Lion. Alpha. Male.
The three words blazed like wildfire through her mind and her lioness wanted to roll over in submission. Panic caused her human half to seize control before the cat could make its needs a reality. Without pausing to think she dropped her bag to the floor and ran.
No time to get into her car. Despite being half human, she’d lived around lions all her life, so she knew how damn fast they were. Heart pounding in her chest, she ducked around the side of the house and sprinted for the garden.
Who was he? The scent had been alpha, and powerful. Her ex-husband, Lance, was an alpha, but nothing compared to the scent in the house. It wasn’t one she recognized. Not a Brogan lion…she’d have recognized it. Shit. He must have called in help from another pride. No way would he allow a male that powerful to join the small Brogan pride.
She hit the back gate and crashed through it, taking it off its hinges. It slammed against the side of the house as she raced through the back garden. Her property, like many in town, backed onto wilderness, a fact that she’d considered when renting the house and might, just might, save her life now.
The living room window exploded outward behind her, and she got a vague impression of a tall, powerful male figure leaping through it, out the corner of her eye. A startled cry erupted from her lips and she found an extra burst of speed from somewhere.
Hurtling through the tree line, she stumbled a little but kept on running. Her body ached to change, her cat roaring and fighting against her control. She held her human form with iron control. Other shifters might have been faster on four paws, but not Renae. The car accident that had robbed her of her parents as a child should have killed her, her injuries so bad the doctors didn’t expect her to survive.
Shattered pelvis, damaged hip joint, femur broken in three places including just above the knee damaging the growth plate… she should never have walked again, but her cat, although not fully formed, had internalized the damage. She healed as a human, but when her cat had manifested at puberty she had a bad limp. Bad enough that running was slow and leaping was out of the question. She simply didn’t have the power in her hindquarters. A physical weakness made her an easy target for the bully that Lance was.
So she ran as a human, although no one would mistake her for one. She might be slow for a shifter, but she was way faster than any human ever could be as she tapped into her cat’s strength to power her human body. It was a weird solution, but it worked for her. Kinda.
The forest was dense and crisscrossed with well-trodden paths. The town was full of shifters, half-breeds and all kinds of oddities, so there were plenty to choose from. She raced down them, changing paths at random in a dizzying display of speed that would have impressed even her, if she didn’t have one of Lance’s bully boys on her tail.
He was a constant presence behind her. Never far enough that she could relax, nor confident that she’d lost him, but neither was he closing in. Breath coming in short pants, she pushed her body to the limit.
A glance over her shoulder gave her another glimpse. He ran in a steady lope, easily keeping up with her. Fast and near silent as he tracked her.
Tears of frustration filled her eyes. His scent said lion, so why was he chasing her as a human? Unless he didn’t think her worthy enough prey to warrant a shift? The taunts filled her ears again.
Pathetic… Weak… Useless.
Her body started to shake, the shivers bone deep and radiating out over her skin. Fur poked through her pores and she moaned. Not now. She couldn’t shift now. If she couldn’t shake him as a human, there was no way she’d manage it in her slower cat form.
Terror tore through her like a pyrotechnic display, pinging through every cell in her torso. She swerved left at a fork and dug deep for more speed. She had to reach safety before the oncoming change hit or she was done. As it was, she only had one chance. She needed to get somewhere the cat’s one advantage, its claws, could come into play.
She hit the clearing and skidded to round a fallen tree. Struck by lightning years ago, it was hollow and long. Still half buried in the earth, the only entry point was a small split in the trunk where the lightning ripped through to the heart, burning it from inside out.
Heart in her throat, she twisted and dropped to the ground to slide, feet first toward the gap like she’d done it every day of her life. The darkness of the trunk surrounded her and she surrendered herself to the change, fire arcing through her as fur raced over her skin. Bone snapped and cracked, forcing her body into contortions as they morphed and slid into different configurations. She closed her eyes as her face changed. Teeth aching, her jaw reshaped, pushing into a muzzle as she panted.
Then it was done, her body reformed into the shape of her lioness. She waited in the dark, eyes fixed on the light spilling through the opening in the trunk just ahead of her.
Her paws flexed, heavy talons biting into the dry wood beneath.
Let him try to get her out now.
She’d show him what a pissed-off cat was capable of.
— Click Here For More! —
Robyn’s Book List
(in correct reading order)
HOT DAMNED SERIES
Fashionably Dead
Fashionably Dead Down Under
Hell on Heels
Fashionably Dead in Diapers
A Fashionably Dead Christmas
Fashionably Hotter Than Hell
Fashionably Dead and Wed
Fashionably Fanged
Fashionably Flawed
A Fashionably Dead Diary
Fashionably Forever After
Fashionably Fabulous
More coming soon…
* * *
MAGIC AND MAYHEM SERIES
Switching Hour
Witch Glitch
A Witch in Time
Magically Delicious
A Tale of Two Witches
Three’s A Charm
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SEA SHENANIGANS SERIES
Tallulah’s Temptation
Ariel’s Antics
Misty’s Mayhem
Madison’s Mess
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SHIFT HAPPENS SERIES
Ready to Were
Some Were in Time
No Were To Run
Were Me Out
Were We Belong
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HANDCUFFS AND HAPPILY EVER AFTERS SERIES
How Hard Can it Be?
Size Matters
Cop a Feel
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If after reading all the above you are still wanting more adventure and zany fun, read Pirate Dave and His Randy Adventures, the romance novel budding novelist Rena was helping wicked Evangeline write in How Hard Can It Be?
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Warning: Pirate Dave Contains Romance Satire, Spoofing, and Pirates with Two Pork Swords.
About the Author
Robyn Peterman writes because the people inside her head won’t leave her alone until she gives them life on paper.
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Her addictions include laughing really hard with friends, shoes (the expensive kind), Target, Coke Zero Cherry with extra ice in a Styrofoam cup, bejeweled reading glasses, her kids, her super hot hubby and collecting stray animals.
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A former professional actress with Broadway, film and TV credits, she now lives in the South with her family and too many animals to count.
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Writing gives her peace and makes her whole, plus having a job where you can work in your underpants works really well for her. You can leave Robyn a message via the Contact Page and she’ll get back to you as soon as her bizarre life permits! She loves to hear from her fans!
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Want More Info About Robyn? You can find her here…
www.robynpeterman.com
[email protected]
Were We Belong Page 20
