Officer Wolf (Sizzling Shifter BBW Romance) (With Bonus Book) (8 page)

The coffee shop was pretty empty except for Brad and a couple sitting a few tables away. An elderly man walked in the door and Brad kept checking his watch. He’d showed up about fifteen minutes early on accident and by now it was five after nine. He was starting to think the girl might not show up, and he chuckled to himself as he checked his watch again. Oh well, her loss. He decided to sit there for a few more minutes and finish his coffee, then head back to his beach house and get some writing done for the day. He liked to type three thousand words a day on average so he could get a book out every month, and he shifted his focus on what he planned to write that day when the door opened.

She walked in, her face looking flushed yet still gorgeous, and scanned the coffee shop until her eyes locked with his. A beautiful smile filled her face and she hurried over, set her purse down and then spoke, “I’m so sorry. I just moved here not long ago from down south, and I’m not at all used to the traffic.”

Brad could tell she was lying. Her makeup had been put on quickly in the car, but he still couldn’t imagine her looking any more beautiful. He could tell she’d be gorgeous without an ounce of makeup on her face. She was also sweating lightly, and her clothes were slightly wrinkled. Still, he smiled, “That’s okay. I’m Brad. It’s nice to meet you in the flesh.” He stuck out a strong hand and gave her a firm shake, but not too firm.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Laura, as you know.” She laughed.

“Let me just get this off the tip of my tongue, because I can’t hold it in anymore. You’re gorgeous.” He rasped coolly.

“Aw,” She blushed even further, “Thank you so much. You’re handsome yourself.” Nervously, she fidgeted with the menu, “Do they have good coffee here?”

Brad smiled, “I drink a lot of coffee, and I come here all the time. So yes, they have excellent coffee.”

A waitress appeared above them as if on cue, she said in a bright and bubbly voice, “Morning, what can I get for you two?”

Brad looked her straight in the eyes and smiled in recognition. He was a staple around here, a regular customer, “I’ll have the usual, Sally.”

“Black with two sugars. The moon pie flavor, right?”

“Come on,” Brad grinned larger, “You know that well enough.”

“Hey, Brad. You’re not the only regular here. I can’t remember everyone’s.” She laughed.

“I’m just giving you a hard time.”

Laura said, “I think I’ll have the Greek with whip on top.”

“Good choice,” The waitress said, “I’ll have those right out for you.”

Brad shifted his attention back on Laura, and felt unusually nervous. He was generally an alpha male, nothing made him nervous. But somehow she’d put some kind of spell over him, it seemed. He forced a smile and tried to shuffle his feet on the ground to take his attention off things, “So what made you move here?”

“I want to be an actress, same as everyone else that moves here I guess.” She laughed.

“That’s awesome,” He said, and meant it, “Tough business to get into but you’ve certainly got the looks.”

“You’re sweet. How long have you been here?”

“I’ve lived within a hundred miles of this place pretty much my entire life. Grew up around here, was born here. I never want to leave.”

“You and me both! I got here two weeks ago and I saved up enough money waitressing in Louisiana that I think I’ll be okay for a year. I worked my butt off for two years and just lived with my aunt and uncle rent free. Thank goodness for them, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to save much.”

“It’s good to have a supportive family,” Brad said, “I was lucky with that as well.”

She looked at him and the waitress set down their drinks, “So Brad, what do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

“
A writer
?”

“Yeah,” He laughed, “I write short stories and novels, mainly novels these days. Thriller, mystery, but recently I branched out into the wonderful niche of romance.”

Her eyes lit up, “I’m a crazy reader. I mean, I’m practically glued to the pages of a book during all of my free time.” She paused, “So, are you published or are you just trying to get published?”

“Oh, I’ve been published for years. I write under a pen name because I don’t want to deal with the fame.”

“The fame
…” She repeated, “Tell me, what have you written?” Her tone was that of interest, albeit slightly sarcastic, as if she didn’t believe him.

“Ever heard of Reckless Days?” He sipped his drink.

