The Shifter's Catch

by T. S. Ryder

  “Guess you have a point. I should be the one coming to visit you. It’s been too long.”

  “Absolutely. Thanks a million, Hay. Really.”

  “Anytime. Be good.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  ***

  The rest of his week was busy. Anytime a new acquisition was happening, the hours grew long and stress levels rose. He’d lost all track of the days. The city below him was lit up against the dark sky. Evening was creeping to nighttime.

  He yawned and glanced at his schedule for tomorrow. He really needed to find some time to workout. He hadn’t all week and was starting to feel antsy from too many hours in the office. He’d even taken to pacing when he could, just to be up and moving.

  At the bottom of tomorrow, it said ‘Kaelyn arrives’. He’d completely forgotten. He tried hard not to bother his assistant after office hours. She deserved to have a life and certainly Lynch Corporation wasn’t her entire world like it was his. But this was important and it shouldn’t take too long. He decided to text rather than call so he didn’t interrupt anything.

  “Sorry to bother you after hours, but I’ve just realized Kaelyn is arriving tomorrow. Is everything in place for her?”

  He received an answer back within minutes. “Absolutely. A small moving van is arriving at 3 p.m. to bring her things from her dorm. There is a new key waiting for her and a list of the codes and passwords for the security systems and wifi, and your home staff has been alerted. Her room is ready and a basket will be awaiting her. I’ve left room in your evening schedule for you to spend time with her if you should desire to.”

  “You are the best. Thank you.”

  “Anytime.”

  This was exactly why he had no problem making sure Sandy was one of the highest paid employees he had. He demanded a lot of her and she was always ahead of him and on top of things. She never had a bad attitude and she never missed a thing. He wondered if she was just as efficient when it came to her husband, kids, and home life, or if he stressed her out so much that she needed time at home to do nothing. Although she always assured him the work was not too much, and she never complained.

  He looked over his schedule again. Kaelyn was coming at 3 p.m. He had meetings until 4 p.m., then he’d hit the gym and be home by 6 p.m. That should be enough time for her to settle in. Maybe he’d take her out for dinner to welcome her.

  He sent a text to his housekeeper, who oversaw all his personal staff. “Tomorrow evening, after Kaelyn arrives, I would like to take her out for dinner, if she’s up for it. Please be ready to have something made if she’s not.”

  He got a fast response. “I will make sure we have something available, Mr. Lynch.”

  Hayden stood and stretched. Though it had been a long, stressful week, it had been a good week. At times like this, he always felt grateful for his staff and all the hard work they did, both in his company and in his home. They made his life so much easier. They kept his privacy and his secrets.

  Chapter Two

  When he got home that night, it was dark already. This was a perfect time. He got into his car and drove until he reached the forest. When he got to his favorite spot, he parked and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He walked to the twisted tree that had his scent all over it.

  Hayden kicked off his shoes first and stuck them in the bag. Then his t-shirt and shorts. He tucked the bag into the crevice in the tree and stood naked in the moonlight. He took a deep breath and fell forward onto all fours. The transition happened quickly, as it always did. He felt his bones thickening and stretching beneath his skin, hair growing on every part of his body in thick black and silver sections. His head grew narrow and his mouth became a snout. He stood tall for a moment and beat on his gorilla chest before roaring and taking off at a run.

  He followed the scents through the forest, letting them lead him. He ran for several miles until he caught the scent he was looking for. He turned and ran after her.

  It didn’t take long to find her and her sister. When they heard him approach, they called back in shrieks and bounded to him. There was some grunting as they greeted each other, then they took off running together. After a while, they caught up with the last member of their gorilla shifter family and ran together a few miles before coming to a stop in a cave they’d discovered years ago.

  One by one, they shifted back to human form, standing naked in the dim light of the cave.

  “Hey,” Hayden said to them. “How’s everything?”

  “Haven’t seen you in a while,” Katherine said.

  “I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been online, though.” They had an online group where they stayed connected and discussed things in the human world. He’d posted earlier that he was coming out for a run. None of them had responded, but clearly, since they were all here, they’d gotten the message.

  “Another family came through a few days ago,” Bella said.

  “Five of them,” Stella added.

  Hayden squinted at the twins. “Why didn’t you let me know sooner?”

  “They just passed through,” Stella said.

  Bella nodded. “Didn’t even stop.”

  “I followed the scent for a while, but they were just passing through to head north,” Katherine said.

  “Okay. What else is going on?”

  The twins exchanged a look and grinned.

  Katherine rolled her eyes. “Just tell him.”

  “I’m getting married,” Bella said.

  “Congratulations.” Hayden was happy for her, but that now meant they were all married except him. If they had been a traditional gorilla family, he’d be the alpha and they’d all belong to him. But they were more human than a gorilla and spent less time shifting than they did living in the real world. “He knows, I assume?”

  Bella nodded. “He agreed to meet you.”

