Tuesday Teaser 12/10/13 Wolf’s Princess

This is a very tiny snip from one of the secondary stories from Wolf’s Princess. In Omaha, when a woman turns 18, she has three choices: marry, pay a tax to stay single, or go to work in one of the three whorehouses in town. Some women enjoy being “business women”, especially those who work in Sky’s House. He treats them like beloved sisters and any customer who tries to misbehave with them is shown no mercy by the Sky or the wolves who have come to work in the House.

One of those ladies is Miss Amanda, a full figured woman with long mahogany brown hair and flamboyant tattoos spiraling around one arm, over her shoulder to her breast. She’s worked for Sky for three years, and although she doesn’t mind the work and she loves the freedom it gives her, for the past few months she’s been thinking of settling down. She has enough money to pay the Single Status Tax for years to come, and more than enough to pay the Marriage Tax, but she doesn’t know exactly what she wants in a man. Sky would make a fine husband, but he’s taken.

Sand Wolfe came to Omaha as part of the escort Taye sent with Rose. He’s both fascinated and horrified by Omaha. He decides to hang a round for a few months, and Sky puts him to work as additional protection for his Pack of women.

Sand stared at Sky. “You want me to just stand out here in the hall and listen for a woman’s voice to say Cupcake?”

“Yes,” said Sky patiently. “That’s the word the ladies use when their appointment behaves in a way she doesn’t like. If you hear a woman say cupcake, go right into the room and be sure the man isn’t hurting the lady.”

Sand nodded crisply. “Do I kill him?”

“No! The lady will tell you whether the man should be escorted out or given a warning. OK? You can sit here. The appointments will begin arriving in about fifteen minutes. Your shift is three hours long. Paint will relieve you then.”

Sand watched Sky go down the stairs. He looked up and down the hall with its doors at regular intervals. There were four on one side and three on the other. At the top of the stairs was a small alcove with two delicate chairs on either side of a small table. He moved over to one of the chairs and carefully sat. What was he supposed to do for three hours?

The door at the far end of the hall opened and Sand sat up straight as a scent came to him. There were a multitude of sickeningly sweet scents crowding his nose, but this one was clean and light. Deep inside, his wolf gave a mighty howl. Sand was so shocked by his wolf that he almost didn’t notice the woman stepping  out of the door. She had walked right up to him before he wrestled his wolf into a semblance of submission.

‘Well, hello,” she said in a throaty purr, looking him up and down with obvious approval. “You’re the hall monitor for tonight?”

He nodded dumbly, taking in her luscious curves with awed eyes.

“You must be one of Sky’s relatives?”

He nodded again.

“I knew it.  You’re all so buff and handsome. I’m Miss Amanda. You can call me Amanda.”

“Amanda,” he breathed, leaning a little closer to draw in a lungful of her scent. “I’m Sand.”

She almost knocked him off his feet when she ran the tip of one soft finger down his nose to tap his lower lip. “And you all have such fun names. You’re adorable! I would love to play with your hair sometime. In fact, on my next day off, I’ll give you a freebie.”

She turned to saunter back to her door. Sand’s gaze fixed on her lush, swinging hips. She paused and turned back.

“Oh, I forgot what I came out for.  I was going to tell you that my first appointment tonight is Terry Askup. Last time he was here he was given a warning for being too rough. If it happens again, I’d like you to escort him out.”

Sand stared at her closed door with cold goo swimming in his guts. Miss Amanda was his mate. His mate was a business woman. In a few minutes she would be entertaining a man with a history of roughness, and she might ask him to escort her appointment out.

This was not good.