“You know what? Something is going on. You can't be that happy about becoming Alpha.”
“It has nothing to do with being Alpha.”
Edward was second in line after Dylan, and while Dylan had worried that his brother would be upset that he got it instead of him, Edward had secretly told him that he was relieved, never wanting to have such a role.
“It's this girl…”
“Girl? You mean the one from the agency? I have been meaning to ask you how that's been going. You haven't brought anyone home to marry yet, so I figured that it wasn't going too well.”
“I have turned down a couple of women that I've met. They were just not my type, but really nice.”
“Then why are you looking like this?”
“Because I think I fell in love with the woman who runs it.”
Edward chuckled. “You have got to be kidding me. I told Father that you would screw this up somehow, and I guess you have. You were supposed to buy a bride, not the shop owner.”
Dylan didn't like to think about it as buying a bride. When it had been suggested to him before, he had immediately refused to consider it because it just didn't sound like something he wanted to do. But now it was even worse. Now, instead of getting a guaranteed bride, he was banking everything on the woman that barely wanted to date him. It was a toss-up how it was all going to go.
“Yes, well, you should see the shop owner. Jamie is fine as hell and far better than anything that she has sent me to marry.”
Edward did not look as relaxed about it as Dylan did. He looked anxious, and Dylan couldn’t put his finger on the cause of it. What was going through his mind that had him looking so nervous?
“Just make sure that you marry somebody, Dylan. The last thing I want is to get Alpha as default. I'll be damned if I'm going to get married to some woman that I don’t even know. I would just leave and let Dustin have it.”
Not only did Edward not want to become Alpha, but he did not want all of the attention that would come with it. Edward had been with a man for several years, but the shifter clans, his in particular, didn’t recognize that sort of marriage. Dylan wanted to change that once he became Alpha. He wanted to do that for his brother and for future generations.
“It will be okay, Edward. You won’t have to leave just yet. I will get married, and I will become Alpha. Then I'm going to make some changes around here and make it better for everyone.”
His brother commented that it couldn't be much worse than it already was. Their father had kept with the old ways, and that was not what was best for them. They needed to modernize and move into the twenty-first century or they were going to be left in the dust. As their numbers dwindled, Dylan was noticeably clear what needed to be done. They needed to grow and prosper, and the only way to do that was to move forward.
He went through the rest of his day thinking about his brother and becoming Alpha. It didn't last very long, though, because all thoughts led back to Jamie. It was really going to become burdensome if he couldn't think of anything else but her.
They had a date, but it was a couple of days away, and after speaking to Eddie, Dylan realized that he didn't have much time.
Instead of worrying about it, he decided to give Jamie a call. They could go out for lunch, something. He just wanted to see her. Never did he think that he would ever feel this way about a woman.
Dylan was not going to let her slip through his fingers. He did have to get married, and from the first time he met her, Dylan knew that Jamie was the one.
Chapter Nine
Jamie was surprised to hear from Dylan. They were supposed to go out in a couple of days, but then he called out of the blue and asked her if she wanted to go out that night. It threw her off a little bit because Jamie would have liked to have more time to prepare for a date with someone like Dylan. Still, she agreed, because truthfully, she wanted to see him again.
Eight o'clock rolled around pretty quickly. She wouldn't have minded going back to the barbeque place. She was still dreaming of those sandwiches.
It was a little different that evening because instead of a limo rolling by to pick her up, Dylan was driving himself. It seemed a little out of sorts, but it gave her time to study him while they drove. She didn't even ask where they were going. Jamie just took in the view of his broad shoulders and thick forearms. Everything about him exuded a manliness that was hard to ignore. She didn’t want to either.
As they started to get further and further away from the city, she finally spoke up and wondered out loud where they were going. It hadn't mattered at first, but they've been driving for almost half an hour, and now she was just getting curious. The silence was leading to all kinds of naughty thoughts as well.
“I thought I would take you to see where I come from. I'm hoping that you'll fall in love with Aster Valley as much as I have, and then you’ll want to stay there with me. My goal hasn’t changed.”
He talked like they were meant to be together for all eternity. They didn't even know each other, but it was nice, a little too nice, to think that there was something to it.
“You know, you really have to stop giving me ideas like that, Dylan.”
“I want to give you ideas. That is the whole point. Whether you want to believe it or not, I know that we were meant to meet, and I think I know where it's going to end. Definitely looking forward to it.”
Her face turned red, and she tried not to look his way. Jamie could feel her heart fluttering in her chest, and it bothered her to no end. How was she going to pass up a man like that? Men like Dylan only came once in a while into a woman’s life; she knew that. The only thing she did question, though, was how it was all going to be different.
“Let's just wait and see.”
They drove for another hour before he finally slowed down and stopped. He pulled off to the side of the road, and there were a couple other cars parked in front of his. Jamie did not know where they were. She did not see a house or anything that resembled civilization, except for the cars.
