Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (22 page)

“Is
that
it?”

Miley bit her lip, then
shifted a bit and ran her hand over the hard planes of his back.  “That
depends. 
Do
you own a kilt?”

Lucas threw back his
head and laughed full out.  Watching it, Miley released a long breath in relief
and just took in the rarely seen gift that he was giving her. 
There he is.
 
“You are so beautiful,” she whispered.  He heard her, and finally looked back
at her, his eyes alight with humor, his smile in place and full.   He examined
every inch of her face and the smile died slowly, but the light stayed on in
his eyes.

He leaned down on his
elbows so that his hands could hold her face for his inspection.  His eyes went
liquid gold and his voice dropped to a low growl that she felt on her skin.  “I’m
going to fuck you in the shower.”

She swallowed,
wondering where her oxygen went.  “Okay.”

“I’m going to fuck you
in the one at home, too.  Often.”

“Okay.”

“I’m even going to fuck
you on my Harley, after I take you for a ride.”  One side of his mouth went up,
but his words were clearly no joke.  “Repeatedly.”

Miley licked her lips,
and wondered if it was possible to orgasm from thought alone.  “Okay.”

He leaned down and
nipped her newly wet lips.  “Miley?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t own a kilt.”

She pursed her lips in
a brief flare of disappointment.  “Darn.”

That made him laugh
again, and that quickly Miley forgot what they were talking about.  Lucas shifted
and she opened her legs so he could fall between them.

“Baby?”

“Yeah?”

“You want me in a piece
of clothing that looks like I’m wearing a woman’s skirt, I’ll buy one.”

She blinked up at him. 
“You would do that for me?”

“And
only
for
you would I agree to wear a skirt.”

That was so sweet. 
Still
. . .
 
 Miley cleared her throat, “Just
saying, I don’t think the Scottish would appreciate you calling their time-honored
and traditional kilts, skirts.”

He moved in until his
lips were right against hers.  “I don’t give a fuck.”  Then he kissed her open-mouthed
and the taste of him drove that particular conversation out of her head.  In
fact, talking was no longer needed at all.  Lucas did a fine job of distracting
them both for the remainder of the night without another word uttered.

Other than the fact
that they headed west from the airport, Miley had no idea where they were.  The
middle of nowhere seemed to be the closest description she could find, and
since it was overcast today and threatening rain, it was just a dreary patch of
land somewhere in Nebraska.  And she was fairly sure when she stepped out of
the rental car that Jeffrey had brought along every wolf at his disposal, and
that was saying something, since he supposedly had less than twelve hours to
get them transported here.  Considering they were not even going to be fighting,
it was a bold statement against the small Lionsgate pack, which included a
lion, two wolves, a leopard, a black panther, a hawk, and a wolverine.  Seven
pack members and Miley, who was a latent wolf, and a healer in hiding, against
over five hundred wolves.  She really wished Cleo and Ian were there.  Two more
lions would have been helpful.

Although judging from
the way the wolves very carefully moved out of the way as the Lionsgate pack
moved through them, the odds weren’t
entirely
against them.  Miley could
not see much once they started moving, since Lucas had her hand and was
dragging her along in the center of their moving group and all the guys were a
good head taller than she was.

“You think he brought
enough wolves?” Eli muttered, shaking his head at the numbers surrounding
them. 

“It does seem a touch
excessive,” Mac said, his voice an unusually dry tone.

Miley caught a flash of
Ben’s toothpaste-ad smile before he directed it out at the sea of wolves
tauntingly.  “Maybe they just all really wanted to see Omaha, and their alpha didn’t
want to disappoint anyone.”

Miley did her best to
keep from laughing but it was not an easy feat.

