Shifters Forever Worlds Mega Box: Volume 1

by Thorne, Elle

  Veila wondered if Vax planned to call their father on this omission of information the next time they had a conference call.

  Veila wished she could say she paid attention while Vax and the rest of the shifters in attendance discussed tribe alliances, business, and who knew what all else.

  She didn’t.

  She couldn’t.

  Her attention was inwardly focused on a lion shifter with kissable lips and a hunter’s eyes that she couldn’t get out of her mind. What were Vax’s plans for the shifter?

  When everyone stood, she realized she’d daydreamed through the whole—she glanced at her phone to see the time—hour and a half.

  Vax gave her a look. “What’s up?”

  “Just thinking.” About a sexy lion and why I’ve never been attracted to another man like I am to him.

  “About?”

  It figured Vax would ask that.

  “Business.” As in, none of yours, but of course she wouldn’t say that. God, when had she started being so secretive? She and Vax never kept secrets.

  “Lunch? Anyone? I’ll get the kitchen started on it.” She couldn’t fool her brother. They were too close.

  As she walked away, she glanced back. He was still watching her.

  Chapter Five

  With the kitchen busy preparing meals for those in the boardroom, Veila grabbed a tray and headed toward the 18th floor—the floor set aside for Gavin, his team, and two detaining cells.

  She opened the door to the room holding the cells without knocking. A part of her felt like a fraud because she wasn’t here on Tiero business. She was here on Veila business. She had a personal interest in the lion shifter.

  One cage was empty; the other held both Martinez shifters. Gavin sat at a table nearby, a cup of coffee at his fingertips.

  “How are our guests?” she asked Gavin.

  Near her, the shifter called Mason gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Guests.” His voice may have been low, but the sarcasm in it was very evident.

  “Leave her be,” the other lion shifter said.

  Mason’s head snapped toward his brother, but he said nothing.

  “Can I have a moment with them?” Veila asked Gavin.

  “As long as they’re in their cages and you don’t get too close.” He pointed toward the tray in her hands. “What’s that for?”

  “Them.” She indicated the lion shifters with her head.

  “Does Vax know— Never mind.” Evidently, Gavin had seen the look on her face and thought better of asking her.

  It was a good thing, too, because Veila was not in the mood to deal with that. She didn’t answer to her brother.

  After Gavin closed the door behind him, she set the tray on the table next to the cage and dragged the table a little closer. Two sandwiches wrapped in deli paper were on a plate. She reached out to hand her lion shifter one of the two sandwiches the kitchen had prepared for them.

  “Is it poisoned?” He had a slight smirk on his face, but not an unfriendly one.

  “Always.” Veila let a small smile drift over her lips. “I heard blood is not to be let, so I thought poison would be appropriate.”

  “You know of the history,” he said, taking the sandwich from her. Their fingers touched, his overlapping hers. “Broke Gavin’s rule of not touching, didn’t you?”

  She kept her grip on the sandwich, letting her fingers stay under his. “Gavin doesn’t dictate policy to me.”

  “Who does?” He raised a brow. The gleam in his eye was wicked as he studied her face, his gaze moving down from her eyes to her lips.

  Veila held her breath for fear the butterflies this man was giving her would try to escape through her mouth. No man had ever had this sort of effect on her.

  “No one does.” She tried to move her hand away, but his fingers tightened around hers and the sandwich.

  He pulled her a step closer. “No mate?”

  It was as if he were a snake charmer—make that a shifter charmer—and was charming her. She couldn’t look away or put any distance between them.

  She shook her head, acknowledging she had no one. A gleam appeared in his eyes, and the barest hint of a smile rose on his lips. She found herself happy he felt this way, the feeling expanding in her chest.

  Her tigress’s purr grew louder, threatening to overtake any sounds Veila would be able to hear.

  Stop it, she told her tigress. I’d like to have a conversation with him.

  The purring subsided, though it didn’t disappear completely.

