Tail 'Em: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Jailbreak Book 1) Read online

  Tail ‘Em

  Sam Hall

  Contents

  Description

  Stalk me!

  Author Note

  Trigger warning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  What next?

  38. Simpler ending

  Stalk me!

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Description

  Never tell them what we are, Shannon’s grandmother had always said.

  Working as a faux-Reiki healer in her local veterinary clinic, Shannon uses her psychic abilities to help sick or anxious animals, worried that one day people were going to see past the New Age façade she’d constructed.

  With good cause.

  Men from the newly created Capricorn Institute bring her to the newly renovated prison on the hill to work her wiles on their beasts, creatures she’d thought she’d only ever seen in a zoo, but they don’t respond to her psychic overtures like a normal animal would.

  Because they aren’t.

  Beautiful, wild, Shannon’s about to find out the truth about the Big Bad Wolf and all of his apex predator friends. These sexy shifters track her every movement, memorise her scent, because even from behind bars, they’re hunting her. Physically, psychically, these men will use whatever tactics they can to get what they want: her.

  This is book one in a brand new super steamy reverse harem series from the author of the Pack Heat series. If you love hot, why choose romance with shifters, you’ll love Tail ‘Em.

  Tail ‘Em

  Tail ‘Em © Sam Hall 2020

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except for in the case of brief quotations for the use in critical articles or reviews.

  Cover art and design by Mibl Art

  The characters and events depicted in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Created with Vellum

  Stalk me!

  Stalk me!

  Facebook author group: Sam’s Hall of Heroines

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  This one goes out to Rebekah, because you asked for it! Nah, bonds forged over a shared love of twat salve cannot be broken. :P

  Author Note

  This book is written in Australian English, which is a weird lovechild of British and American English. We tend to spell things the way the Brits do (expect a lot more u’s), yet also use American slang and swear more than both combined.

  While many people have gone over this book, trying to find all the typos and other mistakes, they just keep on popping up like bloody rabbits. If you spot one, don’t report it to Amazon, drop me an email at the below address so I can fix the issue.

  [email protected]

  Trigger warning

  So this book is not like a lot of omega verse/knotting books. We’re not talking heavy non con or dub con, but there is some stuff that is adjacent to that. The scenario in the second half of the book has some dub con/non con potential, but as much as possible, I tried to make this a ‘take the power back’ moment, BUT that might not be enough for you.

  There’s an evil corporation that is absolutely evil, who makes things very hard for the MCs. No rape etc but there are assaults that happen off screen, a character’s birth control is removed. So they are serious bad guys with megalomaniacal, controlling, hateful aspirations. That starts on Chapter 21 and is the case until the end.

  There is a scenario where the MC realises to do something she’s been asked to at work would mean assaulting an unconscious shifter and she refuses, but that could push some buttons.

  There is also a moment where the MC, using some psychic powers, gets carried away and pushes one of the male leads to do something to another character that he doesn’t enjoy, but he puts a stop to that.

  As always, any trigger warning is influenced by the author’s experience, personal triggers and reading history. What I think of as ‘dark’, non-con or dub con might not jibe with yours.

  I wouldn’t consider this an especially ‘safe’ book. To me, the dark elements are relatively tame compared to others, but if concerned, I’d talk to someone you trust and who has read the book and make sure you’re cool with reading it.

  Protect your mental health and yourself. There’s plenty of other paranormal crazy out there for you to entertain you.

  Chapter 1

  He woke me, as he often did, when the full moon was up. Max, my Husky, was the first to wake, the clatter of his nails on the hardwood floor of my bedroom enough to jerk me awake. Buster, the retriever cross, moved sluggishly when Max got up, walking over to the big picture window across from my bed.

  A howl rang through the night air, cutting through the peace and quiet, alerting the whole valley to the wolf’s presence on my land.

  Could any being convey a complete and utter feeling of longing and need in their voice like a wolf? The long, ululating sound drew out until everyone knew exactly how he felt.

  But also how I felt—lonely, wanting what I couldn’t have, and miserable, even though I knew it was pointless. But I had no throat with which to voice it. Instead, I grit my teeth hard.

  “Shut up, Jai,” I said, punching my pillow and flopping back down on to it, then wrapping another around my head when it didn’t stop. “Just shut up.”

  Chapter 2

  “It’s OK, it’ll all be OK,” I crooned, running my hand along his furry flank.

  Rex, the Gordons’ beautiful German Shepherd, panted frantically as he lay on the stainless steel bench.

