Clipped Wings: A New Orleans Shifters Novel

by C. J. Snyder

  So the next question would be what made her decide to be the protector of animals as a Park Ranger. I think I’m going to wait on that question since I’ve been making her talk about herself for the past three hours and it looks like she’s starting to wind down a little on stories.

  Not wanting to burn her out on talking, I figured maybe I should open up about myself a little. This is normal human things to do, right? And before you can ask, yes I spend most of my time around shifters; ravens and wolves most of the time to be exact. Humans sometimes get on my nerves.

  Before I could even open my mouth, Cora puts down the remaining piece of her burger, “So, I’ve been chatting your ear off all day about myself. Tell me more about you.” She shoves another fry in her mouth while looking at me with wide expecting eyes. Boy, are we on the same page so far or what?

  Not wanting to disappoint her, I tell her about my life in New Orleans and my recent travels to the northern mid-western states. I told her about watching the buffalo while eating lunch on the seat of my bike. I tell her about my two weeks in Vegas but leave out all the debauchery that happened in those two weeks. I mean, come on, they don’t call it Sin City for anything. “Have you ever been to Vegas?” Her eyes are still wide, but now I think it’s in disbelief at all the things I have done.

  She shakes her head, “No, but it’s on my bucket list of places to see.” She takes a sip of her soda and places her utensils on top of her plate to signify that she is done eating. I was also, finished and ready to walk off everything that we just had. Signaling for the server to bring the check, I pay for our meal and lead the way down the stairs to the short walk back to my cabin.

  Her cell rings loudly in her back pants pocket, “Excuse me a moment.” I nod in understanding, watch as she slows down to fall behind me and answers her phone. Her entire demeanor changes, her eyes narrow and her hand that isn’t holding the phone goes to her hip. I can tell by the tight lines in her face that she isn’t happy with whatever she’s hearing. Then she takes the phone and slams it back into her pocket.

  I spin around rapidly to act like I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening and nonchalantly ask, “Everything ok?” She catches back up to me and sits down in the patio chair in a huff, her hand goes to smooth back her hair as if she has forgotten that it’s pulled back into a tight bun at the top of her head.

  I can tell she’s frustrated at whatever was going on as she takes a deep breath and slowly releases it, “Not really, Edward – my supervisor – just called to tell me that he decided I needed some time away from the station, so he put me on administrative leave for the next three months.” She throws both her hands up in the air and snorts, “That job is my entire life, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?”

  I’m pretty sure that was rhetorical. But when I sit down next to her in one of the chairs and look over, she’s watching me with eyes that are expecting an answer. “Oh, sorry. I thought for sure that was a rhetorical question.” Letting out a nervous laugh, I shrug “You could always take a vacation. Go see Vegas.”

  That made her laugh and she rest her head on the back of the chair. “I’m not going there alone; I’d want to enjoy it with someone.” She looks down at her uniform and lets out a snort, “Well, guess I can change out of these. Do you mind if I use your bathroom? I have a change of clothes in the Jeep.”

  Sweeping my hand toward the cabin door, “Make yourself at home.”, I say with a smile. She nods at me again and gets up to walk to her Jeep. It only takes her a couple of minutes to grab a duffel bag out of the back of her jeep, grab her change of clothes and walk back to me on the porch. As she is walking past me into the cabin, she smiles again, “Thanks. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

  Once she is inside the cabin and I hear the bathroom door shut, I walk down to the restaurant again to grab another cup of coffee. If you can’t tell already, I’m sort of a coffee addict. I really should go to some type of meeting for caffeine anonymous. The local coffee house knows me by face now and doesn’t even question my choice of brew.

  I need help.

  Making it back in time with two cups of coffee, instead of just one, I offer her a cup and she accepts. “I thought you may need one. I also brought you some creamer and a few different types of sugar because I’m not sure how you like your coffee.”

  Cora looks at me with a deep appreciation as she takes a sip. She looks good in her faded ripped jeans and a blue and white football jersey. She let her dark brown hair fall from the bun but still has it pulled back at the nape of her neck. I’m thinking maybe I should get to know this side of miss hard ass badass as well as the ranger side. She so soft looking and she smells great.

  My phone starts ringing, and I pull it out of my jeans to see who is bothering me. Its mom, “Excuse me, Cora. It’s my mom.” Walking off the patio and to the sidewalk, sliding the screen to answer as I go I put the phone to my ear wondering what’s going on. The parents wouldn’t normally call while I’m on the particular quest.

  “Hey, Mom, what’s up?” what she tells me flips my world upside down and my heart sinks to the ground. I feel like I’m going to have a full-blown panic attack right then and there. Walking back over to Cora, she can see the deep sorrow smeared all over my face and asks what’s wrong.

  In utter agony, with tears forming in my eyes, I squeak out, “My Father’s been murdered.”

