by Milly Taiden
Oh, My Roared
Paranormal Dating Agency
Milly Taiden
Edited by
Tina Winograd
Latin Goddess Press Inc.
Contents
Title
Blurb
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
About the Author
Find out more about Milly Taiden here:
Also by Milly Taiden
Shifters Undercover
Federal Paranormal Unit
Black Meadow Pack
Raging Falls
FUR-ocious Lust - Bears
Night and Day Ink
Contemporary Works
OH, MY ROARED
PARANORMAL DATING AGENCY
NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
MILLY TAIDEN
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Francesca Virgata wants a mate. She longs for the perfect kind of love her parents had. There’s only one problem, she has zero prospects. Thankfully, she’s heard of Gerri Wilder who promises to make all her mating dreams come true.
Theo and Marcus are best friends and share everything, even women. So when they both fall for Francesca, it’s only natural they have a friendly competition over who can get the girl. After some thought, and a hot little interlude, they realize she shouldn’t choose one over the other, they should work together to make the perfect triad. A lion, a tiger and a bear, oh my!
There has been talk of abuse in Francesca’s pride and she won’t tolerate it. She’ll fight tooth and claw to ensure all members are safe. But when her brother turns on her, who will protect her? Theo and Marcus will do anything for her, but it might be easier to let them both go than to choose only one of the men she’s come to love.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Published By
Latin Goddess Press
Winter Springs, FL 32708
http://millytaiden.com
Miss Behaved
Copyright © 2016 by Milly Taiden
Cover by Willsin Rowe
Edited by: Tina Winograd
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Property of Milly Taiden
December 2016
Created with Vellum
—For my readers
You curvies rock!
Prologue
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Damn, her feet hurt. Gerri knew better than to hike the three-level mall in four-inch heels. But birthday presents must be bought, torture shoes or not. She’d just wear flip-flops the rest of the week—as long as she wasn’t meeting clients, anyway.
Shopping bags lying on the kitchen table, Gerri fell into her home office chair and let the cushions suck her into comfort. A good office chair was one of the best things you could buy yourself. Money should go where you spend your time. Some spent it in front of the TV, some traveling, some reading. Gerri spent hers in her office, always on the lookout for another love connection.
She wiggled her mouse to bring her laptop screen to life then logged into her email. She purposely hadn’t checked it while shopping and was now paying the price for that little disconnect from the world.
Twenty-five messages awaited her attention. Fortunately, her system automatically pushed spam and junk mail to other folders. Unfortunately, that meant all twenty-five she needed to respond to.
The first three came within seconds of each other. Well, a few people were on the same wavelength. Maybe they needed to be together on more than that.
Francesca Virgata, subject: Please help, 1:12 p.m.
Marcus Ursav, subject: Please help, 1:13 p.m.
Theo Liannus, subject: Help please, 1:14 p.m.
Seems Theo liked to do things backwards. That made her wonder. A sudden image of the three popped into her head and a slow smile curved her lips. Oh, my. These three had no idea what they had coming.
1
Francesca and her brother, Shane, sat next to their dad’s hospital bed in his nursing home room. He wasn’t looking as well as he had last week. Francesca worried the time was coming when they would no longer needed the services of the skilled assistance home.
They lost their mother a long time ago. She had been young and it was hard on them. But losing her father would be devastating. He’d been the grounding aspect in her life. As pride leader of their tiny tiger community, he was more than just Dad to her.
“Now, both of you listen up—” her dad’s speech was interrupted by yet another coughing attack.
“Dad, we’re not kids anymore,” Francesca said. “We’ll be fine.”
“Yes, I know that’s what you think, but when the time comes for you to make decisions, you’ll wish I was still there.”
“Dad,” Shane said, “we’ll wish you were there, decisions or not.” Francesca couldn’t have agreed more.
“Sure, sweet talk me now, children of mine. My final will and testament is completed.”
Francesca sighed. She hated when her dad spoke of dying. Sometimes she didn’t want to be that grounded. A little head in the clouds was occasionally nice. Her brother, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind.
“Remember what I taught you,” he started.
“Yes,” Shane said. “The people always come first, right after family. Love is more important than power, and leaders serve others.”
Dad beamed with pride. Even though Francesca knew the same lines by heart, being second born, she wasn’t destined to rule the pride. She’d have a normal life with a mate and kids. Whenever she found her mate that was. With advances in communications and traveling, finding one’s true mate was becoming a more common thing. She so very much wanted to find hers.
