Read Cade: Le Beau Brothers: billionaire Shifter Series BBW mates (Le Beau Series) Online
Authors: V.A. Dold
Cade: Le Beau Brothers: billionaire Shifter Series BBW mates (Le Beau Series)
OUTSTANDING PRAISE FOR
V.A. DOLD AND HER NOVELS
CADE
V.A. Dold jumps right into the story, catching her readers’ attention from the beginning and letting them get to know her cast and world gradually. She takes the shifter world by storm, writing a story that neither talks down to the audience, nor making the entire story about sex (and don’t get me wrong, that’s there to, and it’s hot). It’s about the people and their relationships. She also takes the standard ‘shifter’ and ‘mate’ paradigm and gives it a bit of a tweak without completely rewriting everything. It is a brilliant change from the norm without having her audience completely turned around.
It was nice to see a shifter novel where the characters get to know each other, even after they know they’re true mates. Magic brings them together but reality keeps them there. Character development in this work relies heavily on this, and to great success. You know the characters the way that they know each other. This extends from the main characters to their families. I also loved the fact that the female lead wasn’t centerfold perfect. She was real & genuine & ate food!
This was a remarkable work from this new author. It was hot & captivating while remaining so real and down to earth. I definitely can’t wait to see what she comes up with next (although, based on the ending here, I can guess! SQUEE!!!).
Jonel Boyko -
Pure Jonel
LICENSE NOTES
All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment of the original purchaser only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events; to real people, living or dead; or to real locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2014 by V.A. Dold
Dedication
Thank you Rachel, for being a tireless sounding board throughout the writing of this story.
Thank you to my friends and family who cheered me on and believed in me even more than I believed in myself.
And thank you JT, Donna, Tina, Jonel, and Carolyn the best editors and beta readers a girl could ask for.
I would like to say a special thank you to Jack Sutton Jewlers and Crescent City Brewhouse for allowing me to use their names in my series.
...You helped make this all possible.
Cade
Le Beau Brothers
By
V.A. Dold
The five shifter rules
Always put your mate before yourself.
Respect another shifters’ mate.
Do nothing to expose the existence of shifters.
Do no unnecessary harm to shifters or humans.
Respect all nonhumans.
rologue- The Plan
“Emma, we need to take matters into our own hands or they’ll never find their mates.” Isaac
Le Beau set his snifter down before he crushed the glass in frustration. “We have seven virile, grown sons, who after two hundred years haven’t found their mates. If we don’t step in and give a hand to the wolf-goddess Luperca, our sons may spend their lives alone, without children to raise and without their other half to love. Dang it, I want some grandchildren, while I’m still young enough to enjoy them.”
He slowly raised his head and gazed at the love of his life, Emma. She was a
unique blend of Romanian gypsy heritage and a very powerful voodoo priestess. Even after two centuries her exotic sparkling dark eyes and compact killer soft curves left him breathless. Some would classify her as a big, beautiful woman. He called her ‘sex on a stick‘. He swore she controlled every beat of his heart.
The warmth and agreement in those mesmerizing eyes silently prompted him to continue.
“Would you do your high-priestess voodoo thing and ask the spirits to identify their mates? With some influence we could bring them together, so they can recognize them on their own. I don’t want to force a meeting. Simply provide the opportunity. How about it, will you give it a try?” Isaac asked.
He knew Emma wouldn’t deny him. “Of course, I’ll perform the ritual, but I can’t give you any guarantees. All I can do is try. If we are truly blessed, Luperca will appear to me and give this endeavor her approval. I want our sons happy and I’d love to have a dozen grandchildren running around the house, too.”
Isaac opened his arms wide, inviting Emma to slide onto his lap. He buried his face into her hair breathing in her unique scent. The familiar fragrance calmed him like nothing else. He was confident everything would change for his sons very soon. He could hardly wait for each of them to meet their one true mate. No wolf should go fourteen hundred years alone.
Two weeks later, they enjoyed the cool breeze that came off the river
, flowing through the open windows. A secret little smile lit up Emma’s entire face and her fingers tapped a tune on her cut crystal wine glass. He knew that expression well.
“Out with it, Emma,” Isaac said with a grin of his own. “What is it you’re dying to tell me?” He waited patiently for her to tell him her grand news.
Emma actually bounced in her seat. “I received answers from the goddess.” She clapped her hands excitedly. “Cade's mate is in New Orleans right now. Her name is Anna James. The goddess said she has had many unhappy years, but is now open to finding her one true love. Isn’t that fantastic? Two days from now she is destined to be in Jackson Square and then stop to eat lunch at Crescent City Brewhouse. She’ll be in the bar around eleven-thirty. As for the rest of the boys, the goddess said we must have patience. She’ll grant me visions in my dreams or come to me for each of them when the time is right.”
