When an Omega Snaps (13 page)

Time to take things to the next level.

Leo is the one.

It wasn’t only Meena’s inner feline that insisted. The woman believed it too. Not only had Leo not ditched her when given the chance, he’d insisted she sit on his lap where he hand-fed her some tidbits. Finger-licking good.

A pity about the crowd. The hard erection poking at her bottom, distinct even through his pants, could have used a good lick.

Later.
A later that couldn’t come quickly enough to suit her. This afternoon’s teasing, far from appeasing her lust for Leo, had simply made it stronger. Poor Leo would have to bend his morals and promises a little because she wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Tonight’s the night, Pookie.

As soon as they got through this party and Leo returned from whatever task Hayder summoned him for, she would drag him off and have her wicked way with him.

Rawr
.

A cat whistle left her pursed lips as she watched Leo saunter away. Damn did that sweet ass of his in those form-fitting jeans make a fine sight.

I think I’m in love.

Or someone drugged the food because this giddy lassitude and urge to grin like a maniac about to go on a murder spree proved unstoppable.

She’d never been happier, especially since, when Leo left, he didn’t do so with unseemly haste or eagerness. On the contrary, he seemed miffed. How dare the world interrupt them?

Now the biggest dilemma was how to pass the time while she waited for his return.
And I need to be good.
He wanted her to behave. Surely she could manage that for a few minutes?

Seeing a gaggle of women, including Zena and Reba, she wandered over. “Hey, bitches, what’s happening?”

“I don’t believe it. Surgeons managed to separate them,” Zena exclaimed. “I was beginning to wonder if someone had doused the pair of you in crazy glue.”

“You mean like the time I did that to Callum?” Her first boyfriend at thirteen didn’t appreciate her crush. So what if it took a few hours of their conjoined hands dipped in acetone to separate them? A smart boy would have totally used that time to get to first base instead of freaking out.

“To this day he flinches if someone tries to grab his hand,” Reba remarked. “So what’s up with you and Leo? Are you guys like a couple now?”

Given his public display? “Totally.”

“Leo, though, really? Of all the guys I thought you’d hook up with, I never expected him.”

Meena stuck her tongue out. “Go ahead and be jealous. I don’t blame you. My man is awesome.”

“Or he’s been taken over by body snatchers. Seriously, Meena, we ain’t never seen him act like this. How the heck did you get him to fall for you like that?”

Oddly enough, by being herself.

Meena chatted with her cousins, doing her best not to gush overly much about Leo, but as she talked, she noted a pair of women, one of them almost as tall as her, but slimmer, with perfectly coiffed hair and painted face. She and her friend kept peeking at Meena then snickering until she finally asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Bursts of laughter.

Meena glanced down at herself but saw nothing amiss. “Did I drop food on myself again?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“As if you couldn’t guess.” Big blonde shrugged. “It’s just…you and Leo.”

“Yeah, what about us?”

“I mean, you and Leo, seriously?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It’s just, you’re so different. He’s so Leo, you know, prim and proper. While you’re a walking disaster on two legs. Honestly, I don’t know what any man would see in you.”

The stranger raised a valid point. Yeah, they were polar opposites, but she thought that rather complemented them. However, having this woman point it out and feeding on Meena’s insecurity of before didn’t sit well.

Instead of taking her frustration out on the bitch for pointing out her weakness and accidentally rapping her face off her knuckles, Meena thought it best to leave. She’d act mature for once. She’d behave and make Leo proud.

At least she meant to. But then…

“That’s it, walk away, fat ass.” Derisive snort. “And this is supposed to be the big and bad Meena I’ve heard about? Ha. More like the ugly cousin no one wanted around. Poor Leo. Maybe I should show him he doesn’t have to settle for scraps.”

Did that bitch just threaten to make a move on my man?

Red rage! Red rage! And there went all her plans to behave.

Before the bitch could blink, Meena was on her. Literally.

She took the other blonde down in a tackle that wrung an, “oomph,” from her. Grabbing a fistful of hair, she rapped the girl’s head off the ground.

“Don’t.” Smack. “You.” Evade tearing fingers. “Lay. A. Hand.” Head, meet the ground again. “On. My. Man.” Oops, there went a hunk of hair.

While Meena initially had the advantage of surprise, the other blonde, no delicate thing herself, quickly recovered and spat back. “You fucking bitch! I am going to scalp you.”

