“Very much.”
“Why?”
“You are everything I’ve ever looked for in a woman.”
“How can you tell? We spoke for what, all of thirty minutes yesterday and today…”
“Are you telling me you aren’t attracted? That the moment you saw me you weren’t overcome with a desire like nothing you’d ever felt?”
“Were you?” Her voice seemed breathy and richer than normal.
“You didn’t answer the question, but yes.”
“Oh.” And as her lips formed the O, his descended on hers and claimed a hot, if not too quick kiss. Soft and warm, the kiss was everything she imagined one should be. When he pulled away just before Lenora stepped into sight, she turned her head to the window to hide her embarrassment.
“What can I get you both?” she asked as she lifted a table from the side panel and secured it in place before them.
“You got any chicken salad sandwiches.”
“Would I travel without them? And you, Ms. Knight?”
“I’ll have the same.”
Lenora took their drink orders and left them alone with the exception of a sleeping Nikolas, as she went into the small galley. “It must be nice to live like this.”
“It has its advantages, but Kali finds it a bit much. She would be as happy flying commercially. But it’s easier to keep her safe when we control all the situations. No one touches this thing but our own people. Every step of the way, her safety is priority.”
“Is her life in danger?”
“Like any family member of the rich and powerful, she faces those who want to hurt her. And there are many within our family who were not pleased by Leonidas’ choice in brides.”
She couldn’t imagine anyone really hating Kalista. Although she hadn’t liked her much when she thought Kali and Jaison were married. The green-eyed monster flared even now. “I suspect it’s jealousy.”
“More likely than not,” Jaison agreed unbuckling his seat belt and reclining his chair. “But once Leonidas saw Kali, he had eyes for no one but her. He worships the ground she walks on.”
“It’s usually quicksand.” Kalista laughed lightheartedly, returning to the main cabin. “What’s for lunch? I’m starving.”
“Chicken salad I think,” Paighton answered.
“Lenora makes the best.”
After a brief silence, Jaison asked, “How are our guests?”
“Asleep. I promised Sabine when she wakes she can call her bushel and see if they’ve heard anything.”
What a curious way to refer to a family Paighton thought, or perhaps that was their last name. But then Jaison got up, and the perfect view of his ass in a pair of worn blue jeans distracted her. He retrieved a worn leather bag before returning to his seat. He pulled out a paperback and offered it to Kalista. “You sure you don’t want this first?”
“Nah, you read it. I’ve got something I need to research.”
“Suit yourself.” Leaning back, he opened the book.
“You’re serious about reading romances?”
“I told you, we don’t lie?”
“I thought it was a joke.”
“I take my romances very seriously, thank you. This one is the sixth in the series.”
“And you’ve read the other five?”
“Hmm mmm.” He turned the next page. “When we are traveling far, it’s nice for us to have something to talk about, Kali and I.”
“Makes my husband bonkers.” Kalista giggled. “If you want, I think the first book is here somewhere. Lenora?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Do you have the book I loaned you?”
“Finished it this morning. Do you have the second?” Lenora returned from the galley and placed two trays before her and Jaison.
Kalista frowned. “In the back I think. I’ll get it once they wake up.”
“Do you want to give it a try?” Jaison asked.
She debated; her parents always poohpoohed the idea of books for pleasure. You read to expand your knowledge. Granted, she had enjoyed a book or two while in school, but most of the time that wasn’t the case. That she and Jaison could meet to chat about something appealed to her, though. “Sure. Why not? It’s a long flight.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Lenora returned again and held out the book, not sure who to give it to. Jaison grabbed it as she placed a tray before Kalista. “Should I wake Nikolas?” Lenora asked.
Jaison glanced behind him. “Nah. Let him sleep but have a double portion ready for him when he wakes.” Jaison slid the book over to her. “The dog-eared pages are my favorite parts.”
She gasped. “You dog-ear pages?”
“Only in the romances, I promise.”
“Yes, but once you see how he and the others have treated the libraries, dog-eared pages will be the least of your worries,” Kalista said between bites.
“Could you mind your own business, please? I’m trying to impress the lady.”
Kalista leaned forward, raised an eyebrow, and humphed. “Is it working?”
“Not sure yet, I might need some convincing,” Paighton teased and was awarded by a huge smile and laugh from the other woman who bit into her sandwich as she opened the laptop the other flight attendant placed before her.
Golden eyes bored into her as he whispered, “Tell me, how much convincing do you need?”
She gulped, having laid down a gauntlet she had no idea how to play. This was a field she knew about only from books. Science books at that. She could tell you technically when one fell in love or lust, what went on. She could explain in scientific terms the chemistry of the emotions, felt secure in knowing the little details like the brain stimulates the production of estrogen and testosterone. But what she’d experienced in the last twenty-four hours opened a new world for her.
She stood on the edge of a book page with nothing written on it. It scared and exhilarated her all at once. “Probably not much,” she admitted, opening the book in front of her. She was three pages in before she realized she hadn’t read a single word. She was too preoccupied with the man beside her. As she moved back to page one, he chuckled.
Damn him.
