Lord of New York

by Tori Knightwood

  In the lobby to her left, humans and animals clashed, so Ryenne dragged her mom to the right. She opened a door marked Emergency Exit and pushed her mom into the stairwell.

  “Ryenne, no,” her mom said in a fierce whisper.

  “Yes, Mom. Stay here until Lucien, Gavin, or I come to get you.” She closed the door on her mom’s protests and turned to join the fray. Idly, she noticed her father and the nameless wolf shifter unconscious on the floor of the elevator and wondered how Lucien, Gavin, and Nakamura had managed. She couldn’t ask them at this moment, however, because they were busy fighting a group of Fangs.

  The elephant must have been Martin, newly arrived from Paris. A lean, muscled man with auburn hair and a chiseled jaw fought near the elephant shifter. He was currently trying to beat back three Fangs at once, so he must have been Martin’s friend.

  Ryenne dashed in to help. She spun a large woman with long hair flying away from Martin’s hot friend and jabbed her in the solar plexus. Then Ryenne spun to face another attacker. The scent of lion filled her nostrils first.

  “A little baby shifter like you, I could snap like a toothpick,” Robert said.

  Ryenne smirked. “You could try.”

  She and Robert squared off, sizing each other up, taking small steps around each other as if they were in a boxing ring. He was bound to underestimate her, so she feinted right to test his left side and get things moving. He jabbed at her awkwardly as she dodged and spun away. Then she came up behind him and punched his left kidney.

  The kidney punch barely fazed Robert. He whipped around, one meaty fist coming directly at her head. Robert was massive, despite his feline grace, but Ryenne was smaller, more flexible, and more nimble. She easily ducked out of the way of his fist. In the process, she slipped on some blood on the floor and it gave her an idea.

  The momentum of Robert’s swing had turned him slightly. Finding herself at his side, she aimed a kick at his knee, hoping to collapse him and make him slide on the bloody floor. One kick caused his knee to buckle, a second brought him to his knees. An elbow to his windpipe knocked him out.

  She’d found her fighting mojo again, her discipline, thanks to Maxi’s club last night.

  Catching her breath, she looked around. She didn’t see Liam O’Brien and wondered if he’d ever been here, if he knew about his sister, if he’d run away.

  There were several wolves scattered throughout the lobby, some dead, some half-dead, one lunging at Martin’s friend.

  She threw herself toward them and knocked the wolf off course. Gavin appeared at her side and jabbed the wolf with a tiny stun gun.

  He smirked. “Remind me to thank your mom for this little baby. It worked like a charm against your dad and his goon in the elevator.”

  So that was the commotion behind her that allowed her and Mom to get free.

  She turned to the auburn-haired man. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  He grinned. “Reid Sawyer, a friend of Martin.” He gestured with his head toward the elephant. Since he pronounced it like the French, he must be a good friend of Martin.

  “Ryenne Cavanagh,” she said with a small nod, then they each turned to find a new opponent.

  Nakamura was sitting on a Fang and holding the rogue’s arms behind his back.

  Gavin strode from body to body, stunning Fangs to make sure they didn’t get up again anytime soon.

  Martin’s handiwork was everywhere she looked. Crushed bodies lay strewn throughout the lobby, amid the glass of the front windows. “So much for shatterproof glass,” she muttered under her breath. “Guess they weren’t elephant proof.”

  Martin was currently sitting on a wolf, still in his elephant form. The wolf’s legs kicked out, struggling to push off the huge animal.

  On the opposite side of the lobby from her, Ryenne saw Scotty take down a Fang and handcuff his hands behind the shifter’s back. Nearby, Nick stood guard over a pile of handcuffed Fangs.

  The fighting had wound down and it seemed Ryenne and her friends had won. But where was her father?

  TWENTY-NINE

  She ran to the elevator where she had last seen him. He came out holding a gun. She immediately put her hands up. “Don’t do this, Dad.”

