Predator's Claim (12 page)

Lena scowled at him. “Oh, calm down. I’m just fine. He’s our cousin. He’d never hurt me. We were just talking.”

Bart’s ire quickly transferred from Flynn to her. His nostrils flared. “And why were you talking to someone I banished from the pack?”

“Yeah, about that. I’ve been talking to Fletcher and Flynn. We all agree you made a bad call. What were you thinking, Bart?”

He stared at her, eyes wide, and then walked around in a tight circle. “You’re questioning your Alpha?”

“Someone has to! Maybe the other pack members are willing to kowtow to Daddy’s favorite, but that doesn’t mean I am.”

“Why are you so mad about me being Alpha? Do you really think I’m such an inept choice? Have I ever steered you wrong, Nunchuk?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, you mean all the times you scared my boyfriends away? Or all the times you lectured me about staying in school when I was already there? Or maybe those moments when you warned me my skirts were too short? Bart, you’re a total authoritarian, just like Dad. And with you being Alpha, I’ll always be under your thumb, just like I was with him.”

As a tear seeped from between her lids, he took a deep breath and frowned at her, clearly trying to understand her womanly mysteries. Even as Charlotte saw him start to calm down, she felt for both of them. Having Bart as an older brother couldn’t have been easy, especially for a headstrong young woman like Lena. Even still, she wasn’t giving him a fair shake, and Charlotte felt the need to intervene. “It sounds as if Bart took care of you. You know, in his totally Cro-Magnon, do-what-I-say way.”

He glared at her.

“Ha!” Lena made a show of clutching her gut as she laughed. “Let me give you a better example, Charlotte. One time, Bart came upon me with a male friend. We weren’t doing anything wrong. He’d driven by the house and had popped by to chat. All we were doing was talking in the driveway. Bart came out of the garage, brandishing a kitchen knife, and threatened the guy until he ran away. My friend never spoke to me again.”

“What?” Bart held up his hands and shrugged. “I was sharpening Dad’s knives out in the garage and came out to say hello to your friend. It’s not my fault the pansy took it the wrong way.”

Charlotte stifled a laugh. She could just imagine Bart aiming a cleaver at someone he considered an undesirable boyfriend. She figured there was a bit of truth in both their interpretations of the story. “Okay, it sounds like ancient history, and I’m sure your thick-headed brother learned from his mistakes, so let’s move forward now—”

“What’s really the problem here, Nunchuk?” he interrupted.

“Rodolfo.”

“Rodolfo?” Bart all but shouted, losing his cool again. “Who the hell is Rodolfo?”

Lena let out a big breath and her words seemed to pour out of her. “My mate.”

Bart’s eyes widened and the overprotective brother in him cried, “Mate? You’re
not
mated.”

Lena glared from under her lashes. “Not yet.”

While Bart paced in the background, grumbling nonsense about his little sister being too young to mate, Charlotte took charge. She spoke calmly to Lena. “Sweetie pie, you don’t want to mate. Trust me. Why hang your hat on this Rodolfo when the world is full of men. Lots of gorgeous, interesting,
accommodating
men…”

“You’re not helping,” Bart warned, under his breath.

“But I love Rodolfo.”

Charlotte considered and decided she’d have to win Lena over to her side another day. “Okay, let’s say for argument’s sake, you found your mate. It appears most shifters want one. So why is this an issue?”

“Because Dad hates Rodolfo, and so will Bart.” Lena blinked and tears coursed over her bright pink cheeks. She put a hand to her face and swiped them away. “Flynn told me if he was Alpha, he’d allow Rodolfo into the pack. That’s why I let him stay with me last night. He understands.”

Bart snarled. “He hid in your cabin last night? Flynn’s going to understand the steel toe of my boot in a minute.”

“Calm down,” Charlotte warned him. She turned back to Lena. “Why would your dad hate Rodolfo?”

“He’s the guitarist in a metal band back home. And he’s a wolf shifter too, before you ask,” she said, directing her annoyed tone at her brother. She smiled at Charlotte. “He’s hot and sweet and so sexy. He’s got, like, eighteen piercings—”

“Holy Mother of…” Bart interjected.

