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Warning
This book contains graphic content intended for readers 18+ years old.
If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with adult content, please close this book now.
Chapter One
“Catie, how’s the story coming?” producer Michael Winry asked as he came into Catherine Ziles’ office. Catie sighed and leaned back in her chair. She’d been given a story to show the community the dangers of shapeshifters, stories that she had personal experiences with, but not one single incident happened within the past several weeks that she could cover.
“It’s not going as well as I’d like. Those monsters have been acting humane lately.” Catie said standing up from her chair. The BBW golden bronze woman was an absolute knockout in her peach chiffon suit. The suit hugged her impressive curves beautifully while still maintaining a professional look. Catie ran her hands through her curly hair and looked at her French tip nails as she bit her lip in frustration.
“I know how you feel, Catie. To have a story that you’re passionate about, but don’t have any recent evidence to support it… it can be a nightmare.” Michael looked the woman up and down and slightly licked his lips. He’s been into this goddess of a woman for quite some time now, but Catie didn’t even hint that she might be interested in the producer. He didn’t understand why though. Michael was good looking standing at six feet tall. He wasn’t the most muscular man in the world, but he kept his body fit and lean. His hair was always neatly groomed and many women told him that his strong jaw made him look dark, mysterious, and handsome, but Catie wouldn’t bite.
“I’ll find something soon, I swear.” Catie said more to herself than to Michael. Shapeshifters were the plague of the world, but everybody refused to see them that way. Ever since a shapeshifter killed her sister Abbey directly in front of her, Catie vowed that she would be the end of them all. Catie was no fool, though. She knew that she couldn’t beat a shapeshifter in combat, so that’s why she became a news reporter. Catie’s main goal was to find incriminating evidence that shapeshifters would be the end of mankind, but they hadn’t done anything as of recent that humans didn’t already do.
“Come on Catie,” Michael said as he watched the many expressions that flashed across her beautiful face. “You know I hate it when you look like that and don’t tell me what’s on your mind.” Michael wanted to be closer to the woman, even if that meant listening to her nag about her problems.
“Sorry Mike,” Catie said and gave him a small smile. “I need to go to the ladies’ room and freshen up.” Catie said and made her way towards the door. “Keep up the good work,” Catie commented and walked quickly down the hall. Catie’s heels tapped quickly against the granite floors, but she couldn’t hear the sounds because she was so deep in thought about her current situation.
“See you later, Catie!” A part-timer said as Catie quickly walked passed the new hire.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, Joyce.” Catie called out without looking over her shoulder. She was sure that she looked a hot mess and she needed to do something about that. When Catie arrived in the bathroom, she made a b-line straight to the mirror. “I knew it,” Catie sighed and opened her purse to grab her makeup. The air conditioning had been broken ever since that morning and facilities hadn’t gotten around to fixing it yet. ‘Sorry, we have so many more urgent orders to complete at the moment’ they told everyone and Catie grimaced. There was nothing more important than fixing the ac when the temperature outside was almost one hundred degrees!
Catie wiped off the makeup that was slightly starting to run down her face. It wasn’t noticeable so she was sure that nobody else saw it, but she refused to let it continue. She would not look like a clown. Catie put on smoky shadow that emphasized her big midnight eyes and relined her eyelids. She left her lips bare, only including slightly colored lip-gloss.
“It’s kind of pointless for me to go through all of this trouble considering that the ac is still broke.” Catie said to herself once she fixed herself up. She sighed as she looked in the mirror and saw that her eyes were red. She loved what she does, but the whole news reporter gig was tiring. Especially when you’re not making any progress, Catie thought to herself. All of the murders and high level crimes these past few weeks had been perpetrated by humans. The only things the shapeshifters did was stolen some food from outside vendors. Those crimes weren’t enough to try to incite fear in the public about cohabiting with these fiends. The most that would do is show people that shapeshifters were equally as petty as humans.
Catie shook her head then and exited the bathroom.
“Hey Catherine,” Catie turned at the sound of Tiffany Striders’ voice. The overly hyper teleprompter editor quickly made her way over to Catie. Despite the irritation Catie was feeling about the lack of ac and stories, she couldn’t help but to smile at the bouncy blonde haired woman.
“Hey Tiffany, call me Catie girl. Everyone else does,” Catie said and Tiffany shook her head.
“No can do, Catherine. If you didn’t notice, I hate being like everyone else.” Tiffany was right about that one. Everyone pretty much dressed in suits and professional wear at the station, other than the cleaning crew, but Tiffany wasn’t like everyone else. She’d happily put on her everyday clothes refusing to conform. Today Tiffany wore a ‘pretty in pink’ frilly blouse with blue capris.
“I guess,” Catie said shaking her head. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if you wanted to grab a late lunch?” Tiffany asked and almost like on cue, Catie’s stomach growled. Catie grinned at that and nodded her head.
“Sure, I’m starving.” Catie said and the two of them started walking towards the entrance of the building. Catie didn’t want her bad mood to interfere with the entertaining stories that Tiffany would have read as she edited the Teleprompters’ news reports.
