Lion Tamer: Rock Shifter Fairytales, #2

By Lashell Collins

What do you get when you cross a smoking-hot rock star with a sexy lion shifter, then throw in a heaping dose of gothic fairytale enchantment? Gigi Loveland is about to find out!

Disapproving family members, an exclusive invitation-only ball, and a godmother wielding magic spells isn't enough to keep Gigi from pursuing her mission of getting close to her favorite shifter rock band. She'll do almost anything to accomplish her task. But in a world where interspecies relations are often as problematic as the human-shifter conflict, Gigi doesn't know what hit her when her delicate gazelle senses tell her she's falling for the band's fierce, tortured, and intimidating bassist, Dash Lyons. Predators and prey don't usually make the best love matches, and the closer she and Dash get, the more Gigi wonders if she really has what it takes to tame the beast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lashell Collins
• Release date: Jul 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533724090

Book preview

Dedication

Always for Gary, for believing in me.

––––––––

Thanks

I'd like to thank the following people for their support:

My husband: for giving me the space and the time to pursue this crazy dream.

Mom: for passing along your love of reading and romance.

Willa: for being such a great friend and dance partner. Your assistance is invaluable to me.

Erika: for helping to plant a seed and spark a dream.

Stephanie Potos Biedlingmaier of http://www.ingeniousindiepromotions.com for everything!

Tatiana Villa of http://www.viladesign.net for the beautiful cover art.

All of you: for taking the time to read my stories. Thank you!

Once upon a time...

Prologue

Iris Trafficking

When the existence of shifters was discovered back in the late 1930s, the human race had never felt more unified. Nothing – not a single event of the entire 20th Century – had done more to bring the races together than the discovery that there were those walking among them who were different. Fear of the others soon drew humanity together. Caucasian, Black, Asian, Hispanic. Racial hatred and discrimination was instantly a thing of the past once the shifters emerged.

Marked by their tendency to shift into monstrous creatures, shifters were seen as strange, outcast beings who should never be thought of as part of the human race. If you had the ability to sprout fur, fangs, feathers and claws, you were automatically seen as public enemy number one. Segregation became the norm just about everywhere, from schools to public restrooms. Most restaurants refused to give shifters service, and blatant speciesism ran rampant in just about every region of the world — a fact that sparked many hate crimes and species riots in several places around the globe.

America saw some of the worst, like the riots in Springfield, Illinois in 1938. False reports that human women had been attacked or raped by shifter males caused an angry mob of humans to travel the Illinois countryside lynching shifters and burning their homes and businesses to the ground. Or in 1943 in Detroit when an innocent argument between human and shifter teenagers at a popular integrated hangout soon ballooned into a full-blown fight between a hoard of angry shifters and a group of human military men. The death tolls for both incidents were in the high double digits while several hundred others, both humans and shifters alike, were left injured.

It wasn’t until the mid-1950s, when the Shifter Freedom Movement started to gain traction, that things slowly began to change. Through their organized efforts of non-violent protesting, peaceful marches and sit-ins, the Shifter Freedom Movement did a lot to curb the prejudice and elevate the shifter species, but there were still thousands around the world who would never see them as anything more than animals. Even though the majority of shifters didn’t seem to have the capacity to completely morph into their animal counterparts, they all had heightened abilities like super strength and speed. Humans, for the most part, found those abilities both unsettling and frightening, to say the least. So much, in fact, that they began actively searching for a way to address the issue.

There were several agencies around the world that had the greatest human scientists working tirelessly on a way to effectively eliminate the shifters’ ability to shift – a basic plan to neutralize them and make them normal. Prolonged exposure to silver nitrate had been proven successful, but the chemical compound was extremely dangerous to work with. If the scientists weren't careful, they could easily kill a shifter with it, and poison themselves in the process. As a result, the compound had long ago been deemed inhumane by the Agency for the Betterment and Protection of Shifters (ABPS), and therefore outlawed. However, that did nothing to stop the research into the drug’s usefulness as a potential solution to their problem.

