Southern Shifters: Purred Promises (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Free

rabbit – wasn’t considered worth the trouble. She would have defied any of the males to be able to snag some of the m, though . The little buggers were fast as hell, and slippery.
    Geraldine cleared her throat. “Can I offer anyone some more tea?”
    Glancing at her, Genesis whispered, “You already have . L ike four times.”
    “It’s polite.”
    Vonda smiled in a way that reminded Genesis of a snake. “No thank you.”
    Exhaling, Genesis tried to think of another conversation starter for her future in-laws. She’d already tried to chat about the weather, her future chain, Marco, and their family. The females weren ’ t interested in talking to her about anything. Genesis had the impression that they thought they were better than her, as if she were some backwoods hillbilly , missing teeth, with her finger up her nose.
    She opened her mouth to ask them another inane question, when she heard the distinct call of alarm from her chain. Howls filled the air, growing successively louder and louder. Her heart clenched. She hadn’t heard those sounds in years, not since one of her uncles had been trampled to death by a herd of deer.
    Standing abruptly, Genesis ran to the front door and threw it open, worry for her father filling her mind. Geraldine joined her on the front porch, slipping her arm over her shoulders.
    “Your father is a fierce male, the best fighter in the chain,” Geraldine whispered.
    “I know,” she said, rubbing her arms to stave off the chill that the sound of mourning cats gave her. “I just hate that freaking sound.”
    She glanced over her shoulder and realized that the sisters hadn’t joined them.
    “They assume it’s our chain’s loss, I’m sure,” Geraldine said.
    As the sound grew closer, Genesis’s heart hammered in her chest. She was worried about everyone in her chain at once. This was her mating day, a day of celebration and joining , not loss. A single-file line of lynxes in their shifted form came padding through the trees. Their heads were hung low as they keened in mourning. The line continued, past the mansion and around the back, heading to the chain’s sacred grove, which had been prepared for her mating ceremony.
    As she opened her mouth to question Geraldine, she saw her father’s shifted form as he trotted past. He glanced at her only briefly.
    “Who died?” she asked, looking up at Geraldine.
    “Oh, no,” her aunt whispered, her hand covering her mouth.
    Genesis turned her attention back to the line of lynxes and saw Marco’s father in his human form, carrying Marco. The male she’d been promised to was covered in blood , which seemed to have come from huge, gaping wounds in his neck and chest. Her whole world narrowed down to the significance of Marco’s death. As Levi, his father, carried him stoically past the mansion, his sisters raced from the house wailing, following after their father.
    “Holy shit,” Genesis said under her breath.
    Geraldine put her hands on Genesis’s shoulders and faced her. “Your arranged mate is dead. You must publically grieve.”
    She frowned. “I ’m sad for them, of course, but I didn’t know the guy. He’s an utter stranger. How can I cry over someone I didn’t know?”
    “Because it’s expected. You see his sisters carrying on as if someone pulled their claws out by the roots. You must show at least that much grief , or you will dishonor your father.”
    Rolling her eyes, she said dryly, “I’m not one for theatrics.”
    “If you want your father to find you another suitable mate in the future, you need to behave like a princess. Lynx princesses are devastated when their arranged mate dies, whether they knew him for a minute or a hundred years. Got it?”
    Nodding, Genesis dug down into herself and thought about her own losses: Her mother, taken far to o soon. Her grandmother , who’ d always snuck her extra cookies after meals. Her childhood friend who had moved away to another chain. Tears welled in her