Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (20 page)

Clytie snorted and
rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, you look at them too long and start thinking dirty
thoughts and forget what you were on about.”

Cassandra looked back
at her cousin, her eyes narrowing.  “I dare any woman to look at them too long
and not have dirty thoughts.”

Miley thought about the
men in question and then cleared her throat.  Clytie must have had the same
thought she did because after a moment of contemplation, she spoke.  “Good
point.  Moving on.”

After they fed Roxanne,
who didn’t seem to speak much, but watched everything with big blue baby eyes,
they left her with Bernie and her glitter markers, at the older woman’s
insistence, and headed to the pack house to face off with the hot guy brigade. 
Miley took a minute to grab her laptop before they headed out.

Walking across the
courtyard it was obvious that neither of the women had been here before.  They
were rubbernecking from sight to sight across the cobbled walk.

“I take it neither of
you have ever been to Lionsgate before this?”

“I haven’t been mated
that long,” Cassie mumbled, her hazel eyes on the open garage doors where all
the pretty cars were stored alongside the reinforced SUV’s.  Clytie had to yank
her back on the path before she walked off the path and fell into the azaleas. 
Cassie didn’t seem to notice, her eyes on one particular shiny black vehicle.  “So
does Lucas actually drive that Harley in public or is it just a part of his
collection?  Because if the mental picture I am getting is anything to go by,
it can’t be good for the poor women faced with that and trying to operate heavy
machinery.  Like say, driving.”

All three stopped for a
moment and looked at the black and chrome motorcycle that seemed to twinkle at
them from the shadows of the garage.  Even among the hot rods and expensive imports,
it was worth a look.

Miley sighed, well-acquainted
with that particular machine.  “That, my friends, is a 2002 Harley Davidson
VRSC V-Rod; only about 11,000 of those bad boys were released, and it is the
fastest Harley ever produced, and yes, he actually rides.  Not often, but I
have seen it on two memorable occasions.  Both times I’m relatively sure I lost
the use of my legs briefly.”

Clytie’s eyes glazed at
nearly the same time Cassie whispered ‘wow’ in reverent tones.

“Right then,” Miley
said shaking it off with a warm shiver after a moment of profound silence, “moving
on.”

The pack house was on
the other side of the long cobbled square with privacy foliage of trees and
long grasses.  But once you walked around that, you hit the pool area and could
see the entire wall of the building by the pool was opened glass doors.  Beyond
that, all the men were lounging or playing pool, or in the case of Logan,
standing behind the bar and leaning, drinking a beer.  All the men looked to be
in relaxed positions, leaning, sitting, or hanging at the pool table; none of
them, besides possibly Ian, looked to actually be relaxed.  Instead, you could
practically feel the alpha vibes coming off them.  Getting a good look at all those
sexy alpha male specimens in one spot, all three women stopped, looked at the
men, and then gave big eyes to each other before continuing forward, each
heading directly to their separate mate, or mates in Cassie’s case.

When Miley was close
enough, she was tugged down to the large leather sectional and right into Lucas’
arms.  It made Miley feel all warm and squishy inside so she dropped her laptop
to the cushion beside them and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders,
laying her head against his neck.  She felt his hands travel from her waist
around her back and press her closer into his chest.  It made her smile against
the bristly skin beneath his chin, and he must have felt it, because his arms
tightened.

“What?” he asked
quietly.

“Just thinking how much
I like this.”  She snuggled closer.  “Did we miss all the chest beating and
male bonding?  Or is that next?”

“That’s after the caber
toss, but before the bare knuckle brawl,” Lucas said deadpan.

Cassie who had sat
between Mac and Ben on the other couch across from them must have heard because
she choked a little.  “If you tell me you go authentic, complete with kilts and
slicked up bare chests, I am totally down for that.”

Miley snorted a laugh,
then pulled back from his warm neck grinning up at Lucas.  He was shaking his
head, but there was a decided gleam in the eyes that held hers.

