by E A Price
“There was more to it than that,” insisted Maria. But on seeing Hester’s look of disbelief, she added, “I suppose the kidnapping part sped things up – but my mate did try to woo me. He brought me chocolates every day; he wrote a song for me… It was a terrible song, but at least he tried to show me how much he cared.” She sighed as if lost in happy memories.
Hester leaned back in her chair and glanced around the restaurant. It was a pretty nice steakhouse. Tablecloths and real napkins, and friendly staff. She caught Manny looking over at their table, and she bared her fangs. He quickly returned his attention to his plate.
Yep, the two leap males the prime sent to follow them had followed them right on into the restaurant. At least they hadn’t tried to sit next to them. They were far enough away that they couldn’t hear their conversation but could keep a close eye on them. Maria didn’t mind or didn’t even notice their presence, though Hester still didn’t like the thought of having a chaperone. Even her cheetah bristled at the two males, feeling too much like she was being stalked.
Would this be what it was like to live in the leap full time? Would she be followed every time she tried to leave the compound? Maybe Maria didn’t care, but Hester wouldn’t want to live like that. It was too stifling, too much like being trapped – too much like living with her mother again. She had only been living with the jaguars for a few days, but already not being able to shift and run free was grating at her nerves and making her cheetah a little frazzled. Even living in a big city like Los Lobos, she could shed her skin for a run every couple of days. She especially liked running up and down the beach, dipping her paws into the ocean and running away like a wildcat when the waves lapped at her. That was blissful. Antonio would probably love it too. While his jaguar wasn’t nearly as fast as her – which she would smugly have to remind him about again – he was a good runner. Perhaps they could run through the sand, playing catch until she ‘allowed’ him to catch her, to pin her down. Then they could shift and make love…
Hester crossed her legs and quickly busied herself in taking another bite of her banana cream pie. She was thankful for the fact that Maria was human – she couldn’t scent the arousal wetting her panties. Though one of her stalkers appeared to be looking up and sniffing the air. Hester picked up a spoon and quickly threw it at his head. Ha! Bullseye! He looked around suspiciously, and Hester adopted a ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ expression.
She tried to take her mind off Antonio and quickly refocused on Maria who was staring at her own dessert thoughtfully.
“Ask him out,” declared Hester.
Maria blinked at her. “What?”
“Ask Roman out on a date.”
“Oh!” she squeaked as if that was the most shocking thing she had ever heard. “I couldn’t possibly do that.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I ah…” Maria scrambled for a reason, but none seemed forthcoming. “He might say no, and it would be awkward given that we work together.”
Hester snorted. “You hardly work together, you drop off cakes for him to sell. Besides, he won’t say no.”
“No, but he might say yes.”
“And?”
Maria grimaced. “What if things were really good between us, what then? If I wanted to mate him, I’d have to leave the leap, leave my boys. I couldn’t – the leap’s been more of a family to me than my real family ever was.”
“Wouldn’t Roberto make an exception and allow Roman to join you in the leap?”
Maria shook her head. “I can’t imagine Roberto would ever allow that.”
Hester gave her a thoughtful look. “Does Roberto have a crush on you?”
She expected Maria to deny it or at least look surprised, but she merely smiled. “My mate was Roberto’s brother older. When my mate brought me home, he was twenty-five, while Roberto was nineteen and I was eighteen. We were closer in age and got along with each other, and yes he’s always had a small crush.”
“Your mate was the older brother? Was he the prime then before he died?”
That was usual for shifter groups. Leadership passed to the eldest son unless someone else challenged. Anyone could challenge for leadership, but more often than not, the mantle was passed father to son. Though, Hester had heard of a few instances where daughters had taken over. She could certainly believe it of some; there was a female polar bear shifter in the Los Lobos SEA that everyone was afraid of. Not even an agent – she was actually a nurse - a freaking terrifying nurse whose massages could be used as weapons of torture.
