Have Lizard, Will Travel

by Eve Langlais

  Jujube transformed. “Do what?” She asked, her dark skin a temptation to eyeball if Simon weren’t worried about the thumping coming from inside the house.

  “She knew you’d take her if you knew. Said we had to hide it.”

  Eyeballing the man, after giving it a moistening lick, Simon realized that he recognized the fellow. They’d found the missing Dr. Erwin. And the more he babbled, the more Simon understood where this was going.

  “You mean to say—?” Jujube never finished the sentence as a mighty roar filled the air. A lion loomed in the doorway to the house. But a lion unlike any that had been seen in a million years.

  “Jesus, look at the fangs on her!” Jujube muttered. Before glaring at the professor and barking, “You fucking idiot! You suppressed her shifter gene since birth?”

  “Rose didn’t give me a choice. I didn’t know. I might have never known if not for that incident when she got her period.”

  Simon eyed the giant, prehistoric lion stalking out the front door with interest.

  Turned out his flower was a little more special than he’d thought. Bigger, too.

  But at heart, she was a pussy. A large pussy that this lizard knew how to stroke.

  He took a few confident steps towards her. Flicked his tongue.

  Petunia, eyes wild, stepped closer and lowered her head. Stared at him.

  Opened her mouth wide…lunged!

  He went scampering, not at all dignified for a hero of his caliber. She chased after him while Jujube screamed, “Holy shit, someone get a tranq gun.”

  The professor yelled, “Don’t shoot her! Get her ice cream instead, that always calms her.”

  Where the bloody hell were they supposed to find a frozen treat at this time of night?

  Simon scampered for the nearest tree. Jumped and climbed. Had almost made it to a bough when he felt it.

  A terrible wrench on his tail.

  He looked down. Saw her clamped on tight.

  Knew there was no point in fighting it.

  He let his tail fall off and made it to some higher boughs where he perched, a little offended. Also embarrassed. He’d lost another tail in the line of duty.

  What if it never grew back? How many tails could he lose? The tail became unimportant as Petunia spat out his appendage and shimmied up the trunk.

  He might have become lizard sushi if not for the whistle.

  A high-pitched sound followed by Great-Grandma’s, “Petunia Patricia Erwin, you stop that right now!”

  The good news? The lioness stopped climbing. The bad?

  She now stalked towards the frail old lady. His eyes opened wide. He licked one. He was sure N would have his hide if he didn’t do something to protect the woman.

  Since his lizard hadn’t served him well, Simon changed shapes when he hit the ground.

  He tried not to look too mournfully at his shorn tail. Simply reached down and grabbed the dart at its tip.

  As he snuck up behind Petunia and her swishing tail, he heard the old biddy still talking.

  “Look at you, pretty girl. What a naughty mother, hiding you from us.”

  Growr!

  Someone didn’t like the criticism of her parent.

  “Leave my daughter alone,” the professor hollered. “You aren’t taking her from me. Find someone else to carry on your name.”

  “I have. And I’m going to guess you’ve not met her. Holly!”

  At the yelled name, the lioness known as Petunia pounced, took the old lady to the ground, might have bitten her face off too if a voice, rather familiar in many ways, hadn’t said. “Hey, sis, mind not killing Great-Grandma?”

  Eighteen

  The word took a moment to percolate through a rage more intense than even ‘roids could manage.

  Sister? I don’t have a sister.

  Except right in front of Petunia stood a replica of what she saw in the mirror each day. Not an exact copy, though. The hair was much shorter and styled. The jeans were tighter than she usually went for. And the smirk held a confidence that Petunia had only recently found.

  A clone of me.

  A…sister. Not just a sister, a twin, which explained why Petunia’s handprint had worked on that scanner in the house.

  The anger that sent her blood pounding eased abruptly. She calmed down, and as she did, she became more aware of her surroundings. The fact that she pinned her great-grandma to the ground. And had a metallic taste in her mouth.

  Simon stared at her, wearing only that ridiculous loincloth. That got an extra look. God, the man was built amazingly when he wasn’t a lizard. Crazy.

