by Kyle, Celia
She pulled her knees higher and rolled to her side, curling into herself and begging the aches to recede. It was too soon, too fast. It took twenty-four hours to complete the Change, and then a person would shift for the first time. At minimum it should have taken twenty.
It’d been barely fifteen. They’d woken in a mass of tangled limbs and then come out for breakfast. They’d ended up watching the morning news on the couch as the sun rose on the first day of their mated life.
“Fuck.” The word was a mix of an animalistic growl and groan, her new beast pushing further into the party.
A bone in her shin snapped, and she screamed as the sound echoed off the living room walls. Another crack, another bellow. Distantly she recognized that Harding was there for her, stroking her firmly, the strong touch easing some of the pain of her fur sprouting.
Harding left her, and her head fell to the cushion of the couch. He reappeared before her, crouching on the ground with his gaze centered on her, a look of both worry and fear filling his features. “It’s okay, Tess. Let it happen.”
“Fuck that.” The rapid click, crack, snap preceded the pain that came with her fingers breaking one by one. “I…hate…you…a…little…now.”
Her breathing came in heaving pants, body fighting through the agony that accompanied her first change. Lord, no one had mentioned this. If they had, she would have begged to be sedated this first time out.
“Sorry, sweet. No drugs,” Harding murmured while brushing sweat-dampened strands of hair from her face.
“Bastard.” She shoved the word past her lips, and then a scream tore from her chest. Her back bowed nearly in half, spine snapping, and just as quickly her abdomen contracted and pulled her forward.
The momentum had her rolling, tumbling to the edge of the couch and finally falling to the floor with a grunt. Harding scrambled away, pushing the coffee table free of her spasming body. Through slitted eyes, she watched the rest of her fingers break and reform, thickening and shortening. Midnight black nails formed at the tips, and the beginnings of glowing white fur rippled over her skin.
She closed her eyes fully, unwilling to see any more. Harding was a white lion, but even his fur was more cream than true white. But a polar bear… A polar bear like Alistair had fur the color of freshly fallen snow.
God save her if she ended up like him. Better yet, God save everyone else.
The agony continued. Pain bursting across her body until her world devolved into a ball of never ending misery. Her moans became growls. Groans became snarls. Screams became outright roars.
The beast was snaring and snatching control from her with an ever-increasing pace. Quiet reigned, the shattering of bones giving way to her heaving, panting breath. Agony still controlled her, but the basic structural change seemed to be finished. Now her muscles burned, searing her with fiery pain as she bulked up. And if her beliefs were true, there was a lot of bulking to be done to get her from just over five feet and one hundred eighty pounds to a jillion feet and half a ton.
God, if only water could squelch the burning torture.
Tess focused on the frantic beat of her heart, and she was thankful for the steady, albeit rapid, rhythm. Instead of dwelling on her suffering, she counted the pulsing thumps.
One. Two. Three.
She ignored the screaming torment that attacked her thighs.
Four. Five. Six.
She pushed past the next wave of spasms.
Seven. Eight. Nine.
Would it never end? Wetness coated her cheeks and dripped to splash on the backs of her hands. Well, at least what used to be the backs of her hands. She was tempted to open her eyes and gaze at the massive paws, but fear held her in check. Seeing what she’d become would push her that much closer to the end, and she wanted to hold on a bit longer.
Ten. Eleven. Twel—
With a massive shudder, the pain receded as quickly as it’d arrived, washing from her body in a tsunami of peace. A heaving sigh escaped her lips—no, her muzzle—and she slumped to the ground, bestial legs no longer able to support her weight.
And still she didn’t open her eyes.
She’d be a polar bear, and no matter how illogical her argument, she feared becoming like Alistair. But Harding had promised. He’d promised to put her down if she turned into her fath—
“You’re so beautiful, love.” Awe tinged Harding’s mental voice, and she mustered enough strength to reply.
“I’m him, aren’t I?”
“Open your eyes and see.”
“Don’t wanna.” She was a baby. Sue her.
