“Who are you talking to?” Virginia asked, glancing around.
Leah looked up at her. “My friend in Louisiana. He’s a lynx too, and his name is Ferdinand. I’m going to marry him when I grow up. I haven’t met him yet, but I know what he looks like.”
Evangeline stared at Leah with disgust, her pretty little nose wrinkling. “Isn’t she a little old to have an imaginary friend? Then again, you Padfoots always were a bunch of weirdoes.”
Riley stiffened. Leah just stared at her calmly, with her unnerving blank gaze.
“Stop staring at me, you freak!” Evangeline shrieked, backing away and staring at her in alarm.
“Excuse me, what did you just say to our guests?” Jade demanded, raising an eyebrow.
Isadora’s face went hairy, and her fangs descended. Her ears tufted, and her eyes changed. In lynx form, she was gray, and so were her eyes. Ten wicked looking claws shot from her fingertips. “Say it again,” she said, her voice a sibilant, angry hiss. “I haven’t kicked anyone’s ass all week.”
Karen hastily moved in between Isadora and Evangeline. “That is not how we resolve problems,” she said brightly to her younger brother and sister.
“No, it’s how I resolve problems.” Isadora withdrew her claws and bunched her hands into fists.
Evangeline looked her up and down with contempt, then said to Jade “Everyone knows about the Padfoots. They have a reputation. Thieves and lunatics. And they’ve bought some goth freak with piercings here. They’ll cause nothing but trouble, you’ll see.”
Jade turned to level an ice cold glare at Evangeline. “You overstep your boundaries. Your pack is under the protection of my family’s pack – for now. I’d think very carefully about what you say next, young lady.” Her ears peaked, and her fangs descended. Fur rippled on her face like a mirage, vanished and then reappeared. She was showing her Alpha side.
Evangeline’s eyes flashed with anger, but she quickly hung her head. “Sorry,” she muttered sulkily.
She whirled around as if to leave.
“I did not dismiss you,” Jade said, her voice regal. She let out a long, low, rumbling growl.
Evangeline turned back, biting her lip.
“Your mother never did teach you any manners. I will be speaking to your parents later, you can be assured.”
“It’s all right,” Karen said hastily. She didn’t want to start a fight. She’d just arrived and her family was causing trouble already. Unbelievable.
Jade shook her head. “It most definitely is not. This is not how we treat our guests. Evangeline, you will apologize.”
“Sorry,” Evangeline muttered, staring down at the dirt.
“You are now dismissed.”
Evangeline walked off, back ramrod straight, bristling with anger. She wasn’t stupid enough to challenge the Alpha female of the Battle pack, however. Jade could take her out in ten seconds and leave her bleeding in the dirt.
The Whitetail pack was small, and their Alpha wasn’t particularly fearsome. There were several small packs who were under the Timber Valley pack’s protection and who paid tribute to them in return for that privilege.
“Who wants an ice cream sundae before they head out to camp?” Jade said. Riley and Leah perked up, and followed her into the house. “Wash your hands before you eat!” Karen yelled after them. “Say please and thank you!”
“Sorry Evangeline was such a twat,” Virginia sighed, shaking her head. “She’s mad that Ty invited you here. She’s got her eye on the property he’ll get when he starts his own pack. She actually thinks she has a shot there.” She glanced at Isadora. “I love your hair, by the way.”
“Why thank you. It is pretty special,” Isadora acknowledged, nodding her head. “No,” she added to Lance, who had been looking her up and down.
“What? I didn’t say anything,” Lance protested.
“You were thinking it.”
Virginia sniggered. “Oh, look, big brother, a girl who doesn’t fall all over herself for you.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s missing, then.” Lance said huffily.
Isadora flashed a look at Troy. “Not you either.”
Then she looked over at Pierce, who had been semi discreetly checking out her butt. “Maybe,” she said. “I haven’t decided yet.”
He flushed, and his jaw dropped. “I wasn’t – I mean- uh- ”
Isadora flipped her hair back out of her face. “I should get going. Thanks for inviting me to check up on you tomorrow!” she called out to Karen, walking off with a jaunty wave.
“I didn’t – uh – bye!” Karen called, waving at her as she left.
A pickup truck was pulling towards them – Ty’s. Her jailer was there to take her away.
She glanced at Virginia, tension clenching inside her. Maybe it would be okay, and being around a new group of kids would be good for them. “Thanks again for volunteering to take care of them.”
“They’ll be fine,” Virginia assured Karen. “You don’t have to worry about them.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about,” Karen said, with a rueful smile.
Chapter Five
“Whose house is this?” Karen asked suspiciously, as Ty pulled to a stop in front of a small, rustic looking clapboard house with a peaked roof and brick chimney.
“Mine.” He turned off the ignition and swung his door open, sliding out of the truck before she could protest.
“I beg your pardon?”
He was taking her suitcase out of the back seat.
Panic raced through her. “Put that back! I need to stay somewhere else. You can’t expect me to stay in the same house as you!”
“This is where you’re staying. It’ll keep you out of trouble.” He walked away from her, towards the house, carrying her overstuffed suitcase. His long legs slashed through the grass. He wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt today, and she was mesmerized by his broad back and how it tapered down to a narrow waist and an undeniably fine ass.