  “I’m Mark. Mark Martinez. Your tigress?”

  How the hell did he know? She nodded slightly. “I’m Veila.”

  “My lion, too.”

  “How’s Evie?” Mason’s voice broke the spell between them.

  Veila turned his way. The shifter’s eyes were full of pain. “Alexa went to check on her.”

  “Any chance I could get an update? If there’s one?” The hurt in Mason’s eyes was raw.

  Veila couldn’t deny him that. “Sure.”

  “Why weren’t we included? Is it because of the old history?” Mark asked.

  The man was too good-looking for his own good. A part of Veila wanted to strip him slowly and enjoy every inch of his body with her tongue. Damn. Her thoughts were going into X-rated areas, and she’d better quell that or he’d be able to smell, see, feel, and know.

  She swallowed her desire for him, and was successful enough to speak a sentence without croaking like a toad. “I wasn’t a part of the invitation committee.”

  “Who was?”

  “My brother, maybe. Lézare, too, I suppose. I’m not exactly sure.”

  “Ah, then it was probably Lézare because of Evie,” Mark added. “What’s your role here at Tiero, then? Other than being a Tiero princess, I mean.”

  The magical spell between them broke.

  “Wow. You’re a hostile bastard, aren’t you?” Maybe he wasn’t any different than any of the rest of the males in her family or anywhere else. Tears stung her eyes the same way his words had stung her heart.

  She had a meeting to get back to.

  Chapter Six

  Veila took a moment to compose herself. She didn’t know why Mark’s words had gotten to her the way they had. She added a little powder and blush, something to hide the misery his words had left in her. How could a stranger do that to her? Why wasn’t he a stranger? Why had she felt an instant connection to him?

  Forget him. She had a meeting to get to.

  Keep telling yourself that. Her tigress’s voice reverberated in her head. Keep pretending he doesn’t matter.

  She opened the door and entered the boardroom. Relieved her seat was near the door, she slid into her chair and picked up a fork even though eating was the last thing on her mind.

  “All good?” Vax asked, though his tone made it sound as if he knew something was very wrong.

  She nodded and nibbled on something. She looked at her plate. She wasn’t even sure what she was tasting. After washing it down with a drink of water, she looked at Mae. “I’m glad you could make it to Dallas. Vax has been talking about you so much. He said I should visit Bear Canyon Valley. That it’s beautiful.”

  “It is. But then, I’m not impartial. We’ve got a bed-and-breakfast you’d love. Kelsey runs it. She does a wonderful job! There are so many shifters there it’s like being in a shifter town… almost.” Mae’s smile was nostalgic. “Brad, that’s my husband— I mean…” Mae took a deep breath. “He was my husband. He passed. It was his dream that we get the valley back to its shifter days, more than two centuries ago, when the valley teemed with shifters.”

  “I’d love to hear more about it sometime.” Veila found it hard to concentrate, though she was interested in what Mae had to say.

  When the door opened, Veila didn’t look up right away. She fiddled with her food and thought about Mae’s dreams for a valley full of shifters. And she was still very much plagued by a lion shifter with black eyes, a set of kissable lips,
and a mouth that delivered a sting.

  It wasn’t until she noticed the room was quiet that she looked up. The first place she glanced was Vax’s face. His tan looked like it had faded in a matter of seconds. His eyes had a blank, zombie-like stare to them.

  She turned toward whatever he was looking at.

  Shit.

  Their father.

  Giovanni Tiero. Black-haired, black-eyed, as tall as Vax, equally wide, impressively formidable, one long scar splitting his left eyebrow and cheek which boasted his prowess in fights.

  Oh, damn.

  Right there, large as life, Giovanni and two of his brothers stood in front of the open door, in the exact same spot where Mark and Mason had been.

  Giovanni stared at Vax as if he were angry.

  That meant he’d heard about Callie and the shit was going to hit the fan. For a moment—a very long moment—Veila wished she had gone out of town with Lila, or stayed out of the way like Sophie.

