Claimed by Caden Read online

  She’d always felt secure in Caden’s feelings for her. Especially when they’d married. But now, with the baby, somehow, some thing was changing in Lia. She couldn’t explain it, didn’t even know how to, but the days of letting Eloise rule the roost where Lia’s family was concerned were over.

  The bitch didn’t know it yet, but she would soon.

  The girl from the Bronx had claws, and it was about time Eloise realized they were very, very sharp.

  The thought was empowering, and she watched possessively as Caden gathered his stuff together. Hand in hand, they left his office to enter hers. He kissed her on the lips, whispered, “See you later, babe,” and walked to the elevator—the sight of his delicious butt was just the cherry on the cake. Delicious was a powerful word, especially for a body part, but Caden’s ass was so fine, he could have won an award for it.

  She grinned, and as the doors closed, hollered, “Good luck!”

  He rolled his eyes, and the elevator whisked him away. Almost to the second, her computer’s video call program pinged. She turned to accept the call, knowing the only person who would contact her at this time of the day was Julia.

  There had to be a perk to being the boss’ wife, and Skyping at work was one of them.

  “I know that grin,” was her best friend’s first comment.

  “Considering you and I haven’t spoken in person for five years, I have no idea how that’s even possible.”

  Julia snorted. “You work with your husband, and we talk when you’re at work. I have plenty of chances to watch you moon over him when he interrupts our chats.”

  Lia shook her head, but a smile crossed her lips. “Technically, I’m interrupting the working day to talk to you.”

  She waved a hand and eerily mimicked Lia’s earlier thoughts. “There has to be some advantage to working with your husband.”

  “There are plenty of advantages,” Lia retorted, a slight purr to her tone.

  “My eyes, my eyes!” Julia declared dramatically. “Don’t tell me you two have been doing the nasty in his office again.”

  Sitting back in her seat, Lia just cocked a brow. “I plead the fifth.”

  “Remind your non-American friend what that actually means.”

  “If you hadn’t been extradited, you’d have probably learned the amendments by now.”

  Another wave of the hand. “I could have lived there until I was old and gray, and I still wouldn’t have learned your cockamamie rules.”

  “You were here long enough to learn the word ‘cockamamie.’”

  “Actually, I saw it on an episode of The Big Bang Theory.”

  Lia rolled her eyes. “Do you still have a crush on Sheldon Cooper?

  Her grin was sheepish. ”Just a smidgen.”

  “Come on then, spill the news. What trouble are you in this time?”

  “I’m offended by that assumption.”

  Lia shook her head. It always astonished her that Julia could look like an angel, all blonde hair curled into natural ringlets, huge baby blue eyes, peachy skin, and a neat, little figure that made most men drool, and yet, she was the biggest troublemaker Lia knew.

  Hell, Lia’s brother had gone to jail, but he’d never been extradited from three, count ’em, three countries.

  “You usually call when you’re in trouble.”

  “Hey, that makes me sound horrible!”

  Glibly, Lia retorted, “That’s why I love you.”

  Julie puckered her lips, and blew a huge kiss her friend’s way. “I love you, too, dollface.”

  “Yeah, yeah, tell me the deets.”

  Julie harrumphed. “It wasn’t my fault.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Hey! I resent that.”

  “Resent away, but remember, I know you. I knew you in college, in your days of relative innocence, and I know you now, so don’t feed me bull.”

  Another harrumph. “It was just one teeny-weeny lab.”

  Lia sighed. “Not again. I thought you’d stopped with the animal testing rallies.”

  “I had, but Jayce got in touch with me, and told me about these really horrible experiments that the government was involved in. I couldn’t just sit on the information and not do anything, could I?”

  “Considering you’re on a shitload of terror watch lists, yeah, honey, you really should have. And let me just say, I’m so mad at you. I thought I told you to get that SOB out of your life. Jayce is nothing but bad news.”