“I think it’s a classic
case of overcompensating for a small package,” Eli shared, his cheerful voice
carrying, “not that I ever had that worry myself.”  He winked at Miley, making
her bite her lip.  “But I’ve heard a shiny sports car or a display of excess
can sometimes mean a lack of . . . shall we say . . .,” he waggled his brows at
Miley while he dragged the statement out, “inches.”  Then he had the gall to go
on, his twinkling eyes on Lucas’ back.  “Not that it’s always the case. 
Clearly, from the way Miley was screaming out his name last night, we have no
worries on that score for
our
alpha.”

Miley stumbled into
Lucas and pressed her face against his arm trying to stifle her humor while he
flashed an unhappy look at Eli and kept walking.

Demon and Shawn were bringing
up the rear and rarely spoke, eyes moving through the crowd like a hot knife
through butter.  So it was a surprise when they finally got to where they were going
and it was Demon who entered that particular conversation. 

“Maybe he’s just a
fucking dick.”  His words were loud and to the point and said in front of the
crowd, the Council Rep, the Council Enforcer and Jeffrey Rickarts himself with
two of his extremely pissed men.

“Can’t argue with that
one,” Eli said low,
not
low enough that the wolves couldn’t hear, it
must be noted.

“That sounds about
right.”  Ben smiled directly at the alpha wolf, showing a whole lot of teeth.  “Though
it must be said, Omaha is
very
pretty.”

Then there was
silence.  Appalled silence, if the Council Rep’s face was anything to go by. 
Though Miley was not looking at him for long, just long enough to note he
smelled of wolf-shifter and had brown hair, brown eyes, and was a little pudgy
around the middle under his expensive blue suit.  Nor was she distracted by the
funny way Rickarts’ face seemed to be swelling with his rage.  Though it was of
interest that he was also wearing a suit on his slim body, rather than
something easy to remove like Lucas and the rest of the guys in ratty jeans, or
black commando pants and t-shirts.  Nope.  Her eyes were on the Council
Enforcer in his black leather uniform and boots with his straps crisscrossing
his chest full of weapons, and let’s not forget the large sword strapped across
his back.  She caught a brief familiar scent but couldn’t place his animal. 
His brown hair was cut short, had a touch of red in it, while his skin was tan,
and brought out the clear green of his eyes.  Eyes surrounded by the thickest
blackest lashes she had ever seen on a man.  He was all angles, and broad muscled
plains, and he towered over both the Council Rep and everyone waiting for them
by a good foot. 

Miley felt Lucas look
down at her and she snapped her mouth closed and gave him innocent eyes.  He
did not look happy with her.  At all.  But,
Wowza
, even in the group of
prime males she stood with, he was
HOT. 
And that was saying something. 
When Lucas continued to glare down at her, she gave him big eyes and jerked her
head toward the Council Rep, who was speaking.

“You are Lucas Gibbs, alpha
of the Lionsgate pack?”

Lucas finally gave him
his eyes.  The man cleared his throat and nodded, answering his own question.  “And
this is the lady in question?” he asked looking at Miley and smiling at her as
if she was a child.  “Miley Isabella Rose?  I am Council Representative
Welsby.  Do you know why you are here?  Do you recognize all your former pack mates? 
Do you know why they have come all this way?”

Miley fought the need
to roll her eyes.

“You don’t need to be
afraid, sweetheart,” Rickarts interrupted before she could speak, his voice all
sweetness and light.  “No one can hurt you anymore.” 

Miley narrowed her
eyes, the suggestion being that she was in fear of her life, and was probably
too scared to speak the truth.
 Asshole.
“We were just discussing that.” 
She looked around at her new pack surrounding her.  “I think Demon is right on
this one.”  She turned and looked directly at the Council Rep, her voice matter-of-fact. 
“Jeffrey is just a fucking dick.  Though, from experience,” she nodded her head
to the side, acknowledging Eli, “I can attest to the fact that Eli is also
right.  His penis
is
very tiny.”

Amidst the snickering
and yelling that statement caused, the Rep had a time of it getting the meeting
back on track. Miley missed some of it because Lucas had pulled her out from
his side and into his arms.  He didn’t speak, just gave her a blank face, held
her tight in his arms and occasionally rubbed his thumb lightly over the skin
of her neck.  He did not laugh, but then some of the things Rickarts was
yelling were inflammatory, and while, for once, the Lionsgate pack were being
stoic, he and his wolves were loud.

