by Celia Kyle
Text copyright ©2015 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Eliza Gayle. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Southern Shifters remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Eliza Gayle, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
Table of Contents
Blurb
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
About the Author
Southern Shifters Kindle World: Impawsible
A wererabbit and a tiger-wolf hybrid? Impawsible!
Wererabbit Bethany Buchanan hopes she can create a new life in Deals Gap, North Carolina. Home to the weird, wacky, and unwanted, it should be a place where she doesn’t have to hide (much) and can be herself (mostly).
When she meets Carter, a hotter than hot tiger-wolf hybrid, she knows she’s found her new home. Especially when he purrs and tells her he wants to eat her… in a very naughty way. Carter loves every inch of her curvy wererabbit body and is willing to do anything to make her happy.
Why? Because Bethany is his mate and he’ll kill to keep her. Which, as it happens, he might just have to do. You see, there’s this vicious werelion from her past and he’s looking for revenge…
Chapter One
Deals Gap, North Carolina, had it all and then some. A good dose of “then some” that had her walking down the sidewalk, face buried in the map as she sought the Dark Moon bar. As a new shifter resident, she had to check in with the leader, Bhric. And she was really, really trying to do that, but then a fleshy brick wall came outta nowhere and boom…
At least the sidewalks were comfortable. Okay, maybe not comfortable. They were hard as concrete—which made sense since they were concrete and a rock dug into her ass—but the view was nice. Clouds. Stars. Breathable air. That was one of the reasons she’d left the big city for small-town life.
A shadow fell across her, blocking out the bright yellow glare of the sun. “You okay down there?”
Bethany went from zero to hello, lovah in four words. His deep voice rolled through her, sending a gentle shudder down her spine. The backlight threw him into a silhouette, making her unable to see his face, but it didn’t matter. She’d be happy if he’d keep talking with that low, sexy drawl. Hell, it’d be really great if he never stopped talking. Ever. Maybe she could pay him to read the dictionary to—
“Miss?” She heard the smile in his voice and she didn’t care if he was laughing at her because words were still leaving his mouth.
Had she mentioned that drawl? And the twang?
She breathed deeply and her inner rabbit got to filtering through the scents. She told it to quit focusing on the trees (yes, they’d go through the forest later) and the crisp air (she promised they wouldn’t move back to the smog-filled city) to find this stranger’s scent. A little earthy, a little smoky, a little…
“Lady, really?” Strong hands grasped her forearms and yanked her up, forcing her to her feet whether she liked it or not.
It was decidedly “not” until she realized how close she stood to the hunky man. Blond hair, sparkling eyes, and all those muscles… He was the epitome of shifter-hotness in one furry package. Her rabbit chuffed, interested in getting a better look at the male.
“You okay?” Wait, he was still trying to talk to her. Right.
“Uh, yeah, sorry about that.” She ignored the flush of heat to her cheeks. If she didn’t acknowledge the embarrassment, it didn’t exist. “I didn’t mean to run into you.” That smile got all sensual, which made her face grow hotter, and rather than flirt with the man, she focused on her task. “I’m looking for the Dark Moon.”
He chuckled, and the wind sent another wave of his scent her way. He really did smell good. “You’re in the right place, baby.” He reached over and snared a door she hadn’t even seen. With a tug, it swung open and he gestured for her to precede him. “After you.”
“Thank you…” She let the sentence hang, hoping he’d supply his name so she didn’t keep calling him Sexy in her head. He wasn’t her mate or anything but since she didn’t even know if she’d ever find him… The spank bank could always use a top-off.
“Greer. I work the bar and am Bhric’s right hand.”
Bhric. Right. Now she remembered she had a purpose for leaving her little rented house near the edge of town. “Yeah, I need to talk to him. Is he around?”
That got her a practiced smirk. And really, he had to practice it because there was no way Greer looked sexy without it. “No, but I’m sure there’s something I can help you with.”
Now he looked like he wanted to eat her and she wondered what kind of shifter he was and what kind of eating he had in mind.
Hey, it’d been a while.
“I’m,” she cleared her throat and looked around, checking their surroundings. “I’m new and need to discuss my residency because I’m a…”
Greer leaned closer, his voice dropping low. “A shifter,” he purred.
Bethany blushed. “Uh, yeah. That.”
With a low chuckle, he pulled away and placed his palm on her lower back, nudging her toward the darkened interior. “No problem, baby. Bhric’s not around at the moment, but I can get your info, give you a beer, and see what happens.”
What happens? Nothing would happen because despite the flirting, Bethany was so not in this guy’s league. And she knew he was a shifter, which made it so much worse because while she had an inner animal, it did not help in the whole metabolism or badass departments.
Average shifters could eat what the fuck ever and still be hot.
Bethany could eat what the fuck ever and follow it up with a jog on the treadmill so her ass didn’t end up wider than Pluto. (But really, even as big as Pluto, she still had a great ass.)