“What do we do from here? I don’t see a village.”
“Well, we get naked and take a run.”
“That’s a pretty cheap way of getting me naked.”
He said that he wasn't trying to do that, and although Jamie knew that nudity was just part of being a shifter, it was hard for her to get past the shyness. The man was making her shake inside. How could she now just bare it all to him? He was going to see what he was doing to her.
He started to take off his pants, and she stopped him. “No, you turn around and we’ll give each other a little privacy.”
“I can't agree to that. As soon as I hear those clothes fall, I’m probably going to look.”
“That's not very gentlemanly, now is it?”
“I'm okay with not being considered a gentleman right now. I would much rather get a peek.”
Jamie just shook her head. She turned her back to him, but she could feel his eyes on her as she took her clothes off as quickly as she could. She shifted into her wolf form, and when she turned back around, he was a large beautiful panther. Why had she not known that?
Keeping up with him as an animal was going to harder than she expected. Jamie knew that they were on their way to his clan’s village, but she had no idea that it would be so different than anything she had ever seen before. It wasn’t the first time that she’d gone off into the woods to some unknown location, but it was definitely the first time that she saw a village that was carved into the side of a mountain. She didn't even want to think about how difficult it would be to live there or what the practicalities of it were.
While they were getting dressed again, Jamie avoided his gaze. When she was done pulling her shirt on, she turned back around, and he was standing next to her.
He kissed her again, taking her breath away. He really was good at it, and her heart palpitated every time he had that come-hither look. Jamie was starting to see why he didn't want a virgin; they would never last. She
still had to debate if she would or not, and that was just from a kiss. She’d already imagined what more of him would do to her.
Her knees buckled as his tongue slid in between her lips, and she knew that no matter how badly she wanted him, he was the client. She had to be professional, and the thought made her push away.
She pushed him as he growled at her. It was a guttural sound that came from deep within his throat. She shivered at it and then pushed away harder, needing space to get air to her lungs.
“I thought you were taking me to where you live. It seems like you have just taken me to the middle of the woods so you can have your way with me.”
He growled again and told her not to tempt him. If she wasn't so turned-on, maybe she would have taken him at his word. Instead, it just felt like a challenge. How far could she push him before she drove him completely crazy? Why did she want to know that so badly? Why did she want to try and send him over the edge, dying for the consequences it would render?
She could see the dwellings carved into the side of the mountain and she had to ask questions about it. Jamie had never seen anything like it before. She heard about places like this. Old clans that still lived the old ways, but she had never seen it for herself. It was particularly interesting to her to find out that there was no electricity, or at least not any that she could see. It was primitive.
“So, you guys really live out here like this?”
“On occasion. It really just depends on what's going on, although a lot of times I'm in the city because of business. I am out here every weekend at least, but I would like to spend more time out here.”
“Living the old ways?”
“Not exactly. My father wanted to keep things the same. As well as his father. Once I am Alpha, everything will be different. The first thing I'm going to do is bring power out here and a few other technologies, like internet. It is kind of crazy to think that we still live like this in the twenty-first century. It's time for that to change.”
Jamie could see that he was passionate about it, and it was just another side of him that she had not seen before. It was the side that made her believe that he could do anything he wanted to do if he put his mind to it. How would she ever be able to tell a man like that no?
The answer was simple. She couldn't, and Jamie suspected that she didn’t want to anyway. Jamie liked the dangerous feeling she had when she was in Dylan’s presence.
Chapter Ten
Dylan knew he had to take Jamie back. It was already two o'clock in the morning, and although she had met many of the special people in his life, he wanted her to stay longer. He wanted her to stay forever, but Jamie wasn't ready for that just yet. Every time he talked about the future, she moved back a little bit. He knew that he had to take his time, but he also knew that his time was quickly running out.
“Do you want me to take you back home?”
She looked up at the moon and expressed how late it was, cursing at how she had let time slip away from her.
“You're always more than welcome to stay here. It is rather late.”
“Let me guess: I can stay with you, in your bed?”
Dylan shrugged and smiled a little too innocently. “Of course you can. I will never say no to that.”
Jamie shook her head in exasperation. “I bet you wouldn't.”
“So, will you stay?”
She bit on her lip for a moment, like she was deciding if it was a good idea or not. Dylan did his best not to look too predatory, but it was hard. He wanted her badly but didn’t want to scare her with the need that he knew was on his face. It was hard to hide his true feelings. He had been failing miserably so far.
Dylan wanted her to stay so badly. The idea of Jamie lying in his arms was enough to make him genuinely smile. Maybe getting married didn’t have to be so bad after all. As long as it was with Jamie.
“Do you promise to be good?”
