“Exactly!” said Magda, feeling her energy matching up perfectly with these curvy women who already felt like friends, like sisters, like . . . family. “And as we get each of Murad’s Shifters matched up, his army will get smaller. Eventually the Black Dragon will be forced to come out of hiding as it seeks out Shifters to kill. That’ll give me time to work on my magic, to understand what your parents said about accepting my dark magic along with my natural witchcraft.”
“Perfect!” Bis squealed, clapping her hands. “We’ll be Shifter Matchmakers! We should have a name for it! What should we call ourselves?”
“SSA,” said Caleb with a grin.
Bart cocked his head and glanced at his buddy. “That’s the name for that bogus agency you made up to recruit Shifters to Murad’s army! What was it called?”
“The Shifting Sands Agency,” said Caleb. “But let’s just condense it to SSA.” He glanced down at Magda’s thighs that were full and heavy as she sat on her chair. Then he looked at the other two big, beautiful women mated to his buddies. “Spell that backwards, Butterball. Slowly.”
Bart frowned. “A. S. S.” he said slowly. “Ass? Ass. Ass!”
He roared with laughter as he got it, thumping the table so hard all the plates and silverware jumped three feet into the air. All the women turned bright red, but by then they were all laughing. Soon even the stoic CIA-man Benson was in on it, and before long the tension had dissolved to a feeling of pure optimism, a sense that they were on the right path, that even though their animals had found their happy endings, the real story was just beginning.
“Just one thing missing,” said Bart suddenly, his gaze resting on Magda’s ringless fingers. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.”
He pushed his chair back from the table, and a moment later Changed to bear form and barreled out of the room so fast everyone just stared in amused wonder.
“Where the hell is he going?” said Adam with a frown. Then his face turned red with anger and he leapt up from his chair and headed towards the stairs just as an unholy crash shook the castle’s foundations. “Oh, hell no! My vaults! My vaults!”
But Adam was knocked back on his heels as Bart the Bear came bounding back up the stairs, a massive diamond ring in his front paw. Adam roared again, wisps of smoke pouring from his nostrils as Magda sensed his dragon’s hoarding instincts come into effect.
“Simmer down, hothead,” Bart growled at his Alpha. “Just giving you an excuse to pile up some more trinkets in your treasure chest.” A moment later he knocked Caleb off his chair with one swipe of his massive paw. “On your knees, brother. Do I gotta show you how it’s done? All right.” He turned to Magda as she giggled. “Dear Miss Witch. On behalf of my shy-ass brother the Flying Squirrel and my stingy-ass Alpha the Big Bird, I present you with this diamond ring and cordially ask you to—”
“Give me that, you dumb furball,” Caleb barked, snatching the ring from the oafish bear. He shook his head and rose up on one knee, looking deep into Magda’s eyes. Then his smile was gone as his lips trembled as if he’d understood that this was important, that a natural law union between two animals was fine and good, but the humans in them needed to make it official. The human woman needed her proposal, her wedding, her happily ever after.
“Yes,” she whispered as the room went silent and Caleb whispered the question. “Of course I will. I’m yours, Caleb. I always was. Your woman. Your mate. Your witch.”
Your witch.
In darkness and in light.
In animal and in human.
Always and forever.
The witch and the wolf.
∞
EPILOGUE
“So we have a name, a mission, and a plan,” said Benson to the group gathered around the table. “But where do we begin? The CIA has a lot of lists, but we don’t have a list of Shifters. For once I’m at a loss. I don’t know how to actually find any of these Shifters from Murad’s disbanded army!”
Caleb cleared his throat as he scanned the memories of the Shifters he’d managed to recruit. Almost all of them had come to him through those ads. He had no idea where they’d come from—not really.
But then he thought back to something Darius the Lion Shifter had mentioned in passing when they’d been shooting the shit after fighting in the sandy desert training ground.
“Training you beasts is like herding cats,” Caleb had complained as he examined two big scratches on his thigh from the lion’s jaws.
