Purr For The Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) (3 page)

              “It’s a summer camp for shifters of every species. It’s a new thing we’re doing, to encourage interspecies interaction and cooperation.” He smiled at her fiercely.  “They’ll be fine. Cats and dogs are quite capable of playing nice with each other.”

             
That delicious red blush stained her cheeks again.  She knew exactly what he was getting at, but she refused to acknowledge it.  That was fine, he had all the time in the world to make her see how well a wolf could play with a pussy.

“
My siblings are a huge pain in the ass. That’s the big deal.”

             
“Virginia loves to mentor. She volunteers to teach at our grade school.  She can handle it just fine.” He’d make sure she could handle it. He’d bribe her.

             
A frown creased her forehead as she desperately searched for excuses.  “The money that I earn waitressing for one month wouldn’t cover the damage or the loss that was allegedly caused by my father.”

             
“No, it sure won’t. I’m giving you a huge break.  You should be thankful that I’m such a nice guy.”

             
She didn’t look thankful. She looked panicked and angry.  “I have law clients. I’m just starting to get my law firm up and running.”

Nope. Nice try, though, he thought.
  He wasn’t going to let her squirm out of this one, any more than he would let her squirm out of the furr-lined handcuffs he had waiting for her in the drawer back at his house. Of course, by the time he got her in those cuffs, she wouldn’t want to be released. She’d be begging for more.

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair as his erection strain at his pants.  Looking across the table at her,
he shook his head gently. “Your firm currently has two clients.  You will be waitressing at night. You can take care of any business that you have during the day. If you can’t handle matters on the phone, you can drive to Crystal Falls to meet them. You don’t have any court appearances scheduled this coming month.”

Karen looked at him suspiciously. “How did you know
all that?”

Because I’ve been checking up on you
, he thought to himself.
Because I can’t stop thinking about you. 

“I’m very thorough.” He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. 
“I want you here Friday morning. Day after tomorrow.”

“I know what day of the week it is,” she scow
led.  “Why are you even the one handling this? The property was stolen from your uncle, not you.”

“
When you trespass against one Battle, you trespass against all Battles.  Besides, my uncle was busy, so I volunteered to handle it.” He flashed a wicked grin.

He saw the warring emotions in her face, wat
ched her struggle to think of a way out of this. There was none. She knew he was right.  The Battle family couldn’t let her father’s thefts from the Battle pack go unchallenged. The option that he was offering her was a very generous one.

Finally she gave up.

              “Fine,” she said, her eyes sparking with anger. “One month. I expect my father to be released immediately.”

             
“You’re welcome,” he called after her, as she stalked out. A slamming door was his only answer.   

             
Karen glanced around her tiny office, and felt a pall of gloom descend on her.  It would make zero difference to her business if she was here or not for the next thirty days.  Even her plants would be fine without her; they were all plastic. She’d picked them up at a yard sale because they were cheap and her office needed sprucing up.

             
After her visit to the Battle’s office, with its warm, solid handmade décor, her cheap particleboard furniture and polyester curtains looked unbearably shabby and sad.

             
To top it off,  Isadora was just way too excited about Karen’s impending indentured servitude.

             
“Oh, my God, you’re going to be Ty Battle’s love slave for a month? His sex kitten? His playtoy? Can I please, please be you for the month of August?” Isadora clutched at her chest dramatically and pretended to swoon into her seat.

“Isadora, I will kill you. I will fire you. I will
beat you up, fire you and then kill you,” Karen threatened. “Not necessarily in that order.”

“No, you won’t. You can’t
afford to get rid of me. I work for free,” Isadora pointed out. “Also I’m the only person willing to babysit your siblings, and once they’re booted off the Timber Valley compound, you’ll need me to watch them while you’re at work.”

It was true. Isadora’s parents were wealthy and bored and liked to travel, and they tossed a generous monthly allowance at her so they wouldn’t have to feel guilty that t
hey preferred her younger sister Diana to her. Therefore, she’d volunteered to help Karen out by being her legal clerk.

Of course, Isadora’s appearance didn’t exactly scream “law firm”.  Then again, with no money co
ming in, Karen couldn’t be picky about someone who was a fast note taker, knew how to do legal research, and didn’t require a paycheck.

Isadora was one of the few people in Crystal Falls who found the terrible reputation of the Padfoots
delightful, rather than horrifying.

There was actually a surprising amount of legal work ne
cessary for shifters. While pack law was regulated by a council of thirteen called The Elders, that was for larger issues like supervising Death Challenge matches, territory fights, and the like.  When it came to minor issues like contract law, divorce, petty crimes, and the like, shifters used lawyers just as humans did.

