Driving Force

by Andrews, Jo

“How do you know that a portal to the other world opened?” Abel Painter asked sharply, coming forward from the back of the room, still in his Castleton PD uniform.

  “Because the guy who came through cried challenge on me.”

  “Son of a bitch,” muttered someone. “The old ways still exist back there, then.”

  “Challenge, huh?” said Abel, rubbing a hand uneasily back and forth over the top of his brush-cut golden-brown head. “Then he’s lion, obviously. But you didn’t fight him.”

  “We weren’t gonna let that happen,” growled Maud Lowe, Kurt’s second-in-command, her eyes flashing momentarily red in the fluorescent lights as she thrust back the heavy fall of her tawny hair. “No way, no day. The pride said fuck off.”

  “Not done,” said Ian. “Refusing to fight is to default and surrender the pride. Dad told me that once. His grandma told him.”

  “Like we’d let some stranger take over as clan lord! We told the moron the pride won’t leave Kurt. He didn’t like that. Called it interfering. But we don’t know anything about him and he doesn’t know the way things operate around here. That was easy to see.”

  Ian shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way. Not knowing anything about him wouldn’t have mattered in the old days. That’s the way they kept from getting inbred. Newcomer kills the previous lord and takes over the pride. The way he sees it, you’re breaking the rules.”

  “Those rules don’t apply here!” snapped Maud.

  “How old is this guy?” Abel asked.

  “See, that’s just it. He’s not a kid. This isn’t a case of some adolescent getting his hormones running and going and attacking the nearest pride-lord.”

  “Then what’s he like?”

  “Big. Midthirties. Black hair. Has plenty of attitude.”

  Abel leaned forward, his eyes intent. “What’s he doing here? How’d he get through the Gate? Did you think to ask? Did someone open it for him or did he fall through by accident?”

  “In other words, did he jump or was he pushed?” murmured Ian, amused.

  Maud frowned. “You think he was kicked out of that world?”

  “That’s how a lot of our ancestors ended up here.”

  “Don’t need the old country dumping their problems on us,” growled Nick Korda in his deep, rumbling voice. “Got enough of our own.”

  Maud made an irritable gesture. “We asked. He didn’t say. Went off into a rant about how we’ve screwed up the natural order of things. Said this should all be pride country. The rest of you shouldn’t be around. Says we should drive you off.”

  Nick’s brows went up. “What’s the big? We’re all cats here. The closest wolf pack is four counties over.”

  “Should all be lion. No competition.” Maud grinned at him. “Like you, ti-grrr.”

  Nick cast a suddenly interested look at her and Maud leered at him. Kurt made an exasperated sound.

  “Do that later, you two. Worse, he didn’t like humans living in the same territory. Said there should be complete separation of the two species.”

  “Good luck with that, since it’s their world,” muttered Ian.

  Kurt nodded grimly. “We’re trying not to let them know we even exist and he wants us to muscle them off our turf. I tried to explain that it isn’t our turf. It’s theirs. They’re everywhere, except maybe Antarctica, and I personally don’t want to live there. And what kind of muscle does he think we have? There’s several billion of them and only a few thousand of us, scattered all over the globe. Even here in Castleton, where we’ve sort of collected, it’s still three thousand of them and fifty of us—twenty if he wants to count only the lions. Hassling humans is a nice way to commit suicide, especially with the weapons they can bring to bear.”

  “He didn’t listen, of course,” Maud said bitterly. “We told him if he went after even one of them as a human, he’d be called a murderer and have the cops after him, and if he went after them as a cat, he’d have every hunter in the state having the time of their lives. If he wants to be a rug on somebody’s floor, go ahead. Just don’t get us involved. We made it clear that if he even tried to hurt the humans, we’d take him out ourselves as a threat to the safety of our community. He called us traitors. Several nuts over fruitcake maximum, this Arrhan.”

