The Vet's Big Cat [Furnas and Gosper Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Lilybeth Zefram

  During that first week, after dumping my things in the living room, I quickly had food that Leo either brought or cooked. As soon as we had dinner then it was straight to bed for mind-blowing sex.

  Then on Saturday—one week and one day since Leo claimed me—my parents drove into town and it was time to play host.

  I had arranged to meet my parents at mine and Leo’s favorite diner. It was a rather hot day despite the fact that it was almost fall. That meant that I could wear a loose-fitting singlet top which showed off Leo’s mark.

  “Christopher. My little boy.” My mother all but burst into tears when she saw me. “You look so wonderful.” She peppered my face with kisses and hugged me tight.

  “Mating does that to a person, you should know.”

  My mother blushed.

  My father grinned, putting his arm around my mom. “You’re certainly right there, son. We are looking forward to meeting your man.”

  “I can’t wait for you to meet Leo. But he had to work today. The sheriff has been brilliant with letting him work hours which lets us have our evenings together.”

  “We’re so proud of you, Kit,” My dad continued. “Not only have you followed your passion to become a vet, you have now met your fated mate.”

  I nodded at them. “I know it’s been hard for you guys. You know, me being human and unmated and all. I know that you were worried that I would grow old and die.”

  “Oh, Christopher—” My mother gasped, as though mortified that I knew of her pain.

  “Don’t worry about it, Mom. I know it must have been difficult. You and Dad haven’t had kids.”

  Dad cleared his throat. “You’re a smart boy, Chris, always have been. And there is some truth to what you said. But your mom and I are thinking we want to see Eli a little more settled before we think of having kids.”

  Mom interjected. “Eli is unhappy at work and he is having problems with his boyfriend, not that I ever liked him in the first place.”

  “I knew he was unhappy at work, and agree, his sorry excuse for a boyfriend treats Eli like a doormat,” I replied. “But surely you’re not going to wait until Eli is mated to have kids? No one can know when that will happen.”

  Dad gave a hearty chuckle. “You want brothers and sisters that bad, eh, Chris?”

  Mom added more practically, “I suppose not. The seer has never said anything about Eli, so he must be on the right path for life.”

  I looked at them and shook my head dismissively. “I just figure you would want more kids. I mean you guys obviously did a great job building a family with Eli and I.”

  “You’re so sweet, my precious boy.” Mom cried.

  Dad put his arm around my shoulders jovially. “We’ll see what the future brings for your mom and I. We still got plenty of time to give you some brothers and sisters.” I rolled my eyes when he said that but dad ignored me and continued. “As she said, we want to see Eli happy first. Maybe if he comes down to visit you he might meet some new, much nicer shifter.”

  “There’s no shortage of hot men for Eli to admire.” I smirked when I said that, but it was the truth there was no shortage of good looking guys in the pride, pack and clan in Furnas and Gosper counties. “I’ve been trying to talk him into coming over for a couple weeks, but Eli keeps telling me that his boss won’t let him take the time off.”

  Dad shook his head in dismay. “Eli really needs to find a better job, but he insisted that he didn’t want to be hired by anyone who was pack.” Then he added with a pointed stare, “But like you and that horrible human, Mike, Eli needs to realize that he can do better.”

  “Geez, thanks,” I muttered, feeling rather stung.

  “Well, I suppose no one is perfect for our boys. Well, except for your true mate,” Dad added quickly. “It is just that Mike did not endear himself to us.”

  “Don’t be made at us, darling,” Mom practically pleaded.

  “I appreciate you both keeping that to yourself.” I had to let them off the hook. I knew that I was stubborn and would not have listened to them. “I had to find out this stuff for myself, even if it did hurt. It feels like so long ago, but it was only a few months ago. Now I met Leo. As shifters say, it was fate.”

  “Damn, you’re a fine man. I’m very proud of you, Christopher.”

  “Don’t make me cry, Dad, with all this talk of feelings.” Seriously, this really was choking me up.

