Leader of the Pack (5 page)

There was another knock on his office door. Cullen looked up to see a blonde head poking through the cracked door. “Any chance you’re going to be able to talk soon?”

Cullen stared at the pretty blonde. She was smiling admiringly at him. “Yeah, come in Jenna.” He watched her walk in. She was wearing a short black skirt and a tight pink designer shirt. He had to appreciate the sight. If nothing else she was an exceptionally beautiful girl. So why didn’t that thought help?

She walked around behind his desk and sat against it, giving him an impressive view of her legs. “So when will I get upgraded to being able to see you without an appointment,” she cooed. When she noted his gaze on her legs she smiled and parted them. Cullen couldn’t help his eyes traveling up her thighs and noted that she wasn’t wearing anything under her skirt. And she was a natural blonde.

“Sorry,” he said with a heavy breath and pulled his gaze away from the sight. But his cock responded instinctively to the scent of the woman’s sex. “I’ve got a lot of work to get done if I’m going to be able to take a vacation for the mating.” He was pissed at himself for not being able to control his reaction.

Jenna was a more politically minded woman than anyone gave her credit for. It was the blonde hair that did it and the way she carried herself. He found long ago that men were more easily manipulated when they thought she was incapable of thinking past her next new pair of shoes. She was also more than intelligent enough to know that Cullen didn’t want to be mated to her. She saw it every time he looked at her. There didn’t seem to be anything she could do to change the situation. To some extent she didn’t care. He was attractive, powerful, and would help her accomplish what her father wanted. If he didn’t keep her satisfied she’d find someone who could. She was more than a little pleased to see that she had already managed to cause a reaction in him. She knew that in lieu of physical strength she had a great deal of power that men often overlooked, especially powerful men who thought too much of themselves and their abilities.

She smiled and batted her eyes at him. Then she lifted one foot out of her spiked heal and ran a stockinged toe up his calf, along his thigh, and stroked the bulge in his pants, before letting it come to rest on the edge of his seat between his legs. She smiled through her disappointment when he didn’t reach out and touch her, considering the obvious invitation. “I’ve good news. I’m going into heat. I know that you and father decided that we should be mated next month. But then we’ll have to wait another year before we can try to get pregnant.”

Cullen felt as though he had just been punched in the chest. He studiously ignored staring at her spread legs. Not that he didn’t notice the scent or completely miss the wet look of her sex. In the end he was still a man and it was a tempting site, but he managed to control his expression. Jenna frowned at the unimpressed look and the long pause before his answer. “Fine. Next week. I’ll have the arrangements changed.

Good
, she thought,
he may not like it but at least he had the right answer and maybe he’s not as immune to my charms as I thought. There’s got to be a man in the General somewhere.
“At that point,” she cooed and bent closer to him, giving him a delicious view of her cleavage. The pink blouse was low cut enough that Cullen could just see the tops of her delicate, pink areola. She reached out and ran her fingers along the side of his face and down to his chest, “maybe you could offer to let me stay here with you until the ceremony.” She leaned down as her hand continued to travel along his chest, over his stomach, and toward his lap.

Cullen suddenly had a flash in his mind of blue eyes, brown hair, and an electrical touch that set his wolf screaming for release and pushed Jenna’s hand away. “If you want the mating plans taken care of and the time you made me promise to give you afterward then you’ll get yourself home and deal with your end. I can’t afford distractions. Especially if we’re moving things forward.” His tone was curt and he was rewarded with a pouty, annoyed look on Jenna’s face. He reached down and moved her foot out of his lap.

“Fine,” she answered. The soothing vixen tone dropped from her voice. “If you insist.” She started to walk out, but turned and looked back at him. “So is this how it’s going to be then?” She tilted her head haughtily and raised her eyebrows in a look that was cooling and Cullen though entirely unattractive on her pretty face. The girl reminded him far too much of her mother.

He sighed heavily and sat back in his chair, meeting her gaze with an equally cold stare. “How what’s going to be?”

“Us. Are you going to hate me forever for getting stuck with me?”

Cullen stared at her, measuring her words. Her tone said that she wasn’t hurt by the idea just curious. “Hate is too strong a word. Last I checked you didn’t want to be doing this either.”

