Read Southern Shifters: Lone Wolf Wanted (Kindle Worlds Novella) for Free Online Page B

or gauze wrapped around its body, but the once white skin was colored a funny yellowish-beige and wrinkled to the point of leather stretched over a small skeletal frame. The only features he found familiar were the blue eyes that he had inherited from Pearl’s side of the family and a little bun of blonde hair on top of the mummy’s head. He only knew it was Pearl at all was because the mummy still smelled like his great-grandmother.
    Ezrah knew that, more than likely, anyone else in the world would run screaming at the very sight of her … it—whatever she was now. Even the wolves who belonged to his great-grandfather’s pack would howl in horror. Ezrah was Ezrah, though, not some panicked human, confused wolf, or disgusted witch. He was a half-breed who didn’t see, think, or act like others.
    Therefore, his reaction should not have been a surprise to Pearl when he said, “I renounce you, Satan. Return back to the hell from which you came.”
    The mummy didn’t poof and disappear, but it did throw a hand towel at his head. “You’re not funny, Ezrah Crawford Goldsby. Lord knows I should have beaten you more as a child.”
    Pulling the hand towel from his face, he saw the empty space in the doorway where his great-grandmother had been standing as he walked through the entrance into her home.
    “You didn’t beat me at all, Pearl, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ezrah followed her scent into the kitchen where she stood at the counter, pouring water into her coffee maker.
    Once she was done putting the pot in the machine to start brewing, Pearl turned around and pointed a gnarled finger at him. “That’s what I mean, boy. I should have beaten you.”
    Ezrah pulled out a chair at her kitchen table and sat down. “How about we stop talking about whether or not you should or shouldn’t have beaten me and start talking about why you look like a walking corpse?”
    “I am not a zombie!” Pearl snapped back angrily.
    He held his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t say you were a crypt keeper.”
    Pearl held her pointer finger in the air as small sparks of energy shot out the end like mini fireworks. “Sass me one more time; see what I do.”
    “Put your magic away, woman, before you hurt yourself.”
    She cocked an impervious eyebrow that told him she’d had enough, so Ezrah conceded.
    “Okay, okay, I’ll behave. Now will you please tell me what’s going on?”
    The smell of coffee filled the air as it percolated on the counter. Pearl pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. Folding her hands primly in front of her on the table, she looked him dead in the eye and said, “This is all your fault.”
    Ezrah’s left eye twitched in irritation. Leave it to Pearl to drag things out.
    “So you said on the phone. Want to tell me why it’s my fault?”
    Heaving a weary sigh, Pearl said, “I guess I should start from the beginning.”
    It took all of Ezrah’s restraint to avoid saying something smart-ass like, “God created the heavens and the earth. Then he made you.” However, he must have accidentally given Pearl a look because she pointed that finger at him again with her little sparks flying out in warning.
    “When you were little, you always asked me how I managed to outlive your grandmother. Remember how I answered those questions?”
    Ezrah nodded. “You said, if the time was ever right, you’d let me know.”
    Pearl sniffed. “Seems the time has come. I guess it all started when I met your great-grandfather, Cherokee Bill. That was his outlaw name. His real name was Crawford Goldsby, and he was a rogue wolf. The man didn’t get along with that pack of his, not one bit, so he spent his time running around, robbing banks, and causing trouble. That’s how I met him, I guess you could say. He came into town with that little gang of humans he ran with, and they stayed the night at the saloon my father owned.
    “There I was, serving drinks and cleaning up because my mother was