Southern Shifters: Impawsible (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Buchanan Clan Book 1) (6 page)

Another whimper sneaked free and she slowly relaxed in his arms.

A crack of branches and a low curse announced a newcomer and the scared feelings she’d banished reared their head. She tensed and dug her claws into Carter’s skin, preparing to launch herself off him to the ground. She’d run and hide. She wouldn’t be a distraction. She wouldn’t—

“Hush, I have you. I’ll protect you.” His voice remained low and gentle and she watched him lift his head slightly, nose in the air as he breathed deeply. Then he grimaced and announced their visitor as he stepped into sight. “Greer.”

The large male stopped at the edge of the clearing and crossed his arms over his chest. “Carter.” Greer’s attention went to the lion. “And Jaxson.” He sighed. “Did you have to kill him?”

Bethany looked to the lion that laid broken on the forest floor. Remembering the pure, unadulterated fear that thrummed in her veins and the certainty that she’d be dead if she was caught… Even her rabbit half with its vegetarian tendencies and passive outlook thought the lion deserved what he got.

“Yes.”

And that was that.

Chapter Seven

Bethany wasn’t sure what was going down. Who was speaking to whom and who called whomever… She knew Carter’s heat warmed her back, his body caging her in as they sat at the bar in Dark Moon. He’d selected a stool near one end, a wall to their left and the open room to their right. Then he’d crowded her, creating a physical barrier between her and the rest of the customers.

He was staking his claim, just shy of pissing on her leg. And she liked it.

Stephen popped the caps on a couple beers and slid them onto a waitress’ tray, flashing a smile and giving her a wink. “Here ya go, doll.”

Too charming for his own good.

Shouts from the back of the room drew her gaze, a pool tournament in progress, men and women laughing and drinking. Having a good time.

Life went on.

No one cared that Carter snapped a lion’s neck a few hours ago.

Her gaze strayed to the darkened hallway at the back of the room, the dimness hiding what really happened down there. Decisions were made about the shifters in the neutral zone, discussions and rulings and she wondered if her mate would end up being punished for saving her life. If they tried… She would straight up sic her father on all their asses. Family stuck together even if there were no blood ties. Her daddy would…

“Good job out there.” The woman’s voice was soft yet firm, loud enough to be heard by Bethany and Carter, but not grab notice.

Bethany jumped and swung her attention toward the speaker. Her breath caught as she realized who’d sat beside her—them. Niki. Niki the white cougar mated to Dean. Dean who slowly made his way from the back of the building toward the bar. Truly, she didn’t care about who Niki mated, just the fact that the woman at her left was the complete opposite of her. Strong. Fierce. Powerful. Unbreakable.

Carter remained silent and Bethany tipped her head to meet his gaze. “The standard response is
thanks
.”

Even if he was being congratulated for killing someone.

He quirked his lips. “She’s talking to you, baby.”

“Huh?” She refocused on Niki, catching the woman’s nod. “Me? Why? I… ran.”

Hard and fast for what seemed like forever.

Niki sipped her water, tipping the bottle back and taking a long drink before setting it down. Water in a bar. Huh.

“You did run blindly through the trees.” She said it as if it was a given. With no hesitation.

“No, I was searching for an abandoned den or Carter. Whichever I got to first.” No sense in lying that she was a coward and running to hide behind her tiger mate.

“You led him through the forest, making sure it was as difficult to follow you as possible.”

“I’m smaller than he is.” She shrugged. “You work with what the goddess gave you.”

“It’s smart.”

Bethany shook her head. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but Carter’s the one who—”

Niki placed a single hand on hers, fingers cool, and she stared into blue eyes that were so like hers. “You did good. Don’t let anyone ever tell you differently.”

She opened her mouth to say… something. Tell the woman she was wrong. “I…”

“You stayed alive. A lot of them would have tried to hold their ground.” She shook her head. “Part of surviving is knowing your limits.”

She stared at the woman, the cougar covered in muscle that projected such power and strength. She practically had “don’t fuck with me” on her forehead.

