The Feline Gaze Read online

  The Feline Gaze

  Sophie Stern

  Published by Sophie Stern, 2019.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  THE FELINE GAZE

  First edition. September 5, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 Sophie Stern.

  Written by Sophie Stern.

  Also by Sophie Stern

  Alien Chaos

  Destroyed

  Guarded

  Saved

  Anchored

  Starboard

  Battleship

  All Aboard

  Abandon Ship

  Below Deck

  Crossing the Line

  Anchored: Books 1-3

  Anchored: Books 4-6

  Club Kitten Dancers

  Move

  Dragon Isle

  My Lord and Dragon

  The Dragon Fighter

  A Dragon's Bite

  Lost to the Dragon

  Beware of Dragons

  Cowboy Dragon

  Dark Heart of the Dragon

  Once Upon a Dragon

  Catching the Dragon

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 1-3)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 4-6)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 7-9)

  Good Boys and Millionaires

  Good Boys and Millionaires 1

  Good Boys and Millionaires 2

  Honeypot Babies

  The Polar Bear's Baby

  The Jaguar's Baby

  The Tiger's Baby

  Honeypot Darlings

  The Bear's Virgin Darling

  The Bear's Virgin Mate

  The Bear's Virgin Bride

  Office Gentlemen

  Ben From Accounting

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Staff Sergeant Polar Bear

  Master Sergeant Polar Bear

  Airman Polar Bear

  Senior Airman Polar Bear

  Red

  Red: Into the Dark

  Red: Through the Dark

  Red: Beyond the Dark

  Shifters at Law

  Wolf Case

  Bearly Legal

  Tiger Clause

  Sergeant Bear

  Dragon Law

  The Fablestone Clan

  Dragon's Oath

  Dragon's Breath

  Dragon's Darling

  Dragon's Whisper

  Dragon's Magic

  The Hidden Planet

  Vanquished

  Outlaw

  Conquered

  The Wolfe City Pack

  The Wolf's Darling

  The Wolf's Mate

  The Wolf's Bride

  Standalone

  Saucy Devil

  Billionaire on Top

  Jurassic Submissive

  The Editor

  Alien Beast

  Snow White and the Wolves

  Kissing the Billionaire

  Wild

  Alien Dragon

  The Royal Her

  Be My Tiger

  Alien Monster

  The Paralegal

  The Luck of the Wolves

  Roses in the Dark

  Honeypot Babies Omnibus Edition

  Honeypot Darlings: Omnibus Edition

  Red: The Complete Trilogy

  First Shift

  The Swan's Mate

  Eternity: A Vampire Romance

  The Feisty Librarian

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Wild Goose Chase

  Star Princess

  The Virgin and the Lumberjacks

  Resting Bear Face

  The Feline Gaze

  Contents

  The Feline Gaze

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Author

  Books

  Hybrid Academy

  The Feline Gaze

  Sophie Stern

  Copyright © 2019 by Sophie Stern

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  “I’ll be your animal.” - Billie Eilish, bad guy

  The rules are simple:

  1) Don't get attached.

  2) Don't fall in love.

  3) One night only. No matter what.

  Cassidy Cambridge has made a name for herself by following these rules. She hasn't let herself get distracted by her growing desire for a mate. She hasn't allowed herself to fall for any man at all, but when she finds herself in need of a date for her cousin's wedding, every rule she's ever followed is about to go out the window.

  A dating mixer gone wrong leads to a chance encounter with someone who is entirely wrong for her, but Matthew isn’t a tiger like Cassidy. He’s a lion whose company could have an incredible impact on their shared community.

  Is Cassidy ready for that?

  Is he?

  Chapter 1

  Cassidy

  “Tell me something good,” Alastair looks up when I walk into his office.

  “The numbers are in,” I tell him. “They’re fine.” I close the door behind me and head over to the mahogany desk that sits in the center of the room.

  “Fine?” He taps his pencil on the desk before pushing away and leaning back in his leather office chair. “That’s not what I wanted to hear, Cassidy. I wanted to hear great. I wanted to hear fantastic. Fine? Fuck fine.” He throws the pencil across the room and it bounces off the wall before falling to the floor.

  Yeah, it’s safe to say that Alastair has a little bit of an attitude problem. He’s working on it, or so he’s told me. I can’t tell if it’s a tiger thing or it’s a shitty-boss thing, but he needs to get over this rage issue before it escalates into something bigger than it already is. The last thing Alastair needs is to end up like his dad. Jacob is known for a long of things, but patience isn’t one of them.

  “I’m not sure what you want me to say,” I tell him.

  “I literally just told you one second ago,” he stands up and presses his palms against his desk. He practically snarls at me. Maybe this works on other people, but it’s not going to work on me.

