On the Prowl Read Free

wasn’t anything Saskia hadn’t encountered before. Very few people anymore understood the reasoning behind arranged marriages, and almost no one in America did. It might be the way the Tiguri had always done things, but Americans had deserted the practice along with horse-drawn plows and whale oil lanterns.
    She smiled. “Thank you. I assure you, everything will be perfect.” Impulsively she reached out and squeezed the reporter’s hand. “Believe me.”
    Brown eyes locked with her own and studied her for a long minute. When she spoke again, Corinne was frowning and smiling at the same time. Her brows still drew together, but her mouth had curved into a wry expression. “You know, I think you really mean that.” She paused, appeared to debate something with herself, then reached into her small evening clutch and pulled out a cream-colored business card. “I have to admit, I’m fascinated by your whole story. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to pick your brain about it at some point. My office number is on there. Maybe we could have a drink sometime and talk?”
    Saskia tucked the card into her own bag. She couldn’t explain why, but she liked this reporter right away. Saskia wouldn’t mind meeting her for a drink sometime, maybe indulging in some girl talk. After all, Saskia had spent most of the last ten years in Europe and all her close friends were still there. It would be nice to make friends with someone more available.
    “If you’re hoping alcohol will steal away my inhibitions and loosen my tongue, you’d be absolutely right.” Saskia grinned. “I have a pretty low tolerance. But I’m afraid it won’t help you discover anything scandalous about my engagement. There’s nothing so exciting to it. We’re just like any other couple.”
    Corinne snorted. “Like any Other couple, maybe.”
    Saskia felt her eyes widen and she scanned the crowd around them reflexively, searching for anyone who might have overheard her but perhaps shouldn’t. She knew the Other community in New York still felt very strongly about protecting their secrecy from the humans. In a mixed crowd like this one, the challenge of remaining undiscovered tended to require extra vigilance.
    “Oh, don’t worry,” Corinne said, drawing Saskia’s focus back to her. “I’m part of one of those couples myself. My fiancé is … special. I wouldn’t let the cat out of the bag, even if he did manage to wriggle out of coming with me tonight.”
    Saskia let herself relax. “Well, then, you shouldn’t have any questions about me. It’s all perfectly ordinary, I assure you.”
    The reporter looked from Saskia, to her fiancé, currently schmoozing with her father and the head of a major movie studio, to her future father-in-law, currently glaring at the reporter, and back to Saskia. “Hm. Keep telling yourself that, toots.” She stepped back and raised a hand in farewell. “Anyway, call me sometime. Even if I can’t pick your brain. You’re new in town. I can show you around, introduce you to some of my friends. We all have … similar interests, you might say.”
    Saskia smiled in agreement and Corinne moved away, threading purposefully through the crowd and out toward the hotel lobby. Saskia watched her go for a second, then turned back toward her other guests. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Stefan still frowning, but now the expression was aimed at her.
    What was his problem? she wondered. She’d never gotten the impression that Stefan Preda liked her very much, despite the fact that he’d pursued the engagement between her and his son with as much assiduousness as her own father. She knew the former head of his streak wanted intensely for the Preda and Arcos clans to be united. As they were two of the oldest and highest-ranking families of tiger shifters left in the world, the move would solidify their power and shove the other four remaining clans firmly onto a lower tier of the rigid Tiguri hierarchy. For it