I’m Not Lion To You
Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 2
Krystal Shannan
Praise for Krystal Shannan
"Wonderfully imaginative. Vampires have never been so sexy or dangerous."
Liliana Hart, NYT Bestselling Author
Highly recommended Krystal Shannan for anyone who loves a good story, some romance, hot sex and a action all around.
Reviewer
"Of Spells and Shadows is just what I need in a fantasy saga--alpha wolves, a steely heroine, and a plot that makes you turn the page faster and faster."
Carrie Ann Ryan, NYT Bestselling Author of the Talon Pack Series
“Hot sexy sassy women hot sexy alpha strong men!”
Reviewer
"Krystal Shannan and Camryn Rhys cast a wicked spell! Of Spells and Shadows is a refreshingly, richly imagined, captivating paranormal romance. With a novice witch heroine and a pair of werewolf half-brothers vowed to protect her--one lowborn, the other royal and a captain of the magick Court's guard--this book held me enthralled."
Lara Adrian, NYT Bestselling author of the Midnight Breed series
"Shannan weaves a sexy, action-packed tale sure to keep you turning the pages late into the night."
Liliana Hart, NYT Bestselling Author
"Rough and tough Texan cowboys meet stuffy court deceit and politics in Of Spells and Shadows. The Court of Draiochta series promises an entirely new set of possibilities and conflicts. I'm not sure where the authors plan to go next with this series but I'm definitely on board for the ride."
Xtreme-Delusions Blog Reviews
Acknowledgments
Kann’s book is here! I loved getting to know Kann and Penny so much. They are fun and strong and just grab you by the heartstrings and pull you into their world. I know you guys are going to fall in love with them too. I hope you’re ready for the next romantic adventure with the Soulmate Shifters Tribe from Mystery.
Thank you hubby for letting me spend so many hours in front of a laptop and always telling me to go after my dreams. Well, that and to ‘take over the world’. LOL. I love you so much.
Thank you Becca for being the best writing partner and friend. You are my person.
Huge thanks to my team! Thank you to my alpha reader Shelane! You rock, girl! Thank to you Corrie and Tammy for your help on this project. You ladies are fantastic. Thank you Maria for keeping me organized. You are the best. Also, huge thank you to my wonderful ARC Team - Go Cavalry!
And my readers, the biggest thanks to you. Without your support I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be able to write. Thank you for being Team Krystal Shannan.
Hugs,
Krystal
He wants her more than life, but can she trust him with her biggest secret?
Kann is a lion shifter from another world. Literally. Even though he’s learned how to walk, talk, dress and sound just like everyone else in Mystery, Alaska, he still can't find his mate.
Until she walks right into the local grocery store. Her blue eyes and killer legs make his lion stand up and roar. Well, that and her soul is glowing just for him. That only happens…
…with soulmates. Which means the magick of his world did cross over to earth with the survivors.
Penny is on the run, being chased at a breakneck pace over the Alaskan countryside. She can't trust anyone and knows it's only a matter of time until she's caught.
When she meets Kann, the sexy backwoods, plaid-shirted man from Mystery, she’s instantly attracted. However, she can’t afford a distraction and she doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt when they come for her.
Except, Kann has never met an objection he couldn't overcome. With patience and determination, he wins Penny over inch by inch. But will Penny's past steal everything from both of them?
Warning: This series contains a group of sexy warrior shifters, plenty of exciting action, kick-ass heroines, and melt-your-phone-sexy scenes.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Afterword
About the Author
1
“I would not wish any companion in the world but you” –William Shakespeare
Penny Matheson climbed out onto the wing of the small plane that had carried her away from Anchorage. Away from the scene of a murder—an execution—that she shouldn’t have ever seen.
But she had.
Now she had to deal with it.
Her breath clouded in front of her. The February sky was clear and blue, with no clouds in sight, and the snow on the surrounding hilly landscape was crisp and clean. Worry prickled at the back of her neck like needles from an acupuncture session. She knew she was safe for the moment, but she couldn’t help but watch…as if at any moment another plane would appear.
She wouldn’t put it past Jake Vicenti to send someone after her…or come himself. But she’d worked hard to disappear. Mystery was barely a dot on the map. No ticket needed for a small plane. No credit card or a cell phone for her boss to track.
Penny stepped from the wing to the razor-narrow metal ledge, avoiding the flap of the wing on her way down to the tarmac. The tall burly pilot came around from the other side and smiled at her the way she imagined a dad would. He had short salt and pepper hair and lines around his mouth that spoke to years of smiles. It was why she’d approached him in Anchorage.
