She sighed. Of course she’d end up with a mate fascinated by modern technology. The stuff made her head hurt. After handing him the sandwich, she stood at his shoulder and stared at the screens trying to figure out what was so absorbing. She didn’t have a clue.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the resort records to see if your cousin was around the week or two before the flight.” She knew what that was. Refuge’s logo was clear on one of the screens. Frowning, she leaned in closer to look at the other one. “This one?”
He leaned back with a satisfied gleam in his eyes when the Messenger airline’s database opened. She scowled. He shouldn’t be able to access that.
“Hacking your airline.” He grinned up at her. Patrick and Hector both crowded close at his words.
“Anything interesting?” Hector asked.
“Mathew was at Refuge. Arrived a few days before you and Celeste left and departed two days later.”
“So that puts him there,” Patrick said softly. “He’s a pilot. Most of us are, so I’m sure he could pull it off. The question is, why?”
“Power,” she said, ignoring the churning in her gut. She understood this kind of greed, but she couldn’t relate to it. Nico absently took her hand and rubbed her knuckles while watching his screen scroll. The unconscious offer of support soothed her, but Patrick watched her, waited for her to go on. “We’re the wealthiest clan in North America, but not really powerful. Neutrality has always been at the core of what we are. The two don’t really go hand in hand.”
Nico looked up at her. “That’s just a different kind of power, baby.”
She smiled a little. She knew. But it obviously wasn’t enough for her cousin. She went to the refrigerator for another bottle of water twisting the lid off as she slowly walked back over.
“Here it is,” Nico growled while reaching for the phone.
“What?”
He gave her a startled look like he’d forgotten she was even in the room. She rolled her eyes. The man had to work on his communication skills.
“The list of mechanics on duty the week before the crash.”
She noticed the cats tense a split second before she heard the voice, didn’t realize until later that their sense of smell must be much keener than hers.
“Oh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
She whirled around to face that voice but it was too late. He must have come in through the balcony doors, an easy enough feat for an eagle. Mathew grabbed her, arm around her throat, talons sharply poking her neck. She felt a trickle of blood and knew that if he moved a fraction of an inch he’d pierce her jugular. Not even a shifter could survive that. She was amazed that Nico didn’t roar his rage. It was there in the murderous gleam in his eyes, the edgy lines of his body. He wanted to act yet couldn’t. His hands were effectively tied. She needed to buy some time and she wanted all the answers.
“Why, Mathew? Why fuck with the other clans like you did or come after me like this? You know I’ll fight you. You could have challenged me months ago.”
His talons dug deeper into her throat at that last reminder, and she felt the blood flow trickling down her throat increase.
“I didn’t need to challenge you before. I was in charge. Then you had to go mate this cat and take the throne.”
She struggled to breathe as his hand convulsed around her neck and it pissed her off. She should never have got herself into this position. She was a better warrior than this.
“The clans,” he went on and she felt his chest shift against her back, knew he shrugged. “The weaker, the lesser organized they are, the stronger we are. And if I can get rid of the Leonidas and Lycoan families I can replace them with someone I control.”
“Power,” she whispered. “It’s all about power.”
She looked at the other three men in the room. “They won’t let you leave here alive.”
He leaned closer, his hot breath blowing over her skin. “Maybe not. But they’ve destroyed my plans. My dream. So now I’m going to destroy the most important thing to them. Two of them at least. How do you think your cat and advisor will feel forced to stand there and watch you bleed out?”
Patrick moved, rolled to the balls of his feet. She could see his struggle, knew he wanted to lunge and dared not.
“Oh, I wouldn’t if I were you, Patrick,” Mathew drawled. “She’ll just die faster.”
His talons dug deeper and she knew if she survived this, she’d have a new scar to add to her list. Had Mathew always been this sadistic and she’d never noticed? It didn’t matter. She had to act, someone had to act, or she would die here soon. She wanted to know what it would be like to live, to rule, with Nico at her side. To know whose DNA would turn out to be the most dominant one. Watching him closely, she hoped he knew that, hoped it saw it in her eyes.
