Southern Shifters: Lone Wolf Wanted (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Jessie Lane Page A

mind, woman?”
    She looked him over from head to toe and then shrugged. “Nope. It’s right where I left it, in my head. What’s your problem?”
    Ezrah was so angry he started sputtering. “Wh-What’s my problem? Did you just really ask me what my fucking problem is?”
    Kinks widened her eyes, giving him an I’m-totally-innocent look. “I have no idea why you’re yelling at me like this. It’s not very nice.”
    He pointed a finger at his feather-covered chest. “And this is nice, Kinks? Covering me in honey and feathers?”
    She gave him another shrug as she brought her hand up, inspecting her fingernails. “A chicken should look like a chicken. I didn’t think it was very fair that you looked like a wolf, so I fixed it.”
    Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Ezrah felt his anger melt away. It was damn hard to stay mad at the woman when she had a good reason to be upset with him. Kinks was absolutely right. He had run out on her like the biggest chicken this world had ever seen. Who was he to get upset with his mate after that?
    Ezrah looked Kinks straight in the eye, dropping his hand back to his side. “You’re right. I was an ass, and I’m sorry. Tell me what I can do to prove to you just how sorry I really am.”
    Kinks crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell me why you left in the first place.”
    Ezrah pursed his lips then nodded. That was a reasonable question considering his actions.
    Waving toward the interior of her house, he asked, “Can we go inside and talk, then?”
    “Nope.”
    He raised his eyebrows and asked, “No?”
    Kinks shook her head. “Nope. If you want to talk, then you can stand right there, chicken man. If you don’t like that”—she pointed behind him—“there’s the road. You can hit it again and never come back.”
    Ouch. It looked like he might be in for a lifetime of ball busting.
    Crossing his own arms over his chest, he braced his legs to get comfortable before conceding to her demands. “I ran because what you made me feel scared the shit out of me. I hadn’t felt emotion like that since my mother was still alive, and that was when I was young. So instead of staying here and figuring things out, I left.”
    She snorted in disgust and looked away. “Figures.”
    Ezrah stepped closer to her so they were almost touching and waited until she looked at him again.
    “I’m sorry, Kinks. I mean that. The moment I figured out who you were to me, I came racing back here. You want to lay it all out there to be real? I didn’t have to come back. I could have kept running, never acknowledging what was between us.” He hated being blunt like that, waving the possibility that he might not have come back, but it was the only way he knew how to make her realize he was here because he wanted to be.
    For the first time since she had spoken to him, vulnerability flash in her eyes, and Kinks started to look uncertain.
    She looked down at her feet and kicked at the ground. “So, you came back. What’s that mean, wolf?”
    Wolf. That word told him exactly what the first step needed to be.
    Holding his hand out in invitation, he put it all out there. “We start with names. Mine is Ezrah. What’s yours?”
    His mate stared at his hand hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure she should take that leap of faith. Ezrah held his breath, hoping she would give him that chance. And just when he didn’t think she would meet him halfway, she placed her hand in his and squeezed it warmly.
    “My name is Chrissy.”
    A big smile spread across his face. He wouldn’t have stopped it even if he could. “Why do they call you Kinks?”
    The left side of her mouth tipped up. “Because of the type of hybrid I am: cougar and lynx mix.”
    Ezrah laughed at the cleverness. “What do you say we go inside and get to know each other better, Kinks? Maybe I can talk you in to giving me a chance to prove I can be a decent mate.”
    Chrissy’s eyes sparkled in happiness, making