“Look,” Bethany lowered her voice and leaned toward Niki. Her rabbit trembled, the animal knowing the female could end her and not many would dare protest. She was too well trained for others to even think of stepping in. “Thank you for saying that, but I know what I am and what I did. I’m not,” she waved at the woman, particularly her hair and eyes, which told all shifters exactly what Niki was. “I’m not this, even if I look like it. Our kind came from somewhere and let’s say I’m a failure from my neck of the woods, okay? We’ll leave it at that.”

Please let them leave it at that.

Niki’s gaze traveled Bethany’s body from head to toe before refocusing on her face. “Is it lack of training or desire?”

“Huh?”

“You not knowing how to protect yourself.” The cougar stared at her, as if waiting for an answer. “Well?”

“What was the question?”

Carter chuckled and she jumped. So focused on Niki, she’d forgotten her mate was at her back. “Why don’t you know how to defend yourself, baby. Because no one would train you? Or because you never wanted to bother?”

“With what you are, you’d learn things pretty quickly.”

Bethany’s heart rate picked up, muscle pumping more blood through her veins. “I don’t want to be like you,” she blurted out the words and then winced, realizing what she’d said. “I don’t want to…”

Niki grinned. “I get it. You’re too old to catch it now anyway.” She waved Bethany away. “But let’s be honest, you’re prey and I’m pissed that your clan didn’t teach you
anything
.”

Not much she could say about that. Her father’s idea of reality was that women stayed in the kitchen. Especially if they were prey. The men could do the protecting and that was his job.

“There are others like us that call the neutral zone home. If you wanted to train a little…”

“I—” Bethany snapped her mouth shut and turned to her mate. “Carter?”

“Baby, I’d love it if you could have laid Jaxson out today.”

“You won’t be able to take down a lion.” Niki looked her up and down. “At least not anytime soon.”

“But I don’t want to be…” she nibbled her lower lip. “Like that. I’m curvy and clumsy and no one’s idea of the perfect badassery machine.”

The woman’s smile blossomed. “I like you.”

“Okay?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Okay.” Niki slammed the empty bottle on the bar. “Stephen!”

The bartender turned his wide, flirty smile on their small group—Niki in particular—and a low, rumbling growl sliced through the air. Not loud enough to alert the humans, but every shifter in the room focused on the bar area. Specifically Niki’s mate who looked ready to commit murder. The woman sighed and hopped down from her stool. “Let me stop this mess. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can set something up.”

Tomorrow. Tomorrow she might not want to do anything because it came after tonight. Tonight when she might lose her mate. She wasn’t sure what punishment would be meted out to Carter, but shifter laws were pretty unbendable when it came to murder.

It was a little more than frowned upon.

“I don’t know…”

Niki paused, her gaze missing nothing as she looked over Bethany. “You shouldn’t worry, considering—”

A loud shout and a few screeches from the entrance of the bar silenced every conversation. Bethany cringed because she knew that roar. And that shout. And
that
hiss. And then there was that particular
ow
that came immediately after a slap to the backside of a certain person’s head.

Bethany spun and met Carter’s stare. “If we run now, we might be able to escape.”

The low snort that was too close for comfort was also familiar and she sighed, dropping her head forward as she leaned into Carter. “Hi, Daddy.”

“Baby girl, what the hell’d you get up into now?” The tone was gruff yet sweet, just her dad’s way of talking.

Apparently it annoyed Carter since he decided to growl, which had her dad growling, which ended with another one of those slaps and a low
ow
. It was followed by a second and she realized her mother got both her mate and her father.

“What the—”

She placed a hand on his chest. “Carter Evans, meet my parents, Angus and Fiona Buchanan. Mom, Dad, this is Carter, my mate.”

Her mom cooed.

Her dad grunted.

“Did we miss Dad carving his name into the tiger’s ass?”
Katie.

“It’s only been ten seconds. He needs longer than that to remember how to
spell
his name.”
And Hannah.

Face still hidden, she waved toward her sisters. “Carter, these are the twins, Hannah and Katie. Katie’s nice. Hannah is the bitch fuck.”

“Bethany,” her mother gasped. Her father growled. Her sisters cackled.

And Carter… kissed the top of her head and smiled into her hair. “I like your family, baby.”

