"I don't understand why I have to share a room with Leo," Mike snarled. "He snores."
"I do not. Besides, you whistle when you sleep."
"No I don't."
Dante passed an irritated look at Romeo. "Why are they here?"
"To get women," Mike said.
Romeo ignored him. "You were afraid to leave them alone at the Inferno without me. The last time you did that, they damn near burned the place down."
Dante expelled a disgusted breath. "And why can't I kill them again?"
"You would miss them."
Yeah, right. Dante snorted at that as he handed off the card key to Leo and Mike.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Leo said as he examined it. "These aren't concierge level."
Dante gave him a bored stare.
"Are you concierge?" Leo asked Romeo.
"Yes."
"Why aren't we concierge?" Mike asked Dante.
Dante crossed his arms over his chest. "Because you're unworthy."
Mike opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a trace of a scent washed over all three of them instantaneously.
Dante went rigid as every hormone in his body suddenly became activated and sizzled. Against his will, he found himself turning around and scanning the crowd in the hotel lobby.
He smelled a virgin pantheress in heat.
They all did.
The scent was unmistakable. It was warm and sweet. Feminine and innocent. Succulent. Inviting. And it made him salivate for a taste of her. His panther sight dimmed as it scanned the females present and detected none of his kind.
"Where is she?" Leo said, his voice ragged as if he were having a hard time holding himself back.
"Too many humans here to tell," Mike said as he tilted his head back to sniff the air. "They have her scent moving in multiple directions."
Dante passed a look to Romeo, who was staring up at the elevator. He turned to stare as well, and saw no one but Darth Vader.
"Did you see her?" he asked.
Romeo shook his head. "Sorry. I was mesmerized by the naked green alien."
"Arrr," Mike snarled. "You're worthless, Romeo. What kind of panther gets fixed on an alien when there's a virgin pantheress in heat?"
"A mated one," Romeo shot back. "Unlike you losers, my hormones are contained."
Dante sniffed and shook his head to clear it of her scent before his animal hormones relegated him to the same childish antics as his twin brothers. "Yeah, and I want to keep mine that way. Frick and Frack, you're on panther patrol. Find her and keep her far away from me."
Mike and Leo exchanged evil grins before they bolted into the crowd.
Dante rolled his eyes at their haste. There were times when they really were losers.
"Aren't you the least bit interested?" Romeo asked as they headed for the elevators. "It's not every day we run across a virgin panther."
"Hell, no. I'll stick to humans. The last thing I want is a mate who'll cruise into my life once a year, screw my brains out for two days, then run off until she delivers my litter to me to raise without her. No offense, being you and Dad sucks and I've raised enough siblings to never want to raise my own young without the benefit of a mate."
Romeo laughed. "Yeah, but for the record, it's one helluva two days."
Dante shook his head at him. "You can have it. I'd rather take my pleasure where and when I find it."
He entered the elevator, then paused as he realized Romeo wasn't joining him.
"I'll catch you later," he said.
"You sure?"
Romeo nodded.
"All right." Dante got in and pushed the button for his floor. He stepped back against the glass and did his best to bring his body back under control.
But it was hard.
Every animal instinct he possessed demanded that he stalk this hotel until he located the female.
Since he was a Katagari Were-Hunter, the need to copulate with her was almost overwhelming. Katagaria were animals who could take human form, but at the end of the day, they were animals and not humans. Their animal half ran roughshod over their human sensibilities and it was the animal heart inside them that ruled them and their actions.
What he needed was some time in his room where he could take his animal form and put the female out of his mind.
He was old enough to be able to curtail his nature. To control it. He wasn't about to let any woman have control over him.
Especially not a pantheress.
Pandora fumbled with her key card as she straggled to open her door.
What was she going to do? The man in her elevator wasn't Acheron. And those had been panther males down there. If they caught another whiff of her…
She was doomed. There was no way the animal inside her would refuse a virile male. She was in heat and the need to mate reigned supreme inside her. If any male came near her who her animal self sensed could possibly impregnate her, she would throw herself at him.
Around humans, that impulse was controllable. The chances of a human male being her mate were almost impossible. So the animal inside her might be curious and enticed, but it would stand down to her human rationale.
Around a Were-Panther, that animal need wouldn't listen to reason. It would pounce for a taste of the male.
She would have no control!