It was the Council
Enforcer pulling his sword that brought peace back to the field.  That was it; he
did not have to say a single word, just glared and pulled that sword.  All
Rickarts’ wolves shut the hell up. 
HOT!

“Thank you,” Welsby
said straightening his suit coat with a snap.  “If we can proceed.”  He sent a
glare around the field and narrowed his eyes at Miley.  “I hesitate to ask
this, but do you have anything you want to say before the challenge.  You do
understand that the winner will be claiming the right to be your alpha.”

“Since Lucas is my
mate,
I would think that would be obvious.”

“You can’t be his mate;
you aren’t wolf enough to mark,” Rickarts snapped out.  “That means no mate
mark to prove possession.  The challenge stands.”

“It’s a wonder you want
me at all, if that’s the case,” she grumbled, flashing angry eyes his way, then
spoke louder.  “And trying to prove someone is crazy because they don’t want
you is ridiculous, even for someone as arrogant and oblivious as you, Jeffery.”

“No wolf in her right
mind would pick a slapped together zoo like that rabble over her own kind
unless she was out of her mind.”

Miley growled and would
have launched herself at his smug face if Lucas had not held her back.  “Then I
am doubly glad not to be ‘wolf enough,’ because I love my mate, and I love my
pack, and no woman in her right mind would turn her back on that.”  The last
words she bit out through clenched teeth, “For any reason.”

“You love your mate?” 
He spit out the words as if they were foul, and Miley could see the crazy wolf
behind his eyes starting to shine through, she was just too angry to care. 

“Yes!  I love him!” 
She strained against Lucas’ arms.  “And guess what, Jeffrey?  I’ve loved him
for
years. 
He is ten times the man you will ever be, and so is every
member of this pack.  So stuff your superior bigotry.  That is if you can find
room next to that giant stick up your ass.”

It was like a gong
ringing before the silence.  She could see for herself that Jeffrey’s wolf was
pulling through, his eyes were savage gold, his claws extended, his mouth misshapen
with the teeth fighting to come out.  So his words were a wet rumble into the
silence when he spoke.  “He dies today, and then you will pay for every foul
lie he fed you.”

“Enough.”  Lucas
sounded well past done.  He turned cat’s eyes from Rickarts to the Council Rep. 
“I have accepted the challenge; we all understand what is at stake.  This ends
now.”

“Very well.”  Welsby
nodded his head in clear agreement.  “You have given your verbal acceptance.  I
take it you will be handling this fight yourself.”  Eli snorted behind them. 
While it was within the rules to have a stand in for the fight, it was never
done.  An alpha unwilling to fight his own battles was not in charge long.  At
Lucas’ nod of acceptance, the Rep turned to Rickarts.  “You are ready and also
fighting in the challenge?”

“No.”  Everything
stilled utterly at the word.  “I am ready but I will be using a stand in, as
the alpha of Lionsgate is actually a lion,” he made lion sound like a dirty
word, “not a wolf.”

Even Welsby looked
taken aback.  Miley could hear the cursing of the men behind them.  Lucas was
so mad she could hear little snarls escaping his lips he was probably unaware
of, and his arms had tightened to an almost painful pitch at her shoulders and
waist.  She couldn’t really blame him.  He really wanted Rickarts dead.

“You knew he was a lion
when you challenged him,” Miley snapped.  If looks could have killed, he would
be long past dead.  “If you were too much of a coward to fight, you should have
left it alone.” 

Rickarts took a step
forward and the Council Enforcer shifted to block him. He finally spoke, and
his voice was a cold wind.  “If you are not fighting, any threatening move you
make towards
anyone
will be dealt with by me.”  He fingered his sword,
by no means a veiled threat.  Rickarts clearly agreed, because he backed up
fast.