  She bit her lip. “I only just got out of prison, so don’t be too hard on me.”

  “And there, once again, we have confirmation of how big a bastard Jason Cunningham actually is. For Christ’s sake, Julia! Why didn’t you tell me? I’d have wired over the bail money.”

  Wrinkling her nose, she admitted, “It was, well, the sort of sentence where bail money doesn’t work. It was only for a month. That’s all.”

  Lia sighed. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”

  “Not a lot, I don’t think there’s much to me that’s reparable.”

  “You’re a naughty girl. I’m just grateful you’re in the UK now. They probably take this stuff a lot less seriously than we do over here.”

  “Plus, you can’t be extradited from your own country.”

  “Yeah, that’s always an advantage!” Lia grumbled, “I wondered why you hadn’t been pestering me these last few weeks, but things have been so up in the air….” It was hard to tell her best friend that she hadn’t burst into a full-blown panic, because she’d been avoiding her.

  Lia knew how Julia felt about babies. In the haze of punch-drunk happiness that had come in the aftermath of her doctor’s appointment, she hadn’t wanted Julia to spoil it.

  Looking sheepish, Julia remarked, “I could have had a friend call to tell you, but I knew you’d lecture.”

  “I’m way past lecturing, hun. I let you make your own mistakes.”

  “And I make so many of them.”

  “You said it, not me.”

  “Come on then, why have things been so crazy?”

  Lia bit her lip. “You’re going to kill me.”

  “Why? What have you done?” Julia asked with a scowl.

  “I should have told you right away, I know, but I knew how you’d react. I’m…well, I’m pregnant.”

  Julia blinked. “Oh my God, you’re carrying a parasite?”

  “How can someone so hot on animal welfare hate kids?” Lia groaned.

  “I’m not the one being used as a breeding ground, so technically, I’m not the one who should be concerned.”

  “I knew there was a reason why I didn’t call to tell you. I’m happy about this, Julia. Don’t spoil it.”

  Julia pulled a face. “I don’t know how you can be. I wish I could talk to Caden, I’d beat his ass up for you.”

  “Hell, I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’m actually relieved he had to go and have lunch with his mother. There’s no way I want you talking to him like that.”

  “Huh, there’s punishment enough then.”

  Julia was fully aware of Lia’s rocky relationship with her mother-in-law. “Hardly! We’re both really nervous about what Eloise will have to say.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Lia frowned. “Be happy for me, Julia. This is what I want.”

  Julia huffed. “If it’s what you want, then I guess I am happy for you. Look, I have to go. I’ll call you in a couple of weeks. I have to get my shit together. I lost my apartment when I was inside, and the jerk-off landlord threw out my stuff.”

  “Do you want me to send you something to help out?”

  Julia sighed. “No, I’ll manage. Thanks, though. Speak later.”

  Before Lia could say another word, Julia ended the call, leaving her looking at her own image on her webcam.

  “Dammit,” she hissed, and rubbed a hand over her face.

  That had not gone well. In fact, it couldn’t have gone much worse. Having her baby likened to a parasite was certainly not
going to be the highlight of her day.

  Considering Julia was closer to her than Tommy, her brother, was, it hurt that her best friend was so unhappy with her exciting news. At the same time, she’d expected nothing less. Julia was weird about babies, had been for as long as she’d known her. They’d been friends ever since Lia’s aborted years at Princeton, when they’d taken an Ethics class together.

  The snooty girl from London, with her cut-glass accent, and the Bronx brat probably shouldn’t have found a common thread to unite them, but who knew how fate worked. Even Julia’s extradition, six years ago, and the fact they hadn’t seen one another—in the flesh—and in all that time, hadn’t aborted their friendship.

  Lia knew that it would be a while before they spoke again. Julia would be sulking with her, and Lia knew to stay away until this particular wound was healed.

  Considering this was her first baby, she’d have liked to have Julia to call on with her news. That’s what friends who were as close as sisters did, right?

