Rain's Three Leopards [Leopards of Leopold 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Leopards of Leopold 4

  Rain’s Three Leopards

  Rain Daniels is a wolf cub raised in a den of leopard shifters. As the Leopold pard’s adopted sweetheart, Rain belongs to all of them. An accidental meeting at the strip club where she works unexpectedly triggers the protective cats inside enforcers Ed, Tom, and Jake Cantrell.

  Ed, Tom, and Jake spent years looking for the one woman, their fated mate, to share and complete them. Rain’s no longer the little orphan wolf girl they saved years ago. She’s now a confident, wild, and a sexy woman grown. By wanting Rain, the Cantrell brothers risk the wrath of the other werecats, so they decide to tread carefully. But when an old ghost from Rain’s past resurface, Ed, Tom, and Jake can't keep away. Will they get the opportunity to prove to Rain she rightfully belongs to them, or will they be too late to save her?

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Shape-shifter

  Length: 23,711 words

  RAIN’S THREE LEOPARDS

  Leopards of Leopold 4

  Fel Fern

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  RAIN’S THREE LEOPARDS

  Copyright © 2015 by Fel Fern

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-465-5

  First E-book Publication: June 2015

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

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  Regarding E-book Piracy

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  This is Fel Fern’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Fel Fern’s right to earn a living from her work.

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  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  To my readers, I hope you enjoy reading Rain’s Three Leopards as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  About the Author

  RAIN’S THREE LEOPARDS

  Leopards of Leopold 4

  FEL FERN

  Copyright © 2015

  Chapter One

  Rain Daniels finished fixing up her mascara in the mirror and ignored the chatter of the other girls in the tiny dressing room. Rain wasn’t anti-social by any means. Simply practical. Studying by day for her degree in social work and working nights at the strip club left her with no time for gossip with other girls, or much of a social life really, but it hardly mattered to Rain.

  Her good friend and roommate, Lindsay, strutted in wearing nothing but her six-inch, hot pink stilettos and a flimsy lace G-string. Topless Lucy was one of the few topless but respectable establishments, as respectable as strip clubs went, in Leopold City.

  The owners paid their dancers handsomely and ran their business straight, with zero tolerance for bullshit. Exactly like Rain liked it. The three owners, while shifters, didn’t ally themselves with the any of the groups in the city. Topless Lucy was considered neutral territory and an ideal place for Rain to work, given she didn’t want her overprotective foster parents to find out where she spent her nights.

  “Rough crowd out there tonight,” Lindsay said with a sigh, collapsing to the chair next to hers.

  “Yeah? Good haul then?” Rain asked, checking her lipstick in the mirror, before nodding to the dollar bills tucked in the waistband of Lindsay’s G-string.

  Lindsay grinned. “A few rowdy drunks, but the bouncers kept them back. The house has an interesting mix of supernatural customers tonight, plus a few lookers. Shifters by the look of them.”

  “Oh?” Rain didn’t bother hiding her disinterest. With her studies and busy schedule, romance and dating hadn’t been on her list of priorities.

  “Jeez, babe. You didn’t have to sound so bored,” Lindsay pointed out, shrugging on a robe and lighting a cig. “Well, can’t blame you, since there’s no limit to the hotties in your pard to scratch your back when you get an inch.”

  Rain snorted. “Yeah, right. Werecats usually mate with their own.”

  “Really?” Lindsay wiggled her eyebrows at her, not bothering to hide her curiosity.

  As werewolves raised by an entire pard of wereleopards, Rain and her brother, Sam, had always been a bit of an anomaly. For years, Lars, Cas, and Des, the pard’s king, queen, and consort, paid for her and her brother’s tuition and living expenses. Rain owed Lars, Cas, and Des her life, but she figured it was about time she cut loose and started living independently. Not that she wanted to completely cut herself off from the pard.

  The wereleopards had become her and her brother’s extended, if sometimes too nosy, family. They took them in even when their own kind, both their useless drunk of a father and the local werewolf pack kicked them around for sport.

  Thinking back, what she just said to Lindsay about shifter species sticking to their own kind was no longer true. Leopard shifters usually mated in threes, and two of the pard members recently took a werewolf from outside the city an
d made him their third. Her own brother took James, another werecat, recently for his mate.

  “Well, usually,” Rain amended.

