Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Moxie North

  “Because, as I’ve said, we don’t know each other well, and you could easily be the type of person that would pick up a blunt object and wail on me with it if you felt threatened.” Will explained this like it was a serious possibility.

  “Considering I came out here willingly, there would have to be something pretty big for me to want to hit you with a stick.”

  Will gave her a hard look before grabbing her hand and pulling her away from her bike and then walking past his. He walked about fifty feet further into the woods, and there under a large tree was a large bag and a cardboard box with a plaid blanket laying over it.

  “Let me set up first,” he said and let go of her hand.

  Delaney watched as Will spread the blanket on the ground under the tree. From the bag, he pulled out another blanket that looked softer and was clearly not meant to be next to the dirt. The box held a number of take-out containers and a bottle of wine.

  Figuring it was safe to come closer, Delaney knelt down on the corner of the blanket and unzipped her suit to give herself a little fresh air.

  The sound of the zipper had Will’s eyes flashing to her, their golden yellow flaring with a brighter tinge around the outside. That was real yellow, reflecting even in the muted light under the canopy of the trees.

  “You going to tell me about that?” Delaney asked, nodding towards his glowing eyes.

  She waited as Will’s eyes settled down, and he pivoted so he was sitting across from her, his knees bent, and his arms draped over the tops.

  “Come here,” he said, crooking his finger at her.

  Delaney started to move towards him before she even thought about doing it. It was like a reflex she had no control over. It should bother her, but it felt natural like her body wanted to be closer to his.

  Once she was close enough, Will had her sit between his legs with hers stretched out under his bent knees. His arms curled around her back and pulled her closer to him.

  “This is cozy,” she murmured, her face a few inches from his.

  “I want you to be able to see me as I tell you what I need to tell you. But the answers will cost you.”

  “Cost me? How much?” she asked, playing along.

  “Easy questions are a kiss. Harder questions are a touch. And the question will cost you a taste, and I don’t mean your mouth,” he said, his voice a low rumbling growl that sounded like a vibration that came from his chest.

  “Well damn, Will. You don’t play fair, do you?”

  “I can’t say I’ll ever not try some way to get a bit of you. I’m sure I can just ask, but it’s not as fun as sneaking a bit here and there.”

  “Games don’t bother me as long as I know the rules.” Delaney’s expression gave the clear sign she was serious about this point.

  “Agreed. So you are running this game, ask away,” Will said, knowing she wasn’t going to pick the big question first. That would make the game over too soon. He could smell that she was in a hurry and at the same time wanting to draw out her pleasure. It was something his instincts told him was true about her.

  “Why vacation in the Smoky Mountains?”

  Will gave her a sly smile. He knew she wasn’t going to go for the meaty question first. She wanted to kiss him.

  “Pay me,” he said, his voice a low whisper that she could feel against her lips.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Leaning in, Delaney placed her mouth on his and felt his firm lips under hers. She waited for him to kiss and when she felt nothing, she figured she really was running this game. She softly opened her mouth and dipped her tongue over the seam of his lips. She felt a funny vibration from him and did it again. This time, his mouth opened under hers, and the kiss they shared was fierce.

  When Delaney broke off the kiss, she looked at Will expectantly.

  “I come out here because most people don’t know me, first of all. Enough people know me in Vegas that I have to always be on because odds are someone is watching. Out here I can do something I love, drive in a place that is dark enough at night I can see the stars. I don’t get that very often. There are weeks that have gone by that I’ve not left the hotel. The glitz of a casino can wear on you after a while.”

  Delaney listened intently and could imagine how long someone could go without seeing real daylight in a casino. She’d seen TV shows about how they make the space so inviting that people forget the time and will spend more time gambling. She could see how Will running a place like that often didn’t get down time. And there was no better place to see the stars than the Appalachian range.

  “I’m glad you came out this year,” she said to him, whispering against his lips, they were so close together.

  “You can’t imagine how fucking lucky I feel that I didn’t cancel this trip. It tears me up inside to think I might have missed the chance to meet you.”

  “That’s flattering.”

  “It’s honest. I told you honesty is all you’ll ever get from me.”

  “Do you like me?” she asked her next question.

  “Pay me.” His mouth tipped up in a small grin.

  Delaney happily paid her fee knowing what it would take to get him to respond.

  “I like you. The minute our eyes met you became my most favorite person in the world.”

  “How can you possibly say that? There is so much about me you don’t know. I could be a psycho killer. Or a backwoods moonshiner in my spare time.”

  “If you are, I’d be happy to help you market that shit. Moonshine is big right now,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose.

  “I’ll think about it. So next question, do you think I’m going to be okay with your explanations today, or do you think I’m not going to be able to handle it?”

  He raised his eyebrow at her, and she paid the price.

  “I think that the universe sent you to me. I think that if I’ve waited this long to find my one, that she is going to be able to handle anything I throw at her. I imagine that if there is anything that you find too much or too overwhelming, you’ll give me a chance to help you understand.”

  Delaney figured that wasn’t a bad answer. She couldn’t imagine sitting so close to this amazing man that she felt so comfortable with and him saying anything that would freak her out enough to leave.