  “What the hell has been going on here? We sent the Tieros to look after Tiero interests in the United States. And this—” Giovanni waved his hands at the assembled group. “Instead, I see this menagerie of species. A circus show of freaks.”

  The shit was definitely hitting the fan. Veila wished she could duck, like right under the table. Or run. Or hide.

  “Hello, Father.” Vax’s words were chillingly spoken.

  Chapter Seven

  Fuck!

  Mark gripped the bars of the cage tightly. Goddammit. He’d upset her. He hadn’t meant to. He was being a smartass, but, clearly, it hadn’t gone over very well. He should have been more sensitive.

  “You like her a lot.” Mason pointed the obvious out.

  Mark was going to say, “No shit, Sherlock,” but he bit back the smartass comment.

  “What do you think the Tieros are planning? All these shifters here?”

  “Not sure, but what’s interesting is they’re not all tigers. That’s very different for them. Add to that the rumor Vax has taken a human as a mate…”

  “Seems like it’s a new day for the Tiero tribe, doesn’t it?” Mason grabbed the sandwich sitting on the plate and unwrapped it. “Club sandwich. She’s a good woman.” His words were lost in the bite he was trying to chew.

  “Yeah,” Mark agreed. She is a good woman. And he’d hurt her. “Damn,” he growled, not realizing for a moment he’d said it aloud.

  “You and I have a penchant for that, don’t we?” Mason said.

  “What?” Mark wasn’t sure what he’d missed.

  “For saying the wrong things to our women, probably at the wrong times, too.”

  “Are you talking about you and Evie? What happened? I wondered why you’ve never said a word about your breakup.” Mark tried to pay attention to Mason and what he was saying, but, in truth, he couldn’t get his mind off the expression on Veila’s face. If any other man had ever made her wear that expression, Mark would have killed him. But he was the man who’d put that look on her face and hurt her.

  “I don’t feel like talking about Evie.” Mason ground the words out.

  “Okay. I thought you were trying to.” Mark pulled on the cage, yanking on metal bars that would never give, no matter how much pressure he applied. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to talk to her. I fucked up. Here she is, clearly going through some shit, and I just added more shit to it.”

  “You want to get out of here?” Mason asked.

  The way he asked made Mark want to punch his brother at first. Then he realized something.

  “You have your kit with you?”

  Mason had spent—or misspent—his youth staying out of trouble, an endeavor he wasn’t very good at. He always used to carry a lock-picking kit.

  Mason patted his jacket pocket. “I don’t leave home without it. You don’t grow up with friends on the wrong side of the tracks without having something to show for it.”

  “Are your skills rusty?”

  “It’s like riding a bike.” Mason reached into his pocket and pulled out the little kit Mark hadn’t seen since their father had confiscated it the last time Mason got caught picking locks.

  Chapter Eight

  Veila held her breath. Think fast. She had to do something to defuse the situation. It seemed like she’d spent a lifetime defusing situations between her father and Vax. Why couldn’t Father stop persecuting Vax?

  “You didn’t tell us you were coming to town,” she said to their father, then immediately realized she hadn’t exactly said what she should have, or how she should have.

  “It seems my presence is needed.” Giovanni’s gaze drifted around the table, from one face to another, not staying on any particular face longer than the others. His brows lowered into a scowl. “I thought you could control matters here, Vittorio,” he said to Vax, after his scrutiny had made the entire round of faces and finally come to rest on Vax’s.

  Great. Her father was going with full names.

  A low growl came from Vax’s chest. “You could have handled this with a phone call.”

  Veila didn’t think Vax’s voice could have gotten any colder, but it did.

  “I had to witness this decay of our codes and our standards myself,” their father said. “I did not want to believe a son of mine would conduct himself in such a manner.”

  Veila gasped.

  Giovanni had practically thrown down the gauntlet. Surely he didn’t expect Vax to take this sort of an attack without reacting.