  “That’s good. Keep talking to him,” Stuart, the vet, said as he slid an oxygen mask over the dog’s muzzle. “Blood pressure’s starting to stabilise. Keep going. Tell him what a good boy he is.”

  I moved around the table to the dog’s head, stroking those plush black ears as I mumbled the kind of nonsense people do to dogs, but that wasn’t what was helping Rex hold on while the vet and the nurses worked, it was this.

  I dove into the dog’s mind, his thoughts and feelings a maelstrom of fear and pain. Rex didn’t understand what had happened, though I’d heard he got clipped by a car from the Gordons when they brought his limp body into the practice.

  Emergency was the bit I hated the most about working at the vets. This dog was a big, strong athlete, usually running into the surgery on light feet. Not like this, weak as a puppy when I needed him to fight the hardest.

  Janey, the receptionist and my friend, quickly took Rex’s deta
ils down as he was admitted, but I walked over, unable to stop my hand going to the dog’s side and Mr Gordon’s shoulder.

  “It’ll be OK,” I said.

  “You’re the vet? An SUV going much too fast just plowed into him and—”

  “Mr Gordon?” Stuart said, coming out into the reception area. “I’m Stuart Wilson, your vet. Bring Rexy through, and we’ll see to him straight away.”

  “So who is…?” the man asked as Stuart approached.

  “This is Shannon, one of our colleagues. She has an amazing manner with animals, keeps them calm and happy when they wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Now, let me take your boy. We’ll do our very best for him.”

  “That’s my boy, my very good boy,” I told Rex as I dropped in deeper.

  For a moment, I was alone with my heartbeat and that tremulous feeling of doubt. Would I be able to help Rex? Keep him hanging on until Stuart could restore the equilibrium to his traumatised body? I’d done this hundreds of times, but the doubts always came.

  We hold them in our hands, Nan said in my mind. Hold them gently, care for them, but be ready to let go when the time comes.

  Not this time. Not Rex, I swore to myself.

  Animals, after being hit by cars, often go into shock, their bodies shutting down all non-essential functions to try and survive the impact of what has happened. It was a dangerous time, one where a dog that did not appear to have severe injuries could still end up dying due to not being stabilised through the process.

  Rex’s mind was both chaotic and sluggish, like wading through a thick current as I sank into it. I kept repeating the calm, soothing words, but they felt like pissing in the wind right now. His heart was beating so fast yet his blood pressure was dropping. I took a long, deep breath, feeling Rex unconsciously imitate me as I did so. I closed my eyes and then pushed out.

  You are loved.

  Patients like Rex were easier to help, as it was clear to see that the Gordons cared desperately for their dog. My words exploded inside him, and then I watched their effects ripple out.

  As the feeling behind them was understood and picked up, I got to see first-hand a million little memories pop up. Dogs live in the now, so it was as if this was all happening at once. Countless games of fetch, the strong, exhilarating feeling of his body as it strove with everything he had to catch that small spherical object. Snuggles by the fire, that puppy-like sensation of fingers being raked through his thick fur over and over, and with it, the feeling of love.

  Deep and abiding, never wavering, even when his humans walked past him, ignoring the balls he dropped at their feet or when he sat neatly like the goodest of boys. Rather, that love just swelled all the more intensely as Rexy strove that extra bit harder to earn his people’s attention, blossoming to almost dizzying heights when they did reciprocate. I bit back tears as I felt it—eternal, intense love. Animals, with their short lives, seemed to burn that much brighter than humans.

  “Are you OK?” Nick, the vet nurse, asked as he came over to the table.

  “Sure,” I said. “How’s Rex doing?”

  “He’s stable enough to take into X-ray,” Stuart said. “Let’s get him on a drip, then sedated and see what we’re dealing with. Good work, Shan. We’ve gotta put aside some time to collect some data on that reiki stuff you’ve been doing. I always thought complementary medicine was a load of old bollocks, but you’ve seriously got something there. We could—”

  “Doc, we need to get Rex moved,” Nick said.

  “What? Oh, right, of course.”

  Nick patted me on the shoulder as the two of them wheeled a now doped out Rex to take his X-ray.

  I took a deep breath, then another as I stood inside the empty examination room, trying to use my own ‘reiki’ powers to calm down.

  It’s OK, I told myself. You are safe and secure. Stuart is just appreciative of your work. Deep breaths, one after the other.

  It worked, kinda, but as was often the case when my mind quieted, my grandmother’s voice came to me.

  Never let them know what you are, Shannon, love. Never.