  Our conversation moved on quickly. We ordered lunch and I looked forward to the steak sandwich and fries I had ordered. I never admitted that Mike had texted me a couple weeks earlier and during the week. I didn’t want to worry them anymore. As it was, my mate was livid and my parents appeared to be occupied worrying about my big brother, Eli.

  After lunch, I settled my parents in my rental. When it came close to the time when Leo would get home I took them to Leo’s place where my mother fussed about clearing my belongings.

  “Seriously, Mom, I didn’t bring you here to work. Leo and I are getting everything sorted. We just need time.”

  Dad casually threw his arm around my shoulders, hugging me close. “Don’t worry, son, your mother has to worry about something.”

  I cocked my eyebrow at my dad. “Great, so you’re enabling her. You know there might be things a grown man doesn’t want his mother to see.”

  Dad nodded knowingly. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t wash the sheets.”

  “Jesus Christ, Dad!” I spluttered, totally speechless.

  The smile on the old man’s face reminded me of the Cheshire Cat.

  And then my mate came into the house.

  Great, Leo was going to see my parents and run a mile.

  “Honey, I’m home.”

  Leo must have been amused by his own joke because this announcement was quickly followed by his deep chuckle. The sound turned me on but I tried to keep my feelings in check because I would be mortified if my dad smelled my arousal. I know I was raised by shifters, but there were some human behaviors that I just couldn’t help.

  “We’re in here, Leo. Save me before your mother-in-law goes and washes our bed sheets.”

  Mom rolled her eyes.

  Dad let out loud hoots of laughter—definitely channeling his inner coyote.

  My only defense was that my parents were about to meet my mate and I was suddenly really fucking nervous.

  Leo walked into the living room, looked at me and then at my parents. He looked back at me, frowning. “What are you talking about?”

  “My mom doesn’t like that I haven’t unpacked my things yet.”

  “Oh.” Leo nodded, but I could still see that he was confused.

  I went to Leo’s side and went up on my toes to give him a peck on the cheek. He looked totally sexy in his deputy’s uniform. “I’d like you to officially meet my parents.”

  I motioned at the parental units, who were standing straight, bursting with…something. I mean, they were meeting their son-in-law for the first time.

  “The nosey lady is my mom, Adeline Pryde, and her enabler is my dad, Jim Pryde.” I tried not to smirk as I spoke. “Mom, Dad, this gorgeous hunk in the cop uniform is my mate, Leo Pard.”

  “Really, Christopher,” my mom huffed at me, giving me the evil eye.

  “Enabler? Such nonsense.” Dad shook his head. He stepped forward to shake Leo’s hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Leo. It is an honor to welcome you, as my son’s mate, to the family.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Pryde,” Leo replied and he turned to my mother. “And it is truly wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Pryde. I assure you, Kit has told me many wonderful stories about you both, his brother, and the pack.”

  To say Mom and Dad were enchanted by Leo was an understatement.

  “Please don’t work while you’re visiting,” Leo went on to say. “My mother has organized dinner for us all tonight. It will be an honor to introduce you to my parents, as well as my pack alpha and the alpha-mate, my Uncle Andrew Pard and my aunt.”

  “
The alpha’s house is next door to my rental, as I told you when I first met Leo,” I interjected.

  Chapter Ten

  Kit Pryde

  The week with my parents stretched out into ten days.

  It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, since they were staying in my rental and I was settling into living in the same house as my mate.

  However, for that same reason, it was a long ten days. Not only were my parents loving every minute of seeing me mated, but Leo’s family were, understandably, the same. Leo, I believe, was a little taken aback at how our parents just clicked and started making plans of family events.

  Being that Leo’s father was brother to the pride alpha, there were plans to make Holbrook as something of a holiday town for my home pack. In saying that there was no denying that San Diego did seem worlds away from Holbrook—why not make it in some holiday destination for some city coyotes and their families? I figure the local economy would benefit also with the pride and pack forming a friendship.

