Lion's Hunt: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance Read online

  And Seth’s brother, the lion who ruled it all.

  He got out of the cab at Rowland Global Solutions’ office in the center of Manhattan, tipped well, and slung his backpack over his shoulder, looking up at the building.

  It had been a long time since he’d visited his family’s company.

  Well, no time like the present. Max would already be at the office, no question.

  He shared an elevator with two men and a woman, all in crisp, expensive-looking suits. They looked askance at his dusty jacket, beat-up backpack, and dried-mud-covered boots. Seth ignored them.

  When he got off on the forty-fifth floor, the woman at the front desk greeted him with a professional smile that hardly twitched at his outfit. “Can I help you with something, sir?”

  “I’m here to see Max Rowland. He’s expecting me.”

  Her smile faltered a little bit. “Sir, Mr. Rowland hasn’t left notice for any appointments at this hour. Perhaps you’re mistaken about the time or the date?”

  “I’m his brother. He asked me to come whenever it was convenient.” Or really, as soon as possible, but Seth knew better than to make it sound like an emergency where anyone could hear.

  The woman hesitated. “May I see some identification, sir?”

  Seth dug his driver’s license out of his wallet. The receptionist studied it carefully, comparing it to his face, and then picked up her phone.

  “Hello, Louise? Could you ask Mr. Rowland if he’s expecting a visit from his brother Seth? Thank you.”

  Seth studied the artwork on the walls while the receptionist waited for a response. Finally, she turned to him and said, “Please step through, Mr. Rowland.”

  The corridors were echoing at this hour of the morning, the office almost empty. As Seth approached his brother’s inner sanctum, though, he started seeing people here and there. The people who made it this high in RGS were the real workaholics, coming in early and staying late.

  His brother’s assistant waved him through without even asking who he was, so Seth guessed the receptionist had probably told her to expect someone who looked like he’d just gotten off a plane from the middle of nowhere.

  He opened the door without knocking and stepped into his brother’s office.

  It was an enormous room, with floor-to-ceiling windows giving Max a sweeping expanse of a city view. The carpet was thick and soft, so Seth’s feet made no sound, and when he closed the door behind him, any noise from the office outside immediately vanished.

  Max stood in front of the window, looking out at the city. His powerful form was silhouetted against the panoramic view, and the sunrise lit his golden-blond hair like a corona.

  Max was the oldest of the Rowland siblings. He’d stepped unflinchingly into the role of head of the family and head of the company when their parents were killed in a car crash six years ago, and Seth had never seen him show any sign of struggle or weakness since.

  He ruled Rowland Global Solutions with absolute and unshaking authority. In six years, he’d turned it from a kingdom into an empire.

  Seth had never been able to understand why anyone would want to run a company, let alone with the unwavering attention Max gave RGS. But he would always, always be grateful that Max had taken the reins, and that he hadn’t made a single argument to keep Seth involved.

  Instead, when Seth had turned eighteen and announced that he was buying a ticket to Nepal and he didn’t know when he’d be back, Max had nodded once and said, “I hope you find what you’re looking for. Come back whenever you want.”

  Seth had been overwhelmed by the realization that if he’d been having that conversation with their father instead—their parents had only been deceased for a few months, then—it would have gone very, very differently.

  By age seventeen, Seth had already had several shouting arguments with their father about responsibility and manhood and the duty any lion had to support his pride. Leaving would have been the last straw.

  Max, on the other hand, had understood that Seth was going to leave no matter what. Nothing, not their father, not the company, not anything, could have kept him in New York any longer.

  Seth would always be grateful for that.

  But that didn’t mean that they were close. Since he’d left, Seth could count the times he and Max had been in the same room on both hands, with fingers left over.

  They were just so different. Seth preferred to live in the moment, go where the world took him, while Max made intense and intricate plans years in advance. Seth preferred wide open spaces without people, while Max had made his mark in all the major cities of the world.

  They even looked different, or as different as two blond, golden-eyed brothers could. Seth was solidly built, with a shaggy lion’s mane of hair and a jaw that usually had a smattering of stubble. He kept in shape by hard travel, and he had muscles that came from using them.

  Max, on the other hand, was polished and urbane. His hair was in a short and expensive cut, he was always, always clean-shaven, and while he definitely kept in shape, he had more of a tall, smoothly-muscled form that fit well into a business suit.

  When Seth put on a suit, he always felt like more of a wild lion than ever. Max looked like he was wearing a second skin.

  However, they were still brothers, and they were still similar in some ways. For example, neither of them were the sort of man to set up a family get-together, or stay in touch just for sentimental reasons. And neither of them had ever been very expressive...although Max definitely took the prize, there.

  “You could’ve given some notice.” Max turned away from the window to look at Seth. “I assume your phone works, since you’re here.”

  “You wanted me here as soon as possible,” Seth said with a shrug. He spread his arms. “I’m here. What’s so urgent?”

  Max went to his desk and sat down. He gestured to a chair, and Seth hauled it up beside Max and dropped into it, ignoring Max’s look.

