Romance: Undercover Panther: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW, Paranormal, Werebear Romance) (Shapeshifter Romance Series by Ashley Hunter)

by Ashley Hunter

  Angie was having breakfast downstairs and Shadow was nowhere to be seen. It had been two days since their blissful union and Angie was reliving the memories of the past two days in her head over and over again. Not a corner of the house remained where they had not done the deed, so to spoke.

  As Angie walked down the stairs, she was reminded that in the heat of the moment, Shadow had taken her right then and there on the bottom step, them not being able to make it all the way to the bedroom.

  She bit her lip to stop herself from grinning without any outwardly reason, but there was a certain anxiety going on in her head. Shadow had left without telling her anything. He had slept in her bed last night but when she woke up, he was nowhere to be found.

  She had gotten no indication that he was leaving. All she remembered was the blissful ecstasy of last night and then the afterglow of this morning. At the moment, peace was the farthest thing from her mind.

  She tried to think positive things, like he must have gone to the city to get some supplies or something, that it was nothing sinister or anything. Her mind was thinking rational thoughts but her heart was conjuring up scenarios that were far more dangerous.

  It was the age-old battle between reason and emotion, between the mind and heart, between passion and practicality. She started pacing outside the main door, looking occasionally at the wall clock through the window. It was around noon now and it was getting difficult not to worry. She knew that Shadow could take care of himself but it didn’t make her job any easier.

  Just when she had resigned to more bad things, she could clearly hear the rumbling of an engine nearby and knew that it was Shadow’s car, just by the sound of it. She became jubilant and immediately forgot all the things she had decided to say to him because he had not bothered to tell her where he was going.

  But as soon as the car became visible from in between the branches of the tree hiding the cabin, she could see that something was wrong. The window on the passenger side was shattered and the windshield had become like an advertisement for Spider-man. Shadow was driving way too fast and it was clear that something was wrong. The front of the car had been hit badly.

  Shadow stopped the car with a screech in front of the house and Angie, standing there astounded, saw that he was bleeding from the head.

  She ran to the car and he got out. Apart from the head wound, he seemed fine, and was steady on his feet.

  “What happened? What’s going on?” Angie said, trying to wipe away the blood and looking at the car with fear.

  “Don’t have time,” he said quickly, getting away from her towards the house.

  “We need to leave.”

  “Leave?” she said, still rooted to the spot.

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Shadow said moving inside and Angie followed him.

  “But we need to leave.”

  Once inside, Shadow was sifting through the cupboards. He ran inside his room and brought out an empty bag.

  “Get whatever you need and put it here. We don’t have much time. I think I was followed but managed to lose them a few miles back. But they will eventually find this place.”

  “Who are they? Why are they following you? What is going on?”

  “Listen,” Shadow said and there was urgency in his voice.

  “This is not the time to discuss what happened. I will tell you everything on the way. Just get ready for now. We don’t have time.”

  Angie nodded and immediately went upstairs and got whatever she thought was necessary.

  In a few minutes, she was packed and was downstairs. Shadow was already waiting for her, sitting on the breakfast table, putting a wet cloth on his head wound. A gun was lying in front of him.

  “What’s this?” she said, eyeing the weapon.

  “This is what saved my life,” he said, looking at what she was pointing to.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  Angie nodded.

  “Good,” he said, getting up.

  “Let’s go.”

  They half ran to the car.

  “You are gonna drive the car like this?” Angie asked, looking at the windshield. It was a surprise that he could look out of it on the road ahead.

  “Wait a minute,” he said.

  Shadow went inside the car and hit the windshield with his foot. Given the fragile state it was already in; a single kick was all it took to get it out from its snug fit place.

  “Come,” Shadow said to Angie.

  Angie sat in the passenger’s seat and put on her seatbelt. She had a feeling that this was not going to be a safely driven journey.

  As soon as she had sat in the seat, Shadow put the engine to work and turned the car around with ferocity. They started their journey to whatever place Shadow was driving to, Angie thought.

  A few minutes past and Shadow was uncommonly guarded when it came to other cars and traffic.

  “Do you plan to drive all the way to wherever we are going in this car?” Angie said.

  “No, we will dump this soon and get a rental,” Shadow said, distractedly.

  Angie quieted down. She desperately wanted to ask him questions but knew that this was not the right time, so she didn’t press. They drove on for almost an hour and got on the interstate highway and after that did Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

  They had changed cars once and by the looks of it, Shadow was planning to do so one more time at least, before their journey was over.

  “So,” she began, putting her legs up on the dashboard.

  “Are you gonna tell me now what happened?”

  Shadow seemed deep in thought regarding this question. It seemed he pondering where to begin.

  “Well,” he said after some time.

  “It happened at the Crow.”

  Angie sat up straight, and her heart started pounding.

  “What happened?” she said.

  “I was keeping a lookout outside, to see if Bob would come, and there he was…with three other guys,” he said.

  Angie gasped.

