Red and the Tiger (BBW Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance) (Shifters Everafter Book 2)
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Authors: Lola Kidd
Red and the Tiger
(Shifters Everafter Book 2)
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd
Cover Design:
Melody Simmons
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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About This Book
A modern day shifter tale inspired by the fairy tale
Little Red Riding Hood
!
With her grandmother missing, Suzy Redding has no choice but to travel to the Wasteland. But Suzy isn’t prepared for this trip. Her overprotective mother never even let her leave her hometown. But for her Gran, Suzy’s willing to swallow her fears and go. After getting lost in the woods for hours, she runs into a helpful shifter. The only problem? He’s waiting for someone else. Out of ideas, Suzy lies to get the handsome shifter to help her.
Tiger shifter Tyler Wolf has gotten his big break. He’s lived in Rose Valley long enough. He’s decided to work for a local gang to make some quick cash and leave the shifter town. On his first assignment, things go wrong quickly when he picks up the wrong woman. As mad as he is about being lied too, Tyler decides to help Suzy anyway. He can’t leave the innocent woman to fend for herself. Especially not since his tiger has taken a special interest in the curvy beauty.
This is book two in the Shifters Everafter series but it is a standalone story with a HEA ending that can be read on its own.
“Your grandmother still isn’t answering her phone.” Cindy Redding twisted the phone cord around her fingers and bit her lip.
“No need to worry. I’m sure she’s just in the shower,” Suzy Redding assured her mother. “You know Gran loves to take long baths with her books. Could you help me with these meatballs? They aren’t sticking together.”
Cindy put the phone cord down and came to analyze the meatballs.
Distracting her mom was always the easiest way to get her mind off her worries. Suzy’s grandmother was the cause of the stress seventy percent of the time. Gran Redding could never stay in one place for long. She and Cindy were the exact opposite and were at each other’s throats all the time over it. Gran could never understand how Cindy had spent the last ten years in the house. Cindy couldn’t understand why Gran would risk her life for a little card playing.
It was Suzy’s duty to mediate between the two women. Truth be told, she could never understand why her grandmother would want to go to such dangerous places and be around rough men. The whole thing was just asking for trouble. More than a few times, she’d had to go out searching for her beloved grandmother. So far, she’d been able to find Gran at the local bar playing the poker or at a friend’s house playing poker. There weren’t many places to gamble legally in their small New England town.
This time was different. Suzy was actually worried that her grandmother might have gotten herself into some real trouble. They hadn’t heard from her in more than ten days. She’d never been gone for that long before. Once, three years ago, she’d been gone for five days, but she’d called every day to let Cindy and Suzy know where she was and how she was doing. Gran had won a lot of money that holiday week, and had come home with lots of presents for Cindy and Suzy. There had been no calls this week.
“This should do it.” Cindy cracked another egg into the meat mixture and blended it in. “You put them in the sauce and I’ll wash up.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Suzy quickly shaped the meat into a dozen meatballs and dropped them into the marinara.
“I think she’s done it this time.” Cindy filled the sink with water. “She’s gone to the Wasteland and gotten one of those shifters mad at her.”
“She wouldn’t go to the Wasteland again,” Suzy said without conviction. She’d been thinking the same thing but hadn’t wanted to worry her mom.
Gran had been talking about the big gambling tournament she’d heard about. She’d said she wasn’t going to go since it was in shifter territory. Suzy was starting to hope her Gran had gone to the tournament. At least then they’d know where she was. If not, they wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to look.
“Maybe we should ask Roger for help,” Cindy said.
“Absolutely not!” Suzy slammed the lid back on the pot she’d been stirring. “We aren’t going to ask him for anything. We can handle this. I’ll go look for her if she’s still MIA tomorrow morning.”
Cindy dropped the glass she’d been washing. It fell back into the sink and splashed water onto the floor. She turned to her daughter with tear-filled eyes. “I don’t know what you have against Roger, but you can’t go out there too. Look at what happened to Jessica!”
“She left on her own, Mom,” Suzy said for the millionth time. “She wanted to leave with her bodyguard, and they’re very happy. I’ve seen pictures.”
Cindy shook her head. “That’s a lie. She has no choice but to live with those animals now. No human man would have her anymore, and her father has disowned her.”
“Because that’s how a loving father acts.” Suzy said hotly. “And Jess doesn’t need a human man. She has her big, strong, handsome shifter husband.”
“Susan!” Cindy put her hand over her heart. “The way you’re talking, I would think you wanted to run off with one of those things too.”
