Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (7 page)

At the
mention of his secretary, Xena felt her hackles rise.  "How is Margarete
these days?  She ever mention me fondly?"

Sterling
shook his head.  "You mean since you broke her arm for trying to do her
job?" he answered dryly.  "Repeatedly."

Feeling
his eyes on her, she looked up and shrugged at Logan.  "Her job my ass,
bitch dug those claws in deep."  Then she smiled with a lot of teeth, her
tone overly bright.  "We're like b.f.f.'s."

Sterling
snorted.

"Any
chance this Margarete is the leak?"  Logan asked, the humor flowing in and
out of his eyes just as fast.

"She's
my first choice."  Xena thought of the myriad of possibilities if
Margarete was truly that stupid.  "But that might just be because it means
I can twist her Barbie head right off if she is."

"Hopefully
it won't come to that." Sterling muttered, then cleared his throat.
"I'll find the leak.  My office; my job.  You lay low and off radar until
I have this handled."  Xena said not a word, and neither did Logan.  They
had no intention of leaving this to Sterling, but he did not need to know that.

Then the
old man looked shrewdly between them once again.  "I assume some
congratulations are in order?"

Xena
blinked at him stupidly.  "Huh?"

"I
may be an old wolf, my dear," he said, the humor coming back into his
eyes.  "But I remember what a true mating looks like.  And it's hard to
miss with an Alpha pair, even a mixed one."

Xena
kept her eyes front and center, and answered as mildly as she could.  "I
haven't made any decisions one way or the other about that yet.  It might not
happen."

This time
Sterling outright laughed at her.  To her face.  "You keep telling
yourself that my dear.  If it makes you feel better."

For some
reason Logan found that hilarious if the way his body silently laughed against
her was any indication. 

Damn
it. 
While it felt
good to make the serious wolf laugh when he seemed to do it so rarely, it did
not feel so good when she knew he was laughing at her expense.  Not to mention,
Sterling was intuitive and saw much, but how the fuck did he recognize a
connection that had not happened yet when they were only shortly in the room,
and barely spoke to each other?

Not a
good sign.  At all.

Lionsgate
was different from what she expected.  Lions were known for ostentation, and
while this place was clearly on the ‘well to do’ side of the classes, there was
more comfort than showmanship, which Xena liked, a lot.  A mix of old and new
the sprawling rambler of a house was all one story and spread out in brick and
glass.  There was a cobblestone inner courtyard and covered breezeways that
connected what was actually three separate units.  Vintage iron accents and old
antique doors gave the patinated brick building a historic look and blended the
entirety of it seamlessly together.  The many gleaming windows gave it a modern
look despite the old world charm.

On the
drive in they passed both the main house, a second red brick building with a
pool Logan called the club house, and a state of the art garage.  They parked
between the main house and the clubhouse.

She
didn’t really know what to expect when she stepped out of the vehicle with
Logan.  Cleo came out of the front seat and looked over the car, and then at
Xena, her eyes apologetic.  "I am just saying up front that I am so, so,
so very sorry, for whatever my brother does, or says, and hope that you will
not judge us for the actions of one."  She sucked in a breath and raised
her chin looking stoic, though the humor was in the back of her eyes still. 
"Try to remember that we have to make allowances for those with special
needs."

"I
heard that," came the affronted answer from the other side of the SUV.
Followed by the appearance of Ian Gibbs, teenager, and while she was not going
to say it out loud in front of either the man boy or her Cowboy, the boy was
smokin' hot and the sight of all that golden Lion male in his prime, was at least
worth a look.  So she looked.

When Ian
caught sight of Xena, he did not just look, he screeched to a halt, almost
tripping over his big, lion feet. 

His eyes
lit up and his voice went hushed.  "Please tell me, that's for me."

Xena
snorted in amusement but quickly bit her humor back when Logan glared from the
boy man to her.  She gave him wide innocent eyes, ‘cause really if he was in
his wolf form his hackles would be up, and as far as she was concerned she had
done nothing but stand there.  Though, she could admit she had gone to pains
with her wardrobe.  She usually did when she was not stealing shit, or
preparing for bloodstains.

Her pencil
skirt was brown leather, fitted close to her knees, her heels high, nude
colored leather with thin straps at the ankle, and pointed toes that extended
the length of her legs beautifully.  Her thin, cream sweater top was high at
the neck with three quarter length sleeves that fit tight on the arms and hung
diagonally over the high waistline of the leather skirt.

Her
hair, she let fall in its usual, completely straight, waterfall down her back. 
Side parted and sleek, it went well with the subtle make-up and barely there lip-gloss. 
She was going for polished, put together, and hot.  As she should, when meeting
the pack of her would be mate for the first time.

