Curves & Alphas: A Paranormal Box Set: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (39 page)

Chapter Five

A third text came in from her friend, Stacey. After her friend had sat up with Katrina until late last night, letting her rant about Alex, the case, the kiss, Stacey had consistently checked in on her today — first thing in the morning, right at lunch time, and now as the day came to a close.

So, you need round two of ice cream and chick flicks tonight?
Stacey’s text read.

I just might. Still haven’t heard a thing from Alex, or any of his brothers, and it is starting to make me become more concerned than I was.
Kat wrote back, the feeling of hitting her fingers over the alphabet strangely soothing, so her text had gone longer than usual.

She’d worked all day on the case, familiarizing herself with every bit of it, including doing some digging on the Faust brothers themselves. Her role, at the moment, was to learn everything, about them, the case, their clients, so if charges were filed, she would be ready to bend the law to their advantage with fancy terminology, citations of cases, and maybe some plausible deniability.

She’d expected to hear something from Alex. While hoping for some sort of apology, but expecting at least a message about it being a mistake so they could move on, rather than not a word had come from him.

Stacey had told her time and again last night not to beat herself up. In fact, her advice had been to sleep with him, get it out of her system, and then move on with the case like nothing had ever happened. Problem was, as much as she liked that scenario, she didn’t know if one taste of that man would be enough.

So, how about I stop at Sam’s, get a quart of Everything but the Kitchen Sink, and bring something like How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days?
Stacey texted back.

Perfect
, Alex replied.
Text you when I make it home.

Sam’s was a local ice cream shop, luckily still open this late in the fall this year due to the resilience of the northeastern summer that had kept temps high throughout September and into October.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink was one of their specialties. Based in chocolate ice cream, it sported everything from brownies to cookie dough to truffles with some caramel swirl to die for. She could get into that, not only the distraction, but once again having an ear to bend if she needed to scream or cry.

She and Stacey had always been like that. They’d sometimes go for days or even weeks without talking, due to whatever was going on in their lives, but if one or the other needed each other they would drop everything and rush to the others side. Kat had once spent almost a week staying with Stacey after an ugly break up had her reeling.

The give and take, back and forth of their relationship, never made one feel like they were being taken advantage of. And, no matter how much time passed without them seeing each other, they could pick up like not a minute had gone by when they saw each other again.

As she sat there a minute, her pen for making notes back in her hand, poised above a stack of papers, she counted her blessings where Stacey was concerned. A small knock on her door, one more frantic than her intern slash assistant, Janet’s usual pulled her head up in time to see the frazzled girl standing in the doorway with the Faust brothers behind her.

“Sorry, Katrina, they wouldn’t wait. They said it would be fine if they followed me in,” Janet said in a rush of words.

“It’s fine.” Kristopher Faust said as he stepped past her assistant, nearly pushing her from the room though she had moved aside of her own accord.

Kristopher, Benjamin, and then Jackson walked into the room. When the door shut without Alex following them, her brow furrowed despite her play at a cool, confident exterior. They didn’t sit, but walked right up to her desk, circling around it with their large bodies, caging her in.

“Can I help you?”

“We won’t take up much of your time, Katrina. We just need you to know that you are still going to represent us. You are going to keep this primary case from ever being sent to the District Attorney, or ever making it to a court room if it comes to that no matter what we choose to tell you or not tell you. You are the best criminal lawyer, and your job is, for one, to make sure no one sees us as such, and two, to stay the hell away from our brother. Have a nice night,” Kris said, his voice all stately.

Then he just turned around as if to leave the room, the other two following him like puppies.

“You just wait,” Kat spoke up, finding her voice in the anger that was seething up through her body. “I work for you, yes, but I am no servant. I will do my best for you, make no mistake about that, but I will not be treated like some two bit whore who is beneath you because your brother kissed me. If this is going to work, you can speak to me in a civil manner. You need me. Let’s not let that go unstated.”

She’d stood with her first word, but for all of her bravado, in the face of these three men, ones that even though she couldn’t possibly imagine it, could turn into lions, she had to grab the desk to maintain her strength of character. 

The three of them turned on her, shoulders hunched forward, their fists clenching not going unnoticed, as she braced for whatever wrath she had invoked.

“Noted. Good day.” Benjamin said before looking at Kris and turning to go.

Luckily the other two followed, not closing the door behind them, but leaving her standing there thanking her lucky stars that had worked out in her favor. She may not be able to shift into anything, but she was a damn good lawyer, and she would be respected for what she could do for them.

A sudden pride in her abilities surfaced which was suddenly met with this tremor, just a whisper, of the sentiment, that she worked her magic for criminals, helping them to break the law another day. With that thought, and a large sigh, she grabbed up her purse and called it a day.

Chapter Six

Alex watched Katrina stop short when she stepped out of the elevator to find him standing beside her apartment door. She stumbled a second, making him want to go to her, to help, but she quickly caught her balance with the help of the wall. She threw her head down suddenly with a disapproving shake as her shoulder sagged. He’d wished for a better reception, but supposed he deserved this one. 