Her dad grunted again. The man hardly ever spoke, but that was because her mother talked enough for the both of them. “And we like you too, don’t we dear?”

More grunting.

“I’m so sad we had to get together this way, but I’m glad I get to meet my new son-in-law. He’s so strong, isn’t he strong, girls?”

The chorus of
yes, Mom
from her sisters was well practiced.

“I hate this unpleasantness. Angus, don’t you hate it? Don’t you have anything to say about it?”

Her father sighed. Hell, he might even talk.

Bethany pulled away from Carter and looked to her father, waiting to see what’d happen.

“Sorry.” One word, but his expression said he wasn’t just sorry about what happened that afternoon, but for so much more.

But today… why would he… Then she remembered.

“He smelled like our family,” she whispered but her father heard and nodded. He smelled like clan, but not.

“His older brother and their family were invited to move into town when you were younger. You were so small,” her mother said softly as she reached past Carter and brushed her blond hair aside. “And he’d chased you. He said you’d make a nice appetizer. You wouldn’t be missed because you were tiny.”

Her mom sniffled. “Well, he didn’t realize how much your father loves you because they were gone the next morning, weren’t they?” She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “You’re our girl and your daddy will always take care of you.” Now Carter grunted, reminding everyone he still stood nearby. “Well, your mate first, then your father. He has his hands full with the other two. They refuse to take a mate and goddess help me if I don’t get a grandcub soon I will make a deal with the devil himself.”

“Mom,” Bethany huffed. “We’re not, you know, mated yet and it’s too early to talk about kits.”

Her mother patted her cheek. “Bless your heart.”

More cackling from her sisters.

“Can we focus on why you’re here?” She needed to divert their attention from her naked times with Carter.

“Oh,” her mother blinked. “To take care of Jaxson.”

“Uh…”

Her father huffed. “My cat. Never joined another family, so he’s mine.” Her dad didn’t seem happy about that, but who could blame him. Jaxson was better off dead. He jerked his chin toward Carter. “Not blaming him for protecting my girl. We’re good.”

“So, you’re acting as Jaxson’s family and you’re not going to demand justice?” Dad glared at her as if she were an idiot. As if she was stupid for even thinking something would happen to her mate over the mess with Jaxson. Bethany ducked beneath Carter’s restraining arm and bounced to her father, hopping up to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Daddy.”

He grunted, gave her a one-armed hug and whistled at Stephen. A raise of his arm and twitch of his fingers had Stephen placing beers on the bar top.

They each grabbed a drink and clinked bottles.

Bethany held hers high. “To family.”

Carter smiled at her, the swirling emotions in his eyes transitioning from happiness to outright fear when they flicked to her father. “To family.”

Chapter Eight

It took some fancy talking and outright begging to her mother to keep Bethany’s family in town at the local B&B for their trip. Hell, Bethany almost promised her mom her and Carter’s first born if it’d keep them out of her house.

Her mother informed her she wanted to
play
with grandkits, not
raise
them.

Which meant giving her family hugs and sending them on their way while she and Carter went in the opposite direction—toward her rented house. He said her place seemed more like home over his small apartment. It was big enough for a single male, but he wanted to be surrounded by her scent.

Which had her sighing, agreeing, and smiling.

Carter navigated his truck down the streets, making the few turns it took to reach the main street that led toward the back of the valley and the forest beyond. He reached out for her, arm extended and hand open, expecting her to place her palm on his. Which she did without hesitation.

Their fingers entwined, quiet enveloping the truck as they traveled toward her home. She allowed her thoughts to drift—from what was to come and back to what’d happened.

“What did they say to you?” she murmured. She only knew he got to come home, that he wasn’t in any real trouble, but that was it.

“It was ruled justifiable. Your father had a lot to do with that. Who you are.
What
you are.”

She twisted her lips. “Because I’m prey.”

“Because you’re white and Niki likes you,” he countered.

“She said that, you know, one of them might…”

“If you want to, I think you should.” He squeezed her hand gently. “I think it’d be good. White rabbit or not, knowing how to protect yourself is never a bad thing.”