Craving Her (Keeping Her Series Book 4) (10 page)

“I think he actually
would like to know what your animal is,” Lucas said mildly enough.  “And now I
am wondering why the council has you hiding it.”

“Let’s say my animal to
call raises more problems when dealing with most packs, or prides, then it
solves.”  Now he turned grim, and the shutter that went down over his face
showed quite clearly that as closed and protected as he was, he had indeed let
his guard down marginally at Lionsgate.  He looked like he expected his next
words to get him summarily evicted, and like his name, it obviously wasn’t
something he usually revealed.  “I’m a wolverine.”

Shawn knew Stryker
expected more of a reaction by the way he tensed, his hands hovering at his
waist in preparation for battle.  But Logan just shrugged, and actually
relaxed.  “That answers that question.”

Since Stryker was looking
confused, Lucas gave him his own shrug.  “We have a wolverine in our pack.  Mac
was at the pack challenge.”

“I saw him,” Stryker said
carefully, his eyes going to each man with no expression on his face.  “I
assumed he was a hired enforcer of your own, there only for the challenge.”

“Mac is pack,” Lucas said,
his eyes flashing angry gold.  “A valued man.  I consider him, his co-mate, and
his mate family as much as my own children.  He is not a mutt I hired for added
muscle.”  Lucas looked both disgusted and offended.  “I do not hire muscle for
challenges,” he gritted out.  “We fight our own battles.”

Stryker stood perfectly
still as the lion raged, then he nodded his head with a new respect.  “I stand
corrected.  My apologies, but I have never seen a pack, or pride that allowed a
wolverine.”

“Now you have.”  Lucas
finished the simple statement with a bite that said the conversation was over.

“Why is Miley in danger?” 
Logan asked, his voice cutting the tension and getting right to it.

“She’s not,” Lucas said,
a new tension coming over him, this one infinitely more dangerous.  Looking
behind him, he made sure his mate had followed Cleo and Ian into the kitchen
and was out of earshot.  “The council wants a healer.  They can find their own.
”

CHAPTER TEN

Cleo did her best to
ignore Shawn who was sitting across from her all through breakfast.  That the
universe seemed to be pushing them together was both painful and bittersweet. 
But there he was, and on the far side of the table was the enforcer Stryker,
who was minding his manners enough to ignore the women in the room.  Though she
could feel his eyes on her occasionally.  It was brief enough none of the
overprotective males surrounding her could take umbrage.  Well, except Shawn,
who seemed to become grimmer with each brush of the enforcer’s eyes in her
direction.

“Anyone need anything
else?” Bernie asked from her kitchen territory.  “Then I’ll be leaving early
today.  See that you clean up.”  She spared the men a glare.  “And make sure
you rinse the dishes before they go into the dishwasher.”

“Paid enough for the
dishwasher it should rinse, wash, and burnish everything in gold before it’s
done.”  The mumble from Lucas had Bernie glaring his way.

“What was that?” she
asked with a touch of acid in the words.  “Not like anyone thinks you will
actually be demeaning your giant lion paws with good honest labor anyway.” 
Then she harrumphed and turned to go.

No one but the enforcer
batted an eye at her querulous statement.  They were used to it, and when Lucas
did not immediately roar and maul the upstart, he blinked and looked
thoughtfully at the rest of the pack.

“You have an interesting
dynamic in this pack,” he said dryly.

“Don’t we just,” Ian said
before he stuffed an entire piece of Bernie’s French toast in his mouth.

“Bernie’s family,” Miley
offered by way of explanation.

“Who isn’t?” Stryker
asked, looking at everyone around the table, his eyes hovering a little too long
on Cleo.

“You,” Shawn said coldly.
His food remained untouched before his crossed arms and intent stare.

Lucas looked him over
briefly but let it go.  It was not as if the statement were false.  Rude maybe,
but accurate.

Stryker looked at the
other man for a long minute before his lips curved into a sexy smile.  And Cleo
was not the only female at the table who noticed.  She heard her dad growl
before he pulled a staring Miley into his side.

“What?” Miley asked, her
eyes wide on her mate’s face with forced innocence.

Lucas just growled again
and she finally laughed, running her hand down his face before going back to
her breakfast.

“I’m beginning to wish I
was family,” Stryker said still smiling and unconcerned under Shawn’s gimlet
stare.  “I’ve never seen a pack quite like this.”

“You ain’t lying,” Ian
said, around another bite of French toast.

“You have no idea,” Cleo
said at the same time, shaking her head when Miley squealed under Lucas’
friendly wandering hands.