“Maybe not but I’m at least doing my best to make do. You on the other hand are being a complete bastard. If you think that I’m going to spend my young, energetic life attached to a guy who won’t give me the time of day and not look elsewhere for company then you’re sorely mistaken.” Jenna’s eyes held a strong warning as she spoke.

Cullen tapped his pen on his desk with annoyance. “Jenna, I’m not going to deal with this right now. But I want you to think about what you just said to me and how exactly it would affect the legitimacy of your heirs. Or more accurately, your father’s heirs. He’s the reason we’re both in this. If you can’t handle the situation then you need to find a different patsy for your needs. Whatever they may be. I’m just the poor schlep who owed your dad too much to say no. This is how it is. You either cope or don’t go through with it. Now, go home. Decide. I’ll talk with you later this week.” His glare held all the vehemence that was missing from his voice.

Jenna realized all too suddenly that she was about to get stuck in a forcibly monogamous relationship with a lycan who really wasn’t the least bit interested in anything other than repaying her father and just intelligent enough to make her plans difficult. Her father underestimated her. He believed that she was weak because she wasn’t a fighter. But she wasn’t as dense as he thought. What she needed was an alpha without a brain and who she could manipulate. A lycan strong enough to hold the wolves at bay, but weak minded enough to let her lead. She was becoming increasingly more concerned that Cullen wasn’t going to be appropriate for her needs. He was too clever. At the same time if she let him unite the packs and then got rid of him the Tairneach line would run twice the territory her father had. Maybe then her father would see what she was worth.

Cullen watched her eyes and could see the flashes of emotion. Whatever her thought process was, he didn’t like the look of it. He waited for her to refocus on him. He didn’t trust her. Brennus’s only daughter and she was becoming more and more like her mother. As Cullen watched Jenna he remembered what Brennus had said about her. She needed a strong hand. Brennus had implied that he would prefer that any power over the Tairneach pack be passed directly from Cullen to Cullen’s choice of an heir and bypass his daughter completely, as long as the child was born from Jenna.

Cullen had been there when Jenna’s mother had been tried for attempting to kill Brennus. The man had put her to death and then coddled his infant daughter. He had loved Jenna’s mother so deeply that he had put up with her attempts to kill him until it threatened to disrupt the pack. Brennus was so broken by what had happened that he had not touched another woman since her sentencing. Cullen could look back at it all and see Brennus’ choices with his mate as being the beginning of his downfall. To compensate for what had happened with her mother Brennus doted on Jenna. Cullen was torn between feeling sorry for the man and being pissed as hell that his supposed friend had just sentenced him to a similar fate.
How the hell am I going to get out of this?

Cullen cleared his throat in exasperation and jogged Jenna out of her thought process. Just as quickly as her sweet demeanor had vanished it reappeared again. “The least you could do is take me to dinner before I leave,” she purred and batted her eyes at him.

His jaw tightened and he contemplated the displeasure of having dinner with anyone other than Aislinn. Then he kicked himself for not being able to get the girl out of his head. “Fine, I need to finish this,” he said and shuffled some paperwork on his desk. “Go to the great room. I’ll come for you in about an hour. We’ll have dinner downstairs and then you’ll return to the Tairneach manor.”

Jenna sweetly smiled her grateful acceptance. “Then I’ll be waiting in the great room.” Jenna walked out of the office pissed. The weight of the situation was getting heavier and heavier. She hated her father for having dragged Cullen into this. She hated Cullen for having gone along with it. She even hated herself a little for not being physically strong enough to carry the Tairneach line without help. But she wasn’t giving up just yet. She would either get Cullen to give in and let her have some influence or she’d get rid of him. At the moment she was leaning toward the later.

Cullen shifted his attention back to his primary concern for the moment. He sorted the reports in front of him into several piles; reports on the raids in his territory, the reports on the packs believed to be behind the raids, the reports on the political situations within the neighboring packs, and the pile he hated most, the reports on who within his own pack may be helping the raiders. He growled his frustration. He had read the reports over and over looking for a pattern or connection and was yet to find one. It only served to remind him of why his mating to Jenna was necessary. It would reinforce his numbers and keep his northern border friendly.

