Chapter 2
Claudia had just checked off another property on her list—all the warehouses owned by Kinkaid Industries now had reinforced wards that would hold against everything short of a full magical assault—when her office door burst open without so much as a courtesy knock.
Sam Kinkaid strode in like a force of nature, all six-foot-something of lean muscle and coiled power.
His blond hair was disheveled, as if he’d been running his hands through it, and his eyes were bright with something she rarely saw in the reserved Alpha. It was triumph.
“I’m in,” he announced, waving a cream-colored envelope in one hand.
Claudia blinked, her pen hovering over her checklist. “In what?”
“Monaco. The Celestine Gala.” He dropped the invitation on her desk with a flourish. “It’s in a little less than three weeks from now. Black tie, exclusive guest list, and according to Gavin’s sources, Abdul Kettering will be there.”
She stared at the elegant script on the heavy cardstock.
The Celestine Gala was legendary. It was an annual event for the ultra-wealthy that rotated between exclusive locations.
It was invitation-only, and the guest list was never more than two hundred people.
Billionaires, royalty, old-money families that made tech billionaires look like upstarts.
“That’s great,” she said carefully. “You’ll finally have a chance to—”
“We,” Sam interrupted. “We’ll finally have a chance.”
Claudia’s stomach dropped. “We?”
“It’s a plus-one event. I need a date.” He said it matter-of-factly, as if he were asking her to attend a business meeting, not accompany him to one of the most exclusive social events in the world.
“Sam—Alpha Kinkaid—I don’t think—”
“Just Sam is fine. We’ve been working together for a while now.
” He pulled one of her guest chairs closer to the desk and sat, leaning forward with an intensity that made her pulse quicken.
“You’re the logical choice, Claudia. If Kettering is actually a mage or has mages around him, I need someone who can sense it.
Someone who can identify magic in use, and possibly counter anything he might try. ”
Logical choice. Of course that was how he saw it. Claudia tried to ignore the small sting of disappointment. What had she expected? That he’d ask her because he wanted to spend a weekend with her? That he’d been looking for an excuse to have her by his side?
She was being ridiculous. This was business. It had always been business.
“I understand the reasoning,” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “But there are problems with this plan.”
“Such as?”
She held up one finger. “First, if Kettering is a mage, he’ll sense my power the moment I’m in the same room with him. You’ll lose any element of surprise.”
Sam’s smile was sharp, predatory. “Good.”
Claudia paused. “Good?”
“I’ve been playing this cautiously for months, trying to gather evidence, trying to catch him in the act.
Maybe it’s time to shake things up. If he knows I’ve got a mage of my own, he might make a mistake.
Get nervous. Overreach.” Sam’s eyes gleamed with a dangerous light.
“And if he tries something magical against me or mine, we’ll have grounds to move against him. ”
A mage of his own? Damn, why did that phrase sound so intimate? And why did she want him to mean that in a romantic way?
Claudia forced herself to focus on the practical problems with his plan, not on the way his beautiful eyes seemed to catch the light from her office window.
Not on how his broad shoulders filled out that perfectly tailored suit jacket.
And definitely not on the fact that he’d sought her out for this mission, specifically her, when he could have asked any number of security professionals in his employ.
Stop it, she told herself firmly. He needed a mage. That was the only reason she was sitting here, having this conversation. It had nothing to do with her personally and everything to do with her magical abilities.
She had to get her mind back on business and try to dissuade him from this plan. She was not the kind of woman to hobnob with the world’s elite. They’d see through her in a flash.
“It’s very risky,” she finally answered.
“I’m aware.” He leaned back in the chair, somehow making the simple movement look elegant. “What’s your second objection?”
Heat crept up her neck. This was the harder one to articulate. “Nobody’s going to believe you’re with me.”
His eyebrows rose. “Why not?”
