CatOutoftheBag

by Tatiana Caldwell

“Which doesn’t absolve him from rule breaking then, it only changes which rule he broke,” Justin quipped. “Having sex with someone outside of the Pride is completely frowned upon ’cause of the risk of contracting diseases and illnesses. Everyone is fully tested and we remain clean by keeping sexual activity confined amongst the membership.”

  “If he’s to be punished either way then let’s go with that one being the rule he broke, because I am not a member of this pride,” Sofia spat. “And I won’t ever be one if Nathan isn’t in it.”

  The five council members looked at each other then all eyes converged upon Cassandra. Cassandra took a long, deep breath then gave a single nod.

  Sofia tipped her head to the side. Was Cassandra the head cat in charge here?

  “There is a way you can atone for him, to get him reinstated,” the one named Nadia answered. “We’ve picked a different, more appropriate punishment for him that retains you both—if you will cooperate.”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Join the Pride.”

  “Fine. What does that take?”

  “Complete the induction process.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “For your induction, you need to be introduced to everyone in the Pride the way we just greeted you, in both of your forms. Then you will need to pick at least two males to mate with during tonight’s Mating Ritual.”

  “Why two?”

  “To increase the chances of successful conception, to prove your loyalty and to get you quickly familiar with as many members as possible.”

  “Can one of them be Nathan?”

  “No. He’s banned from tonight’s Mating Ritual.”

  Sofia frowned. “I’m not some animal you can just force to breed.”

  “You’re not completely human, either.”

  “You can’t force me to sleep with anyone I don’t want to.”

  “Then pick ones you do want to,” Ava snorted. “Surely there are a couple of men in the Pride besides Nathan who you find attractive.”

  Sofia’s eyes reflexively skated over Marcus’ solid, chiseled, chocolate and well-endowed body then grazed past Justin’s firm and fit physique. Suddenly she remembered that she too was naked, and she crossed her arms in front of herself to cover her aroused nipples and blushing chest, and shoved away the indecent thoughts that briefly flitted through her mind. “I don’t want to pick anyone.”

  “As one of the few highly fertile females here, you have an obligation.” Cassandra was speaking now, for the first time since she’d entered the room.

  “I’m not obligated to do shit,” Sofia spat. “What happened to it being a queen’s choice?”

  “Nathan took that choice from you when he imposed himself upon you,” Marcus said.

  “No, I chose him. And I still do.”

  “But you might not have, had you been introduced to other males. Tonight you must be introduced to the other males. Give someone else a chance.”

  Sofia laughed. “I already said I’m not interested. I’m heading out in a couple of hours anyway, what would be the point?”

  “Then perhaps you could walk away from here with a planted seed.”

  “If it’s not going to be Nathan, it’ll be no one at all.”

  “You’re expected to participate in the Mating Ritual.”

  “And if I don’t? Do I get to choose to walk away? I don’t think this pride is for me.”

  “We’d rather you not. We can’t afford not to have you—”

  “To have me rule out this pride forever?” Sofia quipped, her temper at its peak. “Because that is what will happen if you force me to hurt Nathan this way. He cares about me, yet you’re asking me to consider getting knocked up by some random man.”

  Cassandra narrowed her eyes into thin slits. “You think Nathan cares about you in that way? About anyone in that way?”

  Sofia responded to Cassandra’s inquiry with a cool, nonchalant glare as she grabbed her clothes and started getting dressed. “I was going to stay here a few more hours but I think I’m ready to go now. I’ve had enough. When you’re done punishing Nathan and you’re done trying to give me fake choices, give me a call.”

  She was pulling on her blouse when Justin grabbed her by the wrist. “Wait, Saldana, do you really want to do this?” Justin’s face was severe and he spoke in an urgent tone. “To yourself? To Nathan? Just do the ritual tonight before you go, just this once. Nathan doesn’t even have to know—we’ll move him to one of the campers tonight, make solitude this evening part of his punishment. You tell him you’re leaving, but you convinced us to let him stay in exchange for your membership.”

  She blinked slowly. “You want me to lie to Nathan, do the Mating Ritual and then keep it from him?”

  “Consider the deception part of his council punishment, which you had to participate in as part of our agreement. You can tell him after the fact, if you want, including blaming us. Continue your fling with him, if that’s what you want. But do this, join the Pride, and Nathan can stay.”

  “But I… Tell him after the fact? That I lied and screwed two guys?”

  “He’d understand,” Cassandra chimed in. “It’s Pride tradition to have sex with multiple members. A tradition he knows very well.”

  At this, Sofia rolled her eyes but she mulled it all over in her head. “You said the deception would be part of his punishment. What will the other part be?”

  “His solitary confinement tonight,” Cassandra answered. “And another punishment that I’ll determine and deliver myself.”

  “Such as?”

  “It won’t be too harsh, don’t worry. The result will be that he gets to stay. So do we have an agreement?”

  Sofia studied Cassandra for a moment, trying to read her, but the woman was businesslike and serious. Sofia wasn’t completely sold on the idea of lying and cheating on Nathan, but she wasn’t sure of what else she could do. However telling them that she agreed would at least get Nathan back in the Pride, while giving her a little more time to think of a better way to resolve all of this.

