Free Moonshine by Moira Rogers

Moonshine

    Claire knew she stuck
out like a sore thumb from the moment she walked into the bar, and it
had nothing to do with the fact that she looked like shit. Dos
Culebras was not a bar women usually entered alone unless they were
professionals. The few non-hookers in residence belonged to men
frightening enough to convince the rest of the clients to leave them
alone.
    She was not a
professional. Worse than that, she was a shapeshifter who challenged
every man in the bar just by walking into it. Hell, she wanted to be
a challenge. She needed to meet another shapeshifter tonight. Someone
like her, who understood her strength. Who could handle her strength. Someone who wouldn't be afraid.
    She heard her
ex-boyfriend's voice as she took her beer to a small table in the
corner. It's
not you, Claire. You need someone...like you. Oh, he'd been full of false sympathy when he'd broken up with her.
He'd pretended it wasn't because she'd proven herself to be stronger
than he was—yet again.
    Humans are fragile. A morbid thought, but so true. Humans were fragile, and she had to stop wanting to be with one. Over twenty
years had passed since magic had first crashed into science and bled
into everyday life. The terror had finally subsided, and lots of men
now found it hip to have a supernatural girlfriend. At
least until she embarrasses them in front of the boys by being
stronger than they are.
    Human men. Their egos
were as fragile as their bodies.
    She was halfway through
her beer before she realized she had attracted a stranger’s
attention. He sat across the bar from her, in a corner booth, with
his back against the wall and one booted foot propped on the cracked
vinyl in front of him. A cigarette dangled from his mouth, and a
long-neck hung loosely from his fingers. Tattoos encircled his arms,
tribal designs that stood out against his skin and disappeared
beneath the sleeves of his T-shirt. He looked dangerous. Perfect .
    Even at that distance,
his eyes bored into hers. The intensity of his unwavering gaze made
her uncomfortable. She had no problem recognizing another
shapeshifter. Not a wolf, which she might have expected, but a
coyote. Like
me .
    She met his gaze
unflinchingly, knowing he wouldn't be able to resist the challenge of
her presence.
    You'll do, whoever
you are.
    After a moment he rose,
one fluid motion bringing him out of the booth. He stalked towards
her, his movements at once graceful and dangerous, and she couldn't
take her eyes away from him. He stopped at the corner of the bar and
slid onto a seat. For a minute, Claire thought he wouldn't speak.
Then his icy blue eyes softened, and he said in a low voice, "You
look like shit."
    "Thank you. I feel
like shit," she replied quietly. "That's why I have a
beer."
    He paused for a moment,
then set down his bottle. "I know who you are, you know."
    It figured. Coyotes
weren't rare, but there were only ten female coyotes in town compared
to the fifty or so males. She turned her eyes back to the man and ran
them over him in an assessing manner that bordered on insulting.
"Really? Haven't seen you in any of my classes. You don't look
like the college type."
    He just grinned, and
the simple action transformed his face from broodingly dangerous to
dangerously handsome. "Touchy bitch."
    "Yeah, maybe."
She finished the rest of her bottle and set it on the table. "My
boyfriend just dumped my ass because I'm tougher than he is. I'm
feeling a little touchy."
    He stared at her for a
second. "Beer ain't taking the edge off of that, doll. You do
shots?"
    She slanted him a look,
wondering if he was the type of man who could find her something
better than alcohol. Maybe the tricky little magical drug making the
rounds now. Custom designed for shapeshifters, it provided the
adrenaline rush of a shift, along with a healthy dose of desire.
Right now, she wanted something to remind herself just how far she
was from actually being human.
    Of course, she wasn't
exactly sure how to ask him