Across from them, Ben
wrapped his arm around his mate’s shoulders and dragged her into his side.  “Mates
say the darnedest things,” he said ignoring Cassie’s flailing arms while he
squeezed the breath out of her.

“Ben!”  She gasped out
on a breathless laugh.

“
Anyway
,” Miley said,
the laugh still in her voice, “what did you guys decide while we were absent?”

“We decided Eli and Ian
get the first game of pool, and that everybody was going to have beer
regardless of the hour,” Ben said ignoring his still struggling and laughing
mate plastered to his side.  “What about you three?  Anything good?  Like
secret sexual fantasies regarding Lucas and his Harley?”

Miley’s eyes flew from
Logan to a smirking Ben across the way, her mouth opening and closing with a
snap.  She heard what sounded like Clytie gurgling somewhere behind them.

“Ignore him,” Cassie
said rolling her eyes, still trying to ineffectually wrestle her way out of his
arms.  “He thinks he’s so smooth with his super shifter hearing and clever
remarks.

“And my irresistible
boyish charm.”  Ben smiled a toothpaste ad-worthy smile right into the face of
his mate’s doubtful snort.  “Don’t forget about that.”

“How can she?” Mac
asked in a low grumble, successfully pulling their mate out of the wrestling
match and into his own lap, “when you never stop talking about it?”

That had Cassie
laughing again, smacking a quick kiss on her other mate’s lips for his help.  “Now
really, besides pool and beer, what did we miss?”

“Dad’s whipped,” Ian
suddenly blurted into the room from his place bent over the pool table.  “He
decided we would wait for the girls before we discussed the threat.” 

From the disgust in Ian’s
voice, it was clear he found this decision questionable, but it made Miley beam
full out at her mate.  “You did?”

Lucas shrugged, but his
eyes fell on her face and warmed at the happiness there.  “You said you had
information we might need.”

Miley was suddenly
struck with the need to kiss him all over, but since that wasn’t actually
feasible in mixed company, she settled for a quick smattering of kisses across
his face.  Then her arms tightened, and pulling herself close, she whispered
directly into his ear, with one last nip, “You are
so
getting lucky
later.”

“For now,” he said, his
voice clearly amused, “tell us everything you have on Rickarts.”

“Well, for starters, he’s
an oblivious dick.”  When he looked at her doubtfully, she went on.  “No
really.  This is important.  All men are dicks at times,” she started.

“Some more than others,”
Cassandra added.

She heard Clytie choke
somewhere behind them but Miley ignored it and went on.  “All men are capable
of it.  Most see they’re being a dick.”

“Or they don’t,” Clytie
added, her words pointed, “until some woman points it out.”

“Right,” Miley smiled
her way, “but they see it, or they understand when it is explained.”

“Or they have no clue
and they just don’t do it again because they want to get some,” Cassandra
muttered.

“Right,” Miley said
again.  “But, with a man like Rickarts, he is completely oblivious.  Everything
he does is right because
he
did it.  No one would dare try to tell him
he was wrong, and if something doesn’t work out, it’s always someone else’s
fault.”

All the men in the room
looked at Miley without saying anything for the longest time.  Until Lucas
spoke.  “Is there a point to this?”

“Good thing we waited
for the women,” Ian muttered, turning back to his game before Miley could
answer.

“Case in point,” Miley
said, pointing Ian’s way, “Total dick move.”

Both the other women
nodded their agreement, glaring at Ian, who held up his hands and backed away. 
“Fine, shit, sorry.”

“My point,” Miley
finished, her attention firmly on Lucas, “is that he will have a lot of
enemies.  Men like this have no friends, and he will not understand loyalty or
doing the right thing.  With this man,” she held her mate’s eyes trying to
relay the total seriousness of the situation, “expect him to cheat, and if
there is a choice before him, he will choose to fight dirty, every time,
because to him winning is everything, and getting away with being a total dick
is just a perk for him.”

