Southern Shifters: Purred Promises (Kindle Worlds Novella) by R. E. Butler

bring Genesis to dinner that night. The afternoon had rushed by , and when their time alone dwindled, his beasts wouldn’t stop snarling in annoyance. In a way , he was in awe of their continued agreement o n things. Ever since he’d shifted as a teenager and felt the two beasts grappling for dominance in him, he’d been listening to them fight each other. The tiger and wolf had different ideas of what was important , and were quite vocal in their opinions . I t was rare that they agreed about anything. But with Genesis, the two creatures seemed to morph into one, single -minded when it came to their curvy mate – her happiness and safety were the most important things in the universe to them.
    Genesis didn’t have any clothes except for the ones she’d had on when they met. Her things were at Mona’s, but from what she’d told him, she’d only been allowed to take a few bags with her, and hadn’t been given much time to pack. Which meant he needed to take her shopping and make sure that she wanted for nothing.
    “What are you thinking about so seriously?” she asked as she stepped into the bedroom, where he sat on the bed, tying his shoes.
    She looked so lovely. The jeans she wore were curve-hugging, accenting the indentation of her waist and the flare of her hips. Instead of the top she’d had on when they met, she ’d paired one of his long-sleeved plaid shirts with a tank top. She rolled the sle eves up to show her wrists and tugged on the collar. “You don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt, do you?”
    “Hell no,” he said. He finished tying his shoe and stood, joining her so he could pull her into his arms. “You look good.”
    “So what were you thinking about?”
    “Clothes.”
    She chuckled. “Oh?”
    “I mean, we need to go shopping so you have plenty to wear. Not that I don’t like seeing you in my clothes…or out of them.”
    A frown tugged the corners of her mouth down. “I don’t really have any money.”
    His beasts snarled together. “It’s my duty to take care of you.”
    She blinked slowly as she stared up at him. “Duty?”
    He cupped her face and rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip. “Duty. Honor. Pleasure. I want you to have everything I can give you.”
    “I really don’t need anything but you,” she said. Moving onto her toes, she brushed her lips across his with a smile. “And some socks.”
    He laughed, lifting her off her feet and holding her tight. “Whatever you want.”
    “Just you.”
    Although he wanted to toss her on to the bed and strip her slowly, he didn’t want her friends to be pissed at him. Even though Mona and Dillon weren’t actual family, they ’d been willing to take Genesis in, and that made them golden in his book. He wanted to treat them a s respectfully as he would any other member of her family. Although he suspected that her father would have exiled her for wanting to mate with a hybrid.
    He set her on her feet and kissed her. “We should leave before my beasts decide it’s better to stay in then go out.”
    “We can stay in after we get home tonight.”
    He loved that she thought of his place as home. That word had been a foreign concept to him when he’d been exiled, and the cabin had been just a place where he lived. With her, though, it felt like home .
    Leading her outside, he helped her into his truck and climbed behind the wheel. It took only a few minutes to cross town to Mona and Dillon’s h ouse . Jair didn’t know them personally, but he knew of them. The word on the street was that they’d lived in the human world for many years, but as their children grew older it became harder for them to keep their shifter natures under wraps, so they’d moved to the neutral zone . He couldn’t imagine trying to fit in with the humans. It was hard enough to fit in with other hybrids and shifters, without attempting to hide the essence of what they were.
    “How do you know Mona?” he asked as he parked the truck.
    “ She and my