Maria laughed lightly. “No, not at all. My mate was not very aggressive. It was always Roberto who was the protective brother, always looking after his big brother. When their father stepped down, Roberto stepped up. It should have been my mate, but he refused to fight him for the position. Not that he would have beat Roberto anyway. My mate was happy to be his second and content to raise our family. Roberto worked hard to build the leap, the growth and prosperity are thanks to him. He waited a long time to find his own mate, and when he did…” she stuttered.
“Antonio told me,” murmured Hester.
Maria dabbed at her eyes with the napkin. “It was truly tragic. Lana was such a sweet woman. The leap elders have been bugging him to find another mate ever since it happened, but he has never wanted to. He nearly fell apart when he lost them both, I tried to help him, but he didn’t want help, and he didn’t want to mate again.”
“What about Marta?”
Maria scrunched her nose as if she had smelled something bad. “Back when my mate brought me home, she was still angling for him to mate her and tried to tear us apart. That was when everyone still thought he would be the next prime. But he would have none of her, so she found another mate, and when it came to it, my mate wasn’t the prime anyway.”
Her cheetah gave a sour humph as she thought of Valentina. Like skanky mother, like skanky daughter.
“I’m sure Marta would have liked very much to become Roberto’s mate,” added Maria, “but it won’t happen – I know him.”
“Aren’t they… ah…” Screwing? Doing the dance with no pants? What would be the least offensive thing to say?
“They had a relationship which I believe Roberto ended, but he had no intention of mating her, and he made that clear to her from the start.”
“How do you know it’s ended?”
“I clean his house; I can see the signs. Roberto’s quite a noble man, though. He will not tell people until she does – he would not want to cause her any harm. Contrary to what my son may think, Roberto would never act on his feelings to me. I’ll always be his brother’s mate, and he loved his brother. He couldn’t even bear to replace my mate as his second after he died. It was only when Roberto suffered his own loss that Daniel stepped in. He was helpful in a difficult time, when no one really knew what to do to help Roberto.”
Hester mulled over what Maria had told her. It would explain why Roberto had such a poor second. When Roberto couldn’t act, Daniel had stepped in, assumed and grabbed as much power as he could. But Roberto seemed strong now; surely it was time to get rid of Daniel? A callous thought maybe, but the male wasn’t leadership material. He was aggressive but didn’t have the necessary dominance, and she doubted he cared much for his leap mates – he seemed to care only about himself.
Antonio would make a better second cooed her beast.
Yes, he certainly would. Without a natural heir, he was also the most likely candidate to become prime one day. She wondered how Antonio felt about that.
Speaking of, the furious, possibly future prime was walking towards her at that moment. Hester raised her glass to him.
“Hey, honey,” she drawled. “Having a good day?”
Twenty
Hester had done something. He could tell by the amusement in her eyes. Antonio’s jaguar growled, though without much heat. Would he like her so much if she weren’t so infuriating? Probably not, though she could try not to aggravate him at every possible t
urn.
Frustrated, he asked Roberto to stop at the restaurant so he could gently chastise his mother for not responding to his messages. Surely she knew how worried he would be about both her and his mate? But on seeing Hester’s expression, he knew his mother wasn’t to blame.
He hadn’t known for certain they would be here, but it was a good place to bring shifters to eat – their meat portions were huge, and his hunch was confirmed when he spotted his mother’s small car.
“Baby, how nice!” Maria greeted him warmly, hugging him and insisting he pull up a chair. She fussed over him, asking if he had eaten, offering to order him something.
He waved away her concerns and focused on Hester.
“Enjoying your meal, Hessie?”
“Oh, yes, your mother was just telling me how as a child you used to run around naked flashing your winky at people.”
“I did not!” laughed Maria.
Antonio smirked. “Well, if you want a demonstration of me doing that, all you have to do is say the word.”
“I wouldn’t want you to embarrass yourself.” Her eyes flicked down to his groin.
“I wouldn’t want you to faint at the sight of me.” He waggled his eyebrows, and she took a sip of water to try and cover her laugh.