Rage couldn’t even begin to describe the emotion that consumed Nico. He’d felt rage before. This was much more violent than any urge he’d ever experienced. If Mathew harmed her, the leopard would tear his throat out. Already it demanded retribution because the man dared lay hands on its mate, for the trail of blood flowing down her neck. His fury matched the cat’s, merged and became something terrifying. The man would die. Hard and brutal, but not fast. Fast was for those deserving mercy, and this one didn’t.
Appeased, the leopard crouched, prepared itself for the hunt. Nico would give it free reign once Ajax was clear of those talons. He circled them, thinking, planning.
“Ajax,” he spoke softly, not wanting to spook the eagle holding her into doing more damage than he already had. “Remember the last thing we did before we left your house?”
She cocked an eyebrow. He would have thought she was entirely too blasé about the situation if not for the scared look in her eyes. He railed silently. What kind of security expert was he that he couldn’t even protect his own mate? After a moment her eyes cleared and she smiled, her expression softening. Shit. He hoped she wasn’t thinking about when he’d fucked her. Not yet anyway. He needed her to shift, fast, and get the hell out of the way.
Her nod was so slight he almost missed it. And then in a quick flash of movement she became her eagle, slashing her talons in a downward sweep as she dove out of the way. Blood welled across Mathew’s face and chest, and he turned, screaming his outrage. Before he could lunge after her, though, the leopard crushed his throat then jerked the body until the neck snapped loudly in the silence.
Nico was lost deep in the leopard’s fury. It had wanted to toy with the man, drag out his suffering. The death was too quick. Too easy. It was only the petting hands, the soothing voice of its mate that got it to unclamp its jaws, to release the carcass. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him back. He gave the body one last vicious swipe before complying, stepping away and shifting.
Patrick and Hector hefted the body. “We’ll dispose of the trash.”
Ajax followed them to the door and turned the lock then did the same with the glass doors. He hadn’t even noticed when they’d been opened, and it had almost cost him everything. The rage, the bloodlust was still riding him hard as he looked her over, examining her body from a distance for other signs of injury. It wasn’t enough. He needed his hands on her, his cock in her. The desire swept over him with the force of a tornado. He knew it was a bad idea in his current state but he couldn’t help himself.
“Come here,” he demanded. She hesitated. “Now, Ajax.”
She sauntered over, smile slow and sultry. He knew that little extra swing in her hips was for him and suddenly everything in him calmed, centered. She stopped in front of him, and he set his hands on her waist. Slowly moved them around to mold her butt and yanked her closer. He leaned his forehead against hers and breathed in her scent, convinced himself she was alive and well.
“If you ever scare me like that again, I’ll spank your ass.”
She laughed and leaned back, looked him straight in the eyes. “I love you too, Nico.”
&nb
sp; A vice clamped around his heart, and he exhaled a gusty sigh of relief as he crushed her to him. “’Bout damned time you admitted it. I love you, baby.”
He kissed her. Inhaled her. Sucked in her essence, her soul. Then gave all of himself to her. Irrevocably.
Forever never felt so good.
Epilogue
Hector stood off to the side, holding the kind of glass his mate had always liked—delicate and fragile—incongruent in his big beefy hands. He flexed one fist, watching the movement, wondering what she would have thought of this gathering.
He looked around. She would have loved it.
All their sons, all their mated sons, were here to celebrate Adrian’s wedding to Cleo, a werelioness. Interesting woman, Cleo. A fine match for Adrian.
He counted the rest of them.
Celeste and Jason, finally come home. He stood tall and relaxed, though he never let her move from the shelter of his arm.
There were Ajax and Nico. The werebird queen and his third son, more besotted than he ever expected to see any of his sons.
And finally Lyra and Zander. The wolf. The hugely pregnant wolf. She approached him, Zander’s gaze following her closely even while holding a conversation with Adrian.