  During that time, I got another couple texts from my ex, asking to talk. I kept telling him no. I showed them to Leo, too. I had known my mate’s reaction to them, but knew it would have been worse not to show him. Leo’s temper exploded, he then shifted and went for a run. Once he had come back home, still furious, he gave me a rough kiss and told me that he was going to do some checks on Mike. In his words, it was so that “the bastard would stay away from you, and hopefully from Holbrook, too”.

  I let Leo do the whole caveman routine.

  It was very sexy.

  Only a few days after my parents left to go back to San Diego was when the shit hit the fan. I only had another two hours left of my workday, and it all started with yet another text from Mike. By this time, I had already told him to stop harassing me and that my new boyfriend was a cop. Apparently, no words were having an effect.

  I’m sick of this bullshit. I’m coming to see. I just landed in Lincoln. I’ll be in Holbrook in 4 hours. We. Need. To. Talk!

  I felt a bubble of anxiety form in the pit of my stomach. After all, if nothing else, who wanted their ex to come and interrupt their happily ever after? But in truth, it freaked me out because he had been so insistent about seeing me when I had been equally as adamant about not seeing him. Our relationship had a definite end, and even if I hadn’t met Leo, there would have been no going back.

  * * * *

  Leo Pard

  I knew that something had my mate spooked even moments before he called me on my cell. Our mate bond was growing stronger by the day, and even now I had sometimes felt grabs of emotion from my mate when his emotions were higher than normal.

  “Hey, sweetheart.”

  I didn’t want to raise my concerns unnecessarily, so I waited for Kit to tell me what was wrong. That was if anything was wrong at all. It was still hard to tell what the emotions meant when I felt them. I was definitely a newbie to this sort of thing.

  “Oh God, Leo. Thank God you answered.” Kit sounded as though he was about to break down and sob. “I got no idea what to do. Mike messaged me again, telling me that we have to talk, and now he said that he’s going to be here in Holbrook in four hours. What the fuck am I going to do? I’ve told him I don’t want to see him.”

  I growled, low and deep in the back of my throat. What I would have liked was to beat the guy to a bloody pulp for his continued harassment of Kit. Unfortunately, being that I was a pride enforcer and a police deputy, I was responsible for not only setting a good example for the pack, but I was also responsible for upholding the laws of mankind.

  “Kit, love, it will be all right,” I assured my mate. I could hear him sniffing softly in the background. “I will call the sheriff. I will need to explain to him what has been happening and give Ned the info I’ve dug up on Mike.”

  There was nothing bad in the man’s past to cause any red flags, but I could at least get an APB out so that we knew the minute the man was anywhere close to Holbrook. Of course, since this was a clear case of harassment, I knew that Ned would be irritated because in his position as sheriff and pride beta, I should have gone to him at the first hint of trouble.

  “Do you need to get Sheriff Kavalee involved?”

  I could hear the trepidation in his voice, but I knew that I had to do this.

  “I need to, love. If nothing else, I need to think about the pride. There is also the possibility that Mike may be dangerous and I need to make sure that I can do everything to protect you.”

  There was a long moment of silence between us.

  “I know, Leo.” Kit sighed heavily, probably resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to talk me out of my plans.

  “Just hold tight, love,” I told him in my most soothing tone. “I’ll pick you up as soon as you finish work. I won’t leave your side. You won’t need to face Mike alone.”

  “You don’t have to, sweetie…”

  My mate sounded so alone and so anxious, and all I wanted to do was rush into Arapahoe so that I could go to the vet clinic and hold him in my arms. For now though, I had to smooth things over with Sherriff Ned Kavalee so that I could go and protect my mate as soon as he finished work. While he was at the animal hospital and with the other vets as well as the clients, I was fairly certain that he would be safe surrounded by people.

  “I know, Kit, but I want to do this for you. Just hold tight at the animal hospital and I will be there for you before you finish.”

