Leader of the Pack (2 page)

Serena,
my love, if you don’t quit lusting after that male I’m going to spank you.
Serena almost choked as she realized
she must have been broadcasting to her True Mate Damien. His law firm had an
office several stories up in the penthouse suite, so they often conversed
during the day without benefit of phone or computer. It was nice to have him
close…
most
of the time.

“Please have a seat, Dr.
Goldwolf
.”

“I should assist you. How far along
is your pregnancy?”

Serena smiled wryly. Sometimes she
forgot the pregnancy even with her growing belly, and here she thought he was
flirting. How disappointing.

Serena…
Damien’s warning tone caused her smile to widen.

I love you, silly, but I can still
notice a hot wolf. And he is hot!

Quit distracting me with your horny
thoughts. I have a deposition to take. Do your job so I can do mine.

Spoilsport.
She pulled her mind forcefully away
from her Mate and settled into her seat, waving the doctor to his.

“Not quite six months.” Serena
smoothed her dress over her the gentle curve of her belly. “I’m sorry you had
to wait. My partner Lea is out ill today. In fact, most of the staff is down
with the flu.”

“You shouldn’t be here. You have a
pup to consider.”

“My mother is a midwife and my
cousin is a doctor. Both have been dosing me with horrid stuff to keep me and
my pup healthy.”

Per smiled. It was as if the sun
came out. Some woman was going to be very lucky to call this male her Mate. “I
appreciate your dedication, Ms.
Goldwolf
.”

“How can I help you?” Serena tilted
her
head,
sure he had a faint accent of some kind.
There was a lilt to his voice that was not American.

“I need to find a Mate.
Quickly.”

“May I ask what the rush is?”

He frowned, studying his immaculate
hands. He cleared his throat, his icy eyes fastening her to the wall. Goodness,
she felt like a butterfly that had just been pinned under a microscope.

“I expect your discretion.”

“We respect our client’s
confidentiality, Doctor.”

“Good. I have a problem.”

“A problem?”

“The head of my surgical practice is
a stickler. He expects perfection of his doctors. If he finds out I lied…”

“Lied? What is the problem…
exactly
?”

“I’m being considered for full
partnership in a surgical practice, but Dr. William Frieze expects his doctors
to marry and have a family. I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance if Dr. Frieze
believed my entire existence revolved around my work.”

“I would think he’d be happy about
that. You’d be dedicated.”

“Dedicated,
yes.
But a possible
womanizer, which he won’t tolerate.”

“
Are
you a womanizer?”

“No, I am not.” He carefully
enunciated each word. She’d hit some sort of sore spot she didn’t even know
existed. His tight voice and stern expression warned her off, but good.

Serena backed off, hoping to soften
his demeanor. “I’m glad to hear it. So why does he assume an unmarried male is
a womanizer?”

“I’ve no idea, but he’s been very
clear. He wants stable men and women as partners. Stable means married,
preferably with children.”

“Isn’t that archaic?”

“Yes, but he’s in command.”

“I see. So what did you lie about?”

“I told him I was seeing someone and
close to a marriage proposal. Well, there is a reception Friday night and he
ordered me to present my girlfriend.”

“Ordered?”

Per laughed. “Oh, it was couched as
an invitation but I know what he meant. He suspects I’ve made her up, which I
did, so he’s forcing me to produce her or forfeit this partnership. I need a Mate.”

Serena’s brain started to tick. Per
was tall. He definitely wouldn’t look
Yohana
square
in the breasts, unless he wanted to, that is. After all, they
were
magnificent
breasts. God knows, Damien noticed them often enough. Per was an Alpha wolf and
it didn’t sound as if he wanted to run a pack. He had a career.
Hmmmm
…

“What sort of Mate are you looking
for?”

“She needs to be older. I’m
forty-two, so if I show up with a twenty-something Will is going to have a fit.
Someone tall.
I don’t want to be in a permanent stoop
because I’m spending time with a short bitch. No offense.”

“None taken.”
Serena grinned, knowing he was apologizing for the short
comment not for calling her a bitch. She was a female wolf, therefore she was a
bitch. She was good with that.

She tapped her lips with the pen.
“Are you looking for a beauty? A trophy bitch?”

“God, no!”
He looked appalled. “I can’t imagine anything worse. I do
not
have time to spend entertaining a demanding female. If I make partner, I’ll be
working full out. I don’t want some female complaining about my lack of
attention. She needs to be able to handle our home, run the business of life,
and leave me free to do my job. I save lives and I’m damn good at it.”

Serena nodded, looking down at the
paper in front of her. She was close to giggling but she held it in because
he’d never understand.

“Would you object to an Alpha female
with pack duties?”

His brow crinkled. “No. It would
give her something to do.”

“Would you want to take over as pack
leader?”

“No!” His eyes widened with horror.
He paused then cocked his head. “You have someone in mind.”

“Possibly.
One last question.
Would you
object to siring a pup…as soon as possible?”

He blinked. “Siring a pup?”

“Correct.”

Per swallowed. “No objection. I want
pups. I just hadn’t considered starting a family immediately. Is that a
requirement?”

“For the female I have in mind,
yes.”

Per sat back,
steepling
his fingers as he studied Serena. “She’s a pack leader?”

Serena nodded. “She wants a Mate as
soon as possible, but she doesn’t want someone trying to come in and take
over.”

“In the
city?”