“Having a good time?” she asked, sipping a glass of water.
From the corner of his eye, he watched Ajax excuse herself and leave Nico with Adrian and Zander. She stepped forward with that regal, smooth glide he was growing accustomed to, linking her arm through Lyra’s.
The women faced him together. A united front. The two predators, by more than virtue of species, mated to his sons. Neither of these two women were ever going to be controlled, be handled. He admired their gumption if nothing else and grinned, not caring if it was just this side of feral. They could deal with the sometimes murky politics of a predator shifter’s family.
Both narrowed their eyes at the look, both did that little subtle shifting of stance that warriors did when preparing for battle. Oh, yes. Worthy women. And if the future brought what he suspected it would for all shifter species, if that dark cloud looming on the horizon came to pass, they would need to be. But he wouldn’t dwell on that today. Today he’d enjoy being in the presence of his family, ignoring the ever-present pang of grief and guilt caused by the one who refused to be with them. Another secret he’d kept from his sons, another lie he’d told. For their own good, or for his? He didn’t know anymore. He shook his head. There would be time enough for that later.
He saluted Lyra with his glass. “To the next generation of Leonidas leopards.”
She cocked an eyebrow and took a drink from her glass. “What makes you so sure they’ll be leopards?”
He choked on his wine, and Ajax hit him just a little too hard on the back while he coughed. He knew by the look in her eyes she was aware of what she was doing and took enjoyment in it. Ignoring her, he focused on his youngest son’s mate.
“Of course they’ll be cats. Dominant DNA and all that.”
He waved a hand through the air knowing he shouldn’t have to explain it to a doctor. At least he thought not. Ajax and Lyra exchanged a long, knowing look and both burst out laughing. He glared. They’d probably both refuse to have leopards just to spite him.
The others approached. Celeste with her gentle smile, Cleo trying not to show her hyper-awareness of all the strangers in her house. His boys. Tall, strong. Good. With everyone gathered around it was time to get down to business.
He looked at his oldest, Jason. His pride and joy, the one who’d broken when he thought his mate had died. This was his chance at redemption. “Have you decided?”
Jason pulled Celeste to him, wrapped his arms around her waist. Slowly he nodded while holding Hector’s gaze. “I’ll come home and take my place as CEO again. And look after security since Nico’s taking up with the birds.”
There was an audible sigh of relief through the group, but it seemed to be most heartfelt from Adrian. The boy had taken on an unusually hard task when Jason had left. One he hadn’t been trained or prepared for, but he’d done well. Hector allowed himself a small bit of pride. He’d been hard on his boys, but they’d grown up strong, smart.
There was one other matter to settle and he kept close watch on Ajax with gleeful anticipation when he delivered it. They’d been butting heads for weeks, he and his newest daughter-in-law. He knew she’d flown to Arizona expecting to leave him behind when she returned home. Little did she know.
“Adrian, I don’t care how you and Jason work it out, but you two are in charge. I’m retiring officially and going back to Tennessee with Nico and Ajax.”
Ajax was speechless for only a moment. “Absolutely not!”
“I’m afraid my mind is made up, dear.”
She narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “Listen, cat, I’ve had enough of you. It’s someone else’s turn.”
His other daughters-in-law were all quick to jump in to support his choice. If he didn’t find the whole thing so amusing, he would have been insulted. The boys, he noticed, were all suspiciously quiet. That was fine too. He was happy just to see them together, everyone speaking to each other. Life was good again.
Smiling, he slipped away, leaving all his children to squabble amongst themselves, to find a quiet place to watch the sun set.
About the Author
Loribelle is like the South she calls home. Hot and sultry. Languid and sexy. Magnolias and gardenias scent her silk-lined boudoir, and men and children alike bow to her magnificence…
Okay, maybe it isn’t quite that glamorous. She does have two smart and lovely daughters who give her a run for her money and a son that will one day be someone’s model of a romance hero. (She promises.) Her husband is a real life hero, and Loribelle just tries to keep up with the demands of military life. In between, she writes a book or two.
