Kane (3 page)

He watched as she reached behind her and
turned the water off, then opened the curtain and stepped out onto
the marble floor. There were towels on a nearby shelf and she
tossed one to him before covering her body with another. He
sighed--damn Rheana for the intrusion--but wrapped it loosely
around his hips. Calista reached for the doorknob, but paused
before turning it, looking at him and placing a silencing finger
over her lips.

Huffing, he crossed his arms over his chest
and stepped back out of view when she opened the door. It wasn’t
like her sisters didn’t know what they were up to in the bathroom
or any other time he visited the house. Was it modesty or did she
just not want to acknowledge anything between them? He growled
softly. The hell with that. If that was what she was up to, she’d
better get over it quick.

Spurred to action, he dried quickly and
reached for the clothes he’d left on the floor. When he was
redressed, he exited the room and walked down the hall. She’d left
her door open, and he heard her cursing softly as he approached. He
understood why when he reached the room and stood transfixed in the
open doorway.

She held the back of a chair while her sister
pulled the stays of a corset, cinching her already small waist into
a tiny line. He was used to seeing her in loose trousers and
shirts, clothes easy to maneuver in. He searched his mind for a
memory of her dressed in the kind of finery common to the
ball-going-set and came up blank.

Leaning against the doorframe, he crossed his
arms over his chest and didn’t bother to hide his grin when she
looked over and met his gaze with a glare. Rheana tied off the
stays, and Calista straightened, turning to face him with clenched
fists on her hips. He sucked in a deep breath when he got a look at
the cleavage created by the corset.

“Not one word,” she said through gritted
teeth.

Rheana frowned at him, but didn’t speak.
Instead she picked up a deep red-colored dress and dropped it over
Calista’s head. She pushed her arms through the sleeves and it fell
in a swirl around her feet. Her sister stepped behind her and began
to button it up. The top of the dress just covered the white of the
undergarment. He groaned when he saw the finished effect, his
still-hard cock now throbbing in anticipation.

Isadora joined him in the doorway, and her
eyes grew wide as she looked in. “Wow.”

He nodded his agreement. While they watched
silently, Rheana combed Calista’s long, dark hair and patted it as
dry as possible with a towel. Then she twisted into an intricate
knot and pinned it in place. Long tendrils fell along the sides of
Calista’s face, and he knew the look was artifice. He’d never seen
her hair fall free before, even under the worst circumstances.

Rheana turned to the cosmetics spread over
the vanity table.

“No,” Calista muttered firmly
.

It took him a minute to recognize the emotion
he felt at the statement as relief. She was beautiful, with her
pale, creamy skin glowing against the dark red dress and the bodice
dipping low, barely clinging to her shoulders, the short sleeves
showing off her shapely arms, but he didn’t know this woman.

She pulled away from her sister and walked to
the bed, lifting one foot to its edge and pulling the skirt of the
dress high up her thigh. His mouth went dry at the view as he
remembered where that thigh had been just minutes ago. She turned
her head to watch him, the corners of her mouth lifting in a saucy
grin. She picked up a small revolver he hadn’t noticed and strapped
it high on her inner thigh. Then she switched legs and strapped on
a wicked-looking knife. He laughed. Now he recognized the lady in
red as his Calista. Her sisters seemed unaware of the silent byplay
between them.

“Good,” Rheana said in a breathy voice,
almost a sigh. “Let’s get going.”

Calista set her foot on the floor and
smoothed the front of her skirts. She moved toward him, hips
swaying in the way that drove him out of his mind. The swell of her
breasts pushed up in the tight corset mesmerized him and it took a
minute for his brain to reengage.
Go
. They were going out.
He snapped to attention, forcing himself to focus on the job.

“Where are you going?” he demanded, using the
tone he employed as Alpha.

Calista’s eyebrows arched high at the
commanding arrogance.

“The Fordham’s ball,” Rheana responded
haughtily, before Calista could jump his ass for the command.

