Roaring for Him (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Wicked in Wilder Book 1) (4 page)

* * *

“Saw you talking to the cat earlier. Good job flashing your dick everywhere. At least you didn’t get hard while you were eye-fucking her,” Kade, Mitchell’s beta and general pain in the ass, drawled.

Mitchell ignored the other male. The party was long over, place empty save Kade and a few other wolves who called the pack house home. He leaned against the wall by the bay window that looked over the estate’s massive gates. They were swinging shut behind the last of his wolves, leaving them alone in the secured area.

Alone. He’d sent her away. He’d never felt more alone than he did at that moment. His most trusted pack members were close, Kade even closer, and yet… he was lonely. His wolf howled in need, begging—
begging
—him to find Tilly. It clawed and scraped, snarling and whining that they let her
go
and they needed to get her
back
. Now.

“Fuck off, Kade.” It was a half-hearted dismissal at best and he knew his friend wouldn’t listen to a damn thing he said.

“No, really.” Kade stepped forward and held out a bottle of beer, Mitchell watching the movement in the window’s reflection. “Smooth. Real smooth.”

Asshole.

Mitchell turned and grasped the cool bottle, bringing it to his mouth and swallowing some of the brew. It went down quick and cold and did nothing to calm his wolf. Hell, he’d have to bathe in the stuff, get an IV and pump pure alcohol into his veins, to get the beast to chill the fuck out. He took another swig, enjoying the sweet slide down his throat, refusing to say another word. Hell, what
could
he say?

“You pissed off Seth though, man.”

Mitchell grunted. Yeah, he had. He sent his strongest sentinel scurrying off in favor of helping a feline. It would have been fine if Tilly was human, but choosing a
feline
over the male… Not pretty.

“And that pissed off some of the others,” Kade continued.

Another grunt. He didn’t have to justify himself. “They know where my office is and they know the phase of the moon.”

Let ‘em try and kick his ass, take the position of alpha by force. With the way his wolf was behaving, he’d appreciate a way to exhaust the animal.

“That’s not the answer.”

Yeah, maybe not. But he didn’t want to talk about wolves acting like children. “How’d everyone know she’s a cat? I didn’t scent anything on her, just the younger sister, Phoebe. She’s a bear. Tilly though…”

He tasted Kade’s disbelief on the air a split second before his voice broke through the quiet. “You’re kidding, right? How do you not know about those three?”

Mitchell set his beer bottle on the windowsill and turned, resting his back against the wall. “Three?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I told you about the three half-shifter sisters moving into Wilder. Maybe four or five years ago. Marcia’s been best friends with Phoebe for at least that long. They don’t hang out here for obvious reasons…”

Mitchell nodded. He’d discovered his pack’s true feelings for other types of shifters tonight. They were all getting intensive, possibly violent, sensitivity training in the near future. He wasn’t the alpha of a pack of bigoted assholes. “Yeah.”

Kade shrugged. “The youngest is Phoebe Price. She’s a werebear. Then there’s Liv Ross who’s a weretiger. The eldest is Tilly McBride, a werelion. They’re half-sisters. Tilly practically raised the other two until she turned eighteen and her mom split. Now she takes care of them both full time and runs the bakery.”

Mitchell shook his head. “Four years?”

“Probably closer to five. I’m sure I told you about them.” Kade’s shock was evident in his tone.

“I’m not calling you a liar. Why didn’t anyone in the pack bitch? Is she affiliated with anyone?” Did Tilly owe her allegiance to someone? Did Mitchell have to kill them so she was free to swear herself to him? His heart thumped double-time, the thought coming out of nowhere, but he didn’t have the energy to push it away.

Because he didn’t
want
to push it away.

“The middle sister is accepted as a part of the tiger pride in Clover which also lets her join the University of Georgia’s student pride. That’s connected to the Southeast regional pride. The youngest goes over to run with the Hart bear clan every full moon.”

“Our allies,” Mitchell murmured. “And Tilly?”

Where did she run? Where did she let her cat out? Was it safe?

Why did he care? Because he did. His wolf did. There was no rhyme or reason. Simply a soul-deep
need
to make sure she was safe and cared for. That all parts of her were satisfied at the end of the day.

