ChapterThirteen
“I’m not comfortable with this, Laina.” Monty clenched his fists, still reeling from his conversation with Kyle. “Who’s going to take care of this place while you’re playing with Pretty Boy’s dog?”
“Do you want me to tell him no? I only offered because he threatened to get the police involved. If you’d rather handle this in the courts, I can stay.” Laina knew the last thing Monty wanted was human law enforcement up in his business.
Monty’s fish mouth bent in an exaggerated frown so pronounced it looked like an upside-down “U.” “That fucking bastard. Fine. Go. Do what he tells you to do. But Jason better pick up the slack, or it’ll cost you both.”
Jason pulled her aside, his voice dipping. “Are you sure about this? After what we talked about last night, this is the worst thing that could happen.”
He was right. If Kyle was her vice, her craving for him was only going to grow stronger the longer she was with him. “What other choice do I have?”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Don’t worry about Monty. I’ll take care of things here. Although, I wish it were me staying at Hunt Club. I could keep those ladies busy.” Jason smirked.
She rolled her eyes and returned to Cameron, who was more than a little peeved about having been locked in an ogre’s enchanted forest. After accepting a supportive hug from her best friend, she told him everything, even about her strange attraction to Kyle and how Jason thought she might be flirting with a vice.
“Do you know what you’re getting yourself into, Laina?”
She shrugged. “Yes… No… As of now, I’m just training his dog, despite what my wolf wants.”
He extracted his phone from his pocket and typed “Kyle Kingsley” into the internet search bar, then handed her the results. She thought she might be sick. Kyle in a tux with a woman on each arm. A shirtless Kyle in the park with his head on the lap of one woman and another rubbing his feet, while yet another ate sushi off his abs. Kyle, naked in bed, the photograph taken through a woman’s cheetah-painted legs as she straddled his hips. There were hundreds of photos, each more scandalous than the next.
“I’ve never had a vice,” Cameron said. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. But by the goddess, Laina, be careful. This guy makes your brother look like a prude.”
* * *
Three days later,Laina could almost forget she’d promised to live with Kyle Kingsley. Waking up after a night of being a wolf was a lot like waking up after a night of heavy drinking. Flashes of color, sounds, and scents came back to her as she blinked up at the clear blue sky. Leaves crinkled in her hair. Dirt coated her naked skin. But it was the stretched-out, used-up, mild ache of her muscles she liked best. The closest you could get as a human was the day after skiing or running a marathon. The compensating rush of endorphins created a sublime state of being. She was elated…and hungry.
A rustle and groan next to her signaled Cameron’s waking. His manhood flopped against his hip as he rolled over and stretched. She giggled and averted her eyes. A few yards away, Jason was unfolding next to Lucile, the latter’s curly gray hair matted with sweat. Even at sixty-five, she was as fast and strong as any of them. A living legend. Her sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, was already awake and desperately searching for her clothes in the tent near the door to Monty’s. This was her first group shift. Time for Laina to be a proper princess and the alpha in Silas’s stead.
She stood and joined Amanda at the pile. “It gets easier,” she said to the girl. “You’re new to this, and I’m sure the nudity is distracting, but you’ll get used to it. Well, during the full moon. At other times, it will be just as awkward.” Laina giggled.
Amanda pulled a Carlton City High School T-shirt over her head, her Fireborn tattoo disappearing beneath the sleeve. “Uh, I figured.”
“Your tattoo seems to have healed properly,” Laina said. The pack high priestess, orPreotka, administered the tattoos using a claw of the original Fireborn ancestor, called the primary. After a werewolf’s first shift, which usually occurred in a private setting that included immediate family only, the tattooing ceremony was held to initiate the youngling into the pack. It was a ceremony most wolves considered as important as their mating or a birth.
“I can’t believe how much I like shifting,” Amanda said. “Last night… I can remember chasing an opossum through the woods. I was so fast. And the way the air huffed down my throat.” Her fingers stroked her neck, her eyes misting over. “Will it always be like that?”
Laina, who had pulled on her own shirt in an effort to set the girl at ease, smiled warmly. “Yes. It will always be like this. It’s important to be safe. Never shift alone. Stay away from humans. Plan ahead for a safe place to run. Try not to let it affect your employment. But once you’ve done those things, enjoy. For three nights, you’re totally free.”
Amanda gave her a quick, awkward hug. “Thank you, Laina. I’m so glad it was you here today. No offense, but Silas scares me.”
Laina squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “Silas scares us all. Now, come on. As the newbie, it’s tradition that you help fire up the mess hall. I’m ready for breakfast.”
* * *
The picketersfrom Eternal Light Ministries were out in full force when Laina arrived at Hunt Club that afternoon. She honked her horn and revved her engine, and the protesters reluctantly parted to let her through to the gatehouse. This time, Taneesha recognized her and directed her to the main house rather than the service entrance.
From the front, Hunt Club Mansion was even more beautiful than what she’d seen from the service entrance, with gorgeous stone masonry and multiple towers that made her feel like she was driving up to Cinderella’s castle. An adult version, that is. The valet who offered to park her car was shirtless above a tight-fitting pair of cheetah pants and a tail. Was he wearing a collar?
“Welcome to fantasyland,” Laina said to herself, cocking an eyebrow. “Wow, it’s early for that much skin.”
The door opened before she had a chance to knock. “Welcome to the King’s Lair,” an elderly woman in formal maid’s attire said. Her half smile suggested the greeting was tongue in cheek, or else she personally couldn’t take it seriously. The woman didn’t fit the Hunt Club mold with her gray hair and bifocals. Laina liked her immediately.
She was about to introduce herself when Kyle jogged into the spacious foyer. If anything, he’d become better-looking since the day he’d walked into the animal hospital. The jeans he wore hugged his hips and skimmed softly over his lower body, bending and stretching in all the right places. His shirt was black, collared, with sleeves rolled past his elbows. Gorgeous and easy, as if he climbed out of bed looking like the goddess’s gift to women.
Laina fumbled with her luggage, pretending to be immune. Her wolf chuffed inside her skin.
“Thanks for coming, La—”
