When an Alpha Purrs (8 page)

“Neat? As in tidy or cool?

“Tidy of course. You’ll be glad to know I’m not a man to leave my socks on the floor.”

“Because you have staff to pick them up.”

“What’s the problem with that? It’s my neat side that makes me hire them to keep my place in spotless shape. I also have a cook so we always eat well, a tailor, and a massage therapist, who, on second thought, you can’t use.”

She stupidly asked, “Why not?”

“Because he’s a man. No hands but mine are allowed to touch you.”

Again, his possessiveness should have appalled her, but dammit, her attraction to control freaks once again reared its head. She tried to laugh off his jealous claim. “Oh my god. I’m stuck in a truck with a mad man.” And a rich one.

As he slowed down under a covered portico supported on pillars of marble, Kira couldn’t help but gape at the towering building. Story upon story of reflective glass that sparkled in the sunlight.

A valet sprang forth and opened the truck door on her side, but before Kira could grasp the gloved hand to step down, Arik was there, scowling at the fellow in the red uniform trimmed with gold braid.

“I’ve got her. You take this.” He tossed his keys at the fellow. “Don’t park it far. I might need it again quickly.”

Tucking Kira’s arm in the crook of his, he led her to a bank of glass doors, which were so clean they shone with mirror-like brilliance. Kira felt woefully out of place. Even the doorman seemed more impressive than her. She really wished she’d worn something a little more presentable than a comfortable pair of jeans with worn holes in one thigh and knee, a soft dusky rose pullover that had gone through the wash one too many times, and hair hastily slapped into a pony tail. Add to that the worn canvas runners on her feet, and she looked more like someone who should enter through the back entrance as a worker than a guest of one of the condo owners.

Dragging her feet didn’t stop Arik from propelling her forward, his large hand firmly pressed against the middle of her back. She could have probably darted away, yet she had a sneaking suspicion he would just chase her down and carry her in, caveman-style. The man seemed bound and determined to protect her from Gregory.

And truthfully, at this point, bemused by the strangeness of it all, she allowed it.

Why not? What did she have to lose? Her methods hadn’t worked. The cops hadn’t helped. Moving half a country away hadn’t stopped Gregory. Why not let Arik and his arrogance take a stab at deterring her ex?

Even if he failed, at least she’d get a moment to relax in comfort—and maybe enjoy some seductive pleasure.

Or she’d go from one bad situation to another. A prisoner with a gilded cage and a much-too-sexy captor.

Bringing Kira to his home was both brilliant and yet, at the same time, the height of foolishness. Arik knew it, but he did it anyhow. He had his reasons. Valid ones, too. For one, he wasn’t exaggerating when he’d mentioned his place had the best security around, and he didn’t just mean the actual paid-guard kind. No stranger would make it into the condo tower without someone in his pride noticing—and taking care of it.

That was the smart part of his choice. The foolish part, though, was exposing his human mouse to the females of his pride. Talk about throwing Kira to the lions. But it had to be done at some point. If Kira was going to be a part of his life, then best get her used to the insanity of his family from the get-go—before she discovered the even crazier fact that her mate and his relatives were shapeshifting lions.

Now there was a conversation he wasn’t looking forward to. How did one spring the fact that he turned furry, roared, and liked to hunt gazelle, on a woman whose closest encounter with a large feline was probably at a zoo?

Maybe Hayder could find a how-to manual for him.

He’d worry about that later. First, he needed to run the gauntlet of the front lobby so he could get to his home. Home for him was the penthouse suite on the seventeenth floor of the towering condo complex. It should be noted that he owned the entire building and that the units were, for the most part, occupied by members of his pride. There were a few that he rented to friends of his, a mixture of humans and other shifter castes, but for the majority, it was she-cats. And they were all related to him in some shape or fashion, which meant he couldn’t hope to sneak in with Kira and not have it noticed, especially since he made it a point to never bring his lady friends home, until now.