  “So what about the eyes?” Delaney knew it was a jump, but she really wanted to know.

  “That’s a pricier question,” Will told her, and he looked thrilled to do so.

  Delaney took a moment then reached for the zipper on her suit and proceeded to pull it further down until it was at her waist. She watched as Will’s eyes dropped to the skull on her tank. She shrugged out of the sleeves and lifted the black tank top with the hot pink skull and crossbones on it over her head. His eyes didn’t move when she took it off. She was wearing a black lace trimmed bra underneath that had pink bow accents.

  His gaze was still on her chest and now on her bra. Reaching up, she flipped that catch on the front, and her breasts spilled out. Delaney saw Will suck in a breath, and his eyes started to glow again.

  Holding still as his hand came up to cup one heavy globe, it was her turn to suck in a breath at the heat from his hand on her soft flesh. He was gentle, but his hand moved over her, weighing and massaging her like he was getting a real feel of her. It felt great, and Delaney kept her eyes on his, enjoying the glow as it seemed to pulse through his irises.

  “You gonna fondle those all day or answer my question?” Delaney was actually happy to let him continue but didn’t want to get derailed on the answers she needed.

  Leaving his hands right where they were he said, “They’re not my eyes.” Will continued holding her breasts but was now sweeping his thumbs over her rigid rose colored nipples.

  “Whose eyes are they?” she said with a gasp. His thumbs were tormenting her nipples, and it was shooting sizzling shocks straight to her already tingling clit. He was still touching her, so she decided she was still paying for the question.

&nbs
p; “My animal’s,” he answered, leaning down to cover one sweet bud with his mouth. He sucked the nub into his mouth, rolling his tongue over the tip.

  “Wah? Your animal? Like your spirit animal or something?” Delaney was hoping just a few brain cells could stay on track asking questions while the rest of her body was in pussy clenching ecstasy. Will’s tongue was doing wonderfully wicked things to her.

  “No.” He paused to lick the other nipple before returning to the one that was wet and cherry red now. “My animal, my cougar. I’m a shifter. I have a cougar’s soul inside my body, and I can turn into my cat whenever I want.” This was followed by a hard tug on her abused nipple before he switched to the other side.

  Delaney was running through his answer in her head. She’d heard the words, just didn’t actually absorb them. His animal? Was that some sort of euphemism for something? Like was he one of those guys that had t-shirts with cougars on them, or a painful but kind of lame tattoo on his back of a mountain lion?

  Grabbing his hair in both hands, Delaney removed Will from her breast even though he fought her for a second. “What do you mean your cougar?” Delaney could see the glowing bright eyes, and she stared deeply into them. They seemed different, not human.

  “I mean I can shift into an animal. I’m happy to show you. I’m a shifter like all of my family. We’re all cougars. For every generation as far back as we can remember. We have a pack in Nevada. My Grandfather is the Alpha, and we all work for companies owned by the family.”

  Delaney watched him as he talked, and he was stating himself very clearly. He wasn’t hesitating and either he had practiced and rehearsed this speech, or he was telling the truth.

  “So you turn into a…cat?”

  “When I want to. Would you like to see him?”

  Deciding on whether she was going to continue making out half naked in the woods with this man, Delaney decided a break was warranted. Grabbing her tank, she pulled it back over her head and stood in front of him.

  She didn’t say anything, just took a few steps back like it was a dare.

  He slowly stood and watched her for a moment to be sure she was truly asking to see his cougar. Will could see there was plenty of doubt in her eyes. He couldn’t blame her. It was fantastical to think such a thing could really exist in the world. He’d lived it his whole life, so he knew that the supernatural was just another part of nature. Humans had denied the truth for so long that people like him had become legend, stories told to little children.

  He pulled off his jacket and kicked off his boots. Stripping down, he was proud to show his mate his body. It belonged to her now, and he wanted her to find him as attractive as he did her. Her body was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. When she’d freed her breasts, he knew without a doubt she was hands down perfect for him.

  Shucking down his boxer briefs, he stood up and gave her a full view of his body. Her eyes had been on him from the moment he stood. The heat of her attention felt like fingers on his skin. His cougar was purring at the mental touch of their mate.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Delaney couldn’t help but stare at Will’s perfect physique. He was all lean, tan muscle, perfectly formed, and his cock looked like it had been carved from marble. Long, thick and pointing straight at her. Delaney had to resist the urge to look behind her to make sure he wasn’t pointing that at someone else.

  He wasn’t, that cock was all for her. It was rather flattering.

  She finally let her eyes travel up to his gaze and felt herself blush.

  “All yours, Monkey,” he said, his eyes smiling but there was no grin on his face. No, his mouth was set in a line that said he was holding himself back from stepping closer to her.

  “We’ll see.” She let out the breath she’d been holding.

  “Just do me a favor. Don’t run, don’t scream, just watch. I promise no matter what you see, I’m still here. My cat would never hurt you, he couldn’t, it would kill him to see you come to harm.”

