by Alice Frost
“I already have. After what she did to that waitress when she asked if we needed anything, I had had enough,” Xerxes said.
“How is Kylie doing?” Xavier asked.
“She’s moving to Ohio with her folks. They think it would be best to just start fresh, away from Millersburg.”
“Is that the only reason that you decided to do this? Because, honestly, she’s given us plenty of reason to drop her before now,” Xander said.
“According to Ms. Calley, she decided to change companies because of Nadia. She’s been ‘warned’ about coming near us and if Nadia caught her in the same room with us she’d be shown who the top female was.”
“Nadia isn’t our mate.”
“Nor do we belong to her.”
“That’s why I think we should cut her loose and hire some office help to steer her away from us.”
They all looked up as someone knocked on the office door.
“Come in.”
Charise walked into the office. “Sorry to disturb you boys. But I believe we have some things to discuss. I need a job and since I blame you three for it I figured that the promise of working with my client list a tempting reason to hire me.”
“Oh, we definitely want you, Ms. Miller. But do you think that you’d be able to handle all of us?” Xerxes grinned.
Heat flooded through her body at his suggestive look. She was sorely tempted to strip and lay herself across Xavier’s desk so they could take turns screwing her brains out. “ I think I am more than capable of handling you three.”
“Then we will see you first thing in the morning, say 8 o’clock?” he purred.
Her skin tingled as she imagined him purring against her clit.
“We’ll go over your schedule and pay tomorrow when you come in,” Xavier growled, glaring at Xerxes.
“By the way, it costs extra to fight off angry ex-lovers,” Charise smirked at Xavier’s shocked expression before leaving the office.
“What the hell! Why’d you hire her?” Xavier roared.
“She’s the solution to our Nadia problem,” Xerxes said calmly.
“Plus she’ll be bringing more clients our way,” Xander said.
Xavier sighed. “Fine, but you two better get cracking and get her some office furniture because like hell am I giving up my office for her.”
“We know you’ve worked with her before, so why haven’t you taken her yet?” Xander asked.
“She’s not my type.”
“What do you mean? She’s perfect,” Xerxes growled.
“I have a feeling that you’ll be the first one to fuck her, maybe even claim her,” Xander chuckled.
“It’s true I’m ready to find our mate and she sets my cat on edge but she doesn’t smell like our mate, she doesn’t even smell like a shifter.” Xavier leaned back, looking at his brothers. They were all ready to find their mate but it tiring sifting through all the women that threw themselves at them.
“My cat has been pacing around roaring for me to make her ours. Who cares if she’s not a shifter,” Xerxes said.
“I wish we could be 100% sure that she’s our mate,” Xander said.
“Yea, it does,” Xavier sighed.
“I knew it!” Xander launched himself over the desk, tackling Xavier, starting a full on brawl.
Xerxes just shook his head and leaned back in his chair, watching the fight progress for a few minutes. “Are you two almost done?” Xerxes asked, peering down at the two combatants when they stopped beating on each other.
“With beating the crap out of each other? Yeah,” Xander chuckled. He stood up and righted the chair they had knocked over and sat down in it.
“So you can feel her pull too?” Xavier asked, sitting up against the wall.
“My cat went haywire the moment I saw her.”
“Mine too.”
“But why now? We’ve known her for years,” Xavier asked.
“I’ve never actually seen her up close before today.”
“Same here. You’re the only one that has actually talked to her face to face before today. We’ve talked to her over the phone, though I’m not going to lie her voice is phone sex operator worthy and she’s just as sexy.”
“I most definitely won’t be getting a good nights sleep until we know if she’s ours.”
“I don’t know. My cat has always sat up and taken notice when she was around but I’ve never felt the need to mark her, make her mine until now.”
“Maybe we all had to be there for that to happen, Why are you so reluctant to consider the possibility that she might belong to us?” Xerxes asked.
“Rachel…”
“Xavier, not every woman is going to be like her. We knew that she only wanted to be with you because of your title but when she learned that she had to take us all to be Prima she completely freaked out.”
“Neither of us were attracted to her like you were. Hell, Graeme detested her and refused to come around while you were with her.”
“Her death wasn’t related to her not wanting the three of us. For all we knew she was just an unfortunate victim of a mugging.”
“She could disappear like our folks did. Hell, I’m not even sure they’ve been alive this entire time.”
“We’ll never know until we find them.” Xerxes stood up from his chair. “Come on you pathetic lions, lets go to the bar and get a drink. Blue Moon work for you?”
“Yep, lets go,” Xavier said, wiping off his slacks.
~ * ~
“I’m surprised no one challenged you after Mom and Dad disappeared,” Xander said, sipping on his beer.
“Everyone knew that I’m meaner and more brutal than Dad even though I looked like a scrawny rat,” Xavier chuckled.
“It didn’t help that you had Xander, Graeme, and me giving you our unwavering loyalty,” Xerxes said.
“I really thought Taj was going to challenge you when he came to join the pride,” Xander said.
