Josie held her own, demonstrating a sinuous limberness. Her ankles were locked across the small of his back; her powerful thighs gripped his hips. She slid along his length, owning him, redefining the very act of copulation. Together, grunting and sweaty, they strained until Josie climaxed with a long wail of pleasure.
The second before his balls tightened, Jared turned his face into the curve of Josie’s neck. He snarled and his teeth flashed, ripping out the side of her throat. Her blood burned his mouth. She tasted of copper and sex and life and death. Her body convulsed with inseparable pain and pleasure as blood gushed from the wound. Jared threw back his head to release a triumphant howl and then everything went white hot as his climax crested.
****
Jared left Josie in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. She lay on her back with her hands clutched to her torn flesh. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her heartbeat labored. Cheeks wet with tears, her expression was one of pain and despair. He’d done worse than rip out her throat, he’d broken her heart.
He sank to one knee beside her, leaning over to whisper into her ear. “Don’t shift until I’m gone.” He did not apologize for being a bastard; the anger would keep her strong. The cat glared at him with baleful eyes, accusing him of being a wretched traitor. The worst part? She had been right from the beginning.
He washed in the sink and then went to the outer cell area to dress, leaving the door wide open behind him.. The black leather pants and boots were skin tight and not something he would have chosen, but he pulled them on anyway.
Jared finished rubbing the oil onto his chest and shoulders, giving up on his back with a shrug. So what if the fang gang was disappointed because every inch of him wasn’t shiny? In an hour, they would have much bigger concerns. Jared had picked up the studded leather collar to examine when Carl entered the basement. As predicted, there were two vampires with him—Evangeline and a strange male. Both of the leeches picked up on the blood scent.
“Smells like a fresh kill,” the male vampire commented, sniffing with interest. “Evangeline, you never said you were feeding your wolf live food.” As he spoke, his eyes flared and his fangs elongated with arousal.
“Jared, you finally ate her.” Evangeline smiled. The vampire wore a black gown and her chestnut hair was pinned up in an old-fashioned hairstyle.
“I didn’t leave enough for you,” Jared informed the male vampire. He deliberately did not look back, ignoring the body in the bathroom.
Carl stared at Jared with disbelief and maybe disappointment. “I didn’t think you’d really do it,” Carl mumbled, staring toward the bathroom.
Jared shrugged. “Payback’s a bitch. She had it coming and she’d served her purpose.”
“I couldn’t be more pleased,” Evangeline said, running her hand across Jared’s bare chest. He endured her molestation for the moment.
The human servant regarded the wolf for the longest time. The stench of Carl’s fear was thick in the air. “You gonna take me up?” Jared asked, cocking his brow.
“You gonna keep your word?” Carl asked, digging a finger into the neckline of his shirt to vent his sweaty throat.
“His word on what?” the male vampire asked.
“He promised to behave.”
“Of course he’ll behave,” Evangeline said, shoving Carl toward the cell door.
Jared smiled and showed fang. He no longer bothered to hide his power, allowing it to rise to the surface and fill the space. He dominated everything around him, including the vampire. Evangeline’s susceptibility to his sway made it almost too easy. “I always keep my word. Just ask her.” Jared indicated Josie. “I promised I’d make her pay.”
Carl recoiled and opened the cell door with shaking hands. The human made way for the werewolf, cringing and skulking, displaying subservient behavior. Jared decided then to let the man live. There were too few creatures who knew their place.
Carl started to swing the cell door shut. “Leave it,” Jared commanded. The human looked at him and then walked away from the door.
Jared cast one final glance over his shoulder at Josie. He hesitated and then gathered his resolve, ascending the stairs two at a time. The vampires followed him up.
****
Jared’s betrayal hurt worse than the wound to her throat. Josephine remained supine and motionless with a hand pressed to her throat, staunching the blood. The bite wound was low and close to the shoulder. He had missed the vital areas higher up.
Don’t shift until I’m gone.
