by Zoe Chant
Her movements were brisk and efficient as she handed out keys and ran credit cards and shuffled forms, and Alice guessed even before she heard her introduce herself that this must be Scarlet. The brilliant red color of her hair suggested the origin of her name, though Alice kept second guessing whether or not it was dyed. It looked too bright to be natural, but too natural to be from a bottle.
Maybe the spa was really exceptional.
She wondered wistfully if they could do anything for her own limp, short, brown hair, then dismissed the thought. Even if they could, they couldn’t do anything about the towering height or the linebacker physique, and even less about the aggressive forward nature and short temper. She wasn’t the pretty, pleasing type like Amber and Mary. And she certainly wasn’t here to snag a mate to marry.
It was their turn at the desk.
“Welcome back, and congratulations!” Scarlet greeted their party with a warm smile. “Please consider yourself at home and let me know if you need anything while you’re here.”
Though Alice thought Scarlet probably said something like that to everyone who came through, it felt particularly sincere and even grateful. Her smile included Alice, who felt uncomfortable, remembering the business card that was burning a hole in her pocket.
At least you don’t have to kill her, she reminded herself.
Which was good, because Alice was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to do that. Not even for fifty million dollars.
Forms were spread out over the counter. “Please inspect these for accuracy, initial here and here, and sign on the last page. You received copies of the rules and requirements, but I do want to remind you that our foremost rule is no predation.”
She was looking at Alice when she said that, which made sense, as the newcomer, and a scary bear shifter, but Alice wondered if there was more significance to Scarlet’s glance than that.
Alice met her gaze without wavering, trying to guess her shifter type just from her characteristics; she’d been able to tell Mary was a deer shifter the first day they’d met as new teachers in middle school, and she knew that Amber was a cat shifter immediately from her feline grace, even if she never in a hundred years would have guessed Andean mountain cat, an obscure wild cat like a tiny snow leopard.
The sense of power around Scarlet was without question, but for some reason, she didn’t feel like any of the large predators that Alice could think of. Something mythical? There was supposed to be a dragon lifeguard, which opened up a whole box of ‘I didn’t know they were real’ possibilities. A gryphon? A unicorn? An... angel?
Scarlet was still looking at her, and Alice finally decided that a direct approach was a good as any.
“So, what’s your shift form?” she asked casually.
Mary and Amber both went still beside her and she could feel their surprise without turning to look at them.
Alice grinned. “I mean, you’ve got all our information,” she said casually, indicating the form as she scrawled her initials boldly and flipped the page over. “It’s a fair question.”
Scarlet only smiled coldly and kept her secrets.
“The restaurant is open for breakfast and dinner only, but the buffet is available around the clock.” She pushed brochures over the counter. “The bar and spa hours are listed here, as well as yoga sessions, meditation, and dance lessons.”
Oh well. Alice would have been surprised if it had been that easy.
Chapter 4
Graham arrived at the kitchens still scowling, but no one was surprised by that.
“Morning, Grumpy,” Breck called to him as he waltzed past with a tray of fruit cups. “Chef’s got the list on the fridge. Let him know what you’ve got so we can put the rest in on the mainland order. Travis is leaving in an hour.”
The resort produce garden was not all that large; it couldn’t possibly provide all of the vegetables the kitchens used. But it could add a little splash of incredibly fresh produce when called upon, and Graham’s tomatoes were generally accepted as ambrosia from heaven.
Graham frowned over the list, hung on the gleaming fridge with a heart-shaped magnet.
“Morning, Graham,” Breck’s mate Darla said shyly at his elbow. The snow leopard shifter was the newest addition to Chef’s kitchen, and still seemed timid around Graham.
Grant would have liked frightening her. Graham tried to scowl a little less and nodded in greeting.
He stepped aside to let her open the fridge and pull out a gallon jar of milk, then vanish back down one of the shining kitchen aisles to where she was mixing some mysterious dough; her failed baking lessons were commonly available in The Den, the manor where most of the senior staff lived. Most of them were perfectly edible, if too ugly for guest consumption.
Chef’s progress through the noisy kitchen was made obvious by the opera he was singing at the top of his considerable lungs. “Ah, Graham,” he greeted in his booming voice. “I’m not sure about the status of your tomato crop, but if you could perform a miracle and have four dozen of about this size, you would be the answer to a prayer.”
Graham frowned at the example tomato Chef was holding. “I’ll have to check,” he hedged. Truth was he knew off the top of his head that he only had about half of that ripe now, but he might be able to cheat a little.
“And basil,” Chef said, looking at the list.
“Got plenty.”
“Any hot peppers ripe?”
“Few handfuls of jalapeños, a couple of chocolate habaneros.” Graham had been eyeing the ripening habaneros avidly; it was a strain he’d never grown before, and had been reluctant to bloom in the tropical heat.
“Perfect! I’ll take any you’ll part with. I’ve got a spicy Moroccan dish that is perfect to try out on our current crowd.”
Chef wandered back to check on a simmering pot and correct Darla’s kneading technique, and the two of them did a lilting duet from a show tune together.
