Shifters Unbound: Mate Claimed Part 12

"Why were you at the wedding?" she asked. "Someone might have seen you."

"I didn't want to miss a family ritual so important to you," he answered, voice rumbling beneath her ear.

Why did that idea please her so much? "I'm happy for Nicole. Sad for me."

"I know, sweetheart." Eric smoothed her hair. "Humans make weddings about families going their separate ways. s.h.i.+fter weddings are about drawing new family in."

Drawing family in. That sounded so nice. Throughout Nicole's childhood, Iona had protected her little sister as much as Nicole had protected her. Saying good-bye to Nicole tonight had been hard. No, not hard. Impossible.

But Nicole would be back, and Iona would surprise her with her remodeled house, and they'd visit each other all the time. All was not lost.

Right now, though, the good-bye felt like finality.

She drew back from Eric, liking the comfort of him too much. "How did you get in here? Everything's locked up tight."

"Because I'm good, sweetheart. Let me show you what I want you to do with the plans."

He led her by the hand to the desk and turned on the light-for her benefit-and spread out the blueprints.

The houses the architect had designed were simple, nothing complex for s.h.i.+fters. The basic house was a long rectangle, with a living room and kitchen taking up one end, and a hall leading to three bedrooms taking up the other. A bathroom nestled between bedrooms one and two. That was it.

"Simple is good," Eric said. "We can do false walls in two of these closets that will open to steps down to the underground rooms."

"Underground rooms? What underground rooms?"

Eric smiled up at her, his flash of teeth predatory. "That's where the real s.h.i.+fter houses are. Downstairs. We like burrows. Especially the bears. Sometimes, in deep winter, getting Shane and Brody to come out is a h.e.l.l of a job."

Iona didn't laugh. "I've never heard of this."

"It's not something s.h.i.+fters share. That's why you tell no one." He pinned her with a stare.

"Not tell my crew why they're digging the foundation so deep? They're not stupid or blind."

"s.h.i.+fters will do that work," Eric said. "We'll cover it up. We've done this before. Your job is to get an altered set of plans into the hands of your head builder and make him think there's nothing wrong."

He looked up at her, his eyes warming. Iona realized that she leaned over him, her bare arms and half-bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s about an inch from his face. Eric didn't bother pretending not to look, his gaze sinful.

Iona stood up and rubbed her arms, the itch returning. "That's all? Give him altered plans and make him think there's nothing wrong with them?"

"I have s.h.i.+fters who can redraw them for you. They'll look legit. And the original, real plans will stay with the human committee and be public record."

"The guys we hire aren't stupid," Iona said. "They'll know something's wrong."

"Be persuasive. And their bank accounts will have some nice bonuses in them, far more money than the humans will pay."

Iona thought about her foreman, who'd worked in Las Vegas, a city once run by criminal families, his entire life. If people wanted hidden rooms in their houses or hotels, he probably wouldn't blink, nor would he bother to tell anyone about the sudden influx of money to his checking account.

"s.h.i.+fters are going to come up with this money?" Iona asked. "You all lived in poverty in the wild and aren't allowed to have high-paying jobs, right?"

"You let me worry about that," Eric said.

"You're seriously trusting me."

"I have to. I have no choice." Eric stood up. "Sit here. I'll show you exactly what we need."

Iona's body kept flus.h.i.+ng hot, then cold, like she had a fever, and she was hungry again. The finger food from the reception wasn't cutting it. A gallon of beer wouldn't go down too badly either.

Eric leaned over the plans, his torso close enough for her to lick. She wanted to lean into him, fasten her teeth in his s.h.i.+rt, maybe tear it to little shreds with her panther teeth to get to the man inside.

His gaze flicked to hers. "You paying attention?"

"Sure." Iona licked her lips. "Sure."

The hunger, the itching, the heat-she knew what it was. Need for Eric. She didn't want a big, juicy burger; she wanted to devour him. If she rubbed herself all over him, that might soothe her burning skin, her boiling blood.