“Would you like me to leave you alone?” offered his mother, smiling, amused by their exchange.
“No, Mama, I was just a little worried when you didn’t answer my texts.”
Maria frowned and looked at her phone. “I haven’t received any.”
“Imagine that,” he grumbled.
Hester took on an incredibly innocent look – a far too innocent look. All she needed was a halo and a pair of wings, and she truly would look like an angel.
“Perhaps your phone is broken?” she offered.
“Yeah, that must be it. Lucky the texts didn’t get through, though, right? Otherwise, I would have missed out on the opportunity to do this.”
“Wha…”
*
Antonio literally swept her off her feet. He stood up and pulled her with him, dipping her into a full-blown romantic kiss. Her feet weren’t even touching the floor, not that she was really focusing on that part. No, the exquisite sensations of his kiss had her full attention.
As his mouth explored hers, their souls seemed to fuse together, their beings entwined, she… lost her freaking mind! She’d read part of a romance novel when she was a teenager – having raided her lonely mother’s bedroom and found an interesting looking book under her pillow. The cover sported a buxom young woman and a strapping man with a bared chest. Hester got a quarter of the way through before she nearly gagged and wondered who on earth would believe any of this garbage – she couldn’t believe that a kiss could ever be spectacular enough for anyone to think the earth had stopped moving. But now, the earth may very well have ceased to exist, because only she and Antonio existed at that moment, and hell, she wanted to disappear into that moment forever.
Kisses should just be kisses – just two mouths pressing together, and in her experience being the receptacle of a slobbery tongue. But this felt like so much more.
Before she could stop herself, her arms entwined around him, she hitched a leg over his hip, and her beast started purring ecstatically.
She wasn’t ready for it to end, but she felt Antonio pull away. Her animal mewled, and completely lacking self-control, her lips tried to follow his until she realized he was growling.
Blinking, she looked around to see a couple of teenage lion shifters slinking away. Hester, completely absorbed by the kiss had been oblivious to the attention they were drawing, in particular, some cat calls from adolescent lions.
Finally managing to regain her senses, she pushed him away in outrage. The outrage was perhaps a little late, and so she couldn’t enforce it, but she tried anyway.
“How dare you?” she breathed, chest heaving to the ceiling and cheeks flushed. She gave a desultory push against his chest.
Antonio just gave her a maddening smirk, not nearly as affected as she was. “Well, ladies, as much as I’d like to stay here and make all Hessie’s dreams come true, I better get back to work. Be careful, and I’ll see you later.”
He kissed Hester’s hand, and squeezed his mother’s shoulder before striding out, whistling a jaunty tune.
It took Hester a few moments to realize most of the restaurant patrons were watching her. Some were smiling; some were leering, others obviously thought she was a wanton hussy. She was inclined to agree with the latter.
She considered shouting, and cursing at everyone but decided that wasn’t ladylike enough. Instead, Hester stared around the room, her cheetah pushing her dominance to the fore until everyone looked away.
Only then did she sit down and attempt to pretend that her world had not just been thoroughly rocked.
*
When Hester returned to the guesthouse at the end of the day, she was still reeling from that damn kiss.
Like the man himself, she both adored and hated it. She adored how it felt, but hated how muddled it made her. She wasn’t supposed to be muddled. She was supposed to be annoyed at him for kidnapping her, and impatiently biding her time until she could get home, but that just wasn’t true. Every hour, every minute, every second, she fell a little deeper, and it both elated and scared her. She didn’t want to stay here on Honey Blossom Mountain, but… Her cheetah let out a plaintive yowl. Yeah, there was a big old but. Idly, she wondered whether Antonio would ever consider leaving the leap, and living in Los Lobos, though she doubted it. Maria wasn’t born into the leap, and she was horrified at the thought of leaving now.
Hester made her way to the kitchen to make some tea. On the counter she found a heart shaped box with a small card on top bearing her name.