“Uh, right.” She eased past him, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the dimness. And hey, the interior looked exactly like she’d read in her favorite books and TV shows. This was a biker bar. Pool tables, worn stools, scuffed up floor, and neon lights…
“This way…” He stepped around her, his large body brushing hers as he passed. “I’ll get you taken care of.”
The way he said it made her think his caring and hers were pretty different.
“Uh, sure.” Great vocabulary, Bethany. Just great. “Right behind you.”
Greer glanced over his shoulder, flashing a smile and tossing a wink her way. “Enjoy the view.”
Such. A. Flirt. And based on the heavy layer of flirtatiousness he was throwing, she figured every other woman got the same treatment.
“Uh-huh.”
Of course that was the moment her cell phone decided to ring, the familiar jingle forcing a groan past her lips. Wild Thing by The Troggs filled the air. Talking about a Wild Thing and how it made her heart sing… Bethany kept pace with Greer and ignored his snicker as she dug through her purse in search of the small device while it told her she made everything groovy. She was gonna kill her sister Hannah. Kill. Her. Dead.
Her hand wrapped around the small hunk of glass and plastic and she yanked it free with a victorious shout. “Ha! Found you!”
That was about the time the song asked Bethany to hold hi
m tight. She desperately needed a new ring tone. One swipe of her thumb connected the call and she jumped right into the conversation. “You are nothing but a bitch fuck.”
“Aw, I miss you too.” It would’ve almost sounded sincere if Hannah hadn’t cackled.
“Look, I’m busy here.” She spied Greer sliding behind the bar, snatching up a dishtowel as he paced the length. “I gotta talk to somebody about staying here.”
“I thought you took care of that over the phone.”
God, give her the strength not to kill her sister. At least her other sis, Katie, wasn’t included in the call. “I did a phone interview, but I still had to stop in and prove I’m not a crazy person.”
“Ahh…” Hannah hummed. “That’s gonna be difficult since you kinda are.”
The snort from Greer told her he’d heard.
“No, I’m different, not crazy.”
“Oh, bless your heart. That’s what they say there, right? When you’re lying to yourself?”
Bethany groaned and padded toward the bar, slowly sliding onto one of the stools. She closed her eyes, unwilling to see Greer’s expression. “Yes, but I’m not…” She sighed and dropped her forehead to the smooth surface. “Hannah, please,” she whispered. “Just, please.”
She wanted Deals Gap to be different. To be a home where she wasn’t stared at or run from or avoided as if she had the plague. Or hunted. She wasn’t sure what was worse—being shunned or hunted like prey. She was prey, but that wasn’t the point. The chase had changed over the last few years, the hunt no longer in an effort to kill her, but fuck her. A couple of the lions from her family’s clan looked at her like they’d take what they wanted whether she agreed or not.
But in Deals Gap, there were others like her in the small town, others who were normal, but not normal. Shifters of every kind, hybrids and others with nowhere else to go. She was one of those, dammit.
“Bethany, you know I’m kidding. If this makes you happy, I’m happy for you.” Hannah’s voice was equally soft and there was no missing the truth in her words. As much as they annoyed each other, they loved each other even more.
“I think I can be happy here, you know?” More than happy.
“You could have been happy here at home. You didn’t have to move to another state. Mom and Dad—”
“Yeah, I know.” It was hard to be prey in a family of lions. “But I have a good feeling about Deals Gap, Hannah. Like it could be home.”
“You have a home.”
“I have Mom and Dad’s home. Here… it’s all mine. I… We’ve been over this before.” They’d discussed most of her reasons. Not all—no one but her tormentors knew of the sexual nature of the recent threats.
“I know,” Hannah grumbled. “I don’t like not having you down the street. Who am I going to get pedis with? Or drink margaritas with on Friday night? Or—”
“Katie, like you have every other Friday since we hit twenty-one.”
Her sister whined. “But you won’t be there.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Abstinence? Why are we talking about not fucking?”
At that, she smiled, knowing that was her sister’s goal. “Dork. Absence.”
“Uh-huh.” Hannah coughed. “So, you’ll call me later?”
“Yes, I’ll call you later. I have to check in, stop by the mechanic’s, do some grocery shopping, and then I’ll head home so I can setup my office.” Not for the first time, she was thankful she could work from home anywhere in the world. She wasn’t tied to a nine-to-five desk and she loved having a flexible schedule.
“The mechanic?”
“Yeah,” she waved off her sister’s question, “a check engine light. It’s nothing.” She flicked her attention to Greer, to his narrowed eyes and crossed arms. “I really gotta go now. I swear I’ll call you later.” Bethany moved the phone from her ear, ignoring Hannah’s shouts of “you better” and “I’ll kick your ass if you—” as she ended the call. “Sorry about that. My sister. She worries and—”
“I get it.” He stared at her, not saying much else. “So, I was listening to your conversation—”
“Which is rude. You could at least pretend not to hear.”
A couple of masculine chuckles came from near the pool tables followed by a deep, “She got you, man. She got you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He glared at the darkened corner. “So, what kind of shifter do you have under the hood? We gonna have a problem with it tonight during the full moon?”
