by Unknown
That was it—fuck!—he jerked up hard against her fur-covered flesh, grunting as he thrust into her, waves of hot, white fluid pulsing deep into her body. She mewed softly, and he felt the quivering of her muscles around him and he moaned louder as she came again around his cock, milking his shaft with a delicious, velvet heat.
When he slid out of her, she mewed again, a forlorn sound, and she turned around, nuzzling her head against his belly and chest, rubbing her velvety ears against him. Breathless, he collapsed back onto the bed and she followed, crawling up him and settling against his side, her furry thigh over his, her whiskers tickling his cheek.
He stared up at the ceiling and listened to her purr, soft now, a low, contented sound. He waited until he was sure she was asleep before he tried slipping out from beneath her. She sighed and moved around on the bed a little, adjusting herself to his absence, but she stayed asleep. He could barely make out her outline on the bed now, but he knew what he’d seen, what he’d experienced. He grabbed his clothes, tugging them on as he headed out the door.
* * * *
He sat staring at the glowing square of the computer screen. He had typed one word into the library computer’s search engine—“Bast”—and had come up with 2,940,000 results. It wasn’t long before he found what he was looking for though. He clicked over to “images” and there it was—the little statue of the cat Katie wore around her neck.
It was the only explanation he could imagine.
The page read: “Bast is the daughter of Ra, and she is the intrinsic, instinctive rage of the sun-god. Bast is his instrument of vengeance. She is the cat-goddess of the Egyptian civilization who destroys vermin, but yet, she is approachable, if you are fearless, and she can be stroked.”
He sat there lost in his own thoughts for a long time. Too long. He thought about Theo, who had given her the necklace, his keen interest in Katie. What did it mean? Would he be able to explain? Sebastian’s head wouldn’t make connections. No synapses were firing.
Students came and went. The librarian came over the speaker to tell patrons the library was closing in ten minutes. He didn’t think about Katie, alone in the apartment. Not until he pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine.
Sliding his keys into his pocket, he found the baseball cards he’d slipped in there. They were where Katie had remembered but they were too high up on a shelf for her to reach, far in the back, in an unlabeled box. The pawn shop had confirmed their worth. He was effectively carrying around $200,000 in his pocket.
He got out of the car, frowning at the house. It was quiet for a Friday night. That’s when he heard Cujo barking frantically upstairs.
When he rounded the corner, he saw Sassy sitting on the front step, licking her paw and washing her ear. That was his first hint, and it jolted his numbed and overloaded senses awake again. He bolted down the stairs to find the door wide open.
“Katie!”
He heard her crying.
Oh, thank god. He closed his eyes for a moment. She’s alive.
He ran to the bedroom, flipping on the overhead light. She was crouched on the bed, and he had a moment of deja-vu, remembering Sassy sitting on the step, washing herself. Katie looked almost the same, except that her black fur was matted with blood.
“Oh my God,” he breathed, seeing blood all over the covers. He looked her over to find where it was coming from. “Where are you hurt?”
“It’s not me.” She pointed to the other side of the bed.
As he leaned over to see, he somehow already knew what he was going to find. It was Malcolm, sightless eyes peering up at him, throat slit from ear to ear.
“What did you do?” Sebastian whispered, covering his mouth with his hand.
“I killed some vermin.” Those words jerked his head toward her, remembering what he’d found on the Internet, and he saw her green eyes flashing.
Katie’s eyes are blue.
He looked at the cat pendant hanging around her neck and then looked into her eyes, wide with fear now.
He knew what he had to do.
“I love you, Katie.”
He knelt next to her by the bed, taking her hand and turning it over, kissing a bare place on her palm where it wasn’t stained with blood. It was true, had always been true. Being with her was all he wanted to do, for the rest of his life.
This Katie was the one he’d fallen in love with, the one he’d somehow known existed all along—buried, repressed, trapped, dormant. He didn’t believe in fate, exactly, but some part of him knew none of this was an accident.
“I worship you,” he whispered, and that was true too. She’d brought him to his knees time and again, but he’d never given up hope for her, for them. “You’ve been my goddess since the day I met you.”
She gave him a small, trembling smile, the same smile he’d fallen in love with.
“Come on.” He stood and held out his hand. He knew he would do anything for her, even this, and was about to spend the rest of his life proving it. There was only one solution now, only one person—or maybe two—who could explain what had happened, was happening.
“We need to get you cleaned up.”
“Where are we going?” She cocked her head at him, ears twitching.
“Italy.” He pulled her up and headed toward the shower. “You’ll love it there.”
Look for Cat Lover (Book 2)
Coming January 2014
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Copyright © 2013 Adriana Hunter – All Rights Reserved.
All Rights Reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is strictly prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.
