When He's Ruthless (The Olympus Pride 4)

She finally jumped to her feet, apparently admitting defeat, and then butted his thigh with her head.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” He gave supremacy to his inner animal.

Not much taller than the bush dog, the cat butted his nose against that of the female. She licked at his face in greeting and yipped, wanting to play. But the cat was not done marking her yet.

He rubbed his body along the side of hers, flinching when she bit at his tail. He bared a fang. She gave him a doggy grin. Then she ran.

They spent hours digging, burrowing, wrestling, and chasing each other. When his human began pushing for control, the cat tried nudging the bush dog toward the piles of clothes. She barked and then jumped in the pond.

The cat tapped his tail hard on the ground, growling. She ignored him. He growled louder. She continued to ignore him. He let out a bark-like hiss. She swam further away.

The cat circled the pond, growling and hissing until his mate eventually climbed out. She shook her body hard, soaking his fur with water. He bared his teeth, unimpressed. Another doggy grin.

He herded her over to the pile of clothes and then withdrew, giving his human supremacy.

Smiling down at the bush dog, Luke shook his head. “You are just pure trouble.” He pulled on his jeans, watching as she did a handstand while scent marking a tree.

Hinges creaked as the door to the complex swung open. Finley stepped out into the yard. Hell.

The bush dog instantly went down to all fours, her ears pricking up. Her mood didn’t sour, though. No. She started wagging that little tail, and he knew then that she planned to toy with the enforcer if this conversation didn’t go well. Which it might not, given the woman’s general habit of being somewhat dismissive toward his mate.

His protective instincts rose, urging him to warn the female enforcer to watch her step. But he wouldn’t be doing his mate any favors if he did. In fact, Blair would be pissed at him for acting on her behalf.

Whenever Finley had dismissed her in the past, Blair had rolled her eyes. Or snorted. Or snickered. Or otherwise dismissed the woman right back. But being Beta female now, she wouldn’t do that any longer. She’d want to establish where she stood in the hierarchy.

Finley strolled toward them, all assertiveness. “Hey, you two.” She smiled at the bush dog the way you would a harmless bunny rabbit. It was an insult, pure and simple. Because everybody knew bush dogs were far from harmless.

Knowing the condescending edge to that smile would rankle on his mate, Luke expected the little female to growl or peel back her upper lip. She didn’t. She cocked her head, lolling out her tongue, and kept on wagging her small tail.

Finley let out a low snicker, though her features softened in the face of all that puppy-like adorableness. It truly was impossible not to respond to it.

Finley turned to Luke. “I’m sorry about yesterday morning. If I’d known your mate was with you, I wouldn’t have disturbed you.”

He inclined his head, accepting her apology.

“We really do need to talk. I want to run a few things by you.”

He frowned. “You didn’t take the matter to Farrell yesterday, since I was occupied?” It would have been the obvious thing to do, given the guy was Head Enforcer.

She blinked. “Well, no.”

And he could see that it hadn’t even occurred to her to do so. Luke could sense that, for her, it would have felt no different from consulting someone of equal rank. Because Finley’s problem was that, in her attempts to act as far more than an enforcer, she tended to forget that she was an enforcer.

“You should have,” Luke told her. “It is not necessary for you to report specifically to me. Farrell should be more of a go-to person for you than I am. But it often slips your mind that his authority exceeds yours, doesn’t it?”

Finley’s face flushed, and her mouth firmed.

Eager to return to having quality time with his mate, he asked, “Are any of your concerns urgent?”

“No,” she replied, her voice a little brittle.

“Then either take them to Farrell or, if you really feel that the situation warrants the involvement of a Beta, find Blair at some point tomorrow.”

Finley’s lips parted in surprise. “But she’s only …”

“She’s only, what?” he prodded, a dangerous note in his tone.

The enforcer peeked down at the bush dog, whose black gaze was pinned on her with such intensity that Finley averted her eyes. “New to her position.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” he said, his tone cool. “And I don’t think it’s what you intended to say. Be very careful, Finley. You’d be a fool to underestimate her.”

The enforcer glanced down at the bush dog, who was still firmly in the role of man’s best friend, and then raised a “I’m seriously supposed to feel threatened?” brow at Luke.