Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella)

I
am thrilled
to be able to add my story to Eliza Gayle’s Southern Shifter World. The Southern Shifter world takes place in Tennessee and North Carolina, a place I would visit every year with my own Mini Cooper.

This story is about William Klein, the CEO of The Platinum Hotel and Casino located in Las Vegas and Delaney Jane (D.J.) Owens a mechanic and human in Deals Gap.

William is part of the Klein family, a pack of cougar shifters. He made his first appearance in
Cougar’s Luck
, the second book in my Pacific Northwest Cougars series.

All of my books tie together so that the stories connect, but can always be read as a standalone story. The Rochon Family of the Pacific Northwest Bears series are friends with the Hayes family, a cougar pack in California, which linked to the Klein pack of Las Vegas through the PNW Cougar series.

If this is your first book by me, I hope you love it enough to start from the beginning with
Bearly Cooking
. There is a recommended reading order at
www.wickedwhimspublishing.com
.

I hope you enjoy Will and Delany’s story.

Moxie

T
he warmed metal
of the carved cougar head shifter was gripped tightly in his hand. His eyes focused on the road ahead anticipating the next curve, scanning between the white outside line and the yellow dashes. The 2000 pepper white Mini-Cooper hard top wasn’t wide, so it wasn’t hard to keep it between the lines. Still, the speed he was traveling along with the constant switchbacks had him concentrating hard.

William Klein loved driving. He especially loved driving fast and dangerous. His cocky attitude came across that he was a daredevil and had a deathwish, but in truth with his excellent reflexes, he was always in control of his vehicle. He’d driven this road dozens of times.

The stretch of road between Tennessee and North Carolina was one of his favorite vacation spots. The Tail of the Dragon it was called. Three hundred eighteen turns in eleven miles. When he wasn’t running it with his Mini-Cooper driving club, he was on it with his motorcycle riding club, and lastly, his Mazda RX8 driving club.

Most people took vacations to Hawaii or the Caribbean. Will took trips to the Great Smoky Mountains. He turned off his cell phone, left his laptop at work, and just drove.

It cleared his mind, focused his energies, and most importantly, gave his cougar a chance to run hard in the mountains.

Being a shifter in the middle of Las Vegas didn’t give him many opportunities to let his cat out. Running the four-star hotel and casino The Platinum, which was owned by his family, gave him even less time. Will loved his job. His casino was his baby. It had become successful, stylish, and very profitable under his guidance. Still, he worked long hours, often not leaving the property for days on end. That was the reason he kept a suite in the hotel for his private use.

When he needed a break from the casino and didn’t have vacation time, he went to his parents’ house. His father was the next Alpha of their shifter pack and thanks to their well-managed finances over the years, kept a house big enough for everyone. Well, not everyone. The four Klein children all had their own suites. Large bedrooms with sitting areas, walk-in closets, and spa style bathrooms. Better than the space was the home cooked food and pampering by the older members of the pack. Whenever a pack member could no longer take care of themselves, they were scooped up and deposited at the compound. They were taken care of in the lap of luxury until they passed away.

They were also excellent conversationalists. Will loved to hang out with those that had seen things he had only read about in textbooks and heard around pack meeting camp fires. Hearing stories about the good old days was a nice break for his brain.

Shifters aged slower than humans, giving them the opportunity to live long lives that were full of opportunities many humans never got a chance to experience.

Will spent his day sucking up to whales, those players that would drop millions in his casino. The rest of the time was split between pandering to your average cranky patron and ensuring the rest of his guests enjoyed their stay.

Today was a rare day of not working. He was on his third run of the day on the Dragon. He was obeying the speed limit, but it didn’t hamper his fun.

Down shifting, he felt the inertia of the turn press his body into the seat. A wide grin spread across his tanned face. Shit, this was fun.

The sun filtered through the trees, casting shadows and alternating blinding light as he drove. He knew a few members of his club were behind him. They were planning to head back to Fontana Dam for lunch. They were sharing a cabin so they could party with their neighbors who were all there for the same rally.

Will was thinking about the steaks he wanted to cook as his eyes flashed up to a large semi-truck in front of him pulling a trailer and trying to navigate the curve. Slamming on his brakes, he shoved the car into first and stopped just in time. The trailer of the truck was on his side of the road and well over the yellow line.

