Southern Shifters: Fast & Furless (Kindle Worlds Novella) (2 page)

Once inside she engaged all the bolts then sat on the couch. She glanced around her apartment. The walls were barren and the furniture sparse. She had only the bare essentials: couch and coffee table where she ate her meals, a bed on rails in her bedroom and one chest of drawers. She didn’t need much. Now that she was alone her mind began to play the situation that happened earlier that day at the store.
Who was that shifter? Why did he think he knew me?

In the end, her tone and boldness must have convinced him that she wasn’t whoever he’d mistaken her for.

She recalled the look in the shifter’s gaze. It was truly recognition at first. However, in the end he looked bewildered. The image of his mud brown gaze wouldn’t leave her.

Rising from the sofa she went into the bathroom. After she flipped up the switch, she did something she rarely did, and usually not for long, she peered into the mirror. She took the time to really take a good look at herself. Her hair was shoulder length, long enough for her to pull back into a ponytail, like it was now. She had eyes that were an off color bluish green, they seemed to be set perfectly in her oval face. Her skin was almost too pale, and most people would not believe that she spent years working under the desert sun if she told them. The form of her body was athletic but not slim.

Who did he think I was?

That was what continued to stab at her mind. He’d called her Niki and had said she was at a place called Dark Moon. This woman, whoever she was, had a mate and a baby. That was something Brita had never dreamed about--a mate… Her mind wouldn’t allow her to go beyond that point. Her body operated in two modes, fight and sex. However, sex was something she hadn’t engaged in often. The few times she had it had almost meant death for her partner. They’d been human, because no shifter would come near her.

Now there was a question hanging over her head.

Could it be?
Once again she beheld the woman before her. Could there be someone in the world that looked like her? Was connected to her in some way?

Her head told her not to believe it.

But there was a place in her core that dared her to believe.

A shifter without a pack or family was a loner. Nothing.

Could she be phantom for the rest of her life?

“I’m looking for Niki.”

He smelled her as soon as she walked in. There was a sweet spiced fruit scent to her, like his mother’s apricot jam. To this day it was his variety on top of anything or fresh out the jar. The sweet nectar of her scent went instantly from his nose to his wolfy-jaguar and cock. She wasn’t a human. But her aroma didn’t give off the hearty musk of shifter either…well not really. Kinda.
What was she?
This woman walked in with thick curves of plenty and dark hair slicked into a tight ponytail. Even her button-down shirt and khakis were pressed and neat. He wanted to unwind her.

The only thing that gave him pause was the fact she was a ringer for Dean’s mate. There were differences though that he picked up right off. Her eyes, more aquamarine than ice blue. Her size, definitely more thick and curvy like he enjoyed his woman. Her scent. His cat stretched as he took another whiff and he bit into his tongue to keep from licking his lips like some adolescent jaguar crouched before its first kill.

Every shifter and hybrid in the place had turned when she walked in.

“Who’s askin’?” The deep growling question came from Calder a bear of a man and shifter who was across the bar.

Alek tried to keep out of clan business in the weeks he’d been there. Even though Bhric’s establishment was in the neutral zone, it hadn’t taken Alek but a couple days to realize that his older cousin had so much clout and pull in Comyn and Gunn territories that often their business bled in. Finally starting on the same dirty mug he’d been holding since the woman entered, Alek shoved the cleaning cloth into it. However he kept an eye on what was going on.

“You’re fuckin’ pretty, but who the hell are you.” Bhric rose from a table by the door. His back had been toward her originally, but Alek knew without a doubt the owner was just as aware of her behind him as Alek had been across the floor from her.

The thought of anyone having the same awareness and physical response to the newcomer as he did, especially visceral need made his claws extend around the glass. She may have business in this place that didn’t concern him, but he wanted her. Wanted her bad. The moment she declared her intentions and handled her business he’d advance. There wasn’t any mate scents mixed with hers, didn’t mean she wasn’t…however, he’d like a chance to get up close and personal and find out for himself. If she was mated, maybe he’d luck up and discover her mate had died.

Normally, he didn’t wish for any other shifters death. There was always an exception to the rule.

“I’m not looking for any trouble.” Her voice dropped an octave, not too low that the kind in the room couldn’t hear her but it was a warning. She kept her stance wide and her hands free and at her side. Even though her gaze was locked on Bhric before her, Alek didn’t doubt that she had picked up every movement in the room. “I just want to speak with Niki.”