  Hayden nodded back. This was part of the job of the alpha. He had to talk to her new fiancé and explain the family and gorilla life and make sure he was okay with it. At first, Katherine’s husband had been up in arms at the fact that she was often naked in front of him. Hayden had tried to make it clear that there was zero attraction between them as family members. Though they weren’t related through human means, they came from a long line of gorillas who stuck together and made families. These women were like sisters to him, as much as Gabrielle was. And when she’d still lived in the area, Gabby had been his second in command. Now it was Katherine.

  They chatted a bit more, ran a few more miles in gorilla form, then split up and headed their separate ways. Hayden returned to his tree, changed back to human form and dressed before driving home.

  It felt good to get out and run like that. He needed it after his week. He went straight to his basement when he got home and worked out for a while on his collection of gym equipment. He went to bed that night feeling better and ready for tomorrow, looking forward to seeing Kaelyn and unwinding a little.

  ***

  Hayden had planned to leave work by 4:30 so he could hit the gym before going home to meet Kaelyn, but his meetings ran long, and it was after 5 p.m. when he got to his car. He decided to skip the gym for the night and go straight home.

  When he pulled in, there was no moving van. It looked like everything had gone as planned, then. He hadn’t gotten any messages saying otherwise.

  He parked his Jaguar in his garage beside his Lamborghini and Ferrari. He kept the Jag for his everyday use. The other cars in his collection were either for show or for play. There was a new car in the garage tonight, though, a beat up Toyota that had to be several years old. It was grossly out of place among his collection of high-end cars. Obviously, that was Kaelyn’s car.

  Hayden went inside and was greeted by his housekeeper.

  “Mr. Lynch, Miss Kaelyn would be thrilled to have dinner with you this evening.”

  “Great. Thank you.” Though he was tired and wished he could hit the gym, it would be good to relax and share a meal with an old friend. “Where is
she?”

  “In her room.”

  Hayden walked upstairs, to the room that was now Kaelyn’s. He knocked and she opened the door.

  “Hi!” She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here. You’re the best.”

  “Anytime.”

  She dropped her arms and stepped back from him. Now he could see her well for the first time, and what he saw shocked him. The Kaelyn he’d known in high school had always been a little on the chubby side. Though she was pretty, it seemed her parents were never happy with her appearance and they’d put her through a string of diets and exercise programs. He’d felt kind of sorry for her and remembered Gabby being frustrated over it and saying, “Why couldn’t they just let her be her?”

  But, apparently, something had changed in the last years. She was still curvy. Thick hips and voluptuous breasts. But she’d grown into her curves now and she owned them. This was not an insecure overweight woman, but a happy and confident woman who was comfortable with her body, and it showed.

  “You look great,” he said. He was trying not to stare, but her cleavage was so visible to him, and it was hard to keep his eyes off her. He was no small guy himself. Being a gorilla shifter gave him something of a gorilla-like body with thick arms and legs and a broad chest. He didn’t like tiny little women who looked like they would break if the wind blew on them too hard. But Kaelyn, a woman with some substance, was exactly his type.

  “Thank you.” She gave him a playful smile. “You don’t look too bad yourself. All grown up and everything.”

  “Did the move go okay?”

  “Oh, sure. I didn’t have much stuff in my dorm room. A few boxes, really. I’m already all unpacked.”

  She gestured to the room and he glanced around, amazed at how the space had transformed. On the desk was her laptop, complete with purple cover. Nail polish bottles sat beside it. On top of the dresser were perfumes and hair things. The bed had the comforter that had been there—white with black flowers—but now there was a bright turquoise pillow in the middle that he’d never seen before. The closet, which he had thought was rather large, was packed full of clothing in bright colors and sparkling fabrics. She’d already hung several photos on the wall of her and her friends, including some with Gabby. He couldn’t see it from here, but he guessed that the bathroom was covered in makeup and hair products.

  His own room seemed stark in comparison. He had nothing this colorful in his room. It was all suits and ties and workout clothes. Was this what people meant by ‘a woman’s touch’?

  “I like what you’ve done with the place,” he said.

  “So, where are we going? What should I wear?”

  He hadn’t thought that far ahead, but there were plenty of restaurants that would find a table for him if he merely gave them his name. Most were dressy to semi-formal.

  “Do you have something like a little black dress?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “That would be perfect. Want to go in about an hour?”

  “Great. I’m starving.”

  He closed the door behind him and went to his own room to shower and dress. This could be a problem, he thought. When he’d agreed to let her stay here, he hadn’t pictured the gorgeous woman who was now living in his house. He’d pictured the overweight girl from high school. Even if he’d had a little crush on her then, it was nothing compared to what he just felt looking at her now. How was he going to be so close to her all the time when she was so good looking?

  Even as he got dressed, he couldn’t help thinking about her. The biggest problem was, he knew her already. He had known her for years. And most importantly, he’d known her since before he was rich. Which gave him little reason to turn off his feelings for her.

  Hayden had been on countless dates and in a few relationships. But it seemed like it was always with the same type of woman. She was pretty, but full of herself. From a wealthy family, so she had plenty of ideas of how to be in public—and how different to be behind closed doors. She spent a ton of money because she was used to it. She thought the world should be handed to her.