  ∆∆∆

  Chapter 6

  Kangee

  Hanging up with mom after telling her I’m on my way, I look over at Cora, my heart in my throat. I couldn’t believe what I had just been told by my mother. My Father was found dead outside of New Orleans in the wooded area close to the river. The weapon of choice, as far as we can tell, was a solid black hunting arrow with red lined tips. Who would do this? I had to get back to New Orleans, but that posed another problem; no transportation.

  Cora’s face was slack, her jaw slightly dropped and her eyes were wide in surprise at what I said.

  “Oh, Kangee, I am so sorry.” She stood up and quickly walked over to me. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pressed into me with a hug. It was the most comforting hug I have ever experienced. She smells like wildflowers in a meadow right after a spring rain. Hesitating for only a second, I wrap my arms around her and pull her in tight. Why am I reacting so strongly to her? And better yet why does how she feels, matter?

  Resting my head right in the crook of her neck and shoulder, I whisper, “Thank you, Cora.” My mind was racing in time with my heart and it felt like my palms were starting to sweat with both anger and sadness. And was there something else? No, I’ll think about Cora later. Stepping away from her and ending the hug, I just stood there, “I’ve got to figure out a way to get back to New Orleans.”

  She walked around the small patio area, pacing for me. “Do you know exactly what happened?”

  I sat down in one of the lounge chairs resting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands, “All we know is that he was found with a black arrow in his chest, outside of the New Orleans area, it was not a hunting accident.”

  With every word, I could feel my anger rising, “This was a targeted attack, I need to get home.”

  Standing up and looking around, not sure what to do now, I walk into the cabin and pull out my duffel bag and start tossing items into it with thoughts going through my head as to how I’m going to get home. Can’t use my Raven form, since I have a duffel full of personal belongings, my bike is still waiting on parts and flying home via airlines isn’t going to work due to lack of money. After getting all my stuff packed and feeling like my head is going to explode, I sit on the bed and grasp the edge of it to keep from punching the wall.

  Cora walks into the cabin and over to me, resting her hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner, “Hey, you’re not in a good mental or emotional position to be behind the wheel of a vehicle. Let me help.”

  I am taken aback by this woman. She wanted nothing to do with me a few days ago and now she is of
fering to drive me almost fifteen hundred miles. Change of heart much? I wanted to kiss those soft lips just with the mere suggestion. “You barely know me, Cora. That’s a long drive, why would you do this?”

  Still sitting on the edge of the bed, she kneels down in front of me, so I could look directly into her eyes and places both hands on my knees, “Over the past few hours, I have gotten to know you well enough to know that you are not going to hurt me. I can also tell that family means more to you than anything and that in itself motivates me to get you home as fast as I can.”

  I can’t help it, her sweetness makes me want to kiss her. Leaning down, I pause just long enough to give her time to back out. When she doesn’t move, I press my mouth to hers in a soft kiss. There’s a little spark between us. I could feel it and wondered if she did too. Her hands move from my knees to the side of my face and then to my shoulders. It was very brief but well worth it. When I released her mouth, she looked up at me with wide eyes and touched her lips with her right hand, “What was that?”

  Trying to lighten the mood, not only for myself but for her as well, I stand up and grab her hand to bring her in for another one, “You don’t know?

  Here, let me show you again.” Cora laughed and swatted chest lightly. “Oh, you have jokes.”

  Chuckling as I walked over to the cabin door and swung it open to let in the cool breeze, I had to do something to cool my body down from both the anger, sadness and now the attraction that I was feeling. Talk about an extreme mix of emotions. The urgency to get on the road suddenly rose up and I picked up my cell that was laying on the bed next to where Cora had just sat down. “I need to make a few phone calls, gonna step outside.” She nodded her head as I stepped out onto the patio.

  Putting the phone to my ear as I wait for the auto body shop to pick up, I start pacing around the patio. I’m a horrible pacer when I’m anxious. After the fourth ring, Jesse finally picked up “Knight’s auto body, this is Jesse.”

  Propping my arm up on the post of the patio, “Hey Jesse, this is Kangee - owner of the Harley that’s in your shop,” he did a uh-huh to signal to keep talking, “I have to leave town for an unknown amount of time due to a family emergency, is that going to be an issue with the storage of the bike?” I held my breath as I waited for an answer. I hoped he wasn’t going to charge an outrageous fee for storage on top of the repair and parts that I was already paying.

  I hear the distinctive sound of the clack, clack of the keyboard as he looks up the bike, “Oh yes, the Harley. No worries, man. I’ll keep it safe for you at no charge.” Relief floods through me as I thank him and end the call. Taking the couple steps down to the sidewalk, I look back at the cabin to let Cora know I’ll be back, “Hey, walking to the office, I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for an answer, I walk down to the office to let them know that I have to check out way before I contracted the cabin out.

  Walking into the office, the bell above the door gives a little ring. The older blonde lady comes around the corner from the back office, “Hi! How are you, Kangee?” yes, she knows me by name now, I’ve been here long enough to have built a repore. Giving her my best smile, “Hi, I’m not so good. I have a family emergency and I’m going to have to check out before the scheduled date.

