Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1) Read online

  “Good morning,” Justice said and waved. I didn’t know he was that nice to other people.

  “I heard those little bastards scratchin’ and abitin’ under my house all night. One day, they’re gonna eat through the floor, and I’m gonna fall through and die. If you ever come out here and can’t find me, I’ll be under there.” She pointed behind her at the house that actually looked like it would stand up longer than mine did.

  “That’s why we’re here. You, uh, you might want to go inside.”

  She cackled and slapped her knee. “Feet pue tan, I’ve seen what you’ve got before. And I’ve seen my husband turn into a wolf many times. You ain’t showing me nothin’ I haven’t seen, cher. Probably half the size of my Trey anyway.”

  I looked at Justice. “She just said your junk was smaller than her dead husband’s. She’s probably right.”

  “Fuck you. You knew her husband?”

  “I didn’t. Must’ve stayed out here, lived off the land. Never seen her in town, either. I just know her from these random calls.”

  “Well, go on, then,” the old woman teased taking one sip from her cup and then a big gulp from the bottle.

  Justice shrugged, and so did I. We stripped right there at Tansy’s car, leaving our clothes in a pile on the hood.

  It had been a while since I shifted, and my gator was ready to come out and play.

  The first crack of bone hurt the worst. It was my jaw. I tried to separate myself from the pain and allow the best to take over slowly, but he was too aggressive. He wanted to roam. He wanted to go right back to my house and show off for his mate. But I wasn’t having it.

  Arms and legs broke and shortened. My human skin grew rigid and impliable. A film of skin covered my eyes and protected them from the swamp. I was on the ground, making my way to the water with the scent of nutria rats already in my nose.

  The bayou muck was cooler than I’d expected for this time of year. There was a stink under the surface that made my gator want to hunt. He liked to eat the stinky rotten things in the water. Wasn’t my first choice, but I wasn’t in charge here.

  Nest. Bank. Rats.

  Three words, and Justice and I were on the hunt.

  Tansy

  “Gina, I’m headin’ out.” I slung my purse over my shoulder. “Everything’s prepped for tomorrow. Sure you are fine with me takin’ off last minute like this?”

  I’d been stayin’ with Etienne for most of a week now, and our schedules had been running polar opposite. I still got to see him, snuggle with him, and have some meals together, but tonight was all ours. Neither of us had work the next day, thanks to Gina, and that meant we could let the night go wherever it may lead, and if I had anything to say about it, it was going to lead to mating.

  “Sure thing, boss.” Gina gave me a thumbs-up before going back to stacking coffee cups as I walked out of the main area and into the kitchen to give one last look around to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

  Meemaw had been gone since the Bruno incident, and it’d been driving me bonkers, so when she popped in front of me just as I was finished and about to leave, I was more relieved than anything.

  “Scared the poop outta me.” I wanted to hug her so badly. “I’ve been missin’ ya.”

  “I had things needed a doin’, sweetheart.” She was looking to the side of me as I spoke, and I followed her eyes, half expecting to see another ghost, but seeing nothing of interest instead. She was just avoiding looking right at me, which meant she was hiding something. Some things even death didn’t change, and dimes to dollars, she believed it was for my own good.

  “Care to add some details?”

  “Not so much.” She looked back to me. “Where are you off to?”

  “Going to Etienne’s.” I almost said “home” and caught myself just as the words formed on my lips. I might technically be a guest there, but no part of it felt like I was anywhere but home, not even the lack of real cookware.

  “Moved on in, I see.” She winked as she spoke.

  Meemaw always could see far more than I intended her to, especially about my personal life. It still creeped me out the way she infused innuendo into her simple comment. Just no.

  “Ewww, can you not?”

  “No mating mark, though.” She pointed to my neck before tapping her chin with her pointer finger. “Hmm, unless it is someplace hidden.”

  “Are you trying to make me blush?” Or die. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

  “Looks like I’m succeeding.”