“You’re not going to tell anyone you brought me here, right?” She shoved her bare hands into her pockets and breathed slowly. The air was like ice in her lungs. In her hurry to escape she’d forgotten gloves and a hat. Stupid.
“Brought who?” His mouth turned down, like he wanted to ask a question but was second guessing himself. “I just deliver groceries and hardware to the Jenkins.”
“Thanks.”
“Where’s your ride?”
“It’s not that far, is it?” Normally she would’ve researched everything before making a single move, but she’d just run. There hadn’t been time for more. She certainly didn’t have a ride.
“You can’t walk to town. It’s damn near twenty below out here. You’d be dead before you made it the first mile. You’re already as blue as a sheet of ice on the bay.”
“Is it that far?” She hated being a burden, even if Carl didn’t seem to mind.
“Yep, too far. Come on.” He gestured toward a parked white box truck. “I’ll drive you in.”
She looked at the road. The wind this far north of the ocean bit way worse here than it did in Anchorage. He was right. She had no business walking and shouldn’t have even considered it an option.
The familiar smell of salt in the air had been replaced by the scent of spruce, because instead of an ocean, there was just a sea of snow and trees. It wasn’t unpleasant…just different. The same familiar mountains lay in the distance, except now she was on the north side of the Denali National Park instead of looking up from the south.
“You comin’?” He
called out from ahead of her a few yards.
“Yes, thank you.” She forced her feet to move forward. Only hours ago, her life had been normal. She’d had a great job at Vicenti Inc, as one of the lead weapons research developers in the world. She’d had a great boss. Jake had been all smile and charm.
Except it’d been a lie.
Today she’d seen Jake, suave debonair professional businessman, kill people. She shuddered a little, remembering the bloody scene that had made her flee Anchorage during her lunch break. Her heart did a little flip-flop and her stomach threatened to vacate its contents.
Vicenti used their guns. She’d been developing weapons for criminals.
She took a calming breath and swallowed down her nerves. Jake was barely realizing she’d left by now, and he couldn’t possibly have followed her. She’d watched carefully for tails. Watched for anyone.
Her teeth chattered as she climbed into the cab of Carl’s delivery truck. He finished loading the boxes from the plane into the back and then climbed into the cab next to her.
“Dammit, girl. You’re already freezing aren’t you?” he asked, peeling off his gloves and hat.
“I—can’t—”
“You put those on for right now. I know you don’t want to talk to me about what’s really going on or what you’re hiding from, but if you freeze to death it’ll all be for nothing and I won’t be able to live with myself, especially since it was me that brought you to this tiny slip of a town.”
Her chest tightened, and her eyes welled with unshed tears. “Friends call me Penny.” She pulled on his gloves and tugged the Sherpa-lined hat onto her head. Everything smelled like peppermint and gunpowder. The latter might not have comforted a typical person, but the scent of gunpowder made Penny feel safe. That burning bite in her nostrils after firing a gun on the range made her pulse race and adrenaline spread through her system like someone had injected her with superpowers. “Thank you.”
“You’re right welcome, Penny. You got enough money for a place to stay? Food?”
She nodded. “Yes, I do. I’ll be okay. Thank you.”
He leaned over a bit and pulled something from his pocket. Penny’s eyes widened at the sight of the wad of cash she’d paid him for her seat on his plane. “You take this back. I was coming to Mystery anyway and having company on the plane was a treat.”
“I didn’t really talk to you.” She didn’t take the money. Which was dumb. She needed every dollar she had. There wouldn’t be any more, not for a long time. Growing up as a foster kid, though, she’d learned people usually want things in return for doing nice things, especially when related to money.
He shoved it at her chest instead and chuckled. “No, but you were a good listener.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” His voice was light and warm and jovial, reminded her of getting a hug from Santa that one year at the mall when she was nine.
Her fingers curled around the precious bills. Having it back would make getting started in town a lot easier. “Thank you.” Tears pooled in her eyes again. She sniffed and wiped the corners before they could trail down her cheeks.
Carl nodded, keeping an eye on the road. He pointed to her right as they passed a building with a few cars in the parking lot. “That’s the community center. They’ve got meals every night just in case you find yourself strapped for cash.”
Which was very likely. She made a mental note of where the building was.
They went a bit further down the road. Rolling hills covered with trees and snow. More turn offs, and more houses were scattered closer together now. “That’s one of the B&B’s in town. There’s a place with some cabins up the road a bit further, owned by a local, he’s also got a few close to town and a few more on the other side of the river. Douglas Curtis is a good guy. He’ll give you a fair price and not the tourist price if you tell him I sent you.”