  It was hard for him to get into those sort of women since he hadn’t grown up with money. They had done okay, but his family had been strictly middle class. When he went off to college and discovered a talent for business, things started to change. His uncle died and left him a little money, which he invested. It grew and multiplied and he invested it again. And then again. By the time he graduated, he was a millionaire. He started to get attention and big dollars backing him and in a few years became a billionaire who owned his own company with hundreds of smaller companies. He’d given companies to his sister and parents and many family members. They ran them and got paid handsomely. He’d made his whole family rich.

  But he hadn’t grown up with money like most of the women he encountered. And if he went outside of the circle of the elite, he ran into gold diggers and women who wanted to use him for his money. It had been difficult, and this was why he was still single. Why he’d gotten used to the idea of being single and figured he would be for a long time.

  Not that Kaelyn couldn’t be someone who ended up using him, but at least he knew the real her. She’d known him for years, and they’d been friends. It was a much better place to start from than a stranger who knew him as a billionaire. She knew him as Hayden.

  Chapter Three

  When Hayden left the room, Kaelyn stood there for a moment, looking at the place where he’d been standing seconds before. She wasn’t kidding when she’d commented about how he’d grown up. He was straight up hot now. His big arms and legs, his wide shoulders. The parts of his arms that were visible were covered in muscle. His whole body had to be. His short, spiky hair and thin beard. It was all she could do not to gawk at him.

  And now she was about to sit across from him at dinner and live here with him? She would need to talk to Gabby right away. If she had a serious problem with them hooking up, then they all had a serious problem. Though she was maybe getting ahead of herself. She hadn’t talked to him in years. He had to have a girlfriend. No way could he look like that and be crazy rich and also be single. Life didn’t work that way. Well, if nothing else, she’d have a few months to stare at him. If she was lucky, maybe she’d even catch him naked sometimes by ‘accident’.

  She slipped into her black dress, her favorite of the three she owned. This one was low cut and came to her mid-thigh. It was just tight enough to show off her curves, but made them look good and not all bulging like some tight-fitting tops could. She looked great in this dress and she knew it.

  Kaelyn chose to accent the dress with a necklace thick with small red beads, to play up her sexy side. She slid silver hoops into her ears, and a sparkly silver bracelet onto her wrist. When it was time to do her makeup, she reached straight for the red tube of lipstick that matched the necklace. Her matching red heels were a no brainer.

  She stood in front of the floor-length mirror and gave herself a once over. Nice. She twisted her hair up on top of her head and held it in place with some hair bands and bobby pins. She dug out her red purse. She thought she had put it in a drawer, but it turned out to be hanging in the closet. She threw in some things she might need for the night—powder in case she got shiny, the red lipstick, mascara, and her wallet. With her phone tucked inside, she was set.

  She walked out of her room and down the stairs, where Hayden was waiting for her. She hadn’t done too badly. He’d said an hour and it had only been an hour and eight minutes. Couldn’t argue with that.

  “You look very nice,” he said. He held up his arm and she slipped hers through it, chuckling.

  “It’s weird for you to be so formal with me.”

  “Is it?” He dropped his arm. “I haven’t seen you in so long, I didn’t know what you’d expect.”

  “I expect the same Hayden who used to turn up his music to drown us out and who would fart in your parent’s van just to annoy us.”
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  He shook his head, his cheeks going slightly pink.

  “It’s not like you don’t have plenty of embarrassing moments on me,” she said. “Do you remember the pink dress incident?”

  He pulled together his eyebrows as he held the door of a very expensive looking car open for her. Then recognition changed his face. “Oh! Yes, I think so.”

  They got in the car and he backed out, then turned down the driveway. “Was that the night that Gabby was freaking out over that guy—who was he?”

  “Dan Smith. With the dreadlocks.”

  Hayden put his hand to his face. “What did she ever see in him?”

  “What!” She laughed. “Dan was hot, what are you talking about?”

  “He never washed his hair.”

  “Hayden. You don’t wash dreadlocks. Everyone knows that.”

  “Well does everyone also know how disgusting that is?”

  She reached over to gently shove his shoulder. “Not every guy is as sexy and clean as you.”

  He flipped up the collar of this jacket and made a duck face at her. They both laughed. “I remember when Dan and the other guy—”

  “Scott.”

  “Right. They showed up to take you both out and you had on that dress—”

  “Which was far too tight for me, by the way.”

  “Wasn’t it Gabby’s dress?”

  “Oh!” She put her hands to her mouth. “I think you’re right! No wonder it was too small. I was, like, four sizes bigger than her in high school.”

  “You came down the stairs all excited for your double date,” Hayden said. “And when you bent over to put on your shoe, the dress split up the back, showing everything.”

  “Yes.” She made her voice dramatically solemn. “It was quite a sad day for the pink dress. And for me. Who was so embarrassed I ran up to Gabby’s room and cried all night.”

  “Yeah. I got stuck entertaining those dudes for about an hour until Gabby came down and said you weren’t going.”