  Delaney didn’t scream or run when he got naked. Whatever was coming next, she doubted that would be her reaction.

  “Why wouldn’t a cougar attack me? I would think that would be natural instinct,” she challenged.

  “For a cougar, yes, but see you aren’t just some human. You belong to us. You’re our mate. Our one perfect match in all the world. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Waiting for me? How? And why are we having this conversation while you’re naked?”

  Throwing his hands in the air, Will let them fall to his hips like he’d forgotten he was naked. “I was going to show you my cougar, and you started asking questions again. And might I add, you haven’t paid for the questions, so I’m running a tab.”

  “Dude, I’m standing here waiting for you to do your thing. Not that I’m not liking the view you understand.”

  Will shook his head at her then dropped his gaze for a moment. When he looked back up, his eyes were full yellow. No longer just a glow around the edges, it was like they were burning from the inside. The air over his skin started to shimmer like there were heat waves coming off of him. Then the shape of him started to shift, colors spun over his flesh, and in a spark of color and light, there was a large tawny cougar standing in the spot Will had been.

  The cat was long, his tail swishing in the dirt behind him. His eyes were the same yellow that Delaney had seen before Will disappeared. The animal stood on four feet, his eyes focused on her, and he was purring. Yes, definitely purring. Even a few feet away, she could hear the rumbling sound coming from the beast.

  She couldn’t deny that he was impressive. He was an all sleek predator, and he wasn’t being aggressive towards her. In fact, the swishing tail reminded her of what a dog did when he was happy to see you. But this wasn’t a puppy, and it wasn’t Will. It was a cougar, and Delaney was trying desperately to find the man inside the animal. She remembered his instructions, and she didn’t scream, she didn’t run, but she wasn’t comfortable by a long shot.

  Her dad told her stories of a man that could become a bear when she was a little girl. She figured it was just ghost stories he liked to scare her with. Her dad swore, though, he’d seen the man change into a bear once when he was out hunting. The only thing Delaney took from the story was her dad saw a man naked in the woods.

  Now she’d seen a naked man turn into a cougar. She couldn’t deny what her eyes had witnessed. William Klein had turned into a cougar. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the animal and saw it was standing very casually. Its mouth was open and panting like he was tasting the air.

  “Aren’t you a pretty kitty,” Delaney said quietly.

  The cat’s head jerked back, and she could have sworn he looked disgusted.

  With a little laugh, Delaney apologized. “Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you.”

  She realized she was talking to an animal, but was she really? Was Will in there?

  “Do you understand me?”

  She couldn’t hold back the gasp when the big cat nodded at her. “Well, that answers that,” she mused.

  Taking a tentative step towards the cat, she paused to make sure he wasn’t moving. The animal stayed where it was, and so she took another step. Those golden eyes were on her quietly assessing. Holding her hand out steady in front of her, she bravely stepped the last step towards the cat’s head.

  Her fingers skimmed over the cat before sinking into the warm fur. The purring sound increased, and she watched his eyes close. He pushed up against her hand and rubbed his head into her hand.

  “So cool,” she whispered. There was never a time in Delaney’s life that she could imagine being this close to such a dangerous animal. She didn’t even have pets growing up. Now there was a big cat that was part man? Or a man that was part cat that seemed to like her very much.

  “Can I see it in reverse?” The cat seemed content to let her pet him all day. But she needed to see Will again to cement that this was all real.

  The cougar gave
a huffing sigh and took a step back. The shimmering from before started again, and in a flash of color, Will stood before her, and there was no cat to be seen.

  “You’re a cougar.” Delaney knew she was stating the obvious, but it still needed to be said.

  “I am. Or more specifically, I’m your cougar now. We belong to you just like you belong to us. We only get one shot at a mate in our life. The second our eyes met we knew. Like you know the world turns and that the sun will rise. You are our everything, and I couldn’t be patient and let you get to know the man before showing you the cougar. I want us to start our lives together, and I wanted to do it now.”

  Delaney was still processing the naked man that had magically reappeared in front of her. “You think I’m your mate?”

  “I know you are my mate. I want to bond with you, marry you, and have children with you. All of it, and I want to start now.”

  “How can you start a life with someone you don’t know, and you don’t love?”

  “What makes you think I don’t?”

  “Do you?” Delaney was a little skeptical of this. Lust, sure, she had that in spades. But he was talking much bigger than just the need to get a little action.

  “Ask me,” he said, his voice dropping low.

  Shit, Delaney didn’t expect to be put on the spot. Now she was nervous. She could guess what he was going to say. But what did she do with that information?

  Stepping around him, she walked to the blanket and flopped down. He came and sat next to her, still apparently unconcerned about his naked state.

  She stared at him and took a deep breath. “Do you love me?”

  Will didn’t immediately answer which ratcheted up her nervous state. Finally, he said, “Pay me.”

  Damn, she forgot about that. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with him. She did, so very much. She’d been in a perpetual state of arousal since he’d shown up that morning. Seeing the cougar should have turned her cold; instead, it turned her on.

  “What’s the cost?” she asked back, giving herself an extra moment to steady her racing heart.