Prologue

He didn’t actually see the wall until he walked into it.

“Dang, Nik. You okay?” His brothers could at least have the decency to hold off laughing at him until they made sure he hadn’t caused any real damage.

He rubbed his forehead, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Better than fine. With a woman like that in his sights… he took control of himself. He had to. He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to shift and run her down like a red deer.

He walked toward her. She reeked of dog, but it wasn’t her. No, to his huge disappointment, he realized she was human. He thought for sure she had to be cat, with the way she moved and all. Leopard or panther. Something other than just another boring human female.

She leaned back in her chair, a martini in her hand. She crossed her legs and both his brothers groaned.

“Oh, man. Who the hell is that?”

His brother Bannik chuckled, “Mine, little brother.”

Nik ignored them both, instead letting them argue so that he could focus his attention on the conversation between the woman and her itty-bitty friend.

“Fine. You wanna live life alone and bitter, be my guest.”

“Trust me. Fucking the Viking isn’t going to change the living alone and bitter thing one bit.”

“Whatever.” A boarding announcement rolled through the terminal and the woman cocked her head to listen. “Come on, sassy girl. Let’s get your ass on a plane.”

She finished her drink and carefully placed the glass down on the table. Nik took two long steps toward her. She pushed back her chair and stood up, slamming right into his chest. Her hair slid across the hand he had holding on to the strap of his bag. He immediately saw that hair trailing across his body as she slipped her head between his legs.

Nik shook his head, what in hell…He usually had more control of himself than this. But her scent…goddammit, her scent slid around his throat, caressing his cheek. As erotic as a lover’s touch that effectively put him in a chokehold.

He swallowed as he stared down at the top of her head, forcing himself to speak, “Sorry, darlin’.”

She finally looked up at him. He heard her sharp intake of breath and the increase in her heart rate. He could feel the change in her body temperature. Heat radiated off her in waves.

Funny thing was…the same thing happened to him. When he caught her scent, he didn’t think she’d be this beautiful. What a gorgeous face. Damn, but no one had a right to be that pretty. And the prettiest brown eyes he’d ever seen on a female. Dark, dark brown. Like the richest dark chocolate. And long, dark brown hair made those eyes even more devastating. Her light brown skin damn-near glowed and she possessed the cutest little nose. She let out a shaky breath.

“You all right,Sugar?”

“Uh…” he waited for her to say more, but she appeared to be a bit slow-witted. Kind of like his Uncle Billy whose baby sister hit him with a brick.

Her friend, who he barely noticed she was so tiny, slung a bag over her shoulder. “Sorry about that. We need to get to my plane.”

“No problem.” Nik smiled down into that beautiful face. “Y’all can slam in to me any time.” At least she could. He could care less about the midget. Although, as usual, his brothers took an immediate interest to anything with a pussy. They stared at the tiny woman like she was a Happy Meal.

“Hey, Ang. We need to go.” Her tiny friend grabbed her arm and tugged. Then she yanked.

The woman blinked, glancing around. “Uh… oh, yeah. Yeah. We better get moving.” She gave him a soft smile. “Sorry.”

“Not at all.” He wanted to say something else but, really, what the hell was he supposed to do with a human?

Fuck her until the end of time?

No. He’d sworn off the full-humans. Like the dogs, they got mighty attached to a man. His kind happily lived alone. He didn’t need or want some female spending every night wrapped around him like an Anaconda in a bed that could easily accommodate them both sleeping apart.

So, instead of bending her over the table, ripping her panties off, and fucking the hell out of her…Nik walked away.

“Well that was entertaining,” his youngest brother, Aleksei, chuckled.

“Shut up.”

“I thought for sure you’d do her right there, big brother.”

“I told ya both to shut the hell up.” Nik’s phone rang. He grabbed it off his belt and flicked it open. “This is Nik.”

“Mr. Vorislav, it’s Annie. Your father has asked that you return home.”

Nik stopped walking, afraid of losing the faulty connection in the terminal. “What? Why?”

“He needs you involved in a last minute deal. He didn’t give me any details.”

“Yeah, but what about the Kingsley Park deal?”

“He asks that you let your brothers handle that negotiation.”

Nik stared at his kin. Apart he had no doubt they could broker a deal with the old wolf they’d come to see. But together? Together the two of them could be the biggest idiots on the planet. Leaving them alone to handle this could be a huge disaster.

“Mr. Vorislav, I need your answer.”

As usual, his father didn’t leave him much choice. “Tell him I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“Yes, sir.”

Annie disconnected and Nik turned to his brothers. “I gotta go back.”

“What’s up?”