Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Rescue [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free PDF

lived together, but people were free to leave for weekend trips. When Rosaline and Armand Vitrac-Celestin were captured, everyone started getting really paranoid.”
    “Captured?”
    Georgina nodded. “Rosaline mated with Manuel Vitrac and another gator named Andre Celestin. She refused to give up her human life completely, though, so the second after she was turned, she was very dedicated in learning how to control her shifts. Once she got good at it, she went back to all of her activist work. She wasn’t expected to contribute to the fishing business because she insisted before she mated that she be allowed to continue with the life she had before, to the extent possible. Well, about two years ago, some researchers from the Aquarium of the Americas happened upon a cache of albino gators.”
    “Yes, I heard about that. I was shocked, considering that they have low survival rates. I’ve been a biologist since college, and that was the first time I’d ever encountered albino gators thriving in the wild, either in the literature or in person.”
    Georgina smiled. “Just because they’re not supposed to be able to doesn’t mean they can’t. Nature finds a way. And sometimes, a little voodoo helps, too.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Georgina ignored the question. “Anyway, like Manuel and Andre, Rosaline happened to have an albino gator form. When they changed her, she inherited that characteristic. To top it off, she’s always been a radical environmentalist, the kind that would throw paint at rich women wearing fur coats. Totally opposed to zoos and aquariums, no matter how good their intentions. Her son, Armand, picked up that trait from her as well.”
    “Wow. How did she handle mating two men who worked as part of a family-owned fishing business?”
    Georgina shrugged. “She never liked it, which is why she agreed to mate under the condition that she wouldn’t have to be involved with it.”
    “But why mate with people whose careers violated your ethical beliefs?”
    “I never asked. The whole thing happened before I was even born. I can only imagine how much she must love Manuel and Andre, though, if she was willing to mate with them in spite of that. I hope that I can be so lucky someday.”
    “And Armand? How did he deal with it?”
    “Oh, Armand was never as fanatical as Rosaline. He was opposed to zoos and aquariums and animal testing, but he also decided he could be involved in the fishing business. The congregation respects the swamps. We don’t overfish. We don’t use harmful techniques. He was fine with that.”
    “So what happened to them?”
    “The researchers at the Aquarium of the Americas decided to take these albino gators out of the swamp in the interest of their own protection, and Rosaline and Armand took it personally.”
    “They did something ill-advised, I take it.”
    “The place where the albino gators lived was in a protected area. You had to have a permit to get in, and the state wasn’t passing them out to PETA members, that’s for sure. They were protesting the day the researchers came to take the gators, and when the police got involved, Armand and Rosaline panicked, I guess. Even though they are both masters of their powers, they turned into gators. Sometimes, under duress, even the most skilled shifter can change unexpectedly. In gator form, Armand and Rosaline got picked up by the researchers.”
    “How do you know?”
    “The news reports said a cache of six albino gators had been discovered, but eight were brought in to the Aquarium. As soon as the albinos were put on display, Manuel and Andre went to see them and could pick them out of the congregation right away.”
    “But—but how are they still alive?”
    A tear slid down Georgina’s face. “We had to take drastic measures.”
    “Drastic measures?”
    “There’s a loophole of sorts in the curse. See, the congregation is the most important thing to us. But sometimes—sometimes, people do the unforgiveable.