Kontra's Menagerie - La série

On the road: Breaking down was the best thing to ever happen to him. Mutegi Atieno is shocked to discover the man stranded on the side of the road in a broken down truck is his mate. When his first assumption is proved incorrect and he learns the woman and baby with Ben Moore are not his wife and daughter, Mutegi realizes he actually has a shot at claiming the human. But first Mutegi and his friends need to save the trio from Ben’s sister’s sadistic ex-husband. It was a difficult task. The man had already chased Ben and Cassie across three states in an attempt to steal his daughter back, ignoring the court’s ruling that had deemed him unfit. If Mutegi manages to find a way to save the siblings from the madman, can he also figure out how to tell his human mate that he’s a shifter?

Detective Catlin Hill doesn't understand the instant, possessive attraction he feels for the slender John Doe in the hospital bed. But the minute those scared baby blues meet his, Catlin lets his protective instincts rule him. The guy has amnesia, and it’s only from a conditioned response that Catlin confirms his name is Gallo Ricci. After passing the case to a fellow detective, he takes the victim home with him and gives in to lust. For some reason, it doesn’t even faze Catlin when his new lover turns into a horse in his living room. When a group of guys drop by and start talking about mates and centuries of living together, Gallo has a panic attack, proving his past abuse won’t allow him to take charge enough to claim Catlin. Is their relationship doomed from the start? And what's tough enough to take down a shifter and leave him in the hospital?

On the road: A picture could be worth a thousand words, or it could be his salvation. The haunting eyes in the picture capture Caleb Belikov’s attention, and he knows he has to confirm whether the white buffalo is really just an animal, or a shifter trapped at a zoo near Albuquerque. Caleb talks his alpha and a few friends into accompanying him and discovers not only is the buffalo a shifter, but he’s his mate. But rescuing Emmett will put the lives of innocents in danger, creating a whole new set of problems. Can Caleb and his friends figure out how to keep everyone safe from a blackmailing alpha?

When Eli escorts an injured shifter to Stone Ridge territory for medical treatment, he arrives in town suffering from motion sickness. The last thing he wants is to meet his mate while praying to the procelain god, but that's exactly what happens. To make matters worse, being ill messes up Eli's senses and he doesn't recognize the cute sub as his mate right away, sending the other man running. When Eli catches up with Sam, it doesn't take him long to realize the wolf shifter has been burned badly in a past relationship. Can he figure out a way to earn Sam's trust? Or will his mate run a second time?

On the road: Sometimes the 8-legged freaks are the good guys. Haben Bello heads for Kansas to help his old friend, Wes. The human attorney deals with child custody in shifter-human cases, protecting shifter secrets. Wes needs help uncovering the true motives behind a young boy’s mother who suddenly wants custody after she’d given up all rights to him twelve years before. When Haben meets the boy’s human foster father, Lou Reynolds, he realizes the man is his mate. Lou is still coming to grips with the fact that shifters exist. It’s one thing for his son to be able to turn into a lion, but a spider? Lou may be able to accept Haben the man, but can he learn how to accept Haben the tarantula? And what about when Haben’s job in town is done and he decides to move on? Lou has a son and can’t just up and leave to join Haben on his nomadic travels. Can Lou trust Haben’s insistence that he’s willing to turn his life upside down, adopt a lion shifter cub, and settle down after nearly one hundred years of freedom?

Yuma Batacan didn’t mean to reveal that he was a penguin shifter to the human, Hunter Driscoll. But between the pain caused by a gunshot wound, the disorientation of waking in a strange place, and the thrilling scent that told him the human was his mate, Yuma couldn’t find it in him to stop the change. Now he has to convince the abused and injured human that he isn’t some kind of monster. And Yuma has to do it quick, before Hunter’s attackers come back to finish him off.

Out on the Road: Misunderstandings can happen even when no words are exchanged. That doesn’t mean it has to be the end. It’s taken over a week for Terence Williams to heal from defending his friends against an alpha lion shifter. Although he’d lost the fight, badly, Terence was saved by his mate. Unfortunately, Terence’s mate didn’t stick around to enjoy the victory, and Terence wants to know why. While Terence heals, his friends are out searching for the mysterious black lion shifter who’d saved him. When they find him, it doesn’t take long for the male to exert dominance and claim Terence. He discovers a problem pretty quickly. Perrin has never been part of the human world. He’d lived his entire life as a scientific lab rat until escaping eight months before. Living on the run, Perrin stays mostly as a lion, roaming from place to place. He doesn’t know anything about shifters or mates. Just when Terence manages to convince Perrin to come live and build a relationship with him under Kontra’s protection, the local lion pride beta, Patrick, arrives. He claims Perrin is now the lion pride’s alpha since he’d killed the old one while saving Terence. Can Terence help Perrin adapt? Or will Perrin return to the simpler life of a wild lion?

