by Marie Harte
Todd shrugged. “Family. Just remind me to tell you about the competition. Birdie? Really? What an asinine name for a clothing line.” He snorted. “Their spokeswoman is bitchy and has no sense of style. She has an embarrassing taste in clothes, but she travels with an unstable-looking group of security. I don’t like it.”
“I’ll call you, and we’ll talk further.” Miles would. He didn’t like the sound of that name. What were the odds the raptors had decided to invade Miami and a new clothing business called Birdie had Todd running scared? More problems Miles didn’t need.
He hurried to the back, nodding at several acquaintances, a few old girlfriends—hell, one-night stands—and finally joined the private party area, normally restricted by the curtains, which remained open.
Unfortunately, Juan, Dresden and two other college cats stood toe-to-toe with… Miles took a deep whiff. Raptors. Shit.
He turned to the bartender and gave him a look. In seconds, the curtains closed in the back area, giving Miles and the other Shifters some much-needed privacy away from the prying eyes of the public. The loud techno beat of the DJ offered them seclusion from raised voices, and to his relief, Miles soon scented familiar bodies on the other side of the curtains. Two bouncers, both feline and much appreciated.
“What’s this all about?”
At the sound of his voice, the six men standing over four of his junior pride members turned to him. Tall, larger than most birds of prey and, as Todd had hinted, decidedly dressed not to impress, they didn’t say anything as they regarded him. But a female behind them spoke up.
“Move aside.”
The birds shifted to allow a hard-looking woman to step from the shadows. Dark hair, dark eyes and a nice body clad in an obscenely tight one-shoulder jersey dress made him cringe. Givenchy with a touch of trash, he couldn’t help thinking.
“I’m Lisette. We stopped in for a drink. But lo and behold, these kitties didn’t want to play nice.” She glowered at Juan and Dresden.
“Lady, just because we didn’t want to get pawed by some old hag with talons doesn’t mean we aren’t nice.” Dresden looked down his nose at her. “Your dress is two sizes too tight.” Dresden had an apprenticeship with Bermin Beauty, so of course he thought he knew more than the average cat. Working with Miles’s people, he did. But still, the snotty sentiment was guaranteed to offend.
Sure enough, Lisette scowled. She walked to Dresden and kneed him in the balls too quickly to be stopped.
Dresden went down hard, and Miles felt for him.
“Lisette, I apologize for Dresden. Boys, out.” He nodded toward the exit, and the felines took Dresden with them and darted past the curtains, leaving Miles and seven annoyed birds to deal with. “However, that said, you touch one of my pride again, I’ll pull your feathers out one by one,” he promised in his most pleasant voice.
She blinked at him then smiled. “Or course. I should have known by the golden head and pretty face. Miles Bermin. Now isn’t this lucky?” She laughed, and he likened the throaty chortle to a vulture’s call. “I was hoping to get word to you, and here you are.”
He just stared at her, and her smile turned into a frown.
“So you know, cat, there’s a new group in town. We raptors plan to set up shop. There are near to five hundred of us in the area right now, not counting the hundreds more up north. Eagles, vultures, falcons, owls—we’ve got ’em all. All of us versus you hundred or so pussies. So this is your heads-up to get lost, kitty cat. The birds are here to stay.”
“May I ask where you came from?”
She narrowed her eyes at him, probably wondering why he hadn’t immediately rejected her claim. “From Maryland. We outgrew our aerie up there. Planned to head south, and with you guys having problems, we figured we’d clean up the nonsense and settle in. Besides, we like Miami.”
Another consequence of Lex’s coup. Now other Shifters though Miami was up for grabs. Terrific.
“Good weather for flying,” one of her hulking minions offered.
“And for fishing.” His friend nodded.
“Yes, and for hunting fowl.” Miles smiled, showing bright white teeth. He wished like hell he could grow claws and fangs and bite through the bullies, but Ac-taw were either man or animal, not both. Rarely during a change could a Shifter make use of claws before turning fully animal.
