Chapter 1
Foundations
The panther’s party house or what would soon be it, lay in front of him. A crew was doing the foundation while a kid watched them. Should a kid be so close to a working crew? Wasn’t that dangerous? His eyes widened as he realized the child was giving them instructions. He bit his tongue deciding to wait to see what was happening rather than to blunder in and look a fool. Thank the goddess he’d waited.
The person turned towards him and it was a short woman who looked like an elf. She was beautiful and lithe, her voice sweet and endearing even if some of her words were coarse. Something went wrong and the woman cursed up a blue streak. He had to smile, she was so cute even when she talked like a truck driver.
Ciaro was beginning to see Titus’ recommendation about putting a few picnic tables here in case he wanted to watch the workers. The tables would be useful later as well. Pulling out his phone, he added them to the next supply order.
Someone must have messed up again because she lifted her foot pointing to her boot then to the huge man’s ass. He looked like a wolf. The guy turned bright red before he nodded enthusiastically. She dropped her foot then shot him a look. Scurrying off, the wolf looked behind him to make sure she wasn’t following. The little woman had all these big guys under her thumb. Ciaro found it fascinating.
It didn’t hurt that she was lovely and fiery. She was on the small side which made him concerned that he’d break her if they were intimate, but she was tough. The elf, as he nicknamed her, was lifting heavy boards and doing the same work as the big men. He’d caught her eye, too. Every once in a while, she couldn’t help, but to look at him. Her eyes would move away fast too.
Ciaro knew the females loved him. He couldn’t beat them off with a stick, but other than sex, he had little use for most of them. He bet this little lady would give him a run for his money. That excited him, a chase with such delectable prey.
Now he stood up then stalked to the foundation while the crew worked. Standing next to her, he could see she was aware of his presence by her fast heartbeat, heavy breathing, and the goosebumps breaking out on her skin. Her scent was delightful as she was nervous, but not fearful. Maybe she was even curious about him as he was about her.
“This is delicate work. Interruptions are not welcome.” She said softly.
Her voice ran through him. He loved the sound of it. “You know who I am, right?”
“You’re the reason we’re putting a rush job on this project?” She asked.
Ciaro’s face heated. Had that ever happened to him before? “Technically yes. But I’m also the one paying for everything so I feel I have the right to assure myself that everything is being done properly.”
“Is it?”
“What?”
“Is it being done properly?” She asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“In other words, you’re just getting in our way.”
Ciaro felt his face heat up again. He wished there was something he could say to correct her, but she was right. He knew nothing about construction, he was just wanting to get a closer look at her. His impulse was just to throw her over his shoulder and carry her away. Some female panthers liked that, but he’d heard humans didn’t always understand. Since they were new to the area, he had to be careful about how they were perceived. What a shame!
“I guess I’ll just drag my sorry self back to where I was. Is that far enough away?” He asked hoping she would reassure him that he wasn’t really in the way.
“Yes, that will be fine.” She even sent a smile his way, briefly.
Ciaro was stunned. Women never treated him this way. This woman challenged him on every level. How would he change her mind so she would see him? What did he have to do to get her attention in a positive way? Whatever it was, he would do it. Never had he ever been so obsessed by a female.
Titus came walking over to speak to female. She seemed to be pleasant to him, but Titus was mated to a friend of hers. As Titus walked by, Ciaro called to him. “What did you need, Ciaro?”
“Some advice on how to handle a female.”
“Mairi? The one I just spoke to? My advice is to find another.” Titus chuckled.
“Why?”
“She’s not like any female you know. Beth was tough, even Andi gave Sebastian a hard time, But Mairi, oh my. Beth calls her a piss ripper. Mairi is tough and hard on men who are interested in her. She’s also a scrapper who won’t take anything off of anyone.”
“What the hell does all that mean?”
“Basically, she’s dynamite in a small package.” Titus explained.
“I know exactly what I knew before I talked to you. I thought you would be a help.”
“Okay, if you’re serious about her, talk to Ariel.”
“The white wolf?”
“Yes, she’s just a person. You’re doing business with her, aren’t you?”
“I suppose so.”
“You’ve not spoken to her yet?”
“No, Sebastian set everything up.” Ciaro admitted.
“It’s time for you to step in.” Titus said as he walked off.
Ciaro liked Seb and Titus well enough, but both of them were too damn happy all the time. Mating rarely brought that out in a male. It was usually their downfall as far as he’d seen. This was crazy as well as was Titus’ advice. Like he could just go and see the white wolf or even call her up and say hi, could you give me some advice. Titus must think he was so damn funny.
