Purrfect Protector (10 page)

* * * *

Camera flashes went off everywhere. Aleksi stood next to the raised stage and runway that ran the length of the large temporary event room. He’d argued with the head of security until finally he’d had to show his Shifter Protection Specialist, Inc. identification. The fact that the man recognized it straight away told Aleksi their reputation in the industry was solid. Scott would be thrilled when he told him.

After that, Aleksi had had his choice of position and the security team was told to report anything strange—or whatever passed as strange for the fashion world.

The last few models on the schedule were stomping down the runway. Kale would be up again next, closing the show with a bang, according to the creative director’s notes. Even the security guy in charge looked impressed that he’d managed to get his hands on a copy of it. Aleksi didn’t tell him that he’d taken advantage of the man screaming at assistants to use powder-blue eye shadow instead of duck-egg blue. He’d snatched the guy’s clipboard, taken a photo of the information then returned it before the irate director could turn back around.

All he’d had to do then was fire it off to the printer he’d spotted earlier.

The spectators were dressed almost as weirdly as the models. He counted seventeen fake accents in the front row alone. No one appeared to want to be who themselves, preferring to put on an act for those around them.

Unfortunately, that meant Aleksi had to figure out whether they were hiding something because they were fake idiots or whether someone there posed a credible threat to Kale.

No matter what the police said, Aleksi wasn’t convinced Not-Barry had given up.

The two models came off the runway after completing their walks and ran behind the curtain to get ready for the next fashion house to take over the show.

He scanned the crowd again, watching people’s hands. The audience fell silent and the lights dimmed until just one spotlight remained. Aleksi gasped, speechless, when Kale stepped into the circle of white light. His lover wore a sheer sheet of fabric draped over his head and body. The only other thing Kale had on was a pair of white skintight pants with what looked like safety pins running down the outside legs. The sheer sheet glittered in the intense beam of the spotlight. Wind machines erupted from the stage floor at the end of the runway. The burst of air forced the sheet taught against Kale’s front, flapping and waving behind him like silver flames. Kale began his walk, pushing against the fabric, as the wind got stronger the closer he got.

Aleksi stood mesmerized.

Kale looks…magical.

Almost having to rip his eyes away from the beautiful sight, Aleksi focused on the crowd again. They were just as enamored, some open-mouthed and drooling, others obviously short of breath. Aleksi was doing both.

By the time Kale hit his stride, Aleksi was hard as stone and struggling to concentrate on the people in the audience.

Kale was in his element as he reached the end of the runway and nailed his pose.

The wind machines were on almost full power now, pushing the fabric against him like a second skin. All eyes and attention were on him. No one was talking to his or her neighbor or even texting.

As a model, the best you could hope for was having people remember you after you left the room. Right now, he was eclipsing that. Everyone here would remember this show closer. Men rarely closed a designer’s show. It was a job usually reserved for whatever girl or woman the press was talking about.

But not this time. This show was
his
.

Kale paused for another minute at the end, doing a small back bend with his arms wide behind him and leaned forward at the ankles so it looked as if the wind were keeping him standing. Cameras flashed in all directions and he smiled. It was like being outside and looking at the stars. Except this time, he got to be one of them.

He did a three count and straightened before turning and letting the draped fabric fly off him and into the hands of a waiting assistant. It was very theatrical but he could honestly say this was his favorite show yet. Hopefully he’d get to work with the designer or creative director again. Their ideas were original, which was surprisingly rare.

On his walk back, Kale let his hips swing a little, adding just a hint more sexuality to his body language. He daren’t even look at Aleksi again as he approached the end of the stage. If he did, there would be nowhere to hide his erection in the white pants. He’d probably bust a pin. The heat emanating from the shifter when Kale had stepped into the light had been enough to get him excited and it had given him the confidence to put on a show. The design was a nod to the fashion house’s past, bringing it into the present and adapting it to become a statement piece for modern style.

