Get a grip, Tori. She shook herself, straightened her spine and stiffened her knees.
Yes, he was attractive and it was clear he knew it. Unfortunately, he also had that alpha male swagger that said he owned the world and had no problem telling people what to do. So not her type. All four of the Leonidases had that same attitude. Five, if she counted their father, Hector. Actually, Hector was the worst of the bunch and Tori hadn’t particularly liked him the few times they’d met. She’d mostly wanted to put a boot up his domineering ass.
She was also fairly certain her intolerance of he-man bullshit was why Lyra had decided it would be good for Adrian and Jason to have Tori as an assistant. The thought made her grin.
Uh-oh. The wolf Beta’s gaze sharpened on her the way men’s did when they noticed she was more than simply pretty—she was drop-dead gorgeous. Her smile did that. Unlike most men, he didn’t melt into a puddle of testosterone at her feet. She liked that and wasn’t sure she should. His grin turned easy and charming and it annoyed her that her belly did a quivery little flip.
“Hello,” he said, the slow Southern drawl making the word sound like it was dipped in honey. “I’m Bastian Lykaios.”
He held out his hand to shake and she hesitated while deciding if she really wanted to touch him. That would confirm a chemistry she wasn’t sure she was in the mood to acknowledge. His eyes narrowed at her show of resistance, and a non-alpha male would have dropped his hand. Instead, he arched an eyebrow and waited her out.
It was the expression on his face, daring her to take his hand, that did her in. She’d never been one to back down from a challenge.
“Tori Haida.” Thrusting her arm out, she wrapped her fingers around his broad palm. His grin spread and she got a flash of wolfish fangs. Oh, yeah. Chemistry out the wazoo. The slight calluses on his hand rasped against her skin, made a shudder pass through her. Her nipples tightened and her sex clenched. He tugged her closer, and his scent hit her. Hot male spiced with a light cologne. His thumb swept over the inside of her wrist, and her pulse leapt in response. His touch left sweet little tingles in its wake, and she had to yank her arm back before she did something really embarrassing. Like jump him. Or start panting.
Someone cleared their throat, and they jerked apart. She turned to see all four Leonidas brothers and three of their wives standing there staring at them. Jason coughed. “I see you’ve met our administrative assistant.”
“Ah. Yes.” Bastian shook himself, didn’t even glance at her. “I’ll take some coffee, Ms. Haida. Black.”
Really? That was how he covered the overly intimate moment they’d just shared? By treating her like a servant? She resisted the urge to stomp her heel into his toes.
“Well, it’s over there.” She pointed to the fancy espresso machine on the credenza. “Help yourself.”
He frowned. Oh, he didn’t like it that she had no intention of waiting on him? Too damn bad. If she didn’t do it for her bosses, she sure as hell wouldn’t do it for him. She didn’t care how fuckable he looked and felt, she wasn’t going to roll over and play doormat for him.
Just to piss him off, she faced Nico and gave him a little curtsey. “Prince Consort. I’m honored by your presence.”
He didn’t crack a smile, but amusement glittered in his gaze. He inclined his torso ever so slightly in a bow. “Ms. Haida.”
“May I get you anything? Coffee? Soda?” She widened her eyes as if eager to do his bidding. Luckily, he wasn’t stupid enough to take her up on the offer.
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
Jason snorted, Adrian rolled his eyes and Bastian’s frown turned into a scowl. He drew in a deep breath as if scenting the air. Then he asked, “What kind of bird-shifter are you?”
“Swan.” The word shot out of her mouth like a bullet, and she waited for the smirk she often saw when men realized the too-pretty woman turned into an equally pretty bird.
Fortunately, the man had two brain cells to rub together and kept his face neutral. “I see.”
An awkward beat of silence passed before Adrian spoke. “Uh, Tori…there was a conference call on my calendar—”
“Already handled. I rescheduled to Monday afternoon, with an apology.” Tori slipped behind her desk and resumed her seat. She looked at Jason. “There’s also a cougar-shifter who’s been trying to get through to you for days—a border dispute between two groups of mountain lions—but I’m fending her off. You’re welcome.”