Grabbing his walkie-talkie, he called back to his friends. “Guys, heads up. We got a big rig heading your way. He’s either lost or a dick to be on this road. Watch the blind corners; he is in no way staying in his lane.”

“Damn it. Where are the state patrol when you need them? They’ll tag our asses the second we are two miles over the speed limit.” The voice coming over the walkie was a club member named Artie. He was a twenty-five-year-old gear head that Will found amusing. Not just because he was young, but because if it didn’t have to do with cars, video games about cars, or the latest modifications for his car, he didn’t say much.

“Well, just be aware. We don’t need anyone getting caught under that trailer. Remember last year?”

There had been a Mini versus semi accident last year. Luckily, everyone survived. The Mini did not. The front bumper and air dam was hanging from the
Tree of Shame
outside the motel at Deals Gap. The tree held parts from cars and motorcycles that had met an untimely end facing the Dragon. Sadly, there were also a few memorials to those that lost their lives on the road.

Waiting for the truck to clear the curve, Will watched as the cars piled up behind him. Most big rig drivers knew better than to attempt to bring anything larger than a van down the Dragon. Others figured it was worth the potential ticket and hazard to other drivers to shave off some time.

Calling over his radio again, Will said, “Alright, I’m calling it. I need food. Anyone else in?”

“Oh man, you cooking? You usually grill a mean steak, brother.”

Artie was always in for a free meal. Will didn’t mind. He liked cooking and rarely got a chance to do it back in Vegas. Four-star Michelin chefs didn’t appreciate you going into their kitchens to cook yourself a meal. Granted, Will had those amazing meals at his fingertips. One call and he could get anything he wanted delivered to his office or apartment.

Maybe it was because he was a human male, or sometimes a carnivorous cougar, but there was something about being able to prepare his own meat that made man and cat happy.

“Yeah, I have them marinating in the fridge. Put them in this morning,” Will answered back.

“Look at you, all domestic,” Artie said laughing.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

“Hey man, I never complain when someone else cooks. My mom makes a wicked tuna casserole.”

Will felt the bile rise in his throat. Neither his cat nor he could understand why anyone would heat up canned tuna. The smell alone. His cat was a bit of a snob. He liked the seared Ahi Tuna from the casino restaurant. Will couldn’t blame him; it was damn fine.

He had five more days to drive the Dragon and hang out with people that didn’t care that he ran a hotel. In fact, most of the club thought he just worked there. They didn’t realize he was a millionaire in his own right. This week was about cars, beers, and bonfires.

S
taring into the flames
, Will kicked at the ash that had landed on the toe of his motorcycle boot. The guys and girls from his club were still drinking and roaming the paved road in between all of the cottages. Luckily on weeks like this, almost everyone was there for the same reason and didn’t get too pissed at the noise.

Besides, the really loud ones passed out first. Will wasn’t a big drinker, so he was happy to sit back and chat with anyone that wasn’t under the age of thirty. Sybil, one of the club members, was staring at him across the fire. She’d been trying all night to get him interested in her. She wore a Harley Davidson shirt; she had to have cut about six inches off the bottom of it. The fabric barely covered her bra which was holding in an impressive pair of surgically altered breasts.

Coming from Vegas, there was no shortage of tits in his world. Will appreciated the ones that were on the average size and all natural. It wasn’t that Sybil wasn’t attractive. She was, in an overdone sort of way. But his animal was unhappy with the amount of perfume coming off the woman and the fact that she couldn’t take a hint.

His cougar wanted their mate. There was one woman, either human or shifter, out there somewhere that was perfect for them both. That woman would be everything they’d ever dreamed of and everything that they couldn’t even imagine.

Will still had a hard time believing such a girl existed. Someone that wouldn’t mind his busy lifestyle and his long hours or the fact he was a part-time cougar. Of course, that would be easily solved by finding a shifter mate. Will knew of a family of bears that found many of their mates from the human world. They all managed to make it work. But the appeal of mating with another shifter was that she would feel the same overwhelming desire to mate that he would. It would happen in an instant, and they could start their life together.

