Second Nature

Second Nature

By

JAE

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Copyright © 2009   By Jae  
All rights reserved.
1

eBook ISBN:  978-1-934889-43-5
Printed ISBN: 978-1-934889-44-2
Audio eBook ISBN: 978-1-934889-45-9

First Edition
eBook Format
November 2009

This book is Published by
L-Book ePublisher, LLC
La Quinta, Ca.  USA
Email: info@ L-Book.com
Web Site: http://L-Book.com

Editors:   Judy Underwood

Cover Design by Sheri
[email protected]

eMail: [email protected]

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This work is copyrighted and is licensed only for use by the original purchaser and can be copied to the original purchaser's electronic device and its memory card for their personal use. Modifying or making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, without limit email, CD, DVD, memory cards, file transfer, paper print out or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank all the wonderful people who took the time to help me with this story. Each and every one of them has been incredibly helpful and has enriched not only the story but also my life.

First and foremost, a big thank-you to my beta reader, Pam. After six stories, working together is almost "second nature" to both of us, and I continue to enjoy it and learn from it. I can never thank you enough for your dedication, your support, and your friendship.

A very special thank-you goes to Ruth – sounding board, plot adviser extraordinaire, and expert on cats, shape-shifters, believable world building, and great writing... even though she'll probably insist that she's not an expert, but a jack-of-all-trades. Thank you for sending feedback that was both honest and diplomatic. It was a great learning experience.

I'd also like to thank RJ for providing me with information about "the UP," for test reading, and for her support. My best wishes for the future.

Without Margot, this story wouldn't exist. She made me come up with the story idea for a quiz. Oh, the things I do for extra points!

Thanks also to Astrid (and Daniela, of course), who provided zoological advice and honest feedback.

I'm also grateful to Kristin for patiently answering my questions about prepositions and other tricky points of the English language.

Another thank-you goes to my sister, Susanne, for helping me name the characters – it might come in handy for when you help your next client giving birth. I still think Susanne is a lovely name for a baby girl, though.

Last but not least, a big thanks to my best friend, Marion, for making her vast knowledge of biology and shape-shifter fiction available, for being part of my "creative staff," and for breathing down my neck until the story was finished. If you didn't hate the paperwork so much, you'd make a great writer.

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Dedication

To all fellow writers. I've been told we're a slightly crazy, but lovable bunch.

And to R. Families sure are complicated – not just for shape-shifters. I hope you get your happy ending too. And yes, I really put in the turtle just for you.

Glossary

Shape-Shifter Terms

(in alphabetical order)

Alai
– "wanderer"
– slightly disparaging term for a Kasari or Syak who lives alone and is not part of a pride or pack

Antapi
– "both" – hybrid shifter whose parents belong to different shifter subspecies

Arkwi
– "shining," "silver" – cougar shape-shifters

Kasari
– "saffron-colored" – lion shape-shifters

Maharsi
– "great seer" – dream seer

Maki
– "large" – bear shape-shifters

Manark
– "noble one" – title of a councilor of the High Council

Natak 
– "lord," "master" – title of a pride regent

Pako
– "tail" – bobcat shape-shifters

Parwese
– "first" – title of the high king of the Allied Prides, regent of the Kasari

Puwar
– "fire" – tiger shape-shifters

Rtar
– "red" – fox shape-shifters

Saru
– "hunter" – a shape-shifter law enforcement unit that guards their secret existence. Saru is also the rank of simple Saru soldiers.

