by Eve Langlais
And he did his best to show her. Making love to her in the master bedroom of the cabin, after stripping all the beds and burning the linen. The house stunk of cat. But he’d not wanted to rush back with the others, especially when she’d murmured against his neck, “The cabin has hot water.”
Which is how they found themselves, skin to skin, their bodies flushed and throbbing, his cock balls deep in her. Their foreheads were touching as they rocked in rhythm, and the only thing he could think was, Damn, this is the life.
“I love you,” he gasped as he came.
“I love you,” she murmured as she fell asleep in his arms.
Rory woke to a gun pointed at his forehead, the scent of angry cat, and a lowly growled, “How dare you defile my baby girl!”
Epilogue
Dani woke to her father’s voice threatening. Am I dreaming? She quickly blinked away her confusion as she noticed the situation was very real. Her father aimed a gun at Rory, and looked ready to use it. “Daddy, don’t kill him!”
“Don’t get involved, pumpkin. And look away. Daddy’s gonna take care of this problem.”
“There’s no problem. Put that gun away.”
“I kind of like where it is.” The barrel pressed, dimpling Rory’s skin, and Dani snapped.
“You stop that right now and start explaining how come you’re here. I thought you were dead.”
“I’m not that easy to kill.”
Now where had she heard that before?
“A pleasure to, um, meet you, sir,” Rory tried to say politely, extending his hand.
“Not for you it isn’t.” Her father’s golden eyes glared at her husband.
“Where have you been?” Dani asked. “I’ve been worried sick. And this guy called Kelso—”
“Kelso? Where is that mangy bastard? I’m going to tear off his head and shove it up his ass.”
“I shot him,” she said, rather pertly. She’d gotten over the first shock of it. Shooting someone wasn’t easy. But she’d already come to the realization she’d done the world a favor. The healing could begin.
“You had to kill a man?” The gun pressed harder as Daddy snarled, “You didn’t protect my girl!”
“He was protecting me fine. Stop that. He’s not the one who abandoned me.”
Familiar tawny eyes swung her way. “I didn’t abandon you, pumpkin. I was detained.”
“For months.”
“Not on purpose. And during the short period I was gone, according to the report I was handed, you managed to get kidnapped numerous times. What the fuck, Dani?”
“Don’t raise your voice to her,” Rory intervened.
“Does the defiler truly think he should be talking?” Her father’s gaze swung hotly back to Rory. “Any last words before I kill you?”
“Daddy, no. You can’t kill him. You’ve got it all wrong. Rory saved me.”
“From what? Because, from where I’m standing, it looks like he didn’t save you from his depraved actions.”
Depraved? Now she did snicker. “Rory didn’t do anything I didn’t want.”
This caused the gun to lift and her father to slap hands over his ears, exclaiming, “I don’t want to hear this.”
She clutched at the sheet and knelt on the bed. “Daddy. Stop being silly. It’s not what you think. He’s my husband.”
“Husband?” Her father’s eyes swung to Rory and narrowed. “You married her? Why?”
“It was actually an accident. We were drunk in Vegas, but—” The rest of her words never emerged because her daddy bellowed, “Filthy dog!” And then…Daddy was a lion.
She gaped.
Rory sighed. “Ah, fuck. I guess this explains why Kelso wanted you.”
“What are you talking about?” she said, wincing when her father—a giant kitty—roared and paced by the bed.
“I think a whole lot just became clear. Kelso killed your daddy to take over his position in the pride.”
“What does pride have to do with it?”
“Not that kind of pride. I’m talking pride as in a group of lions. And other shapeshifting cats. Your daddy is the lion king, and as his daughter, you were the binding tie Kelso needed to get them to fall into place.”
“But I’m not a lion.” The very idea of being one was too hard to even grasp. Seeing the giant kitty—my daddy—pacing alongside the bed didn’t help. How could she not have known? What does that make me?
“You probably carry the gene.”
“I’m a freak.”
The cat roared.
