by Cara Adams
“Your boss? That’s Donald Thomas, isn’t it? Be sure to tell me what he says.”
“Do you want me to stay with you? I’d like to,” Verity said.
Serena nodded. She needed to cry. The future that had looked so pretty last night had receded out of her reach. She and her sister had always been there for each other. Today she’d put on her business persona and do her work. Tonight she and her sister would have a girls’ night and then she could cry for her lost love.
Ramona tapped some more on her phone then said, “Right. Verity, tell me what you want me to bring for you for the next few days and I’ll pack your luggage. Someone will bring it in for you later today. Serena, will you be all right here today?”
Serena nodded. Then her strange dreams came back to her. “Ramona, be careful when you leave. I had the craziest idea I was being watched as I entered the building.”
“Maybe it’s just as well you’re both staying here after all. I’ll get one of the security guards to walk me to my car. I’ll be alert, you can be sure of that. I’ll check the tires and have him wait until the engine starts.”
“It may just be my imagination. Likely I’m just upset,” warned Serena.
“It doesn’t hurt to be careful. Now, Verity, what do you need?”
* * * *
Serena and Verity began their workday and Ramona stopped off in the ladies’ room to text Omar again. Serena may just be a nervous mess after the second breakup in forty-eight hours with her men, but Ramona wasn’t going to take any chances. Only after she’d sent her text messages did she get in the elevator and return to the foyer.
Still holding her phone in her hand she walked over to the security counter and asked, “Could one of you accompany me to my car, please? My friend is worried there’s something wrong with it.”
“My pleasure, ma’am,” said a huge black man.
Ramona smiled at him. No criminal on earth would attack her with this man mountain nearby. Omar was tall and muscled, but this security guard was every bit as big as her mate.
He walked her to her car, checked all her tires, kicked each one, kneeled and looked under the car, then courteously held the door open as she slid inside and started the engine.
“Everything’s working just fine. I’m so sorry to have wasted your time,” she said.
“Not a problem, ma’am. It’s been my pleasure,” said the man, standing back as she pulled the car out of her parking space.
When she straightened the car up, ready to leave, she turned to wave at her security guard. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of movement. There! A man half-hidden behind a delivery van.
Her phone had been set to camera as she’d left the building and she’d placed it on the seat beside her. It took her only a second to pick it up and point it at the van and click. She didn’t know whether she’d caught him or not, but now she knew Serena really did have cause for concern. And Verity as well. It seemed the rogue panthers were back in town and stalking the cougar sisters.
Chapter Four
Omar, and Oliver, his right-hand man, and Larry were all staring at Pete and Josh. Josh had hardly slept at all, and Pete looked as tired as he felt. They’d told their story all over again, and Oliver and Larry remained silent. Since Omar had heard it already last night—well, very early this morning actually—Josh wondered whether he’d said anything to Ramona. Maybe it’d take another woman to unravel whatever it was they were doing wrong. Or maybe Serena was some strange Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde character. No, no she wasn’t. She was the most beautiful and loving woman he’d ever met. It’s just that he didn’t understand what was annoying her, or frightening her, or causing her to leave them.
“My decision is this. You are both appointed to Nicholas and Curtis to help them prepare the movie studio to move it onto their new land adjacent to Carnal Connections. Under no circumstances will you approach Serena or Verity or Autumn either. You may only speak to them if they come to you. Even if you need to speak to Autumn about the movie business, you will find a man or a human woman and talk to them first. Do you completely understand me?” Omar asked.
“Yes, Alpha,” said Josh, bowing his head.
“Yes, Alpha,” repeated Pete.
“Go. Nicholas is expecting you this morning.”
Silently they left the building and walked to Pete’s truck. Larry had handed them their socks, Josh’s coat, and Pete’s car keys. Josh put the socks up to his nose. They smelled of dampness and earth, but he thought there was also just the faintest scent of Serena as well. Once they were in the truck he opened the coat that she’d hugged so tightly around her cold body. Again he sniffed deeply. Yes, there was a fragrance there, a remembrance of her. He breathed her deep into his lungs, wanting to be with her, wanting to understand her and let her know how much he missed her, how much he wanted her to be happy, to be with them again.
“Josh, how are we going to get her to tell us what the problem is if we’re banned from talking to her?”
“Fuck if I know.”
They glanced at each other, then Pete said, “I’m thinking we give her a week to recover, then we do it the old-fashioned way. Send her a letter asking her to meet us somewhere neutral just to talk.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“Kidnap her, chain her to the bed, and fuck her senseless until she agrees to stay with us anyway.”
Josh laughed. “I like the way you think.”
To Josh’s surprise the day passed quickly. Seeing all Nicholas and Curtis’s plans for their small boutique movie studio come to life was exciting. They had a small permanent staff, which included Gaynor, a human woman mated to Tor and Cameron, who all lived at Carnal Connections. There was also Ramona, Raegan, who was their chief scenery painter and set designer and a wolf who’d recently learned he was Tor’s father, Zara, the wardrobe mistress, and Peyton, the chief makeup artist. Curtis, Zara, and Peyton were humans. Nicholas was a wolf and he and Curtis were mated to Autumn, who was half-human and half-panther. They lived at Carnal Connections, too.