  “Who were they?”

  “What do you think? They were the ones I was looking for. And guess what? They had the package.”

  Angie was listening with rapt attention. How could this be? How could Bob, the one she worked with for all those nights, turn out to be in league with such rogues.

  “So,” Shadow continued his story.

  “I decided that it was now or never. It was day time and the bar was empty, thankfully, otherwise a lot of people would have been killed.”

  “You went in and fought with them?” Angie said, surprised more than ever and thankful that he was alive and sitting here with nothing but a head wound.

  “There was nothing else to do. I went in to retrieve the package but it seemed that they were waiting for me. They ambushed me and I was surrounded. I didn’t think I would make it. They were firing from all sides.”

  He quieted down for a bit and shuddered as if the memory of the recent event still terrified him.

  “Then I did it. I turned into the beast and they were astounded. A momentary confusion from them was all I needed and I got them.”

  Angie realized that her mouth was open and she shut it immediately.

  “What about Bob?” she said, slowly.

  “You have to realize that he was a terrible man. A man who probably helped killed a lot of people. He was not who you think he was,” Shadow said, trying to make her understand the necessity of what he had done and what had to be done.

  Angie nodded but she knew in her heart that it would take some time for her to fully grasp the reality of what had taken place and her own part in it.

  She didn’t know Bob all too well but the old man and always been nothing but good to her.

  “So where are we going now?” she asked him after some time.

  “As far away as possible,” Shadow replied.

  “Somewhere they can’t find us, until I decide my next plan of action. These people hav
e long memories and they will not forget me.”

  “And what happened to the package? Where is it?”

  “I destroyed it,” Shadow said.

  “As soon as I got it, I burned it. It was not safe, out there, in the world. I had to destroy it.”

  Chapter 12

  Angie woke up and her hand instinctively moved to the side where her husband slept but she was disappointed to learn that it was empty. The bed was still warm which meant that it had not been long since he left.

  She held his pillow and his aroma filled her nostrils. Even after six months, she could not get over the fact that she was married to such an amazing man.

  She got up, taking the sheets along with her, as she was not wearing anything else. Last night had been one of passion, and clothes were the first things to go.

  She went downstairs and could hear sounds coming from the kitchen. She sneaked to the kitchen, not wanting him to know she was coming and saw from around the bend that her husband was cooking breakfast.

  He was clad in nothing but his boxer briefs. Angie’s eyes moved from his thick muscled thighs to his smooth and sinewy back. His muscles rippled as he moved from one end of the kitchen to the other.

  Angie bit her lip, a sensation coming up along her neck and a certain itching in her fingers to touch him. His back was turned and Angie walked up to him.

  She grabbed his ass and he jumped. She giggled and squeezed his butt cheeks tighter.

  “You are a naughty girl,” he said, turning around.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” she said as he pulled her to him. Their bodies were so close that it seemed that the air was trapped in between.

  He brought his lips to her and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. She returned his kiss for all it was worth and soon the morning laziness was gone.

  Shadow tugged at the sheet covering her body and it fell down revealing Angie in all her glory.

  “You are such a dog,” Angie said, mock hitting him on the shoulder, trying and failing to act modest.

  Shadow attacked her body and she giggled. He took her breasts in his hands and lowered his face to them. She moaned when his lips touched her flesh and closed her eyes.

  Only in her dreams, she could have thought such a thing, and here it was happening to her, right here in her own kitchen, with her husband.

  Before she could do anything else, Shadow took her in his arms and lifted her. He made it look like he was carrying a feather; he was so strong.

  He carried her to their bedroom and laid her down. He took off his boxers and stood there in all his naked glory for his wife to see. She took it all in and was once again reminded how hot he was. She was forever thankful for the hard muscles of his body because they gave her immense pleasure during sex.

  Just being in contact with them, touching them, kissing them, biting them made her heart flutter. He got on top of her and kissed her.

  “Are you ready?” he said, gazing into her eyes lovingly.

  Angie nodded and Shadow entered her. She moaned with pleasure as he thrusted inside her, his lips never leaving hers.

  Epilogue

  It had been six months since their ‘union’. Ever since Angie was a kid, she had thought about a wedding. What woman had not?

  But this wedding was unlike anything she could have foreseen or hoped for. Shadow wasn’t sugarcoating things when he said that his folk kept things close to traditions. After they had escaped from whatever evil guys Shadow was tracking, they had to declare their union.

  According to Shadow, his people did not call it a wedding. A wedding sounded like a party, Union was more apt.

  So, Angie walked up to the dais where they were to be united as one and when she first saw the ceremony, she nearly screamed but checked herself. It would not sit well by the guests that the bride was screaming on this day.

  The clearing was filled with panthers and a few humans were dotted here and there. Shadow was standing at the end of the pathway. As Angie took steps towards the stage, the panthers bowed wherever she set foot. She did not know what it meant but it made her feel safe and secure.