She
looked good.  She knew it.  And if she had any doubt, the look Logan pinned her
with when she was finally ready, and joined him in the main part of the plane,
would have told her.  And if she still had doubts, Cleo's once over and thumbs
up, when she joined them, would have cinched it.

Though,
the look of pure avarice in the boy lions eyes when he caught sight of her in
her pretty clothes?  A bit much. 

She
heard a growl, and realized it was coming from Logan when he spoke; the grit in
his voice like a mile of bad road, his wolf was so close to the surface.  Xena
blinked at the unexpected sight of Logan on the edge.

"No,"
Logan emphasized.  "Mine."  He bit the word off with a snap of
teeth.  "My mate."

Xena did
not bother taking exception to the heavy-handed claim, or the way he stepped in
front of her blocking most of her from the lions view.  She was too busy biting
back another laugh because the teenage Lothario did not even spare the
dangerous predator at her side a glance.

"Where
do you people
find them
?" he asked, still in that reverent tone,
taking her in as much as possible around the Alpha male blocking her with his
vibrating body. 

Since
Logan was usually so laid back and smooth, this sudden switch to caveman was
pretty funny.  She was not the only one finding it so, because she clearly
heard Cleo snorting back her own laugh at the ridiculous male posturing.  But
enough was enough.  The boy clearly had no sense of self preservation, and
since she didn’t want the silly boy’s death on her conscience, she moved into
the vibrating alpha at her side and leaned, wrapping her arm around his hard as
a rock torso, and giving the young lion a warning look, with just a hint of the
humor she could not hide if she tried.

"Ian
Gibbs, right?" she asked dryly.

He
finally snapped back into the moment because he gave her his best wicked bad
boy smile.  He did it well.  No doubt about it, he was a pretty one with those
striking blue eyes of his and all that golden skin and hair.  Be a shame to see
that face mauled by an enraged wolf.

"Well,
Ian Gibbs," she said when he gave her a nod and another once over in
answer; "Take some advice my young pad-wan and leave this place and go far
away."  She fluttered her hand dramatically in the direction of
elsewhere.  "You’re too young and pretty to die."

He
blinked at her and she saw a spark of something else in his eyes. 
Intelligence, which was unexpected.  Then she got the feeling he really looked
and finally saw Logan, and then with an unrepentant grin the little bugger
actually winked at her.  "You think I'm pretty?"

Cheeky. 
She snorted a laugh
she could not suppress and then bit her lip against more when Logan whipped a
look of wolf gold down at her.  She gave Logan the same wide innocent eyes that
were as ineffective as they had been the first time.

Logan
had enough.  He gritted his teeth and ignored the attempt at innocence his mate
was not even close to pulling off with the laughter sparking her eyes.

"Ian,"
he finally said after an effort at restraint.  His wolf eyes moving back to the
boy, he let them go ice cold.  "Enough."

Ian
opened his mouth, caught the new look in Logan's eyes and surprisingly enough, he
shut it again.

Liam,
another young male, newly accepted into the pack and one he did not know well,
came around the SUV.  He lacked both the bulk and the height of Ian, but he had
filled out and looked better than the last time Logan had seen him.  When he
had helped them find Cleo after the boy’s uncle forcibly took her and nearly
killed Shawn.  He looked good, though nervous, even after the months he had
been part of the pack.  The reason was immediately obvious when he looked at
Cleo, and then quickly away.

"Ian,
your father says he wants you in the house, and to let Logan bring in his
mate."

"Hey
Liam," Cleo said, greeting the young lion and making the boy turn a bright
red at the attention.  He turned to look at her again, and it was almost
painful the way he tried to hide his crush.  He was attempting to play it cool,
but not altogether successfully.  Logan could relate. He was not doing so well
in that regard himself.

"Hey
Cleo," Liam answered, his voice breaking over the words.  Then he caught
sight of Xena close behind her, and you could actually see the mechanisms of
his brain stall.  The boy looked from her to Cleo and back again, more than
once, and his eyes actually glazed over.  Logan gritted his teeth.  He could
hardly blame the kid.  Between the tall golden goddess Cleo in her tank top,
low rider cargo pants and army boots, all tousled gold curls; and Xena with her
sleek dark hair, cafe au lait skin that looked like you could lap it like
cream, in her fuck me heels and tight leather skirt over that seriously fine
ass, they had to look like two polar opposite walking teenage fantasies.  But
understanding the reaction and liking it were two different things.

"Liam,"
he growled a warning, and watched the red color shoot back into the kids face
hotter and harder than before.

