Free Shifter Mountain: A BBW Paranormal Romance by Annora Soule

for the porch, she managed a weak smile.
    "Wow — this whole scene is crazy,"  Kay said. "I mean, I've never seen this much action before."
    "Stick around, you haven't seen anything yet.  Speaking of crazy, your husband paid me a visit last night."
    Kay froze. A shudder went through her.
    "What happened exactly?  What did he say?"
    "Well, it was pretty interesting," Jordan began. "He was, well, he had climbed up on the roof, actually."
    "On the roof?"
    "Yeah, kind of a hard climb for a man, I would say," Jordan mused. "But much easier for, say, a panther."
    The statement hit Kay like a brick.
    "A panther," she repeated, deadpan.
    "One of your mountain's secrets apparently.  The rumors apparently are all true.  Obviously we cannot talk about this now, with everyone around, but you and I need to have a long talk later."
    Kay nodded, her eyes wide as saucers.
    "Something you should notice," Jordan added. He spread out his arms and turned to show her his front and back.  "Not a scratch.  He never actually attacked me."
    "Do you know why not?"
    "I ran him off."
    "How'd you manage to do that?"
    "I just threw a rock at him."
    That didn't sound right. Cephas didn't scare off easily.
    "That's it?"
    "That's all it took. There's something else, though.  It seems I'm shifting a little myself.  Only not into a panther."
    "Into what?"
    "That definitely will have to wait until later."
    Kay had absolutely no idea what to say to Jordan.  He was giving her that look again, the look that told her she actually mattered to him.  But insecurity flooded her. And fear — fear about how Scopes Mountain's darkness could be fully exposed with all these strangers around.  She should have known better than to agree to let Jordan lease her property, but the money was too good to turn down.
    Kay decided to change the subject.
    "That girl — she's awful pretty," Kay said.
    "What girl?"
    "The model who's going to be in your video."
    "Who?"
    "She's over there."
    Kay pointed the blonde out to him.  She was talking to another woman with a funky haircut with pink streaking through jet-black extensions.
    Jordan looked at the model, and then looked back at Kay.  Then he got an idea in his head.
    "Wait here a second."
    Jordan strode over to the model and the other woman.
    "Hey, Gina," he said to the brunette.
    "Hey yourself, cowboy."
    The woman with the funky hair was in charge of wardrobe and makeup for the shoot.  She had two other women working under her.
    "Walk with me a sec," he said.
    Gina and Jordan moved off to where they could have a short private conversation.
    "I'm thinking this model isn't right for the shoot," Jordan said.
    "Why — is something wrong?"
    "Nothing's wrong with her, she just wasn't well cast."
    "Well, you need a love interest for the video, and it will take another day or two if you want a new model screened."
    "We don't need another model," Jordan said. "I already have someone in mind.  A local woman.  She's up there on the porch."
    Gina shielded her eyes against the sun and looked over toward Kay.  Bob approached just then.
    "What's going on?" Bob asked.
    "I think we should pay the model for her time, but I think Kay is actually a better fit for the video.  She's authentic."
    Bob looked incredulous.
    "Nothing against Kay — her hospitality has been stupendous but she's not exactly the video vamp type."
    "What's wrong with her?"
    Well," Bob said. "She's plain, and she doesn't exactly have a smokin' figure."
    "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Jordan said.
    "Yes...but it's your audience that will be the beholder, not you,"  Bob said. "Wait a minute, what's really going on here?  Do you have a thing for her?"
    "What do you think, Gina?"
    "Well, wardrobe will be a problem because we didn't bring anything up that's in her size.  But we can look through what she's got on the spot, and I'm a pretty good seamstress on-the-spot if we need to come up with something, or alter what she's got."
    "You actually are in