  “Please hurry, I hate feeling helpless, and in my own fucking clinic.”

  “Don’t we all?” I mused. “That is exactly why I need to be there for you. I’ll see you soon, Kit.”

  It took me maybe an hour to smooth things over with the Furnas County sheriff—also known as my boss—and also known as, at least in that moment, the very pissed off beta of the Furnas and Gosper County Pride. It had only plagued me briefly in the back of my head that I should have made this a police matter. Luckily, Kit had kept all the text and voice messages from his ex that could help any criminal case that may, or may not, arise.

  “Damnit, fuck, Leo,” Sheriff Kavalee swore after I explained about the messages that Kit had been receiving from his ex. “You should have known to come to me sooner. If not for the safety of the pack, but to do things about the harassment by the book. If things are truly escalating it could have made our job a little easier. At this point we have no grounds to throw suspicion on this Mike fellow, other than being a man determined to speak to his ex-lover.”

  I growled.

  “Don’t get lippy with me,” the sheriff snapped. “Look, I’ll send out the plate number to the other deputies and send the info over to Gosper, as well. We can look out and warn you when your mate’s ex rolls into town. You stick close to your mate and I will personally stick close to you, out of sight.” He sighed heavily, wearily rubbing his face with his palms. “Just make sure this confrontation happens in public, it will make life infinitely easier for me. For now, I’ll tail you in case trouble comes up.”

  I nodded. “Thank you, Beta.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Let’s just hope that this turns out that we’re turning a mole hill into a mountain.”

  I merely nodded at the beta

  * * * *

  Kit Pryde

  I rushed into my mate’s arms, heedless of the receptionist and two clients in the sitting area of the animal hospital. The receptionist was a bear shifter, a really nice guy who was trying to save the money to go to college to become a vet. He knew that I was mated and had met Leo several times since we mated. As for the clients, I wasn’t sure on if they were shifters, but that really didn’t matter. All that mattered was that my mate was here and I felt safe.

  “Hey, my love.” Leo’s voice rumbled in my ear. “I’ll wait in here until you’re finished for the day.”

  I looked up at him, my knees feeling a bit weak from the relief of seeing my big bad lion mate. With him here with me, I knew I was safe, especially from a human such as my ex. Rationally, I kne
w was probably being silly, if Mike was to be believed there was still a couple more hours before he arrived in Holbrook.

  “Thank you, Leo. I’m so relieved that you’re here.”

  “Where else would I be?”

  I snorted with amusement. “Yeah, that’s just so mushy. I’ll get back to work.”

  “Go ahead.” My mate winked at me. “I’ll wait here.”

  Time seemed to drag as the constant dread seemed to fill my entire being. I finished my shift and cleared up the consulting rooms of the animal hospital. Another vet would check in and I quickly stopped to talk to the two vet nurses who were checking in on our patients that made up part of the hospital section of the business. Once we left, another vet nurse or vet would take the night shift, sleeping on the foldout couch in the office, providing all was well. There was also a boarding kennel for dogs and cats attached, but there was never any need for me to go there unless one of the animals residing in the kennels was sick or injured.

  Then it was time to go.

  In a combination to keep us out in public and to get my mind off the waiting, Leo took me to the town diner for dinner. Leo said that it wouldn’t do for us to go to the bar and put alcohol into the mix. He knew that would be disastrous.

  By my phone it was almost five hours before I got the call from the one person in the world I did not want to deal with.

  I couldn’t even muster the strength to say hello.

  “Kit. I’m at the place you picked out before we were meant to move, but the place looks deserted. Where are you?”

  “I – I don’t l-live there,” I managed to stutter out. “I’ve –”

  I was trying to say that I had moved on, but I didn’t have the courage. I’m not sure why I was scared exactly. I mean, he did cheat on me and we had a messy breakup, but I suppose it was what felt like the constant harassment in the last few weeks every time Mike messaged or tried to call me.

  “Just tell me where you are and we’ll meet up.”