There were only a few more steps and Kale could change and go find Aleksi. The hotel was a twenty-minute drive. But Kale was hoping that if he could talk the creative director into letting him borrow the pants for another half hour. Then maybe he could convince Aleksi to sneak into one of the meeting rooms out back. No one would be using them while the show was on.

As he stopped to do his last pose, a little look over his shoulder and give the crowd a cheeky wink, something caught his eye. He turned to his left in time to see a man launch himself at the stage.

Kale leaped back but managed to stay upright. He couldn’t let the audience see how terrified he was. Aleksi would keep him safe. He was one hundred percent sure of that. Kale just had protect himself until Aleksi reached him.

The man scrambled up onto the stage before Aleksi or the security team could get to him and Kale. The high from the walk drained away and Kale sidestepped as the guy made to lunge at him, taking something shiny out of his pocket and wielding it like a knife. His shifter bodyguard jumped onto the stage and landed with the feline grace that seemed to come naturally to him. Aleksi quickly grabbed the man and pushed him off the stage and into the waiting hands of three security guys.

Thank God.

Kale stood rooted to the spot. Everyone was silent and even the runway music had cut out. The spotlight had dimmed as the other lights in the room had come back on. Everyone now looked at him for a different reason now and he wasn’t in control.

“It’s okay. It’s not him, just someone who has had too much to drink. Finish your walk, make them remember that instead,” Aleksi whispered it in his ear.

Aleksi kissed him on the cheek. With a push from the shifter, Kale found himself turned around, facing the opposite end of the runway, the way he’d come.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. This was
his
runway.
He
was closing the show and damn anyone who wanted to take that from him.

Lifting his chin, Kale squared his shoulders and strode halfway up the runway, striking a stronger, less delicate pose than before and spun around. The hint of sexuality from before turned into full-on temptation as he lengthened his strides and rolled his hips in a way that promised sin with his new stamping walk. This wasn’t his usual nice, sweet, good-boy walk. It was a pissed-off, confident strut and he fastened his gaze on Aleksi, prowling toward his man who had moved just behind the curtains to the stage entrance, waiting for him. He hoped the message was clear that he was coming for Aleksi.

By the time he got to the curtain this time, he threw a full, heat-filled grin at the audience.

The designer and director ran up to him as soon as he entered the backstage area, full of apologies and praise. “My word, you were wonderful. So alive and exciting. Innocent one minute and sinful the next. You are a delight.” The designer kissed his cheeks twice each and waved a hand at Kale’s outfit. “You must keep these. I insist.”

Kale wasn’t going to argue with that. “Thank you. I am sorry your show got ruined.”

“Ha! You made the show even better. Half of that lot out there thinks it was all part of the act. I didn’t know you had it in you, Kale. Don’t be surprised if your agent gets flooded with offers. Where is he, anyway? Your brother usually attends the fashion-week shows to mingle.”

“He’s probably busy,” Kale supplied. His brother had texted him earlier saying he wouldn’t make it. It wasn’t unusual for Caleb to be caught up in some deal or another, or be on a date with the latest pretty actress trying to make it big. His brother was quite the Casanova in the press. What the journalists didn’t know was that Caleb didn’t sleep with the actresses he took out on dates. He only introduced them to the right people to give them a foot in the door. Some had gone on to sign Hollywood blockbuster roles.

“No rest for the wicked. And you simply
must
do my next show at Bryant Park.” The designer didn’t wait for Kale’s answer, just ran off chasing after a model who was trying to stuff her designer dress and what looked like half the makeup table into her purse.

“I guess I’ll tell Caleb to expect your call,” he said lamely, a little overwhelmed. He’d thought the show had been a disaster because of the drunk. It was why he hadn’t held back on his last walk. In his mind, he’d had nothing to lose so thought he might as well go out with a bang.

“You must tell him to call me,” the creative director crooned.

Kale nodded but he could tell he’d already lost the man’s attention when he ran in the opposite direction, talking into the headset to someone named Tyra about her girls needing to be on set in three seconds or they were cut.

