Conquering Theana (3 page)

"I
wondered what was taking you so long," a male said. He sounded amused, and
young.

"Great timing, as always, Tim.
I'm a little busy," Gregori said on a
laugh.

"I
see that. Well, Rafael is waiting for you, and you know he doesn't like to be
kept waiting," Tim said then, his tone admonishing. Gregori changed.
Everything hardened, and Theana could see it. It was as if Gregori had turned
to stone, his playful attitude gone in a flash. She felt the growl brew in him
even before she heard it, and felt the answering one inside of her.

"You
think you know my alpha better than I do?"

Theana
stepped up to his side, looking with cold eyes at the other man,
well boy, really now that she saw him. His hair was in neat dreads, golden
against his chestnut skin, and hanging down his back and tied into a knot at
his neck. He was tall, slender, but well built. He hadn't grown into his broad
shoulders, but she saw the beginnings of a beautiful man when he did. His brown
eyes snapped gold at Gregori for a moment before he respectfully looked away
and exposed his throat.

"I
meant no offense, beta. Simply an observation," Tim finished, but his tone
wasn't exactly sorry. It was enough not to call an outright challenge, but
barely so.
Trouble in the line-up
, Theana thought to herself. Everyone
seemed to be having some issues with that lately. She shrugged. It was none of
her concern. Now that Gregori wasn't focusing on her she could take a breath
and rationalize. She didn't need to be there. This was as a good time as any to
disappear. She stepped past Gregori to leave the elevator, and a hand stopped
her. She turned to see that Gregori didn't take his eyes off Tim, but was
holding her wrist in a loose grip. She tugged slightly, but he didn't let her
go.

"I
will be with the alpha shortly," Gregori growled, but it was playful.
Whatever the connection between the two, it may not have been trouble like she
originally thought. Tim simply nodded and left, presumably to tell Gregori's
alpha that he would be coming.

"Did
you think you could just leave?" He wasn’t looking at her directly but
watching Tim's progress out of the front of the hotel. What the hell were all
these shifters doing here anyway? She'd been careful to choose a hotel outside
of Seurri for her meet with Micah. There shouldn't have been this many shifters
around her. She’d thought she was safe.

"What
are you guys doing here?" she asked, instead of answering his question.
She was not some simpering idiot who would just give into him. Mate call or
not, she would make her own choices.

"A
meeting of the minds, so to speak," he answered her, his gaze swinging to
hers. "Now, are you going to answer my question?"

"I
do not have to answer you, beta," she growled. "I am an alpha bitch
potential. Remember your place."

"Feel
better?" he tossed at her, one eyebrow lifting. "You are alpha bitch
potential, but you are not an alpha bitch. At best you are a beta, which means
we can meet on even ground. I am Ulric clan, which means that even if I give
you beta status, I'd still be stronger than you. I can respect you, if I
please," he finished.

Dumbfounded,
all she could do was gape at him. He was right, in a very irritating way. She
was not an alpha bitch yet. Until she took an alpha to mate, she could not
claim that title. Alpha bitches were made by mating the alpha wolf, not by
ruling their own pack. At one time Theana had thought that was a load of
bullshit, until she'd seen an alpha bitch potential chewed up by a wolf twice
her size because she'd killed his mate to take her place in the pack. It was
biology. The women had a hell of a bite, but just couldn't measure up
physically to an alpha wolf.

Only
one clan was led by a lone woman, and that was because they relied on brains
more than brawn. Alpha wolves were nearly twice the size of other wolves. Their
growth in adolescence marked them for what they would become later. That wasn't
to say that brains weren't needed. A big wolf could still be killed by a pack
of smaller wolves if he wasn't careful. She knew all of this, but that didn't
mean this asshole of a beta had to throw it in her face. She deserved the
respect inherent in her place as a potential, and that her wolf was stronger
than most of the males as well as women.

"You're
an asshole."

"No,
you are just use to dealing with men who can't speak their mind in your
presence, apparently. I meant you no disrespect when I asked you the question,
but you chose to show me no respect. Don't blame me if you can't take the
heat," he said, and smiled. The smile took the sting from the words, but
it didn't mean she wanted to sit here and talk any longer.

"Either
way, I'm not interested. The elevator was fun, but I've got to run."

"And
she can rhyme," Gregori said then, and she rolled her eyes. He was cute,
irritating, but cute.

"Funny.
Give this man a cigar. Look, I just am ready to go home and get some rest. You
need to get to your alpha."

"Who
is the man I smell on you?" he asked then, smiles gone. He must have had
the shock of meeting his mate as well to not smell Micah until now. Theana,
against her will, felt the flush of embarrassment creep over her.

"It's
none of your business," she snapped.

"Everything
about you is my business,
mate
," he snapped back, crowding in close
to her. She recognized the show of dominance and fought to hold her own, to
show her own teeth.

"Fuck
you and the horse you rode in on." Smiling with deadly intent she stepped
closer. She felt the partial shift as her fingers became lethal claws. With a
growl she swiped at Gregori's chest. He released her hand with a gasp, and she
ran from the hotel, passed the patrons in the main lobby, and out on the street
as if the hounds were chasing her. Figuring she could come back for her car
later, she turned and ran down the street, passed a sleek black Mercedes, with a
dark-haired, blue-eyed god stepping from the vehicle. As if in slow motion his
gaze swung to her, his nostrils flared, his full lips stretched into a
predatory smile.

What is with these men tonight?
she
thought.