* * * *

Aislinn was shadowing Rissa and learning her new job. Aislinn was to the point where she was being trusted to take an order down, and bring out food with some supervision. Rissa was very nice and Aislinn decided that she liked her. She didn’t look as much like Cullen as Meghan did, but she still had those black brown eyes and brown hair. The difference was in her facial structure. Rissa looked a little Asian. She was sweet and patient with Aislinn and had covered for her once in the beginning when Aislinn had forgotten a side dish at one table. Overall the past couple days were great. She felt welcome and was being treated fairly. It had been a long time since she had been around so many genuinely nice people.

Aislinn had just refilled the water at one table and was headed over to the next couple that had been seated. The large man wasn’t dressed for dinner at the Taigh-O

sda and the woman with him certainly looked as though she was being paid for his company. But with the casino across the lobby it was a fairly regular sight. All it took was one jackpot for Joe Schmoe to be able to afford the steak.

Suddenly Rissa grabbed her arm and yanked her off toward a corner booth. “Lord Arnauk came in for dinner. When he comes in, if you have his table, everything else gets dumped and you deal with him. Without making it look that way though. It’s important 'cause he’s too nice to cut in line with other customers, but he’s Lord Arnauk.”

Aislinn nodded and filed the information away in her brain with everything else she had been learning and got ready to take a mental picture of ‘Lord Arnauk’. When she came around the booth and saw Cullen sitting there with Jenna she stopped as though she had hit a wall. Aislinn felt as though someone had just slugged her in the stomach. She didn’t really understand all the emotions that were overwhelming her at that point, but she was tempted to turn and run and hide.

Rissa looked at her with concern, but ultimately moved up to the table. “Lord Arnauk. You haven’t been in for the past week. We’ve missed you,” Rissa said in a good natured, friendly manner. Aislinn watched the blonde looked at Rissa with distaste and then went back to the menu.

“I’ve been around, just haven’t had time to stop,” he smiled back. His expression was strained and Aislinn thought maybe a bit uncomfortable. Then it was as though a blanket of calm acceptance overtook him and he smiled up at Aislinn hopefully. “I see you have a shadow.”

“Yes,” Rissa said with far too much energy. “This is Aislinn. She just started a couple days ago. So you’ll want to be patient with her. But she’s been doing a great job and learning quickly…”

Rissa kept talking but Cullen missed most of it when the air circulation shifted and Aislinn’s scent wafted over the table. He took a deep breath, his eyes focused on her, and it was all he could do to keep his wolf contained. Jenna looked up at Cullen as Rissa asked for the second time if he needed a minute to decide on what he wanted. It only took a second for Jenna to register what had distracted Cullen so absolutely. She felt a distinct surge of jealousy run through her. Not that she really cared about who he was actually interested in. She knew that it wasn’t her. But the fact that he was being so obvious about it in front of her and that it was just a little nothing of a waitress was annoying.

Jenna smiled a withering smile at Rissa and answered the question. “Why don’t you give us a minute sweetie and then send- uh what did you say her name was? Aislinn back to get the order. We’ll be happy to break in the new girl.”

Aislinn met Jenna’s stare and recognized the hatred immediately.
Ah this is more like what I’m used to
, she thought as she returned Jenna’s smile. Rissa started to respond when Cullen interrupted her. “That won’t be necessary. Just bring my usual. Jenna do you know what you want?”

Jenna shifted her gaze back to Cullen and adjusted it to be overly loving and attentive. Just to make sure she had his attention she slipped her shoe off and began trailing her toe along the inside of his thigh again. He glared at her but didn’t do anything to draw attention to the situation. She found him hard as a rock when her foot reached its goal and she began rubbing her foot against him as she placed her order. Rissa took everything down and started to leave. But Jenna wasn’t finished yet. She stopped Aislinn from leaving as Rissa disappeared to put the order in. Before Cullen could dismiss Aislinn Jenna began asking questions about when Aislinn was hired, how she liked the job, and how she got the job. All the while she continued to rub and manipulate Cullen’s erection beneath the table.