Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella by Georgette St. Clair

Chapter One
    Belle Simmons lived for the beginning of
summer, although not for the usual reasons. Oh, she loved the
sunshine and the ripening berries on bushes, the melting of snow
and the budding of flowers, and the chance to shift into panther
form and race naked through the woods with the sun warming her
fur.
    But what she really yearned for
was a glimpse of Axel McManus, in all his glory. Axel, the
handsomest werewolf in Montana, came to visit his grandparents in
Big Timber Falls every summer. And when he did, he frequently came
into the general store owned by Belle’s aunt and uncle.
    Of course there was no chance the
two of them would actually get together. Axel was a handsome,
popular wolf, the son of a wealthy and successful Alpha, and rumor
had it that his father wanted him to take over his Northern Montana
pack in the near future. Belle was a shy, quiet panther whose
parents had died when she was a cub, and she was stuck behind the
counter of the Big Timber Falls Mercantile.
    And everybody knows…cats and dogs don’t mix.
 In fact, the local panther shifters and werewolf pack were
increasingly on edge with each other, mostly out of stupid
territorial pride.
    Still…she could look, and dream.

    “ There he is,” Agnes Hamilton, her
best friend and co-worker, said, nudging her.
    “ Yep. I see that,”  Belle had
a feather duster in her hand, and she was standing on the porch,
slowly and carefully dusting the windows.  She was
concentrating on her job very hard.

    That was because she could see Axel’s
reflection in the window.

    His people were descended from a tribe of
Native American shapeshifters, and his coppery skin and thick,
silky black hair reflected that. He was tall and broad shouldered
and narrow hipped.   He was wearing faded denim jeans and
a tank top that revealed his smooth, tan skin and the curve of his
biceps.

    Axel was across the street, leaning on his
pickup truck, talking to his cousins, Lucas and Nicholas Redburn.
 They were handsome enough, but for some reason, they’d never
had the effect on her that Axel did.  Every time she saw Axel,
her heart raced and she tingled all over.

    As Belle watched, Axel turned around and
reached into the back of the pickup truck, bending over as he did
so.

    “ Oh my God. His ass is
magnificent,” Agnes said admiringly. Axel straightened up, holding
three sodas. He handed two of them to his cousins, and opened up
the third, taking a healthy swallow.

    “ It sure is.” Dust, dust, dust.
Belle very slowly ran her duster over the same spot she’d just
dusted. “It’s a thing of beauty.”

    Agnes pretended to stare into the window that
Belle was dusting so she could watch Axel too. “His ass could have
been sculpted by Michaelangelo.”

    “ It’s like two perfectly rounded
halves of a cantaloupe, covered in denim,” Belle nodded. “It’s the
ass to end all asses.”

    She glanced at her own reflection. She was
small and slim, with straight golden brown hair and brown eyes.
 Nothing special. She didn’t have big poufy blonde hair or
huge boobs or a badonkadonk butt, which seemed to be what the local
boys liked.
     
    “ I mean, how do you even get an ass
like that?” Agnes wondered. “Do you think – Oh, God.
Incoming.”
    Axel was walking straight towards the store
now, and his cousins were leaning on the pickup truck, watching him
with smiles on their faces.

    “ What do I do?” Belle gasped.
“Should I run inside? What?”

    “ Uh, jeez, I don’t know – just keep
dusting. Move on to another window, though; you’ve been dusting
this one for like five minutes now.”

    Cheeks reddening, Belle quickly moved on to an
adjacent window, as Axel’s footsteps pounded up the creaking wooden
front steps.

    “ Hello, Belle.”

    Oh, God, he was right behind her. And - he
knew her name.  Belle frantically tried to remember if she’d
ever introduced herself to him. Usually, Axel just came in to the
store and made polite conversation