This was all speculation, of course. He only knew what others had told him about the mating pull. His parents were happily married and would wax on about how wonderful it was the moment their eyes met for the first time. They were instantly attracted to each other, physically as well as mentally. They adored each other and thought only of the other person and lived for their happiness. It was something that Will and his cougar wanted desperately.

He was in his early forties and with his slow aging, he had plenty of time. Still, he was lonely. Stepping back from his career to focus on family was his ultimate goal. He would find his own house, somewhere outside of Vegas but still close to the pack. He’d build an oasis for his mate and their children. They’d want for nothing in their lives.

Sybil was not that person. She was funny, loved to drive her pink Mini around and color coordinate everything to her car. That kind of high maintenance was not for Will. He was surrounded daily by high maintenance in Vegas. The good kind and the bad kind. The excess would get to you after a while. Whenever Will felt the need to date, he searched for the good kind of maintenance.

Those women were executives like him that could afford all the luxuries in life they wanted. They just preferred to receive those luxuries from a man. Will was happy to provide the access to the fancy casino restaurants and expensive gifts for the time they were together. But it wasn’t love. It was barely lust.

“Will, you look like you’re deep in thought,” Sybil purred from the other side of the fire.

Will’s eyes came up to hers. “Not too heavy. Just thinking about how I’m going to enjoy the next few days of freedom.”

“Freedom? Honey, you must work awful hard.”

“I work as hard as I want to,” he replied and took a pull of his beer.

“Hmm, what do you do again?”

She knew what he did. He’d even seen her in the hotel once. She’d been dressed to the nines, or more aptly to her nines, with a microscopic mini-skirt and a halter top that was a breath away from a nip slip.

Will made sure he was extra busy that day and had his secretary say he was booked solid and going out of town. He didn’t make a habit out of lying, but he also wasn’t one to encourage a woman’s pursuit of him when there was no chance.

“I work at a casino. Handling operations mostly,” he finally said.

“Mm-hm, sure you do,” she said with a smirk.

“Sybil, why don’t you go scratch your nails on a more willing post, huh?” Robert, one of the club officers, said as he walked up.

Robert was in his late fifties and looked like he used to work outdoors. Now he was retired from his construction business and had turned it over to his sons to run.

“I was just making friendly,” Sybil said.

“Sure you were. You know Will isn’t looking for a date. Now scoot,” he said dismissively.

Sybil didn’t look like she was that worried about not getting Will. Undoubtedly she would keep hunting until she found someone to warm her bed for the night.

Will watched her walk away and turned his gaze back to the fire.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Robert sit down next to him.

“That girl is bound for trouble tonight.”

Will gave him a grunt. He wasn’t worried about Sybil. He wasn’t really worried about anything. Again, this was his chance to unwind. Tomorrow he was thinking of hitting the Cherohala Skyway. It was a long drive where he could just zone out and enjoy the view. The stretch of mountains covered in trees was a balm to his soul. He liked to pull over at the hiking trails and let his cougar run free.

His animal always wanted to be outside in the fresh air, tracking something tasty to eat. Once he’d had his fill, he’d find a nice warm sunny patch and take a much needed cat nap. Those were the times Will felt most recharged. If his cat was happy, his mind was quiet. Not that his animal was bossy, but sharing one body with another soul often took some negotiating skills. His cat was not one to be ignored if he thought there was danger or that Will needed some guidance.

Will remembered his parents explaining to him as a child that when he was born, the universe fated him with his cougar. It was the animal that was best suited to share his life. Growing up as a shifter meant he was never alone, but often he felt like he was. His cougar would step back for long stretches to give Will the time that he needed with his own thoughts.

Lately, his cat had been restless and letting Will know about it. He knew their mate was out there somewhere, and he kept urging Will to find her. Considering she could be anywhere in the world, this was a daunting challenge. She wasn’t in Vegas or at least he hadn’t run into her there. Nor had he found her while traveling for work while visiting other casinos and hotels. He made personal trips around the world to high roller events, weddings, baptisms, and birthdays to give his customers the personal attention that kept them coming back for more gaming. He still hadn’t found her.

Tonight, though, he pushed all thoughts of work aside and focused on the next drive. The chance to put his agility and excellent eyesight to the test. To cruise through some beautiful countryside and not worry about the future. He would leave the idea of finding his mate up to the fates.