As she walked closer, she finally said, “Look, I already had a visit from your brothers today. I get my place, and I don’t wish to discuss it anymore.”

“My brothers?” he asked, not sure what she was talking about, but as he could only imagine, anger boiled inside of him.

If he had any chance of still doing the right thing being here, as in apologizing and getting out before he touched her again, the rage he suddenly felt at the interference of his brothers, the fact anyone would upset her, did him in.

All he wanted to do was grab her again and ravish away any pain she may feel. The churn of his stomach, the ache in his groin, built to undefeatable waves he fell to, drowned under.

“Don’t act like you don’t know. I was told my place as your lawyer, and in no uncertain terms told that nothing could happen between us. Not that I had asked for it, but still, you think you could do your own dirty work. You come onto me and I get in trouble for it. So, just save your breath. I will represent you, to the best of my ability, even though my client is lying to me. And, you can save us both the discomfort of telling me what a mistake whatever it was that happened between us at your office was. I forgive you. I’m over it. Good night.”

As she’d given her speech, she’d unlocked her apartment and slipped inside so when she said good night she could punctuate that with the slamming of the door. His hand slammed against the heavy wood, stopping it from closing completely. She pressed against it, leaning her body into the effort, but she was no match for him. Even if she had closed and locked it, he could have taken the door off its damn hinges if necessary. And right now, whatever he had to do to get her against him again seemed necessary.

He’d come to apologize and make sure they were at least in a place they could work together without romantic entanglements, vowing to suffer alone for her. That had pretty much gone out the window when he saw her, but hearing her words, that his brothers had talked to her was too much. He could hear Kris now in his I’m better than you and you will listen to me tone telling her what she should do.

All logic and reason abandoned him then. He’d underestimated his pull to her. This woman was everything to him, meant to be his mate. He knew that at a cellular level. The fact that the world, being the way it was now with the reveal of their kind to humans made their union impossible, infuriated him.

He got what he wanted when he wanted it. He was the damn alpha of his pack, and the call between them was just too strong. Even through the crack in the door, in her wide eyes, he could see that she felt the chemistry too. She was afraid of him, and yes, that got under his skin even more, lord help him.

“No,” he growled.

“No what?” she spat back. “I’m the one that should be saying no. You can’t come in. Please leave. If you want to talk, call my office and make an appointment. And not in your office, in mine, in the conference room, with your brothers present. I’m never again working without all four of you present.”

“I meant no I can’t be here, but I’m sorry, I don’t know how to force myself to leave,” he said, throwing her head against the door she leaned on still to try to close it on him.

The door now a symbol of everything that would divide them, he swallowed down the growl that rose from deep in his throat not to tear it to shreds.

“Try. You can’t be here. It won’t do any of us any good.”

“But, I have to have you. I can’t deny it no matter what everyone else says. My brothers, the other packs, it goes against our new world rules to have any kind of romantic relationship with a human, but it isn’t fair, not when you are my mate.”

“Mate? What do you mean by mate?”

“Nothing, I’m talking crazy,” he denied.

They didn’t exactly come clean about the mating thing. Not that humans before their reveal that had mated with shifters didn’t know, didn’t tell, but the information remained sketchy in the human world, and they tried to keep it that way. Yes, he always got what he wanted, and had little patience to wait for it, so this whole situation was out of his realm, infuriating, and he just didn’t know what to do with any of it.

Mating with her would be so unfair to her. She would suffer too
then
, he reminded himself, tried to pull his hand back from the door. But, that meant no longer seeing her, and that just wouldn’t do. Every cell in his body called out to be with her.

Fuck this. There has to be a way around it. I’m an alpha of a pack. Surely I can plead my case and get us some sort of immunity, exception to the rule. The packs need us, need the alliance with us to safeguard their protection money. Surely they will let this be an exception.

“Please go away. I have someone coming over,” she said, her voice breathy, the sound of it hitting his ears and then crawling under his skin, awakening every desire he had, even some he had never before been made aware of.

“Call and tell them not to come,” he said as he pushed open the door in a slow and steady movement that she could do nothing about.

“Why do you Faust men think you can just tell me what to do?” she said in a low, controlled yell as she stepped back away from him as he entered her apartment and shut the door behind him.

He ignored her question, even looking away from the way her round breasts heaved up and down with her fast breaths. Her place was immaculate, slightly feminine with touches of rose here and there, but not overly done just like her perfume. He could smell her here, and thus had nowhere to run from his wanting of her. He had to possess her, damn the consequences. He would get what he wanted later to make it possible. Right now, everything about her invaded him, possessed him, and thus he felt helpless not to claim her as his own.

He stood there, looking over the white couch that sat on a rose-colored rug with a floral design. She had accents of chocolate and burgundy pillows which tied it all in nicely with the white wood windows that sat in an arch surrounded by dark stained cabinets. The place suited her. Rich, elegant, showing confidence in sharp contrasting colors. The place also had soft touches such as candles and delicate glass vases full of flowers in a cherry yellow.

