by Zara Chase
Dare she?
She stepped out of the changing room to a chorus of approving comments from her new friends. That decided her. She’d buy the dress just to make herself feel good about the person she planned to become. She didn’t care if Kane and Tyrone approved or not. This was for her—the new, independent Aisha who would never again rely on the likes of Rick, or anyone else, to help her on her career path.
“You absolutely have to have it,” Chantal and Layla said together.
“Okay, but I need shoes.”
“I’m on it,” Irena said, producing high silver sandals that exactly matched the dress.
An hour later she was back at the apartment, showered, made up, and dressed. Nervously she waited for the guys to come and get her, angry with herself for feeling so edgy. It really didn’t matter what they thought.
At last she heard footsteps and Kane’s voice calling to her. When she stepped into the living room he looked up and did a double take. A lazy smile lit up his face and he let out a long, slow whistle.
“Chantal and Layla took me shopping,” she said. “They insisted this wasn’t over-the-top, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Baby, if we had more time I’d rip it off you and show you precisely how suitable I think it is. However—”
“Where’s Tyrone?”
Kane’s smile gave way to a scowl. “His meeting’s overrunning. He’ll see us there. You ready?”
“As I ever will be.”
“Just remember,” he whispered in her ear as they made their way down the stairs, “you belong to Tyrone and me. Don’t let any of those other young bucks lead you astray if we get separated tonight.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said with an impish smile that implied the precise opposite.
The Cat’s Whiskers was crowded when they arrived, but Aisha could see at once that all the ladies were at least as fancily dressed as she was and she blended right in. Chantal, beautiful in shimmering pink, sat on the birthday boy’s lap as he greeted his guests, but of Rafe there was no sign.
“Come on, babe,” Kane said once they’d gotten past Vilas and Chantal. “Let’s go and get ourselves a nice big drink.”
* * * *
Tyrone faced Maria across the table in Rafe’s living room. Rafe himself sat at the head of it but so far hadn’t uttered a word, leaving Tyrone and Maria to argue between themselves. They’d been going over the same old same old for over an hour. Maria refused to budge an inch, insisting that she had a right to raise her children any which way she chose.
“I can’t live in this place,” she said for the tenth time. “And I won’t have my kids living in a near-permanent siege situation. It’s no way to grow up. I should know.”
“You’re a shifter, Maria, whether you like it or not, and so are our kids.”
“They don’t know that yet and never will if I keep them away from this place.”
“You know it doesn’t work that way. Their shifter tendencies will surface, and if they don’t know what’s happening to them, their lives will be a whole lot worse than if they grow up amongst their fellow shifters and know who they really are.”
She tossed her head. “I’ll deal with their instincts when the time comes.”
Tyrone sent her a scathing glance. “How?”
“Tyrone, I love you, I always have. I knew I wanted to mate with you just as soon as I was old enough to understand what mating was all about. But I want a normal life for us all.” Her beautiful face was marred by a frown. “Move to St. Augustine with me and the kids. Let’s live together like an ordinary family without the threat of territorial battles hanging over our heads every second of every day.”
“It’s not that easy. I have responsibilities here. I’m an alpha leopard.”
“So is Kane. Impulse only needs one alpha leopard, or are you so into each other now that you prefer him to me?”
“You walked out on me, so you have no right to judge.” Tyrone ground his jaw, doing his utmost not to show how mad she was making him. Maria had lost none of her ability to ignore logic and twist circumstances to suit her own purpose. “Besides, this isn’t about you or me. The kids are the only ones who matter.”
“You think I don’t know that? It wasn’t easy to leave. I was close to a breaking point, and so I either had to get out or go crazy.”
“Bullshit! You just got mad because you couldn’t have things your way.”
Tyrone glanced at Rafe and shrugged his exasperation, unable to pheromone that this was getting them nowhere because Maria would hear the communication. Rafe took the hint, cleared his throat, and finally interceded.