There was one big law firm in Crystal Falls, but they’d turned Karen down when she’d applied, telling her point blank that no
Padfoot would ever work for their firm. She’d been forced to start up her own business. If things didn’t pick up soon, though, she didn’t know what she’d do.

             
Well, for the next 30 days, anyway, she had other things to worry about, like figuring out what Ty’s end-game was, and preventing her siblings from burning down the Battle compound.

With a frown, Karen sat down on Isadora’s
desk and sipped a bottled water.

“I am not going to be having sex with him,” Karen said firmly. “All he asked me to do was waitress and maybe help out his uncle with some legal work. Contracts and that kind of stuff.”

“
Yeah, that’s what he’s saying now. This is an evil scheme to get you under his power. Oh,God, that sounds so sexy when I say it.” Isadora pretended to swoon again.

“
Stop fainting! It probably is an evil scheme. I actually think that he’s still trying to get me back for standing him up in high school, which he richly deserved, by the way.  Well, he’s getting nothing from me,” Karen growled.  “Also, why are you so sex obsessed right now? I thought you and that bear shifter were doing it night and day.”

Isadora shrugged.
“Meh. He ran off with some sow a couple days ago, and honestly, it was a relief. He lacked imagination. In the bedroom. If you know what I mean. For instance-”

“
I get it! Friends don’t let friends overshare,” Karen said hastily. “I don’t want a blow by blow description of your sex life. Fine. Take Ty. He’s all yours.”

“Oh, if only I could. I’d take him in every way you could possibly imagine. Your mind would boggle at the many ways that I would let him take me. However, he only has eyes for you. I knew that from the minute he laid eyes on you at The Zoo last year.”

Karen winced at the memory. “Yeah, if so, he had a funny way of showing it.”

Isadora glanced out the window. “
Get your furry butt off my desk and try to look professional,” she said. “Your ten o’ clock is here.”

“My butt is not furry at the moment,” Karen hissed, scrambling off the desk.

Mrs. Ramona Tufts came bustling in. A full-figured mountain lion shifter, she had just filed for divorce from her husband. They had six cubs, he was at the office all the time, she was sure that he was having an affair with his whore of a secretary, he never wanted to be home any more…and he was also a lawyer at Crystal Fall’s only big law firm, which meant that Mrs. Tufts had no choice but to come to Karen.

Karen led Mrs. Tufts back to her small conference room, and poured her a cup of coffee.
Isadora settled in next to Karen, with her pen poised over her legal pad.

Mrs. Tufts’ hair was a tangled
rats nest, with six inches of dark roots and a wad of gum stuck in it. Her eye makeup had run, giving her raccoon eyes, and her acrylic nails should have been refilled weeks earlier.

“So, what did he say when you served him with papers?” Karen asked, as Mrs. Tufts settled in across from her.

“Oh, he doesn’t want a divorce, he thinks I’m crazy,  he claims that he only works all the time so he can provide a nice home for our family…” she waved her hand dismissively. “I know he’s having an affair. Why wouldn’t he? I look awful!”

Isadora
looked her up and down, and nodded. “True,” she said.

Karen elbowed her
in the ribs, and then pasted a polite smile on her face and returned her attention to her client.

“Has it occurred to you to try to reconcile?” Karen asked.
“Marriage counseling?”

“He says he’s too busy with work
to commit to seeing a marriage counselor regularly. Obviously saving our marriage isn’t important to him.” Mrs. Tufts let out a wounded sniff, as Isadora leaned forward and plucked the gum out of her hair.

Karen leaned forward.
“You have six cubs. You’ve been married for ten years. You can’t give up this easily. So, before I am willing to go forward with this, here’s what you need to do. Book a weekend getaway for just the two of you, for this weekend. Before you leave, go to a salon and treat yourself to a makeover.”

“Yeah, because you’re right, you kind of look like crap right now,” Isadora added. “You’ve really let yourself go.”

“Isadora!” Karen hissed, kicked her under the table, as Mrs. Tufts gasped.

“What? You don’t want me to be honest?” Isadora looked puzzled.
“Geez, when it’s your brother and sister, it’s all honesty isn’t just the best policy, it’s the only policy, blah blah blah.”

Karen shot her a murderous look. Isadora ignored her, drawing little hearts on the legal pad with the words “Karen +
Ty” in the center of them.

Gritting her teeth, Karen grabbed the legal pad away from her. “Do you have someone who could watch your children?” she asked Mrs. Tufts.

