Chasing Cristabel (Ashland Pride Six) (4 page)

“I just –” Dylan started when Chase cut him
off.

“Are you attracted to her?”

“Hell no.”

“Then tell her to get lost. Tell her that
your cat doesn’t like to be touched, and she could lose a hand if
she doesn’t knock it off.”

“I don’t want to hurt her feelings,” Dylan
said.

Hunter appreciated that his youngest cousin
was kind and sensitive – sometimes – but right now the trait was
aggravating.

“What if she was touching you when our mate
came in? Do you want her to think that you let anyone with tits and
a smile rub all over you?” Hunter demanded in a loud whisper.

Dylan’s eyes blazed to the amber of his cat.
“No.”

“Then tell her to fuck off. If you won’t do
it for yourself, do it for our mate.”

Dylan seemed to be bolstered by Hunter’s
strong words, and he straightened his shoulders and nodded. “I
will,” he said, turning to head into the kitchen.

Just as Hunter was considering calling the
restaurant and talking to Lily, the door opened and a female walked
in alone. She lowered her hood as she walked in, and the movement
of the door swinging shut behind her pushed a wave of her scent
toward them. He could smell nothing but tall grass and sunshine,
and he knew he was in the presence of their mate.

Dylan spun back around with a questioning
purr, and Chase scrambled from behind the counter as the three
males swiftly moved to the beautiful brunette, who smelled like his
best dream come to life.

He understood now what the scents meant. She
was an African lion, and she was gorgeous.

And all theirs.

Chapter 3

Cris rolled over as the morning sunshine
tried to burn a hole through her eyelids. The curtains she’d pulled
closed the night before gaped at the top, letting in a beam of
light that looked like several thousand watts. Groaning, she buried
her head under the covers and tried to recapture her sleep. But it
wasn’t happening.

Her sensitive nose picked up the scent of
coffee, and she perked up at the thought of a hot cup. Shoving off
the covers, she stretched completely and rolled out of bed,
slipping a robe on over her tank and panties as she headed to the
kitchen.

Lily, a morning person if she’d ever met one,
sat reading something on her phone with an empty plate and juice
glass in front of her at the table. Looking up, Lily smiled.
“Morning, Cris. Hungry? There’s a plate for you in the
microwave.”

“You’re awesome.”

“I know,” Lily said as Cris pressed the
reheat button on the microwave. While her plate rotated, she fixed
coffee and a glass of orange juice before retrieving the plate and
joining Lily at the table.

Lily cleared her throat after a few quiet
minutes while Cris ate, and Cris lifted her head and looked at her
best friend. “I know it’s not really any of my business, but you
haven’t dated anyone in a while.”

“It’s not that I haven’t been asked out,” she
said.

“Are you…is it because of your family?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean did your dad forbid you from dating
guys who aren’t lions?”

“My dad is very pro-lion. He didn’t forbid me
from dating non-lions, but he severely disliked it. Because my dad
is haj, his choice for me would be a male from a powerful family,
one whose father is also haj of his pride.”

Lily made a face. “I wouldn’t want anyone to
choose my husband for me. Especially not my dad. He’d pick someone
just like himself. Gross.” She shivered, and Cris chuckled
wryly.

“Exactly. It’s why instead of taking the
summer off after high school, I went to college early, why I stay
away from home except for the holidays, and why I didn’t move back
home after Lance needed me to move out.”

“That sucks, though. You and your mom are
close.”

Cris nodded, feeling a familiar lump of
sorrow form in her throat. It
did
suck, but it was how
things were with shifters. Most types of shifters had some rules
about mating, and she was just unlucky enough to be a lioness with
a pride and family that was stuck in the Dark Ages.

“When I was in college, there was a campus
pride that was very progressive. They took anyone with lion genes,
even if the person couldn’t shift, and their laws allowed their
members to mate with whoever they wanted, whether they shifted or
not.”

“I would think that most traditional groups
wouldn’t want their people to marry humans.”

“That’s an understatement. My dad would flip
out if I came home with a human, but I don’t think he’d be happy
even if I dated a lion.”

“Because he wants to choose your mate
himself.”

