Panther Defender: (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Panther Ink Book 1) Read online

  Panther Defender

  (Panther Ink, Book 1)

  Ruby Shae

  Panther Defender

  (Panther Ink, Book 1)

  Copyright 2018 by Ruby Shae

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  About This Book

  Xander Devereaux, shifter, and the new panther alpha, has his work cut out for him. Taking control of a pride filled with hate and fear hasn’t been easy, especially when those still loyal to his father try to cause problems, but he and his brothers are determined to live in peace. With so much going on in his life, dating is the last thing on his mind…until he sits down in an empty diner and comes face-to-face with his mate.

  Curvy girl, Ivy Morgan, doesn’t need to work for her father, but when her ex walked out six months ago, he left more than harsh words in his wake, and she’s been living as a shell of her former self ever since. When she sees Xander for the first time, something inside her shifts, and for the first time in months, she realizes she’s tired of hiding.

  At first, Ivy is determined to refuse Xander’s proposal. She might be ready to start thinking about her dreams again, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to start dating the sexy stranger in her dad’s eatery. Except she really is. Unfortunately, trouble always finds Xander, and secrets must be revealed in order to protect—and defend—his mate.

  Panther Defender

  (Panther Ink, Book 1)

  By Ruby Shae

  Chapter One

  Xander Devereaux looked out the window of the empty diner, and took a deep breath. He’d had a hell of a week, and though he knew he was doing the right thing, sometimes the weight of his responsibilities seemed too heavy to bear.

  They weren’t though, not really, and even if they were it wouldn’t matter. As alpha of his panther pride, it was his responsibility to restore peace, and he’d avoided that responsibility long enough.

  In fact, the situation he now found himself in was his own damn fault. He might not have condoned the actions of his father, but he’d looked the other way for far too long, and the repercussions were seemingly never ending.

  His father had bred hate, fear and violence into their pride, and a year after the old alpha’s death, he and his brothers were still battling those loyal to his patriarch.

  The night before had been no exception.

  Though he hated killing his own kind, he would always do what must be done in order to secure peace between the panthers and the bears. After defeating his father in a bloody alpha challenge, every member of their pride was given a choice to swear loyalty to him, or to move on.

  Most pride mates chose him, eager for a new reign, but a few outliers left town, and a few others stuck around to cause trouble. It would probably be years before he and his brothers knew who could truly be trusted, but until then, they were giving everyone who’d stayed behind the benefit of the doubt, and as expected, the traitors were slowly outing themselves.

  The night before, one of the traitors had hired a human to start hunting bears. Her stupidity had been laughable, but her hate and dedication to her cause had been overt. She’d been willing to pay an obscene amount of money to see her cause carried out, and Xander just didn’t understand it.

  She’d wasted so much energy, and had been willing to give up so much cash, in order to see her plan completed, and the reason for her anger and hate was stupid and unfounded.

  His father had truly been an evil man, and honestly, it was amazing that he and his brothers had survived at all, let alone with any shreds of decency or goodness.

  Grayson almost didn’t survive.

  The thought made him want to kill his father all over again. While he’d looked the other way, and his other brother, Nox, had found it easy to stay hidden, his youngest brother, Grayson, had had no defenses against the evil man. He was the most vulnerable, and therefore, had endured the most damage from their father.

  As brothers, they’d always been close, hell, they even owned a business together, but discussing their father had been an unspoken, taboo subject, until Xander had accidentally seen the pain Grayson tried to hide.

  After that, it hadn’t been a matter of if, or even when, he would take over the pride. It had been a matter of how and now.

  He and his brothers had already been running the tattoo shop for three years, but this time they banded together for another purpose, and at the next pride meeting, he’d issued a challenge to his father.

  The man had fought hard and dirty, intent on killing his oldest son, but he’d also taught his boys to fight, and he’d never gone easy on them. What he didn’t know, was that they’d continued their training in private, sparring with each other, and often times it was more brawling than sparring. Even if they hadn’t known it at the time, they had been training to defeat their father for years.

  Xander had been the one to issue the challenge and fight for the position of alpha, but once he’d ripped his father’s body apart, several of those loyal to the old leader attacked, and his brothers had stepped in to even the odds.

  They’d all killed that day, but Grayson had been the one to deliver the most severe—and the most deadly—blows, and most of the remaining pride gave his younger brother a wide berth.

  Luckily, it wasn’t only pride mates that came into the tattoo shop, and his brother was still able to draw, ink, and get lost in his craft. In fact, most of the women liked his darker, tortured, bad-boy image, and his quiet, brooding demeanor never seemed to bother them.

  Art was something each of them excelled at, and the one thing their father couldn’t completely destroy. Oh, he’d sure as hell tried, but luckily, art could happen anywhere, on any piece of medium, and once they were grown men, controlling their free-time became a lot harder.