Graham tucked the list into his pocket and left out the back door.
The resort was steep, and non-shifters would have found the terrain challenging, but Graham climbed the steps two at a time, head down, shoulders rolled forward, face scowling, so no one would be tempted to talk to him or ask for directions.
The last of the guests from the latest flight were checking in, two of them familiar, while the third was a stranger. The two figures he recognized would be the mates of Neal and Tony, who had both been key in bringing down the shifter zoo on the opposite side of the island.
But it was the third one who caught his attention.
She was an Amazon, towering over the two slighter women with her, and she had short, dark brown hair in a practical bob. She stood at easy attention, with a fit, powerful body not the slightest bit masked by her simple t-shirt and jeans. She had the barest swell of hips, from behind, and a small, firm ass.
Graham forgot about talking to Scarlet, forgot about tomatoes and secret identities.
His world had narrowed to this woman, and his lion was growling at his ear, intent and focused.
He could not have said how long he stood and stared, as the strange woman finished signing her forms and turned at last.
Hazel-green eyes met his and every breathless suspicion was confirmed: this was his mate.
Others on the staff sometimes talked about how it felt to meet their mate, and how they fought their instincts when they met for various reasons.
Graham was a fighter. Down at the very bones of whatever name he wore, he was a fighter, and he felt now like he did when he was preparing for battle: calm and ready and focused.
But it wasn’t his instincts he was ready to fight. He crossed to the middle of the courtyard in just a few steps, and she met him there.
For a long moment they stood, silently sizing each other up.
Then she growled at him, and he was lost.
Chapter 5
Alice appreciated the need for rules. Without rules, there were no games. Without games, there was no competi
tion. Without competition, there was no growth.
But she still resented being read rules like she was some kind of errant kid who didn’t understand that she shouldn’t eat other guests.
Scarlet must have had a lawyer go over her agreement; every i was dotted and every t was crossed. And Scarlet herself... Alice knew it was too much to hope that the woman would prove to be friendly and forthcoming, but she hadn’t expected the sharp, judgmental scrutiny that she got, or the intimidating power that the woman exuded.
Fifty million dollars, she reminded herself. Fifty million dollars to snoop out just one tiny detail. So Alice was so forward and friendly that she feared she was being flirtatious, asking about the resort and Scarlet’s role until she was aware of Mary giving her suspicious sideways looks.
Scarlet seemed nothing but cool and professional in reply, her veneer unbroken until a leggy, cream-colored young cat leapt up onto the counter between them.
“This is Tyrant,” Scarlet introduced with a tolerant smile that cracked her cool facade, scooping the kitten off the paperwork. “She doesn’t understand boundaries.”
Alice wondered if that was a dig at her for being nosy, but Scarlet let the three women coo over the affectionate feline and trade chin scratches for purrs, explaining that this was a real cat, not a shifter. “Though Gizelle does seem to hold out hope,” she chuckled, releasing Tyrant back to the floor with a swift stroke from ears to tailtip.
Mary laughed knowingly, and Amber said, “I’m looking forward to meeting Gizelle in human form at last.”
Alice had heard all the stories about the shifter zoo and Gizelle’s captivity. “I’m looking forward to meeting her, too,” she said more boisterously than she intended.
That earned her an actual frown from Scarlet, and Alice remembered that Gizelle was shy, and afraid of more than Mary was. She grinned winningly back at Scarlet. Sometimes the timid students surprised her by responding well to a little encouragement. One of her best wrestling kids had been soft-spoken and terrified before joining the team.
Scarlet only looked at her more dubiously, and handed them each a key. “Let me know if you have any questions or problems,” she said dismissively.
Fifty million dollars, Alice reminded herself, taking hers.
Then she turned away to go with Mary and Amber to their cottages... and even fifty million dollars was nothing.
He was standing at the entrance to the resort, wearing a green polo shirt with the Shifting Sands logo and khaki pants like the rest of the staff. His big hands were in fists at his side, and his thick blond hair was wild around his face. He had a jaw like a brick, and blue eyes like holes to the sky, and a dozen other romantic notions that meant absolutely nothing as he started to stride towards her.
Alice was in motion before she was aware of giving her feet the command, her bear roaring urgently to her as she crossed the distance to her mate.
Damn Mary for being prophetic, Alice thought fiercely. And damn her for feeling like she had a net of butterflies instead of a stomach, for the weakness and need that was burning inside her. She didn’t want to swoon at his feet, and at the same time, she desperately did. It made her teeth clench, the way she wanted to give herself to him. She belonged to no one.
They were standing in the middle of the courtyard, staring at each other, and Alice was distantly aware of the surprised scrutiny of her friends, and of Scarlet.
But mostly she was aware of his strength, and the height of him—he had an inch or two on her—the smell of him, and her own rising desire.
Without considering, she peeled her lips back, and growled at him wordlessly in challenge.
What are you going to do? she taunted him with her eyes, half-hoping he would run and prove all her fears right.
