Heat

*****

Boris had spent the morning with Anthony’s lawyer finishing off the paperwork that made him the new manager of one of the biggest bars in the city… Love Bites. As for whom the new owner would be… they’d both decided Anthony’s nearest of kin was the smartest way to go, legally and logically. Titus Valachi was one of the strongest and most fair-minded wolves Boris had ever met. He’d hated his uncle and refused to do anything mob related.

Boris smiled knowing he’d just helped the lawyer put over half the wolf pack holdings into Titus’s name without Titus being aware of it. Now all they had to do was convince Titus to become the new alpha before Lucca had a chance to claim it.

As for Love Bites, the previous owner had lost the club to Anthony only a couple weeks ago, and since Anthony’s lawyer was one of their pack wolves, he was taking care of as much paperwork as fast as he could in case the feds froze all of Anthony’s holdings.

Most of the clan had worked for Anthony in some way or another, but since the alpha no longer existed, it left a lot of wolves without a job. Wolves with too much time on their hands were never a good thing and Boris was already hearing talk about retaliating against the cougars for killing Anthony.

The majority of those wolves were hanging out with Lucca Romano who was Anthony’s protégé in many ways. Those were the wolves he did not want to be around.

Lucca was strong. Anthony had felt that and used Lucca for most of the mob work. That, and Anthony didn’t completely trust Lucca, so he figured keeping Lucca close and in control of a section of the mob ties would keep him busy enough not to try overthrowing him. Problem was… if Titus didn’t step up to the plate soon, then Lucca would.

With that in mind, Boris had been choosy while hiring pack members to help run Love Bites. It was a step up from spending most of his time dealing out punishment to whoever had pissed Anthony off for the day. But that was what he was… the punisher. And you had to be the alpha’s right hand man to become the punisher, so most of the wolves would obey him without much thought. Now he was Titus’s right hand man and that’s where he wanted to stay.

Looking around the bar, he listened as some of the wolves made fun of the gothic decorations, but Boris pointed out that the Goth crowd within the city was full of rich college kids with a movie-style vampire fetish who were loaded with money. That seemed to get their attention. Yeah, it was always the same with the wolves… money was the bottom line.

Feeling the power of a true alpha enter the bar, Boris looked toward the doors from his view through the office window. He smiled seeing Titus stop just inside the doors to look around. He had to admit this place was a little startling to anyone who had never been here. He was surprised Titus had made it here this quickly. He’d still been in Malta when he’d called him during the predawn hours.

Reaching over, Boris pressed the button on the intercom system, “Titus, there’s a flight of stairs on your far left. Come up to the office.” He closed his eyes knowing he had the equivalent of two minutes to decide how to tell Titus he had just inherited most of Anthony’s holdings.

*****

Alicia was tired of sulking about it. If she had to stay here, then she might as well make the best of it. Plus, she was hungry and everyone was gone. The house was so huge that it took her a few minutes to even locate the kitchen… that and the fact that the door to it was closed. Most people didn’t have a door on their kitchen, but then again… it wasn’t people living in this house.

Shifters don’t eat as much as humans because they didn’t age at the same rate. They could even go months without it affecting them, though most shifters liked food enough to partake in it every day. Living around humans had a way of rubbing off on the paranormal. However, there were a couple things that would make a shifter hungry… injury, fighting, sex… or the need for sex… AKA heat. And at the moment she was starving.

Opening the fridge she frowned… lots to drink but no food. Checking the cabinets was equally as depressing. All empty, unless you counted the spider webs in the corners and the five cans of coffee. Now she understood why the door had been closed.

Hearing something behind her, Alicia spun around to find Damon coming into the kitchen with his arms full of grocery bags.

Damon withheld the smirk and kept his expression relaxed, “Figured you’d be hungry.” Setting the bags down on the bar, he made his way back outside to get the rest.

Alicia was stunned. Damon had gone shopping… for her? Looking in the bags, her eyes widened at all the food… good food too. She pulled out a bag of seedless white grapes and started munching while putting the food up.

She rolled her eyes realizing Damon had done it again… made her so speechless that she’d forgotten to thank him. He must think she was the most ungrateful girl in the world. Alicia blew her bangs out of her eyes wondering how to pay him back for everything he’d done. She needed to find a way to pay them all back.

Damon walked back into the kitchen setting the rest of the groceries on the bar. He grabbed a couple of can items and he slowly walked toward her.

Alicia turned and watched him come closer but for the life of her she couldn’t move. Oh he was a very bad boy when he leaned against her and placed the cans in the cabinet above her. It was a good feeling… his body pressed against hers making her thighs go up in flames. Maybe it wasn’t food she was starving for.

“You don’t get to do that,” Alicia’s voice was small. She tried to push him away but either he was like a wall or she wasn’t really trying. She gazed at her traitorous hands when they stayed pressed against his chest.

“Admit it,” Damon was suddenly in the mood to push buttons.

“Admit what?” Alicia felt fear slide through her like a wicked intimate caress.

“What you feel when you're alone with me… what we both feel,” Damon pushed.

“It doesn’t matter what I… what we...” Alicia raised her gaze to meet his realizing in a roundabout way she had just admitted it.

“What we want,” Damon finished for her, his voice growing a little darker. Someone knocked on the front door. He didn’t move a muscle as she slipped under his arm and headed for the front door. Hearing a male voice, Damon turned his head toward the sound and narrowed his eyes. That brother of hers was starting to get on his nerves.

Damon leaned in the doorway of the living room, watching as Micah lowered the suitcase to the floor then pulled her in for another hug.

The first thing Micah noticed was that Alicia was on fire… then the scent of her arousal hit him hard. Tightening his hold, his eyes slowly lifted to the vampire on the other side of the room.

Alicia quickly pulled away from Micah when she heard him inhale her scent. ‘Oh god, please don’t let him know.’ She silently prayed.

Glancing up at him, she could tell by the golden color that was bleeding into his beautiful blue eyes. He did know… all male shifters would know unless they already had a mate. Panicking, she started talking animatedly about putting the suitcase in her room and nearly ran up the stairs with it.

Micah closed the door behind him a little too hard. He knew she wasn’t a little girl any more… but that was taking it a bit too far for his liking. The emotion running through him was much like a father would feel when he realized his daughter had just figured out what sex was and had decided to start dating the thug from down the street.

“Alicia!” Micah yelled and took off up the stairs after her.

Damon was speechless as he stared at the empty spot Micah had just been standing in. What the hell was that all about? He ran the scene through his mind again trying to figure it out. Micah hugs Alicia and she pushed him away then runs upstairs… that must have pissed Micah off because now he was mad and chasing her. Something about that was just a little too Jerry Springer to be right.