Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (4 page)

Logan
shook his head.  "Lucas sent them to back me up."

"Right
in one.  It's your own fault you know. If you hadn't disappeared the way you
did for weeks looking for your vixen he wouldn’t be so overprotective
now."

Logan could
hardly argue that, as it was the truth.  Though it must be said, he was a grown
ass man who did not need babysitting, but Lucas took all his packs safety
seriously.  He would tell him when he saw him he did not need his interference,
but it would do no good.  Lucas always put the safety of his pack first.  Logan
turned to look at his mate again.  "Feel like meeting the in-laws?"

"Oh,
so you are going to ask me," she said mildly.  "For a moment I
thought I was going to have to kick your ass on principle.  But since you
asked."  She smiled big at him.  "I would be delighted to meet your
pack."  There was something else working behind her smile that he didn’t
care for, but he knew already that she would only tell him what she wanted him
to know, and he would have to wait for the rest.  Waiting.  He was beginning to
hate that word.

"Glad
that's settled," Eli said robustly.  His good humor fully restored. 
"Now you have fun for the next few hours and try not to break any of the
furniture.  Cleo and Shawn will be there by two in the am.”  They both heard
the click as Eli hung up the phone and Logan watched Xena's face as she fought
another laugh at his friend’s manner.

"Is
he always like that?"

"Yes."

She
shook her head and then raised a brow when he kept watching her with what he
knew had to be wolf gold eyes.  "So we have a few hours.  What do you
think?  Parcheesi?"

Logan
snorted.  "Is there such a thing as strip Parcheesi?"

She
laughed again.  "No."

"Then
not only no, but fuck no, to Parcheesi."

He
watched Xena tap her toes in the ensuing silence.  He just watched her,
surprisingly, though he still wanted to strip her down and mount her across the
desk; he was enjoying just looking at her as well.

She
pursed her lips.  "Fine," she finally said.  "I'm going to check
out the kitchen and, if there is anything in there, I'll make something to
eat."

Logan
raised a brow at that.  "You can cook?"

She
narrowed her eyes at him, clearly seeing more in his question then he meant. 
"Don't get any ideas cowboy.  I wasn't offering to spend the rest of my
child bearing years barefoot and pregnant cooking in your kitchen at the McCord
ranch."

Logan
blinked at the statement.  Then he had to laugh.  "It was just a
question."

"Yes,"
she finally said still watching him closely for what he knew not.  "I can
cook.  So what?"

He let
the silence lengthen.  "Then...good.  I could eat."

She
snorted.  Something in his answer made her almost smile again.  She didn't tell
him, as he half expected, that she had made no offer to feed anyone but
herself.  Instead, to his surprise she went into the kitchen and moved around
it, looking pleased at the stocked larder she found. 

Finally
she spoke, "Can you cook?"

Logan
let his smile widen slowly as he met her eyes with the heat in his. 
"There are very few things I can't do in a kitchen."

She
rolled her eyes at him and plonked down a cutting board, a cheese grater and a
new package of sharp cheddar.  "Then make yourself useful cowboy, and
we'll have omelets while we wait for your pack and try not to break any of the
furniture."

Logan
laughed, and made himself useful, while he spent the time enjoyably imagining
his mate barefoot, pregnant, and cooking in his kitchen at McCord ranch.  In
his fantasies she was also naked.

Xena had
never spent a great deal of time around mated couples, or pack mates really. 
So, she was unsure what to expect when she met Cleo Gibbs and Shawn Ryan.  Though,
Cleo she had met briefly before.  It was clear she had suffered no ill effects
from being kidnapped, and Xena already knew Gerent was dead, so all’s well that
ends well.  But seeing her with her mate was a surprise. 

"I
didn’t get a chance to thank you for calling my family,” Cleo said, with a
smile.

Xena
shrugged.  "I'm not sure you needed the assistance.  From what I saw you
could handle Gerent on your own."

"Maybe,
but it was good to have the ride home just the same.”

Xena
laughed.  Like herself, Cleo Gibbs did not look near as dangerous as she was. 
At least she had height on her side.  She had a good nine inches on Xena.  She
would have pegged her for a lion shifter even if she had not known about it
ahead of time.  The girl had the customary golden coloring of that particular
shifter group, along with the blue eyes and long thin figure. With her looks,
she could have walked the Paris runways very easily.  Though at present, she
was wearing green cargo pants and a long sleeved simple army green t-shirt and
combat boots.  Plus, Xena could not count all the weapons the girl had secreted
in those simple clothes, and that was not even counting the gun and two knives
that were obvious.  Xena had the inane thought that this is what a combat
Barbie would look like.  She was smart enough to keep the thought to herself.

With
Xena, everyone looked at her and first saw a small woman and made their
judgments from there.  She had a feeling Cleo received the same types of
reactions, because she was a beautiful woman, and young.  Her mate Shawn Ryan
was a surprise.  For some reason Xena had expected a big bruiser of an alpha,
but, the hawk shifter, while taller than Cleo, lacked the bulk she was
expecting. 

