Predator's Claim Read online

  Only he couldn’t be. She didn’t want this. She was supposed to live a sophisticated, emotion-free, scholarly life with people just like her.

  Damn. She’d never agonized over any man. For some reason, Bart had her swooning like a romantic heroine of old. She might as well don a petticoat and sip a mint julep, or whatever prissy heroines did.

  No. She had to write her own destiny. Even now, a wonderful job awaited her in the city. A fabulous career lay ahead. She’d get an office and office hours in which her students could meet with her and talk religion until the cows came home. She’d be able to immerse herself in research, something she loved. And she could spend her days arguing the significance of characters from ancient mythologies, explaining the impact their stories had on today’s world. The next few months would be an altogether thrilling time.

  Only when she considered her lecturing work, her heart didn’t palpitate with anticipation the way it did when Bart Cairo walked in the room. Buddha and Zeus didn’t cause her eyelashes to go aflutter the way they did when Bart grinned at her. And the way she felt when Bart ran his hand down her naked back, well, nothing else gave her such a case of the shivers.

  And she knew, more than ever, he felt it, too.

  She snuggled in closer to him, wanting to memorize his touch and smell. He let out a little groan, buried his face in her neck, and sighed.

  Okay, maybe she could just soak this up a little while she could. Because he might be having fun with her now, but when she disappeared, he’d hate her.

  She barely had time to contemplate exactly how much he would despise her. She felt movement on her back and realized his cock was already primed for action again. It prodded her, and her mouth filled with saliva, wanting to taste him and feel him inside her again. But before she could roll over and take his curious member into her mouth, he’d already pinned her to the mattress.

  He touched a finger to her pussy and she realized she’d already grown wet again. Dismayed, she could do nothing as he slid down her body, grunting his approval each step of the way. And when his wolf tongue penetrated her once more, Charlotte merely clenched her fingers in the sheets and held on.

  Chapter 8

  Bart took a few minutes away from his pack and escaped to the haven of the security office. He’d wanted to bask in the afterglow of sleeping with Charlotte all morning, but before long, the pack called, wanting to discuss the issue of Jason Burns. As Alpha, he knew he needed to be there for them, too. And so he’d left Charlotte in one of the resort offices, where she could do her work, a shifter co-worker always in sight. When he’d left her, her eyes had darkened and he’d felt a corresponding pain in his heart.

  They had done the deed, after all, and one would have to be blind not to see how it had affected his pretty lady wolf. He’d comforted himself with the knowledge their bodies and wolves had communed, and they were, if not on the same page yet, certainly on the same bookshelf.

  It had been more electrifying than he’d ever dreamed, even with him pulling out of her each time so as not to lock inside her. Her every whimper and moan had made his heart soar. Her fervent touches had made him rejoice, so much so that he’d sprung to life several times during the night and taken her again. He knew no fatigue while she was in his bed. While their bodies lay next to one another, it only seemed right they make love. And so he’d mastered her body over and over. His wolf had triumphed, and he knew one thing without a doubt.

  Charlotte Moffatt was his mate, and he already felt lonely without her.

  Even still, acknowledging he needed to handle her perhaps a little more gently than he had thus far, he’d allowed her to get out of his bed this morning. As much as it made his body jolt with sharp pain.

  How was he supposed to function if he didn’t keep her at his side?

  With that thought in mind, his only thought, he’d stumbled out of bed and forced himself to deal with pack concerns. Nate had spotted him first and had spent the better part of a quarter hour detailing his desire to establish a round-the-clock surveillance team, comprised of pack members. He wanted to organize runs around the island, in the hopes of ferreting out Flynn or spotting Burns. Bart couldn’t help but be thankful. Even though there was a police presence on the island, and Bart conducted his own regular surveillance runs, he couldn’t be everywhere. It felt good to have his brother’s support.