“Because—” She gestured vaguely at herself, then at him. “Look at you. You’re…and I’m…”
“You’re what?” His voice had gone quiet, but there was an edge to it now. Not anger, exactly, but something close to offense.
“I’m not the kind of woman who shows up on the arm of a billionaire,” she said bluntly. “I’m a nobody. I’m not glamorous or sophisticated or—”
“Beautiful?”
The word hit her like a physical blow. She stared at him, unable to form a response.
Sam held her gaze, his expression serious. “Because you are. Beautiful, I mean. And intelligent. And powerful in your own right. Any man would be lucky to have you on his arm, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.”
Claudia’s mouth had gone dry. Her heart was hammering so hard she was sure he could hear it. Could lion shifters hear heartbeats? She thought they probably could. Which meant he knew exactly what effect his words were having on her.
“I— That’s not—”
“Besides,” he continued, his tone shifting back to businesslike, as if he hadn’t just completely derailed her thoughts, “we’re not trying to convince anyone that we’re madly in love. We’re business associates. It’s perfectly reasonable for me to bring a colleague to an event like this.”
She grasped at the lifeline of returning to tactical discussion. “If we’re playing it as business associates, that makes more sense. But what’s our cover story? You can’t just announce that I’m your magical consultant.”
“We’ll keep it vague. You’re a specialist I’ve hired for various projects. Security, acquisitions, that sort of thing. It’s not even a lie.” He tilted his head, studying her. “Unless you have a better idea?”
Claudia’s mind raced through possibilities. “We could… I could pose as a representative from one of your subsidiaries. One you’re courting for a potential expansion?”
“That could work,” Sam agreed. “Though ‘courting’ is an interesting word choice.”
The heat in her cheeks intensified. “You know what I meant. Business courting. Professional interest.”
“Of course.” Was that amusement in his eyes? “Any other objections?”
She had dozens. A thousand objections were crowding her mind, but most of them had nothing to do with the mission and everything to do with self-preservation.
How was she supposed to spend an entire weekend in Monaco with him without revealing how she felt?
Without giving away that every time he walked into a room, her magic responded to his presence like a tuning fork finding its frequency?
That she’d started timing her arrivals at the office to coincide with when she knew he’d be there, just for the chance to see him in the hallway?
Granny Tucker had been right, damn her. Claudia was moon-eyed over the Alpha, and this trip was going to expose every feeling she’d been carefully hiding.
The thought of spending several days in Monaco with Sam Kinkaid, pretending to be his companion, possibly sharing a hotel suite, attending glittering parties where she’d be hopelessly out of her depth was tantalizing. It was also a recipe for disaster. Or at least for humiliation.
But he was right. If Kettering was going to be there, they couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
The arms dealer had been responsible for countless deaths.
The fact that he was in league with the Venifucus meant he needed to be stopped, but they had to learn what they could about his magical connections first.
And Sam needed her help to do it.
“I’ll need appropriate clothing,” she finally said. “I don’t own anything suitable for events like this.”
His smile was quick and genuine. “Done. I’ll have someone take care of it. What else?”
“Briefings on everyone who’s likely to be there. I need to know who the major players are, what alliances exist, who might be sympathetic to Kettering.”
“Gavin’s already preparing files.”
“And I need full access to the intelligence you have on Kettering’s magical abilities, if any.
Anything unusual about his properties, his associates, any rumors in the magical community.
” He’d told her some of what his Clan had discovered about Kettering, but she knew he hadn’t told her everything.
If she was going to do this, she needed to have all the information.
“I’ll have Gavin coordinate with you on that as well.” Sam stood, and suddenly, the office felt smaller with him taking up space in it. “Anything else?”
Yes, Claudia thought. I need you to stop looking at me like that. I need you to stop saying things that make my heart race. I need you to go back to being the distant, professional Alpha who barely noticed I existed, because this is going to make everything so much more complicated.
But what she said was, “Just one thing. If Kettering is as dangerous as you think, we need a code word. Something you can say if you need me to act immediately, no questions asked.”
