by R. E. Butler
“We’re not really sure,” Dillon said.
“Excuse me?” Genesis asked.
“You’re wondering what will happen when they shift.” He shrugged. “We don’t know. We’ve seen a lot of mixed shifters around here. Sometimes they’re almost entirely one sort that just smells a little off. Like a wolf that kind of smells like a bear. But sometimes, the mixture does things to the coloring of the fur or the size of the shift.”
“Whatever they shift into, we’ll love them like crazy because they’re ours. And here in Deals Gap, they don’t have to worry about being exiled for being different,” Mona said.
And no arranged matings, either.
Genesis knew that there were things about the chain that hadn’t been entirely fair, but it had been all she’d known her whole life, and now she had nothing.
Well, not entirely nothing, but she sure as hell didn’t have as much as she’d had the morning of her mating day. She rubbed her wrist absently as she realized that life was closed to her, and she had to either move on or wallow in the past. She’d never been one to wallow.
“I should meet Bhric. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow.”
Mona removed a plate from the microwave and set it in front of Genesis. “If you’re sure?”
She nodded. “I’ve been on my own for three days. I know it’s not like the chain here, but I kind of don’t want to be alone right now.”
“You’re not alone. You have us.”
Mona was so sweet it made Genesis miss Geraldine extra hard. “I know, and I’m grateful. But this is my life now, right? I shouldn’t wait to get it started.”
“Good girl,” Mona said, smiling. “Jump right in. Sounds exactly like something Gerry would do. We’ll go with you to the bar. We haven’t had a night out in a while.”
Dillon’s brow arched. “The bar is hardly a ‘night out,’ love.”
“It’s better than nothing, and I wouldn’t mind dancing. The kids can stay with your sister for the night.”
Dillon made a low growling sound, a wolfy sort of purr, and Mona wiggled her brows. Genesis picked up the fork and turned her attention to her plate. Mona had reheated pot roast and mashed potatoes, and Genesis couldn’t imagine anything tasting better than the tender meat and buttery potatoes.
Dillon and Mona slipped into the other room, speaking in low tones, but Genesis wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. Her mind was on meeting the leader of the neutral zone, and what the night would bring. She’d only ever been around lynxes. Some of her chain members had hated other types of shifters with a deep passion, but Genesis had never known any other kinds of shifters personally. Dillon and his kids smelled a little odd to her, but she couldn’t imagine thinking a particular group of people was bad just because they happened to shift into a different sort of animal.
Mona came back into the kitchen after Genesis had eaten her fill and washed the plate. She stood at the sink and stared into the woods through the window, framed on either side by cheerful yellow curtains. “It’s really peaceful here,” Genesis said, turning to face her aunt’s best friend. “Thank you for taking me in. You don’t know me, and you opened your home to me.”
“You’re welcome, hon. We’ve got a few hours. How about I show you to your room and you can rest before it’s time to meet Bhric?”
Genesis nodded and followed Mona to the stairs where her bags were waiting. They both picked them up and carried them to the second floor, down a short hallway to a bedroom on the right. It was furnished with only a bed and small dresser, but Genesis didn’t need much, and she didn’t plan on taking advantage of their generosity by staying too long.
“What will happen when I meet Bhric?” she asked as she and Mona set the bags on the bed.
“He’ll go over the rules of the neutral zone, and then assign you a home. Of course Dillon and I would be happy for you to stay here for as long as you want.”
“Thanks. How big is the neutral zone?”
“About twenty miles. Plenty of room to roam. Do you want to shift and go for a run? I’d be happy to go out with you.”
“No, I’m good.”
“Okay. The bathroom is down the hall. Lock the door, because Devon has no sense of privacy and she’s likely to just barge in.”
Nodding, Genesis thanked Mona again. Once she was alone, she pulled all but one bag off the bed and unzipped it. She set her toiletry bag on the bed and shook out a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved top, hanging them up in the closet. She pushed the bag onto the floor and crawled onto the bed, toeing off her shoes and burying her face in the pillow, willing herself to stop feeling sad. She’d been marked as an outcast, but she was alive. She’d survived to this point, and now that she was in the neutral zone things would be okay, she was sure of it. Somewhere out there, Geraldine was going on with her life, because that’s what you had to do, no matter what the world threw at you.
She would survive this, too. Just because she was banished didn’t mean her life was over, and she refused to believe that she’d made a bad choice in leaving the chain. Even though she was scared as hell about meeting the leader of the neutral zone, she knew that Mona wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Finding strength she hadn’t known she possessed, she exhaled and relaxed, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Chapter 5
Jair stepped under the shower and groaned as the hot spray pummeled his skin. Hauling rocks in the summer made him wish he had a job in an air-conditioned office somewhere. After the hot water had done its job in relaxing his aching muscles, he scrubbed at the layer of dirt and dust on his skin and considered his options for the night. He could go to the bar where the rest of his crew spent their Friday nights, or he could stay in. Hell, he could even go for a run in the woods that surrounded his cabin if he wanted. The idea of shifting and chasing something for a while appealed to him, but his beasts didn’t seem all that interested, which was surprising. Usually he had to keep them on a tight leash, but they didn’t seem inclined to shift tonight.