And thus did they end up rolling on the ground, trampling the grass, tearing at each other’s hair, not managing any really powerful punches because of their close proximity to each other.

It didn’t take long for Meena to recover the upper hand. In this case, she straddled the mouthy girl’s upper body. She’d just pulled back her fist to deliver a sweet blow when a strident whistle sounded, and a voice stopped her dead.

“Vex, what the hell are you doing?”

The catcalls and screams didn’t surprise Leo, nor did discovering Meena at the heart of chaos. There was his delicate flower, on the ground wrestling Loni, a lioness who’d come to town for the wedding. The same Loni who’d made numerous passes at him over the years, but whose high maintenance attitude made him steer clear.

He wondered what had triggered the hair pulling and wrestling. He also really wished, once again, that Meena had worn panties. The occasional flash of her girly bits dragged the possessive side of him out—which really wanted to snarl, “Mine. Don’t look.” It also woke the hungry lover that wanted to toss her over a shoulder and take her somewhere private for ravishing.

At least those closest to the fight and witness to her bare bottom were all women. The bad? They were all women. His usual method of smacking a few heads together to save time wouldn’t work in this situation. Boys shouldn’t hit girls.

So how to stop the catfight?

He stuck fingers in his mouth and blew, the whistle strident and cutting through the noise. In the sudden quiet, he said, “Vex, what the hell are you doing?”

Meena, fist held back, poised for a serious blow, froze. She swiveled her head and smiled sweetly. No sign of repentance at being caught misbehaving. “Just give me a second, Pookie. I am almost done here.”

He arched a brow. “Vex.” He used his warning tone. “Maybe you should let Loni go and forget about hitting her.”

“Probably. But the thing is, I really want to smash her face in.”

Sensing an out, Loni turned her head and whined, “Get this crazy bitch off me. I didn’t do a damned thing. She started it. She always starts shit. She should have never been unbanned. She’s trouble. Always has been.”

Reba and Zena opened their mouths, ready to leap to Meena’s defense, but Leo raised a hand. They held their tongues—not an easy feat for cats—but their eyes spoke quite eloquently.

Leo focused his attention on Meena. “Vex, is this true? Did you jump her?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Does it matter?” she asked.

“It does to me. Why do you want to rearrange her nose?”

“She said we didn’t belong together and that maybe she should show you why she’s a better choice.” Meena couldn’t help but growl as she recounted the reason for her ire aloud.

“Punch her.”

To say a few mouths O’d in surprise would be an understatement. No one was more surprised than Meena at his order. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. Given any idiot with eyes could see we were together, then that makes what she said mean and uncalled for. If you’re going to talk the talk, then you have to be prepared to pay the price. Since I can’t very well smack Loni for causing trouble, as pride omega”—and, yes, he thrust out his chest and put on his most serious mien—“I am giving you permission to do so.”

Permission granted, and yet Meena didn’t hit Loni. On the contrary, she stood, smoothed down her skirt, and tossed her head, sending her ponytail flying.

“No need to rearrange her face. You just admitted in front of an audience we are together. That calls for a round of shots. Whee!” Meena did a fist pump and yelled, “In your face, bitch!”

Sigh. Wondering at his mental state that couldn’t help but desiring the most erratic woman he’d ever met, Leo downed the beer in his hand then snagged one from Luna who passed to his left. He drank hers too.

The evening was young, and he’d need help if he was to survive—without dragging Meena off somewhere for some serious debauchery.

How delightful she appeared tossing back some shots, dancing to the various tunes belted out by speakers placed around the football-field-sized yard. Given the trouble she could cause—if she flirted too long with any one male—Leo remained close by but didn’t dance. He wasn’t sure he could control himself if he got too close to her. He didn’t need to deal with the snickers and comments if he chose to cart her off into the woods to have his wicked way. Actually, he was more afraid she might drag him off and have her wicked way.

I need to keep my word.
But forget about keeping his sanity. He’d lost his mind the moment he met her. Lost a lot of things, but oddly enough, he didn’t lament their passing. Change wasn’t always a bad thing.

His liger roused with a warning growl.
Watch yourself.

Despite all his warning instincts urging him to turn and face the approaching threat, he didn’t budge when a very large man came to stand beside him.

“You Leo?”

“Yup.”

“You’re the one my daughter’s got her mind set on?”