Ciaro would figure things out on his own. It was best to rely only on yourself. Next time something was needed for the project he would deal with it himself, but he would not approach the white wolf because of his love life. Sitting there, he watched Mairi work. Somehow, someway, he would win this little stick of dynamite.
He’d brought his computer with him and set it up on the picnic table because an alpha had responsibilities and always had things to do. The picnic table he was sitting at was the only one here and borrowed from Seb. A chirp came from it alerting him he had an important email. More and more of those had been coming from his people. It was mainly those interested in settling on these lands. Many of his security people would be coming, a few already had.
His personal assistant had mated recently and wouldn’t be coming here. Now he needed a new one. Seb had also told him to check with Ariel to find jobs for his people and people for jobs he needed to fill. It was hard to wrap his head around the possibility that the white wolf would be that available especially to those alphas that weren’t even wolves. Was it true or were they teasing him? The next major emergency he had related to construction would give him the answer. Instead of going through Seb, he would go to her himself.
Pulling up his emails, he saw he had hundreds in just the last the last few hours. The new one that had come in was from his second. He knew Jase from years ago. It was true he didn’t know him well, but he needed to. The hierarchy of his party of panthers wasn’t well established because they had scattered to the winds without a true home in sight. That was changing.
Jase had given his notice to leave his job and now the time was up. His household was packed and about to leave and he needed a home. Jase had three children, and a group of employees. There were also two siblings that lived with him. Ciaro had been planning to find a place for his second to live, but had put it off. He’d left it in the hands of two local real estate agents who he now realized he’d not heard from in over a week.
Remembering that Seb had mentioned that Ariel and some of her people dabbled in real estate, he decided to give her a call. It didn’t scare him, he just didn’t want her to be offended that he’d bothered her. Hoping for the best, he dialed the number Seb had given him for emergencies.
“Author at work. Give me a second to finish this sentence.” There was a pause. “This is Ariel, how can I help you.”
“This is Ciaro. I’m the panther alpha.”
“I know who you are. Everything going alright?”
“The project is fine, but my second is on his way with a large household and I’ve no place for them to stay.”
“This is your lucky day! I happen to know Mairi has a place almost finished that has six bedrooms and a guest house out back. The guest house is small, but it will help. He can make do and add on later as he wants. It’s on five acres.”
“Your construction supervisor, Mairi?”
“That’s the one. Approach her carefully and wait until lunch. It’ll be alright.”
“Thank you.” Ciaro said, but she was already gone. He prayed to the goddess that this problem could be solved so easily. He was currently staying in a rented house, but his home would be in the party house until he mated and built a house at some time in the future. His second had a large family even though he had no mate. The female had left him tired of being surrounded by children.
He’d never liked Saranda. In his opinion, she’d been a cold ruthless female. She’d been from a strong bloodline, but she’d not represented it well. Family was important, the only thing more important was a fated mate. For those few lucky enough to have one, they were everything.
It seemed like the time crawled until it was lunchtime. Mairi sat on the stairs surrounded by her workers as he approached. She shot him an annoyed look. “Ariel said I should discuss something with you.” Her entire attitude changed.
“Why don’t we go to your table?” She pointed at where he’d been sitting.
He led the way sitting once she’d sat. “I need a large house as quickly as possible and she said you had one nearly complete?”
“It’s a very nice house and it might be more than you want to spend for a single guy.” Mairi explained.
“It wouldn’t be for me. My second is coming with his children. He also has two siblings that he was left in charge of. His mate left him tired of kids everywhere. They were not fated mates and many do not mate in the old ways that last a lifetime. Things have been hard for him and I’d like to ease his way as much as possible. Jase was high in the security company and money is not a concern especially since he sold a mansion in New York and prices here are much lower.”
“Alrighty, then. I’ve not listed it yet, so he can have the first shot at it. Tomorrow is my finish date and everything should be tidied up and ready for a buyer.”
“He’ll be here in three days or less, but he asked me to get the purchase started.” Ciaro explained.
“If that’s what he wants. You can inspect it tonight to be sure it will work for him.”
“That would be perfect.”
They shook hands and a shock ran through him. Mairi scurried away and he was certain she’d felt it too. He would have preferred to kiss her to seal the deal, but he saw that wasn’t happening. As an alpha, he wasn’t a passive male and this was hard on him to hold back when he wanted to take action. The action he wanted to take with Mairi would have been enjoyable for them both. Being diplomatic and acting in a correct fashion was hard. Seb and Titus both had his respect for learning to do it.