“The bar it is,” he said out loud.
His tiger and wolf growled together in approval.
Since when do they get along? he thought to himself. The two creatures always seemed to be fighting for dominance. That they were in agreement, and it didn’t involve hunting, was strange, but he decided not to think about it too much.
He turned off the shower and dried off, moving from the bathroom to the closet in the master bedroom. The two-bedroom cabin had a screened-in back porch, a brick fireplace in the family room, and a kitchen that he didn’t use for much more than heating up frozen dinners. He’d been given the cabin by Bhric when he came to Deals Gap. It had been furnished, but he’d given the old stuff away to another family in town and bought items that were more his style. A leather couch, a glass coffee table. A kickass stereo system for the flat screen.
It was very man-cave, but since it was just him, he didn’t mind. If he had a mate, he’d be happy to see her touch in the house, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever find one. There were unmated females in Deals Gap, but none of them had sparked his beasts’ mating instincts. The females hadn’t seemed all that interested in him, either. He knew he was oddly colored in his shifted form – who the hell had ever seen a blue-and-black striped wolf in the wild? – and in his human form he was a big guy with one green eye and one blue eye. Females, it appeared, didn’t mind oddities in one form or the other, but that he had visible differences in both forms seemed to put them off.
Shaking himself from thoughts that would only make him feel lonelier, he dressed in jeans and a fitted t-shirt, shoved his feet into boots, and pushed his wallet into his back pocket. He stepped out onto the porch and inhaled deeply. He loved this time of day. There was something very magical about twilight, when the sun was setting and the night was creeping in. He climbed in his truck and headed for the bar. He’d have a beer or two, maybe shoot a couple games of pool with the guys from the crew, and then head h
ome.
As he pulled into the crowded parking lot, he saw Veron’s SUV and knew he was most likely with Felix and the crew. If Jair went into the bar, he’d be forced to face him. Veron wanted to talk to him; had been almost desperate for it during the year that Jair had been in town. When Jair first came to town, Veron had been waiting. Jair hadn’t had anything nice to say to him. The male had been a ghost his whole life, and his affair with Jair’s mother had caused him to be an outcast. The pride males had suspected that Jair wasn’t entirely tiger, and when he’d shifted into a wolf their suspicions were confirmed that his mother had an affair with a wolf. That had caused her to be shunned by all but a few of her family members. Seeing Veron gave Jair murderous thoughts.
Getting out of the truck, he paused, staring at the bar and considering going home. He could go for a run in the woods and sleep out under the stars. He hadn’t done that in a while.
Eventually he knew Felix would force the issue and insist that Jair talk to Veron. But until that time, he was content to let things be as they were between them, with Veron staying the hell on his side of town, and Jair on the other.
The door to the bar opened and a young woman stepped out. The light over the bar captured her fully as she paused and looked over her shoulder.
“I’m just going to get my coat,” she said.
The door shut and she looked around the parking lot. Then her gaze locked with his. Both beasts went entirely silent within him, awed at her beauty. She had light brown hair that fell past her shoulders, an hourglass frame that made his hands itch to map her curves, and a voice that calmed everything within him.
She gasped, her eyes widening as their gazes remained locked. His tiger suddenly roared, and the sound mixed with the wolf’s howl, reverberating in his head. A single word prowled through his mind: mine.
He stalked forward. His only thought was getting close to her so he could keep her forever. Entirely unfazed by his possessive mindset, he swiftly closed the distance between them. He managed to stop himself before he threw her over his shoulder and raced into the woods to claim her, but he crowded as close as he could. Caging her against the wall, he planted his hands on either side of her, his claws tingling against his fingertips.
She stared up at him, her brows raised. “You do this often?”
He snarled softly, pressing his hands more firmly against the wall so he didn’t frighten her. He knew he was a big guy. He could be intimidating, but he never wanted her to be afraid of him.
“Do what?”
“Push girls against walls.”
“No.”
She licked her lips, and he tracked the movement with his eyes, unable to stop the imagery that flitted through his mind of her perfect mouth wrapped around his dick.
“So…”
He blinked and shook his head. “I’m Jair.”
“Genesis.”
He had no fucking idea what to do. His brain was misfiring, his beasts were going crazy, and all he could do was stare at her. She was gorgeous. Curved in all the right places, and smelling like his best wet dream.
She hooked her hands around his biceps and squeezed lightly. “You smell good,” she said, her voice a husky whisper that made his spine tingle.
He bent and pressed his nose to her neck, the smooth skin taunting him while her scent wrapped around him. She smelled like the sky after a thunderstorm, crisp and clean, and a little bit electric. She tunneled her hands under the collar of his shirt and dug her fingertips into his spine, tilting her hips and connecting their lower bodies. He groaned, and she shivered, pressing her lips to his throat and nipping at his pulse.
“What are you?” she whispered against his neck. “Damn, you smell amazing.” Her grip on him tightened and he reined in his own desire so she could do what she wanted with him. “Like fall and jungle mixed up together.”
She licked a slow line up his neck to his ear, her breath fanning his skin, inflaming him.
