by Amor, Maria
Olivia scowled at him, her satisfied smile ruining the firm effect. “You are not seriously still trying to manipulate me, are you?” she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest. Robert stripped out of his clothes quickly, feeling the deep, throbbing need to have the woman he knew was his.
“This is the most straightforward manipulation I have ever pulled on you,” Robert told her, climbing back onto the couch to cover her body with his own. “One of the benefits of being a lion’s mate: even after you say yes to me, I will never, ever stop doing everything I can to keep you satisfied.” Olivia’s chuckle broke in a gasp as Robert rocked his hips against hers, rubbing his hard cock along her slick folds. “You have to admit,” he murmured against her skin, dragging his lips along the column of her throat, “that no matter what other concerns you have, you enjoy having sex with me.”
“Okay,” Olivia said, her hands trailing over his body slowly. “I do have to admit that. The sex has always been…fantastic…” She moaned as the tip of his cock rubbed against her clit, and Robert felt her body clench with a spasm of pleasure underneath him.
“You don’t have to make a decision tonight,” he reminded her. “Tonight, you just have to enjoy what I can do for you. To you.” He shifted his hips and thrust into her slowly, savoring the feeling of her wet heat wrapping around him. Robert held himself absolutely still for a long moment, kissing Olivia lazily on the lips, feeling the flex and spasm of her muscles around his cock. “You have no idea how good you feel,” he murmured, beginning to move inside of her.
Olivia fell into his rhythm, her inner muscles flexing around him as her hands trailed all over his body, touching and caressing. Robert reminded himself that Olivia was still healing and that he had to be careful not to injure her further as he began to thrust harder and faster, his animal instincts beginning to take over his mind. He nuzzled her neck, buried his face between her breasts, marking Olivia with his scent as his pleasure became more and more intense. He could feel her body tightening around him, hear her moans coming louder as he moved inside of her, shifting his hips to find the best angle. Robert held himself back, low, purring growls leaving his throat as he came closer and closer to orgasm—he wanted to feel Olivia climax first, wanted the satisfaction of hearing her moan out his name.
They both reached orgasm at almost the same moment. Robert was barely able to hold back as Olivia’s muscles flexed around him, letting go of his self control when he felt the telltale spasms and heard her long, low moan of pleasure. He thrust into her hard and fast, unable to stop even as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through his body, overwhelming his mind. Robert let out an almost-roar of pleasure as he finished, clinging to Olivia’s body as spasms of pleasure jolted through his own, thrusting a few final times into her body before he collapsed against her, panting and spent.
CHAPTER NINE
Olivia sat at her desk, contemplating whether or not to go to lunch. She had managed to keep her mind mostly focused on her work through the morning but she still hadn’t figured out what to say to Robert, or how to feel about him, and the trouble of not knowing lingered in her mind. Instead of confirming her opinion about whether or not to stay with Robert—to become his mate—the date she’d had with him a few evenings before had left her more confused than ever. She had been touched, pleased beyond measure, by the gestures he had made. She had even decided to wear the necklace and earrings to work. But something in the back of her mind still gave her pause. Something about their conversations, something about the fact that Robert—for all his charm, for all his gorgeous human body—was indisputably a lion, with everything that was involved in that, still gave her pause.
He would kill someone on my behalf, she thought dazedly, staring at her computer. Part of her was flattered, even almost thrilled, by the fact that Robert was willing to do that. Another part of Olivia’s mind was horrified. She sat back at her desk, glancing at the time listed in the bottom right corner of her screen. Lunch was about thirty minutes away; maybe she could spend it with Robert. Olivia worried at her bottom lip. How was it possible that she could feel so ambivalent about someone and yet want to spend time with them, even want to have sex with them repeatedly? Olivia felt as though her feelings towards Robert had never really been entirely clear. The first day they had met—when she had had sex with him the first time—she hadn’t been entirely certain about how she felt about him and her emotions were even more muddled now.
She knew he wanted to kill the people in his Pride who had been involved in her abduction—not only because they had abducted her, but because they had tried to overthrow him as Alpha of the pride. Olivia shivered. She was realistic enough to understand there was no way to bring due process into the situation. It wasn’t as though Robert could go to the police and tell them that he was the leader of a group of shape-shifters who were trying to usurp his position. It would be a one-way ticket to a mental institution if he did. He couldn’t even accuse them of the kidnapping without bringing their dual nature into it because without the piece of knowledge that these were a Pride of lions as well as a group of humans, there would be nothing to give the police in terms of motive.
Olivia took a deep breath and sighed, scrubbing at her face. She liked Robert, she had known she liked Robert halfway into their lunch interview, when the questions had started to turn more personal. She had known she liked Robert when he had saved her from the lioness about to murder her. What she didn’t know was whether she liked Robert enough to be able to handle the other side of him. What she also didn’t know was whether or not she was willing to agree to spend the rest of her life with him. She closed her eyes. I’ve only been seeing him for a couple of weeks, actually seeing him. How can I make a decision like that?
