Vivian Arend - Diamond Dust

“Agreed.” Graham gestured to the parking lot where Amanda Ainsworth was slipping into the Harrison limo, Justin at her side. “Unfortunately, there is no clear precedent. Amanda said she had no idea what she’d experienced wasn’t simply a shifter’s lot. All she wants is out.”

“Taking Ainsworth from his clan isn’t a terrible thing, but caging the bear?” Jim shook his head. “I’m not willing to make that decision.”

“If she doesn’t press charges, I can’t book him through the human courts,” Graham explained, his gaze meeting Caroline’s with apologies in the depths.

Dammit. “Well, that sucks.”

Tyler tugged her to his side and held her tightly. “I have an idea how to deal with this. Can you escort our guest to the Moonshine Inn? If she’s willing to stay with us.”

Jim spoke up. “Lillie and I would love to have Amanda at our home as well. We have plenty of room.”

“As long as the bastard can’t get at her ever again.” Caroline nodded. “Fine, Tyler, your call. I’ll go talk to Amanda and see what she’d like. Because it really should be her choice.”

Before she could go, though, Tyler lifted her chin and full-out kissed her. A cop, a billionaire and a bastard observing from a few feet away.

She didn’t care one bit they had an audience.

The fear and fire that had sustained her during the fight was washed away with the sweet caring of his touch. A new kind of fire rose as his tongue stroked hers, and small sparks burst into flames like warning beacons shining from mountaintop after mountaintop.

Reality slowly set in—she was in a bikini rubbing rather wantonly against a nearly naked man. She separated them before anything else could rise.

“Trust me,” he whispered in her ear.

She walked away, past the staff scrubbing blood from the deck. Past the wolf from the paper taking more “promo” shots who smiled at her.

Caroline walked as she let it sink in.

Trust him? With her life.

His fingers itched to wipe the smirk from Todd Ainsworth’s face. “Jim, go find that lynx shifter. Nadia.”

Jim nodded and stepped away, leaving Tyler with the RCMP and Ainsworth.

“You have a suggestion how to deal with this?” The sergeant major remained alert even though it was pretty clear any attempt by Todd to run would be squashed in an instant.

“Unfortunately, you’re right. For some things we have to work within the human rules, and if Amanda doesn’t press charges, you have nothing to go on.” Tyler crossed his arms and fixed Ainsworth with a look of death. “So I suggest we do this the shifter way. Following the results of conclave, the new leader will decide his punishment.”

“Damn.” Graham shook his head in disbelief. “You want me to simply let him go?”

Tyler gestured across the observation area to the little blonde, her protective escort only one step behind as she rapidly closed the distance between them.

“He’ll show up when requested by the clans if Nadia stays close by. If you’re willing, that is?” Tyler turned the question to the lynx. “We’ll need you to stay with Ainsworth for the next few days to make sure he sticks around and behaves himself. Can you do that?”

She nodded, her nose turned up as if Ainsworth smelt funny. “If I have to.”

Her guard, a huge brute of a bear even larger than Tyler, dipped his head briefly. “I’ll take care of her.”

That brought a smile to Nadia’s face. “Right. Lovely.”

Sergeant Major Graham nodded, backing off. “I’ll escort the three of them to a hotel, then wait to hear from conclave.”

Tyler didn’t pay any further attention to Ainsworth. Instead, he slipped from the observation deck, desperate to rejoin Caroline at the hotel. He wanted to disappear, maybe get a start on those hours of solitude she’d suggested they take.

He found his way blocked, though, by a gathering of his contemporaries. Serious faces on the lot of them as they observed Ainsworth being escorted away by Nadia and company.

“I thought you’d all be long gone,” Tyler admitted. “Don’t you think we’ve caused enough trouble here?”

Nakusp stepped forward. “We were about to leave, but none of the ladies would let us go until we’d talked to you.”

Oh really . Tyler made sure his jaw wasn’t swinging in the wind. The familiar faces he’d seen during the conclave events expanded to include their partners, the ladies’ eyes fixed on him. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Shockingly, it was Lynn Nakusp who stepped forward, her hand on her husband’s arm. He smiled supportively then waited for her to speak. “We have a say in this event as well, and we’re in agreement. Clans Halcyon and Nakusp will withdraw from the next vote, leaving Harrison versus Ainsworth. And right now even the idiots in Lucerne wouldn’t vote for Todd.”

One of the older leaders standing at attention cleared his throat. “That would be my clan, and we are idiots, but we’re not fools. You’re a fair man, Harrison. We’ll accept your leadership.”

“Except, and the ladies insist on this.” Nakusp shook his finger at Tyler. “We accept Clan Harrison as long as both sides remain represented. You for the men, and Caroline for the women.”

Oh no, and oh yes. “You want Caroline as part of the deal?”

The lot of them bobbed their heads like a vast display of car-dashboard toys.

It was what he’d hoped for, all the long days before when conclave had begun. To take charge and be able to make a difference.

The bears before him had taken a huge step forward in how they operated today, and their courage to move ahead made him proud. Only they had no idea that the arranged relationship they were proposing was not such an easy solution.

He would love to be head of conclave, Caroline at his side, but he couldn’t do it if it wasn’t what Caroline wanted as well.

He looked out over his friends. “Thank you for the awesome privilege you’ve offered, and I promise I will pass on your request to Caroline. But I can’t demand she become a part of this deal, not unless she wants to, because blithely ordering her to join me would make me as big of a tyrant as Ainsworth, simply in another way.”

The bobbing heads stopped, frozen in place.

Lillie Halcyon stepped forward, her smile brightening as she poked him in the chest. “No one said anything about ordering her around. You’ll just have to be at your most persuasive.” She lowered her voice. “Although I think you’ve already got a bit of shoe-in, if you play your cards right. I suspect she might be a touch in love with you already.”

He could only hope.

She’d been kidnapped. Whirled away to a private suite in a mansion she didn’t know existed. It was a bit of heaven on earth, and the frustrations and fears of the past hours melted like chocolate in the sun. Especially as a masseuse worked out another set of knots from Caroline’s lower back.

It had never been difficult for her to ferret out information. Over the years working for the hotel, and then for the Takhini pack, she’d prided herself on having all the connections. On knowing people like Nadia who could stop a disaster from happening. On having the resources to arrange the cover-up even now spilling false reports through the media.

Only it appeared everything she’d puzzled out over the years had been one side of the tracks. There was a world of money, power and privilege she’d barely touched the edges of. She’d probably never fully test the extent of their borders.

Lillie and Jim Halcyon were one example. Caroline hadn’t known the bear shifters were local to Whitehorse. She was glad to be able to add them to her friend list.