  “Is that his name?”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “It’s the old ways,” Maggie said worriedly. “It’s like having some medieval baron turn up who’s never heard of the Magna Carta, so starts having conniption fits about the peasants having rights. He hasn’t made the adaptation. Who knows what kind of damage he’ll do before he learns to adjust?”

  Kurt frowned. “That wasn’t a stupid man I was talking to. I don’t know why he’s here, whether he fled through the Gate to avoid some threat or was cast through it by enemies. But now that he’s here, he’ll learn fast. Our granddaddies have told us that passage through the Gate gives one the ability to speak and understand and even read the new world’s language. If I were him, I’d read the newspapers, listen to the TV, do some research. It’s not some Viking berserker we’ve got here.”

  “Don’t discount Viking berserkers,” said Ian. “Before they flew off into that blind rage, they could be cunning as all hell.”

  Kurt looked around at the group. “That’s why I called you all here. I figured you should know what was happening. I have no idea how much trouble he can cause, but I want you to be careful, look out for each other. Look out for the humans as well. We don’t know what his intentions are and I don’t want anybody getting hurt. He’s a lion and that makes him Lowe responsibility. We’ll try to bring him in where we can talk, maybe get him to see the way things are. The rest of you keep your heads down and stay out of it.”

  “And hope that the Gate doesn’t open again anytime soon,” muttered Abel as the meeting started to break up, some of them leaving and some sticking around to socialize.

  Ian was thinking that maybe Arrhan was the lion who had sent Sierra off the road. Fresh out of the Gate, he wouldn’t have known about cars or how fast they could move.

  “You doing anything the rest of the night?” Nick purred at Maud.

  She grinned at him. “You…up for something, tiger? I’ve gotta bodyguard Kurt home, but then I’m all yours if you’re interested.”

  “Oh, I’m interested.”

  “Damn,” muttered Simon to Ian. “I had hopes in that direction.”

  “Try tomorrow.” Ian shrugged. “Maud’s favored us before. She will again.”

  “Don’t forget the cheetahs are having a ‘come one, come all’ tonight in that field behind Twyla’s place,” said Abel softly behind them. “All-nighter and it’s not even midnight yet.”

  “Lead on, MacDuff!” Simon grinned, misquoting happily.

  Ian went too. The cheetahs knew how to party and were the second largest clan after the lions. Their several unaffiliated females harbored a distinct preference for the Raeder boys that all three brothers had capitalized on in the past. Ian wasn’t interested in that right now, but the music, dancing and booze would provide a very pleasant distraction for the night.

  The Gevlin property was several miles out of town, which was a good thing since the blare of the music and the roar of so many voices would certainly have drawn complaints if there had been any neighbors. The property itself covered over a thousand acres, since cheetahs liked to run, but the house was set close to the highway and the party was being held just behind it in the open ground that stretched to the forest. They parked at the end of the slew of cars sprawled along the shoulder of the highway, then headed around the side of the house.

  “Humans here,” muttered a cheetah male as they passed him.

  That meant, “Don’t shift while they’re around.” No problem there. Cheetahs tended to throw a party whenever they felt like it and hadn’t cared that it wasn’t the weekend and tomorrow was a working day. The humans would leave or be encouraged to leave by two or three in the morning, then whatever Shi
fters remained—those who didn’t have to work the next day—could let the fur fly.

  The place was jammed with gyrating bodies and the Shifter DJ had turned both the bass and the volume up to the max so that the ground beneath their feet throbbed with the beat. From the looks of things, Ian estimated there must be over a hundred people there.

  Two cheetah females turned up in front of them and lifted their brows at Abel. “You here to make trouble, cop?”

  “Off duty,” Abel protested. “Swear!”

  They smiled and attached themselves to him, one on either side. “We’ll make sure of that.”

  Simon and Ian laughed as they watched him being led off, a huge grin on his face.

  “He’s set for the night, the lucky bastard,” said Simon. “Threesomes are fun. Where’s the bar?”

  “North by northeast.”

