Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (38 page)

Other works by Lila Felix:

The love and Skate Series:

Love and Skate

How It rolls

Down n derby

Caught in a jam

False start

The Second jam (a Love and Skate spin-off novel)

Bayou Bear chronicles:

Burden

Hearten

Engraven

The lucent Series:

Lightning kissed

Lightning Sealed

Forced Autonomy (a dystopian novella serial)

Dethroning Crown

Seeking Havok

Emerge

Perchance

Hoax

Lila’s Antics:

www.lilafelix.com

www.authorlilafelix.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/authorlilafelix

twitter: @authorlilafelix

email:
[email protected]

Lion to Herself

Dara Fraser

Zara’s been fighting fate for a long time, leaving her family and clan behind to forge a life of her own. She refuses to let anyone tell her what to do. Especially fate. That is, of course, until fate actually sends her a smoking hot mate.

Fate Schmate

“Your mate will be an important member of the clan, Zara.” Her grandfather handed her a plate of scrambled eggs, her favorite, as he sat in the seat across from her. He was technically her great uncle, but he was her grandpa in all ways that counted and she refused to call him anything but. She always loved this time when visiting him. The time before anyone else got up. The time when it was just the two of them talking about all the things on her mind. Until today, that was. Today’s conversation stunketh. “Fate looks so kindly on you, my little one.”

“But I want to pick my own mate, grandpa.” That was the one sticking point Zara always had about mating. She didn’t want some power that be to decide who she would spend her forever with. She wanted to be like the humans in the movies who fell stupid in love all the time. To go on dates just to have fun. To be normal. “What if fate picks wrong?”

“Fate never picks wrong.”

Her grandpa pointed to her eggs and she scooped up a forkful of the buttery goodness. Zara knew he was trying to distract her from the topic at hand. It wasn’t going to work. This was not the 1800’s. She was a girl who could do all things, and she planned to, no matter what fate decided. She was in control, not fate.

“I will decide who I mate.” There. She told him.

“No need to worry about it now, Zara.” Her grandfather shook his head the way he always did when he thought she was being a silly little kid. “You’re barely a teen and you won’t meet your mate until after you are grown. There is time to see the way of things and to see a mate as the gift it is.”

“No. I’m going to be a computer genius and live in the city in a high rise and hang out with my friends, meet boys at dance clubs, and date who I want, just like the humans do.” Even as she said it she knew it was a lie. City life would drive her lion insane. She loved to run and that just couldn’t happen in the big city. The rest, though, the rest was a solid plan. She was already taking online coding courses. She was going to be a strong, independent woman.

“If that’s your plan, Zara, then go for it.” This was not the first time they’d had this conversation, but this time felt different. This time it felt more. More what? She didn’t quite know, but it definitely was more. “Just know that fate always finds a way. Besides, you have a good fifteen years before you meet your mate.”

And that right there was the difference. He was giving too much away. It had always been in the abstract before and this time he gave facts. Too many facts. Heck, he gave a timeline. Why? Grandpa never gave the future away without a reason.

“Grandpa, were you listening to me? I am going to make my own fate.”

“Oh sweet, stubborn, intelligent granddaughter of mine, I was listening to you. All will be as it should be.”

The sound of Mr. Anderson’s voice jolted Zara back to the here and now. “Zara, it’s closing time.” Zara looked back to her computer screen. Brilliant. She had gotten hardly anything done, her mind too busy traveling down memory lane. At thirteen, she had been so sure she had it all worked out. Move away, get a degree, live in an apartment, be normal. Normal, as it turned out, sucked. Working in a cubby sucked more. Working in a cubby for a vial pig, well, that went beyond suckdom.

“Yes, Mr. Anderson. I’ll just close up and be on my way.” Zara quickly shut down her computer and grabbed her purse. She tried to leave when everyone else did to avoid what she knew was coming next, but she'd gotten lost in her stupid memories and here she was alone with the jerkwad. Zara could smell the desire rolling off the creepster, and he still was a couple of cubbies down. If the project she was hired on for hadn’t been so freaking interesting and challenging, she would have been gone the first day. Darn her for loving a good coding challenge because now she had to deal with the creepster and this was a human town, making shredding him to pieces not an option.

“Did you finish debugging the Wilson project?” Marc Anderson was now standing beside her and slightly on his tiptoes. Bastard was trying to look down her shirt. Again.

“Not yet, Mr. Anderson.” Zara took a step away, snagging her coat off the back of her chair as she did. “I think I should be finished by tomorrow.” She would be. She had one tiny part left, and if she had been focused she would have been done already.

