Diamond Dust (2 page)

The mid-July sunshine caused heat waves to shimmer above the runway. The short walk to the waiting limo was long enough for Tyler to wish he wasn’t headed for formal meetings, but finding somewhere comfortable along the river to ease back and relax. Maybe with someone soft and curvy to help pass the time.

The limo took off, the unfamiliar Alaskan highway disappearing rapidly as they headed into downtown. Tyler hadn’t been to Whitehorse very often. His business trips tended to take him farther south into the US, or over to London or Europe. Staying in the smaller towns in northern Canada over the past couple of months had been a refreshing change from his long-range excursions to exotic or formal settings. “What did Frank tell you?”

“He likes them, that much was clear. He’s been in town for a few days and he’s still a guest in the pack house, so they’re either very tolerant, or Frank has improved his manners since he used to live in Yellowknife.” Justin peered out the windows, remaining alert as they traveled. “Also, he mentioned there was someone you simply had to meet.”

“That sounds like a woman comment.” Which was all kinds of impossible. “Don’t tell me Frank’s broken heart has healed.”

“Don’t think that’s what he was implying.” Justin grinned as they stopped at a set of lights. “Your brother said there was someone he wanted
you
to meet, emphasis on you.”

“Good grief. He’s trying to set me up?”

Justin shrugged. “Diplomacy will fill your days, but there are a couple of gala events planned—the organizing committee is striving to uphold the peaceful nature of the talks. You’ll have a lot of time on your hands at night if you want Frank to introduce you to this someone special of his.”

Tyler didn’t bother to respond, instead glared at his friend. Justin grinned harder, then ignored him, whistling as the limo headed to their destination.

A downside of having money, power and a coveted position. Tyler didn’t go long between offers of female company. Justin knew it well—the asshole rubbed it in all the time that Tyler’s arms must get tired from fending the women off.

Tyler didn’t fend them off. He simply took what they offered and let them leave. It might seem heartless, but physical pleasure was enough.

Although, once the territory issues were solved he’d consider putting more energy into finding someone permanent. A man with the kind of business and status he had needed to think of having a family to pass it on to someday, which would require a wife at some point. Right now, though, he had too many important tasks to be distracted by a pretty face.

His brother’s broken heart and subsequent escape into the wilds of the Yukon was another good reason why Tyler avoided dating. Women wrapped a man up and tore them apart in ways that business and territorial claims never did. Those situations were logical and orderly, or at least when done correctly. Tyler had no intention of getting emotionally whipped through some kind of roller coaster only to find in the end he wasn’t in control of anything—his family, his business or his heart.

In the meantime, he’d focus on the conference. Seven days and all this should be settled. Justin was right, though, there was an odd feel in the air, as if a storm was about to hit. Not unexpected, but Tyler would need all his wits about him for the coming time frame. If he could pull off the difficult task of winning the election and complete the territory shuffles without losing anyone—bear, wolf or otherwise—it would be a miracle.

Good thing he liked to play the long odds.

“You’re looking for me to kick your ass into tomorrow, aren’t you? Because…keep up the bad excuses and I’ll totally help you with that.”

Caroline glared as the wolf directly in front of her shuffled his feet and eased back a few inches. “We figured our work lists got mixed up.”

“Mixed up?” She took a deep breath and counted to ten before slowly letting go. With every room in town booked solid over the next while, even pack members who weren’t usually Moonshine Inn staff had been wrangled in to help. Wasn’t their fault the two teenaged boys currently cringing at her displeasure weren’t familiar with the tasks, but she thought the chore lists she’d prepared were pretty self-explanatory.

Only instead of cleaning the room as assigned, she’d caught Tweedledee and Tweedledum using the suite’s gaming system to blow up the galaxy of Xerkon.

Getting mad wouldn’t fix the problem, though. She lowered her voice and forced her body into a less threatening position. “I’ll go do the final run-through on the rooms. You two go to the restaurant and work there. Got it?”

They’d still be helping, but she’d be less likely to kill them if she couldn’t see them.

Total relief brightened the young wolves’ faces. “That would be so much better. I mean, I’ll pour beer or lift barrels of ale or—”

“Me too. I can rearrange tables and do manly things.”

Manly things?
Good grief, these boys were in for a lesson when she had more than two seconds to work them over. She caught each of them by one ear and towed them into the hallway. “Move. Both of you. We’ve got guests arriving any minute.”

They took off at a sprint toward the pub, getting while the getting was good.

Caroline changed direction. Normally she’d delegate. She was the queen of delegation, but with the clock ticking there was no time to waste. She grabbed a cleaning cart and passkeyed her way into the executive suite.

Chatting about how housekeeping was something everyone should learn was obviously an agenda item for the next pack meeting. Not now when she wasn’t sure the rooms that were supposed to be ready were even clean.

She dragged out her cell phone as she took a preliminary glance at the damages. Hopefully Evan wasn’t busy or goofing off. Or busy goofing off.

“Hey, sweet thang.”

Man, if she weren’t so stressed the endearment would have given her a thrill, right before she planned how to get revenge. “If you are anywhere but in your office, I will make you bleed for using that nickname.”

“I’m alone, finishing paperwork. You sound stressed. What’s up?”

“My blood pressure. I need you to give me a hand—and if you start clapping, I’ll tie you to a stake and find ants to crawl all over you.”

His even chuckle helped calm her. “What can I do?”

The suite wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. She raced around tidying, the phone tucked against her shoulder as she worked. “I sent a couple of doughboys your direction. Put them to work scrubbing dirty dishes, or something gross and unglamorous.”

He laughed. “They pissed you off, did they? Fine, I’m on my feet. Walking to greet them at the doors to the kitchen, and they will rue the day they messed with you.”