  Several other pack members had promptly found him. Because not everyone knew about the threat from Burns, he was inundated with a variety of requests, none of which he was prepared to deal with at the moment. He’d smiled when Cousin Susan wanted to share her thoughts on global warming and how it might impact their bear cousins up north. He’d listened when Cousin Leonard wanted to rat on Cousin Mario, declaring Mario was growing marijuana in his backyard. Bart knew for a fact Mario had nothing but weeds in his overgrown excuse for a yard, but Leonard wouldn’t be swayed. And he’d smiled when he told Aunt Wanda, yes, she should probably get that ingrown toenail examined.

  No wonder his dad had been so keen to get out. He was just about ready to tell Flynn he could have the whole damn pack to himself.

  And now, he needed some quiet time to sort out his brain and figure out what he needed to do about this mate business with Charlotte. He barged into the security office, eager for some peace and quiet, and heard masculine voices.

  Ah, damn. He’d assumed he wouldn’t run into his co-workers at this time of day, but clearly they were also discussing the latest on Jason Burns. Police had confirmed that morning Burns was spotted at a convenience store on the mainland, a few miles away. Way too close for comfort. And because the man was a wily bastard, he’d escaped before police could apprehend him.

  Bart turned the corner into the large security office common room. Ryland sat perched on one of the desks, flanked by Connor and Lloyd. They looked up as he entered.

  “Hey,” said Ryland. “I’ve been trying to reach you. I just heard from the police. They caught Burns.”

  His head swayed with a violent rush. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Ryland grinned. “Nope. They nabbed the sonofabitch at a bank machine in town, trying to use a stolen card. You don’t have to worry about him, Bart. He’s being watched by shifter officers. He won’t come for you.”

  “I wasn’t worried about me.”

  “I know. He won’t hurt anyone you love either.”

  Anyone he loved…

  “See, dude?” laughed Connor, a mountain lion shifter. “All you need to worry about now is being Alpha wolf. We heard they dubbed you king of the dogs.”

  “You may be head of our unit,” Lloyd, a bear man, said, grinning, “but there’s no way in hell I’m bowing to your pock-marked ass.”

  Bart just stared at them, suddenly bereft of breath. His vision grew fuzzy around the edges and Connor’s form seemed to morph with Ryland’s for a second. His pulse sped up and fever heat streaked through him at lightning speed.

  Ryland stood up from the desk. “You okay, Bart? Jason Burns isn’t an issue anymore. You don’t need to worry.”

  He gawked at his boss. He then dropped onto a nearby couch and buried his face in his hands. No, he was not okay. When he finally looked up, his throat felt raw and his wolf moaned, tired of being deprived of its woman. “It’s Charlotte. She’s…she’s my mate.”

  When they all found their voices, Lloyd was the first to speak, arching a brow. “Duh. We’ve known that for years.”

  “You finally clued in,” teased Connor.

  “What do I do?” He turned to Ryland. He’d know. He had a mate. Actually, so did Lloyd. The bear shifter had been mated for years. And now that Burns was out of the picture, his other concerns flew to the fore. “She’s got a job in Toronto. She doesn’t want to stay here. I need to make her stay. Or maybe I should quit my job and go with her. I will, if she wants me to. And what about marking? I need to mark her. Like, right away. She probably won’t like that. Too archaic. Still, it needs to be done.”

 
As he rambled, Ryland approached him and put his hands on Bart’s shoulders. He peered into his eyes. “Steady on, soldier. Breathe. Let’s take this one moment at a time. I know it feels like your world just got turned upside down. Believe me, I know, but you and Charlotte will get through this.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t be without her, Ry. I have an ache in my gut already, and I only just left her this morning.”

  Connor, the only single dude in the crowd, let out a whoop. “Finally! How many years have you been waiting to bag that sweet piece of ass? I’m proud of you, man.”

  As a film of angry red fire filled his vision, Bart vaulted off the couch and launched himself at the still-cackling Connor. He pinned his friend to the nearest piece of furniture as Connor’s eyes widened. “Don’t you ever refer to my mate as a piece of ass. Do you hear me?”

  “Whoa, dude, I was just joking,” Connor stammered, holding up his hands. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Lloyd and Ryland had to pry him off. Once they got him back to his couch, Lloyd eyed him with suspicion, as if deciding whether or not to sit on him. Bart ran a hand over his sweaty face. His whole body itched. His scar. His thighs. His heart. He wanted to rake his claws over the whole kit and caboodle. He looked up at Ry. “What’s happening to me?”

