Cleo

Liam

I was sitting in my office just doing normal Alpha tasks when my phone started to ring I saw that it was Luke so I decided to ignore it seeing how one it was my off day and two I had work that I needed to get done. Then he called back so I picked up this time I said, “what can I do for you?” Luke didn’t do small talk over the phone so I knew that he would get straight to the point and he didn’t disappoint “Cleo is going to call you I suggest you don’t make her wait because she is kind of a little pissed with you already I just thought I should give you a heads up.” Then he hung up the phone. I stared at my phone waiting for her call and I started to think back and try to remember what the hell she had to be pissed at me for then it came to me about what rick had let me know about his little visit to her and I started to think about the stuff that had arrived today. After about another minute or so my phone rang again and this time it was her. She did not waste any time and said, “We need to talk.”

I smiled and asked, “Did you like the gifts?”

She huffed and replied, “I’m pretty sure your beta told you how I felt about those gifts and what I need to talk to you about has nothing to do with us.”

 I started to get curious as I asked, “Then what is it about.”

“Does the name Brittney ring any bells?”

I paused for a few seconds and a million different possibilities about the way this conversation was going to go went through my head all at once seeing how my mate  is asking me about my ex-girlfriend who is also the only one who wants to challenge her in the mating trials but I let all that go and calmly then asked, “What about her?”

 “She’s a member of your pack right.”

All I was thinking was hurry and get to the point please when I replied “Yes.”

 “Well chances are you’re going to have to find her a new job.”

I was so relieved that Brittney was only getting fired but then I got nervous again when I realized that these two woman were going to see each other very soon in a not so good situation plus I knew that finding her a new job would be damn near impossible because brit is not very skilled at anything seeing how she was raised and taught only how to be the perfect Luna to a wealthy pack Alpha but I had to keeping talking to Cleo so I asked “Why?”

 “Because I’m going to fire her if what I keep hearing about her is true. And if you have not guessed I own majority shares in the club she works out. So, to prevent any unwanted scenes from being had I need you to meet me at the club around nine tonight and make sure she shows up to work tonight.”

 “Alright I will be there but enough about her I want to talk about us now.”

“There is no us.”

I know all she is trying to do is play hard to get because she wants me to chase her, but she will be the best Luna and she will be so beautiful with my mate mark on her neck. “Yet.”

 “Whatever that’s why there will never be an us because I will not be controlled by any man and until I decide that there is a man out there who is worthy of me mating them I will do and f**k whoever the hell I want.”

I started to get pissed off my hair started to lengthen, and my face started to change the wolf wanted control to get her to submit. I pulled him back, but he still made his presence know when I asked, “What do you mean by f**k whoever you want?”

“That is none of your concern.”

 “You started your heat, didn’t you?” it took everything inside of me not to shift and hunt her down in that moment.

“Yes, but I have it taken care of even though Luke won’t help me anymore because of you and this whole maybe we are mates thing and he doesn’t want to have any issues with you.”

“That’s good that Luke’s not helping you with your heat but that still makes me wonder who is.” I wanted her to tell me a name and I wanted it in that moment so that I could kill whoever dared to touch what belonged to me. Then she hung up on me and that just further pissed off both my wolf and I, so I tossed my phone on the desk. I walked out of the house then I ran into the woods, stripped, then shifted. I ran for about thirty minutes I rounded the training grounds where the teens were practicing there fighting skills so I decided that would be a good way to let out all this pent up aggression so I went back to where I left my clothes got dressed then went back. Due to Richard, my head enforcer, being on patrol duty Derek was my second third best fighter was heading the training session today. I started to study the enforcers in training and most of them were doing a good job but a select few got distracted by me presence and started to lose focus. I pulled Derek aside and let him know what I observed then he said, “Alpha, there are five recruits that I think would do nicely on patrols.” I looked at him encouraging him to continue. “well there is Ruby, Ari, Alister, Raven, and Howard.” I thought it over and I had to agree because they were the few who didn’t lose focus but I had a gut feeling that they were not completely prepared for patrolling on their own so I said, “they can do supervised patrols for now but you will be in charge of them so I’m holding you responsible for their mistakes.” He replied, “thank you Alpha.” I started doing one on one sparing matches with the five starting with the girls. While I was in the middle of fighting Raven, I smelled Cleo like she was close. I quickly finished sparing then I looked around the area and I could not spot her, but my wolf and I knew that she was here we just did not know where. I decided to push it into the back of my mind until I heard Richard calling for me using our mind link. I rushed to his location it looked like he had got his ass handed to him on a silver platter enough that he submitted to someone other than me for the first time in his life. I could smell Cleo scent on him so I looked up and there she was in cheetah form and she looked gorgeous with her tail swaying lazily and as much as I wanted to stare at her all day I had to figure out a few things first. I smiled, “Can you shift back so we can talk I wouldn’t want my pack mates to hurt you?” she shifted back to my human form, but she stayed on the branch that she was on.

 she looked down and smiled at me and asked, “How do I look from that angle?”