  Simon had barely enough time to grab a beer before being snatched into the middle of a bevy of energetic Shifter females. Ian shook his head at the hands reaching out to him and moved to lean on the end of the bar instead, sipping at his drink. He always preferred to case out his surroundings first.

  Then he saw her. Sierra.

  Dancing to the music, the black silk of her hair whipping around her shoulders and her lithe body gyrating to the beat. She was dressed in black leather leggings that could have been painted on and a silky pink top that was nothing but a bib with spaghetti straps crossing her otherwise naked back.

  The beer bottle in his hand splintered under the sudden tightening of his grip. He dropped the pieces behind the bar and wiped his hand off on the rag the bartender tossed him.

  High school Sierra would never have worn something like that. High school Sierra would never have come to a party as wild as this, or laughed and flirted like this, or moved like this, sexy and sensual.

  Looked as though she’d learned a lot in Arizona. And he wanted to kill whatever creep had taught it to her. Also the guys, both human and Shifter, who were surrounding her now with predatory looks on their faces.

  He felt the points of his fangs suddenly prick the sides of his lower lip. He yanked them back in with an effort. None of his business who had taught her or even whom she had come with tonight.

  “Hey, baby.” Twyla Gevlin wound an arm around his neck. “Having fun?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Who you looking at? Found your target for the night?” She followed his gaze. “Oh, no, no, no, Ian. Lay off. Just for one night. I want this to be a nice, friendly party, not a cat fight. And that’s what it turns into whenever you and Sierra Wallace are anywhere near each other. The whole town knows that.”

  “Not gonna do nothing. Who’d she come with?”

  “Cassie.”

  Well, that made sense and made him feel a little better. Cassie ran the art gallery that sold Sierra’s work. But Cassie was a Shifter.

  “Does she know…?”

  “Nah. Not a clue that Cassie’s a cheetah. But they get along, so Cassie brought her.”

  Someone grabbed Twyla’s hand and pulled her away into the throng. She went, laughing and already moving to the beat.

  “Remember, Ian!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Play nice!”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  But that didn’t mean he couldn’t watch Sierra. So he did, leaning against the bar. Then people got in the way and he lost sight of her. Which was when he found himself stalking her through the crowd. Found himself getting closer and closer, unable to keep away. Ended up right behind her, a millimeter from her back.

  That top didn’t allow for a bra. Looking down at her, he could see the points of her nipples through the silky material and the way her breasts moved as she danced. He wanted to feel them moving against him, wanted to feel them crushed against his chest.

  Her hair flew outward, brushing like caressing fingers across his face, and his dick went as hard as a rock.

  Chapter Two

  “Well, look at you,” said an all-too-familiar voice behind her and Sierra spun.

  When Cassie had suggested she come along to the party, she hadn’t even thought that Ian Raeder might be here. And of course she should have. He was a party animal, wasn’t he? She felt like kicking herself.

  “There goes my night,” she muttered.

  “That’s one hell of an outfit, Mouse.”

  His face was alight with that vivid mocking laughter that she hated because it always meant he was in the mood for what he called playing and she called cutting her up.

  “Thanks,” she said defiantly. “So glad you approve.”

  “Pink. I like pink on you.”

  “I’ll have to remember never to wear it again.”

  The pointed corners of his lips indented in amusement. “And here I’m trying to be friendly.”

  “Friendly. Yeah, right.”

  “I was trying to pay you a compliment, Mouse. No hidden agenda. Is that so hard to believe? Nothing to come back and bite you in the ass later. Well, except me,” he added and grinned, long creases slashing down the flat planes of his cheeks. “Just saying I like the way you look.”

  And she liked the way he looked in his usual black tee and black jeans, which contrasted so effectively with his pale gold hair. So sexy, dammit. And she wasn’t going to think about that anymore.

  “Well, thanks,” she said stiffly.

  He was too close and the crush surrounding them kept her from stepping away. She could feel the warmth of his body, smell his clean scent, see the pulse beating in the hollow of his throat and a muscle ticking oddly at the corner of his jaw.