“Maria, what you do is up to you. Our enemies know you’re a native Impulsarian, and that puts you in danger. You must be aware that if you’re abducted we won’t put ourselves at risk by coming to your rescue. You’ve made your choice as an adult to leave the colony, and we respect that.”
She gulped, more subdued, aware of the respect due to the leader of the colony. “I understand that,” she said sullenly.
“You also know that your kids aren’t safe anywhere except in Impulse.”
She glowered at a point above Rafe’s head. “They would be if Tyrone left the colony. If he cut his ties to this place, he’d be of no interest to your enemies. So perhaps, instead of putting the blame on me, you should ask him how much he loves the kids. It obviously isn’t enough to walk out on Impulse.”
Rafe sighed. “You’ve decided that you can’t live together, that much is obvious.”
“I can live with Tyrone, I want to live with Tyrone more than anything, but not here in this goldfish bowl.”
Tyrone folded his arms across his chest, wondering how he could ever have imagined that a mating between him and Maria would survive the test of time. They’d grown up together, and he supposed in retrospect that their mating had been a foregone conclusion. Maria had done all the pursuing. She was beautiful, intelligent, funny, and he’d been keen enough to go along with her. Perhaps if he’d thought it through before letting testosterone rule his world he would have seen the selfishness she’d been at pains to disguise before he’d made that fateful move.
“I can’t leave my responsibilities here,” he said evenly. “What’s more, I don’t want to. This is where I belong.”
“What about—”
“Enough!” Rafe raised a hand, and Tyrone knew he’d decided to issue a colonial edict, which all Impulse shifters were programmed to obey, even when they didn’t want to. It was something that only Rafe, as ultimate alpha, could do, but he seldom did. It required psychic energy that could be put to better use elsewhere. Tyrone also knew that Rafe preferred persuasion over coercion. “I was hoping you wouldn’t put me in this position, Maria, but you leave me with no other choice. The children must come back to Impulse. You know deep in your shifter soul that it’s the only way to ensure their safety.”
“Yes, but—”
“However, rather than issue an edict, I’m prepared to suggest a compromise. You can have reasonable access to them in Impulse, but for their own safety you can’t remove them from the colony, not even for a vacation. When they’re old enough to understand you can explain to them why you left, why you felt so strongly about it that you were prepared to sacrifice your enhanced lifespan by living outside of our atmosphere. Tyrone won’t stop you telling them anything you want them to hear.” Rafe looked at Tyrone, who nodded. “The kids can then decide what they want to do, having both sides of the story and the maturity to make their own minds up. You know very well that shifters often decide to leave the colony when they reach maturity, mate with outsiders, and sacrifice their shifter abilities.”
Maria dropped her head, and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. “I wish I could come back but—”
“But I wouldn’t have you, Maria. You broke the shifter code, and that goes against our mating ritual.”
“I was tempted by one of our enemies. You know it’s only you I’ve ever really loved.”<
br />
“You had the power within you to resist if you’d really wanted to. You were just trying to make me jealous.”
“I was trying to get your fucking attention away from Kane and the Impulse politics!”
Tyrone shook his head. “I’m sorry it’s come to this, but I don’t think there’s anything more to be said.”
“Very well,” she said abruptly. “You leave me with no choice but to come back.”
“What!” Tyrone and Rafe said together.
Maria’s smile was laced with malice. “I won’t be parted from my kids.”
“Are you sure?” Rafe asked, looking as perplexed as Tyrone felt.
“Why not?” She fixed Tyrone with an evil smile. “I’m sure you have room for me and the kids in that huge apartment you share with Kane.”
“I’ve got room for the kids.”
She affected an expression of mock surprise. “You want us to be the first mated couple in Impulse not cohabiting?”
Tyrone felt ready to commit murder. The bitch had well and truly boxed him in. How could he live in the same town as his children and not live with them? He knew very well if he didn’t let Maria move in with him she’d poison their minds against him. And if he did take her back, she’d drive a wedge between him and Kane.