“Yup.”

The other man grunted. For a moment, they both stared in silence. “Just so you know, that’s my baby girl.”

“I know.”

“She’s fucking delicate,” Meena’s father rumbled as his daughter stomped her foot on the ground to a song, got her heel stuck, yanked, broke the heel, teetered, and fell, knocking a tray of drinks from a passing waiter’s hands.

“I will keep her from harm.” Even if that harm was sometimes from herself.

“If you ever make her cry, I will hunt you down and skin you myself. I can fetch a fine price for liger’s fur on the black market.”

The threat didn’t even make him blink. “While I cannot condone the murder and sale of a pride member, I can appreciate your sentiment, sir. But no fears. It is not my intention to make her cry.” Scream, yes, but that would be in pleasure and wasn’t something he felt a need to divulge.

“You’ve been warned.” With those final words, the man melted back into the crowd and left Leo to his vigil. For a while longer, he watched Meena, amused at how disaster loved to lurk around her. But despite her mishaps, nothing could ruin the smile on her lips.

Except for the arrival of one guest.

Hips swinging, arms swaying, Meena partied. It had been quite some time since she’d enjoyed a full-on family celebration, especially one she was allowed to attend.

The entire backyard area was packed with people making her wonder where the hell they all planned to stay. She knew that, other than the original farmhouse, the property boasted a few cabins for those who liked a spot of privacy, and she spotted a few tents in the distance, but she had to wonder how many would end up on couches, floors, and, heck, passed out on the grass.

Felines weren’t always picky about the spots they chose to nap. Even a tree would do in a pinch.

She didn’t have to worry about where she was sleeping tonight. A certain liger made sure of that. Speaking of Leo, where the hell had he gotten to?

For a while, she’d sensed and seen him watching her, witness to her suave dance moves. She just wished he’d have joined her.

Then again, this type of family function probably wasn’t the right place for the dirty dancing she had in mind.

As the dusk gave way to night, she decided to find her big man. So shoot her for being a girl, but she wanted the reassurance of his smile and perhaps a sweet kiss. Yes, she also planned to grope his fine body, a reminder to the ladies present that he was spoken for.

She waved and grinned as she passed familiar faces, some of whom shouted, “Meena!” and raised their glass in toast. A few made the sign of the cross, and one woman whispered, “Are you sure our insurance will cover us?”

Accidentally land on the hood of a car, crushing it because of a fluke bounce off a trampoline, and Aunt Flore never forgot it.

Given the amount of folk milling about, she wondered who the hell this pre-celebration was for. Leo had mentioned some kind of impromptu wedding on the morrow, but she’d yet to figure out who the bride and groom were.

Perhaps it was Arik finally making his little mate, Kira, his legal wife. Apparently they were living in sin for the moment, or so her mother tsked. Apparently shacking up was on the list of things a lady shouldn’t do. It totally made Meena want to do it just to hear that special tone her mother reserved for her.

Alas, no man was crazy enough to attempt not only the danger of living with her but no one dared cross her dad. Daddy’s favorite shirt said, Go ahead and mess with my daughter. I ain’t afraid to go back to prison.

Perusing the crowd, she spotted the pride’s beta, arm looped around his wolf mate. She doubted this wedding was for the recently joined Hayder and Arabella, who apparently had skipped off to Vegas one night and returned hitched a la Elvis style.

So who were the happy couple?

Meena doubted she’d ever do the whole wedding thing. For one, despite the fact that she knew Leo was her mate, he didn’t seem the type to want the chaos of a white wedding. Not to mention, she and white just did not get along. If she was going to drop some salsa, then it was landing on her boob, each and every time.

Besides, she could just imagine the destruction she would wreak if she ever wore the same type of big flouncy gown her mother wore at her own wedding. She would probably take out a few dozen guests if she turned the wrong way.

On second thought, that sounded like fun. Mental note to self: get a huge wedding dress for Halloween and go to a party as a dead bride.

Pleasantly mired in her own thoughts, she didn’t note the lunging hand until too late. Someone gripped her arm and spun her around. Reflex made her punch the offender, only to hit a rock-solid wall. Just not the wall she’d hoped to see.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“Your joy in my appearance overwhelms, my love.” Dmitri relinquished his grip on her arm to clasp at his chest.

“You want to see joy, turn around and walk away.”