“See?” Lena cried. “You’re doing it too! You’re judging him the same way Dad did, just because he looks different. When I told him I’d found my mate, and who he was, he exploded on me. Said I was giving it away to someone who didn’t deserve me. He hates him just because he doesn’t have a 9-to-5 job…and because he lives in his parents’ basement. He’s only staying there until he makes some money, and then we’re going to move in together.” Her tirade ended on a whisper, and she looked at the ground, as if doubting her own boyfriend’s appeal all of a sudden.

Charlotte held her tongue. Rodolfo had sounded okay up until the basement thing. In her book, parental basements were a deal-breaker. “Has he marked you yet?”

“No, but I want him to.”

“Are you sure he’s the one, Lena? I’m not judging him because he’s a musician, but you seem a little torn up about it. Is he really your mate?”

“I think so.”

“You’re supposed to know so,” Charlotte replied gently. “That may have been why your dad got upset. He might have been worried you were about to tie yourself to a man without understanding your true feelings.”

Lena stared, her big eyes overflowing with tears. “That’s what he said, but I didn’t believe it. I don’t know what to believe.”

“Look, when did you meet this…person?” a now-calm Bart asked, running a hand over his sister’s hair.

“A couple of months ago.”

“Come here, Nunchuk.” Bart gathered her in his arms and stared at Charlotte over Lena’s head. He mouthed his thanks to her, obviously relieved to have had a woman around to help decipher his sister’s mad ramblings.

She offered him an expression somewhere between a grin and a frown. As much as her chest swelled with pride at being able to help in some way, as insignificant as it seemed in the grand scheme, she wasn’t quite ready to play nice with him.

He held Lena at arm’s length and smiled at her. “Listen, kiddo. If this dude really loves you and treats you like a princess, as you deserve to be treated, I will welcome him into the pack with open arms. Him and his excessive piercings. Especially if you know without a doubt he’s your mate. But it doesn’t sound like you’re sure. Let’s keep talking about it and we can see how you feel when you go home. I just need you to promise me one thing.”

She sniffled. “Okay.”

“Please do not let Rodolfo mark you. At least, not yet. Think about it some more. If he were really your mate, wouldn’t he be here at your family reunion?”

She sucked air in through her teeth. “Right. He said he had to practice his chords.”

Charlotte stepped closer to their huddle. “Pardon me for saying so, Lena, but Rodolfo officially sounds like a dick now.”

They all laughed, but Charlotte could still feel the undercurrent of tension scoring their conversation. After all, Lena sheltered Flynn in her room, and had basically pledged her allegiance to the other wolf man. For Bart, it had to sting. If truth be told, Charlotte felt the same sting. It bothered her to see not everyone accepted him as their leader, when he was obviously a strong one. Despite his wandering hands.

As for all the overprotective brother crap Lena spouted, well, it made Charlotte somewhat envious. She didn’t have a brother at all, just her sister, Danielle. And as much as she loved her sister, there had always been a part of her that wanted an older brother. Someone kind, who didn’t mind watching out for her, keeping her on the straight and narrow. As much as she sympathized with Lena, a part of her also wanted to poke her and say, “You don’t know how good you have it.”

From the way Lena peered at Bart, her eyes narrowed, Charlotte could tell she didn’t quite trust him yet. Even though the woman begrudgingly admitted perhaps Rodolfo possessed some dick-like qualities, Charlotte could see the issue was far from resolved.

And Flynn remained hidden somewhere on the island. Would he leave now that his secret had been discovered? Or would he stick around to create more trouble for Bart and lure other pack members away?

Maybe she should stay a bit longer too, just to ensure Bart’s leadership was solidified. And that he didn’t go off on some crazed Rodolfo hunt.

Oblivious to the troubling questions in her head, Bart smiled at Charlotte. His smile warmed her, making her feel as wonderful as she’d ever felt. Better than how she imagined it would feel to get stranded at a barbeque. But then his gaze gleamed with sensual familiarity, and strayed toward her pelvis and slowly back up again. Shivers skittered down her spine as she heard the low reverberation of his wolf’s growl of desire.

And after that, she stopped thinking altogether. She could only feel. And her uncomfortably-deep feelings were telling her, in no uncertain terms, that she needed to open her legs to Bart and let him fuck the silly out of her, despite her reservations.

Before her own wolf forced her to parade in front of him in a shameful, animal display of wantonness, she turned on her heel and walked away from the Cairo siblings.

“Charles,” Bart called, a soft warning in his tone. “Don’t go. There’s something you need to know.”

