by Vivian Arend
2
Instinctively, Alex swayed to one side and twisted. His already raised hand allowed him to catch the feline flying at his face and redirect, swinging the oversized missile in an arc and slowing Mac’s momentum.
Alex let go, arms pointed toward the parking lot.
Mac did that cat thing, legs flailing rapidly as he twisted his torso to land on all four paws.
The beast gave Alex a haughty glare before stalking off, tail raised high in the air. The very tip twitched as if waggling a finger in pointed disapproval.
“What the hell was that about?” Alex snapped at the annoying, tantalizing, delectable siren of a woman who had been driving him mad since her return to Yellowknife three months ago.
He was speaking to empty air.
Lara was marching away from him at high speed, her heart-shaped ass swaying temptingly with every step.
He went after her, his boots smacking into the concrete underfoot with a sharp slapping sound. “I’m talking to you,” he all but roared.
Smooth, his bear offered blandly.
Shut up, he told his inner beast.
His bear grumbled back, It’s not nice to shout, especially not at her.
Alex nearly tripped over his own feet at the vehement tone in the scold. What’s your problem? he demanded.
His bear went quiet, which was probably a good thing because the rapid march had brought him back in line with Lara, who was fumbling with a key at the school entrance door. The last thing he needed at this moment was his bear distracting him.
Alex placed a hand on the door, leaning over her. “It’s not nice to walk away in the middle of a conversation, sugar.”
Lara went motionless. He had her caged, his larger body looming like a wall around her. It was a power move, it was aggressive, and yeah, he knew damn well what a shitty thing he was doing.
Although why he was doing it, he wasn’t sure. There was something about the scrumptious Lara Lazuli that tripped every one of his switches and straight-up pissed him off at the same time.
“You want to back up a couple of paces, sweetheart.” Lara’s tone was syrupy and polite.
“I want to know where the hell you get off—”
“That wasn’t a question,” Lara interrupted. “Move now, or I’ll move you.”
Oh, this should be good. Alex adjusted his stance slightly, noting his previous alignment had left his nuts open to being shoved through his spleen. “That’s not very friendly.”
“Alex,” Lara said, a world of disappointment in her tone. The bag on her shoulder slipped to the ground. “I thought better of—”
She didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she moved.
He caught a glimpse of what she did, but it didn’t make any sense—not unless she’d learned to levitate—because she seemed to walk up the side of the door before flipping in midair to land on his back.
She didn’t weigh much, but the momentum was enough to set him off-balance. As he tilted away from the building, Alex scrambled to pull off the same swiveling trick Mac the cat had accomplished. The last thing Alex wanted was to fall and crush Lara under him.
Only, even as he twisted, her weight shifted again and she was twirling around him, catching hold of one of his arms to spin his off-balance torso faster than expected.
He rotated one and half times to land on his stomach, flat on the ground. His arms were spread-eagle, one cheek pressed into the dirt. Lara’s knee pinned his neck in place, her other foot planted on the back of his right hand.
That was awesome, his bear said with approval.
Really? For fuck’s sake, shut up.
What the hell was wrong with the damn beast? Alex and his internal animal were going to have a long, hard talk about cheering for the wrong side, but that would have to happen later.
For now, Alex ignored the beast and focused on what was proving to be an interesting challenge. “You want to rethink this, sugar? Because I’m willing to take the gloves off if necessary.”
She waited. Five seconds, six…
Alex gathered his energy in preparation to move when the pressure eased, and she stepped back, opening a good three to four feet between them. She bent and scooped up her oversized shoulder bag, settling it into place.
Then she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before speaking. “Maybe we should start again.”
Alex stood then brushed the dirt from his knees, meticulously straightening his T-shirt and jacket. His annoyance remained way off the scales for normal, though. He’d deserved to get dumped—he had been messing with her personal space.
He glanced into beautiful brown eyes with golden flecks. She seemed to stare at him a little sadly, the way she’d looked at him more than a few times in the past. Her heart was clearly breaking, tugging at previously unsuspected emotional strings inside him. He wanted to sweep her up and protect her. To make her world perfect.
If he gritted his teeth any harder, he was going to wear them down to nubs.
The woman had to be the best actress out there. Sad? Needing protection? Oh, please. A month ago he’d watched her effortlessly take down a cougar shifter twice her size.
Something wasn’t right, yet no matter how hard he dug, he still had no idea what her endgame was. Only, he wasn’t going to figure it out by making demands. This was going to take finesse.
He could finesse, dammit. It wasn’t his favourite way to do things, but no matter.
Change of plans. Alex copied her and breathed slowly through his nose for a moment. Each inhale was full of her rich, sweet scent, and a lingering hunger rose in his gut.
He batted down his inner bear, who was humming happily and wallowing in her delicious aroma, and fought to speak as placidly as possible.
“Starting again. Lara, my grandfather had a meeting scheduled with you today. He can’t make it, and he’s asked me to take his place.”
Her mouth fell open, confusion slipping in too quickly to be an act. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m teaching a beginner class for local businesses regarding online security. Why would your grandfather have signed up for that?”