  The panthers were of all sizes. Some were little cubs, some were humungous. When Shadow had said that his whole clan would be here, he had failed to mention that most of them would be in panther form.

  Angie got over the initial surprise and was mesmerized by the surroundings. She reached the stage and Shadow winked at her.

  In place where in a traditional wedding a minister would stand to officiate the wedding, there was a panther, a particularly old panther, with a box placed at its feet.

  Shadow bent down and picked up the box and opened it. Inside there were two rings, with diamonds sparkling in the sunlight.

  And then she woke up.

  “What happened, honey?” Shadow said groggily.

  “Nothing, baby,” she said, putting her arms around him.

  “Go back to sleep. Just having a dream about our wedding.”

  “I knew I should not have taken you to the den,” he said and laughed.

  She hit him lightly on the side of the arm.

  “Well, you did and now you are stuck with me. So, who’s the loser here?”

  With surprising agility for a man who was just asleep, he lifted her and placed her on top of him and kissed her.

  The kiss lasted for a few seconds and when it broke, he said, “Definitely not me.”

  ***

  BONUS PREVIEW OF “THE SHEIKH BEAR” BY ASHLEY HUNTER

  Chapter 1

  Elle Roberts wasn’t what you’d call a supremely confident woman. Granted, she was comfortable with her looks, she was comfortable with herself—but she wasn’t exactly the type to put herself out there.

  She lived her life in a small town growing up. The same people during elementary school became the people she knew throughout high school.

  She had one boyfriend, a sweet guy who loved art more than anything; it just took her some time to realize that the list that included ‘anything’ also included her.

  So when he told her he was going to a college far off to pursue his dream as an artist, she was broken hearted when he said he’d be going alone.

  Still, she didn’t want to appear pushy or clingy and so when he broke it off, Elle smiled, gave him a warm hug, and wished him luck. Not long after he left did she finally decide to leave that small town herself.

  There were too many eyes that knew about her relationship, too many people who talked about how it was ‘such a shame’ and ‘they looked so cute together.’ So when her Uncle offered her a place to stay in the city, Elle sort of made a mad-dash decision and left.

  If one could die from culture shock, Elle would have been six feet under after her first couple of weeks within that concrete jungle. People went about their business without caring about her, cars and taxis zoomed back and forth in an endless chase of clients and destinations and the only thing that Elle could truly register after a few nights of restless sleep; the city was loud.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to come home?”

  Her mother had asked her one late night after Elle had called, eyes clogged with tears and nose raw from wiping with tissues.

  “I was talking to Maria, she said that Alex would be visiting in the fall.”

  Alex… The name alone made Elle’s chest ache but she was already shaking her head at the idea.

  “I’m staying, mom. I don’t want to see him.”

  “I don’t like the idea of you being out there on your own, even if your Uncle said you’d be taken care of in that penthouse. It’s dangerous.”

  “Yeah, but…” Elle had said before she peered out the window of her new bedroom.

  The lights below were astounding, as if she had been launched into space to live among a galaxy of stars.

  “I like it here. I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll be fine…”

  The words sounded somewhat droll now that Elle found herself in a large and very expensive
looking lobby. Everything about the place looked immaculate, down to the marble tile, the rugs, and the furniture placed exquisitely all around. Elle had never felt so out of place in all her life.

  Her cousin, one of her Uncle’s daughters, had recommended her to work there after they helped her update her resume.

  Carla had pursed her lips at the document, blue eyes skimming Elle’s life work before smiling and giving her a nod.

  “You’ve got quite a lot of experience, cousin.” Carla had said and Elle had beamed up at her happily.

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to fit in nicely.”

  Sure enough, just a week later (after a month in the city), Elle found herself in her best interview attire in one of the most high-class places she had ever seen.

  The woman sitting in the reception desk had eyed her up and down once before directing her to a seat and with a professional smile that consisted of nearly blinding white teeth, told Elle to wait to be called on.

  She had been waiting for nearly fifteen minutes and could feel her nerves continue to bite and chew and gnaw at her stomach. Glancing down at herself, Elle frowned. This was the best skirt she had, but it was old and it had a couple of stains on it that had been hard to remove.

  Even her shirt and jacket, while she had believed were stylish, looked drab compared to the outfit worn by the woman in reception—and to her growing mortification—the other women and men that walked in and out of the lobby.

  They all looked like models. Fresh off the cover of some fashion magazine!

  And yet there she was, sitting in ill-fitted clothing, several sizes bigger than the toothpick-slim women walking around, and with her mess of wild brown curls pinned down to a half-knot in the back of her head.

  Fifteen minutes became twenty and Elle snuck a glance at the nearest clock.

  What was taking so long? Was she being tested? Was she being watched right now?

  “Just be yourself, okay?” Carla had informed her earlier that week.

  “It’s a secretary position and so you’ll be expected to behave naturally. Your employer is actually one of our biggest clients, but don’t feel pressured, he’s really not that bad.”