“Hah,” Darius had quipped, raising an eyebrow at the other Shifters. “Nice one. But I actually did herd cats, you know. I was pretty damned good at it too.”
“What?” Caleb had said. “You were a cat-wrangler?”
Darius’s gold eyes had narrowed, his mane thick and full as it glowed beneath the desert sun. “Something like that. Back then I was the King, you know. The goddamn King.” A low growl had emerged from his thick throat. “King of the Ring, they called me. King of the Ring.”
“King of the Ring,” Caleb muttered as he thought back to that conversation with Darius the Lion. “Holy shit! I know where we can find the Lion!”
“Where?!” said everyone else almost in unison.
Caleb snickered as he shook his head. “Get ready, folks. I’m going to introduce you to the King of the Ring.”
“King of the Ring?” said Bart. “What ring?”
“The big ring. Trapeze, clowns, jugglers, and . . . animals,” said Caleb. “Pack up the kids, everyone. We got a family vacation coming up.”
“Where?” said Bart, still frowning even as everyone else seemed to slowly get it.
“The circus, Butterball,” said Caleb with a grin.
“We’re going to the circus?” said Bart, his face lighting up like he was one of the kids. “The goddamn circus?”
“Yup,” said Caleb. “Where else are you going to find a lion tamer?”
∞
FROM THE AUTHOR
You guys ready for some old-fashioned Shifter matchmaking? That's what's coming next in TAMED FOR THE LION and TAKEN FOR THE TIGER as our core crew tries to save the world, one Shifter couple at a time!
By now you know what to expect from the Curves for Shifters Series: Drama, Madness, and over-the-top Steam. A happy ending for every couple in every book, but also an overarching story that’s going to keep building!
And if you’re all caught up with this series, why don’t you try my CURVES FOR SHEIKHS books? They’ve got everything that makes an Annabelle Winters novel what it is:
Twists and turns.
Darkness and Light.
Always and Forever.
Love,
Anna.
PS: Sign up for my private list at annabellwinters.com/join to get five sizzling bonus scenes from my Sheikhs series!
∞
BY ANNABELLE WINTERS
THE CURVES FOR SHEIKHS SERIES (USA)
Curves for the Sheikh
Flames for the Sheikh
Hostage for the Sheikh
Single for the Sheikh
Stockings for the Sheikh
Untouched for the Sheikh
Surrogate for the Sheikh
Stars for the Sheikh
Shelter for the Sheikh
Shared for the Sheikh
Assassin for the Sheikh
Privilege for the Sheikh
Ransomed for the Sheikh
Uncorked for the Sheikh
Haunted for the Sheikh
Grateful for the Sheikh
Mistletoe for the Sheikh
Fake for the Sheikh
THE CURVES FOR SHIFTERS SERIES (USA)
Curves for the Dragon
Born for the Bear
Witch for the Wolf
Tamed for the Lion
Taken for the Tiger
THE CURVES FOR SHEIKHS SERIES (UK)
Curves for the Sheikh (UK)
Flames for the Sheikh (UK)
Hostage for the Sheikh (UK)
Single for the Sheikh (UK)
Stockings for the Sheikh (UK)
Untouched for the Sheikh (UK)
Surrogate for the Sheikh (UK)
Stars for the Sheikh (UK)
Shelter for the Sheikh (UK)
Shared for the Sheikh (UK)
Assassin for the Sheikh (UK)
Privilege for the Sheikh (UK)
Ransomed for the Sheikh (UK)
Uncorked for the Sheikh (UK)
Haunted for the Sheikh (UK)
Grateful for the Sheikh (UK)
Mistletoe for the Sheikh (UK)
Fake for the Sheikh (UK)
THE CURVES FOR SHIFTERS SERIES (UK)
Curves for the Dragon
Born for the Bear
Witch for the Wolf
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE (USA)
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE (UK)
ANNA'S WEBSITE
ANNA'S FACEBOOK
ANNA'S GOODREADS
ANNA'S NEW RELEASE LIST
Witch for the Wolf Page 15
