Castor shifted, trying to get comfortable in his seat on the private plane Leia had arranged. One he’d designed, of course. This jet sat ten, had a crew of two, and had a modern interior—all black leather, chrome, and that new jet smell.
The constant clack of Leia’s fingers on her keyboard sounded ahead of him to the right. She never sat with him on flights unless they had work to finish. The first time they’d traveled together, he’d asked.
“Do we have work to get done?” she had asked.
“No.”
“Then no thanks.” She had given him a half-smile that he guessed was meant to soften the blunt words, but didn’t really help. Then she had turned and plopped into a seat toward the front.
He took his own seat with a lingering sensation of bewilderment and amusement. Women usually threw themselves at him, though, granted, he’d asked Delilah for an EA who wouldn’t. He just hadn’t expected Lyleia to be so…stand-offish about it.
At the time he’d decided he could deal with attitude and someone clearly uninterested in impressing him. Work was the priority, and so long as she performed at the level he expected, that’s all he needed. But lately…
He read the same paragraph for the fifth time in a row and gave up, closing his own laptop. The plane dropped slightly, and he glanced outside to see mountains not far below. They’d be landing before long.
Leia’s typing hadn’t slowed. Did the woman ever ease up? She’d shown up at five in the morning for their early flight dressed in her usual neutral—black today—business attire of skirt and blouse with matching jacket. Not a hair out of place, makeup at a minimum. None of it could hide her intrinsic beauty. Not that he could talk, as he was equally formal in a grey, custom-made silk suit, hand-stitched and fitted to perfection. Appearance made a difference to his success.
A quick glance showed him her arm and the edge of Leia’s face, the rest of her blocked by the black leather back of her seat. He studied her quietly—the curve of her cheek, her long dark lashes, her honey blond hair tucked behind her ear. A wicked urge to nibble at the lobe tugged at him.
He wondered, not for the first time, if taking her along on this trip was going to end up biting him in the butt. He’d been fighting a growing sense of attraction to Leia for several months. However, his EA had Not Interested—or, more accurately, he suspected, The Gods Suck—tattooed across her forehead. Consequently, he’d kept his distance, trying to fill the gap by dating other women. But none talked back to him like Leia. Or got his blood pumping like Leia. Each woman he dated had never made it past the kissing stage before he ended it. After a year, his body was not pleased. He took a sip of his coffee—black, strong, bitter...and cold. He made a face. His brain was definitely not engaged today.
Suddenly, she swung around. She blinked to find him already watching her. Castor raised his eyebrows in question.
“We’re coming to the end of the three-month period of support for the Aaron family.”
He cleared his throat. “How is Tyler progressing?” Jordan Aaron was one of his employees, and his son had cancer.
Leia’s eyes lit up. “He’s in full remission.”
“Excellent. Do they need another three months, or should we consider a different need?”
Castor had been covering all the hospital bills for the past six months. Leia had stumbled across his one-man charity for the employees of Dioskouri Enterprises a few months after starting work for him and had asked to help organize it. They selected a different family every three months based on needs. But Leia, and the families involved, were sworn to secrecy.
“I think, with the help you’ve provided, they are through the worst. Fiona Olline’s mother is about to need hospice. I feel there’s a greater need there.”
Castor waved a hand. “I trust your opinion.”
She nodded and turned back to her computer, only to whip back around. “I think you’re a secret softy.”
He raised a single eyebrow and said nothing. She shook her head at him before returning to her work.
Only recently had he started to think Leia might like him a tiny bit, rather than despise him, which was how she’d started out. Lately, he’d had a difficult time concentrating on much else when she was around, which was all the time. That kind of reaction hadn’t happened to him in two thousand years.
Something had to give. So he’d invited her this weekend as an act of desperation.
He knew, not firsthand but through many accounts and stories, how werewolf matings could be. He hadn’t been joking when he’d asked for her help. She was his buffer at this thing, but this was also an experiment to see if this spark existed for them both. This mating would either be a catalyst or tell him to move on. Either way, he’d be out of limbo.
However, Leia’s reaction to the type of event had been concerning. She’d even called his bluff about putting her job at risk, which had shocked him. Leia gave every appearance of loving her work. Happy, satisfied, fulfilled employees were a source of pride for him as a successful businessman. Her willingness to walk away over such a minor thing had dented his pride. He didn’t like it.
“Are you challenged?” he asked, his thoughts out of his mouth before he vetted the words first.
Her fingers paused in their nonstop motion, and she turned in her chair to frown questioningly at him. “Sorry?”
“At work. Are you feeling challenged? Happy?” What was wrong with him, blurting it out like that? Usually he was more…subtle.