What a fucking mess!
He glanced at Rafe, imploring him to intercede, knowing there was nothing he could do. If Maria came back to Impulse with the children, that would be the end of Rafe’s official involvement. It would be up to Tyrone to fix things from there.
He couldn’t stay in the same room as her and made for the door before his violent proclivities won out over common sense. Maria was always one for winning ungraciously, and if he didn’t get out now she’d catch up with him, just to rub his nose in it.
Tyrone felt like a condemned man as he walked slowly down the stairs, the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. He’d anticipated leaving this meeting free to mate with Aisha, if she’d have him. But he wouldn’t have asked her, not until they’d sorted out Kane’s problems. Aisha was theirs to share, and it needed to be done right. She needed to know they were shifters and all that implied before she made her decision.
Now that would never happen.
He saw her across the bar and his breath caught in his throat when he observed her dress. She looked sensational! She was chatting to a couple of the beta tigers, who looked his way and smiled, as did Aisha. With his supersensitive auditory powers, he heard Aisha ask who the beautiful woman with Tyrone was. Shit, Maria had followed him down the stairs! Before he could send out a pheromone warning the tigers not to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, one of them followed the direction of Aisha’s gaze and elevated his brows.
“Oh, I didn’t know Tyrone’s partner was back in town,” he said.
Aisha looked stricken.
“Fuck it!” Tyrone muttered.
“What is it, darling?” Maria asked, placing a predatory hand on his shoulder. “Don’t tell me that little redheaded human has attracted your interest. We can’t possibly have that, now, can we? Whatever would the children say?”
* * * *
Kane overheard the exchange between Aisha and the tiger as well and moved to intercede. Before he could reach their mate-to-be, the door opened and Kane’s sensitive nostrils were assailed by a distinctive perfume that stopped him in his tracks. He’d only ever smelled it once before, and that was in the hotel in Miami when he woke up with a strange woman who had his sperm all over her thighs.
Conversations trailed off and a decided hush fell over the bar, telling Kane that the newcomer was a stranger to the colony. He was unsure whether or not he wanted her to be a stranger to him as well. If she was the woman he’d slept with, was it a good or a bad thing that she’d turned up here so soon? When he could no longer avoid looking, he lifted his gaze.
It was definitely her.
“Kane, there you are!” She walked across the space that separated them and threw her arms around his neck. “You look surprised to see me, darling. Had you forgotten we agreed to meet here this weekend?”
Tyrone and Maria had reached Kane’s position. Tyrone looked at the woman and scowled. Maria looked furious. When the woman finally released Kane, Tyrone spoke.
“What the hell’s going on?”
“You know her?” Kane asked, pushing Susanna away from him.
“Oh yeah, and now this is all starting to make sense.” He glared at Maria, his eyes filled with disgust. “This lady is in several pictures I saw in Maria’s house in St. Augustine. If I was a betting man, I’d put money on her and Maria being good friends.”
Chapter Thirteen
It felt to Aisha as though someone had sucked the air clean out of the room, and once again she found herself struggling to breathe. The atmosphere was rife with tension as everyone crowded in a tight circle around Kane and Tyrone and the two stunning women who appeared to have prior claims upon them.
She noticed that Vilas slipped a protective arm around Chantal’s waist, Mikael and Philo flanked Layla with their imposing physiques, and all the other men moved to their women’s sides as though drawn to them like magnets. Isolation and loneliness gripped Aisha. She felt like a wallflower—an uninvited guest with no business intruding on a private party—with no one to protect her.
If she hadn’t been so devastated at having her suspicions about Kane’s and Tyrone’s connections to other women confirmed, she might have found it amusing that so many women had more than one male championing them. Perhaps the atmospheric ions were responsible for the unorthodox arrangements that passed for normal in Impulse. The professional part of her brain wondered if anyone had studied the oddities from a human relationships standpoint before. Aisha made a mental note to give it consideration.