Chapter One
The wind was biting cold, but Caleb hardly noticed it against his blistering hot skin. Dressed only in a black t-shirt and faded blue jeans, he crouched on the red tiled rooftop of the house, his golden eyes trained avariciously on the beautiful, curvy woman who was busy touching herself in the bedroom of the house next door.
Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if Paige knew that he watched her—after all, she made no attempt to draw the curtains down or to shield herself from his hungry gaze. But from the way she pleasured herself with such complete and utterly abandon, he seriously doubted it.
Her curly red locks were spread across the pillow like an inviting inferno as she kneaded her large breasts with both hands. Long, manicured fingers pinched rose-colored nipples, and he fought back a snarl. Didn’t she realize that anybody could be watching her? He didn’t like the idea of another man’s eyes taking in her ample charms.
But then, he couldn’t really complain, could he? She wasn’t his to possess, to protect, to pleasure, much as he wished it were otherwise. This was as much of her as he was ever going to get… a pretty sad state of affairs considering he was one of the most eligible bachelors of his shifter clan. His peers always looked up to him with a certain amount of envy, thinking that he could have any woman in the clan he wanted. It would be so much easier if only he wanted any of them… but whenever he took one to his bed, visions of a redheaded si
ren with killer curves and a wicked smile filled his head, dominating his thoughts and breaking the connection with the wanton in his bed.
Besides, he’d learned from experience that a woman could nearly always tell when you were thinking about another in your bed. As a result, he hardly ever bothered to invite anyone into his bed, which was really playing havoc with his hormones. Wolf shifters needed regular sex as an outlet; a shifter who was stark raving mad with lust was not in full control, and he had no intention of letting anything or anyone cost him his place in the clan. He was destined to be made alpha male in only a short time if only he could get this red-headed beauty out of his head.
A whimper escaped his gritted teeth as he watched Paige reach for the hot pink vibrator she always kept by her bedside. He popped the top button on his jeans as she slid a hand between her legs, coating her fingers in her own sweet wetness. Because her window was open just a crack, he could hear her moans as she slid the vibrator over her pink, glistening folds. Panting, he wrapped a fist around his cock as he watched her body tremble, her tongue darting out to lick her parted lips. Her creamy thighs were spread wide, and his desire to be the one between them instead of that sex toy was so great he might have been able to teleport himself there if he tried hard enough.
Not that teleportation was a shifter ability. But he could dream, couldn’t he?
He knew she was about to come when her eyes fluttered closed, when her hips arched high and the hand between her legs began to rub faster and more insistently. She screamed his name, the way she always did, and his hot seed jetted out, coating his fingers with the sticky moisture. A snarl erupted from between his lips before he could stop himself, and Paige’s brilliant green eyes popped open in shock, her head whipping around towards the window.
Fuck.
Caleb dropped from the rooftop, landing on the ground easily. Heart pounding, he wondered how the hell Paige could have heard him. After having known her for years, he was pretty damn sure she was just a human. Then again, even humans had varying degrees of a sixth sense. Or maybe it was just bad timing.
Besides, her eyesight wasn’t nearly good enough to have spotted him without actually going up to the window. He was safe. She couldn’t have known he was there. There was just no way.
Even so, he let out a regretful sigh as he quietly stole from the yard and back to his apartment a few blocks away. There was no way she’d be leaving her curtains open now that he’d spooked her, at least not for a few weeks.
* * * *
Shaking her head, Paige drew her window curtains closed and stepped away from the windowsill. Obviously her imagination was running wild. Slightly confused, she plopped down on her bed and gazed resentfully up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell was wrong with her.
She’d been in the blissful throes of an orgasm when all of a sudden a hot tingle had washed over her, and her eyes had snapped open and fixed on the window, almost of their own volition. Something in her subconscious had fully expected to see someone there, and before she knew it she’d been rushing to the window, stark naked and wide-eyed. But though she’d pressed her face to the glass, she saw nothing but rooftops and city lights in the blackness.
Maybe if you had actually remembered to close the blinds beforehand this wouldn’t have happened.
She scowled, burrowing under the covers as if to hide away from the world. It wasn’t as if it had ever happened to her before. It was probably stupid of her to leave her curtains open so that anyone with a pair of binoculars could see her, but it gave her a secret kind of thrill to think that someone might be. To think that a certain someone might be…
Don’t be stupid. I’m sure he’s got better things to do than watch you touch yourself and pretend it’s his fingers roaming all over your body.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes, hoping to shut out her scathing internal monologue. Instead, Caleb’s face floated to the surface of her mind’s eye—sinfully gorgeous, with wavy black hair and gold-flecked brown eyes that could glint with unholy humor or soften with unexpected kindness. His nose was slightly off-center from having it broken when they were in their sophomore year, but she found that only added to his bad boy appeal. And those lips, with their slightly cruel tilt…
Oh Jesus. She wasn’t ever going to get any sleep if she kept thinking about him like this. With a sigh, she looked longingly at her vibrator, wondering if she should go another round… but the clock beside her bed reminded her that she couldn’t afford to stay up late tonight. She had to be at the courthouse early tomorrow morning. She set her alarm for six a.m., then snuggled underneath her covers, wishing not for the first time there was someone next to her to keep her warm.