And because she’d grown more and more incapable of saying no to him, she stayed where she was.

*

He chatted quietly with Lena for a few more minutes, and then they both walked her back to the lodge, where she had plans to meet up with Nate. Bart didn’t let her go until he’d personally spoken with his brother, although he did it using telepathy. Charlotte tried to tune into their conversation, but she could tell Bart had blocked her from hearing his thoughts.

It hadn’t struck her as odd before, but she wondered now how she’d always been able to hear Bart’s silent speech. After all, only mated shifters tended to hear each other this way, or wolves from the same pack. And yet she’d always been able to correspond with Bart via telepathy. Interesting.

He and Nate stared at each other for a few tense moments and then turned their concentrated glares upon her and Lena. Nate finally steered Lena away, and Bart led her to the restaurant area of the resort.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Meat.”

He stared at her, and the air around them seemed laden with hunger. “Yeah, me too.” With a hand on her lower back, he guided her toward the employee buffet.

She was glad to see the dining room had emptied out. They hit the buffet, piling their plates high with sirloin burgers, handmade chicken fingers, and fries and headed toward a quiet table in the corner. Charlotte could barely wait to sit down. Famished, she bit the top off a chicken finger as he pulled out her seat for her. They sat quietly for a moment, digging in greedily, eyeing each other in apprehension.

Something felt off, and not just his Alpha male posturing. She put down her burger and wiped her mouth. “Bart? What do I need to know?”

He pushed his plate away and rested his elbows on the table, making a steeple out of his hands. “I’m worried about your safety. About my pack’s safety, too.”

“Look, if this is about Flynn…”

“It’s not Flynn.” He reached for her hand across the table and stared at it as he caressed each of her knuckles. Desire dampened her underwear, but nerves had her stomach in knots. “Years ago, I helped put a shifter criminal named Jason Burns in jail. He recently escaped from a couple of prison guards and we’re worried he’s headed to Gemini Island. He’s the sort of man who’ll stop at nothing to get revenge.” He paused, his lips moving, but no sound emerging as he clearly chose his words. “I need to know you’re safe. I don’t want you wandering around on your own. I’ve tried keeping an eye on you, but it’s not enough. I need to be able to see you at all times.”

His words hit home. “Oh, my God. Were you outside my cabin last night?”

His handsome face turned red. “I’m sorry if you feel it was
Cro-Magnon
behavior.”

It was. But it made her heart thrill and dance inside her chest. “I thought I sensed you nearby. You should have come inside, you big dummy. It’s cold.”

“I wasn’t really thinking of the cold.”

She huffed at him, annoyed he’d haunted her frozen stoop. If it were possible for shifters to catch colds, she’d be even more pissed off. The man was a total lunatic.

He stroked her palm with his thumb, and sensual tingles claimed her entire hand. Yearning floated between them as they gazed at one another, binding them in a way she didn’t understand.

“Jason Burns is a violent man. If he ever attacked any of my family or friends, or if he hurt you…I don’t know what I’d do.”

Her heart seized and seemed to stop pumping for a few seconds. Just as she was about to pull the defibrillator off the wall, it jolted back into action. “It’s okay, Bart. I’m street smart. I won’t wander off on my own if it makes you feel better.”

“Not good enough. I need you to stay with me.”

“That seems a bit much, don’t you think?”

“I don’t care. Consider it part of the challenge. All I know is I’m not letting you out of my sight, Charles. And if I can’t be with you, I’ll make sure I leave you with someone I trust. I don’t want you to be alone and vulnerable. I’ve seen you vulnerable, a few too many times. I won’t see you like that again.”

Her heart did that jumping thing again. She’d never known him to be so willing to share his feelings with her, and wasn’t sure how to respond. Something had changed in Bart Cairo. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear the heavens had opened up and shone a light on him. His aura glowed with emotion she couldn’t quite fathom, but she could see it ran deep. And deep inside her, new feelings prickled and stirred, forcing her eyes open and prodding her awake.

He wanted her to be safe. And because she could see it meant so much to him, she didn’t argue. He might not be her Alpha, but she trusted him.

Chapter 7

Bart raced across the woody terrain in his wolf form, as a savage headache pounded in his brain. He’d left Charlotte in Ryland’s company after their meal, knowing Ry would take good care of her until he returned.