As they had been lying together in bed, after their date, Robert had tried to explain to Olivia. He had tried to get her to understand how it was that he could absolutely know that she was the right person for him. “It’s instinctive,” he had said, holding her, his hands wandering over her body in a way that was oddly appealing—possessive, but not in a threatening, domineering way. “I knew even before we’d had sex but especially once that happened.”
“Is it—is it like, some kind of scent, or some kind of…” Olivia couldn’t find the words for the question she wanted to ask.
“It’s a combination of your scent and my reaction to it. And the way it felt to be with you. I’ve never felt that way when I’ve had sex with anyone else and I have to believe you feel it too.” Robert had slid his hand down between her legs and Olivia had shivered, smiling in spite of her confusion.
“Okay—yeah, I can admit that it was the best sex I’ve had in my life,” she said, grinning slightly.
“And has been every time since then, right?” Robert had raised an eyebrow. Blushing, Olivia had nodded, burying her face against his chest. She had been fighting the sense that circumstances were pulling her closer and closer to Robert ever since the night she had awakened in the hospital. It seemed inevitable she would choose him and yet, she didn’t want it to be. She wanted it to be something that she could control, a real choice instead of inevitability.
Olivia opened her eyes, looking blankly at her computer screen. She should probably meet with Robert for lunch, she decided. If she was going to make a decision of her own free will as to whether or not to become his mate—to become part of the Pride—she needed as much information as possible. The only way to get that information was through talking to the man himself. Robert had suggested she would probably want to meet some of the other members of the Pride; members that he knew he could trust, people other than his mother and himself. Olivia knew, intellectually, that the were-lions had to be mostly normal people; they lived among normal people, worked normal jobs but she couldn’t quite make herself believe it. The only were-lions she had met were Robert himself, who was a billionaire and CEO of a huge company, his mother, who had been the wife and mother of billionaires and the people who had abducted her.
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She knew, too, that there were members of the Pride employed by Lowe Freight, that they were involved in the inner workings of the company, trusted individuals who reported more or less directly to Robert, although their roles within the company might be anything from a receptionist or secretary to a manager to an executive. That very fact was part of what had led to Robert’s situation, and part of the danger involved in his losing the position of Alpha. He could not be CEO without being Alpha and now, with the stakes raised, whoever wanted to overthrow him would have to kill him.
Olivia didn’t know how many people within the company knew for certain that she and Robert were seeing each other. During work hours, they were visibly professional, and her meetings in Robert’s office always had a non-personal purpose. Those employees who were also members of the Pride almost certainly knew but they were keeping their mouths shut, as far as Olivia could tell. No one had made any comments to her, no one had dropped any allusions to the fact that she—a new hire, a seemingly menial employee—was dating the CEO. The main objection she had had to their relationship from the beginning had failed to materialize, and the lack of rumors about her dating or sleeping with the boss made her more irritable, more uncertain, and more uneasy than any amount of gossip could have. Even the receptionist for her department hadn’t seemed to have any idea where the gift Robert had had delivered had come from.
Olivia’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of one of her coworkers. Amelia had walked up to her desk, bearing a takeout tray of paper cups from Starbucks. “You look like you could use a boost,” Amelia said with a smile.
“Not sleeping much these days. Stressed out about getting everything finalized for this project,” Olivia said, returning her coworker’s smile weakly. “They definitely threw me out of the frying pan and into the fire with this.”
“Not a bad gig though, overall,” Amelia pointed out, leaning against the wall of Olivia’s cubicle. “I mean, working directly with the CEO on a major project has to land you some big-time points, right?” Olivia shrugged.
“Not if I fail at it,” she pointed out with a little grin.
“Do you really think he would have gotten you on the project if he thought you’d fail?”
Olivia chuckled, shaking her head. “What he thinks I’m capable of and what I actually am capable of may be two different things.” She thought not of the project, which she knew she was actually capable of accomplishing but the underlying issue: whether or not she could become Robert’s mate, with everything that entailed. Olivia gave herself a little shake. “Not the time for self-pity,” she said with cheerful firmness. “I wish you’d told me you were making a coffee run, I’d have given you money for something for me!”
Amelia grinned, plucking one of the cups from the safety of its cardboard base. “Actually, I was given orders to grab coffee for the department. Cream and sugar okay?”
Olivia’s eyes widened appreciatively. “Whoever had that idea, bless them,” she said, reaching out to accept the paper cup. “Unless this means that they expect us to work through lunch today.”
Amelia laughed. “Nah, it’s some kind of ‘everyone is doing a great job’ kind of deal. Positive reinforcement.”
Olivia set the cup down. For an instant she thought she saw something flicker across Amelia’s face, something like annoyance, with a mixture of odd interest mixed in, but it disappeared so quickly that Olivia thought she must have imagined the shift in her coworker’s expression.
“This is just what I needed,” Olivia said, smiling. “And of course it’s great for you—gets you out of the office for a little while, right?”
Amelia’s smile broadened. “Yeah, it does,” she said. “I guess I should probably move on, distribute the last couple. Enjoy the coffee!”
