Predator Instincts: A Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Paranormal Games Book 2)

A Shape Shifter Erotic Novella

Predator Instincts

A Shape Shifter Erotic Novella

By: Anna Collins

© Copyright 2015 Anna Collins

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Predator Instincts

Lisa Park is a young woman trying to land her first job. While struggling to make ends meet, she crosses paths with Jerome, a painter and neighbor who helps distract Lisa from her problems. But after they agree to romance and start an undeniable attraction, something goes wrong. He's hiding something from her, a secret that he'll do anything to keep from seeing the light of day. When she thinks they can never make things work, she turns to Raj, a co-worker at her new firm who she is alarmed to discover knows Jerome - and may even share the same secret. Caught between passions for a man who she finds can shift their shapes into a panther or a tiger, Lisa must choose between them.

Lisa Park was in no mood for games.

“Please just let me into the apartment!” She begged. “I’ve been waiting for half an hour and I’ve got groceries here.” She looked into the cloth bags gathered around her apartment door. There was no doubt- her frozen foods were starting thaw.

“We’ve got someone on the way, Ms. Park.” The woman on the other end calmly explained.

“I’m sorry, but how long is that going to take? I can’t wait super long.”

The leasing office woman coughed, then returned to speaking with Lisa. “It’s a tough day, I’m afraid. We’ve got our guy working on a bathroom and then an emergency with someone’s air conditioning. It could be awhile.”

“Perfect. Thanks for nothing.” Lisa snapped and turned off her phone. She wasn’t normally so irritable, but it had already been a rough day. She had been late to the job interview and the position as an architect for one of San Diego’s most reputable firms had been one she’d coveted. She’d planned ahead to be there on time; her parents had drilled the importance of early arrival into her at a young age, and she’d never missed a class day in school. Yet this would be the day a major collision on the freeway would shut down traffic, when she was trying to get from her inland San Diego County community into downtown.

She was still wearing her interview clothing and knowing she was down to her last few dollars until unemployment kicked back in, she’d spent it all on ramen, oatmeal, and low-fat, diet frozen dinners. She knew they weren’t particularly good for her, but she’d wanted something she’d enjoy eating, and that was it.

She pulled one of the meals out of a bag and felt it. No question; it was thawing out. She leaned her back against her apartment door and slowly slid down to the grey carpeted hallway. Lisa brought her knees up towards her face, covered her eyes, and began to sob.

Life was supposed to get easier after college. She’d graduated with honors. Though she knew the job market was competitive, she’d expected to find more interviews. As it stood, there were only two more interviews. After this, she’d need to look outside of southern California entirely. The possibility of leaving her close-knit family behind didn’t excite her.

She wiped her eyes and made herself stop crying. It was pointless, she thought, to feel so sorry for herself. There were people much worse off. While she was barely scraping by, if she had to she could always fall back on her parents for meals and, if the worst came to pass, take up her old bedroom. Except that they were already making plans to turn that into a home office and hadn’t they hinted over the last few months how proud they were that she’d graduated and was out on her own? Yes, she’d lost her paid internship and with no more scholarships to draw from she’d expected she could get by at Harper and Mackham, the first job she’d landed.

The only problem was, of course, she’d been immediately laid off when the firm shut down earlier in the month.

Problem after problem had hit Lisa of late and when she thought about her financial misfortunes, she put her head back in her hands to cry. Her long, dark hair fell forward, covering her face from anyone who’d view her tears. She didn’t hear anyone, though, especially not the maintenance man, so she shut out the world and felt sorry for herself.

“Hey.” The word was spoken so softly she thought she’d imagined it. Lisa startled and looked up into the face of a tall, muscular man in overalls. She couldn’t guess whether he was Latino or Arab, but he was certainly the man who could open her door.

Embarrassed, she wiped her eyes and scrambled to her feet. “Sorry.” She said. “I, well I think my apartment key fell out somewhere downtown. If you could just get me in, I’d appreciate it.” She stepped away from the door to give him room.

The shaggy-haired, bearded man chuckled. “I actually just wanted to see if you were okay.”

Mortified she looked down. “You’re not building maintenance?”

He shook his head and held out his hand. “Let’s try proper introductions. I’m Jerome Wyatt. Just moved in a few weeks ago.”

Undeniably good-looking as he was, she wished he’d just move on and leave her alone. But her parents had raised her to have good manners and she didn’t wish to seem without them, so she accepted his hand. “Lisa Park. I guess I’ve been here about two years.”

“How do you like it here? Not so well today, I imagine.”

That was an understatement. She tried to look away from him, but for some reason she couldn’t explain his presence was making her feel strangely a little more cheerful. “I guess it’s okay. I can tell you they take a long time to come when you ask them to show up to unlock an apartment.”

He looked around the hallway and nodded. “Yeah- I knew this place wasn’t so great. It’s what I can afford though, so I didn’t worry so much.”

“The pool is nice.” She offered, but he frowned in response.

“This cat doesn’t dig water.” He muttered, then gave a quick laugh. “Well, you’ve been really nice. I’m looking at your bags there and I’ve got room in my freezer. Want me to take those for you while you wait?”

She looked down at her groceries. He was a total stranger and she wondered why he was being so kind to her. Lisa had always been a little suspicious of people she didn’t know. “I appreciate that, but you don’t have to go to all that trouble.”

“You wait much longer, those are going to be ruined. You don’t have to go in or anything. I’ll just take them down there. You shoot me a text, I’ll bring them back and hand them back off to you. Easy-peasy.” He smiled, wiping his hands to show how simple the transaction would be.

She nodded gratefully. “All right. Here’s my number.” She gave the number to him and he put it in his phone before hoisting two of the cloth bags.

“See you in a bit. Hope it gets sorted out soon.”

“Me too! Thank you.” She watched him walk down the hallway. Now that she thought about it, the overalls were paint-splotched. She wondered if he was a house painter. From her view and because of the overalls, she couldn’t check out his rear, but she liked the strong arms carrying her groceries away.

It was a good thing she'd okayed his custody of her food, as it was another half hour before maintenance arrived, apologetic and quick to provide her entry to her home. Lisa texted Jerome.

"Thanks, I'm good to go now. What's your apartment number?"

"Don't mind bringing them to you." He texted back.

"It's okay. I'll get them."

"414."

She grabbed her new keys off the coffee table and headed down the hall. He wasn't that far from her, it seemed, so she was soon knocking on his door.

He opened it and gave her a grin. The bags were by his feet, so he lifted them and handed them over. From her view, she could see two items of definite interest; a huge metal bowl full of water by the door to the balcony and a massive black and red painting hanging from the living room wall.

He caught her peeking in and looked over his shoulder. "Not very good is it?"

"No, it's fantastic! I like the color choices the artist made. Very bold."

He shrugged. "I keep it for sentimental reasons. One of my first pieces. I don't think it's good enough to sell, and I'm not sure I'd want to now anyway."

Lisa found herself stepping forward, uninvited, to take a closer look. He moved aside, but she stopped suddenly. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" She stammered. "I'm just barging right in."

After she backed away, he held up both hands and shook his head. "No, no, you're fine! Have a look."

She deeply wanted to see more, but as kind as he was, Jerome was, after all, still a total stranger. She politely declined, but before she could head home, she couldn't resist asking. "Where's your doggie? She pointed to the huge water bowl.

"No dogs." He grimaced, then looked her right in the eye. "Just a cat."

She found herself smiling back. "Big cat?"

"You could say that."