“I’m his father! Damon, are you all right?” Lou shrugged off Haben’s hand and pushed past the others, his desire to confirm that his son was okay blocking out all reason.
To his shock, Clayton launched toward him. The big brunet morphed in mid-air. Clothing fell away from a gold furred body and massive paws stretched toward him to slash and rend. Strong arms wrap around Lou from behind and yanked him out of the leaping cat’s way. A large body he recognized immediately as Haben’s pinned him to the ground. Between roars and the thud of bodies, Lou heard Damon shriek.
He turned his head and spotted his son wrapped in Kontra’s arms. The big shifter had grabbed Damon from behind, pinning the squealing boy’s arms to his sides. That didn’t stop the twelve-year-old from kicking his legs wildly, but Kontra didn’t seem to care one wit. He ran the child toward the edge of the clearing and dropped him in front of Wes. Damon flailed, but the old man caught one of the boy’s arms and steadied him.
Another roar echoed through the clearing, and Kontra spun. He morphed into the biggest damn bear Lou had ever seen and an instant later was fighting against another lion, which seemed bent on attacking Damon and Wes. Lou couldn’t take his eyes off the action as Kontra evaded leaps and blows from the lion. Even those that landed seemed to do little but irritate the massive shifter. Kontra carefully timed his counter-strike and sent the small lion flying with a single swipe of his paw.
Lou was hauled to his feet by Haben. His mate led him away from the fighting lions and bear. “Who is that?” He pointed to the smaller lion facing off against Clayton.
“That’s Terence,” Haben replied.
From his worried expression, Lou figured the fight wasn’t going well. “What can we do to help?” Terence hadn’t really struck him as an alpha.
“Maybe if we—”
“You’ve ruined everything!” Vivian’s snarled words interrupted them. “I’m going to nail your balls to the mud, human!”
Lou turned and sneered at the woman who could have been gorgeous if her face hadn’t been contorted with rage. “I wouldn’t let you near my balls if you had a sex change and were the last man on earth!”
A barking laugh erupted next to him. Lou looked to his left and saw a laughing hyena sitting next to him. Lou didn’t know where the hell Payson had come from, but he was sure happy to see him in light of facing off with a clearly irate lioness. Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? Right, because he hated people taking advantage of him. He really needed to learn to control himself.
“Bastard!” Vivian screamed. Her shift was slower than the others, taking a good thirty seconds. Payson took advantage and leaped forward, wrapping his powerful jaws around her arm and sinking his teeth in deep. On his right, Haben’s form seemed to sink in on itself and his clothes fell away. Seconds later, he spotted a massive spider he recognized crawling out from under the cloth.
“Haben,” he whispered. The tarantula paused and turned to look at him, its many black eyes glittering in the afternoon light. “Be careful,” he said earnestly.
Haben’s mandibles clicked once, then he turned and headed toward where Payson squared off with Vivian. Lou looked across the clearing and spotted the fourth adult lion standing silently, watching the proceedings, with his arms crossed over his chest. For the most part, the shifter seemed to pay attention only to the fight between the alpha and Terence. Lou returned his focus to his mate’s fight, just in time to watch Payson leap sideways, avoiding Vivian’s gaping jaws. Haben pounced. The spider landed on the lioness’s back and sank his fangs into her hide. Vivian roared and twisted, trying to strike at him with a paw. But Haben was too quick and was already releasing his grip and leaping away from her.
Vivian turned and prowled toward Haben. Haben skittered backward quickly, his eight legs swishing through the soft grass. With each step, Vivian seemed to become more sluggish. She crouched, then tried to pounce on Haben, but her leap came up short and she crashed to the ground. Her eyes appeared glazed before they closed.
Dropping to his knee, Lou looked at his lover in animal form. “Are you okay?” he asked. Licking his lips, he forced himself to remain still as Haben crawled toward him. The big spider stopped a few feet away, as if waiting. Lou took a deep breath and held out a hand. It took everything in him, but he managed to remain motionless when Haben reached out one front leg and tapped his palm. Then the leg moved away and Lou recognized the signs for a shift. Seconds later, a naked Haben crouched in front of him. Lou crawled forward on his knees.
Once he was close enough, he reached out and touched his lover’s face. “Are you okay?” he asked again, tracing the man’s jawline.
“I’m great,” Haben whispered, nuzzling his hand. He turned his head and pressed a quick kiss to Lou’s palm before saying. “You’d better go check on Damon. Payson and I are going to help Terence.”