He felt he could just sit down and feel right at home. He could even see them there together, flashes of cuddling on the couch, talking or watching TV. With a long, deep sigh that probably sounded frustrated, he looked beyond it to the open space, showing a dark wood and stone kitchen that looked rarely used, too perfect and clean. And, past that, a door, partially open, gave a glimpse into her bedroom.

All he could see there was a mahogany bed, with thick, ornate, head and foot boards. Each had short spindles he could tie her to, giving him all access to her every curve that he wanted to grab, knead, bite.

“Excuse me, did you get a good look at the place?” Katrina said, luring his eyes back to her.

She stood there, wide-eyed, a hand on her sexy curve of a hip, with her lips pursed making them look full and succulent. He was lost from that point on.

“No,” he growled, though he hadn’t actually been responding to her question. “Text whoever is coming and tell them not to.

“What? No,” she responded, a flush coming up her chest and rushing over her cheeks.

A strand of hair that had escaped the pins or clips she used curled at her ear a second before dropping below her shoulder. It was just a tease, but it seemed the whole universe conspired against him. He was meant to be with this woman. In another time and place, he wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

“Yes,” he said, grabbing her arm, pulling her to him.

She put her hands out, getting them caught between their chests. She struggled a second, but he took two steps and pushed her back against the wall, pinning her with his body, his weight. She struggled a few futile seconds before realizing, and this he could see in her eyes, the fear mingled with desire, that she knew herself beat.

The scent of her fear, it stirred his animal, held him defenseless not to pounce.

“Stop,” she cried out, not as if in pain, but in a plea.

“Tell me you don’t want me,” he challenged.

“I want you to leave,” she cried out, passion lacing her voice.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, quite truthfully.

Every part of him, animal and man, could tell she was lying. He could already smell her excitement building between her legs. Her heart beat fast, yes partially in fear, maybe of him, maybe of the situation, but it also beat erratically, with desires that made her heart practically skip beats. 

“You Faust brothers always get what you want, don’t you? Is that a money thing? A shifter thing?”

“I believe you want me to take what I want from you. It leaves you off the hook. You get what you want without any fault. The blame will be mine.”

“Stop putting thoughts into my head.”

“I don’t have to. I can smell your desires. You’re wet, and you want to be taken.”

“Stop it,” she hissed, though it was weak, barely audible.

“Fine,” he said, his lips hovering over her mouth. “I will kiss you once. Then, if you can tell me to stop, I will leave and never come back.”

His lips pressed to hers. As skin met roughly with skin, her full lips not resisting the press of his, his entire world seemed to come together. This right here, it was all he wanted. Everything else be damned. He’d go to jail for just one night with her. While the idea of this terrified him, the lion inside, it got excited, rallied, clawed within him to take her.

His tongue pushed through her lips, swiping through her mouth which opened eagerly before he pulled back, looked her in the eyes, and waited to be told to leave. He couldn’t keep the smirk off of his face as he watched the emotions race through her chocolate-colored eyes.

“You can’t say it now, can you?”

“But, I should,” she sighed.

“Yes, you should, but you don’t want to. I get that. Text whoever is coming over, and then you are mine. Even if for just one night. Our secret. I must have you.”

He stepped back, grabbing for her purse that still hung from her arm, to insist she do as he demanded. And, he had demanded it in no uncertain terms. He watched her shaky hand take the purse from him and then take her phone from a zippered front pocket. She tapped the screen a few times and then swiped a text before putting the phone away, and setting the purse on an end table by the door.

She took a deep breath, looking into his eyes, like a challenge, and he rose to the occasion in more ways than one. Her gasp when he swept her off her feet tingled over his skin. She weighed nothing in his arms, and he liked setting her off balance, surprising her. He knew she was a spit-fire in a courtroom, had heard from another pack that she was actually something to be feared there.

She had held her own against other shifters, and he just wanted to dominate her until he possessed every inch of her. It was natural. It couldn’t be wrong. The way she responded to him, her swollen lips, his doing, hanging open in a small oval shape, did foreign things to his body that no woman ever had before.

His stomach tied in knots even as it contracted. The need nearly drove him mad, making him light-headed even as it drove him to act in mysterious ways, even for him. He’d been rather depraved in the bedroom before, but with her, there was no way he didn’t want to take her. When he got her into her room, he tossed her on the bed, watching with amusement as she put out her arms, tried to steady herself against the bounce of the mattress.

He got right to work. Possessed himself at this point. As he kissed her mouth again, taking from her the sigh she let out, his fingers made short work of getting her suit jacket unbuttoned and off. This left her camisole to hug over the curves of her breasts, her stomach, and her hips. Pulling away, he reached down to pull it up over her head. Her eyebrows raised, but she moved with him, letting her arms raise so the silk would slide off.