by Scarlet Day
She shuddered and dragged her stare away from the terrifying ledge. She looked up into eyes the color of warm butterscotch. They were set into the ruggedly handsome face of someone at least a decade older than her.
The man’s fierce stare bore into her and raked down her body. “Are you hurt?”
“Why were you following me?” She was certain this was who had been tailing her. The fact that he’d just saved her from potential death didn’t mean she was going to let him off the hook so easily.
“You shouldn’t be roaming out here alone. I was trailing you to make sure you didn’t get into any trouble.” His voice was on the harsh side. It annoyed Paige that her cat purred in response.
“I don’t need you or anyone else looking after me. I can take care of myself!” Paige’s voice rose with indignation.
The man’s eyebrows shot up, and his stare hardened. “For your information, the last female cat who came here broadcasting pheromones all over the place got kidnapped. She got away, but you might not be so lucky.”
Paige froze, the knowledge that he was talking about Laci almost making her heart stop. “But that’s different. I’m not…” The words were hard to spit out, as though saying it out loud carried more shame. “I’m not putting off pheromones.” Heat rose in her cheeks at her embarrassment.
The man stared down at her with a quizzical expression. He opened his mouth and then shut it again. It seemed he was having trouble figuring out what to say. “Uh, yeah, you are. How can you not know that?” His voice had softened, and a look of concern crossed his face.
Paige stared up at him in confusion. She was broken. Her body didn’t work, so she couldn’t possibly be releasing pheromones. Could she?
She thought back to her restless night, the startling sensations she’d had when she’d woken up, the sudden and uncontrollable urge to run. Could those have been signs that her body was, finally, doing what it should have done years ago?
That startling question, combined with the stranger’s intense stare, made Paige realize that she was naked as she remained trapped under him on the frozen ground. And he was naked, too. Her breathing quickened, and her breasts pressed against his hard chest. Her cat paced across her mind, its muscles tensed with anticipation. Every nerve ending in her body was aware of the contact between them.
The man’s pupils dilated, and his nostrils flared. A slight twitch developed in his right cheek, just below his eye. “Damn, woman.” He pulled himself off her and stood, averting his gaze. “Can you run?”
The sudden absence of his body heat was almost as troubling as the frustrated growl from her cat. She tamped down her own irrational disappointment and got to her feet, trying hard not to look at his bare ass. She settled for focusing on the chiseled muscles in his back. “Yeah, I think so.”
He nodded once and then shifted as he leaped forward, coming down on all fours in the form of a huge mountain lion. Paige allowed her cat to take control of her mind and shifted, her body effortlessly changing. She moved next to the male cat, and then he started forward, carefully scaling the steep incline they had tumbled down. She followed close behind him, placing her paws in the footprints of his sure and steady steps.
Paige’s thoughts reeled. This stranger, this strong male lion shifter she now followed up the side of the ravine, smelled mating pheromones. Her pheromones. Pheromones she had convinced herself she was incapable of producing. And even though her heart was afraid to believe it, the logical part of her knew it must be true. Male shifters didn’t make mistakes when it came to these matters. If this male said she was producing pheromones, then as unlikely as it seemed, she was producing pheromones!
As he led her back to the lodge, the part of her mind that her cat occupied seemed overly aware of the golden lion in front of her. His muscles rippled under his shiny fur with every step and leap, testifying to the power his body held. Paige remembered his body in another form, his human form, when they were pressed together, skin against skin. Warmth spread through her, and her cat purred low and long.
The male lion came to an abrupt halt, and Paige almost bumped into him. He turned his head around to stare at her and snorted hard. Then he stomped one foot into the powdery snow and shook his head, frustration obvious even on his cat features. With a sharp hiss, he turned his head back around and continued walking, but he continued complaining with low growls and grumbles under his breath.
It took Paige a couple of minutes to understand why he’d stopped and gotten so frustrated. Her thoughts. The warmth that had spread through her as she thought of their bodies together. She must have released an extra dose of pheromones. And if they were driving the male in front of her crazy, then that meant he was unmated. That thought send an involuntary shudder through her, combined with another wave of heat.
The male lion’s steps faltered for one brief moment, but he didn’t stop this time. Instead, he just huffed and put his nose into the wind as they broke into a run toward the lodge.
Chapter Four
Matt focused on cleaning the glass he held, trying to get the last stubborn detergent spots off of it. He rubbed harder, determined to make the glass shine. The Basement, the bar with its hidden rooms below the lodge, was crowded tonight, and they were going through a lot of glassware.
“I think it’s clean, my friend.” Tucker’s amused comment pulled Matt’s attention away from his task.
“Damn dishwasher. We need to replace it.” Matt set the glass down on the bar, perhaps a little too aggressively, since it smacked loudly against the wood surface. He picked up the next glass needing to be wiped down and started scrubbing, making a mental note to order a new dishwasher tomorrow.
“What’s got you wound up so tight?” Tucker’s voice still held amusement, but it was also laced with a slight hint of concern.
Matt huffed. “What makes you think I’m wound up?”
