Dedication
To all the great friends who help me with this journey called writing and especially Crystal Jordan, co-author extraordinaire and our marvelous editor, Bethany Morgan.
Chapter One
Nicodemus Leonidas stopped the rental car, turning off the engine while he studied the house’s long front porch. He hadn’t warned Jason he was coming. His brother lifted his head but didn’t move from his position wrapped around the human woman in a slightly swaying hammock. He couldn’t make out his brother’s expression, and it was a good thing Jason couldn’t see his in return.
His lip curled in derision. His scorn wasn’t even at taking up with a human associated with the werewolves. That was bad enough. Hell, his youngest brother had gone further and mated a werewolf. No, it was because Jason was completely whipped. It was one thing to shack up with a woman. His practiced eye looked her over, and she was one hell of a woman, but mating? Mating made you weak. Mating made you stupid. He’d seen it over and over again the last few months as each of his brothers fell. Definitely not for him.
Calling on his experience as the family’s security expert, he schooled his expression into one of disinterest and got out of the car. The north Florida humidity hit him like a blow. Dolphin territory. Even in early winter it was warm and balmy. How could anyone live here? The leopard clan claimed everything west of the Mississippi, and he’d be glad to get back to his own land and more specifically home, to the family’s resort, Refuge, in the Arizona desert. At least they had seasons.
Scanning the area as he walked, he strode through the yard. Scrub and small trees. There was nothing appealing in it and its proximity to the wolves just made it worse. The Gulf Coast may belong to the dolphins, but almost everything east of the Mississippi was wolf land. Jason had escaped here after Celeste’s alleged death and other than finding her alive hadn’t had much luck with the place. This was the area where Jason had a fought a werewolf and a hurricane. The need to take action also ruffled his fur.
As he approached, the couple moved. Jason came to meet him at the porch’s edge while Celeste remained seated on the hammock. She watched him warily, suspicion and unease clear on her face. Nico tried to force some of the predator that lived in him farther below the surface. He needed answers from the woman. Scaring her silly was unlikely to get them.
“Brother.” Jason stood with his feet braced apart and his arms crossed over his chest. “What brings you here?”
It was like that, was it? Could be he had the cool reception coming. He hadn’t been very diplomatic the last time they spoke, but his focus was single-minded. He cocked an eyebrow.
“You know why I’m here.”
He and his brother both looked at Celeste. She shifted under the double scrutiny, and Nico was shocked to see her expression and body language change. Gone was the timid mouse, replaced by someone harder, someone bolder. A she-wolf readying to protect her own. He wondered why that image popped into his mind. Her family may be wolves, descendants of King Lycoan and his one hundred sons granted the ability to shift into wolves by Zeus, but she was human. That must be it.
She stood, and he approached, forcing his features to relax, hoping his smile wasn’t a grimace. When he’d first met her over a year ago, she would have shrunk back from his advance regardless. Now she stood her ground, eyes stony. Jason joined her, and she took his hand. Nico noticed it was shaking a little. Not as brave as she pretended to be. But there was no smell of fear from her, no sign of retreat. He had to admire her backbone.
“Celeste. It’s good to see you well.”
She nodded. Curtly. Once. “Thank you.”
He sighed. This was going to be more difficult that he’d anticipated. He turned to his brother, forcing his voice to be free of censure. “I had to come. Dad wouldn’t have given up on any of us.”
Instantly, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Jason stiffened, his eyes growing glacial and a low growl welling in his throat. Nico’s statement hadn’t only accused his brother of giving their father up for dead but also his mate. He was relieved when Celeste slid her hand up the inside of Jason’s arm and calmed the beast lurking inside him. She turned cold, angry eyes on him.
“I do have one thing that may help you.” She held up a hand to hold off the questions rushing through his mind. “Inside.”