A surge of excited energy rushed through him as a hundred butterflies took up residence in his stomach. This must be what it felt like to win the lottery he thought. “We’ll have to move fast. We need to think of a way to get Cade there at the right time.”
“Maybe we can come up with a way to use Jackson square? Cade sits there so often it might be an option?” Emma offered.
“Maybe.”
He rubbed his chin, forehead crinkled in deep thought. “First we need to get him out of his home office and into the French Quarter. The bank called yesterday about a restaurant up for sale. I’ll have them schedule a meeting with Cade to review our investments and recommend this new opportunity.” He tapped his chin as the plan took shape, mumbling as he worked it out. He stood and paced across the room, prowled like the animal he was. He couldn’t think properly sitting down.
As he strode back and forth, he noted she had settled into an easy chair to watch him.
“That’ll get him to the city,” he thought aloud as he continued to tap his finger on his chin. “You’re right about his constant people watching, I’m sure he’ll take a walk and perhaps sit a while. A possibility.” Isaac cupped his jaw in his hand and rubbed the coarse stubble.
A satisfied smile tugged at his lips. “I’ve got it! I’ll ask him to meet me for lunch at Crescent City at eleven-thirty. Richie tends the bar, he’ll know the mating signs. When Cade arrives, goddess willing, he will sense his mate. I’ll have Richie tell him I won’t be able to make it. If I’m not there for lunch he will be free to spend time with her.”
Smile broadening, he folded his arms across his chest and nodded. They had a solid plan. In less than a week he could have his first daughter-in-law. Isaac settled into his leather captain’s chair. “I’ll arrange everything with Richie." He felt two hundred years younger,
like the bold robust young man who had swept his mate off her feet. By the wistful expression Emma wore, he must look it, too.
As he sipped his rich, sweet cognac, he imagined a baby in Emma’s lap, sleeping peacefully while a toddler played with blocks on the floor. His sigh brought her attention to him with a raised brow. She would laugh if she knew what he was dreaming.
A smile continued to pull at his lips. He couldn’t help it. He was very pleased with his little romance ambush, positive it would be successful. Cade was in for a wonderful surprise in two days’ time.
“Now that we have the plan, what do you think she will be like? Did the goddess give you any hints?”
She laughed. “No, you silly man, the goddess doesn’t have time for things like that.”
“You know he has always favored curvy women. I sure hope she isn’t skinny, he might not even look at her if she is.” A little shiver ran through him. “Remember the gal he dated who looked a lot like you? She was a plus sized beauty. Cade never said anything, but Marcus drove him crazy with that ‘Oedipus’ nickname.” He laughed as he recalled the antics of the boys.
“You’re right, he does like a woman with meat on her bones. All the boys do.”
hapter 1
Five Years Earlier
Anna James took a seat facing the private investigator, Todd. It was a dreary Monday morning, even the weather seamed ominous as she waited for the bomb to drop. An hour earlier, Todd had called and requested she meet with him at the corner diner. Anna couldn’t believe what she saw. He had handed her a manila envelope bursting with evidence. Turning it over, she wondered how the seams possibly held the volume.
She stared at it for a moment, her hands shaking harder than a craps gambler on a losing streak. As she lifted the first photo from the bundle, the breath was sucked out of her lungs. She would not be sick. He had cheated on her. Again.
Her marriage’s decline was so gradual, she had missed the signs. Like a creeping line of mold that became a steady decay of both the physical and emotional aspects of their relationship.
She had to admit to herself, her love for Tim had died a slow death. Based on the evidence she held, he felt the same.
Letting out a long shaky breath, she had a decision to make. Her gut reaction was to walk out the door and never look back.
I need to call Rose. She’ll help me decide what to do.
Rose was her best friend, her rock. Her voice of reason.
Returning from her meeting with Todd, she sat on her couch and considered her options.
If
not for her two young sons, she would leave right then. She couldn't bring herself to be that selfish, to deny Thomas and John their father. So, she’d stay and take her marriage for what it was, a necessary evil. She would pursue a new life once the children were grown and out of the house. At least this way, the boys would grow up in a two-parent home.
After a long conversation with Rose, she had made a difficult decision.
Standing to call it a night, she ended her call to Rose, she had a plan. A long term plan. Yawning, she stumbled to her cold empty bed. Soon she found herself in a dream world she had never experienced. The colors were brilliant and she felt everything she touched as if she were awake.