Laura didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged out. Big, gorgeous blue eyes. “You wrote that? I’ve never read it, but my friend was obsessed with your whole series. Wow, that’s crazy.”

“Yeah, I wrote that one. It’s probably the one I’m most proud of. But enough about me. I want to hear about you.”

She sipped her drink and lightly bit her lip, almost flirtatiously, “Well… I grew up in Texas and Louisiana, I came here to try and act… I don’t know anyone here yet and I’ve found it hard to make friends in this side of the country.”

“I wouldn’t know much about it myself,” Brad admitted, “I’m somewhat of a loner. I’ve got some good buddies but we don’t hang out that often anymore.” He wondered if that would turn her off. It didn’t.

“So we’re both loners. We both are trying to do something artistic…” She stopped herself and blushed, “Well, obviously you’ve already made it as far as that goes. But so far it sounds to me like we’ve got a lot in common.”

“That’s what I’m gathering.” Brad agreed, “What part of town are you living in?” He asked.

“Grandino Hills. You?”

“Outskirts of Ventura County in a little three bedroom beach house. More of a shack really, but it’s nice, and what I prefer.”

“You’ve got a beach house? No freaking way.”

“You want to check it out? If you don’t have plans after this.”

“I’m good for the rest of the day, no auditions or anything important.”

“Let’s finish our coffee then get out of here. It’s too cold, anyway.”

Laura shrugged her shoulders and smiled. She thought it felt perfectly fine in there, even somewhat warm. But then again, she wasn’t a Bengal tiger, and she didn’t know that Brad was.

**

Brad opened his door and led Laura inside. He wasn’t a dirty guy, but he couldn’t help but get a little hard when he saw her gorgeous backside in the flowing dress she was wearing. The dress was loose and casual, but good lord her ass was nice and big. His mouth watered a little as he mentally undressed her and envisioned all her voluptuous full figured curves. He almost couldn’t wait to fuck her, and then realized how perverted that thought was. He also realized that she didn’t yet know he was a shifter, and he certainly wasn’t going to keep that a secret from her. That could be the deciding factor of whether or not she wanted to even go out on more dates with him, and he certainly hoped she would because he was interested in her thus far. And
good god
, her body was perfect. He smiled to himself as she walked in front of him and took a deep breath, reminding himself that he should take it slow. He didn’t want to make love anytime soon considering they’d just met. Brad was a gentleman who liked to take things slow, most of the time…

“Wow, this is so cool. I’d love to have a place like this, right on the beach.” Her voice had an element of awe in it.

Brad smiled and pointed out at the beach through the big window that took up half of the living room wall, “Nice view, right?”

“Better than nice. I hate living so far inland! This rocks.” She turned to him and looked at him, “I’m glad I decided to meet you. You’d never believe how many creeps messaged me on that website. But when I saw your picture…
Whew
, boy, you sure are sexy.”

Brad smiled, “Thanks. We make a pretty sexy pair, if I do say so myself…”

“I agree.” She felt like a slut for admitting this to herself, but she wanted him pretty bad. She never had sex on the first date and she wondered if this would be the exception. Despite being a bit early for sex, she could feel a very big spark of lust between them. Brad felt it too, but he kept it hidden pretty well, other than the hard on poking against his blue jeans.

“So…” He said, “You want a house tour or a beach tour first?”

“Beach,” she said excitedly, trying to stop her lustful emotions from getting the best of her, “I’ve been here for two weeks and I still haven’t seen it.”

What she really wanted was a house tour, namely one to his bedroom, but she bit her lip and kept quiet about that.

“Let’s do it.”

They walked on the sand and took their shoes off, letting the tide wash in on their feet. They laughed and played and bumped into one another playfully. Brad pointed up at the mountains above the ocean which looked very green. The state of California had been getting a lot of rain lately, and everything was lush and beautiful.

“I go hiking up there a lot. You ever hike?”

“Not a lot of great hiking where I’m from. It’s so flat, but I’d like to.”

