Prymal Lust (8 page)

Nudging her chin, he teased, “Fucked like minxes?”

She whipped her hand away and wrinkled her nose at him. “Do you have to put it that way?”

“My bad. Made love like minxes.” He waggled his brows. “Better?”

“No.” She shoved at his chest. “How long—”

“Not long enough. Next fuck, we take our time.” He forced himself to ease out of her tight, hot pussy. Regret dogged every millimeter of his withdrawal. He stared at the damp mahogany curls framing her core. Blew out a sigh when his cock popped out of her with a loud sucking noise. His dick had found home and didn’t want to leave.

He yanked out his pocket square and gently wiped the creamy dampness from her folds. Every instinct urged him to roll her over onto her hands and knees, instead he patted dry her pubic hair, and reluctantly pulled her skirt back into place.

“You’ll have to write off the panties. They got ground into the dirt.” He bent down, retrieved the brown-stained strip of lace, absently rubbed the crotch over his nose, and then stuck the underwear in his pants pocket.

“Now. Let’s get you looking presentable.” He helped her to sit up and then hunted for her missing shoe. He snatched it from under the table. “K. It’s Cinderella time.”

He knelt, and took his time strapping on the sexy sandals, pausing often to knead her arch, and tickle the underside of her cute toes. She play-kicked at him and giggled. “Stop.”

Giving her ankle one last kiss, he stood, and pulled her off the table.

Brisk footsteps hammered past the greenhouse. He hooked an arm around her waist and pressed a finger to her lips. They waited in silence until the clomping faded.

“Stay while I check the area,” he whispered.

She nodded her understanding.

Axe exited the greenhouse, but stayed in the shadows of the glass. In the distance, he glimpsed three uniformed men carrying a large steel vat. He guessed from the strong milk and fish aroma that the first course, clam chowder, was about to be served.

Ducking back inside, he said, “All clear. Just the kitchen staff.”

Finger-combing her lush brown locks, she walked to his side.

He caught her mood change from the lock of her jaw. Regret had set in.

“No one can know about this.”

Axe grit his teeth. “I wasn’t about to broadcast our fucking.”

She narrowed her eyes and jammed both hands on her hipbones. “And there isn’t going to be a next time.”

“Then I’d better get this in now.” Axe hauled her to him and took her mouth. He coaxed her tongue into play. She tasted all minty and spicy. He drowned in the flavor of her, sucking and sipping, exploring all her secrets.

A door slammed.

He froze, licked her bottom lip to reassure her, before cocking his head and listening.

“What?” She gripped his lapels and twisted around him.

Axe sniffed. No mistaking that Wylfen aroma, or the rhythm of the alpha wolf’s unique lope. “Your brother, Mishe. He’s heading this way.”

She gasped. “If he finds us together he’ll kill you.”

“I’ll go in first and distract him. You duck into the Ladies’ and make a show of coming out. Got that?” Axe didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone, but if she went in first, and then he appeared, the game would be up.

“Yes.” She smoothed her skirt.

“Count twenty seconds.”

She peered at him, but nodded and kept her gaze fixed on him when he exited the greenhouse. It took him less than five seconds to leap to stadium’s side entrance.

Axe opened the door to find Mishe three feet away. He lifted a brow. “Nicotine break?”

“Don’t smoke. I’m looking for my sister.”

“She went to the Ladies’.” Axe pointed back down the hall. “It’s at the other end.”

The other man drew in a deep breath. He stared at Axe. “Just so there’s no chance of any misunderstanding. My sister’s off limits.”

“In general? Or just to me?” Axe straightened his bow tie as he stalked past Tania’s brother.

“In general. She’s about to be engaged.” Mishe fell into step with him.

Axe stifled the desperate urge to clip Mishe’s jaw. “Who’s the lucky man?”

“Lionel Rath. He’s a close friend of the family.”

Axe turned a snort into a whistle. As if. Lionel Rath was in his seventies. “The billionaire banker? Isn’t he more your father’s generation?”

“His son. Lionel Rath II.”

White hot rage seeped from Axe’s pores.

If Lionel Rath II so much as grazed Tania’s pinky, he was dead meat. Axe worked his jaw and searched his memory for any shred of information linking Rath and Tania. As far as he knew her name hadn’t even been entered in the Mate Alliance Registry.