"Found
you," he mouthed, as she streaked by. Her wolf whined, suddenly wanting to
make her way back to that man. What the hell was wrong with her today? She'd
tossed one man out of her bed for not being perfect enough, when his mouth had
been doing a fairly good job, climbed all over some man in the elevator, and
then attacked him, and now she saw another man who made her wolf sit up and
take notice. She was about bucking against the system and being her own woman,
but even she would have to sit down and take stock of this one, preferably with
a big bottle of Scotch. There was no way she was going to take that beta as a
mate, and, if she was thinking right, no way she was going to accept that her
wolf went all happy-go-mate over a second man.

The
shit had just hit the fan, and she was damn sure not going to be on the front
end. If her wolf was that damn horny, then Theana would make sure the next
omega did her good and long, no matter how long it took.

Chapter Two

Gregori
couldn't quite believe that his
mate
had run out on him. His body was
rock hard, his mouth salivating to having another taste of her, his hands
itching to grasp her ass once more, and she had
run
. He scrubbed his
face, exhaling roughly. His world was tilting on its axis. There was no way he
should have missed her. A shifter that strong would have come across his
attention a long time ago as the Ulric clan ruled all other shifters. And what
the hell was she doing at this hotel?

It
was outside of Seurri limits, where most shifters didn't travel just on
privilege. It wasn't always safe to come this way. He chuckled, not that his
mate would have to worry about that. She was strong enough to hold her own.
He'd sensed it when their wolves had touched. He shivered, eyes closing in
pleasure. She tasted so good. Athletically slender, but a face the gods must
have made just for him. She came just under his chin, which made her at least
six-foot tall in her heels to his six-foot-four. With milk chocolate skin, eyes
that trapped him, flared hips, long legs he wanted to wrap around him again,
and thick, dark hair that bunched in his fists, she'd been everything he'd ever
wanted.

God,
he wanted her.

"Problems
in the city?" a dark voice growled at him, and Gregori opened his eyes.
Rafael, his alpha, and his best friend, was standing before him. Taller than
Gregori by a couple of inches, Rafael was built like a linebacker. It was
fitting to be bigger than most other shifters in human form, as his wolf was
larger than other shifters. His olive complexion and dark features were a
throwback to his roots. But his eyes, his eyes were electric blue, almost so
true they looked unreal. This was a man's man, not a pretty boy, his features
chiseled from stone. The only softness he had was his full lips, something
Gregori picked on him for most of the time. Those blue eyes were intense now,
and Rafael was as tense as a bow string.

"You
could say that. What's wrong?" Gregori said, momentarily brought off his
daze over his mate. He'd have to secure his alpha first before he could go find
his mate, and find her he would.

"I
think I saw her," Rafael said roughly.

"Who?"
Gregori asked.

"My mate."

"Do
tell. I know the feeling." Gregori put his hands in his pockets. "Bad
timing with this meet, but I've got to move right after."

"Understood.
I will as well. She was running out of this hotel, so I'll start
my search for her here. They have to know something," Rafael said, rolling
his shoulders. Gregori froze, a growl rising from his throat unbidden.

"What
did you say?" Gregori asked.

"I
saw her, all dark hair, wild eyes, and long legs. She looked right at me, and I
knew it. I knew it," Rafael continued.

"You
have got to be fucking shitting me." Gregori tensed. What the hell was
going on? Theana was his, wasn't she? The gods made her for him. Why would she
signal the alpha, too? She may be alpha bitch potential, but if she was his,
then it wouldn't matter.

"What’s
your problem?" Rafael asked, turning to Gregori with a confused look.

"That
woman you saw, her name is Theana, and she is my mate. I've tasted her,"
Gregori answered. The air around them fizzled with tension, as the men watched
each other. Rafael's face was like violence contained. Gregori knew that look,
but he didn't back up. This was mate business. He couldn't afford to.

"Theana, child of Walter, alpha of the
Dolphus
clan.
I know of her but never
met her. She left Seurri after Camden made a play for her, and she refused. Her
family didn't back her up."

"Wanted a merging with Convel clan probably.
It would have been good
business for them, and made them large enough to have more of a voice against
us."

"But
Walter must not have wanted it, truly. He could have forced his daughter to go
with Camden, but he let her run."

"It
would have only lasted until Camden found his mate, anyway," Gregori said.

"True,
but she's ours." Rafael said then. "We will take her."

"I
didn't know about sharing a mate. Have you seen this before? Maybe she's my
mate and her alpha bitch potential is reacting to you," Gregori said, and
then cringed that his voice sounded so hopeful. He loved Rafael, he really did.
He would never begrudge this man a chance at his mate. But he was beta. He could
understand the dynamics. With Rafael, Theana would become an alpha bitch,
Rafael the alpha, and he the beta, always second to them. He wanted his mate on
equal ground with him.

"It
doesn't have to be the way you imagined," Rafael said. Rafael always
seemed to have an uncanny way of knowing what was in his head since they'd
taken a blood bond, when Rafael had become his alpha.

It
wasn't a practice that all alphas did with their betas. Even they hadn't let
the word out. Blood-bonding gave Gregori more strength than he would have had,
though he'd earned his place at Rafael's side before the ceremony. Because of
it, they could sense each
other,
read each other in a
way that some said twins could do. Even Gregori's wolf had become slightly
larger than before. From that bond, Gregori's place at Rafael's side was
assured, his place unchallenged, and their friendship cemented. They'd grown up
with each other, the two of them. Gregori, nothing more than omega, hadn't
proved himself yet, and Rafael had been just an alpha potential. Rafael hadn't
turned him away when he'd come around, had taught him to fight, to be a wolf
that thought, that relied on not only strength, but brains. And when the time
came for Rafael to fight his way to the top, Gregori had come with him. For the
first time in their clan's history an alpha was made the same day as his beta.
Normally the beta was the previous alpha, until a beta competition was held.
But Gregori hadn't let Rafael take that burden alone. They fought and survived
together, and now they were more brothers than some born that way.