  But nothing was as nuts as the woman in front of her.

  Petunia got to her feet. “I-I don’t understand.”

  “Because your mother chose to keep it a secret,” grumbled Great-Grandma.

  It was Petunia’s father who clarified it. “Good God. Rose had twins, and she gave one to you?” An incredulous note.

  “The firstborn. It’s tradition. The oldest daughter always inherits.”

  “But you separated us,” Petunia blustered.

  “And never told us either,” Holly said with a matching glare. “I was told my mother and father died.”

  “I have a sister.” Petunia swallowed at the information.

  “And you are a lion. Welcome to the Gardenia pride.”

  That was when Petunia fainted.

  When she came to, it was to find herself tucked in a bed. It was a nice one. Large, with the kind of crisp sheets that said serious money had been thrown at the interior décor and furnishings. She smoothed her hands over them. They didn’t even have that little hint of gray all her sheets acquired after even one trip through the washer.

  Sitting up, she pushed her rat’s nest of hair back from her face and looked around. Okay, definitely not somewhere she’d been before.

  The handle on the door clicked, and she looked up to see Simon enter the room. The loincloth was gone, and he was back to suave and sophisticated in a crisp suit.

  “Hello, darling.” He shut the door behind him to approach the bed. “How are you feeling? You gave us an awful fright when you collapsed like that.”

  “Like I’ve fallen into some bizarro dream,” she admitted, not complaining as he took her hand, stroking his thumb over the back of it gently. “We were kidnapped. They had Dad and were going to hurt him. Then…” She frowned as she tried to sort fact from fiction in her head. “Did I…shift? Or was that my sister?”

  Simon reached out, his fingers gentle under her chin as he tilted her face up to look in his eyes.

  “You could have taken a bit of a hit to the head when TWAT took you. That could account for the confusion.” He smiled at her, and all she wanted to do was crawl into his lap and kiss him, nibble at that full lower lip of his.

  “Twat?”

  “A name for the wolves who took you.”

  She couldn’t help the snigger. “They seriously call themselves that?”

  He nodded. “Timber Wolf Alpha Troop.”

  “TWAT.” She sniggered again but then sobered abruptly as another memory hit her. “I shifted, didn’t I? How? I’m not a shifter.”

  “Well…you are, actually.” For once, Simon was serious, no hint of the up-himself, super-secret-agent-lizard. “Turns out, your mother pulled a fast one on everyone years ago. Had you and your sister while your father was on a trip. Split you up before anyone ever knew. Then convinced your father that you needed medication to stop your seizures. In reality, it suppressed your shifter side.”

  “But my father lost the recipe and got desperate.” It explained why he’d stolen the book.

  “According to him, you ran out months ago. Since then, your body has been eliminating the serum, and you’re now able to shift. Unfortunately for the TWATs, that was right about the time they snatched you to try and use you as leverage to get your father to work for them.”

  More memory surged. “Oh my God, did I kill someone?”

  “It’s o
nly murder if they find the body.” Simon winked.

  Petunia took a deep breath. Given the smells coming from the kitchen, finding the body didn’t seem likely.

  “Now what?” she asked. Her entire world had changed. What would happen to her? Where would she go?

  What of her and Simon?

  “Weeeelll…” He scooted a little closer on the bed, his blue eyes heating. “We do appear to be alone, without people looking for us, chasing us, or shooting at us. And…” His grin grew broader. “We also have a bed.”

  She had so many questions. But they could wait.

  He leaned forward to claim her lips, and it was the softest, sweetest kiss she’d ever been given. She whimpered and parted her lips, needing more. He surged forward, pushing his tongue inside to mate with hers in long, hot sweeps.

  Wriggling free of the sheets, she managed to get herself in his lap. The shirt she wore was no defense against his determined hand. A moment later, he had his tongue back in her mouth, and his fingers stroking the slickness of her wet pussy.

  “Oh…yes!” she murmured as he pulled his lips away. She bit her lip as he slid two fingers deep inside her. Her body had burned for his ever since that first time.

  Then she realized that he was looking around the room as he stroked her.

