CatOutoftheBag

by Tatiana Caldwell

  Sofia reflected on that for a moment, attempting to digest exactly what it must mean for a struggling species to have one of their male members run off with one of the few potential breeders.

  “You should have shared those results with me.” Nathan spoke for the first time since they’d entered the cave and his voice was sharp and harsh.

  The brunette scoffed. “I would have, had you stuck around long enough.”

  “We were there the whole damn day. Surely you knew the results before we left.”

  “And so what if I did? I’m not required to hand deliver news to you, Nathie.”

  “I asked you not to fucking call me that.”

  Smirking, Cassandra pushed back her chair and stood up. “I’ve got to go now. We’ll inform you of the council’s decision as soon as it’s been made, Nathan. It was nice to meet you, Sofia,” she said before walking off.

  It was simultaneously a relief and a stress to be left alone with Nathan at this point. Sofia grabbed the serving spoon and dished out some food on both of their plates to fill the awkward silence. “It’s been hours since we’ve eaten. You should try to put something in your stomach.”

  “Don’t have much of an appetite,” he grumbled.

  Sofia huffed. “Please, Nathan. I still don’t really get what you and everyone else is so upset about, but I don’t want to end the week like this.”

  Nathan’s face seemed to soften as their eyes met. He sighed and licked his lips then picked up his fork. “Sorry. Guess the announcement Justin made about you just caught me off guard.”

  “So please help me fully understand what the big deal is. Is there some special expectation of me? Being an Ahfa or whatever?”

  “They expect you to personally meet each adult male here and participate in the Mating Ritual. They expect you to make it your priority to try to reproduce with a Were.”

  “Reproduce? With whom, you?”

  “With whomever it takes.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “Preferably with more than one at a time.”

  Sofia choked on a slice of turkey. “More than one at a time? Why?”

  “To increase your odds.”

  “Oh.” She chewed on the meat in her mouth and the information. So that went a long way to explaining his agitation. “If you don’t like their practices, why not just leave the Pride? They’re just like some club or cult, right?”

  He leaned forward. “You’re not grasping the full picture yet. We’re Weres. We’re not fully human. You were lucky you didn’t have any issues before this week, but now that you’ve shifted, things will be different. Your medical needs will be different. You’re going to need doctors who fully understand your condition.”

  “What medical needs?”

  “Shit happens sometimes while you’re the cat,” Nathan chuckled. “Hard to explain stuff, like the half-digested raw rabbit in your gut, or the thorns embedded in your foot. Or the injury incurred while you were in Cat that’s so severe you can’t shift back to human again until you are healed.”

  Sofia gaped. “Oh.”

  “Your employment needs will change,” Nathan continued. “Working a nine to five, five days a week fifty weeks a year won’t cut it for a Werecat. You’ll ache for time off to relax and play, and so you’ll either want to become an entrepreneur or freelancer or find an employer that allows for some flexibility. Your social life will change to some degree, too. You won’t be able to tell most of the people you know the truth of who you really are. Having this big and complex of an aspect of yourself that you can’t share with anyone, can really take a toll on you. You need others to talk to whom you can relate to. Shrinks who won’t classify you as schizo and try to drug you up or commit you.”

  “And the Pride can help with all of that?”

  “The Pride is a network. We have doctors, lawyers, schools and businesses all over the country, with resources around the world. DodgeTech is a Pride company.”

  Sofia swallowed a forkful of salad as the realization hit her—if the council decided to boot Nathan, he’d have to seek out new medical care, a new job, a new support group and new friends. His entire life would be impacted.

  All because of her.

  “Had I known your test results, I wouldn’t have even brought you back here or begged for you to stay,” Nathan kept going. “I would have let you go home in peace, take some time to let all of this soak in and then introduce you to the others later when you were ready.”

  Sofia hunched her shoulders up together. “What difference would it have made? Either way, I’d have absolutely no intention of joining an orgy or some animal gang bang.”

  “Yes. I know. Nor do I necessarily want you to,” he said, twirling his fork around his plate. “But the council just met you and they’re upset with me. They won’t like it if you reject Pride tradition.”

  Sofia crossed her arms. “What, you guys don’t believe in monogamy and marriage?”

  Nathan raised a brow. “Of course we do. But even committed couples still participate in the ritual, just only with each other.” He pointed off to the left. “You see that couple over there, wearing the black necklaces?”

  Sofia followed his finger and eyed the pair he was pointing to. A woman with platinum-blonde hair and a brown man with dark, silky curls sat next to each other, wearing thin ropes with silver charms around their necks. She recognized them as the couple she’d seen her first night there, with those matching lion-head pendants. They were the only couple making love on the pedestal in the center of the Mating Ritual.

  “They claimed each other on Wednesday night during the Mating Ritual.”

  “Does that mean they’re married?”

  “Not an official, federally recognized marriage. They may or may not go and do that. But by claiming each other, they’ve made it clear that they are a couple to the rest of the Pride.”

  “And how exactly did they claim each other?”

  “By putting their lovemaking on center display during a Mating Ritual and collaring each other during the act. It’s called the Claiming Rite.”