  Giovanni turned his gaze to Lézare while still addressing Vax. “Why is he here?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us we had cousins in America already?”

  “They are no relatives of mine.” The older Tiero’s words were clipped. Giovanni’s voice had the impact of a guillotine blade.

  His manners, his words, and this final pronouncement were more than Veila was interested in putting up with. “They’re our mother’s relatives, and your erasing her from your memories by taking a new wife before her body was cold does not mean we would do the same.”

  She heard the sharp intake of her father’s breath. She’d never been one to talk back. He turned laser-deadly dark eyes on her but didn’t say a word.

  Veila fought the urge to squirm. She’d always been a “good” daughter, and this was not her typical MO. She straightened her spine and leaned closer to Vax. She was with her brother on this matter, and on any other one.

  Giovanni’s eyes narrowed. He nodded, not in agreement, but more like he was saying, “It’s your bed, you made it, and you will sleep in it.” Then he turned toward his younger brothers.

  “These are clearly their mother’s children.”

  Uncle Tito and Uncle Federico didn’t move. They didn’t say a word for or against either party.

  “Why are all these species here?” Giovanni’s glare focused on Vax once more.

  “Why are you here?” Vax crossed his arms over his wide chest, the muscles in his neck bunching, tendons showing. Clearly, he was restraining his tiger.

  “I could not let you sully the Tiero name.”

  A tic worked in Vax’s jaw. “Sully? How’s that?” The tension in his voice and body was palpable.

  Giovanni raised a brow. “A human mate? Really?”

  “Do not say one derogatory word about her.” Vax put his hands on the chair in front of him, knuckles white, fingers straining, the leather creaking a protest. His warning was clear.

  “Do you believe this cub of mine?” Giovanni turned to Uncle Federico and Uncle Tito.

  Federico cleared his throat, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Look, Gio. Maybe we should go get an espresso. Let tempers cool.”

  “There are no tempers here. This is a business decision.” Giovanni shrugged his brother’s hand off. “You’re fired,” he said to Vax. His tone was crisp and sharp, like the creases on his Italian suit. Giovanni clapped his hands as if dusting them off. “Unless you want to reconsider your choices. All of them.”

  Chapter
Nine

  Mark and Mason were free of the cage. They’d taken an elevator down to After Dark and were blending with the guests, humans, and shifters.

  “That wasn’t too hard,” Mason scoffed. “I should give the Tieros some advice on security and getting better locks.” He laughed softly. “Think they’d hire me to manage security?”

  “That’s not quite fair.” Mark shook his head. “You’re one of the best at lock picking. They should have frisked your ass before they locked us up.”

  “True. Reconnaissance or home?”

  A curvy beauty ran through Mark’s mind. Going home made more sense, really. Why should the Martinez be here when they weren’t wanted? Clearly, the Martinez family would have an assortment of enemies now, the Bear Canyon Valley bunch as well as the Nielsen wolves. The Tieros weren’t new enemies, but he’d thought the whole thing was silly. Who cared what had happened ages ago? Did that have to fuel future scuffles?

  Again the curves, hips, ass, and blonde hair containing a spitfire personality made tracks in Mark’s mind and his lion’s heart. He hated to admit it, but his heart and his lion’s heart were one and the same. Sometimes, it would be nice to have a separate identity, though he was glad he and the lion were so tight. It would suck to be one of those shifters who always disagreed with his lion.

  “Earth to Mark.” Mason elbowed him. “Home? Or are we staying? Personally, I’m voting for home.”

  “You go. Take care of things. I’ll be along later.”

  “So I’ll meet you at the hotel, then.”

  “Sure, fine.” Mark didn’t even know what he’d just agreed to because his mind was working on a plan to see Veila again. How the hell would he manage that? As soon as Tiero security found the empty cell, they’d be hunting Martinez lions.

  Ah, but they’d think the Martinez had left, wouldn’t they? They wouldn’t count on one staying behind. He had some exploring to do. All he needed was a good hiding place, and he had just the place in mind.