On the Road: They say what you’re missing is always found in the last place you look. Sometimes, you find it when you’re not looking at all. Kontra Belikov has been searching for his mate, Tim Laurent, for nearly sixty years, ever since he missed his chance by giving the just-of-age teen time to experience life. While heading back to his gang, he’s surprised, but grateful, to discover Tim in a small town. When Kontra pursues Tim, their chemistry is explosive, but right after, Tim pushes him away. Tim doesn’t believe they’re mates and feels guilty accepting affection since his lover of almost twenty years passed away just six months before. Frustrated, Kontra gives Tim his space, all the while vowing to get through to his mate. Space, once again, seems to be a mistake when the next morning, Kontra discovers Tim has been kidnapped. Can Kontra rescue Tim, find out why his mate’s old flock is trying to keep them apart, and convince Tim they are meant to be together?

On the Road: Sometimes, the shy quiet type, really aren’t shy or quiet at all. Payson thought he’d found his mate once, but had been wrong. With his senses screwed up by scientist’s experiments, he no longer trusts them. He sleeps with any nice smelling, willing male—and some females—hoping his hyena will want to keep one of them. He’s shocked and delighted when he and his animal are in agreement over one sexy, nerdy human—Land Zimmerman. The sex is fantastic, Land’s shy virgin playfulness even better, and Payson gives in to his hyena’s urge to mark Land. The next morning, things heat up, and not in a good way. Payson’s jealous hyena attacks a fellow pack-member standing a little too close to Land. Can Payson convince his skittish human that he’s not as crazy as he seems?

On the Road: Breaking a curse has never been so much fun… Vail Tamang is a playboy. He’s never claimed to be anything else. What he does claim is that he doesn’t want a mate. The truth is a little more sinister. When he scents Draven Mansetti, Tim’s half-vampire, half-warlock mentor, he realizes his worst fear has come true. Draven is his mate. Vail tries to avoid the man, but Draven manages to track him down anyway. He’s left with no choice and shares a family secret. His family line is cursed. Can Draven convince Vail that some curses can be broken? Or will Vail walk away before giving them a chance?

On the Road: Life is full of compromises, but the best ones allow you to end up in a better place than where you started. When Adam Kingston decides to enjoy a cat nap in tiger form, he never thought he’d be woken by the cries of young moose shifters, nor did he expect to need to save them from a douchy wolf shifter and his buddies. The day takes a turn for the better when he’s pleasantly surprised to discover the moose’s brother, Noah Oleander, is his mate. Except Noah is in the closet, is the legal guardian for his two siblings, and is on the run for attacking his alpha’s son. Can Adam get Noah to stick around long enough to find a way to help him? Or, will Noah decide it’s easier to grab his siblings and keep on running?

On the Road: Finding love can make even a little dirt and sweat okay. Rueben Malone travels to a small town in Oregon, searching for his missing brother, Ricky. Since the police don’t have any leads, he thinks it’ll be difficult. Instead, Rueben finds Ricky holed up in the same motel as him, held by a group of men hiding…something. Rueben knows his brother has crazy conspiracy ideas and wants nothing to do with them. Once he’s confirmed that Ricky’s life isn’t threatened, he decides his trip shouldn’t be wasted, and seduces the sexy, slender blond, Lamar Jaworski. Rueben suddenly finds himself ensconced in his brother’s conspiracy world. When Lamar, the one man who should be trying to help him understand, disappears, will Rueben take the opportunity to run?

On the Road: To combine two lives, first one must understand the components of each. When Ryan Carpenter realizes the scientists he works for are torturing sentient beings, he feels the need for penance in the form of helping the shifters free their comrades. To that end, Ryan heads to Oregon to offer aide in shutting down one of the scientist’s training facilities and freeing any captive shifters. He’s unprepared for one of the men, Sam Abbott, a Texas longhorn bull shifter, to express an attraction to him. Unfortunately, Ryan has secrets of his own, and knows if he becomes involved with Sam, a shifter, his own transgressions against Sam’s kind would eventually come out, destroying anything they might have built. Walking away—especially for the good of everyone—should be easy, right?

On the Road: When a meddling interloper stops a mating, Fate decides to give someone a second chance. Aaric Tamang lost his chance at bonding with his mate almost seventy years ago. Because his family line had been under a curse, he’d walked away from the woman Fate chose for him rather than put her in danger. Now, decades later, the curse has been broken, but since his mate had been human, meeting up with her was impossible. Then why does the scent of a male wolf shifter catch his attention like no man ever has before? Crain Ponders claims they’re mates, but that can’t be right, can it?

