Having His Cake
Big Easy Shifters: Book Two
Abby Knox
Copyright © 2020 by Abby Knox
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
First edition published 2018
Edited by Aquila Editing
Proofread by Kasi Alexander
Cover Designer: Mayhem Cover Creations
This second edition is re-release is dedicated to the lady who taught me everything I know in the kitchen, and the one who still makes everywhere she is feel like home: my mom.
Having His Cake
Part two of the Big Easy Shifters
By Abby Knox
Vann West is a globetrotting celebrity New Orleans chef. He has everything from superhero good looks to a fangirl in every port. But now, he’s only got eyes for one female, and a powerful need for some Big Easy comfort food.
GiGi DuGray a hardworking local cafe owner and pastry chef extraordinaire. A sassy little kitten with big dreams, she’s got no time for local golden boys, but always time to feed a hungry wolf that comes calling.
When they meet as humans, it might be more than just a party on the taste buds. There might even be a little blood. Most definitely, there will be icing. Strange things happen when the beasts are hungry.
Having his cake is the second installment in the updated and revised Big Easy Shifters series (formerly titled Her Big Easy Wedding). These titles are fun, quick reads full of heat, alpha males, strong-willed debutants, rich daddies, claws, fangs, and happy endings!
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Abby Knox
An excerpt from book three…
Chapter One
GiGi
The new moon made the silvery panther shape almost invisible as it stalked its prey through the bayou, tracking it to a bend in the waterway.
There’s no way out for you now, scaly friend, she thought. In one direction was a tangle of reeds. The other way were the cypress trees. The gator may be amphibious, but its speed was no match for magical cats. If the gator turned around, it had to go right past GiGi and her waiting fangs.
Darkness and invisibility doubled the advantage of the predator. The big cat’s huge, noiseless paws followed the lines in the mud, right up to the edge of the murky water. The gator had slithered into the black, but the feline could see in the dark; her eyes made out the bulbous silhouette of the reptile’s midsection. GiGi’s patience always won out in the end.
She wasn’t like the rest of the DuChamp panther clan. She was willing to wait for just the right moment to strike. Her cousin Rosemary enjoyed the tussle, splashing headlong into the swamp, into the bushes, chasing out her victims. She loved to run after them, she liked the scratching and biting and the athleticism of the adventure. What worked for Rosemary didn’t work for GiGi.
GiGi waited in the shadows and used the skills given to her by the shifter curse: sight, smell, hearing, and silent stalking. The others enjoyed lovingly teasing her for waiting on the most succulent gator, the fattest rabbits. But GiGi took it all in stride. She favored taste over the thrill of the hunt. As a professional chef and a lover of food in general, she knew better. Even in her panther form, her personality stayed on brand, and her patience always paid off. The flavor is in the fat, she would remind them.
On that night, she waited for who knows how long on the gnarled roots that served as her hunting perch. The frogs croaked, the insects buzzed. She’d leave the frog legs to the others; she wasn’t a fan.
She willed the gator to turn just the right way, making it easier for her to pounce. This way, chunky boy. Give up now. You’re mine.
Finally, the gator turned. GiGi pounced. A splash, a feral roar, a swatting of a leathery tail against the rushes that sprouted from the water, it would be over in seconds. Fangs the size of human fingers sank into the gator’s tender neck muscle, rendering the creature lifeless quickly and efficiently. Her claws sliced as cleanly and effortlessly as she prepared perfect cuts of meat in her kitchen.
GiGi ate her fill that night, satisfying the panther until the next new moon. She left the bits she didn’t like and trotted away to the meeting spot where she would wait for the rest of the family. The scavengers would have a royal feast, thanks to her.
The shift back into her human form happened uneventfully in the early morning hours. The family’s secret treehouse blended in with nature and provided a convenient cover in the unlikely event that there were any humans around in this remote, boggy wetland. The family knew how to keep its secrets locked down.
On the way back into the city, GiGi watched Rosemary swiping through a dating app she had just downloaded to her phone.
“Ooh, here’s one for you, GiGi,” she said, flashing her phone screen.
GiGi laughed. “I thought you set that up for you, not me.”
Rosemary nodded and kept swiping. “I did, but you know, none of them feel right to me. I guess when I see the one, I’ll just know.”
Rosemary had very romantic ideas about meeting the perfect guy. GiGi was a lot more cynical about it.
“I hope you included ‘Favorite food: raw gator. Favorite