  Sofia glanced over at the collared couple again, who were smiling and laughing with what seemed to be genuine happiness. Looking around the room, she noted for the first time that there were several claimed couples. One by one she tried to imagine them on that pedestal, putting on an erotic show for the crowd while marking each other as their property, and mentally laughed at the primitiveness of it.

  None of this was real life, was it?

  “Sofia.” Nathan said her name so softly, she almost didn’t hear him over the chewing of her food. The expression on his face surprised her, even unnerved her a bit. His brows were furrowed and his eyes full of uncertainty. “Where do you see us going with this?”

  She blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Us. What is this between us?”

  Sofia leaned forward in her chair and placed her elbows on the table, taking a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and gravy into her mouth to buy some time to figure out how to answer that.

  There was so much going through her head. Being a Werecat, sexing Nathan, learning about the Pride, breaking Pride rules, going back home to the job she loathed. Plus she’d just met the man six days ago. How on earth was she supposed to have her heart and mind all sorted out already? “I’m-I’m not really sure.” Then there was the stuff Justin was saying about Nathan being dishonest. Was she right to put as much trust in this man as she did? She cut him a sideways look. “Are you?”

  He narrowed his eyes, studying her. “What’s with that look?”

  She forked the last bit of salad on her plate and shoved it into her mouth. “Well, I mean, all this talk about me and my fertility and meeting other men and everything—but what about you? This isn’t your first retreat. Not to mention the fact that you were here by yourself for a couple of days before I arrived. I mean, the Mating Ritual is something that happens every single night…”

  Nathan picked up his glass of soda an
d took a big swallow before he sat it back down. When he responded his voice was even and mellow, but his expression was stern and serious. “Yes, I participate in the Mating Ritual and yes, I have lovers in the Pride. In case you hadn’t suspected it yet, Cassandra was my most frequent and recent partner.”

  Indeed, her pal Nathan was honest almost to a fault. At least he was kind enough not to elaborate on how recent. She sneered into the bowl of soup she was stirring surreptitiously with a spoon. It was too disgustingly cold now to eat, but was still a good diversion from the discomfort of the discussion. “Were you, or are you two a couple?”

  “No. Never have been, never will be.”

  “But does Cassandra feel otherwise? She seems kind of jealous.”

  He shook his head. “Doubt it. She’s not the commitment type, but she is self-centered, and I haven’t been interested in anyone other than you since you came here, and she doesn’t like that.”

  “Well, I would be.”

  “Would be what?”

  “Jealous. If I were her. I mean, to lose you before I got the chance to really figure out whether or not I want to even have you…” Sofia let her voice trail off and lowered her eyes to her half-empty plate. Her stomach was twisted in knots and her face was burning hot. If Sofia didn’t know any better, she’d think she was the one feeling jealous. But what right would she have? Cassandra had had him first. Sofia had no claims to this man. So they’d learned each other’s names and then jerked each other off on a plane… It’s not as if that made her entitled to his fidelity to her after they’d gone their separate ways.

  What exactly was it about Nathan Dawson that made her so damn irrational?

  Nathan reached across the table and touched the tips of his fingers to hers. The contact made her heart all fluttery and when she looked up at him, the intensity of his eyes bore into her very core.

  “Sofia—” he began. But whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the commotion approaching them. Cassandra and Justin, escorted by three fierce-looking men and an equally menacing woman, stood around the table, looking expectantly at Nathan.

  “Get up, Dawson,” Justin demanded.

  “Why?”

  “You know why, don’t make a scene.” Cassandra scowled. “The council has made their decision. Your Pride membership has been terminated immediately.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sofia gaped for several long seconds, in shock. But then she snapped to and leapt up from the table. “No, wait!” She chased after the men pulling Nathan away. “Where are you taking him?”

  Cassandra grabbed Sofia by the elbow, holding her back. “He’ll be locked up for the night, prohibited from participating in any activities. Tomorrow he’ll officially be terminated from the Pride and revoked of all benefits and provisions. Then he will be assisted in either finding a place to stay for the remainder of his time here, or in making an early flight back home.”

  Sofia’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach. “Please, don’t do this to Nathan. This is all because of me. Don’t take it out on him.”

  “The council has made their decision.”

  Sofia snorted. “And I take it you and Justin were part of that council’s decision? I can imagine how impartial that discussion was.”

  Cassandra frowned. “I can assure you that everyone on the council treated this issue with integrity and fairness.”

  Sofia scowled. “So fair that you guys decided to condemn a man for his activities with a non-Pride member? Whom you haven’t even officially met or even spoken to in order to get her take on the matter?”

  “This isn’t about you—”

  “But it isall about me though, isn’t it? Take me out of the equation and there’s no conflict, is there? So when will someone talk to me?”

  The brown-eyed brunette gave Sofia a careful, sideways look. “The fact that you haven’t been inducted yet was discussed. The council will see you in the meeting chamber shortly, after Nathan has been put away.”

  “Where is this meeting chamber?”