  “Hey,” I snap, and I step forward. I press my own palms against his desk, so we’re practically head to head. His breathing intensifies and I know exactly what’s happening. He’s fucking pissed, livid, but I don’t really give a shit. “Try again, hot shot.”

  “You don’t talk to your boss that way.”

  “Well, you don’t talk to your cousin that way,” I counter. “Or I’ll call Auntie Jean and she’ll put you right back in your place, which is the corner with all of the other bad boys.”

  Momentarily sated, he relaxes and steps back.

  “Fine,” he says. “But fix the numbers.”

  “Alastair, I’m not a liar, and I’m not a mathematician. The people in Lyon County are ready for something new and different. They’re ready to expand and grow. We’re all hurting for money here.” I take a look around the expensive-looking furniture in his office. “Well, most of us, but that doesn’t change what’s going to happen.”

  “Th
is is tiger country, and you know it.”

  “Fair enough,” I nod. “It has been for a long time, but things are changing, cousin. We have to change with the times. This county has catered to tigers and tigers alone for years. It’s time to allow some fresh blood into the area.”

  He sighs and looks at me before slumping back into his seat. I hate the way Alastair looks defeated. Stressed. Anxious. I know exactly what he’s going through because it’s what everyone who works at Cambridge Real Estate has been dealing with. The world is changing around us and we have to make some hard choices. Are we going to change, too? Or are we going to let the world pass us by?

  “Look,” I take a seat. “This is going to be fine. Our company has changed and adapted and grown. It’s made it through every possible fucked-up situation we could ever imagine, and it’s still managed to flourish. What’s so different about this time?”

  A recent poll shows that the citizens in the county really are ready for something new and different. They’re ready for new jobs, new people, and new shifters. Lyon County really has been a world for tigers – a haven, really – for many years. My cousin, however, seems to be dragging his feet when it comes to jumping on board with business collaborations that could help launch these new changes.

  Why, though?

  Alastair is usually such a go-getter. I don’t understand why he’s hesitant to start moving forward with local growth endeavors.

  “This time it’s personal,” he says.

  “What do you mean?”

  Alastair looks at his hands before raising his head and making eye contact with me. My cousin is a lot of things, but a liar? He’s not one of them. He’s always been honest, at least with me, and I know that whatever he says now is hard for him to get out.

  “I went to school with the guy who runs Ridge Construction,” he says.

  Ridge Construction is one of the biggest companies in town and is the primary reason the city is supposed to see incredible growth by the end of the summer. The company wants to expand parts of town and open new businesses, apartments, and homes that are ideal for college students and other young shifters who may or may not be tigers.

  “What? How did I not know this?”

  “Because you were off at boarding school,” he shrugs, as though that explains everything, but it sort-of does. As a teenager, my parents thought I needed a conservative upbringing. They shipped me off to an all-girls’ school out of state and left me there until graduation. I moved back later, after they divorced, and started working for my cousin and his real estate firm. The rest is history.

  “Well, I mean, were you friends?” I ask. These are the important questions. How did they get along back then? Because things are about to change drastically in Lyon County. Having someone on our side from Ridge Construction could be huge when it comes to harnessing real estate properties and bringing in tenants from out-of-town.

  “Not really,” he shrugs, and I feel like there’s more to the story, but I don’t press it.

  “Have you had any contact? Does he remember you?”

  “Oh, I’m sure he remembers me,” he says in the way that makes me think my cousin must have done something shitty to Mr. Ridge. I’m not of the impression that family members are never at fault. Maybe my cousin was a bully. Maybe he was the one who was bullied. Who knows? All I know now is that Ridge Construction is moving swiftly throughout the town, buying up lots, and building homes designed to accommodate all kinds of shifters: not just tigers.

  Cambridge Real Estate has prided itself on being a company that is tiger-friendly. The area was started by a tiger pack long ago that has grown and expanded. There are other kinds of shifters in the area, but they’re few and far between, and the reality is that almost everything is geared toward tigers.

  I don’t think Ridge Construction is doing anything wrong.

  In fact, I think they’re doing everything right.

  “Look,” I tell my cousin, pointing again to the data sheets I brought in. “More than half of the community members in Lyon County want this. They want change. They want more shifters and different kinds of shifters and they want to see activities designed for those families. They don’t want this to be a tiger-only world.”

  “What about the other half?” He asks, and I know what he means.

  He means people like his dad.

  My uncle is quite a piece of work. If I thought Alastair’s attitude was bad, well, my uncle’s is about a million times worse. Jacob happens to be the mayor, but he’s also one of the most frustrating people I’ve ever known. He doesn’t act in ways that make the community better. He doesn’t make choices that will help local businesses grow and thrive. Nope. That’s not my uncle.

