Page 3 of Pleasure and Mane
Quinn spotted Kate near the silent auction tables, her red hair catching the amber light as she gestured animatedly to a group of hospital administrators. The sight of her friend's easy confidence made Quinn's chest tighten with an unexpected wave of vulnerability.
"Kate." Quinn approached, her voice barely steady. "I really need to go home now."
Kate turned, and her expression shifted instantly from social brightness to concern. "Jesus, Quinn. You look like you've seen a ghost." Her green eyes cataloged the pallor of Quinn's skin and the slight tremor in her hands. "What happened?"
"I just—" Quinn's voice caught. The strange conversation with Gerri had left her feeling unmoored, as if something had shifted beneath her feet. "I can't do this tonight. The crowds, the networking. I'm done."
"Of course." Kate touched her arm gently. "Let me grab our coats."
The thirty-minute drive passed in comfortable silence, Kate's sporty Honda navigating the winding roads toward Quinn's neighborhood with practiced ease. Quinn pressed her forehead against the cool passenger window, watching suburban Denver blur past in streaks of porch light and shadow. The weight of exhaustion settled deeper into her bones with each mile.
"You sure you're okay?" Kate pulled into Quinn's driveway, the headlights illuminating the small cottage's cheerful yellow door and overgrown lavender bushes.
"Just tired. The delivery this afternoon, then all that charity circus." Quinn managed a weak smile. "I'll talk to you in the morning."
Once inside her cozy home, Quinn barely registered the familiar comfort of the hardwood floors and built-in bookshelves. Her tired fingers fumbled with the zipper of the red dress, the silk pooling around her ankles as she stumbled out of the fabric and toward her bedroom.
The cup of tea she'd been craving for hours became a distant memory as exhaustion flooded her body. She entered the bedroom and headed straight for the four-poster bed in just her black lace bra and panties, too tired to even search for pajamas, and collapsed onto her bed.
Before she knew it, morning sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window and her phone was shrilling with persistent urgency. She grabbed it with squinting eyes, muscle memory guiding her response.
"Hello, this is Quinn."
"Good morning, dear. I hope I'm not calling too early."
The voice sent a jolt of recognition through Quinn's system. She bolted upright, suddenly wide awake. "Gerri?"
"The very same. I have a job for you, and it's quite lucrative and highly sensitive. I immediately thought you'd be perfect for it."
Quinn rubbed her eyes, trying to process this unexpected development. "What kind of job?"
"A unique pregnancy case. A lion shifter who needs specialized care. The family is quite worried about her and wants someone who can provide the personal touch that only you could offer."
Lion shifter?Quinn's rational mind reeled even as her professional instincts kicked in. "A shifter pregnancy?"
"Oh yes, dear. Quite different from human births, as you can imagine. The case would require you to live on the estate grounds where the pregnant female resides. Full room and board, of course, plus a very generous compensation package."
Quinn's practical nature wrestled with the impossibility of what she was hearing. "I'd need to make sure Kate can cover the practice, but it shouldn't be a problem. The sensitive nature of the case makes it a priority."
"Wonderful!" Gerri's delight sparkled through the phone. "I'll give you the address. It's in a small town called Leon, just outside Denver."
"Leon?" Quinn frowned. "I've never heard of that town."
"Very small, not on many maps. You wouldn't have heard of it." Gerri's tone held that same mysterious confidence from the night before. "Pack for six months, dear. I look forward to seeing you soon."
The line went dead, leaving Quinn staring at her phone in stunned silence.Six months?Her heart hammered in her chest as the magnitude of her agreement hit her. What had she just committed herself to? And what would happen to her carefully ordered life now that she'd made such an impulsive decision that she couldn't take back?
TWO
CAIUS
Caius adjusted the quarterly reports spread across his mahogany desk as the afternoon sunlight shone through the tall windows of his home office. The familiar weight of responsibility settled upon his shoulders as he reviewed the latest updates from the businesses in their small town of Leon—the bakery's expansion, the construction company's new contracts, and the hospital's upgraded equipment. Each update represented another step forward for his pride and another layer of comfort for the thousand lion shifters who called this hidden town home.
His gaze drifted to the large map pinned to the wall beside his desk, the red markers indicating completed infrastructure projects and the blue ones marking future developments. Five years of careful planning and strategic investments had transformed Leon from a struggling town into a thriving community. The possessive pride that swelled in him held the weight of fifteen years of Alpha leadership.
My legacy, he thought with deep satisfaction.Our sanctuary.
Their little town of Leon remained invisible to the outside world—no GPS coordinates, no government records, and nocurious humans stumbling across their perfectly orchestrated secret. And Caius intended to keep it that way. The human and wolf shifter worlds had a tendency to corrupt everything they touched, and he'd witnessed enough corporate takeovers to know that secrecy was their greatest protection.
