Southern Shifters: Lone Wolf Wanted (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    The little girl’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”
    Her father chucked her under the chin. “No worries. Just remember it next time, okay?”
    A plate clanked down on the counter in front of him, and Ezrah turned his attention to the waitress again. Mumbling a thank you he stared at the burger, but couldn’t bring himself to eat the tasty looking beef. His mind was on a different woman back in North Carolina, wondering what she would have said to a child of her own if asked the same question out in public.
    A vision of her smug grin as she laughed came back to haunt him. Something told him Kinks would have told the girl that Sonya was right.
    A cell phone vibrating in his pocket broke his train of thought. Ezrah pulled the phone out and immediately answered because there was only one person who had his number.
    “Boy, what have you done?”
    The caller ID on his screen said it was his great-grandmother Pearl calling him. The voice through the line sort of sounded like Satan.
    “Pearl? Is that you?”
    “No, it’s the gosh darn Easter Bunny!” the croaky voice snapped back.
    There was no doubt now for Ezrah. This was certainly his grumpy great-grandmother.
    “What’s wrong with your voice, Pearl? Are you sick?”
    The idea of the last relative he had left possibly dying on him twisted his stomach into knots. She might not be the sweetest little old lady in the world, but she was Ezrah’s family, and he would do anything for her.
    “Don’t you go sassing me with all your questions, boy! If you want to see what’s wrong with me, then you bring your butt back to Oklahoma to find out. It’s all your fault, anyway.”
    Click.
    He stared at the cell phone in confusion. How was it his fault that Pearl sounded like she had been smoking three packs of cigarettes every day for the past one hundred years?
    Appetite suddenly lost, Ezrah dropped more than enough money on the counter, including a healthy tip, then stood up, grabbing the milkshake. Before he walked out the door, he headed to the wolf family’s table and put the vanilla milkshake on the edge closest to the little girl. He felt her father tense up, as if ready to protect his family, but Ezrah wasn’t there to cause problems.
    Giving the little girl a wink, he whispered conspiratorially toward her, “Tell Sonya dogs rule because cats cough up hairballs.”
    With the little girl’s giggles ringing in his ears, Ezrah walked out of the diner, climbed back on his motorcycle, and roared out of the parking lot. It was Oklahoma or bust, because he needed to find out why Pearl was blaming him for whatever was wrong with her.

Chapter Eight
     
    “Who shit in your kitty litter, Kinks?”
    Chrissy lifted her eyes from the polished bar top to give Bhric the stink eye. “Your mother.”
    The male sighed as he braced his hands on the bar and leaned a little closer to her. “Do I need to call your sisters to come cheer your cranky-ass up?”
    This time, she hissed at him. “Call those crazy hussies, and I will ruin your pretty, refinished bar top with claw marks all the way down it.”
    Bhric stared at her with a look only an alpha could give. It was a look that told her, if she so much as whipped one tiny claw out, he would not only boot her ass from his bar, but remind her why he was the leader of the neutral zone.
    Damn the man for being sexy and scary at the same time!
    Unable to hold the glare, Chrissy dropped her gaze in submission, feeling a twinge of guilt for acting like such an ass. Bhric was a good leader. He treated all of the neutral zone inhabitants fairly, and he didn’t deserve to have her lash out at him just because she was in a bad mood. That didn’t mean she wanted to talk about her problems, either. Not with him, not with anyone.
    Chrissy kept her eyes glued to the wooden surface as Bhric spoke in a low voice. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Kinks. To be honest, I’m not sure I want to know. That being said,