  Chapter 3

  “You OK?” Janey asked, sticking her head through the door. I smiled weakly, and she rushed over and enfolded me in a quick hug. In some ways, contact from humans was both a relief and weird. I didn’t get anything from touching them except physical comfort. I sighed, feeling my body go limp as my friend just held me for a second.

  “You’ve got Izzy up next,” she said finally, reluctance clear in her voice.

  “It’s OK, I’m OK.”

  “You’re not, and I appreciate it.” We walked out into the waiting room together where a very cute, very excited, very nervous Samoyed waited.

  “Hi, Carla,” I said brightly to Izzy’s owner, the older woman’s face instantly breaking into a smile. You wouldn’t have thought a dog that looked like twenty kilos of white fluffy cloud would get so anxious, but her head dropped down, her tail wagging furiously as she took us in, then she ducked under her owner’s chair.

  “Oh, thank goodness, it’s you. She’s been…” The lady let out a long breath when she saw my expression. “Well, you know.”

  I nodded and took a seat beside her, ignoring the dog but putting my hand down between the chairs.

  “She’s still quite anxious?”

  “Not for a while, but she always starts to get jumpy towards the end of the month. You need to set up a clinic of your own, love. I could come and see you…”

  “Never set yourself apart from the power structures,” Nan said. “The cunning women that stayed as hedge witches, they were the first to be strung up and burned. No, it was the ones that became nurses and midwives that survived. Give the humans a reason they can live with to explain what we can do, otherwise they’ll provide you with one, and it won’t be to your advantage.”

  “Oh, I could never do that to Stuart. This place is family to me.” I glanced over to Janey, who gave me a wink. A cold wet nose was thrust into my fingers as Izzy sniffed my palm, getting a whole bunch of information from the scents she picked up. My breakfast, which she visualised as the foods she salivated over at her owner’s feet when Carla was at the dining table, the shampoo and soap I used, which was vaguely repellent to her, and the smell of my dogs and Rex. Pain, fear, the feelings spiked through the dog, and I knew if I looked at her, I’d find her hunching down further.

  “Izzy…”

  I pushed reassurance, love, and calm as I said her name. Both her owner and the dog visibly relaxed, Izzy’s flibbertigibbet mind a chaotic clash of her rapidly spiralling anxieties and the mental images I pushed. Izzy, safe and up on the couch next to Carla, her owner patting her luxurious fur over and over. Following Carla everywhere, to the bathroom, toilet, the home office she worked at, constantly curled up around her feet. The bliss she felt when Carla came home, even if she’d only gone out for half an hour. The listening to Carla’s breath even out as she fell asleep, letting Izzy know it was safe to do the same.

  “C’mon, girl,” I said, taking the bag of treats Janey had brought around to me. Izzy shuffled out from under the chair, ears pricked. While she was a nervous dog, she was also very food motivated. Instantly, I was flooded by memories of crunching the thin slices of dried liver, the intense rush of sensations and tastes, her mouth starting to salivate as they flooded her prefrontal cortex.

  I kept a steady flood of yummy and calming thoughts pushed her way as she padded across the floor after me.

  “I’ll use consult room one,” I said to Janey, who just nodded, watching the transformation in Izzy with a smile.

  “You’re so good with her,” Carla enthused as she picked the dog up and put her on the metal table. Izzy instantly pushed her muzzle into her owner’s chest, but the minute I crackled the packet of treats, she turned around. She stayed within close vicinity of her owner, but she sat as soon as she had turned around and raised a paw, knowing what came next.

  “Very good, girl!” I enthused, shaking her p
aw. I kept my voice high and with that kind of overexcited tone that children’s television presenters tend to use, because dogs looooved it. It was the closest reaction I think they got that approximated their own wholehearted love of life. I gave her a treat, which she munched quickly. “Down, girl,” I said, and she obediently dropped to her stomach for another. I knew I had her relaxing when she rolled over, exposing her fluffy white belly to me. “Oh, who’s a good girl!” I said over and over, scratching her tummy.

  “All right, I’m starting now,” I said to Carla, who just nodded. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then went in.

  What Carla assumed was some kind of New Age healing session was actually more like psychic doggy psychology. I zipped through Izzy’s thoughts and experiences for the month, finding the snarls of fear and anxiety and replacing them with little pockets of reassurance and pleasant memories of Carla. Her owner loved her, and there was no evidence of mistreatment in her mind. Like a small part of any population, she was highly sensitive. Her nervous system worked overtime as it reacted to every kind of stimuli. Normal things, like the sound of a car horn or another dog barking, were like small bombs going off inside the dog. There, deep in her being, was a burning need to make sure she and Carla were safe.