But strangely enough, whenever she thought about children, her stomach became nervous and doubt crept into her mind. The only logic she could put to that was children frightened her, which didn’t sound very logical. Especially for a female.
But really, she was never around kids except when she was one. She never
babysat, so she didn’t know how to change a diaper, feed an infant, keep it from crying, how to hold it when it was still all noodley. So much she didn’t know. But that wasn’t her fault. After school every day, she helped her dad in the tiger pride’s office.
Instead of diapers, she learned to change toner cartridges, feed paper to the copy machine, fix the desktop when it froze and crashed. Which ten years later, she was still doing. She sighed and tuned back in to her father talking to Shane.
“Listen when a member complains,” Dad said. “There are always two sides to a story and usually a deeper meaning behind problems.” Shane nodded and looked deeply entrenched in their father’s philosophy. That was why he was heir to the alpha seat. Francesca had no argument with that. Her brother had always been good and nice when they were kids. He even broke up with his girlfriends by giving them flowers.
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Shane said. “You taught me your ethics well. I will make sure our small pride becomes the most respected community around.”
Dad patted her brother’s hand. “Of that, I’m sure. With your sister running the office, you two will make a great team.” She could see her dad’s exhaustion coming on.
“Yeah, Dad. We got this,” Francesca said. “When you come home, it’ll be like you were never gone.” He started to say something, but she didn’t want to hear him talk about not coming home again. “You’re tired, now. Shane and I will see you in a couple days.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Love you, Dad. Get some rest."
Francesca climbed into the passenger side of the SUV as Shane got behind the wheel. He looked at his watch. “I’ll drop you at the office. I have a meeting soon.” It seemed like he was always at meetings anymore. Dad was right when he said she ran the office. Shane was hardly there anymore. But he didn’t seem to be bring any business stuff back to the office. No paperwork, no contracts, no clients. Nothing but grumpiness lately.
“You know, Francesca, it’s extremely important that our pride grows and becomes a powerhouse. Our survival depends on the next several years.”
“Our survival?” she said. “Shane, you sound like Armageddon is coming. Ease up.”
“No. We can’t ease up. We’ll be eaten alive. Bullied. We must become stronger than Dad has ever imagined. I see the future. I know what has to be done. We all have to sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice?” She didn’t like the way her brother was starting to sound. “Shane, what are you talking about? Who has to sacrifice what?”
His brows furrowed and lips pressed together. When he noticed her watching him, he turned away from her.
“Shane?” she started. “What the hell was the whole conversation with Dad? He never said anything about sacrificing. What are you saying?”
“I’m talking about our pride needing to stand out to protect itself in these times. If you don’t, you’ll get run over by the big guys and wiped out. The more powerful you are, the safer you are.”
Where did he get those ideas? “No. Dad said living an honest life—”
“Dad isn’t part of the modern world, Francesca. It’s up to you and me to take the pride into the next generation.”
“I agree, but we’re not doing anything stupid, are we?” When he said nothing, she pushed him. “Are we?”
“No, we’re doing what’s necessary,” he said.
Luckily for him, her phone buzzed indicating an email came in. She pulled her cell from the front of her purse and clicked the mail app. The email at the top of her list was from GerriWilder@GetMeAMate.
Francesca:
Thank you for reaching out to me.
I am having an informal get-together at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Please join me for cocktails and steak hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m. tomorrow night.
Gerri
2
“Marcus Ursav,” his mom yelled across the backyard, “get your furry behind over here and pick up your niece. She’s headed for the mud puddle.” His older sister sprinted from a group of relatives gathered around the grill.
“No, no, baby girl,” she hollered. “No muddy water! Marcus, you suck as a babysitter.”
“I’m not babysitting,” he said. “You’re the mom.” He may have sounded disgusted, but in reality, he loved all his nieces and nephews. They were the highlights of his Wednesday nights.
When he moved out of his parents’ home a few years ago, they became empty nesters. Even though they said they loved their new lifestyle, Mom insisted all siblings come over on Wednesday nights for dinner. No excuses. And being a weeknight, he had no excuse. Well, any night, he had no excuse since he had no life.