As soon as he stepped through those glass doors, from the comfortable couches and chairs set around an open gas-fueled decorative fire pit, lounging bodies perked with interest. Heads swiveled in their direction. Conversations stopped. Eyes followed their steps as they made their way to the elevator. Steps that slowed as Kira shortened her paces until she stood frozen.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” She didn’t look at him as she said it, but at the staring eyes of his cousins. “I don’t belong here.”

She did. She just didn’t know it yet. “We can talk about it upstairs.”

“Or I can just leave right now.” She spun on one heel, determined to leave.

As if he’d let that happen. He sidestepped and blocked her. She moved the other way, only to have him block her again.

“Get out of my way. I’m leaving, and you can’t stop me.”

That made him laugh. “Oh, mouse, when will you learn you can’t challenge me and hope to win? We’re going upstairs, and that’s final.” The sooner, the better, as the lionesses were taking too much interest in their repartee, and some were beginning to close in, curiosity drawing them.

This argument needed to cease. He was the alpha—
king of my pride, hear me roar
—and he needed to act like one. Despite the gossip it would engender with his audience, Arik grabbed Kira around the waist and carried her to the elevator, which opened at his approach.

Lucky for him, none of the pride confronted him before he left the lobby. The not-so-lucky part? They told his mother.

But he wasn’t aware of that fact for a whole three minutes. Three minutes he got to spend alone with Kira glaring at him in the elevator.

How cute she looked with her arms crossed under her breasts. He wondered what she’d do if he told her it just tempted him to rile her even more.

She’d probably take the scissors to me again.
Problem was, while hair grew back, other parts of his anatomy wouldn’t, so perhaps he shouldn’t push his luck.

“You know, in some states, I’m pretty sure this is considered kidnapping.”

In his world, the laws didn’t apply unless he made them. “Isn’t kidnapping like a female fantasy in romances? Dashing billionaire abducts lovely hairdresser so that he might do decadent things to her luscious body?”

“This isn’t romantic. And there will be no decadent things done to
this
body.” She gestured to her shape, drawing his eye to the curves he longed to explore.

“Oh, there will be things done. And you will enjoy it.”

“No, I won’t.”

It was too easy to prove her wrong. He invaded her space, his body moving toward her as she backed away in the elevator cab until she hit the wall and had to stop. Her chest heaved, her eyes dilated, and the sweet perfume of her arousal teased him. “Care to change your answer?” he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.

“Stop it. I know what you’re doing, and I won’t allow it.”

“What am I doing?”

“Using your body against me. Just because I desire you doesn’t mean I like you.”

“I think you do like me. A lot.”

“No, I don’t. At all. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Never in a million years.”

He grasped her chin and rubbed his thumb over her lower lip and felt her tremble. “Again with the lying. And you protest too much. Admit it. You are as drawn to me as I am to you. And not just physically. We complement each other.”

“How do you figure that? We are completely different people.”

“Which is why we will work so well together.”

“What is wrong with you? I insult you, and you think that makes us perfect?”

“But that’s just it. You are not cowed by my evident awesomeness. Your fearsome nature makes you a perfect partner for me.”

“You wouldn’t call me fearsome if you’d seen me last night,” she blurted out. As if ashamed of her admission, she ducked her head, but he wouldn’t let her hide from him. He angled her chin and forced her gaze back to his.

“There are times when fear is appropriate. When threatened, anything less would be foolish. But you aren’t afraid of me.”

“Because I know you won’t hurt me.”

The admission warmed him, made his chest swell in pride. Odd, because, with anyone else, he would have shown them why fear of the lion king was appropriate, but with Kira, he wanted her trust. “You’re right. I wouldn’t hurt you. Because you are mine.”

Before she could protest, and he could tell she was going to, the stubborn chit, he slanted his mouth over hers, drawing her denial into his mouth and breathing arousal back into her.

Kira melted, just as he knew she would. This was meant to be. In his arms he held his woman, his mate. She molded herself to him and let his mouth trace the shape of hers. She met his tongue with her own, eagerly sucking and playing and…

The elevator doors parted, and a choked cough—someone had a meddling hairball stuck in their throat—let him know they had an audience.