She snapped back. “Don’t you dare. This is pretty big news to drop on me.”
“It’s not easy to explain.”
“You think?” she said with exaggeration. “I just don’t understand how I didn’t know. Did my mother know? Were you ever going to tell me?”
Her father chuffed.
Rory translated. “My guess is he would have told you if you showed signs of changing. My guess is your mother was human, and when your father realized you didn’t carry the gene, he kept you away from the pride and the politics for safety reasons.”
“So I wouldn’t be used as a pawn. But Kelso found out.”
Another roar.
“Oh, stop that. He’s dead.” Said with some pride. She’d not needed anyone to rescue her, after all. But she appreciated Rory had tried.
She quickly averted her eyes as her lion daddy became just plain daddy again—minus clothes. “Daddy!”
“Don’t freak out, baby girl. I’m grabbing some pants.”
“I’ll freak out if I want to,” she huffed. “I’ve had a lot happen lately.”
“Because of the fucker Kelso. I can’t believe that two-timing bastard tried to kill me.”
“He seemed very sure you were dead.”
“More like incapacitated in a jungle and held captive for a while by a tribe of indigenes who worshipped me.”
She blinked.
“I’ll explain after I deal with this so-called husband of yours,” grumbled her father.
To which she replied, “Don’t you dare kill my baby’s daddy!”
“No, please don’t tell me I’m related to dogs.”
Whereupon Rory held out his hand and said, “Nice to finally meet the elusive lion king.”
The next few hours, after everyone found clothes, they exchanged stories while raiding the kitchen for food. Gregory’s kitchen, because it turned out Kelso had brought Danita to her own father’s house.
“I can’t believe you had another place to live,” she grumbled, still trying to absorb all the many secrets and lies peppering her life.
Daddy didn’t look the least chagrinned. “Don’t get all pissy. I didn’t spend much time here. But I needed a place to meet with pride members.”
Pride members as in lions.
Danita eventually did wrap her head around it. Just like she learned that were-shifters did things a little differently. For one, Daddy officially presented his daughter to the pride and then warned everyone that to harm her would result in death. To which Rory added a ditto. Cute and embarrassing all at once.
Her father and her new father-in-law—the wolf one, not the moose one—also announced their new alliance. Dogs and cats working together, which apparently was a huge, big deal. All she noted was it involved lots of drinking, roaring, and howling, and pregnant bellies popping up in the months after. Rory was particularly pleased when he got his two fathers to agree on a joint project between their companies that involved doing something sweet and salty. Which she didn’t crave at all. But pasta? Dani couldn’t get enough.
Just like she couldn’t get enough of Rory. True to his word, and despite Daddy’s objections, he took her home to the seashore, where married life agreed with them both.
They’d been living and loving for months now, and according to the doctor—a shifter one who would keep their special secret—any day the baby was going to come. The shorter gestation an almost sure sign she was going to have a shifter ba
by.
But she wasn’t scared. Not anymore. She’d had months to meet the people in her father’s pride and Rory’s wolf pack. People just like her, but who had a super-duper cool power. She chose to see them as hidden superheroes rather than monsters. As for Kelso? He was just a supervillain, and in the end, the natural order had prevailed. The good guys won.
Life was epic. She not only still had her daddy, she had a wonderful new life on the beach, and everyone was carefully getting along.
“You’re up early.” Rory’s arms slid around her from behind, cupping her belly as he nuzzled her hair.
She stared from the balcony at the ocean, the soothing roll and tumble of waves one of her favorite things to watch.
A happy sigh echoed from her. “I love you.” The words slipped from her lips, truer now than ever.
Being a man, raised in the spirit of competitiveness, he, of course, had to reply, “I love you more.”
For some reason, she found this funny. She laughed so hard her water broke—on his feet.
By the next morning, their family had grown with the addition of Jasmyn Helena Beauchamp, their special Vegas baby.
The End
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Classic romance… with a furry twist!
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Also by Eve Langlais
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