Page 2 of Angry Lion’s Naughty Little Neighbor (Company 417 Shifters #60)

Chapter Two

Aaron

I’m a shifter. I’m a lion shifter. More specifically, I’m a lion shifter, and I have a role of authority in my pride, which is a lot like being a remote field officer for a regimented army.

We’re not an army. We’re not in any way preparing for battle or anything but the fact remains that the number one thing a person might say about a lion shifter is that they enjoy life most when there as very clear, very structured roles and rules.

Shifters tend to say that we’re the middle management of the shifter world.

They’re wrong about that. We have a structured society, and the society is regimented and organized.

We’re not an army but when the lion shifters go to war, we’re ready immediately.

That’s what happens when you run your society in a way that makes sense.

Things are predictable. Things are manageable.

Things are as close to perfection as things can be.

We like things to be as close to perfection as they can be.

Who wouldn’t?

There’s one thing we don’t handle well, damn it. We don’t do a very good job of figuring out how the hell we’re supposed to deal with a girl loudly destroying her life in the house next door. We don’t…

Okay, screw the we thing. I don’t know how to deal with it.

It’s a damned good thing her music was particularly loud tonight, which is what got me over there and put me in a position to protect her.

Part of me thinks I should have brought her to my place instead of leaving her in an empty house but I locked all the doors, closed the three open windows, and glanced out the window of my place toward her place occasionally.

And I go back to work tomorrow. My concern is that the girl is going to get herself right back into trouble and I won’t be around to keep her fake friends from taking advantage of her. I don’t think she even knows what happened last night.

Damn it, I hate caring about that. I went over to her house yesterday just to deal with the girl.

She’s thrown loud parties pretty much every damned weekend since she bought the house a few months ago.

Damn it all, I went from having nice, quiet neighbors to having nothing but irritation. It’s insane, damn it. It’s just insane.

And now I’m worried about this girl.

Now keeping her safe is something I’m thinking about?

Damn it all, I don’t need the irritation of this girl in my life.

I certainly don’t need the frustration of taking ownership of the girl’s safety, damn it.

Well, I can protest all I’d like. It won’t make a damned bit of difference.

I’ve dubbed myself the girl’s protector somehow so now I get to be doubly irritated by her at all times.

But the good news is that uncertainty is the greatest torture a lion shifter can experience.

We’re a special breed of human and a special breed of cat.

We like everything in its place and figured out.

Just accepting that I’m now stuck as the girl’s protector takes away enough uncertainty that I can relax.

Sure, I’m not happy about the position I’m in but there’s less uncertainty.

Like it or not, we shifters have a crazy sense of honor and…

Well, to put it bluntly, we’re rescuers.

The men, anyway. That’s not just a flippant observation.

Those who choose to work in the world of humans almost all work fire, police, and military jobs.

Damn it, now I’m stuck dealing with Kelsey just because she needs rescuing.

The bright side, though, is that I’m calm enough to sleep.

I stick to my schedule even with last night’s interruption.

My alarm goes off at six and I wake up and go grab my first cup of coffee.

As I take my first sips, I stare through the window at Kelsey’s house.

It doesn’t look like anyone is up yet, but I hardly expected her to be.

With all that alcohol in her system, she could probably sleep for four days.

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but that girl lives her life like she’s the cat and not me. It’s like she thinks she has nine lives. Even when I was young and in college, I didn’t get that wild. It’s like she’s trying to hurt herself.

Whoa.

And there’s that rescuer complex again.

Well, I can’t fight it. I decide to go check on her once I’ve taken a shower and gone through my morning routine. Yes, I have a morning routine and, honestly, that girl could benefit from getting some order into her life.Everyone can benefit from order.

Anyway, about an hour and a half later, I walk over to her place and knock on the door. There’s dead silence, so I knock again.

I knock a third time and I’m just about ready to check for a way in when the door creaks open and Kelsey is standing there, blinking in the early morning sunlight.

I’m happy to report that she’s wearing a bath robe, a huge improvement on the Emperess’s new clothes look she was sporting last night when I found her.

“What do you need?”

She says it in kind of a surly tone, and I must admit that it makes me a bit angry. “Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“What do you mean? Am I bothering you in some way?”

“No, I ...”

“Because I was asleep just nine seconds ago, so I wasn’t doing anything to you.”

“I didn’t say that you ...”

“Well, I’m just preempting your little speech about my degenerate lifestyle and how it ruins your quiet evenings.”

My blood starts boiling, and I fight to keep it a low simmer. “You know, Kelsey, it might do you some good to drop the hip chick act and just grow up a little. I wasn’t trying to come over here and ...”

“I don’t give a fuck why you came over here. You bug me every damned day about something, so today shouldn’t be any different, right? Look, I had a pretty rough night, which ought to make you happy, and I’d like to rest today without having my neighbor breathing down my throat about ...”

I look at her and I want to just shake her. Who the hell does she think she is, treating me this way when I saved her damn life last night?

“I should’ve thrown you in the pool instead of putting you to bed.”

She stops talking and just stares at me. I see some thought being chased down but he head is too muddled at the moment to chase it down. And that is the final nail in the neighborly coffin.

I turn and walk off her porch, leaving her staring after me. I head back to my house and don’t bother to look back to see if she’s still standing on her porch like some Disney animatronic. I don’t look because I’m afraid that some part of me wants to see her still standing there.

Damn! Why do I have to rescue every stray?