Purrfect Protector (9 page)

Aleksi hesitated. “I should call Scott for an update.”

Kale wasn’t above begging. Something inside him just wanted to be close to the shifter, needed to be close, but he wasn’t ready to look at that need too closely. Agreeing to honesty and promising not to run was as fast as he was willing to go with this budding relationship right now.
Holy shit, I’m in a relationship.

He shoved the shock aside and focused on getting Aleksi to stay with him. “Please?”

“Only for a little while,” Aleksi conceded.

Kale scooted forward to leave room for Aleksi to squeeze in behind him once he stripped off his pants, underwear and boots. The water level rose, swelling to the brim.

“The water might spill over,” he warned.

“That’s okay. The boards are old but strong, they can take a little water.” Aleksi kissed his ear, gently pulling him so Kale’s back rested against Aleksi’s front.

Sighing, Kale let the last of the tension in him float away. He knew Aleksi wouldn’t let him drown since it wouldn’t look good for the whole bodyguard image.

He relaxed in Aleksi’s hold and trailed his fingers up and down Aleksi’s forearms. “So…how about we give introducing me to your tiger another go?”

Chapter Five

As they stood outside, Aleksi wasn’t sure this was such a good idea. He hadn’t exactly introduced Kale to his tiger in the most careful of ways and the last thing he wanted was for his lover to run from him—especially when his tiger could think they were playing a game and chase after Kale.

He didn’t want to call Kale
his
human yet. Despite the mutual pleasure they’d found in the bath yesterday, they were taking it slow. The more dominant and predatory the animal half of the shifter was, the more danger a prospective mate was in. Aleksi wasn’t going to make the leap or let his cat become too attached to Kale until he knew they had something more than just attraction between them.

“Kale…”

Kale called him on his attempt to delay shifting. “Stop stalling and show me. I swear I won’t run and I’ll do everything you told me to do. I won’t approach you until you come to me first, I won’t stare into your eyes and most importantly, I won’t run.”

Aleksi had perfect control of his cat but the feral instincts were still there and he didn’t want to take any chances with Kale. Knowing Kale wasn’t going to let him put this off much longer, he sighed. “Okay.”

There wasn’t a big ceremony or the horror show writhing in pain where bones popped and snapped. Aleksi’s shift was seamless. One minute he stood in his man form and the next, his tiger burst free. If he had to describe how the process felt, he would liken it to stretching out all his muscles after a long sleep in a small space or after a very long drive. It felt good—freeing—and gave him a jolt of energy.

He lifted his head high and roared happily, chuffing when the forest birds chirped and flew into the air in answer. Perhaps he’d go and chase them later. He hadn’t done that for a while.

“Oh. Fuck.”

The whispered curse drew his attention and he snapped his gaze over to the little man. The cat part of his brain assessed Kale as a potential meal but quickly rejected the idea of eating the nice-smelling human.

Aleksi drew in a deep breath, analyzing the scents until he filtered out all the irrelevant information and focused on the human’s scent. There was fear there—a good amount of it—but that wasn’t new. Everyone feared him. However, there was also something else. It wasn’t pleasure or surprise. It was something new, something he hadn’t identified before in this form.

He stepped forward slowly so as not to startle the human and crouched when he got within a few feet of Kale. What would the human do next?

He didn’t have to wait long to find out as Kale took a hesitant step toward him, head down in a submissive gesture that Aleksi appreciated. He made an encouraging sound and the human’s gaze flicked up to his, eyes wide before looking quickly away again.

Thankfully, his tiger had no interest in declaring dominance over Kale so Aleksi loosened the reins of his control a little, letting his animal nature interact more freely with his new lover.

Non-shifters never understood the relationship a shifter had with their animal. It was a part of them,
was
them, but at the same time, it was something wild with a will of its own. Dominant predatory shifters were taught from birth to keep an iron control over their animals. Otherwise, there would be a deep conflict inside them that often left the shifter mad, dead or hunted down for the good of others. Even though he’d only had a few years with his family before they’d died, Aleksi remembered that first lesson.

