you were serious about me wanting to mate to get control. Not just for looks, but because on paper, I have to.”
Jace shrugged. “I know you’re planning to mate her, so I didn’t want to put more pressure on you. But the rumors are growing in strength. We’ve all been struggling to put a lid on them.”
“And it’s not working,” Rain said. “I heard a few females just today talking about Greg Ayers looking prime to mate Alissa Roberto. He’s going to make a play to rule. I can feel it.”
“Fuck.” Reduced to one word responses, because Quince didn’t know what else to say.
“Yeah, you’re fucked unless you step things up.” Jace moved to Quince and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m with you man. You don’t want to rush the little lady, but if you don’t, we’re going to war again. I’ll be damned if I’ll let Lex’s cronies ruin the pride a second time.”
Rain nodded. “He’s right. The thing is, Quince, we can’t afford another civil war. The pride is barely recovering from before.” Quince knew the shit was getting serious when Rain suddenly turned into a chatterbox. He’d never heard the guy say so much in one sitting before.
Jace added, “If this keeps up, we’ll turn into a Cougar Falls pride. They have what, four or five cats, foxes, bears and a wolf? And I have to tell you, I’m not keen on sharing with other shifters. Miami is cat territory.”
“You’re damn right it is.” He hated to think he’d have to rush things with Joy, but maybe she might have some answers. It was time he relied on her intelligence to help them all. “Let me talk to her.” He paused in thought and asked his men, “Are we sure it’s just Oliver?”
He still had a hard time believing his friend would have turned on them. But knowing Oliver’s penchant for women and a good time, he could see how the guy might falter. Yet he knew how it felt to be falsely accused. Fucking Miles and his never-ending mistrust…
“Hey guys. I have a few ideas that might help us. But I need to know
“Four,” Jace corrected. “I’d bet my life on Ellis.”
“Six,” Rain said. “Count Dana and Willow in too. Dana helped me with Oliver’s missteps. And she and Willow want nothing more than to fix what’s broken. They know Ayers is a bad play. Watson too.”
“Okay.” Quince had to trust someone. He couldn’t do it all alone. “So how many do you think we need to deal with, all in all?”
Jace and Rain looked at each other before Jace answered, “Just shy of two dozen. Ayers and Watson are the big names. And Alissa. Her push is going to be hard to beat. A lot of the females like her, and her money definitely puts her in a power position in the pride.”
“Unless you had, say, the Bermins backing you,” Rain suggested.
“Yeah, I get that.” Quince made up his mind. “I need to talk to Miles.”
“Not Joy?” Jace sounded worried.
“Her too. But this needs to happen fast, and Miles has a finger on the company. She doesn’t.” And she was his woman, not someone to be used. Now Miles on the other hand… He intended to use Miles’s animosity to further his gain. “Tell me, Rain, does that old provision about the Pride Fight still stand?”
Both males gaped at him before Jace rasped, “Oh, hell no.”
“Yeah, it does.” Rain narrowed his eyes at Quince in what looked like understanding. “Think about it, Jace. Quince can take Ayers and Watson out without a problem if we do it officially. This might be our answer.”
“No, you idiot,” Jace snarled. “He’s planning on fighting Bermin, not Ayers. We talked about this before. He won’t do it.” Meaning Miles didn’t want to take over the pride. But Quince didn’t much care what Miles wanted. The more he thought about it, the more he thought Miles was the answer to his problems.
“You’re going to get Miles to fight you, aren’t you?” Jace prodded.
Rain paled. “What?”
“Yeah.” Jace huffed. “As if Ayers and Watson weren’t bad enough. I know you can beat them. But Miles wants your blood, man. Don’t do it. He wants to kill you. And unlike the others, he’s the one guy who might have a shot at it.”
Quince smiled through his teeth. “That’s just what I’m hoping. Keep this quiet, get Ellis and the others up to speed, and Jace, be ready to move when and where I tell you once this starts speeding up.”
“Fuck. Don’t listen to me or anything. Fine.”
Quince had known Jace wouldn’t like the idea. “Rain?”
Rain rubbed his neck. “I don’t like it either, but I think I see where you’re going with this.”
“I’m glad one of us does,” Jace said nastily as Quince left the office in a hurry. He had to get to Miles before those rumors did. The cat was smart enough to see through a ruse if Quince couldn’t suppress some information while making up the rest.
He’d just made it to his SUV when he noticed Greg Ayers, Alissa Roberto and a half dozen scraggly looking cats waiting for him.
“Are you kidding me? In broad daylight?” On pride property? He crossed his arms over his chest, prepared to beat them all to a pulp. The glare he shot Alissa had her scowling back even as she stepped behind Scott and Bill, two of Ayers’s buddies.
Ayers grinned. The smug bastard. “I’m here with a word of warning. And a little tussle to remind you that you’re not as strong as you think you are.”
The men moved closer, none of them smiling anymore. Ayers, the dickhead, remained some distance back.
Quince refused to make this easy. He relished the idea of bashing some heads in. “I can’t thank you guys enough.” He uncrossed his arms and cracked his knuckles. The morons. He’d been bare-knuckle fighting for years while these pussies had been licking their daddy’s asses for trust fund money. Yeah, he recognized the spoiled bullies rallying behind Ayers. And he couldn’t wait to show them what they could expect from the new regime in town.
Joy stared glumly at her brother, wishing she’d delayed their meeting another few days. The weekend spent with Quince had been more than she’d hoped she might enjoy. The sex kept getting better. They’d played miniature golf, sunbathed on their private stretch of beach and had beaten a score of others in a volleyball tournament that guaranteed her bragging rights among the overly tanned Miami cats.
She’d reacquainted herself with a few women she hadn’t hung out with since before Lex’s days running the pride. Willow was a trip, and Cari had made her laugh so hard she’d cried. But her nights spent with Quince… To her bemusement, Jace, Ellis and Rain acted as if she and Quince were a foregone conclusion. The three lived in the estate house and shared meals together. Quince, his lieutenants and Rain were a tight group.
Throughout the laughter and talk during meals, though, Joy imagined Quince remembering the many times he and Miles had shared stories and swapped smiles. Quince even admitted to her later one night that he wished Miles might have been with them, for all that her brother was still acting like a schmuck.
“So this is what you designed for next year’s collection?” Miles asked, his voice subdued as he stood over her drafting table in the company warehouse, where Bermin fashion often came to life.
“Yeah, go ahead. Critique it. It sucks. It’s too juvenile for the junior crowd. Too colorful, too expensive to produce. Go ahead. I’m ready.” She stared morosely at her portfolio, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut and her designs hidden from Stacey. She never would have had the courage to branch out on her own line if Stacey hadn’t been snooping through her sketch book and convinced her to take a shot at it weeks ago.
Miles traced a finger over the laminate-covered sketch of her favorite—a black suit with a jaguar print, but styled to provide more coverage while alluding to the sexy, female shape. It still amazed her that two scraps of fabric could be designed to show off the female form in so many different ways.
“I like this.”
“What?” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.
Miles lifted his gaze to hers. “I said I like it.”
She watched him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “But…”
“But nothing. How soon until we can get these into production? And I like the alternate colors, the bright purple and vivid teal especially.”
She nodded, not believing him. “Uh, well, if you’re good on it, we can have a few hundred ready to go in a