* * * *
“Caleb, you’re going to be late.”
“I know, dammit.” Where did he put that file? With a frustrated growl, he pawed through the papers on his desk, hoping to find it. He’d had it here just last night.
His assistant and cousin, a slim brunette named Shana, shook her head. “I told you that you should have given it back to me before I left for the day yesterday. You always lose stuff when left to your own devices. That’s why you hired me, remember?”
“Yes, and most assistants don’t talk to their bosses with as much sass as you do,” Caleb pointed out with a chuckle. “Not to mention I outrank you.”
“Yes, but I’m family,” Shana said sweetly, “and I can get away with it.” Deftly, she pulled the file he was looking for out from underneath a phone book on his desk and handed it to him. “Now, go away and let me do my job.”
“The guards all have their schedules? And have you checked with Daisy on those invoi—”
“Quit procrastinating and go. I know how much you hate going to the court, but if you’re late the DA will seriously kick your ass.”
Caleb snapped his mouth shut, swallowing a retort. She was right, and he knew it.
“Alright. I should be back before one o’clock.”
File in hand, he left the security firm and headed downtown to the dreaded courthouse. As he drove, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would see Paige at the courthouse today. As a lawyer, she was often there, and as such their paths crossed quite frequently. Every once in a while he would drop in on a public trial just so he could watch her stride around the courtroom in those sexy heels, her eyes full of fire as she ruthlessly and aggressively defended her clients. Part of what drew him to her was her intense passion—she tackled everything in her life with that same inner fire, and he knew she would be just as ferocious in his bed.
Not that he would ever be able to take her there. Adam, the clan leader, would skin him alive if he took a human mate. It was becoming more and more acceptable amongst shifters to do so, but he ranked too high in the pack to be allowed such a choice. And he knew that neither of them would be satisfied with a fling, which meant he had to keep his distance.
Checking the time, he realized he only had two minutes to spare. Quickly, he squeezed into a parking spot on the street and jogged up the steps to the courthouse. Amelia James, the DA, was waiting for him inside… and Paige was with her. Caleb nearly missed a step as their eyes suddenly locked, a sizzling, electric current passing between them at the ocular contact. Ignoring the way his stomach flip-flopped, he approached the two women while managing not to show the hunger that he knew was sprawled across his face.
“It’s about time, Caleb,” Amelia snapped, her pale brow furrowed and her eyes narrowing with every word.
“Nice to see you, too.” He flashed her a bright smile, then turned to Paige. “And you, Paige.”
Paige’s lips, painted a light shade of pink, curved as she gave him a quick once-over, reminding him that he was a far cry from the boy she’d gone to high school with, standing in the courthouse in a suit and tie. His nostrils flared as he scented her arousal, a heady perfume that was a danger to his sanity, and he bit the inside of his cheek to try and control his reaction. The last thing he needed was to go up on the witness stand with
a lust-fogged brain and an uncooperative erection. Amelia would have his head, for sure.
“It’s nice to see you, too. I’m representing the prosecution on this one in case you didn’t know.”
“You two know each other?” Amelia asked, her eyebrows cocked up in bewilderment.
“Yeah, we went to high school together,” Paige explained. “We go back a long way.” She smiled, her bright eyes twinkling. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and greet my client. I’ll see you in the courtroom, Caleb.”
Caleb could only nod in return as he watched her walk away, but the way her hips swayed in that custom-cut dress-suit held his gaze like a powerful magnet. Amelia, sighing with obvious annoyance, gripped him by the elbow and steered him into the courtroom.
“If I catch you making goo-goo eyes at her while she’s questioning you on the stand, I’m going to seriously hurt you.”
“Goo-goo eyes, Amelia? You know me better than that.”
Chapter Two
When the courtroom trial was over, Paige made a direct beeline for Caleb before he disappeared as he usually did. This wasn’t the first time they’d run into each other at the courthouse, they had seen each other many times throughout the last year, but they’d never actually been on the same case before now and so he’d always managed to slip away from her before she had a chance to talk to him and perhaps ask him out for coffee.
She’d returned from Purdue nearly a year ago after finishing her law degree only to find out that the boy she’d gone to high school with had launched a successful private security firm and was making his way in the world of cutthroat business. She’d also discovered his incredible sex appeal had quadrupled—something she hadn’t thought possible considering she’d had a major crush on him since she was a teenager. The first time she’d seen him, dressed in a suit that was perfectly tailored to his powerful, lean body, her jaw had nearly dropped, and her heart had kicked into overdrive.