“Sometime we’ll go. Pack a lunch and hit the trails. It’s short but fun, and you can make a whole day adventure of it.”

Laura smiled and danced around in the tide and then bumped into him. Her breasts hit his muscular chest and she felt a shudder pass through her body when she realized how muscular he was. As if acting on instinct, she grabbed hold of his arm and slid her fingers up to his bicep. God, he was so hot. So chiseled and thick.

“Geeze, you work out.”

“I try to.”

Brad wanted to fuck her right then and there, and he probably could have if he wanted to, but there were too many beach houses behind them. Someone was bound to see it.

“You ought to train me sometime.” Laura looked at him with lust beating through her eyes. Brad said nothing, but he gulped slowly and tried to fight off his testosterone. He wanted to fuck her so badly, but knew he had to wait. The first thing he had to do was let her know he was a shifter. He could tell she was already interested in him, so it wasn’t a matter of whether or not she was a shifter seeker. It was obvious that she was attracted to him for who he was, and that was all that was important.

“Can I ask you something? It may sound crazy and unbelievable, depending on how many of them there are in Texas and Louisiana.”

“Huh? How many of what?” She paused.

They stood there on the beach in stillness and Brad felt his heart thumping. He wasn’t sure how she was going to react, and despite only knowing her for a few hours he was very attracted to her both inside and out. He hoped the news of him being a shifter wouldn’t freak her out or turn her off.

“Shifters.”

“Shifters…” She paused, “Yeah, what about them?”

He breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “I’m one.”

“You’re a shifter?” She paused with a blank face, and for a moment Brad thought she was going to start backing away in disgust, but she didn’t. Instead she said casually, “That’s cool. What kind?”

“Bengal tiger.” He said calmly.

Well. That went easier than I’d planned
, he thought.

“I’ve met a few, to say the least. Hah, in fact one of my best friends was a bear back in school. He was a cool kid, life of the party. Went to college up north years back and never talked to him much sense then.”

“They tend to be more accepting of bears up in the Pacific Northwest,” Brad said, “Tigers for some reason get a bad rap. People think we’re really violent, but we’re not for the most part.”

“You seem super chill to me. Besides, I think it’s kinda hot. Takes the whole protective alpha male boyfriend to a whole different level.”

“Yeah. I guess you could say that.” Brad laughed, and they continued their stroll on the beach as if nothing of importance had been revealed. He wasn’t used to that, he was used to women flipping out in joy and acting like they’d just met a rock star in disguise. He relished the moment, savored it, and realized that he might have just found his mate.

Brad was a sucker for sweet curvy chicks, so when he dropped Laura off at her home in the valley he drove all the way back to the beach house thinking that she must be a one in a million kind of gal considering she didn’t seem to care one way or another about him being a shifter.

Man, she’s sexy
.

The thought kept riding through his brain like a rollercoaster, and when he got back home he opened the door and ended up writing for five hours straight. He felt upbeat, happy, and energetic. The idea was crazy, however, that it had seemed to have worked out so simply. A dating website?
Bullshit
he would’ve told a friend if they’d asked about it.

The phone rang around four o’clock and it was his buddy Nick. Brad was excited to tell him about Laura but held his tongue. Nick wouldn’t understand why it was such a big deal considering Brad was a good looking dude. He figured Brad would be able to get any girl he wanted, which was true, but Nick didn’t know that Brad was a shifter so he didn’t understand the problems he faced.

“What’s up buddy? Hank and I are heading to O’Neil’s bar tonight for a few cold ones. Wanna come?”

Brad thought for a second and then decided he should, “Sure, man. What time?”

“Nine sound cool?”

“I’ll see you there.”

Brad pulled into O’Neil’s at nine on the dot. He went inside and saw Hank and Nick sitting at the bar, and judging by how loudly they were slurring their speech it seemed to Brad that they’d been there for a good while. This thought was confirmed when he saw the numerous empty beer bottles and shot glasses sitting before them. Brad wasn’t much of a drinker but he enjoyed a cold one or two every now and then.

