Fire & Frost (6 page)

“So don’t have a baby. Get hot and bothered, get a date for the night, and then go on with your life.” Jayde shrugged. “It’s what I’d do. No time for a kid. I don’t know that were-jaguars are the most maternal anyhow. Maybe tigers aren’t either. Skip it this time.”

Not have the baby? But she’d spent the last week hyper-focused on the possibility of an upcoming child. Estrella touched her abdomen. “It’s weird, but I want this baby.”

“It’s not a baby yet.”

“No, but it’s a sure thing,” Estrella told her. “And what if I don’t go into heat again? I’ll have missed my chance to be a parent. The timing isn’t great, but the more I think about it, the more I want this.”

“Suit yourself.” Jayde sucked loudly on her straw, and then eyed her. “Which one of the three screams daddy material to you?”

“God. None of them.”

“Time to climb that alpha like a scratching post, then. I bet he’d make some pretty babies.”

Estrella grinned. “You are single minded, aren’t you?”

“That’s why we’re friends. I have the
cojones
to say things that you won’t admit to yourself.” Jayde winked and shook her cup, dislodging the ice at the bottom. “And I’m telling you, bag that alpha.”

Estrella bit her lip, pushing aside her iced coffee. It was leaving a sour taste in her mouth…either that, or it was nerves. “I wish it were that simple, Jayde. I—”

Her phone rang. Estrella frowned and glanced at the screen. Unlisted number. After a moment’s hesitation, she answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, may I speak to Estrella?” The chirpy voice on the other end was instantly recognizable. “This is Ryder.”

“Oh, hi Ryder. This is Estrella. Did you get my message?”

“I did,” Ryder cooed. “And I’m so glad you called me back! We did have someone mark you down on your card as interested.”

Jayde wiggled her eyebrows at Estrella encouragingly, her shifter senses able to pick up every word of the phone conversation. Estrella crossed her fingers. “Who was it?”

“Let me get out my notes.” On the other end of the phone, Estrella heard paper shuffle. “Ah, here we go. It was number six.”

“Which was…”

“Vic Barlow.”

Estrella’s mouth hung open. Across from her, Jayde did a fist pump in the air, making her bracelets crash like cymbals. “I…he did?”

“Yes. Should I contact him and let him know you’re interested?”

“I…no, no thank you.” Her voice came out a breathless squeak and she clicked the call off.

“What are you doing?” Jayde tried to grab the phone from Estrella. “This is perfect!”

“He only went to that dating — mating — thing because he was feeling protective of me. That’s probably why he put my name down.”

“Uh huh.” Jayde didn’t look convinced. “Couldn’t be that he wants to tap that ass?”

“He knows I’m going into heat. Why wouldn’t he say something?”

“An alpha skeeving on a chick in his clan? That probably wouldn’t go over well if he didn’t know you were interested. Talk about an abuse of power. My guess is that he’s being super careful.” She gave Estrella a knowing look and sipped from her iced latte again. “Has he ever given you any hints that he might want you for himself?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Bewildered, she thought back to their recent conversations.
You’re the only one here worth having, ‘Strella.

She’d thought he was just being a nice alpha. Supportive. Like finding her other tiger males to consider.

And yet…he’d snapped a pencil when she’d told him she was going into heat. He’d looked so rattled.

Maybe…maybe this would work out after all. Estrella reached across the table and grabbed Jayde’s hand. “Should I do this?”

“Girl, I’ve been saying that all morning. Of course you should!”

“Then I need a plan.”

GOD, THIS WAS A bad idea. Jayde was a good friend, but a good planner she was not.

Estrella paced in the woods, dressed only in a thong and a lacy, sheer bra. The heat was burning through her, making her thighs — and other parts of her body — ache with need. Even though nightfall was approaching and the wind was picking up, with hints of snow and ice in the weather, she didn’t feel it. The heat was keeping her warm, elevating her body temperature to an almost feverish degree.

And heavens, she was horny.

