Page 1 of Pleasured by the Panther (The Monstrum Kindred)

MIRANDA

“Hanna Slocum —you have been selected. Please come forward to be matched to your Monstrum ,” the voice rang out through the large auditorium.

Beside Miranda , her daughter stiffened, her eyes going wide.

“Oh no!” she gasped, her hands tightening on her purse. “ Oh my God , Mom —what am I going to do?”

Miranda took a deep breath and put a hand on her daughter’s arm.

“We knew this might happen—just relax, honey. I’ll handle it.”

“I… I should speak up for myself.” But Hanna looked horribly unhappy about it.

She had always been shy—an introvert’s introvert who shied away from crowds—she hadn’t even wanted to go to Disney World when she was little because it was too crowded.

She hated being the center of attention, which was one reason Miranda had come with her.

As a high school English teacher, Miranda was used to public speaking—and she wasn’t afraid of crowds.

She’d been preparing for this moment ever since her daughter had received a draft summons in the mail informing Hanna that she had been chosen for a “ General Drafting Call ” to go aboard the Monstrum Kindred Mother Ship .

It was supposed to be a time for unmarried human women to meet and spend time with Monstrum Kindred warriors and see if they might be compatible with the one who called them. But everyone knew once a woman went up to the Kindred Mother Ship , she rarely came back down.

When Hanna had gotten the summons in the mail, she’d gone as white as a sheet.

“Oh no!” she’d breathed, her voice filled with horror. “ Oh no, I can’t believe I forgot!”

“Forgot what?” Miranda had been making spaghetti in the kitchen, but her daughter’s horrified words had brought her quickly to Hanna’s side, still clutching the wooden spoon dripping red sauce.

“The Draft —the Kindred Bride Draft !” Hanna had moaned. “ I forgot to withdraw my name after Bradley asked me to marry him! And that was months ago—the wedding’s this weekend!”

Miranda frowned.

“Now, honey— I’m sure they’ll understand. We’ll just call the Human / Kindred Relations building and explain that you’re engaged and about to be married. They won’t make you bond with a Kindred Warrior when you’re promised to someone else.”

“Not just any Kindred warrior—a Monstrum .” Hanna’s eyes had filled with fear. “ They’re so big, Mom ! And they all look like animals!”

Miranda had to acknowledge that the Monstrum were rather frightening.

They and the regular Kindred were all over seven feet tall.

They were aliens who had come from another planet.

After saving the Earth from invasion, the World Council had decreed that the huge, muscular warriors had the right to call human women as Brides .

The regular Kindred looked more or less human—except for their size, of course.

But the Monstrum really did have an animalistic look to them.

They were covered in fur and had large, golden eyes.

Miranda thought the Felinus Monstrum —who looked like lions and tigers and panthers—were possibly the most fearsome.

They had long fangs and some even had tails.

But despite all that, Miranda didn’t believe in giving in to fear or hysteria.

“We’ll call the HKR building,” she told her daughter firmly. “ I’m sure they’ll understand when we tell them you’re engaged.”

But when she made the call, the woman on the other end of the phone wasn’t very helpful at all.

“I’m sorry, but if you’ve been called to a General Draft by the Monstrum , then you’ll have to explain to them why you didn’t remove your name from the Draft after becoming engaged,” she said brusquely.

“ Please be sure to appear at the downtown Hilton , where the Draft is being held in their main ballroom. You can explain there why you shouldn’t be chosen to go to the Monstrum Mother Ship if your name gets called. ”

Hanna had been so upset she’d started crying, but Miranda stayed calm.

“Honey, it’s going to be okay,” she reassured her, hugging her daughter. “ We’ll just go down there and tell them the truth. They can’t make you marry someone you don’t want to marry—you have a right to refuse them.”

“But what if they make me go up to that ship for a month?” Hanna wailed.

A month was the usual time for what the Kindred called “ The Claiming Period .” During that time, the Kindred —or Monstrum —had certain rights and privileges that allowed them to be more and more intimate with the brides they had called.

If a girl could resist, she could come back to her old life on Earth .

But almost no one managed to resist—they all stayed aboard the Mother Ship with their new alien husbands.

“Look, I’m sure they won’t—” Miranda began.

“The wedding is this weekend!” Hanna exclaimed, running a hand through her dark brown hair. “ If they make me go up there, I’ll miss my own wedding! We’ve been planning it for months.”

“I know, honey— I helped you plan it,” Miranda said dryly.

“The wedding is on Saturday !” Hanna was getting more and more upset.

“I know, honey— I know. You’ll be there,” Miranda said soothingly. “ We’ll all be there.”