I returned her smile and said “Amazing. What are you doing here?”

“Would you believe me if I said I was just in the area.”

The longer I was near her I could slowly start to detect other scents like Richards, a few unfamiliar females and the scents I was more concerned about in this exact moment were the male scents that I didn’t recognize which then brought back memories of our argument and my need for a name. I did a quick mental meditation to calm myself and said “No but I would like to know how you got this far without being detected and how you got my head enforcer to submit to you in a fight in a matter of seconds? Also, the fact that you have an extraordinarily strong scent of a male that I don’t recognize?”

 she jumped down and of course landed on her feet. she looked me directly in my eyes and said “The scent is none of your business. As for the submitting and getting this far into your territory without being detected that is because I am awesome plus you have a lot of blind spots in your security that I took advantage of. You should really fix that.”

“Trust me I plan to. What are you doing here?”

“Why all the questions your starting to bore me? I’m going to go put my clothes on now.”

She was really starting to annoy me with her never wanting to give me the answers to my questions, so I used my Alpha voice and said, “I want answers Cleo now.”

“There’s that big bad alpha complex I have heard so much about.”

“Cleo!”

“Fine but you are going to have to wait I have to go get my car and I will meet you at your place.”

“I can have one of the guys get it for you.”

She looked at me like I just cussed her out. she used her alpha voice and said, “No you won’t because if they so much as lay a finger on my baby, they will lose it.” I smiled because she was going to give Brittney a run for her money during the mating challenge. Cleo was going to be the best Luna that this pack has ever had. She smiled then shifted and ran towards what I suspect was her car. I went to the pack house to wait for her to come back then I suddenly got a text message from her letting me know she wasn’t coming but instead of getting angry I just got more excited to see her tonight even if Brittney will be there too. Since she was not coming back and had until at least seven before I had to get ready, I went back to training. When I was done it was around six-thirty, so I decided it was time to start getting ready by showering and shaving. I went into my closet and pulled out a pair of dark grey slim-fit tapered stretch ripped moto guess jeans, white muscle fitness t-shirt, black Philipp Plein super charged skull shoes, and my Allstate leather Inc. men’s black buffalo leather motorcycle jacket. I got dressed, styled my hair then I sprayed a little bit of my Ralph Lauren Polo Red cologne before I headed out of the door. I decided that I should show off a little bit so I grabbed the keys to my black and gold Ducati 1199 Panigaler R superbike I was so excited to ride my bike that I almost forgot my Bell solid matte black qualifier full face helmet and my Harley-Davidson metallic graphic sun shield M05 full face helmet as backup just in case she decided to come home with me tonight. I hoped on my bike and headed to the club. When I got there, it was already in full swing there was already a line around the corner I parked my bike in the back next to where I saw Cleo’s car. I turned off my bike and I knew that I was going to look like the biggest asshole cutting the line in front of all these people but I had to get in there so as much as I hated the looks I had to get in there before all hell broke loose between Brittney and Cleo so I got off my bike. I walked to the front of the line to the bouncer he knew me due to my frequent visits here though I usually use the back door. When I got in, I spotted Cleo right away and she was so beautiful sitting in the VIP section I think she knew that I was here because she started to look around. I took the stairs two at a time to get up to her there was an elevator, but I felt that it would be too slow. I walked up and sat in the chair across from her and said, “Hey, how have you been since this afternoon?” She looked at me and smiled, “I have been amazing considering what I am here to do. It has been awhile since I have been here, I know that the profits have been nice, but the turnout has been amazing.”

“Yea I’m impressed you sure do know how to run a club.”

“If you are going to sit here a try to interest me in this bullshit flattery, I’m going to need a drink.”

She pressed the button to summon the waitress and it surprised me who showed up to take our order. Brittney come up to us and her eyes bugged out of her head I thought she was going to pass out or something, but she quickly recovered and started to examine Cleo.

Either Cleo did not care about being examined or she was oblivious to it because Cleo said, “Can I get Old Fashioned, Negroni, Mojito, Whiskey Sour, Mint Julep, Sidecar, and a French 75. What do you want Liam?”