  She took in a long, deep, heavy breath. “Fine,” Sofia said. “We have an agreement.”

  “Good,” Cassandra responded. “Justin, escort Sofia to the cell to tell Nathan goodbye and then arrange to have him moved to one of the campers for the night.”

  “Will do,” Justin responded as he bent his elbow at Sofia.

  She looked up at him, saw understanding in his face and knew that she would be able to talk honestly with him, and that perhaps he might even help her.

  Sofia took his arm gratefully this time.

  * * * * *

  Nathan bit the right corner of his mouth as Sofia stood before him in his cell. The look in her eyes worried him. What was going on out there? What were they doing to or telling her? He glanced over at Justin, who was standing nearby and seeming to be keeping guard before turning his attention back to her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay, just exhausted. You?”

  “You’re leaving, I’m in a cage, booted out the fucking Pride. Been better,” he chuckled.

  “No, you can stay with the Pride. I got the council to change their minds about dismissing you. Instead they’re going to punish you with solitude for the rest of the night, and whatever additional reprimand Cassandra comes up with.”

  “How did you manage that? What did they make you agree to?” Nathan cut a suspicious glance at Justin, but he was a blank slate.

  “I agreed to join. I threatened to leave and never have anything to do with them unless they let you stay in.”

  Nathan felt the color drain from his face. “You did what? Why?”

  She looked hurt. “What do you mean why? Leaving the Pride would disrupt your entire life. I couldn’t have that happen just because of me.”

  “And I can’t have you—” Nathan paused and licked his lips, took a deep breath and paced in a tight line. He delivered his next words carefully, struggling to keep hi
s voice calm. “Who are you picking for your induction?”

  Sofia scoffed and looked off to the side. “I chose to postpone my induction, since I’m about to leave. They’re letting me say goodbye to you before they move you to one of the RVs.”

  “Stay with me another week.”

  She shook her head and put up her hands. “Don’t.”

  Nathan scowled. “If you’re not going to stay, you might as well have let them kick me out.”

  “You’re annoyed with my leaving again,” she sighed, her shoulders sagging with defeat. “Can you tell me exactly why?”

  “Because you’re leaving me here. Don’t you understand what leaving me here, as a Pride member, without you means?”

  “No, I guess I don’t understand.”

  “I’m a virile male,” he said. “There’s a bunch of pussies out there with their biological clocks ticking. I’m expected to perform in the Mating Ritual every night. After my punishment is over, they’re demanding that I participate with full enthusiasm each night that I remain here.”

  She stared at him for a long time. He waited, watching her as she kept opening and closing her mouth as if she were going to say something. Eventually she looked away. When she spoke again, it was without making direct eye contact. “Well, it’s not as if you’re collared. You’re free to do whatever you want.”

  The silence between them was long and painful. Nathan thought of a thousand things to say but wanted to laugh at himself. Here he was, the noncommittal one, ready to commit, but the woman he wanted wasn’t. He couldn’t, wouldn’t ask anything of Sofia she wasn’t ready to give. He either needed to man up and give her the space and time she needed, or not and move on.

  He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a tender embrace, his lips pressed against her forehead. She wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her face into the side of his neck. They held each other like that in silence for several heartbeats.

  “You have my number,” he said finally. “Call me sometime when you have a moment.”

  She looked up at him, her bright-brown eyes big and heavy with uncertainty. Then she looked away, nodded slightly and gathered her belongings.

  Rejected, Nathan watched her leave, dragging her bag behind her. And his heart right along with it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nathan paced around the trailer like a caged lion. It had been only twenty minutes or so since Sofia had said goodbye and he was escorted to the camper. He tried not to think too hard on how long the council was going to let Sofia postpone her induction. In his fifteen years of involvement with them, he’d never once known them to postpone an induction for a new member—let alone bypass one. They must have really wanted her in to agree to that. He imagined all sorts of future surprise visits to her NY apartment by horny Toms like Justin and his ilk. Or worse, that they would wait until the next retreat and make her join a mating ritual where Nathan would be forced to watch as part of his punishment. Just the idea invoked a low predatory rumble from Nathan’s throat, and his body shuddered as the cat within him raged to be set free, to lash out its claws.

  The door to the camper swung open just as Nathan was about to shift and have a full on kitty-fit, and in sashayed Cassandra. She closed the cabin door behind her and moved to sit on one of the bench seats. She eyed him coolly as he retracted his partially extended claws and let his paws revert back to hands.

  He wasn’t in the mood to talk with Cassandra. But they needed to talk. He licked his lips and sat down on the bench seat opposite her. “So I’m really still in?”

  “You’re still in.”

  “Why?”

  “Sofia said we could only have her if we keep you. And we really wanted her.”

  “How did you get her to agree to join? She was pretty adamant about not participating in the Mating Ritual.”

  Cassandra leaned back in the seat, placed her elbow on the backrest and propped up her head by the fist as she faced him. “Aren’t you more interested in knowing what new punishment I’ve determined would suit you, since you’re staying with us?”