For a moment, Alek watched her eye and discard the four other females in the room. She didn’t know her.

Bhric crossed his arms over his barreled chest and eyed the woman from head to toe and back. “If you’re some cooked up clone that dead scientist set up, it’d be in your interest to go out the way you came. Real fast.”

Hell no.

“What the fuck?” The words were more of a fierce growl than actual speech from Dean who came down in from the storage room where he’d been fixing a broken table from a previous fit.

The female moved, but it wasn’t to leave. Instead she squared off to the flash of man headed toward her.  Her eyes flashed with more green than blue seconds before Dean grabbed her arms in an attempt to restrain her.

Alek knew exactly what his younger cousin had seen, the same thing they all recognized but were attempting to use tact to discover the truth. This stranger was a replica of his mate and he picked right off it wasn’t her. To Dean, and all his mate had gone through while Niki was pregnant, he was in attack first and ask questions later mode.

However the woman was like lightening. Counter moving, she pivoted and she was holding Dean up against the wall instead of vice versa. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She let him go but didn’t take but a half step back.

Male shifters didn’t normally attack a female shifter first. They’d much rather fuck them than fight them.

Dean was seeing red and hearing less. It was only the shock of the woman’s practically undetectable movements that had caused Alek’s cousin to pause. The hybrid of jaguar, wolf and bear let out a roar that shook the windows. Dean started toward her again.

“Dean, no!” Alek didn’t recall leaping the bar or dashing across the dusty hardwood floor, but knew what he was doing when he jumped between them. Grabbing her, he moved her out of the line of attack and held his body against her making it more difficult for her to get around him.

“Who the hell is she?” Dean barely calmer yelled out behind him.

There may have been more questions and commotion but Alek’s blood was pumping so loud he couldn’t hear anything that didn’t involve him and the female before him. His body and cat’s response were instant on contact. Hard and in full need, he stared into eyes so crystal clear that he could have been lying at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea looking up. He was definitely drowning right now. Drowning in her scent. The moment her sweet notes became blended with the musk of her arousal he knew it. It was strong and heady.

“Shit.” A look, close to fear shadowed her features. She shoved him hard and took off. She bolted out the door.

Alek turned to those gathered still looking for answers and growled, “Don’t follow.”

He kicked his shoes off and gave chase. As he left the Dark Moon Roadhouse he spotted a white cougar running from Dean’s new place toward the bar. Most likely, she’d heard the roaring of her mate.

Uncaring about what was going on behind him, he followed the fast movement of the woman headed into the woods toward Clan Comyn territory. If he didn’t get to her first, there would be trouble. Just like those he’d left at the bar, he didn’t want any others around them when he caught her. Because he was bound and determined he would.

His shirt went off and into the late Fall breeze. The last adjustment he made was to fling his belt to the side and unfasten his pants otherwise when he shifted the thick material would cinch his pants at his waist leaving the shredded jeans flapping in the breeze. Moving quick, he never broke stride. On foot, she would eventually out run him, the woman was that fast, but his jaguar would keep pace with her and his wolf’s DNA would lock onto her scent.

The transformation magic went through him with a single breath and his big paws were hitting the ground. Leaves crackled under his feet as his animal muscles bulged and flexed with every movement. He saw the route she was taking, trying to keep off the main trail. She was not only quick but light footed, barely causing a leaf to flutter or twig to snap under her feet.

Why hasn’t she shifted?
Like all hybrids and shifters, they were faster in animal form. She possibly would have been about to lose his tag on her.

Something else the wolf in him realized, she was attempting to mask her scent and blend into the forest around her. Fascinating. He chuckled inside, because he wasn’t sniffing out sweetness of her main scent. Hell no. He was fastened on the musk of her arousal and the more he gave chase the stronger it became. It was practically painted across every branch she passed.

His mind played out all the things he’d like to do to collect her scent when he caught up to her. Being more of a stranger to this area than he himself, she didn’t know these woods. The advantage went to him, because he ran nightly and at dawn frequently with Bhric and those that followed him even though his older cousin claimed he didn’t have a pack.

Instead of keeping the zigzag path of his pursuant, he dipped left down a footpath that would cut a quarter mile off. Increasing his speed to reach the joining point before she passed it, his claws dug deep into the earth.

“Ah!”

Perfect timing. She smacked into his male form. The impact took them both to the ground. First him on his back then he flipped them so she lay stretched out beneath him. Her clothes irritated his bare skin.