It was easier to focus on the tactical details.
On the mission parameters and safety protocols.
Those were things she understood, things she could control.
Unlike the way her stomach flipped when Sam smiled at her or the way she found herself noticing small details about him.
Like how he had a habit of rolling his shoulders back when he was thinking.
Or the faint scar on his left hand that she wanted to ask about but never had.
Professional distance. That was what she needed to maintain.
Sam considered her suggestion. “Ghost.”
She blinked. “Ghost?”
“My lion form. White as a ghost. It’s what my Army buddies nicknamed me.” His expression was rueful. “If I say that word, you’ll know the situation is FUBAR.”
“FUBAR?” she repeated, confused.
“Effed up beyond all recognition,” he explained. “Another Army term we used to use.”
He chuckled as she nodded, blushing. He’d never used cuss words around her, and technically, he hadn’t just now, but for some reason, the thought of him using the F-word made her blush.
“Ghost, it is.” She made a note on her pad, trying to ignore the flutter in her chest at this small glimpse into his personal life.
She wanted to know more. She wanted to ask about his time in the Army, about the men he’d served with, about what had brought him back to Houston and the responsibility of leading his Clan.
But those questions were too personal. Too intimate. They weren’t colleagues who shared war stories over coffee. They were barely more than professional acquaintances, despite the fact that she was living on his property and working in his building.
She got back to business. “When do we leave?”
“Two and a half weeks. I’ll have my assistant coordinate with you on the details.” He paused at the door, one hand on the frame. “Claudia?”
She looked up.
“Thank you for doing this. I know it’s not what you signed up for when Granny sent you here.”
“It’s actually exactly what I signed up for,” she corrected gently. “Protecting the Clan from magical threats. Kettering qualifies on every count.”
“Even so.” His warm gaze held hers for a moment longer. “I appreciate it.”
Then he was gone, leaving Claudia alone in her office with a racing heart and the growing suspicion that Monaco was going to change everything.
The office felt oddly empty without him in it. She could still catch the faint scent of him. He smelled sort of woodsy and clean in a way that made her think of forests and open spaces. Lion territory. Her magic hummed softly in response to the lingering traces of his power in the room.
This was really getting out of hand.
Claudia stood and walked to the window, pressing her palm against the cool glass.
Houston sprawled below her, the late afternoon sun turning the buildings golden.
Elsewhere in this building, Sam was probably already coordinating with Gavin, planning their approach, thinking ten steps ahead like he always did.
And here she was, standing in her office like a lovesick teenager, analyzing every word he’d said to her.
Beautiful. He’d called her beautiful.
But he’d said it in that same matter-of-fact tone he used for everything else. As if it were simply an objective observation, not a compliment. Not a personal opinion. Just Sam being logical and shooting down her arguments with cold, hard facts.
Except his eyes had been warm when he’d said it. Hadn’t they?
“Stop,” she muttered to herself. “Just stop.”
She was reading too much into everything because Granny had planted ideas in her head.
That was all this was. Sam Kinkaid was both her employer and her client at the moment.
He was also the Alpha of the Clan she’d been sent to protect.
He was not interested in her romantically, and she needed to get that through her thick skull before she made a complete fool of herself in Monaco.
Two and a half weeks. She had so little time to get her emotions under control and her mental shields reinforced. Because if she couldn’t keep her feelings hidden from Sam, someone as dangerous as Abdul Kettering would read her like an open book. And that could compromise the entire mission.
She looked down at the invitation still sitting on her desk, running her fingers over the embossed lettering.
“Granny Tucker,” she muttered to the empty room, “if you’re somehow responsible for this, I’m going to have strong words with you.”
But the old woman wasn’t there to defend herself, and Claudia had work to do. She had two and a half weeks to prepare herself, both magically and mentally, for what was shaping up to be either the most important mission of her career or the biggest mistake of her life. Possibly both.