  Lia just hoped this wasn’t the end, full stop. Knowing Julia and how she felt about kids, it might well be, and that hurt like hell.

  Chapter Two

  It was hard for Caden to leave the office, to leave his wife behind to go to a lunch alone when she should be attending with him.

  They should have been together, holding hands, and happily smiling as Lia drank OJ, and he and his mom cracked open a bottle of bubbly. There should have been laughter and happy plans made over Delicieux’s beautiful Chateaubriand.

  Instead, he felt like he was going to meet his maker.

  Okay, so technically he was. He wouldn’t be walking around the city, gloomily putting one step in front of the other, and grimly avoiding the ceaseless wave of bystanders as he sought out a taxi, if it weren’t for his mother. But Christ, did she make him pay for those eighteen hours of labor.

  He couldn’t fault her for it. It was their way. Most of his kind accepted the status quo. Most males didn’t mind being cast into the role of sperm donor and bodyguard, but Caden had always been different. Or difficult, as his mother classed him.

  He didn’t do as he was told, blindly following her orders as his father did. He ignored his aunts’ and female cousins’ rule over him, even though, if the Pride knew that, he’d be up in court before he even had a chance to say, “Fuck you.”

  And yet, he was always cautious with his mother, more respectful, because she was surprisingly accepting of his ways. She’d helped him break free from the mold the Pride set their males in. She’d sneaked him to extracurricular studies, paid for extra tuition, and then, when he’d finally made Harvard Law, had footed the bill. No questions asked.

  She’d given him his freedom, and only when he’d done something she disagreed with, had she reeled in the leash she’d put around his neck on the day of his birth.

  Even then, he’d ignored her.

  When she’d tried to make him return to Anchor, his hometown, to practice law for the Pride, he’d set himself up in Manhattan. When he’d made a name for himself in a suit concerning a client who was definitely the underdog against one of the US’s largest corporations, he’d come to a lot of law firms’ attention.

  That had been the first time in his life when he’d been completely free from his mother’s rule. He’d also had to live without his family’s wealth, but he’d managed and soon had made a salary sufficient for his needs.

  Eloise Drummond had taken a bizarre kind of pride in her son’s disobedience. It helped that in some circles, he was internationally renowned. That first major case of his had been a real doozy, and had been incredibly helpful in his bid to take an independent stance.

  Then, he’d met Lia, and once again he’d withheld the truth from his mother. Marrying her in the human way before Eloise had even known Caden was in a serious relationship with someone, never mind a human.

  At least, what they’d believed to be a human.

  His stomach clenched at the thought. And, even though he had a shitload of cases on his back, not a one of them was giving him as much heartburn as was the knowledge that Lia was carrying his baby.

  When he’d realized she was his mate, and that she was human, he’d mourned the fact he wouldn’t be having children, because humans couldn’t procreate with shifters. He’d dealt with the blow, knowing it was worth being childless to have Lia at his side. His mother hadn’t agreed, of course, but he’d stopped listening to her dictates a long while back.

  Then, when Lia had returned from the doctors and told him she was pregnant, he’d had to make a decision. He either had to believe that Lia had cheated on him, that she was carrying another man’s baby, and wanted to pass off the child as his… Or, she was a shifter. And for some reason, the other half of her had never come out to play.

  Naturally, he believed that latter.

  It was easier to believe the improbable than to doubt Lia’s fidelity. There was no way she’d ever cheated on him. He knew that categorically. It just pissed him off that when he eventually did share the news with his mom, she would be slating his wife, accusing her of only God knew what.

  Retaining his patience with his mother was going to be the hardest part of the day. He was working on cases where drug companies had knowingly used and tested dangerous meds on the human populous. Getting those testees any amount of compensation was going to make pulling blood out of a stone look easy. And yet, he’d prefer to be working on that particular miracle than telling his mother his wife was pregnant.

