by Jo Penn
Milson Valley 3
The Coolest Prince of Cats
Chane Taunton is running out of time. He’s not a warrior. He’s a monk…well, ex-monk. And herbalist. Neither qualifies him to capture a deranged vampire. Unfortunately, to keep his brother and friends safe, he must try. He just has to set the right trap. Of course, this is made even more difficult with the arrival of his brother, Archie, who keeps following Chane from coven to coven spiking Chane’s drinks and placing himself in danger.
When the trap fails, again, Chane is saved by a gorgeous, big feline shifter, Dominic Sanchez, who declares Chane is his mate. Due to an accident, Chane is unable to immediately scent the shifter as mate, but Dom is adamant and sets out to woo Chane, soothing the vampire’s many ruffles and discovering all his secrets.
With an assassin on the loose and gunning for them, Dom has his work cut out for him. Luckily he has a lot of crafty shifters and the mate pull on his side.
Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Paranormal, Shape-shifter, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 38,237 words
THE COOLEST PRINCE
OF CATS
Milson Valley 3
Jo Penn
EROTIC ROMANCE
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at
[email protected]
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove
THE COOLEST PRINCE OF CATS
Copyright © 2016 by Jo Penn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-68295-546-8
First E-book Publication: October 2016
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2016 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of The Coolest Prince of Cats by Jo Penn from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Jo Penn’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Jo Penn’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
To Ami.
You have provided the confidence and happiness. You inspire.
Love, forever and always. xo
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author
THE COOLEST PRINCE
OF CATS
Milson Valley 3
JO PENN
Copyright © 2016
Chapter One
“How much more do you have on that list?”
Prince Dominic Sanchez of the Sanchez pride tapped his knee impatiently, endeavoring not to glare at Glenn, one of his three assistants. The cougar was always trying to slip additional meetings and sessions into Dominic’s already hectic schedule that, these days, he felt the need to triple-check his diary every hour just to make sure nothing else had been added.
Not that Dominic wanted to get out of work. No, he was more the quality rather than quantity type when it came to business. Socially, he was happy to mix it up a bit.
Glenn met him glare for glare, and with narrowed eyes, tapped the tablet screen a few times before holding it up and pointing at the schedule.
“See.”
Dominic did see and produced his own tablet with the schedule he’d saved from an hour ago. Snatching Glenn’s tablet and eliciting a screech of outrage and a barrage of nonsense, he compared the two schedules and gave a low, deep growl.
“I knew it! You’ve been changing the schedules!”
Glenn tossed up his hands and turned beet red in outrage. “I’m in charge of scheduling! I cannot believe you’re double-checking—”
“Triple-checking, dude.”
His assistant was speechless for a moment before the feline began ranting and bemoaning the fact he was assigned to Dominic and not to Emile, Drake, or even the king, or Baron. Dom simply yawned and lounged back in the limousine’s luxurious seat. The next five minutes while Glenn sulked, Dominic meticulously went through the entire schedule and began highlighting the add-ons, and then went a step further and highlighted five other points on the schedule.
“Now, Glenn.” He smiled, enjoying the overly efficient and take-charge cougar’s discomfort. “I’ve told you before that I don’t like rushing through my appointments. Each creature I see shouldn’t be made to feel like I’m just giving them cursory attention. That’s what causes insults and offenses, and has me running interference and mediation between parties. We don’t need that as it takes months out of my schedule, doesn’t it?”
Glenn paled at the thought and literally rung his hands. Dominic paused over that and then went ahead and made a note in his personal diary for his personal assistant, Deirdre, to arrange a time for the cougar with one of the counselors at the Sanchez Clinic. The cougar had a few issues, and working for Dom was obviously exacerbating them.
“Okay, I get your point, sir. I just try to fit in as much as possible. You’re very busy and popular—”
“Doesn’t matter. Quality over quantity. I have consultants and advisors who are well able to deal with three quarters of these matters you have me scheduled for.” He passed Glenn’s tablet with the highlighted items for the c
reature to see. “Go ahead and assign the highlighted items to each of my consultants as they have specific specialties that will simplify distributing the workload.”