  “It’s not like it’s hard.” I cringed at my use of the word hard in this context. Great, now everything was sounding like sex in this conversation—with my grandmother. “And yeah, Etienne is mine, but there’s no mark yet.”

  “Cold feet? You could do worse than a gator.”

  “My feet are toasty, thank you very much.” As was everything else before I started having that conversation with my grandmother. “And the discussion is officially over.”

  As if on cue, I heard a car door slam right near the back door.

  “That sounds like him.” Meemaw smirked.

  “It is. I should go.” I always hated saying goodbye to her, never knowing which time would be the last time and knowing it was near.

  “Wait. I wanted to tell you something. I wasn’t just here to shoot the breeze.”

  “Meemaw?” I scowled, wishing she had spoken up earlier.

  “Ignoring you.”

  The door opened and Etienne came in and must’ve realized I was in the middle of something because he came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me back to him, but spoke not a word.

  “I came to tell you not everything you see is as it appears.”

  “What does that even mean?” It was nice to be able to talk to her with someone else in the room. Not as nice as if we all could have a conversation together, but it was still freeing.

  “It means what I said. I shouldn’t even tell you that much.” She looked to Etienne and back at me with a smile. What was that about?

  “And why not?”

  “Reasons.” Her favorite I’m not gonna tell you ever. “Quit ignoring your mate.”

  “My mate can wait. Finish.”

  “Your mate can wait what?” Etienne asked, his curiosity finally getting the best of him.

  “Sorry, I was just talking to—” And just like that she poofed away. “Stinker dinks. She’s gone.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare her off.”

  “You didn’t. She was just all weird.” I rolled in his arms so I was now facing him. “I’m mad at you.”

  “Why is that?” He spoke into my ear. Oh, he knew where I was going with my faux anger.

  “You’ve been here over thirty seconds and have yet to kiss me properly.”

  His lips took mine, and all was right with the world.

  Home.

  Mine.

  Love.

  Etienne

  “I have a surprise for you,” I said after she’d thoroughly studied my lips with hers.

  “A surprise? Like bigger than the ‘I turn into a gator’ one?”

  I had to show her my gator one day. Maybe if she saw how massive he was, she’d stop picking on me about it.

  I bent down once again, grabbed her hips, pulling them into mine, and whispered in her ear. “No, I’m trying to woo my female. Tonight is our night. I’m trying to be a good Southern boy here. Besides, I want you willing and ready after tonight’s over.”

  A moan burst from her lips as I finished speaking, and I took the moment to suck on her earlobe and pumped my pelvis against hers, making sure she felt how ready I already was for her.

  “Um, okay. I need to clean up and change clothes.”

  “I’ll give you ten minutes when we get home. Just so you know, this date is casual. The bar and the diner didn’t really seem special enough.”

  Shit. I was letting on too much.

  She pulled back and looked me in the eye. “I think I need
to meet this cousin who shot you in the eye. I love looking at the two parts of you. I pretend one is your human eye and one is your gator eye. By the way, when am I gonna get to see that bad boy?”

  If my beast could rip through my skin without my permission, he would’ve chosen that moment to do it. He wanted to shake his ass in front of her—hear her gasp in awe—feel her touch his skin.

  “Maybe tonight. Let’s just see what happens.”

  “Okay. Let’s go, then.”

  The half-hour drive back to my house, our house, she teased me incessantly with innuendos and her lithe hand running up and down my thigh.

  I wasn’t going to last the night if she kept it up.

  Yeah, she was really keeping it up.

  “Ten minutes, female. After that, I’m coming after you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, then you carry me off on your shoulder if I’m not ready, grunting and beating your chest. I get it. Ten minutes.”

  “Marie didn’t wash your mouth out with soap enough when you were a kid. The sass never stops.”

  She stopped with her hand on my front screen door. “That’s a good thing. You love my hot dirty mouth.”