On the Road: Sometimes family makes decisions for you…and you just have to roll with the punches. Richard Ponders joins the Tamang wolf pack when his younger brother, Crain, mates with one of its members. When the pack gathers to celebrate passing the alpha mantle from father to son, naming Abbott Tamang as alpha, Richard discovers his mate is part of the Tamang pack, too … and it’s the new alpha. Sensing unrest in the pack, Richard decides allowing the pack to settle is the safest thing for everyone. Unfortunately, the choice is taken from him when Crain asks him to come over and discuss more changes in pack dynamics, bringing him face to face with Abbott. Now, not only will Richard be fighting for a position in his new pack, he needs to fight for the trust of a man he’s been hiding from for weeks. Can he and Abbott come to terms? Or will the unrest in their pack tear them apart?

As an orphan, Chip had never really had a home or even much to call his own. After being adopted, he'd hoped he'd found acceptance. Unfortunately, a year later, he shifted into his bobcat for the first time and his new parents had thought him possessed. Forced to run, Chip lived mostly as an animal for decades. Having grown up alone in foster care, it hadn't been much different and he hadn't thought it too bad...until the day he'd been captured and tortured by scientists. Rescued by Kontra and his gang, Chip finally sees the light at the end of the long, lonely tunnel of his life. Scarred, malnourished, and suffering from panic attacks, Chip struggles to get his body and mind back under control. When the gang visits a pride of lion shifters, Chip meets Grimes, who claims they are mates. Can he manage to get past his hang-ups and grab on the happiness Grimes offers him?

On the Road: Life’s blessings can come in the darkest moments. Enjoying a last hoo-rah before another tough year of college begins, Kai Sudderson and his friends vacation in Kansas. He takes advantage of the secluded pond system behind his rented cabin to go swimming…in his platypus form. Living with his aunt and uncle, Kai had never met anyone else with the ability to turn into an animal. That is, until he gets himself snared in a beaver trap and a penguin shifter rescues him. Unable to pass up the opportunity for not only knowledge but medical treatment, Kai accompanies his new friend home. There, he meets Dorian Yaris, who—despite being so much older and having such a serious disposition—calls to Kai like no other. When Dorian explains about mates, will Kai consider the bonding thing with someone so obviously different or will he deny everything and return to his former life?

On the Road: Sometimes intervention comes from the most unexpected places. Having been married at one time, over a century before, Luc Laurent never expects to find another to spend his life with. His confusion is understandable when his son hands him an extra helmet and tells him to hang onto it. Luc understands later that afternoon when he rolls his motorcycle to a stop in front of a fellow shifter’s home and discovers that the shifter’s cousin, Dylan Sudderson, is his mate. While the fact that his mate can walk only with the aid of crutches concerns Luc, it’s certainly not the deal-breaker Dylan seems to think it is. Luc is far more concerned about the fact that Dylan is human, so very young…and in the closet. While Dylan is more than happy to get physical with Luc behind closed doors, he’s afraid of losing his parents if they find out he’s gay. What will it take to convince Dylan to not only come out of the closet, but accept that Luc shares his spirit with a European Eagle Owl?

Logan St. Clair made some bad decisions and fell in with the wrong crowd. After believing a fellow wolf shifter’s bigoted opinions, he helps attack their pack’s brand new alpha and alpha-mate…his male alpha-mate. They lose and Logan is exiled. To his shock, Logan is approached by another alpha, Kontra Belikov—a bear shifter who leads a nomadic group of bikers. Even knowing Kontra is mated to a male, the allure of a new pack is too strong, Logan accepts. Most of Kontra’s pack-members are in gay matings, and Logan learns to be polite and accepting of those who are gay, even forming his own opinions. While Logan no longer loathes homosexuals, he never expects to feel attraction to a guy. That’s exactly what happens, however, when he meets Kai’s human friend, Tyson Grubler. He doesn’t understand it and fights it with every fiber of his being. Except, when Logan sees Tyson head into a club bathroom with a stranger, he loses control of his wolf’s possessive instincts. Logan tosses Tyson’s trick out of the stall and sinks his teeth into a very shocked Tyson’s neck. Realizing what he’s done—started the bonding process—Logan flees. Can he come to terms with what his wolf already knows—that Tyson is his mate?

On the Road: We always find what we’re looking for in the last place we look. At nearly three centuries old, Diego Tamang decides to take a more proactive approach to finding his mate. He walks away from leading his pack, so he can travel with Kontra Belikov and his shifter motorcycle gang. His decision pays off when he walks into a backwater town’s diner and scents his mate, Zachary Young. Quickly making his intentions clear, Diego wonders what will be harder to overcome—Zachary’s young age, or his mother’s clearly displeased attitude. It turns out, neither, for soon Diego discovers that witches may have caused Zachary’s injury, which forces him to use a cane…and Zachary doesn’t know he’s a shifter. Can Diego ease his young lover into the paranormal world while keeping him safe from those that would do him harm?