On The Hunt

By Becca Fanning

Leo had been alone for a long time. Centuries, to be exact. Having decided to leave his pack behind, Leo set out to start a new life in a small town, employed as the local butcher to satisfy his lion's want of blood and tearing flesh. Leo couldn't ask for more in life until he discovered a huntress. Or more like she discovered him when her arrow sunk into the flesh of his shoulder as he traveled home from work one day in his lion form. 

Pain is all Aislinn has felt for the last week as she tried to recover from the passing of her father. Hunting in the woods has been the only thing to keep the pain at bay, until she discovered Leo in the woods in his lion form. Having never met a shifter before, Aislinn felt guilty for targeting Leo, but was quick to fix his wound. But as Leo left Aislinn alone in the woods, she couldn't help but follow him home. As Aislinn took the steps to enter Leo's life, she also took the steps to the rest of her future. 

The more time Leo and Aislinn spend together, the more they begin to feel connected to one another, but Leo has yet to feel the mate bond spring forth and claim Aislinn as his. Leo soon realizes that he will have to say goodbye to Aislinn since she isn't his mate in order to save them both from a lifetime of pain. But Leo is having a very hard time saying goodbye, and all for a very good reason. 

USA Today Bestselling Author Becca Fanning is proud to present you with this steamy Fated Mates novella!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: Feb 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386750659

Book preview

Leo

W hoa, whoa, whoa. What are you bringing me? Leo asked as he stopped the driver from unloading the dead cow carcass from his truck.

Look, buddy, I don’t get paid to know things, I get paid to deliver. You Leonardo Bianchi?

Yes, I am, but you are not delivering that to me. Go ahead and shut the doors and bring me a return to sender form.

I’m not the fucking post office man.

Leo could tell the man was pissed, and he had every right to be. But it didn’t change the fact that Leo could smell the rancid meat from the moment the truck pulled up outside of his butcher shop. One swift whack into that meat and everything in Leo’s shop would have to be sanitized, bleached and inspected, if not thrown out. The cow was from a potential new farmer that Leo had hoped to do business with but sending a tainted cow in from the start was just bad business.

The man finally realized he wasn’t getting anywhere with Leo and threw his hands in the air before slamming the doors on his refrigerated truck shut. The man muttered to himself the entire time he locked the doors and walked around to drag himself back inside the cab of his truck. Leo knew his cell phone would be ringing within minutes as the driver was no doubt on the phone with the farmer now. He didn’t care.

Leo walked back into the back entrance and washed his hands. His nose ruffled up. The tainted meat smell was still assaulting his lion’s senses. Once his hands were clean, he pulled his long latex gloves on, followed by his oversized apron. He hated being interrupted when he was mid butcher. It was even more annoying when it was for no reason. Leo took a nice deep breath of the fresh cow flank laying out on his table. That was the way good meat was supposed to smell.

He grabbed his butcher knife, even though his long canine teeth descended wanting to do the damage themselves, and then hacked the hind quarters off in one swift hit. A thrill zipped through Leo’s body. He had been a butcher in the small town for over a century, but his Lion still longed for a chance to tear into one of the many dead animals hanging in the freezer.

Leo worked tirelessly, finalizing the meat he had on his table before deciding to close up for the day. He threw his apron in the battered old washing machine, along with his shirt that he had somehow still managed to get blood on. He rinsed his gloves off and washed his hands before double checking his freezers. If Leo was being honest, he just liked to get one last whiff before he left for the night. He turned all the lights off and locked the doors before he started on his walk home.

A few of the other local shop owners waved as he walked by. They were used to seeing him shirtless, as it was something that happened frequently. He had to give the small-town people credit for accepting him. Shifters typically stayed with their packs in towns that consisted of other shifters, especially Lions; they were big on packs. Leo hadn’t been a part of a pack in close to two centuries, and he hadn’t regretted a day of it. The small town located right along the Mississippi in southern Louisiana gave him the perfect place to call home. Coupled with the fact that when he had shown up there the local butcher had been old and dying.

Leo never did figure out if the old man had been afraid Leo was going to kill him or if he genuinely wanted Leo for the job, but he taught Leo all he knew and left the shop to him when he passed. The same went for the farmers that continued to do business with Leo after he took over. Showing up and finding out Beryl had passed away and a lion shifter was their new business partner had taken several of them by surprise. They had rebounded quickly though, and things had moved along seamlessly ever since.

Leo turned off the main road and headed out to his trail in the woods. Once he was out of sight, he tugged off his pants and briefs and shifted. His lion wanted to roar, but Leo denied himself the freedom. People accepted him because he conformed to their human ways. It was rare anyone in town even saw him in his lion form, let alone heard him roar. He accepted the small pleasures he did allow himself, like his run home in his lion form.

Just as he was about to take off in a full sprint, he heard a twig snap off to his right. Leo stilled, letting the unfamiliar scent tickle his nose as he waited for another sound. Several beats passed before he heard the crunch of dried dirt under a boot, a small boot. The scent was female, but it was mixed with blood which caught Leo off guard.

The sound of a bow being drawn snapped Leo into action. He turned and lunged towards the sound, jerking his body in zig-zagging motion to make himself a harder target. Just as he closed in on the woman, she released the arrow. Leo didn’t move in time and the arrow found its way to his left shoulder. He hit the ground hard, shifting into his human form, hoping it would ward the woman off from sending anymore arrows his way.

Aislinn

S hit! Shit! You’re a man, I mean a lion. Are you okay? Aislinn threw her bow over her shoulder and raced to kneel beside the injured shifter.

I have an arrow in my shoulder, so by definition I’m not doing the best, his deep voice growled in response.

"I’m sorry. I panicked. I’ve never seen a