“Thank you. Second favour… The head of the Harrison clan is due to arrive within the hour. Because I’m doing the job those brats didn’t, you might have to greet our guests when they arrive.”

Dead silence on the other end of the phone.

“
Pleeeeease
, Evan. I’ll be there as soon as I can, but if I’m late, you have to do it.”

“You want me to greet the Harrison delegation in my front lobby? You have any idea what kind of trouble this could cause? Two Alphas in the same space?”

“I’m sure you’re much bigger than he is, Evan,” she wheedled sweetly. “In character, if not in size. It’s not as if he’s coming here to take over your territory. Just welcome him in then take him to the suite. Talk about…the weather. Tell him the hours at the restaurant. There’s already about fifty of his clan in the hotel, so boast about how much your pack loves you. He’ll tell you about his fawning followers, only you know yours are better.”

“You’re managing me, aren’t you?” Evan growled.

“Well…” She totally was.

“You’re sexy when you’re managing me.”

She laughed. “I’ll be real sexy in about thirty seconds when I stick the toilet brush in the bowl and get scrubbing. Can you handle it?”

“Piece of…
cake
.”

And with that, all her plans went to hell. Something had gone wrong. The final word he’d spoken was in his
irrelevant voice
. The one he used when something random and potentially dodgy was about to happen. It wasn’t often the Alpha of the Takhini pack lost focus, but when he did, situations went to hell fast.

“Evan?”

He didn’t answer.

Drat. So much for her last-minute bailout idea. Somehow she’d have to be the one greeting the delegation. She’d stuff Evan into his office with a glass or two of liquor to keep him out of mischief. Hmm, maybe pop the pack Beta in there as well, because when the two of them got together uncontained, bad things happened.

Wait. Oh, wait. Pack Beta—
yes
—there was her solution.

Caroline put down the cleanser and darted a glance at her watch. “Oh, silly me. I totally forgot. You never mind about the bears. I remembered Gem offered to help. You take care of the boys I sent, though, right?”

“Sure—dirty tasks.” He was completely distracted. What the hell was going on? “I’m in the kitchen now. I’ll make them work.”

“Thanks.”

As weird as Evan was acting, he didn’t seem dangerous, so Caroline hung up and punched in another number, the pack’s female Beta answering on the second ring.

“Hello, Caroline. How are you?” Gem’s impeccably polite southern drawl poured from the phone like soothing music.

Only there wasn’t time to relax. “Emergency. You know where your mate is?”

Gem caught the urgency. “Yes. What do you need?”

“Send Shaun to help Evan deal with whatever is going on in the kitchen. Tell him it’s important to keep Evan away from the front lobby. Then I need you to do your political-princess thing and charm the furry socks off the Harrison delegation when they arrive. I’m stuck doing the final spit and polish on their suite.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Of course. I’ve got everything covered for you.” Gem laughed softly. “I’d offer to clean, but I’m probably better off acting as hostess. I have years of training.”

“Hey, you’ve learned tons since you arrived in the spring, but the pack needs your diplomacy more than they need you to have housekeeping skills.”

“True.”

One disaster neatly avoided. Caroline should have felt more pride, but she was too busy multitasking. “Thanks, girlfriend, I owe you one.”

“You don’t owe me anything. We’re pack, we work together. Don’t worry, I’ll get the boys under control, and I’ll give you a warning call once the group arrives.”

Gem hung up and Caroline tucked away her phone.

She moved quickly through the tasks that still needed completing, cursing egotistical young men who thought they were above “women’s work”.

The entire time she kept the cleaning cart close at hand, ready to vanish the instant Gem hit the warning signal. While Caroline was absolutely fascinated with the Bear Jamboree gathering, she didn’t want the first time she met them to be while coated in eau de Pine-Sol.

Shifter politics had always been on her radar. As a human in a mixed shifter family, understanding why one wolf had more clout than another had been an important lesson. Surviving in the pack meant she’d learned young that power seemed inborn for some shifters.

As a human, she didn’t have access to any built-in authority, but over the years she’d found something else that worked just as well. Humans called it chutzpah. Well, chutzpah in combination with the willingness to bleed or make someone else bleed.

Wolves liked their power games with a slice of pain.

She’d faked it until she’d made it. She’d even wrangled her way into a close relationship with Evan in a plot to help her less-dominant half sister. The good side of that ploy was she and Evan honestly liked each other, and the sex was on fire. The bad part?

There really wasn’t one.

Their relationship was temporary. At some point Evan was bound to find his mate. In a way, she hoped it would happen soon, because he deserved to have the in-love-and-out-of-my-mind mate thing that had hit so many of her friends over the years. Shifter insta-mate wasn’t ever happening for Caroline, obviously, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew how much finding their soul connection meant to them, and as a good friend how could she not want that for Evan?

She finished the final wipe-down in the bathroom and manoeuvred the cart back into the living space of the suite.

Maybe she was twisted, but seeing people get in a flap over her and Evan amused her far too much. What was wrong with having a good, hot sexual relationship that wasn’t going anywhere permanent, but in the meantime delivered orgasms by the bucket load?

She didn’t want to settle down. Not yet. While she’d achieved one goal—having her sister return to the north and find a place—there was so much more to do. Caroline flicked her duster over the floor-to-ceiling window treatment, lost in thought.

Travel, excitement, they called to her. Maybe once the bears had checked out, she’d think about booking an extended holiday somewhere warm. Three or four months exploring tropical islands, or getting lost in the markets of Europe, sounded intriguing.

She pulled the final pillows into position on one of the oversized couches gracing the suite. Satisfaction at having dealt with the most recent hotel emergency swept over her. The place was clean and the bears would be greeted by Gem, who knew way more about sweet-talking cranky diplomats into good moods than Caroline did.