His final words to her were more real than the voices not too distant outside the cell. She heard Jared and others, but they might as well have been on another world. She focused on the sound and registered his hurtful words.
Payback’s a bitch. She had it coming.
Tears flowed down Josephine’s cheeks. God, how could she have been so stupid? How could she be so naive to think for a second that the bastard had forgiven her betrayal? Her willingness to believe his lies demonstrated the extent of her weakness and neediness.
For unknown reasons, Josephine obeyed Jared and remained still, not shapechanging until the voices had grown distant, indicating they were heading upstairs.
Then she gathered her strength and rolled to the side. Free of the imprisoning collar, she slipped from her human form into feline. Unlike a werewolf, her metamorphosis was not a horrifying, bone cracking thing. Her cat flowed across her skin as fast and easy as water.
The magic transformed her flesh and her throat was healed when the change completed. Blood saturated her fur but the flesh beneath was whole. Later she would be voracious, but she was otherwise unharmed.
As a cat, Josephine weighed no more than eleven pounds. Her registered pedigree was as a seal point Siamese, which meant her points were black and her body cream-colored. She fit between the bars of the cage and ran for the stairs. Free at last!
****
Carl waited at the top of the staircase. Jared came up behind the human and the vampires followed the werewolf.
“Party is through there,” Carl said, pointing the way. “You need anything else from me?”
“No, I’m good,” Jared said. His hands turned to claws.
Carl stank of fear. With a final look, he turned and ran, departing without a word.
The vampires reached the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?” Evangeline demanded, suspicious of Carl’s abrupt departure.
“I think he said something about an appointment with God.” Jared turned and swung his arm in an upward arch, coming in low and fast. His claw punctured Evangeline’s gut before the vampire spoke another word.
“You should have followed your instincts and left me alone,” Jared told her. His lips curling back in a snarl and his eyes glowed golden. The werewolf shoved his forearm deeper into the vampire’s abdomen as Evangeline gaped at him in disbelief. Her flesh was thin and brittle so it was like ripping through tissue paper. Jared’s claw located the vampire’s heart. It was hard and shriveled and did not beat. He pierced it with his claws, dragging out the excruciating execution.
“I am Alpha of the Roanoke Pack,” he snarled into Evangeline’s horrified face, speaking around protruding teeth. He stared into her eyes, making sure she understood who she had screwed with. Only when he saw comprehension on her face did he yank his claw from her chest, ripping her shriveled heart from her body. Screaming, Evangeline exploded into dust.
The shocked male vampire reacted, hissing and sporting fangs. He swung at the dust cloud and hit Jared in the shoulder with a random punch. Arms raised, Jared plowed straight through the dust, using it for cover. Werewolf claws caught the vampire in the throat, cutting deep incisions through flesh and bone. The beheaded corpse collapsed in upon itself, sending up a second cloud of ash.
Jared emerged sneezing from the cloud and snorted, trying to blow vampire dust from his nose. His eyes were irritated and watering. He grabbed hold of the silver bracelet on his right arm and twisted the band until
it broke. Then he did the same with the other.
A scurrying sound caught his attention and he glanced down in time to catch a glimpse of a slender Siamese cat as she shot past his feet. Jared paused to watch Josie flee, figuring it was the last time he’d ever see his cat. She was free and alive. If he died in the coming fight with the other vampires, then his honor remained intact, though sullied.
Once past him, she stopped to stare back. The elegant creature was long and thin in profile. Shifting had healed the wound on her throat. “You’re smaller than I expected,” he said with a smirk. Josie laid her ears flat. He did not apologize.
A shout came from the end of the hallway and Jared turned, seeing three more vampires coming toward him. A roar resounded from his chest, challenging the vampires to fight. His pants split at the seams, falling from his body. Jared allowed the transformation to take him, embracing his very angry wolf.
He cast one final glance at Josephine but she was gone. Howling at the top of his lungs, he charged into battle.