The truck continued past a small red building that said groceries and liquor. “Better store is the Jenkins place around the corner. They run the hardware and grocer where most of the town shops plus, those in-town cabins of Doug’s I was talking about, are a quick walk across the street.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.” Penny’s voice caught in her throat as all her emotions swirled like snowflakes in the wind. She always tried to plan everything in advance. She hadn’t been able to and it’d been eating away at her during the whole ride. Control was something she’d fought for her entire life. She’d finally gotten some in college and then with her job…and now it was like being back in the system. Everything was a mess. Everything was uncontrollable.
The older man cursed under his breath. “I’m going to talk to Doug myself.” He turned the truck into a small parking lot. The sign on the building said Jenkins Grocery & Hardware. “Why don’t you go grab a couple things to help get you started?” He tipped his head across the street and she followed his gaze to a red building with a sign over it that said Red Bird Cabins for Rent. “I’m only in town for today, but I want to make sure you’re set up good, okay.”
She nodded. “Thank you. Really.”
2
Kann swung the heavy ax and the steel bit through the wood, sinking into the stump below. The familiar motion was easy. So many things about this world were different from home, but cutting wood. That was the same. It was comforting to have at least a few things be the same. Especially since the entire landscape was frozen and cold nine months out of the year. Or so he’d been informed by Naomi. And unlike Naomi and her mate, he could actually feel the cold.
He grabbed the last two pieces of firewood and stacked them next to the concrete wall of the Jenkins Grocery & Hardware.
The sound of booted footsteps crunching on the hardpacked snow made him turn. The wind was blowing the wrong way and he couldn’t smell anything. But he knew who was coming. There weren’t many people in town as big. Owen came around the corner a moment later. He and his sister Ava were the only bear shifters from Reylea that made it through the portal to Mystery. At least as far as Kann knew. They kept to themselves for the most part, not interested in joining up. Not yet. They lived in a small single wide on the south side of town, close to old Leif’s Gas & Go.
“I patrolled around both buildings already and the storage unit across the street.” Owen leaned against the concrete wall, rubbing his short brown beard with his hand. “No further sign of the cowards.”
Kann growled low. Everyone loved Henrietta Jenkins. It was impossible not to. She was this sweet, spunky, grey-haired lady who doted on all of them and had helped them get started in this town. She had a heart as big as the Denali mountain range.
When wolf shifters had broken into the store a couple of weeks ago, busted up a window, and trashed the place, all of them had stepped up to help, though Kann was surprised by Owen’s involvement. And then when Henrietta’s husband had gotten really sick last week, they’d closed ranks even more, making sure she had whatever she needed.
Just like she’d done for them.
Kann had even volunteered to watch the store for a day so Henrietta could take Charles down to the doctor in Anchorage. The diagnosis for Mr. Jenkins hadn’t been good and it put a grey cloud over Henrietta’s normally chipper personality.
The local sheriff was at his wits’ end to figure out how the wolves got into the store, but Naomi—Col’s recently acquired mate—said it was important that they not try to explain anything and just let the locals think it was wildlife—smarter than average wildlife. At least it had been in the middle of the night and no one had seen them shifting back and forth. If someone had, no one had come forward yet. And Naomi had been watching the internet—whatever that meant.
“It’s good that they aren’t coming back, except…” He wanted to hunt them. To punish them for wreaking havoc in the town. They’d come as animals. Not men. They risked exposure. Hunters were now even more vigilant and purposefully sought out wolves. Set more traps. Naomi had warned them, and she’d been
right.
The large bear shifter rolled his neck and his eyes flickered with gold. “True, but I wouldn’t mind tearing a few of them to pieces as punishment.”
“I couldn’t agree more, but Col—”
“Isn’t my Vraka.” Owen’s tone bordered on disgust. The bear shifter thought they were weak or idiots or both for taking orders from a Dragon. For working together at all. For having a mixed blood tribe.
Kann didn’t agree. They were all better off together than separate. Eventually Owen would see that. “Naomi’s cooking is worth it, and Col is a good leader.”
Kann was a warrior. A soldier. He didn’t want to be the one that had to make the hard choices. He was good at taking orders and protecting those around him. He was stronger with a good leader. He and Saul had talked about it several times. Even Tor agreed that Col had been the perfect choice for chief of the Tribe—for the Vraka.
“Don’t worry about patrolling anymore. I’ve got it covered.” Owen huffed and walked away, leaving Kann standing alone next to the cord of wood he’d just cut and stacked. Got it covered? It was strange that the big bear even cared. He rarely talked to anyone. In fact, this encounter was probably the most words he’d ever hear the big guy string together.
I'm Not Lion To You: Soulmate Shifters World (Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 2) Page 1