  “Hey! I’m right here!” she complained. “What are you looking for?”

  He looked back at her, and she was forced to suck in a breath at the heat in his eyes. “For any bloody serum bottles. This time, I want to finish inside you, as a man. I mean, my lizard is awesome, but making love to a beautiful woman needs a man to be all man.”

  “Oh,” she breathed, sliding a hand between them as he laid her back to cup him boldly through his pants. “You’re definitely all man.”

  Heat and need washed through her so savagely, she practically snarled with impatience. The sound was new. Not human.

  “And there’s my pussy,” Simon smiled. “You’re gorgeous. Soon as I saw you, I just wanted to pet you.”

  Her lips quirked. “I think you’re petting my pussy right now. I don’t need to shift for that.”

  “Right.” If she’d thought his grin was wicked before, it was downright scandalous now. He pressed a thumb against her clit, and she cried out, almost on the edge.

  “Inside. I want you in me,” she panted, pulling him closer.

  “As my lady commands,” he murmured, pulling his fingers from her with a wet pop. There was a rustle, and then the sound of a zipper dropping. A second later, he was there, parting her thighs to set the broad head of his little…no, rather large…lizard right where they both needed him to be.

  “Yes! Now,” she demanded and purred as he surged forward, filling her in one hard thrust.

  “Fuck!” He bowed his head, his body tense as he held still, buried to the balls inside her. She clenched, and he swore again, then lifted his head to claim her lips as he started to move.

  She clung to him, nails raking over his back as they moved together. Not letting him take the lead this time, she met him as an equal. Her gaze locked with his, and she reached up to brush her fingertips against his handsome face, sucking in a breath when he chased her hand, capturing a finger between his lips and sucking on it suggestively. The wicked little glint in his blue eyes really did it for her, heat surging through her veins as her primal instincts took over.

  The headboard thumped against the wall. Faster. Harder. Louder. Until shouts came from somewhere else in the house. She didn’t care, her scream of pleasure as she came hard and fast drowned them out. A second later, Simon joined her, his hips slamming into hers a final time as his rather large trouser-lizard had a little party all its own.

  For a moment, they were locked together, skin-to-skin, hearts racing, breathing labored as they looked into each other’s eyes. Then he kissed her again and rolled to pull her into the safety of his strong arms. As they snuggled, her face pressed to the skin of his chest. She sighed and murmured, “I think I love you.”

  She felt his lips curve into a smile.

  “I know. You didn’t eat me, not even as a cat. You must love me.” His voice was low and husky as his lips grazed her temple. “And I don’t want to live without you. You’re all mine, pussy cat.”

  Epilogue

  This was the life, lounging in the sun on a hot rock. Enjoying a lazy moment.

  Until she pounced on him. The lioness grabbed him in her jaws and trotted off.

  The moment she dropped him inside their vacation hut on the woven carpet, Simon turned into a man, hands on his hips, naked for once since he’d eschewed the bottoms.

  “What have I told you about trying to eat me?”

  “That lots of tongue feels good and to watch the teeth?” she replied with a long stretch. Her nubile flesh enticed, but he would not be distracted.

  “It’s emasculating, my flower. I am a mighty spy.”

  “With an even mightier lizard.” She winked. “Want me to pet that lizard?”

  As a matter of fact, he did.

  Twice.

  With a third time just for her.

  But even the allure of her hot, naked body couldn’t keep him in bed when the silent alarm on his watch went off.

  Time for this lizard to roll on his next mission. By the time he’d dressed and made it to the garage, Petunia was already in the driver’s seat, wearing a grin.

  “Shall we save the world?”

  * * *

  The End?

  Not quite yet…We have plans for Ricardo, that slow, sexy sloth. And maybe a hamster. So be sure to sign up for our newsletters or follow us on social media for updates.

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  About the Author - Mina Carter

  Mina Carter is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.

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  About the Author - Eve Langlais

  New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Eve Langlais is a Canadian author who loves to write wicked romance. Expect humor, sarcasm, twisty storylines and of course, a happily ever after.

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