Craving Her (Keeping Her Series Book 4) (15 page)

“Good luck with that,”
Eli called after him, but he was talking to the closing door.  Logan was gone. 
Just as well; Eli was already back to his intel search.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

The five star hotel had
been bought out for the night by a visiting pride, as it was every year. 
Shifter-run, it guaranteed them both security and privacy for their most
esteemed events.  The ballroom was full of affluent lion-shifters mingling with
the crème of their particular crop.  Champagne flowed and large amounts of
prime exotic meats were served, like zebra and ox.  The clink of crystal
mingled with the soothing sounds of a string quartet and drifted from ballroom
to dining room and beyond, blending with the murmuring of polite conversation. 
The party had just really started and everyone was still mingling, checking out
the just of age debutantes and young gallants. It looked like a cotillion but
it represented everything that Lucas had walked away from when Cleo turned five
and her mother tried to sell her into a breeding contract, sure that he wouldn’t
care one way or the other now that she had bred him a son.  This was where the
lions came to check out the breeding stock available to continue their
illustrious lines.  There were maybe sixteen different lion prides in the
world, not being nearly as prolific as the wolves or bear clans.  All of them
would have gathered here to check out the new stock.

Lucas knew about it, knew
it was held in San Francisco every year, and never thought he would have cause
to attend.  But then again, he wasn’t exactly here as a guest.  Per his order,
the guys fanned out.  He had purposefully only brought himself, Demon, Mac,
Ben, and against his every protective instinct, Ian.  Knowing he needed Eli at
the jet doing his searches, he left Logan there for security, not liking the
idea of anyone on their own.  The still healing Shawn, Miley, Clytie, Cassandra,
and Roxanne were safe in the vault back in Napa until this fight ended, and
Logan would assure they stayed that way.

With Ian on one side of
him, Demon on the other, Mac and Ben beyond them, he pushed open the double
doors to the grand ballroom and the intensity of sound rose, and then almost
instantly died out as every shifter in the room turned, sensing the threat.

There were a couple of hundred
lions mingling in their party best and all of them froze in their golden-haired,
diamond-bedecked grandeur.

“Guess who’s coming to
dinner,” Demon muttered in his rough and ever-loud voice.

Those closest to them
looked appalled and stepped hurriedly back, giving the Lionsgate pack a wide
space.  But then who could blame them?  To a man, they were dressed in commando
black and bristling with weapons, including enough automatic weapons to fight a
war, and they could not help but notice the grenade launcher strapped cross Demon’s
back.  Lucas had come here with a purpose, and getting in a straight brawl with
hundreds of prime lions was not his agenda.  He was here for answers, and he
was coming in hot, and very much in the human way to show he was not going to
play by any rules but his own.  He was well aware that bringing guns to a
shifter fight was déclassé to say the least.  He just didn’t give a fuck.

“I want Gerent,” he called
loudly with a rage-filled growl he made no effort to tone down.  One of the
lions stepped forward and glared at him; standing as tall as he could, he still
looked up at both Demon and Lucas.  “How dare you bring weapons into a
diplomatic event.”

Behind the crowd, the
sound of a shotgun being cocked was heard and they all turned with gasps and
the whisper of silks to see Ben and Mac at the other end of the ballroom
casually holding more weapons.  “Oops, sorry, just had the overpowering urge to
cock my shotgun,” Ben said loudly and cheerfully, “pay us no nevermind.” 
Beside him, Mac just looked around at them all expressionless, his silvered
eyes eerily lit from within and watching the lions with intent.  Ben waved them
back with his free hand.  “Go back to what you were saying.  I’m sure it’s
riveting.”

Lucas was not in the mood
to play.  Instead, he stomped forward while the crowd stumbled back until he
was chest to face with the man who had spoken.  Then each word was bit between
extended canines and right to his paling face.  “Understand this. I am here for
Gerent who shot my man and took my daughter, and I will tear through every one
of you elitist pricks like tissue paper if you don’t produce someone who can
find this fucker.  Now.”

