Kitten Around (Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Book 3)
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"Omg what a great story I just Loved Jonathan, Lucas, and Natalie. I can't wait to read more in the Shifting Hearts Dating Agency series"
"This is a must read for those who like a bite to their romance."
"OH WOW! Suspense builds, a world different from anything is shown and love and death battle."
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"If you love excitement and sexy wolf shifters, then you will love this incredible storyline!
You will love this super exciting, thrilling, funny, suspenseful, and scorching hot shifter Romance!
This is a five star plus story."
~ Roxie's Romance Reviews
"It's complicated, shifter style."
"Fantastic story and read!!!"
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"I started reading and couldn't stop until I turned the last page. I really enjoyed the characters and thought there was the possibility for more stories with these characters. I thought this was a very entertaining story. This is the first book by this author that I have read, and it won't be my last."
~ Loves to Read (A Cozy Booknook)
"I loved reading this book! A sweet and passionate romance with a happy ever after! Love it!"
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"What a fantastic read! I was so drawn in by this book that I couldn’t put it down until the very end. I love the connection that these two share and how they finally reach their HEA. I felt all of the emotions and cheered for them every step of the way. I can’t wait to read the next book."
"I loved reading this story. I opened the book and didn’t stop reading until the last page. I was swept into the story from the first page."
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"For a shifter reverse harem to start off with a quote from Joseph Campbell, you know it's going to be smart and different."
"What an amazing book! Tormenting Her Mate is the third book of the My Wicked Mates series. And what a fantastic book it is!"
"This was a great story. I have never read anything by this author before but I will be from now on. I can't wait to read the rest of the series."
Praise for Erzabet Bishop
"You will love this Awesome storyline with its BDSM theme. The characters are fantastic. This story will keep you glued to its pages."
"WOW! Clover and Richard are great!! The chemistry incredible! This is a hot story with some suspense and drama."
"This book hooked me from the get go. I just couldn't put it down. I fell in love with these characters and omg what a story. Just a perfect read."
Kitten Around
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency World
Book Three
ISBN: 978-1-77357-144-7,
978-1-77357-113-3,
978-1-77357-034-1
Copyright © 2017 Erzabet Bishop
Published by Naughty Nights Press LLC
Cover Art By Willsin Rowe
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
No part of this book may be adapted, stored, copied, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this, or any copyrighted work is illegal.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
About
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
A Taste of Her True Savior
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Where to Find More of Erzabet Bishop
Also By Erzabet Bishop
About The Author
Kitten Around
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency World
Book Three
Erzabet Bishop
Dedication
To my husband and furry kids. You fill my life with joy. Especially you, Princess Cujo. Yeah. You know I’m talking to you, missy. And Taddy. You are my heart.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Gina Kincade for giving this series life. I’ve never had so much fun with a group of characters.
For Houston and all the people who experienced loss of life and property with Hurricane Harvey. The waters are at last receding.
About
All work and no mate makes Paige a dull girl.
Paige is having a marvelous time playing at Ventures. After all, what girl doesn’t love a nice spanking now and again? On her own terms that is. A welcome reprieve from her work as co-owner of the Shifting Hearts Dating Agency, play is exactly what she’s looking for. In between dodging calls from her uber douchelord ex, avoiding conversations with her hormone ridden inner kitty about a super-hottastic, dark eyed dominant, fixing up Bat girl, and getting ready for the charity auction at the club, she has her hands full. And, damn it, why won’t it stop raining?
His beast called to hers.
A storm is brewing in town but that’s nothing compared to the one in Tyler’s own life. Being a surrogate father to his strong-willed niece, and running his own woodworking and restoration business, keeps him more than busy. When a charity auction at Ventures provides the opportunity to spend time tied up with the submissive both he and his cat have been lusting after, he can’t resist the call to do good and possess her at the same time. When unforeseen circumstances and a family crisis strike in the midst of a dangerous storm, Tyler has to come to terms with his inner cat and the mate that could be torn from his arms forever. Some things are worth fighting for, and fur is about to fly.
There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.
~Willa Cather
Prologue
Tyler
Ten years earlier
“J ohnson is down. Request immediate assistance.” Tyler scanned the desolate landscape, grimacing as the coppery scent of blood reached his nostrils.