Kane glanced at Mikael, and she got the weirdest impression that they were communicating telepathically. She told herself she was being ridiculous, until Mikael nodded and came to stand beside Aisha.
“Let me take you home,” he said. “The party’s over.”
“No thanks.” Why did they want her to leave? “I’m not going anywhere. I want to know what’s going on.”
Mikael looked set to argue, but Kane’s voice drew their attention and he didn’t push the issue.
“I get it, too, buddy,” Kane said in a mordant tone. “Maria sent this woman to set me up.”
“She didn’t send me to do anything,” Susanna replied. “I offered to do my friend a favor. Kane took Maria’s husband away and left her and her kids near destitute.”
“That’s what she told you, is it?” Tyrone said in a mildly derisive tone.
“Shut up!” Maria hissed to Susanna.
“What the—”
“It’s a coincidence us both being here, that’s all.” Aisha didn’t have a clue what was going on, but what she did know was that this Maria woman sounded a little desperate. “We know each other. So what?”
“Don’t forget where you are, Maria,” Tyrone replied. “It’s pointless lying, because about a dozen of us are inside your head right now, reading your evil mind.”
“I hear her kids crying for their dad all the time when I visit Maria,” Susanna said, her beautiful face rendered ugly by an angry flush. “I saw how it was tearing Maria up. I got the whole story from her, although she didn’t want to tell me at first—”
“I’ll just bet she didn’t,” Tyrone muttered.
“I realized I knew Kane from those tourist conferences we both attend and decided to do something to help my friend.”
“The kids miss me?” Tyrone glowered at Maria. “You said they never asked after me.”
“Did we have full-on sex?” Kane asked Susanna, looking to Aisha like the answer really mattered to him. If it was that important, she was surprised that he couldn’t remember.
“Of course,” she said breezily.
“When I was pumped full of Valium?”
“Ah, I—”
“I’ll take
that as a no then.”
“You wouldn’t cooperate.” Susanna frowned. “Do you know what that does for a girl’s ego?”
“You silly bitch!” Maria screamed the words at Susanna. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming down this weekend? You’ve ruined everything now.”
Kane and Tyrone shared an elongated glance that spoke of relief. As one they turned toward Aisha and smiled. Kane also winked, but Aisha barely noticed. Her attention remained focused on Maria, whose increasingly weird behavior mesmerized her. She appeared to be conducting some sort of inner struggle with herself. Her language was an incomprehensible, garbled monologue. She raked the air with her fingers and it looked to Aisha as though whiskers had sprouted from the sides of her face.
Aisha’s drink must have been stronger than she’d realized since she was obviously hallucinating. She shook her head to clear her vision, but when she looked at Maria again the whiskers remained right where she thought she’d seen them and there was a thin coating of fur springing up over Maria’s arms. Maria expelled an evil hiss, baring her teeth as though fighting against whatever it was that was happening to her, but it was too strong for containment.
“She’s shifting,” someone said curtly.
Susanna screamed as Maria’s bones cracked and popped, her clothes just seemed to evaporate, and fur now covered her entire body. Incredibly she had turned into a beautiful, lithe feline. Aisha didn’t know much about cats, but she thought this one might be a female leopard. Her eyes flashed like fiery beacons lighting up a night sky. Her body was sleek, her fur glistened and rippled like flowing silk, and her extended claws looked deadly.
Kane had said something about having been drugged recently. Aisha assumed it must be catching and that she, too, was hallucinating. Either that or this was some sort of weird dream and she’d wake up soon. Before she could convince herself that she was safely tucked up in bed, the feline approached her with those wicked claws aimed straight at her face. She opened her jaws to display rows of vicious teeth, and a rumbling growl echoed from her throat, as though this wild animal bore Aisha a personal grudge.