  My father passed away.” She nods in assurance, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ll have to charge you up to tonight and I will waive any other fees associated with checking out early.

  Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “No. Nothing I can think of at the moment. Thank you for asking though.”

  She types some details into the computer and turns around to the printer to grab a sheet from it, “Just sign here that you understand what we are charging for and then drop your key off when you leave. You have until 9 pm, so no rush.” After signing the paper I push it back toward her, “Thank you for understanding, I’ll drop the key off on my way out.” She nods and smiles at me and then walks toward the back again.

  I feel like I have accomplished more in the past twenty minutes than I have in the past two weeks, I have two more stops to make before Cora and I can get on the road to New Orleans. Walking into the tiny restaurant, I see my favorite server is working. Flagging her down, I let her know that I have to take off and how much I have appreciated not only the food but the service as well and that I will definitely be back to visit. She walks up and gives me a quick hug and tells me that it was her pleasure and that she was sorry for whatever I was going through. People in this area are just generally sweet and I’m going to miss it.

  The final call was to my employer and even though I have only been with them for under a month, they understood my situation and said that my position would be here if I decided to come back, then thanked me for the call.

  Now that I feel like my ducks are in a row, I head back to the cabin where Cora is waiting patiently for me. When I got back up the steps to the cabin, she was sitting outside looking at her smartphone. Cora looked up at me with quizzical eyes, “Everything ok?” putting her phone down; I could see a game on the screen.

  Nodding over to her phone, “Match 3 game, huh?” I said avoiding her question like the plague. She doesn’t find me funny, since I noticed her eyes narrow in annoyance followed by her luscious lips thinning out into a firm line, “Kangee, don’t dodge the question.” Sighing because I knew she wasn’t going to let it go, like a dog with a bone, so I walked over and plopped down next to her in the adjacent chair, “Yah. I just had to make arrangements for the bike, the cabin and let my job know.”

  She reached over and put her hand on my knee, “That was very adult of you.” With a wink, she squeezed my knee and stood up to stretch. Chuckling at her wit, I leaned back a little in the chair and placed both hands behind my head in a relaxed pose, “So, we have until 9 pm before I have to turn the key in. What do you wanna do?”

  She starts laughing as she gets the meaning behind my question, “I’m not the ‘sleep with them right away’ type of girl,” walking over to me and kneeling down in front of my knees, she balances on the balls of her feet as she uses my knees for balance with the palms of her hands, “But I have found that I do like kissing you.”

  I mean, how can one argue that? Leaning down, I reach out to grab onto her chin with my thumb and forefinger and tilt her chin up to meet my lips. Her lips are soft and sweet, like when you take that first bite of chocolate cake after a long diet. Bringing her up into my lap, she straddles it by putting both legs on the side of the chair beside my legs. She takes my face in her hands and deepens the kiss by taking my lower lip between her teeth; I groan in response and tilt my hips up at her.

  Running my hands up her sides and then back down again, I rest them on her ass and give it a little squeeze, she moans softly and moves against my hips and pushes closer. This woman makes me so hot and I want so badly to pick her up and carry her into that cabin and drop her across the bed.

  The urge to strip her of her clothes and run my mouth from the tip of her nose to the end of her toes is very strong.

  But the reality of it is, we must stop because we are both outside and must get on the road.

  Leaning back against the chair to break the kiss, “Cora, you are amazing. This is amazing. But we have to stop.” She sticks out her lower lip in a pout and runs her index finger over mine, “We could always go inside and continue.” Oh, you little temptress.

  Lifting her up by her ass and placing her on her feet, I stand up and swat her in the same place I lifted her up by. “We need to get on the road.”

  Resigned she looks at me, “Yep we do. But before that, we need to eat and I need to pack a few things. Which do you want to do first?”

  Right again. Damn, she looks sexy standing in front of me.

  Standing quickly I catch her off guard and wrap my arms around her. Just before I claim her mouth I hear a soft sigh escape her lips. I pull her close and she wraps her arms around my waist. We need to get moving my brain screams at me. I
groan and deepen the kiss even more not wanting to listen to myself or think of what I’m heading back to. I just want her, now.

  Finally pulling away from her I rest my forehead against hers while I try and catch my breath. She is soft and warm against me and it takes me a few minutes to settle myself. She shouldn’t have this kind of effect on me.

  “Ok let’s do this before I change my mind and lock us both in the cabin for the night. What part of town do you live in? If it’s closer to the highway then maybe we should eat first.”

  “Let’s eat first. We both need a little time to collect ourselves don’t you think?

  Straightening I nod at that and look closely at her. I want to know if she is as attracted as I am. Her face is flushed and her lips are a little swollen from our kissing. Smiling inside I pat myself on the back mentally… yep, she is!

  “Ok, my lady let’s get you fed and packed. We can discuss this kissing business later.” I grin and swat her behind on my way into the cabin to get my stuff.

  ∆∆∆