He followed them to a small kitchen and sat at the table she pointed out. Jason sat across from him and glowered. Nico was on thin ice here in the warm southern winter. Celeste poured three cups of coffee and placed a bowl of sugar on the center of the table. When she would have taken her own seat, Jason pulled her into his lap. She sat there easily, and Nico ignored the twist in his gut. He didn’t want that. The easy companionship. The warm willing woman who would always be his responsibility.
He stirred sugar into his cup and waited for her to speak. The silence stretched, and when he looked up again she had a faraway look on her face. He cleared his throat, and she jerked. Jason’s arms tightened around her waist, and he glared at Nico. Celeste rubbed circles on his arm and whispered in his ear. He relaxed, but only marginally. Nico almost sighed again. He didn’t like this armed truce that had developed between him and his brothers. Celeste twisted and looked him in the eye.
“I don’t remember anything. That hasn’t changed. No amount of badgering me is going to change that either.”
That was irritation not awkwardness that made him want to fidget. There was no way being dressed down by this human slip of a woman embarrassed him. He forced himself to sit still. He needed her information too badly to go cat on her right now. She was the sole—and surprise—survivor of the plane crash that had taken his father’s life. But if the human had lived in secrecy, why not the wereleopard leader?
“I don’t remember,” she emphasized again. Did he imagine the apology in her voice? “But my dad finally told me that it was the birds who found me. The plane…went down in their territory. It was a Messenger—Ajax Petros—who found me and notified my family.”
He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. The birds who made up the Messenger Corps were reputed to all be trained fighters and they zealously protected the neutrality of the group. This Messenger though, this Ajax Petros, kept popping up, kept feeding his family pieces of information. Now it appeared she had another connection to them, a more tangible connection. He was the only Leonidas brother not to meet her yet, and he was damned curious. He’d been on his way to see her when he’d decided to visit Jason first. Now he was glad he did—it provided the perfect excuse to enter bird territory.
It was a start. It was something to go on. He knew the crash was on bird land, of course, but other than a video they’d sent only after he badgered them into it, he knew almost nothing about it. Now he had a name to go by at least.
“Thank you, Celeste,” he said gently. Looking at the tense lines around her eyes, he had an idea how much it cost her to try to remember that time. He stayed only long enough to be polite. Determined to find answers. Determined to find the truth.
Nico stomped through the woods wanting to howl his frustration. After two futile days of searching for Ajax Petros he was beginning to think the woman didn’t exist. Not only that, but everyone refused to speak of the crash. Someone had finally taken him to the site but after a year there was nothing left to be found.
Two days on the werebirds’ land wasn’t going to be nearly enough time. They owned several hundred acres in the middle of wolf land in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, but there was no central town or city in which to track people. Instead there were small enclaves dotting the mountainsides, and they were difficult to spot. Mostly high up
in trees, always concealed as part of the landscape. If he weren’t in the middle of a mission he’d find it fascinating. The leopard in him was naturally curious about the aeries.
There were no roads. He’d had to hike in, which turned out to be a problem. It had gradually grown cold over the days. A biting, bitter wind blew in from the west and brought black, ugly cloud cover with it. If the temperature continued to drop he knew those clouds could mean snow, and he didn’t want to get caught out in the open in an early season blizzard, so he was making his way down.
It pissed him off.
He wasn’t getting anywhere with his search and now he was being forced to put it on hold until the weather improved. In a normal situation, he’d just find local lodging. But to his extreme annoyance there was none to be had. Not that it was full, just that there wasn’t any. No hotels. No inns. No rooms for hire. He’d been sleeping outside, but that wouldn’t be possible tonight.
He came around a bend in the path, cursing when in his distraction his foot caught on a concealed stone. Pausing, he shook out the twist in his ankle, reaching for the water bottle clipped to his belt. Before he could take a swig, he heard a flutter of wings and looked up. A huge bald eagle was flying straight for him. He forced himself to remain still, not to flinch, as the deadly talons grew closer.