She reached out and covered his big hand with hers. It was so warm, so strong. Iona raised his hand to her lips and kissed his palm.

"Eric," she whispered.

"I know," Eric said, voice low. "I know-"

The door of the office slammed open and a large man Iona had never seen before barreled in. His dark hair was buzzed ultra short, his eyes were gray and glittering, and flame tattoos wound around muscular arms bared by a short-sleeved T-s.h.i.+rt and biker vest. A Collar hugged his neck, but even if he hadn't worn one, everything about him, including his rife scent, screamed s.h.i.+fter.

Eric was up from the desk and in front of him before Iona could rise or ask what h.e.l.l he was doing there. The s.h.i.+fter met Eric face-to-face, not even glancing at Iona.

"What are you doing here, Warden?"

"Get out," Eric said.

"f.u.c.k you. My trackers say you've been coming here and talking to the women who own this company. You sleeping with one of them? All of them, maybe? To get them to do what you want-and to help you screw over me and my wolves?"

Eric tried to force the other s.h.i.+fter back out the door, but the big man wasn't budging. "Is she one of them? Not bad. I get why-"

McNeil stopped, his eyes fixing on Iona and becoming white gray. He inhaled once, sharply. "Son of a b.i.t.c.h. She's s.h.i.+fter."

Eric's snarl rumbled through the trailer. He blocked the other s.h.i.+fter with his body, his teeth becoming s.h.i.+fter, lips pulling back from fangs.

McNeil's eyes lit with feral fire. "Fair game," he said, triumph in his voice.

Eric swung to Iona. His eyes were s.h.i.+ning green, his pupils black slits. "Iona Duncan, I claim you as mate under the G.o.ddess and before a witness." He spoke rapidly, drowning out the growls of Graham McNeil, who was trying to get around him.

"I Challenge," McNeil said.

The two s.h.i.+fters faced each other again, both bulking large, barely containing their s.h.i.+ft. McNeil's hands grew coa.r.s.e black hair, claws like thick needles sprouting from spread fingers. Both s.h.i.+fters' eyes were glittering, primal.

They weren't men anymore-they never had been. The beasts of their true selves shone through, uncaring of human rules and restrictions, of anything civilized. They were males confronting each other over a very basic conflict-wanting a female.

Graham spoke, his voice guttural. "Name the time and place, Warden."

"Fight club. Tomorrow night."

"Done."

They remained in place, neither giving way. Graham's Collar sparked once, but Eric's stayed silent.

Though they didn't move, tension crackled between them. At any second, one might strike, and then the fight would be on. To the death.

Iona didn't know how she knew this, but every nerve hummed it. She came around the desk and shoved her way between the two s.h.i.+fters.

It was a scary place to be, but Iona put her back to Eric and glared up at Graham. "Get out. You're trespa.s.sing. Go before I call security."

Graham, as though he just now noticed that Iona stood in front of him, switched his gaze to her.

His eyes were terrible. McNeil's irises had become very light gray, almost white, the red rage of his wolf glowing in the black of his pupils. His lips curled back from fangs, and his stare skewered her like a rabid dog's on a rabbit.

Iona kept her head up and returned his gaze, somehow knowing that if she looked away, he'd crush her, even with Eric standing there. Graham growled low in his throat, and Eric gave him an answering growl.

Finally Graham moved his gaze from Iona to Eric. "Tomorrow night. Then I take her away from you."

Eric said nothing. His enraged snarls filled the room, his body vibrating against Iona's back.

Graham kept his gaze on Eric as he took three steps backward to the door, then he turned, contemptuously, and made his exit, slamming the door behind him. Iona heard his footfalls, the rattle of the fence, then a motorcycle started up and glided away.

Iona swung around. "Eric, what...?"

She stopped, her words dying. She'd never seen Eric like this, his eyes blank with rage, his body so tight that when he moved his head to look down at her, it was like he bent his neck on a stiff hinge.