He nodded. “We’ll probably have to do some mediating there, but not today.”
“I’ll pencil them in for late next week. You’ll want to speak to both sides, of course.” She tapped a few notes into her computer, ignoring everyone as they exchanged greetings and congregated around the espresso machine. There was a tension in the air that she pretended didn’t exist. Important things could happen today, and that was one of the reasons she liked this job. She could help make a difference in the shifter world, but this wasn’t what she planned on doing forever.
Maybe that was why she’d suddenly decided to give up the cigarettes. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known they were bad for her before she’d ever touched one. Some instinct that demanded change had twitched to life within her a few weeks back. Even the healthy routine she’d started hadn’t made that instinct quit nagging at the back of her mind. It had eased, but hadn’t stopped. Something else needed to change. Maybe her career? She’d come to Refuge Resort on a vacation after she’d graduated college five years ago and had just…never left. She wasn’t exactly using her degree in industrial design as a secretary. But other than working on her classic cars, she didn’t have a particular direction she wanted to pursue. She didn’t have a real passion for anything except hotrods. Probably not a good idea to make any sudden changes there, but she would look into her options. At the moment, anything could hit the chopping block until this instinct stopped prodding. It was beyond irritating and it just made the jonesing for cigarettes even worse.
“Tori?”
She looked up, meeting Lyra’s gaze. “Yeah?”
The she-wolf set a hand on Tori’s desk, leaning in a bit. “You okay? My cousin didn’t—”
“He’s fine.” She picked up a pencil and twirled it between her fingers. “I’m having the resort’s restaurant deliver lunch for you guys. Should be here shortly.”
“You’ll be having some too.” It wasn’t a question.
Tori grinned. “Of course. Though I think it’s best I not actually join you. I’ll eat at my desk.” She got up and made shooing motions with her hands, herding them all into the conference room. “Go on, get some good politicking in.”
The Leonidas family was used to both her managing them and generally displaying nothing like the submissive personality one would expect of a woman of her species and with her job title.
Everyone but Bastian went where she told them with a minimum of grumbling. He stared at her as if he had no idea what to make of her. Good. She hated fitting neatly into anyone’s pigeonhole.
She arched an eyebrow. “You’re going to miss your own meeting if you don’t get a move on.”
Something devilish flickered to life in his gray gaze, as if he wanted to call her on bossing people around, but he refrained from commenting. Anticipation shimmered within her, and she would have loved to hear whatever he was thinking. He sauntered slowly into the conference room. “I’ll see you later, Ms. Haida.”
The heavy promise in his voice made her insides clench with a need she couldn’t decide if she wanted to ignore or pursue. Not that she was going to tell him she was considering tracking him down after work tonight. Arrogant alpha male or not, attraction like this could be explosively fun. For a night or two, anyway. He definitely wasn’t the type she’d keep around long. And he was headed home soon, which made pursuing the attraction even more appealing. He couldn’t expect more than she wanted to give if he was gone.
“Later? You wish.” She grasped the handle to close the door in his face, not
ing the way his eyes narrowed. After there was a solid slab of oak between them, she let herself chuckle.
Tweaking that wolf’s tail was the most fun she’d had since she quit smoking.
Chapter Three
“Don’t go, Uncle Bastian!” A little sprite of a girl came pelting across the living room to wrap herself around his leg. Adrian and Cleo’s daughter, Daphne. She had the Leonidas green eyes, but looked like her golden lioness mother otherwise. She offered up a gamine grin. “One more spin?”
Even though he was only blood-related to Lyra and Zander’s twin sons, Daphne had dubbed him uncle the moment he’d shown up for family dinner. She widened her eyes appealingly and he gave in. “Okay, one more.”
“Yay!”
He grabbed her under the arms and did a slow series of spins so her legs flew out behind her.
Her gleeful squeals had everyone in the house chuckling. “Lookit me! I’m flying, Daddy!”
