Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella

Like Cats And Dogs

Copyright 2013 by Georgette St.
Clair

This book is intended for readers 18
and older only. It is a work of fiction. All characters and
locations in this book are products of the feverish imagination of
the author, a tarnished Southern belle with a very dirty
mind.

License Statement
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author.

Cats and dogs don’t mix – so
panther shifter Belle Simmons will never get a chance to act on her
secret crush on Axel McManus, the sexiest werewolf this side of the
Montana state line…right?

That’s what she thinks until the day she’s
fleeing an arranged marriage with a much older panther known to
have perverted desires and a vicious temper – and Axel comes to the
rescue. The only way that the wealthy, corrupt Raymond Charucki
will release Belle from her obligation is if she can steal a
certain priceless icon belonging to a terrifying witch…and to her
shock, Axel insists on accompanying her.  Is he protecting the
shy, orphaned panther out of pity…or out of love?

Belle Simmons lived for the beginning of
summer, although not for the usual reasons. Oh, she loved the
sunshine and the ripening berries on bushes, the melting of snow
and the budding of flowers, and the chance to shift into panther
form and race naked through the woods with the sun warming her
fur.

But what she really yearned for
was a glimpse of Axel McManus, in all his glory. Axel, the
handsomest werewolf in Montana, came to visit his grandparents in
Big Timber Falls every summer. And when he did, he frequently came
into the general store owned by Belle’s aunt and uncle.

Of course there was no chance the
two of them would actually get together. Axel was a handsome,
popular wolf, the son of a wealthy and successful Alpha, and rumor
had it that his father wanted him to take over his Northern Montana
pack in the near future. Belle was a shy, quiet panther whose
parents had died when she was a cub, and she was stuck behind the
counter of the Big Timber Falls Mercantile.

And everybody knows…cats and dogs don’t mix.
 In fact, the local panther shifters and werewolf pack were
increasingly on edge with each other, mostly out of stupid
territorial pride.

Still…she could look, and dream.

“
There he is,” Agnes Hamilton, her
best friend and co-worker, said, nudging her.

“
Yep. I see that,”  Belle had
a feather duster in her hand, and she was standing on the porch,
slowly and carefully dusting the windows.  She was
concentrating on her job very hard.

That was because she could see Axel’s
reflection in the window.

His people were descended from a tribe of
Native American shapeshifters, and his coppery skin and thick,
silky black hair reflected that. He was tall and broad shouldered
and narrow hipped.   He was wearing faded denim jeans and
a tank top that revealed his smooth, tan skin and the curve of his
biceps.

Axel was across the street, leaning on his
pickup truck, talking to his cousins, Lucas and Nicholas Redburn.
 They were handsome enough, but for some reason, they’d never
had the effect on her that Axel did.  Every time she saw Axel,
her heart raced and she tingled all over.

As Belle watched, Axel turned around and
reached into the back of the pickup truck, bending over as he did
so.

“
Oh my God. His ass is
magnificent,” Agnes said admiringly. Axel straightened up, holding
three sodas. He handed two of them to his cousins, and opened up
the third, taking a healthy swallow.

“
It sure is.” Dust, dust, dust.
Belle very slowly ran her duster over the same spot she’d just
dusted. “It’s a thing of beauty.”

Agnes pretended to stare into the window that
Belle was dusting so she could watch Axel too. “His ass could have
been sculpted by Michaelangelo.”

“
It’s like two perfectly rounded
halves of a cantaloupe, covered in denim,” Belle nodded. “It’s the
ass to end all asses.”

She glanced at her own reflection. She was
small and slim, with straight golden brown hair and brown eyes.
 Nothing special. She didn’t have big poufy blonde hair or
huge boobs or a badonkadonk butt, which seemed to be what the local
boys liked.

“
I mean, how do you even get an ass
like that?” Agnes wondered. “Do you think – Oh, God.
Incoming.”

Axel was walking straight towards the store
now, and his cousins were leaning on the pickup truck, watching him
with smiles on their faces.

“
What do I do?” Belle gasped.
“Should I run inside? What?”

“
Uh, jeez, I don’t know – just keep
dusting. Move on to another window, though; you’ve been dusting
this one for like five minutes now.”

Cheeks reddening, Belle quickly moved on to an
adjacent window, as Axel’s footsteps pounded up the creaking wooden
front steps.

“
Hello, Belle.”

Oh, God, he was right behind her. And - he
knew her name.  Belle frantically tried to remember if she’d
ever introduced herself to him. Usually, Axel just came in to the
store and made polite conversation with her while she rang up his
purchases.

She spun around to face him. He
was so tall, she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.
  The planes of his face were sharp and beautiful, and
his thick black brows framed eyes of a warm, rich brown
color.

He had an earthy, masculine smell
about him, and she found herself inhaling, drawing the scent of him
into her. What would it be like to have that scent all over her, to
bury her nose in his hair and breathe him in?   Her heart
pulsed in her throat at the thought.

“
Uh, hello…Axel, right?” she
struggled to sound casual, but her voice rose to a squeak, and
cracked. That was a ridiculous thing for me to say, she thought. Of
course she knew his name.

