Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 23597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Only he’d be able to fully ease my need.
And the very thought of any other male disgusted me.
I opened my eyes and breathed out again, feeling a semblance of calm.
I could do this, get through my first night of work while battling my first mating heat.
I hoped, at least.
2
Penny
For a few hours, I’d been keeping my shit together—as well as I could anyway. I focused on drink orders, reciting them in my head over and over again so it gave me something else to think about, to focus on.
When a human male would try to make drunken advances on me, I could shut them down cold with a look, or even a little growl with the help of my Iberian lynx rising up. And when they’d hear that very animalistic sound, they’d snap their mouths closed and leave me the fuck alone.
My tips would probably hurt because of it, but at this point, I didn't care. I was just trying to stay sane.
I looked at my watch and noticed I still had another hour to go before the night ended. Not soon enough, but certainly tolerable. I was thankful they’d only scheduled me for half a shift, wanting me to get used to the floor, the way things worked. I’d been waitressing off and on my whole adult life, so it was pretty much the same, standard game at any bar. But now that my mating heat was in full-force, I was glad to go home, take an ice bath, maybe shift and go for a run, and just deal with this away from people.
I had heard enough stories about when female shifters experienced heat. If they were unmated it was insufferable, could even be painful. If they were mated… it was one of the greatest, most pleasurable experiences of their lives.
Was I ready for children? I would have said hell no before going into my mating heat, but experiencing this for the first time, how I was acutely aware that my body was now ready to carry my mate’s young, a part of me kind of warmed to the idea of being a mother. But it was all a moot point. I didn't have anyone and so would suffer this alone.
I excused myself to go to the staff bathroom for a little breather, and once inside, I splashed some water on my face to cool down. I was overheated, and it had nothing to do with the stuffy as hell bar interior. My body heat was raised high because of being fertile, well over a hundred degrees. Beads of sweat covered me from head to toe, little specks of perspiration that were basically concentrated droplets of pheromones.
I groaned as I looked at myself.
I looked like I was ready to be fucked.
Bedroom eyes that seemed too large, too dark right now. Lips that were swollen, overly red, as if I wore lipstick even though I didn’t. My breasts seemed an entire cup bigger, pressing against my white “Ginny’s” T-shirt, my nipples obscenely poking through.
After taking one last exhale and inhale, I left the bathroom and made a round through my tables, checking on everyone and getting refills.
I headed to the bar to get another order, and when I filled my tray, I gave the drinks to the customers then went to the next table. It was a group of human males who I knew were from out of town because they talked about just passing through and needed a nightcap.
But I felt the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something in the air changed, grew thick and hot. I felt it coat my skin. I started breathing harder, trying to focus on the guy who was currently placing his order. I was thankful the table of guys had no idea I was in my mating heat.
Humans didn’t have the sense shifters did to know these things. They’d probably look at me and wonder if I’d just gotten done exercising, or hell, done a line of coke for how jacked up I felt in this moment.
But I hadn't missed the look from other males in here, the ones who housed an animal. I heard them inhale and growl when I’d walk by. It had my belly tightening in disgust, knowing they weren’t what I wanted.
I made my way back to the bar to give the drink order, and Tally, the female panther shifter currently tending, stopped and looked at me, giving me a sympathetic look.
“Help to distract me,” I found myself saying before I could stop the words from tumbling out.
“Your first heat?” she asked low enough only I could hear.
I gave her a pained look and nodded. “I shouldn’t be here. I can practically feel all these assholes eyeing me.”
“They won’t touch you,” she said with conviction. “They know that if they did, your mate would tear them apart.”