  “I’ll show you the way,” Justin offered his arm with a grin. “It’s just at the end of this hall.”

  “Great,” Sofia mumbled as she went over to Justin. Stood next to him but did not touch him. “I take it you’re my designated escort for the entire night?”

  He dropped the arm that she left hanging and his expression turned serious. “Just trying to show you courtesy after my unintentional lack of it the day we first, er, bumped into each other. You were new and sexy and enticing and I lost my head. I never got to really apologize to you for that. I am sorry,” he said.

  Sofia studied him carefully. His mouth was firm, almost in a frown, and his brows were slightly arched upward with concern. He seemed sincere. She nodded and smiled at him. “Thank you. I appreciate the apology.”

  Justin’s entire body—even his aura—seemed to ease, and he gave her a soft smile that made her notice for the first time just how attractive he was. He continued to lead the way in a relaxed silence.

  The large cave the Pride had chosen for this retreat was an impressive one. The intricate details of the rock and stalactites on the walls, floor and ceilings gave the place a modest beauty, and the use of torches and candles for lighting provided a calm, intimate and romantic atmosphere. The hall Justin led her down was actually a path defined by a long row of large stalagmites that rose up from the stone floor. It was difficult to tell whether or not the curved rooms and nooks had been formed by man or nature.

  Justin stopped at the room at the end of the hall. The majority of the rooms in the cave didn’t have doors and this one wasn’t an exception. But it was made secluded due to the fact that it was alone at the end of a very long corridor.

  She walked into the room and was surprised by how underwhelming the scene was. The council apparently consisted of only three people. Or five, rather, when counting Justin and Cassandra, but there were only three others sitting together at a single round table, eating dessert and drinking wine. The room was small and almost completely dark, and they sat at the center of it with only one lit candle.

  Sofia wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but the council had sounded so ominous that she’d imagined something much more elaborate than this. The dining room she’d just left had ten times the flair.

  When she looked at the council members again, they’d shed their clothes and the two women and one man had turned into a cheetah, a cougar and a male lion. Sofia turned to Justin.

  “They want to greet the cat,” he said. “Do you know how to shift?”

  She nodded, unbuttoning her blouse. “Nathan taught me.”

  Justin smirked as he took off his clothes then changed into the mighty leopard she’d encountered earlier in the week, his golden-green eyes still seeming to hold the facial expression even as Cat.

  When Sofia undressed and shifted, her view of the dark room surprised her. Although her human senses had all been enhanced ever since she’d “awakened” as a Were a few days ago, the effect was three times as powerful when she was in full Cat. She’d almost forgotten what a dark room was like for the cat, since for the past few days she’d had the open sky above her, the sun, moon and stars to provide some source of light, and naked Nathan to provide a great source of distraction. But here in the confines of the cave, and in this room lit by a single candle, her worldview transformed right before her eyes.

  Though there was only that one little candle in the entire room, she could see everything in it clearly—even more clearly than she could see as a human in bright light. It was as if there were a flashlight between her eyes, projecting a narrow but bright beam of light wherever she looked, creating a natural spotlight of sorts on the objects she was viewing. And the distance she could see… Sofia could clearly make out each and every crack, curve and crevice in the stone wall clear across the room from where she was standing. The sound of water off to the right made her turn her head, only to see a tiny bead of condensed moisture slowly dripp
ing from the ceiling.

  Leopard Justin nudged her toward the council at the center of the room and Sofia complied. She stopped once she reached them and watched as Justin joined the other three in a line. The four of them circled her, sniffing at her and allowing their coats to casually rub against hers.

  Soon a fifth cat entered the room and joined the fray, this one a regal-looking female tiger with hazel eyes. It took Sofia a moment to recognize Cassandra’s scent. Tiger Cassandra circled Sofia with the others but didn’t touch or sniff her.

  After a couple of minutes of this, the five council members shifted back to human and Sofia was in the nude company of a redheaded beauty, a raven-haired knockout, a dark hunk with long, luxurious dreadlocks, Justin and Cassandra.

  The redhead smiled at Sofia once she too changed back to human. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sofia Saldana. I’m Ava Mayer, and this is Nadia Malaysay, Marcus Thorton, and you’ve already met Cassandra and Justin. Welcome to the Pride.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled back. “But I’m not agreeing to join just yet.” She paused to let that statement jar them a bit, casually brushing the hair out of her face.

  “Oh?” Ava’s brows furrowed with confusion. “What is your agreement hinging upon?”

  “I heard of your decision to dismiss Nathan Dawson. Seeing as how my only interest here was him, I don’t see why I would bother to join if he won’t be in it. Is there some way to keep him in?”

  “The rules must be upheld,” the dreadlocked man, Marcus, chimed in. “Nathan broke the mating rules. For that, he must be punished.”

  “Then punish him, but don’t ban him.”

  “The ban is his punishment for rule breaking.”

  “What rule did he break again?”

  Justin was the one who announced Nathan’s crime. “He mated with a Pride member before she was properly introduced, and kept said member away for days during a retreat without council approval.”

  “But I’m not even a member of the Pride! No one asked me.”