Once an understanding was reached between animal and man personalities, shifters became whole. If that balance wasn’t reached, then they had a problem.

Aleksi stayed where he was and Kale closed the distance between them. He made a soft trill, the cat equivalent of hello, and gently pressed his nose into Kale’s middle. The size difference between them meant he had to be very careful not to hurt Kale, but when Kale brought his hand up to smooth behind his ear, all bets were off. Aleksi pushed more forcefully against Kale and huffed when he accidently knocked the human back onto his ass.

With careful movements, he crawled forward and placed his big head in Kale’s lap. He mindfully turned his head so his extended canines didn’t inadvertently cause damage to his lover.

“Umm. Are you asking for more scritches?”

He made an assenting noise like a chirp and rubbed his cheek on Kale’s legs.

Kale must have understood because he started the lovely petting again. It wasn’t long before a rumbling purr started in his chest, making the human beneath him vibrate too, but Kale didn’t stop smoothing and rubbing him. Aleksi closed his eyes and let the attention soothe him.

* * * *

Aleksi finished buttoning his pants and looked at Kale, who looked as relaxed as Aleksi felt. He was still stunned that Kale had stayed with him and had indulged his cat. No one had ever done that before. Everyone got scared and left. Even Scott and his friends, who he loved as brothers, got twitchy around his tiger.

Searching for something to say, Aleksi wrapped his arms around Kale’s waist, bringing their bodies together. He wasn’t the only one getting aroused now that he had shifted back. “My tiger will know you next time, so you won’t have to be as formal.”

“So he likes me?”

Kale sounded so hopeful Aleksi couldn’t smother the laugh bubbling up from his chest. “Yes, he likes you.”

“Good. Want to take a bath?”

Aleksi knew neither of them was concerned about the dirt and autumn leaves sticking to their clothes. He smiled, letting his teeth show in a predatory smile. “Definitely.” Kale giggled then broke free of the embrace and ran toward the house.

“Last one in has to do the dishes later,” Kale shouted back, laughing as he entered the house.

Aleksi laughed too before chasing after the silly human.

* * * *

Aleksi observed the Parisian crowds gathered around taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower. People oohed and aahed and clicked photo after photo. He had to admit that it was impressive. He’d never had the opportunity to see it in all its glory before. His previous visits to Paris had been at night and had only required him to stay a few hours in order to complete a job.

Kale stood beside him, just as taken with the beauty as the rest of the tourists. Their flight to Milan left in a few hours. They really didn’t have time to sightsee, but Kale had really wanted to visit this place. The photo shoot hadn’t run on as long as the one with Philippe had, so Aleksi had caved and said they could come here on the way to the airport. Their car was waiting for them nearby and Aleksi was ready to bundle up Kale and run like a quarterback to safety.

“Thank you for this,” Kale said softly, reaching out to take his hand as he kept staring at the tourist tower.

“You’re welcome.” Aleksi looked down at their joined hands and smiled.

* * * *

Aleksi watched the crowds, scanning them for any indication of a threat. Something wasn’t sitting right with him. The day before in Paris had gone smoothly and he’d spotted nothing to suggest that they were being watched or followed. Scott and the police hadn’t found anything to suggest that Not-Barry had followed them to Paris or to where they were now in Milan. No one matching the description had been reported as flying to either France or Italy.

But there was something not quite right.

Someone as dedicated to his obsession as Not-Barry wouldn’t simply give up. Scott had called before they’d left for Milan to say that Not-Barry’s fingerprints had come back and had been flagged as a person of interest in three other murders in the last two years—all high-profile people, either on television or in magazines. The police had also been contacted by the FBI, saying they wanted to be kept in the loop regarding Not-Barry. In his experience with the FBI, they were great at tracking people, but not that good with sharing the information with others. Competition between the alphabet agencies was still alive and kicking. The FBI were keen on being kept in the loop with this, which suggested that Not-Barry had information they wanted. They must intend to offer the man a deal, probably immunity.