  He pointed the gun down at the floor and shrugged. “I could never hurt you, Ryenne.”

  Anger welled in her as the adrenaline from the fight subsided. “So, making sure your henchmen turned me into a shifter doesn’t count as hurting me?”

  A puzzled expression crossed his face. “Of course not. I wanted you to experience what I did. I love being a shifter. I thought you would, too. I thought you’d be able to understand my experience better and it would bring us closer together.”

  “And make it more likely I would join you?”

  “Maybe,” he said. “I guess it didn’t work.”

  “No.”

  “Ryenne,” Lucien called out, running from the lobby. He saw the gun in Dad’s hand and slowed to a walk. “If you shoot her, I will kill you.”

  Dad gave a sad smile. “You found a good one, princess. Don’t let him go. Don’t make the same mistake I did.” He dropped the gun and sank to his knees, bringing his hands behind his head.

  Confusion, anger, and disgust filled Ryenne’s throat until she thought she would choke. She glanced around, searching for his people. Was this a trap?

  Sensing no one hiding nearby, she and Lucien each took one of Dad’s arms and helped him to stand. “You won’t be able to hurt Mom anymore from prison,” she said.

  “Oh, princess, I’d never hurt your mother, or you. I killed everyone who tried. No matter how you both feel about me now, I’ll never stop loving you and protecting you.”

  Ryenne remembered the dead Fangs, Juan Gonzalez and Brian Carpenter, and the other unsolved cases of dead shifters. Dad had taken care of them, just as he had killed Joseph O’Brien. It made a sick sort of sense.

  Scotty approached then, jingling handcuffs and looking a question at Ryenne.

  “Go ahead.” She felt like she was floating above the scene. As a thirteen-year-old girl, she never would’ve imagined her father as a criminal, and now she watched Scotty handcuff the father she’d thought was dead until a few hours ago.

  “What are you and Nick doing here?” she asked Scotty.

  “When reports of an elephant in Midtown came in,” Scotty began, “it got transferred to the Shifter Crimes Taskforce, so here we are.”

  They walked her father to the group of other Fangs. Cops swarmed the lobby now, escorting prisoners outside into the dark night.

  Martin, now back in his human form and wrapped in a blanket, sat next to his friend Reid in the debris of the lobby.

  “Merci,” she said to him simply.

  He nodded.

  A tap on her shoulder had Ryenne whirling around, still on high alert after the battle. There were so many scents swirling in the room, mixed with the smells of blood and sweat, that it was hard to pinpoint any one thing.

  But it was just Gavin, holding hands with Nakamura.

  “Thank you,” she said to him. “Your actions in the elevator may have saved our lives.”

  He shrugged and grinned. “Aw, shucks.”

  “Thanks for coming to save—” She stopped. She’d been going to say, me and Mom, but after the way she had treated everyone, maybe they had all only come to save Mom. In fact, how did they even know she was here?

  As if reading her mind because Gavin had always known her better than anyone else, he said, “We came for both of you. Lucien saw Willow being put in a van by the big dude you took out, and he overheard them say they were taking her to you. That’s how we knew you were both in trouble and would be together.”

  She sucked on her lip. She shouldn’t have doubted her best friend.

  “What were you doing here?” he asked. “Did they snatch you?”

  She hung her head. “No, I came willingly.”

  “What?” His voice rose and Scotty, across the lobby, loo
ked up.

  “I thought I could take them down from the inside,” she said.

  Gavin nodded, his brow furrowed.

  “I was at a pretty low point,” she admitted. “And my brain told me it was a good idea. It kind of worked. Didn’t it?”

  Nakamura squeezed Gavin’s hand and she took a deep breath.

  “Nak… Taylor, thank you for coming, too,” she said. “Clearly, I was wrong about you. I’m very happy that a good guy like you is in Gavin’s life. He deserves the best.”

  “Yes, he does,” Taylor said.

  Gavin gave a shy smile. “Aw, shucks,” he said again, this time with much less sarcasm.

