Southern Shifters: Werelock (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF

stepped out to grab a towel from the rail. It was tiny and barely contained her ample curves.
    Grumbling to herself, she tugged it this way and that, but if she covered her breasts it left a gap that was one flap away from revealing everything she had. She knew it was all about keeping costs down, but really, would it have killed them to get something bigger than a damn postage stamp?
    Not that it mattered, she was alone, so there was no one to be disgusted if she flashed them. Opening the door to the bathroom, she took a step into the main room, and pulled up short as she realized two things.
    Her cat purred.
    And Hale lay on the bed, his hands above his head.
    Shit. She froze in the doorway.
    “Nice outfit,” he drawled, an easy smile on his lips. “But I preferred you without anything on. Don’t bother running. I have all the exits sealed.”
    Lifting a hand, he waved it lazily. Runes shimmered in the air in front of the window and the door. She turned her head to see similar runes over the bathroom window.
    “How did you find me?”
    She’d been sure she could stay ahead of him, especially in the speed machine that was his car.
    “Tracker hex carved into the chassis. It’s a custom job. The gal who does the work for me is as handy with a spell as she is with a wrench.”
    “A witch mechanic? Is that allowed?”
    He snorted. “I don’t think she’d care if it wasn’t. Probably do it anyway.”
    “Bit of a rebel? Like you?” She cocked her eyebrow, trying not to let her attention get sidetracked by the sight of him on the bed. He hadn’t replaced his shirt, instead throwing on a battered leather jacket that left his ripped and toned abdomen visible. He didn’t wear pendants, she noticed, but his wrists were covered in bangles, both silver and etched leather that radiated power.
    He didn’t move, just watched her levelly. “What makes you think I’m a rebel? You know nothing about me.”
    Shoving her wet hair back over her shoulder, she shrugged. “There’s all the leather and the bad boy ‘look’ you got going on there. And I’ve never heard of a werelock working as a bounty hunter before.”
    The sudden movement as he sat up startled her and she jumped backward, but all he did was rest his arm on his knee. “Don’t you mean war lock?”
    The way he said it caught her attention and she looked at him carefully. “No, werelock. Admittedly, they’re rare, but you’re from a magical family so surely you’ve heard of them? Merlin was one, wasn’t he?”
    His expression was carefully blank. “My family are weather witches and warlocks. Nothing earth-shattering. We don’t play in the big league with the battle magicians or anything. And I’m not even a full warlock… muddy blood from way back when resurfaced in me.” He touched the center of his chest. “I have something here that’s not human, something primal. It interferes with my magic sometimes.”
    She took a step forward, her cat murmuring in pleasure as they got nearer the male who smelled so good. “Your inner animal. Werelocks aren’t like normal magic users or shifters, they’re a combination of both.”
    He shook his head, looking up at her as she reached the end of the bed, but she caught the tiniest expression, quickly masked, at the back of his eyes.
    “You know I’m right. As children, werelocks are normal for whatever family they’re born into. Magic doesn’t show until puberty, right? Well, neither does a shifters' animal. So with werelocks, they make a choice at puberty… either the inner animal manifests, or they sacrifice the shift for magic. That happened didn’t it? You made that choice not to shift.”
    His expression altered and she knew—he remembered that moment.
    She’d reached the bed and sat on the end, reaching out to him. Something about the set of his eyes, the way they glowed when he pulled magic, was almost golden. Her fingertips touched his cheek.
    “You’re a lion, aren’t you? Or you would