He watched the flight with an awe he’d never admit to. The bird circled his head, then landed a few feet before him and shifted in an explosion of color. A woman stood before him, tall, proud, and gloriously naked. Athletic. Incredible boobs. Each shifter species could trace their beginnings to one deity. Marathon, the greatest of message bearers may have inspired Hermes to give the gift of flight to his descendents, but he wouldn’t be surprised if her fierce beauty was from Aphrodite herself.
She cocked her head to one side and twisted to look down the trail behind her. Exceptional ass. Her hair was short, white-blonde and spiky. His leopard lifted its nose to take in her sweet, womanly scent. She turned back to gaze at him. Her glowing blue eyes froze his tongue.
“Like what you see?” she asked.
Hell, yeah. If he didn’t have other pressing obligations, he’d be happy to spend a week showing her just how much. Before he could frame a response that wouldn’t get him decked another bird flew into the small clearing. It landed and shifted into a tall, heavily muscled man. Ignoring Nico, he turned to the woman.
He had to fight a low growl welling up from his throat. He’d never been possessive of women and shifters weren’t prudish about nudity, but the idea of any man looking at her naked body awoke jealous instincts in his leopard. If they were aware of it, the two strangers ignored his struggle.
“Storm’s coming in fast,” the man said. The woman nodded. It was a regal, dismissive motion. He finally seemed to notice Nico and hesitated. “I’ll see you later?”
Nico took an antagonistic step forward, but her expression never changed. “Perhaps.” A cold wind gusted through the clearing. “You better go.”
The man bowed slightly at the waist before stepping away, shifting and taking flight. She turned to Nico, and he noticed she was shivering. He shrugged out of his jacket and circled her, letting his hands linger just a moment on her shoulders. He wanted to touch, to stroke, to pet. She turned around, breaking the contact to face him.
“Thank you.” Cool. Contained. He wanted to break her reserve, snap her control. He shook his head. This wasn’t like him. The sooner he got away from her, the better. His cat growled at the thought of leaving her.
“I understand you’ve been looking for me,” she said. She’d pushed her arms into the coat’s sleeves and held a hand out. “Ajax Petros.”
He didn’t like surprises. Someone should have warned him. Shifter women came in all shapes and sizes and looks, from ugly to plain to drop dead gorgeous. Ajax Petros was on the heart attack inducing end of the spectrum. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman, shifter or human. She wasn’t at all what he’d expected. Not from a Messenger and not with a name like Ajax.
“Isn’t Ajax a man’s name?”
Her hand fell to her side. “Do I look like a man?”
Hell no. His gaze swept down her body, head to toe and back up again, pausing to linger over the white thatch of hair between her legs before lifting to look into her eyes.
“Is Ajax short for something?”
“Alexandra.” Now that fit. A beautiful name for this exquisite woman. What was the story behind the nickname? Never mind. He’d get to that later.
Edging closer, he reached out for the aborted handshake. She set her palm in his and the skin-to-skin contact was electrifying. He didn’t release her until she pulled free. Pissed at being kept from touching the woman, the cat within him started to pace. He gritted his teeth and resisted to urge to pounce. “Nico Leonidas.”
The wind blew again, and goose bumps rose on her exposed skin. He edged closer, not bothering to fight the need raging in him to keep her warm. “Is there someplace we can talk? You need to get out the weather.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve been taking care of myself a long time.”
“Badly if this is typical behavior.”
Her eyes seemed to flash blue fire. She clenched her jaw. Her body language screamed aggression and command. He was reminded that bald eagles were predators, but even those masters of the sky were no match for a full-grown male leopard. He wondered if the rumors were true. Were Messenger birds all trained to be elite soldiers? If he showed her some of the cat would she run? Or would she submit?