“Very good. After the Wilson project, I can keep you on in reception until work picks up.” Heck to the effing no on that one. Even if he wasn’t a creepazoid loser, there was no way she was going to idly sit by in reception when she was the most skilled person in the office.

“Thanks, Mr. Anderson. I’ll think about it.” By think about it, she meant there was absolutely no chance on this earth she would talk a job working at his beck and call. “The firm might have something for me already lined up. I told them I was only here until Friday.” 

“Just let me know. I would love to keep you on full time, you know.”

“I do. Goodnight, Mr. Anderson.” Two steps out, his hand landed on her shoulder and she shook him off. She would not turn into a lion and maul him. She would not.

“I wish you would call me Marc.”

“It is against the firm’s handbook, Mr. Anderson.” She tried to push her alpha voice at him, but since Leo had officially took over as Alpha, her powers had diminished slightly. Not that they ever worked completely on humans, but it always gave them a fright. How she would love to see this little weasel of a man cowering on the ground.

“But you said you might not be coming back here.”

“And until I leave, I will call you Mr. Anderson.”
And you can fuck off.

“And after that?”

Why did he insist on making this so hard? She had never even pretended to not be repulsed by his attention if it wasn’t strictly work related. And tonight of all nights, he decides to step it up?

“After that I won’t be seeing you at all.”

“Zara…” His hand landed on her ass. Sidestepping the creepster time was officially over.

“You will do nicely to keep your hands to yourself.” She held up her phone, clicking the memo recording app on as she did so. “Oh look, my firm already has something lined up for me.  Have a nice life, Mr. Anderson.”

“You need to finish the Wilson project.” The desperation that seeped into his voice was not good. She might have to maul him after all. Grandpa Frank wouldn’t be impressed. Not in the least.

“No. No I don’t.”

“I’ll call your firm.”

Game on. She was done. How the heck did human women deal with this garbage? At least she didn’t need to be afraid. He annoyed her, but she could end him in a split second.

“To tell them what, that you just grabbed my ass or that you keep trying to look down my blouse?”

“They will never believe you.”

And that’s where he miscalculated his game. She had proof through her recording, and even if she didn’t, them believing her didn’t matter.  She had money.  The work was to fill in her time until she broke down and called uncle to fate. If they believed her, yay. If not, she could send his computer system a virus and cause him just as much pain as he thought he was causing her. She was in the winner’s circle. He just didn’t know it.

“Why would a man like me want a fatty like you? That will be my response by the way. It’s why I always go after the chubsters. Although usually they’re grateful for the attention.”

“You, Mr. Anderson, are a pig, and this phone, Mr. Anderson, has recorded your piggery. Good day.” He thought he could hurt her with the fat comments. Weaken her by attacking her self-esteem. He was so wrong on all accounts. Zara knew her worth and it had zero to do with her body. Her body was another thing he was dead wrong on. She might be a “fatty,” as he called her, but her curves caught many a man’s eye. She flashed her lion’s eyes at him. Technically, it was against all the rules, but at this point she had gone from annoyed to out and out pissed.

“What the…?” Marc was actually shaking and the fear that poured off of him satisfied Zara’s lion. Take that, creepster.

“I’m not one to mess with.” With that, she walked out the door for the last time.

Maybe it was time to move on to the next town. She had been here almost a year and had yet to feel at home. She missed running free with her family. She missed her family, period. It felt like it was finally time to break down, pull on her big girl panties and head on back.

Technically, if Grandpa Frank’s words all those years ago were to be believed, she would have met her mate already. Why did she always have to be so stubborn? Doing it on her own hadn’t worked. She went from job to job hoping to meet new people, only to find that her lion was on edge. Her lion wanted to be with other shifters, not trapped inside her with the very rare outing.

She
could
move to Lionville. It would be a new town and a new start. Her mother had moved them away from the clan when her brother became the next in line for Alpha. She thought it would be easier for him to take control if the elders didn’t remember his childhood antics first hand. In hindsight, it was a great idea, because the antics were a-plenty.

Yes, Lionville seemed like the best plan.

What’s that smell? Suck!

Three weeks later and Zara was no closer to Lionville than she had been before. There was something holding her where she was. She couldn’t explain it. She just was stuck in place. Her job at Anderson’s was quickly replaced with some at home work.