Amelia lingered for just a moment, and Olivia wondered if there was something that her coworker wanted to say but thought she couldn’t, something having to do with Olivia’s plum project working directly under the CEO of the company, perhaps. But then Amelia was away, walking to the next desk in the department and Olivia shrugged, dismissing the flicker of suspicion. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching her, and took her phone out of her purse. I assume we’re on for lunch, she wrote to Robert.
His response was immediate. Of course we’re on for lunch. I have to deal with being away from you too much to not have lunch with you. Olivia blushed, shaking her head with a little smile. While she might not know whether or not she wanted to stay with Robert for the rest of her life, she couldn’t deny that his attentions were flattering. She thought that even if he hadn’t been a billionaire, with the resources to take her to the best restaurants, buy her gorgeous jewelry, and get tickets to the events she craved to see, he would be difficult to resist.
Olivia remembered the coffee as she put her phone away and turned her attention back onto her screen. She reached out for it blindly with a practiced grab, and brought the to-go cup up to her mouth even as she read the information she was supposed to be reporting on later in the week. One thing I have to grant him, Robert is good at keeping professional things professional, Olivia thought as she took a long sip of the warm—but not too hot—coffee.
She frowned; there was something weird about the taste. Olivia nearly called Amelia back over to ask if she had used something other than regular cream. There was a bitter taste that had nothing to do with the coffee itself. Olivia took another sip, trying to identify it and found that her tongue was numb. What the hell? She looked at the cup, frowning again. The numbness started to spread out from her tongue to her cheeks, down her throat. Olivia took another sip—even though part of her mind said that it was a stupid idea—and the numbness continued to spread.
Her heart started beating faster and faster in her chest as panic overtook her. Even more alarming, the world around her began to look hazy, blurry—rapidly darkening. Olivia licked her lips and the numbness spread there too. What is going on? What the hell is in that coffee? She tried to stand but found her balance was completely shot, her legs rubbery underneath her. Olivia drew a breath to try and call for help, but the world swooped and dove around her, leaving her reeling, grabbing at the desk in front of her to try and steady herself. As everything started to go darker and darker, she realized she must have been poisoned somehow though how, and with what, she couldn’t think, and as she saw the ground coming up in her dim, dark vision, it suddenly wasn’t relevant.
CHAPTER TEN
Robert was in the midst of a conference call with a potential business partner when the door to his office—which should have been firmly locked—opened. He looked up from his computer, his hand moving instinctively to mute the phone so that he could chew out whoever it was that had dared to interrupt his work, only to see Alexis, looking pale and deeply worried. “Just a second, Jack,” Robert said quickly. “My assistant has something for me to look at—you aren’t the only guy I’m courting right now.” Jack chuckled and said that he’d hang loose for a minute or two. Robert put the call on hold and turned his attention to Alexis.
“It’s Olivia,” Alexis said. Robert grabbed his cell phone. Olivia had just sent him a message less than twenty minutes before.
“What happened? Don’t tell me some son of a bitch abducted her right in the building.” Robert’s voice came out in a growl, the animal inside of him briefly overcoming his natural control.
“She was poisoned at her desk,” Alexis said, her eyes wide. “They’re taking her to the hospital right now, but…” she shrugged.
“Poisoned?” Robert’s blood ran cold and then fiery hot in his veins, and he felt the change crackling along his bones. Instinct—pure, animal hindbrain—told him to transform into his lion form and immediately find the source of his mate’s poison, kill whoever it was without a single thought to the consequences. He took a deep breath. “Who was it?” he asked, clenching his teeth and slowly gaining control over his animal impulses. He had to be human; he had to think and reason. This was
not the time for him to give into his more bestial nature.
“Someone in her department; girl named Amelia.” Alexis shook her head. “Katarina has her in the security office right now but I don’t think she’s going to talk.” Robert scowled, still able to feel the electric impulses of his other nature dancing through his nervous system. Images of rending Amelia—who he barely knew—limb from limb, the smell of her blood filling his nose, flitted through his brain in weirdly colored relief. Robert gripped the arms of his chair tightly. Get control. This is what they want. They want you taken out. He took slow, steady breaths, conquering the animal within, reasserting human control of his brain. His mate was under threat; the only way he could fix the situation was to stay in control.
“Amelia’s not part of the Pride,” Robert pointed out.
“We know that,” Alexis said, frustration rising in her voice. Robert growled and she assumed a more submissive posture, slinking backwards one or two steps. “Katarina is going to see what she can do but…” Alexis shrugged. Someone—a human—who wasn’t a member of the Pride, was going to be difficult to persuade. Robert couldn’t take direct action against the woman. Certainly he couldn’t take his other form and attack her or even attack her in his human form.
He had to think. Robert took a deep breath, closing his eyes, struggling to retain his humanity. He exhaled slowly, assuming deeper control over his mind. He had to act, but he had to act the right way. He had to make the right decisions. “Go to the hospital and meet her there,” Robert said, opening his eyes.
“They may not let me see her,” Alexis pointed out. “I’m not family.”
Robert shook his head. “You’re a representative of the company. Play it as work comp, whatever—just make sure you’re there to keep her safe.”
“Should I alert the rest of the Pride?” Alexis asked.
“No. We’re keeping this close for right now. They’ll know soon enough. Just get there and make sure no one else gets to her.”