He glanced the lion shifter’s way and frowned. The shifter’s hide was bloody in several places and he limped on his front left leg. Lou nodded. “Good idea.”
Lou hadn’t even straightened before Haben had returned to his spider form and dashed away. He smiled at his lover for a second, then hurried to Damon’s side. His son threw himself into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Dad!” Damon’s slender body shuddered against him, and Lou tucked the boy close.
“It’ll all be okay,” he whispered into the boy’s hair.
Once Damon got himself under control, he looked around at everyone. His eyes were big as saucers as he took in the massive grizzly bear that had knocked out the lion at some point. A shifter Lou guessed to be Ricardo lay unconscious fifteen feet away. The bear seemed to have his focus on the fourth man who was still watching the fight.
“Who’s that?” Lou asked, more to himself than anyone else.
Wes surprised him by answering. “That’s Patrick Anderson. He’s the pride beta. By intercepting Clayton’s attack on you, Terence challenged him for leadership. Patrick is waiting to either proclaim Terence the new pride alpha, or pronounce him dead.”
“What?” Lou exclaimed, unable to hide his shock.
Suddenly, a roar so loud it nearly popped his eardrums blasted through the clearing. He wasn’t the only one who covered his ears, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Wes’s jaw drop, too. From out of the trees galloped a coal black lion. Lou had never seen anything like it. The impressive creature charged toward the alpha, lowering a shoulder and slamming into him, knocking Clayton away from a downed Terence.
To everyone’s shock, the black lion crouched protectively over Terence. Terence growled softly to the lion hovering over him, and his protector chuffed back. Clayton prowled around them, snarling, warning the other beast away. It didn’t leave. Clayton charged.
The black lion crouched, then leaped, meeting him in mid-air. The black lion’s bigger body mass and delayed launch gave him the edge. He crashed into the alpha and bore him to the ground. The ebony cat’s jaws wrapped around the alpha’s neck, and showing no mercy, the beast snapped Clayton’s neck. The alpha lay dead.
Instead of acting triumphant, the black cat immediately rose and prowled toward Terence. Lou almost headed that way when the strange lion once more settled over Terence in a protective stance and growled at the nearest shifters, who happened to be Haben and Payson. The hyena laughed and yipped, bouncing around the couple, just out of reach. Haben couldn’t move quite as fast.
The beast’s paw caught one of his front legs. Haben reared back and hissed at the strange shifter. The black lion snarled again and lifted his paw, getting ready to strike at Haben again. Terence shoved to his feet. Blood oozed from wounds on his side and shoulder. He couldn’t put any weight on his right front leg, but still he managed to limp in front of the defensively positioned spider.
Terence growled and shook his head, trying to communicate with the other man. His body shuddered, and after a good thirty seconds of muscle popping, bones snapping, and fur receding, a naked Terence kneeled over a crouching tarantula. Lou knew Terence was
protecting him, but that didn’t stop the spike of jealousy from coursing through him when seeing a naked man nearly lying on his mate.
“No,” Terence rasped.
The black lion reared back. If a cat could look shocked, this one pulled it off.
“Please, leave him be,” whispered the injured shifter.
At that, the black lion snorted. He turned on his haunches and took off out of the clearing. “Wait!” Terence rasped. “Please, wait,” he whispered, letting his arm fall with a whimper. But the odd shifter was gone.
Kontra moved swiftly. He helped Terence stretch out on the lawn. Lou and Damon followed quickly. Damon paused, and both men listened as Terence whispered, “Please wait.” It was a delirious plea, and even Lou wondered what had just happened.
“Is it safe?” Damon whispered.
Lou caught his son’s eye and realized he was staring at Haben in spider form. Screwing up his courage, Lou dropped to his knees and beckoned the shifter forward. Once Haben was within arm’s reach, he brushed a palm over Haben’s abdomen, surprised at the feel of the prickly hair. “This is Haben. Just like you know what’s going on when you’re a lion, he knows what’s going on when he’s a spider.”
Damon’s brows shot up. “Wow!” he whispered. He reached out and brushed Haben’s back. “That’s really cool.”
Haben shuddered, and a few seconds later, a human plopped back on his butt in the grass. “Shit,” he hissed. Then he scowled and shook his head. “Sorry,” he muttered, glancing toward Damon.
Damon snorted. “You think that’s the worst I’ve heard? You should hear Dad when the Jets play!”
“The Jets?” Haben asked softly. “The New York Jets? As in football?”
Lou’s eyes widened. “You don’t watch football?”