Bethany pressed her lips together and swallowed her initial response. Being a bitch on her first day wasn’t the way to make friends and if he was Bhric’s right hand, she couldn’t afford to alienate him. “I gave my information to Bhric.”
“And he’s not here, so I’m asking. Because I gotta admit, you kinda smell like prey, but there’s something—”
“Yes,” she snapped. She wasn’t going into further details about her genetics. It was no one’s business but her own. They’d see her during the full moon tonight anyway. She wanted one day gawk-free. Just one. “You’re correct.”
“Yeah, but—”
“I was assured of discretion and privacy. So, do I need to sign anything?” She really needed to take off her bitch hat but now that it was on, it seemed glued to her scalp. “Or do you need to sniff my ass or something?”
Greer narrowed his eyes and they both ignored the chuckles that drifted toward them. “Nah, we’re good.” He held out his hand. “Nice to meet ya, Bethany Buchanan of clan Buchanan.”
And that right there was like a death knell because everyone knew the Buchanan clan. There was also one other fact whispered behind her back. Bethany Buchanan, adopted daughter of Angus and Fiona, leaders of the Buchanan clan. The Bethany Buchanan that wasn’t a lion like her parents but a rabbit.
Even worse—definitely not better—she was a white rabbit.
As an FYI, that seriously fucked with her life. Like, a lot.
The door at the back of the room swung open, the heavy wood thumping easily into place as one of the most gorgeous women she’d ever seen strolled toward her. And really, Bethany wasn’t one to like the ladies, but this chick had her wavering on the dick path. She had pale blond hair (like Bethany) and shining blue eyes (like Bethany) and she moved with a strong fluid grace (very not like Bethany).
“Clan Buchanan?” The woman looked at her and Bethany let her bunny come out a little. Her nose twitched as she drew in the newcomer’s scent and discovered exactly what she’d expected. White cougar. It was official, life hated her. “Did you say clan Buchanan?”
“Um…”
It was the woman’s turn to breathe deeply. “But you smell like…” She frowned and tilted her head. “Like you are, but you aren’t. What are you?”
“Does no one know about personal boundaries?” she grumbled.
“I asked her the same thing,” Greer pointed out.
“I’m Niki.” The woman rounded the end of the bar, hand outstretched. “And you’re a white—”
“I’m me. Nothing more. Nothing less.” Bethany wasn’t rude, she was taught better, but she did discourage further conversation while she shook Niki’s hand.
“But you have—”
“Anything else?” She released Niki and focused on Greer.
“Nope, but you might wanna—”
“I’m good. Really.” Bethany didn’t want to do anything. She backed away from the white cougar and gave the rest of the room a small wave. “See you guys later.”
With that, she spun and walked (quickly, but not running because prey didn’t run from predators) to the exit. And while she did so, she totally ignored the hushed conversation behind her.
“She’s a white rabbit. I didn’t even know they existed…”
Chapter Two
Bethany was fairly certain visits to the mechanic shouldn’t involve men flying through glass windows. Ever. But that’s what she watched as she parked in front of the only shop
in town. They handled everything from light body repair to engine rebuilds and, apparently, evicting males through plate glass. Huh.
If she were back with her lion clan, she wouldn’t have blinked an eye at the sight. The lions weren’t known for their patience. But here in Deals Gap… She stayed put and glanced around, looking to see if there were any panicked humans or frightened shifters. And got… nothing. Hell, everyone kept on walking as if they didn’t see the male slowly rising to his feet, brushing shattered glass from his jeans as he stood tall. And tall. And even taller.
Damn they grew ’em big in Deals Gap.
She cracked her window the slightest bit. Enough to draw in some of the surrounding scents. She sought the throwee’s aroma and sighed with relief. He wasn’t enraged. Annoyed? Yes. Enraged and hunting for blood? No.
He was also a lion. Or a wolf. Ah, a lion-wolf hybrid. Well, she couldn’t hold the cat against him.
She tugged the door handle and nudged it wide, allowing herself to exit her little car. She slipped free of the door then quietly closed it while doing her best to remain unnoticed. Sure, he wasn’t rolling in hatefire, but she didn’t want to draw his attention, either. So she stayed put, letting the lion-wolf yell at whomever tossed him as if he weighed nothing.
“What the fuck is your problem, asshole?” It was definitely a good question.
“You.” The thrower wasn’t one for a lot of chatter.
“You need to get your head outta your ass,” the throwee snarled.
“You need to leave before I decide tossing you out wasn’t enough.” The thrower seemed pretty calm for being so violent moments ago. Calm, but there was something in his voice that piqued the rabbit’s curiosity. Something that made her little animal sit up and take notice. The beast enjoyed listening to Greer, but the thrower…
“You think you can—”
“Yup.” She heard the heavy thud of boots, the thrower obviously moving through the shop’s office.
“You’re not an alpha here,” the throwee just wouldn’t shut up. He made a good point considering the neutral zone didn’t have an alpha. They had Bhric.