“I can say I could have honestly taken Taj but when Vance came to the pride, I’m not going to lie, I was worried he would challenge me.” Xavier shook his head. Vance was an anomaly just like most of the shifters in the area. He was a scimitar cat, a distant cousin of the prehistoric sabertooth tiger.
“Yeah, it was a little shocking to see that huge ass cat showing submission when we shifted together for the first time.”
“I didn’t challenge you because I don’t want to run a pride or take responsibility for anyone else. I thought you would’ve figured that out by now.” Vance chuckled as he sat down at the table with them.
“They did when you did your Garfield impression,” Taj laughed, pulling up a chair.
“So what brings you three here? You haven’t been around the bar since Nadia’s little fiasco,” Vance asked.
“We needed a drink and aren’t you supposed to be covering the door?” Xavier asked.
“Graeme’s working the door and I’m working the floor.”
“I hear you’ve stolen that sexy secretary from Jack. So when are we going to be seeing her around the office?”
“They stole Char? Hell, I may have to start working for you instead of Jack,” Vance said.
“What do you mean?” Xander growled.
“You’ve seen her right? She’s hot as hell and juicy for the taking.” Vance grinned. “I’m betting that she’s wild as hell in bed.”
Xavier growled, his cat not liking how Vance was talking about Charise. “You think that you’ll be the one to take a bite of that juicy secretary?”
Taj scooted his chair back and waited for what his friend would say. He obviously hadn’t caught onto the dangerous undercurrents. “Vance.”
Vance just grinned at Taj. “I wouldn’t mind having a taste of her but then I’m not looking for a forever type kind of girl like her either.”
Xavier growled louder, drawing back his fist only to be cut short as Xerxes launched himself across the table at Vance, Xander not far behind. They rolled across the floor exc
hanging blows.
Graeme walked up next to Xavier. “Should I tell everyone that the new secretary is off limits?”
“That’d probably be for the best,” Xavier growled.
Graeme chuckled. “I never thought you three would find your mate, and have the same one to boot.”
“I’m not so sure she’s our mate,” he replied.
Graeme looked at Xavier thoughtfully. “I think you have. You just haven’t accepted it yet.” With those parting words he went to break up the fight.
Chapter 5
“Good morning,” Charise said as she walked into the front office, carrying her bag of belongings and a large coffee. She stopped in her tracks, looking around at the complete makeover the office had received. The walls were no longer a glaring white color, they were now a soft aqua green color. There was now a plush love seat up against one wall with a coffee table sitting in front of it and sitting just off to the right of Xavier’s office door was a beautiful cherry oak desk with what looked to be the newest computer and printer setup sitting on top of it.
“Good morning beautiful. Do you like what Xander and I did to your office?” Xerxes asked.
“You didn’t have to do all of this for me,” Charise said. She was touched that they took the time to decorate the office for her.
“Sure we did, someone refuses to share his desk with anyone,” Xander said, walking into the office from the breakroom.
“I share almost everything else. Why should I share my desk?” Xavier said as he came from the confines of his own office.
Charise was disappointed that they only did this because Xavier didn’t want to share his desk. She cleared her throat. “I believe you mentioned going over my hours and pay.”
“Yes I did.”
“I work 8-5 Monday through Friday and nothing less than $40,000,” Charise said, putting her bag on the desk.
“$40,000! How much was Jack paying you?” Xavier asked.
“$86,000.” Charise smirked as Xander choked on his coffee and Xerxes sat down on the loveseat heavily. “As I said, fighting off ex-lover's cost more.”
“We only have one ex-lover that you have to fight off, unlike someone else we know,” Xander snorted.
“Who would this woman be?”
“Nadia Queen.”
Charise choked on her coffee and sputtered as she tried to catch her breath. “Why would you get involved with that psycho?”
“She’s beautiful and sophisticated,” Xavier muttered.
“Boy she’s got you fooled. She’s made of plastic with a pussy full of teeth. Once she thinks she has them sunk in deep enough she starts making every female around her miserable, no matter how old or even if they’re mated,” Charise said.
Xander snorted. “That’s an accurate description of her.”
Xerxes looked at her curiously. “Why would you describe her like that?”
“She tried to date Jack once but he was with one of our college intern at the time. Nadia went ballistic and attacked the poor girl. Nadia left her with horrific gouges across her face. It took three days for them to fully heal. If she hadn’t been a shifter Jack would’ve had to pay for a lot of cosmetic surgery.”
“Shit,” Xander said.
“And the part about her pussy?” Xerxes asked with a smirk.
“Once you put your cock in you have to take a crowbar to get her to let go of it,” Charise said. She glanced over at Xavier, noticing the distant look in his eyes. He seemed to be thinking about everything she was saying.
“Basically we’re never going to get rid of her,” Xander said with a scowl.
“Did you honestly think that hiring me would make her magically disappear?” Charise asked.
“Yes, actually. We were hoping that with your reputation of keeping Jack’s ex-lovers away will make her think twice about coming back into the office,” Xavier said.
“If you want me to keep that maniac away from you then you’ll need to be giving me hazard pay. She’s stupid enough to think she could scare me off like everyone else,” she said, irritated.