He had
the hard sinewy muscle of a runner or a swimmer, and lacked discernible body
fat.  He wore jeans and a black t-shirt like they had been invented with him in
mind.  With the intelligent watchfulness of his eyes and the way he moved, Xena
knew enough to know that, like his mate, he should not be underestimated.  He
said and moved only as much as he needed to, but each move or word had
purpose.  The second she saw the flow of that purposeful movement she knew the
man would be a dangerous adversary in a fight.

Shawn
and Cleo were both so graceful, like deadly dancers, and they seemed in harmony
with each other and their environment, which showed both training and a
connection to each other. 

Even
Xena, on such a short acquaintance could have told you they were mated within
seconds of meeting them just by the way they moved around each other.  She
would not have liked to face either of them in a fight.  She assumed, looking
at them, that together they would be unbeatable, and it made her question
before she could stop herself, if Logan and she would ever have that degree of
connection when they mated.

It was a
seductive idea, because it was something she never thought to have in her life.
Someone just for her?  Ridiculous.  If life had taught her anything it was that
she was better off alone, and even if she decided to let this mate thing stand,
it did not follow that she would ever trust Logan that much.  So it was stupid
to think about it.

"We
have the jet waiting on the tarmac," Cleo said not even bothering to keep
her own examination of Xena to herself.  "You want to change before we
head out?"

Xena raised
her brow at that.  Yes, she most emphatically wanted to change, but the safe
house while stocked with food, towels, and things like shampoo and soap, had no
supply of clothes on hand to make that possible.  "That would be lovely,
but, and you can tell this to whomever stocked the safe house, emergency
clothes would be a good addition, if anyone ever ends up here again."  She
turned to give Logan a mock starch look that teased.  "If you were the all-knowing
SEAL, prepared for any eventuality as you suggest, this would have been
foreseen."  She sighed deep.  "Disappointing."

Logan
gave her his warrior stare, then looked her over from the top of her sleek hair
to her bare feet.  His sexy smile came back slowly as his eyes went diamond
bright.  "Who said we didn't have clothes to change into?"

Xena
blinked up at him for a moment absorbing this.  Then her eyes narrowed. 
"I asked you outright if there was something I could change into before I
started to cook, and you said no."

"Sweetheart
if I had something sexier than that dress I would have supplied it, but you
cannot blame me for wanting to see you whip up an omelet in a sexy red dress,
so the answer was  definitely no to changing clothes."  His smile widened
with a touch more heat.  "The only sight that could have beat it was you
naked while cooking me dinner."

Shawn
snorted his amusement at that, and Cleo looked like she was biting her lip to
keep her own laughter in.

It took
Xena a moment to absorb what he said, and then she couldn't help it, she
laughed.  "You are such a troglodyte."

"A
troglodyte would have ripped the dress off you and bent you over the kitchen
island," Logan disagreed, with the same sexy grin.  "I just
fantasized about it. Repeatedly.”

Xena was
happy she didn’t blush easily because that would have done it.  Her eyes were
locked in deep hazel when Cleo cleared her throat reminding her they had an
audience.

"There
are probably some clothes in the bedrooms, though chances are you will swim in
it, whatever it is.  If you want to wait until we get to the jet I have
something you can wear."  She shrugged. "Chances are you will swim in
that too, but at least it's female clothes."

Xena
pulled her eyes away from Logan's with an effort.  When she could get some
moisture to return to her dry throat she answered.  "I have a locker at
the airport.  I can change after I pick up my travel bag."

Since no
one in this group found it the least strange that she had an airport locker for
quick getaways they all moved on.

"Then
if you two are done flirting we can get out of Prague before things get any
hotter than they are.”  Said Cleo.

Since
she was looking them both over with a raised brow, Xena had a feeling the sex
vibes she was feeling whenever she was in the same room as Logan might be
obvious to the others. 

Wonderful.

Logan
and Shawn went about securing the premises while Cleo stayed with Xena.  She
got the impression that Cleo was actually guarding her.  It was cute.  Not that
she had any doubt that Cleo could handle anything that came at them, in the
middle of the living room of the reinforced and secure safe house, but that
Logan thought she warranted extra security.  And from the look he had passed to
Cleo when he turned to do his thing in the house, she knew who wanted her
protected.  Very Alpha male with his mate.  Made a girl want to wrestle him
down to the ground and bite him. 

Maybe
that was just her though.

Xena put
on her shoes while they were waiting and tipped her chin in gratitude when Cleo
handed her a long trench coat from the hall closet.  It came nearly to her
ankles, but since she had ran out of the party without claiming her wrap it
would have to do.

"What
were you doing in South America with Gerent?"  Cleo asked the question
while Xena was still tying her coat and she looked up into the girls clear blue
eyes and saw both determination and something else, not really curiosity, more
like a small kernel of careful suspicion.