Adrian’s tone was dry. “She’s been wanting to fly since Ajax brought her girls for a visit and they demonstrated what eaglets could do.”
After setting the little girl down, Bastian popped a kiss on the top of her head. “We can fly again tomorrow, sweet pea.”
“Okay!” She ran off down the hall.
“Thanks for having me over.” He shook hands with the men and hugged the women before he left and headed toward the Spanish-style bungalow he was staying in. It was usually reserved for resort guests, but the leopards had arranged for him to use it this weekend.
The dry desert wind filled his nostrils, the scent so different from his verdant Tennessee. His shoes crunched on the gravel path as he walked, and his brain replayed the details of the day. The meeting had revealed too much and not enough at the same time. Celeste and Lyra hadn’t suspected Michael’s involvement, but beyond their initial shock, neither had seemed particularly surprised. Celeste, especially, knew how adamant their father could be once he’d made a decision.
Shortly after Celeste had mated with Jason, Michael had demanded she return home. So she’d taken a flight to Tennessee, with Hector escorting her. They’d crashed, Hector had disappeared and been presumed dead, and Michael had told Jason that Celeste died. Once Celeste had recovered enough to leave the hospital, Michael let her think that Jason had abandoned her. No matter how much Bastian and his brothers had argued, Michael wouldn’t be swayed. But he was the Alpha and they had to obey.
Even six years later, even knowing she was now happy and content in her life, Bastian regretted that he hadn’t told his sister the truth sooner.
In the end, Hector had survived and hidden out in werebird territory. He’d suspected the crash had been no accident and he’d been right. It had been a conspiracy between an eagle-shifter who wanted to take the throne from his queen and a wolf who wanted to overthrow Michael. Dragging the leopards into it had been their way of putting up a smokescreen that destabilized the shifter world and made it easier to pull off their usurpation of power. It hadn’t worked. Nico had defeated the eagle who threatened his mate and Jason had killed the wolf when he’d attacked Celeste.
Still, Bastian didn’t think Celeste had ever fully forgiven the family for their actions. Or inaction. She loved them, but there was a slight distance there that hadn’t existed before. Michael liked to put it down to her connection with the leopards and the fact that she lived two thousand miles away, but Bastian saw it differently. Maybe that should have been when he’d broken out from his father’s stranglehold on power. Maybe things would be different now if he had, but he couldn’t spend his life playing a game of what-if.
He had to deal with what was in front of him.
What made his task more difficult was that his father wasn’t a bad man. He loved his family and people, did what he thought was best for them, but his love could sometimes be a smothering thing that didn’t allow others to have an opinion of their own. The Alpha brooked no defiance from anyone. Ever.
Rock, meet hard place. And that was Bastian crushed in the middle.
The wolf within him bristled at the untenable position he was in. He needed to get away from everything, needed to leave the million layers of politics behind for a while. Time to go for a run. He’d barely reached the porch to his bungalow before he stripped down and shifted. His body twisted, reforming into a wolf. Fangs and claws erupted, a growl ripping from his throat.
After pivoting on his haunches, he tore through the desert brush and across the open expanse of endless sand and rock. No thoughts, no problems. Just animal instinct and adrenaline. It felt good. He didn’t know how many miles he ran, but the wolf ruled the moment and he reveled in the wildness. Topping a rise, he threw back his head and bayed at the moon.
A scent on the wind caught his attention, and he looked down to see a pair of headlights sweeping along the highway from Tucson. Sweet, lush female.
Tori Haida.
There had been one of the few sweet spots in his day. Meeting her. The wolf growled in appreciation. Yes, both man and animal wanted her. Without thinking, he loped toward the road. She’d have to pass right by him on her way back to the resort.
He made it to the highway just before she reached him, and he stepped into the middle of the road, forcing her to stop her shiny red convertible.
She propped an elbow on the door ledge, arching her white-blonde eyebrows. “Is this your way of asking for a ride?”