“Lucas?”  The voice was
soft and right out of his memories.  Lucas turned from the sputtering spokesman
and saw Narcissus Dell’Atti coming slowly through the crowd.  It had been
nearly sixteen years since he saw her, and there was no denying she was
beautiful still with that golden shifter skin that aged so slowly, and her
lithe frame she shared with her daughter.  She wore her skin tight and short
designer dress well, even if it would suit someone her daughter’s age better. 
He heard Ian come up beside him and turned to see him looking at her with cold
eyes.

“Hello, Mother,” Ian
said, and even Narcissus in her self-absorption did not miss the curse he made
of that particular word.

She blinked at her son as
if she had never seen him before, which was not far from the truth.  She had no
use for babies and Lucas had taken the children away before she could find a
use for Ian, as she had with Cleo.  So, she had probably never really seen her
son until this moment when he stepped forward, the mirror image of his slightly
taller and broader father.  “Ian? You look just like your father,” she said,
trying for a smile.

It quickly disappeared
when Ian answered, “Thank fuck,” and turned his attention coldly away to scan
the crowd.

For the first time since
Cleo disappeared, Lucas was almost tempted to smile at the look of
consternation on her face.  Narcissus was not used to being ignored by men. 
But she was in luck, she had Lucas’ full attention.  “Where’s Gerent?”

“Arnaud?” she asked, her
voice innocently confused, but it did not match the spark of furtiveness in her
eyes.  “What could you possibly want with him?  Surely you aren’t mad he took
over the pride after you deserted us to become,” she waved her hand at the
Lionsgate pack, “whatever this is.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes
and looked her over with a shake of his head.  
What the hell had he been
thinking?
  “You had a lot of faults, Narcissus, greed and selfishness being
your worst, but you were never stupid.  I could give a fuck what happened to
the pride after I left. What I do care about, what I will kill to protect,” he
added grimly, a clear warning, “is my daughter.  Gerent has Cleo.  I want her
back.  Now.  Give me Gerent and I will be content with ending his life.  Back
him on this and I will wipe out your entire pride and piss on the ashes.”  Then,
he looked around at the shocked and enraged prides surrounding them.  He spoke
louder, making sure his voice carried.  “And that goes for anyone who helps
him.  Gerent declared war on Lionsgate by shooting one of my men on my
territory, and taking my daughter from her mate.”  There were a couple of
shocked gasps at that.  “Even in the so-called civilized lion prides, taking a
man’s mate is an act of war.  I am well within my rights to burn his house
down.”  His voice dropped and his eyes returned to the now pale Narcissus.  “And
believe me, Narcissus, if you think the fact that you birthed my children will
win you any leniency you are mistaken.  I find out you had information you didn’t
share, the only thing you will be to me is dead.”

Before she could speak,
the double doors opened again and Logan stepped through.  In his casual wear of
jeans and button-up cowboy attire, complete with Western boots, he looked as
out of place as the commando team, and somehow even without the visible fire
power, just as deadly.  He walked as casually as you please up to Lucas and
stopped.  “We have somewhere else to be,” he said, his gritty voice a testament
to his own hidden anger at the situation.

“We were just getting
started,” Demon muttered, darkly eying with relish a lion with a diamond stick
pen as if he was a wounded gazelle rather than the apex predator that he was.

“Good,” Logan said back,
his eyes still on Lucas, communicating enough that Lucas turned back to
Narcissus with a grim smile.

“Hope I don’t need to
look you up again,” he warned less than subtly.  “You sold your rights to Cleo
and Ian years ago.  I find out you are still looking to make a profit on my
children, I will be back, and Narcissus, next time I won’t be so easy to deal
with.”

Then the group of them
faded out of the ballroom without a sound, leaving behind hundreds of lion-shifters
who subtly and not so subtly started to distance themselves from the Gerent
pride.  If there had been violence they would have been forced to meet it as
united lions for the sake of all prides.  But since no one could argue a man’s
right to defend his pride from encroachers and none of them had been directly
affected, they could ignore the call to war as Gerent pride business.  That
none of them wanted to go against Lionsgate if they could absolutely find any
excuse not to, went unsaid but was understood just the same.