  Nope. Not gonna last even an hour.

  Giggling, she finally went inside, and I sprang into action. It felt like not enough. Fuck. Any ideas I had for tonight didn’t seem like enough for her. Here I was this Coonass boy with a queen on my arm and not much to offer her.

  Except my life, and my love, and my soul. She could have all of it.

  Five minutes later, everything was ready. I threw a mosquito net over the whole spread and lit the torches around the edges of the dock to make sure she wasn’t eaten alive while I attempted to romance her.

  Fuck, it wasn’t enough.

  “Nine minutes. So there.” Hailed by the sound of her voice, I turned around, and the sight of her almost knocked me on my ass. Her red locks were blowing in the soft, humid bayou breeze. She had a white tank top on and underneath, I could see a navy lacy bra. Instead of her regular skirt, she had on some cutoff jean shorts, and a pair of flip-flops replaced her heels.

  A few seconds passed before I could breathe again.

  My brothers were right. I was one lucky mother fucker.

  “That good, huh? You had jeans and a T-shirt on, so I figured it was casual.”

  “Casual is good. I like this look.”

  “Looks like you more than like.” She pointed to my crotch, which was saying all the things I wasn’t.

  “Come on, then. Let’s get this started.”

  The sun was setting over the water. Flecks of orange and pinks peeked through the openings in the cypress trees, throwing colors on my Coonass picnic.

  “You did this for me?” She took my hand and stopped walking at the sight.

  Didn’t she know? In the scope of this female coming into my life and turning it upside down, picking up a meal and throwing down a tablecloth from the store was the absolute minimum I could do.

  “Of course I did. I’d…” Shit, this was hard for me. I’d been alone too long here in the damp swamp with just a bunch of renegades to talk to. “I’d do anything for you, Tansy. I fucking love you.”

  She turned to face me, and a tear was coming from her eye. This woman was nothing like I’d ever known. She didn’t flinch at ghosts or creepy bears stalking her. She stood still and true when I told her I turned into a gator once in a while.

  But she teared up at a picnic.

  “I love you more. This is absolutely perfect.”

  Tansy

  “BLTs.” Before me sat the most romantic gesture, set up by my mate—for me. This wasn’t a movie or someone putting on airs with the hopes of getting some booty. This was his emotions spread before me on a crappy dock in the middle of the bug-infested bayou. It was perfect.

  “Get naked,” I demanded, and I instantly regretted not having a camera to capture the shock on his face. “I need to meet your gator so we can mate.”

  It was stupid, but in my mind, seeing his beast came somewhere after getting each other off and doing the deed, and my willpower was just about shot, my desire to climb him like a tree growing with every second.

  “I bought you dinner.” He moved not a muscle. “We should eat first?” It came out as almost a question, and I could barely contain my amusement.

  “Dinner can wait. I need you to gator up so I can mate your ass.”

  His jaw dropped at my less-than-church-like language. Mission accomplished.

  “You sure?”

  I wasn’t even sure if he was asking if I needed to see the gator or wanted to mate or if dinner could wait. It didn’t matter because I was sure about all of it. With Etienne, I had none of the niggling worry I had with anyone else. All I felt was the rightness of it. He was mine. Mine. And soon I was going to mark him for all to see, a desire I didn’t fully grasp but yet so powerful. Mine.

  “Do you need me to help?”

  “If you do, you’ll never see my gator because I will be too busy making you scream my name.”

  He began to undress slowly, dropping his clothes one piece at a time near the picnic, my eyes not veering from him the entire time. It took every bit of restraint I had not to reach out and run my fingers along his abs before licking him all over. When his jeans dropped, his erection bounced up and down, calling to me. I slammed my hands in my pockets to avoid reaching out, gathering his pre-cum on my finger, and bringing it to my lips.

  He took three steps and, for a hot second, I thought all plans of gatoring were over and making love under the stars took its place. No, not making love, mating, becoming one, committing.

