Jaxson (River Pack Wolves 1) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (6 page)

Maybe being with a human could have its own kind of magic.

“Don’t worry about witches,” he said, trying to keep his voice soothing. “We haven’t had any encounters with them in forever—and I don’t anticipate we will. I was just saying that’s why there aren’t as many female shifters around as you might expect.”

She nodded, but slowly pulled her hand out from under his. Then she folded her arms across her chest, which only reminded him of how ample it was.

He forced his gaze up to meet hers.

“So,” she said, “the three females from the three packs—those are your only real choices?”

“I’m sure there are other female shifters in the city. But if I snubbed all three of our potential allies… well, I’d better have an extremely good reason.”

She gave a sharp nod of agreement and unfolded her arms again. “Okay. So here’s what you do. You make an announcement that you’re taking this mating business very seriously. Issue a press release, or whatever you do in wolfy shifter circles.”

He cracked a grin. “Wolfy?”

She waved a hand at him. “Wolves. Big and bad. However you want to spin it.”

He leaned across the table and snatched her waving hand out of the air. “But we
are
big and bad.”
Damn,
she was drawing him in without even trying.

She blushed, and it took everything he had not to pull her in for a kiss, but then she gave him the devil eye. “Save it for the ladies you’re trying to mate with.”

“Ouch!” He dropped her hand and leaned back, but he had to bite his lip to contain his smile.

“Now, listen up,” she said, full bossy mode. “I’m about to solve all your problems.”

He managed to tame the smile a little. “Do tell.”

She drilled into him with those big brown eyes. “You’re taking this mating business seriously, so you’re going to date
all the girls.
It’s like The Bachelor, only for shifters. You’re not doing this to be picky or choosy or anything obnoxious like that. You’re doing this for the good of all the packs—to make sure you make the best match, for both you and your future mate. The problem is, of course, that this will take time.”

“Lots of time.” He was nodding in agreement now.

“Right. You have to be fair. Give each girl their turn. Three months exclusive dating for each one. And that’s just for the first round. Then you eliminate one girl from contention and date the remaining two more seriously. Say, another three months. That’s a year of dating altogether. By then, you should know if you’re meant to be mates… or not.”

“A year.” It seemed impossibly long to put up this charade, and at the same time, far too little time left in his life as alpha of the River pack. But it would give him enough time to get some major operations underway—and get the pack headed in the right direction. Not to mention get his brothers ready to carry on the pack duties without him. “I can work with a year.”

She smiled. “Great!”

“There’s only one problem.”

Her face clouded. “What’s that?”

He winced as he saw the hole in the plan. “There’s this idea among shifters that finding your mate is a love-at-first-sight kind of thing.”

“Really?” Her nose scrunched up. “A little archaic, don’t you think?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “It has to do with your inner wolves knowing when they meet their mates. There’s an instant attraction. Something powerful, almost undeniable sometimes. It’s part of the magic.”

She frowned. “And you’ve already met these girls?”

“Oh yeah.” He sighed. “Our packs have been working together for a while.”

“And no instant sparks? No choirs of angels opening up the heavens?” She gestured wide with her hands.

He shook his head.

“No wonder you don’t want to rush into this mating thing.” She nodded like it was all becoming clear to her. But then she waved that away. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll just put it in the statement that your wolf is equally smitten with all three—that’s why you’re taking the unusual
human
step of actually dating the women you’re going to potentially marry, er, mate with.”

His eyebrows lifted again. “Actually, that’s kind of brilliant.”

“Kind of?” she scoffed. “It’s a wonder you guys got along without me here for so long.”

He smiled wide. “Truly.”

“Okay, you need to get started right away.” She twirled her fingers at him. “Get me set up with a desk. I’ll need a computer, names, and contact information. Before you know it, I’ll have a dating schedule set up and a statement for you to give.”

He rose up from his seat. “Yes, Ma’am.” He smiled all the way to his office.

A year. 
A year to keep the mating pressures at bay, from both the other packs and his own. Twelve months to get some key operations under way and lay plans for the future of Riverwise without him. And three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of having Olivia Lilyfield in his office with her soft skin and sharp mind.

This was going to work out even better than he thought.

Jaxson stared into the eyes of the red-haired beauty across the table from him.

Her name was Morrigan, she was the daughter of the alpha of the Northern pack, and she had an MBA from Northwestern and a body to die for. Only she really
would
die if Jaxson claimed her for his mate. But she didn’t know that—
couldn’t
know that—and with the sizzling hot looks she was sending over the oyster appetizers, he was pretty sure she was picturing them in bed at this exact moment. Her eyes were half-lidded and kept roaming his body. She was probably imagining the best orgasm of her life—which was no doubt what a
normal
mating would be.

Jaxson sighed and waved over the waiter. “Another please.” He held up his club soda.

“Of course, sir.” The tuxedoed waiter slipped away.

“Wouldn’t you like something a little stronger?” Morrigan asked, raising her glass of red wine.

“Have to work tomorrow.” He gestured to the crimson liquid. “How’s your Merlot?”

