Ryker de Lyon was weary to the bone. Instead of spending the night with his cock buried in a willing female, he'd been patrolling the grounds of the Pussycat Palace. It had been years since he'd done such a thing and his lion had been complaining that he was becoming tame. Which was complete bullshit since he was the king of the beasts.

His cat had thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to prowl with the werecat security team. He'd even stalked a few of them to make sure they were doing their jobs adequately. Without their knowledge, of course. He may not have used his ingrained stealth and predator abilities in a while, but he hadn't lost them either.

His cat was basking in satisfaction and enjoying a well-deserved rest at the crack of dawn when the breeze carried a tantalizing aroma to him. At first, he'd thought that Jett and his mate had returned because the scent was similar to Aylese's but richer. More potent. Mouthwateringly delicious. And absolutely intoxicating.

His lion lifted his face to the breeze and inhaled deeply. 'Mine!' He proclaimed in a low growl. 'Mate.'

'No, no, fuck no,' Ryker denied vehemently. No way in hell was his cat going to choose a mate for them sight unseen. She could be a wolf shifter for all he knew. A shudder shook him at the thought of being tied to an inferior breed. Cats and dogs did not get along, even in the shifter community.

'Mine, mine, mine!' The beast insisted like a stubborn toddler as he rose from his perch atop the second-floor balcony. 'Mate perfect because she's mine.'

Fucking hell.

There was no arguing with his cat when his mind was made up. The beast was so arrogant that he refused to listen to reason until he'd been proven wrong. Ryker was as well though he'd never admit such a thing, even under pain of death. Fortunately, his brothers were the only ones with the balls to challenge his decisions.

Since they were also the only ones whose opinion he gave a damn about, he did have the courtesy of hearing them out before he went ahead and did whatever the hell he wanted to. After all, the king of the beasts didn't have to follow anyone's dictates save his own. Since he made the rules, he could break them without impunity.

But the one rule that he never broke was; don't get seriously involved with a woman. He liked being single so they were for fun and nothing more. Whether that meant a night of wild sex or a stimulating conversation varied depending on the female. Having a mate wouldn't break that rule, it would annihilate it.

So it wasn't surprising that the possibility of finding his mate would be unnerving. Or fill him with the urge to run like hell in the opposite direction. Which was why he was as nervous as a cat when his lion sprang over the balustrade and landed on the ground below. Because the damn beast was determined to do just the opposite.

Ryker had to exhibit considerable force of will to wrest control away from the unruly beast and shift back into his human form. He rose from the crouched position the cat had landed in and froze in place at the sound of a feminine gasp. Leery of what he would see, he turned and locked eyes with the woman half hidden in the bushes.

'Mate,' his lion panted and was ready to mount and mark her right then and there. 'Mine, mine, mine.'

Completely unconcerned that he was bare-assed naked, Ryker stood with his legs spread and folded his arms over his chest. There was no harm in letting the woman have a look at the goods because a look was all she was going to get. "Like what you see?" He asked in amusement since she was taking her time about it.

Cobalt blue eyes snapped up to meet his in the early morning light. "You're a shifter," she responded in an accusatory tone as if it were a crime.

"Guilty as charged," he confirmed and wondered how the hell she knew about his kind. The average human didn't, so either she wasn't human, or the bastards at GenMod Lab had sent her. The man they'd sent to abduct his brother's cub and mate had been killed so perhaps they had thought a woman might have a better chance.

Not with this werecat.

"Care to tell me why you're lurking in the bushes?" He queried, doubtful that she'd admit the truth.

"I'm here to see Jett Black," she responded and didn't move from her hiding place.

His cat growled in protest at the thought of their mate meeting another man, even if it was one that he loved like a brother. "Did you consider ringing the doorbell?" Ryker asked just to be a smartass and the narrowed eyes fixed on him would have leveled a lesser shifter. His cat was impressed because their mate had courage.

Ryker was not.

"I considered calling the police," she snapped and crawled forward on her hands and knees. His lion pointed out that she was in the perfect position and urged him to mount her. He ignored the horny cat's demand and extended his hand to assist her in standing. She smacked his hand away and rose to her feet unaided.

Electrical sparks shot up his arm, down his spine and his cock hardened instantly from the brief contact. Fucking hell. His damn cat was gloating because that had never happened before. Maybe she was their mate, but that didn't mean he had to claim her. Especially not until he knew who she was and why she was lurking in the bushes.

She looked up at him and the breath lodged in his throat. Because the stunningly beautiful woman looked exactly like the picture of Aylese Delacort's half-sister that he'd showed his brother a few days ago. Harper Stone had rescued Jett's cub from the lab where he was being tortured and begged her sister to deliver him to his father.

