Swimming with Penguins

On the road: Sometimes, a leap of faith is the

only way.

Yuma Batacan didn’t mean to reveal that he

was  a  penguin  shifter  to  the  human,  Hunter
Driscoll.  But  between  the  pain  caused  by  a
gunshot wound, the disorientation of waking in a
strange place, and the thrilling scent that told him
the human was his mate, Yuma couldn’t find it in
him  to  stop  the  change.  Now  he  has  to  convince
the abused and injured human that he isn’t some
kind  of  monster.  And  Yuma  has  to  do  it  quick,
before Hunter’s attackers come back to finish him
off.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
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entirely coincidental.

Swimming With Penguins

ISBN: 978-1-77111-345-8

Cover art by Martine Jardin

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Swimming With Penguins

Kontra’s Menagerie: Book Six

Charlie Richards

Chapter One

uma had thought a swim in the icy water was
a good idea. He loved swimming and wanted

a  little  time  away  from  all  the  guys.  The  lodge
they’d  rented  for  a  month  on  the  lake  in  chilly
Minnesota  was  massive,  but  with  over  a  dozen
men  living  in  the  space,  Yuma  just  needed  some
time  alone  to  clear  his  head.  He  didn’t  take  into
account some asshole with a gun shooting him.

Gasping in pain from a wound in his side and a

second one in his right flipper, Yuma’s penguin
body shuddered. He’d managed to wiggle his way
to shore, but that was where his strength gave out.

Boots appeared in his line of vision, then a gun

barrel. Yuma whimpered. He just knew the end
was coming. After finding a measure of happiness
with his gang, he was going to die alone after all.

Looking away from his impending doom,

Yuma spotted red marking his right fin. Oh! That’s
my  blood!  He’d  never  had  any  trouble  with  the
sight  of  blood  before  and  had  often  helped  their
group’s  doctor,  Eli,  treat  patients.  But  seeing  his

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own  blood  was  different.  Bile  rose  in  his  throat
and  his  head  swam.  Seconds  later,  Yuma’s  eyes
rolled  into  the  back  of  his  head  and  he  lost
consciousness.

* * * *

Hunter struggled to a sitting position and opened
his  left  eye.  His  right  was  still  swollen  shut,  and
probably would be for a couple more days. It took
a second to realize it  was the  crack of a rifle that
had  roused  him  from  a  light  doze.  He  looked
around  and  saw  he  was  alone.  Where  had  his
father  gone?  Then  he  remembered  the  sound  of
his father’s gun going off and rolled his eyes, well,
his good eye. What the hell was his pops shooting
at now?

“Hunter!”
His dad’s panicked shout surprised him.

Hunter  twisted  his  torso,  then  flinched  as  his
cracked  ribs  screamed.  After  taking  a  breath  to
control  the  pain,  he  turned  just  his  head  and
called, “Yeah?”

“I need the med kit! Can you get it and take it

to the laundry room?” his dad yelled back.

Hunter’s brows shot up. Damn, had Walter hit

something  he  shouldn’t  have?  Walter  had  grown
up  in  a  small  town  in  Montana,  and  his  mother
had  made  squirrel  stew.  The  meal  reminded  his

Swimming With Penguins

old father of those times. So, on occasion, his
father hunted squirrel and made the dish. Hunter
had to admit, it wasn’t half-bad.

He gripped one handle of his wheelchair and

heaved  himself  into  it.  At  least  Viktor  hadn’t
broken one of his arms with the bat his ex and his
ex’s  friends  used  on  Hunter’s  body.  Moving
around  would  have  been  even  more  difficult.
Hunter  snorted  at  his  thoughts.  He  should  have
left  his  ex  months  ago,  the  first  time  he’d  caught
the  bastard  cheating,  then  he  wouldn’t  be  in  this
predicament.

Instead, he’d swallowed the loser’s lies about

how it was a onetime mistake and would never
happen again, and stayed with the man. Well, fool

me  once,  shame  on  you.  Fool  me  twice,  shame  on  me.
Hunter  had  left  the  second  time  it  happened.  A
week  later,  Viktor  and  a  couple  of  his  buddies
attacked  him,  leaving Hunter  with  a  broken  ulna
in his left leg, a ruptured right knee, three cracked
ribs, a concussion, and a black eye bad enough to
impair  his  vision  when  it  finally  healed.  Now  he
was  hiding  out  with  his  father  at  his  dad’s
lakeside  cabin  while  the  cops  tried  to  find  the
bastard.

Shoving the bitter thoughts away, Hunter

wheeled to the kitchen. It took a few deep breaths
and some careful maneuvering to reach the first
aid kit in the cupboard under the sink. By the time

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he wheeled into the laundry room, Hunter was
sweating with exertion. Damn, he used to run six
miles a day, and now getting through the house
was hard.

Handing the box to his dad, Hunter saw the

chagrined expression on the older man’s
weathered face. “What happened, Dad?”

“I thought it was your bastard ex’s dog,” Walter

answered as he set the case down on the linen
cabinet next to a towel-wrapped bundle.

Craning his neck, Hunter saw a large, black and

white body oozing blood. Viktor had a black and
white bulldog that was as mean as he turned out
to be. It should have clued Hunter in to the man’s
true nature. But the animal on the counter was not
a bulldog. It wasn’t a dog at all.

“Is that a penguin?” Hunter asked, trying to see

better. Damn injuries!

“Yeah,” Walter answered. “I only grazed it. I

don’t know why it’s unconscious.”

Balancing carefully, he lifted his weight with

his arms so he could peer properly at the penguin.
“Damn. You hit it twice. You grazed its side and
almost took the poor thing’s flipper off!” he
snapped.

His father ducked his head sheepishly. “It

moved quick.”

“Pops, you shouldn’t be carrying your gun

without your glasses,” he scolded. He dropped

Swimming With Penguins

back into the wheelchair. “Set it on my lap. I’ll
check to make sure you didn’t hit anything vital,”
Hunter said, motioning for the animal with his
hands.

Walter frowned. “You sure you’re not too

drugged up for that?”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “I’ll do it better than

you. At least I have training.”

“You have a point,” his dad replied, carefully

lifting the towels the penguin nestled in and set it
on Hunter’s lap.

It was much larger than he first thought. It

covered his entire lap and his father had to hold
the animal’s head to keep it from flopping over the
side and maybe dragging its body with it. Hunter
may have never worked on a penguin before,
since he worked as a vet assistant at a large animal
clinic, but at least he knew what signs to watch for
that would indicate internal bleeding.

After instructing his father on how to clean the

gash on the animal’s side and watching him do the
job properly, he stitched it up. Hunter felt grateful
Walter hadn’t hit the poor thing any lower, or he
could  have  blown  off  the  little  animal’s  leg.  He
couldn’t confirm whether the bullet his father had
shot through the penguin’s flipper had broken any
bones, so he set it in a splint, just to be on the safe
side.  He’d  do  some  research  on  the  internet.
Hunter  wished  he  could  take  the  animal  to  the

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vet’s, but since the police were still trying to find
his bastard of an ex, it wasn’t safe for him to reveal
his location. They’d asked Hunter if he wanted
them to hide him, but he knew Viktor didn’t know
about this place.

Once he finished working on the penguin,

Hunter  stroked  his  fingers  down  the  lines  of  the
flightless bird. He felt drawn to the little creature
in a way he didn’t understand. Hunter had always
had an affinity with animals, that was why he was
training  to  become  a  veterinarian,  but  it  went
deeper  with  this  one.  He  wanted  to  heal  it,  then
tame it and keep it.

Ignoring the bazaar urge, he let his father take

the penguin. Walter wrapped it in clean towels,
then laid it in the huge sink. After one more look
at the sleek bodied creature, Hunter headed out
and rolled up to his laptop.

He logged on to the internet and pulled up

information  on  treatment  of  injured  penguins.
Hunter  couldn’t  find  much,  so  spent  time
verifying anatomy. He prayed the bullet that had
hit the little animal’s wing had indeed just passed
through  the  fleshy  part  of  the  flipper  and  hadn’t
hit any bones.

Hunter shut down the computer and rubbed

his palms over his face. It was then he became
aware of the steady throb radiating through both
legs. “Shit,” he muttered, letting out a breath. He

Swimming With Penguins

rolled to the kitchen and pulled open the second
drawer. He pulled out a bottle of pills, then
grabbed water from the fridge.

“You okay, son?”
He nodded and forced a smile. Holding up the

ibuprofen bottle, he said, “Yeah. Just a bit of ache.
I’ll be fine.”

His father replied, “Let me make you a

sandwich to go with that. Don’t want you taking
those pills on an empty stomach.”

Hunter wasn’t hungry, but he accepted the

offer anyway. He knew his father felt guilty for
injuring the penguin, so if this made him feel
better he’d let him do it. “Can’t say no to that,” he
commented.

They ate roast beef sandwiches in silence for

several minutes. Once Walter had swallowed his
last bite, he leaned back in his seat and watched
Hunter. He paused, holding the second half of his
sandwich in his right hand. “What?”

“I got a call from Detective Calamar today,”

Walter admitted.

Dropping the last of his sandwich on the plate,

Hunter straightened. He licked his lips, then
asked, “Have they found him yet?”

Walter pressed his lips together tightly, then

shook his head. “Afraid not. The trail on him has
gone cold. He’s not with any of his friends, family
or acquaintances. Even his best friend, the co-

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owner of his business, doesn’t know where he is.”
Shaking his head, Walter let out a frustrated sigh.
“Damn cops don’t know their heads from their
asses. They couldn’t find a snake if it was crawling
up their leg!”

It was disappointing news, but Hunter didn’t

want  to  see  his  father  worked  up  about  it.  He’d
end up having another heart attack or something.
Swallowing  down  a  spike  of  fear,  Hunter  settled
his  hand  over  his  dad’s.  “Relax.  He’ll  turn  up.
He’s  like  a  bad  penny,”  he  muttered  and
grimaced.

The older man chuckled dryly.
Pushing his plate away, he rubbed his hands

down his flannel-covered thighs. “I’d like a nap.
Do you want me to clean the kitchen first?”

“No, no, don’t worry about it,” Walter said,

waving his hand. “Get some rest.”

Hunter nodded. He wheeled toward the hall

and his waiting bed. His father’s voice made him
pause. “Will you ever tell me how he got the better
of you?”

Pausing in the hallway, he turned his

wheelchair around and met his father’s
questioning look. He understood Walter’s
confusion. Hunter stood six feet tall and had quite
a bit of lean muscle from working with horses and
cows every day. Viktor was a five foot nine twink.

“It’s an embarrassing story.” And one he sure

Swimming With Penguins

didn’t  want  to  tell  his  father. It  was  just  a  shame
Hunter  hadn’t  known  the  names  or  faces  of  the
two men with Viktor. The police knew his ex had
accomplices, just not  who  they  were. Hunter had
no  way  of  knowing  if  they  were  friends  of  the
man’s  or  just  hired  muscle.  He  hoped  the  police
would be able to convince Viktor to tell them.

After holding his gaze for several seconds,

Hunter’s father looked down at the plate he held.
“Okay. When you’re ready, son.”

That would be a cold day in hell, but Hunter

didn’t want to tell his dad that. Instead, he
nodded. “Thanks, Dad.” He paused, then added,
“For everything.”

Walter looked back at him and smiled. “You’re

my son, Hunter. I  love you. Nothing  you do  will
change  that.”  He  grinned,  the  move  lighting  his
faded hazel eyes. “That don’t mean I wouldn’t call
the  cops  myself  if  I  thought  you  were  messin’  in
something you shouldn’t,” he added.

Hunter smirked. “I know. No drugs, hookers,

or murder. I promise.”

When he got the desired response, his dad’s

chuckle,  Hunter  turned  back  around  and  headed
toward  his  bedroom.  He  could  feel  his  body
fading  fast,  and  really  wanted  to  lie  down  for  a
couple  hours.  He’d  learned  quickly  it  was  far
better to rest for a few hours  than to push it and
end up incapacitated.

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He paused when he went by the laundry room.

Hunter couldn’t resist checking on his patient, so
he  wheeled  into  the  spacious  room  and  peeked
into the sink. The little bird trembled in its sleep.
From  his  research,  Hunter  knew  penguins  took
short naps several times a day, often bunched up
with  other  members  of  their  rookery  for  added
warmth.  Concerned,  he  reached  down  and
brushed a palm over the animal’s smooth skin. It
was warm and clammy to the touch.

Nibbling on his lip for a moment, Hunter came

to  a  decision.  As  carefully  as  possible,  Hunter
lifted  the  large  bundle  and  pulled  it  to  his  chest.
He bit back a curse as pain blossomed through his
middle. Once he was sure the bird was cradled on
his  lap,  Hunter  sighed  and  closed  his  eyes  to
regain his breathing.

Hunter wheeled to his bedroom with no more

stops.  First,  he  laid  the  penguin  on  the  bed,
arranging it in what appeared to be a comfortable
position. Hunter then levered himself up next to it.
He’d cuddled sick dogs in his bed plenty of times,
and hoped and prayed this wouldn’t be too much
different. He’d always had an affinity for animals,
and  somehow  ended  up  unscathed  during  sticky
situations  when  others  ended  up  bit.  He  hoped
that  held  true  for  him  now.  He  didn’t  need  to
wake up to an angry, injured penguin.

Manually maneuvering his legs onto the bed,

Swimming With Penguins

Hunter covered himself with a throw blanket and
eased  back  onto  his  pillows.  He  groaned  softly
and  rested  his  hand  on  the  penguin’s  side.  He
stroked  its  body  gently,  crooning  nonsense  until
he fell asleep.

Movement on the bed next to him pulled

Hunter  from  the  comfortable  doze  he’d  dropped
into. He frowned. His hand was on what felt like
flesh,  firm,  hard  and  muscular  flesh.  Then  he
remembered  he’d  taken  the  penguin  to  bed  with
him,  wanting  to  use  his  body  heat  to  warm  the
creature.  But  this  didn’t  feel  like  the  penguin’s
hide.

Cracking an eyelid, he peered next to him and

just about fell off the bed in shock. Staring back at
him with wide, terrified brown eyes was a man.
And not just any man. This guy had to be the most
beautiful creature Hunter had ever seen.

He had a lean, androgynous face topped with a

mop of black hair, the tips frosted blond. His eyes
were  soulful,  beautiful,  and  Hunter  thought
maybe he could drown in their depths. His short,
pert nose led to pouty lips, the bottom one just a
bit  plumper  than  the  top,  and  the  image  of  how
those  lips  would  look  wrapped  around  his  dick
immediately invaded his mind, making said cock
firm in his flannels.