“Tilly…” Kade rubbed his jaw and Mitchell fought the urge to deck his beta for even uttering the woman’s name. “I think they allow her to come to Clover with Liv and run if she wants, but allow and
welcome
aren’t the same. Phoebe never mentioned anything about her sister’s arrangements.”

“How much time are you spending with Phoebe? What about Tilly?” If Mitchell’s beta was hanging around his woman and that teenager, he’d…

Kade gave him a bland look. “Really? I’m about to be mated and Phee isn’t turning eighteen for another two months. She’s my
little
sister’s best friend. Every time I go to my mother’s, the girl is there studying or dying her hair or whatever else kids do.”

Mitchell snorted. “You make us sound so old.”

“Hell, we
are
old. Fucking Marcia is getting ready to graduate from high school.”

“And
fucking
. How did
that
conversation go?”

Kade groaned. “Oh, God. I can’t believe her. I know we have high sex drives that kick in at sixteen, but knowing and talking about it to my kid sister are two very different things. And for her to go on and on with Phee.” He shook his head. “I set her straight, but I’m not sure how long it’ll last. I’m gonna kill the next kid who gets near her, though.”

He chuckled. “I can’t wait for you to have pups of your own.”

“I’m warning you now. I’ll murder anyone who even looks at my baby girl cross-eyed, let alone if they’re thinking about their dick when they’re with her.” Kade’s voice was harsh and filled with his wolf, the animal wanting to destroy a threat to his child. A child that didn’t even exist yet.

“Duly noted,” he murmured and reached for his beer, draining the bottle with one last swig. “You didn’t answer my other question. Why can’t I scent her? Can anyone?”

“Her animal, you mean?” Kade raised his eyebrows and Mitchell nodded. “Sometimes it’s that way for half-shifters. They get some things and not others. All three can shift, but when they’re in their human form, they have their own quirks. Phee has issues with controlling her eyesight. Tilly’s scent doesn’t really change until she shifts, but sometimes you can catch a hint of her cat. Liv has the occasional hiccup with a partial shift if she gets frightened.”

“Huh.” Mitchell hadn’t ever dealt with half-shifters.

Their pack was made up of pure breed and changed wolves. No one got a human pregnant, or got pregnant by a human. They just… didn’t. He wondered if that was because his pack didn’t like humans or if it was something ingrained by his father or grandfather. He didn’t feel the desire to stay away from them, but maybe it went deeper than that for others. He couldn’t pinpoint
why
he’d never thought of mating a human. He just… hadn’t. Hell, he hadn’t even dated—
fucked
—one.

He knew of a female who was at least half human that he wanted to fuck. All night. Every night. For the rest… of… their… lives?

His wolf howled, telling him he was sure as shit right about wanting her for forever. His fur rippled beneath his skin, fingernails aching as the animal tried to force his way out. It didn’t like that he’d sent Tilly away with a curt goodbye, didn’t like the heartache and pain in her eyes. It definitely didn’t like the hungry stares from his pack as they watched her retreat.

Mitchell had snapped and snarled at them, nipping when necessary and biting when he caught a couple chasing her car down the driveway. He wasn’t sure about Tilly, what drew him to her, but everything in him demanded he protect her, care for her, and make sure not a single tendril of fear ever hit her blood.

The only true way to ensure all that was to never leave her side.

The idea had merit. Damn good merit.

What. The. Fuck.

“You know, regardless of the added naughty factor, these are damn good cookies.” Emma stuffed another
Babeless Boobs at the Finish Line
cookie in her mouth.

Tilly’s best friend was also trying to convince her to carry them permanently. Not in the store, of course. Mainly because they had little kidlets and pups wandering through the doors all the time. As part of her “adult” catalog, though, that was a different story.

Bakers did not have “adult” catalogs. She sold sugary goodness, not porn. Penis sans white icing equaled fun. Penis
with
white icing equaled porn. There was a distinct line there. -ish.

“Thanks,” Tilly shoved one in her mouth after flicking off the bits of white. She wasn’t eating another chick’s metaphorical pearl necklace.

“And they’re a perfect addition here.”
Here
being her curvy girl lingerie store.

Emma snagged a
Dudeless Dong
out of the box of treats Tilly had hauled over. It was Calorie Free Friday, which meant snacking on treats that totally deviated from whatever diet her human friend was currently trying. Someday Emma would realize she was absolutely perfect the way she was.

