Chasing The Night: Big Easy Shifters: Book Three by Knox, Abby (best novels to read for students TXT) 📗

likely taken her virginity. Or, more accurately, the person to whom she’d given her virginity.

She pressed the “home” button to go back to her text messages for more clues. But as soon as she did that, everything went black.

Wait, what?

Oh no. Oh, shit.

Her phone was dead.

And she was pretty sure she did not have a phone charger. Sure, hell-bent on losing her virginity last night, she’d remembered to tuck a condom (still there, oops) a passport (she didn’t drive, so no license), and her daddy’s platinum card into her clutch. But a firewire? Why on earth would that be necessary?

There was also a bigger problem here. Not only did she not know who G was, where she was, or where her fellow bridesmaids might be, she also did not know if she’d messed up the whole encounter by not only forgetting to use a condom but by shifting into a panther last night.

That last detail was pretty important, too, because it could have meant the difference between her supposed partner being alive and walking around with the glow of a freshly laid man or being in hiding and scared to death.

Or worse—actually, very literally dead.

Chapter Two

Gavin

8:30 a.m.

Oh shit. Am I dead?

Because that would really, really suck. Nobody wants to wake up dead after the first time they ever have sex. Or at least I think that’s what happened last night.

Because, as it turns out? All the fuss, all the songs, all the heartache, all the drama? It happens for a very good reason. He wasn’t sure what all happened, but upon waking up, Gavin was feeling good.

Better than good. Pretty fucking great.

Now, if only he could remember who she was and how it all started.

Gavin opened his eyes, desperately hoping that the warm, fuzzy feelings wouldn’t all disappear like an amazing dream. The sun was still mercifully obscured by the trees.

The cozy feelings did not disappear like an amazing dream that he wanted to close his eyes and get back to. Things had happened. Sublime things.

It was all real. At the nearly freakishly old age (according to teen movies, anyway) of 25, Gavin had finally lost his virginity. Probably. All of his buddies at Ashton Boudreaux’s bachelor party would be very happy for him when he told them what he was pretty sure had happened.

Except, Gavin’s pack mates were not there right now. And neither was the mystery woman. Whoever she was.

Curious.

Even more curious was the fact that he was lying on the grass in the woods. Naked. Alone.

And his belly was full.

He had the taste of fresh blood in his mouth.

So he had shifted to the wolf last night. How in the hell did that happen? It wasn’t a full moon. Besides, no pack of wolves like Ash, Bobby, and Vann would ever plan a bachelor party on the night of a full moon. Not unless they all wanted to end up dead or in prison or both. Alcohol and full moons do not mix. Especially not when it comes to shapeshifters.

Sure, he wasn’t always the best at keeping track of his moon cycles, but that’s pack mentality. You depend on each other.

But where was his pack now?

He went through the list. Ash was probably at Rosemary’s flat, sleeping it off. Vann West, their boy who was now a celebrity chef, had just last night come home from some far-flung international TV shoot for the week of wedding festivities. He was probably off boning his new girl GiGi, whom he hadn’t seen since March.

Focus, man. Focus.

Where was Bobby? Bobby was known to get melancholy toward the end of the night whenever the pack partied together. Gavin wasn’t sure, but it probably had something to do with all that shit that went down when they were kids growing up together. It was so long ago. Everyone had processed what happened. Ash’s dad, JB of JB Chicken fame, had taken all the young pups into his care and helped them navigate their new lives. Once each of them found out they carried the wolf gene, JB taught them how to control their emotions, keep everything inside them calm, and save their magical energies for the full moon nights, when they would hunt together and satisfy the beasts inside.

JB had taught them well, but Bobby would carry the burden of guilt to his grave over what happened before he had control of the wolf instincts. Poor guy. Gavin hoped sincerely that his friend would one day be able to get his mind off of it. Of course, Gavin and Ash and Vann knew exactly who could help Bobby with all of that. The only one who could not see that was Bobby.

Look at yourself, Gavin. Lying naked on the ground in the pre-dawn hours and all you can think about is your friend’s happiness? No wonder you were a virgin until last night.

Get it together. Find your clothes. And then find the girl.

Gavin carefully sat upright. He looked to his left. There was the lake. He and the boys had probably gone for a dip to sober up at some point. Had he brought the girl with him for that? Was she still here?

The next second, the only thought he had was about the annoying pain in his hip. What the…

And then he turned and looked down and saw the bandage. Oh no.

It was exactly the kind of bandage he used at his tattoo parlor to help his customers protect fresh tattoos. But Gavin didn’t have a fresh tattoo on his hip, because that would be ridiculous. Right?

So ridiculous only a drunk asshole would agree to this. For fuck’s sake. He carefully peeled back the tape and took a look. It was a heart with the letter “C” in it. The heart looked like it had gashes in it and blood flowing out. The way the “C” was inked, calligraphy-style, was the most telling part of all. That was his ink. Gavin had given himself a tattoo on his own hip.

“That