“So you’re not planning to go out easy then.” She smiled, and he noted the lines she tried to hide with makeup and…Botox? “Good.”
“You know, you have a natural beauty.” He frowned in thought, amused when she blinked at him in surprise. “You shouldn’t try to hide your age—which isn’t working for you, by the way—but embrace it. You have really nice bone structure, but that haircut is framing your face all wrong. And that dress… Dresden was right. It’s as least a size too small for you. Get a larger dress and enhance your form. Don’t flaunt it.”
Her confusion turned to rage, and she took a step closer to him, her thugs closing in. “You bastard. Don’t you dare tell me how to dress. I don’t care how much money or clout you think you have. We raptors are here now. Your time is through. I gave you this warning as a courtesy, against my brother’s wishes, but I can see I was mistaken. Bill? Henry? Help our host out on his ass. Oh, and we’ll be drinking for free tonight and every night after this. I did my research. I know you pussies own the place.”
Before he could slug Bill’s oversized jaw, kick at Henry’s limp and prepare to disable the others before the bouncers intruded, the curtains parted and sex on a stick walked in. A sweet, sultry perfume of feminine feline at its finest.
Zoe, damn her hide, entered swinging her hips in an excuse for a minidress that practically dared him to bend her over and see just what color thong she wore. Jesus.
Focus, moron. Deal with these assholes first, Zoe after.
“Lisette. How good to see you,” she said in a low voice.
He stepped back, keeping himself between an advancing Zoe and the birds.
“Zoe Castille? Still alive? Too bad. I didn’t realize you’d made it out of that shithole excuse for a club in Baltimore with your face intact.” Lisette smiled through what looked like capped teeth, and Miles wanted to put his fist through her face. The thought that she might have hurt Zoe in the past put his every protective instinct on alert. “How’s your bitch of a mother?”
Miles sucked in a breath. If Zoe was even an inkling of the same girl she’d been years ago, that comment wouldn’t go down well. And it didn’t.
Zoe didn’t blink. One moment she stood just behind Miles, and the next she had a beautifully manicured hand wrapped around Lisette’s throat while she delivered two rapid blows to the woman’s face.
He heard a bone break and saw blood spurt from Lisette’s nose. He stared in shock, not having anticipated an all-out brawl between the women. Lisette’s men stood frozen as well, seemingly not sure what to do.
“Now listen, you vulture,” Zoe said in a low voice. He wasn’t sure if vulture was an insult or the truth. Lisette could very well be a devourer of carrion. “This is our space, our territory and our bar. You aren’t welcome in it anymore. And just so you know, we would rather eat your little chicken heart raw than allow any raptors to run Miami.”
“Everyone with a brain knows this is cat central, bitch. So take your men out with you and run crying back to Brian. Tell him the kitties were mean, and that I still have a picture of his naked ass hanging out the window of my limo. If he doesn’t want that plastered all over my Twitter feed, he’d better keep you close.” Then she glanced at Bill and smiled. “Hey, sweetie. You’re looking good. And so are the rest of you.”
To Miles’s astonishment, the thugs smiled back at her and began talking about her time in Baltimore. They fucking missed her? Lisette tried to screech at her but Zoe’s grip on her throat made her curses too weak to be more than gasps for breath.
“Zoe?” he said, proud of his calm voice. “Why don’t you let your friends take her back ou
t of here. Then you and I can discuss what’s what, hmm?”
She glanced over her shoulder at him and shrugged. “Sure thing, great pride leader.” She tossed Lisette back at Bill. “Hold on, guys.” Zoe moved to the curtains granting them privacy, said something to the bouncers, then stepped back. “I know we’ll be seeing you later in less-than-friendly circumstances. Sorry for that, but this isn’t going to go down well if you try to take our territory.”
Bill and the guys looked disappointed but resigned. “Guess we’ll see you later.” He turned to glare at Miles. “You too, asswipe.”
