Panthers' Pleasure [Impulse 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Zara Chase Page A

probably inside her head again.
    “No, I think she secretly hankered after a career of her own, but Dad was old-fashioned about that sort of thing.” She took a deep breath and another sip of her wine. “Then Dad got laid off when the steel industry fell into decline. He couldn’t get anything else and resorted to doing any casual jobs that paid in cash. He’d been working all night as security at a club, came home and showered, then drove him and Mom straight to Max’s graduation.”
    “It’s okay, babe,” Vilas said, taking her other hand. “Don’t tell us if it upsets you too much to talk about it.”
    Rafe placed one hand on her knee and left it there. “We want to know everything there is to know about you, but we don’t want to make you sad.”
    “No, I guess I should talk about it. I seldom do.” And they were so easy to talk to, it felt kind of right to let it all out. “I was furious because I had a virus and couldn’t go to see my big brother graduate. I’ve always wondered about that. I ought to have been in that car, you see, when Dad fell asleep at the wheel and wrapped it round a concrete barrier…”
    “Hey.” Rafe removed his hand from her knee, slipped his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her against him. “You can’t go through your life feeling guilty for surviving. That’s the last thing your mom and dad would have wanted.”
    “That’s what Max always says.” Chantal sniffed. “He’s right, and so are you, but I can’t help the way I feel.”
    “Things happen for a reason,” Vilas said. “I find it helps if you think that way.”
    She offered him a wan smile. “Perhaps.”
    “And ever since then, you and Max have been everything to each other?” Rafe surmised.
    “Exactly. That’s why I know he wouldn’t just disappear without telling me where he was going.”
    “And that’s how we know the lions have him,” Vilas said, snarling.
    “They won’t have killed him?” she asked anxiously.
    “No,” Rafe said, “almost certainly not. They won’t hesitate to kill us here in Impulse to get their thieving paws on the place, but lions, despite their reputation, don’t kill without a reason.”
    Relief washed through her. “Then you’ll help me find him?”
    “Count on it,” Rafe said, rubbing his cheek against hers. “And, just so you know, there’s no obligation on your part.”
    “We’ll help because we want to.”
    “Helping people is what we do,” Rafe added, “and we’re pretty damned good at it, if I do say so myself.”
    “Modest, too,” Vilas added, smirking.
    “Thank you.”
    Chantal turned to Rafe, about to kiss his cheek. She changed her mind at the last moment and rubbed her cheek against his instead. Then she did the same thing to Vilas. The two guys smiled at one another over her head, looking like…well, like cats that had just gotten a whole vat of cream. By copying their marking gesture she’d obviously given them hope, causing Chantal to regret her spontaneity.
    “Hmm, this is delicious,” Chantal said to distract them, reverently forking stroganoff into her mouth and closing her eyes as it slipped down her throat.
    Rochelle beamed. “You’ll fit in here just fine, honey.”
    “You were going to teach me how to stop you reading my thoughts,” Chantal reminded the guys when Rochelle left them alone again.
    “Okay,” Rafe said. “Close your eyes and think about me. Picture me in your mind. Are you doing it?” She nodded. “Right, now superimpose my face with something that makes you mad. Can you do that?”
    “She’ll be spoiled for choice,” Vilas quipped.
    “You’re so full of it.”
    Vilas chuckled. “I aim to please, lover.”
    Chantal thought for a moment. What was guaranteed to raise her blood pressure? A slow smile spread across her face as she recalled Jack’s expression when she caught him with his boss. That ought to do it.
    “Yep, you’re no longer my favorite person.”
    “Right, let’s see if it