Resisting the Cougar (Cascade Shifters #2) (10 page)

Even though dinner had been uneventful and Aidan and Chloe had left fairly early, she’d barely slept more than an hour or two. Every time she closed her eyes, either her kiss with Aidan or a reimagining of his mate’s death played inside her mind. Since the man had been close-lipped during dinner, it’d been up to her and Chloe to keep the conversation going. Or, rather, up to Chloe.

Remembering the little girl jumping from one topic to another made Claire smile. The girl was about as different from her father as could be. She must take after her mother.

Yet Chloe didn’t even remember her mother. Even though Claire’s parents had died a few years ago in a boating accident, she’d had twenty-eight years with them. She only hoped Chloe would have a mother some day and make new memories.

A small part of her wanted to be that person, but as much as she’d fallen in love with Chloe Scott, Claire had six more months of putting her work and the rights of others above her desires and wants. She’d worked too hard for too long to just give it all up.

Of course, by November, Aidan would probably have found someone else. At the thought of a tall, muscled shifter female hanging on his arm, she clenched her coffee mug in her fingers.

Before she could dwell too much on her reaction, a knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. Moving to the door, she asked, “Who is it?”

“Aidan.”

Opening the door, she put on an unassuming smile. “Good morning, enchilada master.”

“I was hoping without Chloe, that name wouldn’t stick.”

She motioned with her head for him to come in. “You should wear it with pride. If your head sentry gig doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on your culinary skills. I’m sure you could open a seasonal restaurant for the tourists who hike the nearby trails.” Grunting, Aidan walked past her and she noticed the box. “What’s inside there? Did my clothes finally get here?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Stop calling me enchilada master and I’ll tell you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. If it means I can wear clothes my own size again, then I think I can manage that.”

After placing it on the table, he moved to the couch and sat down. “Your meeting with Kian starts in twenty minutes. I’d hurry if I were you.”

So, that was the way it was going to be then, as if they hadn’t teased and even kissed the night before.

Since her meeting was too important to fuck up, Claire picked up the box and stopped at the entrance to the bathroom. Still, she could resist teasing the shifter male. “I’m locking the door, so don’t try to peek.”

Aidan merely waved a hand in dismissal. Irritated, Claire left him alone to get ready. Why his actions stung, she had no idea, but she refused to dwell on the feeling. Once she was done with her meeting and could touch base with her people at the SEA, she could focus back on her work and forget about Aidan Scott, his sexy kisses, and his adorable daughter. He clearly was no longer interested in her.

~~~

Aidan settled down to Claire’s right, across from Kian and his mate, Trinity. While his and Claire’s walk to the meeting spot had been in silence, the damn female had teased him the whole way here with her body.

No doubt, Dani had played a part in picking out the tight jeans and sweater that kept falling off Claire’s shoulder. More than once, he’d peeked at her shapely ass. The real restraint had come when another male had stared at the exposed skin of her shoulder. Aidan’s nails had dug hard enough into his palm to draw blood.

However, the meeting should distract him. Once Kian gave Claire her list of tasks, she would be too busy to tease him with either her words or her body. She clearly hadn’t taken his hint of silence the night before. It seemed the female was determined to treat him as if she’d never heard about his past or possibly his comments on the phone with Dani.

He was about to frown in Claire’s direction for the havoc she was bringing to his life when Trinity spoke up. “Enjoying your assignment, Aidan?”

If Dani had said anything to Trinity, then Aidan would hunt down his friend and kill her. “Chloe’s helping me, so it’s been fun.” His cat urged him to look in Claire’s direction, but Aidan resisted. “But my assignment isn’t the purpose of this meeting, as you know, Trinity. Stop stalling and give Claire something to do.”

Claire’s voice was light. “Oh, I don’t know, making origami flowers with Chloe is pretty fun. We could make enough to decorate the whole soldier’s wing.”

He did look at her then, with a deep frown. “I don’t think so.”

Claire raised her brows. “Have you asked all the soldiers if they’d mind?”

His frown deepened. “That’s not the point. It’s not going to happen, end of story.”

Kian cleared his throat. If not for his training, Aidan’s cheeks would’ve flushed.

Once both he and Claire looked in Kian’s direction, Kian said, “While I wish I could spare Claire to make flowers with your daughter, Aidan, I’m afraid that’s going to have to wait.” Kian looked to Claire. “A secure internet connection has been set-up, but before I allow you to contact your people, I want to know more of what you expect from me. After that, I’ll assign your first set of tasks with DarkStalker.”

Claire would’ve made a comment for sure about the word ‘allow’ if Aidan had said it, but she didn’t so much as blink an eye when Kian used it. Instead, she merely jumped right into business. “While my end goal is to record ads for TV and radio to use in the final two months leading up to the vote on the ballot, I think we should start small. The first statement from you and your clan will be the most important. It will set the tone for the entire campaign.”

Kian merely leaned back in his chair. “Go on.”

“I think you should issue a press release through my organization, stating your support. Nothing too exact, but enough to catch the public and media’s notice. You can draft it yourself or I can do it, but either way, I want to tweak it before it goes live. Of course, once it does go live, there’s no turning back. I know you’ve had trouble with Human Purity in recent months. Their attacks might grow bolder after this.”

Kian shrugged. “They’re always waiting to attack, but I won’t live in fear of them. The second I do, they’ve won. I trust Aidan and Dani to protect the clan.”

Claire added, “I expected as much. If possible, I’d like the draft by this afternoon. With only six months to go, I don’t want to waste another day.”

Kian nodded. “I’ll start on it straight away, but I think we should stagger GreyFire’s support. That will give us more coverage on the news.”

Claire smiled. “You claim not to know much about organizing with humans, but I think you’re savvier than you realize.”

Kian waved a hand. “Being clan leader for more than a decade has taught me a few things. Dealing with other clans is not as easy as you might expect.”

As Kian studied Claire, Aidan’s inner cougar growled. The male had a mate. He shouldn’t be looking at their female.

Before Aidan could tell his cat that Claire didn’t belong to them, Kian’s voice filled the small conference room again. “Now, it’s time to talk about your assignment. I want near-daily meetings with me and my staff, starting in three days’ time. Until then, I will give you time to reshuffle events and meetings with your own people, provided you spent a portion of each day typing up tips, contacts, and lessons learned that I can use.”

Claire leaned on her elbows on the table. “If you expect me to give up all of my contacts, then you’re crazy.”

As Kian remained silent, Aidan felt a sense of pride. His female may be human, but she was an alpha in her own right.

Wait, why am I calling her mine?

His cat purred. Because she was.

Before he could do more than think the word “fuck,” Kian answered, “Fair enough, but I need some contacts and letters of introduction. That is one of the requirements for me to help with your campaign.”

As Claire stared back at Kian, Aidan noticed Trinity staring at him. Considering the shifter female’s penchant for interrupting, she was being unusually quiet. It was no secret among the DarkStalker clan that Trinity Perez-Murray was Kian’s right-hand helper. When Kian had been recovering from his bout with a rabid bear-shifter the previous year, she and Kian’s brother, Sy, had kept the clan together.

What the fuck is Trinity up to?

Claire’s voice interrupted his musings. “I will introduce you to a few of my contacts at a time so I can judge how they, and you, will handle it. I’m sure you can understand my caution given that these people are largely responsible for the marriage vote being on the ballot in the first place. Without their resources and support, I never would’ve collected enough signatures.”

Kian replied, “That I can live with.” Kian looked to Aidan. “Hector will be by in an hour with Claire’s laptop. He’ll set up the connection.”

Hector Martinez was a much sought-after young male in DarkStalker. While Hector was oblivious, every single female in the clan went out of her way to attract his attention.

And that male was going to be in the same room as Claire for who the hell knew how long. Only by gripping his thigh under the table was Aidan able to resist a growl. Not trusting himself to speak, he merely nodded.

Kian studied him a second before looking back to Claire. “We’ll meet again tomorrow. If you could bring whatever you’ve typed up by then, I’d appreciate it. I’ll have the press release sent to you by three p.m.”

DarkStalker’s leader stood up, and everyone else followed suit. Reaching out a hand, Claire smiled. “I think we’re still circling each other, as you put it yesterday, but I think eventually we’ll establish an equal footing.”

Kian shook Claire’s hand and then dropped it. “I think we will. Your help will truly make a difference here, Claire Davis.”

“I hope so.”

After a few more goodbyes, Aidan motioned for Claire to leave. Not trusting himself to touch her, he kept his distance the entire way back to her apartment.