“I’ll offer her my congratulations when we dance again.” Axe waited for the other boot to drop.

“Tania hates dancing. You’ll be doing her a favor by not asking her again.”

“Really? I’d bet lottery odds that she enjoyed our dance.” Axe relaxed when he heard the soft thud of the far door closing.

The other wolf heard the sound too and glanced back.

A waiter pushed a trolley cart laden with dirty dishes down the hallway. The packed china dishes rattled.

“After you.” Axe waved Mishe through the open doors leading to the dining hall.

Mishe shot him a narrow-eyed glare, but strode into the room.

Axe bent as if picking up something from the floor and checked the hallway. Tania was sprinting to the Ladies’. She gave him a thumbs up and shoved open the door to the bathroom.

Axe needed another drink. After ensuring Mishe had returned to his seat at the table, he smoothed his blues and wound his way to the bar.

He ordered another scotch and downed it. The fierce burn of the alcohol didn’t take the edge off his anger. He wanted to shake his mate silly. Jackhammer Lionel Rath II into the next century.

Axe signaled the waiter for another round. He nursed the drink until Tania made her way back to her seat. He traced the saucy sway of her ass, now naked under the thin silk skirt. Envisioned her cheeks reddened by his palms. Not that he’d ever hurt a hair on her head.

By the time he returned to the table, the chowder had been served. He slipped into the seat next to Tania’s, draped a napkin over his lap, and sipped the thick soup. Aware Mishe watched his every move, Axe didn’t say a word, but finished the chowder, which had to have been flavored with chicken shit.

Lycus must have noticed Axe’s tension for he hissed their heads up signal.

Axe met Lycus’s glance above Tania’s head.

Lycus frowned and crossed his eyes in Mishe’s direction.

Axe gave him a surreptitious yes-nudge of his head.

Lycus understood immediately. Engage and distract Mishe.

“Jaz tells me you’re with Wasserman and Litchfield. Do you by chance have an international contract specialist?” Lycus asked Mishe.

When Lycus and Axe had first been approached by Jazshuka Prakov, they had researched the entire pack. But, until Jaz joined Prymal, the dossiers on Mishe and Breede had been reed thin.

“Yes. Why? You in need of one?” Mishe sat forward and his forearms crowded the empty soup bowl. If the inherent hostility and aggression wasn’t evident in his voice, it was in Mishe’s body language.

“A buddy of mine is looking for the best international contract lawyer in the business. Money’s not an issue.” Lycus paged through his cell, found what he wanted, and slid the phone across to Mishe. “Here’s his contact information. Give him a call. Mention my name. “

Axe had to choke back a guffaw. Trust Lycus to hone in on the fact that Wasserman and Litchfield had to supplement all the legal work they did for the Senior Council with non-Wylfen matters.

Mishe’s attitude changed in a heartbeat. The business lawyer in the alpha took over. “Does your friend have need of a specialist?”

Taking advantage of no longer having Mishe inspecting him like a hawk, Axe patted the napkin to his mouth. “Your brother just told me you’re engaged to be engaged. To one Lionel Rath.”

Tania’s spoon clattered onto the floor.

All the color drained from her face.

Tania froze.

Engaged to be engaged? To Lionel Rath?

Mishe halted his conversation with Lycus and gave her a hard stare. “You okay?”

She spread her lips. “Just being a klutz.”

Hoping her shock didn’t show, she bent down to retrieve her dropped cutlery and bumped heads with Axe.

“You didn’t know.” He snatched the silver spoon and pressed it into her hand.

She met his gaze. Too stunned to speak, Tania shook her head.

“Finish your soup. I’ll check up on this.”

How? Why?

She sat up straight and wiped her spoon with the napkin. Focused on eating the chowder, which tasted worse than fungus.

All the while her mind raced.

The Senior Council met the last Monday of every month.

Mate alliance decisions were handed down then.

Today was the last Friday of the month. No wonder Dad had been belaboring her moving back home for the last three days. The Senior Council had picked her mate. The alliance laws mandated the details of mate courting. She would be forced to move back home right away.

In seven days she would be mated.

To Lionel Rath. II.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t suck in enough oxygen to combat a devastating wave of dizziness.