Trying to control his body’s reaction, he let his

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gaze wander lower, but that didn’t help his
arousal. A naked, pale chest greeted his view,
complete with two peaked, dusky brown nipples,
already firm and ready to be sucked. That was as
far as he got before his unexpected bed companion
spoke.

“Please don’t hurt me,” the stranger squeaked,

trying to inch away from him.

Hunter instinctively tightened his grip, not

letting this alluring creature away from him. Hurt
you? I want to love you! Whoever in their right mind

could want to hurt you? Wait, where the hell did you
come from?

Frowning, Hunter glanced around the room.

“What happened to the penguin?”

Swimming With Penguins

Chapter Two

hit! Shit! Shit!

Yuma’s brain seemed to be stuck on a

continuous loop. Where the hell was he and what
had happened? Why was he naked in this man’s
bed? All he felt was a towel wrapped around his
hips. Where were his clothes?

The hand firmly gripping his naked waist

tightened again. “The penguin? What happened to
it? Who are you? How did you get in here?”

The human’s words snapped Yuma out of his

panicked thoughts. Forcing a deep breath into his
lungs, Yuma froze anew. Oh, holy fucking shit!
“You’re my mate,” he whispered.

“Your mate? What are you talking about?” The

guy glanced around the room, his hazel-eyed gaze
roving over every inch of the room. “Oh, the
hell—”

“Wait, please,” Yuma pleaded. “I can explain.

Please, don’t get upset.” The man frowned, and

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his panic rose anew. His breathing picked up and
he tried to pull away from the human again.

The hand on his hip wouldn’t let him move,

and he mewled in frustration.

“Stop,” the guy ordered.
Yuma did. His eyes wide, he blinked at the

man.

“Now,” his mate said, his voice soft and

reassuring in a way Yuma really liked. “Let’s try
this again. Who are you?”

“Yuma,” he whispered. “I’m Yuma Batacan.”
The man nodded slowly, never taking his gaze

from him. “I’m Hunter Driscoll.” His swept a look
over  Yuma’s  body,  and  the  unmistakable  heat  of
lust flared in those hazel depths, making the green
flecks  more  pronounced.  “I’m  pleased  to  meet
you,  but  perhaps  you  could  tell  me  how  you  got
here?”

He really didn’t want to lie to his mate, but

Yuma didn’t know if he’d accept the truth. “I
don’t want to tell you,” he finally whispered
lamely.

Hunter’s eyes narrowed. His mate finally

released Yuma’s hip, and he wanted to whimper
at the loss. Hunter shoved to a sitting position.
“Did Viktor send you? Are you scouting for him?”

Yuma frowned, confused. “I don’t know any

Viktor,” he replied, glad at least with that, he
could be honest.

Swimming With Penguins

“Then how did you get in here?” Hunter

snapped.

Pushing against the mattress in an attempt to

scoot away from his yelling mate, pain flared
through his thigh and arm. The memory of being
shot returned in a flash. Yuma cried out and rolled
to his back, clutching the loosened bandages on
his arm and willing the spike of pain away.

“What happened? Are you okay?” The tone of

Hunter’s voice quickly turned from irritated to
concerned.

Not thinking, Yuma said the first thing that

came to mind. “I got shot,” he whimpered.

“What?” Hunter gasped. “How the hell did that

happen?”  The  man  struggled  to  adjust  his
position,  and  Yuma  realized  he  wasn’t  the  only
one  having  trouble  moving.  Hunter  motioned  to
Yuma.  “Let  me  see?  Should  we  take  you  to  the
hospital?”

Yuma quickly shook his head and took a long

look at the man who was his mate. It was tough to
judge  height  lying  down,  but  he  was  maybe  six
feet?  He  had  well-muscled  arms,  his  ribs  were
bound  with  something,  but  he  could  make  out
bruising along the edges of the wrap. When Yuma
glanced  back  at  Hunter’s  face,  he  saw  one
concerned hazel eye while the second was  sealed
closed, swollen, puffy and black-and-blue.

Anger coursed through Yuma. Someone had

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hurt his mate. Ignoring his own injuries, Yuma
reached toward the man. “What happened? Who
did this to you?” He’d hunt them down and, well,
he’d think of some way to make them pay.

Hunter caught his hand before Yuma could

make  contact  with  his  face.  The  jarring  impact
caused  the  already  loose  bandage  to  slide  up  his
arm, revealing the blue stitches in his healing skin.
Yuma didn’t know how it happened, but anything
imbedded  in  a  shifter’s  skin,  like  a  piercing  or
stitches, would stay with them when they shifted.
Clothes, however, would not.

“What the hell?” Hunter’s grip tightened. “I-I

don’t understand,” he whispered. “These look like
the ones I put on the penguin.” The human looked
around,  as  if  expecting  to  see  the  penguin  crawl
out  from  behind  the  dresser  or  something.  When
he  didn’t,  he  frowned  and  returned  his  focus  to
Yuma. “Where’s the penguin?”

Since he realized his mate was injured, Yuma

figured the worst that would happen was Hunter
wouldn’t believe him and would kick him out.
Taking a fortifying breath, Yuma replied, “I’m the
penguin. Someone shot me while I was in penguin
form. I thought I was going to die. I don’t know
how I got here.”

The

human’s

brows

furrowed.

Yuma

desperately wanted to reach up and smooth out
the lines, to soothe the man’s confusion and

Swimming With Penguins

concern. Instead, he waited.

It took Hunter several seconds to answer.

Finally, he licked his lips and said, “Did you get a
knock on the head, too?” Hunter reached up and
combed his fingers through Yuma’s wildly
mussed hair.

He tilted his head and pressed into the contact.

Oh,  he  liked  how  his  mate  was  touching  him.
Then  Yuma  remembered  the  words  Hunter  had
spoken,  and  he  knew  the  man  wouldn’t  believe
him without a demonstration. Gods, he hoped this
didn’t backfire.

Looking at his mate through his lashes, Yuma

pleaded softly, “Please don’t freak out. Please give
me a chance to explain once I’m done.”

“What do you mean?”
Yuma didn’t bother to answer. A picture was

worth  a  thousand  words,  after  all.  Right?  He  let
his  shift  do  that  for  him.  Closing  his  eyes,  Yuma
willed  his  penguin  to  emerge.  Over  the  sound  of
popping  tendons  and  cracking,  realigning  bones,
Yuma  heard  Hunter  gasp.  The  bed  moved  under
him  as  his  mate  scrambled  away  from  him.
Sadness  flooded  Yuma.  Then  he  heard  a  thump
and  a  cry  of  pain,  and  concern  immediately
replaced all other emotions.

He waddled to the side of the bed and peered

down at Hunter. He chittered, since he couldn’t
speak. New concerns rose upon seeing the cast on

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his mate’s left leg and the brace on his right knee.
A wheelchair waited not too far away, and Yuma
knew that if Hunter hadn’t been shocked out of
his mind, it was within easy reach for the human
to maneuver himself into it.

Hunter looked up at him and held up a hand,

as if warding him away. Yuma was about to shift
back, so he could start the explaining process, but
the door slamming open stopped him. An older
man stood in the doorway. Flannel shirt, faded
jeans, brown boots, shit! This is the guy who shot me!

Chittering wildly, Yuma fled to the other side of

the bed and dropped down to the floor with a
plop. He slipped under the bed and hid, his body
shuddering with fear.

“Son, are you okay? What happened?” Boots

thumped on the hard wood as the old man, who
was evidently his mate’s father, approached
Hunter.

Shit! What will my mate do? Will he turn me over

to his father, who clearly didn’t have any problem
killing animals?

“I, uh, had a bad dream,” Hunter muttered.
“How’d you end up on the floor?”
From his vantage point, Yuma watched Hunter

grimace  where  he  lay.  Hunter  glanced  toward
him,  then  returned  his  attention  to  the  man
leaning  over  him.  “I  woke  and,  uh,  the  penguin
startled me.”

Swimming With Penguins

“What’s it doing in your bed, son?”
An arm reached down and helped Hunter settle

into  the  wheelchair.  Now  Yuma  couldn’t  see  the
faces  of  either  one.  He  struggled  to  control  his
breathing.  He  glanced  around  the  room,  looking
for an avenue of escape. Could he manage to shift
and  make  it  to  the  door  before  the  old  man
stopped him?

Hunter sighed. “It was running a fever.

Penguins sleep in groups. I was hoping my body
heat would break it and bring it down. It-it
seemed to have worked,” he ended with a mutter.

“Yeah, looks like he’s movin’ good now. Want

me to trap it and take it outside?”

“No,” Hunter replied loudly. Yuma didn’t

know if that kind of reaction was good or bad. His
mate’s voice was quieter when he said again, “No.
I’m gonna try to coax it out so I can check those
stitches. Make sure he didn’t break any when he
slid under the bed.”

“Well, okay. If that’s what you want, son,”

Hunter’s father replied dubiously. “Do you need
any pain pills or anything? That fall couldn’t have
felt too good.”

Hunter sighed. “I’ll be fine, Dad,” he said

quietly. “The pain will ebb if I can just sit here for
a few minutes.”

Yuma heard the distinctive sound of someone

patting someone else on the shoulder. “Let me

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know if you need anything.”

“I will, Dad. Will you—will you shut the door

on your way out, please?”

There was a slight hesitation, then his father

said, “Sure.”

The heavy boots again scuffed across the floor,

then were out the door. Yuma breathed a sigh of
relief, which came out kind of sounding like a
whistle.

“Yuma?” Hunter murmured tentatively. “Can

you come out, Yuma? I can’t really bend down. I
have a couple cracked ribs and bending over
kinda hurts.”

That admission had Yuma shimmying out from

under the bed, which he had to admit, kinda hurt,
too. Shifters healed fast, but he’d been shot twice.
He struggled to a standing position, ignoring the
burn in his side and flipper. Screwing up his
courage, Yuma moved toward his mate when the
man beckoned.

Slowly, Hunter swept his gaze over Yuma’s

penguin  form.  He  reached  out  and  gripped
Yuma’s  damaged  limb  gently  and  inspected  the
stitches.  “Can  you  really  understand  me  when
you’re a penguin?”

Yuma nodded once.
Hunter licked his lips, still holding onto Yuma.

“Can you change at will?”

In response, Yuma initiated his shift. To his

Swimming With Penguins

surprise, when he opened his eyes in human form,
his  mate  still  gripped  his  arm.  “Yes,”  Yuma
whispered.  “I  can  understand  you  while  in
penguin form. I can normally control when I want
to be human or penguin. I—” He gulped. “I’m not
sure  why  I  changed  while  in  bed  with  you.”  He
frowned,  thinking,  then  added,  “Maybe  it  was
because I somehow unconsciously recognized you
as my mate.”

When Yuma looked at his mate, he figured he

hadn’t really been listening. Hunter’s focus was
still on his arm and the stitches in it. He lifted his
other hand as if to brush his fingertips over the
stitches, but stopped just shy of actually touching.

“This is amazing.” His focus moved to the

wound  on  Yuma’s  thigh.  “These  look  like  they
were made days ago instead of just this morning,”
he  whispered.  “How  is  this  possible?”  Hunter
looked  up  at  Yuma  in  awe.  “How  is  any  of  this
possible?”

He didn’t know how to explain, except to say,

“I’m a shifter. My kind share their spirit with that
of an animal. We can change at will, but we’re
always still us when we change. Ya know?”

Charlie Richards

Chapter Three

unter’s mind had nearly shut down. This
was too much. A man stood before him who

could  turn  into  an  animal—an  animal  that  could
understand  and  reason.  It  was—it  was  like
something  straight  out  of  a  fantasy  book.  It  was
impossible,  and  yet  he’d  seen  it.  He’d  seen  this
slender,  sexy  man  turn  into  a  penguin,  then  turn
back again.

It was then he realized the slender sexy man

was naked, completely and utterly naked.
Hunter’s cock thickened. He sucked in a breath
and his greedy gaze roved over the man in front of
him. Long lines, lean muscle, a compact body. Even his
feet are beautiful. Simply stunning.

As he boldly looked his fill, a glance down

made  Hunter  realize  Yuma’s  pale,  slender  shaft
was  thickening.  The  man’s  rod  was  perfectly
proportioned to his body, and Hunter’s own cock
hardened  to  full  arousal  in  his  flannel  shorts.  A

Swimming With Penguins

look  up  showed  the  lust  glowing  in  Yuma’s
burning  brown-eyed  gaze.  Shifter  or  not,  Hunter
wanted this man with an unreasonable desire. He
returned  his  focus  to  the  dick  not  too  far  away
from  him,  and  reached  out  to  palm  Yuma’s
erection.

“Hunter,” Yuma whispered, moaning softly.
Hunter grinned up at Yuma. “I want to taste

you, Yuma,” he said. “We’ll figure out the rest
later. Is that okay?”

Yuma swallowed hard. Hunter knew he was

trying to find his voice, but with his hand on the
man’s  shaft,  pumping  slowly,  testing  its  weight
and  girth,  Yuma  was  having  a  hell  of  time
replying. A pearl of pre-cum formed at the tip of
his soon-to-be lover’s cock. Hunter leaned forward
and licked it off. A tangy burst of flavor exploded
on  his  tongue  and  he  hummed,  happily  wanting
more.

He leaned down further, intending to suck the

tasty dick into his mouth, and pain bloomed
through his side. Hunter hissed and straightened.
Yuma moaned. “Damn it,” Hunter growled.

That had Yuma’s eyes widening. “Are you—

Are you okay?”

“Sit on the bed,” he ordered instead of

answering. “And spread your legs.”

For just a second, Hunter thought Yuma wasn’t

going to obey. Then Yuma slowly retreated a

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couple of steps and climbed onto the bed behind
him. Hunter rolled forward and placed his hands
on Yuma’s thighs. He met with resistance when he
asked the man to open his legs.

A glance up showed the worry on Yuma’s face.

Hunter vowed to get to the bottom of that soon,
right now, he wanted to suck the sexy man’s dick.
“Open your legs for me, Yuma,” he ordered softly.
“I promise I only want to give you pleasure.”

Yuma once more obeyed and Hunter rolled

forward.  He  eased  one  hand  under  Yuma’s  ass
and  urged  him  forward  to  the  edge  of  the  bed.
There was still a hint of resistance, but he knew it
was  from  fear  and  not  because  the  man  didn’t
want  him.  The  erection  standing  tall  and  proud
from  the  man’s  soft,  black  curls  proved  that.
Besides, he could even understand the fear. What
would  happen  to  this  man  if  the  wrong  person
found out about his abilities?

strange

feeling

protectiveness

overwhelmed Hunter. No one will hurt this man on
my  watch!  Running  his  hands  up  and  down
Yuma’s  thighs,  he  soothed  the  tension  from  him.
“Relax, cutie,” he whispered. “I  may be confused
about a lot of things right now, but we will figure
everything  out.”  He  looked  down  at  Yuma’s
erection,  then  back  at  his  lust-filled  eyes.  “Just,
after.”