She stretched on the slick, crimson sheets. A royal blue silk nightgown wrapped her body. Warm hands drew her against a hard chest. And arms
held her gently through the night.
A beam of bright sunshine across her pillow was her
‘good morning’ welcome. She was alone in the bed as usual. She smiled as she recalled her delicious dream.
All the romance novels I’ve read must have manifested in my dreams. I can live with that.
She
grinned
.
The dreams continued to visit her night after night, slowly taking on
more detail. First she saw the dark, multicolored hair with its luxurious shine and velvety waves. Then she was able to make out his stunning, hazel green eyes. Sometime later his full, kissable lips came into focus. From head to toe, he gradually took a complete and solid form. Close to two years of unhurried, delectable development. What a hot, sexy man he’d become.
At some point they began to carry on conversations about everything. In this dream, they discussed hair and eye color and how it often reflected traits of different nationalities.
“Cher, what nationality are you with your gorgeous red hair and hazel eyes?” he asked.
“I’m mostly German, with a little bit of everything mixed
in,” she said “What are you?”
“Romanian and Cajun.” He laughed. “My mother describes me as a perfect blend of her gypsy features and my father’s Cajun heritage.”
Based on his looks in her dreams that was a perfect description.
One of her favorite dreams was the first time he’d kissed her.
She was at a dance in a beautiful Victorian home. The gardens off the terraces were in bloom, adding a heady floral perfume to the air. She couldn’t put her finger on the scent exactly. There were layers, roses, carnations, lily’s, damp earth and something else that eluded her. Benches circled a three-tiered fountain, the cascade of water made a music all its own.
The ballroom’s double doors that led to the terrace were flung wide open
. White lace curtains ruffled in the breeze. Music from an
eight-piece band played in the far corner of the room. A huge expanse of gleaming hardwood waited as her dance floor.
As she glanced around the ballroom, her fantasy man entered through the main doors across the way. He stopped and slowly scanned the room as if searching for someone. His eyes locked onto hers as he prowled the length, determined to reach her. Without a word he took her into his arms and guided her in a romantic waltz that swept the room. Commanding and sure of himself, he never once took his gaze from her, nor did he miss a step.
As the music died, he dipped her slowly, romantically. As he raised her, he pulled her to him. With utter confidence, he kissed her. She had been dying to kiss him for ages. He enticed her to open to him, he slipped in, and plundered her mouth. Exploring every curve and hollow, their tongues danced to a tune all their own.
The heat and hunger burned intensely, it was exhilarating. The kiss seemed to go on forever before he released her lips, breathing heavily. He continued to hold her as he leaned his forehead against hers. He seemed to be fighting to regain his composure. She was a bit disappointed. She hadn’t wanted the kiss to end. He was a sweet, delicious slice of heaven that took her breath away.
“You never told me your name,” Anna began
.
An instant later, the dream ended before she learned his name or saw where the dance would lead. She’d laid in bed, awake, a hot and achy mess with little relief.
She knew almost everything about her fantasy man. He was born on the sixteenth day of June. He was the oldest in his family, the first born of seven children, all boys. They were extremely close, best friends even. He one time joked that when they were combined, they were a force to be reckoned with. She wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that.
The one thing she didn’t know was his name. Every time she asked, the dream abruptly stopped before he could answer. The same happened if he asked her. The situation was frustrating as hell. As if someone or something prevented him from giving this information. Eventually, she stopped asking. This was the only place she could be with him and she hated when the dream was taken from her. To make the best of the situation, they made up pet names for each other. He called her
cher, which Cajuns use as an endearment. She called him Babe or baby.
She’d dreamed of her man for three years, when her next favorite dream took place.
She was in a lovely little cottage, very airy and bright. As she toured her dream house, she noted the decorations were exactly how she would picture her perfect home. If she lived there – she lived alone. There were no indications of a man to be found.
Lounging on the front porch swing, enjoying the cool breeze, she watched in fascination as a fancy, red sports car pulled up. The driver’s door swung open and Babe eased his long, muscular body out. Their eyes locked and he devoured her with his gaze. Even from twenty feet away, she could feel her temperature rise.
In a heartbeat he was across the driveway and up her steps. As he extended his hand to her, his eyes smoldered with a hunger that excited her. “I want to make love to you,” he whispered.
She had waited for this moment for so long, all she could do was nod and follow him as he led her to the bedroom.
He gently sat her on the edge of the mattress before he proceeded to light a dozen candles around the room. Funny, she hadn’t noticed them before, but this was a dream so she went with it.
After the last candle blazed, he turned to her and started to unbutton his shirt, one excruciating button at a time. By the time he reached her, his shirt hung open allowing her eyes to feast on his chiseled chest and abs. He was absolutely gorgeous, simply looking at him made her mouth water and her pulse race.