  The desk was the size of Montana anyway; Seth didn’t want to be yelling across the expanse of dark wood.

  “Some information has recently come to my attention.” Max unlocked a drawer and slid some papers out. “You remember Carl Hendricks.”

  Seth nodded. Carl had been one of their father’s top-ranked employees, and Max had kept him on as CFO when he took over.

  Seth hadn’t seen him since he was a teenager, but even as a kid, Carl had struck him as one of the classic wheeling-and-dealing business types, always looking for an advantage.

  “Our father never revealed the existence of shifters to him. He’s never known what we are. However, last year a business deal arose that was centered around shifter politics. Since Carl was heavily involved, and since he’s been loyal to the company for decades now, I decided that the benefits of telling him outweighed the risks.”

  “I’m guessing from your phrasing that something went wrong,” Seth said.

  “You’re correct.” Max handed him one of the sheets of paper.

  Seth looked at it. “What is this?”

  “That is what I discovered after I noticed something off in one of the quarterly reports. It took a great deal of digging.”

  “Okay. What is it?” Seth was not in the mood to decipher forensic accounting spreadsheets.

  “It’s a record of funds being diverted into a supposed ‘Environmental Research’ lab in the Rockies. The lab is receiving at least twenty times as much money as it should be getting, and its latest report was plagiarized almost verbatim from another lab.”

  “So it’s not an environmental research lab.”

  “It’s not an environmental research lab.” Max sat back. “It was commissioned one week after Carl Hendricks was read in on the Rowland family secret. All of the evidence suggests that he’s responsible for the operation.”

  Seth frowned at the spreadsheet. “So what’s he actually doing with all of this money? Is there really a lab out there at all?”

  Max spread his hands. “That’s what I ne
ed you for.”

  “Me? I am not a financial detective. Don’t you have a thousand forensic accountants waiting at the snap of your finger? Any one of them could do a better job investigating this than I could.”

  Max shook his head, visibly exasperated. “No, Seth, I don’t want you to investigate the financial records. I’ve done that myself and it hasn’t yielded anything more than what you see on that paper. I want you to go there and find out what’s happening.”

  Oh. “That does sound more like something I could do.”

  “I need someone who knows that we’re lions, in case this has something to do with shifters,” Max said. “I need someone no one will recognize, which rules out most of the people in the know. And I need someone I trust implicitly.”

  Seth’s eyes snapped up to meet Max’s.

  Max’s eyes always seemed somehow cool, even though they were the same tawny gold color as the rest of the family’s. Now, Max met his gaze calmly, without any special feeling in his face, but Seth had heard the words, and they were as close as Max ever got to expressing love.

  “If I show up, or Alexandra shows up, or Reid shows up asking questions,” Max continued smoothly, “then Hendricks will know that the game is up. There are no records of the lab’s location in our system—the only way to get there is to have someone at the local office take you, or tell you where it is, or to follow them. If I showed up at the office, the lab would be cleared out before I ever found it, assuming it exists.”

  “So who am I supposed to be, then?”

  “A tax auditor, of course,” Max said. “You’ll be working for the IRS.”

  Seth tipped his head back. “Oh. Wonderful.”

  “We’re in the process of being audited at the moment, so it is the least suspicious option,” Max told him. “Hendricks will not be pleased that the IRS has decided to specifically investigate this very expensive lab operation, but no doubt he has some kind of explanation planned for any casual observers.”

  “RGS is being audited?” Seth glanced around. “I would’ve thought there’d be more panicked employees if the IRS was breathing down your necks.”

  “Rowland Global Solutions may be a large company, but it is not in the habit of cheating anyone, least of all the federal government,” Max said frostily. “The IRS’s attention will not do us any damage, I can promise you.”

  Seth held up his hands, apologetic.

  Max might be ruthless in the boardroom and cold in person, but he wasn’t a cheat. And he’d probably gone over everyone’s tax documents with a fine-toothed comb, because he was that sort of a control freak.

  “So I show up pretending to be from the IRS—is that a crime, by the way?”

  Max waved a hand. “Technically, yes, but no one in this place will be reporting you to the government, I can promise you.”

  “And try to talk my way into getting a tour of the lab? I don’t think they’re going to go for that.”

  “It’s up to you how you get to it,” Max said impatiently. “I don’t care if you convince someone to take you or figure out where it is and break in. And in fact, that won’t be a crime, because I own the lab and I’m giving you my permission. All I want is to know what’s inside.”

  Seth stared at the financial records in his hands. Those were some pretty big numbers. “Do you have any idea what Hendricks might be up to at all?”

  Max shook his head. “None. There’s no indication of what raw materials or tools or personnel they’re using that money for. I can think of a few options. For example, there is the possibility that Hendricks has decided that the Rowlands, being lion shifters, are dangerous animals who cannot be trusted in power and is planning a hostile takeover, which he is embezzling that money to fund. In that case, the research facility either doesn’t exist at all, or it’s empty.”