Since he couldn’t speak in wolf-form, she couldn’t possibly expect an answer. Good thing, because watching the moonlight caress her features and turn her hair to silver-gilt would have rendered him speechless for a moment. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, but it was her smart mouth that intrigued him the most. The swan had the personality of a warrior-trained eagle. Most non-predators learned to watch their step around people like him. Apex predator, powerful, deadly when necessary. He was at the top of the food chain in every possible way, and yet she hadn’t flinched. How rare and refreshing.
It also didn’t hurt that the moment her hand had slid into his, a lightning strike of awareness had shot up his arm. If it felt that good to touch her hand, what might it feel like to stroke more intimate parts of her anatomy? To have her fingers glide over his skin? A shudder shook him, his body reacting much the same way as it had this afternoon. He wanted her with a fierceness that he hadn’t felt for a woman in…longer than he cared to remember. Maybe ever.
Damn inconvenient at a time like this, but then, if he’d read her reaction correctly—and he had, since there was no mistaking the smell of a woman’s desire—she might be willing to prove a far better distraction than his whiskey had been the night before.
He shifted back into a human and slid into the passenger seat. “Nice car.”
Apparently, that was the right thing to say because she beamed. Damn, she was lovely.
“A ’65 Mustang.” She patted the steering wheel fondly. “You should have seen the shape she was in when I bought her. I restored her myself.”
The leather was plush under his bare ass and every inch of the vehicle looked pristine. “You do good work, Tori.”
“Thanks.” She put the car in gear and they sped toward the resort at breakneck speed. If it weren’t for his enhanced hearing, the rush of the wind would have ripped her words away. “What brings you out here tonight, Bastian?”
“I wanted some quiet and solitude.” He sighed, all the complications he’d managed to escape during his run coming back to haunt him. “I need a drink.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I can get it myself.”
A tiny smile played around the corners of her mouth. “I was going to say we keep a nice stock of adult beverages in the guest houses. You should be able to quench whatever thirst you’ve got.”
He grunted, but said nothing, just watched her. She handled the vehicle with the competence of a racecar driver, another facet of her that didn’t fit the girly-girl mold. She fascinated him.
She fidgeted a bit. “I came out here so I could drive fast enough that I needed both hands on the wheel. Can’t hold a cigarette that way.”
“You’re trying to quit?” Somehow, he could see her smoking just to prove to people that she wasn’t too cute or too perfect. She seemed to like pushing people out of their comfort zones, and he hadn’t missed her defensive tone when she’d admitted to being a swan.
“Yeah. Four days in and it blows. Hard.” She wrinkled her nose. “I needed distracting tonight, but the more I try not to think about it, the more I end up thinking about it.”
Sounded like his issues with his father. “I know what you mean.”
“You need some distraction too?” A lilt entered her voice than made his muscles tighten. Her gaze slid over his body, the hunger he’d seen in her expression this afternoon firing to life again. His body reacted predictably to her interest, her nearness, her feminine scent. Arousal flavored the sweetness of her normal aroma, and his cock went rock hard in moments. He fisted his hands where they rested on his thighs to keep from reaching for her.
“Yes,” he said. “Want me to distract you, Tori? I promise you won’t think about anything but me for the rest of the night.”
She licked her lips. “That’s a tall order when someone is trying to kick an addiction.”
He smiled wolfishly. “I can make good on it.”
“I’ll think about it.” She looked him over again, her gaze lingering on his groin. He was naked, so there was no missing his erection. Other than raising her eyebrows and grinning, she ignored his physical response to her.
And that annoyed him. “Pull over.”
She didn’t slow down. “Why?”
“Because I asked.”
A small humming noise came from her. “You actually didn’t ask anything. I did, and you still haven’t answered.”
The woman was going to make his head explode. “Because I’d like to fuck you right here in the middle of the road. Is that distracting enough for you?”
“Oh, well, in that case.” She hit the brakes and the car came to sliding halt. They bumped over onto the gravel shoulder and she shifted into park.
Illicit Passions Page 3
