Catching His Cat (Romance on the Go Book 0) Read online

  ****

  An hour and a half later, and Laird was already getting antsy waiting for the meeting, which had barely started, to be over already. He nodded to each of the other Alphas as they entered and sat down at the conference table. Most of them he’d known for years. Laird had only been voted to Ruling Alpha for British Columbia three years ago, and didn’t expect anyone to challenge him lightly—there was a reason he had the job that he did.

  “Is that everyone, Jackson?” Laird looked back at his second as the last man took his seat.

  “No, we’re waiting for the new Alpha from the Sunshine Valley pard.” Jackson double checked the registration sheet. “Sybella Gandry.”

  “A female Alpha,” one of the older men to his left muttered under his breath. “What kind of weak males they must have in their pard to allow such a thing?”

  Laird didn’t have the patience this morning to deal with the old man’s short-sighted world views. His fist slammed down on the table in front of him, startling all of the attendees.

  “You will show Alpha Gandry the same respect as any other Alpha who sits at this table—or you will answer to me.” His stare held Alpha Barrow’s startled gaze, and he waited for the other man to submit and look away.

  “Apologies, Alpha.” Barrow’s downcast eyes satisfied Laird’s agitation for now.

  He’d been hearing a lot of the Alphas talking about this very topic for the last two days. A new Alpha that no one had ever met or heard of being registered to rule a pack or pard was a curiosity, but a female Alpha at that? Laird had never even met a female Alpha before.

  Then the awkward silence amongst the males in the room suddenly stopped as the conference doors opened, and two more people walked in.

  Shocked, golden eyes met his, and Laird had to stop the growl that wanted to roll out of his chest. There she was, his mate … and there was a huge male standing far too close, right behind her.

  “Alpha Gandry, I presume?” Jackson asked politely.

  “Yes, that’s right,” the statuesque female responded with a curt nod, “and my second, Gage Decker.”

  Laird recognized the man standing behind her now. Gage was a giant of a male—one of the largest cougars he’d ever seen when shifted. It surprised Laird that such a strong male would be second to a female Alpha, but he supposed that just reaffirmed how capable a leader she must be. He already knew she was passionate, and fierce—with a lamp—but his cat’s natural curiosity was just itching to learn everything else about their new mate as well.

  He took a few seconds to take her in now, in the clear light of the morning. She had to be at least six feet, and she certainly was no delicate female. She looked strong and confident. Her long, dark auburn hair was caught up in a simple ponytail. She wore no makeup that he could see, and the spattering of fine freckles that covered her cheeks and nose were exceedingly charming. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a tight V-neck shirt that showed her lush breasts off to advantage—and he couldn’t help the memory of how perfectly they fit in his hands from rushing back to him. Her lush, pink lips were … frowning right at him now. She seemed to have regained her composure after the shock at seeing him sitting at the head of the table.

  “Alpha.” Laird cleared his throat and tried not to mentally take the names of all the males here who were currently leering at his mate. “Take your seat, and we will begin.”

  Chapter Three

  Well, fuck me.

  Not only did it turn out that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid Mr. Tall, Dark, and Fuckable as she had hoped—it seems as though she assaulted her mate and the Ruling Alpha for B.C. all in one blow last night. Things like this simply just did not happen to anyone other than Bella. She could tell that Gage had felt her tension as soon as she walked in the doors to the conference room, and she knew she’d have some questions from her second once they got out of here. The only consolation was the look of equal surprise in her mate’s eyes as he recognized her. At least he hadn’t known who she was when they’d met last night.

  Her entire life had been complicated. She’d been born an Alpha—which would have been a wonderful thing if she’d been born a male, but as her mom used to tell her, things happen for a reason. Leading wasn’t a choice for Sybella. It was an instinct, a compulsion. Lucky for her, her father’s genes also made her strong, and constantly having to stand up for herself growing up had forged her into a female to be reckoned with. She had to learn to be smarter, more devious, and more determined than the others who wanted to rule. Most of those males had wanted the power and prestige that comes with being Alpha. All Sybella had ever wanted was to do what she was born to do—to protect and take care of her people.

  Dating had always been a disaster, with most of her boyfriends just assuming she would submit to them for no other reason other than that they were the male in the relationship. Once she’d finally become Alpha, dating was out of the question. It was impossible to trust a male’s motivations when they pursued her. The welfare of her pard was too important to chance that someone would try to make a power play through mating her. And honestly, most males just simply couldn’t handle the fact that she was usually more Alpha than they were.

  Ruling Alpha, Laird Connors certainly didn’t seem to have that particular issue…

  Her cat’s inner dialogue was less than helpful at this moment.

  The meeting went on for about an hour or so, nothing too enthralling, a few territory disputes and updates on possible rogues spotted in a few areas. This being her first Alpha Council meeting, Sybella just listened and tried to get the lay of the land, though she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that her eyes often strayed to Laird’s face at the end of the table.

  “If that’s everything on the agenda for this year, then I guess we’re done here.” He finally stood and nodded in satisfaction at those around him. “Thank you for coming.”