Within minutes, Narcissus
stood alone in the ballroom; even the rest of the Gerent pride was keeping
their distance.  William, who had been brought to the gala to be presented like
a prize bull up for breeding, looked around at the assemblage with new eyes. 
He knew more than most what his uncle was capable of, and it had never occurred
to him that he might have a choice in what was happening around him.  When the
men from Lionsgate slipped out, he followed.

Catching up to them, or
rather being caught nearly at their vehicles, the blond shifter who smelled of
jaguar and the silver-eyed whatever, both appeared out of nowhere stopping him
in his tracks.

“I know where she is,” he
said after a nervous swallow.  “My uncle has her on an island.  I can tell you
where.”

“And you want to do this
why?”  The dark silver-eyed one asked, and the cold wind behind that voice sent
shivers of fear through William’s body.  As a lion-shifter, even a scrawny one
for his young age, it was not a feeling he was used to.

“He’s my uncle and pride
leader.  I didn’t know I had a choice.”  William took a deep breath, letting go
of his excuses. He stood taller and faced the other men down.  “But I liked
her.  Even when she beat me up and locked me in the cage, I liked her.  My
uncle,” William blew out a shuddering breath, his eyes refusing to look at any
of them, “him, I don’t like. I want to help if I can.”

“Bring him.”  The dark
words had him twirling to see he was surrounded by the entire crazy Lionsgate
pack, including Lucas Gibbs.

“Come along, William.” 
The jaguar smiled a toothpaste ad smile at him that was not reassuring since he
clearly already knew who he was.  “You want to help rescue the damsel and
resurrect your lost manhood, you’ll get the chance.”  It was too late to back
out now.  They directed him less than subtly to the black vehicles and he
followed, wondering all the while what he had gotten himself into.

“So,” the jaguar asked
with another of those big smiles, “Cleo said you were in school.  Play any
sports?”  It was an innocuous question, but the boy seemed to take it badly, his
shoulders hunching.

“No, I don’t like sports.” 
He said looking around at the big men surrounding him.  Then he raised his chin
in defiance, “I like computers.”

“Really?”  The jaguar
shared a look with one of the darker men, one William had trouble identifying
by scent.  “You any good?”

William raised his chin
and firmed his shaking knees.  “How do you think I found out where my uncle
was?  I hacked his system ages ago, built a backdoor, and now I can get in and
out whenever and wherever I want.”

The jaguar’s smile turned
a touch wicked and those cold blue eyes sharpened on him.  It was
disconcerting, because William knew that this was his real smile, and it scared
the shit out of him.  “Now
that
is interesting.”

***

After deciding the boy’s
fate, Lucas wasted no time in following Logan to the second vehicle.  “What do
you have?”

“Same thing as you
probably.  Got a call from an unknown female who gave us Cleo’s coordinates. 
Sounds like the same ones the boy is ready to provide us.  Either this is the
most elaborate trap I have ever seen or it’s for real.”

“Cleo?” he asked grimly
and he could feel Ian who had joined them tense up.

Logan started the car and
pulled out while he answered.  “She said Cleo had already taken care of
business and escaped into the jungle.  We were just the cleanup crew.”  He
shrugged.  “Those were more or less her exact words.”

“You talked to her.  Any
thoughts?”  Lucas was not about to take some stranger’s word on his daughter’s
condition, but Logan was the best at ferreting out the truth from lies, and he
wanted his impressions.

“I say we go in like it’s
a trap, but my gut says she was telling the truth, and I have no doubt Cleo is
capable of handling it herself.  If she saw what we saw, she probably thinks
Shawn is dead.”

“He hasn’t woken up yet?”

“Not that I know of, but
I didn’t exactly take the time to check the patient when I left to stop the
carnage.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes
on his oldest friend.  “I wouldn’t have killed all of them.”