Her fingers itched to touch herself, to relieve some of the pressure she was feeling, but she kept her hands clasped. Touching herself wouldn’t do any good — her biological urges would override any sense of relief and this torture would just keep going and going until she either passed through the heat in another day or so…

Or until she found a man to make her pregnant.

A visual of that whole ‘getting pregnant’ process flashed through her erotically-charged mind. Of Vic, looming over her, muscles straining and tight ass flexing as he pounded into her.

She whimpered, shaking her head to clear it.

Her cellphone rang. Jayde. Her purse and clothing were hanging on a low branch nearby, though they’d soon be snow-covered if something didn’t happen. The droplets were frosting her hair and turning the woods into a powdery white.

The plan was a simple one. Tell Vic that she’d been out running in her liger form and she’d gotten caught in some barbed wire. He’d come running to protect her — or possibly yell at her since she’d have theoretically gone out in cat form without his permission.

And then when he ran across her, he’d see her, oozing mating pheromones and dressed in sexy lingerie…and hopefully nature would take over. Problem solved.

She tapped her screen to answer the call. Before she even had a chance to say hello, Jayde’s voice rang through the air. “He’s coming and he’s seriously
pissed
, girl.”

Estrella winced, just imagining her large, often surly alpha angry at her. “Well, I suppose that’s not a surprise.”

“Maybe we should come up with a Plan B,” Jayde said thoughtfully.

“This was your plan, Jayde!”

“I know, but I forgot the part where your alpha has a volatile temper. It’s not going to do you any good if he gets there and he’s too pissed to make babies.”

Estrella groaned. “There’s no time for a plan B! Are you kidding me? You said this would work.”

“Well, it should still work,” Jayde said brightly. “Call me when you’re pregnant. Good luck!”

“Jayde—”

Click.

Estrella growled. Sometimes her friend could be really, really annoying. She tossed her phone back in her purse and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make it look tousled and sexy. Fuckable. She’d even worn a hint of eyeliner, though that was all she dared as far as makeup went. Male shifters didn’t like the scent of makeup. No perfume, either. Her own turned-on musk would scent the clearing. It was definitely a good thing that Vic had sent the others out of town, or she’d be dragging every half-interested tiger or lion male toward her no matter what she did.

So she paced. And she waited.

Vic’s scent reached her first. Still distant, the masculine smell of tiger sent waves of pleasure rolling through her body. Her nipples tightened in response and she crossed her arms over her chest, shivering at the sensation. Her toes wiggled in the inch-deep snow, but she forced herself to remain where she was.

He needed to come and find her.

Of course, just waiting made her nervous. She chewed on her lip, thinking as she studied the naked trees nearby. Maybe a sexy pose? She could lean up against a tree trunk, cock a leg, maybe thrust out her breasts…

Vic crashed into the clearing in full tiger form.

Estrella yelped in surprise, flying backward automatically, her claws coming out. She could feel her cat under her skin, an automatic defense mechanism, and forced herself to calm, shoving away her shifter form. The last thing she wanted was to transform right now.

Vic’s gaze moved to her, studied her for a moment, and then he opened his mouth and roared so loud that her eardrums vibrated.

Boy, he was
furious
. Estrella backed up to the nearest tree, automatically feeling that awful mental heaviness that came with disobeying your alpha. She leaned against it, forcing herself not to cringe away from his anger, and thrust her breasts out in the skimpy bra. “I’m so glad you’re here, Vic,” she murmured huskily. “I’m in trouble.”

The tiger paced around her, nostrils flaring and scenting the clearing. His tail lashed wildly.

She patiently waited for him to finish checking out their surroundings, knowing that he’d find no other scents but hers. Once that was done, he leveled her another pissed off gaze and then hunched in the snow-covered grass, shoulders flexing as he began to change back to human form.

A few rather long minutes later, and he was in human form. She eyed him appreciatively, noticing for the first time that his chest was sprinkled with dark hair and he had the tightest buttocks she’d ever seen. God, she wanted to wrap her legs around them right about now.