She’s had every job under the sun, but haven’t most writers? That Army military police, bookstore manager, waitress, wedding photographer, website designer experience has to come in useful sometimes. As they say in the South, it all washes out in the end.
She can be found at www.loribellehunt.com.
Look for these titles by Loribelle Hunt
Now Available:
Fireworks
Passions Recalled
Enemy mine…
Stolen Passions
© 2010 Crystal Jordan
Forbidden Passions, Book 1
Lyra Marcus tries to avoid her werewolf family’s political entanglements. Instead, she heals the wounds of the never-ending border skirmishes between lycans and wereleopards. It’s a bitter irony that she’s about to die in that war.
When she awakens after an attack, the horror of her situation dawns. She’s a wounded werewolf in the middle of wereleopard territory. And standing over her is a son of its most powerful family, Zander Leonidas. Her fate may be a swift and bloody end, but she intends to go down fighting.
Zander has no plan to fight the little she-wolf who’s landed at his Refuge Resort, a place where shifter species are free to be what they are—except wolves, of course. Yet Lyra fits him in a way she shouldn’t, and the urge to mark her as his mate is irresistible. A match like theirs, though, would rock the foundations of their world.
He intends to find out who left Lyra for dead on Leonidas land. And keep her safe from whoever wants to finish the job—not to mention the werewolf alpha who wants his niece back at any cost…
Enjoy the following excerpt for Stolen Passions:
The next morning, Zander strode out of the building that housed the corporate offices for Leonidas Industries. It had taken him the better part of two hours and a whole lot of fast talking to get Adrian and Nico to agree to keep Lyra here until they figured out what was going on. All of them were going to start digging discreetly to see what new shifts in wolf politics were in the works. That Lyra had ended up on leopard land wasn’t a coincidence. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to get her here, wanted to start something, to make a
statement, and they needed to know who and why.
Not knowing made frustration crawl through him. Whatever had happened spelled trouble for his family, and they’d had more than their share lately. He wanted it done. But there was nothing more he could do at this point. It was a waiting game. In the meantime, he had work to do for the resort. His assistant manager had handled everything while Zander played nursemaid, but the younger man couldn’t do everything himself. Zander had a lot of catching up to do.
His gaze swept the resort grounds as he walked toward the main hotel that housed his office. Palm trees littered the premises, shading a sparkling blue pool and the creamy stucco and wood Spanish-style buildings. Mountains rose in the distance to one side of the resort while the desert opened in the other. His place. Under his leadership, it was more successful than it ever had been. At his insistence, Refuge was a neutral-territory resort exclusively for shifters, where they were free to be whom and what they were. Since wolves vacationed here as well, Nico was anal about maintaining tight security.
An hour later, Zander’s intercom buzzed and his secretary’s voice came through. “Sir, I found a guest who’s the same size as your…new friend.” There was a slight pause while the line crackled. “And you have a one o’clock appointment in Tucson today. You’re going to need to leave soon.”
“Right.” Zander pulled in a deep breath, the scent of sand and a hundred different shifters reaching his nostrils. Including Lyra’s. His pants grew uncomfortably tight as his cock stirred. He’d taken her to his house on the edge of the resort’s main compound last night. He’d reached for her again and again before dawn broke, burying his cock in her tight, silky sheath. Shaking his head, he snorted. The most intense orgasms of his life and he should be half-dead, not horny again.
Something he didn’t understand had happened between Lyra and him. It confused the hell out of him, and he didn’t like it, but he wanted her. Now. Again. He’d never had a problem getting women, but there was something about her that made him react. Never in his life had he had to fight to keep from biting a woman. But with her, his fangs had come out, and every instinct inside him had screeched for him to mark her, to make her his forever.
Renegade Passions: Forbidden Passions, Book 4 Page 7