Mapping work was flipping boring, but paid well and filled her days as she tried to move forward to the next stage of her life. It also gave her enough downtime that she was able to mess with Marc Anderson’s computers just enough to be a pain in the ass, but not enough that his company would shut down. He might be a grade-A jerk, but people did count on him for a pay check.

Walking down the street, Zara looked for someplace to snag a bite. The town was more of a city than any place else she had lived, but options were still limited. It had a few chain restaurants, but there was zero part of Zara that wanted that. They were loud and the food tasted not unlike the kind she could buy in the grocery freezer section.

The new bar on this block had a light on. It was going to be open in the next couple of days and she couldn’t wait. It took over the old rundown diner and they had been working night and day to make it happen. Zara wasn’t a drinker, but she was a ginormous fan of bar food. There was something about the grease-filled burgers that felt like home. It was probably because her mother had been the world’s best hamburger maker. She still missed her so. Damn hunters.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Zara spun to the sound. Some bonehead was honking at an old lady crossing the street. She must have taken longer than the walk light. This would never happen back home, and Zara was sure it would never happen in Lionville. She let out a sigh. It was time to go back. Everything was telling her so. Why was she not following through? She had always been one to make a plan and stick with it. Goodness gracious, she was in this town because of a plan she made at
thirteen
.

“Want to be our first customer?”

“What?” Zara had been so focused on the woman crossing the street, she hadn’t seen the woman step out of the new bar.

“We’re running through the menu and you’ve walked by here every day, so we figured you might want to be our first customer.”

Busted. She had been, not covertly, checking out this place since she first noticed the work being done three weeks ago as she walked out of Anderson’s for the last time. It had become her excuse to leave the apartment. How had her life gotten so pathetic?

“I may have been stalking the place.” She gave the woman a smile. “Waiting for you to open.” She leaned into add, “I’m not a huge fan of the chain places.”

“Me neither, come on in and have a bite.” Her lion perked up at that. She really needed to go for a run. She had been antsy for three weeks now. “Fair warning. Our liquor license hasn’t been issued yet, so it will only be food.”

“That works for me.” The bar looked like it was complete. It was a mish mash of English pub décor, antique signs, and Art Deco prints. It shouldn’t work, yet it did. It felt homey. “I’m not a drinker.”

“I have iced tea.”

“Sweet?”

“Is there any other kind?”

Zara had always been a fan of sweet tea. Her family scoffed at her love of the stuff, but if she could only drink one thing for the rest of her life, it would be sweet tea.

“I think you might be my new best friend. I’m Zara.”

“I’m Brina. Have a seat.” The woman grabbed a pitcher from behind the counter and poured a tall glass as Zara found a perch at the bar. The aromas coming from the kitchen were magnificent. As long as they had a good business plan in place, this bar was going to be a hit.

“Brina, round one is ready,” a male voice shouted from the back.

“I have a customer.” The sing song quality of Brina’s voice was going to work nicely with customers.

“A customer?” He sounded almost gleeful. It was adorable how excited these two were about their new venture. Zara wanted that kind of excitement for herself. Maybe that was what was holding her back?

“Welcome.” The man charged in, plates of food in both hands and up his left arm. He stopped dead in his tracks, giving Brina, what Zara was sure he thought was a sly signal, to get behind him. “Lion?”

She nodded before giving him her neck. He smelled like wolf and she could surely take him, but there was no need for trouble. This was his place and if that meant offering her submission so be it. Wolves were weird about that hierarchy shit anyways. Her lion had zero interest, so submit it was. “Wolf?”

“Pride?” Ahhh, and that was what had him so on edge. He was worried a pride was moving in. There were no prides left in this part of the country, so if she were pride, it might mean big changes a coming for him.

“Clan.” His face softened slightly. “You?” As far as she could tell there were no packs here, but he was a wolf and wolves like their structure.

“Rogue.”

She tensed up at that. Rogues tended to be loose cannons. They weren’t pack for a reason.

“Aldric.” And there was the reason. The Aldric were vile, speciest, violent, misogynist asshats. “I’m Conor.”

“Mate?” Zara looked to Brina, who was finding far too much amusement in this interaction. The aromas of the restaurant almost completely masked her scent as mate, but it was coming through now and from the look of things, it was not a new mating.

“Mine.”

“Yours,” Zara agreed before pointing to the plate. “I think I want the one with the burger smothered in onions and barbeque sauce.”

Brina was cracking up as she pulled the plates from her mate’s arms and placed them on the counter in front of Zara. “Excellent choice.” She smacked Conor in the chest. “See, ya brute? I told you she was just wanting to be a customer.”