No! She had to focus here.
He was inside the house before she caught up to him. She grabbed his arm and he paused, turning to look at her inquiringly.
“Who else lives here?”
“Just me. One of my uncles built it for himself, but he moved to North Dakota and I moved in here.” Ty didn’t have any other family; his father was an Alpha who had been killed in a Death Challenge years ago, and his mother had died of grief shortly after.
Karen struggled not to panic. They were standing in a small living room, with a hallway leading off of it. Did he mean to have her sleep in the same bedroom? No. She was putting her paw down here. “I said I’d work as your waitress, and help out around the compound. That’s it. That was all that I agreed to.”
“Your point?” He quirked an eyebrow at her and acted as if he were completely baffled.
How dare he mock her? “My point is, there will be no funny business,” she said indignantly.
“Funny business?” He threw his head back and laughed. “Who even says that? Are you telling me there’s going to be no comedy show?”
“You know exactly what I mean,” she hissed.
Apparently, he was pretending that he didn’t. “Shall I show you to your bedroom?”
She followed him down the hall, and he opened the door and led her into a small bedroom, with oak plank floors and white curtains stitched with needlepoint. He set her suitcase down.
“We’ll leave for work tonight at 6 p.m.,” he told her. “That will give you time to get some training in.”
He left her alone in the room, shutting the door behind him.
There was a sleigh bed and a chest of drawers done in cherry wood. Framed pictures in early American folk art style showed bucolic scenes of a small town.
She started unpacking immediately. She couldn’t stand disorder or untidiness. As she unpacked and put her neatly folded clothing away, she let her mind wander.
Where was his bedroom? She found herself wondering. What did
his bed look like? She pictured something like the Marquis De Sade’s bedroom. He’d hinted at his sexual proclivities when she’d run into him at the Zoo last year – he clearly liked to dominate. That was the reputation of the Timber Valley pack – their men were supposed to be pretty kinky.
Images from that night flashed through her head…
Karen glanced away from Ty, her gaze sweeping the dance floor. She saw Evangeline standing by the bar, watching her with a look of disgust on her face.
She was pretty sure Evangeline mouthed the word “Whore” at her, but it was hard to tell from across the room.
She turned back to look at Ty.
“So, back to my original observation. I see you standing here and watching everybody,” Ty said. “You’re not drinking any alcohol. You’ve brushed off the men who tried to approach you.”
“I don’t drink when I’m out. I like to be in control,” she’d said.
“No, you don’t.”
“What? I beg your pardon?”
“You don’t like it. You feel as if you have no choice but to be in control, but it exhausts you. You’re longing to let someone else take control.” His voice had gone low and rough and his eyes had a fierce gleam in them. It was the gleam of a predator about to pounce.
She felt a wave of desire wash over her like she’d never experienced before. She sucked air into her lungs, suddenly craving oxygen. Arousal crackled down every nerve ending.
“That’s not t-true.” She’d just stammered. She never stammered!
“Of course it is. I see right through you, Karen Padfoot.” He had moved closer without her even noticing it. He stared right down at her.
“I’ll prove it to you,” he said to her, roughly. “Come with me.” He turned and walked away.
He was as arrogant as she remembered him. She should have told him to screw himself. Instead, she followed him into the back of the club and through a door, down a long hallway that appeared to lead out the back. On either side of the hallway were more doors, probably to offices and supply rooms.
“Stand there,” he told her, pointing to a corner.
Mesmerized, she did. He grabbed her hands and lifted them over her head, pinning her wrists above her head up against the wall.
All thought of resistance fled.
“Oh,” she gasped, desire shuddering through her. She didn’t try to pull away; with her knees turning to Jell-O, it was all she could do to stand upright.
“See?” he said. “You like it.” He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, and she swallowed a whimper of desire. Then he nipped at her lower lip. When she moved to kiss him back, he pulled away.
“No,” he said. “Not until I give you permission.”
“Bastard!” she hissed.
He laughed. “That’ll earn you a spanking later, sweetheart. But I know you’ll enjoy it.” She loved the way the word “sweetheart” sounded when he spoke it, with a mixture of roughness and possession.
Then he bent down and brushed his lips along the inner curve of her neck. She shuddered and stifled a desperate moan. Her panties were soaking. She was powerless to stop him. She would have let him do anything.
“You’re in control all the time, Karen,” he said. “You want release. You want to let someone else take the reins. You want me. Don’t you?”
He slipped his free hand between her legs, fingers brushing along the outside of her panties.
“I said, don’t you?”
She groaned. “Yes,” she admitted shamefully.
She heard a tinkling noise, and he cursed, pulled a beeper out of his pocket, and glanced at it with a frustrated scowl. Then he looked at her.
“Something I have to deal with, but it won’t take a minute. Let’s see how well you can follow commands. Stay right here,” he told her. “Don’t put your hands down. Don’t move.”
And he vanished.