Him they insulted, but not Zoe, who’d punched their boss in the face…twice?
“Whatever. You heard her. Take your big ass out.”
Bill’s face flushed as he and the others assisted a now-weeping Lisette outside the partition.
“James?” Miles called to the closest bouncer. “See that they get an escort outside and double the security. No raptors in the house tonight. If you find any others, cart them outside as well.”
“Gotcha,” James answered. “Oh, and Eddie’s seeing to the kids. Dresden is no longer limping.”
“Good. Zoe and I aren’t to be disturbed. At all.”
“Sure thing, Miles.” James chuckled before the curtains closed once more. Then his and the other bouncer’s footsteps faded.
Before he lost control of the situation, Miles turned back around and advanced on Zoe. “What the hell was that?”
She smiled at him, apparently not realizing the enormity of the situation. “Oh. Lisette’s a crazy bitch. Everyone up north knows it.”
“You two have a history, I take it?” Who the hell was Brian, and why was Miles jealous that Zoe had a picture of his naked ass?
“You could say that. Lisette’s brother Brian made a move on me. It happened years ago, but she carries a grudge. I turned him down, but not before snapping a picture of his lily-white ass hanging out of my limo, while he begged me not to throw him from the vehicle. And that picture wasn’t easy. I had to angle through and over the sunroof to get it. But what a memory.” She chuckled.
“What exactly were you doing in raptor territory?” Unwillingly fascinated by this nugget of her history, he crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
She shrugged, and her dress rose the barest inch higher up her supple thighs. “I don’t remember exactly. Mama was visiting friends in Richmond, and I wandered up to visit the birds. Wanted to see how raptors lived. They’re pretty boring. All gossipy and annoying.” She looked at him from under her lashes and added in a sultry voice, “Though Bill and the guys were more than fun.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Zoe closed the distance between them and licked her lips, a breath away. “We partied into the night on several occasions.”
“Is that right?” He refused to reach out and touch her, not while his temper and jealousy reared their ugly heads.
“Uh-huh.” Zoe, unwisely, taunted him by putting a hand on his chest. “We’d shut the bars down, then head back to their place for more…fun.”
He’d had enough. The heat that existed between them grew boiling hot. Miles pounced. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back against the bar, caging her between the ledge and his body. Then he grabbed her hands and put them on the counter behind her, holding her tight.
“You don’t come between me and a fight again,” he growled. “I don’t give a shit if it’s between me and your mother. You got that?” She could have been hurt, and that enraged the fuck out of him.
“Please. What will you do if I disobey, great pride leader? You gonna beat me?”
He heard the excitement, smelled her lust and called on every ounce of discipline inside him to make this a lesson she wouldn’t soon forget. “Oh, Candy. I’m going to do you one better.” He kissed her before she could say more and then he showed her just who was dominant, and who wasn’t.
Chapter Five
Zoe could honestly say she hadn’t been this excited in years. Miles kissed her so hard, with such ferocity, that she couldn’t think. Usually bent on controlling her lovers, easily managing their lust, she was finally caught in her own.
Punching Lisette had been so satisfying, but not more so than defending Miles. It felt right to put herself between him and the Turkey Vulture. She hadn’t liked the way Lisette made eyes at him any more than she’d liked the woman using her old friends to threaten him.
Too bad Bill and the others hadn’t gotten a backbone. In the five years since she’d seen them, it appeared they still kowtowed to whatever Lisette wanted. Brian was strong, but he had his hands full ruling the parts of Philadelphia the raptors had annexed. Even Oscar, Lisette’s mate, was little more than a figurehead. Everyone in raptor town knew Lisette ruled the roost.
At least in Miami, the cats finally had a pride leader who didn’t bow to anyone. Not even Zoe…
The idea of using Miles to get to the pride had occurred briefly, but Zoe couldn’t keep her wits about her when she was near him. Aroused and needy, she and her cat wanted Miles for personal reasons that had nothing to do with assuming leadership.