She forced herself to meet his gaze as he approached her, his dark, damp hair steaming in the bitter cold. “What is it?” Vic growled. “What trouble?”

Here we go
, she told herself mentally.
Now or never.
“This kind of trouble,” she said in a throaty voice, and reached behind her to unhook her bra.

He growled again, the low rumble managing to come through despite his human form. The wild, furious look returned to his eyes. “What the fuck is this, Estrella?”

She stopped, humiliated.

She wanted to clutch the now-slipping bra to her breasts and run into the woods. Shame made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. “A mistake, apparently.”

Vic was still breathing hard, still furious. “This is a set-up, isn’t it?” His shoulders heaved with each angry breath.

She remained silent.

“Fuck, Estrella!” Vic turned and stomped away, snarling. “Do you have any idea of how fucking worried I’ve been? Here I thought that you — one of our females and near a dangerous mating heat — was hurt and in trouble. I’ve been mentally figuring out what the fuck to do if you need medical help, and you’re just trying to seduce me?”

Bitter disappointment mixed with the shame. She reached behind her back and tried to resnap her bra, blinking back humiliated tears. “I didn’t think—”

“No, you didn’t,” he roared again. “What if you were in tiger form and you were injured? What am I supposed to do? The Alliance doc can only do so much. Do I fucking call an animal hospital and hope they don’t try to put you down? A fucking ambulance? What?” He continued pacing furiously, his hands clenched into fists that were so tight she could see white at his knuckles. “Never,
ever
fucking do this to me again, do you understand?”

“I understand,” she whispered. God, she felt like a bug. An ant.

A really,
really
horny ant.

She closed her eyes, determined not to stare lasciviously at his naked muscles any longer. It was clear that she and Jayde had been all wrong about this — Vic was just thinking of her like an alpha thought of everyone in his clan. There was nothing more to it, and she’d embarrassed herself and jeopardized her place in the clan.

This was officially going down as the worst heat ever. Maybe she’d get lucky and never go into heat ever again.

“I’m your alpha,” he snarled, pushing toward her. “Your safety and well-being are always at the front of my mind. You can’t fucking jerk my chain and expect me to come running. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she said meekly.

“Look at me, Estrella.”

She squeezed a cautious eye open.

His jaw was clenched harder than she’d ever seen it, and his eyes were so dark with anger they were almost black. As if to take the edge off of that, snow was falling in big, fat flakes now and dotted his hair and eyebrows.

“Never do that to me again,” he rasped.

Yeah. She got it. She’d alarmed him. She yanked on the back clasp of her bra, determined to re-snap it, but her fingers were trembling from a mixture of the heat, nerves, and shame, and she couldn’t quite do it. She gave up, crossing her arms over her breasts instead. “I’m sorry, Vic. I wasn’t trying to scare you. I just wanted…”

Her voice trailed off with embarrassment. Now was not the time to confess her crush on him.

“The heat’s clearly affecting you,” he said after a moment, dark eyes glittering as he studied her face. “I’ll forgive this lapse of judgment. It’s clear you’re desperate right now.”

“Desperate?” She echoed. Did he just call her…desperate? Ouch.

“Approaching me for your heat. I must be your only option left. I just don’t understand why you didn’t pick one of the men I brought for you.”

Well, it was a good thing she had no pride left after this debacle. Estrella shook her head, tamping down her own irritation. “Which one? The asshole? Or the chauvinist?”

His lips twitched with amusement, some of his anger receding. His arms crossed over his chest, echoing her own protective stance. She tried not to notice that he was really, really naked…and that it was incredibly arousing.

And not just to her, if the wood he was sporting was any indication.

But he was still talking, still arguing. “So you didn’t like Nelson or Montgomery? I admit they’re not my favorites, but they’re both good candidates for a female in heat. Young, relatively attractive, tiger clan.” He shrugged. “What more do you need?”