“Leave? But I’ve just gotten here.”

“Why are you here? Is this another sad ploy to try and kidnap me again?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, and yet, aren’t many women’s romances comprised of abduction and seduction?” Dmitri waggled his brows in a failed attempt at sexiness.

“You’re not a Viking, and I’m not a fainting damsel. So no. And, besides, I’m taken.”

“So I hear, and yet”—he took a sniff—“I still don’t scent a mating mark.”

“Leo’s not a rushing kind of guy. He likes to take things slow. Build up to the main event. You know, foreplay and whatnot.” Tease and denial, enough to drive a woman mental. Or at least more mental than usual.

Dmitri shot her a grin. “I can give you foreplay, and pleasure. Much more than that big lug ever could.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh my gawd. You just don’t give up, do you?”

“Not when the prize is you.”

“You mean my birthing hips and excellent genes?”

“One and the same.”

“I am not going to help you start a dynasty of giant babies.”

“I never said you had to be willing.”

“And you wonder why you have a hard time getting a woman.” She rolled her eyes.

“You know, it is precisely that attitude that has made me revise my plan to abscond with you and make you my bride.”

“About time. But if you’re not here to kidnap me, what the heck are you doing here then? And why isn’t anyone tossing you out on your striped ear?”

“I was invited.”

“Who was stupid enough to do that?” she asked.

“I was.”

Spinning on her heel, she finally found Leo, holding two bottles of sweating beer, one brown and skunky, the other pale with a wedge of lime shoved inside the glass. She grabbed the dark one and chugged it before he could saddle her with the girly one.

Once she’d satisfied her thirst—without belching because she was, after all, a lady—she asked, “Why did you invite the king of misogyny?”

“So I could show him this.”

This comprised of Leo spinning Meena in his arms and plastering her mouth with his. A surprise smooch. A welcome lashing of tongues. An unimpressed audience.

A gagging noise ruined the mood. “Is that necessary? I’ve already withdrawn my suit for the lady.”

“Just making sure you get the point,” Leo remarked when he came up for air.

“And to think I’d heard you were the sporting one,” Dmitri said in a dry tone of voice.

Leo fixed Dmitri with a stare, a cold and menacing one. So hot. “I might be sporting, but I play to win. I also don’t share. Meena is mine.”

She was? Screw the zoologists that said lions couldn’t purr. Her inner feline was definitely making a happy noise.

She flung her arms around Leo, not just because she was so happy right now but also because that last beer, on top of all the shots, was making her kind of woozy.

“Is it me, or is this field tilting?”

“I think someone is ready for bed.” Scooping her into his arms, Leo proceeded to carry her away from the party.

To those who shouted ribald remarks—as if she needed any ideas when it came to debauching her serious liger—Leo fixed them with a stare. Apparently he was one omega who didn’t need to rely on his voice to have people obey.

They made it to their bedroom without mishap, her strong man actually carrying her the entire way in an impressive display of strength. A good thing, too, because Meena was finding it hard to keep her eyes open.

Fatigue and alcohol seemed determined to conspire against her. Like hell. This was her night. The moment she’d waited for. She wasn’t about to let something like a spinning room and eyelids dragged down by cement blocks get in her way.

As Leo leaned down to deposit her on the bed, she tightened her grip on him, not letting him pull away.

“Kiss me,” she demanded.

“I shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t didn’t stop you earlier this evening.”

“Earlier this evening you weren’t incapacitated.”

“We can work it off. If we take it slow, I’ll be fine. Just don’t expect me to swing from a chandelier. The last time I did that, the whole ceiling came down,” she confided.

“I’d really rather not hear about your sexual exploits,” he growled.

A jealous Leo was adorable. “Oh, I didn’t do it for sex. We were playing Tomb Raider. And I would have gotten away with the treasure, too, if the bolts would have held.”

“You are something else,” he muttered, brushing the hair from her face, his strokes so gentle.

“I’m yours,” she muttered as her lashes fluttered shut, her battle with them lost.

“Indeed you are, which is why I’m so sorry I have to go.”

“Go?” Her eyes popped open, barely. Sleep yanked on her, begging her to succumb. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

Serious blue eyes met hers—four of them. Damn those Jell-O shots! “I have to if I’m going to keep my promise. I don’t trust myself to stay with you. You are much too tempting. Which is why I drugged that beer.”