****
Josephine slunk through the parking lot, moving unnoticed beneath the vehicles. In the distance, screams and angry growls carried well through the clear night air. More than one pair of feet ran past her hiding spot and once a car sped through the lot.
She came upon a pair of familiar feet beside a battered white pickup truck. It was Carl, making a lot of noise as he fumbled with a rifle, attempting to load rounds into the chamber. His hands shook and he dropped a handful of bullets.
A silver bullet rolled to a stop in front of Josephine. Carl stooped to pick up his dropped ammunition and Josephine froze. She had chosen a hiding spot right behind the left rear tire. If Carl looked close enough, he was sure to see her.
Carl scooped up the bullets near his feet. Then the human grunted and bent, shoving his arm beneath the vehicle in search of the missing bullet. His menacing fingers groped closer and closer to Josephine, threatening discovery.
Ears flattened, she issued a silent hiss and batted the bullet with her paw, sending it into Carl’s open hand. The man released a rumble of satisfaction and closed his fingers around the prize. The offending hand withdrew and a second later Josephine heard the distinct click of the bolt sliding into place.
Carl moved away from the vehicle, his footsteps loud and then fading as he headed back toward the house. Josephine agonized for several vital seconds. She had a good idea what Carl intended and a vengeful part of her wanted to let it happen. But ultimately, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Josephine shot out from under the vehicle and followed Carl, catching up and keeping pace.
As she rounded the corner of the house, Josephine caught sight of Jared. The werewolf had a male vampire pinned against the side of the house. An assortment of broken furniture littered the ground, the remains of a patio set. A body floated face down in the pool, darkening the pale blue water with fresh blood.
The vampire hissed and slugged Jared in the throat, causing the werewolf to gag and stagger. Carl stopped short of the fighting pair and brought the rifle up, aiming the gun at Jared’s back.
Josephine did not hesitate. She shifted to half-cat, half-human and leapt on Carl’s back. The muzzle of the rifle swung to the right and the shot went wide. Carl lurched beneath Josephine’s weight, cursing a blue streak.
The vampire leapt at Jared, attempting to secure a bite hold on the werewolf’s throat, attacking with hands extended and jaws parted wide to reveal gleaming fangs. One of Jared’s hands caught the vampire’s face, hooking his mouth. The undead creature screamed in agony as dagger-like werewolf claws punched holes in the vampire’s cheek and ripped his face in half.
Carl bucked and twisted, attempting to retain his hold on the rifle as Josephine forced his arms down. Her heart raced with the excitement of the hunt and kill. Her feline nature had been too long denied. The man’s mouth dropped open and he shouted when he realized the identity of his attacker.
“What the fuck,” Carl shouted. “What the hell is your problem, cat? He betrayed you. I’m trying to take care of both our problems.”
Jared’s claw punched into the vampire’s chest, reaching for his heart. The vampire’s life ended with a sickening slosh—a sound rather like a flesh bag full of fluids bursting. Jared’s triumphant howl announced his victory for all within hearing range.
Josephine glared at Carl with glittering blue eyes and released a long drawn hiss. “Three years of your abuse—do you recall that cattle prod? And you have to ask why?”
She drew back her arms and lashed out with extended claws. Her cat reflexes were superior to the human’s reactions. Her claws sliced parallel cuts through Carl’s throat and he died with a stunned murmur. His body fell forward to the ground.
For several seconds, dead silence reigned. She stared at Jared, and he at her across a small divide. With a snarl, Josephine tossed back her hair and whirled upon her heel. She beat a hasty retreat toward the parking lot, tail held high.
She might have saved Jared’s life, but he had not been forgiven.
****
Josephine watched the remainder of the carnage from a juniper bush, crouching on bark dust next to a sprinkler head. She moved through the grounds, following Jared from a safe distance and watching as the werewolf left a pile of bodies—human and vampire—in his wake. She saw him return to the house and emerge a short time later wearing his blue jeans.
