Southern Shifters: Purred Promises (Kindle Worlds Novella) by R. E. Butler Read Free Book Online Page B

too.”
    “I don’t want you to think differently of me.”
    “Not possible. Well, I mean I could fall even harder for you , I guess.”
    His gaze darkened, and he growled, hauling her close and crushing her against his chest. He was quiet for a bit, and she gave him whatever time he needed to get his thoughts together. She was an open book, and she wanted him to be that way with her.
    “My mom’s mate died. She was a young tigress with a child. She was lonely. She left her son with family and went off pride lands. She went to a human city and happened to find a wolf shifter who was living among them. They had an affair , and she returned to the pride, pregnant.
    “When I was born, she said I smelled enough like a pure tiger that she trusted my shift would be normal, but it’s not. It’s so fucking far from normal. ”
    She moved slowly, swinging her leg over his and straddling him. She cupped his face, tilting his head up until she could see into his lovely mismatched eyes. “You smell like home to me. It’s tiger and wolf together, and it doesn’t really make sense except that you’re mine. I don’t care what you shift into; I don’t care about the color of your eyes or your fur. You’re mine, Jair. Every inch of you.”
    His gaze was intense, but their beasts were connected through their mating and she could tell he was wrestling with demons that had nothing to do with her.
    “My aunt told me about Mona. She gave up her life to be with Dillon. When I look at her, I don’t see regret, I see a family. Our situation isn’t the same, of course – I didn’t choose to have an arranged mating, but I was being a good daughter and doing what my father said. Now I’m cut off from that world and I can’t go back unless I want to get dead fast. I wasn’t really thinking much about my future until I was driving here. Then it was all could think about.” She played her fingers down his throat, finding comfort in the heat of his skin. “ I wondered what the symbol would mean for my future. I was told my whole life that exiled shifters are the worst of our kind. I don’t think I’m a bad person, but the symbol made me feel that way. Then I see your symbol, and I feel like it connects us.”
    He clasped her wrist gently just underneath the mark . “You don’t care about the mixed-up beasts?”
    “No. You don’t care that I’m a princess, right? What defined us in our past doesn’t have to define us in the present and future.”
    His brows shot up. “Wait, what?”
    She groaned, realizing she’d called herself by her old title. “My father was king of the chain.”
    He hummed, his brows drawing down. “Why would your father exile you because your arranged mate was killed? Not that I’m not thrilled that you’re here, but princesses are revered.”
    “I was given to my arranged mate’s father. I was told it was mate him or get the hell out of town, so I picked exile. I’ve only been gone for four days. It feels weird to think about life going on without me, you know? My father went to bed that night without having a daughter.”
    Tears stung her eyes, and Jair wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, his wolfy purr comforting her as the tears fell.
    “You’re my family now, Genesis,” he murmured. “The life we’ll build here will be one where no one in our family will ever be kicked out for their genetics or their choice in mates.”
    She sniffled and put her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against his strong shoulder. “Thank you.”
    He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “For what? I’m just being a good mate to you. You’re my whole world now, sweetheart. No one will take you from me.”
    “I’m stuck with you, then?” she teased, feeling the tears ease.
    “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Jair hadn’t been particularly interested in leaving the house, or putting clothes on for that matter, but he’d promised Dillon and Mona that he would