"Get the blueprints," he said, voice harsh and strange. "We're going."

"Going where?"

"Home," Eric said. "My home. In s.h.i.+ftertown."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Eric's entire body hurt as he half dragged Iona in that luscious dress out of the office and toward her red pickup. She had the blueprints in a tube under her arm and was still protesting.

"You said yourself I can't go to s.h.i.+ftertown," she said. "s.h.i.+fters will know I'm s.h.i.+fter, remember?"

"I mate-claimed and scent-marked you. They'll know you're my s.h.i.+fter."

"But you scent-marked me before and still told me to stay away."

Eric yanked the keys out of her hand and unlocked and opened the truck. "That was when no one knew about you but me. Graham won't keep his mouth shut, and he's right. You're fair game."

"You just said all the s.h.i.+fters will know you mate-claimed me."

Eric stopped and faced her. "Iona, listen to me. You're part of no pride and no clan. You're unprotected, even with the mate-claim. If I'm not constantly with you to support my claim, others can cut you out and steal you away. Remember when I told you s.h.i.+fters liked the chase and the capture? You're fresh blood, ripe for the plucking. In s.h.i.+ftertown, you'll stay in my house where you'll be protected by me, my sister, and my son, the three most powerful s.h.i.+fters in Las Vegas."

Iona started to answer, and Eric all but shoved her into the pickup, telling her to slide over so he could drive. She lost hold of the tubes, and Eric grabbed them and dropped them behind the seat.

The pickup roared to life, Iona frantically tugging at her seat belt before Eric shot out of the gate he'd opened.

Iona protested about leaving the gate open behind them, but Eric didn't slow. He'd send Jace and Shane back to pick up Eric's bike, lock the place up, and go to Iona's house to fetch clothes and whatever for her.

"What about the human side?" Iona said as they raced down the street. "They'll arrest me. They might arrest my mother..."

"As far as the humans know, you're human. Graham hates humans more than he hates me, and my s.h.i.+fters will obey me. We'll say I met you when I came to see you about the s.h.i.+fter houses. I liked you, invited you to shack up with me in s.h.i.+ftertown, and you came along. You wouldn't be the first human to do that."

"Shack up with you in s.h.i.+ftertown," Iona repeated. "Don't make it sound so glamorous."

Eric laughed. His blood was up, his body pulsing with excitement. He'd made the mate-claim, and she was his, this glorious, beautiful, lush-bodied woman.

"Only until we get this sorted out," Iona said sternly. "I told you, I'm not giving up my entire life to live in s.h.i.+ftertown."

She would. But Eric would deal with that later. My mate. My mate. My mate.

"What fight club?"

Eric blinked, realizing that Iona was talking to him, and that he'd gone several intersections without noticing. He slowed the truck, trying to calm down.

"s.h.i.+fters fight each other in organized matches to blow off steam. Humans forbid it; we don't listen. I pretend I don't notice my s.h.i.+fters slipping off to fight each other illegally. They know I know, but we don't talk about it."

"What will your s.h.i.+fters do when you show up in their secret club tomorrow to fight this McNeil?"

"They'll live with it. I have to fight him there, because what happens at the fight clubs doesn't count as a dominance change."

"Dominance change? Which means?"

"If I lose the fight, it doesn't mean McNeil gets s.h.i.+ftertown. Nothing in the hierarchy changes. But I won't lose."

"But if you do lose, he thinks he gets me?" Iona's glare intensified. "This is the twenty-first century. You don't do battle over a woman, and I'm not meekly submitting to whoever wins."

"I will win. And even if I didn't, you could reject his mate-claim."

"Then I reject it now! Take me home."

"You can't reject him until the Challenge is settled, and you still need to be protected. I won't lose, Iona."

"You're saying I'm supposed to sit around and wait while you two fight over me? Forget it. I'm not playing."

"It's not play. It's deadly serious. When I win this fight, the other s.h.i.+fters will know they'll have to Challenge me for you, and they won't dare."