Originally, the hope was that if an effective method of dealing with the problem were discovered, most shifters would choose the treatment voluntarily, thereby ending their second-class-citizen status and the bulk of the prejudice against them. After all, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to be normal like everyone else? But the rise in the Shifter Freedom Movement and the obvious pride many shifters appeared to have in their own heritage made it crystal clear to humans that a more expansive program was required, and treatment could not be limited simply to volunteers. For it to work, they would need to inoculate the entire species somehow, consent be damned.

To the socially conscience shifter, it was obvious that the Iris drug trade had sprung up almost as soon as the legitimate silver nitrate research had. As soon as it became public knowledge that there was an actual chemical compound out there that shifters were vulnerable to, there were humans ready and willing to find some way to exploit it and use it for their own interests — namely, ridding the world of shifters once and for all. If that couldn’t be done through politics and legal channels, then embracing the illegal channels of the existing drug trade was not too far beneath them.

One way or another, the shifter problem would be dealt with. Mix the silver nitrate with a known popular hallucinogen like Ecstasy, market it to the shifters as the only recreational drug potent enough to give them a worthwhile high, and the shifter problem could be fixed all while earning a hefty profit to boot. For the terrified human population, it was a brilliant win-win situation...

Chapter One

It’s funny how when fate happens you never actually see it coming. You simply turn around and it punches you right in the face. Or in Gigi’s case, it slammed into her side and knocked the wind out of her before it sped off in the other direction. The impact almost knocked her on her ass, and she struggled to keep her balance and hang on to the box of pastries too.

She failed.

The box hit the concrete, and the tall paper cup was sent flying from her grip like a hot liquid projectile. She watched in vain as her beloved dark roast splattered magnificently to the ground. She hated Mondays.

Why don’t you watch where the hell you’re going, you little menace!

Her teenaged hit-and-run assailant sped off down the sidewalk on his bicycle, barely waving an acknowledgement in her direction. Forget about an apology. She huffed out a frustrated sigh and looked down at the puddle of coffee in dismay. She hadn’t even taken the first sip.

Shit.

She mumbled a litany of similar four-letter words as she knelt down to try to salvage the pastries, grateful that the box hadn’t popped open and sent them flying through the air too. At least they weren’t ruined like her coffee.

She was still quietly cussing under her breath when suddenly someone rushed over and knelt in front of her, picking up the now empty coffee cup and its lid.

I could chase him down and knock him off his bike if you want me too. Scare the little shit from here to Sunday; teach him to be more careful.

The voice was deep and rich and riddled with lighthearted reproach, and Gigi couldn’t help her small laugh at his playful offer. But when she looked up at her would-be avenger, all amusement drifted away at the sight of him.

His skin was golden brown in color, and his lips were sculpted and full. He had a masculine square jaw line, and his perfect lips were framed by a thin, honey golden-blond mustache and goatee. He wore a black knit cap on his head, concealing his hair, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark, mirrored aviator sunglasses. She actually couldn’t see much of him at all, but he oozed a certain sort of confidence just in his sexy smile alone, and Gigi suddenly couldn’t look away. His smile got broader, revealing a perfect set of pearly white teeth as he leaned in closer and gave her an exaggerated sniff.

Gazelle. Sweet.

The words dropped from his lips like sugary molasses, and even with the mirrored shades Gigi could tell he was looking her over as though she were a piece of meat and he were dying of starvation. She inhaled his wild musk and instantly felt a ripple of excitement shoot through her belly even as she drew slightly back from him. The recoil was a natural reaction to a lion shifter for her species, but being excited by one’s presence was not. She couldn’t deny her body’s reaction to this stranger though, and she wondered how she could be sexually attracted to a man she couldn’t even see clearly. A man she should never be attracted to at all, no matter what he might look like.

