“Who are you calling?”
“Prairie Winds.” She looked surprised but didn’t say anything. “You trust Kent and Kyle West, right?” Submissives seemed to naturally gravitate to the two club owners. Both male and female submissives respected the Club Masters, instinctively trusting the pair to keep them safe. Israel knew Kyle and Kent considered all the club’s members as their responsibility, but they made it clear to everyone, the subs were under their personal protection.
“Yes, I trust them. Their screening process was so intrusive, it was actually reassuring. I also respect them. I’ve never seen them look at any submissive the way they look at Tobi. Every submissive I know admires them. They are always willing to listen, and I don’t think the club would be the same without their guidance. I’ve heard subs describe them as their best friend’s big brothers. You can talk to them about anything.”
He’d heard other submissives at the club make the same observation. Israel was happy she’d had someone at the club she trusted. He belonged to clubs all over the country and could say with complete confidence, safety was the make-or-break element for a successful kink club. The best way to ensure safety was good training and mentoring programs.
Pushing the last number, he wasn’t surprised to hear Kyle’s concerned greeting.
“Bristol, are you alright? Are you in a safe place?”
“Bristol is fine, my friend. This is Israel. She’s with me at Adler Oil. We’ve had an issue come up, but I’ll explain more later. I’d like you to answer any question she asks you about me with complete honesty. It’s important she knows who she’s dealing with. I’m handing her the phone, then leaving the room.” Israel put the phone in Bristol’s hand, kissed her on the forehead, and walked away.
Chapter Eight
Clovia paced the length of her luxury apartment’s balcony, barely resisting the urge to throw her damned patio furniture over the edge. Watching it shatter on the sidewalk wouldn’t be near as satisfying as heaving it across the street. After Israel’s brother refused to help her enter Adler Oil, she’d been confronted by a member of the building’s security team. Had he really thought she was going to hand over her identification? Not fucking likely.
She was growing tired of waiting for Israel to figure out they were fated to be together. She’d known immediately when she’d seen him, but after they shared a scene, Clovia was shocked he hadn’t felt the connection. During aftercare, he’d been polite but distant, leaving her as though his mind was somewhere else. She’d been relieved when she heard his sister had been in some kind of danger. Clovia didn’t give a rat’s ass about his sister but was damned happy to find out why her mate had been so distracted.
Clovia knew how lucky she’d been to find a luxury apartment directly across the street from the building where her future mate lived. When she’d realized the apartment’s balcony faced Israel’s, she’d willingly agreed to the seller’s outrageous asking price. Tapping into her trust fund was a paperwork nightmare, but it had been worth the effort. Walking back to her building after picking up dinner, Clovia heard a woman’s scream of passion.
Enhanced hearing meant she could make out nuances of sound others missed and heard things they couldn’t—the limitation was being able to determine where the sound came from. It took her a few seconds to zero in on Israel’s suite since she hadn’t been expecting him to take Dr. B home with him. All the subs at Prairie Winds knew Master Israel only played at the club. She overheard them discussing him on several occasions, and the small group of women seemed amazed he never took a sub home for a night or weekend of play.
Clovia moved back inside, stepping behind the section of her glass doors with the privacy screening. The high definition telescope she bought was perfect for looking into Israel’s windows, and the addition of the screen meant she could see out, but no one knew she was watching them.
“Seriously, people need to learn to close their damned curtains if they are going to have sex with their neighbor in their living room.”
Hell, she’d taken enough pictures to net a fortune. A banker and his physician wife living in the building next to Adler Oil, both paid her for the pictures she’d taken of them fucking other people.
Focusing on the windows directly across from hers, Clovia wondered where the two had gone. They were no longer on the balcony, and she didn’t see lights in any of the other rooms. Israel rarely closed the curtains, and she’d enjoyed watching him moving around nude in the moderately sized space. You have to love shifters and their lack of inhibitions regarding nudity.
Clovia was a wolf shifter who’d been raised in a household of mountain lion shifters. She never fit in and often struggled with the finer points of her special abilities. She enjoyed running free in the open spaces of her family’s large ranch but learned the hard way, not everyone appreciated her animal form. After her adoptive parents died, attorneys had quickly sold off the assets and set up her trust fund.
Clovia was only nineteen years old when she found herself standing on the sidewalk in front of the law office, holding the key to a modest apartment across the street from the college where she was attending nursing school. The grisly old fart handed her a checkbook, a hundred dollars cash, and told her he’d make sure her rent was paid until she was gainfully employed. It had taken some legal maneuvering, but she’d gotten control of the money earlier than anyone expected. She surprised the court when she’d invested most of the trust, only leaving a small portion of the sizeable fortune liquid.
The only large purchase she’d made was the condo. She’d been tracking the local real estate market and knew the property was appreciating. Once she and Israel were mated, she planned to sell her place and reinvest in a larger home out by the lake, where they could enjoy running in the woods. Clovia had her eye on a piece of real estate next to Master Cam’s, but no one seemed to know who owned it. She didn’t intend to give up until she owned the lot located adjacent to Cam and CeCe Barnes. It was close to Prairie Winds, so she and Israel would be able to utilize the club as often as they wanted.
If she wasn’t scheduled to work in a couple of hours, Clovia would have happily poured herself a large glass of wine and settled back with her telescope. She needed to replenish her photo supply—after all, why should she use her own money when her neighbors were so willing to pay her for pictures, they didn’t want the world to see? A few of them had gotten smart, pulling the curtains before entertaining guests, their spouses or significant others didn’t know about, but several believed they paid for protection in advance. They hadn’t.
Clovia considered her nursing career a temporary inconvenience. She’d planned to find a wealthy, well-established doctor to marry—unconcerned about his appearance or marital status, as long as he was rich—but meeting her mate changed everything. Israel Adler was a sexual Dominant, a shifter, owned his own security company, and fucking loaded—in short, he was perfect, and he was hers. Bristol Banks didn’t know who she was up against. Clovia had no intention of losing her mate to a woman who lived in a tiny studio apartment and drove a car older than her embarrassing wardrobe. Honestly, it looks like the woman shops at third-rate thrift shops. What the hell is she doing with her money?