The more Josh thought about it, the more he understood just how intricately the lives of the shape-shifters and the BDSM community were becoming interwoven. Not to mention that although there was a small amount of rivalry, the wolves and panthers, pumas and cougars all got along well together. He grinned. Even delineating between the various big cats was interesting. Scientifically they were all panthers, but to the pack, each was distinct, with different fur, colorings, and habits. Ramona was a puma, the twins were cougars, and the others panthers. As a panther, it all made perfect sense to him.
Nicholas and Curtis had just finished filming a series of advertisements about recycling. Now they were in the process of packing their entire studio and everything in it for the move to the land they’d just purchased, land that adjoined Carnal Connections. All their equipment had to be dismantled, packed up, and moved inside one of the two main buildings which housed the offices and indoor sets. Then the sheds and the second building would be dismantled and moved to the site. There they’d be reassembled, except that there would be one big shed instead of three smaller ones.
After that, all the equipment would be moved into the two new buildings, the final old building would be dismantled and then rebuilt, everything would be set up, and the movie studio would be back in business.
“Arranging the move over winter is smart because there’s not much outdoor filming that can take place then anyway,” said Josh.
Pete nodded. “Exactly, and they’ll have the concrete pads for the buildings poured next week so they’ll be long set and dried when we’re actually ready to go onsite with the buildings.”
Josh was tired. They’d had very little sleep and it’d been hard physical work all day, dismantling the false wooden fronts that appeared to be buildings and moving them to their temporary location.
“This week we stay away from Serena and leave her in peace. We work here at the movie studio. Next week we ask her
to talk to us and tell us what she needs,” he said.
“Yep. And if Curtis and Nicholas work us this hard every day, we’ll both be too damn tired to move at the end of each day anyway.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that was all part of Larry and Omar’s plan. But is it to exhaust us so we couldn’t possibly fuck her, or is it to give us time to decide how to woo her properly?”
* * * *
Serena and Verity were surprised to see Ramona back with Verity’s luggage that night.
“I didn’t expect you to bring it yourself, Ramona,” said Verity.
But Serena was watching Ramona and knew something wasn’t right. “What’s wrong? Are Pete and Josh okay? And Noah and Ezra?”
“Everyone is fine. There’s no trouble yet, but you were right, Serena. Someone was watching the door of DNK Technology. Donald Thomas is convinced it’s someone out to steal their secrets, but we know it’s the rogue panthers. Omar showed the photograph I took of the man I saw to David, who said the man’s name was Drew,” said Ramona.
Serena thought hard. Drew and Charlie. They were the two who ran away. They never did anything stupid enough to get caught. David was Leticia’s half-brother and he’d been the head of the rogue panthers. But nowadays he was learning to be a builder with JB, Ramona and Omar’s mate. “JB’s still giving good reports of David, isn’t he? There’s no sign he’s going to ally himself with them again, is there?” Serena asked.
“Javier assures us David is reformed. He’s certainly a hard worker and a fast learner in the building trade.”
Javier was JB’s name. Ramona was the only person Serena had ever heard call him that. “And Sam?” Sam was Leticia’s paranoid father who’d shot her then tried to kill David with a knife. Serena didn’t like him at all even though he’d been their Alpha until Omar took over the job.
“Omar checked. Sam won’t be getting out of jail for a while yet. So at this stage it looks like just Drew and Charlie, but they may have help from some of the human members of their old pack. The ones not in jail for their latest stupid escapade, that is,” said Ramona.
“Two,” said Verity.
Serena just looked at her.
“There were two other humans who didn’t get caught when they broke into the movie studio. Autumn knocked one unconscious with her purse, and Nicholas and Curtis caught two each, but there were two more who got away. David told Nicholas and Curtis their names, but I can’t remember them now,” explained Verity.
“So a total of four rogue panthers left unaccounted for.” Ramona was tapping at her cell phone, already sending the information to Omar.
Serena almost giggled at the thought of Autumn hitting a bad man on the head with her purse. Admittedly it was a big purse and full of all sorts of things she used for her craftwork, but still it was funny. She didn’t dare look at Verity or she knew her twin would make her giggle. And it wasn’t really the best time to giggle. Her own life was currently an A-grade fucked-up mess, and now the rogue panthers were back to cause trouble. Armpits!
“Right. Let’s go up to the apartment. I take it you already have the key, Serena?” Ramona slid her cell phone back into her jeans pocket and took the handle of the suitcase she’d brought into Serena’s office.
“Is that my clothes? I’ll take it if you like,” said Verity.
“It might be better if you lead the way to the elevators. You know your way around here much better than I do,” replied Ramona.
Verity hurried to the elevator and pressed the call button. When it came, Serena swiped a keycard over a sensor inside the elevator so it would go up to the penthouse floor. She had to swipe it again to make the door open for them to exit and to enter their apartment, the smallest one on the floor but more than adequate for the two of them.