  “So none of the werecats have ever caught your interest? Really?” Lindsay asked with a drag of her cigarette.

  “Well, maybe.” Sensing Rain’s guarded tone, Lindsay respectfully backed off. Lindsay was probably the only mortal friend Rain had and could talk to. She really appreciated the other woman’s company.

  Rain had messed around and experimented with members of the pard around her age, but both sides knew it had only been a fling. Besides, the men she’d ever been truly interested in, the males capable of stirring her wolf, were off the grid.

  For as long as she could remember, Rain held a burning torch for Ed Cantrell and his brothers, Jake and Tom, ever since she first laid eyes on them in her teens. They carried the title of the pard’s fiercest enforcers, their black reputation for violence matched by their conquests in bed. Work hard and play hard, that was their motto, but Rain doubted they’d ever see her the way she wanted them to.

  “Rain, you’re up,” someone called.

  “Dinner at the usual place after?” Lindsay asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Break a leg, doll.”

  “You bet,” Rain said. Unable to help herself, she grinned back before heading backstage.

  The lights zoned in on her, the curtains slid up and racy, seductive music boomed from expensive surround sound speakers. Rain didn’t strip solely for the money to pay for her education, but because she loved to dance.

  She hadn’t been arrogant to think she could earn a living through professional dance, but she did it passably enough. Being a social worker had been her real dream, maybe because of Sam and her past. Besides, when she danced, she flew rather than walked. Rain lost herself.

  The world narrowed down into a fine point. Rain didn’t hear the roar of the crowd or see the blur of faces. Her feet and body had a will of their own, moving in tune with the music.

  Tonight, though, her gaze found an unexpected watcher. Time froze for a quarter of a second. Terror crawled down her spine. Her fingers briefly shook on the pole and her heartbeats thumped painfully against her chest in remembered fear.

  A leering and scarred face stood out from dozens. A golden-haired devil, a ghost from the past she didn’t want to remember. Sometimes couldn’t remember. Rain had chucked away that dark Chapter of her life away, to make way for the wonderful memories she created with Lars, Cas, Des, and the entire pard. As if sensing the weight of her gaze, a smile spilt the corners of the phantom’s lips.

  Alone. Vulnerable. This time, Lars, Cas, Des, and the other cats weren’t there to save her. For a moment, Rain let trepidation hold her in a vise-like grip.

  Don’t think about it. You’re still on stage. Be professional.

  Besides, Rain was no a fucking child or a new shifter unsure of her ability. She was no longer defenseless and powerless to defend herself either like before. Lars, Cas, and Des made sure Sam and she learned some self-defense on one side, and trained their bodies to adapt to their beasts.

  Rain righted herself again, forcing her limbs and body to move as if nothing had shaken her routine. Anger had replaced fear now, and anger felt good. It made her feel powerful and confident. Life rushed back to her veins and limbs.

  The man hadn’t left, but a frown replaced his sneer now. Rain finished her routine with a defiant flourish, tossing her tiny bikini top to the crowd who erupted into cheers and cat calls.

  She kept her gaze fixed on the man, not flinching away as he surged forward past the other customers with bills fisted in their hands. He neared the stage now, face twisting to familiar rage.

  Cruel hands cutting like knives, restricting her hands above her head. A knee shoved between her legs, while Sam screamed himself raw just a few feet away.

  Panic constricted Rain’s throat. The urge to flee and to not care about the bills waved at her direction rose in her. She nearly tottered on her tall heels, but a large hand closed over her ankle. Not yanking her down, but steadying her. One of the bouncers shouted for her savior to back off, nearing the stage.

  Rain breathed a sigh of relief. Relief soon shattered when she looked down at the tall, bulky man who had steadied her balance.

  Ed Cantrell, one of the Leopold Pard’s fiercest enforcers.

  She swallowed. Thoughts of her old tormentor faded away. Hard blue eyes the color of faded denim looked at her from a rough and handsome face lightly lined with stubble. Ed’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t let go of her leg, only ran his callused fingers up the ink on her ankle, as if he wondered how it got there without him knowing. Rain began to speak, but her lips wouldn’t move.

  “Why, you’re all grown up now, aren’t you, princess?”

  God. The sound of his deep voice, even though he practically snarled, combined with his touch, sent a tingle right down to her exposed tits and bikini clad groin. It didn’t escape Rain the way he used the special nickname he and his brothers called her felt a lot different.

