Romancing the leopard, p.1
Romancing the Leopard, page 1
Romancing the Leopard
A Cary Redmond-Tiger Shifters Crossover Novel
Kat Simons
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Thank You
The Trouble with Black Cats and Demons
EXCERPT
Taming Her Tiger
EXCERPT
Books By Kat Simons
About the Author
Their world is not what it seems…
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Dylan Jones planned for this solar eclipse for two years. He got a prime site at one of the best locations in Oregon, and he intends to savor his last taste of freedom before he has to settled down and finish his Ph.D. thesis. He’s at the festival for sun pictures and maybe some all-night skywatching. And if he can manage it, some much needed time in his leopard form. He’s not there for a weekend fling. But the sexy genius in the site next to his proves too tempting to ignore. Something about Cat’s scent calls to his leopard, pulling him in like catnip, and he just can’t resist her.
Catalina Donovan came to Oregon for the solar eclipse, and only the eclipse. Getting away from New York and the constant pressure from the tiger shifter males to choose a mate only increases her determination to enjoy the festival. And the super hot guy in the camp site next to hers only adds spice to her vacation. There’s something about Dylan that draws her, something she can’t quite put her finger on. For someone like Cat, unraveling the puzzle of him is as tempting and enticing as his sexy voice.
But there’s more to Dylan than Cat knows. And more to their new relationship than Dylan wants to admit. As they countdown to the eclipse, and things between them heat up, Dylan must decide how much to admit to Cat, how much he dares tell a human. When tiger shifters show up to lay a claim to her, Dylan realizes he might just have to fight for her.
And a future neither of them expects.
ROMANCING THE LEOPARD
Copyright © 2021 by Katrina Tipton
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Cover images: © Branislav Ostojic © Kyslynskyy © Alhovik | Dreamstime.com
Cover design: T&D Publishing
Published by: T&D Publishing
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T&D Publishing: https://tanddpublishing.com/
Kat Simons Website: https://www.katsimons.com
Kat Simons Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/OxQQL
* * *
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
* * *
eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
For my family, both found and biological.
1
The sky was already starting to dim by the time Dylan parked his pickup truck in his allotted camping spot. He’d intended to get here Thursday, but had gotten delayed at his parents’ house and hadn’t gotten on the road until midday Friday. The traffic coming into Madras had been horrific, and an accident earlier on the highway had slowed him even more. But he was here. Finally.
Oregon SolarFest.
The first total solar eclipse to cross from coast to coast in the United States in ninety-nine years. His mother might have been alive for that last one, although she wouldn’t have been in the US at the time, but he hadn’t and he didn’t want to miss this one.
He’d been planning for this for more than two years. And still almost hadn’t gotten a spot in the lot. He ended up with a 20’ x 20’ camping spot in SolarTown, on a flat expanse of field provided by a farmer who’d agreed not to plant that year. This was the bigger of two campsites designated for the event—the other being the main fairgrounds where NASA engineers had even set up some exhibits. He’d head up there tomorrow. For tonight, he just wanted to settle in and start hunting up the best place to set up his big telescope on Monday.
And eat, his stomach reminded him. He’d missed lunch and his shifter metabolism had burned through breakfast hours ago. He needed food soon.
Around him, tents, campers, and motorhomes filled the open field, neatly laid out in rows with dirt “roads” running between the rows to provide car access. Families with shouting kids, amateur astronomers with their scopes already out, bigger groups arranged to make up one large combined site, young college students and aging hippies all wandered the grounds. The place smelled of grass, dirt, mud, humans, sweat, and barbeque. There was a large tent for concessions to one side, including a beer tent, two large tractor trailers fitted out with showers, porta-potties scattered all around the site, and two hot air balloons for taking people up over the grassy fields.
Those fields stretched out toward the western horizon, with a brilliant view of Mount Jefferson’s snow-capped peak in the distance. There were few clouds overhead, the air was starting to cool off from the August daytime heat, a comfortable breeze hinting at a cooler night ahead. The stars would be out tonight, clear and bright.
Perfect.
And now that he was here, he had two full days to enjoy the celebration and ensure his telescope and photography equipment were set up and everything worked so he wouldn’t miss a moment of the eclipse. They were directly in the path of totality here, and promised a full two minutes plus of totality. He couldn’t wait.
