1
Penny
I knew it was coming, even though I’d never experienced it before.
It was this heat encompassing me, this tightness in my muscles. It was this sensitivity in my breasts, this achiness… down there.
For days, I’d felt it, that incessant need, bringing, fire burning through my veins increasing by the second. And here I was now, three days later and my mating heat full-blown and consuming every part of me.
I was fertile yet didn’t have a mate. There would only ever be one true male for me, one single person who was born to be mine and me to be his. I’d only be able to carry his child. I’d only ever be aroused by him. It was only him and me… yet I didn’t even know who he was, where he was, or if our paths would ever cross.
My mating heat. The once-a-year occurrence that happened to a select breed of female shifters sometime after our eighteenth birthday. And I was one of the lucky shifter breeds that had to deal with this.
And here I was, a twenty-one-year-old Iberian lynx shifter who just moved to the rural, mountain town of Badlands Territory and happened to start her mating heat on the first night of her new job.
And because I wasn’t mated, had no mark on my body from my mate nor his scent covering me and letting every male know I was taken, I’d be sniffed at like a fresh piece of meat at the local market. They’d think I was fair game, because, well, they were male and they’d see me as primed and fertile. It would call to all their basic urges.
I contemplated calling off work, but seeing as this was my first night at my waitressing job at Ginny’s Bar, I didn’t think it would make me look very good.
I stared at my reflection and took note of the physical changes this damn mating heat had caused in me.
Dilated pupils.
Flushed cheeks.
Full breasts, nipples constantly hard and sensitive.
Lips looking fuller, redder.
And we wouldn’t even talk about down there. My pussy was so wet… constantly since the heat started, that I’d given up on even changing my panties. What was the point when they’d just be soaked in a couple hours’ time.
Although I wouldn’t say I was aroused-roused, as in I needed just any male to tame this heat, it was very clear my body was ready for my mate… even if it didn’t get the memo I didn’t have one.
I rested my hands on the edge of the sink and closed my eyes, breathing out slowly. I’d recently moved to Badlands Territory, a small mountain community that mainly had shifter residents. I decided I was done with where my life was going. Nowhere. So I packed up my shit, told my parents I was taking a road trip to “find myself,” and headed out on the open road. I only had a few bags of clothes, my savings that wouldn’t last me very long, but I’d never felt freer than I did when I headed onto the open road.
And when I’d come into Badlands, thinking I’d just pass through and keep moving, I felt this pull, this strong need to stay. I spent the night at the local motel, sightseeing through the town, which didn’t offer anything exciting, but still, it felt wrong to leave.
And so I said what the hell. I’d stay, if not for a short time. I got the waitressing job, found this one-bedroom house that was in desperate need of an upgrade to this century, but overall, I’d never felt like I should be somewhere more than I did here.
And my fucking mating heat decided now was the best time to rear its head and make its presence known.
The damn bitch.
I kept breathing out slowly. It helped to center me, to push the heat down a little bit. I didn't know how long it would last, but I heard a mating heat, especially the first one, could last up to two weeks. God, I hoped I was lucky and this shit was done by the end of the week at the latest, but knowing my luck, I’d have it the entire fourteen days.
It wouldn't be an issue if I had a man, a male to help ease me, to fill me up in literally every way.
That thought, those images of my faceless mate, moved through my head and I groaned. I’d never been with a male, never wanted to. I had no desire, no sexual cravings for anyone but him. And I didn't know who he was. My fated mate. If I never met him, if we never found each other, I’d forever be this virginal Iberian lynx shifter, always craving him but unable to sate myself, not even if I found pleasure and relief with my own hands.
Only he’d be able to fully ease my need.
And the very thought of any other male disgusted me.
I opened my eyes and breathed out again, feeling a semblance of calm.
I could do this, get through my first night of work while battling my first mating heat.
I hoped, at least.
2
Penny
For a few hours, I’d been keeping my shit together—as well as I could anyway. I focused on drink orders, reciting them in my head over and over again so it gave me something else to think about, to focus on.
When a human male would try to make drunken advances on me, I could shut them down cold with a look, or even a little growl with the help of my Iberian lynx rising up. And when they’d hear that very animalistic sound, they’d snap their mouths closed and leave me the fuck alone.
My tips would probably hurt because of it, but at this point, I didn't care. I was just trying to stay sane.
I looked at my watch and noticed I still had another hour to go before the night ended. Not soon enough, but certainly tolerable. I was thankful they’d only scheduled me for half a shift, wanting me to get used to the floor, the way things worked. I’d been waitressing off and on my whole adult life, so it was pretty much the same, standard game at any bar. But now that my mating heat was in full-force, I was glad to go home, take an ice bath, maybe shift and go for a run, and just deal with this away from people.
I had heard enough stories about when female shifters experienced heat. If they were unmated it was insufferable, could even be painful. If they were mated… it was one of the greatest, most pleasurable experiences of their lives.
Was I ready for children? I would have said hell no before going into my mating heat, but experiencing this for the first time, how I was acutely aware that my body was now ready to carry my mate’s young, a part of me kind of warmed to the idea of being a mother. But it was all a moot point. I didn't have anyone and so would suffer this alone.
I excused myself to go to the staff bathroom for a little breather, and once inside, I splashed some water on my face to cool down. I was overheated, and it had nothing to do with the stuffy as hell bar interior. My body heat was raised high because of being fertile, well over a hundred degrees. Beads of sweat covered me from head to toe, little specks of perspiration that were basically concentrated droplets of pheromones.
I groaned as I looked at myself.
I looked like I was ready to be fucked.
Bedroom eyes that seemed too large, too dark right now. Lips that were swollen, overly red, as if I wore lipstick even though I didn’t. My breasts seemed an entire cup bigger, pressing against my white “Ginny’s” T-shirt, my nipples obscenely poking through.
After taking one last exhale and inhale, I left the bathroom and made a round through my tables, checking on everyone and getting refills.
I headed to the bar to get another order, and when I filled my tray, I gave the drinks to the customers then went to the next table. It was a group of human males who I knew were from out of town because they talked about just passing through and needed a nightcap.