  Sybella was about to let a huge breath of relief out until she heard his rough voice continue.

  “And, Alpha Gandry, if you would stay for a moment, we need to have a word in private.”

  “What’s going on?” Gage leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “He’s been staring at you the whole meeting. You want me to stay?”

  Did she? Part of her did, just to try to avoid what was about to happen, but her dominant side pushed that idea away. She didn’t need a male to protect her from anything—even the awkward conversation after you’d knocked out your one-night-stand with a lamp.

  “Your second will not be needed.” Laird’s tone left no room for argument.

  “It’s fine, Gage. This won’t take long.” She gave him a nod, and he left still looking a little wary until finally, Laird was the only one left in the room with her.

  He just stood there, staring at her.

  Is he waiting for me to apologize? Yeah right.

  “Nice to see you again, Alpha Connors.” She gave into the silence first, and it was almost worth it just to see how high his eyebrows lifted at her greeting.

  “Nice to see me again?” he slowly stalked closer, “You knocked me out with a lamp.”

  “I was just trying to avoid this awkward situation that we’re finding ourselves in right now if you must know. I regret nothing,” she snapped, just a little too defensively.

  “Things wouldn’t be awkward if you hadn’t come all over my cock and then assaulted me before fleeing the scene. Now we’re going to have to come up with some elaborate lie to tell our children when they ask what our first date was like.”

  How dare he be adorable! This was exactly the reason she’d fled in the first place. Now she was going to just have to tell him that she simply wasn’t interested.

  “Look, Laird.” She was proud of how firm her voice sounded. “I didn’t come here looking to get involved with anyone. I just don’t have room for it in my life.”

  “Looking or not, Sybella,” his eyes narrowed at her, “you are mine. We are mates, you can’t deny that.”

  “
I belong to no male,” she answered back, her hackles rising.

  “The Goddess and I both disagree with you.” She could see his patience fading right before her eyes. “And one way or another, you will accept this. I marked you last night. I can scent your body warming for me. It already knows what it wants, so why are you fighting this?”

  Her hand instantly went to the now sensitive spot on her left shoulder, and she tried not to remember how right it had felt when his teeth had slid into her and she came screaming his name. She hated that he knew that her traitorous blood heated simply from being this close to him. All she could think about was how good it felt to be in his arms, to feel him inside of her—and that was precisely why she could never be alone with him again.

  “I have a job to do, same as you. I have no interest in settling down and popping out kids, or playing the little stay-at-home mate.”

  “Why would you think—”

  The door suddenly burst open with a panicked Jackson barreling in, his eyes wide as he searched for his Alpha.

  “Laird! Barrow picked a fight with the Alpha from Victoria. I think that bear is going to kill the old coot,” he yelled. “You’d better come quick. There’s a shit-ton of bears out here!”

  Laird took two quick strides to the door, but then he stopped and looked back to her as his eyes narrowed.

  “You, stay here,” he commanded. “This conversation is far from over, little cat.”

  With that, he ran out the door after his second.

  “That’s what you think. Cats don’t sit, and cats don’t stay—you should know better than that,” she muttered to herself before Gage popped his head in the door.

  “Are we done here, Boss? Shit’s getting real down in the lobby.” He followed her out the conference room, and out to the back doors. “Hey can’t we go watch? Some old as dirt wolf picked a fight with a giant bear. I’ve never seen a bear eat a dog before.”

  “Eww, Gage, no we can’t stay to watch.” She held her hand out for the truck keys, and he reluctantly gave them over. “Our business is done here, and we’ve got a three-and-a-half-hour drive home. Get in—oh, and find me a Starbucks on our way out of here on your phone.”

  She may have slept like shit last night, and narrowly avoided a shotgun mating this morning—but at least this little trip had access to good coffee.

  “So … are you gonna tell me what the hell happened back there?” Gage asked after the third time she’d rolled the window down to yell at the car in front of them. “You seem … tense. And if I’m not mistaken, your scent has changed.”

  That last part of his comment had her pulling back from the road rage she’d been experiencing. They were only just passing through Vancouver, a mere two hours into their trip home from Whistler, and her cat had been yowling in her head the entire time, complaining about getting farther away from their mate. For the first time in her life, Bella found herself at odds with her animal side, and it was making her a little crazy. She glanced over to Gage, wondering if she should just come clean about what happened between her and Laird.

  “Well, I may have, sort of slept with Laird Connors last night, and now he thinks that I’m his mate.”

  “Jesus, Bella.” Gage ran a hand over his face before he looked back at her. “He marked you, didn’t he? That’s why your scent has changed.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want a mate, and he can just deal with it.”

  She wasn’t expecting Gage to outright laugh at her.

  “He can just ‘deal with it’, she says.” Then he muttered under his breath, “I’m sure he will.”

  Chapter Four

  “Where the hell did she go?” Laird roared and threw one of the chairs in his way once he and Jackson had finally dealt with the bear debacle and ran back to the conference room. “Why does my mate keep on doing this?”

  “Alpha Gandry is your mate?” Jackson squeaked as another chair flew past his head.