  “Oh, Mom!” Ryenne ran toward the doorway where she’d left her mother, Lucien coming from out of the crowd to follow close behind.

  She swung open the door. “Mom?”

  The lack of response made fear and guilt war for dominance. Why had she left her mother unprotected? Had a Fang escaped the mêlée and taken her mother?

  “Ry?” her mother’s voice came from above.

  “Mom? Where are you?” Ryenne ran into the stairwell and put her foot on the first tread.

  Her mom appeared at the top of the flight of stairs. “I’m here. I thought I’d be safer away from the door.”

  “That was smart,” Ryenne said. “Really smart.” She rushed up to the landing and threw her arms around her mother. “It’s over.”

  “And your father?”

  “He’s alive. He’s been arrested.”

  Mom sighed in relief. “I’m glad he’s alive.”

  “Mom? Do you still have feelings for him?” Ryenne asked, a smile tugging at one corner of her lips.

  Her mother shrugged. “I don’t know, but at least now I can get over him knowing the truth about him and about these past fifteen years.”

  Ryenne nodded as she and Mom walked toward the lobby.

  Lucien stopped her. “Can we talk a minute?”

  The ball of negative emotions in her throat dropped into her belly. It was thick and heavy and she thought she might throw up.

  Nick appeared in front of them then and offered a hand to Mom. “Glad you’re okay, Mrs. C. Can I get you anything?”

  Mom shook her head and they walked toward the doors.

  Ryenne turned to Lucien. “Before you say anything, I have to apologize once again for my behavior. I never meant to disrespect you. I never meant to hurt you.”

  He nodded. “I know and I knew what you were going through. I understood it. I just couldn’t watch it happening in front of me.”

  She fought back the tears burning her eyes and swiped angrily at her face. “I put you through so much. I am so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Of course.” He touched her shoulder where a little blood trickled from a gash she didn’t remember getting. “I have forgiven you. Can you forgive me for abandoning you when you needed me most?”

  She looked into his eyes, surprised and relieved. “We both made mistakes. I’ll forgive you, if you forgive me.”

  “Done. Maman would be so angry at me for leaving you during your adjustment period. And Dany and Emma…”

  She laughed. “I can imagine them all ganging up on you. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

  “You will?” His eyebrows rose in a sexy way.

  “If you’ll let me,” she said in a quiet voice. She stepped toward him.

  He opened his arms to her and she melted into his embrace.

  “Can I kiss you?” she whispered.

  “Always.”

  EPILOGUE

  Ryenne moaned.

  “Should I stop?” Lucien asked, a wicked grin on his face.

  “Don’t you dare,” she growled and threw her head back on the king-sized bed, her hands grasping and ungrasping the sheets.

  It had been a month since her father’s arrest. A month since she’d finally accepted Gavin and Taylor as a couple. A month filled with police reports, avoiding the press, and an influx of clients.

  An exhausting month.

  Lucien had suggested a trip back to where they’d met and Ryenne had immediately jumped into planning. She’d wanted to make up to him for all she’d put him through while adjusting to her change and had found a willing planning partner in Eleanor, the former cook and housekeeper at the Muteti compound.

  Several weeks after Steven Muteti’s death, a lawyer had visited Eleanor and informed her she’d inherited the house in the village and a lump sum of cash for her years of service to her late boss. Despite the bad memories the house contained, Eleanor decided to turn the situation into something good for herself and her family.

  So she opened an inn. Now, her daughters did most of the cooking and cleaning and her sons took care of the yard. A nephew in Nairobi had helped her with the legal stuff and her daughter-in-law created a website and social media presence.

  When she received Ryenne’s call, she’d insisted on giving Ryenne and Lucien the largest room, Steven’s old room. Ryenne couldn’t say no but she’d worried it would kill the mood for them. After the couple of months they’d had in Paris and New York, Ryenne just wanted to lose herself in Lucien’s embrace for a few days. Or longer.

