Shifter City: Hearts of Stone, #2

By C.D. Gorri

Will her love break through his heart of stone?

 

Silas McKennon is a corporate shark, er, Lion. All business, this hard-hearted male hates women. He simply refuses to have anything to do with them. Well, except for one.

 

Blonde and brainy, Larissa Clark works for Silas as his right hand man, er, woman. She's a sharp shooting administrative assistant and one of the few females he will tolerate.

 

Having the hots for her hunky boss is just one of the secrets she has to keep in order to stay in the city she loves. When the prince of the local Pride starts pursuing Larissa, she has no choice but to skip town.

 

But Silas is not ready to let his prized employee go. He'll do anything to stop it, including mate her.

 

Will she risk it all on a man whose heart is made of stone?

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.D. Gorri
• Release date: Oct 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223128458

Book preview

Shifter City

Shifter City

Hearts of Stone Series

Book Two

C.D. Gorri

C.D. Gorri

Contents

Shifter City

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

Preview of No Otter Lover

Preview of Shifter Village

Reading on a BUDGET?

Other Titles by C.D. Gorri

About the Author

Shifter City

Hearts Of Stone Series

Book Two

Copyright ©2021, 2023 C.D. Gorri

Cover Design by CDG Cover Designs

Proofread by: Book Nook Nuts

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Shifter City

Will her love break through his heart of stone?

Silas McKennon is a corporate shark, er, Lion. All business, this hard-hearted male hates women. He simply refuses to have anything to do with them. Well, except for one.

Blonde and brainy, Larissa Clark works for Silas as his right hand man, er, woman. She’s a sharp shooting administrative assistant and one of the few females he will tolerate. Having the hots for her hunky boss is just one of the secrets she has to keep in order to stay in the city she loves. When the prince of the local Pride starts pursuing Larissa, she has no choice but to skip town.

But Silas is not ready to let his prized employee go. He’ll do anything to stop it, including mate her.

Will she risk it all on a man whose heart is made of stone?

Prologue

Years ago…

Shots rang out and Silas ducked for cover behind the thick stand of trees, all that separated him from the line of men firing unscrupulously into the forest.

His Lion’s eyes searched through the darkness and found his two brothers in arms, Keeton Grey and Niels Orson. The three of them were hired soldiers, mercenaries for lack of a better word. After a stint in the armed forces, none of them had been ready to go back to the real world.

Him especially.

Returning to the big city to deal with his mother’s illness, his deceased father’s lawyers, and the floundering company that was his legacy and heritage, did not appeal in the least to him or his Lion. He’d much rather roam the world, righting wrongs and punishing those who deserved it.

But this last job hadn’t gone according to plan. It wasn’t always easy to discern who was just and who was in the wrong. Silas had been a fool to think otherwise.

The female operative who’d run a counter game on their unit had taken him in more than most. She was sweet and smart with a svelte body and a killer smile. She was to be their liaison in the small village they’d come to free from a modern warlord’s rule.

Of course, Silas hadn’t been aware of her exploits with others in his unit until after he’d let her into his bed. Lola Yen was a full human who was not aware of his other half when he’d allowed the Asian beauty to seduce him after they’d been briefed on their assignment.

That was why she hadn’t understood how he knew she’d been with someone else. Turned out, she was in bed with the warlord they came to overthrow and had led them into an ambush.

Lucky for Silas, Keeton, and Niels, the three Shifters had sniffed out the danger, so to speak. She’d come to him right before they shoved out, the stink of a human male all over her tawny skin. He knew then they were being played and had informed his team.

Lola had been taken into custody, and his heart had hardened to stone. Just like that. They had come there to do a job, and they were going to finish it, dammit. But afterward, he was done.

This was going to be Silas’ last operation.

If he made it out alive, he thought grimly.

Fuck that.

He shook his head. Silas would make it out alive. He had to see his mother. Had to take back the company that his dad had left him. Yeah, he was gonna survive.

Niels and Keeton too.

That was a motherfucking promise.

He saw the questioning look in Keeton’s eyes before Silas shook his head. He was furious at himself for so easily believing the deception that brought them to that point.

I’m gonna shift, he whispered, knowing they could both hear him over the din of gunfire. From one minute to the next, he swapped skin for golden fur, and his nine-hundred-pound African Lion emerged. Silently, he stalked around the scraggly group of soldiers until he was in the right position. Then he roared, scaring the literal piss out of them.

The men screamed, dropping weapons, and running for their lives. Of course, Keeton and Niels were there to round them up. And when they gave up the warlord’s position, they claimed they had to because the King Lion was hunting them for their evil ways.

King Lion.

He snorted whenever he thought of the nickname, but his beast liked it just fine. After all, Silas was an Alpha, a king in his own right. He shook his head.

Nah.

He was just a man. And that was enough for now.

Roar.

Chapter One

Silas McKennon looked at the magazine cover and exhaled slowly, managing to not roll his eyes. He looked good. It wasn’t that. The fine suit he wore was tailor made, his hair had been superbly styled, and his expression unreadable.

Being toasted the king of the concrete jungle in the latest exclusive profile by Times Magazine was an honor for anyone. For a Lion, it hit a little closer to the usual stereotypes in the supernatural world.

Yes, he was a Shifter.

An African Lion Shifter with a glorious golden mane, all the muscle, killer instinct, and innate regal air of his wild cousins. Silas was all that tempered with his human cunning and ambition.

He thrived in New York City despite his current rogue status. Shifters who held no ties to any Pack, Clan, pride, or group were often termed rogue, though Silas was none of the negative connotations that went along with the word. He was neither crazy nor malicious. A loner, yes, but he did not care for total isolation.

Not like his friend, Keeton, a Mountain Lion Shifter, who had only just recently found his mate and come out of his self-imposed isolation as a result. Silas was glad for his friend. Mountain Lions did not live in Prides or groups, so Keeton could not understand his dilemma.

His only other friend, Niels Orson, was a Bear Shifter. A Grizzly to be precise, but he too lived a solitary lifestyle. It was something the three men had in common. The bonds of friendship were forged under heavy fire, but it was their mutual agreement to respect each other’s privacy and need for space that kept them in contact all these years later. Niels still traveled far and wide to avoid Clan matters and entanglements.

Silas clung to his rogue status. Even in a city full of Prides that would love to either destroy him, not bloody likely, or have him bow down to them, he preferred to remain unaffiliated.

Keeton had wandered into the mountains to lick his wounds alone. But just recently, his friend’s world was rocked when his fated mate literally stumbled into his territory. Lucky fucker. But how many Shifters could claim that? Fated mates didn’t exactly grow on trees.

Just another fairy tale.

The thought sent his Lion to whining and pacing in the metaphysical space he inhabited, waiting for Silas to call him. It was sort of incredible to imagine the half-ton beast he shared his soul with. The animal ran on instinct and primal tendencies, but the man was in charge. Beyond a doubt, and much to his Lion’s irritation.

Mate, chuffed his Cat.

The beast seemed to know what he wanted, but Silas ignored it, pushing the thought away and turning his back on his other half. Prides, mates, neither were for him. He could no more find a female to trust than he could bow to some unworthy Lion who touted the name Alpha as if he had rights to it.

His Lion growled at the idea of submitting to any lesser male, title or not. The posers were not worthy of thought, let alone a challenge. He could only imagine their glee if he submitted to them. Claiming a true Alpha among their ranks of Enforcers would be just another way for any one of the Lion Prides in the city to