Chasing Cristabel (Ashland Pride Six) Read online

  “Of course.”

  “You just happen to have three males who want to be with you. The other mating groups in the house have similar schedules they’ve worked out,” Hunter said.

  Tilting her head, she looked at her mates for a long, quiet moment. “Does this mean we might get to go out on a real date?”

  All of their brows rose.

  “Of course,” Chase said. “We’ll get it all worked out. Don’t worry sweetheart.”

  “I’m not worried,” she promised. Then she glanced at her watch. “But I will be worried if I don’t get to work on time for my first day.”

  “I’ll be ready in two seconds,” Dylan said before hurrying from the room.

  Hunter and Chase surrounded her, Hunter pulling her against his chest and Chase pressing against her back. “We’ll miss you,” Chase murmured in her ear.

  “I’ll miss you all too,” she promised, shivering as Chase’s teeth closed gently on her neck. She purred softly.

  “Hey, knock that off,” Dylan said as he walked back into the room wearing a shirt and carrying his shoes. “It’s not fair to horn her up and then make her wait all day to see us.”

  Chase went still behind her as Hunter laughed. “Sorry,” Hunter said, tipping her face up and kissing her lips.

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s hard enough to leave without you guys getting all extra-strength sexy on me.”

  After stepping into a pair of low heels, she walked with her mates down to the first floor. Hunter and Chase both kissed her goodbye, and then Dylan led her to his car and opened the door for her.

  “Get her there safe,” Hunter said to Dylan, his voice a gruff command.

  “You know I will,” Dylan said as he shut her door and then moved quickly behind the wheel. “Ready, love?”

  “Definitely.”

  Dylan dropped her off at the door of the clinic. Her cat made a plaintive sound, but she reminded the fussy creature that they couldn’t simply spend all day, every day in bed with their mates. She missed them already, but if they were going to get a place of their own, then she needed to work to help out.

  As she stepped into the reception area to start the day, she glanced out the glass door and saw Dylan wave at her before he pulled away from the building. With an internal sigh, she smiled brightly at her new boss, hoping that the day would pass quickly.

  Chapter 9

  Hunter hadn’t felt this grumpy since the cable had gone out two years ago during the Super Bowl. Watching Dylan take Cris to work made something dark creep into him and take root. He was the oldest and the strongest. He should be the one taking Cris to work and picking her up.

  “Why do you look so pissed?” Chase asked as Hunter parked in front of Kickers.

  He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Hunter grumbled a curse and then said, “I don’t like being away from her.”

  “And you think I do?”

  He gave him a long look. “I want her to do whatever she wants to be happy, but I don’t like that we’re not together right now. I wish the weekend had lasted forever.”

  “Which is really sappy,” he said, making a face.

  “I have my moments,” he said, grinning.

  “It’s still really new for us. My cat is clawing at me to go get her and take her home, but that’s not realistic. We need jobs so we can support her, and she wants to work right now, and I think that’s okay, too. Of the three of us, you’re more concerned with safety. You always worry about the kids and the mates in the pride, but it’s more meaningful now that we have our own mate to take care of.”

  Dylan pulled up alongside Hunter’s truck with a smile on his face. “Let’s get this meeting over with,” Hunter said as he got out of the truck.

  Perry was sitting at the bar with a newspaper and a cup of coffee. “Hey, guys.”

  They greeted him, and he suggested they sit at a table to talk. When they were settled, Hunter said, “We wanted to talk to you about changing our schedules.”

  “This is because you guys have a mate, right?”

  Hunter nodded. “We want to be home to spend time with her.”

  “I understand. When Rita and I were first married, she nearly lost her job because she kept oversleeping because…well, she was tired,” he said, laughing.

  “You guys have been married a while, right?” Chase asked.

  “It’ll be thirty years this fall. I think it’s different for us humans than it is for you shifters. You feel connections to your mates that aren’t the same as what we feel for ours.”

  “Love is love,” Dylan said.

  “Oh sure, but I don’t have a creature in my head making suggestions.”

  Hunter shook his head with a laugh. “It’s not that bad.”

  “All right. Let’s see what we can do with the schedule so you guys can spend time with your girl. And, of course, she’s welcome to hang out here. I know you won’t let it interfere with your ability to do your jobs. You three are some of the best employees I’ve ever had, but don’t tell Rue I said that.”

  Rue, who was mated to James and John, had started working at the bar several months ago. She worked the day shift, part-time, so they didn’t see her as much.

  “We won’t,” Dylan said.

  “All right, so let’s get the schedule figured out so you guys can get back to focusing on what’s most important,” Perry said.

  By the time Hunter’s stomach was growling for lunch, they’d finally hashed out a schedule that allowed at least one of them to be home with Cris every night. He’d also heard from the rumor mill that some of the black panthers, who had taken up residence in a field beyond the pride’s territory, were looking for work.

  “Send them my way, and we’ll see what we can work out,” Perry promised.

  Hunter still felt unsettled as he left the bar and climbed behind the wheel.

  “That turned out better than I thought it would,” Chase said.

  “Did you think he’d say no?” Hunter asked after waving at Dylan and pulling out of the parking lot.

