Page 2 of Purrfectly Naughty
Chapter 1
“What do you mean I’m going to a ball? Do I look like Cinderella?” Pamela Brown raised one eyebrow at her unusually perky Nari and glanced down at the precious pink-cheeked baby she was holding.
She loved little Celia and Milly to pieces and was honored when the Nari insisted she be called Aunt Pam. She couldn’t wait to spoil the little princesses when they were old enough. Even her son, Paulie, was fond of the twins.
“Auntie Pammy-wammy is gonna get dwessed up pwetty and go to a dancy-wancy, yes, she is,” Elissa cooed and babbled to the infant she was currently dressing and Pamela’s eyebrows went sky-high.
Ookaayy. Something was definitely up with the tiny blonde woman Pamela had grown to trust and love over the past year since she’d mated the Pride Neta.
Elissa was born a normal, but once she’d received the mating bite, she’d experienced the Puspa. Elissa was now the Nari of the Maverick Pride and a Tigress herself, ruling by her mate’s side.
The rare gift of the Puspa, or Change, had been bestowed upon her by the Fates themselves, doubly blessing her mating to Hunter Maverick in a way that was the stuff fairytales were made of.
Pamela acknowledged that with a wistful sigh, but the truth was she couldn’t be happier for the two of them. Their love and bond was a testament to the strength of the Pride. A Pride Pamela had once undercut with her mistaken loyalty to the former, and now thankfully deceased, Beta, Blake Segal.
Blake had been bad news from the start, but he’d fooled her and those around him. He’d caused untold damage to the infrastructure of the Pride that was being slowly mended through the efforts of Hunter, Elissa, the Pride Guards and their mates, and in a small way, Pamela herself.
Happy and grateful that she was now able to make friends with the women of the Pride whom she’d once viewed as enemies, Pamela was moving on with her life. Still, she had no expectations about her position which was why she was positively stunned when Elissa told her the news.
“I want you to go to Gerri’s party as a representative of the Pride.”
“What? No way.”
“Yes, way. You’ll drink, eat, dance, have fun! Come on, I don’t want to leave the babies and it will be too noisy for them. And everyone else is pregnant,” she snorted.
“Liss, I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. Don’t make me use my Nari voice on you!”
Finally, she caved even though it made her nervous as hell. Imagine her representing the Pride at one of the infamous get togethers hosted by none other than Gerri Wilder herself! The matchmaker was well-known and respected in Shifter circles, especially in Maverick Point. Regardless, why was Elissa on the floor talking baby talk about Pamela’s upcoming night out.
“Aunt Pammy is gonna get her stocking stuffed, yes she is!”
“Have you been around dirty diapers all day, Liss? Maybe the fumes are getting to you?”
“No, I haven’t, you just make sure Marion has time to wax you tonight. That man is a genius with the wand,” Elissa leaned over and blew a raspberry on her other daughter’s tummy, tying her little pink shoelace before reaching out to swap babies with Pamela.
“Hunter doesn’t get mad that Marion waxes you?”
“Hell, yeah, mad with passion that is. My mate can’t stand the scent of another man anywhere near me, just makes him want to claim what he already knows is his,” she held her fist in the air for a bump, but Pamela was not touching that one with a ten-foot pole.
Imagine knowingly goading a Shifter as powerful as the Neta! Damn, she admired the brass ovaries on her Nari more each day.
“Alright, I think she’s ready,” Elissa pursed her lips at her daughter and Pamela smiled at the gorgeous baby’s Christmas splendor.
Today the Nari was hosting a photos-with-Santa event at the Pride House for all the cubs and her daughters looked like little pink presents with pretty velvet bows tied around their tummies. Pamela had volunteered to help for the event, and somehow, she wound up dressed as a Christmas Elf of all things.
Her inner Tigress chuffed in annoyance at the silly red and green sequins and the white faux-fur trim that made up the costume, but Pamela loved Christmas and she was more than game.
She carried one precious infant while the Nari held the other and waited patiently for Elissa to finish explaining her nutty idea. A holiday gala? Her? What would she even wear to something like that? The Nari was clearly not thinking straight.
Then again, things always went a little sideways when Gerri came to visit, and she’d seen the Wolf Shifter’s car drive away before she’d arrived. Maybe that was why Elissa was still a little bit giddy.
“Did you see the lights Hunter and Brayden put up outside?” Elissa was saying and Pamela smiled and nodded while she chatted about the Christmas decorations.
Yes, she’d noticed, but she was preoccupied for the moment. Fear and shame welled up inside of her at the thought of doing anything to embarrass the Pride at the event. No, she simply had to refuse. It was better that way.
Up until about a year ago things were very different for Pamela. She’d been used and manipulated, passed around among Blake and his Shifter friends like some sort of possession. How could she have been so stupid?