  Ryland offered him a sympathetic grin. “You need to be with her. At the beginning, the sensation is pretty fierce. I think it’s nature’s way of binding us to our mates. It’ll settle down eventually, but the emotion won’t go away. Even now that Lia and I have been mated for a while, I still get nervous when I don’t see her for periods of time.”

  Lloyd chimed in. “Yeah. Elaine and I have been married for five years, and I still wanna kill other men if they look at her the wrong way.” He grinned. “After all, that woman is my sweet piece of ass.”

  “Now that you know,” Ryland continued, “now that you’ve accepted it, take it for granted you’ll want to be with her all the time.”

  “I need to see her.” He bounced his legs up and down on the floor. “Like, now.”

  “Does she know how you feel?” Ry asked.

  “More importantly,” Connor said. “Does she feel the same way?”

  Bart stared ahead. “I have no idea. But I need to tell her.”

  He jumped off the couch, walked over to Connor, and extended his hand in apology for attacking him. Connor smirked and shook it. Bart wasn’t fazed. One day Connor would meet his mate among his harem of females and he’d take a sharp nosedive. And Bart would make sure to witness it and laugh the loudest.

  As he left the security office, shaking like a fucking dead leaf hanging onto its branch, the others gave him a shout of support. “Go, Bart! Go get her, wolf man!”

  That’s right. He was a big, fierce wolf man. And he would claim his female if it was the last thing he ever did.

  * * * *

  Come evening, Charlotte put the finishing touches on a lecture about her favorite dead friend, Hildegard of Bingen, while ensconced in one the resort’s exercise rooms. She’d wanted to hide away somewhere quiet, away from Bart’s well-intentioned spies. She understood he meant well and was concerned about her safety, but he’d texted to say the police had caught Jason Burns. In her opinion, it meant she could now wander at will. As a result, she’d holed up in the one room in the resort she’d never frequented: the weight room. She’d curled up with her laptop in one of the corners on the floor, ignoring the pointed looks from shifter guests using the bench press and the dumbbells. As much as she’d appreciated being able to hide away among sweaty shifter men for most of the day, she knew she couldn’t hide from Bart any longer. She was a grown woman, for fuck’s sake, and he was a grown man. He deserved the truth, for their friendship, if for no other reason.

  They’d had sex. It had been as dazzling and frightening as watching meteors collide, and yet also as strangely touching as coming home after being lost. The things he’d done to her, the feelings he’d produced in her, defied description. From the new hiccup in her heart, she knew she’d never be the same.

  He’s our mate, her wolf cried. You can run but you can’t hide…

  “Oh, piss off, you rabid dog,” she muttered. “I don’t need you on my case, too. What do you know about mates?”

  I know we have one, it replied. And I know how yummy it felt to have him put his—

  “Stop it,” she said. And then she cursed up a storm at the horny beast.

  After she gathered up her laptop and many notes on loose-leaf paper, shoving them in her messenger bag, she trudged out of the weight room. She let out a sigh of frustration and plowed down the hallway toward reception. Her wolf wouldn’t leave her alone. Her stomach ached with weird, new sensations, and her head hurt. Every time she thought of Bart, she seemed to feel better, but then she felt worse because he wasn’t in her line of sight. It had only been hours since they’d woken up together, both of them blushing with a strange shyness, and yet she was as much on edge as when she returned to Gemini Island. Her stupid wolf prowled inside her, howling in bizarre lament. As she stalked the hallways of the lodge, she finally lost her cool and grunted at the animal. “Just shut up. Just shut the fuck up!”

  One of the maids passed her in the corridor during this outburst and her jaw dropped.

  “Sorry, Jenny,” she said, wincing. “I didn’t mean you.” Grumbling, she continued down the hall, feeling at her wit’s end.

  She hurried toward her cabin, eager for a long shower, one that might clear her head and hose down her yelping spirit animal. Bart had mentioned tonight was the annual Cairo family nighttime cookout, one of the biggest events during their reunion, and he’d invited her. She’d been noncommittal when she’d replied, but she knew now she had to see him, if only to explain why they couldn’t do this. Hopefully his own wolf wasn’t feeding him garbage about being mates, although she somehow doubted it.