“
Yes, that’s right.” He took a sip
of soda, just standing there and looking at her, so handsome it was
unreal, with his silky hair streaming over his shoulders. The
sunlight bounced off it, highlighting glints of blue.  His
gaze travelled over her slowly, from head to toe, and his sensuous
lips curved up in a smile.  “You look good. I see you’ve
pierced your ears.”

“
Oh, ahhh…yes. Agnes made me these
earrings.” Self-consciously, she touched the feather earrings
dangling from her lobes.

“
Very nice. And I like that
perfume. Rose with undertones of oak moss?” At her startled look,
he added “Wolf, remember? We have a great sense of
smell.”

“
I’ll say.”

“
You know what else wolves
have?”

She stared at him, baffled.
  “Uhhh…sharp pointy teeth, when they turn?”

He grinned. “A great sense of
hearing.”

She stood there for a few seconds, letting
that sink in.  Realizing what it meant.

Oh. Good. Heavens. He’d overheard her and
Agnes, from all the way across the street.

And now, his two cousins were walking towards
them.  

Belle felt the blush on her cheeks roar into
overdrive, spreading over her face, down her neck, and throughout
her whole body. She didn’t dare look at her reflection; she’d be a
giant glowing red Christmas bulb of humiliation.

“
So, I’ve got the ass to end all
asses, is that right?” He grinned down at her. “I’m
flattered.”

“
Uhhhhhh…” her mouth hung open.
 She glanced frantically at Agnes, who had both her hands
pressed over her mouth to stifle squeals of hysterical laughter. No
help there.

“
I mean, I’ve noticed yours, too,
but I didn’t want to come out and say anything,” he said, grinning
hugely. “At least, I didn’t want to be the first one to say
anything.”

“
Oh? Uhhh…what did you notice,
exactly?” Her voice cracked at least twice as she spoke.
  She was frozen in place. She couldn’t have moved from
the spot if her life depended on it.  

“
About your ass? Its shapeliness.
Small but perfect.”

“
Why…thank you.” She forced the
words from her lips. If her face got any hotter she might actually
spontaneously combust.

Axel McManus was flirting with her. This
couldn’t be happening, but it was happening.

His cousins walked up the steps to the porch,
big smiles on their faces.

“
So, I understand you turned 18
last fall. I guess you’re nearly 19 now, right?”

“
That’s right,” she said slowly.
Was this leading where she thought it might be leading? She folded
her arms across her chest and furtively pinched herself, hard. It
hurt. Okay, so she wasn’t dreaming.

“
I’ve been wanting to ask you out
for years now, but I made myself wait.  Didn’t want to be the
creepy guy asking out a high school student.”  

“
Oh, I don’t go to school. Never
have,” she blurted out without thinking.

“
Never?” His brows shot up in
surprise.

Of course, he wouldn’t know that, because he
only came to town for six weeks every summer. He left every year
before school started.  

“
Well….” Her blush had faded, but
now it flared up anew. She glanced at the floor, scuffing her foot
self consciously on the wood. “My aunt and uncle needed the help
here at the store.”  Her aunt and uncle had put her to work as
soon as she came to live with them on their farm, after both her
parents died of a mutated strain of rabies which had wiped out
dozens of panthers in the town she’d once lived in.  She’d
been eight years old; she’d worked on the farm all day, every day,
until she was 12. Then they’d put her to work at the
store.

“
Their kids go to school, right?”
He asked, frowning.

“
Oh, sure, of course.” And they’d
go to college. And she wouldn’t. That wasn’t even a
question.

He shrugged, a frown creasing his brow, but
didn’t pursue the subject.

“
Anyway, I was thinking maybe I
could come by your house and pick you up some time this week.
Dinner and a movie? And another chance to admire each other’s
perfect asses?”

Agnes let out a yelp of laughter.

“
Uh, Axel…” his cousin Lucas tapped
him on the shoulder, looking concerned. “Maybe it’s not the best
idea for you to go onto panther territory.”

“
He could pick her up here, after
work,” Agnes said boldly.

“
Oh really?” his cousin flashed
Agnes an admiring glance. “That’s not a bad idea. You know, a
double date would be twice the fun. If you don’t have a problem
with werewolves, that is.”

Agnes giggled. “Only shy
werewolves. I like a werewolf who’s not afraid to let his inner
animal out, know what I mean?” Lucas’ eyes lit up at her
innuendo.

Axel let out a low growl of displeasure,
scowling at his cousin. “Maybe I want to enjoy an evening with her
all by myself.”

His cousin smirked at him, unfazed by his
annoyance.  “Well, isn’t that just-“

“
Belle! Agnes!” Aunt Edith’s voice
cracked through the air, from inside the store. “Are you planning
on getting any work done this afternoon, or were you going to stand
outside and bother the customers all day?”

Belle went pale.  “Oh, no,” she said, and
rushed inside the store with Agnes hot on her heels.

Edith, an older woman with permanent scowl
lines stamped on her forehead, had come out from behind the
counter. She glared at the two of them, taking a deep breath to let
loose a vicious tongue-lashing, which was her main form of
communication, at least when it came to her employees. It was an
entirely different story when it came to her children.

She’d been acting very strange with Belle
lately, keeping her on an increasingly short leash, constantly
demanding to know where Belle was every second that she wasn’t at
the store.    Belle especially didn’t want Edith’s
anger to spill over onto Agnes.  Agnes desperately needed this
job.