  He’d still tried, though. In fact, the only reason the tattoo shop existed at all was because the old man had done some research and found out how much revenue a successful, established shop could bring in. What he never knew was by how much they’d actually exceeded that number every year.

  Thank god!

  If his father had known the truth, he would have found a way to ruin it for all of them.

  “Hi there. Are you ready to order?”

  Xander turned from the window, and looked up at the waitress standing next to his table. Her voice had sent a blast of awareness straight to his cock, but seeing her face did something else to him entirely. He went rock hard when his green eyes locked with her brown ones, and he wanted to kiss her cute, lopsided smile away until she was screaming his name as he filled her with his dick.

  What the fuck?

  Beneath the surface, his panther stood up, paced, and made a combination of grunts and purrs that Xander had never heard, or felt, before. He’d never had a reaction like that to a woman—ever—and he knew it could only mean one thing.

  The curvy beauty standing beside his table was his mate.

  In a word, she was gorgeous…and he was speechless.

  He cleared his throat and forced himself to look away. He glanced at the menu, but he couldn’t focus on the words. Everything looked blurry, and for a moment he thought he might pass out.

  He cleared his throat again and shook his head.

  “I’m going to need another minute.”

  He dared to look at her again, and his animal pushed against him and grunte
d. The big cat wanted his mate, and he didn’t like the fact that Xander was still sitting in the booth like an idiot.

  “No problem,” she said. “I’ll be right over there. Just holler when you’re ready.”

  Xander nodded because he apparently still couldn’t find his voice. The heat in the room seemed to rise twenty degrees, and he picked up his water glass and downed the contents in one long gulp.

  His mate!

  He had a mate, and instead of doing something about it, he was still sitting in the booth like a complete loser.

  Watching her walk away.

  His cat was officially pissed off, and honestly, the man wasn’t too happy either.

  He was a god-damn alpha male for god-sakes. Hell, he was the alpha of his pride. He was supposed to stalk and dominate his prey, not cower in the corner like a kitten and watch her walk away.

  Although, he did love the view.

  Damn!

  His girl had generous curves in all the right places, and long curly hair that she’d pulled back into a high pony-tail. The hair swished back and forth as she walked away, teasing him without even knowing it. His cat wanted to claw through the strands with both paws, and the man wanted to knot it tightly in his fist.

  She was dressed in a simple navy-blue t-shirt and jeans, but the denim hugged her ass like a second skin, and he couldn’t wait to paw the soft round globes. When she reached the counter, she leaned down, bracing herself on her elbows, and studied an open newspaper. The move pushed her ample breasts together, and he couldn’t help but wish she was hovering over him instead of the counter.

  God damn...he was actually jealous of a fucking countertop.

  The insane thought was followed by a more serious, scarier idea, and he cleared his throat—louder this time—to get her attention. When she cast a smile his way, he somehow found his voice.

  “I’m ready.”

  Ready to love you for the rest of my life…

  Oh, hell.

  He’d been in her presence less than fifteen minutes, knew absolutely nothing about her, and he was already ready to declare himself and bound himself to her for the rest of his life.

  Definitely his mate.

  Though he hadn’t doubted his first assumption, he liked having the additional confirmation. Although, the way his cat was trying to break free, he didn’t need it. The animal had zero doubts about the woman, and was pissed off that Xander still sat in the booth.

  She walked back to the table, and leaned against the empty seat across from him.

  “What would you like?”

  You!

  He smiled at her and cleared his throat again.

  “I’ll have the steak, rare, and a cup of coffee.”

  “Cream?”

  Yes, please!

  Holy hell, he went rock hard again. What was she asking him?

  “Excuse me?”

  “Would you like cream for your coffee?”

  “Oh…yeah. Definitely.”

  “You got it.”

  She smiled, and walked toward a swinging door that lead to the kitchen. She pushed it halfway open with her hip, and called inside.

  “Dad! I need a steak! Rare!”

  He heard a grunt coming from the kitchen, and then she let the door go, and grabbed the pot of coffee and a mug. With the ease of someone with experience, she placed his mug on the table, filled it with the steaming brew, and then grabbed his water glass.

  “I’ll be back with your cream and a refill.”

  He lost his voice at the mention of cream again, but it didn’t matter because she didn’t wait for a response. A minute later, she returned with a bowl full of creamer and a full glass of water.

  “What’s your name?” he blurted.

  “Sorry,” she smiled. “I’m Ivy.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ivy,” he said, extending his hand. “I’m Xander. Xander Devereaux.”

  She stared at his extended hand like he’d offered her a third limb, but she eventually accepted the gesture, and slid her hand into his.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Xander,” she said. “Just holler if you need anything else.”

  Before he could say anything, the door to the kitchen burst open, and an older man hurried toward his table with a plate in hand. Ivy smiled, but snatched her hand away, and practically ran back to the counter with the newspaper.