Frustration built within her. She had never had an issue with paying attention. She could read Ulysses by James Joyce in its entirety. But right now, she couldn’t read more than a line or two without going back to see what she had read. She ached to touch and be touched in return. When she thought she couldn’t take any more he reached for her, intertwining his finger with hers. Never looking up from his book. Doing so in such a way that no one could see their hands under the table. Almost as if he knew what she needed.
Chapter Three
By the time the plane was making its descent into Greece, he wondered if anyone had figured out his mate was lying asleep on his shoulder. Nikolas had spent the whole trip with the exception of their three-hour layover in Paris, asleep.
Kalista, when not reading, had tried hard to entertain the little girl whose mother was frantic over her missing mate. During the layover, Kalista took Sophia shopping in the airport while Sabine contacted her prime about what was happening. Paighton took the time to stretch her legs as well, which allowed him to watch both his queen and his mate together. This new conflict was one he needed to address.
As Kalista led the girl into the confectionery shop, he knew he had to figure it out soon. Paighton would only be on the island less than four weeks. At that point, the plan was to move her to the large family estate outside Athens. He would have to decide if he wanted her on the island during Leo’s reign. His main focus needed to be on their queen. Kalista, though loved by much of the prides and beloved by their family, still had enemies. Leonidas had too many other things to contend with and needed to know his mate was safe. He trusted her life in Jaison’s hands. His alpha/prime couldn’t have bestowed a higher honor on one of his betas.
He watched and protected her with his life. No one thought because she won a m
atch the year before she was safe. They all believed the South American pride would come back sneakier than before. Security would be stepped up. Bags checked before boarding and after. Boats circling the perimeter, making sure no one snuck onto the island. Until Kalista’s arrival, no one would have dared piss off Leonidas. But because his beloved was human, they saw a chink in his armor. What they didn’t know, couldn’t know, Leonidas had never opened up his full powers on anyone. Not even his betas. He was the most powerful lion there was.
The fates knew it. But they knew his line had one weakness. The foniás could still hunt him and his. But with a human bride, they could never hunt his offspring. For generations to come, Leonidas’ young could walk the earth year-round without fear of being hunted during the month of Leo. His kind tended not to worry so much about the slayers created by the gods to kill all zodiac shifters. The betas did anyway. Omegas and the young were in danger, as they didn’t have the skills to track and protect.
Other shifters weren’t such risk-takers, but they weren’t trackers either. So the foniás could come up on them without them knowing. Cancers, for instance, didn’t have great fighting skills. They couldn’t track and couldn’t fight off their attacker, making it doubly risky being out. The most powerful betas of the lion prides came and went freely. But no one doubted the danger the slayers represented. Least of all him.
Herein lay his dilemma. It wasn’t the slayers who hunted Kalista, it was lions. And when Paighton mated with him, she might be the object of their disdain as well. Not to the level of his queen, but they would call her by the insult too repugnant for him to even to say in his head. So she would be in danger too. How could he protect the human mate the fates placed in his care at the same time he guarded with his life the human who had become the lions’ queen? He trusted no one else but himself.
“What bothers you?” Kalista asked, leaning forward in her seat.
“Where shall we start? How about the fact that you have barely slept this entire flight and I’ll hear about it from your mate?” he teased, hoping to deflect her damned acute empathy.
“I’ll sleep in the car,” she pouted.
“What has you upset?”
“Leo is meeting us on the island, not at the airport.”
“He explained his presence might make it more dangerous for Sabine and her daughter.”
She inhaled a deep breath and blushed. “I know, but…”
“Three weeks has been a long time for you two.”
She nodded and looked out the window. “An eternity. You’ll understand when you have to leave Paighton for more than a couple of days.”
Damn it.
“You didn’t think any of us would notice that a prim and proper woman has clung to you in her sleep? Or I wouldn’t recognize her actions within me?”
“I didn’t know.” He tightened his hold on the sleeping woman next to him. “I don’t have a clue what to do.”
Kali leaned in and continued to speak in a hushed voice. “She’ll need you to be patient. I don’t know if her connection will be as strong as mine was right away.”
“Yours was not the norm.” It had been awful to watch Kalista go through the days leading up to her bonding with their prime.
“Cosima said the same thing. That the connection formed strong and fast. I don’t wish that on her.”
He furrowed his brows. “Why?”
“Should it come on slower, perhaps the fire won’t burn as strong.”
“I see.” He could only hope she was right. The pain Kalista experienced he wished on no human. “They all know?”
“If you mean the others on the plane? I haven’t talked about it, but I would assume so.” She turned in her seat to see those behind her. “Not Nikolas. He hasn’t been awake except to guard the plane in Paris. How can he sleep so long?”
“The question should be how he stays awake for so many days when you are off island.”
“He doesn’t sleep when we travel?” She turned back to Jaison, shock evident in her face.
“Not a wink, except in the air.”
“Remind me next time to give him my cabin.”
“He won’t take it any more than I would.”
She raised an eyebrow and flashed a cheeky grin. “Not even for your mate?”
He glanced down at the woman asleep on his shoulder. “Not even then.”