Xena
thought about Logan and his mysterious past dealings with Kral and the
connection, however tenuous with Gerent.  These Lionsgate people seemed to be
running in very dangerous waters, and she was not sure which side they would
fall on.  She knew enough about Lionsgate to know you wanted them on your side,
but she also knew they were not exactly a subtle group.  So on one hand she
hoped they were not in any way involved with the hunting of their own kind, and
in fact, her gut told her they would help her find the people responsible.  On
the other hand, she didn’t think the run in and blow shit up way of doing
things was going to work with this one.  She wanted all the people responsible,
not just the people running the hunts themselves.  So, telling Logan, Cleo
Gibbs, or anyone else why she was in Rio?  Not going to happen.  But looking
into the eyes of the very young but stalwart Cleo Gibbs, she also did not want
to lie.

"I
was on a job.  Gerent led me to Kral, Kral seems to be a dead end for now, and
beyond that I can't talk about it."

Cleo
tilted her head and examined her.  "But you work for an organization? 
Shifter run?"

Xena
smiled at the girl and gave her more of the truth, but not all of it.  "I
am not really good at the joining thing, but presently I am working for the
good guys, if that makes you feel better.  I was freelance, I came to the
attention of some people and they occasionally offer me jobs.  If I like the
job, the pay, or the reason behind it I take it."

Cleo's
eyes sharpened.  "Shifter people?  As in the council, or someone
else?"

Xena
cocked her head and studied the girl just as intently, her answer was as clear
as she could make it when she saw the intelligence there.  "I have been
known to work on council business, though the hallowed halls of shifter justice
don't like me to show my face around the office too much."  Xena thought
of the standing hate she had going on with the she bitch Margarete, her council
connections secretary.  "They prefer purity in all things."

Xena was
thinking she needed to make a personal appearance at the first opportunity when
she heard a snort and turned to see that Logan and Shawn had joined them as
well, both men’s eyes were on her.  Not a surprise really, she had known the
second they came up behind her.

Cleo
made a face.  "Most shifters prefer to mingle with only their own kind,
and purely their own kind, not really a shock that the council would be the same.
Disappointing, when they are supposed to be the prevailing law for all
shifters, but not really a surprise considering what we have heard of
them."  Cleo pursed her lips and looked Xena over again.  Clearly not pure
anything with her Native American father and African/ Asian mother.  Her eyes
were assessing, but not in a judgmental way, but there was definite suspicion just
under the easy tone.  "What did you do for the council?  And freelance
what?"

Seems
the interrogation was going to continue, Xena thought mildly but decided to
give it to them and let the chips fall.  Her eyes moved to Logan so she could
gauge his reaction to what she was going to reveal.

"I
was a thief," she said mildly enough. Shawn stood beside him, and like Cleo,
they were both looking very interested in her answer.  She shrugged. 
"Occasionally if the job calls for it, I still am.  Only now it's usually
information I'm stealing."

Instead
of the censure and ramping up of suspicion Cleo just looked more interested. 
"You any good?"

That
drew Xena's eyes from Logan, back to the girl.  She caught the still, clear,
mildly curious look in Cleo's face.  Xena laughed and shrugged, smiling. 
"Never went after something I didn't get."

Logan
stepped forward until he had all her attention once again.  "What a
coincidence," he said with a soft drawl just kissing his deep voice. 
"Neither have I."

Xena let
her eyes trail down that big hard body like they wanted to, and then tilting
her head way back she gave him her own sexy grin and said, probably foolishly,
exactly what she was thinking in that moment.  "Giddy-up."

Cleo
laughed outright, while Shawn snorted but Logan's eyes fired to wolf gold and
the other two ceased to exist, though she heard them talking as they walked a
bit away from them.

"We
clear?" Cleo asked her mate.

"We
are," he said back just as briefly.

Xena was
too busy watching the gold heat flash brighter in Logan's eyes at her teasing
to pay attention to the other two.  Deliberately she licked her bottom lip and
watched the heat burn hot as the raptor eyes she looked into moved to her moist
lips and locked on.

 "If
you are looking to find out how far you can push me, you reached the end
darlin'."  His drawl was more evident with each word, and his eyes held as
much threat as was inherent in his words, even if his voice was mild and just
for her.  "Keep it up and you might not like the result, but I sure as
fuck will."

"Don't
be silly cowboy," she answered just as low.  "You can take a little
lip lick and tease without losing control, but if not," she shrugged as
her voice trailed off.  "I'll be sure to keep you in line if you fall down
on the job yourself."

Logan
tilted his head and studied her, the humor flowing back into his face at her
words.  "Why is it half the time since I met you I can't decide whether I
want to kiss you, or just tussle you to the ground for a good wrestle?”

Xena
laughed and the tension between them flowed away and she turned to follow Cleo
and Shawn who had moved to the door and were patiently waiting for them there. 
She looked at Logan over her shoulder.  "Maybe we'll try both," she
said on a laugh.  "If you're good.”