Unfortunately, that included Hanna’s father— Miranda’s ex—and his new wife. He’d left Miranda for her six months ago, and the two of them were already expecting a baby.

To be honest, Miranda suspected that Jolene —that was the name of the new wife—had gotten pregnant even before Martin left her.

She was fully twenty-five years younger than Miranda herself and had an unbearably smug attitude with absolutely no shame at all about being a husband-stealing home-wrecker.

Hanna had offered not to invite them to the wedding, but Miranda knew she was close to her dad. Even though Martin had been a lousy husband, he’d been a pretty good father, and Hanna wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t walk her down the aisle.

So she’d told her daughter not to worry about it.

She would just have to suck it up and endure Jolene’s smug looks and pregnant belly and Martin’s sly, cheating grin.

He clearly thought he’d won in the game of life, getting rid of his old, used-up wife and finding a brand new one to give him a son—which he’d always wanted.

Miranda was determined to make the best of it.

She was going to wear her hair up and put on her nicest outfit.

Never mind that she had gray streaks in her auburn mane and there were crows' feet around her eyes and laugh lines at the corners of her mouth. And never mind that she wasn’t exactly thin anymore— Martin could have his young, pregnant, skinny wife.

(yes, even though she was pregnant, Jolene was still somehow skinny.

Her whole body was thin except for the little bump in her midsection.) Anyway , her ex could have all that— Miranda was determined she would do her best to ignore them both.

She told herself she didn’t care about any of it. She was just going to go for her daughter and to make sure everything went smoothly. She wasn’t even going to look at Martin and Jolene or pay any attention to them, so?—

“But what if they make me go up there—to the Monstrum Mother Ship ?” Hanna’s plaintive wail snapped her back to the present.

“They won’t— I’m sure they won’t.” She did her best to keep her daughter calm. “ Look , I’m sure they’ll understand. We’ll just go to the Hilton early and tell whoever’s in charge what’s going on.”

Not like they had time for this Monstrum nonsense, she’d thought to herself in irritation.

She and Hanna were in up to their necks in last-minute wedding planning!

But rules were rules and if a woman didn’t show up to a Drafting call, she could be arrested.

There was nothing to do but answer the summons and explain the situation.

But despite their plan to be early, they barely made it on time. Traffic and parking around the Hilton had been awful—apparently hundreds of women had been called. By the time Miranda and Hanna got to their seats, the event was already starting and they didn’t have time to talk to anyone in charge.

The announcer—an ancient-looking Monstrum Satyr who introduced himself as “ Stor’kuum ” and looked human from the waist up but had a goat’s legs from the waist down—got on the PA and explained that only a fraction of the women who were seated would be called today.

“None of you need to feel bad if your name ‘ent called, ladies,” he said, nodding his gray head—which was crowned with two thick, curving ram’s horns.

“ We’ve called you all because you’re the eligible females in this area, but only the ones the Goddess herself has chosen for her Monstrum Warriors will be called to come to our Mother Ship .

And here’s our lovely priestess, Grandmother Tigris , to call the names the Goddess gives her. ”

Miranda wasn’t sure what to think about this.

She watched as an ancient-looking female Monstrum wearing a long white robe, who had the face and markings of a tiger, came forward.

Was this all just chance? Beside her, Hanna was nervously massaging her purse with both hands, her eyes wide with anxiety as she stared at the Monstrum Warriors at the front of the auditorium.

Miranda had to admit, they were quite a sight.

There was a huge Tauren Monstrum with horns like a bull and a broad face that looked bullish too.

Like the Satyr Monstrum , he had a bull’s legs from the waist down ending in hooves.

There was also a Foxen Monstrum who was covered in red fur and had a sharp face and a long, bushy red tail sticking out of his uniform trousers.

But the Monstrum who drew her eyes the most were the Felinus Monstrum —the ones who looked like big cats.

There was a Lionus one with a gorgeous golden mane and one that looked like a cheetah with spots all over his fur.

There was one with leopard markings as well.

But the one who caught and held her attention the most looked like a black panther with gleaming, inky black fur and emerald green eyes.

Just as Miranda was studying that particular Monstrum , he turned his head and looked right at her. Her heart seemed to stop in her chest. Oh God , it was like his eyes were boring right into her soul!

No, she told herself, she must be imagining this. He was way at the front of the ballroom and she was in the back. There was no way the Panther Monstrum was staring directly at her—was he?

She pushed the thought away and tried not to notice that she was breaking out in a sweat.

Damn it—now was not the time to have a hot flash!

This had been happening more and more often lately.

Miranda was pretty sure she was in menopause—she’d been having hot flashes and night sweats for the past year.

But she didn’t need her body acting up now! She? —

And that was when Hanna’s name had been called, pushing everything else from her mind.