Suzy bit her lip. She didn’t want to run off, but Jessica Sheridan was her hero. The governor’s daughter had grown up as sheltered as Suzy and had every reason to hate shifters. One had killed her mother when she was very young, and Governor Sheridan was very anti-shifter. Suzy wasn’t sure if shifters were friend or foe, but she knew it took a lot of courage to leave everything you knew behind for love. It was all so romantic.
“With a father like Roger, I’d want to run away too,” Suzy said.
“He’s a good man. After everything he’s been through, I can’t believe he’s able to go on,” Cindy wiped her eyes. “Jessica getting taken by that tiger really hurt him. You shouldn’t be so mean.”
Suzy sighed loudly. “I know you admire the governor, but I don’t. I won’t apologize for that. Now, I’m going to watch
Wheel of Fortune
if you’d like to join me.”
Cindy turned back to the sink. “When I’m done. You go on without me.”
Suzy went to the living room and turned on the TV. She had let that conversation get out of hand. She shouldn’t be picking on her mother’s hero. Cindy had loved Roger Sheridan for years from afar. That obsession had started long before Suzy was born and wasn’t going to come to an end anytime soon. After her no-good father had left her mom pregnant and alone, Roger and his wife had stepped in to help Cindy. They’d given her lots of the baby items that Jessica had outgrown and they’d driven her to her doctor appointments when Gran was busy.
When Mrs. Sheridan had been killed by a wolf, Cindy had taken it almost as hard as Roger had. Suzy appreciated that the Sheridans had helped her mother in her time of need and she knew Roger had taken his wife’s death hard. But that didn’t excuse his treatment of shifters and how he treated Jess. He’d kept his daughter under lock and key. Everyone had known how unhappy she was, living with her father, but he’d manipulated her into staying.
It warmed Suzy’s heart to see pictures of Jessica and her new friends on Baghera, the shifter island to the south. Jessica had been able to get away and make a life for herself. Suzy wished her own mother could do the same thing. Maybe if she forgot about Roger and his tirade against the shifters, she would be able to leave the house and Penicalla. There was nothing good for them in this town.
When Gran turned up, Suzy was going to talk with her about it. They could come up with a plan together. If Gran was in one piece, anyway. As long as she could get Gran home, there was a slim chance they could convince Cindy to leave the house. Even if it was only for a little while, it would be a start. Suzy wanted her mother to be happy above all else, but she also wanted her freedom. She would never be able to go anywhere if Cindy stayed the way she was now. She couldn’t do anything for herself, and Suzy couldn’t trust anyone else to help her mom out.
But it all hinged on her finding Gran. Suzy spent the rest of the night staring at the phone and hoping Gran would call. No such luck. By the next morning, she realized she was going to have to go out looking for her again.
“I’m going to Gran’s house to look around again,” Suzy told her mother.
Cindy took Suzy’s red cape-style coat out of the closet. “That’s a good idea. But come right back as soon as you’re done.”
“Maybe she’ll be there and she just forgot to call us,” Suzy said hopefully.
Cindy nodded. “That would be just like her.”
Two hours later, Suzy was trudging back home mentally exhausted and very afraid. She’d found no sign of Gran, just like the last two times she’d gone and checked. She’d tried to call Gran’s phone while she was there, too. No answer. There was only one place left to check, but it was going to be very hard to convince Mom to let her go.
“Anything?” Cindy asked as soon as Suzy was inside again.
“Nothing,” Suzy said. She sat her mother down on the couch. “I’m going to have to go farther to look for her.”
“No, we need to call the police.” Cindy grabbed her hand. “You can’t go out there too.”
“The police won’t look for her,” Suzy explained calmly. “They’ve told us a thousand times. They won’t go looking for an adult who left on her own accord. There’s no reason to think any kind of foul play is involved. Gran is just out having too much fun.”
Cindy shook her head. “You won’t know where to go. You’ve never been outside of Penicalla. You’ll get lost and get hurt. I’m going to ask Roger for help. He’ll know what to do.”
“No, I’m going to go,” Suzy said forcefully. “I’ll take the phone Gran gave me and I’ll call you every two hours. If I can’t find her in two days, we’ll talk to Roger. He isn’t even in town now. He’s working at the capital, but he’ll be back in three days. I’ll go ask him myself when he gets here.”
“No. No. No. No,” Cindy said vehemently. “You aren’t prepared to go out there. You can’t. You just can’t.”
“I’m going,” Suzy said. “I’m going right now. I’m sorry, Mom. I have to do this. We’ll never know where Gran is if I don’t at least try. I’m going to be very careful, and I’ll be back before you know it. I love you.”
Suzy quickly walked to the door and stepped outside, then walked purposefully toward the end of the block. As soon as she was out of sight of her home, she stopped to catch her breath. She had actually left. She was going to the Wasteland. There was no turning back now. She had to do this for Gran. What if she was trapped and needed help? The only way to find out was for Suzy to go herself. It would be fine. So what if she’d never been farther than the outskirts of town? She was a grown woman. She could do this. She had to do this.