  “Arizona taught you a lot. How to dress, how to dance…” His voice dropped into a lazy, raspy purr that she felt right down in her womb. “How to be a woman.”

  Her insides melted. God! Was she easy or what? Instinctively she recoiled, her walls coming up.

  “How not to be the geek that I was,” she snapped. “Yeah, I’ve changed. Pity I can’t say the same about you.”

  “No, I don’t change. But you haven’t changed either, Mouse. Not really. You’ve just let what was already there inside come out.”

  She frowned at him, bewildered. “What?”

  “The outside matches the inside now, Mouse. You were hot at eighteen, didn’t you know? I saw it when you went to your prom. But then you pulled back and never let it come out again.”

  Had she done that? She had felt beautiful on the night of the prom. But she had never really believed it was for more than just that one night and so, yes, she had pulled back. Peter had preferred it that way. Peter had wanted an adoring disciple, not an equal, not a competitor who might outshine him.

  She had learned to be herself in Arizona, had spread her wings. And now here was Ian Raeder saying…

  Wait. Was he saying he found her hot?

  She caught her breath. But this was Ian Raeder and she didn’t trust him an inch.

  He was looking down at her, his eyes dark and smoldering. It sent shivers down her spine, made her acutely uneasy, that intense, focused stare.

  “I’m sorry for what I said in the car.”

  She flushed, remembering what he had said. “Sure you are.”

  “I had no call to say it.”

  “When has that ever stopped you?” she snapped and turned to push her way free of the crowd. Then she was jerked up short as he hooked a finger through the waistband of her leggings and pulled her back.

  “Sierra, wait.”

  She struck out behind her at his hand. “Let go!”

  He released her hastily. “Look, I’m trying to apologize here!”

  “No, you’re not. You’re just setting me up for something.”

  “No! Stop. Just stop, okay?”

  Sierra found herself hesitating. She scowled at him. “Why?”

  “I know things have been lousy between us and it’s mostly my fault. Can’t we start over? Start fresh?”

  The worst thing was that she wanted to. Wanted it desperately. But she couldn’t trust him not to pu
ll the rug out from under her.

  “Dance with me,” he said.

  Oh, no, no. They were playing a slow dance. It was far too much of a risk. God, she had always wondered what it would feel like, that damn sexy, gorgeous bod against hers. The trouble was, she was sure to become addicted to it, because the man was addictive, went to her head like a drug. She stared at him stonily in silent negation.

  He shrugged ruefully. “Then let me buy you a drink.”

  “No.”

  “We could talk. Get to know each other. Baby steps.”

  Get to know him? But she didn’t want to know him. He was way too dangerous to know.

  “Can’t we be friends?” he said quietly.

  Friends? Yeah. But it wouldn’t stay that way. She’d want more. And, knowing the man’s rep, he’d be quite happy to give her more. For a while. Oh, he knew how to play the game. He was a real pro at it. But she wasn’t, for all that she’d learned to stand on her own two feet. She was nowhere near his league.

  And then what would happen? She’d get dumped, that’s what. She had thought being dumped by Peter was bad. But it would be worse with Ian, because she wanted him a lot more than she had ever wanted Peter. She realized that now.

  “I don’t think it’s possible for us to be friends.”

  “Why not?”

  Because she was safe when they were fighting. When they were insulting each other and she could be angry at him.

  “You’re going to be staying in Wade County,” he continued. “That means we’ll be running into each other. Isn’t it better if we have a truce?”

  No, it wasn’t. A truce sounded so reasonable, but it would be disastrous for her. She didn’t dare to soften toward him. Not the least little bit.

  She shook her head decisively. “I don’t think so. Being friends is not an option. We make better enemies. I think it should stay that way.”

  “Listen…”

  “And we don’t have to keep running into each other.”

  “It’s a small town, Sierra. It’s inevitable.”

  “Nuh-uh. It won’t be. Because the minute I see you, I’m going to head in the opposite direction as fast as I can.” She gave him a cool, tight smile. “If you do the same, things will work out just fine.”