Gentle fingers traced her toes and flicked her new nails and something inside her…moved.
Her beast, the bear, responded to Harding’s touch. It lumbered forth, its instincts overriding Tess’s human thoughts, and demanded that they pounce on theirs.
She inhaled, breathing deep, and the scents that permeated the room filled her. Heat. Man. Sex. Forest. Mine.
Tess couldn’t hide any longer. Not when she knew that Harding was hers and right there. There. In front of her. Inches away. She forced her eyes open and her gaze met a smiling Harding, his grin both goofy and overjoyed.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
She shook her head, wobbling with the movement as she became used to this new shape.
“Yeah, you are.” He leaned forward and rubbed his cheek on her snout. His scent wrapped around her, comforted her, as she fought through the panic of not knowing her form.
Large, warm hands, fingers coated in cream fur, cupped her snout. “My beautiful, beautiful…lioness.”
Tess jerked her head from his grasp, shaking and pulling from his touch. “No. Bear.”
“Stubborn.” He shook his head. “Look at your paws, Tess. Flick that pretty tail up here.”
That was the first moment she even realized she had a tail. It twitched, flicking like a cat’s, and she forced herself to turn her head and look. Look at her long, lean body, short legs and a decidedly feline tail. Surprise and joy pumped through her, a lion’s roar echoing inside her mind and a feline purr slithering through her body. She vibrated from inside out as she looked herself over. True, she was a shining white, but her body was in the shape of a cat.
Ignoring Harding, she pushed to her feet, looking herself over and drinking in every detail, from her long, black claws to her sleek legs and still-twitching tail. Her legs wobbled, joints like jelly, but she managed to stay upright while checking herself out. Her chuckling mate crawled out of the way. She turned one way and the other, catching sight of the tip of her tail with each spin. Then she was chasing the appendage, finally realizing why pups and kittens had such a good time doing the same.
Tess disregarded the thuds and thumps that followed her moves, too intent on discovering her new body. The cat still purred, content and happy with its arrival.
Suddenly a heavy weight landed atop her, and her purr disappeared to be replaced by a snarl. Her stomach was pressed against the ground, but she struggled against the body on her back, twisting and turning to get at the attacker.
“Enough.” The mental voice was tinged with a chuckle.
Tess stilled, lioness recognizing a stronger beast in their male. He’d told them to stop and stop they would. Much to Tess’s annoyance.
“Good kitty.” Harding licked her, sandpaper-rough tongue digging into her fur and scraping over the back of her neck. “My kitty.”
She relaxed into his cleaning, reveling in his care as he proceeded to lap at her neck and ears. “Your kitty.”
Because she was both a kitty and his. In her heart she accepted the truth, the knowledge that she truly wasn’t like her father, Alistair McCain, ex-leader of Freedom, and now deceased. She was Tess Grange, mate to Harding Grange, and a lioness who had her entire life ahead of her. One to be filled with happiness, love, and lots and lots of purring.
Lots.
And orgasms. She couldn’t forget those.
Epilogue
“Crazy is a
s crazy does, and I’m pretty sure everyone has a certain level of crazy. Just don’t let it all out when you have company. It scares them.” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and a little more than crazy. But at least wearing a strait jacket can be fun.
“So,” Maya poked Tess in the ribs. “You don’t look crazy.”
She whirled on the Prima as snow white fur poofed from her skin. She had no doubt about what the other lioness saw. Over the last two weeks, she and Harding had discovered that being surprised or fearful had the cat responding quickly. Unfortunately, when the first hint of furball manifested, her face looked like a massive white cotton ball.
Carly sidled up to them. “She does look like a Chia Pet, though.”
Okay, cotton ball or a Chia Pet.
Tess stroked her cheeks and neck, silently begging her new cat to take a step back. The strands receded but didn’t fully disappear. She took what she could get. She and the cat hadn’t exactly settled into their relationship. Tess wanted calm and peace. The lioness wanted Harding. All. The. Time. Tonight was the first time they’d be leaving the house for more than a run to the grocery store.