  She needn’t have worried.

  As soon as they’d dropped their luggage on the soft rug on the newly painted concrete floor, they’d fallen onto the bed, pulling and tearing each other’s clothes off. The lure of Lucien’s body was stronger than her bad memories.

  And Lucien had forgiven her. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe it. She’d almost slept with another man, so deep into the thrall of her urges and her anger at the man she loved most in the world. Luckily, she hadn’t gone through with it and she’d been able to face him with a pure heart after the battle in the lobby of Lord Enterprises.

  “Ahem,” said the man she loved most in the world from between her legs.

  Guiltily, she returned her attention to his tongue giving short, sharp licks to her sensitive clit. She moaned again.

  “That’s more like it,” he said, then returned to causing bursts of pleasure to zap through her core.

  When it built to a crescendo and her core pulsed, she pulled Lucien’s arms and he slid up her body until they were face to face.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hi,” she panted. She rubbed his back, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin and rippling muscles. Her urges had subsided now to a manageable level. Anytime she felt an urge, Lucien was there to satisfy it.

  Now, she had the urge to feel him inside her. She tilted her head and arched her back, her pelvis lifting into his.

  “Is that your way of telling me you want me?” he asked, the growl of his voice pulsing against her chest.

  A smile was her only answer.

  He took the hint and pushed his erection inside her. She gasped, her fingers curving into him, nails scratching. Long, smooth strokes brought her to the threshold of another panting climax.

  “The compulsion to mark you is so strong,” Lucien whispered.

  “For me, too.”

  They stared into each other’s eyes and Ryenne’s heart pounded. So much love filled her, it threatened to spill out of her eyes.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She nodded, no longer able to form words.

  When the orgasm hit, they each sank their fangs into the other’s shoulder. Extreme sensations filled Ryenne. Pleasure, pain, love. So much love. Such intense love for this man who had taught her to accept shifters, to accept him, to accept… love.

  Entangled limbs, entwined hearts, Ryenne rode the aftershocks of their love and then curled against Lucien and sighed.

  “Does this mean you’ll marry me?” he asked, his breath cooling her sex-fevered skin.

  “Does this mean you’re asking?”

  Disentangling himself from her, he sat up in the bed. He took her hands and pulled her to a sitting position facing him.

  “Ryenne, will you marry me?”

  She stared into his
eyes and her heart swelled. The couple of days without him had led her to the worst decisions of her life. With Lucien by her side, she knew she could conquer anything life—or rogues—might throw at her. “Yes.”

  “Yes?” he asked, his mouth stretching into a wolfish grin.

  She nodded and threw her arms around his neck and pushed her lips against his.

  Mine, she thought.

  Forever.

  THE END

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  Books by Tori Knightwood

  Hotel Safari

  Hotel Safari is a series of interconnected, stand-alone shifter romance novellas, mostly set in southern Kenya at the Hotel Safari Lodge, owned and operated by the Kemboi family. Visitors and volunteers come for the wildlife and get much more in the bargain. Each novella ends with a “happily ever after” and is a little sweet, a little spicy, and recommended for ages 18 and up.

  The Hotel Safari Complete Collection

  Shifter Hunters Ltd.

  In the Shifter Hunters Ltd. trilogy, Ryenne Cavanagh faces off against rogue shifters with her business partner and best friend while trying to prove herself in a male-dominated field. As it becomes clear her recent cases are connected to a mysterious figure, she must fight her attraction to a competitor with a secret. In the end, she’ll only win love if she can overcome her inner demons.

  Book One: Kenya Calling

  Book Two: Wolves of Paris

  Book Three: Lord of New York

  About Tori

  Tori Knightwood has been lucky enough to live and work in some fabulous exotic places around the world. She faced down angry forest elephants in Tanzania, got a henna tattoo in Kenya, and fell in love in Rwanda. She writes stories to bring a little spice into your life.

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