Free Stray Cat Strut by Shelley Munro Page B

and idly watched
the customers while sipping my beer. I’d been in the village for two months,
working for a company that took guided walks around the Mount Cook area. I
loved the seasonal job, enjoying being outdoors in the mountain air and having
the opportunity to shift and run in relative privacy because of the sparseness
of the population. I’d be sorry when the job ended in a few weeks. Mount Cook
was a shifter’s paradise. People surrounded me, yet I was lonely.
    A woman pushed into a gap at the bar
between me and another woman. The new arrival was gorgeous, tall and slender
but not too skinny. When she pressed closer to me, I tensed. Shifter .
The woman was a shifter. I inhaled her scent with something akin to pleasure
because I hadn’t seen another shifter since I’d left Middlemarch.
    She wasn’t black leopard like me. Not that
it mattered because I was so desperate for communication with a like being.
Shifters weren’t meant to live alone.
    I wasn’t meant to live a solitary life.
    My gaze wandered across the smooth, tanned
skin of her face. She really was lovely. I could appreciate her stunning beauty
even though I preferred males.
    “What are you staring at?” she demanded,
catching me off guard. Her brown eyes flashed and she tossed a luxurious mane
of blonde curls over her shoulder. Irritation underlined the move but instead
of making me back off, she made me grin.
    “You,” I drawled. “I’m staring at you.” I’m
not sure where the urge to tease her came from, but since her attention
centered on me, I continued with the impulse.
    “Don’t bother, pretty boy. You’re wasting
your time blinking your cute green eyes and flashing your dimples at me. I’m
not interested.” South Africa colored her voice, the accent strong and brash.
    My grin widened to toothy. “Most girls wait
until they’re asked before assuming. But as it happens, I’m not looking for a
woman.” I paused, my gaze running across her beautiful face and dipping
momentarily to peruse her breasts. My gaze lifted again to caress her face.
“Now if you had a brother, I might be interested.” Hell, my tongue had turned
rebellious. Honesty poured from me. We gaped at each other, my words hanging
between us. I figured even though I spoke the truth, she would assume I was
joking. But instead of laughing, the color bleached from her face, leaving her
deathly pale. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m fine. I’m meeting someone. Wrong bar.”
She backed away abruptly, colliding with a solid male. She whirled, gasped and
grabbed the forearm of the man she’d crashed into. “Wrong bar. Let’s go.” She
tried to pull him from the bar but he stood his ground. His blond brows rose
while a tiny smile played across his sensual lips.
    “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your
friend?”
    “No,” the woman snapped. “Let’s go.”
    “I’ve only just arrived.” He held out his hand
and smiled at me. Slow and languid, it played hell with my libido. My heart
hammered against my ribs when I placed my hand in his. Our gazes caught and
held, and it wasn’t in the normal, casual way of two males meeting. It was
more. Much more. Direct. A moment of pure honesty. And suddenly I knew why the
woman was worried.
    “I’m Lucas Huntingdon,” he said. “This is
my sister Leticia.”
    Sister.
    I tightened my grip on Lucas’ hand. Just a
fraction to let him know I returned his interest before releasing it. “Saul
Sinclair.”
    “Can I buy you a drink, Saul?” Lucas’ brown
eyes held glints of gold. His blond hair surrounded his head like a halo, a
mass of golden curls. I picked up the same hint of shifter on the air and
everything clicked into place. South Africa and shifter.
    Lion .
    Intrigued, I continued to stare. My cock
reared against the fly of my jeans, my libido shooting into high gear. Other
than one-night stands, I hadn’t met anyone who interested me for months. There
had been Nick, my roommate while I’d attended Otago