Free Romance: Auctioned To The Panther: BBW Dragon Shifter Romance Standalone (Wild Shifters Book 2) by Ashley Hunter

Miranda.
    Grace had been watching the whole scene play out with an avid interest. It made so much sense, she realized, that Miranda, instead of being the victim, was the one who had scorned Christian. Now, for whatever reason, the woman had returned to try to hurt Christian again. Well, Grace wasn't about to let that happen, not now that she'd realized she loved the man dearly.
    She watched in shock as the man whom she loved changed from man to beast in front of her eyes, though—it seemed Miranda had got something correct, at least. Where moments before had stood a tall, lithe man, now there was a sleek panther who eyed Miranda and flicked its tail back and forth.
    Miranda screamed shrilly and backed away from him, clearly terrified, but Christian felt little satisfaction in the way she fled. Instead, he felt only an aching sorrow at being left alone and knowing that Grace would never accept him now. Why the woman had had to meddle in his life, breaking his heart all over again, he couldn't understand. Maybe she just did it for fun... He growled again after Miranda's receding form and then focused on calming himself down enough that he could turn back to his human form in case Miranda sent the authorities sniffing around.
    Back in his human form, he turned dejectedly towards the house and was surprised to see Grace standing there in the back doorway, eyes raking appraisingly over his now-naked form (his clothes, of course, had shredded when he'd undergone the change from human to panther and back again).
    He took a step towards her, holding out his hand beseechingly—if she hadn't thought him a monster before, she had to think so now, now that she was startled to have seen him shift forms like that, especially since he'd shifted out of anger. She had to be confused and upset—and honestly, she had to be scared: if he couldn't control the panther side when he got emotional, as she must have surmised, how could he possibly keep her safe from himself.
    He wasn't surprised when she ran back into the house, and although he wanted to chase after her, he also knew that would only scare her further. He walked slowly into the house, hugging himself and resigning himself to a life alone.
    He didn't know why he had expected things to go better with Grace than they ever had with anyone else. Miranda was right, he was a monster, he was a beast. He hadn't lied to Grace, really, in the time that she'd been there, but that said, he should have told her the truth a long time ago. He'd just been so worried that she'd run away from him, that she'd be scared of him. He'd just wanted to win her trust before he told her what he really was.
    Christian stopped short when he found Grace standing there in the hallway waiting for him, holding his robe out to him. “It's chilly out there,” she said softly, taking a careful step forwards. “You should put this on.”
    Christian reached for the robe with shaking hands and pulled it around himself, tying the belt around his waist. As soon as he'd got it fastened, Grace was in his arms. He wanted to believe this wasn't a dream, but it all seemed so surreal: the fight with Miranda and now Grace here with him despite all that she'd seen and heard. He tightened his arms around her, though, wanting to cling to this dream for as long as possible.
    Her speech broke the spell. “I'm still mad at you,” she said, voice muffled against his chest. “You should've told me what you were, rather than lying to me for the past month. But you make me feel safe.”
    Christian frowned and tried to pull out of her grasp, not understanding where this was coming from. Shouldn't she be running from him in terror right now?
    “You should also have told me about Miranda,” she continued, refusing to let him go. “Because that was weird when she showed up here this afternoon and tried to tell me what a horrible person you are. But I guess I knew deep down that it wasn't true, the things she was saying—I guess I've