Working as a forensic accountant on a freelance basis wasn’t too exciting. For a spectator, it was like watching paint dry. You sit and stare at a computer monitor or ledgers for hours. But for him, finding the one link in a thousand entries that tied a criminal to the deed was a natural high. He was very good at what he did and often worked high profile IRS cases.
But Wednesday nights were always for family. And his dad grilled a kick-ass steak. Plus, being the only sibling not mated, he got to take leftovers home. When there were leftovers. Seemed like every few months, another small, furry muzzle joined the table.
He longed for his own small, furry muzzles. But finding a mate came first. And that was where the problem started. Working from home did not allow for socializing or getting out of the house much.
If not for his roommate, Theo, he’d gone crazy a long time ago, and the fridge would’ve always been empty. Theo was his link to the world after he’d spent days and nights locked in his home office trying to take down white-collar crooks.
Sudden commotion around the grill caught his eye. Several people, including Mom, was helping Dad sit at the picnic table. Dad made loud sucking-wind noises. His COPD breathing disorder got worse every year. His long time job as a firefighter did him no favors. Medication helped, but didn’t cure.
Marcus scooped up a nephew, this one in bear form with a diaper, and sat at the table with his father.
“Here, Dad,” Marcus said, “hold Karsten.” The little bear shifted and reached for Paw Paw. He watched as the little one snuggled into his father’s neck and chest. His heart hurt for his own offspring.
“Got yourself a mate yet?” Dad asked.
Marcus slumped, his elbows propped on the table. “No, Dad. I don’t have time to date or anything.”
“Yeah,” his father said, “I don’t have a lot of time, either, and would like to see some cubs from you.”
“Dad.” Marcus frowned. He didn’t want to think about his father dying. The old man was too young. “You’ll be glad to hear I’ve contacted a mate consultant to help me find someone.”
Dad raised a brow. “A mate consultant?”
“Yeah, she’s going to find a mate I’m compatible with,” he said.
“Compatible?” his father asked. “What about love?” He leaned closer to him. “And she has to be good in the sack. You gotta sleep with her before you marry, you know.”
“Harry!” his mom hollered, making them both wince, “I heard that.”
“I know you did, dear,” Dad said loudly. “And you’re still damn hot. My bear will take you right now on this table.”
Cries of ewww and gross came from the siblings and in-laws. The kids giggled at everyone’s sudden reactions. Mom smiled and winked at Dad. The love was definitely there after all these years. That’s what he wanted.
The cell phone tucked in his back pocket beeped, informing him of an incoming email. After pulling it out and thumbing the passcode, he saw an email from GerriWilder@GetMeAMate.
Marcus:
Thank you for reaching out to me.
I am having an informal get-together at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Please join me for cocktails and steak hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m. tomorrow night.
Gerri
3
Theo tore open the utility bill his roommate, Marcus, set on the kitchen table earlier. Theodor Liannus, Apt. 212. Ever
y time he looked at his address, he was reminded of the vast amount of land and forest he’d inherited but could do nothing with at the moment. It was expensive to build and maintain a house. Not to mention, it’d be only himself. So he opted to remain here with Marcus.
Long ago, his parents and brother were killed in a tragic car accident. He would’ve died also if not for a firefighter who braved the burning car to pull him out seconds before it blew up. That event had more impact on his life than he would’ve ever thought. His career as a firefighter and first responder was about the only thing that mattered to him. Besides Marcus and his family.
The fireman who saved him was Marcus’s father. After that devastating night, Marcus’s family became his, too. Throughout their school years, the two boys were inseparable. Their first dates, they doubled.
Even without the words, they seemed to always know how the other was feeling: down from losing a ballgame, to orgasmic highs during sex. He’d never forget how they figured out they could sense each other.
During summer break of their senior year, Marcus was at his girlfriend’s house, with her parents away. Theo was at his girlfriend’s house where the family was grilling out by the pool. While sitting next to his girlfriend and her mom on loungers poolside, he got a raging boner for no reason.
He snatched up a towel and put it over his lap. His swim trunks were long and baggy, but being a bear shifter, the material still didn’t hide as much as he’d like. At that moment, his girl’s dad decided it was time for an impromptu game of basketball while the steaks finished up.
Theo was horrified. How would it look with him having a huge hard-on while sitting with his girlfriend’s mom? He feigned injury to his knee and claimed he was hungry. So they sat on the porch gathered around the table.