Glenn hemmed and hawed and spent the entire trip systematically trying to get Dom to change his mind and, when he didn’t, begrudgingly reassigned appointments. The cougar had issues, major ones, and needed some help with that, but Dom rather liked the big, anxious creature and felt it would be good for Glenn to deal with issues rather than being reassigned and feeling like a failure.
“What are we doing here again?” he asked as they arrived at the Durand coven’s wrought iron gates.
“You are mediating a land deal between the Durand coven and the Starters pack over the unclaimed Johnson land.”
“Ahh, that’s right, thanks.”
“It said in the statement that the Johnsons were witches. That may mean the Armstrong witch and wizard coven may actually have first rights to the land.” Glenn had calmed down and showed what he was good at. Considering details, researching, and lateral thinking.
Dominic nodded, smiling, pleased his newest assistant was beginning to get into the swing of things.
“True, a very good point. One I shall be bringing up and have mentioned to Esmeralda of the Armstrong coven.”
“Oh. Okay…what did Esmeralda say?” Glenn ducked his head, flushing, and tried to look innocent and uninterested.
Yeah, his scent was giving off enough lust and need vibes to down an elephant shifter. Dominic chuckled and lowered the partition between the front of the limousine and the back.
“She agreed and has arranged a representative from the Armstrong coven to be present at the meeting. It is in the meeting agenda.” Dominic nudged the young cougar with his elbow and wiggled his brows. “You should ask her out.”
“What?!” the cougar screeched, Dom wincing from the ear-piercing noise. “No! I mean, no, no, sir, I mean, she seems nice. I have only spoken to her on the phone—”
“Hey, calm down, it’s cool. She’s dropping by next week for the annual interspecies assistants gathering. You’ll get to meet her then.” He frowned when he heard the driver, Marty, snap into the intercom. “Problem, Marty?”
“Yeah, Dominic, these assholes say we’re not on the schedule and to come back in an hour.”
“Nooooo! I quadruple-checked the times. I did! I didn’t mess it up, I promise—”
“Hey, chill.” Dominic patted the hapless, frazzled assistant on the back and retrieved his phone from where he’d flung it at the beginning of the drive. His younger sister Melody had been ringing every few minutes to complain about the weather. She didn’t like drizzle. It irritated her cat. It irritated Dominic’s cat to be told that every few minutes, so he’d tossed the phone and ignored the ringing.
He had twenty-five missed messages, fifteen of them Melody, five of them his mother—probably to chastise him for ignoring his sister. The rest a mix of different callers. He blissfully ignored them all and put a call through to the Durand coven.
“Bonjour, this be Durand coven, who assist?”
Dominic just about melted at the sound of that heavy, thick French accent mangling the English language. Surprisingly, his heart rate sped up, his hands got clammy, his grip on the phone tightened so much the device exploded and all his blood rushed south to his groin, which stood to attention and waved.
Holy crap! What was that?! Releasing his phone, which was now in pieces across the limousine, he turned to Glenn, who was wide-eyed and edging away nervously. Which was weird to see. The cougar was six foot four and built like a linebacker in human form, yet acted like a nervy little maiden.
“Phone,” Dom ordered.
“Oh, ah, s-sorry, I left it in the trunk.”
Dominic was stumped. “In the trunk? What the fuck? How does that help?”
“I don’t know! I panicked. Marty was being a dick and wouldn’t open the trunk, and you were ready to go, and Lord above, I’m going to die from the lust pheromones you’re giving off!”
“Yeah, what’s with that? Did you suddenly realize Glenn looked good, or did you spot a hot piece of ass outside?” Marty turned around and asked. “By the way, they’re not letting us in, uptight iceberg assholes.”
Marty had always had a way with words. It was amusing, but right now, Dominic had other things on his mind. Using his gift of soothing on himself and Glenn, Dominic took a few moments to find his center before picking up the limousine phone and dialing the Durand coven number.
“Hi! This is the Durand coven. The best coven in the world! Leave a message after the beep.”
There was no beep. There was a disconnect dial tone. Again, Dominic was stumped and glared at the phone. And if he weren’t mistaken, that overly cheerful, high-pitched, ever-so-slightly feminine voice on the message bank belonged to the youngest Durand royal, Tyler, who was currently at the Sanchez Compound being taught some self-defense. And, if possible, how to stop acting like a spoiled little brat. Dominic didn’t really believe it was possible. The cub was too cute to be true and screamed bloody murder if the trainers managed to touch him during the classes. Plus, his mama, the vampire queen, doted on him, which didn’t help toughen him up.