Even now, standing in a clearing before her first run with her new pride and surrounded by pride mates, she wanted the damned man.
“I’m not crazy.” Well, that’s what she tried to say, anyway. The stupid cat had decided that fangs were needed.
“Huh?” Maya tilted her head to the side. “Did she say ‘I hot lady’? True, but that’s not all that grammatically correct.”
At some point, Carly had wandered away, but reappeared with a food-laden plate in hand. “What’d I miss?” The rabbit held out her bounty. “Carrot stick?”
Tess wrinkled her nose. “Not so much.”
Hey, that came out normal. She stroked her cheeks and noted that only fine hairs remained.
Carly shrugged and bit off another hunk. “Your loss.”
Maya cleared her throat. “Okay, so the thing about it is…”
Tess raised her eyebrows, waiting for the Prima to continue.
“Remember how I sorta did the whole ‘welcome to the pride’ thing?” She scrunched up her nose. “Let’s consider that a trial run, shall we?”
“Maya’s sorta been making Alex cranky with accepting people in left and right without the proper protocols and words and the whole knifey-bleeding thing.” Carly gestured around, a salad dressing coated carrot in hand. The creamy sauce went flying, specks landing on the ground as well as the rabbit’s shirt. “So, we pretend for, like, all of five seconds, and then we can do the run thing. Ta da! Everyone’s happy.”
A movement in her peripheral vision caught Tess’s attention. There were people milling about the clearing, snaring bits of food, playing with cubs or socializing, but it was one body that drew her. The slow gait was unmistakable, the breadth of the shoulders, the fluid grace of the cat, and Tess turned her head to watch Harding’s approach. Her pulse quickened, heart thumping, and her cat purred as their mate neared.
“Aw, damn, we lost her,” Carly mumbled around a celery stick.
A slender hand gripped hers and squeezed. “Remember, you don’t know nothing about nothing.”
Nah, Tess knew a lot about a lot, and most of it had to do with the man in front of her. This massive, scarred and sometimes scary lion was hers, from the moment his first purr had rumbled through her body, and he would be until his very last.
The second he was within grabbing distance, she pounced. Using her kitty’s strength, she launched herself into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. He caught her with ease, large hands cupping her ass and holding her close.
Without hesitation, she plastered her mouth to his, sliding her tongue past his lips and tasting her mate. This was it. Her happiness. Her peace. Her now and forever and…
Carly’s low murmur intruded on their passion. “So, they’re gonna be busy for a while. I say we get on with the show.” She clapped twice. “Let the run begin!”
The End
If you enjoyed this book, please be totally awesomesauce and leave a review so others may discover it as well. Long review or short, your opinion will help other readers make future purchasing decisions. So go forth and rate my level-o-awesome!
By the way… here are some links to help you hunt up the rest of the Ridgeville series:
Ridgeville #1 – He Ain’t Lion (FREE) http://bookbit.ly/halare
Ridgeville #2 – You’re Lion http://bookbit.ly/ylare
Ridgeville #3 – Ball of Furry http://bookbit.ly/bofare
Ridgeville Series Volume One – Ridgeville 1, 2 & 3 http://bookbit.ly/rdg1are
Ridgeville #4 – Head Over Tail http://bookbit.ly/hotare
Ridgeville #5 – Fierce in Fur http://bookbit.ly/fifare
Ridgeville #6 – Deuces Wild http://bookbit.ly/dware
Ridgeville Series Volume Two – Ridgeville 4, 5, & 6 http://bookbit.ly/rdg2are
Ridgeville #7 – Sealed with a Purr http://bookbit.ly/swapare
Ridgeville #8 – Like a Fox (FREE) http://bookbit.ly/lafare
Ridgeville #9 – Big Furry Deal http://bookbit.ly/bfdare
Ridgeville #10 – Lion’s Honor http://bookbit.ly/lhare
Maya: Wisdom from the Queen (FREE) http://bookbit.ly/mayaare
Register for Celia’s Newsletter: http://celiakyle.com/news/
Part VII
Like a Fox
Gavin Mara is a fox shifter passing through Ridgeville, just stopping to visit his sister. Then he’s traveling to Chicago to begin his job as Director of Communications for the Council. It’s supposed to be a small vacation before the stress begins. Alistair McCain—ex-leader of Freedom—is now dead, and the shifter world is in turmoil. While the Council sorts things out, it’s Gavin’s job to keep everyone electronically connected.