Kale just blinked and looked up at Aleksi beside him, blinking again when he couldn’t think of anything to say.

The shifter was surveying the room, watching everything that was going on, but he didn’t tense, so Kale didn’t think anything was wrong. “I think I have a headache.”

“Well there goes my plan of a quickie in the meeting room.”

Aleksi growled and glared down at him. Kale was beginning to recognize and interpret the shifter’s growls. This one was either ‘don’t speak to me about not eating sugar’ or ‘I really want to touch you but I need to keep you safe’
.

Kale was almost certain that Aleksi didn’t care whether he ate sugar or not right now. Kale could practically feel the heat coming off the sex-on-a-stick shifter. Aleksi’s bulging arms stretching the almost transparent black material of his T-shirt caught Kale’s eye and the muscles jumped as he stared at them. He licked his lips. What he wouldn’t give right now to bite them.

“Come on. Let’s get back to the hotel where you can do as many safety checks as you want then we can explore what wonderful things I can do with my mouth.” He stretched up on tiptoes and kissed Aleksi soundly on the lips. He didn’t have to translate the next growl. He grinned as he backed away.

* * * *

As they exited the hotel elevator, Kale hung back a few seconds until Aleksi reached for his hand to tell him it was safe. Kale knocked on the door as they were going past Caleb’s room. There was no answer, so his brother must still be out. Kale pulled out his phone to check for missed calls and sure enough, there was a missed call and a text message an hour old from Caleb.

I got invited to an after party for that new action movie with what’s his name. Don’t wait up. See you in the morning.

Kale quickly typed back a message.

Okay. Have fun and relax for once. Show went great. Expect a flood of designers after my body. ☺

His phone buzzed with a reply from his brother.

Will do.

Kale shrugged at the short text. Caleb must really be having fun nag to not for details. It would do his big brother good to let loose. Mr. Stuffy Shirt aka Caleb might even get laid if he took off the tie and had a few drinks.

The last relationship Caleb was in had ended badly after the woman had tried to climb into bed with Kale, who still felt guilty about it, thinking there might have been a way to prevent the brokenhearted look on his brother’s face when Kale had told him. That had been two years ago and no one had managed to get past his brother’s walls since.

Come to think of it, the anniversary of that debacle was coming up soon. It might even have been tonight.
Damn, I should really get an actual calendar instead of an event schedule.
This was another thing he needed to change. He’d become entirely too self-absorbed and the world around him was passing him by.

Aleksi squeezed his hand gently, getting his attention. “Let’s not linger here. You can call Caleb from your room.”

Kale shook his head and continued walking down the corridor until they reached his room. “No, I’ll leave him alone. He’s probably turned his phone off now for the night anyway so he can have some peace and quiet.”

“He did seem a bit tired and weary in Scott’s office.”

“I know. I worry about him, but he insists he doesn’t need a break.”

“Perhaps after we catch Not-Barry, you can both stay at my house in the woods for a while.”

Aleksi was scanning the area, but Kale could see the shifter was nervous about making the offer. It set a precedent for making plans past Aleksi protecting him.

However, Kale’s heart melted at the invitation. He knew Aleksi never let anyone in his house but his family, the people he worked with—it was his sanctuary. To offer it to Kale and his brother said more about how Aleksi felt about their relationship than either of them were ready to admit. Even though Kale wanted to take a step back from the feelings, it didn’t sit right with him to leave Aleksi hanging out there on his own.

“That is very sweet. Perhaps we can put him in the room at the other end of the hall, though. I’d want us to be
loud
when I can have you all to myself without a psycho lurking somewhere.”

Kale opened the door and watched as Aleksi entered and gave the room a onceover then checked the closet and bathroom. After entering his room, Kale closed the door behind him, waiting to see what the shifter would do. The anticipation fed the tension in the air and he had to wipe his palms on his pants.