As it turned out, Aylese was Jett's mate, and he had taken her, and the cub to a secure location after an intruder had tried to abduct them both. Since Harper was also in danger from the people running the lab, they had sent Wilder Pantere to find her and keep her safe until they got this situation with GenMod cleared up.

Wilds had claimed that he had the woman safely tucked away so how the hell was she here? There was no way that this petite human female had managed to slip away from the ferocious tiger shifter. "Who are you and where the hell is Wilds?" He growled because the only way she could have escaped was if his brother was dead.

"I'm Harper Stone," she bit out before demanding, "Where the hell is Aylese?"

It would seem they had reached an impasse because the mutinous expression she wore assured him that the woman wasn't going to offer up any information unless he did. His lion liked that their mate was willing to stand up to them. The man did not, and that solidified his opinion that she was not his mate.

His cat grumbled and growled in protest and was ignored. The woman continued to stand there holding his stare for endless minutes, refusing to look away. It was a direct challenge, and as an alpha, he was itching to show her who was in charge. 'Mark. Mount. Make mine,' his cat urged, and he gnashed his teeth in frustration.

Looking away first would be a sign of weakness, something that an alpha lion would never do, so Ryker solved the situation by asking, "Shall we continue this conversation inside?"

She gave him a cat that swallowed the canary grin and walked past him toward the house. The damn aggravating woman knew what he'd done, and her complete lack of respect just pissed him off. A low growl rumbled in his chest as he followed her to the front door, opened it and gestured for her to precede him inside.

"Come with me," he instructed as he led her through the house to Jett's office. She stepped inside, and he commanded, "Stay."

"Just a damn minute, de Lyon," she snapped and stuck her booted foot into the doorway. Surprise that she knew his name must have shown because she added, "That's right. I know who you are and you'd better produce Aylese right freaking now, or I'm gonna sic the ASPCA on your precious foundation.

Not the kind of shifter to be intimidated by anyone, Ryker leaned a shoulder against the door frame and assessed her through a slitted gaze. Flashing cobalt blue eyes, angry color staining her cheeks and tousled pale blonde curls framed the face of an angel. Damn, she was even beautiful when she was andry, but he still wasn't interested.

"I was going to get dressed," he drawled lazily. "But since you can't seem to keep your eyes off of me I'm more than happy to remain in this state."

"Arrogant son of a bitch," she seethed and slammed the door in his face. If he hadn't jumped back, his cock would have been caught between the door and the frame. He realized that Harper Stone was a vicious she-devil. His cat liked that a lot, but she hadn't earned even a grudging measure of admiration from the man.

Incensed at her complete lack of respect, he stalked through the house, slammed the door to his room and roared his fury. The sound reverberated through the room and shook the chandelier hanging over the bed. No way in hell was he putting up with this type of aggravation from the woman who was supposed to be his mate.

He got dressed quickly, snatched his phone off of the dresser and called Wilds, but the tiger shifter didn't answer. Just fucking great. His next call was to tell Jett to get his ass back to the Palace and deal with this fiasco himself. The other man answered with, "I've got a bit of a situation, Ryker."

"Yeah, well, so do I," the lion shifter growled as he left his room. "I found an intruder on the grounds."

"Did you get him?" Jett demanded.

"Oh, I got her," Ryker assured him grimly. "The woman claims she's Harper Stone and as damned aggravating as she is, I believe her."

"What the hell? I thought Wilds had her," he responded.

"He's got someone he thinks is her," he agreed. "And he's gone dark, so I can't reach him."

"Jesus fucking Christ," he growled, and then his voice became placating as he held the phone away to say, "Yes, love. I'm sorry."

Ryker rolled his eyes in disgust because it seemed that Aylese already had his brother domesticated. "Harper is having a fit to talk to her sister so put your mate on the phone," he insisted as he hurried back toward the office. He didn't trust the woman not to try and sneak back out the same way she'd gotten in.

"That's not possible," he denied."She shifted."

"Shifted what?"

"Into a fucking jaguar," he bit out in a panicked tone.

The lion shifter stopped just outside the door to the office to demand incredulously, "Are you serious?"

"Do I sound like I'm joking?" Jett bit out. "The mating bite couldn't have caused this kind of reaction, could it?"

"No. She had to have the shifter gene for something like this to happen," he confirmed. "Or fae blood."

Jett groaned, and it sounded as if he was at the end of his rope. "I need to get her back to the Palace so Pier can look her over. Send the containment van to pick us up." Before he could respond, the other man hastily corrected himself. "Send the limo instead, and make it fast. I've got a pissed off mama jaguar on my hands."

"Yeah? Well, I've got a pissed off activist demanding that I produce her sister or she's going to sic the ASPCA on the foundation," Ryker bit out grimly. "And to make matters worse, my cat is convinced that she's our mate. You might as well just shoot me now."

"Jesus fucking Christ."