled. “Get her from my sight. And get me my car while you’re at it.”

  The guards ran to obey me, and a truck pulled up to collect Kiana, and I hoped that from the sideways glances and small smirks I received from those still there that I just got my ass whooped by a hooker. Feigning rage, I glared around at them, finding them suddenly busy looking somewhere else, the smirks gone.

  “I killed Duke,” I growled. “I won’t hesitate to kill any of you if you cross me.”

  With the gun securely in my waistband under my shirt, it crossed my mind to have Derek show me how to use it, load, and unload it. He knew more about weapons than I did, and as I climbed into the black sedan with my guards, I wondered how easily they might overtake and kill me in it.

  I didn’t explain to them why I wanted to go back to my old neighborhood, as the boss didn’t explain things to an underling. I tried to think of as many scenarios as possible in how the gang might try to take me out.

  Leaving the guards at the car, instilling terror on the street, I went inside and was nearly mowed down by a pair of dark-haired eleven-year-olds.

  “Logan,” yelled Tony. “You’re back.”

  A swift glance through the window showed me my minders leaned against the car and watched females and appeared to be gossiping idly. They weren’t staring in to see their new lord hugging a pair of kids. Which I was busy doing.

  “Where’s Kiana?’ Albert asked. “Did she sleep with you?”

  Appalled, I glanced around to see who might have heard his very indiscreet question. “You’re not supposed to ask questions like that,” I hissed at him.

  Tony nudged his brother wisely. “She slept with him.”

  “Derek says you’re the new boss,” Albert went on, his voice loud enough that Duke in his grave could have heard him. “Are you going to kill people?”

  Grabbing them by their shoulders, I marched them into the back, where I found Derek talking with Kiana. They glanced up at me, then the boys, then resumed their low voiced conversation. I glowered at Tony and Albert.

  “Look, guys,” I said. “There are some things you can’t be asking where anyone can hear you. Yeah, I’m the new boss in Miami; yes, I killed Duke. But if I want to make this a better place, you two need to mind your mouths and ask questions only in private. Got it?”

  They both nodded solemnly.

  “Kiana?” Albert asked. “Did you sleep with Logan?”

  Derek laughed while Kiana rolled her eyes. I tilted Albert’s chin upward. “Do you know the meaning of the word ‘privacy?’”

  “Sure.” He shrugged.

  “Then know w
hen you invade mine and your sister’s privacy by asking questions like that, I’ll bust your balls. Got it?”

  “He killed Duke, Albert,” Tony advised. “You don’t want him busting your balls.”

  “That would hurt.”

  Both wandered out to the front, where I assumed they had work to do. I found Kiana approaching me with a grin and a hug while Derek merely grinned. “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on all of them for you, bro,” Derek told me. “You two are sleeping together already? Good for you. Next thing—a mating and little Logans.”

  “Keep her safe, Derek,” I said. “I’ll have her at the penthouse as much as I can, but if we’re using being a hooker as her cover, she can’t be there all the time.”

  “She’s gonna start finding your army,” Derek informed me cheerfully, planting his arm over her shoulder. “Finding shifters who want to turn this city around, getting names.”

  “That’s all well and good,” I told him. “But we’re going to need weapons and ammunition. Where the hell are we going to get those?”

  He clapped me on my arm. “That’s your job, boss. She and I will talk to reliable people who can keep their mouths shut and be ready to fight when you’re prepared to lead.”

  I eyed Kiana. “You be careful. Change clothes often, keep your head down.”

  “I know what to do, Logan,” she said. “I’ve been planning something like this in my head for a long time.”

  “I gotta go,” I said. “Keep those boys from asking the wrong questions. If they don’t shut up, they could get us into trouble.”

  Leaving through the front of the market, I saw Tony helping a customer find a product he needed while Albert swept the floor. They glanced at me but continued working as though I were not really there. I grabbed a few apples from the bin, put them in a sack, then strolled out into the sunlight.

  The guards straightened at my approach. But a couple of enforcers had arrived while I was in the store and stood waiting for me. I scowled. “Yeah?”

  “Uh, boss, we have a problem,” said the one on the right, who looked like a wolf shifter. “Duke would never let us kill a citizen unless he approved it, so this guy, he won’t pay up. Should we, uh, mess him a little? Want us to kill him so his family coughs it up?”