“Yes, Gods, yes,” Yuma agreed, need flooding

Swimming With Penguins

his voice and eyes.

Hunter leaned forward and swiped his tongue

up  the  underside  of  Yuma’s  erection,  tracing  the
throbbing vein. He sure liked the way the smaller
man  whimpered  and  jerked  his  hips.  As  he  took
the  cap  of  Yuma’s  erection  into  his  mouth  and
sucked, the heady  knowledge that  he pleased his
new lover had his own dick jerking in his flannel
shorts. Yeah, that feels nice.

Hunter massaged the sensitive skin under the

flared cap of Yuma’s erection, eliciting a soft groan
from  the  other  man.  He  sank  down  on  the  stalk,
working  it  with  his  lips  and  tongue.  Yuma’s
erection  hit  the  back  of  his  throat  and  he
swallowed around it.

Yuma whined and bucked his hips. “Hunter,”

he gasped out. “So close.” His new lover reached
down and tugged on Hunter’s hair, as if his words
weren’t enough of a warning.

He hummed his pleasure, wanting to taste the

pretty  man’s  seed.  His  own  cock  leaked  in  his
shorts.  Hunter  took  a  few  precious  seconds  to
wiggle  his  hips  and  work  his  dick  free  with  one
hand while still sucking and stroking Yuma’s shaft
with his mouth and other hand.

He gave himself a few quick strokes and found

he  was  teetering  precariously  on  the  edge.  But
Hunter didn’t want  to go over until Yuma found
his pleasure, so he slid his thumb into his  mouth

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and worked the sensitive nerves while dipping his
tongue into the man’s slit again and again. The
body under him shuddered, then salty cream
coated his tongue.

The taste was better than any other lover’s, and

he  couldn’t  get  enough.  Hunter  groaned  and
suckled,  heightening  Yuma’s  pleasure.  His  own
cock  exploded,  shooting  streams  of  seed  against
the comforter.

The other man moaned as he continued to lave

his  tongue  over  his  cock.  He  sighed  around  the
dick  in  his  mouth  as  his  own  orgasm  wound
down.  Finally,  once  Yuma’s  mewls  and  shivers
stopped,  Hunter  released  the  head  of  his  over-
sensitized  penis.  He  rested  his  head  on  Yuma’s
thigh  and  smiled  up  at  the  other  man’s  satisfied
expression.

Hunter chuckled softly, and Yuma cracked an

eyelid and peered down at him. He knew he had a
cat-that-ate-the-cream  expression  on  his  face,  and
that’s  exactly  what  Hunter  felt  like.  He  didn’t
mind giving blowjobs, but he’d never come  from
giving  one  either.  “Wow,”  he  whispered.  “You
taste amazing.”

Yuma smiled down at him. “Thanks. Um, can I

return the favor?” he asked tentatively.

Grinning up at him, Hunter shook his head.

When he saw Yuma’s crestfallen look, he hurried
to assure, “I, um, I already came, sweetie. How

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about we switch positions next time, hmm?” God,

please let there be a next time!

The radiant smile Hunter received had his

breath catching in his throat and, surprisingly, his
cock twitching. “I’d like that,” Yuma whispered.

Now that his lust had been sated, some of their

conversation  returned  to  him.  He  didn’t
understand  some  of  the  things  Yuma  had  told
him. Okay, so he didn’t really understand much of
anything that he’d seen or heard in the last thirty
minutes. Before he could even begin to formulate
how to begin questioning the man, Yuma touched
his  arm  tentatively  and  said,  “My  friends.  I  need
to call them. They’ll be worried.”

“Oh, right.” Of course, Yuma had friends,

probably family, and maybe even a boyfriend.
Shit! “Let me find you a pair of pants or
something and I’ll…”

“No, please,” Yuma whispered, interrupting

him. “I don’t…” He paused and tried again. “Your
dad shot me. I don’t want him to know I’m here.
What if he—”

This time it was Hunter’s turn to interrupt. “My

dad’s a good guy, but his eyesight is failing,” he
said, defending his father. “He thought you were
my ex’s dog.”

“He’d shoot a dog?” Yuma asked, his shoulders

hunching.

Maybe Yuma was trying to make himself a

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smaller  target  or  he  was  still  scared.  Either  way,
Hunter didn’t like it. He took his lover’s hand and
kissed the palm. “My ex-lover and his friends did
this  to  me,”  he  admitted,  waving  a  hand  to
indicate  his  injuries.  “My  dad  was  afraid  the
presence of Viktor’s dog meant my ex had found
me and I was in danger again.”

Yuma frowned. “Why would he do that to

you?”

Hunter grimaced and eased away. “We weren’t

meshing well. We fought a lot. Viktor had trouble
with fidelity, but he didn’t want to end it. I finally
just  left  him.  He  stopped  by  my  work.  I’m  a  vet
assistant for a large animal clinic two towns north
of  here,”  he  explained,  stalling.  Damn,  this  is
embarrassing.  “He  offered  to  give  me  one  last
blowjob as a goodbye.” Yuma’s brows shot up and
Hunter blushed. “I thought, what the hell? I went
around behind the horse barn with him. He had a
couple friends waiting.” He  shook his head. “His
friends  had  bats.”  Hunter  wasn’t  certain  what
compelled  him  to  admit  all  this,  but  for  some
reason,  he  didn’t  want  anything  hidden  between
them.  After  all,  Yuma  had  shared  some  pretty
serious shit with him already.

“It was lucky I was only supposed to be on a

fifteen minute break,” he added softly.

Yuma slipped off the bed and knelt beside him.

“Oh, Hunter,” he whispered, gently petting

Swimming With Penguins

Hunter’s chest, touching the edge of the bandage.
“Will you be okay?”

Shrugging, Hunter grimaced. “Eventually,

maybe, after some rehab.”

Yuma nibbled his lip. “I could—Maybe, I could

help?”

“Are you a doctor or something?”
“Or something,” Yuma muttered. “Shifters heal

faster,” he said, pointing at his well-on-its-way-to-
being-healed thigh and arm. The wounds looked
even better than the last time Hunter had looked
at them.

“Wow,” he whispered. “How is that possible?”
“I told you,” Yuma murmured. “We heal faster.

I can share that with you.”

“How?”
“You’re my mate. I could claim you, but there

are other side effects,” Yuma admitted.

“What does that mean?” Hunter asked, unable

to contain his curiosity.

Yuma glanced toward the door, his trepidation

resurfacing. “Can I call my friends, please?”

Okay, something was clearly bothering his

lover. Obviously they needed some time to get to
know each other better. He nodded. “Of course.
This is…a strange situation for both of us,” he said
wryly.

The slender naked man just nodded. Grabbing

some tissues, he cleaned them both up. It didn’t

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escape  his  notice  that  Yuma  didn’t  seem
particularly shy or embarrassed about being buck-
ass  naked,  even  before  Hunter  had  sucked  his
cock.  He  tucked  himself  away,  then  rolled  to  his
dresser and grabbed his cell phone.

He smiled and said, “Service is crap, but it

should do the trick.”

“Thank you,” Yuma said returning the smile.
He rolled close to the man as he dialed, for

some reason he didn’t want to be too far from him.
When he rested a hand on Yuma’s thigh,
the…shifter grinned at him.

“Hello?”
The wary greeting coming from the speaker

kept Hunter from saying anything.

“Adam,” Yuma said. “It’s me.”
“Yuma! Baby! Where the hell have you been?”

Adam’s incredibly worried voice came clearly
through the phone. “Where the hell are you?”

Baby? Shit. Did Yuma already have a lover?
“I’m okay, Adam. Or, at least, I will be. I’m—”

Yuma paused and frowned. “Where am I?” he
asked Hunter.

Realizing he had no right to touch the man

further, Hunter removed his hand and forced it to
his lap. “Twenty-two seventy-eight Riverside
Road,” he answered softly.

Yuma nodded, then relayed the information.

“Could you bring me some clothes, please?”

Swimming With Penguins

“Sure, baby, anything you need. You know

that.”  Adam’s  reply  was  softer  this  time,  but
Hunter  could  still  make  it  out  and  it  made  his
stomach  roll.  Fuck,  how  come  finding  out  this  man

isn’t available affects me so strongly?

The naked man on the bed blushed. “Um,

Adam, I don’t think you should keep calling me
that. My mate can hear you.”

There was a pregnant pause from the phone,

then  a  whoop,  some  cussing,  and  shouts  of
congratulations. Yuma pulled the phone from his
ear  and  winced.  Hunter  frowned,  still  trying  to
figure  out  the  significance  of  those  words.  Yuma
had  used  them  several  times  now.  Finally,  they
heard a promise to be there within the hour.

Once they’d hung up the phone, Yuma reached

down and grabbed Hunter’s hand. “Adam and I,
we’re not lovers. At least, not in the traditional
sense,” he told him.

“I don’t know what that means,” he whispered.

“And I don’t know what being your mate means,
either,” he added.

Yuma smiled at him. “Is it safe for me to sit on

your lap?” he asked, looking so hopeful that, even
if Hunter thought it would be terribly painful, he
still would have agreed.

“Yeah, absolutely,” he said, opening his arms.
The small, slender man climbed into his lap and

Hunter cuddled him close. “Did you just break up

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with  Adam  because  of  me?  Because  of  what  we
did?”  he  asked,  feeling  incredibly  guilty.  He
hadn’t  meant  to  poach.  It  also  arose  the  question
of whether Yuma would be faithful to Hunter if he
was  willing  to  accept  a  blowjob  while  with
another  man.  Hunter’d  had  enough  of  cheating
boyfriends for a lifetime.

Yuma shook his head. “We’ve given each other

hand jobs, but that’s it,” Yuma admitted. “When
Adam wants sex, he goes elsewhere.”

Hunter frowned. He didn’t like hearing about

what Yuma did with others, but it was unrealistic
to think the man was a virgin. It wasn’t like
Hunter was, and Yuma hadn’t complained when
he’d talked about Viktor. “I don’t understand why
he wouldn’t want your ass, Yuma,” he said. “God
above, if I had the mobility, I’d want to fuck you
into the mattress.”

Giggling, Yuma rubbed his cheek against

Hunter’s neck, sending tendrils of pleasure
through him. “I’m sure we can find a way around
that,” he said, nuzzling close. He nipped Hunter’s
Adam’s apple, and Hunter grunted, feeling his
dick respond.

“Give me a day,” Yuma whispered. “Then I’ll

be well enough to ride you.”

Hunter groaned at that visual. “Fuck, don’t

tease, Yuma.”

Yuma sighed and cuddled close. “The reason

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me and Adam never fucked is because he’s not my
mate,” he stated.

“I still don’t know what that means,” Hunter

responded, kissing Yuma’s temple.

“Shifters are given one true mate by Fate

herself,” Yuma said. “When we scent that person,
either male or female, we want them, crave them.
We crave them like we crave the other half of our
soul. They complete us.” He suddenly grinned up
at Hunter. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, a relationship
with our soul mate is still work, but we know
deep down in our hearts that it’s worth any effort
to make it work.” Yuma bit his lip and added in a
whisper, “And we can never stray.”

That had Hunter’s head jerking back, so he

could look Yuma in the eye. “Shifters can’t cheat?”

Yuma held his gaze steadily. “Once we claim

our mate, we can’t even get it up for anyone else,”
he admitted.

“Damn, that’s…” He couldn’t stop the wry

grin. “That’s good for your partner, but does your
mate have the same problem?”

“That’s one of the drawbacks I mentioned,”

Yuma replied. “If I were to catch you cheating, I’d
kill whoever touched you.”

He said it with such a straight face, such

conviction, that Hunter blanched. “My god, you’re
serious.”

Yuma nodded. “Dead serious.”

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“That’s the worst pun ever,” Hunter responded.
Yuma smiled and shrugged. “It’s true though.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod. “What are the

other drawbacks for me?”

Releasing a slow breath, he replied. “To claim

you, I’d need to top you.” A pained look entered
Yuma’s eyes. “I’m not a very good top.”

And I’m not a very good bottom. Hunter cupped

Yuma’s chin and smiled. “We’ll cross that bridge
when we come to it. What else?”

“I have to bite you.”
His brows arched. “You bite me?”
“You’ll like it,” Yuma promised. “Mate’s love it

when we bite them. It feels really good to them.”
Then he blushed. “It feels really good to us, too.”

“So far, I’m not seeing how that’s a drawback,”

Hunter admitted.

“Well, it extends your life, so you’ll outlive all

your family. If you have a child, unless they
eventually mate with a shifter, too, you’ll outlive
them.”

“I, oh,” he whispered. “I have two sisters.

They’re both married with kids.” He frowned. “I
have two nephews and a niece.”

Yuma met his gaze, a concerned look in his

eyes. “On the up side, you’ll heal twice as fast.”
Then he frowned. “Of course, that means you can
only go to doctors that know about shifters or you
could expose all of us.” He nibbled his lip. “Um,

Swimming With Penguins

your thoughts?”

“Am I going to turn into a penguin, too?”
His lover snorted. “No.”
Hunter let out a breath he hadn’t even realized

he’d been holding. “Good. No offense,” he added
quickly. To his relief, Yuma giggled.

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Chapter Four

one taken,” Yuma said.

The sound of someone pounding on the

front door reached them. Yuma heard the creak of
a chair, then the thump of boots on hardwood
floors.

“Guess I better tell him I’m expecting company.

What does your, uh, not-lover look like?” Hunter
asked.

“Big and blond. You can’t miss him,” Yuma

told him.

“Right. On the bed and cover up, little sexy,”

Hunter ordered. “I’ll be right back.”

Yuma obeyed, pleased that he only felt a slight

pang  in  his  arm  and  nothing  in  his  side.  I  love
shifter  healing.  He  curled  up  under  the  throw
blanket that had been covering Hunter earlier and
waited.  His  shifter  hearing  made  it  reasonably
easy  to  listen  in  on  the  conversation  going  on  in
the other room.

“N

Swimming With Penguins

He heard Hunter holler at his father that he was

expecting someone right before the sound of the
deadbolt being turned reached him. “Who you
expectin’, son?”

“A coworker of mine. Adam. I asked him to

give me a second opinion on the penguin,” Hunter
stated.

Oh, his mate had a quick mind. Nice.
The door hinge creaked. “Hey, Adam,” Hunter

greeted. “Thanks for coming.”

“Sure, man, anytime,” Adam’s deep voice

echoed through the house.