It took all of his willpower not to whimper like a pup. “Wolf and tiger. You’re all lynx, though.”
She hummed and leaned back, her head pressing against the wall, but their hips still touching. Her arousal was a simmering heat between them, his beasts clawing at him to strip her and find out what she tasted like.
“Does it matter?”
He shook his head. “I could fucking care less. You’re mine.”
“I’m…” she started to say, when he heard the handle of the door turn and realized that someone was coming out.
Pulling her away from the wall, he tucked her behind him several feet away, his beasts growling angrily at the disruption.
“Seriously?” Dillon said as he stood in the doorway, his mate, Mona, behind him. “She just got here, Jair. Could you not molest my pseudo-niece in the parking lot like she’s some cheap trick?”
Genesis’s breath whooshed against his back, and he scented her embarrassment. Snarling, he said, “Don’t insult my mate.”
Mona slipped under Dillon’s arm and said, “Gen? Is this true?”
There was a brief pause, and then Genesis stepped to Jair’s side and snuggled against him. She purred as she looked up at him, the sound vibrating against his side. His tiger recognized it as contentment. She might have been embarrassed at being busted in the parking lot with a virtual stranger, but her beast knew who he was and that was all that mattered.
“It’s true. Crazy, right?”
“Crazy but right,” he amended.
Her eyes flashed with heat and the scent of her arousal kicked up again.
The door to the bar shut and Dillon and Mona moved toward them, stopping a few feet away. “I’ll let her fill you in on her life,” Mona said, “but just know this – if you hurt her, there won’t be enough of you left to perform an autopsy on.”
Dillon grinned down at his mate. “I love it when you threaten males.”
Jair looked at Mona. “I would never hurt her.”
“You okay to go home with him, hon?” Mona asked, turning her attention to Genesis.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to bring him home with me,” Genesis said, her voice tinged with humor.
“Yeah, no,” Dillon said.
“Dinner is tomorrow night at seven,” Mona said. “Don’t be late.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jair said.
As Dillon turned to head back into the bar, Mona said, “Hey, the house will be entirely empty tonight. Why are we wasting our time here?”
Dillon didn’t miss a step in swinging back toward his vehicle in the parking lot, tugging a laughing Mona behind him. “Night, hon,” Mona called.
“Good night,” Genesis answered.
She slipped from Jair’s side and faced him. “Is this okay?”
“What do you mean?” He reached for her and drew her flush against him. His beasts rioted when she wasn’t by his side.
“I was just pushed on you by my caretakers. I have no idea what your life here is like. Hell, I’ve only been in Deals Gap for half a day.”
“I live alone. I’ve been here for a year. I work around town with a landscape company, and most of my coworkers are in the bar right now, drinking and playing pool.” And my father, he added silently. He wanted to tell her everything about himself, but he didn’t want to start a conversation that involved a male he had no interest in knowing.
He gripped her hips. “Come home with me, Genesis. The parking lot is no place for us to get to know each other.”
She smiled and relaxed, going up on her toes and brushing her lips against his. He growled, eager for another kiss, but she leaned away. “If we start that, we won’t get far. Take me home, Jair.”
She didn’t need to ask him twice.
Chapter 6
Genesis’s mind was racing as Jair helped her into his truck and shut the door. The truck smelled like him – a mixture of the autumnal scent of wolf and the hot jungle of tiger. The bar was full of both purebred shift
ers and hybrids. Her senses had been assaulted by all the smells in the room; everything from wolf to bear.
Jair sat heavily behind the wheel and turned the key. She could see a faint dusting of fur on his forearms, and she knew he was struggling to contain his beasts. Brushing her fingers up the fur, she asked, “Is it hard to have two beasts?”
He shifted the truck into gear and left the parking lot. “Yes and no. They often fight for dominance inside me. The cat has his own ideas of how I should live my life, and the wolf does as well. Sometimes I feel like they could tear me in half. On the flip side, I have the best of both of their natures. I can scent and track better than a purebred wolf, and I can be stealthier than a purebred tiger.”
“The best of both and none of the worst. That’s pretty cool.”
“Sometimes,” he said, flashing a smile at her.
She studied him in the few moments of silence that followed. He was the sexiest guy she’d ever met. Her cat wanted to roll all over him and saturate herself with his scent. He was built like a mountain, tall and broad, with thick layers of muscles that made her mouth water. The tight-fitting jeans and shirt he wore did little to hide his amazing physique.
Without even realizing it, she had her fingers buried in his thick dark hair, scraping her nails on his scalp and leaning close.
He purred, the sound rumbling in his chest like an engine. His jaw tightened and he ground out the words, “Sweetheart, you’re going to get us killed with your distracting fingers.”
“Sorry,” she said. “This is new for me.”
“It is for me, too. I don’t want to rush you, but I also don’t want to wait a second longer to claim you.”
Resting her cheek on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and absorbed his words. How simple it seemed: boy meets girl, sparks fly, claiming and lots of nakedness ensue. The problem was that she wasn’t entirely sure if what they were doing was legal in the neutral zone. Mona and Dillon hadn’t been upset at Jair’s claim, though. They hadn’t tried to stop her from going with him.