She felt the phone in the pocket of her jeans and took a shaky breath, then pulled the hood of her red cape up against the cold and walked toward the forest.
Tyler Wolf could hear Randall the Rat long before he saw him. Randall was the worst rat in the entire Wasteland when it came to sneaking around. It was a running joke that Tyler was careful not to mention, the same way that Randall never joked about the fact that Tyler was a tiger-shifter with the last name Wolf.
“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” Randall asked as soon as Tyler was in earshot. His beady eyes darted back and forth, searching the trees for any movement or danger.
“Of course not. No one cares what a loser like me does,” Tyler said. Painful but true. He was the lowest of the low in Rose Valley. He wasn’t a member of the Thieves, and didn’t have any friends besides Randall.
“All the more reason for us to go through with this,” Randall said. “Those guys are going to learn what a big mistake they’ve made. We’re going to crush them all.”
“Sure we are. Let’s hear this plan of yours.”
Tyler rubbed his hands together. It was starting to get very cold in the woods. He wished Randall had told him his plan back at his house. The rat was way too paranoid. No one in the whole town cared what they did, and no one was spying on them. The only reason Randall had wanted to come out to the forest was to make a show and be dramatic.
“Let me finish before you make any judgments,” Randall began. “You know I’ve been talking with Reno from the Ganjis for a few months now. We scavenge in the same dumps, and he’s always telling me how I should leave Rose Valley. Well, an opportunity has arisen. You and I can make some good money and get in with the Ganjis.”
“No. Man, why’d you even make me come all the way out here in the cold?” Tyler started walking away. “You’re out of your mind if you want to join up with the Ganjis.”
“You haven’t even heard the opportunity!” Randall followed at Tyler’s heels. “Do you like living in Rose Valley? If you could choose, would this be your life? If you had money, would you still live here?”
Tyler slowed. “Who wants to live here?”
“Exactly. Even if you don’t want to join up with the Ganjis, there
is
something here for you.”
“Out with it, already. You have until I get back to town.”
“Girls.”
Tyler stopped and jabbed Randall’s chest with his finger. “I’m not doing that. You’d better not do that. The Thieves will rip you limb from limb if you’re caught. It isn’t worth it.”
“But what if there was a better way? What if the girls want to come themselves? Every woman can make a choice for herself. Some women want to be with shifters. It’s a dirty little fantasy. We’d be helping them live out their dreams.”
Tyler shook his head. “No way. Not if the Ganjis are involved. They’ll fuck it up somehow and we’ll be the ones on the hook.”
“We would just be guides. We wouldn’t be kidnapping girls or anything. We’d just be their security to make sure they get to the location and back safely.”
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Tyler walked faster. He would love to get out of Rose Valley and be able to live a real life in a human town, but he couldn’t trust the Ganjis. Rose Valley had the Thieves, and Calico Junction had the Ganjis. Both were associations of shifters who ran their respective towns and both had bad reputations. But only the Ganjis deserved their bad rep. Even though they wouldn’t take him, Tyler knew Rose Valley was better off with the Thieves in charge.
A long time ago, the group had been true to their name and had robbed to make a living, but during the last hundred years, they had done a complete one-eighty. They made sure the town ran smoothly and was crime-free. They were more like a police force now. That was why they wouldn’t take Randall or Tyler. Both men had criminal records and couldn’t be trusted.
Tyler had come to Rose Valley after getting out of a juvenile detention center when he was sixteen. He was a foster child who’d never been adopted and had ended up getting into more and more trouble the older he got. When he’d heard about the Wasteland, it had sounded like a dream. When he’d first arrived, he’d broken into a few cars and gotten caught. He hadn’t been thrown in jail, but the Thieves had gently let him know that he had the wrong idea about life in the Valley. They were technically off the grid but they still followed all the normal laws.
Since then, he’d shaped up and had mostly kept his nose clean. He still kept to himself and didn’t even try to socialize with the shifters in town outside of work. The only reason he and Randall were friends was the rat’s persistence. Randall had also come from the foster system and knew Tyler. He’d heard stories about the “bad-ass tiger” when he was in juvenile detention. When he heard Tyler was in the Valley too, he’d started showing up at Tyler’s house in the evening. He always brought a bottle of booze or a six-pack, and Tyler was never one to turn down a free drink.
Their friendship was more a loose acquaintanceship, but that didn’t seem to bother Randall at all. This was the first time he’d approached Tyler with a partnership and it was the going to be the last. If he wanted to mess with the Ganjis, Tyler wouldn’t be speaking with him anymore. Rose Valley was it for him; he couldn’t risk getting exiled.