“That can’t be right.” Alex struggled to remember exactly what the old man had told him the previous night. Although to be honest, the conversation had taken place during some rather distracting circumstances. “He said he had a meeting at two o’clock with someone who had cutting-edge information—you—and that it was vital I attend.”
She dug into the leather messenger bag on her shoulder and pulled out a notebook, ignoring him as she flipped through pages. “Well, I hope it’s up-to-date and informative, but I can’t imagine Borealis Gems getting anything new from this presentation. Today is all beginner stuff. You’ve already got the biggest and brightest security available.”
“A compliment? Are you sure you want to go that far?” Alex folded his arms over his chest, slightly annoyed at the fierce sense of pride that struck at her praise for his work. Because, as the chief of Borealis Gems security, it was his work.
But he didn’t need anyone to tell him he did a good job. Certainly not some blonde pixie who seemed to have perfected the ability to get on his last nerve without even trying.
“It’s not a compliment when it’s true,” Lara pointed out, still flipping pages. “In fact, I’ve heard some of your Remote Access Trojans are still showing up in South America after that hacking attempt last March.”
He growled softly, all amusement gone. “How did you know about the RATs?”
Lara lifted her head and looked at him in shock, her fingers stuck between the pages of her book. “It’s been all over the news? Every security provider I know is trying their best to duplicate whatever you put in place. It’s turned out to be the perfect solution to fend off most hackers because they’re scared to death someone will get into their systems.”
“Oh.” The news. He’d stupidly forgotten it was common knowledge and instantly leapt to suspecting she’d been snooping in his business.<
br />
The softness that had been there a moment ago melted off her face to be replaced with a strictly professional and utterly unemotional façade. “Yes, oh.”
Say you’re sorry, his bear instructed firmly.
Alex’s back stiffened. He’d been on the verge of apologizing, but now? Shut up and mind your own business.
Is my business, you babbling third cousin to a baboon—
Lara lifted her book in the air and interrupted his bear’s smart comeback. She pointed to a list of names. “That’s weird, but yes, your grandfather signed up for my class. But he only used his last initial, and I wasn’t looking at first names that closely. I can tell you right now you don’t need to stay. If I offer a more advanced class down the road, you’ll have to sign up then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I came early so I could set up before my students arrive.”
She turned her back, and there was really nothing he could do except watch as she unlocked the door, stepped through, and firmly closed it in his face.
3
With the usual busyness of life, it was nearly the end of July before the weird mistake their grandfather had made returned to Alex’s mind. All three brothers were gathered in their retreat room upstairs at the tavern, relaxing and catching up midway through the summer.
Who was he kidding? Everything about that day had lingered in his thoughts far too often. How was it possible to be both intrigued and annoyed beyond measure by the petite wolf shifter? The fact Lara had gotten the jump on him—
Damn it, he was getting a hard-on just thinking about it. Not because he had any particular reason to relish eating dirt, but because it was a turn-on beyond belief to know that as delicate as she seemed, if they ever got physical he’d be able to let go wholeheartedly.
Alex Borealis liked enthusiastic sex.
If he was honest, he also liked how Lara looked. From the top of her silvery hair all the way down to those leather-clad fuck-me boots, she was one hell of a tempting woman.
But what he liked the most was doing what needed to be done for his family, and in his role as chief of security for Borealis Gems, anyone who threatened their livelihood wasn’t to be fraternized with.
The other gem company in the territory, Midnight Inc., had been a constant source of annoyance over the years. They’d never done anything illegal as far as he could tell, but there was a constant one-upmanship going on between the two firms. Alex approved of competition in the marketplace, but he didn’t approve of people using his family to get ahead, and that was where his main suspicions currently lay.
He wondered if Midnight Inc. was planning on playing dirty. The gorgeous, sensual Lara Lazuli had been slowly making friends with the women closest to his brothers. Women who had access to secrets and the most secure parts of Borealis Gems.
A logical reason for Lara’s newfound interest in Amber and Kaylee was to dig up insider information. That wasn’t happening on his watch, no matter how much her swaying hips made his body ache.
You’re grumpy, his bear complained.
I have my reasons, Alex snapped.
Wouldn’t be grumpy if you let the wolf pet you.
Alex sighed in exasperation, although he had to agree. A little petting from Lara would do a whole lot to ease his frustrations.
Onto more immediate issues…
Alex tipped back in his recliner with a glass of really good whiskey in hand as he mentioned his current worry. “You think Gramps is going senile?”
A snort sounded, followed immediately by gasps for air. James, the youngest of the three brothers, leaned forward and pounded a fist against his chest, obviously having swallowed wrong.
Cooper eyed him from the comfort of his own oversized leather chair. “I take it that’s a no?”
A rasping laugh broke out from James, now blissfully mated to his best friend, Kaylee. “Grandpa Giles might be annoying, but he knows exactly what he’s doing.” James gave one final cough against his fist before examining the swirling amber liquid in his glass thoughtfully. “Maybe we haven’t given him enough credit. He’s got some good ideas.”