Nodding, Cris ate a few bites of scrambled
eggs, but she’d lost her appetite. Placing the fork on the plate,
she pushed it away and lifted her mug. “I don’t want to just find a
guy and settle down. I want to be with my truemate. I want my
lioness to choose the male who’s perfect for us. I don’t think I
could ever be happy if I didn’t have a choice in who I spend the
rest of my life with.”

“Do you think your parents are really happy?
They put on a good show in public, but does it carry over into
their personal lives?”

Cris had wondered that exact thing over the
years. Her mom appeared to be happy, but there were times when Cris
had seen glimpses of unhappiness. “I think they love each other,
but I don’t think that Mom would have chosen Dad if she’d been
given the option. They’re not truemates. Lions don’t look for their
truemates. They wait for an arranged mating and then they stick it
out with whoever they’re given.”

“You don’t plan to go home anytime soon,
right?”

“Not a chance.”

“Good.” Lily scooted her chair back and
stood, picking up her plate and mug. “I have to get ready for work.
When is your interview?”

“Ten.”

“Good luck. I really hope you get the job and
are able to stay in Ashland.”

“Me too.”

Lily rinsed off her dishes and put them in
the dishwasher. “We should go out tonight. There’s a bar in town
called Kickers. Maybe you’ll find your truemate there.”

Cris wasn’t optimistic, but she liked Lily’s
enthusiasm. “Sounds fun. You haven’t found your truemate, though,
so why do you think I’ll find mine on the first trip to the
bar?”

“Humans don’t have truemates,” Lily pointed
out.

“Sure you guys do. You just don’t call them
that. You have…what’s the word? Soulmates.”

“That’s different. We don’t have an inner
beast that makes demands. Unless you want to call my inner sex
goddess a beast, which sometimes she is.” Lily laughed with a wink
and promised to be home after six so they could go to the bar.

After putting away her dishes, Cris poured
herself another cup of coffee and got ready for her interview.
While she was looking forward to the interview, her mind now spun
with the possibilities of going to a bar. Not that she expected
anything to come from a night out, but who knew what could happen.
Her cat purred in agreement. There was nothing wrong with a little
hope.

* * *

Cris fidgeted in the seat in the waiting room
of the were-clinic. The doctor had greeted her when she walked in,
but he’d had an emergency and couldn’t conduct her interview until
the injured child, a wolf-human hybrid who had fallen off a
playground slide, was taken care of. An hour later, when the
parents carried their child out of the clinic, Dr. Radcliff came
out of the back with a smile.

“I’m so glad you stuck around. I would have
been happy to reschedule, but I’m afraid that it’s been like this
since I came in a couple weeks ago to set up the office. Come on
back and we can talk.”

She followed him past the reception desk and
down a hallway. He gestured to the doors that were painted with
pictures of different baby animals. “I went with a farm theme, in
case you couldn’t tell.” He tapped a picture of a calf romping with
a duckling.

“It’s cute. Did you do the painting
yourself?”

“Heck no. I’m no artist. My sister-in-law
loves to paint, so she did it for me.”

Inside the employee lounge, with pastel blue
walls, a refrigerator, and a microwave on a long counter, he
gestured to the table and offered her a cup of coffee.

“I’m good, thank you.”

He sat across from her and opened a folder
with her resume. “Why did you move to Ashland?”

“My roommate had to sell his condo, and Lily
offered to let me stay with her until I found a job.”

“I called your last job. They were very, very
sorry to see you go.”

“I would have liked to stay, but the housing
prices there are insane.”

“I bet.” He closed the folder and laced his
fingers together over top of it. “The job is very straight forward.
The clinic is open from nine a.m. until six p.m. You get an hour
for lunch. You’ll answer the phone, make appointments, and do
filing. I can offer you twelve dollars an hour to start. Your
probation is ninety days, and after that time, you’ll get a raise
of an extra dollar an hour. How does that sound?”

“It sounds perfect,” she said.