  My uncle is the guy who looks out for number one.

  Well, number one and his immediate family.

  “You’ve got this,” I tell Alastair. “Your dad didn’t build this company from the ground up, cousin. You did.”

  “Well, me and Melanie,” he says with a smile.

  My cousin always gets a mushy look on his face when he thinks about his fiancé. The two of them together are, quite possibly, the happiest couple I’ve ever met. They perfectly complement and complete one another, and that’s not an easy thing to do.

  Not in today’s world.

  “Of course,” I agree easily. Melanie and Alastair are the tiger world’s best power couple. He might be a dick on his own, but Melanie manages to tame the beast that lives within Alastair. Something about her manages to soothe his terrible beast. I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to treat my cousin in a way that makes him believe in himself.

  The result is that when he’s around her, he’s happier, kinder, and gentler. He doesn’t let local businesses get under his skin. He doesn’t let the possibility of change stress him out to the point of yelling.

  “Speaking of Melanie,” he raises an eyebrow, and I start moving toward the door because I know what comes next in this little scenario.

  “Nope.”

  “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

  “I definitely do know. My answer is still a hard nope.”

  “Hey, you have to have a date to my wedding,” he says.

  “Why?” I shake my head. “Weddings don’t require the guests to have a date. This day is all about you and your bride,” I point out. “What does it matter if I have someone’s hand to hold?”

  “Cassidy,” he complains.

  “No.”

  “Cassidy,” he tries again.

  “No.”

  “Well,” he shrugs. “Then I guess Melanie is going to be very excited. You know she’s trying to set you up with Lester.”

  My stomach churns.

  “No.”

  He smiles and looks at me.

  “Then bring a date, Cassidy. You have two weeks.”

  Chapter 2

  Matthew

  “Tell me something good,” I say to Justin. Rubbing my temples, I stare at my companion. The monster headache that’s sitting just behind my eyes isn’t going to go anywhere, it seems. Not anytime soon.

  Justin shrugs and looks back at the paperwork sitting between us. There’s too much of it. There’s always so damn much. No matter how hard I work or how many decisions I make, somehow, there’s always more paperwork than when I first started.

  Seriously, it’s a bit of a fucking downer.

  “You didn’t say anything,” I point out, gesturing at the files and forms.

  “I don’t really have anything to say.”

  “Well, what do our projected sales numbers look like?”

  That’s the real question. Am I going to do enough business this year for my company to turn a profit? Am I going to be able to give my team members raises this year? How do the projected numbers look in reference to the new projects we’re working on? Am I going to be able to lease some apartments?

  “Honestly, pretty positive,” Justin says, nodding. He shifts his position in the cha
ir and makes himself comfortable. “There are a lot of new, young families in Lyon County. They want to be here and be around other shifters. We’re in a great location. We’re outside of the big cities and for families who want that shifter-centered kind of appeal, we offer that.”

  “But?”

  “But,” he says, pausing for a minute. “There are still some traditional shifters who don’t want anyone but tigers to live here.” Of course. Why wouldn’t that be a problem? It’s just my luck that the traditional generation is the one that happens to be the loudest. They also still hold a lot of the power in town, which means they’re able to keep things more or less the same. Shifters may be strong beasts of the wild, but they’re also incredibly fucking stubborn.

  It’s annoying, really.

  “Fuck, it’s like a damn boy’s club around here,” I tell Justin. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to rip my damn hair out. Dealing with shifters day in and day out is fucking exhausting. I don’t know how my vampire friend manages to handle it.

  “No joke.”

  “Well, the real question is whether they’re going to cause a fuss and give us any trouble. We’ve already started construction on the young professional apartments. Those should be done by the end of the summer, so the new college students will be able to move in as projected.”

  I hope against hope that we’re able to finish these homes quickly with little interference from the city. You never know what might go wrong, but damn, I want these things built. It’s not even about the money, although that’s nice. No, what I’m interested in is expanding Lyon County in new and interesting ways. I want the area to grow and I want shifters of all shapes and sizes to be able to live here comfortably.

  I just want everyone to be happy.

  I guess I’m kind of a dreamer like that.

  Lyon County consists of several small mountain towns. The tiniest of which is where I’m focusing my efforts on building. Tigress is only a 15-minute drive from Landmark, one of the biggest cities in the state. There are four different colleges and universities in Landmark, making Tigress the perfect place to advertise low-cost student apartments and rentals. College students who attend school in Landmark are already paying for tuition and it’s no secret that books cost roughly the same as an organ. Affordable housing is a growing need.