  “Steak, rare,” the man said, placing the plate in front of him. “Enjoy.”

  ***

  Ivy Morgan rushed away from the table, and stared at the newspaper her dad had laid out on the counter. It was open to the movie section, and though she shook her head at the fact that her father still read the paper, or used it to find movie showtimes, she barely saw the words or pictures.

  All of her attention was focused on the lone man seated in a booth against the window.

  Damn, he was hot, and sexy didn’t even begin to cover the tattoo she saw peeking beneath the sleeve of his black t-shirt, or the one that tried to escape the confines of his neckline.

  God, she wanted to rip that shirt off, and run her tongue all over his ink.

  Unless it was an image of a woman. Or a child. Or someone’s name…especially if it was his own. She loved tattoos, but tats of people and names were a huge turn-off for her.

  It’s a woman, she decided. Definitely a woman. His girlfriend, or wife, or maybe even a child. Probably his whole family, because, let’s face it, a man like that didn’t remain single for long.

  Her hand still tingled from his touch, and because her dad was blocking his view, she used the opportunity to erase the feeling with a few swipes across her jeans.

  Unfortunately, her attempt to get rid of his cooties didn’t work.

  God, what was with her? She’d seen attractive men before, hell, she’d even touched a few in her lifetime, and only one other man had made her feel…

  No, actually, that wasn’t true. Even her ex didn’t make her skin tingle with a simple touch. She’d been attracted to him, sure, and he’d made her happy—too happy, but she refused to go there right now—but those feelings were nothing like this.

  What she felt toward the stranger was raw, unbridled lust.

  She’d been in the office when the bell on the door rang, signaling his arrival, and for one small moment, it seemed as if everything in her world shifted. As if the ringing of the bell caused her whole world to tilt on its axis, and then reset itself.

  The strange feeling lasted only seconds, and then everything was as it was before…except it wasn’t. She knew it wasn’t the moment she approached his table.

  He was staring out the window, but that didn’t hide his sleek, graceful body, or the power that seemed to surround him. He was muscular without being excessive, and though she could see his bicep bulging out of his sleeve, he moved with a smooth finesse most men his size didn’t possess.

  When he turned and pinned her with his green eyes, her pussy tingled and liquid heat dampened her panties. She wanted to push the table out of the way, and mount him—claim him—in the window for everyone to see.

  Her response to him was jarring.

  The erotic thoughts were completely out of character, and she knew she was being ridiculous. She’d given her ex nearly everything, and in the end, he still hadn’t wanted her. The harsh truth had nearly destroyed her, and even now, months later, she still struggled in the aftermath.

  She didn’t need or want another man in her life, and yet…the stranger, Xander Devereaux, made her want things she’d sworn she would never ask for again.

  Her father approached the counter, and smiled at her before grabbing a clean towel from under the surface and wiping his hands on it. He stood next to her, and studied the paper.

  Her father was a good man, and she loved him with all of her heart. Luckily, he wasn’t always observant, and right now, she was grateful his attention was focused on the paper instead of her. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, and she knew all it would take was one look, an
d her dad would know how much she liked their customer.

  She could hear Xander’s silverware gently touching the plate, and when she risked a glance in his direction, he was looking down, slowly cutting his meat. No, slowly wasn’t the right word. It was graceful, just like his other movements. He didn’t rush and shove all of his food in his mouth like a starving man, instead, he seemed to savor each bite.

  He was fascinating to watch, and she silently wondered if he enjoyed all of his meals that way, but when her thoughts turned to her being his next meal, she forced herself to look away.

  “Do you want to go see that new superhero movie on Monday?” she asked her dad.

  “Sorry, sweet pea, but I’ve already promised to see it with Patricia.”

  Patricia was her father’s girlfriend, and Ivy liked her a lot. After so many years of being alone, her father had started dating again when she’d left for college. He’d met quite a few interesting women, but all of that stopped when he found Patricia. She was it for him, and vice versa.

  Ivy should have known they would see the movie together. If she asked to tag along, she knew they would let her, but she didn’t want to be that girl. Her father deserved to have his girlfriend to himself, not babysit his twenty-eight-year-old daughter.

  “That’s okay, dad. I’ll just go see it by myself.”

  “You should start dating again, then you wouldn’t have to go by yourself.”

  Her dad’s words, louder than the others, seemed to echo around the empty diner, and now her face was heated for another reason. She looked up from the paper, and met her dad’s worried expression. She couldn’t be mad at the man even if she wanted to be.

  “I don’t mind going alone, dad,” she smiled.

  “I know you don’t mind, but it’s been six months. You don’t have to go alone. There are tons of other fish in the sea who are nothing like that POS ex of yours, but you can’t find one unless you start dating again.”

  What the hell? Since when did her dad decide to have heart-to-hearts with customers present? Maybe he was more observant than she’d given him credit for.