His computer chirped again. It reminded him of the hundreds of emails he had to deal with. He sat back down determined to deal with what he could before it was time to tour the house with Mairi. First he went through deleting any emails that were sent by unsolicited salesmen like those for males that couldn’t satisfy women or wanted to be larger. Ciaro had no needs in that area. Now he went through them dealing with those of importance first.
His sister, Unis, had contacted him wanting him to find her a house. Pulling out a notebook, he wrote her name under the list of those he knew needed housing. As he went through his emails, many of them dealt with housing or jobs. Fiaro, his oldest brother also needed a house, a job, a job for his youngest daughter, who happened to be a secretary, and several of his sons. Praise the goddess, young Jezzie might be able to help him with his paperwork.
His brother would be his first concern, his sister his second. Thankfully, his sister had a job. Many of the female cat shifter were artistic, only a few of the men were. His sister did sculptures, some that resided in the famous museums around the world. Often when a museum wanted the bust of a famous person, they contacted her. It wasn’t just a living, it was a good living. With his brother and second both being security specialists, he would need to move up his plan to start a small security company.
It wouldn’t be easy competing with Seb and Tyne, but he would carve out his own niche. He didn’t want to compete directly with them, so he would work with Jase and Fiaro to figure out where they could fill in without upsetting anyone. The pack needed businesses to support its people and he wanted businesses to invest in.
He’d answered or deleted at least a hundred emails and he looked up to see Mairi walking toward him. “I had my second take the work truck to Ariel’s. I’ll ride with you to the house and then you can drop me off at Ariel’s when we’re done. If you decide to take the house, we can start the paperwork at Ariel’s before you leave.”
Ciaro nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
He packed up his computer quickly and efficiently then led Mairi to where his SUV was parked. Opening the door for her, he closed it once she was in. When he got in, she was putting the address in his GPS. “It’s ready to go.” She said as he started the car, shifted, and pressed on the gas.
The roads had little traffic, but he could see it becoming an issue as more of his people came into town. They made it to the house in five minutes, it was that close. As he drove, he’d noticed Mairi examining him, but he pretended not to. She found him interesting and that much was obvious. The house they pulled up to at the end of a mile long gravel road, was much nicer and larger than he’d expected. There were few houses around the area, at least where he’d been, that compared to this one.
Mairi had given him a price that made him expect a smaller or less striking looking home. Maybe the inside was lacking. “You can see the house is large. The roof is a new metal roof and the windows were all replaced with ones that guard against the loss of heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. The insulation was added to making it much better than required.”
“It’s beautiful out here.” Ciaro said referring not only to the house, but the area surrounding it.
“That’s true. It’s close to the road, but far enough away to avoid the noises of the road.” Ciaro realized he had to strain to hear anything, but nature. Mairi opened the door gesturing him to enter. The hardwood gleamed, but it had the patina only aged wood does. “We were able to save the original floors.”
“This room is wonderful. I may buy the house instead. If the rest is this good.”
“The kitchen is a gourmet’s dream.” They entered and he saw all appliances were new, oversized, and stainless steel. “With the number of rooms, it was likely to house a large family or a business. We went with commercial size appliances. The freezer is in the back room which also serves as a pantry.”
They toured that room and the rest of the house and Ciaro was impressed. “What about the guest house?”
She led him outside where they passed a pool and hot tub. The guest house was right in back of it. There was also an outdoor kitchen they passed on the way. As she took him into the guest house, he thought it perfect for two of Jase’s employees to share. It had two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, a kitchenette, and a living/dining room. Every inch of space was carefully used. There was even a small stackable washer/dryer in a closet in the corner of the kitchenette.
The house had no furniture, but all appliances were there. As they left the guest house, Mairi pointed out the small playground with a playhouse. She also showed him a large garden spot and an orchard. Jase would be thrilled especially since the place only cost about a fourth of his budget.
“The place is perfect for him and I’d like to seal the deal. I have power of attorney, just for this purchase and the money to pay for it.”
“All of it?” Mairi raised a brow in question.
“All of it.” She nodded as she locked the front door since they’d walked back through the house.
“We’ll just head to Ariel’s. I hope we catch the start of supper.” She said with excitement.
“I also wanted to speak with you about other houses.” Ciaro admitted.
“What do you need?”
“I have family coming in. My brother needs something like this, but he could make do with a slightly smaller or larger place. My sister needs something that can work as a house, a studio, and a showroom.”
“There’s nothing available like that in town. The other cats have taken them all. I might find something on the highway not too far from town.”
“Unis might prefer that. She’s very private.”