“You mean his ultimatum to not avoid the mating fever this year or else? Just because it turned out well for you doesn’t mean that’s a given for us,” Alex reminded him. “Neither Cooper nor I have best friends we’ve spent years pretending not to be in love with.”
A soft shrug lifted James’s shoulders before he met Alex’s gaze. “I wasn’t pretending. I really didn’t know. If it hadn’t been for Grandpa Giles’s edict, Kaylee and I would still be waiting instead of enjoying a relationship that’s mind-blowing and life-changing.”
The leather creaked on Cooper’s chair as he adjusted position, his expression softening. “I take it mated life is going well?”
James’s immediate ear-to-ear grin was easy enough to read. “Kaylee’s amazing. She’s brave, and she’s beautiful, and oh my God, the sex is—”
“Yeah, great. We don’t want to hear about that.” Cooper was the one who said it, but Alex wholeheartedly agreed.
There was nothing worse than having to sit through gloating, especially on their younger brother’s part, when neither he nor Cooper was currently attached. And it wasn’t as if sex wasn’t on his mind…
Go see the wolf, his bear suggested. She’s hot.
Alex leaned forward and put his empty glass on the table so he could use both hands to rub his temples. Shut. Up.
His bear didn’t say anything. Just cheated outrageously and sent a vivid mental image of Lara. An instant replay, as it were, of the night he’d stupidly given in to desire and kissed her senseless. Her lips were swollen from contact with his, the buttons of her shirt undone far enough to reveal the top swells of her breasts. Her chest moved rapidly as she all but ate him up with her eyes.
A groan escaped before Alex could stop it.
“Oh, hey. You two had better not be backing out of our deal.” Annoyance tinged James’s voice. “Just because something unexpectedly good happened to me doesn’t mean either of you are off the hook. I was willing to do whatever it took, like we all promised.”
Alex lifted a hand to cut off the rant before it went any further. “Not backing out of the deal,” he assured his younger brother.
Although Alex was going to do his damnedest to not end up mated, and he was starting to have some wonderfully sneaky ideas regarding exactly how to manipulate the system.
“I’m not backing out either,” Cooper assured them both. “To get back to your original question, Alex, I don’t think Grandfather is senile. I think he’s a sly old fox, but in the end, his wily ways don’t change anything. He can’t trick his way into all three of us becoming mated this year. If we follow the letter of the agreement, we win. And the only thing he demanded was for us to not avoid the mating fever.”
James nodded, pacified by their recommitment. The three siblings fell into an easy chatter. Just a good time with family and a lot of teasing aimed toward James for having mated with the woman who’d been under his nose for years.
“By the way.” James glanced between the two of them. “I’m taking Kaylee with me in a couple of weeks when I head to the London Diamond Festival. We’re staying on for a few days to have an actual honeymoon.”
“Sounds great. Have fun,” Cooper said, a wry smile on his lips. “It’s bound to be a whole lot more entertaining than what I’m doing, which is heading south to take a couple of refresher courses and then renewing my law license.”
James bumped a hand against his forehead. “That’s right. I forgot you were busy. I guess that means Alex is my lucky replacement while I’m gone.”
They all helped in different capacities for Borealis Gems, but James handled most of the publicity.
Alex hated publicity work. “You knew you were going to London. Why’d you book something else for the same week?”
“Don’t be such a wuss about having to go out in public and smile,” James rumbled good-naturedly. “And I didn’t double-book, thanks so much
for trusting my abilities. I’m booked for an event on October fifteenth that the coordinator suddenly decided we needed to have a rehearsal dinner for on August fifteenth.”
Alex sighed. “Which means no way you can put them off until you’re back.”
“None at all. And if you think I’m cutting short my honeymoon because you’re feeling antisocial, you’ve got another think coming.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a business card, spinning it across the room.
Alex caught it in midair.
“Contact information for the coordinator of the event,” James told him. “Friday night. Give him a call and see if you’re supposed to pick anyone up along the way. I’m not sure who else is invited.”
Alex eyed the card. “Table Talk?”
A soft laugh escaped Cooper. “Damn. That’s one of the hottest programs right now on the Food Network. They’re featuring the best eclectic restaurants from around the world. You’re going to end up with a fantastic meal, and all you need to do is behave yourself.”
“Right?” James said enthusiastically. “Kaylee and I wish we could be there for the food alone, but since we can’t, you’re going to have to buckle down and do your damnedest to be somewhat pleasant.”
“I’m always pleasant,” Alex said.
Both Cooper and James paused, eyeing him with identical expressions: slightly amused, slightly annoyed, one brow raised.
“I am,” Alex insisted.
James’s lips twitched. “Except that one time.”
“You mean the time he mistakenly pounced on Grandfather’s old army buddy?” Cooper said without skipping a beat. “The one who’d trained as a Green Beret and, in one simple move, pinned our boy to the ground?”
“Nope. Now that you mention it, I was thinking of a different incident, but that’s a good one as well. I was thinking about how the mayor ‘accidentally’ got locked in a closet, and Alex forgot to tell anyone for three hours because he was sure there was industrial espionage involved.” James shook his head. “No, you’re right, Alex. I can’t think of any possible reason why we would warn you to not be an ass.”