Scirye
– "starry" – jaguar shape-shifters

Se-asrai
– "one body" – the slightly disparaging Wrasa term for humans

Sleme
– "flame" – the name for the funeral rite (cremation) of the Wrasa

Syak
– "together" – wolf shape-shifters

Tas
– "commander" – rank of a Saru officer

Wertsiya
– "council" – the shape-shifters' High Council

Wrasa
– "living being," "creature," "men" – the species of shape-shifters

Names and Characters

Humans

Marjorie "Jorie" Price
– human writer

Helen Price
– Jorie's mother

Dr. Jake Saxton
– the local doctor

Wrasa

Puwar

Griffin Westmore
– a shape-shifter (tiger/lion shifter hybrid) and saru

Nella Westmore
– Griffin's mother

Chiron Westmore
– Griffin's younger (half) brother

Cullen Remick
– Griffin's maternal grandfather and the last dream seer

Max Henderson
– the only tiger shifter in Osgrove, owns the bed-and-breakfast

Kasari

Leigh Eldridge
– Kylin and Griffin's half sister, a lion shifter

Brian Eldridge
– ruler of the Ottawa National Forest pride and Griffin's (biological) father

Gus Eldridge
– ruler of the Ottawa National Forest pride and Griffin's father

Sid Eldridge
– Leigh and Griffin's cousin, owns a security firm

Martha Cahill
– Dr. Saxton's receptionist, member of Brian and Gus' pride

Rhonda "Ronnie" Cahill
– Leigh's childhood friend and Martha's daughter

Tarquin
– member of the Ottawa National Forest pride and Griffin's old enemy

Patrick
– member of the Ottawa National Forest pride and a police officer with the vice squad

Syak

Allison "Ally" DeLuca
– Jorie's beta reader and a wolf shifter of the Los Angeles pack

Ian Stewart
– alpha of the Los Angeles pack

Cedric Jennings
– wolf shifter and Griffin's commanding officer

Cyrus Jennings
– Cedric's brother, died four years ago

Gregory Jennings
– Cedric's father

Kelsey Yates
– a member of Cedric Jennings' pack, also a saru

Paul
– a member of Cedric Jennings' pack

Leonidas
– a member of Cedric Jennings' pack

Wesley
– a young member of Cedric Jennings' pack

Council members

Jeff Madsen
– council speaker and alpha of the wolf shifters

Kylin Westmore
– council member and Griffin's twin sister

Thyra Davis
– council member and bear shifter

Kendrick Ryle
– council member and coyote shifter

Rufus Tolliver
 – a coyote/wolf shifter hybrid and Kylin's aide

Other

Quinn O'Reilly
– the shape-shifting main character of Jorie's novel and a pastry chef

Sid Walker
– the human main character of Jorie's novel

Peter
– the owner of the fictional bakery where the tiger shifter in Jorie's story works

Agatha
– one of Jorie's cats, a long-haired Somali. Named after Agatha Christie

Emily
– one of Jorie's cats, a calico. Named after Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson

Will
– one of Jorie's cats, a red tabby. Named after William Shakespeare

Second Nature

CHAPTER 1

Q
UINN PROWLED through the dark forest. The moonlight didn't reach her as she slid from tree to tree, from shrub to shrub, always hiding in the shadows until she was far enough away from human campsites. She slipped her shirt over her head while she walked, impatient to get out of her clothes. Under a stooping oak tree, her shoes and pants followed until cool air brushed against her bare skin.

Dropping to her hands and knees, she connected with the damp earth. Heat rushed through her. In an effort not to scratch her burning skin, she clenched her fists and felt lengthening nails bite into her palms. Her muscles rippled, and she gasped as pain shot through her.

Jorie Price's fingers flitted over the keyboard, keeping pace with her character's movement through the forest. When Quinn stopped and shifted, Jorie paused with her fingers lingering over the laptop and reread what she had written — or rather rewritten. This was the third time she had changed the scene, and she still wasn't sure whether it was working.

At first, she had portrayed the shifting process as painful. Then she had thought it made no sense that evolution would produce a skill that went hand in hand with pain and made the creature defenseless for a few minutes.

Rewriting and describing the change as a beautiful, magical moment didn't feel right either.
There's no way in hell that breaking bones, shifting muscles, and rebuilding organs wouldn't hurt.