Yuma smiled. His friend had always been

pretty quick, too. It was a shame the big cat shifter
hadn’t  turned  out  to  be  his  mate,  but  Fate  had
chosen  someone  different.  So  far,  Yuma  couldn’t
complain. Hunter seemed to be a really nice guy—
Understanding,  too.  Yuma  didn’t  know  how  the
human  could  be  so  accepting.  Maybe  it  was  the
mate-pull? He sure hoped that didn’t change.

The thump of footsteps heading his way had

him tensing, until he scented Hunter, Adam, and
Sam, a Texas longhorn bull shifter. He smiled at
the entering trio. “Hey, guys,” he greeted.

Adam sighed. “Damn it, Yuma,” he said. The

big man crossed to him quickly, cupped his chin
and kissed his forehead. Then he pulled Yuma
into a tight hug. “You sure had us worried.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” he whispered

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back. Falling back on old habits, Yuma tucked his
head under Adam’s  chin. He took in the scent of
tiger and male, so familiar, so comfortable, but no
longer  right.  Yuma  eased  away  from  the  other
man.  He  caught  sight  of  a  glint  of  sadness  in
Adam’s  blue  eyes,  but  the  shifter  nodded  and
released him.

Adam stepped back and settled on the foot of

the bed. Yuma immediately looked toward his
mate, who was glaring at the floor.

“Shit, sorry, man,” Adam muttered. “Yuma and

me, we’ve known each other a long time. We’re
just friends.”

“I know what you are,” Hunter snapped. He

glared at Yuma. “You said your kind don’t cheat.”

That was the last thing he’d expected. Yuma

opened  his  mouth,  then  shut  it  again  and  shook
his head. Obviously, this was a touchy subject for
his  mate.  Yuma  tried  again.  “It’s  not  like  that.
You’re  the  only  one  I  want,”  he  whispered,
reaching a hand toward his mate.

“But it’s okay to be kissed by another?” Hunter

growled.

“It was just a peck on my forehead,” Yuma

replied, trying to explain. “We’ve been friends for
thirty-six years. You can’t expect that to change
overnight,” he pleaded.

Hunter froze and looked between the two.

“Thirty-six years? Just how old are you two?”

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Oh, right, they hadn’t really discussed that part.

Yuma remembered mentioning that Hunter would
age slower, but he hadn’t really been specific.
Yuma sighed. “I’m almost sixty, Hunter.”

“Holy shit,” Hunter whispered.
Yuma grimaced. “Shifters can live almost five

hundred years,” he admitted.

“Fuck!”
Sam took that moment to chuckle at Yuma’s

mate’s explicative and mutter, “That about sums it
up.” The big brunet went and stood behind Adam,
looking at Hunter. “How you holding up, human?
I understand this can be pretty overwhelming.”

Hunter nodded absently. “You can say that

again.” His mate lifted his gaze and looked
around at them. “I’m not sure where you expect
me to fit in? How does being mates even work?”

That was why Yuma wanted his friends here.

He  wasn’t  very  good  at  explaining  things.  He
looked  toward  the  bigger  shifters.  Sam  said,
“From your comments, it’s pretty clear Yuma told
you a little about shifters. We can live almost five
centuries.  From  an  early  age,  we  know  we  have
one true mate supplied by Fate. Many of us spend
our entire lives looking for that person.” His smile
turned  rueful.  “With  how  many  people  are  on
Earth, it’s not an easy task.”

Adam picked up the story. “So when we find

that person, we do everything we can to keep

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them  happy.”  He  shrugged.  “That  doesn’t  make
the  relationship  easy—it  just  makes  it  worth  it.”
Leaning  forward,  Adam  settled  his  hand  on
Hunter’s  leg.  “If  Yuma  is  the  other  half  of  your
soul, he’ll do everything to make you happy. And
no,”  he added with a shake  of his head, “shifters
don’t  cheat  on  a  claimed  mate.  Yuma  and  I  will
adjust. We knew this day would come. You’re his
mate.”

He couldn’t stay still any longer. Yuma slipped

from the bed and went to his mate. To his
surprise, Hunter growled and yanked him onto
his lap. It wasn’t until his mate grabbed the throw
blanket and wrapped it back around Yuma that he
understood. He was still naked.

Sam chuckled and set the backpack he carried

on the bed. “We can’t shift with clothes on,
Hunter. You’ll get used to it.”

Hunter glared over Yuma’s shoulder at the

other two men. “That doesn’t mean I have to like
it,” he snapped.

“Understandable,” Adam said, grinning.

“Yuma would feel the same way if you were
parading around naked.”

“I would?” Yuma piped up. He’d never had a

problem with nudity before. Most shifters didn’t.

Sam smirked. “Haven’t you seen how Mutegi

acts? Or even Caleb and Emmett? And they’re
both shifters.”

Swimming With Penguins

“Oh, yeah,” Yuma mused. The men always had

to be careful to keep their bits safely hidden unless
right before or after shifting. He grinned at
Hunter. “I’ll try to be more careful,” he promised.

Hunter nodded, his frown easing. “So, all these

guys you mentioned. They’re all penguin
shifters?”

Yuma saw the funny look he was giving Adam

and  Sam,  and  understood  his  confusion.  Both  of
them  were  big  men.  “No,”  Yuma  said,  his  voice
hushed.  “Everyone  in  my  group  is  different,”  he
admitted.  Looking  up  at  Hunter,  he  whispered,
“Outcasts  from  our  own  pride  or  flock  or
whatever. We banded together and now we travel
the country. For the most part, we just look like a
large biker gang, passing through.”

“I don’t understand,” Hunter said. “Why

would you be cast out?”

“Because we’re all gay,” Adam answered

bluntly. At Hunter’s surprised look, he continued.
“Shifters live a long time, so we’re a little slow to
change.  At  times,  even  worse  than  humans.  A
hundred  years  ago,  there  weren’t  a  lot  of  shifter
groups  that  accepted  matings  between  different
species,  let  alone  gays.”  Adam  shrugged.  “It’s
getting better now.”

“Wow, that’s—that’s—so what are you?”

Hunter asked. His brows furrowed, and Yuma
could see his mate trying to work through the

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information being dumped on him.

“I’m a tiger,” Adam said. He pointed at Sam.

“He’s a bull.” The blond winked. “With really big
horns.”

“Wow. So, what does this mean for me?”

Hunter asked, eyeing the other shifters warily.

“Well.” Sam growled softly. He stepped

forward and gripped Hunter’s chin between his
thumb and forefinger. He turned Hunter’s face
this way and that, obviously taking in the damage.
“For one thing, we protect our own. Who did this
to you, Hunter?”

Hunter licked his lips after Sam let go and

looked down at Yuma. He frowned and looked
back at Sam. “Why?”

Yuma was glad he didn’t have to answer.

Adam’s grin was a bit scary, showing plenty of
teeth. “We’ll make certain he doesn’t do it to
anyone else.”

“Shit. Are you bloodthirsty because you’re a

tiger? Or is it for some other reason?”

Adam’s grin didn’t diminish. “Thanks,” he

preened. “And it’s because you’re Yuma’s mate,
and I love Yuma.” He sobered a bit, but still
winked, “Just not the way you will.”

Yuma giggled. He rubbed his cheek against

Hunter’s collarbone and batted his eyelashes at
the surprised man. “I sure hope not.” His animal
squawked angrily in his mind at even the thought,

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shocking him with the intensity of the jealous
spike. His eyes widened in surprise. “Oh,” he
whispered.

Sam chuckled. “What? You didn’t believe us?”

Before Yuma could reply, Sam returned his focus
to Hunter. “Now, who did this to you?”

A scarlet hue worked its way up Hunter’s neck

to his cheeks. He shook his head. “Look, I had a
misunderstanding with my ex. Don’t worry about
it,” he muttered.

Sam and Adam exchanged a glance while

Hunter wasn’t looking. “Well, just tell us what he
looks like, so we’ll know, just in case,” Sam
wheedled.

Hunter rolled his eyes, but answered the

question. “His name is Viktor. He has sandy blond
hair, stands about five foot nine, and he’s a
twink.”

“A twink did this to you?” Adam asked

incredulously.

Shaking his head, Hunter replied bitterly, “No,

that would be the twink’s bat and the bats of his
asshole friends.” He blushed harder, but powered
through his discomfort, saying, “He said he
wanted to give me one last blowjob, so I followed
him out behind the horse barn. He had a couple of
friends waiting.”

Yuma nuzzled his mate’s throat, crooning

nonsense, letting him know it didn’t matter to him

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what had happened in the past. Of course, he had
to ignore his penguin’s indignant snort to do so.

“A free blowjob?” Sam muttered. “I would

have followed him, too,” he admitted.

Adam chuckled and nodded.
Hunter cleared his throat. “Anyway, he had

two friends waiting. They worked me over pretty
good.”

“Hmm, well at least now, once Yuma claims

you, your healing will speed up,” Sam
commented.

Hunter nodded. “That will be nice.” He looked

down at Yuma and smiled. “Is that something you
want to do, baby?”

His dick thickened under the blanket at the

very  idea,  but  he  still  worried.  “If  I  claim  you,  I
won’t  let you  leave  me.  This  isn’t  something  you
can  do  and  then  change  your  mind,”  Yuma
warned.

“I know, sweetie. I’m sure the shock will hit me

like a ton of bricks soon, but right now, I see more
up sides than down.” Hunter cupped Yuma’s jaw
and pressed their lips together in a slow, sweet
kiss. “Make love to me,” he whispered once they
broke apart.

Hunter’s erection pressed against his ass. He

smelled  his  mate’s  arousal.  His  cock  throbbed
between  his  legs,  and  he  wanted  to  fulfill  his
mate’s  request  with  an  intensity  that  scared  him.

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“Okay.”

“I guess that’s our cue to leave,” Sam said,

grinning.

Sam moved toward the door, Adam following.
“We’ll just make certain your pops doesn’t

interrupt,” Adam said with a wink.

Yuma knew it was rude to ignore his friends.

He had called them, had asked them to come, but
right  now  all  he  could  focus  on  was  his  mate.
Crawling  off  the  human’s  lap,  he  swallowed  his
fear  and  moved  to  the  bed.  “We  don’t  want
pressure on your injured legs, so let’s get you on
the bed on your back,” he whispered.

Carefully, Yuma helped Hunter onto the bed

and maneuvered the flannel shorts down his legs.
He  swallowed  hard.  Even  with  all  the  bruising,
bound ribs, the cast and brace on his legs, his mate
was still stunning. Muscle definition peeked out of
the  areas  he  could  see.  He  couldn’t  resist  petting
the  man’s  firm  pecks,  but  then  he  drew  his hand
back and nibbled his lip.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Hunter asked

softly.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Charlie Richards

Chapter Five

ith his one good eye, Hunter enjoyed the
ravenous look of lust on Yuma’s face. The

smaller  man  knelt  between  his  knees  and  stared
hungrily  at  him  for  several  seconds.  The  soft,
clearly  appreciative  touches  Yuma  placed  on  his
chest  had  Hunter  nearly  vibrating  with  need.
Hunter  admitted  he  was  impressed  by  the
surprising  strength  Yuma  displayed  when  he
gently helped him onto the bed. Still, Hunter’s gut
told him this man would never purposefully hurt
him.

“Why do you think you’d hurt me, sweetie?” he

asked. Hunter needed to discover the source of
Yuma’s discomfort so they could get to the good
stuff.

“I’m not a very good top.”
Hunter remembered Yuma saying that before.

“And I’m not a good bottom,” he whispered,
sharing his earlier thoughts. Yuma’s eyes widened

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at his words, but Hunter spoke again before his
new lover could say anything. “But to be with
you, I’ll do what you need. Tell me why you think
you’ll hurt me,” he ordered gently.

Yuma frowned. “I hurt my first lover,” he

admitted. “H-he cried after I entered him.”
Yuma’s brows furrowed and Hunter really
wanted to smooth out the crease with his fingers,
but he resisted, waiting for the shifter to continue.
“I thought I stretched him enough,” he whispered.

“Oh, sweetie,” Hunter crooned. “I’m sorry that

happened,” he said, when it became apparent
Yuma needed some encouragement.

“We were in the woods. Someone heard us,”

Yuma  whispered.  His  face  flushed  and  his
erection  wilted.  “They  thought  I  was  attacking
him.  I  ran  away.  When  I  called  my  parents,  they
told me our rookery enforcers were searching  for
me. They told me never to come back,” he finally
finished.

Ignoring the stitch of pain in his ribs, Hunter sat

up  and  grabbed  his  mate,  pulling  him  down  on
top of him. He cupped Yuma’s jaw and kissed him
deeply, putting all the comfort he couldn’t express
with  words  in  his  actions.  Yuma  sighed  into  his
mouth and clung to him, easily letting Hunter take
the  lead.  He  mapped  the  smaller  man’s  mouth,
enjoying  his  masculine  taste  and  the  strong  grip
on  his  shoulders.  Once  breathing  became

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necessary, Hunter eased the kiss to an end,
nipping Yuma’s bottom lip as he pulled away.

“I can promise you that I will not cry,” he

whispered. “And no one will ever think you
forced me.”

Yuma tucked his face against Hunter’s neck

and  his  body  shuddered  in  his  arms.  Something
dripped  down  his  neck,  and  Hunter  realized  the
poor  man  was  crying  silently.  Hunter  crooned
nonsense  and  rubbed  his  back,  trying  to  soothe
him, all the while wondering how long Yuma had
held these emotions inside.

“Easy, sweetie,” he murmured. “I’m right here.

We’ll work this out.”

“How?” Yuma whispered. He lifted his head.

“I’m afraid to touch you,” he admitted.

“I have an idea,” Hunter said, his mind

working.

Levering up on his elbow, Yuma stared down

at him. “What?”

Smiling seductively, Hunter winked. “Do you

enjoy being fucked, sweetie?”

After a second, Yuma shrugged.
That had Hunter’s brows lifting. The shifter had

mentioned  riding  him,  which  gave  Hunter  the
impression  that  he  did,  indeed,  like  to  bottom.
Then  he  remembered  the  trepidation  Yuma  had
displayed  when  asked  to  splay  his  legs.  Hunter
cocked  his  head.  “Have  you  ever  been  fucked,

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Yuma?” he asked bluntly.

Yuma nodded slowly.
“Did you enjoy it?”
Yuma’s face flamed. “Sometimes.”
That was an odd response. “Why only

sometimes?”

Sighing, Yuma tried to roll away, but Hunter

held him tight. “Because some lovers don’t care if
you get off, too. They just care about themselves,”
he explained.