She blinked at him owlishly, which made him want to shift in his seat like a naughty school boy.
“Yes.” She drew out the word, obviously not knowing where he was going with the question.
“Good.”
She continued to stare at him with those china blue eyes that seemed to see too much of his soul. “Is there something wrong you’re not telling me?”
He cocked his head. “Why?”
“Because you’ve never asked me a question like that.” She shrugged. “I know the business is doing great, but maybe there’s a problem with your family? Pollux is okay?”
And there it was again. A twinge of irrational annoyance—he refused to dub it jealously—at the idea she might be interested in another man. He’d experienced it twice yesterday. Once with Mike, who’d obviously been hitting on her. The other when he’d realized she’d have to cancel a date this weekend, generating a frustrating sense of satisfaction. Now he was suspicious of his own twin brother. He was losing his mind.
Get a grip.
He ran a hand over the smooth chrome of his arm rest. “Pollux is fine. Answer the question.”
She stared at him blankly, which he returned with a poker face the pros would envy.
“I love my job.”
He couldn’t mistake the sincerity in her voice. “And you’ll let me know if you need more or aren’t happy in any way?”
She lifted a single eyebrow. “I’m not exactly shy about speaking up.”
He chuckled. “That’s true.”
She grinned and turned back to her work, effectively dismissing him. He watched her for a bit, battling with the strangest urge to brush her hair away from her neck. Would she lean in to his touch or jerk away?
Needing distraction before he embarrassed himself, he reopened his own laptop and tried to read some new contracts.
The nice thing about flying private was how quickly you got out of the airport. Rather than hire a driver, Leia had a rental car waiting for them at the gate. Their luggage was loaded, and they were away within minutes.
At first they concentrated on getting out of Denver and heading up into the mountains. Eventually they hit a long stretch.
“So…” Leia broke the silence. “Tell me more about this ceremony.”
He’d already filled her in on the business deal, a large fleet of private aircraft and vehicles for the wolf pack.
“Marrok Banes has been a friend for many years.”
“He’s the groom?”
He nodded. “Yes, and the alpha for his pack.”
“You said Banes/Canis. Weren’t their families in a bit of a feud the last hundred years or so?”
He took his gaze off the road for a brief second to send her a surprised glance.
“What? Even nymphs without a spring to their name have a few friends left.”
Not many, her tone implied, but he should’ve figured she’d know something. Nymphs were bound to nature, as were werewolves, though in different ways.
“You’re correct about their families. The Hatfields and McCoys have nothing on the Banes and Canises, but Marrok was determined to end the feud.”
“Let me guess, he’s marrying the Canis alpha’s daughter?”
“No. The alpha herself.”
“Oh!”
Female alphas were rare in the physically-dominant werewolf world where alphas fought to the death for their right to lead.
“Does he love her?” was her next question.
“No idea. Knowing Marrok, love didn’t enter into the plan.”
“I see.” She glanced away, out the passenger- side window.
He cocked his head at the disdain he detected in her. “Are you a closet romantic, Ms. Naiad?”
She didn’t move an inch. “Not at all.”
“I can tell when you’re lying, Leia.”
She turned her skeptical gaze back his way. “Oh, really?”
“Yes. You won’t look at me.”
“I was looking at the scenery.” She waved a hand at the mountains. They’d left the interstate and were following Highway 36 along the St. Vrain river.
“Your side is solid rock. The scenery is out my side.”
From the corner of his eye, he caught her small movement as she raised her chin.
“I was keeping an eye out for bighorn sheep.”
“Sheep.” He lifted a skeptical eyebrow.
“Yes. According to my research, they’re more common down Big Thompson Canyon, north of here, but have been seen in this area as well. I’ve never seen one.”
He had to give it to his EA…she could bluff with the best of them, but he still wasn’t buying it.
“Being a romantic isn’t a bad thing you know.”
“You’re an expert on romantics?”
He chuckled at the disbelief in her voice. “I was one. A long time ago.”
She turned in her seat to face him more fully “You?”
“Yes, me. I was married, you know.”
“Wasn’t that about two-thousand years ago?”
“Yes, but I loved her deeply. After she died, I never expected to love like that again, and I haven’t.” Now why had he confessed that? He’d never talked about Hilaeira. Maybe the similarity between his wife and his feelings for Leia now, though the two women had nothing in common, had him thinking more of that time.
Leia was quiet for a long stretch of road. “Do you miss her?” she asked, her tone noticeably more gentle.
“Every day.” He could have given a trite answer, but he didn’t want to.
“Are you lonely, Castor?”
“I’ve managed to keep occupied.” Now it was his turn to use a dry tone. He didn’t want her pity.
“That’s a fact.”
He chuckled.