“Well, my parents are always wanting to see them more, but it’s a two hour drive…”

“
Perfect. They can watch your kids this Friday morning through Sunday night. Drop them off, then go to the spa. I want you to go away for the weekend with your husband while you are feeling sexy and refreshed from your makeover.  When you come back, I want you to schedule one marriage counseling session. Just one.  Just sit there and at least talk things through. You’ve got too much history and too many kids to give up this easily.”

“
I don’t know.” Mrs. Tufts looked skeptical.  “Then again, a whole three day weekend without the kids, I mean, I do love them more then I love my own whiskers, but every once in a while it would be nice…All right.  I’ll see you on Monday at noon, and I’ll tell you how things went.”

After she left,
they went back to the front office, where Karen looked through the picture window and watched all the people walking by, not coming to seek her services.

Isadora sat at her desk and
shook her head chidingly. “She was a paying client. She has money. Money that you need. You could have milked that divorce for all she was worth.”

Karen
turned her back to the window and gave Isadora a reproving look. “Helping them to preserve their family is more important than money.”

Isadora
glanced up suspiciously. “Can I please check your license to practice law? I’m not sure you’re qualified. Oh, God, here he comes.”

“He who?”
Karen followed Isadora’s gaze out the window. For a minute, she’d thought Isadora might have meant Ty, but it was just her father. His brown hair, shot through with gray, looked snarled, and his clothing was rumpled.

“He, the loser
who does not deserve to share the same last name as you. I’ll see you later.  I should leave before I say something I’ll regret. Oh wait, I never regret anything.” As Isadora passed Ellwood in the doorway, she snapped “Later, asshole.”

Ellwood turned to glare at her as she flounced off,
then turned back to Karen. “You should fire her,” he said sulkily. 

“
She’s my only friend. She also works for free. I can’t.”

He shut the door behind him and turned the lock, glancing around nervously. “
Am I safe now?” he asked. “The sheriff let me go this morning.  He had the nerve to say I can never set foot in Timber Valley again.” He took on a wounded expression. Karen had no sympathy.

“That’s because every time you go there, you steal something,” Karen snapped.

“What am I supposed to do, Karen?” Ellwood collapsed into a chair facing her. “I’m an old man. I’m in poor health. I can’t work.”

“You’re in good enough health to break in to the Battle’s property and
haul off a bunch of heavy saddles, not once, but twice.” She pinned him with an accusing glare.

“What? They know about the other time
?” he sat up quickly, looking around him with a panicked expression as if he expected the Battles to come bursting through the front door at any moment and haul him away.

“
You don’t need to worry about it,” Karen said irritably. “I got you off the hook for everything. However, to buy your way out of this latest caper, I have to put my career on hold and completely disrupt the kids’ personal life. I will be uprooting them and moving them in to the Battle compound for the next month, and living there myself so I can help out during the day.  I will have to work at Ty Battle’s nightclub for a month straight to pay them back.”

“But I’m off the hook, right?” he said anxiously. She fixed him with a steady stare, until his gaze dropped to his lap and he sat there
nervously drumming his fingers on his knees.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I really need
ed the money. I had a good buyer, and everything. He’s pretty pissed off at me right now, because I couldn’t deliver the goods.” His voice turned whiney and he shot her an accusatory look.

“Is that
so.” Karen kept her voice flat and toneless.

“I was stealing the money for you guys, so
I could help you out,” he wheedled.

She shook her head. “
When I was younger, I would have believed you. Not any more,” she said. “You always said that, but you never came through for us, not once.”

He started to protest, but she barreled on. She wasn’t interested in listening to more excuses.

“I am starting a new law practice, or trying to, and then you pull this? Everyone knows it was you. Who wants a lawyer whose father is a criminal? And not a particularly talented one at that.”

He flushed with anger when she said that.

“You can’t talk to me that way. I’m your father. I stuck around after your mother dumped you.”

Karen rubbed her face with her hands. Dealing with her father and his mood swings was exhausting. Wheedling, threatening, defensive,
self-pitying, demanding -  he’d trot out whatever he thought would work on her.

H
e’d come back three months ago after a year long absence, and he’d found a new, tougher Karen. She’d finally given up on believing that he’d ever change.  She’d just gotten her law license, after going to law school on a scholarship. She was no longer willing to let him come and mooch off the family whenever he felt like it.

He
could sense it, and she knew he was getting increasingly frustrated with his lack of ability to manipulate her. Tough titty, she thought.

“You stuck around because I was working and payin
g the rent and buying groceries,” she pointed out.

He deflated visibly.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been a very good father. I appreciate you getting me out of trouble, I won’t go back to Timber Valley, and the kids can stay here at your house. I’ll watch them.”