The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 164: Chapter 164

A few days earlier…
Antonetta rolled her eyes at her computer screen. She’d been staring at the dang thing so long, the glare was giving her a migraine—unusual for a Shifter with supernaturally enhanced healing capabilities, but whatever.
She checked the time on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Ugh. It was almost nine o’clock at night, and she’d been in the office since dawn.
No life, Toni. You have no life.
Her ex’s words played back in her head, but Toni shrugged them off. That turd had started texting her again this week, and it was fucking with her.
Are you really better off without me? Who else is going to want you?
Asshole. Yes, she was better off without him. As for who else would want her, how about nunya?
Nunya fucking business, turd breath, she growled the thought.
But Toni did not bother to reply. Stefan was in her rearview mirror, and that was exactly where she wanted him. They’d broken up a few months ago, but he still bothered her every couple of weeks.
His texts sometimes started out nice and sweet, and the first time he’d done it, she’d stupidly agreed to meet him for coffee. But that had turned out to be a terrible idea.
Not five minutes into their not-date, Stefan had started with the pressure on how she should accept his claim, and how she’d embarrassed him with his friends with her rejection. Then came the whole no one would ever want a cold fish like her as a mate, but he was willing to overlook her faults, etc.
Total fucking shit show. But still, it hurt. She was just glad she had met him in a public place filled with normals, so instead of causing a scene, he just watched her with anger glaring in his eyes as she dropped a ten-dollar bill on the table for the coffee she didn’t drink and left.
After that, she blocked his number. Stefan was nothing if not determined, also known as stalkerish. He texted from a different number a week later. And on it went. Now, she just blocked the new number he’d contacted her with and went on with her week.
Her phone buzzed, and she jumped, shaking the bad memories out of her head. She exhaled a relieved breath and swiped to answer the call.
“Toni, where the heck are you?” Adrianna, her sister, shouted through her cell phone.
“Sheesh. Indoor voices please. And I’m still at the office,” Toni muttered, frowning at her damn computer screen.
“Are you serious?” her sister whined.
Toni blocked out the rest of what she was saying and read through the numbers again. She’d recently been given a promotion that involved moving to a completely different department within the Eat Well Live Proud corporation. It was an awesome opportunity for growth and a chance to move up in the company.
Granted, Toni had not had much experience with marketing, but she was creative, enthusiastic, and a hard worker. She’d taken many advertisement courses in school and online, and she was flattered the new head of marketing had asked for her by name.
A few months ago, Toni was given the chance to run her own campaign. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. She’d been high on it for days, but when the excitement wore off, the hard work began. Her sisters had cheered her on, of course. The Goldens were a close knit group.
But this was the first time she was not working directly with them, and it had really challenged her skills and expertise. She’d been in charge of everything right down to the nitty gritty of what models to use, and where to spend on ads.
The campaign was launched a couple of weeks ago, and Toni was eager to see if it was getting results. EWLP had been her singular focus for so long, she was starting to wonder if maybe Stefan was right. Maybe she really had no life.
“Ade, I am sorry. I’ll be there, I promise,” she answered, but her sister was still going on and on.
Always so dramatic, that one. Sigh.
Maybe Toni was losing her mind. She mumbled to herself and re-checked the spreadsheets. Still, the numbers made no sense, and she was good with numbers. Mr. Bixby, her boss, had his own finance team running the money part of the campaign. But Toni liked to double check their work, and so far, it was not adding up.
Maybe she had the percents wrong, she wondered. This marketing gig was a lot more pressure than she realized. But she supposed that was her fault. The Blue Valley Lion Pride owned and ran EWLP, and it was already a well-established firm.
Renowned as importers and exporters of the finest quality, organic, sustainably harvested, and eco-friendly meat and fish, their clientele included restaurants, hotels, and cruise ships. Just recently, they’d launched a line that delivered from farm/ranch/sea to table to customers the world over. That was the focus of Toni’s marketing campaign.
EWLP Direct Line—delivering freshness direct to your door.
Catchy, right?
The new campaign ads featured couples and families from all walks of life cooking together, washing the produce, prepping the meals, and the reactions from the populace were amazing. Toni’s ad was a success. She should be celebrating, going on vacation, something, but she couldn’t stop. Not when the numbers were so wrong.
Even if they were right. Why would she stop? She had no mate, no cubs, not even a friend with benefits. She was a workaholic, and it showed.
“OMG! You are not even listening to me, ANTONETTA GOLDEN!” shouted Adrianna.
“Eeek. Sorry, sis,” muttered Toni.
“Look, we’re leaving for Serious Moonlight now. You better come or Mom is going to go apeshit,” her sister scolded her through the phone.
Crap.
She’d forgotten the reason for tonight’s shindig. The Golden girls were having a belated bachelorette party for their mother, who’d recently mated the King of the Blue Valley Pride.
Mom used to be such a cougar, but the little lady had settled down with Donovan Crowley. The Lion was the ruler of the Lions of Blue Valley. His first mate was Patricia’s BFF, but love had blossomed between the two, and Toni had never seen her mother happier.
Of course, that did not stop the older female from partying like it was 1999.
Sigh.
“Just a few more minutes and I will be there,” Toni mumbled, clicking the end call button while Adrianna was mid-tirade.
Her sister could be a little over the top. Besides, Toni was almost done. Serious Moonlight was a hopping place, and they used EWLP for everything now, so the food was excellent.