He picked up her box of pastries and gently wrapped one large hand around her elbow and helped her to stand. Gigi looked up at him as he rose to his full height. He was imposing, even for a lion shifter, and she felt the faint rush of impending danger standing this close to him. It was oddly seductive.

Thank you for your help. She tucked a strand of dark blonde wavy hair behind her ear as she took the pastry box from him. I appreciate it.

It’s no problem. In fact, why don’t you let me buy you another cup of coffee to replace the one you lost? He asked as he tossed the now empty paper cup into the nearby wastebasket.

No, that’s not necessary, really. Thank you, though, for the offer. You’re very kind.

He smiled at her again, and Gigi thought she actually felt her knees weaken. This was crazy.

Well, I know it’s not necessary, but I’d still like to. I would hate for your entire day to be ruined by that punk kid with no manners and obviously no sense of remorse.

She turned her head and looked down the sidewalk in the direction the kid had ridden. Oh, I’m sure he probably had somewhere important to get to.

You are being much nicer about it than I would be. But then ... you gazelles are always polite, aren’t you?

She smiled at him, ignoring his speciesist generalization, however true it might be. Gazelle shifters were mostly very mild-mannered and deferential. Traits she had fought hard to learn to overcome when she needed to.

Well, thank you again, but I need to get going. I was already running late, and now I’m afraid my little spill has really set me back. She moved to walk past him on the sidewalk.

Well, can I maybe have my driver take you somewhere? He gestured toward the curb where a sleek, black, vintage Rolls Royce sat waiting. It would save you the trouble of trying to hail a cab.

Gigi looked at the glossy black car as her eyebrows reached for the heavens. It was not at all the ride she would have pictured this larger-than-life man in, and her mind worked furiously to try and make sense of it. Who was this guy? She turned back to him hoping she didn’t look nearly as impressed as she felt.

Thank you, but no. I’m afraid I don’t accept rides from strange men. Not even the cute ones.

That sexy smile slid over his lips again as he took a step in her direction. Well, you could get to know me, pretty gazelle. How about dinner?

Gigi smiled back. She couldn’t help it. She actually felt a little schoolgirl giddy knowing that he was attracted to her. What she wouldn’t give to get a peek at his eyes, but the flirtatious sexy smile was already enough to nearly do her in. Besides, she couldn’t deny that the mystery of him was intriguing. But the thought of her with a lion shifter was insane. Her mother was probably already turning over in her grave with just the thought of it. Gigi felt herself blushing as she realized he was waiting for an answer.

Thank you, but no. I really can’t.

He clutched a hand to his chest, giving her a mock brokenhearted expression as she turned and walked away.

Taxi!

She rushed to the curb with a raised arm and hailed a cab that easily slid in behind the grandiose Rolls Royce. She opened the door and hopped inside.

Where to, Miss?

She gave the cabbie the address and set the box of pastries on the seat beside her. When she glanced back through the window as the cab drove off, the sexy lion shifter stood watching her go, that flirty smile still beaming right at her.

As he watched the cab drive away, he took a deep breath, inhaling the scents around him. He could still taste her fragrance lingering in the air, and he took in as much of it as he could, attempting to savor it. He had never smelled anything so delicious in his entire life. It wasn’t like he had never caught the scent of a gazelle shifter before, because he had. Many, many times. But there was something about this one that he couldn’t explain, something raw and luscious and sweet. Something that made his mouth water. Something he suddenly wanted more than life itself. Who was that woman?

He turned and strode toward the building, still smiling as he thought about her. She was gorgeous. Almost enough to ease the annoyance he felt at having to be here again. Too bad she hadn’t taken him up on his offer for a ride. It would have made an excellent excuse to hightail it out of there.

His smile faded as he entered the building and traveled down the hall to the open door at the end. The room was already quite full, and he walked straight over to the large circle of chairs and took a seat. With a deep sigh, he folded his arms across his massive chest and leaned back, glowering at everyone behind his mirrored shades.

All right, everyone. Let’s get started, shall we?

All around him, male and female shifters began to take