“What do you think you’re doing, Arik Theodore Antoine Castiglione?”

Ooh, all four of his names. Someone was in trouble. Or would have been if he were still a child. However, he was a man now. Alpha of the pride. What a shame his mother kept refusing to respect his command.

With a heavy sigh, he parted from a flushed Kira and turned to face his mother, who regarded him with stern disapproval from the open elevator door.

In her early fifties, his mother appeared much younger than her age, her skin still smooth, marred only by crinkles at the corners of her eyes. Her blonde hair, with a little help from a bottle, retained its golden sheen and was cut short in layers that framed an angular face. The lips, which usually bore a smile for her cherished son, were pulled taut in disapproval.

“Hello, Mother. Fancy seeing you here. I take it someone tattled on me.”

His mother arched a perfectly plucked brow. “Make that numerous someones and with good reason. What are you doing bringing a hu—“—she caught herself—“a girl like her home with you.”

Before Arik could say a word, Kira, being Kira, jumped in.

“A girl like me?” His mouse planted her hands on her hips and let her expressive brown eyes spit daggers at his mother. Fearless before the pride’s greatest huntress. Except Kira didn’t know whom she faced.
Even if she did, I’d wager she wouldn’t care.

It occurred to Arik to intervene, but he stayed his paw. This confrontation would have to happen at one point. Given both women would always be a part of his life, Kira and his mother would have to learn to deal with each other.

That was the first reason to allow this meeting to unfold. The second he could blame on his cat, who was curious about what would happen next. Fireworks for sure and he wondered if he could snag some popcorn for the upcoming entertainment. His mother wasn’t used to other people, most especially humans, standing up to her.

Haughty disdain marked his mother’s features as she eyed Kira from head to toe. “Exactly where did you scrounge this waif from? The bargain bin at some discount outlet? Really, Arik. If you feel a need to sate your carnal urges could you not do so more discreetly or at least with someone of your caliber?”

In other words, stick to his kind, not humans. But Kira didn’t know that. Kira assumed the worst, and she bristled pretty awesomely—for a human.

“Having met you I see where Arik gets his manners, or, more specifically, lack of manners, from. I have to wonder if the fumes from the peroxide you’ve used over the years on that pile of straw on your head is to blame.”

“It’s natural!”

“Sure it is.” Kira’s placating smile just fueled the fire.

“Why, you little hussy, I should teach you to mock your betters.”

“Mock? I’m sorry. Wasn’t my insult clear?”

Oh damn. What a way to goad his mother. Arik could see his mother’s control over her lioness fraying. Since it seemed the claws might come out, he judged it prudent to step in.

“Now, ladies, surely we can solve our differences in an amicable manner.”

“No!” At least, in that, his mother and Kira agreed.

“Can we go inside and discuss this?”

“You and your mommy can. I’m leaving.” Kira, who’d yet to exit the elevator cab, made to stab at the touch screen, but Arik blocked her attempt.

“You’re staying,” he stated.

“Let her leave. It’s the first smart thing she’s said.” His mother glared at his mouse.

“Kira’s not going anywhere.”

“You can’t make me stay.”

At this point, Arik finally lost his composure. He might have let his cat out just a tiny bit when he roared, “Enough!”

Round eyes and a dropped jaw said he might have let a little more beast out than expected. While Kira processed her shock, he took the opportunity to extract her from the elevator and carry her to the door to his penthouse. His mother followed, haranguing him all the way.

“What are you doing, Arik? Why are you bringing this woman home? I want some answers.”

There really was only one answer, and he tossed it at his mother before slamming the door practically in her face. “She’s mine.”

The roar of denial from the other side of the wooden portal didn’t bode well, but then again, neither did the storm brewing in Kira’s eyes when he set her down.

Guess he wasn’t getting any nookie or a nap anytime soon. Damn. And the sun was at just the right height to puddle warm rays across his bed.