Cleo had to wonder if
this farce of a meal was ever going to end.  Between Shawn’s obvious
territorial pissing and her dad’s blatant grab ass, this was slowly
deteriorating into the most embarrassing way to meet a hot guy ever.  Not that
she was really interested.  He was smoking hot, true, but her lioness took one
look and yawned, moving her attention back to what really interested her. 
Shawn acting like a jealous mate.  Though for Cleo, knowing he was still all
set on denying it, the whole show was as maddening as it was satisfying, and
eventually she just wanted to find a quiet space and forget about her wildly
careening emotions for two minutes.

With the meal finally
over, her father escorted the enforcer out, dragging Miley along with them.  He
glared a warning Cleo’s way to
stay put!
  Everyone else had dispersed,
including Shawn, who she would have loved to give a firm talking to.  She was
headed back to the empty kitchen to commence with the cleaning, since
shockingly, her brother had disappeared along with the rest.

Or so she had thought
until she was grabbed unceremoniously and dragged into the side pantry.  At
this point, she had been grabbed one too many times, and since she knew exactly
who held her just from the touch and smell of him, she was more than ready to
end this farce.

“What do you think you’re
doing?” she asked Shawn who shoved her in and closed the door, taking all the
space between her and possible escape.  “Are you trying to get everyone in our
business? And what the hell is the jealous boyfriend crap?”

But he clearly had other
things on his mind.  “Stop flirting with him.”

She was speechless for a
whole minute.  “Are you kidding me?”

Shawn ground his teeth
and she could see his jaw harden under the abuse. “He’s dangerous and not for
you.”

“Are you actually trying
to keep me away from other men, when you made it clear you have no interest?”

“Not this guy,” he stated
implacably.

Cleo didn’t know whether
to draw her gun and shoot him or just scream her frustration really loud. 
Instead, she let her lioness play.  She crossed her arms and leaned
provocatively on one hip. “Why not?  He’s hot.”

He did not seem to
appreciate her opinion.  “That man deals death.”

“He’s taller than you,
too,” she added, her head tilted as she suddenly found humor in the situation. 
“I can wear heels and still look up at him.”

There went that jaw
again.  “You can wear heels with me.” His hands pushed her back and boxed her
into the corner of the pantry.  “And when do you wear heels anyway?”

She ignored that, enjoying
his proximity, the heat, and if she were honest, his frustration and anger.  “He’s
probably younger, too.  You did say numerous times I was too young for you.”

Shawn stayed quiet with a
great deal of effort, if the bulging arms that grabbed the shelves on either
side of her head were anything to go by.

“I think he’s probably
more muscled, too.”  Okay, that was probably a lie, but it was a good one.

“He is
not
more
muscled.  Whatever the fuck that means,” he ground out, moving even closer so
that his scent and heat surrounded her in the dimness of the pantry.  “Stay
away from him.”

She tilted her head and
studied his eyes that were glowing golden in the darkness.  “What’s it to you? 
You aren’t anything to me, remember?”

“I’m a pack-mate, and
pack-mates look after each other.”

She leaned closer until
their lips were barely a brush apart, then she met his eyes. She knew the heat
had built in hers with every second they were pressed in tight quarters, but
now they were full of more challenge than anything else.  “You are so full of
shit,” she said distinctly.  “Your mine and I’m yours and you fucking well know
it.”

***

That was the last straw
for this particular camel’s back.  The words were barely said before he reacted
to them. His lips hit hers with the force of his territorial instincts behind
it, his body pushing her back against the pantry shelves with such force things
crashed to the floor and she was going to have bruises tomorrow.  But that was
incidental to the passion she had unleashed in Shawn.  Because she had spoken
nothing less than the truth, and he did fucking well know it.

He didn’t think of what a
fucking hypocrite he was or all of the reasons he had convinced himself he
could not have her, and he just took.  In a second of tasting and touching,
hearing that sweet moan of breath along with his, he was positive that nothing
was going to stop him from taking her against the pantry shelves in her
childhood home.  But with a breath of sound, the door behind him was opened,
and with one hand on her ass and the other wrapped in her hair, while he kissed
her lips like a man starved for them, he still wasn’t sure he could stop.

“What the
fuck
?” 
Except her brother was not likely to give him a choice in the matter.  Pulled
away from Cleo, he turned with a hiss; he knew what Ian, and right behind him,
Logan, saw when they looked at him, because he could feel the feral creature he
had become shining out of his eyes.