“Ah, then I guess I’ll have to show you what it’s

like  when  a  lover  wants  to  take  care  of  you,”  he
murmured.  He  grinned.  “It  would  be  better  if  I
weren’t  injured,  but  we  can  make  this  work,”  he
said  and  winked,  trying  to  calm  his  stressed  out
lover.  He’d  want  to  learn  about  his  lover’s  past
bad  experiences,  just  so  he  could  show  that  he
wasn’t like that, but not right now. He knew from
his  talks  with  Yuma’s  friends  and  the  way  the
penguin shifter was trying so hard to get past his
fears  that  he  desperately  wanted  to  claim  him.
And, damn it all, Hunter wanted to be claimed.

Rolling over, he reached into his nightstand and

pulled out a tube of lube and a couple of condoms.
Hunter tossed the condoms on the bed, opened
the lube and squirted a generous amount onto the
first couple of fingers.

“What are you doing?” Yuma asked when

Hunter spread his legs and rubbed one finger over

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his own taint.

Hunter grinned. “I’m getting myself ready to

take your cock, Yuma. I know you’re going to fill
me up so good, sweetie,” he replied, pitching his
tone as seductively as possible.

“Oh,” Yuma breathed out the word, his gaze

riveted to where Hunter slowly slipped his first
finger into his rectum.

Grunting, Hunter worked his finger in and out,

relaxing  the  muscles.  He  hadn’t  bottomed  in  a
number of years, but it only took him a moment to
begin  enjoying  the  sensations.  Hunter  moaned
softly  and  gazed  up  at  Yuma  through  his  lashes.
“Take  the  lube  and  stroke  yourself,  sweetie,”  he
ordered. “Get yourself nice and hard for me.”

Yuma

whimpered.

“Okay,”

said

breathlessly.

“Good,” he crooned, watching Yuma pour a

dollop  of  fluid  onto  his  shaking  palm.  Yuma
gripped  his  quickly  re-hardening  shaft  and
pumped. The  moans  and whimpers  coming from
the  shifter’s  mouth  were  so  sweet,  so  sexy,  and
Hunter  felt  a  desire  to  suck  that  pretty  dick  into
his mouth again. Later, he promised himself.

“That’s it, Yuma,” he encouraged while

slipping a third finger into his hole. He knew he’d
be stretched enough to take Yuma’s slender rod as
soon as he adjusted to the new thickness. “Now
get a condom on that pretty prick and fuck me.”

Swimming With Penguins

To his surprise, Yuma shook his head and

moved toward him. “No condom. Can’t wear a
condom when I claim you.”

Damn, he hadn’t thought of that. He’d never

barebacked before. Even with Viktor, he’d always
been careful. Hunter swallowed, realizing he had
to give Yuma his complete trust, not just his ass. If
what these shifters said were true, he’d never have
another lover as long as Yuma lived. And from the
way the sexy, slender man vibrated with
excitement, Hunter knew that was what Yuma
wanted, too.

He nodded once and reached behind him for a

pillow. After tucking it under his hips, Hunter
held out his hand, bidding his lover to come to
him.

Yuma crawled between his legs and stared

down at him, still palming his weeping erection.
“Ho-how do you want me to do this? I don’t want
to hurt you.”

Hunter smiled. “You won’t. Just go slow.”
He couldn’t help the hitch in his breath as

Yuma  leaned  over  him  and  guided  his  dick  to
Hunter’s  waiting  hole.  Yuma  nibbled  his  bottom
lip  and  stared  down  at  him.  “Ready?”  he
whispered the word.

Giving his lover a reassuring smile, Hunter

nodded. He gripped Yuma’s shoulders and held
him tight. “Now,” Hunter ordered. “Make love to

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me.”

His words earned him a moan from Yuma, and

the man pushed insistently at Hunter’s body.
Yuma’s dick popped past his tight ring of muscle
and Yuma shuddered above him.

“Easy,” Hunter growled through gritted teeth.

Yuma froze and stared down at him. He started to
move away, but Hunter’s grip tightened, holding
him in place. Three fingers should have been
enough to stretch him, but that initial entry still
shocked him. “Stay still.”

Yuma obeyed.
He let out a slow breath and willed his body to

accept the invasion of his lover’s dick. The  initial
burn  eased  and  Hunter  nodded.  “Okay.  Now
push,”  he  ordered,  not  missing  the  irony  that  he
was topping from the bottom.

As Yuma slowly thrust forward, Hunter sighed

and  relaxed.  The  hot  flesh  of  Yuma’s  erection
pushed deeper inside, heating him from the inside
out.  When  Yuma’s  groin  was  finally  flush  to  his
ass,  Hunter  marveled  at  the  intimacy  of  the
moment.  He  felt  the  heat  of  his  lover,  inside  and
out.

“Oh, hell, yeah,” he said, groaning. “Move,

sweetie.”

With a low moan, Yuma drew his cock halfway

out and thrust forward. That one move seemed to
trigger every dominant instinct in Hunter’s

Swimming With Penguins

slender  lover.  Yuma’s  brown  eyes  glowed  with
feral  possession.  His  hand  tightened  on  Hunter’s
shoulder,  the  other  clutched  his  hip.  Holding
Hunter’s  gaze,  Yuma  pounded  into  him  in
mindless  pursuit  to  dominate  and  claim.  Hunter
could  hear  Yuma  chanting,  “Mine,  mine,  mine,”
under his breath with each thrust.

Hunter grunted as spikes of pleasure coursed

through his system when Yuma found his prostate
and  pegged  it  with  each  stroke.  He  wrapped  his
arms  around  Yuma’s  body,  gripping  the  man’s
back  in  a  tight  hold.  Lifting  his  head,  Hunter
captured  Yuma’s  lips  and  plunged  his  tongue
inside.

He swallowed Yuma’s sexy cries. His dick

throbbed  between  them,  rubbing  against  Yuma’s
washboard stomach. Feeling his lover take his ass,
lose  himself  in  pleasure,  did  something  to
Hunter’s  insides.  Instinctively,  he  knew  he’d  do
anything for this little man, even accept shifters as
a reality and rearrange his life.

Breaking the kiss, Hunter tilted his head. “I am

yours.”

Yuma’s eyes met his for just a second, his body

frozen with his cock halfway in and out of
Hunter’s ass. A feral smile curved Yuma’s lips and
he opened his mouth, showing off the inch and a
half long canines that hadn’t been there a few
seconds before and didn’t belong in any human’s

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mouth.

His lover resumed his punishing pace and

reached between them to grab Hunter’s dick.
Hunter’s breath caught in his throat. Grunting, an
orgasm hit Hunter hard, spilling his seed and
coating both their chests and stomachs.

Delight shone on Yuma’s features and he

snapped  his  head  forward.  For  the  space  of  a
heartbeat,  pain  shot  through  Hunter’s  shoulder.
Then  pleasure  unlike  anything  he’d  felt  before
swamped  Hunter’s  system,  and  a  second  orgasm
unexpectedly bowled through his system. Hunter
roared. More seed filled the space between them.
An answering warmth filled his rectum. Coupled
with  the  growls  escaping  Yuma’s  throat,  and  the
shudders racking his body, Hunter knew his sexy
lover had found his own release.

Holding Yuma, rubbing his back as they both

came down from their endorphin highs, filled
Hunter with a sense of peace greater than
anything he’d ever felt. It was the most incredible
experience of his life.

Hunter smiled and nuzzled his lover’s temple.

“Ah, my sweet Yuma. How is it that I feel so
strongly for you after less than a day?” The depth
of his emotions completely blew Hunter’s mind.

Yuma licked his shoulder, over the bite wound,

and a shiver of sensation danced through Hunter’s
veins. To his surprise, his cock twitched where it

Swimming With Penguins

lay against his stomach. Yuma must have felt it,
for he giggled. And wasn’t it interesting that
Hunter wanted to hear that sound from his lover
again, often, in fact.

Yuma lifted his head and beamed down at him.

“It’s easy to develop feelings for your mate.
Especially when they’re such a good person,” he
said before pecking a kiss to Hunter’s lips.

What Hunter wanted to do was roll them over

and  explore  every  inch  of  Yuma’s  body,  rousing
his passion slowly,  before quenching  the fire that
burned  so  hot  between  them.  Unfortunately,  his
battered body could not handle those actions yet.

He slid one palm up Yuma’s back, enjoying the

feeling of firm flesh under his fingers. Running his
fingers through his hair, Hunter smiled up at the
man. “I’m definitely developing feelings for you,
Yuma. Where exactly do you see this going?”

Immediately, Yuma’s gaze slid sideways. The

move told Hunter that his lover was nervous to
tell him the truth.

His grip tightened on Yuma’s skull and he

forced  Yuma  to  turn  back  and  look  at  him.  “We
can’t  have  much  of  a  relationship  if  we  don’t
communicate.  Please,  sweetie,  tell  me  what  you
want.”

“I want,” Yuma paused, swallowed hard, and

tried again. “I want to continue traveling with my
friends,” he admitted. “I want you to go with me.”

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“You want me to travel with you?” That hadn’t

quite been what Hunter had been expecting, but
with the insecurities he’d already noted in Yuma,
he couldn’t say it surprised him.

Yuma nodded.
“I’m not certain how I’d support you like that,”

he admitted.

Yuma rolled to his side, careful to keep any

pressure  away  from  his  legs.  Hunter  grunted  as
Yuma’s  cock  slid  free.  Part  of  him  bemoaned  the
loss  and  wanted  to  be  filled  by  his  lover  again,
another  part  felt  relief.  One  thing  Hunter  could
admit  with  certainty,  although  he  planned  to  top
Yuma often, if his mate ever wanted his ass, he’d
be happy to give it to him.

He turned his head to the side, keeping Yuma

in view. Hunter waited for the slender man’s
response.

Yuma levered onto his elbow and looked down

at him. “I’m rich. You don’t need to support me,”
he stated bluntly.

“Wow,”

Hunter

muttered.

“That’s…

unexpected.”

“Good unexpected, I hope,” Yuma whispered.
Hunter smiled, twisting a bit so he could cup

Yuma’s jaw. “Yeah. I suppose you all could use a
vet’s services, since you turn into animals, hmm?”

It had been meant in jest, but Yuma’s eyes lit

up. “Absolutely!”

Swimming With Penguins

Pressing a kiss to Yuma’s lips, lips that Hunter

couldn’t seem to resist, he nodded. “I guess it’s
time to introduce you to my father, huh?”

Charlie Richards

Chapter Six

he father. Right. Yuma’s cheeks heated as he
realized how loud they’d been. He didn’t care

that his friends might have heard. He’d heard
them on more than one occasion, but to have his
lover’s father listen in…

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Hunter asked, regaining

Yuma’s attention. His lover frowned at him.
“Don’t you want to meet my father?”

Yuma quickly shook his head. His eyes

widened as he leaned close and whispered, “Do
you think he heard us?”

Hunter chuckled. “I doubt it. He’s kinda deaf as

well as being kinda blind.”

Relief flooded Yuma. “Oh good.” It was short-

lived. “Do you think he’ll be okay with, um, us?”
he asked, waving a hand between them.

“Sure,” Hunter replied. Yuma watched him

ease to the side of the bed and grip the arm of his
chair. “He knows I’m gay, sweetie,” Hunter said

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over his shoulder. “Don’t worry so much,” he
admonished gently. After levering himself into the
wheelchair, Hunter winked at him. “How about
you help me clean up in the bathroom?”

Pleased that his mate wanted his help, Yuma

beamed. He slipped off the bed, grabbed the
backpack from the floor where it had fallen, and
hurried to the door. Peeking into the hall to make
certain no one was lurking about, he was already
surprised at the possessiveness he felt for Hunter’s
bits. Seeing no one, he moved out of the way and
let Hunter pass, then helped his mate clean up.

Clean and dressed, Yuma followed Hunter as

he wheeled into the living area. An old but large
big-screen TV sat on the floor along the west wall.
A couch and two la-z-boys faced it. Along the back
wall were sliding glass doors, closed to the cool
evening air. The snow beckoned to his penguin,
but he turned away.

He caught the grins on Adam and Sam’s faces.

Adam  sniffed  the  air  and  gave  him  a
conspiratorial  wink.  Yuma  flushed,  knowing  the
other shifters could smell the change in his scent.
They were happy  for him. To his complete relief,
he saw that Hunter’s father was sleeping in one of
the lounge chairs.

“Pops,” Hunter said, tapping his father’s arm.

“I’m gonna order pizza for me and the guys. You

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hungry?”

“What?” the old man huffed. He looked around

as if just noticing the men in the room. “Oh, sorry.
Didn’t realize…” Hunter’s father squinted at
Yuma. “Did you come in with Hunter’s friends?”

“Uh, no,” Yuma murmured. He’d never been

real good at lying.

Hunter smiled. “He came a few minutes ago,

Pops. He caught a ride with another guy who took
the penguin to the vet, just to double check what
we’d done.” At the old man’s alarmed look,
Hunter patted his father’s arm. “Don’t worry. It’s
all under the radar,” he added with a wink.

The old man flushed. “Good,” he muttered.
“So, pizza?” Hunter prodded.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’ll eat,” his mate’s father

replied. “Whatever.”

Hunter pointed at the counter. “Grab the phone

there, would you please, sweetie?”

Yuma nodded and hurried to obey. Getting the

phone,  he  handed  it  to  Hunter.  He  didn’t  miss
Hunter’s  father’s  questioning  look.  Hunter
grinned. “I know it’s only been a few months since
I  broke  up  with  Viktor,  but  something  about
Yuma  drew  me.”  He  waved  toward  his  father.
“Yuma,  this  is  my  father,  Walter  Driscoll.  Pops,
this is Yuma Batacan.”

Walter’s brows creased, but he reached out and

took Yuma’s hand. “Nice to meet you, son. Are

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you going to take better care of my boy than the
last one?”

“Absolutely.” Yuma nodded quickly. “I’d do

anything for him, sir.”

“Hmm, we’ll see,” Walter replied.
“Dad, knock it off,” Hunter chided before

lifting the phone to his ear and ordering four
pizzas.

His dad didn’t respond, but he continued to eye

Yuma  dubiously.  That  was  fine  with  him.  He’d
prove  his  worth  to  the  father  in  time.  What  he’d
said  was  true.  He’d  do  anything  for  his  mate,
including  tolerate  a  little  disbelief  from  a
protective father.

They watched TV for half an hour, waiting for

the pizza to arrive. When the doorbell rang, Adam
jumped from the couch like his ass was on fire. A
big grin on his face, he hustled to the door, calling
over his shoulder, “I got this!”

Yuma snickered, drawing the attention of his

mate. He smirked. “Adam thinks with his
stomach,” he explained.

“Got that right,” Sam agreed. “That man’s two

favorite things are old cars and food, in that
order.”