She pulled out the note; it read ‘sweets for my sweet’. Ugh. Even her beast couldn’t get on board with that. It seemed a little tacky for Antonio, but then hadn’t Maria said that her own mate had wooed her with chocolates and a song? Maybe the corny apple didn’t fall far from the corny tree.
She wasn’t exactly averse to wooing – not that her previous boyfriends had tried, but she would prefer that the wooing was targeted at things she liked. Hester sniffed the box and wrinkled her nose, and she did not like liquor filled chocolates. It ruined the taste of the chocolate! These were a cheap brand with the kind of chocolate that didn’t melt on the tongue.
Okay, so she was a total chocolate snob. Yes, she would heartily devour any kind of breakfast food or dessert put in front of her, but when it came to real chocolates, she was discerning. Every month she treated herself to a trip to Gaston’s – the most wonderful chocolatier in Los Lobos - and stocked up on red velvet, black forest, banana maple, cinnamon pecan and salted caramel truffles.
She liked the fancy truffles that literally felt like heaven with one bite. The ones that were so rich, so decadent that you only needed one a day because two would probably cause an orgasmic meltdown. The kind that should come with a health warning.
Antonio’s kisses should come with a warning, mewled her animal.
Yes, she wouldn’t deny that. She had eaten one of Gaston’s truffles the night she was abducted. The sweet taste stayed with her for hours. She tried to recall it; to imagine it, but all she could think of was Antonio’s kiss. Surely it wasn’t better than one of Gaston’s truffles? With horror, she suspected it might be. No – Gaston’s truffles were heaven on earth. Could the insufferable jaguar shifter really compare?
Definitely, purred her smitten cheetah.
Damn him! He’d ruined her perfect chocolate!
“Hey,” called Laurel, bounding into the kitchen. “Jeez, you look pissed. Someone take away your catnip?” She giggled.
Hester and her cheetah curled their lips at that. Laurel didn’t notice.
“Oooh, did you get chocolates?”
“Yes, a gift from my pussy.”
Laurel blinked at her.
“From Antonio,” Hester clarif
ied.
“Ah, that’s nice.”
Hester sniffed. She supposed so. “They have liquor in; I’m not really…”
“I’ll take them!” Laurel’s eyes gleamed.
“Be my guest.”
Laurel almost had a predatory grin as she grasped the box. “My precious,” she rasped. Hester looked at her blankly. “You know, Lord of the Rings.”
“Meh.” If the movie didn’t have Jason Statham in it, she wasn’t overly interested.
Laurel devoured two chocolates so fast Hester didn’t even see her take off the wrappers. “Sorry, “ said Laurel. “Growing up, I was never allowed sugar. My parents refused to allow anything with sugar in to even enter the house. We either had to eat honey or agave nectar. I have trouble holding myself back from chocolate.”
“I know the feeling,” chuckled Hester. She would remember to send Laurel a box of Gaston’s finest when they got back to Los Lobos. The poor girl had already suffered enough with a chocolate-less childhood. It was about time she really learned what chocolate was like.
“They’re not half bad. The chocolate’s maybe a little…” Laurel let out a small mewl and turned slightly green. She dropped the box to the floor.
“Laurel!” cried Hester as the girl started retching.
“Hey, I was just…” said Diego striding into the kitchen. His expression dropped as he saw his would-be mate doubling over in pain.
“Laurel, baby!”
He pushed Hester out the way and picked his mate up. “What happened?” he snarled at Hester.
She picked up one of the fallen chocolates and pulled it apart. Inside the gooey center shimmered unnaturally silver. Her cheetah howled.
“She’s been poisoned,” growled Hester.
With poison intended for Hester.
Twenty-One
Hester was sure Diego’s snarls could be heard in Brazil. He was furious and lashing out at everyone for the attack on Laurel.
But, it was technically meant to be an attack on Hester, and one which she was mightily pissed about. Her cheetah was prowling, searching for danger in every noise she heard, every shadow she saw.