Hot and sweaty, he ducked down against Afghanistan’s crumbling mountain terrain, the scrubby plants doing little to offer camouflage against the enemy. Marc, his best friend and brother in law, hunkered behind a boulder, his eyes focused on the small military outpost on the hillside below, his rifle perched carefully on the rock formation.
He apparently hadn’t moved while Tyler had been gone. His stack of targets was right where he left it. Not that the other man needed visual reminders. He had photographic memory and more kills than anyone in the unit.
They had been following orders to blow the insurgent bastards to kingdom come and find out whatever information they could about their next move. Marc was a sniper where Tyler’s specialty was covert operations. The others in the highly specialized shifter unit were skilled in bomb diffusion and other tactical duties, often leaving Marc and Tyler paired together.
Trenton and Greg were a few clicks away on the other side of the ridge and Dimitris flew in hawk form, filming what he could for their superiors. Only one more day and th
ey were shipping out and Tyler couldn’t be more relieved.
Between the spiders and the uneven terrain, he was ready for this mission to be over. Or at least he had been until he’d read the last letter from Jenny. They’d been together three years but for the last few months their relationship had been strained. Now he knew why.
I’m sorry, Tyler. I’ve met someone else. I wanted to write you before but it just never seemed like the right time.
Right.
I put your things in storage.
Even better. So now he’d have to find a place when he got back, too. The shit was just getting better and better. He trudged forward, a low growl edging up his throat.
Tyler had met Marc in boot camp and when the other man didn’t have a destination on one of his leaves, he brought him home to meet the family. He promptly fell for Tyler’s sister, Sheree, and the rest was history. The happy couple were expecting their first baby and the whole family couldn’t be more excited.
But for now they were here, stuck in the fifth circle of what had to be Hell and he was jealous as fuck that Marc’s tour was coming up soon. His wasn’t too much longer, but then again, his brother-in-law landed into combat first, with him following a month later when things began to heat up. Cat shifters could get into places a normal soldier couldn’t and they took a beating better, too. All they had to do was never get caught and never give the enemy the gift of their bite.
He didn’t plan on kissing any of them either.
“Hey man. Any action?”
“Not much,” Marc replied, swiveling his head in Tyler’s direction. His eyes appeared tired from the strain of the fourteen hour shift. “One truck. That’s it.”
“Damn.” Tyler shook his head. “I forgot to ask earlier. You hear anything from Sheree?”
His sister sent him letters and so did his mother but no one got letters like Marc did.
“Yup.” The exhaustion in his eyes evaporated in an instant. “The baby’s doing great.” He slid a letter out from his pocket and handed something over to Tyler.
“What? I don’t get to read your letter?” Tyler waggled his eyebrow, further smart ass remarks brewing on his lips when he glanced down at the picture in his hand.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
The tiny form of a premature baby in utero met his eyes and all words evaporated. The only thing he felt was wonder and a whole lot of awe. He could even see the details of the infant’s face.
“It’s the baby. She’s growing so big.”
Marc’s comments brought him out of himself and Tyler blinked. His sister and his best buddy had made this little person. And he was going to be an uncle.
An uncle…
Wow.
“Wait. It’s going to be a girl?”
“Yup.”
“Oh my God, man. You have to be so proud.” Tyler stared at the small form, noting the outline of the tiny hands, arms, and legs. It was a miracle.
“She’s due in a few weeks. Perfect timing for when I get out of this shit box.”
Tyler handed him back the picture, but the image of his niece was burned into his brain. She was perfect. Every part of her.
“Have you guys picked a name yet?”
Marc grimaced. “I think Sheree wants to name her Pepper. Been watching too many Ironman movies again.”
Tyler snorted. “She always did have a thing for that Robert Downey Junior guy.”
“I’ll say.” Marc cocked his head, his attention jolting back to his post, his expression slipping from happy father-to-be into a stone cold killer.
“What is it?”
“Thought I heard something.” Marc aimed the rifle, scanning the base below. “Nothing.”
A scent of something drifted past his nose but before he could react, the scrabble of feet on stone brought Tyler on red alert. He snarled, spinning on his heel, the cat inside of him trying to find a bead on where the intruder was coming in from.
He scented the air but he couldn’t discern anything identifiable. Aggravated, Tyler pressed the comlink in his ear. Someone was out there and it seemed as if they were masking their scent.
“Trenton. Dimitris. Greg. Positions.”
“Status quo.” Two responded simultaneously. Dimitris was still airborne and couldn’t speak.
“We have company here.”