  “I thought he’d maybe give us a hard time about cutting our hours, but he’s being great about it.”

  Each of them was going to work the closing shift once during the week – which meant a damn long day start to finish – working a few hours each day after that, plus alternating closing on Fridays and Saturdays. For the week ahead, Hunter was going to be closing tonight, and then Friday night, but it meant he had Saturday and Sunday off entirely, and Saturday…well, he planned to take very good care of her. He’d have her all to himself Saturday from three to eight. He could think of a dozen things he could do with her, to her, for her. His mental list of how to make his mate happy was growing by the second.

  On his way to work that afternoon, he stopped by the clinic to say hello to Cris, and she took a break and sat with him in the truck.

  “Are you enjoying work so far?” he asked, thrilled when she snuggled right up to him, tucking herself close.

  “It’s been really good. I miss you, though.”

  He pressed his lips to the top of her head, inhaling her scent. “I miss you, too.”

  “This is difficult. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to be away from you.” She tipped her head up until he could see her beautiful blue eyes.

  “I didn’t know either. In a perfect world we could stay together all the time.”

  “Life’s not perfect, though.”

  “You are,” he said.

  “Aw,” she said, smiling as her eyes danced.

  He could have sat there forever, but he didn’t want her to get into trouble on her first day. As he walked her back into the building, he said, “I won’t be home until really late, but I’ll get up to say goodbye in the morning.”

  She peered up at him as her hands slid into his coat and pressed against his back, drawing him close. “Have a good night at work. I’ll miss you.”

  He was glad th
e waiting room was empty so he could kiss her goodbye properly, pulling her tightly against him and pressing his lips to hers. He loved the way she tasted, all sweet woman and tempting lioness, and every time he kissed her, he felt it all the way to his soul.

  “You slay me every time we kiss,” he whispered against her lips.

  She smiled as he pulled away from her. Her lips were swollen from their kiss, and her eyes were a stunning navy color with golden swirls. He knew it was her beast shining through, the lioness wanting to get close to him because they were mates. His cat sat up in recognition.

  His sensitive hearing caught the sound of the doctor heading down the hallway, and he kissed her briefly and said, “Have a good rest of the day, sweetheart.”

  “You too,” she said.

  He turned and left before the desire to toss her over his shoulder and head home overrode his greater sense of decency. He looked at the door before he got into his truck, and she was watching him and waving. He’d heard the stories from other pride members of how much they coveted the time with their mates, but he’d had no idea how instantaneous it would be.

  It felt like his life started the night she walked into the bar and into his life.

  * * *

  Tanya Winston, head of the all-female mountain lion pride, watched as Bella paced the length of the tiny hotel room, avoiding bumping into Hannah who was sitting on the bed. “Pacing won’t bring the human here any faster,” Tanya pointed out.

  Bella turned with a snarl. “I just think trusting a drug-abusing prostitute to bring one of the males to us is going to backfire.”

  Tanya made a non-committal noise in her throat. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not, actually, but it had made sense at the time. The females needed to procreate or their species was going to die out. They were already banished from King, Pennsylvania, and Ashland, Indiana, where their males lived. Procreating with humans or other shifters meant that the children born to the females would not be purely mountain lion, and that meant they’d be an abomination, which was, at its core, inexcusable.

  Tanya had taken over the small eleven-member all-female pride after their former leader, Layla, had been killed by another female whose name was never to be uttered. Layla had been Tanya’s friend, at least as much of a friend as an uncaring female such as herself could have. She’d been a good leader, but she was dead, and it was Tanya’s time to lead. The females had retreated to Canada, where the remainder of the female mountain lions lived in a large home. Immediately, Tanya and Honor – the leader of the Canadian female pride – had clashed over their core beliefs. After having their plans to cause trouble for the males spoiled several times, Honor and her pride had opted to live in peace, turning to a few trusted humans and rogue wolves for sexual needs. As a result, Tanya and her small pride had left Canada and come back to the states.

  “Revolting,” Tanya said.

  “What is?” Bella asked.

  She shook her head. “I was just thinking out loud. Trust me, this will work. When the human comes in from her shift tonight, we’ll make sure she understands that she must lure the youngest Hall male here as soon as possible. After he’s subdued, we’ll take him home.”

  Hannah stood at the window, holding back one of the filthy looking orange and yellow striped curtains. “She’s coming.”

  The door beeped as the keycard unlocked it, and the human stepped into the room. Hannah moved quickly, slamming the door shut and throwing the security bar. “Were you followed?” Hannah demanded.

  Theresa jumped with a gasp and then shivered from head to toe. “N–No.”

  Bella made a disgusted sound. “You’ve run out of time, human.”

  “What?” she asked, her eyes wide like dinner plates and her heartbeat sounding like a snare drum with a million sticks banging on it.

  Tanya stood from the rickety wooden chair and moved to the human. She smiled, but she knew it wasn’t a comforting smile. Theresa cowered, but Tanya prevented her from moving anywhere by fisting the front of her shirt and jerking Theresa forward. “You’ve had plenty of time. How is it that you haven’t brought the Hall male to us yet?”