The view was quite pretty with the different-colored lights shining brightly, but Serena felt it might be wiser to keep the drapes shut at night. The bedroom had two double beds, the bathroom was fitted with a tub as well as a shower, and there was a tiny sitting room with a microwave oven, a bar refrigerator, a small table, and a giant TV. “It’s like a rather nice hotel room,” said Verity.
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Ramona nodded. “All right, I’d better go. JB and Frank will be tired of waiting for me. Come down to security with me. I brought you a box of food and left it there because I didn’t want the men inside the building. They’re needed outside to keep watch for the rogue panthers. I’m glad to see the microwave oven in your apartment because you’ll be able to warm things up and eat a hot meal without having to go downstairs to the staff lunchroom.”
“I’m glad you brought the men with you. I don’t know how safe it is out there right now,” said Verity.
“It might be wise for you both to stay inside for the next few days, at least until we know exactly what’s going on with the rogue panthers,” said Ramona.
“Bloody hell, yes,” agreed Serena. She grabbed the keycard and they went down to the ground floor. Serena could see Frank, an older panther, standing near the main entry waiting for Ramona. They watched him walk her to Omar’s truck, then one of the security guards lifted the box of food Ramona had brought them from behind the desk.
“Wow. It’s huge,” said Serena.
“I’ll carry it up to the apartment for you,” offered the guard, a burly man with a head covered with iron-gray hair.
There was a loaf of bread, fresh-baked blueberry muffins, a container of rich, creamy tomato soup, apples, oranges, bananas, yoghurt, and, wrapped in several layers of aluminum foil, a lasagna. There was butter, cheese, and peanut butter to go on the bread, and a Ziploc bag of baby spinach leaves to go with the lasagna.
“Wow. There’s more than enough food here for several days,” said Verity.
“Just as well, I’m starving. Do you want the soup tonight or the lasagna?”
“Decisions, decisions. Maybe the soup and we can have some of the fresh bread with it as well,” suggested Verity.
As they ate they chattered away and it was just like old times when they’d been alone together as girls, teenagers, and young women. But of course it was different. They were all grown up now and their lives were more complicated. Serena was content living with her pack and happy with the choice of the BDSM community as their refuge. She was quite enchanted with the BDSM lifestyle and had no doubts she was a sub. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have wants and needs and that her men could walk all over her.
Pete was a Dom and she knew he would see to her sexual needs. The two men had certainly more than fulfilled her last night. But she had mental needs as well, and one of them was to be accepted, appreciated, and loved. Would Pete and Josh be able to fulfill her head and heart as well as please her body? Did they even want her as more than a fuck buddy? That was the huge question, the elephant in the room with them as they talked and ate.
“You’re ready to talk now, aren’t you?” asked Verity. They both knew it was a rhetorical question. They understood each other so well.
“The sex was wonderful, but it’s not enough. I love them and I need to know that they love me, too. I’m not a sex toy or a doormat. I won’t be just something they play with in the dungeon or a woman they get their rocks off with when they have needs. I don’t want fuck-buddies. I need mates.”
“They said something about women who knew it was just for fun. Can you remember exactly what they said to you?” asked Verity.
Serena thought hard. “Josh said, ‘We’ve only ever fucked panthers, and they always knew it was a fun thing, not a meaningful relationship.’ At the time I assumed he meant what we had was a meaningful relationship, but after last night, I’m not sure anymore.”
“The sentence didn’t start with something like ‘in the past’ or ‘before we met you’ or anything like that, did it?”
“No, but it was in the context of talking about the past though. They did say they hadn’t fucked anyone else while we’ve been dating. Well, if you can call what we
’ve been doing dating. A few dances at our birthday party and some talks and walks sometimes. Some rather nice kisses, and they have been caring and attentive to me. They also said Omar had sent them out to the north ridge on guard duty quite a few times, too, which meant they weren’t available to date anyone. So, I don’t know.”
Verity screwed up her nose and nodded. “Yes, what they said could mean anything, pretty much. I’m sorry.”
Serena nodded. “I truly believed they were just waiting for me to turn twenty-one so we could have a full relationship. I thought that was a clear sign of how loving and caring they were, waiting to fulfill the letter of the law, instead of rushing in a month or two early. It hurts. It really hurts. But I’d much rather know now than later. Mating’s permanent. If I end up making a mistake, I’m stuck with it for my whole life.”
“But you liked the sex?”
“Bloody hell, yes.”
Serena hugged her sister. Together they could face anything. And if the men only wanted a fuck-buddy, maybe she could get used to the idea of fucking them while waiting for her real Prince Charming to ride up on his white horse. Maybe.
* * * *
Five days of dismantling scene sets, huge, heavy painted wooden boards, then moving them and their equally heavy wooden supports onto trucks to be loaded and unloaded, stacked, and restacked in the store building. Five days of intense, heavy labor, sweating so much Pete needed to drink gallons of water even though the temperatures were in the thirties.
But at the end of those five days all the outside scenes were completely dismantled, packed, numbered, and stored, ready to be reassembled in their new home.
Pete lay flat on the hard concrete floor, letting the delicious cold chill of it sink through the hot, sweaty skin of his bare back.
“Congratulations. I didn’t think we’d finish it all so fast. For a kitty cat you’re not a bad worker,” teased Nicholas.