The door to the Basement opened, and an overwhelming scent hit Matt with the force of a speeding freight train. He didn’t have to look up to know that a certain female had just walked into the club. His whole body tensed, every muscle and nerve ending attuned to that scent. Without warning, the glass in his hand shattered under the pressure of his grip.
Tucker sputtered as he almost spit out a mouthful of beer. “Oh, no, not wound up at all. You’re as calm as a sleeping baby.” Tucker took in a deep breath and then looked over his shoulder toward the scent. “Looks like we’ve got a new unmated lioness. Sure glad only Laci’s scent makes me crazy these days.”
Matt scowled and dumped the broken glass pieces into the trash can under the bar. He took a deep breath and tried to center his thoughts, to pull them away from the all-consuming scent drawing closer and closer. But the intake of air was the wrong thing to do. The scent threatened to make him forget the walls he’d built around himself over the years.
He tried not to look. He really did. He put up a valiant internal fight to keep his eyes focused down on the surface of the bar, even as his senses told him the female was moving across the room toward the pool tables. In the end, he lost. His gaze darted up and zoomed in on the only shifter who had managed to rattle him in years.
She had her back to him as she walked toward one of the high-tops near the pool tables and sat down, her attention focused on the players. Her long brown hair spilled over her bare shoulders and midway down her back. The white halter top she wore stood out against her tanned skin. A shudder worked its way up Matt’s spine and then back down again, settling in his groin. His dick swelled against his jeans, and he cursed under his breath.
Tucker spun back around, and Matt felt his friend’s stare boring into him. He ripped his gaze away from the woman and glanced at Tucker.
“What?” Matt heard the defensiveness in his own voice.
Tucker narrowed his eyes and then glanced back at the female before turning a suspicious stare back to Matt. “She’s affecting you.” It wasn’t a question.
Matt shrugged.
“But
—” Tucker hesitated. “You haven’t been—”
“Not here.” Matt turned and headed toward the back office, knowing Tucker would follow him. “Chris, take over for a few.” Chris, one of his servers, nodded and walked around behind the bar.
Once inside the office, Tucker closed the door behind them and waited. Matt paced the small confines of the room, trying to get his thoughts together. He appreciated Tucker being patient and not questioning him until he was ready. Finally, he stopped pacing and turned to his oldest friend.
“Yes, dammit, she’s affecting me.” Matt raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. Tucker just raised his eyebrows and leaned back against the door, waiting for Matt to continue. “You know I haven’t been celibate since Anne…died.” The words still caught in his throat after all these years. “Hell, I’ve even been teaching Dylan how to be a proper Dom. But I’ve never come across another female that does what she’s doing to me. Not since Anne.”
Tucker hesitated for a moment before speaking. “She just got here yesterday. She wasn’t producing pheromones when I saw her at the lobby bar last night, so it’s just started.” He hesitated again and his eyes narrowed. “Do you know who she is?”
Matt shook his head. “No. I ran across her out on the ridge this morning and trailed her to make sure she stayed out of trouble. I didn’t want the bastard who paid to have Laci kidnapped to get another chance.”
Tucker cleared his throat. “I don’t think that will be a problem.” He sighed heavily, as though a weight pressed down on him. “She’s Paige Matthews.” He glanced up at Matt with a haunted look in his eyes. “My cousin.”
Tucker held Matt’s gaze without speaking, apparently waiting while Matt’s brain caught up to what he’d just heard. Paige Matthews. No. It couldn’t be.
He shook his head. “That’s not possible. She died the same night as Anne.” The night of the massacre, when hunters killed most of their pride. The night he should have been out on the run with his new mate, but had stubbornly stayed home after he and Anne had fought over something stupid.
“We thought she did, but we never found Paige’s body. Or her brother, or my aunt and uncle. We assumed the poachers took them.” Tucker took a deep breath, but his next words were almost a whisper. “It was my uncle who tried to have Laci kidnapped.”
A second passed. Then two. “What the fuck—?” Matt’s explosion shook the small window behind his desk. “Why didn’t you tell me? What does this mean?”
“I don’t know what it means.” Tucker shrugged. “Colt and I have been trying to track down information, but there hasn’t been much to go on. If Paige and her brother and my aunt and uncle all survived that night, which I have to assume now they did, then they virtually disappeared.”
“But why?” Matt’s frustration and confusion boiled over. “Why would they run away from the pride? And why the hell would your uncle try to kidnap Laci? It doesn’t make any sense!”
Tucker pushed away from the door and shook his head, his own frustration obvious on his face. “I don’t know. I remember there was no love lost between my dad and my uncle Nate, though.” He snorted. “Hell, Nate was an ass. My dad said he didn’t like him from the first time Aunt Liz brought him home to meet their parents. And after they mated there were always whispers that he was abusive. I remember my dad threatened to throw him out of the pride once, but he was afraid of what would happen to Aunt Liz if he did.”
Matt sat stunned. “Damn, Tucker, I had no idea. You never said anything.”
Tucker shrugged. “Some things are hard to talk about. Besides, the alpha is supposed to be able to protect his pride. How would it have looked if Dad couldn’t even keep his own sister safe?”
Matt tried to make sense of it. He kept coming back to the same question as before. “What does all this mean?”