“I’m paying you enough already. I’m not paying you extra just because of her,” Xavier said.
“You have met this woman right? Psychotic bitch that attacks anything female within a ten foot radius of any male she deems hers?” she asked sarcastically.
“Yes, we know how she acts and when she comes into the office we’ll replace everything that gets destroyed,” Xander said, looking pointedly at Xavier.
“So do you like what we did or do you want to redecorate it?” Xerxes asked, changing the subject.
“I’m thinking that I want lots of pink and flowers,” she said teased, laughing as they looked down right sick at her suggestion. Apparently pink and floral decor went against every masculine bit of them. Though she wouldn’t mind decorating the place in seductive tones and decor, especially if she could lock herself in with them. “I’m joking. I hate the color pink. Maybe blues and greens.”
“Thank god!” Xavier exclaimed.
“I’m slightly curious, why are you so determined to have me here even though I came to you?” she asked.
“For Xavier, it’s probably the clients. Xerxes and I? We think you’re sexy as hell and want to see where this will go,” Xander said.
“Not shy at all are you?” Charise asked.
“No.” Xander smiled.
“Which is quite unusual for us.” Xerxes watched her every move, like he was going to pounce on her at any moment.
Charise looked at Xavier. “Do you have any issues with this?”
“Who my brothers fuck is entirely their business.”
“Thanks for that lovely bit of information. I hope I won’t be dealing with your grumpy ass all the time,” Charise said.
“Unfortunately, you will be. I’m the one that deals with all of the paperwork,” Xavier said, grinning.
“Great,” Charise muttered.
“Don’t worry, beautiful, if he makes you angry then we’ll kick his ass for you,” Xander said.
“Ah, thank you, but I’m pretty sure I can take him,” Charise said, smiling.
“You sure about that?” Xavier asked.
His intense stare sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine. Heat pooled between her thighs and she knew they could smell her arousal. She snapped herself out of her need driven haze and looked at him with faked disinterest. “I highly doubt that you want to sleep with a pudgy human.”
“You are not pudgy. You are curvaceous, luscious, tantalizing,” Xander said, a soft purr escaping his chest.
“You’re really laying it on thick, handsome,” she said.
“He’s only saying what we’re all thinking,” Xerxes said.
“I highly doubt you all think that,” she said, glancing at Xavier.
Xander stepped closer, forcing her back against the desk. His chest brushed against her’s and she softly moaned in pleasure. He brushed his lips against her ear, his warm breath adding to the heat running through her. “He wants to fuck you more than we do. I bet that he has you bent over his desk, begging for his cock before the end of the week.”
Chapter 6
“Isn’t this just cozy? Who’s the new bitch?”
They all stiffened and turned towards the owner of the voice, placing themselves between the owner of the voice and her instinctively. She was hated how one woman’s voice could act like an ice cold shower. She peeked around Xerxes.
Nadia standing not far in front of them. Her light brown hair was in a perfect coif Her makeup accented her golden eyes and complexion. Her willow thin body was dressed in the latest fashion. You could see the hollows of her eyes and cheeks making Charise want to go out and buy her enough cheeseburgers to fill her up.
“Nadia, so nice of you to drop by. I was needing to talk to you,” Xavier said.
“Were you going to tell me you’re dumping me?” Nadia inhaled and snorted. “For a puny human? I can smell her lust almost as strongly as I smell all of
yours.”
“Yes we are. In fact, Xerxes and I dumped you a while ago after you attacked that waitress at The Blue Moon. We’re tired of your pathetic antics and petty jealousies,” Xander said bluntly.
“And you attacking all of our female clients and staff,” Xerxes added.
Nadia looked at them. Her perfect face had become twisted and horrific. “You belong to me! No one is going to take you from me! Especially not some pathetic human!”
Charise had had enough. She moved from behind her bodyguards. “Hello, Nadia, so nice to see you again. These men don’t belong to you and they want nothing to do with you.”
“Charise,” Nadia sneered. “I see you switched lovers. What happened to Jack?”
“He’s never been my lover. He didn’t want your vampiric cunt going after his dick,” Charise said.
Nadia laughed. “I would’ve been a better fuck than you or any of his last lovers.”
“Where you’re concerned, I’ll always be a better fuck than you. At least I never have to fake my enjoyment,” Charise said smiling at Nadia.
Nadia growled and lunged at Charise.
Charise growled back and grabbed her by the neck in mid-lunge, throwing her to the floor. She pressed her boot against Nadia’s throat and growled. “Submit.”
Nadia struggled and clawed at Charise’s leg, trying to dislodge herself so she can attack Charise again. “Never.”
Charise growled and increased the pressure on Nadia’s neck. “Submit or I’ll crush your neck.”
Nadia continued to growl and thrash, but her 115 pound frame was no match against Charise.
Charise pressed harder on Nadia’s throat until she could feel the bones begin to collapse.
Nadia stopped struggling. She lifted her chin and bared her throat, showing submission.
Charise released Nadia. “Get out of here before I tear you apart, limb from limb.”