He moved forward until his chest brushed against hers. He could feel her breasts through his thin jacket, felt the shudders in her body she fought to control. Probably from cold, but in that moment he determined they would be for him. Every hard, edgy line of her body broadcasted her role in the bird pecking order—right at the top. Too bad. He wanted her—he was going to have her. Awareness lit her eyes, as if she could read his intentions, but she didn’t back down. He smiled. He looked forward to tangling with her. She shrugged off the jacket and handed it back to him.
Pointing into the woods and underbrush on his right, she spoke, “There’s a path on the other side of those bushes. Go one hundred yards up. I’ll meet you there.”
Then she shifted and flew in the direction she’d pointed out. He set off into the underbrush. After a few feet he came to several intersecting paths and went down the one that led the right way, the one where her scent was strongest. He’d lost sight of Ajax and ran to catch up.
The trail climbed up the side of the mountain. He began to think he was going in the wrong direction when it ended in a small clearing. There was no sign of the woman.
“Up here.”
He looked up and saw the house. He’d seen many of these houses in the last two days. Werebirds seemed to prefer being high even in their human forms. But this one was different. This one was huge. Ajax leaned against a porch railing wrapped in a long robe and grinned down at him. It was the first non-neutral expression he’d seen on her face, and it damned near stopped his heart. He searched for a way up and found switchback stairs around the trunk of a huge tree.
At the top he looked around. It wasn’t all one building after all. A rope bridge in front of him led to a separate space, and he could see others leading in other directions like the spokes of a one-sided wheel.
He turned away from them, his senses opening up, tracking her by scent and sound. He found the railing she’d leaned on and trailed his fingers over it, imagined he could feel her warmth lingering in the wood. Her scent was stronger here. Jasmine, vanilla and something unique he couldn’t name. He followed it around the curving deck and through a set of double glass doors.
She had her back to him, pouring water into a coffee maker. He watched silently. Studied her. She removed the filter cup, rinsed it in the sink and measured grounds into it. Her movements were smooth and efficient. Her head tilted to one side a little as she worked. He found himself fascinated by the line of her neck. It was elegan
t. Graceful. Kissable. He could see her pulse hammering there and wanted to nibble. He didn’t resist the impulse. Using his cat’s stealth, he padded forward on silent feet. She jumped when he set his hands on her hips, held her breath when his tongue swiped the alluring spot on her nape.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“Tasting,” he murmured before setting his teeth to the tantalizing skin. She let her head fall back against his chest, giving him better access and groaning. God, he loved that sound. It almost undid him. And it snapped him back to reality. What the hell was going on here? He dropped his hands like they’d been burned.
Chapter Two
When the leopard set his hands on her hips, she had to grip the counter for support and bite her lower lip to keep from begging for more. His lips brushed her skin, and her blood rushed. Then his teeth scraped over her pulse. She groaned, and he released her abruptly as if he was burned by the heat rising in her body. She felt the same way.
Slowly, she turned to face him, study him. She’d just arrived home a few hours ago and everywhere she went had been told a leopard was in their mountains asking for her. Nico Leonidas. One of the leopard king’s brothers and the only one she hadn’t met until today. Considering everything that had been going on with the leopards recently, she’d decided it would be better if she found him first.
She’d expected him to seek her out sooner, had been informed by her source inside Refuge Resort that he was investigating the plane accident his father had died in. She had her own suspicions about that crash, suspected one of her own was behind it. She would be forced to move against him soon. The man’s arrogance, his greed threatened the balance of power in the shifter world and the bird’s place in it. She wouldn’t allow that, but she couldn’t strike without some kind of proof. Such rashness would shake the foundations of her clan.
So she’d done the unthinkable, broken the bonds of neutrality by sharing her suspicions with Adrian Leonidas. She couldn’t explain that compulsion to share the information with the leopard family, but it wouldn’t happen again. Her duty was to her people. She’d been waiting for the Leonidas’ arrival, had been sure she could deal with him and send him off quickly.
Renegade Passions: Forbidden Passions, Book 4 Page 1