*****
Even though Catie had had a long day at work; that didn’t stop her from going straight home and doing some research because after work was when she was at her peak. Catie decided to travel around some areas to where known shapeshifters frequented and questioned some of the people who worked in the area. She was trying to find something newsworthy that can show humans how horrible shapeshifters were. Unfortunately, nobody was able to give her any useful information.
“Well if a local interview won’t work, it’s time to try to see what other people are saying.” Catie logged into Facebook to look for anybody talking about shapeshifters. There was some talk about them, but none of them caught her eye until she saw a post from a Ms. Alexa Steele;
Today I found out my boyfriend of five years is a shapeshifter. A shapeshifter!! I’ve never accepted the fact that people were able to do this, then again I don’t truly think their people. I found out when I came home from work way earlier than I expected and what do I see when I walked through the door? A large bear trying to get something from a cabinet that my boyfriend nor I would have been able to get to. He looked at me and I looked at him before releasing an ear shattering scream. I would have never started dating him if I knew this, so needless to say I dropped him quick. Officially single!!!
Catie read that post several times with a deep scowl on her face. She couldn’t believe someone would lie about who they were like that. Catie shook her head feeling sorry for the girl.
“These monsters would do anything to mess with humans’ heads.” Catie mumbled. This wasn’t exactly newsworthy, but Catie thought it was something. Anyone could lie, people did it all the time, but if Catie was able to get a few moments of Alexa’s time, then it was a possibility that Catie would be able to figure out information that Alexa didn’
t disclose in her post. Standing up quickly, Catie went into the kitchen to turn on her Keurig. Something told the woman that it was going to be a long night and since it was going to be one of those nights, it’ll be best to get some work down.
As Catie waited for coffee to brew, she made herself something to eat quickly. Once everything was ready, she went back to the computer and dropped a message in Alexa’s inbox. It wasn’t too long before Alexa responded back to her, and Catie couldn’t help but to grin when reading the message. Alexa agreed to an interview over coffee the next day and gave Catie a time that she was ready and what places she frequented. Alexa lived about an hour and a half away from Catie, but Catie didn’t care. She travelled from the west coast to the east coast just to have a thirty-minute interview so this was nothing.
“Alright, here’s to possibly some good information.” Catie said and drunk the remainder of her coffee. Catie decided to think that this meeting wouldn’t give her any valuable information, but that didn’t stop her, she just didn’t want to get her hopes too high. In the back of her mind though, Catie believed that this interview might lead her to a sure gold rush.
Chapter Two
Lucas Curtis walked out of his pristine office bathroom and made his way to the Mauhaubi conference room. He ran his hand through his sandy brown hair as his golden eyes scanned the wide hallway. He could feel the women’s eyes on him and he couldn’t help but to smile.
“Hi Luke,” the pretty red head by the name of Susan walked over to him blocking his path. Luke was irritated that he was stopped, because he was already running a little behind for a meeting, but he smiled and greeted the woman.
“Good afternoon Susan. How are you today?” Susan’s green eyes looked up at him and he could see that she was watching him deeply. She wanted him and Luke knew it.
“I’m fine Luke, do you have a moment?” Susan asked as she twirled a red lock on her index finger. The woman was a knockout standing at five feet four inches. Her body was slim, but athletic and she had breasts that would make any man salivate over her. Luke wasn’t one of those men though, the woman just didn’t do it for him.
“I’m actually running behind on a meeting. Can it wait?” Luke asked looking at his watch with a frown marring his handsome features. His strong and chiseled jaw clench slightly when Susan took a little too much time with her answer. C’mon woman, I don’t have all day! Luke thought to himself. Almost like she felt his frustration, Susan flinched and nodded her head quickly.
“Yes! Sorry about that. I’ll talk to you later.” Luke could tell that Susan was slightly embarrassed as she hurried around him. Luke smirked and continued down the hall. Any man would be lucky to have Susan under his arm; however, Susan wasn’t someone that Luke would want to take back to his pride.
*****
“Kevin always had a temper. He’s never hit me before but when he felt like he was threatened, he’d show his true colors.” Alexa said as her bubblegum pink lips wrapped around the straw of her strawberry banana smoothie. “I’ve been around many aggressive guys, don’t get me wrong, but Kevin’s aggressive attitude definitely topped theirs.”
“Would you say it’s because of the bear blood running through his veins? Bears in general are docile creatures until they feel threatened. This is when they become deadly.” So far Alexa wasn’t telling Catie anything that she’s never heard, but she still decided to keep the tape recorder running. Alexa thought about it for a moment before answering.
“I don’t know too much about wildlife, so I guess that could be a reason why.” Alexa shook her head and looked deeply into Catie’s eyes then. “There were times when Kevin got so angry… I swear I thought hair was starting to grow everywhere on him. And his eyes… his eyes were different for just a split second… thinking about it now, I think he was about to change into a bear, but he sometimes stopped suddenly. Have you ever see a shapeshifter transform in front of your eyes?” Catie thought back to when her sister was killed and nodded her head with pain shooting through her heart.