  As Manhattan whirled by, from the backseat of the cab he’d finally managed to hail, Caden ignored the buzz of activity, the frenetic energy of the city that never slept. He’d lived here long enough that he no longer found it exciting. In comparison to Anchor, Manhattan was the den of iniquity his mother had promised him once upon a time. As a cub, after college, the city had provided him with endless thrills. Now, that had paled.

  It was cool to see a punk and a cowboy debating over Plato’s theory of justice in a coffee shop, it was unique to have restaurants with more awards than dishes on the doorstep, but the best part about the city was the fact that in it, he’d met Lia.

  If he’d stayed in Anchor, done as the males in his Pride did and never left, then he’d never have found her. Regardless of whatever Eloise Drummond said, she was his mate.

  When the cab pulled up outside a glass-fronted reception, he handed over a wad of dollars, and like a man walking to his doom, got out of the vehicle and stood looking up at the skyscraper. On the twentieth story, his mother was waiting to pounce.

  Only Lea knew what she’d hit him with, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.

  Sighing, he maneuvered between the riptide of people and entered the polished perfection of the building’s atrium. Yet another monument to glass and steel, all white on white, with spatters of color that looked like they belonged in a crime scene photograph, he grimaced as he crossed the hall and went to the elevator banks.

  As he traveled up with a coterie of other people, each of the carriage’s inhabitants wearing an easy couple of grand in tailored suits alone, he was joined by a handful as they entered Delicieux’s bar. His mother had requested this particular restaurant, and Lia had made the reservation. From the bar alone, he knew this wasn’t his kind of place.

  The dinner would be all plate and no protein, bits of foam and single-figure vegetables. Potatoes that had been cooked a million times and in a million different ways, and with a price tag that would strain even his bank account.

  Thank you, Mom.

  Bypassing the bar with its overall aura of darkness and its low red lighting that made it look like a brothel, a look further compounded by the black leather banquettes, Caden headed to the maître d’s station. Within moments, he was guided through the dining room.

  Here, leather lined the walls, and the red lightbulbs alternated with the usual gold in the form of oversized glass bubbles that hung low from the ceiling. White tablecloths, gleaming stemware and shining gla
sses were the only parts of the décor that made the place actually look like a restaurant. Otherwise, it was just like the bar—high class bordello-chic, as Lia would have called it.

  His lips twitched at the idea of his wife’s opinion of this place. He made a mental note not to bring her here, not unless the food was amazing. And even as those pleasant thoughts lightened his mood, when he saw his mother’s head over the sea of other diners, he grimaced. Then, when he saw who she was with, he felt like snarling.

  In fact, it took everything he had not to let his claws snap through his knuckles.

  How many goddamn times did he have to tell her? And how many times would she push?

  He clenched his fists at his sides, winced as his nails drew blood. When he approached the table, before he took a seat, he told the waiter, “Don’t bother with a menu. I won’t be dining. Bring me four fingers of Scotch. No ice.”

  As the man scurried away, he took a seat, eyed his mother’s scowling face and that of the woman she had been pushing on him since grade school—Chloë Gilbert.

  To many of the Pride’s males, he was sure Chloë was a great catch. She was the epitome of a Lioness shifter in human form. Blond, tall, golden. She could probably have taken the front page of Sports Illustrated if she’d wanted, but she wasn’t for him. Never had been, and never would be.

  When his mother had first tried to put them together, he’d resisted. Not because he believed that one day he’d find a mate, because no male Pride member ever had much of a chance of that. He’d been so focused on his studies, so focused on getting out of Anchor, that even the hot Gilbert chick hadn’t done much more than make his cock twitch. He hadn’t even jacked off over her. He’d wanted out of his hometown, and that, more than anything, had given him a hard-on.

  Now that he’d actually found his mate, something rarer than a two-hundred-carat diamond just popping up through the sand on Jersey Shore, the idea of anything but polite conversation with Chloë Gilbert was abhorrent.