The Lion's Shared Bride (3 page)

The hostess smiled brightly and shot Nina an envying look before scurrying away, and the man chuckled softly. Nina stood on unsteady legs, taking a deep breath as the man closed the distance between them to give her a quick, strong hug and a kiss on the cheek. She caught his scent: faintly green, with a rich, almost spicy underlying musk, almost reminiscent of cologne without being identifiable. She started slightly as she felt his breath against her skin, for an instant she could have sworn that he was sniffing her hair but the impression left her as he broke away from the hug and gestured for her to sit down. “Well, love, disappointed in me?” Nina opened her mouth to speak, only to find that she’d no idea what she was going to say.

She swallowed, conquering the mixture of nerves and shock that froze her brain. “I’m a little worried at the fact that you apparently need to use a matchmaking site,” she said, blurting the words out all at once. “I mean—you’re gorgeous. You’re obviously not hurting for money. It should be harder to turn down the dates you get instead of having to pay someone to find a wife for you.”
Here it is,
she thought grimly.
He’s going to tell me he’s gay.

“I have sort of—special requirements,” the man said smoothly. “I want a mate, in all the senses of the term, but it would be a lot harder to find the things I need in a woman by just going to the bars and hoping, you know?” Nina felt a sudden spurt of dread. Instead of fearing that he was gay, that she’d be maneuvered into a sexless marriage with an incredibly gorgeous guy who had no physical attraction to her whatsoever, she was convinced now that he was some kind of sadist who wanted a slave to abuse. “Don’t look so shocked, I’m not looking for a pretty little slave, though if I was, I’d definitely have a hard time picking a prettier one than you.”

“Then what exactly are you looking for?” Nina blushed at the compliment, though the way he’d couched it would have been creepy if not for his deep voice and rippling accent, the lilting cadence of his speech.

“That is a little bit complicated. Let me buy you a glass of wine and we can discuss it.”

Nina bit her bottom lip. Part of her mind screamed an alarm. She should excuse herself; leave as quickly as possible. The guy didn’t know where she lived, he had no idea of her phone number, and there was no way for him to track her. She had checked into the app to confirm that she was at the meeting place, it would have notified him to arrive. She could sign on the moment she left the café and formally reject him. But another part of her was intrigued. How specific could the man’s requirements be that simply being gorgeous and well-to-do weren’t enough to secure him whatever he wanted?

“I’ll have red,” she said, taking a deep breath. “But don’t think for a second that you’re going to get me drunk.” The man across the table from her laughed out loud, throwing his head back.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Not for a first meeting, anyway.”

CHAPTER THREE

         Aedan watched the woman who Soren handpicked as the solution to their mutual problems. He watched the evolution of expressions on her face; that she hadn’t been expecting him was clear by the look of shock in her big, dark eyes. She had been staring at him and he watched the quick flush light up her cheeks, the dart of her gaze away from him, oddly demure and challenging all at once. When he had hugged her, he had sniffed her slightly, she was perhaps a week away from her monthly, but through the lingering orange blossom and jasmine perfume of her shampoo or conditioner, he had been able to scent her underlying pheromones. The warm, almost spicy scent of her body had been enough to convince him she was precisely what he wanted.

Gradually, as they sat together, she calmed and relaxed in his presence. Aedan enjoyed the way her fear pheromones slowly dissolved, the scent of subtle arousal building up, adding a nearly distracting undercurrent of sweet vanilla to her pheromones. The impulse to tell her she smelled like his mother’s finest Easter baking, that the smell of her made him want to devour her completely, trembled in the back of his mind. She would discover the truth soon enough, he didn’t want to rush her. The woman in front of him somehow combined the skittishness of a gazelle with the haughty pride of a slinking panther.

“So you can see, my situation is a bit precarious,” he told her, smiling his most charming smile. As soon as she had taken a few sips of her wine, Aedan had begun to explain his situation, at least in terms that she could understand. The truth was, of course, much stranger and much more complicated but she would discover the depths of it very, very soon. As soon as he left, he would report to Soren. Whether she knew it or not, Aedan thought, she was going to be his, even if she would not, strictly speaking,
only
be his.

Aedan watched as Nina caught up her bottom lip between her teeth, the act nearly drove him to distraction. If things had been the way they should’ve been, if he had been the Alpha male of his own Pride, instead of a wandering lone lion, he would have taken her himself.
If wishes were fishes…

His father had been Alpha of the pride he had belonged to as a child. By the time he was five years old, Aedan had begun learning what it would take to rise to the position himself. His father drilled the responsibility, the needs of leadership, into him over and over again, fully anticipating when Aedan was of age, he would step back and Aedan would step into his shoes, mature and stable enough, perhaps with a mate, to continue leading the Pride into the next generation.

Shortly after he turned ten, everything changed. His parents both died, victims of a random arsonist in their small community in Ireland. Aedan had been at a friend’s house for the night, wrestling and sparring with his best friend Lachlan right up until the phone call came in to Lachlan’s parents. The shock of losing both of his parents at the same time had been difficult enough but Aedan hadn’t even undergone his first transformation either. He was so young that, initially, the intense pain of grief had shaken him to utter silence. He attended the memorial service numbly, touching the urns that held his parents’ ashes with cold fingers.

But when the new Alpha had taken power, Aedan’s grief was compounded by the fact that he was no longer even welcome in the Pride. Because he had no family affiliation within the Pride, no one to be present for his first transformation and to initiate him into the adulthood, he was expelled. At the age of eleven, as the first real signs of puberty started to mark his face and body, Aedan had been sent to distant relatives in the United States. They’d known he was a lion, but he hadn’t received any guidance. When he changed for the first time, it was alone, in the depths of woods where his uncle dropped him off without ceremony. “Don’t get yourself shot,” the man’s parting advice had been.