That day was not today.

“Uh-huh. Sure they are.” Tilly rolled her eyes. “I’ll get right on making them for you every day.”

“Sweet! High five.” Emma held up her hand as if Tilly would actually slap palms with her friend. “Dude. You’re leaving me hanging?”

“Bless Your Tart is not gonna be known as the place to buy iced cookies that look like they’re covered in semen.”

Emma shrugged. “As long as it’s not actually semen, I don’t know what the problem is.” She wrinkled her nose. “Unless it really is semen. It’s not, right? I mean, I’m guessing not since your vagina is dryer than the Sahara, but you never know. You could have a little shifter boyfriend you bang during the full moon and I just don’t know about it. Which,” Emma’s eyes narrowed, “would be a total violation of the ‘living vicariously through my BFF’ code.”

“Seriously?” Tilly raised her eyebrows. “Between carting Phee to her runs in Hart and running the bakery, when exactly do I have time to meet anyone, let alone bang them and collect their semen for cookies?”

Emma popped the last bite of her cookie in her mouth. “Between rounds one and two of your banging?”

She snorted. “That assumes he could get it up again.”

“If he doesn’t, you should kick him outta bed. Literally, foot on ass and push.”

“That’s…” She shook her head. “Rude.”

“Rude.” Emma gave her a blank stare. “It’s rude to kick a guy out because he sucked? Let’s roll this back a little. I’m assuming the guy is gonna be hot because, well, look at you.”

Tilly knew what she looked like. It wasn’t bad, she wasn’t ugly or anything, but she wasn’t exactly society’s ideal beauty. Though, in truth, a lot of guys were tits and ass men and she had a great set of tits and a banging ass. A lot of both, though. “And?”

“You’re smoking. I mean, you look better when you wear my panties—”

Which, taken out of context sounded really bad. But sitting in the middle of
Lush
literally surrounded by panties that belonged to Emma, it made sense.

“—but no matter what, you’re hot. I assume the guy is equally hot. And if he can’t live up to the hot guy visual promise, then it’s false advertising. And what happens when we buy something and it doesn’t work as promised?”

“We throw it away,” Tilly replied blandly.

“And when do we do that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Immediately.”

That was actually something they’d adopted after watching one too many hoarder shows. They knew they didn’t want to become the crazy ladies with a million cats and five hundred boxes of Made for TV junk. Emma didn’t want to address the fact that, as a lioness, Tilly would never have a problem with pets since they were all afraid of her.

“Right. So, if his dick is broken due to operator error, he’s thrown away.” Emma was always so smug when she was right, dammit.

“Yes, oh Masterful Dick Whisperer.”

“Though how you manage to find
every
asshole who doesn’t know what to do with his penis is beyond me. I mean,
they grew up with it
, how do they not know how it operates?”

“Preach it, sister.” It really was a question for the ages. Hundreds of thousands of years and evolution couldn’t have passed on the knowledge of how to satisfy a woman? It boggled the mind.

“You know…” Emma grew quiet, eyes intent on the cookies. “Maybe if you made
Vixenless Vagina
cookies that were anatomically correct, you could carry
Vagina
cookies and
Dong
cookies and do a little cookie demonstration before you invite him inside.”

“What?”

Emma nodded and the scent of her excitement teased Tilly’s nose. Suddenly the lioness was on board with whatever her best friend came up with. It wasn’t
just
Tilly’s human half that was annoyed by joyless sex. The cat was pretty frustrated with the men she brought home as well. Not that there’d been many, but if she wasn’t going with quantity, the cat figured she could at least up the quality a little.

“Yeah! And you gotta cut a hole in the vagina cookie and maybe make the dong cookies a little slimmer.” Emma got to work biting off bits and pieces of the boob cookies to form… Dear God in heaven.

“Emma…”

Emma ignored her and moved on to the dong, making it narrower. “Like this!” She held up her treats. “But imagine this decorated differently with your clit and stuff.”

She never wanted her best friend to ever say that again.

“And you put them like this!” She brought the cookies together, apparently the dong aiming for the impromptu vagina. “Oh, it would work better if there was a hole. Then the cookies could fuck and you could show him where to touch while he—”