And he’ll get right onto that just as soon as he claims his curvy lioness, Gina.
49
“Love at first sight doesn’t exist. There is, however, love after five orgasms in one boinking.”—Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman in love. Alex is such a giver…
The alluring, seductive scent of his mate woke Gavin Mara from a dead-to-the-world sleep. He bolted upright with a gasp, rock-hard cock stiff between his legs and a sheen of sweat on his brow. He drew the flavors into his lungs, and he had no doubt that his mate was a cat…and very, very close by.
He took a deep breath… Yes, she was a purring lioness. He knew those underlying, feline scents. He’d been visiting his sister Elise in Ridgeville ever since she’d mated her werelion Brute, and Gavin had come to recognize the various shifters the town held.
Lioness.
Would she roar for him? Or better yet, purr?
The heavy aroma of breakfast from downstairs in the Drool and Dine reached out to him, distracting him momentarily. Well, his stomach, anyway.
Each time he visited his sister, he rented the room above the diner, unwilling to share Elise and Brute’s home. He liked the guy. He just didn’t want to listen to his sister have sex with the gigantic lion.
Rushing from the bed, he scrounged around for something to wear. He was spending his last week of peace in Ridgeville, and he’d wanted to visit with Elise before he began his job in Chicago with the Council. They’d hired him to be the Director of Communications. He snorted. Tech support with a fancy name.
Gavin tossed clothes around, sending T-shirts flying as he hunted for something freaking clean to put on. God, he should have taken his sister up on her offer to do his laundry a few days ago. But he’d had a plan, a stack of quarters, and a Laundromat down the street. Right. Digging into the bottom of his suitcase, he came up victorious, clutching a semi-wrinkled, thin T-shirt he’d forgotten about.
“I Lick!” was emblazoned across the front in bright red letters.
His sister thought it’d get him a little action since “all ladies like a little downtown lovin’.”
Another round of searching netted him a p
air of jeans with some sort of weird stain on the leg. He brought the fabric to his nose and sniffed. Well, at least it wasn’t a toddler by-product. He’d gotten enough of that from the pride Prima’s twins. The fuckers were messy little things.
The A/C kicked on, and more of his mate’s alluring scent drifted to him. Shit, he needed to get down there. Now. Before she managed to get away from him.
Gavin rushed to the front door, slipping into a pair of worn sneakers on the way, and then he was outside, pounding down the metal steps. Clang clang clang clang. He sprinted around the side of the building and raced toward the front entrance.
He looked through the windows and scanned faces while he ran, attention adeptly split between the space in front of him and the interior of the diner. He recognized the werebear owner, Seno, and his wolf mate, Alice. A few other pride lions occupied the restaurant, as well as some rabbits and a wolf or two.
He rounded a corner, and then it was only three strides to the front door. He gripped the handle and practically tore it from its hinges, the need for his mate spurring him on. The slam of the metal and glass panel against the exterior of the building had everyone inside falling quiet. The hush rolled across the diner, and all eyes focused on him.
He stepped inside, took a deep breath and drew more of his mate’s arousing scent into his lungs. She was still here, her aromas concentrated within the room. They called to him with invisible arms. Another step in. Then another. Seno, a big bear of a man, rounded the counter. With a frown etched onto his features, he closed the distance between them.
“Gavin.” The man’s growl was a deep rumble.
He waved the bear away and inhaled again, hunting for the source of the alluring fragrance. He moved to the left, nose raised.
Seno cut him off. “Gavin.”
Gavin growled, curling his lip and baring a fang. “Mine. Mate.”