Read Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Famine [Shifters of Alligator Bend 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) for Free Online

decision to mate is a big one. You were supposed to have time to make that decision on your own. If we’d known how easy it was to mate and change you forever, we wouldn’t have let things get carried away on the dock.”
    Narcisse sighed. “It’s nobody’s fault, really. I can’t imagine you guys are exactly thrilled by being mated for life to someone you barely know.”
    “Yeah, but at least we get to keep our home,” Armand said. He immediately clapped his hand over his mouth, as though trying to contain the words, but Nelson saw Narcisse wince.
    “Yeah. Yeah you do.” She began to curl up in a ball.
    Nelson hurried to change the subject. “Narcisse, what do you do for a living?”
    She sighed again. “Well, like I said, I’m actually pretty unhappy with my job, so I’m actually looking forward to extending my vacation for a little while. I have a biology degree, but I didn’t get into any of the graduate programs I applied to. My standardized test scores weren’t that high. I know that’s not the only thing they look at, but apparently, it brought down the rest of my application enough that nobody was interested in taking me.”
    “So what have you been doing since then?”
    “I’ve spent the past year and a half lending my scientific knowledge to a patent law firm. I absolutely hate it.”
    “What would you rather be doing?”
    “Go back to grad school so I can get more research experience, and then work for environmental conservation. Heck, if I could stand lawyers, I wouldn’t mind getting a JD and going into conservation law. But I was feeling pretty stuck. Patent law doesn’t pay well for the underlings who don’t have law degrees, so I’ve been struggling to save money to go back to school. I felt like my life has completely stalled out. This trip was supposed to be a nice break, but even that didn’t go the way I planned. I’ve been spending too much money, and my so-called friends have been driving me crazy. I’m completely miserable.”
    “So you studied ecology?” Armand asked.
    Narcisse’s face finally brightened. “It was my specialty.”
    Nelson chuckled. “Maybe you can help us figure out why our fish population is disappearing. Xavier and Oscar’s mate is also a biologist. Maybe the two of you could put your heads together and figure it out.”
    “That would be nice,” Narcisse said, and her lips formed a genuine smile. But her expression vanished as they pulled up and docked in New Orleans.
    “This is going to get interesting,” she whispered.

    * * * *

    Narcisse was nervous as she led Armand and Nelson down the hall to her hotel room. She half-hoped that her friends wouldn’t be around, that they had gone out to spend some time in the Quarter after she’d parted ways with them that afternoon. Although Narcisse didn’t want her friends to worry about the fact that she’d disappeared, she was still smarting from the argument they’d had earlier that day. Plus, she had no idea how she was going to explain her current situation. If nobody was around, she could leave a note explaining things as best as she could, and not have to worry about the awkward confrontation.
    Narcisse pulled the keycard out of her still-damp pockets, and then stopped.
    “My eyes are really gold?”
    Armand and Nelson nodded.
    “How am I supposed to explain that?”
    The men glanced at each other, and then Nelson’s face lit up.
    “C’mon, let’s run back to the lobby.” He turned and hurried along. Armand grabbed Narcisse’s hand and followed.
    They caught up with Nelson in the gift shop, where he was pulling a pair of aviator sunglasses off of a rack.
    “These should help,” he said with a grin, and went to pay for them.
    “Thank you,” Narcisse said when he handed them to her. “Really, you didn’t—”
    Nelson placed a finger against her lips. “I know I didn’t. But I was happy to. I just wanna make this easier for you.”
    Narcisse gave him a small smile as she put on