  The scent of Theresa’s fear sharpened, a metallic, bitter taste that made Tanya’s cat happy.

  “He’s got a girlfriend,” Theresa said, her voice weak and wavering as tears flooded her eyes.

  Bella snorted. “And? Males are driven by their dicks. You should flash a little tit at him and then get him to follow you like a lost puppy.”

  Tanya shot Bella a sharp look. Mountain lion males weren’t as easy to sexually seduce as human males, or even wolf males. They were tenderhearted, prone to wanting relationships and families over one-night stands.

  “Why do you think he has a girlfriend?”

  “I think they all do. The three guys. I was trying to get Dylan to fool around on Friday night, and a woman came into the bar and they…” her voice trailed off.

  Tanya gave her a little shake. “They did what?”

  “They took her into the office and locked the door. When I tried to interrupt, Hunter, the big one, he told me to keep my hands off Dylan or they were going to get me fired. They said they had a mate now, and that none of them, especially Dylan, wanted anything to do with me. I don’t know what mate means, but it must mean like a girlfriend or something because they made me leave work and swear to leave them alone.”

  Tanya released her hold on Theresa’s shirt and pushed her away, turning to Bella. “Mate? One female for three of them?”

  Bella shrugged. “It’s what the males do now, remember? They share a female between them. Gross.”

  Tanya agreed. The males were only good for one thing, and that was procreation. There was nothing she wanted more than to have a cub. Not so she could play mommy like the human females did with their young but so she could train the cub in the new ways of the pride. A female cub would grow up strong in the ways of their people. A male cub would know his place swiftly: to be a servant of the females in whatever capacity they chose.

  Turning her attention back to Theresa, she let her cat out enough so that her eyes changed to the amber of her beast and her fangs elongated. Her claws extended, the dark tips curving dangerously from her fingers. Grabbing the human by the throat, Tanya lifted Theresa into the air and slammed her against the wall. The human screamed and then grunted as the breath whooshed from her lungs.

  Leaning close, Tanya bared her fangs and snapped her teeth. Theresa whimpered, tears sliding down her cheeks. “When are you working next with Dylan?”

  “N–Not until Saturday,” she blubbered.

  “You will do everything in your power to bring the youngest male here Saturday. I don’t care what you have to do – lie, injure yourself, or drug him – but you will get him here. If you don’t do it, I’ll skin you alive. Are we clear?”

  Theresa sniveled, nodding as much as she could. Tanya released her grip on Theresa’s throat and watched dispassionately as she fell to the floor in a heap. “We’ll be waiting on Saturday,” Tanya said in warning. She headed for the door, eager to get out of the hotel room. It smelled of old sex and body odor, and she felt like she needed at least ten showers.

  Bella and Hannah followed as Tanya left the room, the door slamming shut behind them. When they were in the rental van, Tanya pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the RV park where their pride had rented two RVs. They’d been staying there ever since Tanya had devised the plan to steal a male so the mountain lion females could breed with him.

  She hadn’t come up with the plan herself – Layla had – but it was just as well that Layla was dead because Layla had failed, and Tanya was not going to fail this time. The male named Dylan would be brought to the hotel by the human. The females would be waiting and would drug him. By the time he awoke, they’d be in their new settlement, a small town just over the border into Canada, where a large home waited for them, complete with a basement that would become his home for the rest of his life. Or until t
hey didn’t need him anymore. After he’d bred cubs for them, she’d most likely kill him. His only value, like the other males, was his ability to breed. Once he’d outlived his usefulness, that would be the end of him.

  She couldn’t wait for Saturday.

  Chapter 10

  Wednesday night, Chase watched in amusement as Cris played a video game with Grant’s and Aaron’s sons. She sat on the large couch facing the flat-screen television with the boys surrounding her.

  “Oh no! I’m going to crash!” she said, laughing as the boys tried to coach her through the racetrack. “Why won’t this do what I want?”

  “You have to press the green button while you’re pressing the right button,” Owen said.

  “Like this?” she asked, lifting the controller higher and tapping the buttons.

  “No!” all the boys shouted as her car spun off the track and exploded.

  “Ah, crap,” she said with a laugh. “I only made it around the track once.”

  “You did good for your first time,” Brian said.

  She tousled his hair. “You’re sweet.”

  “Do you want to try again? We can set it for an easier course,” Ben suggested.

  “I don’t think you can get much easier than a plain oval for a course,” she said with a chuckle. Giving Chase a wink, she said, “I’m done for the night. My thumbs hurt.”

  She handed the controller to Owen and stood, stepping carefully over the jumble of legs as the boys started another game. She stopped only long enough to give Chase a sultry look and then continued to walk out of the family room. Her hips swayed as she walked, and he watched her until she disappeared out of the room. Snapping out of his reverie, he darted after her, catching up to her in the hallway.

  It was his first time alone with her since they’d mated, and he really hadn’t wanted to waste a second of it. When he’d picked her up, he’d considered taking her out to dinner but thought that their first date should really be with the whole group. They had stopped in the kitchen to make sandwiches when Lachlyn, a bear shifter mated to Alek and Jericho, had asked if they’d like to join them for dinner, and then the boys had asked if she’d like to play a game with them.