“Hey, I like surfing and sex, too!” Adam

grumbled, coming back with the pizza. He
stopped at the kitchen counter. Between the open

Charlie Richards

floor plan of the main rooms in the cabin and his
friend’s shifter hearing, it wasn’t hard for the guy
to listen in on their conversation.

“Yeah,” Yuma teased, “but if you had the

choice between tinkering with a classic car or
getting it on with some cute twink, you’d take the
car every time.”

Adam shrugged. “What can I say? If it’s not my

mate, I can take or leave it. My right hand works
just fine.”

Yuma was used to Adam speaking so frankly,

but he should have known better than to tease like
that  in  front  of  his  mate  and  Walter.  Hunter’s
choked  gasp  and  Walter’s  snort  had  all  eyes  on
father and son. He opened his mouth, but nothing
came  out.  There  was  a  reason  he  didn’t  socialize
with anyone but his fellow gang members. Having
grown  up  in  a  rookery  of  penguin  shifters,  then
living on the streets at times as a prostitute, Yuma
just  didn’t  know  how  to  relate  to  the  standard
human.

Fortunately, Sam helped him out. “You’re

missin’ out, dude.” Sam stood. “Where are your
plates?”

After a couple of seconds, Walter replied, “In

the cupboard over the microwave.”

Just like that, the awkward moment was

smoothed over. Letting out a mental sigh, Yuma
touched a blushing Hunter’s arm and murmured,

Swimming With Penguins

“Do you want some?”

“Yeah, sweetie. Thanks,” Hunter replied. He

smiled up at him and grabbed his wrist.

Yuma cocked his head, waiting for the man to

voice the question in his eyes.

Instead, he tugged his wrist and murmured,

“Come here.”

Realizing his mate wanted a kiss before he

walked  away  filled  Yuma  with  pleasure.  He
leaned  down  and  pressed  his  lips  to  Hunter’s,
feeling  the other man’s smile. Yuma pulled  away
and grinned. “Any time.”

With just the tips of his forefingers, he traced

around the dark green of Hunter’s swollen eye.
“What happened to Viktor?” he asked suddenly.

“We don’t know and the cops haven’t found

him,” Walter replied darkly, anger filling his voice
as he sat back down on the chair.

“Oh,” Yuma responded. He turned and

exchanged  a  glance  with  Adam  and  Sam.  From
the  tightness  of  his  friend’s  jaws,  he  knew  they
were  thinking  the  exact  same  thing  he  was.  No
way in hell would Viktor get to his lover again.

Evidently Walter took Yuma’s silence a

different way. “That gonna make you run, boy?”
he asked.

Yuma wouldn’t quite call the man’s tone

belligerent, but it was damn close. He saw
Hunter’s brows furrow, but Yuma knew he

Charlie Richards

needed  to  prove  himself  to  Walter.  Family  was
important,  and  just  the  fact  that  Hunter’s  father
accepted  his  sexuality  was  not  a  gift  to  be
squandered.

He gave Hunter’s hand a reassuring squeeze,

then  squared  his  shoulders  and  faced  Walter.
“There  is  nothing  that  will  make  me  walk  away
from your son, sir. I care about him, and that’s not
going  to  change  just  because  of  some  asshole  ex-
boyfriend.”

He had to hold Walter’s attention for a good

thirty seconds, but finally the man smiled. “Good.
That’s good.”

Yuma nodded at Walter, giving him a slight

smile, then lowered his gaze to his lover and
pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Be right back.” He
hurried to the kitchen and opened the pizza box.
The smell of cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and ham
assaulted his nostrils. “Oh, nice,” he muttered. He
grabbed two plates and dropped a couple slices on
each.

Taking one in each hand, he headed back to the

living  room.  Without  thinking,  he  handed  one
plate  to  Hunter,  then  carefully  crawled  onto  his
lap  to  curl  up  with  his  lover.  It  wasn’t  until  he
noticed  Adam’s  smile  that  he  realized  what  he’d
done. Looking at the surprised pleasure filling his
human’s  eyes,  Yuma  blushed.  “This  okay?”  he
asked softly.

Swimming With Penguins

“More than,” Hunter immediately responded.
After one more butterfly kiss, Yuma settled his

back  into  the  crook  of  Hunter’s  arm  and  started
eating.  He  didn’t  really  listen  to  the  TV.  He  was
much  more  interested  in  enjoying  the  scent  and
feel of being with his mate.

Yuma still felt mildly overwhelmed that Hunter

had  let  him  take  his  ass  and  claim  him.  He’d
always  worried  about  what  would  happen  if  he
met  the  man  Fate  destined  for  him.  Adam  had
comforted him after a nightmare more than once.
Hunter  had  made  it  so  easy  for  him.  He  smiled.
Fate really knew what she was doing.

“What are you doing with those pumpkins?”

Sam asked.

“Pumpkins?” Hunter asked, looking from Sam

to Walter.

Walter shrugged. After swallowing a bite of

pizza, he said, “I bought them last week, but then
Hunter was injured, so I didn’t do anything with
them.”

“We should carve them,” Sam stated.
“That’d be fun,” Yuma said.
Hunter shrugged. “It is Halloween tomorrow.”
“Oh,” Yuma couldn’t hide his excitement. He

turned at the waist, mindful of keeping his legs
still so he didn’t hurt his mate, and looked up at
Hunter. “Could we?”

“Sure,

sweetie,”

Hunter

responded

Charlie Richards

immediately. Then he glanced over at his dad and
smirked. “If that’s okay with you, Pops.”

Walter smiled indulgently. Waving a hand, he

said, “Sure. That’s what I bought ‘em for, but we
ran out of time.”

“Nice!” Sam jumped up, showing more

enthusiasm  for  something  than  Yuma  normally
saw  in  the  man.  In  fact,  as  Yuma  watched  Sam
disappear  down  into  the  foyer,  he  realized  Sam
was offering more communication than he’d ever
seen  when  amidst  all  their  friends.  Did  Sam  just
do better in small groups?

Yuma had always counted the man as a friend,

but he didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about the
longhorn bull shifter except Kontra trusted him.
He’d seen his leader ask Sam to do favors for him.
Yuma couldn’t remember seeing Kontra do that to
anyone else, except Payson, but requests given to
the hyena shifter normally involved tracking and
identification.

Huh.
A thump drew Yuma out of his thoughts. His

eyes widened. “Well, shit, those are huge!”

Sam had set two pumpkins on the counter, both

well  over  twenty-five  pounds.  Hunter  laughed.
Yuma  grabbed  the  wheelchair’s  handle  and
squeaked as Hunter swung his chair around so he
could look at his dad. Hunter chuckled and Yuma
giggled.  “Sorry,  sweetie.  Should  have  warned

Swimming With Penguins

you.”

“It’s okay,” Yuma replied, grinning up at him.
Hunter gave him a quick kiss, then looked at

his  father.  “What  were  you  going  to  carve  on
them?”  He  glanced  around  the  others  and  said,
“My  dad  has  a  way  with  tools.  When  we  were
growing  up,  his  pumpkins  were  the  pride  of  the
neighborhood.  He’d  open  his  garage,  set  up  a
haunted  house,  and  offer  a  bobbing  for  apples
game. My friends loved it.”

Yuma liked the way his lover smiled fondly at

his  father,  the  memories  obviously  giving  him
pleasure.  Love  and  pride  shone  from  Walter’s
expression  as  he  grinned  at  his  son.  It  was  really
refreshing  to  see  the  great  relationship  obviously
evident  between  father  and  son.  A  sobering
thought hit him. What would Walter think of him
if he knew he was a shifter? Was it fair to ask his
lover  to  hide  something  so  big  from  his  father?
Damn, he had no experience with this!

“Hey, you okay?” Hunter murmured, catching

his attention.

Yuma exhaled. He glanced around and realized

he’d completely missed Walter leaving. Where
had he gone? “I-I just feel bad making you hide
information from your dad,” he admitted.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Hunter murmured.

“We’ll tell him soon.”

“Tell me what?”

Charlie Richards

Yuma turned and found Walter once more in

the  house.  He  stood  just  inside  a  door  on  the  far
side of the kitchen, holding a roll of cloth that he
set  on  the  counter  near  the  pumpkins.  Walter
paused  when  Hunter  didn’t  answer  right  away.
“Well?”

Hunter sighed. “As soon as I’m healed, I’m

going on the road with Yuma,” he said, shocking
just about everyone in the room. Sure, they’d
talked about it, but damn!

“What?” His father froze.
“And there’s more,” Hunter told Walter. “That

penguin, well, Yuma is that penguin. He’s a shape
shifter.”

Sam and Adam’s eyes widened. Yuma knew his

own expression must mirror the look of near
disbelief. His mate had just outed them, without
warning, to his father.

Walter frowned, his brows creasing and a look

of concern filling his eyes. “Did you take
something, son? Or did you hit your head when
you fell out of bed earlier?”

Hunter shook his head. “No, Dad. I have my

own  rich  little  sugar  baby.”  He  said  the  words
lightly, clearly teasing, as he squeezed Yuma’s hip
to get his lover to look at him. Yuma met his fond
look and his unease settled a bit. “Yuma and I will
take  care  of  each  other.”  He  threaded  his  fingers
through  Yuma’s  hair  and  used  the  hold  to  tilt

Swimming With Penguins

Yuma’s head back and take his mouth in a slow
kiss.

An aggravated sigh cut thought Yuma’s lust

induced  pleasure,  but  that  didn’t  stop  Hunter
from continuing to explore his mouth, slowly and
thoroughly. Either Hunter couldn’t get enough of
him,  or  he  was  proving  to  his  father  that  he  had
every  intention  of  following  through  with  his
words. Either option worked for Yuma.

When Walter cleared his throat pointedly, and

one  of  the  other  men  snickered,  Hunter  finally
brought  the  kiss  to  an  end.  Both  men  were
panting. Yuma licked his lips and forced his eyes
open  to  see  Hunter’s  flushed  face  and  warm
regard.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of kissing

you,” Hunter whispered.

Yuma grinned. “That works for me.”
Hunter chuckled and looked over Yuma’s

shoulder.  Something  he  saw  caused  the  look  of
relaxed  pleasure  to  fade  just  a  bit.  Yuma  turned
and  saw  Walter’s  concerned  frown.  Yuma  sighed
and  carefully  slipped  from  Hunter’s  lap.  He
handed  his  lover  his  empty  plate,  turned  to  look
Walter in the eye, and squared his shoulders.

“Do you need proof? I can prove that me and

your son aren’t crazy.” In for a penny in for a pound,
right? This was his mate he was talking about.
He’d back him until the day they died. “I am the

Charlie Richards

penguin.”

Adam snickered, Sam smirked, and Walter’s

brows shot up. Yuma wondered at their reaction
for all of ten seconds. That was when the image of
a short, squat, pointy-nosed man with flipper
hands wearing ugly red pajamas entered his mind.

Yuma rolled his eyes and glared at his friends

before  saying,  “And  not the  creepy  penguin  man
from Batman. I really can turn into a penguin.” He
rolled  up  his  sleeve  to  reveal  the  stitches  on  his
arm,  which  really  needed  to  come  out  at  this
point.

Walter crossed his arms over his chest. “This I

gotta see.”

“Pops, maybe you should sit down,” Hunter

said.

After pulling off his shirt, Yuma glanced over

his shoulder and saw Hunter eyeing his father
with concern.

Scoffing, Walter crossed to the small, round

dining  room  table  and  eased  onto  a  chair.  Yuma
kicked  off  his  sneakers  and  opened  his  pants.
Instead of getting completely naked in front of his
lover’s  father,  he  started  his  shift  still  wearing
them  loosely  around  his  hips.  As  a  penguin,  he
was  one  of  the  few  shifters  who  could  do  that
without  destroying  his  clothes,  since  he  was
smaller  and  shorter  as  an  Emperor  Penguin  than
as a human.

Swimming With Penguins

Less than a minute later, a minute filled with

popping muscle, cracking bone, and the stretch
and compress of skin and skeleton, Yuma stood in
penguin form.

“Holy shit!” Walter leaped to his feet. “How is

this possible?” Shaking his head, Walter pointed at
Hunter and said, “You said your friend took the
penguin to the center! How can it be here?”

“We told you,” Adam cut in. “He’s a shifter.

Yuma shares his spirit with a penguin. It’s not out
of  the  realm  of  possibility,  you  know?”  Adam
turned  to  Sam  and  muttered,  “What  is  it  with
humans  thinking  they’re  the  only  sentient  beings
on the planet?”

Sam shrugged. “Many don’t want to believe in

things outside their understanding.”

“Imagine if I started telling them about

vampires and witches,” Adam murmured.

Yuma had had enough. He shifted back.

Grabbing  his  jeans  as  soon  as  he  had  usable
fingers,  he  pulled  them  back  into  place.  “Stop
freaking the humans  out, Adam.” He turned and
regarded  a  still  gaping  Walter.  “Look.  I’m  not
really  any  different  than  you.  I  just  happen  to  be
able to change into a different form. No big deal.”

“No big deal…” Walter whispered, his hazel

eyes were huge. It occurred to Yuma that Hunter
and his father’s expressions were remarkably
similar.

Charlie Richards

“Well, all right,” Adam called, getting

everyone’s attention. “Now that we have that all
straightened out, let’s carve some pumpkins!”

Sam helped Walter from his chair and led him

to  kitchen  counter  where  they’d  laid  out
newspaper under the pumpkins and pulled out a
couple of kitchen knives and spoons to scoop out
guts.  As  Yuma  watched,  Walter  seemed  to  relax
more  and  more.  He  even  joked  around  with  the
bigger  men  as  they  got  to  work  carving  the
pumpkins,  though  he  did  glance  at  Yuma  from
time to time, an inscrutable look on his face.

The wheel of Hunter’s chair bumped into his

side, and Yuma smiled at his lover. Hunter leaned
close and whispered, “Are there really vampires?”

Grinning, Yuma nodded. “Yup.”

Swimming With Penguins

Chapter Seven

unter stretched, feeling more relaxed than he
had since getting attacked a week ago. His

ribs didn’t ache and he could actually open his
right eye, although the vision in that eye remained
slightly hazy. Yuma wasn’t kidding when he said
being claimed by him would speed up healing.

The small slender man curled up next to him

stirred.  The  head  on  his  chest  rubbed  across  his
peck,  scratching  him  with  Yuma’s  light  peach
fuzz.  When  he’d  commented  on  it  last  night,
Yuma had explained that he only needed to shave
once  a  week.  Something  to  do  with  sharing  his
DNA with a penguin.

“Morning,” Yuma muttered. He lifted his head

and smiled up at Hunter. “Oh, that looks so much
better.”