“I might have the thing for your brother, but it will take time to get the work done. Maybe I can expand my team. There’s more work than ever before.”
“How long for Fiaro’s place?”
“I’ve not even evaluated what I need. Ariel’s projects have to come first. This place took six months.” Mairi admitted. “Of course I also remodeled a small house at the same time.”
“I have people coming in that need jobs. Could I send you those interested in construction?”
“I’ll give them a shot. Local labor is exhausted. Everyone that wants a job has one.” Mairi explained. “If they are capable and will take directions from me, a female, I’ll give them a shot.”
Ciaro nodded, not only was that fair, but it would help them both. They were now heading down the driveway. “Which way to Ariel’s?” Mairi started putting the address in. His GPS began directing him. “Tell me about Ariel. I’ve never met her.”
“She’s good people. The old saying that they would give you the shirt off their back applies. I know no one that helps as many people as she does. I believe that’s why the goddess blesses her in return.”
“That makes sense. Titus says she’s just a person and easily approached?”
“That’s true. She’ll talk to anyone. I remember once she talked to a wrong number and gave him some advice. The guy called back the next day to thank her.”
“What was the advice?”
“No one knows, but she gives the best advice. It’s like she has an inside view into what’s best for others.”
“That too makes sense since she’d the white wolf.”
“I wouldn’t talk any of that white wolf shit to her. She doesn’t like it.” Mairi observed.
“She doesn’t see it as a sign of respect?”
“Not really. She sees it more as a sign of expectations.”
“I’ll try to remember not to mention it.” Mairi just nodded as they took a turn off the highway. He crossed a narrow low water bridge and as he moved up the hill, he turned into a driveway next to a small house. “Just keep going past this house and the next one.”
After the second house he crossed a cattle guard as he drove through a field to a ridge. Not instantly obvious, he finally saw that among the outbuildings and what looked like a small barn, was a large log cabin. They parked in a field that looked like it was being turned into a parking lot. A mountain of gravel was nearby and railroad ties enclosed part of the area.
“The look of progress.” Mairi explained as her hand waved taking the area in. “Just follow me. No sudden moves. Her guards don’t know you.” He just nodded and followed.
It surprised him that guards didn’t show up until he was at the door. “Who is he, Mairi?”
“Panther alpha here on business.”
The guards backed off going back to wherever they appeared from. A young she-wolf came to the door opening it. “Hi Mairi. Bring an extra?”
“Yeah, Vera. This is Ciaro, he’s a panther.”
“I could smell the cat, just not the kind.” She said smiling. “You going to eat first?”
“Is anything left?” Mairi asked.
“They just started.”
Mairi elbowed him. “Looks like we lucked out.”
Ciaro wasn’t sure what she meant as she pulled him to the back a line going through a buffet. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast so the aroma of food was making his stomach growl. Mairi handed him his plate and silverware. They moved through quickly with the biggest problem being what to put on his plate. It all looked good. Finally deciding on cabbage rolls, meatloaf, and jalapenos stuffed with cheese. His sides were an easier choice with coleslaw, corn, and green bean casserole.
Mairi pulled him into the kitchen where they sat in a small alcove. “What do you want to drink?”
“Tea or juice?”
She hurried away returning with a tray with juice, tea, and two glasses. “Ariel will join us after Blake goes back to work.” Mairi sat down and poured her drink than began to eat. Once she did, he did the same.
He found the food to be amazing. It made him understand why Mairi wanted to come here for supper. “Do you eat here often?”
“Usually for breakfast and supper. For lunch I’m on site and have to fend for myself unless I pack a bag.”
“Pack a bag?”
“You know, fill up a bag with stuff at breakfast.”
“I see. Do you do that often?”
“Not really. I have to guard the bag because the guys will have a free for all if they see it unprotected.” Mairi grinned. “Sometimes I get two sacks and hide one.”
“Sounds like the smart way to do it. Why don’t the guys fill up their own sacks?”
“The guys are too lazy and don’t think ahead. Not all of them come here to eat. I don’t know why though. It’s free for employees to grab breakfast. Ariel writes it off as a bonus for her employees. She’s sharp like that.”
They were almost through eating when Ariel joined them. She was prettier than in her pictures. “What are you up to Mairi?”
“Only what I’m supposed to be doing, Cuz.”
Ariel snorted. “That’ll be the day.”
“This is Ciaro, panther alpha. Ciaro, this is Ariel.” Mairi introduced.
“A pleasure to meet you, Ciaro.” Ariel said.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Ciaro insisted.