Hour of the Lion Cherise Sinclair (8 ebook reader .TXT) 📖

and that didn‘t make any sense. Sure, she‘d slept with Calum, slept with Alec, but hell, she didn‘t own them. Not even close.

Heather set the tray down on a coffee table in front of the Elders who had taken over the couches. "The dip?" She held out her hand, then followed Vic‘s gaze. "Oh, girl, you‘ve got it bad."

"It‘s not like that. I-I‘m not even sure I‘m staying. We‘ll probably never see each other again."

"Well, honey, you just keep telling yourself that." After setting the dip down, Heather looked around the living room. "Meantime, hmmm …"

"What?"

"You know, when I was a teen, and we first learned to trawsfur, Alec and Calum would leap out of the trees and pounce on me. They almost scared me to death." Heather‘s lips curved into an evil smile. "Although, I did bite Alec once, that‘s not nearly enough payback for all the misery they caused. A delayed revenge is much sweeter, don‘t you think?"

"Mmmmh, I guess I‘m more of a kill-them-now sort of person." Would anyone notice if she escaped to her bedroom?

"I‘m not. There he is... C‘mon, I want you to meet my brother."

Vic hesitated and then followed, shaking her head. Men usually talked sense—women could be totally incomprehensible.

Heather‘s brother was a whopping big dude, Marine-sized, with keen brown eyes, shaggy brown hair, and a mouth made for laughing. She liked him immediately.

"Now look at what my little sister brought me today," he said, taking Vic‘s hand and holding it to his very muscular chest.

Heather cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Daniel, but I‘m still here. And you‘re only my big brother by all of ten minutes. Victoria—"

"Vic or Vicki; nobody calls me Victoria. Almost nobody," Vic corrected. Although it didn‘t sound wrong when Calum said it.

"Vicki, then." Daniel kissed her fingers before releasing her hand. "I‘m Daniel, crippled from being raised with this evil woman." He grinned at his sister.

"Oh, sure. And all those scars you and Tanner gave me after you learned to trawsfur? The way you‘d swing at me with your giant claws, and you call me evil?" Heather punched his arm, grinned at Vic. "I left a six-pack of beer outside, want one?"

"Something cold and alcoholic? You bet."

Heather wrinkled her nose at her brother. "She sounds just like you." She took a step, then touched Vic‘s arm and whispered, "He‘s completely healthy and entirely single, in case you wondered."

Vic stared after Heather. No, she hadn‘t wondered, and although Daniel was exactly the type of man she enjoyed, she sure didn‘t need any more guy problems.

"You look like a lost lamb," he said and linked his hand with hers. "C‘mon, we‘ll find a corner to commandeer and avoid the wolves...and cats. In fact, I think I‘ll keep you to myself for a bit."

"That won‘t be possible," a cold voice said from behind Vic. Calum moved in, standing close enough that his hip and shoulder brushed hers.

Daniel lifted her hand, pushed her sleeve up to her elbow, exposing the bare skin. "Well, now, doesn‘t appear like she‘s lifemated. Are you lifemated, Vicki?"

"I‘m not sure I know what it means, but I don‘t think so."

"Oh, you‘d know," he assured her, although his steady gaze never left Calum‘s.

Alec appeared on her other side, just as close as Calum. She was beginning to feel like a t-bone in front of starving animals.

When she heard an actual growl coming from Alec, Vic turned to stare at him. What the fuck?

"Vixen," Alec wrapped his big fingers around her biceps. "Let‘s go over—"

Oh, right. The minute she found someone to talk to, they‘re all over her like bees on honey.

Not happening. She pulled her arm out of his grasp, and her hand from Daniel, and glared.

"Excuse me, Sheriff, but I think you have some cleavage—I mean Sarah—to see to." Before he could react, she spun to face Calum. "And I‘m sure the Ice Queen desires your presence."

When Daniel laughed, she lost it completely. The hell with it if her behavior wasn‘t very rational. And weren‘t they lucky she didn‘t have her Glock? She stepped out from between the two brothers, pausing to smile at Daniel. "Maybe some other time when I‘m in a better mood.

I‘m partied out."

As she walked away, she heard Daniel say plaintively, "Mommy, I want that one. Can‘t I—"

and then he choked and groaned.

Reaching her bedroom, she shoved a chair underneath the door handle and flopped down onto the bed. What a wussy, abandoning the field to Cleavage and Ice Queen. Very bad strategy.

*

As Alec watched, his brother stalked past the stunned guests and escaped outside. "Well, that was a surprise," he murmured. Calum‘s famous control had snapped with a vengeance.

"By Herne‘s horns, he hits harder than you do," Daniel wheezed, still hunched over his stomach. "You know, you two used to have a sense of humor. Especially about women."

"Not this time." Spotting Aaron‘s glare— no fighting inside—Alec pushed Daniel out the front door. The frigid air slapped against his face, restoring his equilibrium.

"Yeah, I get that." Daniel waggled his eyebrows. "She‘s incredibly appealing. Does she even realize you‘re trying to court her?"

"No, she doesn‘t," Calum said. He was leaning against the wall. "Forgive me, Daniel. I did lose control."

Daniel laughed and slapped Calum on the shoulder. "Good to know you‘re not perfect, buddy. And though it‘s been thirty years or so, you still throw a wicked punch."

"Indeed. I see you can still provoke a fight faster than anyone in the territory."

Daniel gave a mock bow. "Thank you, my son, thank you. So what‘s the story with the little lady? She looked lost as a heifer without a mama."

"That‘s a disgusting analogy," Alec said. "I take it you and Tanner are still running the Summerland in Rainier Territory?"

"Yup. Aside from the hellhounds increasing—we lost a new shifter to them last month—

we‘re doing good." Daniel brushed the snow off a wooden chair and sat down, propping his boots up on a protruding log of the cabin wall. "Are you going to tell me