~~~

Even without touching her, Claire felt the heat and tension radiating off Aidan’s body. She may not be a shifter with super senses, but even she could tell his mood was off. The man’s jerky movements and refusal to acknowledge her presence was unlike any other time she’d walked beside him. At least, since the very first time when he’d been naked in the snow.

Why he was in a foul mood, she had no fucking idea. The meeting with Kian had gone as expected, and she’d held her ground. If Aidan was upset with her for standing up to DarkStalker’s leader, well, tough. Her organization was like her clan, and she was damn well going to protect them.

They arrived at her door. She reached for the handle, but Aidan beat her to it and whispered, “Let me go in first to check.”

Aware ears could be listening, she merely motioned for him to go ahead. The sooner they entered her place, the sooner she could find out the cause of Aidan’s tension. The broody looks and stiff posture needed to go back to the ease and laughter of yesterday. That was the shifter she wanted to act as her guard.

Aidan cracked the door, waited, and then crept inside. After about thirty seconds, he ordered, “Come inside.”

With a sigh, she entered her place and headed for the kitchen. The buzz from her coffee was wearing off and she needed something to eat before dealing with the rest of the day, let alone before standing up to a two-hundred-pound-plus shifter male.

Yet as she opened the refrigerator door, she felt Aidan’s gaze on her back. Tired of his mood, food would just have to wait. She turned around. “What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

Shutting the refrigerator, she strode toward him and poked him in the chest. “What the hell is up with you? And don’t say nothing, because that’s a lie.”

He stared a second before growling, “Hector’s coming.”

She blinked. “The computer guy? What does he have to do with anything?”

Aidan took a step closer. Only a few inches separated their bodies. His voice was low when he answered, “Every female wants him in their bed. You will, too.”

She frowned. “What the hell, Aidan? You’d better start explaining or I’ll call Dani and have her make sense of it all.”

Leaning toward her, Claire took a step back, which only elicited another growl from Aidan. He was still close enough that she could feel the heat of his body when he answered, “If you flirt with him, my cat will urge me to beat the living shit out of him, so keep your distance.”

“You’ve clearly gone insane, especially since all morning you’ve acted like yesterday never happened. Now you’re jealous? I’m tired of wondering and guessing, Aidan Scott. Tell me straight what’s going on here or I will request another guard.”

In the blink of an eye, Aidan drew her up against his body, warmth and awareness flaring everywhere their bodies touched. Heat and glowing cougar eyes replaced the irritation in Aidan’s gaze. His breath was hot against her face as he murmured, “You won’t request another guard.”

She cleared her throat. “Why?”

Nuzzling her cheek, he whispered, “Because you are mine.”

As Aidan hauled her tighter against his body, Claire stopped breathing. Being surrounded by Aidan’s heat and scent of male and forest was making it hard to think. All he had to do was kiss her and Claire would forget reason and act on her hormones.