Even though he knew Rheana’s arrogance was a
defense mechanism, her holier-than-thou attitude made his skin itch
and he had to remind himself that these women weren’t part of his
pack. He couldn’t forbid them from going, couldn’t insist they
allow him to protect them, and Calista would be downright tricky to
work around. Calista and Rheana united against him were an
unmovable force.

He studied them both and tried to come up
with an excuse to keep them home. Rheana cocked one eyebrow high in
question at the scrutiny, but kept her own counsel. Instead, she
ushered everyone out into the hall and down the stairs. He had an
irrational urge to dig in his heels. At the door she paused,
looking him over and he felt like a chastised boy. “I believe Marie
said you’d been invited. You’ll have to meet us there; you
certainly can’t go like that.”

Hell. He’d gone from the road to the meeting
to here. When had he had time to stop and clean up? He’d forgotten
about that damned ball as soon as he got the invitation anyway. He
opened his mouth to say something but from the edge of his vision
caught Calista biting her lip. Holding back a laugh. Then the coach
pulled around and the women prepared to leave. He helped Rheana and
Isadora in but held Calista back a moment, forcing his expression
to be serious instead of lust-filled when he pulled her into his
arms. Her brows drew together in a frown, and she lifted her hand
to rub his shoulder.

“What is it?”

How to caution her without telling her
everything? How to put her on her guard long enough for him to
arrive to back her up if necessary?

“Be very careful tonight.”

He paused, the enormity of how close he’d
come to losing her earlier finally weighing on him. He’d never
worried for her safety before—not from her work and not from his
kind. She was a hell of a bounty hunter and no shifter in New
Atlanta would ever lay a finger on her. Today might have been a
fluke, but this new situation? These outsiders? They were a
different story and he’d obviously been too complacent with her
before.

“I’m always careful.”

“Extra careful then. You were too slow this
evening…” He let the thought trail off and shook his head, forcing
the terror of losing her away. “I’ll be right behind you. Calista,
we have to talk later.”

Her expression closed and she clenched her
jaw, but she nodded in acknowledgment, her eyes wary, before
turning back to the carriage. He saw her safely off, then melted
back into the shadows around the house. He walked back to the
garden, stripped his clothes off and set them inside the back door.
Then he walked back into the yard, lifted his head to the sky and
called on the change.

He fixed the image of the wolf in his mind
and concentrated. His bones and muscles contorted, reshaped
themselves. Claws grew from the tips of his fingers, and his hands
curled. Joints popped and realigned. Bones shrunk. After mere
seconds, he dropped to his paws, smaller than the large man he was
but huge for a wolf.

He didn’t fight the need to howl and the
night air filled with responses, those out in animal form answering
to the call of their Alpha. He fought the urge to run, to become
one with the wolf, instead padding softly out the back gate. He
picked up the pace a bit in the alley, setting an easy lope for the
few blocks to his own home.

He wasn’t surprised to find the house lit
when he arrived or people waiting for him inside after he shifted
back into the form of a man. Word would have spread quickly when he
was spotted on the streets in the afternoon that the Alpha had
returned. His man handed him clothes as he entered the door, and he
pulled them on with swift, efficient motion before walking into the
study, where he found Nico and a couple of his hunters waiting. The
werepanther grinned at him from a perch on the edge of his
desk.

“Announcing your return home?”

Kane grinned. “Maybe.” He looked around the
room, meeting the eyes of him most trusted men—his brother Mathias,
Nico, and Sebastian. “Doesn’t look like it was necessary
though.”

Sebastian’s answering smile was small and
forced, but Kane considered it progress. After the death of the
weretiger’s mate a few years ago, Kane had been afraid they’d lose
him too. Recalling the were’s struggle through the first two years
was the only thing that really gave him pause about claiming
Calista. He wouldn’t wish that kind of agony on anyone. He silently
repeated his vow to control the depth of his feelings. It was one
thing to want her, another entirely to love her.

His brother approached and clasped his
forearms in greeting, a show of respect to his Alpha as the gesture
left him exposed. The move shocked Kane. When their father died,
the mantle of responsibility fell to Kane. He’d always felt Mathias
was the better choice, younger or not, but his brother had refused
the position. He claimed he’d be put to better use in the
background, and Kane knew his brother was disappointed in him. Kane
sighed and went to take the chair behind his desk.