  Nathan exhaled deeply and rolled his eyes but he allowed the avoidance of his question. For now. “I can probably guess.”

  “Then guess.”

  “You’re going to force me to join the Mating Ritual,” he said. “To appease some of the queens who have been asking for my attention for a while now.”

  The openmouthed and furrowed-brow expression on her face told Nathan that not only had he guessed incorrectly, but Cassandra hadn’t anticipated that being his answer. “No. Part of your punishment is to ban you from the ritual, not make you participate in it,” she said. “I didn’t realize that the ritual was such torture for you.”

  “Because you don’t know me very well.”

  “Apparently not,” Cassandra hissed. “But now that I know this, I’m reconsidering my tactic. You’re going to be part of a special, private ritual for the rest of the retreat.”

  He rolled his head. “What will be so special about it, hmm?”

  “There are three senior queens just over forty, who are anxious to be impregnated while they still can. They’ve specifically chosen you. You will mate with all three of them, daily.”

  He hunched his shoulders up and down. “You know firsthand that my participation won’t matter.”

  “You’re a virile male, Nathan,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “You need to make it matter. Your full participation is required.”

  A laugh preceded his reply. “You know I’m not interested in being a sperm donor.”

  “I’m one of the three.” Cassandra ignored his arguments. “I’ll be the first with you, starting tonight.”

  “You and I used to get along because unlike all of the other females out there, you weren’t looking to get knocked up.”

  She flashed a heated look at him and leaned forward in her seat. “What if I’ve changed my mind? What if I realized since the last time we met up that I’m not getting any younger?”

  “Then you should go on out there,” he flicked his hand in the air indifferently. “There are plenty of Toms in that room right now who would gladly screw you for the cause.”

  Cassandra got up and moved toward him then straddled his lap. “I want you.”

  Nathan glanced up at her, annoyed and disinterested. “No, you just want what I can do for you.”

  She scowled at him. “Is that such a bad thing?”

  “It is when you know that’s not what I want.”

  “You know that’s part of the grounds for you to stay in the Pride,” Cassandra fumed. “You have to mate. I can make it easier if you want, by only requiring you impregnate me.”

  “Said I’m not interested.” He shoved her off his lap and she went tumbling onto the seat beside him.

  “I know.” Her voice raised an octave. “I’m not asking to collar you, Nathan, or for you to be a doting daddy. I already know you’re not interested in such things.”

  “No,” he corrected her. “I’m not interested in those things with you.”

  Cassandra stared at him, her mouth a tight, incredulous slit as the understanding fully hit her. He didn’t expect Cassandra to take rejection easily and so he braced himself for the tongue lashing.

  But to his surprise she merely stood and straightened herself up. The smile she flashed was eerily devious and conniving. “You will mate tonight. That is not debatable.”

  He scoffed. “What makes you so sure?”

  “You asked me just a while ago how we got Sofia to agree to join us. The truth is, it wasn’t too hard. She seems to believe you really care about her. There was little she wasn’t willing to do in order to protect you. I suspect you will do the same.”

  Nathan snapped his head. “Are you…threatening Sofia?”

  “It’s a warning.” Cassandra grinned. “If you don’t comply, you’re both out of the Pride, and there’s no returning. And there’s no more protecting either one of you.”

 
A warning. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Without making further eye contact with her, he jumped to his feet. “We’re done.”

  “That’s it? You’ve don’t have anything else to say?”

  He started walking away. “No.”

  “Where are you going?” she called after him.

  He felt dirty. To the core. “To take a shower.” He went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Nathan quickly undressed and stepped into the shower stall. It was tiny and almost claustrophobic, but the steamy hot water beating down on his skin was exactly what he needed.

  Maybe he was done with all of it. It would be hard without his job, without the Pride, but the price to stay was too high—his dignity…his heart. Maybe even his honor.

  Eventually realizing that he was in the same shower Sofia had used, Nathan placed his palm on the wall and closed his eyes. He thought of her naked beauty standing in that very spot, the water rinsing the soap from her caramel skin, sloshing it down her sumptuous curves.

  He figured if he hurried, maybe he could catch a flight back with Sofia. Let her see just how serious he was about her. What did he have to lose? Screw the Pride and their myriad sexually demeaning rules and expectations, and their determination to dictate who he slept with and when, expecting him to share the woman of his dreams just because they said so. Screw the council for taking advantage of their position to try to manipulate others just so they could have what and who they wanted.

  Yes, if he left right now he could join Sofia. Together they’d figure out how to make it. Two stray cats against the world.

  After turning off the water and drying off, he looked for his clothes, but they weren’t where he’d thought he left them. He went back out to the cabin, almost expecting Cassandra to be lying on her back naked on one of the seats, or for her henchmen to be ready to tie him down and tell him to do his manly duty… But the vehicle was empty except for him. His clothes weren’t out there, either. What had Cassandra done with them, and why? If she thought being naked was going to keep him in the RV, she was wrong about him yet again.

  Nathan stepped out of the RV and instantly poised for a fight. But there were no guards or anyone at all outside his door to ensure he remained in solitude or on standby to be a male concubine.