The hell of it was, her weird desire would make assisting the pride even harder, because Miles was a huge obstacle. The smart thing would have been to leave him alone and work around him, get the other members of the council and the pride itself to see how hard she would work for them, how much she had to contribute.
But she couldn’t ignore Miles. Only back two days now, and she had a hard time not thinking about the conceited asshole.
She moaned as he deepened the kiss. She wanted this cat between her legs. Fascinated didn’t begin to describe her strange feelings for the stubborn male. But his mouth, that tongue… He had her hands pinned to the bar counter behind her, his body holding her firmly down. And she could feel that massive erection digging into her belly. Thanking her intuition to wear a short dress with easy access and a thong that wouldn’t provide much in the way of a barrier, she ground against him.
When he came up for air, glaring down at her with fire in those gorgeous green eyes, she licked her lips and moaned his name. Men liked it when she acted so enthralled by their touch, but with Miles, she didn’t have to pretend. “That’s it, baby. Take my panties off. Unzip your pants and shove up into me. Come on.” She arched into him again, bordering on desperate to feel him inside her.
His mean smile startled her. “No. I said I’d do you one better.” He gripped her wrists hard, punishingly rough. “Don’t fucking move.”
The growl in his tone shocked her, because he sounded genuinely angry.
“But I—oh.”
He dropped to his knees, his hands still holding onto her, and nuzzled between her legs. She automatically widened her stance and sucked in a breath when he licked her through her panties.
So wet, she gave little resistance as he slid his mouth over her full clit. He licked and sucked, and she was gripping the counter without his hands over hers before she realized he’d let her go. But then he was pulling her thong to the side, and she let out her breath and bit her lip as she waited for him to rise to his feet and thrust inside her.
Except Miles glanced up at her, gave her another mean smile and fastened his mouth to her once more. He drew her flesh between his lips and teethed the sensitive nub until she wanted to scream.
And then she did scream as he sucked harder and shoved two fingers inside her. She came on a cry, pumping against his face while he teased an unending orgasm from her body.
She shook as she came down from her high, but the bastard wasn’t content to leave her alone. Instead, he growled and continued to eat her, pushing her into an uncomfortable, too-sensitive phase before shoving her headlong into another rise toward climax.
Somehow she’d totally lost control of the situation. “In me, Miles,” she panted while he continued to feast. She let go of the counter to pull his head away, but the moment her fingers touched the silk of his hair, she gripped his head and ground ag
ainst his lips in time with his tongue and teeth. His fingers grew more creative, dipping into her, painting her folds and rimming her anus as he toyed with her.
When he plunged his fingers deep in her channel and added a finger inside her ass, she saw stars.
“Not…again. With you, Miles. Please,” she heard herself beg. Pleading for him to push inside her, to ease the emptiness in her womb. But he didn’t listen.
Miles shoved his fingers deeper and nipped her clit, and she spasmed in one long orgasm that shook her to the quick. She was dimly aware of him pulling himself to his feet, of the quick kiss he gave her while he straightened her clothing.
“That’s right. I’m in charge, Candy. Not you. Next time, obey and maybe you’ll get what you were begging for,” he said with relish. Then he winked and strode past her, through the curtains and out of sight.
Zoe blinked, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Her panties were drenched, her wits scattered to the winds and her body still throbbed from the incredible release of not one, but two super orgasms.
When she finally realized what the sly cat had said and done, she swore, consigning the conceited feline to a hell of her making. Stalking out of the curtained area and to the nearest restroom, she entered a stall, ripped off her wet underwear and cleaned up as best she could. Then she tossed her panties in the trash and washed up, all the while scheming to get back at that bastard with the golden tongue.
Use sex to manipulate me, will you? I don’t think so.
Zoe still shuddered at the thought of him between her legs, but she also knew he hadn’t been unaffected. Had he come while eating her? Had he left with a hard-on he’d taken to another woman to finish?