He mumbled under his breath as he huffed out of the room. Men.

“I take it you set me up?” Zara took a bite of the burger. The flavors danced in her mouth. “This is delicious, but the way.”

“I did. You don’t seem mad.”

“Not mad at all. I’ve been wanting to eat here since I first discovered you were moving in. I didn’t mean to make your mate anxious by walking by all the time.” In hindsight, she’d probably put his wolf on edge the entire time. Not her intention. Not at all. “I wish he would’ve said something earlier.”

“See,” Brina refilled her glass of tea, “that’s what I said, but he said you were alpha and it would end badly.”

There was nothing Zara wanted more than to see the end of packs like the Aldric’s. He grandpa had told her
now wasn’t the time
every time she brought it up. His power might not have been the strongest, but he was always right on the important stuff, so she lay in wait.

“Not really alpha.” She was a triplet, so her aura confused people far too often for her liking. “My brother is, and it’s a clan not a pride, so it doesn’t really mean what it would to your mate. Aldric’s were a pretty messed up bunch.” Understatement of the decade.

“He doesn’t tell me much about the time before he met me.” Brina leaned in close. “He thinks he’s protecting me.”

That’s what mates do. Zara couldn’t begin to fathom the confusion a human would face when discovering they had a shifter mate. It was rare, yet it did happen and the humans got a mate along with a whole new world in one fell swoop.

“He might be right. Depends on how he left.”

“Enough gossiping, woman. I brought dessert.” Conor’s attempt at a light and cheery disposition wasn’t fooling anyone. No one thought of two bites of a burger as being the signal for dessert time. He was still in panic mode.

“I’ll throw on a pot of coffee.” Brina stood on her tip toes, giving him a peck on the cheek before disappearing out back. There was a coffee pot directly in front of them, meaning she was giving the two of them time to chat.

“I don’t tell her about the Aldrics.”

Zara gave him a nod of understanding. Aldrics off limits. Done. It was probably safer that way.

“Being clan you only half know the horrors of my pack. I almost didn’t claim her for fear I would bring danger to her.”

“But you did claim her.” This went back to all of Zara’s fears about fate and true mates. What if your mate was right for you, but wrong for them? Fate didn’t play fair like that. His human mate could in no way protect herself from one Aldric, much less if the pack set their eyes on her.

“Yeah, fate is pretty messed up like that.” Truth. “My wolf took over. Best day of my life.”

What? This mating stuff made no sense. She did right by avoiding it all together, thanks to one little slip up by her grandfather all those years ago. She should give him a call. It had been too long.

“How long have you been rogue?” If he was newly rogue, she would probably do well to get out of the town and now. There’s no way she was going to tangle with angry Adlrics before it was time.

“Since I was twelve.” The man before her looked to be in his late thirties. If he’d been gone this long, he knew what he was doing. “My mom got us out. It was before I was officially claimed by the alpha. He liked to keep the pups expendable.” She hated Aldric more with each sentence. “That’s the only reason I’m alive. They don’t know how to find me and I don’t smell like pack, so the few close calls I’ve had, they assumed I was some other pack. They found Mom through the pack connection when I was sixteen.”

“I’m so sorry.” Sorry didn’t come close to describing it. Her lion wanted blood even as her heart broke. She needed a run before her lion took over.

“It was a long time ago.” Conor put the cheesecake down and sat on a stool behind the counter. “You carry sorrow of your own.”

“I do. Aerial hunters.” She didn’t want to talk about her mother’s murder. Not now. Not ever.

“Cowards.”

She nodded. Her lion must have shown through because she could see the topic was over.

“Cream?” Brina must have sensed it also, because there she was, coffee pot in hand and fake smile plastered across her face.

“I’m good with iced tea, thanks. May I see a menu?”

“Sure. Here.” Brina handed her a home printer copy of a
really
not well laid out menu. “It needs to be prettied up, but it will do for the opening.”

“You should be able to do that easily enough through your ordering apps.” It would be so easy to make this menu not suck. A good menu would bring the crowds and that’s what they needed. Bars with only a drinking crowd went downhill fast.

“We have notebooks.” Brina held up the mini notebook. Stinks. They were not even close to ready to be open.

“How do you keep inventory?”
Please let there at least be a spreadsheet.

“A binder.” This would not do. Not at all.

“Allow me to introduce myself.” Zara held out her hand. “I’m Zara, the computer genius who is about to change your world all for the low price of dinner.