Brad patted Nick firmly on the back and pulled up the adjacent bar stool, “Looks like you punks started the party without me.”

“Buddy, we… Got off work a little early. Production ended on the film at three. It’s a
wrap
my man.”

“Wow. Think it’s going to be a hit?”

Nick was a cameraman for a major Hollywood studio, but Brad wasn’t sure why he was so successful at it. He’d seen all the movies he shot and he felt detached, aimless, and bored by the imagery. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Nick that.

“It’s got two of the biggest stars in the world in it, so
yeahhh
.” His drunk speech made Brad laugh, and he ordered a light beer.

Then a man came up behind Brad and shoved him into the bar. The stool screeched forward and Brad’s ribs smacked hard into the wood of the bar. His eyes blazed as he snapped his head back to see what the fuck that was about.

“Motherfucker,” A greasy looking bald man was pointing at him with a beer bottle, “Push your fuckin’ seat in when you sit down, you were takin’ up the whole walkway.”

“Excuse me?” Brad said – no
, roared
– and the man’s eyes widened. For a second it appeared that he was going to back off, but the booze  got the best of his ego.

“I said you were sittin’ in your stool with it pushed halfway out. This is a walkthrough right here and I couldn’t get past you. So I shoved you where you should be,” He paused, “
Bitch
.” He added.

Brad took a sip of the beer as the bartender set it before him. It tasted nice, cold and refreshing. Then he slung the remainder of the bottle back in one long gulp. His eyes narrowed and he stared at the man. He was feeling confident and ready to fight, but he knew he shouldn’t.

“Why don’t you just go take a seat, before you get hurt.” He said, and then realized he probably should have left off the last bit.

“What?
What
?” The man snapped back.

“I don’t want any trouble, buddy. Go sit down, I’m just trying to enjoy hanging out with my friends, okay? Got it?” Brad rasped.

“Alright. Be a pussy then.” The man whipped his greasy hair back over his head and strutted to a corner of the bar where he sat in a booth with some more trashy looking men. He beamed up at Brad and pointed. His friends turned and laughed, big ugly smiles filling their faces. Brad shook his head and glanced over at Nick and Hank. They were staring straight ahead and were apparently so drunk they hadn’t even noticed the quick commotion.

“You guys didn’t see that?”

“Huh?” Hank mumbled.

“Forget it.”

He realized it was probably a good thing they hadn’t seen. When those two were drunk they were fighters to the death, and a fight was something Brad always tried to avoid. When his adrenaline got to pumping too much from pure rage, he always shifted. It was damn near impossible to control, and he didn’t want that to happen. Not now, not ever.

“Dude,” Nick said, “You’re not gonna believe the tail I banged last night. Whew-
whee
, she was
fine
.” He raised his glass to toast Brad, and Brad grudgingly obliged. He found it silly the way they acted when they got hammered drunk, but they were his friends so he dealt with it. Brad was a big guy, six foot two and pure muscle, but he was embarrassingly enough a lightweight. He didn’t know if it had to do with being part tiger or what, but when he had more than a few drinks he was either a happy sociable drunk or if you said the wrong thing a ferocious beast.

He’d had a few altercations over the past ten years, and he’d been mostly sober since the last one. Oddly enough he’d never shifted during the times, and he figured the alcohol kept him somehow at bay even during drunken brawls. It seemed to numb and dumb down the area of his brain that made him want to shift. When he was sober and furious,
that’s
when he easily shifted, which is why he begrudgingly slung back the entire beer as the greasy man was confronting him. He didn’t want to ruin what he might have with Laura from a stupid fight and having to leave town, so he knew he had to tame the beast inside of him more than ever.

That was when the drunken greasy man walked back over to Brad and poured a full bottle of beer over his head. He chuckled and set the empty bottle at the bar beside Brad, then leaned up against him, “How’s that for going to sit down, bitch?”