At that moment, a grenade launched over the rock formation, hitting the ground with an audible clink.
“Fuck.” Marc tossed the rifle to the dirt, scooped up the offending object and hurled it back into open air.
Tyler hoped Dimitris had gotten the fuck out of the way. Then again, the hawk was a wily one.
“Come on.” Tyler’s cat growled low in his throat, the hair on the back of his neck rising to attention. His intuition was never wrong, and right now it was going off like a tornado drill. Something wasn’t right and without even realizing it, they had lost their upper hand.
It was time to get the fuck out.
“Now, Marc. You can’t kill them if you’re already dead. Move out.”
Marc snatched his rifle and materials, scattering his tracks with a quick slide of a boot. They scrambled away from the rock ledge in time for the grenade to go off, the explosion echoing through the mountain range.
“Fuck.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
More sounds of boots on gravel and Tyler knew they were not alone. “Marc. Ears and eyes.”
“Got it.”
The moon shimmered in his brother-in-law’s eyes as he lifted his nose to assess position.
“To the right. Above us on the ridge.”
As the wind shifted, he too caught the scent. Humans. Unwashed, and a lot of them. So why hadn’t he been able to scent them before?
Unease churned in his gut. They didn’t have time for any bullshit. If the mission was going to be compromised, they had orders to abort and head back to base.
No captures.
If they met with resistance, they only had one option: Kill or be killed.
That meant there was nowhere to go. They would have to fight their way out. His fingertips tingled with the desire to release his claws, but he kept himself in check.
He radioed the other men. “We’re out. Unknown combatants. Back to the Jeep. Stat.”
“On our way.” Trenton growled into the phone, the wolf evident in his voice.
An explosion rocked the land around them and Tyler watched as Marc vanished into a haze of dust and rock shards.
“Marc!”
Tyler swore and tore after him, the sounds of battle swirling all around them. He couldn’t see through the smoke but the sight that met his eyes when the air cleared made him want to shift and track down every one of the bastards and rip the flesh from their bones.
Marc lay twisted against the hard earth, arms akimbo, shrapnel wounds staining his uniform crimson. Blood pooled dark and ominous beneath his body. He tried to move but instead sucked in a gasp of pain.
“No!” Tyler dropped to the dirt and pulled the other man into his arms. “Marc. God. What am I going to tell Sheree?”
Anguish sliced through Tyler as reality slammed into his gut. Being a shifter didn’t make you immortal. It just made you harder to kill. And even they weren’t immune to grenades.
Marc’s hand gripped his arm hard and Tyler met his brother-in-law’s pained gaze.
“Take care of my girls.”
“You’re getting out of here. Going home.”
The lie tasted bitter on his lips.
“Something in it. Not healing.” Marc blinked and a vacant expression glazed over his eyes.
“No…You can’t.”
“I…” Marc’s voice trailed off, but before Tyler could register that his best friend in the world was dead another explosion rent the air. The last thing Tyler saw was darkness as it reached up to swallow him whole.
***
Paige
Three years earlier…
“Only I would get
lost in a BDSM convention,” Paige muttered as she meandered through the crowd of leather clad participants and others like herself dressed in jeans and a tee shirt.
Her friend, Monica, had volunteered to go with her when Paige brought it up in a fit of girlish giggles, but at the last minute cancelled, leaving Paige the choice of chickening out entirely or sucking it up and walking through the front door to the convention center.
Bluck. Bluck.
Oh hell no.
If Paige was anything, it was not a scardy cat.
She was tired of everyone else making decisions for her about her life. Just today her mother had been trying to fix her up with a witch from a neighboring coven. Javier something or other.
“His family is high up in the magical community. I’ve set up a get together at the house for next Tuesday evening. He and his family will be there, and I expect you to attend.”
Paige sighed, weaving through the throng of people, totally unsure where to start. Sure, she’d read about kink, but the idea of actually pursuing something that wasn’t a story in a book? Now that was exhilarating.
Unfortunately, she’d spent so much time worrying about keeping her little day trip a secret, she hadn’t formed a plan on what to do when she actually arrived. Glancing at the map, she saw a space for vendor booths, a food court, and a stage for demonstrations later that afternoon. She’d wandered through some of the booths already, taking in some of the most beautiful leather work she’d ever seen. Paddles and whips like she’d only seen online, were being demonstrated and displayed. At another, she found costumes for club use, and at yet another, books for educating herself on what BDSM was all about.