“Back up, Ian,” Logan
warned, his eyes on Shawn.

“The fuck you say,” Ian
growled back, practically bristling in the small confines of the doorway, “that’s
my sister!”

“That’s his mate.”  Since
there was not a shred of doubt in Logan’s voice, Ian took a better look at
them.  Enough to see that Cleo was right at Shawn’s back, her arm had wrapped
around his chest, and she was all set to defend, as much as he was.

Ian blinked, seeing what
Logan saw.  “Holy Fucking Shit.”

The conversation was
finally penetrating, and Shawn could feel Cleo shaking at his back, holding him
to her and away from her brother.  Then the words sunk in and he realized that
no one was attacking.  He relaxed enough that everyone could breathe a little
easier.

Then, before they could
all be adults about it, Ian started to smile his naughty troublemaking smile. 
Shawn heard Cleo whisper behind him, “Oh no.”

“I am so fucking telling Dad,”
Ian chanted, before he sprinted for the office.  Cleo cursed and shoved Shawn
so hard he hit the shelves and took out the entire wall of food goods.

“I
will
kill you
if I have to!” she screamed after Ian.  And then was gone, tackling her brother
in the family room, before Shawn could get himself straightened out.  When he
finally did, it was with a smiling Logan giving him a hand up.

“You sure you know what
you’re getting yourself into?” he asked with a touch of humor Shawn was not
sure he appreciated.  “She is more than a handful that one.”

Since she was presently
sitting on her brother’s back and knocking his head into the floor while he
laughed evilly, Shawn was pretty sure that went without saying.  “I did
try
to deny the connection,” Shawn offered while they both watched the carnage, “but
she wore me down.”

Logan chuckled and then
slapped him on the back hard enough that he briefly lost his balance.  “Well, I
don’t envy you the meeting with her folks, but finding your mate?  That I do
envy.  Not to say that I’m too surprised, suspected it for years with you two. 
When did you finally realize?”

Shawn shook his head
while he watched the wrestling match move across the family room, splintering
the solid oak coffee table, and shattering a number of glass bowls.  He
grimaced.  No way was he answering that if he didn’t have to.  “She deserves
better,” he finally said instead.

Logan looked him over,
his brow going up.  “Better?”

“Better than me,” Shawn
said bluntly, and then cursed when it looked like Cleo had resorted to pulling
hair, and her brother was taking enough exception to resort to his own
violence.  Brother or no, provoked or not, if he hit Cleo, Shawn would take him
out.  Seventeen years old or not.  He waded in before that happened and pulled
Cleo kicking and raging off her brother’s back.  She was still in his arms, legs
kicking the air in front of her when a voice froze them all from the doorway.

“What the hell is going
on?”

They all turned in frozen
tableau to see Lucas Gibbs, furious and tousled, glaring at them all.  From the
look of his clothes, he had wasted no time in getting Miley to his office once
Stryker was gone, and he was more than a little pissed at the fight that
interrupted him.  Not to mention, as he looked around at all of them, it was
clear he did not care for the property damage two young brawling lions could
produce in minutes.

“Well?” he bellowed. 
Just then Miley ran up behind him and slammed to a stop against his back. 

She looked at the scene
before her.  “Oh my.”

Then Ian spoke quick and
loud, and it all went to hell.  “Cleo and Shawn were sexing up the pantry.”

When every expression on
his face stilled, Shawn knew he was in trouble.  Those gold lion eyes turned
slowly in his direction and seeing his death written there, Shawn very
carefully set Cleo behind him.  She, of course, jumped in between them just as
fast.

“Shawn is my mate,” she
blurted out, her hands pushing his off when he would have moved her back to
safety.

“Your mate?”  Her father’s
words were bitten out as if each one had its own teeth.  Then he turned those
grim eyes back to Shawn.  “How long have you known?”

A truly tricky question;
one that if he answered truthfully was likely to get him killed, but this was
Lucas.  He owed him more than his life anyway.  “I have known she was my mate
since she was fifteen years old.”

Cleo turned and stared at
him in surprise.  He sighed, forgetting for a moment the lion that would kill
him momentarily, and tucked a long piece of her crazy fight hair back from her
face.  “Why do you think I fought it so hard?  I should never have had feelings
for someone so young.”

Cleo chuffed out her
annoyance at that.  After the fight she was wearing her lioness close, and
neither of them were happy with him at the moment.  “Yes, I get it, you avoided
me because I was fifteen.  You’re absolutely right about that, but Shawn I’m
not fifteen anymore and you were still avoiding me.  What the hell?”