Axe gave her leg a quick squeeze. “Drink your water. Slowly. I can smell your panic. Trust in me. It’ll be okay. ”

What? Axe had lost it. Nothing would ever, ever, ever be okay again.

“Don’t like the soup?” Mishe asked. He shot her a narrow-eyed glance.

Resisting the overwhelming temptation to hurl the bowl at Mishe, she said through clenched teeth, “It’s delish. I could eat ten bowls of this.”

Mishe’s brow quirked. “Really? I’d expected a critical opinion. It tastes pretty watery to me.”

“You know the phrase, an opinion is like an ass. Everyone has one. That’s mine.” Tania couldn’t keep the terseness out of her pugnacious retort.

Did both Breede and Mishe know about her mate alliance?

Jesus. Did Jaz know? Had her twin participated in this betrayal?

Tania spooned the last remnants of the clam chowder into her mouth.

She needed to find a toothbrush and brush away the foulness coating her tongue.

Her family knew she didn’t want a mate. She’d thought her parents had accepted her wishes when they allowed her to move out of the family home two months ago.

How could her father have done this? Had her mom just gone with the flow? Why hadn’t they told her about the Senior Council’s decision?

Tania fingered the brass button from Axe’s coat that she’d retrieved on a stupid impulse from the greenhouse’s dirt floor. For some reason the rhythmic caressing of the rounded surface soothed her rising alarm and her Decorum, Discipline, and Deportment training snapped her into a rigid rationality.

Puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

Uncle Viktor had always wanted to merge the Rath and Prakov fortunes. That was why he had arranged Lisette Rath’s marriage to his son, Robert. But Robert had been killed and the Raths refused Viktor’s proposal to unify the two companies, Tripe W Corporation and Rath Financial Investments.

Viktor was the alpha of their pack.

He had sold Tania to the Raths.

Dad hadn’t told her because he suspected she’d bolt.

And she would.

No way was she going to become her mom. Not that she didn’t love her mother, she did. But she wanted to be her own person, not a typical Wylfen wife who catered to her mate’s every whim.

Why had they let her taste freedom if this was what they’d planned from the start? Why had they let her believe she could remain unmated?

A pastry chef in a fine dining restaurant like Chez Noir where Tania’d worked for the past eighteen months earned good money. More than enough to pay for her living expenses and bank a couple of months’ salary. Exactly how much did she have saved?

Tania picked up her phone, set it in her lap, logged into her account, and checked the balance: four thousand, nine dollars, and twenty-five cents. She couldn’t count on getting back the first and last month’s deposit from her rental apartment.

Would her boss, Andres, give her a good reference if she didn’t give the requisite two weeks’ notice?

Jaz. Would her twin help her? Sure, he’d stood up for her when she enrolled at the Culinary Institute. He’d even persuaded Breede and Mishe to take her side. She knew her parents had only agreed to allow her to attend classes because of the combined backing of her three brothers.

And when she’d decided to move out, it had been Jaz and Mishe who’d convinced her father that being on her own didn’t violate any Wylfen laws.

But, Jaz had changed during the last year. They no longer spoke as often as they used to. His texts and emails had slowed to sporadic trickles. Her twin now wore an edgy air of danger, but she had put that down to the whole military training thing. The last two times she’d met him for lunch, Tania had sensed a banked fury raging in him. When she’d asked him about it, he’d been evasive.

She glanced down the table.

Noticed the empty seat next to her father. Prayed Lionel hadn’t been invited. She willed Jaz to look her way, but he was staring at his cell. He frowned and his thumbs got busy. She checked the grim set of her twin’s mouth when he stared at first their father, then Viktor, and finally met her gaze.

Her phone dinged.

What’s up with u?

The message was from Jaz. She shuttered her eyes. Then texted back.
Need to talk to u.

Jaz stared at her. Worked his keypad.

Lobby. After dinner.

Ok.
She replied.

The dinner slogged on and on.

She forked a mouthful of the spinach and strawberry salad.

Axe left the table while the wait staff cleared the salad plates and returned right as the entrée was served.

Tania cut the Chicken Kiev into tiny bites, but couldn’t digest more than two pieces. Relieved that neither Axe nor Senior Chief Johnson bothered to engage her in conversation, she forced herself to eat the mixed vegetables and a couple of forkfuls of rice pilaf.