I never felt really comfortable around feline shifters. Marco I could put up with, because at least he was dedicated to something. The rest of his kin—you never knew what was going on behind those shifty eyes.

At least, most of them read as shifty. The tiger shifter who’d challenged Marco a couple hours ago came across as a pretty straight-forward asshole. Or that’s what I’d determined while I’d been keeping an eye on him. Right now he was playing pool with a couple of his kin in the estate’s big entertainment room, bellowing victory whenever he hit a ball into a pocket. The sound made me wince inwardly even from across the room. I adjusted my position against the wall near the door.

I had my phone out, pretending I was mostly paying attention to that. I had actually checked in with a few of my lieutenants while Julius the Tiger had swaggered and blustered. Now I was playing a very half-hearted game of Candy Crush while keeping my ears perked to the conversations around me.

I’d just cleared a level when Ren strode past me into the room. A whiff of her scent reached my nose: the usual sweetness mingled with a musk that got me half-hard in two seconds flat. I straightened up, resisting the urge to lick my lips. And ignoring the twist of jealousy in my chest. She’d just been with at least one of the other alphas—I knew that much. And that alpha had gotten her off, well.

One hint of the smell of arousal on her, and I was right back to the other night in her bed. My mouth on her skin, her hand around my cock—

Yeah, thinking about that right now wasn’t going to take me anywhere useful. I dragged in a breath to steady the thump of my pulse.

Our dragon shifter wasn’t here to see me. She marched right across the room and came to a stop by the pool table, her gaze fixed on Julius. Shit. What the hell was she up to now?

I shoved my phone into my pocket and ambled a little closer, trying to look casual, which wasn’t easy when every feline shifter nearby glanced over at the scent of wolf. Julius turned and spotted Ren. He set his pool stick against the floor, grinning.

“Dragon shifter. Come to get an early start with your new mate?”

Ren’s chin rose higher, her eyes flashing. She looked fucking gorgeous like that, but it also meant she was about to throw herself right in over her head. So damned determined to right every wrong even when she barely understood the threat she was facing. It wrenched at my heart, but that sense of justice wasn’t going to do anyone any good if she got torn to pieces in the process. I tensed, ready to shift.

“No,” Ren said, clear and loud enough that the whole room had to hear. “I came to give you an out. Marco is going to win tonight. And even if he wasn’t going to, I’d never accept you as my mate. I thought it was only fair to mention that ahead of time.”

The tiger shifter’s face darkened. His lips curled into more of a sneer. “Is that what our alpha is reduced to now? Sending you to protect him while he hides in his rooms?”

Ren rolled her eyes. “No. He’s happy to put you in your place the regular way. But I’d rather not see any kin banished when they don’t need to be. Consider it a courtesy. There’s no point in pursuing a lost cause.”

Julius rapped the end of his pool cue against the floor. His eyes had narrowed. “I don’t think it’s lost at all. And I think you’ll find it a lot harder to say no when the bond passes to me.”

Ren looked him up and down, letting every hint of her disdain show in her expression. Oh, Lord, she was aiming to get herself eviscerated, wasn’t she?

“Believe me,” she said flippantly. “I can’t imagine even being tempted.”

Julius bristled, baring his teeth. “We’ll see if you change your tune after tonight, won’t we? Or maybe you need to learn your place now.”

“I know my place,” Ren said. “And it happens to be very far over yours. But if that’s how you’re going to act, I’ll enjoy watching you get your ass handed to you tonight.”

She swiveled and headed back toward the doorway. Julius’s arm jerked as if he meant to lunge after her, and I braced myself to leap between them. But he caught himself with a harsh inhale. His gaze tracked Ren to the door with an angry, predatory gleam.

I waited just long enough to make sure he was staying put, and then I strode after my mate.

* * *

My pulse was thudding as I walked out of the games room, but the second I crossed the threshold into the hall, my lips stretched into a smile. The look on Julius’s face when I’d told him what was what—I was going to treasure that for a good long time.

I didn’t get to savor my victory very long in the moment. I’d hardly made it two more steps when a hand closed around my forearm. A hint of pine laced the air. I knew my confronter was West before he spun me around to face him.

“What the hell were you trying to pull in there?” he snapped, his gaze in full glower mode. “That tiger shifter just about bit your head off.”

I guffawed. “I’d have liked to see him try. He’d have been fried cat before he even got his teeth in.”

“You’re still learning control over your shifts. And you don’t know these kin at all. You can’t take risks like that.”