Brad’s jaw trembled, along with his lips. His teeth clenched and he felt his face reddening with anger. Thick orange fur began to spout from his skin and his body’s structure changed completely to that of a large and ferocious Bengal Tiger. Gasps echoed throughout the loud bar as the music suddenly died, and the man next to Brad let out a cry of horror.

“
Fuck’s sake
.” He bellowed.

Brad sneered at him and let out a roar before smacking his face with the backside of his paw and then hopping down onto four legs. The man was sprawled out on his back and began to quickly crawl backwards on his hands and knees, tears streaming from his eyes as his nosed gushed blood. Brad walked stealthily towards him before roaring once again, so loud this time that it was almost deafening. Some of the greasy man’s buddies stood to their feet, but none of them looked confident. One of them pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Brad, whose yellow cat eyes darted up towards the man and then widened with fury before he pounced onto the man’s chest.

“
Oh God
,” Was all the man had time to scream as Brad mauled him. The weight of the tackle sent the two of them crashing through the window that looked out into the parking lot, and then they tumbled onto the sidewalk. The gun was long gone, it had been knocked out of the man’s hand by the force of the blow, and he lay there bloody and broken, not moving a muscle as Brad’s transformed tiger body stood looking over him.

“You like this? Is this what you expected?” Brad growled.

The man’s face grew even more terrified, which Brad had expected. He probably thought he was dying and beginning to hallucinate. A tiger
speaking
to him? His eyes bulged out and Brad suddenly realized what had just happened; what he’d just
done
.

Oh God, it’s over. I have to leave. I have to go, go go. Now
.

Brad rushed down the street on all four legs, his claws digging into the pavement slightly causing him to slide before he retracted them into his bushy paws. When he turned the corner of a derelict looking building he shifted back into human form. His tee shirt had been torn to pieces and hung over him like a torn blanket, but his jeans were intact. His shoes had vanished of course, squeezed off of his feet when they had turned to thick large paws.

“
Fuck
.” He groaned, and could smell that the sea was close. He knew he’d have to walk back to his car,
what was he thinking?
He quickly began to run back toward the bar where a large crowd had already gathered.

He knew he had to face them; running wouldn’t do a thing. It wasn’t illegal to be a shifter, but tiger shifters were uncommon in America and he didn’t know what to expect. As he reached the large crowd he saw that the man he’d mauled clear through the window was standing, smoking a cigarette and leaned up against a car as he was patted by onlookers and gawked at by other bar patrons who simply stared at him.

“Hey.” Brad said in a deep voice and stood about ten feet from the crowd. Their heads whipped around and eyes widened in unison as they saw him. They knew, even the ones who hadn’t noticed him before he shifted… They all knew it was him.

The tiger
.

“What the fuck, man?” One of the guys said in a hoarse, drunken voice.

“I’m a shifter, so what? Some random guy comes up to me causing trouble, I tell him to leave calmly. He comes back a minute later and downs a beer bottle on my head? So I lost my temper, I’m sure you all have moments where you do too. Can’t a guy get a break?”

Hank and Nick were staring at him. Nick scratched his head and looked down at the ground. They both appeared to be stone cold sober; the drunkenness apparently wiped away with the outcome of the shocking bar brawl. Brad could tell that they were no longer his friends by the way they were shifting their gaze uncomfortably from him to the ground.

“Just get out of here.” A man said.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, shut the hell up.” A beefy man walked forward. Brad recognized him as the bar’s owner, “You people got a problem with shifters? Well guess
what
? I’m a damn wolf. Got a problem with me? Then get the
hell off my property
.”

There was silence other than a lot of feet shuffling. No one spoke. Then everyone finally began to wander off, either back into the bar or into the parking lot where they got into their cars. Nick took another glance at Brad and then walked off awkwardly toward his car. Hank stayed, so Brad walked over to him.

“Sorry I never told you, man.” Brad said.

“It’s alright, dude. Don’t worry about Nick, I guess he’s just shocked. You, uh, you should’ve told us.”

“I know,” Brad said, “It’s just not something I like to be public. I didn’t know how people would react. I was never taught that it was okay.”