“Unfortunately I have…” Alexa moved in closer then and started whispering. Catie informed the woman that she was being recorded in advance, so she didn’t know why Alexa felt the need to do that.
“One of my friend’s friend died last summer… this isn’t public knowledge, but he was real close to a shapeshifter when he transformed and POW! The impact of the shapeshifter’s transformation completed destroyed the guy’s body.” Catie’s eyes widened at that. She never knew that a shifter’s transformation could be deadly if they’re too close to someone.
“Did your friend see this happen? Or is this just a rumor?” Catie asked eyes wide in interest. This was definitely something that could turn her dry spell around. As far as she knew, there had been no documented cases suggesting that shifter’s transformation could be dangerous.
“The family of the guy that was killed had a closed casket because of it.” Alexa said still whispering. Catie didn’t want to be like those news reporter that tracked down stories like hyenas starving for cattle, but she couldn’t just leave this information alone.
“Does your friend have these people contact information? I’d love to speak with them regarding this. This is definitely information the world need to be aware of.” Alexa frowned at that.
“I just can’t give you his contact information.” Alexa said going straight on the defense. Catie figured that the woman would say as much. She hated to resort to these types of tricks, but this was for work. Catie turned off the tape recorder then because her next steps she did not want recorded. Reaching into her purse, Catie pulled something out of it and discreetly placed it on the table. Alexa’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw several hundred dollar bills spreading across the table.
“I understand this type of information is difficult to give out. But the world needs this information. It could possibly stop events like this from happening again.” Catie smiled slyly and Alexa looked around before taking the money.
“Alright… I’ll tell you.” Alexa said and gave Catie the information that she wanted. “It was a pleasure meeting with you, Catherine.” Alexa quickly stood up then and made her way out of the small café before Catie had enough time to change her mind. Catie didn’t care though, she was going to pay for Alexa’s meal regardless so it wasn’t like she just left her with the check. Catie ate her food in silence with many thoughts running through her head.
*****
Catie walked down the streets of San Francisco and stopped a few people to ask them of their opinions of shapeshifters and if they had any negative experiences with them. Their opinions were mixed and nobody said anything about them being dangerous when they transformed. Catie was starting to think that maybe Alexa’s story was exaggerated. A few hours ago Catie gave this friend of Alexa’s, Timothy White, a call and left a voicemail. Since he lived in San Francisco, Catie didn’t want to make that trick back to Santa Cruz in case he called her. Catie knew the area well so she just parked her car and decided to walk around.
Luckily for her, people were nice enough to stop and hear her out. Majority of everybody she stopped knew her, and didn’t have a problem with providing her information. Too bad none of the information was good. Catie grew tired of walking then and decided to take refuge in an overly decorated Tim Hortons. After making and receiving her order, she sat down and busied herself on her phone. Catie saw that Michael called her a few times, but she honestly didn’t feel like talking to him right now. She didn’t want to start dialing his number and accidently reject Timothy’s call. She knew it was unlikely, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Sorry that I couldn’t meet with you after my meeting, I had to come meet with a client in San Francisco unexpectedly.” Catie looked up at the man that walked passed her quickly with his back turned towards her way. She heard a lot of people talking to each other, but the mystery man’s voice was so deep and smooth that she couldn’t help but to look up at him. Catie immediately fell in l
ove with his sandy brown hair and broad shoulders. She couldn’t see his face, but she was sure that he was a knockout.
The man ran his hand through his hair as he responded to the person’s question on the other end of the phone.
“No…. I’m not seeing anyone,” the man said slowly. Oh, someone’s trying to ask him out? Catie asked herself. Considering the man’s back stiffened a little, it was apparent that he wasn’t fond of the woman… or man. He was definitely not interested in this person. “Oh… I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything like that, but I’ve made a rule to not date anyone that I work with… I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you as a co-worker and friend, though.” Ouch… this man is brutally honest. I would have died if I asked out a man and got turned down like that. “I see… well, enjoy the rest of your evening.” He said and hung up with a sigh.
Catie knew that she should mind her own business, but she had to see what this man looked like. Catie picked up her empty cup and pulled down her shirt that had risen a bit up her back. She slowly walked passed the man, threw her garbage away, and casually turned back around. Catie froze in her spot as her eyes landed on the man’s face. He was drop dead gorgeous! She didn’t mean to stand there and stare, but she wasn’t expecting that image that was displayed in front of her. The man apparently felt Catie’s eyes burning a hole in his face and his golden eyes met with hers.
Chapter Three
Catie knew that she looked like an absolute idiot staring at that man so intensely, but it wasn’t like he averted his eyes away from her. No, those golden eyes stared so deeply into Catie’s eyes that she was almost positive that he could see straight into her soul.
Romance: My Stepbrother's Plaything Page 22