Like a Fox, Ridgeville Book 7 by Celia Kyle

Chapter One
     
    “ Love at first sight doesn’t exist. There
is, however, love after five orgasms in one boinking.” —Maya
O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman in love. Alex is
such a giver…
     
    The alluring, seductive scent of his mate
woke Gavin Mara from a dead-to-the-world sleep. He bolted upright
with a gasp, rock-hard cock stiff between his legs and a sheen of
sweat on his brow. He drew the flavors into his lungs, and he had
no doubt that his mate was a cat…and very, very close by.
    He took a deep breath… Yes, she was a purring
lioness. He knew those underlying, feline scents. He’d been
visiting his sister Elise in Ridgeville ever since she’d mated her
werelion Brute, and Gavin had come to recognize the various
shifters the town held.
    Lioness.
    Would she roar for him? Or better yet,
purr?
    The heavy aroma of breakfast from downstairs
in the Drool and Dine reached out to him, distracting him
momentarily. Well, his stomach, anyway.
    Each time he visited his sister, he rented
the room above the diner, unwilling to share Elise and Brute’s
home. He liked the guy. He just didn’t want to listen to his sister
have sex with the gigantic lion.
    Rushing from the bed, he scrounged around for
something to wear. He was spending his last week of peace in
Ridgeville, and he’d wanted to visit with Elise before he began his
job in Chicago with the Council. They’d hired him to be the
Director of Communications. He snorted. Tech support with a fancy
name.
    Gavin tossed clothes around, sending T-shirts
flying as he hunted for something freaking clean to put on. God, he
should have taken his sister up on her offer to do his laundry a
few days ago. But he’d had a plan, a stack of quarters, and a
Laundromat down the street. Right. Digging into the bottom of his
suitcase, he came up victorious, clutching a semi-wrinkled, thin
T-shirt he’d forgotten about.
    “ I Lick! ” was emblazoned across the
front in bright red letters.
    His sister thought it’d get him a little
action since “all ladies like a little downtown lovin’.”
    Another round of searching netted him a pair
of jeans with some sort of weird stain on the leg. He brought the
fabric to his nose and sniffed. Well, at least it wasn’t a toddler
by-product. He’d gotten enough of that from the pride Prima’s
twins. The fuckers were messy little things.
    The A/C kicked on, and more of his mate’s
alluring scent drifted to him. Shit, he needed to get down there.
Now. Before she managed to get away from him.
    Gavin rushed to the front door, slipping into
a pair of worn sneakers on the way, and then he was outside,
pounding down the metal steps. Clang clang clang clang. He
sprinted around the side of the building and raced toward the front
entrance.
    He looked through the windows and scanned
faces while he ran, attention adeptly split between the space in
front of him and the interior of the diner. He recognized the
werebear owner, Seno, and his wolf mate, Alice. A few other pride
lions occupied the restaurant, as well as some rabbits and a wolf
or two.
    He rounded a corner, and then it was only
three strides to the front door. He gripped the handle and
practically tore it from its hinges, the need for his mate spurring
him on. The slam of the metal and glass panel against the exterior
of the building had everyone inside falling quiet. The hush rolled
across the diner, and all eyes focused on him.
    He stepped inside, took a deep breath and
drew more of his mate’s arousing scent into his lungs. She was
still here, her aromas concentrated within the room. They called to
him with invisible arms. Another step in. Then another. Seno, a big
bear of a man, rounded the counter. With a frown etched onto his
features, he closed the distance between them.
    “Gavin.” The man’s growl was a deep
rumble.
    He waved the bear away and inhaled again,
hunting for the source of the alluring fragrance. He moved to the
left, nose raised.
    Seno cut him