He didn’t run.
He reached over and put one hand at the back of her neck and pulled her in for a bruising kiss. It wasn’t a kiss that asked permission, and it wasn’t a kiss that pretended to be gentle or courtly, and at some point Alice realized that she was the one kissing him, her arms around his broad shoulders and her mouth fierce against his.
The sound of a throat clearing made her stop at last, her mouth throbbing, and draw back.
Mary and Amber must be staring, and probably Scarlet was too, but Alice had no interest in looking away from the strange, gorgeous man’s intense gaze to find out.
She wanted to ask who he was, find out why he looked so grim, hear the sound of the voice that must come from those lips, from that chest.
She wanted to know where he came from, what he’d been like as a child, what he was afraid of, what he did for fun, where those big hands had been that made them smell like dirt and grass.
She wanted to know why him, why her, what now...
But most of all, she needed to know, “Where?”
His smile was so slow, so hopeful, so utterly beautiful that it gave Alice little unwelcome jolt in the center of her chest.
Then he was taking her hand and she was following him out of the courtyard as Mary and Amber fell into delighted laughter behind them.
Chapter 6
The touch of her hand in his was electric, and Graham had to struggle to remember which of the cottages would be empty now... fourteen had just been vacated, but wouldn’t be made up yet... eleven wouldn’t be occupied for another few days.
And it was close, which was his primary concern now.
She smelled like a long day of travel, and beneath that, like simple soap and sunshine. Her hand was strong in his, long-fingered and rough-finished.
They made it to the intersection to the first tier of cottages, and Graham had to kiss her again, to taste those wild lips and feel those hands around his shoulders.
It was with great difficulty that he managed to draw away again, and get them both down the white gravel path to a cottage he hoped would be empty.
He nearly broke the door, wrenching it open, and was grateful to see that there was no luggage or personal affects within. He didn’t pause in his beeline to the bed in the room beyond, and then they were wrestling down together.
She was so strong.
It was nearly a battle, each testing the other’s strength, pushing for dominance, growling, stripping off clothing without care for seams or stitches.
This was no fainting daisy, there was no place for shyness; she knew what she wanted, what they both wanted, and she would take it if he didn’t give it.
And oh, he wanted to give it to her.
As Graham kicked off his pants, she drew her nails along the length of his cock. He drew in his breath with a hiss, then pressed her down into the bed.
For a moment, she struggled with him, trying to tip him over on his back instead, and for that moment, Graham actually thought she might win the contest. Then she gave a little sigh of surrender and need and spread her legs, and he was driving into her at last.
She was so wet and ready that he buried himself into her in one clean stroke, and they held there a heartbeat before erupting into a frenzy of clawing and growling and thrusting.
It was like fencing, or dancing—advance, retreat, test boundaries, withdraw—and then there was a delicious moment of surrender when the woman in his arms gave a helpless noise of pleasure and went limp in his arms, giving herself completely to the release that washed over her.
That, even more than her lush, fierce, scrambling need, broke something in Graham... and he was helplessly coming with her, utterly lost to her heat and the soft, sweet noises she was making.
They lay apart at last, gasping for breath and desperate for the kiss of cool air on sweaty skin.
His mate.
He’d met his mate, and she was perfect.
She was strong and beautiful and fearless, and there was a secret vulnerability to her that made Graham want wrap her up in his arms and hold her safe forever.
“So, I’m Alice,” she gasped in introduction, when she finally had breath for it. “Hi.”
For a moment, Grah
am could only revel in the beauty of the name. Then he realized he needed to give his own in return and froze in indecision. Did he continue the lie he was living, or start with the truth and go into the lengthy explanation his real name would require? Was he Graham, or was he Grant? Who did he want to be for his mate?
The window for answering politely was stretched and growing uncomfortable, and Graham felt panic rise in his throat. He needed to be cool, he needed to keep things under control. He needed to come up with something to say before she thought he was some kind of moron who didn’t have a grasp of basic social skills.
“I love you,” he blurted.
Chapter 7
Alice lay in a haze of comfortable bliss, her whole body feeling deeply satisfied.
Whoever this man was, he knew his way around her parts like he had a map, and he was strong and forward and beautiful.
She knew that a mate wasn’t going to be the same happy ever after for her that Amber and Mary had found, but it was wonderful to revel in the sated animal need for a moment. She had the impression from her bear of rolling in sunlit flowers and having every itchy place scratched.
She supposed she should introduce herself, and she did, once she had breath. “So, I’m Alice,” she said, staring up at the cottage rafters. “Hi.”
“I love you,” he replied after a moment, and Alice felt all of her contentment vanish at his words.
“Nope,” Alice said firmly. “Nope, nope, nope.” She sat up, and supposed she should find her clothing, but whatever scraps of dignity she’d started with had been left in Scarlet’s courtyard anyway.
“Look,” she said, trying to find a tone that was firm but still kind, because whatever else she wanted to do, it made her chest squeeze to think of hurting him. But she couldn’t string him along, either.
That would only be worse.