Haben looked around, and Lou followed his gaze, taking in the amused looks of his friends. The tarantula shifter smiled. “I guess I do now.”
“Are you okay?” Lou asked, sobering. After Haben nodded, he turned to Damon. “And you?” His son nodded. Lou glared. “That’s good—because I’m going to tan your hide. What the fuck were you thinking going off with Mr. Falko?”
Damon hung his head in obvious shame. “Sorry, Dad. He told me he had a free calculator I could use in his car. I didn’t know he’d hit me on the head and shove me in the back.”
Instantly, Lou felt remorse. He wrapped his arms around Damon and pulled him close. Kissing his head, Lou murmured, “I’m sorry, Damon. I’ve been so worried.”
His son’s chest hitched, and Lou hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry, Dad!”
Before he could soften, he cradled his son’s face and said sternly, “You lied to me about shifting more than once, Damon. Why?”
Damon seemed to crumple. It broke Lou’s heart, but he couldn’t let his son get away with this kind of behavior. It put more than just himself at risk. “He told me he could turn into a lion, too. He showed me! I thought it’d be okay.”
Lou could understand wanting to please a teacher, or wanting to trust a teacher. A student should be able to do those things. It really was too bad Mr. Falko had taken advantage of his position. Lou nodded. “I understand, but you still shouldn’t have lied to me. You’re grounded, Damon,” he said softly. “No computer games for a week.”
Damon nodded. “Okay,” he whispered.
“Good boy,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead. “Now let’s get Haben home, so he can rest.”
“Our home?” Damon mumbled. “Is he staying with us?”
Lou glanced at Haben, who currently had a torn t-shirt wrapped around his waist. “Yeah. Yeah he is. He’s going to be living with us from now on. How do you feel about that?”
Damon peered over his shoulder at Haben. “He turns into a spider, so that’s pretty cool. He’s not going to pretend to be my father, is he?” He eyed Haben dubiously.
“Well, he will have authority over you, just like Ronnie’s mom and dad do,” Lou said, naming Damon’s best friend’s parents, who he had to remember to call. What he was going to tell them, he had no idea, but he’d think of something. Refocusing, he finished, “But no, Haben isn’t going to try to pretend he’s your father.” Lou seriously hoped it was true.
“Okay, then.” His son paused and picked something up and set it on his shoulder. It was Haben in spider form. “Sweet,” Damon whispered, drawing out the word. The spider was so large it covered his entire shoulder and hung halfway down the boy’s back. Haben’s legs were carefully curled in Damon’s shirt to keep from sticking him.
Lou shook his head and smirked at the pair. He leaned close and kissed Haben’s bulbous abdomen. “Suck up,” he muttered.
Haben chittered.
“Hey, Dad!” Damon said, seemingly oblivious to the exchange going on just over his shoulder. “Can I take Haben to show and tell?”
Lou laughed. “We’ll see.”
After Kontra assured Lou that he’d take care of Terence and the other shifters, and Wes told him he’d notify the police and tell them some bullshit story he and Kontra would cook up, Lou left the others in the clearing. Contentment filled him at having his son back and his mate safe. As Lou walked out of the woods and climbed into his car, he realized his life had been turned upside down in less than two months and he wouldn’t change it for anything.
Haben shifted back to human form, grabbed a sweatshirt Lou had left in the back seat after a trip to the beach with Damon last week, and crawled into the front seat. He laid the sweatshirt over his lap and smiled at Lou.
“Hi, mate,” Haben whispered. “Hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want to walk through the woods barefoot.”
Lou grinned. He glanced back at his lounging son, then at his smiling lover. “It’s fine.” Leaning over, Lou pressed a kiss to Haben’s mouth. He pulled back and started the car, put it in gear and drove his little family home.
About the Author
Charlie lives on a mini ranchette in Utah with her husband and furry, four-legged children. She started writing fantasy when she was eight, and after stumbling onto her first erotic romance at age nineteen, she realized her true calling. She now focuses on writing erotic romance, normally of the paranormal variety, with heroes and heroines of all kinds. You can often find her curled up with her laptop and a cup of tea or glass of wine, creating her next adventure. Charlie enjoys exploring the mountains on horseback, 4-wheeler, or motorcycle. Her favorite exercise is jumping lessons with her Arabian gelding Apache or her Thoroughbred mare Repo. And she can’t get enough of sexy highlanders with their kilts and swords. Right now, she and her muse are working with dedication on her Wolves of Stone Ridge series and Kontra’s Menagerie series.
She can be reached at [email protected]
Or visit her at www.charlie-richards.com
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