“Just
outside.”

He frowned. “I have to be close to
the practice.”

“A place in town, go home on the
weekend when you’re not on call.”

Per nodded decisively and stood.
“Set it up. I want to meet her.”

“I will run the basics past her. If
she agrees, I’ll text you her information and send yours to her.”

Per nodded. “Excellent. If she
isn’t
interested, please have someone else for me as soon as possible. I have to put
on a good face for this reception.”

“I’ll arrange it. Predator-Match.com
guarantees satisfaction.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“May I ask you something?”

He nodded.

“What
is
your accent?”

“I was born in Sweden. My
family pack
lives there, but I immigrated when I was in my
early twenties.”

“May I ask why?”

“I was a foreign exchange student
when I was in high school. I liked it here so I came to stay.”

Serena got the feeling there was
more to it than that, but this was one area she didn’t feel she could pry
about. He had the “off limits” neon sign glowing strongly. Serena rose and
walked around the desk to shake the doctor’s hand.

“I’ll have some information for you
by the end of the day.”

“I’ll await a text from you. I
should be free to meet with her tomorrow evening for dinner as I don’t expect
to be on call.”

Serena nodded. “I’ll be in touch.”

She walked him out, only letting the
grin escape after the elevator doors closed behind him. He was their last
appointment, so now she could contact
Yohana
with
news.
Yo
should be very pleased. Serena was.

“Damn,”
Yohana
muttered as she stared at herself in the mirror.
A date.
She was going on a date and she was nervous as hell. When Serena had called, it
seemed like a miracle—a male exactly in the mold of what she wanted. But now
she was scared. What if he didn’t want her? Unless he was an abusive troll,
she’d probably take him, but males were more visual. They
Mated
for looks as much as compatibility.
Yohana
stared at
herself as if she were a male.

She was wearing a cocktail dress
she’d picked up at Lady
Cyn
fashions in a size that
actually fit her. It was a deep-wine-red silk with an off-the-shoulder
sweetheart neckline that dipped to a
vee
in back. It
hugged her large breasts, flaring at her waist. It looked like something
Rosemary Clooney might have worn in the early fifties. She spun in the dress,
examining all views.
Yo
decided she looked good. This
dress made her look like a
Female
, with a capital F.

Yo
bought matching intimate apparel so her bra, panties and
garter belt were the same rich wine-red as the dress. She’d splurged on silk
stockings and her one weakness…seriously hot shoes. She couldn’t resist a pair
of gorgeous shoes and these heels set the dress off to perfection. Her date had
better be as tall as Serena claimed, because in these shoes,
Yohana
stood six foot three.
Yo
knew he would never see the lingerie, but at least she knew it was there. She
felt more feminine when she dressed pretty.

She took a deep breath in an attempt
to calm herself, but it didn’t really help. She hadn’t been able to concentrate
at all on the pack business sitting on her desk since her visit to the city
yesterday. When Serena had called about this male, Dr.
Per
Goldwolf
,
Yo
had reviewed
his basic profile. He was perfect…on paper.

It wasn’t until this morning, with a
date scheduled tonight, that Serena sent her his picture. He was a stunner.
Amazing long blond hair and piercing eyes, all of which made her nervous.
Yo
had been set up on blind dates with males who turned out
to be as pretty as
Per
, but the dates were unmitigated
disasters. The males took one look at her, with her hawkish nose, broad
shoulders and abundant curves, and their smiles had become stiff and forced.
They ran away at the first opportunity. At least tonight,
Per
would have seen her picture prior to the date, so he’d know what he was
getting. She didn’t want another disappointment.

Yohana
understood her pack’s concern about her lack of Mate, but
she didn’t need the hassle right now. It was proving to be a distraction when
she should be focused on getting the pack running smoothly and she needed to be
able to concentrate on making some tough decisions about the pack’s future.

When her father had gotten ill a
year ago, she’d taken over day-to-day business for the pack’s home, the
incorporated town of
Whitewolf
, Colorado. The first
Whitewolf
pack leader founded the town in the 1870s.
Yohana
wanted to bring more tourism dollars to town.
Because they had some gorgeous old houses and buildings on Main Street, the
town was a picture postcard in winter. The previous year,
Yohana
had organized a celebration the second weekend of December that had drawn
people from all over the state. Most of the pack members were artisans of some
sort and owned their own businesses. The December Christmas celebration made
them a lot of money. She needed complete focus on details for this year and
generate even more publicity. Damn, her gut was in knots because the
celebration was coming up within a couple of months. Unfortunately, this Mate
business was getting in her way.

Yohana
shuddered as she thought of
anyone
else taking over
her
pack. At the last city council meeting, one of the council members talked about
luring some big discount store into town, which was the last thing they needed.
Yohana
was more than willing to shop at a discount
stores when she went to Denver, but she’d be damned if she’d let retailers like
that into their town to drive down prices and wages for everyone. The town
needed to stay quaint to make money. She lifted her chin as she studied her
reflection. Tonight had to go well. She needed a Mate.
Soon.

* * * * *

Per looked at the gold watch on his
wrist. He was half an hour late. Damn it! Would she still be there? If not, he
got what he deserved. It was typical of his romantic life lately, not that this
was romance… Yet, how many females had he kept waiting or stood up due to work?
He couldn’t even keep count. It was a good argument for having a Mate who would
understand he had other commitments.