“Fine, fine, let me talk to them.”
As it happened, he had to climb out of the limousine and go to the intercom as the limousine was so long it couldn’t go any farther forward without hitting the gate. Dominic grinned over that, even though his blood was pumping and reminding him he really wanted to get inside and hunt down the creature with the soft, accented voice. Something about it just tickled all his senses in a way that’d never happened before, and as it was so unusual and had such an extreme effect on him, Dominic was sure as Hades going to pay attention and seek out what had caused that reaction.
Pressing the intercom button as Glenn was scrambling to gather their belongings from the limo, he thought it was rather funny that he was standing there trying to be let in for a job he wasn’t all that bothered about doing, for he knew he’d end up copping flak from whichever side lost out on the land dispute.
Realizing this, he removed his finger from the intercom.
“Okay, fine. I’m letting them in,” a surly voice grumbled over the intercom. “Hi, drive on through.”
Marty, the bastard, shot the limousine forward as soon as the gate opened and left Dominic behind. For a moment, he thought of walking away and finding a café, or even popping across the road to the Aston Estate—they always had good coffee on hand—but the damn Starters representative arrived behind him.
“You traveling light these days, Dominic?” Trekk Croggen of the Starters wolf pack grinned out of his big, beat-up, old truck window.
“Apparently Marty didn’t have time to wait for me to get back in the car.” Dominic smirked, and with a laugh from Trekk, one of about a dozen bears who were part of the local wolf pack, followed the truck inside the Durand vampire coven.
Vampires were a testy, sarcastic, and often snobbish bunch, but also fun when they wanted to be. While the witches and wizards tended to be pleasant, but were easily startled. They also held grudges, but could also be rather fun at times. The wolves were down-to-earth, opinionated, energetic, and stubborn. Dominic had learned a long time ago that each paranormal group had their very own way, their own behavior, that was particular to them, and had their good and bad. He wasn’t prejudiced against any. He enjoyed each and got irritated by each, even his own kind, feline shifters.
Vamps, of course, took their superior attitude and snobbishness to an entirely new level, especially the Durands. Ever since Dominic’s older littermate, Drake, the Crown Prince of the Sanchez pride, had mated to Lord Xavier Dalton, royal cousin to the ruling vamp family, the Durands had become a bit more relaxed around the felines and didn’t stir them nearly as much as they used to. Unlike the gargoyles, which the vamps constantly just rubbed the wrong way just for the hell of it. Vamps had a warped sense of humor.
Speaking of Xavier, the stunning
vampire opened the coven doors wide and inclined his head in greeting to Trekk, a nearly seven-foot bear shifter who was also a genius and lazy ass, then smiled at Dominic and Glenn.
“I didn’t know you were here today.” Dominic helped Glenn by taking one of the briefcases.
“Oh, ah, I forgot to mention it.” Glenn flushed. “Sorry, Prince-mate Xavier.”
Xavier smiled at the hapless assistant, which made Glenn turn even redder and stumble up the stairs. “Quite all right, Glenn. We are in the second conference room, gentlemen.”
“Where would staff who monitor the front gates be situated, Xavier?” Dominic asked curiously.
Xavier paused from turning to lead the way. “Among the administration offices. Were the admin staff being difficult again, Dominic?”
Dominic grinned and shrugged. “Probably, but it’s in jest, so no harm, no foul. So which way?”
Xavier was one cool, stunning creature. Dominic had known the diplomat and High Council associate for approximately twenty years before Xavier had mated Dom’s older littermate, Drake, the lucky son of a bastard. Before that, Dominic hadn’t bothered much with vamps. He wasn’t averse to spending a bit of time with them, but he preferred creatures who were a bit jollier, and warmer, not prone to offense and icy when irritated. These days, being around Xavier so much, and with his cousins constantly dropping in unannounced and hanging around, Dom was much more used to the cool creatures and actually found them intriguing. They weren’t really cold and easily offended—well, okay, they were, but they had reasons for that, and others stereotyped them.
