Page 20 of Purrfectly Mated

“Oh, my! Okay yes, my dear,” Uncle Uzzi said and hugged her back.

“You’ll do, Elissa. You’ll do just fine.”

“Thank you,” she whispered and bit her lip as Uncle Uzzi walked out of the room.

“So,” she began, not knowing what to say.

“So,” he mimed and smiled so wide, she was struck once more by his beauty.

He was beautiful. Manly, sexy, and powerful, too. She salivated just looking at him.

“Well, Elissa Phoenix, I believe Uncle Uzzi was right. I believeyouare my fated mate,” Hunter stated.

He crossed the space between them, but she’d remained frozen in place. Everything about the way he moved made her aware of his presence. She recognized the power in that stride, and with every fiber of her being, she knew he would never harm a hair on her head.

His focus, so intense, so hot, and panty-melting, was on one thing only.

Her.

Elissa gasped, eyes wide. She’d never been lucky when it came to men. But something told Elissa her luck was about to change.

Yes, please.

ChapterSix

Afew minutes earlier…

Hunter had heard the car as it rolled to a stop outside the Pride House. His sensitive ears told him the vehicle was not of his Pride.

Weird.

He wondered who would be coming to call on him on such a lousy night. It wasn’t that it was terribly late, but the weather was too rough for friendly visits. Must be someone with an axe to grind.

Well, fuck.

He took a moment to prepare himself mentally for whatever was coming. As Neta, it was his duty to see to any perceived threats to his Pride. Hunter was responsible for the livelihoods and safety of about sixty individual Tiger adults. Some of them had families.

It wasn’t very big, but that didn’t matter. The Maverick Pride was his to take care of. Like it was his father’s, grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s before him. A Maverick had settled this land over two-hundred years ago, and one had run the Pride for just as long.

He was proud of his home, of his heritage. His father dying after he’d finished graduate school had been quite the shock, but Hunter had risen to the occasion. Taking over at the helm of Maverick Development and picking up as Neta where his father had left off, was not as hard a decision as some thought.

He was born to this. Had been raised to fill the old man’s shoes. Fuck, he missed his dad. Grayson Maverick had been an excellent Neta. Even without his mother, who’d passed a long time ago, the old man had run the Pride and company as well as could be expected.

It was difficult for the Pride to lose their leader, but Hunter had been well received. And yes, he’d even offered them the ancient and seldom usedRite to Challengeceremony before he ascended to the position.

There had been some who rose to the occasion. Hunter had to beat down a couple of younger Tigers looking to make names for themselves. Silly cubs, thinking him some soft city boy after his time at school.

But he’d proven himself then. And from time to time, he reminded his Tigers that he was the strongest among them. Their rightful leader. TheirNeta.

Despite that, rumors popped up concerning his ability to rule. The latest ones claimed he was having problems controlling his beast. According to his nameless and faceless enemies, his lack of a mate would lead to his Tiger going rogue.

As if that bullshit wasn’t bad enough, Hunter was having difficulty renewing Maverick Development’s government contracts. The company supported the Pride, employing many of the able males and females.

Something was wrong, but he had his head turned in so many directions, Hunter could not focus. The local government was giving him shit, talking about lower bids coming in.

Un-fucking-believable.

This was his territory. The only other contractors stupid enough to poach it was a nearby Hyena Pack. Those fuckers had no real work ethic and a bad reputation. He’d need to have a meeting with the Alpha Fem of the Pack if they were thinking about challenging the Tiger Pride.

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