He’d also get some precious nighttime observations in. While he studied stars for his Ph.D., he rarely had time to just sit outside, away from the light polluting city around his university, and stare up at the wonder of the universe. He’d be starting the new semester soon. This would be one of his last chances to relax before the final push to get his thesis done.
He pulled the tailgate down on the flatbed of his 4x4 and dragged out his tent from under the mesh holding everything down. He was at the edge of the site, near to the open field, which suited him. He’d have liked a location with more trees, so he could go for a run in his leopard form. That wouldn’t happen here, though. Not with so many humans gathered in the site, and so much open space between the grounds and the nearest clump of trees. But he could get in a run in human form through those fallow fields if needs be. He’d managed some time in his leopard form at his parents’ house, near Eugene, which had released some of the building tension. Since he spent most of his time around humans at college, he didn’t get to let his animal side out much and after a while he got restless. But the time in the woods surrounding his family home had helped. He was too excited about the eclipse to bemoan spending more time without shifting.
As he set up his tent in his designated patch of low cut grass, he took in the humans surrounding him. The couple to the left sitting on top of their four wheel camper, drinking beers and laughing too loudly. Across the stretch of dirt road, a group of maybe six adults sat outside another impressively large motorhome, the shade rolled out from the side of the monster vehicle to cover a table filled with food. The scent of barbeque came from that group and the smell made Dylan’s stomach growl. He hoped that concessions tent had something with meat.
Opposite Dylan’s spot was an older man perched in a camping chair, reading an astronomy magazine next to a nice telescope set up. He had a domed tent staked to the ground in front of his rental car. Next to the older man a couple of younger men were backing a small collapsible camper into their spot, with some difficulty and a lot of cursing at each other. On the other side of the young men, several tents had been set out with blankets for shade strung between them and a family sat on the grass between the tents playing a game of cards. To Dylan’s right, another rental car with a single-person peaked tent staked on the ground beside it, but no sign of the occupant.
People passed as he finished getting his tent up, lots of chatter and laughing and conversation. He was used to cities, used to tamping down his shifter senses, so he actually enjoyed the bustle. Even with the site still half-empty there was energy in the air, a sense of moment. The eclipse deserved nothing less in his mind.
He swung back to his truck to grab the last tent poles just as his neighbor to the right came out of her tent.
And Dylan just…froze.
She was tall and thin, with a mass of blond hair decorated with blue and purple streaks, all of it pulled up into a high, messy ponytail. The hairstyle highlighted her pixie face, all angles and sharp lines. Glorious brown eyes which tipped up a little at the corners surrounded by thick lashes.
And her mouth. He couldn’t seem to look away from her mouth. Full, lush, her bottom lip plumper than the top, made for biting. His pulse hammered at the thought and his leopard growled a little in his head. He held very still for a long moment as every nerve in his body jumped to life, desire thick and hot flooded his system. His nostrils flared, even though the breeze was wrong to catch her scent. Heart pounding, he took one step toward her.
And blinked.
Whoa. His reaction was so far over the top, he frowned. She was pretty, very pretty, but not the sort of stunning beauty that stopped men in their tracks. Still…
He couldn’t look away.
He abruptly turned back to his truck before she caught him staring, giving his head a little shake. They’d be camped next to each other for a couple of days. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable on the very first day and set a bad mood for the rest of the event.
Even so, as he finished with his tent, he remained hyper aware of her shuffling around her site. She called a greeting to someone, and the sound of her voice brushed over him, making the hairs on his arms stand up in reaction. It took an act of will not to turn back to her. He glared at his tent, the last couple of tent stakes nearly forgotten in his hand, reining himself in, flexing his fist a few times to release some of the tension.
Where the hell had this come from?
He glanced at her again, unable to resist, and his frown deepened. She was young and bright, glowing and smiling. And yes, she was pretty. And yes, there was an energy in the way she moved, a sort of contained spark of electricity. Magnetic energy that felt like life itself. Hard-to-resist energy that emanated from her in waves. But…
But what? his leopard asked.
What the hell? he answered.
Which wasn’t really an answer.
He gave himself a full body shake and went back to staking down his tent, attempting once again not to stare. He even tried to keep her out of his peripheral vision. That failed miserably. He caught flashes of movement, the bounce of blue and pink hair, glimpses of torn baggy jeans and her bright purple t-shirt. The soft growl he released when she bent over, giving him a tantalizing view of her ass, was too low for a human to hear, but even that much slip in his control shocked the hell out of him.