Tucker sighed and shook his head. “I wish I had answers, but I don’t. I haven’t talked to Paige yet, but I plan to tomorrow. I wanted to see if she would come to me first, but she hasn’t.” Tucker shrugged. “But she’s at least here, so that’s definitely a start.”
Tucker stared at Matt with concern etched into his expression. “Be careful, my friend. I would like to see you be able to find someone who can finally make you happy, but there are unanswered questions here. Questions that need to be answered.” He rested his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “I don’t want to see you hurt. Not again.” He dropped his hand and walked to the door. He cast one glance back at Matt before opening the door and leaving Matt alone in the office.
Matt stared out the open door into the crowded bar, a fresh wave of pheromones wafting through the doorway along with the music and flashing lights from the dance floor. Matt’s head swam with the information Tucker had shared with him. He didn’t know what to make of it. Did Paige know about her father’s attempt to kidnap Laci? Was she in on it? Was that why she was here? Or maybe she didn’t know anything about it at all and, her presence here, after all these years, was just a coincidence. There were too many questions, with no answers.
But her scent pulled at him so strongly. It carried possibilities Matt had thought would never come his way again. Nothing had pulled to him like that since…
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He had a decision to make, and it was one he might deeply regret, whichever decision he made. He could lock himself in the relative safety of his office and try to ignore the intoxicating smell of this returned pride member they’d long thought dead. He could wait until Tucker figured out how Paige and her family had survived and why they’d disappeared. He could wait for answers as to whether Paige had any involvement with Laci’s attempted kidnapping.
Or he could walk back out into the bar and take the first real risk he’d taken in more years than he wanted to count.
Chapter Five
Paige took another sip of her beer and leaned toward the pool table, watching the players and trying to figure out how to play the game. She’d seen people play it on television shows, but she’d never played it herself. She wasn’t necessarily all that interested in the game, but she was looking for anything that would distract her from the uncontrollable urges she’d been having all day.
Ever since her pheromones had finally clicked into the ON position this morning, she couldn’t think of anything except finding an eligible male to get naked with. Considering her sheltered background, those were feelings she wasn’t accustomed to.
“Uh, hey, Paige.” She turned at the sound of Dylan’s voice and was startled by the look on his face. He looked like a dear staring into oncoming headlights.
“Hey, Dylan. What’s up?” She tried to sound casual, but her cat was growling and heat surged through her, making her feel anything but casual.
Dylan’s eyes glazed over a bit, and his nostrils flared. He licked his lips and swallowed hard. “You’ve…um…kinda changed since last night.” He cursed under his breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—I mean—it’s just that…” He dropped his head into his palm. “Well, shit. That was smooth.” He looked up and the familiar grin from last night that had made Paige’s stomach flutter spread across his face. “So, how are things with you today?”
Paige burst out laughing, feeling a little welcome relief, instead of the constant tension she had endured all day. “Not like myself, to be honest.”
“Yeah, I can only imagine. I’m feeling a little off-kilter myself at the moment.” His grin remained, but Paige could see a slightly frantic look in Dylan’s eyes, as though he were barely hanging on to his composure.
Not that Paige was doing any better. If they had been somewhere private, like maybe her bedroom—or hell, a closet would do, she thought she just might suggest they do something about the maddening urges racing through her mind and body. It didn’t matter that she had only met Dylan the night before. He was male, she was seriously attracted to him, and he was available. Granted, he was also someone she enjoyed being with, so that was an added bonus.
“So, do
you play?” Dylan nodded toward the pool tables.
Paige knew he was talking about pool, but her mind took his question to a whole different place. She shook her head, as much to give him an answer as to try to shake the wayward thoughts out of her mind. “No. It looks like too much coordination is required. I’m not exactly known for great coordination.”
“That explains a lot.” The amused voice behind her sounded familiar and sent her already ramped-up urges into overdrive.
Paige turned around and came face-to-face with a very recognizable face, one she had seen this morning attached to a very naked body. Without being able to help herself, her gaze flicked downward at his black T-shirt and black jeans. Even though the shirt spread taut across his broad chest and the jeans hugged his hips just right, an involuntary and completely inappropriate surge of disappointment washed through her at seeing him fully clothed.
She shuddered at the sudden memory of his hard body pressed against hers on the mountainside and another burst of heat shot through her. Dual sharp intakes of breath sounded from the two men. They seemed to have moved a couple inches closer to her within the last few seconds.
“Uh, have you two met?” Dylan’s question momentarily distracted Paige from her thoughts, which involved commandeering the nearest pool table for a use it was never intended for.
She didn’t quite know how to answer his question, though. Fortunately, her rescuer from this morning once again saved her.
“I ran into her this morning out on the west slope.” The corner of his mouth twitched upward and Paige got the feeling he was suppressing a full-blown grin. But at least he kept the details of their awkward meeting secret, and for that she was grateful. His gaze practically burned a hole through her. “I’m Matt West, by the way. I manage the club.”
Uncharacteristic flirtatiousness bubbled up inside Paige. “So being a professional bodyguard to clumsy females isn’t your day job?” She thrust out her bottom lip. “Shame.”