Because no Pride had witnessed his first transformation into his animal form, Aedan wandered for years as a lone male. He was ineligible to join any other Pride unless he came with his own mate because as a loner, he was too much of a threat to the Alpha of any group. Wolves wouldn’t admit him into their packs, and the bears were just as wary of him.

When Aedan met Soren, he had gone to the younger Alpha in desperation. He knew Soren’s Pride was in trouble. A lack of genetic diversity resulted in stillbirths, in children who could barely live, much less transform into the majestic form of a lion. Aedan was distantly related to Soren—one of his cousins had mated with one of Soren’s uncles—but Soren had been only too happy to provisionally accept him into the Pride, desperate for some new genetic material. He was also overwhelmed by the massive task of re-invigorating his Pride as their Alpha. But without a mate, Aedan would not be allowed to remain and since he’d been kicked out of his own Pride, no female would agree to become his mate.

Late one night, discussing the problem over beers, they came to a simple conclusion: they would find a human mate to share. That way, Aedan would be able to join the Pride completely, admitted to hunt with them on the special reserve they owned and Soren would have a mate who would bring new genetics into the limited pool. If they could convince a woman to carry children for each of them, the offspring could be potentially mated off to other were-lions, further spreading the genetics, and Soren would also have an opening for convincing the members of his Pride to seek human mates by setting an example.

The explanation he gave to Nina in the course of the two hours they spoke was much simpler. He hadn’t mentioned Soren at all, for one. He simply told her about the death of his parents, and hinted at his ability to continue living in the US was contingent on him finding a wife. His citizenship in the country was already established but his membership in the Pride was balanced on the precarious possibilities of him finding a mate.

“So,” Nina said, setting her empty glass on the table and looking at him levelly. “This would be a marriage of convenience.” Aedan smiled slowly.

“If it makes you feel better to think of it that way, then yes,” Aedan said. “But I expect it to be convenient for both of us, and I expect it to be a real marriage.” His smile deepened as he watched the blush spread over Nina’s cheeks swiftly.

CHAPTER FOUR

Soren paced back and forth along the length of his living room; he hadn’t felt this anxious since he faced the challenger who stood between him and the status of Alpha male for the Pride. The fact that the “date” had gone on for two and a half hours was promising but he was more than ready for some kind of report from Aedan. Soren combed his fingers through his hair, resenting the luck that gave Aedan the opportunity to meet her first.

They had discussed which should be the one to meet her. Soren argued that since he had done the legwork, he should get the privilege, while Aedan argued—fairly—that they would both be with her, and they would both have to determine their compatibility with her, so it didn’t much matter which met her first. If she were incompatible with either of them, it wouldn’t work. Finally, as Soren suggested in his text message, they resorted to flipping a coin to make the determination. Soren had called heads but the coin had landed three times on tails, beating out the odds.

Soren jumped slightly as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

She’s lovely. Seems to be a little feisty underneath the skittishness. I suspect she’s got an issue with becoming bored. The profile was the act of a desperate woman who was tired of being alone after getting tired of other men.

Soren grinned to himself. Another text popped up.

She’s got the prettiest stink—I’d eat her whole if I didn’t have any manners.

Soren shook his head, chuckling lowly.

Convince her to come home with you.
Soren had replied.

Because Aedan was not a full member of the Pride and because he needed protection for that reason, he had moved into Soren’s home. The closeness was a cause of both friction and muted intrigue between them. Both Alphas, they had had to work out a system to give each other the space each required. Their quarters would become much closer assuming she agreed to their proposition.

What’s her name, by the way?

That information hadn’t been included in her profile nor had his name been given to her, which made it easier to send Aedan in his stead. The less they lied to her, the better, Soren thought. She would be in for enough shocks soon enough. The more of the truth they kept from her, the harder it would be to convince her. The fact that Aedan had read something in her demeanor that suggested that she had gone to the site as a cure for romantic boredom was promising.

Nina. And she’s still skittish. I think she’s afraid I’m an axe murderer, in spite of my ample charms.

Soren groaned. He wanted to see her, wanted to scent her for himself. It would be so much easier if he could meet her in his own space, if he could be introduced as Aedan’s roommate instead of setting up a separate meeting and confusing the issue further.

Do what you can. I believe in your filthy Irish tongue.

Soren put his phone down, gritting his teeth. He felt a brief rush of jealousy. The woman he had marked—the woman he had selected—was, right now, being subjected to Aedan’s easygoing charm. The thought of it rankled the proud Alpha male but he had told himself firmly, over and over again, he would have to think differently. The expediency of sharing a woman with another Alpha, even if Aedan would not be
the
Alpha, would mean he would have to adjust the possessive nature he instinctively felt.

You don’t even know if you’re going to like her. Maybe you’ll hate her and poor Aedan will just have to find another girl to charm. Not that he’d find that hard,
thought Soren. But Soren told himself firmly that if they had to move on to another candidate, he was going to damned well be the one to meet her first; he wasn’t going to allow Aedan to blow another girl away with his lilting Irish voice and rugged handsomeness and risk her being less impressed by him.

A few minutes later, Soren’s phone buzzed, vibrating against the coffee table imperiously.

She’s coming with me. Curious and wary. Someone ought to tell her to stop acting like prey. I’ll be lucky if I don’t make her crash, making a pass at her. She’s driving. Feels more comfortable that way, method of escape and all.

Soren shook his head, laughing in spite of his irritation. He could imagine it in his mind vividly: the sidling, wary behavior that Nina was doubtlessly showing, Aedan’s soothing behavior to counter it. She would be lucky indeed, Soren thought, if Aedan’s animal nature didn’t push him to take advantage of her before they ever reached the house.