He stalked to his truck for his sleeping bag, watching her while trying to look like he wasn’t. He never reacted to women this way. Not on first sight. Not without some build to the attraction. The breeze moved away from him, so he still hadn’t caught her scent. The fact that he was having a difficult time staying by his own damned tent, that he could barely resist staring at her was baffling. What was it about her?
She hefted a large telescope out from her car trunk and carefully placed it onto a sturdy tripod. She smiled a lot, he noticed. A full, gloriously bright smile. And when she focused on adjusting her scope, she nibbled at her bottom lip.
The gesture made Dylan groan. He concentrated on snapping open his sleep bag and pushing into place inside the tent. Not that he’d need it for warmth. Between the mild August night temperatures and his shifter metabolism, he wouldn’t be even a little cold tonight. But a sleeping bag helped him maintain the illusion of being a normal human, so he always had one with him when he went camping.
The breeze shifted but still didn’t move in the right direction to bring the woman’s scent to him. Probably for the best. If he was reacting this way to just her presence, he was afraid to find out how his leopard reacted to her scent. And yet he still found himself hunting the air for hints, for something of her essence under the stronger smells of charcoal fires and dirt. Maybe if he could analyze her scent, he’d be able to explain his reaction to himself.
He had been too focused on his research lately. And when his twin had teased him about his recent monkish existence, he hadn’t completely dismissed the idea of a hookup during the festival if he met someone free and willing. He wasn’t here for that, and he’d assumed the probability was pretty low, but he wasn’t opposed either. He just hadn’t expected to feel like he’d been hit between the eyes with a tree trunk at just the sight of a stranger.
As he settled his tent flap closed, contemplating his thunderstruck reaction, the older man from across the dirt path ambled over and gave Dylan a small wave. Dylan jumped at the excuse to focus on something, anything other than his captivating neighbor.
The man was probably in his mid to late sixties in human years, with a bushy gray beard and mustache, thinning gray hair, pale skin, and horned rimmed glasses that made his brown eyes look too large for his face. His scent was a mix of human musk, some sort of medicinal chemical, and breath mints. And just under that, Dylan was pretty sure he smelled gin, but faint, as if the man had enjoyed a glass last night.
“Here to gawk or to study?” the man asked with an amiable smile.
For a split second, Dylan thought the man was talking about the woman, and the way Dylan had been having trouble not gawking at her. But then the man glanced up in the general direction of the setting sun, and Dylan realized he was talking about the eclipse.
The entire reason they were all here.
He released some of the tightness in his shoulders and said, “Little of both.” He nodded to his truck cab. “Got a ten inch scope for the sun and a smaller one for the night sky.”
The man’s smile turned into a grin. “Wouldn’t mind a look through that ten inch once you get it set up.”
“No problem.”
“Sun spot activity should be good.” The man glanced up again. “Gonna be a good night for stargazing as well.”
“You here to gawk or study?” he asked, echoing the man’s question to him.
“Little of both.” He smiled. “Have you been up to the fairgrounds yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Don’t miss it. Got lots of fun stuff set up for us eclipse chasers.” The man rocked back a little on his heels. “Where you from, son?”
“Oregon. Eugene originally.”
“Well. Not too far to travel for you, then.”
“How about you?”
“East coast. New Jersey at present.”
“Nothing closer to home?” The path of totality would stretch from coast to coast and there were events going on all around the country.
The man waved that away. “I wanted in on this as early as possible.”
“Can’t blame you for that.” First landfall was here in Oregon, and Dylan had jumped at the chance to be one of the first to see the event as well. “Name’s Dylan by the way.”
The man took his outstretched hand and gave it a firm shake. “Tom. Tom Baxter. Good to meet you, Dylan.”
“You too, Tom.”
The woman in the neighboring site ducked into her tent, which Dylan noticed despite his best intentions to ignore her. When she came back out again, she laughed suddenly, the sound sonorous and deeper than he’d expected from such a pixie face. And he was right back to staring at her again. She was laughing at a passing group of three adults and two kids wearing tinfoil hats. She clapped and the group waved to her. She waved back, like she greeted people wearing tinfoil hats every day.
He should introduce himself.
Wait, what? No. He needed to stay away from her so he didn’t get any more distracted by her. He needed to finish his site setup and then go get some food. He needed to get his bearings and settle in.