Her stomach grumbled, and Toni figured the least she could do was get a bite to eat. If she was lucky, her bro-in-law, Brock, would be on chef duty tonight. Lucky Ariella for snagging the talented Wolf.
Not that luck had anything to do with it. It was more like determination and mitigating circumstances. Now that they were mated, all the Goldens were regulars at the Dire Wolf owned establishment. Even baby brother George—that finicky pussy.
The youngest Golden was such a tight ass. Nothing at all like their free-spirited mother. Toni considered herself cautious, but George was downright boring. She wondered if he would be there tonight. Wouldn’t matter either way.
Toni was only going for the food and to celebrate their mom. So what if the old broad got more action in one night than Toni had seen in years? She was fine being single.
Yup. It was great.
Liar, her Lioness hissed.
Who asked you? Besides, I have no time for romance.
Grrrr, was her she-Cat’s only response.
Once bitten, twice shy, Toni was what you called unlucky in love. She would meet her family tonight because she said she would, but she would go home alone. Safe, secure, and resigned to her solitude.
Sad Grrrrrrrr.
Two hours later…
“You’re late,” Adrianna pointed out unhelpfully.
“I’m starving,” Toni replied.
“Those guys are checking you out,” her sister added, and Toni shrugged.
Men were always checking her out. It was not a big deal to Toni. She could hardly take credit for her face and curvy figure, that stuff was because of genetics. It was what happened when a man had to look past her warm amber eyes, thick dark tresses, and hourglass shape that kept her single.
“You gonna eat at the bar or get a table?” Adrianna asked.
“Bar is fine,” she said, giving her order to Sheila, a redheaded fire brand who happened to be mated to the Pride’s Prince.
“It’ll be right out, Ton,” Sheila said, sending the order straight to the kitchen using the new tablet system the bar had implemented.
The band was rocking, and Toni tapped her foot in time to the music. Adrianna had wandered off with some sweet talking male who’d asked her to dance, and Toni frowned. Her sister was a shameless flirt, but she never got serious with guys. She was even worse about dating than Toni.
“Hey, it’s baby girl!” Patricia Golden-Crowley—because her mother refused to give up her name completely, something Toni admired—shouted as she grabbed Toni in a tight hug.
“Hi Ma,” she replied, grinning automatically at the older female.
Unlike a typical bachelorette party, this little shin dig was going on after the mating and human marriage ceremony that took place immediately after. Not only that, but the King, i.e. the groom, was there as well.
“You are late, sugar cub. You know you work too hard,” her mother shouted over the music.
“I know, Ma. Work. Sorry. Couldn’t get away.”
“That’s okay, my lord and master was here to entertain,” Patricia replied with a saucy wink at her mate.
The male was watching her with hooded eyes, love shining in them despite the din of the bar. Donovan Crowley was no fool. He was not going to sit home while Patricia got her groove on.
Smart man.
Toni’s esteem for the Pride leader had gone up immeasurably once she’d realized how much the male really loved her mother.
Where his new mate was concerned, the Lion proved wiser than any of the men her mother had dated after their father was out of the picture.
“You look happy, Ma,” Toni said, smiling and leaning in as her mother grabbed her in a hug.
“I am happy, baby. And I want you to be too.”
“Thanks, Ma,” she replied, picking up her frosted mug and taking a pull of the cool, refreshing IPA.
Toni always appreciated whatever new flavors from local microbreweries Serious Moonlight had on their featured seasonal menu. This one had hints of orange and passionfruit that sang of summer sunshine and lazy afternoons. Not that Toni would know anything about that. Her days were full of work, and so were her nights, come to think of it.
Boy, was that depressing.
“You gonna dance, sugar cub?”
“Not now. Dinner first,” she replied, grinning as Patricia danced away from her, stopping to wiggle her booty on the King who looked about two seconds from picking the female up, cave-Lion style, and carting her home.
Toni’s imagination stopped there. She so did not want to know what the King and her mother got up to when they were alone. Having already had the unfortunate experience of walking in on the couple doing it wild style in her apartment, for fuck’s sake.
So gross.
In truth, Toni still could not meet her new stepfather’s gaze even for a second. There was just so much she wished she could unsee.
Just ew.
She still got the heebie jeebies thinking about it. Still, they made a good couple. Speaking of the King, sitting at the bar with Donovan, was his son Leo, Sheila’s mate, and some other Lion males from the Pride, including George.
Toni nodded at the bunch of males noncommittally. She searched the floor for her other sisters and saw Annabeth and Ariella shaking their tushes with their mates.
Crap, that meant Brock wasn’t cooking.
Toni shrugged, knowing full well the male wouldn’t leave his kitchen unless everything was running smoothly. She had high hopes for her Porterhouse steak with garlic smashed potatoes and sauteed broccolini and pity the sous chef who fucked that up.
There was one thing a person should never mess with, and that was a woman’s dinner. The scintillating scent of perfectly cooked meat—rare, of course—and well-seasoned sides reached her nostrils, and Toni growled deep in her throat.
She was not worried about the normals, or humans, in the room. Their puny senses couldn’t pick up her Lioness’ elation at getting some good eats. She’d been depriving her inner beastie, working late hours, and living off take out. But this right here, this was the real deal.
“Here ya go,” Sheila said, placing the plate down with a flourish.
“Thank you!” Toni enthused, taking a moment to let the flavors just saturate her olfactory senses.
Yowza. This was gonna be good.