Helping her to her feet, he slowly unbuttoned her blouse. Brushing the silky material off her shoulders, it floated to the floor. She swore she saw flames of desire in his eyes as he drank her in. He grasped her hands gently and placed them on his chest, as if giving her permission to explore at her leisure.
Her palms ran up and eased his shirt off his shoulders. As the material slid down his arms, her fingertips followed, tracing every line and curve of his muscular arms. When she moved her hands to his waist, he reached around and unclasped her bra. Eased the straps down her arms and released her aching breasts. His breath hitched at the first sight of her bare skin from the waist up. His gaze was ravenous and intense, primal.
Her estranged husband had repeatedly told her she was fat; he couldn’t stand to look at her. She was too self-conscious to stand naked in front of anyone, she even avoided mirrors. In front of her perfect man, her self-consciousness increased exponentially. No denying it, she was plus sized with a bit more to love. A size sixteen with extra padding and rolls where rolls shouldn’t be, and god forbid, cellulite. She hated to look at her own body.
When she moved to cover herself out of embarrassment, he took her hands and placed them at her sides. Gazing deeply into her eyes, he said, “Please don’t hide yourself from me. To me, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. I want to appreciate you for a moment.”
She stood stiffly, held her breath, waiting for him to see all of her extra curves and rolls. He had to see her stretch marks from bearing her children. At any moment he would run from the room. But he didn’t. Instead, his eyes blazed with heat. How could he look at her with such desire?
His gaze returned to her face. Maintaining eye contact, he loosened his belt and popped the button on his jeans. “Should I remove them, or would you prefer to do it?” His sexy, lopsided grin melt
ed her shyness.
Her hands shook so badly, she was sure she would never get her fingers to cooperate. “I think you should,
” Anna whispered.
He hooked his thumbs into the waist of his jeans, pushed down his pants and boxers as one. His rock hard erection bobbed brazenly, as if begging for her attention. She saw a drop of moisture already escaping. Stepping out of his jeans, he reached for her waistband. “May I?” he asked hopefully.
She cleared her throat, but didn’t trust her voice to work right. In the end, all she dared do was nod again.
With smoldering hunger in his eyes, he slid her jeans to her ankles. He followed their decent until he was kneeling before her. Freeing her feet, he wrapped his fingers around her ankles before he skimmed them up her legs to her hips. His fingers slipped into the waistband of her panties and they followed the path of her jeans.
He leaned forward, with gentle pressure he encouraged her to widen her stance. When he took her into his mouth, she gasped, it had been so long. Her legs almost buckled with his first lick. He helped her remain standing as he lapped and suckled to his heart’s content. When she reached the edge of her orgasm, he pulled away and stood. His lips and chin glistened with the evidence of her arousal.
Easing her down, he joined her on the bed.
Babe spent the
rest of the night making wild, passionate love to her. Twice.
S
till unsure of herself after years with a man who berated her, she hadn’t had the courage to take him in her hand and caress him.
Maybe next time,
she thought.
Shock spread through her when she woke the next morning, sore in places that hadn’t been used in years. How was that possible?
Babe came to her every night at her little cottage. Some nights they would sit on the swing and talk for hours, other nights they would explore each other until dawn. She had gotten to know so much about him.
After a year like this with him, Anna had her third favorite dream.
She noticed as he joined her on the swing, he was very quiet. He had something to say but was apprehensive to say it.
Finally, he took a deep breath. “Cher, I have something I need to tell you about myself. This may scare you, but I feel guilty not telling you what I truly am.”
She reached out and took his hand in hers. “Don’t worry, you can tell me. It’s okay.”
Afraid to look into her eyes and see rejection, he examined the floor instead. “I’m a shifter. I can change into a wolf.” He stiffened, as he waited for her response. He appeared to expect the worst. After what felt like an hour, but was only a minute, he glanced up.
She was smiling at him, waiting for him to look at her. “Are you really? I wanted you to be a shifter when I made you up, and honestly, I was kind of disappointed when I thought you were only human.”
Tilting his head, he wore a look of disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? You‘re actually happy about this?”
“Well, yeah! I wanted you to be a shifter. I’m ecstatic. Can I see you shift?”
Still looking a bit wary of her reaction, he slowly stood and took a few steps away. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”
“Of course. Can you change without a full moon?”
“Shifters can change any time they want. We’re not the mythical werewolves. I’ll count to three and shift, so be ready. One, two, three.” Instantly a beautiful, huge, black and silver wolf stood on her porch.