“Delicious.” She took a long, luxurious sip, probably thinking it was sexy—all it did was remind Jaxson he’d rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

The Café Mer had a glittering view of the bay and was one of the fanciest restaurants in Seattle—the perfect first-date spot for someone serious about finding a mate. At least, that’s what Olivia said when she made the reservation two days ago. Riverwise’s clients frequented places like this, but Jaxson didn’t have much use for the extravagance. However, Olivia was determined to make the ruse convincing, and he had to agree the setting was beautiful—brass fixtures, polished wooden floors, artistic lighting that complemented the cityscape below.

There just wasn’t any magic in the conversation. Or the company.

“So your MBA must come in handy at the office,” Jaxson tried. Even his small talk was coming out miniscule.

“Northern Peaks is a
law firm,”
Morrigan said with a smirk. “They tend to think of an MBA as that thing you get when you can’t quite make it into law school.”

“Oh.” He cringed. “Sorry, I—”

“Jaxson, I’m
teasing.”
Her green eyes widened a little like she couldn’t believe how dense he was.

Great.
He was completely off his game tonight. “Right. I completely knew that.” He tried for a sheepish smile, but it just felt empty.

Olivia had spent a full half hour before the date admonishing him to look past his prejudices and prior experience to give the date—and Morrigan—a chance. His delicious office assistant seemed determined to find him a soul mate before the one-year expiration of this ruse, and he had promised her he would try. But
trying
couldn’t create a magical spark that didn’t exist. And while Morrigan was undeniably beautiful—with the smoldering sexiness of an alpha female shifter—she just didn’t float his boat. Riverwise had worked with Northern Peaks on a few cases when his clients needed some very discreet legal opinions, but the entire pack was…
stiff.
It was the only word he could come up with, and he supposed it made sense for a pack comprised of lawyers and MBAs, but it didn’t help him pretend to find his date fascinating.

His wolf was off sulking in a corner.

Jaxson sighed and gazed out at the twinkling lights of the bay.

What was Olivia doing right now? Was she at the library, looking for whatever her true dream job was? The gig at Riverwise had to be temporary in her mind. Something to pay the bills. She would tolerate it until she could move on to something better. Would she even last the whole year? Maybe she was waiting by her phone for him to call with an update—

“Jaxson.”

His attention snapped away from the thousand-mile-gaze out across the bay and back to the female shifter who was his date. Her claws were about to come out, with the way her face was flushed and her eyes were boring into him. She must have said something he missed.

Jaxson put on his contrite face. “I’m so sorry, Morrigan. I’m distracted tonight, and that’s really not fair to you.”

Her hiked-up shoulders relaxed. “Is everything all right?”

He breathed out another sigh. It felt like he’d had a hundred sighs already on this date. “Just work. Nothing I can discuss, unfortunately.” That much was true.

She nodded, and her eyes lit up again. “There must be all kinds of exciting things you can’t share in the security business.” A small smile snuck on her face.

“We’re actually in the business of keeping things
unexciting
—our clients pay us to keep the fireworks far away from their personal lives. Which we usually manage to do. But if something goes down, we debrief it, break it down, discuss it internally. Everything stays within the pack. You know how it is.”

“What about your mate? Will she be privy to all the juicy celebrity secrets?” Morrigan arched her eyebrows and took another sip of her wine.

He forced a smile on to his face. “Of course. Although I can think of more interesting things to talk about in bed.” He tried for a flirtatious lift of his eyebrow, but it all felt
off.
He hadn’t thought of a mate as a potential security leak, but now…

She leaned forward, lacing her fingers. “What sorts of interesting things?” He didn’t know if she was deliberately thrusting her breasts forward, but they strained against the low-cut, sleeveless black dress that was trying to contain them.

He lingered his gaze there, which she obviously wanted—Olivia should be proud of how hard he was trying here—but there was really no point to it. The last thing he wanted was to actually
feel
something for Morrigan. It would be just that much harder when the ruse was revealed. And when he left his pack altogether.

Jaxson dragged his gaze up to Morrigan’s face. Her lips were parted, and it wasn’t hard to scent the arousal on her. “Things that wouldn’t be polite to say in a crowded public restaurant.”

“I guess we’ll have to save that for later this evening.”

He wouldn’t be taking her home, so there was no point in letting that hang in the air. And clearly she was angling for some kind of first-date advantage in this
Dating Game
that Olivia had invented. The idea that Morrigan was actually
competing
for this chance at being his mate… just chilled the entire thing for him.

“So tell me about your role at Northern Peaks,” he said, deliberately cooling his tone.

She leaned back, disappointed.

He couldn’t help sneaking a look at his phone. He was just checking the time, he told himself. But he also noticed there were no messages from Olivia.

Olivia stared at the mess of files on her computer. She’d only been at Riverwise for two days; she couldn’t undo months of disastrous accounting in that short amount of time. She knew that, but it was still frustrating. Just deciphering the complex filing system that Jared River used to store receipts for office expenses was like figuring out the Rosetta stone with only two languages. And the reimbursements for the other pack members? Filed completely at random as far as she could tell. Half were scanned and stuffed into electronic folders, while the other half filled a cardboard legal box. And some were duplicates, which just made everything worse.