Southern Shifters: Purred Promises (Kindle Worlds Novella) (9 page)

He rolled her onto her back and kissed her. She felt him digging around
in front of him
and realized he was searching for his phone. He lifted it and pressed his thumb to unlock the screen.

“Who are you calling?”

“The hell I’m going into work today. You said you love me. We’ve gotta celebrate.”

“Oh?” She laughed.

“Yeah. Naked. Lots of naked
celebrating.”

Felix answered,
and with her enhanced hearing she could hear his exaggerated sigh. “
I suppose you’re not coming in today?”

“My mate just told me she loves me.”

“Oh! Well, congrats. I’l
l cover you today, but tomorrow, no more excuses
. We’d all like to have a tempting mate at home, but the real world beckons.”

“The real world sucks,” she whispered.

Jair said goodbye and turned off the phone, dropping it onto the floor and giving her a rakish grin. “So we’ve only got twenty-four hours to celebrate. Is that enough?”

“It’ll never be enough,” she promised.

* * *

Jair offered
Genesis his arm as he escorted her from the tiny Italian bistro he’d taken her to for dinner. He’d never really had anyone teach him how to be a good mate, but he did know about good manners
,
and he used every bit of knowledge he had to make her feel special. Because she was.

After settling her in the truck, he got behind the wheel and turn
ed the key. “Do you want to
see a movie?”

“I’d like to shift, actually. If that would be okay?”

He glanced at her in surprise. “Really?”

Her brows wiggled as she smiled. “I want to see your shifted form, and my cat wants to hunt with you.”

Nerves skated through him as he turned the truck toward home. He knew they would shift together at some point, but he hadn’t thought it would be so soon. She accepted him in
the abstract – she
knew
about his unique coloring, but she hadn’t seen it. A part of him, no matter how small it might be, worried about her reaction.

“I said I love you,” she said.

“I know.”

“I don’t take that lightly. My love is
unconditional
, okay? No matter what your shift looks like, or how you steal the blankets at night, I still love you. I
will
always. That’s how truematings work. You’re stuck with me.”

He chuckled,
and felt some of the tension leave him. “
I only steal blankets in self-defense. Your feet are like icicles.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “You’re stuck with me too.”

“Happily stuck.”

“If my sweetheart wants to shift, then we will. I can’t wait to see your beautiful cat.”

His tiger agreed, purring with interest.

When they arrived home, they
headed to the back patio. “Remember to stay with me in the woods. I know where the boundaries are, and it can be easy to get distracted and wind up outside of our territory.”

“I promise,” she said.

While they undressed outside, he wrestled
with his conflicting feelings. He’d been brought up to believe that wolves were
inferior
, that cats were better, and hybrids particularly should be reviled. Even as a kid, he’d sensed that there was something different about him, but he’d never had confirmation until he shifted. In his pride, most of the tigers were orange
-and-black striped or white-and-
black striped. His family line, through his mother, had dominant blue fur with black stripes. That his wolf was dominant in the shift but not in the coloring had been confusing, but he’d been told that was what happened with hybrids. He was effectively a wolf shifter with a bit of tiger hidden in his DNA.

“You look so serious,” Genesis said, pressing her fingertips to his cheeks and drawing his attention to her. “There isn’t anything here but love. You’re the sexiest guy I’ve ever met. You smell amazing to me, and my cat wants to
shred your clothes every time you get dressed because you look so amazing naked.” She peered up at him, her gaze searching. “Don’t be ashamed of your wolf. Without him, you wouldn’t be you
,
and that would mean I’m alone. Let go of the past. Your pride isn’t here. We have a new…well
,
I don’t know what to call us. A prain? Or a chide?”

He laughed at her silliness. “How do you always seem to know what I’m thinking about?”

She pressed her hand over his heart. “Because I love you.”

Her affection could bring him to his knees. He was constantly in awe of the fact he was
such
a lucky sonofabitch. He kissed her swiftly, tempted to throw her over his shoulder and head back inside. Instead, he took a step a
way and reached for his shift. When he was younger, he’d fought changing because being a wolf in a tiger pride was difficult as hell. He’d eventually stopped fighting
it
so much, but he hated the wolf for a long time. Now, as his claws flexed and his tail snapped behind him, he was grateful for both beasts. Without them, together, he would
n’t have Genesis.

His senses were
heightened in his shift, and he could pick up even more of her lovely scent. She knelt naked in front of him
, and ran her fingers through his thick fur.

“Holy shit, you’re gorgeous,” she said. “You’re the prettiest shade of blue. I didn’t even know that blue tigers were a real thing, I thought they were a myth.”

She shook her head and grasped him behind the ears, pressing her forehead to his. “My beautiful mate. So sexy in his human form, so lovely in his shift. Our kids are going to be stunning.”

He could have stood there letting her pet him all night. It felt so good to be adored, when
in the past his
shift had been a source of emotional pain for him. He’d always been an outsider, but with Genesis he was at the epicenter of their family, with her by his side. The wolf growled knowingly.

She scooted back slightly and kissed his snout, and then she shifted. Her human curves were replaced with her compact lynx form. Her fur was pale gray, and the long black stripes of fur down her mane made her look fierce. She placed one of her huge paws on his shoulder, her claws sinking slightly into him for purchase
, and purred loudly, blinking sand-colored eyes at him.

