Midnight Moonrising (Moonrising #2)(133)

Not only did the lion in me wake up, but the bonded male in me did, as well. I wanted her. Bad. But it was too soon. She still had that vampire on a leash and I hadn't told her my secret. My wants could wait for the perfect time. And there would be a perfect time. I was damn sure of that.

I had her right where I wanted her, though. Her walls were down and she was fully aware of how much she wanted me. I did exactly what I intended to do from the start and no more. I bent until my lips almost touched hers and then I dove into her mind. She hadn't even tried to hide it from me. It was right there, for the taking, what she called her Golden Grotto, her Holy Grail or, in her words, hoo-ha.

I smiled as I whispered, "Kitty-cat."

Desire left her eyes as she pushed against me. I let her go with a chuckle.

"You suck, Ace," Andra said as she avoided looking at me. I could feel her embarrassment and guilt. Yes, guilt was there, too. The f*cking vampire was cock-blocking me from seventeen-hundred miles away.

There was no need to bring up the fact that she would have willingly let me pet her kitty-cat if I had only kissed her. There was no vampire here for her to run to now. She wouldn't have stopped me, but she would have regretted it. I didn't want her to regret being with me. Ever. I had to play my cards right. There was no folding or losing in this game. I would win.

The gym doors opened, and Slade walked in with Kai and Jobe.

Great timing, *s.

Slade's grin was a mile wide as he glanced at Andra, and then to me. He thought it was funny as hell that I'd finally met a woman I liked and she wouldn't put out. His words, not mine. And I hadn't told him, either. My Beta knew me better than I knew me most of the time. I guess he could tell by the sexually frustrated look on my mug that I hadn't gotten any — or any worth bragging about — in a while. I was never, ever telling him what Andra called the cockpit. Hoo-ha… What kind of word is that for something so awesome? The f*cker would never let me live it down how vanilla she is.


Slade nodded to Andra. "Has Ace been a good host? Are you getting settled in okay?"

She smiled shyly as she gave him a curt nod, but her face was still a little pink from the embarrassment I had caused only a few moments earlier, so I closed the distance between us and took her hand. She squeezed my fingers in response, and I winked at Slade.

"I've got it taken care of. She's staying in my room."

All three men did a double-take. I expected as much. No female had ever been allowed in my room, or even my home, and no humans ever came here. I took care of my women away from the lion's den.

"Your room?" Kai said. "But you—"

"How did I miss that?" Slade said, interrupting Kai. "I thought Olivia had an extra bed in her room that Andra was supposed to sleep in while she stayed here."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I released Andra's fingers so I could drape my arm over her shoulder and pull her closer to me. I already knew she knew everything about my past, but I didn't want these dickweeds making her think she was like those other chicks. "Andra is special, guys. Shut up, will ya?"

Andra snickered, I was guessing at my nervous behavior. "I got settled in just fine. Thank you, though I haven't had much time for rest. Ace has had me training since we arrived."

"Um, Ace, it's time for work," Jobe said. "You want to shower before we go?"

"Uhh…" I stammered, and Andra turned to look at me, confusion pouring out of her emotions in waves. She was on the verge of freaking out that I might leave her here alone. I forced a smile as I pried my wide eyes away from the guys to look at her. "It is, uh… it's poker night, and kind of a tradition I started a few decades ago. I'm pretty good at it, hence why I named my lion Ace. We don't really work around here. We gamble. It's how the bills get paid."

She glanced around the huge gym that was only a small fraction of the house. "You gamble and win enough money to pay for this place?"

I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. "Yeah… and then some. Look, I won't go if you don't want to go, but I'm better than anyone here. We'll lose everything pretty quick if I depend on some of these losers to pay the bills. A few of them lose more than I win sometimes."

"Wait, you're taking the chick with us?" Jobe said, astonished.

I saw red, but managed to shove Andra out of the way before I shifted — the welcome feel of bones stretching and changing, the fur sprouting, the muscles morphing — and pounced on Jobe. My teeth not-so-tenderly brushed the skin above his jugular where his pulse was pounding hard enough I could hear it. Kai and Slade backed away, but I could sense Slade wanted to interfere, and I suppose that was the only thing that stopped me from biting the dumbass' head off.

"Jobe doesn't know about the bond, Ace!" Slade shouted. "Nobody but me and the crew that went with you knows that you're a bonded male now! Don't kill him! Christ! He didn't know any better!"

"Ace," Andra's startled voice said. "Don't kill him."

I moved my head back enough to close my mouth, and I stared down into Jobe's eyes and let a low growl rumble up my throat. "I would advise against ever calling your Alpha a chick again if you value your life." There was cold fear in his confused eyes. He knew he'd screwed up, but he didn't know how. I wasn't in the mood to give lessons unless bloodshed was involved. I'd let Slade explain it to him until after Andra rested and I could get the whole pride together. Instead of backing away, I walked forward, placing my foot on his groin as I walked back to Andra.