Liam
cleared his throat looking from the stoic faced Shawn to Logan with his clearly
aggressive stance over his mate.  He opened his mouth and then looked at Ian as
if looking for assistance.

"I
know.  Right!" was all Ian said.  Which was not at all that helpful, in
Logan's opinion.

Logan
gritted his teeth.  "Why don't you two make yourselves useful and take
Xena's bags to my room in the clubhouse?"

"Oh
come on," Ian immediately answered looking pained, while Liam looked
relieved at anything that would take him out of the situation.  Ian motioned to
Xena first up and then down.  "You can't ask me to miss the meet and greet
of the new hottie.  Eli's going to swallow his tongue."

Logan
had to grit his teeth at the thought that produced.  Ian was not wrong.  He
really hoped that when he was finally mated, he would be less volatile, but for
now the thought of another male looking at his mate with appreciation in his
eyes was painful.  And Ian was scraping his last fucking nerve.

"She
is not the new hottie, asshole," he ground out, losing all patience. 
"She's my
mate
."

When Ian
opened his mouth to answer, probably to piss him off more, Liam grabbed him by
the arm and yanked.  "We'll just get the bags," he mumbled, not
looking at anyone now.

Ian
grinned unrepentant at them all while being dragged to the baggage area of the
SUV.  Without another word, and with a locked jaw, Logan headed for the house,
pulling the new hottie along with him.

"Do
not laugh," he muttered when he saw her biting her lip.  "And stop
biting your lip, it's distracting."

"You
know you have a reputation for being the calm cool head of Lionsgate," Xena
said grinning up at him, through a laugh.  "Can't wait to meet the rest of
the pack."

Fuck
she's pretty,
Logan
thought looking down at her, her eyes sparkling with laughter, her cheeks rosy
with it, and her lips curved up and glossy pink. 

Fuck
it.  B
ecause he had
been denying the need for far too long since the last time he tasted her, he
stopped, yanked her up in his arms, put both hands under that perfect leather
coated ass of hers, lifted her off her fuck me heels and claimed those smiling
lips of hers that had been taunting him for months.

It was
heated, hard, wet and on the edge of savage, but he took what he wanted, how he
wanted it, and if the rest of the men in the pack were paying attention they
would see she was claimed, whether she wore his mark yet or not.  And then he
forgot the pack, the fact that they were standing in full view of everyone he
cared about, if they but bothered to look out the windows, and reveled in the
soft lips and lush heat of his mate.

If Xena
had fought him off, pushed him back or made a single sound of protest he would
have stopped.  Probably.  She didn't do any of that.  Her deceptively soft arms
wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer, and he had been pretty fuckin'
close to begin with.  He growled low in his throat in appreciation and clenched
his hands tighter around the supple leather impeding his progress.

"I
fucking love this."  He heard Cleo's enthusiasm and Shawn's chuckle from a
distance and started to remember that it might not be the best time to strip
his mate and take her over the hood of the still cooling SUV. 
Damn it.

Logan
pulled back and met the gold of his mates coyote for the first time.   He froze
with the words he had been about to say on his lips and just looked. 
"Beautiful," he muttered.  Xena blinked, and her eyes went back to
brown, a confused and slightly panicked look coming into them.

"Shit,"
she said softly.  She was out of breath and flushed, and her eyes seemed to be
having a hard time focusing on anything but his lips.  Logan felt the slow
smile spread across his face, despite the pain in his dick right then.

Xena saw
it, understood it and hissed at him.  "This means nothing," she spoke
fast and low.  "So get whatever twisted Alpha thoughts you are thinking
out of that pretty head of yours this minute."  She snapped her teeth at
him when he just raised a brow at her, and he will admit, smirked.  "So
you can kiss.  Big deal."  When he said nothing, he had the satisfaction
of watching the fire ignite in her eyes a different way and she pulled her arms
back attempting to disentangle them, muttering fiercely the whole time. 
Fucking
adorable.

"
Fucking alpha wolf cowboy commando,
if that's not a recipe for disaster what the fuck is?"

Logan
chuckled and let her go; since she was on the verge of mayhem, it was probably not
the best time to howl his claim and satisfaction to the sky.  Though it was tempting. 
"You sure do get a foul mouth when you’re scared."

She
finally stopped with the flagrant cursing and pointed an irate finger in the
general direction of his face.  "I don't get scared," she snapped,
then turned and glared at their audience, which consisted of most of the pack
since Lucas, Miley and Eli had apparently come out of the house at some time
during the kiss to join Cleo, Shawn, Ian and Liam in watching their
performance.  Logan licked his lips still tasting her there and smiled down at his
mate.  Good mood restored.