  She saw herself at seventeen, doing her homework in Ed and his brother’s, Tom and Jake, kitchen. Saw him leaning by her shoulder, frowning at the math equation she waved back him. Math had been the least of her concerns. What she had really been wanted was the attention of the man who saw her as a kid he needed to take care of. Just a girl he had to babysit as a favor for his king and queen.

  Well, fuck. The dark possessive look that settled in Ed’s eyes hadn’t been the look an overprotective uncle gave his niece, but the look of jealous lover.

  “I’ll give you a little extra if you suck my dick in the back room—” someone in the front suggested, but he didn’t finish his sentence.

  Beside Ed, Tom socked him, flooring him with one punch.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Tom said.

  Dark-haired, standing at five foot six, broad shouldered and rippling with muscle, Tom could’ve passed for Ed’s twin with the exception of his eyes. Unlike Ed, his eyes were forest green and Rain knew he retained the brilliant shade even in his second form. Jake didn’t look friendly either, glaring at the poor man.

  If God, or whomever was out there, made the three men in the same mold, he’d achieved refinement in Jake. Not that Ed and Tom hadn’t been perfect in their own way. Jake didn’t have the bulky build both Ed and Tom possessed, but every inch of him was made of sinew and lean muscle. Ed and Tom liked to wear their hair short, almost military trim, but Rain always liked the fact Jake left his wavy chestnut hair curling at the ears. Not that Jake was soft. Like Ed and Tom, he did what needed to be doing without flinching for the sake of the pard.

  Wanting one man was simple, but all three? Greed? Complication? Maybe.

  Unlike werewolves, werecats didn’t mate in pairs and an entire pard of them raised Rain and her brother. Not too hard to figure out their notions of mating and love rubbed off on her. Some said werecats just couldn’t settle for one partner because it hadn’t been hard coded in their DNA. Other animals groups said they were flawed that way. Cas simply used to say it was because their hearts possessed the ability to love more, and Rain rather liked the analogy.

  “Why don’t we get you off that stage and cover those tits of yours, Rain?” Ed practically growled out the words, gaze not leaving hers.

  She took off her clothes for a living. The last thing Rain felt was self-conscious about showing a little skin, but she felt a little self-conscious at the single searing look Ed gave her. The crowd might devour the sight of bare skin night after night, but they didn’t possess the ability to strip her off the armor she constantly wore over her heart. Never before had anyone truly stripped her bare or coaxed her soul out, the way Ed and his brothers did with a single glance.

  Shit.

  “You want us to get these assholes from you?” A bouncer nearby asked.

  “No, it’s okay, Bruno. I know them.”

  Rain jerked her ankle back, refusing to be cowed. Ed and his brothers had c
rashed her party, not the other way around. A quick look around the crowd told her the ghost of her past had vanished.

  She fixed Ed a withering stage. “You can meet me backstage.”

  Ed looked stunned by her reaction. Good. If the bastard thought she’d hang her head and look guilty at being caught like some sort of freaking child, he had another thing coming.

  Chapter Two

  Ed Cantrell couldn’t think straight, not with the anger clouding his head. Rain asked them to wait, but he couldn’t stand the noise or be in the midst of horny men looking for some entertainment. Men who sported enormous fucking erections he wanted to rip out when Rain threw the tiny strings that passed for a bra. Ed didn’t know his blood could boil until all he saw was red.

  It didn’t help his mood when Jake began to pace in the narrow alleyway restlessly, or the way Tom just looked stunned, still in disbelief for reasons Ed perfectly understood.

  Fuck. Seeing Rain, practically naked, was something he couldn’t erase from his mind. Naked was one thing, but seeing her dance, really dance unlike the other strippers, as if her sweat-slicked body was made of liquid gold— God. Even now, the visible bulge in his jeans hadn’t calmed down.

  In the first place, Ed shouldn’t be thinking about little Rain that way. Not the damaged and lost little girl cub who the entire pard adopted.

  “Rain’s not a little girl anymore, is she?”

  Hell. The way his leopard reacted didn’t help. The beast stirred from what felt like a long slumber, and sniffed the air. Sniffed Rain’s wolf out, the way an unmated hungry animal scented its mate.