“I don’t know. Seems like I just did, and the world didn’t end.”

West let out a strangled sound. Suddenly his hand was on the side of my neck, his thumb tracing my jaw as he yanked me closer to him. His head bowed close to mine. His body was just inches away, so close it was almost an embrace. Every nerve in my body woke up in response. I breathed in his pine-forest scent and held myself back from turning my face that slight distance to kiss him. Let him make the first move here, when he figured out what he wanted.

His breath spilled hot and harsh over my cheek. His grip on my arm loosened. For a second, I thought he was going to grasp my waist and pull me flush against him. And whatever happened after that, I was pretty sure I’d be on board for.

Instead, his shoulders tensed. “Listen to me. Don’t ever do anything that stupid again.”

The rush of attraction faded. I gritted my teeth and shoved West back a step with my free hand. “I wasn’t being stupid,” I bit out, keeping my voice low. “But it’s nice to know you still see me as an idiot. I was provoking Julius on purpose. I wanted to get a better sense of his emotions, and those of the other kin in the room, to figure out who might be allied with the rogues.”

West’s expression blanked. “What?”

“I can read people better when their emotions are on the surface,” I said. “So I wanted to stir things up. He wasn’t even close to trying to actually hurt me. I’d have felt it if he was.”

“Oh.” West deflated slightly. His fingers flexed around my arm. He looked down at them, into the space between us still narrow enough that I could feel the heat emanating from his body. “Are you so sure your senses work as well on shifters as the human beings you’re used to, Sparks? Because you haven’t really had much chance for practice.”

“I can read you just fine,” I muttered. “And right now you should be feeling a lot more embarrassed than you actually are, just FYI. Although I appreciate the not-wanting-me-to-get-hurt side of this whole outburst.”

West grimaced. He raised his eyes again. There might have been a shadow of an apology in them, but he didn’t bother to voice it. “Did you find out anything useful with all your ‘stirring up’?”

“That depends on how you define useful. Julius has something motivating him other than just wanting the alpha position. I didn’t get the sense he even considered backing down. Whether he wins or not, whether I accept him as a mate or not if he does win, the challenge is about more than that. Enough more that the rest doesn’t matter.”

“More as in he expects it to work into his plans with the rogues?”

“That would be my best guess.” I frowned, thinking about the vibes I’d felt around me in the room. “I don’t think anyone else who was in the room is involved. His kin were curious about what was going on, but none of them gave the impression of feeling at all threatened by me telling him off. Or angry. They just found it entertaining. Anyone who was in on a plot, I think they’d have cared more.”

West nodded. “That reasoning seems sound.” He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe your gambit gave us some results after all.”

“Maybe next time you should ask me what I’m doing before assuming I’m being an idiot.”

“Maybe you should stop coming up with plans that look idiotic.”

I bit my lip, swallowing my frustration, and West’s gaze dropped to my mouth. The heat between us flared in an instant. God almighty, why did he have to act like a jerk when I knew there was so much compassion—not to mention plain old passion—underneath that front?

Every muscle was urging me to just grab him and plant one on him. To draw out the desire I knew he was keeping locked down inside.

But we’d gone down that road already, and that blazing physical encounter hadn’t made things any better. Actually, the moment we’d shared in the avian estate garden had only made me more on edge when I was with him, now that I knew how good the two of us could be together.

This game of snarking at each other and dancing around our attraction was getting old. I was ready to be done with it, one way or the other.

I turned my hand, sliding it against his arm until my fingers could curl around his. “West,” I said, “I think we should talk. Really talk. We’re not getting anywhere like this. Whatever doubts you still have about me, you can just tell me about them. We’ll hash them out. I know I’m still learning here. But I need to know what the problem is before I can fix it.”

The sense I got from my wolf shifter then was completely bizarre, as if a rush of tangled emotions had blown open a door inside him—only to be yanked back in and the door slammed shut. And deadbolted for good measure.

West took another step back, his posture rigid. His hand slipped from mine. “I don’t think this is exactly the time for chatting, Sparks,” he said. “We’ve got a full-blown rebellion to stop.”

And for some reason you’re just as important to me as stopping it, you blockhead, I thought but didn’t let myself say. I’d had my fill of verbal sparring for the day.

“Fine,” I said. “When you get your head sorted out, you know where to find me.” I turned and stalked away without a backward glance. Because I did have bigger things to think about up ahead. Like whether one of my other mates was going to come out of tonight’s confrontation with all limbs and vital organs intact.