“Get off me.” She shoved against him, pushing him away.  Springing to her feet she prepared to take off again.

He wasn’t having that. With quick action, he spun to his belly and grabbed her ankle.

“Oof.” She landed with a thud. “Let me go.” Always the fighter she kicked and jerked her legs, trying to break his hold on the foot he held tight.

“Not likely.” Like a big bass catch, he reeled in her flailing body. He dragged her back to him, deflecting her attack moves. When she was beneath him again, he straddled her hips low, seating his bare ass on her upper thighs so she would be able to swing her legs up to his head. His hands held her wrists manacled to the ground. “You give one fast ass chase, sweetness.”

“Don’t call me that.” Her eyes flashed. “And get the fuck off me.”

He ignored her demands. “Give me your name,
sweetness
. Then maybe I’ll consider getting up.”

Her gaze traveled from his face, over his chest and lower. He knew the moment those beauties arrived at his hard cock because they shot back up to his eyes.

Alek allowed her to see the rawness of his need for her there.

She looked away. “I’m not here for this.”

“Neither was I.” It was the truth. He’d come to this area for a little time to think. Even when Bhric had paraded one available shifter and human female after another before him he’d turned them all down. He was no monk, but he wanted his space. Then Miss Aqua Eyes and Apricot Dipped walked in. His balls were tight and resting at the seat of her thighs and feeling the heat she was putting off there.

“Face it, sweetness. This is going down. It’s happening here and now.” Lowering his head, he buried his nose along the side of her neck and drew in more of her intoxicating scent. “I just need to know if you want to take your clothes off or if you want me to do it for you. The second option won’t be tidy.”

She was panting in his ear. The heavy, short breaths were like music that caused more liquid need to spiral down to his gut making him harder.

He purred.

Quick, she turned her head and took hold of his ear.

He waited, but instead of sinking sharp teeth into the vulnerable spot she simply nipped it then glided her wet tongue along the edge.

The act caused a shiver to rock his body. Sitting up a little he gazed down at her. “You’re stokin’ fire here.” His voice went to that lower register that only other shifters could pick up.

“I know,” she said, as if she resolved herself to that fact, but her eyes darkened.

Something about her look spoke volumes and made his heart thump with concern. “Talk to me.”

Brita stared up at the big male holding her down. In her training, there were at least four different ways she could break his hold and get herself free. But she didn’t. That was part of her trepidation. This was one of the few times she wanted to give into her desire to fuck. The other two had been a disaster and in the last five years she hadn’t even considered trying again. However, this—she inhaled his scent again moving beyond the heady spice of his arousal—jaguar and wolf hybrid, made her body come alive and respond like never before. She wanted to try. Wanted him.

“I’m not sure this should happen. It may not end well.”

“I can assure you, it will end with us drenched in a puddle of satisfaction.” His cocky smile flashed sharp incisor at her.

“Cockiness won’t save you,” she warned.

“Sweetness, let me worry about my salvation later.” Tipping his head down, he held her gaze as he flicked the tip of his tongue over her lip.

She rolled her bottom lip in and tasted him. He tasted more. She sighed. Her cat purred. Brita’s heart ached, but she pushed the pain aside.

If this male was game and determined to do this then so was she. “Take them off.”

He blinked at her approval then kissed her.

The power of his kiss was magnified tenfold when he pressed his tongue into her mouth and she took in the full taste of him. There was something in this man’s kiss, it made her mouth and body tingle and hum. She wasn’t sure if it was because other men she’d kissed before were human and seemed to submit to her. Whatever it was she wouldn’t decipher now. Arousal turned up, she could feel the cut of desire through her core as it sliced its way down her body and into her sex. Her pussy throbbed and ached causing her panties to become soaked with her need.

He tore his mouth away. “Alek,” he growled.

Dazed from arousal she stared up at him.

“Say it. Know it. Because I want to hear you screaming it.”

“Alek.” As if her saying his name gave him some kind of permission, and unleashed his beast as he began slicing through her clothes.

His claws were razor sharp and precise as they first freed her of her shirt and bra. He shifted to the side of her and took care of her pants and panties. His heated gaze roamed up and down her body taking in everything.

She would have laughed at the fact she was bare assed and spread-eagle in the woods with her desert brown, suede combat boots on. However, she didn’t feel like laughing at all. She felt like fucking. This man. “Am I a picture or a woman?”