When she gave him a gentle nudge
toward the woods, they headed into the darkness. He paused just inside the trees and opened his senses wide, searching for anything out of the ordinary. If he were by himself, he would have just gone for a long run and not worried about what was around him. But with Genesis, he wanted to ensure that no harm would come to her.

He could sense nothing but the woods, and he relaxed fractionally as he nudged her gently with his snout and began to walk. She moved silently alongside him, her nose twitching as she scented the area
. His legs were longer than hers, and
he shortened his stride so they could move together through the woods that were now home to them both.

He watched her lazily chase rabbits, knowing full well that she could catch them if she was inclined. She turned around, letting a rabbit scamper off, and closed the short distance between them. If she could grin in her shifted form, she was surely doing it right them. Her body practically glowed from happiness.

There was a whooshing sound, followed by a thud as a small canister landed between them. She reared back
and hissed
in alarm. He didn’t know what
the object
was, but his beasts were growling in worry. Leaping over the canister, he tackled Genesis, rolling her away as
it
exploded behind him. His beasts rioted as his senses were completely incapacitated. His vision was blurry, his hearing was gone, and he felt
as if all his joints had come unhinged with the force of the blast. Struggling to climb over Genesis to protect her, he howled as her limp body was lifted from the ground by her two back legs. He could see a four-wheeler and a male in a mask sitting on it. The male carrying her sat down behind the driver and hoisted her over his shoulders, grasping her paws to hold her.

A pair of boots appeared in his vision, and he had just a moment to gaze up through bleary eyes at a tall, older male, before a furious howl filled the air
. T
he male disappeared as Veron, shouldering Genesis, grabbed the older male by the throat and threw him aside.

Jair struggled to move, and just managed to get up onto his feet before his head spun and he fell, everything going dark.

* * *

“What the ever-loving fuck happened here?” an echoing voice demanded.

Jair felt hands on him, trying to rouse him. Pain seared through him, and he whined, prying his eyes open and forcing himself to move through it. Genesis had been taken
. Hadn’t she?

His eyes burned as he blinked, trying to dispel the blurriness.

Veron leaned over and stared at him. “Everything’s okay. Can you shift?
”

Pushing at his beasts, he forced himself to shift into his human form
. The shifting helped to heal his injuries. He could hear and see clearly, and although he still ached from the blast, he could get off the ground. His first priority was Genesis.

Veron offered his hand and helped him up. “We were in the bar when
Felix called to say something was suspicious.
We alerted Bhric and got here as fast as we could
.”
Around them, Felix and the crew stood, their faces streaked with worry and anger.

Bhric leaned against a tree, his arms crossed, three unmoving males at his feet.

Felix said, “
I saw two sets of four-wheeler tracks, and I followed them. I
shifted into my human form just before they tossed the bomb at you two.”

Genesis was still unconscious in her shifted form. Jair fell to his knees next to her and ran his hands lightly over her form, checking for injuries. “I think she’s just unconscious. I can’t
scent any blood from injuries,” Veron said.

“I took the brunt of the blast,” Jair said. He lifted her gingerly into his arms and she made a whimpering, pained sound but didn’t wake.

“
Does she have a problem we need to know about?”
Bhric asked, looking pointedly at the males on the ground.

“I don’t think so. She was exiled from her chain.”

“They don’t have identification on them, but they’re lynxes,” Veron said.

He wanted to take her home, but he needed her to wake up to identify their attackers, if she could. He had a strong suspicion that she knew who they were. Curling her close, he buried his face in her furry throat and said, “Wake up, sweetheart, please.”

Chapter 10

Genesis’s head throbb
ed and her body ached. Her mind was muddled and she couldn’t remember why she was hurt or what had happened. The last thing she remembered was running in the woods with Jair and then…nothing.

Her cat woke up suddenly as fear and dread slithered through her. Someone was holding her tightly. She couldn’t smell anything but sulfur, and her vision was blurry. What had happened to Jair? She jerked her body to roll away from whoever held her, and heard a hiss of pain that was very familiar.
Jair!

Her vision cleared and she saw that she’d struck her mate on the chin with her claws. He pressed his finger to the small, bleeding cut and gave her a wry look. “Sorry, sweetheart. I should
’ve been watching your claws.”

She let go of her cat and shifted, feeling herself heal as she did. The aches disappeared
,
and so did the throbbing in her head. Launching herself at him, she wrapped her arms around him and he caught her easily, chuckling. “It’s okay, we’re okay.”

“What happened?”

He stroked his hand down her hair and said, “What do you remember?”

“Just hunting, and then nothing.”

“Some lynxes attacked us.”

She leaned back, startled.
“Lynxes? Are you sure?”

Behind them, Bhric
cleared his throat. She looked over her shoulder and found the large male standing in front of a pile of bodies. Her heart leap
ed into her throat as she recognized them
:
Levi and two of his chain members.

“You know who they are?”
Bhric asked, his brow arching.

Her hands tightened on Jair’s neck and he growled softly, standing and pulling her up with him. He
turned
her away from the scene and lifted her chin until she was looking at him. “
Who are they?”