He’d gone to work for Special Branch when he
was young; looking for adventure and an escape from the heavy
burden of responsibilities he knew lay in his future. He’d had that
burden for five years, but he’d mostly avoided it. The pack was
disorganized and lacked any kind of cohesiveness. He’d heard
whispers of a challenge while on his last mission and knew he’d
have to resign from Special Branch, had come home intending to do
so, but got blindsided with Alec’s news before he could.

All of the men in the room were also in the
unit and he wondered what their reactions would be, if they would
follow him into retirement and what he expected to be a thirty-six
hour a day job. Too bad he only had twenty-four. But first he had
to see to the security of the Nichols sisters.

“I’ll be leaving Special Branch soon,” he
started, figuring if he said the words out loud he wouldn’t be so
disappointed.

He was surprised that he didn’t feel
anything, not even regret for leaving a simpler life for one that
would be much more complicated. He was more taken aback by their
reactions.

“It’s about damned time,” Mathis
muttered.

“Thank God.” Nico’s echo sounded
heartfelt.

Maybe he’d done a worse disservice to the
pack than he’d realized if its strongest members felt that way.

“You should expect a couple of challenges
soon, Kane. Some of the older males believe you’re vulnerable,”
Mathias said.

Over my dead body.
He snorted. That
was the idea apparently. Shaking his head, he met and held
everyone’s gaze before answering.

“They can try. I’ll deal with that later.
Right now, I have to handle Calista and her sisters.”

“No one handles that woman. She can do it
just fine on her own.” Sebastian barked a half laugh but the
respect in his tone surprised Kane.

“She’d make a fine mate for an Alpha. Can’t
be pushed around by anyone. Especially you,” Mathias said,
grinning.

Kane’s throat closed. He’d expected
opposition, not support. But these were his top men, a triumvirate
of power that served under him and one of them had yet to speak. He
turned to Nico, who shrugged.

“I figured you’d get around to it
eventually.”

Total support, total acceptance. He deserved
a hell of a lot less and hoped their confidence was well placed. Of
course, he still had to convince Calista.

“Nico, you and Sebastian go on. I don’t like
the three of them being out in such an exposed place.” He made his
voice brisk, forcing down the emotion he felt at the endorsement
from his friends, the worry that Calista would turn away from what
he offered. He rose and they followed suit, mirroring his actions.
He noticed the three of them were already dressed for the Fordham’s
ball and decided to send two of them ahead while he dressed.
Especially since he couldn’t be sure which of his pack members were
trustworthy.

They acknowledged the order and all of them
moved out into the hall. Nico and Sebastian exited the house while
he ran upstairs to change. Mathias followed, watching as he
stripped and pulled on the fine suit that had been left hanging on
the door.

“You’re sure she’s the one?” Mathias held up
a placating hand when Kane glared at him. “I know she’s a
challenge. She’s beautiful and she’s full of fire. But I would hate
for you to make a permanent mistake because you
were…distracted.”

He laughed. She sure as hell distracted him,
but it was a lot more than that. He admired her, respected her. She
was strong willed enough to live with an alpha wolf. And it didn’t
hurt that her body drove him wild. His heart thumped wildly in his
chest, and he forced a deep breath into his lungs, willing it to
slow, reminding himself he could care for her, but love was not an
option. He was walking a dangerous edge, and daily exposure was
going to make it worse. He closed his eyes and forced an image of
Sebastian burying his mate to rise from his memory.
No
. He
wouldn’t do that, become so entrenched in someone else that her
death could destroy him.

“She’s the one,” he answered his brother
quietly. He hoped like hell he could make it work; convince her to
mate with him. He hoped mating with her wouldn’t be the end of
him.

Finished dressing, he strapped on his weapons
and followed his brother out of the house, worrying over everything
he’d taken on. On the steps, they could see the lights from the
ball just a few houses down the street. It was unfashionable to
walk, but he’d never cared much for convention. It was easier and
with the press of carriages stopping in front of the house,
faster.