I looked at Brit and said, “I will have a Whiskey Sour, Jagerade, Snakebite, the Godfather, Tom Collins, and a Rusty Nail.” Brit planted a fake ass smile on her face and walked away.

 I laughed and said to Cleo “You know that was Brittney right.”

“Yep I was testing her.”

 “Why?”

 “Because my intel says that she can’t get large orders correct and when confronted with it by the bar staff or customers she lashes out.”

“Oh, so you want to witness it for yourself and not take another’s word for it.”

“Yea, how many times have you guys f****d?”

“How did you know?”

“You are really bad at this.”

“Bad at what?”

“Avoiding direct questions.”

“A few times we dated in the past my family loves us as a couple but I didn’t really like the person she is to people she feels are threats so I broke it off and never looked back.”

“Interesting this should be fun then.”

She pulled out her phone and said, “I just ordered drinks from Brittney follow them.” Then she hung up.

“Do you think she would do something to your drinks?”

“By the way she looked at me. Yes.”

“I didn’t think you noticed that.”

“I notice a lot I just learned to not let people know that you know it gives you an advantage to not let people know that you notice there tells.”

“Do you know my tells?”

“They were very easy to figure out considering that I knew what they were the first time I laid eyes on you in your office.”

“Well since we are talking about that when do you think that you will except our mating.”

“As soon as you are willing to accept that I want to find out who I am before I mate or whatever.”

“I work for the police department I could try to help you find out who your parents are.”

“No offence to your skills as a cop but anything you can find I have probably already found. I am exceptionally good at what I do. Plus, I have 16 different private investigators working on it but thanks for the offer to help.”

“What do you know about your parents?”

“You are very stubborn.”

“Now look who is avoiding a direct question.”

“Fine. My mother is a complete mystery to me seeing how my father will not even talk to me or about me, but my father is a cheetah shifter by the name of Ezekiel Gibson of the Sin Pride located in San Diego, California. I have contacted him on numerous occasions, and I got completely nowhere with him. He just says that that was a time that he wants to forget about. A mistake from his past that he will not relive. He is happy with his mate and his other kids. He won’t even tell me what species she was.”

“I can get him to talk.”

“How?”

“I am the Alpha of my pack all I have to do is talk to his Alpha and he will make him talk to you.”

“When?”

“Give me a few days to get in contact with his Alpha and if he allows it, we can go visit his pride and get you answers.”

“Thank you.”

A few minutes later Brittney came back with our order and there were a few things missing from Cleo’s order, but I had everything that I asked for. Cleo looked up at her and said, “I believe that you are missing a few things.” Brittney said to her, “So what get over it. What are you doing with Liam anyway? He is mine.”

I was about to say something to her but before I could Cleo lifted her hand and wrapped it around Britney’s throat. She lifted her off the ground and threw her off the balcony towards the dance floor. Brittney shifted in midair and landed on her back, but she got up quickly on all fours. Cleo unsheathed her claws and started attacking her like she wanted her dead that is when I knew that I had to intervene this time because during the mating challenge when I will not be able to according to pack law. I grabbed Cleo by her arms and pulled her arms behind her back as I pulled her off of a bleeding grey she wolf that has claw marks everywhere I was impressed by my little she cat so much so that I didn’t feel her claws nip my stomach as she started to rein in her cat it probably wasn’t a smart idea to just grab her while she was in the middle of a fight but if I didn’t break it up then I wasn’t going to because it was a hot as hell scene seeing two women fighting over you. Plus watching my mate kick her ass was just a bonus. I flipped Cleo around and threw her over my shoulder keeping her hands behind her back and as I was trying to get her out of there I just kept hearing Cleo screaming insult at her like how I won’t be able to save her next time, that she was going to kill her, that she was fired, and my favorite one that she was going to skin her alive and turn it into a winter coat. That was the moment I realized that my mate was psychotic when she got angry, but her eyes were beautiful when her pupils narrow into slits that appear to have gold flakes in them. When we reached the back exit of the club, I deposited Cleo onto my bike handed her the spare helmet and put mines on.

I looked back to make sure she had her helmet on but it was not on so I said, “Put the helmet on so we can go.”

She replied, “No.”

“Why not?”

 “Because I don’t ride bitch.”

“But you’re going to be my bitch.”

“I’m a f*****g cat not a damn dog and if you ever call me a b***h again and I will castrate you with my pinky.”

 “Just put the damn helmet on Cleo and stop being so damn difficult all the time.”

“Fine but don’t say I never listened to you.” I started up the bike and headed to my place which will be her new home very soon.