After this, they had a one-night stopover before flying out to New York for a charity job Kale had spoken of in the beginning. Aleksi knew the man was looking forward to event by the animated way Kale talked about it.

The travel times were ridiculous. They barely had enough time to catch their breaths before having to make another appointment. This wasn’t exactly the glamorous champagne-and-leisure lifestyle he’d imagined models lived. Kale seemed used to the running around, though, and he didn’t hear the man complain once.

They’d arrived in Milan hours ago and had gone straight to the fashion show where the creative director had told Kale he would be opening and closing the event. Aleksi guessed that was an important thing because Kale had practically been buzzing after the news.

The security for the fashion show had been eyeballing him since they’d gotten here. The head of the team wasn’t buying that Aleksi was here as an overprotective boyfriend. Ironically enough, that part was now true, but it wasn’t the whole truth.

As he watched Kale getting ready, he tried not to glare at the dressers and assistants pawing at his lover. They had agreed not to sleep together until Not-Barry was caught. Both of them were afraid of being burned and didn’t want to be too invested if things went badly.

That didn’t mean they weren’t having as many
baths
as Kale could stand. Their time at his house hadn’t been long enough. Aleksi wanted to keep the model there indefinitely, where he would be safe, but even he realized that was a no-go.

He growled as the overly helpful dressing assistant tried to cop a feel while helping Kale into some weird getup that convinced Aleksi he knew nothing about fashion. What he was seeing looked more like a DIY Halloween costume gone wrong. It had ribbon and…bits hanging off wire almost a foot from Kale’s bare torso. Even squinting and cocking his head to the side didn’t yield any view he considered good. This really was a completely different world.

Aleksi smirked as Kale batted the grabbing hand away and, with a single scathing look, sent the assistant running.

The male model next to Kale stopped preening and posing in front of the mirror. “Too good for a pre-show suck-off?” To make the crude point, the model gripped the head of one of his dressers and pushed the guy toward his groin, thrusting for show.

“No. Too good to be mauled like a club slut—or to behave like one.” Kale didn’t even look in the other model’s direction as he delivered the verbal blow. Aleksi’s lover could do bitchy quite well, it seemed.

The model’s face flushed red with anger and he shoved the willing assistant off him, taking a step toward Kale. “Now I
know
a stuck-up princess like you needs a good, hard fucking. I’ll bet you haven’t had that itch scratched in a long time, princess.”

Aleksi lost his humor and came forward, standing next to Kale so the model could see he was more than capable of satisfying Kale—and squashing the asshole like an annoying bug.

“That won’t be necessary. I take care of any
itches
Kale has.”

The forward model quickly turned on the spot and marched away from them, followed by his posse of dressers.

Kale touched his arm and blew him a kiss. “Thanks, honey.”

“Aww,” the gaggle of assistants and dressers sang together.

Aleksi had momentarily forgotten about the crowd watching them. Even the other models looked amused by the asshole’s departure.

Only Aleksi seemed to recognize the anger in Kale’s eyes. The other assistants and models just swooned and giggled together as they gave him appraising looks. Aleksi would likely be faced with one angry Kale when they got back to the hotel. Hell, it might be worth it. Kale was hot when he was calm but Aleksi imagined Kale was stunning when he was angry.

A bell sounded and someone with a clipboard shouted they had five minutes before the show began. Everyone went back to his or her tasks, rushing to get it all finished on time.

Aleksi waited until Kale’s gaze met his in the mirror and Aleksi mouthed ‘sorry
’.

The angry spark didn’t disappear, but it lessened, and Kale nodded slightly.

Not forgiven but at least able to sleep without one eye open tonight, Aleksi turned his attention back to their surroundings. There were models and designers everywhere, models trying to breathe in ridiculously tight clothes and somehow wedge their feet into shoes three sizes too small with heels taller than the length of their forearms.

Several models walked past him, looking neither male nor female. Another came past with what looked like a birdcage on her head, followed by a designer who appeared to wearing a coat made from hair.

This is a strange, strange world.