Page 8 of Pleasure and Mane
Alone in her suite, Quinn kicked off her heels and sank onto the king-sized bed. The jewel-toned fabrics felt like silk beneath her fingers as she tried to wrap her mind around her new reality.
Maybe this whole experience will add value to my practice,she told herself, reaching for professional optimism.Unique cases attract more opportunities. This could be exactly the growth experience my career needs.
She moved to the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing out at manicured gardens that stretched toward distant mountains.This won't be so bad. I'll help Lavinia, learn about shifter medicine, and return to Denver with invaluable expertise.
But as she freshened up in the marble bathroom, splashing cool water on her wrists and touching up her lipstick, Quinn couldn't shake the memory of Caius's piercing blue gaze. That way he'd stared at her—like she was a puzzle he desperately needed to solve, like she meant something far beyond her role as his sister's midwife.
His dominating behavior about restricting her movements had felt less like protective protocol and more like a man fighting his own instincts. As if he couldn't trust himself around her, and as if he wanted the exact opposite of her staying out of his way.
But why?The question burned through her thoughts.What did I do to him to provoke such an intense reaction?
FOUR
CAIUS
The afternoon sun beat down on Main Street as Caius strode past the bakery in his white henley that stretched across his tense shoulders. He'd changed from his business attire after spending an hour locked in his office making calls to investors and reviewing the quarterly reports—anything to keep his mind off the intoxicating woman now residing in his east wing.
Six long months.The timeframe echoed through his thoughts like a death sentence.How the hell am I supposed to function for the next six months with her in my home?
"Alpha!" Marcus Donovan waved from behind a stack of lumber outside the bakery's expansion site. Sweat gleamed on the younger lion shifter's forehead as he hefted another beam into position. "The new ovens arrive Monday. We'll be ready for installation right on schedule."
"Excellent work." Caius forced his usual confident smile, though his lion paced restlessly beneath his skin. Every breath still carried traces of Quinn's lavender and rain scent, making concentration nearly impossible. "Any issues with the permits?"
"None at all. Your connections made everything smooth as silk."
If only everything in my life could be that straightforward.Caius clapped Marcus on the shoulder before moving toward the park construction site, where the sounds of heavy machinery filled the air. Normally, overseeing these projects energized him—watching his pride's territory grow and prosper under his leadership. Today, the familiar satisfaction felt hollow.
His phone buzzed against his thigh. A text from Bertram:Alpha, Mrs. Johnson's at the hospital with chest pains. Might want to stop by.
Caius quickened his pace through Leon's tree-lined streets, past the flower shop where elderly Mrs. Stevens tended her prized roses and the hardware store where Jake Thompson was helping a customer load fence posts. His people. His responsibility. The weight of leadership that he'd carried since seventeen years old, when his uncle Henry had finally stepped aside and allowed Caius to formally claim his birthright.
Father would have handled this better,he thought, remembering the strong, steady man who'd died too young on that mountain twenty years ago.He would have known what to do about a human mate.
The thought of his mate sent his lion into overdrive as possessiveness surged through his bloodstream.Mine.The word pounded through his consciousness with primal certainty.My mate. My female to protect and claim and cherish.
But the rational part of his mind—the part trained from childhood to consider his pride above personal desires—recoiled at the implications. In centuries of Haider family leadership, no Alpha had ever taken a human mate. The bloodline remained pure lion, strong and unified. His people looked to him for stability, tradition, and unwavering strength.
They'd never accept it. Never accept her.
The hospital's sliding doors whooshed open as Caius entered the sterile lobby. Dr. Patricia Webb looked up from her clipboard with relief.
"Caius, thank goodness. Mrs. Johnson's stable now, but she was asking for you specifically. Room twelve."
He found the elderly woman propped up against white pillows, her weathered face brightening when he appeared in her doorway. At ninety-three, Lily Johnson was one of his pride's most respected elders—a woman whose opinion carried weight in council meetings and family disputes alike.
"Alpha," she said, extending a trembling hand that he immediately clasped between both of his. "I heard we have a visitor at your mansion."
Of course she did.News traveled faster than wildfire through Leon's tightly knit community, especially when it involved their Alpha's personal life.
"Lavinia's midwife," he confirmed carefully. "A temporary arrangement for the pregnancy."
Mrs. Johnson's dark eyes sparkled with knowing humor. "Temporary, you say? How very... interesting."
Her fingers tightened around his with surprising strength. "Your parents, rest their souls, would want you to find happiness, Caius. Real happiness, not just duty and responsibility."
"My priority is to the pride," he said automatically, the response he'd given countless times to well-meaning pride members who questioned his bachelor status.
"Your priority is to yourself as well, dear boy. An Alpha who denies his own needs becomes brittle. Breaks under pressure." She squeezed his hand again. "Don't let fear make you brittle."