His lover gently fingered the greatly reduced

swelling around his eye. Hunter turned his head
and kissed Yuma’s palm. “Thanks to you.”

Charlie Richards

Yuma beamed up at him and snuggled closer.

The shifter’s morning wood rubbed against
Hunter’s hip. Hunter’s own stiffie thickened even
more in response. He grunted and rotated his hips
so their cocks aligned. His lover was quick to put a
hand on his hip and rut against him.

“Shit, Yuma,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

His balls tightened against his body. There was so
much he wanted to do to this man, for this man, so
much pleasure he wanted to give him, but knew it
wasn’t going to happen until he could use his legs.

A slender-fingered hand slipped between their

bodies and wrapped around both their cocks.
“You’re thinking too much,” Yuma whispered.
“Look at me.”

He didn’t know when he’d closed his eyes, but

Hunter  obeyed  and  found  himself  staring  into
liquid  pools  of  dark  brown  need.  His  cock
hardened  nearly  to  the  point  of  pain  as  he
watched  his  lover’s  mouth  open  slightly  as  he
panted softly. Yuma’s cheeks flushed, his nipples
hard points of flesh, and his breath came in harsh
pants.

When Yuma’s tongue darted out and swiped

over his bottom lip, Hunter could resist no longer.
He leaned forward and captured Yuma’s mouth,
sliding his tongue inside the warm wet heat. The
taste of his lover, the feel of Yuma’s hand around
his shaft, and the sweet sound of his mewls of

Swimming With Penguins

pleasure were enough to finish the job. Hunter
grunted and came.

As soon as his warm seed hit Yuma’s fingers,

his  lover  jerked  and  followed  him  over  the  edge.
Hunter’s  grip  on  Yuma’s  side  tightened  and  he
growled,  swallowing  down  his  sexy  lover’s
sounds. After their cocks stopped pulsing, Hunter
broke the kiss and flopped onto his back, gasping
for breath.

“Wow,” he muttered.
Yuma giggled and snuggled against him.

Hunter wrapped an arm under the smaller man
and pulled him close. He pressed a kiss to the top
of Yuma’s head and sighed.

“Now, it’s a good morning,” Hunter

murmured.

His lover levered up on his elbow and looked

down at him, grinning. “I’m hungry. Can I bring
you breakfast in bed?”

Hunter chuckled. “I don’t think I know a man

who’d say no to that.”

“Cool.” After giving him one more kiss, Yuma

bounced  from  the  bed.  He  tossed  the  t-shirt
Hunter  had  been  wearing  the  day  before  to  him
with a wink,  and  Hunter used it to clean himself
up. Yuma did the same, then pulled on jeans but
no  shirt  or  shoes.  Yuma  blew  him  a  kiss  and
slipped from the room.

With just the sheet covering him to the waist,

Charlie Richards

Hunter must have dozed. The next thing he knew,
Yuma returned, humming under his breath, and
carrying a tray filled with scrambled eggs, bacon,
toast, and hash browns. He pushed himself into a
sitting position, shoving a pillow behind his back
so he could comfortably lean against the
headboard.

“I wasn’t certain how you like your eggs, so I

hope this is okay,” Yuma said, setting the tray on
the nightstand. “Most people like them scrambled,
and those that don’t just douse them in ketchup.”

Hunter smirked. “Is that right?”
Yuma shrugged, settled on the bed next to him

and rested the tray across both their legs. “How’s
your leg and knee feeling? Do you need any pain
meds?”

He thought about that for a second, then shook

his head. “You know,” Hunter commented,
picking up a slice of bacon, “I feel pretty good,
actually.”

“Good.”

The doorbell rang, and Hunter frowned. It was

a bit early for trick-or-treaters. Hunter wheeled his
chair to the door and pulled it open. “Trick or
treat!” Hunter grinned at Yuma’s friends. Backing
up his chair, he beckoned them to enter.

“Get in here. It’s freezing outside.”
Sam and Adam laughed, but both men strode

Swimming With Penguins

inside. A bag was strung over Adam’s shoulder
and he carried a case of beer in the opposite hand.
The big blond grinned and said, “Yuma says you
have a hot tub.”

Hunter laughed. His little penguin shifter sure

had been excited when he told him about the hot
tub on the back porch. He pointed toward the
sliding doors. “Go. Enjoy. I’ll come out and visit
after Pops wakes from his nap.”

“Sweet. Thanks, man. That is the one thing our

lodge is missing.” Adam strode through the hall,
Hunter following. Adam looked over his shoulder
at him and added, “The next time the gang rents a
place, I’m totally going to insist on that.”

“You know my dad will always welcome us

when we’re in the area,” he commented.

It was funny how easily Hunter had acclimated

to  the  idea  of  traveling  on  the  road  with  Yuma.
Even  though  he’d  only  just  met  Adam  and  Sam,
somehow  he  knew  he’d  be  safe.  Of  course,  the
description of Kontra, the group’s de-facto leader,
had him nervous. What if the guy didn’t like him?
Or  didn’t  approve  of  his  mating  with  Yuma?
These  gang  members  were  Yuma’s  family.  He’d
cross that bridge when he came to it, he decided.
He  knew  the  gang  wasn’t  going  anywhere  for  a
month, which would  give him time to heal, meet
everyone and get comfortable with them.

He shoved the thoughts aside and watched

Charlie Richards

Adam  and  Sam  strip  down  and  pull  on  their
bathing  suits,  green  trunks  for  Sam  and  a  red
speedo  for  Adam.  He  shook  his  head,  somehow
not surprised.

“Hey! I heard the door. Are trick-or-treaters

starting already?” Yuma asked, stopping to stand
next to Hunter’s chair.

Hunter shook his head. “No. It was Adam and

Sam. It seems, they were just as excited by the idea
of a hot tub as you.”

Yuma nibbled his lip, his gaze slipping away.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Hunter asked. Surely

they weren’t keeping secrets from each other
already!

“Well, I don’t think it’ll be just Adam and Sam

tonight,” Yuma admitted. “I hope you don’t mind,
but some of the other guys really thought it’d be
cool to check it out, too.” He shrugged. “And since
it’s Halloween and all, it could turn a bit, um,
rowdy?”

Hunter threw his head back and laughed. “Oh,

this will be fun,” he said, and he actually meant it.
At seeing Yuma’s dubious expression, he took his
lover’s  hand  in  his.  “I  mean  it.  It’ll  give  me  a
chance  to  meet  your  gang  while  still  in  a
comfortable  space.”  He  paused  and  frowned.
“Will I get to meet Kontra?”

Yuma shrugged. “I’m not sure. He was still in

Kansas last week. He’s helping Haben settle down

Swimming With Penguins

with his mate.”

Nodding, Hunter was relieved that he’d have

more time. It wasn’t every day your lover told you
his pack leader could turn into a bear…literally. A
fucking grizzly bear! Hunter prayed the man was
okay with him.

“Hey, relax,” Yuma crooned. “Everything will

be fine. Kontra knows how important finding a
mate is to a shifter. He’d never refuse one of his
people’s mates,” he assured.

“Even though I’m a human?” Hunter asked,

voicing his biggest concern.

Yuma grinned. “Mutegi’s mate, Ben, is a

human, and Kontra welcomed him with open
arms. He’s even happy for the shifters who leave
his care and stay with their human mates.”
Yuma’s smile turned nostalgic. “We’ve left friends
behind along the way, but they know if they ever
needed us, we’d be there in a heartbeat.”

Some of Hunter’s tension eased at this news. He

squeezed Yuma’s hand. “Okay. I don’t mean to
worry for nothing. This is all new to me,” he
reminded Yuma.

Yuma leaned down and pecked his lips. “I

know.”

The splash of someone jumping into water

caught Hunter’s attention. Hunter turned and
frowned out the sliding glass door. “Adam knows
that’s a hot tub and not a pool, right?”

Charlie Richards

Yuma giggled. “Yeah. He’ll settle down in a

minute.”

Seeing his lover’s fond expression as he stared

at the tiger shifter, Hunter realized it would have
made him jealous just twenty-four hours ago.
Now he knew Yuma was his—all his—and Hunter
never had to fear him straying. It was a heady
feeling. Trust.

Something in his expression must have alerted

Yuma to his thoughts, for heat flared in his lover’s
chocolate brown eyes. He dipped his head and
took Hunter’s mouth in a hungry kiss. Hunter let
the other man lead, opening to Yuma’s questing
tongue, dueling with the appendage.

“All right, all right. Break it up, you two.”
Yuma pulled away at Walter’s teasing voice,

and Hunter grinned at his lover’s blush. It was
cute, and sexy, and Hunter wanted to see if it went
all the way down his chest. He resisted the urge to
check.

Walter stopped next to the pair and chuckled as

he watched Sam and Adam splashing in the hot
tub. “You all are playful things,” he muttered.
“Never seen thirty year olds act like that.”

Hunter bit his tongue and glanced at Yuma. He

knew  from  the  way  his  lover  looked  at  him  that
those  men  out  there  weren’t  thirty,  or  even
anywhere  near  that  old.  Hunter knew  Yuma  was
sixty,  which  meant  the  other  guys  could  be

Swimming With Penguins

anywhere in that range, too. Hell, they could be
well over a hundred. Hunter didn’t have any way
of knowing, and he sure wasn’t going to ask.

“Adam used to live on the coast,” Yuma offered

by way of explanation. “He misses the warm
ocean.”

“Huh,” Walter grunted.
The ringing of the doorbell caught their

attention. It was accompanied by a number of men
yelling, “Trick or treat!”

Yuma snickered. “That’ll be a couple of my

friends.”  He  stared  hopefully  at  Walter.  “I  really
hope you don’t mind us invading your home this
evening.  We  can  get  noisy  and  a  little  crude,  but
none  of  us  do  drugs  or  anything  like  that.”  His
brow crinkled as  he frowned, “Although, Ben’s a
light-weight, so he can get pretty silly.”

Walter waved his concerns away with a gnarled

hand.  “Don’t  sweat  it,”  he  said,  already  moving
toward the  door.  “Why,  back  in  my  day,  we  had
some  pretty  crazy  bonfires.  Dancing,  booze,  and
the  women.  Whoo-wee!  Nothing  like  a  curvy
redhead  in  cut-off  shorts  to  get  a  man’s  blood
pumping.”  Glancing  over  his  shoulder  at  them,
Walter grinned. “Or not.”

Hunter tried to control his blush as his father

disappeared into the foyer. He knew his father
had loved his mother, but she was gone, ten years
now, and his dad still clung to her memory. It was

Charlie Richards

nice to know his father had been happy for so
many years, even if his stories could embarrass
him worse than when he was a kid.

His lover grinned down at him. “I like your

dad,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” he murmured back. “Me, too.”
Hunter’s father led a group of men into the

living room. All but two would be the same height
as Hunter, about six feet, or taller once he healed
and  could  stand  on  his  own  two  feet  again.  It
kinda  made  him  feel  like  he’d  fit  in.  He  was
introduced  to  couples  Eli  and  Sam,  Mutegi  and
Ben,  Caleb  and  Emmett,  as  well  as  Lamar  and
Vail.  Lamar  stiffened  and  quickly  stated  that  he
and Vail were not mates.

Hunter would have laughed, but then Eli

approached  him  and  held  out  a  hand.  “I  figured
I’d  introduce  myself  separately,”  he  said  with  a
wry  twist  to  his  lips.  “I’m  Doctor  Eli  Raetz.
Congratulations,  I’ll  be  your  new  doctor  for  a
while.”

That had Hunter’s brows shooting up to his

hairline. “I can’t keep the same doctor?”

Eli shook his head. “Afraid not.”
The others filed passed, joining Sam and Adam

on the back deck. There was no way they’d all fit
into the hot tub, which was designed for eight, but
Hunter had a funny feeling they’d try. He
refocused on the tall, slender brunet in front of

Swimming With Penguins

him. “Why’s that?” Hunter asked.

The doorbell rang again, and Walter headed

toward the front.

Eli watched him, remaining silent until he was

out of earshot. Then he turned back to Hunter and
stated, “Your DNA will have been altered slightly
due to Yuma claiming you. That’s why you’re
healing faster. If you went back to your regular
doctor and he ran additional blood tests, he’d find
anomalies. Anomalies make people ask questions.
Questions are dangerous for shifters.”

Hunter nodded his understanding. “Okay. You

gonna check me over at some point?”

“Not tonight.” Eli’s dark-eyed gaze flickered to

the  activities  going  on  out  on  the  porch.  “There
seems  to  be  quite  a  party  brewing.”  He  smiled
slightly  and  turned  toward  the  short  African
American  who  stood  behind  him.  “Tonight,  we
relax.”

He realized Eli was no longer talking to him,

and smirked at Yuma when Eli leaned down to
kiss his mate, Sam, if Hunter remembered
correctly.

A thud sounded from the entryway, drawing

Hunter’s attention. He wheeled his chair forward
a few feet. “Dad?” he called. “Everything all
right?”

To his shock, into the room leaped The Riddler,

or at least, a Riddler look-a-like. The man’s hair

Charlie Richards

was bright orange-ish red. He had on a green
mask and the question mark leotard Jim Carrey
had worn in Batman Forever. In the guy’s hand was
a question mark cane. “Trick!” the guy stated with
a huge grin.

Hunter’s eyes widened. He knew that voice.

“Viktor?”

“Hello, baby,” Viktor said, strutting into the

room.  He  leered  at  Hunter,  sweeping  his  gaze
over  his  crippled  form.  “I’ve  come  to…crash  the
party.”  Before  Hunter  could  even  fathom  a
response,  a  group  of  men  entered  the  room.  One
man  was  dressed  up  like  Two-Face.  Three  others
were dressed like skeleton henchmen. If it weren’t
for  the  fact  that  Hunter  knew  these  guys  were
only  here  to  cause  trouble,  he  would  have  been
impressed by their costumes.

Instead, fear sliced through his veins, but not

for  himself.  “Pops!”  he  yelled.  He  tried  to  wheel
forward,  but  Yuma’s  hands  gripped  the  chair’s
handles  behind  him  with  surprising  strength,
stopping him.

“No,” Yuma whispered.
Viktor snickered maliciously. “Don’t worry.

He’ll be fine. Just a bump on the ol’ noggin.”
Shrugging, his eyes narrowed as he looked at
Yuma. “Is this your new boy toy? Not bad. Maybe
once you’re gone, me and Donny will take him for
a spin.”

Swimming With Penguins

Rage swept through Hunter. “You’ll do no such

thing,” he snarled.

Sneering, Viktor turned an icy gaze on Hunter.