“Great! I think you’ll fit right in. To be
honest, I was really hoping that a shifter would be interested in
the job. Since it’s a were-clinic, most of the patients will be
either full shifters or hybrids. A human might be intimidated by
shifters, especially parents who are upset if their child is
injured or ill. As a shifter, you wouldn’t be surprised by their
reactions and could hold your own.”

She nodded. “I can’t wait. When would you
like me to start?”

“How about Monday? Enjoy the weekend, and
I’ll see you at nine a.m. Monday morning.” He stood and escorted
her to the front door, shaking her hand before opening the
door.

“Thank you so much. I’ll see you Monday.”

She couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread
across her face, but she did manage
not
to skip to her car.
Happiness bubbled up in her, and she laughed as she started the
engine and pushed the phone button on her GPS to call Lily.

“Tell me you got the job!” Lily demanded.

“You bet!”

“Woohoo! That means you get to stay. I’m
doing my happy dance.”

“I’m so happy, too! Are you sure you can put
up with me until I’m able to get a place of my own?”

“Of course! We are
definitely
going
out tonight. I’ll be home at six. You can help me pick out
something cute to wear.”

“Sounds like a plan. See you later!”

Cris ended the call and whooped a cheer,
laughing at her own reaction to getting the job. She was thankful
she didn’t have to worry about potentially needing to go home to
her parents.

The day passed quickly, and as she was
getting ready for their night out, she decided to call her mom.

“I got a job today,” she said when her mom
answered.

“Oh, that’s good. What are you going to be
doing?”

“Answering phones at a were-clinic. It’s not
super exciting, but the doctor is nice and so is the town.”

“You could come home, you know.”

“Mom,” she said, sighing. “I want to live my
own life. Why don’t you understand that?”

“You’re a princess. You were raised to
continue the traditions of our people, and that means following
all
the traditions, whether you agree with them or not.”

“Mom, I love you, but I’m not coming home.
Ashland is my home now. I’m an adult. Let me live my life the way I
want to. Let me write my own story, not the story that Dad would
write for me.”

The pause was significant, and for a moment,
Cris thought her mom had hung up. There was the faintest sound of a
sniffle and then she said, “I love you dearly, Cristabel.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“I should go. It’s dinnertime, and you know
your father doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Tell him I said hello.”

“Say hi to Lily, and take care of
yourself.”

“I will.”

When the call was ended, Cris stared at the
phone for several minutes, mulling over her mother’s words. She was
more certain at this point that if she returned home, she would be
planning a mating ceremony with some male her father picked. Hell,
he’d probably chosen a male for her when she was a child and just
never shared his choice with her. As long as she was on her own,
then she was making her own decisions, the first of which was what
to wear to the bar.

Her phone buzzed, and when she answered, Lily
said, “I got stuck!”

“Stuck in a hole, stuck at work, stuck
where?”

“At work. I won’t be home until after
nine.”

“That sucks. We can go out tomorrow.”

“No!”

Cris was surprised at Lily’s raised voice.
“What?”

Lily cleared her throat. “I mean, you should
go.”

“I don’t want to go without you.”

“You can cross it off your bucket list.
Everyone should go to a bar alone at least once in their life.”

“Um, no they shouldn’t.”

“I’m serious, Cris. You
need
to go to
Kickers tonight.”

“Why? You’re acting crazy.”

“I can’t say, but you need to. Swear to me
you’ll go. Even just for one drink, okay?”

“If I go, you’ll explain why later?”

“Of course. Just trust me. I’d never steer
you wrong.”

Cris snorted. “There’s a lime green tank
dress in the back of my closet that begs to disagree.”

“Hey. That looked amazing on the
mannequin.”

“Oh, ha ha.”

“Get the black mini skirt out of my closet
and put on some heels. Have a drink at the bar. Live a little,
Cristabel Hardison. Hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

Looking down at her jeans and sweater, she
decided she could
live a little
and wear something cute.
Walking into Lily’s bedroom, she stepped over the pile of dirty
clothes in the center of the room, ignored the unmade bed, and
opened the closet door. In spite of the messy state of the room,
the closet was actually clean. Flipping through the clothes, she
found a black mini skirt on a hanger and freed it from the clips.
With a skirt that short, she’d need to change her top.