  “Is that likely?” Seth looked at the document again. It was a lot of money, but for a hostile takeover, he’d expect more.

  Max hesitated. “It’s possible,” he repeated finally. “But...I think that there is something happening in that building. I’m just not sure what.”

  Seeing his brother uncertain about something was rare enough that it made Seth’s own spine straighten in response. “All right,” he said. “I’ll figure it out for you.”

  Max smiled faintly. “Thank you, Seth.”

  “And whatever it is, I’ll make sure there’s enough evidence to put Carl Hendricks away for life,” he added.

  Max sighed. “Our position on the stock market is going to suffer for this. I’ll have to think of appropriate PR options if you’re successful.”

  “When I’m successful.”

  Max looked up, and met Seth’s eyes for a long moment, and then nodded. “When you’re successful.”

  Seth let that confidence warm him for a long moment, and then stood up, grabbing his backpack. “I better get on my way, then.”

  Max handed him the last two pieces of paper. “Directions to the office running the lab. It’s the hub of all our operations in the Rockies, so you’re going to have a lot of paperwork thrown in your face when you get there.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “I know you’ll handle it with your usual grace and charm. The other paper is your flight info. I’ll book you on a flight out of JFK this afternoon; you can show up at the office tomorrow morning. They’ll be expecting you, but I kept the notice as short as possible without making Hendricks suspicious. Oh, and Seth?”

  Seth paused in the process of folding the papers into quarters and shoving them into his backpack. “What?”

  “Buy a suit between now and then.”

  Seth rolled his eyes and shouldered his backpack. “I’ll be the most convincing IRS agent you’ve ever seen.”

  “Just convince them. Check in when you’re there.”

  Seth nodded and started for the door. “I’ll let you know what’s up as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you.”

  Max’s voice just barely made it through the closing office door, and Seth paused as it slipped shut behind him.

  His older brother, asking him for help. Thanking him for his help.

  Max must be really worried about what was going on in that lab.

  ***

  Seth arrived at the Rocky Mountain office bright and early the next morning. He’d spent the flight from New York reading over the employment records for the office.

  Everyone there was under suspicion, but the person that had to be in the know was David Crews, the man in charge. All of the records for the regional R&D labs would pass through him, so he’d be the most likely candidate to be the person fudging the numbers.

  And if any activity was actually going on in the lab—if it wasn’t just a cover for an embezzlement scheme, but a project that Hendricks was running under the table—then the real records had to exist somewhere.

  And the most likely place for them was in David Crews’ possession.

  Seth took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and reminded himself that he was an IRS agent, not a lion in a suit. Then he walked into the office.

  The receptionist at the front desk smiled at him. “Can I help you, sir?”

  Seth had déjà vu. He’d just done this in New York.

  Well, at least now he had an appointment. “I’m meeting with David Crews. I’m with the IRS.”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes, sir,” she said. “Straight on back, the last office to your right.”

  Seth nodded and headed back, walking with a purposeful stride.

  But when he reached the office, it was closed and dark. Crews wasn’t in yet, apparently.

  It wasn’t quite nine o’clock yet, so he’d probably show up in a few minutes. Seth looked around for somewhere to wait.

  The office was bullpen-style, with a ton of desks arranged in an open floorplan, probably designed for maximum office productivity. There were a few people of lesser, non-office-worthy status, already at their spots and getting ready for a day’s work. />
  Seth couldn’t imagine working inside all day like this. He’d always needed to spend most of his time outside, being active, whether in human or lion form. He’d had a hell of a time in school, jittering away at his desk until the day was over and he could get out.

  Then his surveying gaze got caught at the closest desk.

  There was a woman sitting at it, focused intently on her computer and typing away, even though the workday hadn’t technically started yet. She had long, honey-blond hair and generous curves, and she was frowning at her computer screen like it wasn’t cooperating.

  And all at once, Seth’s lion roared to life.

  Mine!

  Seth couldn’t look away. That woman, sitting at her desk like it was an ordinary day, working in a gray office like all the rest of these normal office workers, was his mate.

  His mate.

  His lion roared again. Mine! it insisted.

  Seth’s instincts were screaming at him to go sweep the woman away from her desk, tell her that he was her mate and they were destined to be together, and kiss her until neither of them could remember their names.

  Wait, he told his lion firmly.

  He had to at least say hello first.

  Keeping a firm lockdown on any shifter-based impulses, he slowly approached her desk. “Excuse me.”

  She looked up. Her eyes widened.

  She feels it too. Seth could instantly tell that she was drawn to him. Her lips parted, she leaned forward, and the air between them seemed to pulse with a kind of invisible energy.

  And her eyes flickered up and down his body. Seth suppressed a hungry smile.

  She wasn’t a shifter, though. There was none of that scent in the air. Just something sweet and musky, womanly and intoxicating.

  That meant that she wouldn’t understand that they were mates. She’d just think that they were...attracted to each other.

  Seth was going to have to figure out how to tell her what was happening to them. Between them.

  He’d lost hope of this ever happening. He’d never made a plan for what to do if it did happen.