  “Yes, she is. Go get the truck. We’re going on a road trip.”

  Ten minutes later they were flying down the highway.

  “So, what’s your plan?” Jackson’s words interrupted the inner ramblings of his own distracted mind.

  “Plan?”

  “Yes, plan?” Jackson sighed a little over dramatically in Laird’s opinion, “What are you going to do to convince her to be your mate once we get there? Clearly, she needs some convincing.”

  Laird’s low growl filled the cab of the truck as he stared back at his second.

  “Umm you know, because she’s so stubborn.”

  How was he going to convince her to come back with him? Jackson had a valid point. His mate seemed to have some kind of issue with what happened between them. The question was, was it an issue with mating in general—or more specifically, an issue with mating him?

  Laird had no illusions when it came to his dominant tendencies. He knew he could be overbearing … and intense … but he was the Ruling Alpha for Goddess’s sake! He was supposed to be all those things, and his little spitfire of a mate would just have to get used to it.

  “I will ask her what her issues are to us mating, and then I will remove the obstacles, just like any other task.” He was rather proud of the plan he’d just come up with. “Simple.”

  However, the roll of his second’s eyes seemed to imply that Jackson didn’t think it would be so simple after all.

  ****

  “Where the hell are you going now?” Gage jumped out of the truck and followed her when they’d finally pulled into her driveway at home. He grabbed the keys Bella threw towards him as she headed for the shed at the edge of the woods they all used to hide their shifting from the human guests.

  “I need some time alone to sort things out with my cat right now, Gage. If you need me just send someone up to leave a message at the cabin. I might be a couple of days.” Bella only hoped that a few days out in the woods in her other form would stop this incessant ache in her chest. She felt like she’d left a piece of herself behind with Laird, and if she couldn’t get it to stop, then she was going to have to find a way to live with the pain.

  When she was safely hidden away, she shed her clothes and placed them in the cabinet to keep them dry, and then she bounded out the back hatch door on four feet and into the soothing embrace of her forest home. The crisp air smelled of incoming snow, and she let her mind wander as her body took over and followed the familiar route through the woods, up to her favorite spot. She’d been coming to this place, where the river fell off and tumbled to the lake below, ever since she was a cub and was finally allowed to roam the forest on her own. It was her sanctuary, and she lay down on the huge flat rock overlooking the waterfall, thinking about the changes that had happened in her life the last two days.

  Bella had been surprised at the Alpha Council meeting that her position hadn’t been challenged, very pleasantly surprised actually. Having to fight tooth and nail to get here, it almost seemed anti-climactic that the council had accepted her so readily. She wondered if that had anything to do with Ruling Alpha Connors. He’d known she was a female Alpha before he knew she was his mate—and still, he didn’t contest, so perhaps he didn’t have an issue with her position? Sure, he might not have an issue with a female Alpha, but surely he’d want his mate to join him wherever he resided and be at his beck and call for their life together, right?

  Of course, he would. Don’t be stupid, Bella. Wishing for things that can never be.

  Her cat consoled itself by pushing rocks off the edge of the cliff to watch them plunge into the foaming water below.

  After an hour or so, even her thick fur couldn’t keep her warm when the snow arrived, so she made her way through the trees, chasing and playing with the angry squirrels that lived along the well-worn path to the cabin in retaliation for the acorns that were thrown her way. She knew the small cabin would be well stocked with cocoa and canned soup, and Bella was starving after the wandering she’d done today. Who wanted to eat a raw squirrel or
rabbit when there was cream of mushroom soup just a shift away?

  Bella shifted quickly and squeaked as the freezing air hit her bare skin. She grabbed the hidden key from the planter out front and opened the door. She locked it behind her and ran over to the fireplace to light the wood that had been left in preparation. Once she had the fire started, she headed for the shower to warm up and clean off. The hot water felt amazing, but there was a downside she hadn’t anticipated to shifting back into her human skin. Not only was the ache in her chest still there, but as her hands moved over her skin with the soap, the memory of Laird’s scorching touch invaded her mind. It was almost as if he was here with her, warming her from the inside out.

  As her fingers trailed lower over her stomach, she could feel her body growing wet with desire. She closed her eyes and imagined the soothing scent of his warm skin. Bella remembered what it had felt like when his stubble covered chin had rubbed against her inner thighs, and when his talented tongue had finally reached her pussy and made a proper meal of her. She let one finger move down her body until it found her needy clit, Bella imagined it was her mate's strong fingers that stroked her until she was coming with his name on her lips.

  She couldn’t stop the tears that filled her eyes, the emptiness inside of her only more obvious after the hollow pleasure of coming without him here.

  What am I going to do? How am I going to live without him?

  Chapter Five

  Four hours later they finally pulled off the highway, taking the only exit to the small gathering of buildings on the side of the road. Sunshine Valley was exactly what the name suggested. The highway ran right through the center, and on each side was a tiny plain before the mountains closed in. On the opposite side from where all the buildings were, Laird could see the frozen streams and marsh. It may have been almost spring in the cities they drove through on their way here, but at this elevation, the high and pristine white snow was everywhere.