“Stubborn pride.” She huffed.
“You know it.” He chuckled then wished he hadn’t as Paighton stirred. “Not a single word?”
She made a movement to zip her lips. “Unless Leo asks. Then I’ll have to tell him.”
“He won’t ask because he is the all knowing.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” she grumbled.
Paighton rubbed her eyes. “What’s the truth?”
“Her husband knows everything.”
“Everything,” Kalista agreed. “You’d better buckle up. We are about to land.”
“Oh.” Paighton looked out the window. “I didn’t mean to nap so long. Did I sleep on your shoulder the whole time?”
“I didn’t mind.”
“I’m so sorry. I usually am more, I don’t know…awake?”
“Yes, well, that novel seems to put you right to sleep every time. I guess you can’t join our book club,” he teased, helping her with her seat belt before getting up. “I need to chat with the pilot.”
When Jaison opened the cockpit door the pilot, Jacob, held up a hand as he chatted with someone on his headset. Without turning, he addressed Jaison. “We’re cleared to make our descent. A car is ready to pull up. Leonidas has left strict directions you’re to get Kalista and our guests into the vehicle. All bags and packages will be loaded into another one after you’re en route. He’s anxious to have her safely out of here.”
“He’s anxious because it’s been twenty days since he’s seen his mate,” Jaison said. “The only reason he isn’t meeting the plane is that it would draw attention to our guests.”
“Thank god I work with my mate.” Jacob looked back and gave a smile to Nanette, the second flight attendant.
“I’ll go check that Kali is buckled in.” Jaison made his way back, but Lenora stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“So, are you off the market? Or is she just like the rest of us, in a lot of lust with you?”
“Are you testing me or her?” he asked removing her hand from his chest.
“Perhaps both. Shame. You always did make the long flights more exciting.” She poked her head around the wall separating the galley from the cabin. “She doesn’t know what we are, does she?”
“She hasn’t a clue.”
“Lucky she’ll have Kali.” She laid a kiss on his cheek. “And you.”
He came back into the cabin. Nikolas, now awake, helped Sabine and Sophia into seats before taking his own next to Kalista. Their queen looked out the window, bounding her knee in nervous kinetic energy a mile a minute. The closer she got to her mate, the more anxious she would become. He wondered if she would come clean with her mate about the doctor appointments she continued to make with one of the American Pride. This had been her fourth visit to a specialist.
As her guardian, he was barred from saying anything to Leonidas that didn’t directly affect her safety. Even if he wanted to, he would become mute the second he tried. It allowed mates the privacy they sometimes needed. And safety from abusive mates.
Taking his seat, he clasped Paighton’s hand in his and brought it to his lips. “Ready to see my home?”
She nodded. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.” She would have more than one something to ask him.
Paighton gnawed her lips. “Since we’ve been on the plane, you act as though we are dating, for lack of a better word. If you’re simply flattering me to get me into bed, I need to make it perfectly clear I don’t do that kind of thing. But if that isn’t it, then what’s the game you’re playing?”
He had no idea how to answer. He could
n’t tell her the whole truth about their people. That would be a danger to his kind and send her running. Yet, lying to her was abhorrent to him. “I’m in earnest. I play no games.”
A smack to his shoulder had him turning to see Nikolas leaning in to whisper, “Kali says, give her a bit of time and space.”
He glared at Kali, who mouthed, He guessed. What did you want me to do?
He turned back to Paighton and shifted in his seat to put some space between them. “I apologize if I’m moving too fast. When I see something I want, I tend to pounce.”
To his surprise, his pulling away seemed to stoke a bit of panic in her as her eyes widened. “Oh, okay.”
After a minute he turned to Nikolas who shrugged. Kali looked out the window. He fought a need to clasp the clenched hands of his mate as she nervously tapped her foot. He wanted to infuse his strength into hers as was natural to his kind. But in doing what seemed natural, he would put a wedge between them. So, he took a deep breath and clutched the armrest instead. Besides, until he had Kalista safely back on the island, he had a job to do.
Paighton had asked her question, but she hadn’t considered the consequences. Since she’d proclaimed he might be going too fast, Jaison had stopped touching her entirely. He’d moved into protective bodyguard stance for Kali. His job and the right thing to do. Once the women and the little girl were hustled into the back of the waiting limousine, he and Nikolas took the front seat. When they reached a dock in a small seaside town, Jaison exited to verify the boat was theirs before hustling everyone into the ship. Other than to ask her once if she suffered from seasickness after they cast off, he had not focused on her.
Kali paced the small deck and wrung her hands. Those around her tried to calm her but to no avail. What the heck would cause a woman who up until this point had been in control, to turn into such a mess?
Paighton turned to Nikolas, who was also watching Kali. “How long since she’s been home?”
“A little under two weeks, but it’s been almost three since she’s seen her husband.” He took a step toward Kalista then eased back. “This is the longest they’ve been apart.”
“I see,” she said, but she really didn’t. Sure, three weeks seemed like a long time, but not life-threatening. “Was the absence planned?”
Prowling for His Mate_A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance_Leo Page 3