“Don’t talk about leaving me again.”
“There are still things I’ll need to take care of.”
He stepped into her and cradled her head in his hands. “I don’t want to hear reasons you have to leave—I want to hear ways that you can stay.”
She searched his face…and it hit her. Life didn’t mean much without him in it. “Okay,” she whispered. “We’ll find a way.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Laina sat facing Kyle in a plush leather seat that belonged in a living room rather than the back of a limousine. He handed her a glass of champagne as the driver closed the back door and took his seat behind the wheel.
“I thought Nate’s place was on Hunt Club property. Why the need for the car?”
“It is…on the other end of the forest. Five hundred acres might be a long way to walk in high heels, especially considering the only direct way between there and here is a dirt path through the woods. Driver will take us out and around on Route 36.”
“Gerty says this is the first time you and Nate have lived apart.”
“It was time. Nate’s lifestyle was becoming incompatible with my own. As much as Hunt Club made me out to be the playboy, Nate was always the real thing and more.”
“Hmm.” Laina laughed. She could only imagine what a man like Nate was into.
“Just to warn you, Nate isn’t happy about my change of heart. I doubt he’ll cause a scene, but you might want to keep your distance.”
“Understood. So who are the Tanaka people anyway?”
“Japanese company interested in licensing the Hunt Club name for a new chain there.”
“Interesting. I’d think the concept was a uniquely American one.”
“It’s universal. No matter how modern a world we live in, no matter how much we say we’ve evolved, no matter how they live their daily lives, deep inside, people are either predator or prey. Our members want to be alphas.”
Laina froze. “That’s a strange choice of words.”
“What? Alphas?”
She nodded. “What made you put it that way?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just seemed like an apt comparison. Hunt Club members want the fantasy of being the top of the food chain sexually. That’s what we sell.”
Laina stared out the window at the blur of trees that seemed to cut through her reflection in the glass.
Kyle sighed. “Laina.”
She blinked, trying to make sense of the firestorm of emotions raging in her chest. The last thing she wanted was to leave her pack, only to be dominated by someone else. She loved Kyle, but if she gave up her life in Carlton City to be with him, was she the prey? Was she putting him in the position of being her alpha, no pack required? She’d spent too long building a life for herself and fighting the expectations of Fireborn pack to willingly make that sacrifice.
“Laina, it’s fantasy. I’m talking about the brand, not about us. If you want to be the alpha in this relationship, so be it.” He scoffed.
She turned from the window to see him staring at her, gravely serious. “You’d be okay if I took charge?” She gave him a devilish smile.
He raised an eyebrow. “Hell yeah. Bring it on.”
* * *
Nate’s housewas a modern architectural marvel constructed of glass and steel, with slabs of black granite that added to a reflective, transparent quality. Kyle helped Laina from the limousine and threaded his arm through hers as they followed a Japanese couple toward the house. “This is so different from Hunt Club Mansion.”
“Castles aren’t Nate’s thing.”
“What is Nate’s thing?”