  As he brushed past me, muttering something about me being too fucking sexy and not looking at him like that before, a crack echoed in my ear and a gator stood where he once had. I must’ve blinked too long because it was like he was there, and then poof—gator.

  He was huge. I’d been face-to-face with a gator before—Justice. Not that I’d known that at the time. This time, I knew who was standing there, and instead of the abject terror I’d felt the last time I saw a gator, I was filled with awe.

  I sat on the deck, crisscross applesauce, and watched him as he watched me.

  “You can come over.” I finally broke our silence, and he walked over slowly. “I’m not scared, silly mate. Can I touch you?” We probably should’ve discussed ground rules before he changed, but with the BLTs and firelight and his bum nestled in those jeans so perfectly, talking wasn’t a thing that was gonna happen.

  He came close enough for me to reach, and I placed my hand on his chin or whatever it is you call it on a gator. His skin was smoother than I expected. “You’re beautiful.” And huge, but I didn’t need to give him a bigger head than he had. “Now stand back.”

  As he took three steps back, I yanked my tank top off, showing him my fanciest bra, the one I ordered just for him. I couldn’t wait to show him the matching panties.

  “I bet you’re wondering if the panties match.” I barely got out the words before he was back in human form, his lips on my neck.

  “You don’t play fucking fair.” He nibbled where his mark was going to go. “You’re fucking perfect.”

  I reached down and gave his erection a little attention. His lips slammed into mine, owning them and setting my body on fire.

  “I need you,” I gasped when the kiss broke, both of us out of breath, his scent on steroids.

  “We need each other.” His hand snaked to my shorts, popping the button before unzipping them, not taking time to remove them before his hand found its way into my panties, finding me true to my word.

  “So wet for me, my mate.” His finger slipped inside me easily, my body instinctively beginning to move. “So greedy for me.”

  Words didn’t come, my brain too addled with need. I grabbed his head, pulling him to me, telling him all I needed to with my lips, his hand continuing to torment me so sweetly, until I began to crest and pulled his hand away, finding my words
.

  “I don’t want to come until you’re inside me. Make that happen.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice, my shorts and panties off faster than I thought possible, his teeth teasing my nipples through my bra.

  “I was going to woo you, woman,” he growled before divesting me of my bra. “And you had to go be sexy as fuck and smelling like the world’s best cinnamon roll.”

  I wrapped my legs around him, rubbing myself on his cock, which was now settled at my core, leaving no question as to what I wanted.

  “You’re. Mine.” He entered me in one quick motion, and for the first time, I felt complete. He moved slowly at first, before finding a rhythm that was too perfect, my climax rushing at me too soon, too hard, my need to claim him, superseding all else.

  “Mine,” I screamed as I came, harder than I had imagined possible, my teeth breaking the skin in his shoulder just as his body shuttered his release, and my shoulder felt a pinch before I went over the edge for a second time.

  Mine. Mine. Mine. My brain played over and over again. He was mine.

  Yours.

  Etienne

  I didn’t ever want to let her go. We lay together, under the moon, naked and glistening with the afterglow of our joining.

  She spoke to me in my mind. I heard it. Maybe I was imagining it.

  I love you and all, Eti, but your big burly body is suffocating me, I’m sweating to death, and I think you just fell asleep a little, farted, and woke yourself up.

  That scenario actually sounded plausible.

  I unwrapped my arms from around her waist and fumbled around for my jeans.

  “I´m making a run for it,” she said, and took off in a sprint toward the house buck-assed naked. Before I could zip my pants, she was in the house and the door had slammed behind her.

  So much for romance.

  I picked up her clothes and the dinner we´d left untouched and went inside.

  Get in here, Mate.

  The sound of her voice in my head stopped me in my tracks. I’d heard of shifter mates speaking telepathically before, but my mate was human, well, somewhat human. I didn’t know it was possible.