Josephine ambushed him near the garage; an eleven-pound cat sprang out to deal a punishing bite to the werewolf’s calf through his pants. His blue jeans smelled of sweat and sex and blood from a week’s wearing without washing. He had reverted to human form. All of the vampires were dead or fled, and maybe it was difficult for a full size wolfman to fit behind a steering wheel.
She wanted—no, needed—his attention, so she leapt out and bit him and then sprang away. Hers was a sprightly spring charged with enthusiasm for revenge.
“Damn cat,” Jared said and stopped. He bent and peered into the bush where Josie had taken refuge. His smile infuriated her and at least he had the sense not to “here kitty kitty” her.
He waited and time passed. She debated whether to come out and wondered how long he would wait. He remained, kneeling on the ground and watching her with his topaz wolf eyes.
Finally, he heaved a sigh and sat on the ground. “Josie,” he said in that fuck-me voice that she both adored and despised. “Josie, Josie, Josie—you’re pissed. I get that, I do. You have every right to be.
“I made choices without asking you. It’s a habit, I suppose, and maybe it doesn’t seem fair or right to you. But I’m used to making decisions for the people under my protection. It’s who I am. I am the Alpha of my pack.
“Everything about you fucks me up and twists me around inside until I have no idea which direction is up. I never wanted to hurt you, Josie Cat. The first thing to draw me to you was your fear—I wanted to save you. I wanted to protect you—from me, from life, from everything.”
And still he waited. At least an hour had passed before he stood, dangling his car keys from his fingers. He started to walk away when Josie came at him, shifting to her cat-woman form which facilitated speech. She rushed Jared in a flurry of claws and fangs, leaping straight at him. She gouged scratches on his chest and lacerated his face without the slightest regard for his sight or his beauty. She fought him with all of her might, uncaring of whether he chose to retaliate and take her life.
Jared subdued her, pinning Josie to the ground, her wrists secured at her sides and her lower body beneath his. It was just like old times. His blood got all over her; her tears on him. His kissed her face and licked away the tears. “I’m so sorry, baby. Please believe me; forgive me. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Liar,” she screamed and sobbed. “Liar! You deceived me. You tricked me and then, when I finally trusted you, you betrayed me. Do you have any idea what it took for me to trust again?”
“You told that vampire I had it coming,” she said through her
tears. He had broken her heart. “You set out to find the worst possible way to hurt me and then took revenge.”
Jared released her hands. “I owe you,” he said, “a debt of honor. Do you want my eyes, Josie? My throat? My life?” He rolled, bringing her with him so she was lying on top. He raised his arms, hands beside his head, and assumed a position of submission.
Her skin vibrated with the force of his power. Josie stared at Jared, disbelieving, and her claw snaked out to caress his cheek. Pliant, he turned his head to the side. He did not flinch when she passed a razor sharp claw over his eye. She rested the needle point of her nail against his closed eyelid. She could blind him. Such injuries did not regenerate.
“You’re an Alpha—leader of your pack. Not just a dominant wolf, but a fucking Alpha,” she said. “Seven days and you never saw fit to mention it?”
He did not turn his head and kept his threatened eye closed. Jared’s heart rate remained slow and steady; she could not scent a hint of fear. He wasn’t afraid of her at all.
“I’m an Alpha wolf; you’re a cat,” he said. “You don’t like being told what to do; issuing orders is what I’m accustomed to. I didn’t want to make you feel more threatened.”
“Where is your pack now?”
He flashed his teeth in a wolf smile. “By now, they’ve noticed I’m missing. The pack is probably somewhere between here and Virginia, shredding everything in their path. See, there was a degree of urgency to getting out of there on my own. Being rescued would’ve been damn embarrassing.”
“I see.” Her laugh emerged as a bitter sound. Her claws retracted and his eyelid twitched beneath her fingertip. She stroked the silky lashes.
Josie couldn’t stand to gouge one of those beautiful eyes. She reached for his throat instead and settled all of her claws against vital points, considering…It was so much more appropriate. She could bite him but she doubted her mouth could damage his thick neck.
A Cat's Tale Page 7