She waited just as he’d told her…and he never came back. She stood there for a good fifteen minutes. Her arms were starting to ache, and her whole body burned for Ty. She wanted him to come back and tell her to take her clothes off. Take her into an office and…
The door flew open, and Evangeline marched down the hall.
“What are you doing?” Evangeline looked at her suspiciously. “Why are you standing there like that?”
“Um.” Quickly, she pulled her arms down. She felt like a complete fool.
“I was stretching,” she muttered. “I had a cramp.”
“You’re not waiting for Ty to come back, are you?” Evangeline asked scornfully. “Because he’s a little busy shoving his tongue down the throat of some cougar shifter.”
Karen felt a surprisingly sharp jab of pain lancing through to her very core.
“Of course not,” she lied, pushing her way past Evangeline and back on to the dance floor, where she found Isadora and told her that she was starting to feel sick and needed to go home.
Finished with unpacking, she paced the room nervously for a few minutes, and then headed out into the living room. She walked in to the kitchen, saw dirty dishes in the sink, and quickly began washing them.
She’d moved on to scrubbing the counter tops when he walked in, startling her.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said.
“It helps me relax.” It was actually the opposite; it was more like she needed to push back the chaos. Any sign of disorder caused her to seize up with anxiety; her life had always been so chaotic that she always felt the need to keep things clean, organized and in their place.
He stood there for a minute, and she waited for him to say something else about how she didn’t want to be in control.
Instead, he said “Do you want me to help you?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. Honestly, I enjoy it. It’s like meditation for me. I know, I’m weird that way.”
“Give a holler if you need me.” He left the room, and she scrubbed harder. Why did she feel such a sense of disappointment every time he walked away? God, this month could not go by fast enough.
Chapter Six
The bar was so full they were turning people away at the door. They’d set up an area outside where they served drinks to the overflow crowd.
Inside, go-go dancers gyrated in cages and music blared and the air was thick with the scent of animal pheromones.
Ty stood behind the bar, serving drinks and watching Karen glide across the floor, balancing a tray. He’d fixed her up with Edith, the head waitress, for training, but Karen had picked everything up really quickly, the bar was packed, and she was turning out to be a great asset.
The single shifters crowding the dance floor and the bar area certainly appreciated her, he noted irritably. They couldn’t keep their eyes off her, and it was pissing him off.
Of course, he couldn’t blame them for looking. She was wearing the club uniform, which was a red flared out circle skirt with a hemline high above the knee, fishnets, and a low cut top. It was designed to be flattering; he just wished it wasn’t so flattering on her.
When she’d vanished into the dressing room with Edith, she’d come back out wearing red lipstick emphasizing her rosebud mouth, and a slash of black eyeliner on each eye which gave her the perfect cateye look. She also wore a headband with cat ears; all the waitresses wore headbands with the ears of their animal species.
She looked absolutely adorable. Maybe he should have her work somewhere else, he thought. Behind the bar? In the back office?
“Hey! A pitcher of Miller Lite!” A wolf shifter pounded on the bar impatiently.
“Coming right up.” Ty mechanically grabbed a fresh, ice cold pitcher yanked back on the tap. There was no reason that shifters shouldn’t stare at her, of course. His waitresses were attractive. There was a very strict no-touch policy at his bar, and if anyone violated that, they’d be bounced out on their ass. He had no claim over her, no right to be jealous.
He watched a wolf shifter check her out, gaze roving over her. The shifter turne
d to his buddies and said something, and they all bayed their approval. Ty swallowed hard and suppressed thoughts of murder.
When he saw the wolf shifter call her over to him, Ty slipped out from behind the bar and swiftly moved towards her. Can’t let my waitresses get harassed, he thought. I’m just being a good boss.
A hot blonde shifter wolf danced up to him, blocking his path and throwing her arms around his neck.
“Where you going?” She was hammered.
Damn it. Not now. He quickly pulled her arms off him, and glanced over at Karen – who was watching him with a look of annoyance.
“I’m busy, Susan.”
“My name isn’t Susan!” she pouted.
Whatever. Good God. He’d had one drunken encounter with her six months ago.
He waved a coyote shifter over. “Hey, George, this is…” he gestured at her.
“Louise!” she said indignantly.
Ouch. He hadn’t even been close.
“Hey, Louise.” George leaned over and leered down the front of her blouse. “You sure look pretty tonight.” She simpered and fluffed her hair, and Ty quickly ducked out of the way.
He made his way over to Karen. Just being near him sent a rush of blood to his groin, and he felt an uncomfortable tightness at the crotch of his pants. Amidst all the scents swirling through the air, he could make out hers easily, a light mix of sunflower perfume and her natural animal scent.
She flicked a look of annoyance at him. “Don’t let me keep you from your friends,” she said coolly, as she mopped a table top.
He suppressed a smile. Ha. She was jealous.
“If you’re referring to that blonde chick, she and I had a one time thing a long time ago,” Ty said.
She shrugged. “I’m sure you did,” she said.
But now I’m all yours, he wanted to say. Karen dipped her rag in a bucket of water and slapped it down on the table, splattering soapy water on him. “Oops,” she said. “You should probably go and clean up.
He grinned at her. “Kitty has claws,” he observed.
Purr For The Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) Page 4