“What are you going to do about it? I was willing
to give you everything, and you tossed it all away
just because you didn’t know how to share. Well, I
think I’ll make you share,” Viktor growled. He
looked over his shoulder at Two-Face. “Donny, tie
him to the chair. He’ll make a fantastic voyeur.”

“No!” Hunter screamed.
To his shock, Yuma stepped to the side and

shoved the chair backward. It had nowhere to go,
and  slammed  into  the  sliding  glass  doors.  His
chair  bounced  off  the  glass  and  tilted  wildly,
crashing to the floor. Pain raced up both legs, but
he  fought  back  his  howl  of  agony  when  a  loud
roar sounded from nearby and all hell broke loose.

Breaking glass forced Hunter to cover his head

with  his  arms.  A  massive  form  leaped  over  him.
Shapes  in  front  of  him  melted  and  reformed.
Yuma crouched next to him and tried to help him
right the chair, but Hunter was too busy taking in
the  scene  before  him.  His  living  room  contained
two wolves, a massive python, a white tiger and a
warthog.  A  glance  over  his  shoulder  revealed  a
long-horned bull standing over him.

All the animals were fighting his uninvited

guests, who wielded chains and bats. The humans
were no match for the animals, who could think,

Charlie Richards

reason and strategize. And, from the way they
worked together, it was easy to see they’d fought
together before.

The two wolves and the warthog danced

around  the  three  skeletons,  forcing  them  into  a
group at the center of the room. The animals easily
kept  beyond  the  reach  of  the  men’s  weapons.
Adam circled the room, leaping this way and that
and  herding  Viktor  and  Donny  out  of  the  living
room  and  into  the  dining  area.  Hunter’s  jaw
dropped  when  the  massive  python  struck  from
where  he  hung  from  the  antler  chandelier.  Eli
coiled around Viktor, wrapping him up tightly.

“Donny!” Viktor screamed.
“Holy shit! I didn’t sign up for this!” Donny

cried.  The  guy  dove  sideways,  then  sprinted
toward  the  front  of  the  house.  Adam  lunged,
knocking  the  man  down  and  pinning  him  to  the
floor.  Donny  screamed,  but  Adam  just  held  him
there.

The wolves and warthog gave the three

skeletons an opening, and with shrieks of fear, the
three men rushed right past Hunter’s prone figure
and out through the broken sliding glass doors.
Just like that, the fight was over.

Tears threatened at the back of Hunter’s eyes

now that the action was over and he felt the pain
of his fall, combined with the stings from glass
shards falling on him.

Swimming With Penguins

“We need—” He sucked in a breath. “Shit.” He

yanked his hand back from where he’d reached
out in an attempt to move away from his chair.

Yuma grabbed his hand and picked out a shard

of glass. “I’m so sorry,” his lover whispered. “I
couldn’t think of another way to alert my friends
that we needed them. And I didn’t want you
anywhere near that asshole.”

Yuma’s pained expression broke Hunter’s

heart. He reached up with his free hand and
cupped the man’s cheek. “I understand, sweetie,”
he murmured. “Let’s get this glass out of the way
and get me to the couch. Then we need to call the
cops.”

“The cops?” Yuma squeaked.
Hunter nodded. “Yeah, sweetie. Detective

Calamar. He’s the one in charge of finding Viktor
and his friends. We can’t let them go.”

“He’s right, Yuma,” Adam said over his lover’s

shoulder. “We need to turn these guys over to the
authorities.”

Looking around the room, he spotted a massive

snake holding Viktor captive, two wolves keeping
a terrified Donny on the ground and several
naked men. “What the hell would we even tell
them?” Hunter whispered.

Adam grinned. “You leave that to us. We’ve

had to deal with these kinds of things before.”

After a sigh, Hunter nodded. Adam lifted

Charlie Richards

Hunter  into  his  arms  and  took  him  out  the  back
door.  He  settled  him  on  a  deck  chair,  and  Yuma
tucked  a  blanket  around  him.  They  set  his
wheelchair by his  side. A  moment later, a couple
of the other guys wandered out and climbed into
the  hot tub.  Hunter  grabbed  Yuma’s  hand  before
he could go back inside for a beer for him. “Please,
check on my father.”

Yuma nodded and slipped into the house again.

Not five minutes later, he returned with a beer for
Hunter and assurances that  Walter was fine with
only  a  bump  on  his  head.  “We  put  him  in  his
bedroom.  Doc  Eli  checked  him.  He’s  fine,
honestly.” He nibbled his lip, cocked his head, and
said, “The cops are on their way. Pretty much, you
need to listen to Adam and corroborate his story.
These guys were duped by Viktor, didn’t expect a
group of guys here. They must have been hopped
up  on  something,  because  they’re  spinning  some
pretty ridiculous tales.”

Hunter nodded. “I can do that.” As he listened

to Adam spin a tale while he used his beach-bum
good looks and charm to convince the cops not to
question  him,  Hunter  realized  he  could  think  of
only  one  thing.  Hunter  wanted  to  get  his  mate
alone  so  he  could  please  him  and  thank  him  for
defending him, and perhaps saving his life.

Swimming With Penguins

Chapter Eight

need you,” Yuma stated, crawling into bed
beside Hunter.

His mate welcomed him with open arms,

pulling him close, and nibbling Yuma’s neck. His
human’s warm lips and tongue pressed wet kisses
along his skin. “Everything okay there, Yuma?”
Hunter whispered against his flesh.

“Yeah, just need to feel you,” Yuma admitted.
His mate had been so great, letting him and his

friends  take  care  of  everything.  Walter  had  been
groggy  and  hadn’t  been  able  to  be  questioned
much.  Hunter  had  agreed  with  the  tale  Adam,
Sam, and Eli had woven, telling the cops how the
five  men  had  pretended  to  be  trick-or-treaters,
knocked  Walter  out,  and  broken  into  the  home.
Hunter’s  ex-boyfriend  just  hadn’t  taken  into
account  that  there  would  be  a  group  of  friends
enjoying  a  few  beers  on  the  back  porch.  The  fact
that Viktor was already a wanted man went a long

“I

Charlie Richards

way with the police not asking questions.

Now Yuma just needed to feel his mate,

reconnect with him and assure himself that he was
safe.

Yuma found himself being rolled and Hunter

settled between his thighs. “Hey,” Hunter
crooned. “Stay with me, love.”

“Love?” Yuma moaned. His body vibrated as

Hunter skimmed his fingers over his ribcage.
When his lover’s hand gripped his hips and
rubbed his calloused thumbs in the dips above his
hipbones, he just about bowed off the bed.

“Yeah, sweetie,” Hunter crooned. “How could I

not love you? You’re an amazing, sweet, caring
man.”

He had one hell of a time concentrating on

Hunter’s words, especially when Hunter’s five
o’clock shadow scraped across his nipple.
“Oh…by the gods!” he hissed. “Love you, too,” he
managed to force out.

Hunter chuckled. “Good.”
Then his lover’s lips wrapped around Yuma’s

already  peaked  bud  and  sucked.  The  wonderful,
warm,  wet  pull  transferred  straight  to  his  cock.
His  dick  twitched  and  jerked,  leaking  copiously.
He  bucked  his  hips,  desperately  searching  for
friction.  Yuma  groaned  when  a  big  hand  moved
from  his  hip  and  wrapped  around  his  slender
prick.

Swimming With Penguins

To his utter shock, the other hand slipped

between his legs and spread cool lube over his
hole. Yuma gasped, his eyes snapping open as one
finger slipped inside him. His body tensed
unconsciously.

“Easy, sweetie,” Hunter crooned. His warm

breath ghosted over his chest and stomach as he
nibbled and kissed his way down Yuma’s body.
“Let me make you feel good.”

Yuma relaxed just a bit. This was his mate, his

love—it would be okay. Hunter would take good
care of him. “Where—” He had to swallow before
he could finish. “Where’d you get the lube?”

Hunter chuckled. “Hid it under the pillow,” his

lover admitted.

Chuckling

hoarsely,

Yuma

muttered,

“Confident much?”

A soft kiss to the head of Yuma’s dick made

him groan, almost making him miss Hunter’s
response. “Just wanted to be prepared. Wanted
you.”

“You have me.” Yuma breathed out and he

knew it was true. He wanted this man to fill him,
connect with him, complete him.

Hunter moaned softly. His lover rubbed his

scruffy  cheek  over  his  hip,  his  outer  thigh,  his
inner thigh, then the sensitive skin of his prick felt
the  scrape  of  those  whiskers.  Yuma  gasped  and
jerked,  pre-cum  oozed  from  his  slit  and  warmth

Charlie Richards

flooded his veins. Hunter swallowed his shaft, and
Yuma hardly felt the mild burn as his lover
slipped a second finger into his rectum.

Yuma rocked his hips, loving the way the burn

morphed  into  pleasant  warmth  that  spread
through  his  anus  and  up  his  spine.  He  realized
he’d  missed  this,  so  much,  but  at  the  same  time,
couldn’t think of anyone better to finally give his
ass to after so many years.

“I want to feel you,” Yuma groaned. “I want

you in my ass when I come.”

Hunter continued to work his dick, sucking his

cap,  massaging  his  vein  with  his  tongue  and
dipping  the  tip  of  his  tongue  into  Yuma’s  slit.
Yuma’s testicles pulled tighter, telling Hunter his
orgasm  approached.  Sure,  he  wanted  to  feel  his
mate  deep  in  his  ass,  but  if  Hunter  didn’t  stop,
there  wasn’t  any  way  he  could  hold  back.  Yuma
clutched  tightly  to  the  sheets  beneath  him.  His
hips jerked as he struggled to control himself.

Hunter growled, sending vibrations through

Yuma’s shaft, but just before he could come, his
lover popped off his cock and gripped the base
tightly. “Not yet,” Hunter growled.

Yuma mewled. His hips jerked. Hunter

carefully  pulled his fingers from Yuma’s ass, and
he  moaned  at  the  loss.  “Easy,  lover,”  Hunter
muttered. “Just gotta shift up a bit. Lift your hips,”
he  ordered,  tapping  Yuma’s  side.  Yuma  obeyed

Swimming With Penguins

and felt a pillow stuffed under his ass.

Then Hunter gripped his thighs and pushed his

legs  up  and  out,  giving  his  human  lover  even
more  access  to  his  ass.  As  his  mate  manhandled
him,  a  thought  forced  its  way  into  Yuma’s
sluggish brain. “Are you okay like this?”

Hunter chuckled. “Never better.” Hunter’s cock

head bumped Yuma’s stretched hole, and his lover
pressed forward. “Breathe out, mate,” Hunter
crooned. “Let me in.”

Yuma moaned, loving his mate’s words. He

struggled to control himself enough to push out.
He gasped when Hunter’s cock head popped past
his ring of muscle. Hunter didn’t stop there. He
pressed forward, and in one smooth glide, buried
his dick in Yuma’s ass, stretching him wide, filling
him so good.

“Oh,” Yuma whispered, his eyes going wide.

He  stared  up  into  his  human’s  hazel  eyes.  The
intensity  of  his  lover’s  gaze,  combined  with  the
hot,  thick  dick  stretching  him,  took  his  breath
away.

Hunter looked down at him with so much

affection, so much love, Yuma struggled to breath.
Hunter smiled. “Breathe for me, sweetie,” he
whispered.

Yuma obeyed sucking in a breath, then a

second one. He managed to remember how to do
that without having to remind himself to inhale

Charlie Richards

each lungful of air and smiled up at his lover.
“Wow,” he whispered.

“You ain’t felt nothin’ yet,” Hunter growled.
His lover moved. He pulled out halfway, then

thrust  back  in,  nailing  Yuma’s  prostate.  Hunter
grinned.  Yuma  could  see  his  mate’s  satisfaction
that  he’d  found  his  lover’s  gland  on  the  first
stroke. Hunter found a swift rhythm, pegging his
gland,  massaging  his  inner  muscles.  Just  the
knowledge that the hot, thick cock filling him was
his mate’s made everything better.

He forced his eyes to remain open. Yuma took

in  the  feral  pleasure  etched  on  Hunter’s  features.
So  sexy,  so  hot,  so…ugh!  Hunter  somehow
managed  to  slip  his  hand  between  them  and
stroked Yuma’s dick in time with his thrusts.

“Come for me, Yuma. Come on my cock,”

Hunter ordered.

Yuma couldn’t resist. It all felt too good.

Hunter’s cock in his ass, his hand on his dick and
the lust and possessive desire filling his expression
as he stared down at Yuma all combined to bring
him  off  in  record  time.  Yuma’s  balls  tightened
nearly  to  the  point  of  pain,  then  his  orgasm
bowled  through  him.  He  struggled  to  keep  from
howling  his  joy  at  the  pleasure  his  mate  brought
him. Bliss had spots dancing behind his eyes as he
coated his abs and stomach with his semen.

Hunter groaned above him. His hips twitched.

Swimming With Penguins

A  low  moan  rolled  through  his  chest  and  the
muscles  of  his  jaw  clenched.  The  dick  in  Yuma’s
ass  shot,  filling  his  ass  with  Hunter’s  fluids.
Hunter  rested  his  head  against  Yuma’s  shoulder.
His  panting  breaths  sent  warm  air  dancing
through  his  hair.  Yuma  petted  his  lover’s  back,
massaging his tense muscles.

Finally, Hunter shifted and dropped to his side.

He didn’t go far, and Yuma found himself pulled
tight to Hunter’s chest. Yuma let out a soft sigh,
and snuggled back into his lover.

“You know,” Hunter crooned into Yuma’s ear.

“I love swimming, too.”

Yuma rolled his head so he could grin up at his

lover. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Hunter eased forward and kissed his

lover. “I can’t wait to go swimming with my
penguin.”

About the Author

Charlie lives on a mini ranchette in Utah with her
husband  and  furry,  four-legged  children.  She
started  writing  fantasy  when  she  was  eight,  and
after stumbling onto her first erotic romance at age
nineteen,  she  realized  her  true  calling.  She  now
focuses on writing erotic romance, normally of the
paranormal  variety,  with  heroes  and  heroines  of
all  kinds.  You  can  often  find  her  curled  up  with
her  laptop  and  a  cup  of  tea  or  glass  of  wine,
creating  her  next  adventure.  Charlie  enjoys
exploring the mountains on horseback, 4-wheeler,
or  motorcycle.  Her  favorite  exercise  is  jumping
lessons  with  her  Arabian  gelding  Apache  or  her
Thoroughbred  mare  Repo.  And  she  can’t  get
enough  of  sexy  highlanders  with  their  kilts  and
swords. Right now, she and her muse are working
with  dedication  on  her  Wolves  of  Stone  Ridge
series and Kontra’s Menagerie series.

She

can

reached

ch.richards2010@yahoo.com

Or visit her at www.charlie-richards.com