  If she knew Bart’s wolf, and she was pretty sure she did, he’d be raging full steam ahead.

  * * * *

  A couple of hours later, Charlotte found herself at the edge of Lake Gemini. She’d dressed for a casual party, and was woman enough to admit she’d probably dressed for Bart too. Under her coat, she wore tight jeans with sequins on the ass pockets and a soft tunic that barely grazed her bottom. A bit cheeky perhaps, but her ass was her best feature and dammit if she wasn’t going to leave it imprinted in his memory. The sequins should help. Her granny boots completed the ensemble.

  And now she stood in front of a huge fire pit, over which sizzled a variety of delicious-smelling meats. The heat from the massive blaze was so strong, and even if she’d been human, she wouldn’t have felt the chill of wintery air around her. So many of the Cairo pack members gathered there, nibbling juicy ribs dripping with barbeque sauce and sipping spiked apple cider. Her keen senses pricked and tingled with hunger, but it had very little to do with saucy meat.

  Bart’s parents spotted her first and hurried over, a glass of fragrant cider in their hands for her. She thanked them and took a huge gulp, hoping it would fortify her for the evening ahead.

  “Great news about Jason Burns, huh?” she asked them.

  “Wonderful news,” Shirley replied, her face lit up by a huge smile of relief. “Now we can get back to enjoying the reunion.”

  “So, how does it feel?” she asked Joseph. “Not being Alpha?”

  The older man smiled at her. He pretended to shush her. “Fantastic,” he whispered, beaming at his wife. “Shirley and I have so many plans. Before we leave the resort, we want to go snowshoeing by ourselves and maybe even get a little wicked and order room service…”

  “A few times,” Shirley said with a cheeky grin.

  Charlotte couldn’t help but giggle at their excitement, even though she knew all their former stresses had been transferred to their eldest son.

  “How’s my boy holding up?” Joseph asked, as if on the same wavelength.

  “Great,” Charlotte said, shrugging. “But I wouldn
’t know much.” She sucked back some more cider, ignoring the Cairos’ pointed stares.

  “You know, darlin’,” Shirley began. “Bart’s going to be under a lot of stress. He could use a good woman at his side.”

  She gulped. “Right. If I meet one, I’ll be sure to point her in his direction.”

  Chastised, Shirley and Joseph wandered away and began chatting with a cousin near the fire pit.

  It didn’t take long for Bart to find her. She gazed at him as he approached, drawn by the memory of the long, sculpted lines hiding under his North Face jacket. His dark jeans, so taut on his legs, seemed almost inadequate at containing his thigh muscles. He wore his usual Kodiaks, and she grinned at the sight of them. They were as much him as her granny boots were her. He frowned at her, as if not quite sure what to say, and rubbed his scar. As she took in his roguish features, made even more enigmatic by the scar, she remembered how his face had been transformed in ecstasy in bed. Her body reacted in a revolt of rapid-hot quivers, making her feel like a teenaged geek girl adoring the school quarterback from afar. A new sensation for her, she didn’t know what to do with it.

  And the whole time he walked toward her, her wolf bowed its head to his wolf. My Alpha. My mate.

  She didn’t even bother to shoo the damn dog away this time. Not when Bart’s wolf breathed down her neck. She could almost see the great canine, accepting her wolf’s submission.

  My mate, it murmured.

  Dammit. Once she got to Toronto, she would have her wolf put down. With a really blunt needle.

  “Hey, Charles,” Bart said when he reached her. His hot gaze traveled the length of her body and then back up to her face again. He held up his index finger and motioned for her to twirl around, which she did. As he took in the sequins on her butt, she looked over her shoulder at him and saw his eye twitch with fast-burning lust. “You look…wow.”

  You look…wow. God only knew, she’d been on the receiving end of more elaborate compliments in her time, but she didn’t think any three words had ever touched her more than his. She searched for her vocal cords and forced air past them. “Thanks.”