“There are no rules against shifter prostitution in the Valley or the Flats.” Randall hurried to keep up. “And it’s the men who are the ones doing the deed for money this time. No one’s going to say boo about a guy getting paid to have fun with some humans. This is foolproof.”
“You’re a fool if you think that.” Tyler scowled. “I’m not going to help you with this. Why would the Ganjis need some lowlifes like me and you to help them? They have skilled security to do this job.”
“But not in Rose Valley,” Randall beamed. “They can’t get people into the Valley without the Thieves finding out. And they need to be able to ferry human women from all around the county. We wouldn’t see a lot of action, but it’ll be enough for us to save a nice little nest egg. It’s a thousand a head for every human woman we cross safely.”
Tyler full-stopped at this. “You should have led with that. A thousand? Is that guaranteed? Who have you spoken with?”
“It is. I’ve talked with Ken.”
“When can we start?”
Randall pumped his fist in the air. “Fuck, yeah! We can start this week. I’m so glad you said yes. You’re not going to regret this.”
“I’ll have to speak with Ken myself, of course.”
“Yeah, fine. This is going to be great.”
Tyler wasn’t sure about that, but he was hopeful. As long as the deal had a clear “out” clause, he would be fine. This was actually a great opportunity. Maybe having friends did have its perks.
*
He was going to kill that rat. Tyler was wearing his furry coat, gloves, and thermal underwear, but he was still cold. It was too early in the year for how cold it was, and he wished he were home under his quilt watching the news. Instead, he was in the middle of the forest waiting for some horny human woman.
Randall had left a few things out when he told Tyler about the deal. He had over-promised to Ken. Tyler had thought he and the rat would be working together, maybe switching the night and day shift. But, no; Tyler would be working every night for the next three weeks. If he did well, then his contract could be extended. Until then, he was on a trial run. He was going to be out here in the cold every single night for the rest of the month. And it was only going to get colder.
If they could bring more men in on the deal, it would be easier, but it was going to be a two-man job for the foreseeable future. Tyler figured he could work with the Ganjis for four or five months and then quit. At that point, he would have more than enough money to get himself comfortably situated in any town. Even with his criminal record, he would have time to find a job or set something up. Hell, maybe he wouldn’t even need to work. He could live off his fabulous wealth. Just this week alone, he was supposed to move fifteen women through to Reno. That was more money than he’d made in the last four years combined. For him to be making that much, he could only imagine how much these women were paying for one night of fun. If he’d known there was a market for that kind of work, he would have started hooking on the side himself.
If it wasn’t for the cold, this wouldn’t have been that bad. He didn’t know anything about the woman he was meeting. She’d refused to give any more information than her name, Red. Whatever, Tyler thought. There couldn’t be that many human women walking through the Wasteland in the middle of the night.
He didn’t start getting nervous until she was fifteen minutes late. This was his first job. He couldn’t mess it up this soon.
There were so many things that could have gone wrong. If she was a no-show, oh well, no big whoop. But if she had been attacked, he’d be in some deep shit. Tyler wasn’t so cold anymore. He unzipped his coat, took off his gloves, and started walking toward Penicalla. The woman was coming from the human town and had to be approaching from the west.
Tyler sniffed the wind and listened hard. He could just barely make out the sound of something struggling. He went toward the noise and was greeted with a very beautiful woman with her foot stuck in a tree root. Shoot, maybe he was on the wrong side of this operation. He couldn’t help but growl as his tiger got a whiff of the damsel in distress. It had to be his lady. She was dressed in a giant red cape.
He cleared his throat and stepped into her sight line. “Red? I’m Tyler. I work with Ken. You got me worried when you didn’t show up. Good thing I came looking for you, huh?”
The woman looked up at him with terrified eyes and didn’t move. The smell of her terror set his tiger on edge. “Relax. I’m a shifter. I’m here to take you to Calico Junction. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She looked at him as he approached slowly. The closer he got, the stronger her scent got… but it changed. The smell of arousal started to overpower the fear. His tiger definitely liked that.
He wondered what she looked like under that cape. She was already a very pretty woman. Her small, heart-shaped face was framed by dark brown hair that made her blue eyes stand out. She didn’t look like the kind of woman who would be meeting a gigolo. She could easily find a shifter who would do her for free.
Tyler wondered what she was paying for. He bent down and worked her boot out of the tree root slowly. His hand touched her ankle briefly and she jumped.
He chuckled. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll get you to the Flats in no time.”
The woman nodded and they were off. It was going to be a very long walk back. He could still smell her, and his tiger was getting very, very worked up. If all the women were this pretty, his job was going to be a little more difficult than he’d anticipated.