“Trust me when I tell you this, Jamie. I will be so good to you.”
He had that look in his eyes again, and Jamie shook her head. “That's not what I meant, and you know it. You have to promise not to try anything.”
“How about I promise that I won't do anything you don't want me to do?”
Jamie said that she knew better. There was just something in the way that he said it, the wording that he used to say it was chosen way too carefully. And that, of course, made her nervous. There was just something so dangerous about him. No matter how hard she tried to fight the fluttering feeling that came over her, Jamie was unable to.
“That's not going to work. I need you to promise that you won't try anything.”
“Do you not trust yourself?”
She did not trust herself when it came to Dylan.
“If we ever do something like that, Dylan, I want us to both be ready for it.”
There was really no arguing with her, and she was thankful that Dylan agreed.
“Fine, I won’t try anything, even if you beg me to.”
Jamie was a little surprised that he had agreed so quickly. She thought that he would at least put up a bit more of a fight. Did she want him to?
It didn't matter what she wanted. The agreement was made, and he had promised. Jamie knew that she could trust it, and she was a little bit more relaxed about the whole situation. When she asked him where he stayed, he pointed to the top of the mountain. “I live on the top, of course.”
“Of course.”
There was an elevator that was actually pulled from underneath. Jamie didn't know where the people materialized from that grabbed the ropes and started to tug on them, but she didn't ask. It was like they were waiting for them, and Jamie had to remind herself that she was with the royal family at the moment. He was the next in line and got preferential treatment most likely. Since she was with him, she got it as well, and it gave her a little taste of what it would be like if the two of them got together.
When they got to the top, there was an even broader view, and the clan took living in the past seriously. There was no electricity, but everything that they needed or could have wanted was there for them. At least where Dylan lived.
“Is this yours or do you have family that lives here too?”
“Technically, my whole family, but my father and mother are almost never here. They live in the city. My brother is here quite a bit. You'll meet him. His name is Eddie.”
“I look forward to meeting him. He seems to be someone very special to you. You talk about him quite a bit.”
“I have several other brothers, but Eddie is the one that has always been closest to me. Maybe it's because we were born only a year apart and there were several years where it was just him and me before the rest of my siblings came. It gave us a bond that I do not have with anyone else. I hope you two get along together.”
Strangely, knowing how high the stakes were, Jamie hoped that they got along as well. He meant a lot to Dylan, so she wanted it to mean a lot to her. He was fast becoming more than just a client in her eyes.
“I look forward to meeting him.”
“I don't know if he is with his partner tonight or not. I guess we will find out in a little while if they're going to come or not.”
Again, the wording was different, and she had an idea of why but said nothing. Jamie didn't see a reason to say anything.
He showed her around, and of course, the tour ended in his bedroom, where they were supposed to sleep that night. Together.
“You can stay in here with me or I could find you another place. I'd like to keep you close, though.”
Jamie shivered again but remembered that he had promised that he wouldn’t try anything. That was all she had to worry about because she knew that he would keep his word. There was just something about Dylan that exuded integrity.
Then she had to wonder what would happen if she was the one that tried something. Would he go for it?
While she didn't think that anything like that would happen, another part of her wondered if it would.
Maybe she would. Maybe she was already thinking about it.
“So why don't you tell me about that guy that I met at your office the other day?”
She sighed out loud and made a face at him. “Do you really have to ask that question right now?”
“I am nothing but an open book. I just want to get to know you a little better.”
Jamie did not want to reveal who William was because it showed her in poor light. As much as she would have liked to say that she found out about it and immediately stopped working with him, she had not. Instead, she had made money off of it, and even as she tried to extricate herself from his life, she was becoming more of an accessory.
Then, Jamie helped him when he showed up battered at her door. That was probably the worst mistake she had made. She should have just left him there and let nature take its course. He may have healed, but then again, maybe he wouldn’t have.
“You just blanked out there for a moment. You all right?”
“Yeah, just a lot on my mind. William is someone that I really want to get out of my life, and I thought that I had, but he just won't leave. He keeps popping up and demanding more money.”
“If he is somebody that works for you, why don't you just fire him?”
She chuckled a little bit, but it was bitter.
“Trust me, I've tried to fire him, and it's not as easy as you would think. He has me between a rock and a hard place, and he knows it.”
Dylan told her that he didn't know. She was being ambiguous, and although Jamie wanted to be more transparent with him, she just couldn't. How could she tell him the truth and have him look at her differently?
Chapter Eleven
After trying to get to know her went so poorly, Dylan suggested that they just go to bed. It was already almost four in the morning, and he was tired. Mainly, he was just exhausted from playing some mental peekaboo with her. While he’d extricated a little bit of information from her, but it seemed like there were still so much more that he didn't know.
Alpha Shifter Bride Service: (A Paranormal Romance Series) Page 26