“That is not exactly
what I had in mind,” Lucas muttered, but he was paying attention at least.

“I also have a list of
people he has royally pissed off, as well as some of his more questionable
dealings. All his properties, business interests, puppet companies, and the
married women he has bonked.  I sent them to Eli’s computer to go through and
see if you can use any of it.”

“Now we’re talking,”
Eli said, pulling up his Dropbox.

“But, Lucas, please, if
you have any dealings with Rickarts remember what I said.”  She tucked her face
back into his neck and pressed herself close.  “He will hurt you if he can,
just because you are everything good that he is not.  Don’t give him the
chance.”

His arms were just
starting to tighten in response when the phone on the bar rang.  They all
looked that way when Logan picked up.

“Yep?”  Miley rolled
her eyes at his idea of phone etiquette, but forgot about mentioning it when he
stilled utterly and looked toward Lucas.  “He’s here.”  Not one person in that
room did not feel the tension ratchet up from that one statement.

Lucas gently pressed
Miley to the side with a brief kiss to her lips.  He stood, heading for the
phone and the carefully blank look on Logan’s face.  A second later, Clytie
joined her on the sectional taking her hand in hers.  Miley only spared her one
grateful glance before returning her attention to Lucas and Logan at the bar,
and now Demon who joined them.  Even Ian had stopped playing pool and was
watching his dad with a predator’s gaze, and without his usual irreverence.

Logan passed him the
phone with two cold words.  “The Council.”  Then he stood right there and
waited, his eyes on Lucas just the same as the rest of them.

The Council
. 
Freakin’ Rickarts.
  Miley took advantage of the hand holding hers and
squeezed it tight.

“This is Lucas Gibbs.” 
His eyes moved to Miley as he listened.  Most of them could probably hear what
was being said, but Miley’s hearing had never been shifter good.  Her sense of
smell, yes, her ears, not so much.  She only heard the answers, her eyes glued
to her mate, as he very carefully showed no reaction to the caller.  “I
understand . . . I would prefer she not . . . Then I would like to officially
deny that ridiculous charge and . . . I see.”  But even expecting it would
happen, she lost her breath when the words she dreaded came at last.  “I accept
his challenge, and agree to the outcome deciding the matter . . . My pack and I
will be there.”

He hung up and all she
could do was sit frozen while he spoke to the whole pack.  “Time’s up.  Eli,
get on the computer and find my daughter.  I want her home tonight.  It appears
she is not going to have a chance to make a difference with her plan to spread
good PR for the pack.  Rickarts already went to the Council.”

Miley fell back against
the cushion of the couch.  “The Council . . . even suspecting he would do it I
can’t believe it.  Not to mention it would be more his speed to throw all his
wolves to the slaughter in all-out war.  If he’s making it an alpha challenge,
he has something nefarious planned.  No way can he win one with you, or any
lion for that matter. He has to know that.  It’s ludicrous.  Not to mention,
the Council?  He cannot possibly think I would back up his claim.”

“No,” Lucas said
quietly, his gold eyes the only thing showing his fury.  “He does not.  His
claim is that you are his mate, but too mentally ill to make the distinction
yourself.  His plan is to defeat me in battle and then have you declared
incompetent.  He is calling your escape an attempted ‘suicide’ and calling it
proof of erratic behavior.”

It took Miley a
minute.  Then she shot up off the couch as if she was on springs.  “He told
them I was crazy?”

Logan looked like death
when he gritted out what they were all thinking.  “If he has her declared incompetent,
he takes away any legal rights she has.”

Miley shuddered in a
breath as the words hit her belly, her legs going shaky beneath her.  “I would
be completely at his mercy.”  She looked up into molten gold eyes when she felt
Lucas get close, his arms surrounding her.  She could not keep the fear from
her voice or her eyes.  “Lucas . . .”

“Not going to happen,
Miley,” he growled, fury coating each word.