Cat on the Fence

by Tatiana Caldwell

  The wolf-man stumbled a bit in alarm. Then he sniffed at her, circling her, while she once again deliberated fleeing or staying. Could a Werewolf be reasoned with? Having never encountered one in person before, Karabi didn’t know much about Werewolves beyond the stories she’d heard in school. Cats and Wolves did not get along. A Cat and a Werewolf were evenly matched. Wolves didn’t reproduce the way Cats did. Unlike Cats, Wolves couldn’t control when they shape-shifted. Wolves were crazy and killed for no reason.

  She watched with disgust and dread as this one continued to sniff at her while developing a huge, menacing erection. Maybe they didn’t reproduce the way normal mammals did but this one was apparently quite interested in trying. Another sign that this could be her horny Alex.

  But then the Wolf grabbed at her, snatched her to him and licked sloppily at the side of her face. She cringed, revolted. Eww! If this really was Alexander, a relationship with him definitely wasn’t going to work.

  “Let go of me!”

  The beast made a noise that sounded like a mix between a whinny and a laugh. It made her skin crawl and didn’t remind her of anything like the Alex she knew. The wolf snatched her, threw her over his shoulder and began bounding down the alley.

  Shit, she thought. I’m going to have to mess up this pretty little dress and fight this beast off. She partially shifted her hands into paws and dug her nails into the Werewolf’s back. He howled and tossed her off him, and she hit the side of the building before landing in the snow. Head pounding with pain and ears ringing, she was stunned for a moment, her eyes fluttering to remain open. When the world stopped spinning a few seconds later her canine attacker was standing in front her with a couple of his buddies. That was when Karabi finally began to feel real fear. She got onto her hands and knees, preparing to shape-shift so she could fight as the cheetah.

  But then there was a ruckus coming from the other end of the alley as tin cans and glass bottles were knocked about, and the thudding of paws could be heard in the snow. Something was coming. The three Werewolves turned their attention that way and Karabi used the opportunity to scurry to her feet and dash out the opposite end of the alley, yelling for help. There was no way she could take on those three big guys and possibly a fourth all by herself. She was also pretty certain at this point that Alex wasn’t one of the Three Stooges and could likely have fallen victim to them.

  Karabi yanked her purse off the ground where she’d dropped it and had snatched out her phone and was dialing for help when she heard the growling, snarling, roaring and hissing. Wait…roaring and hissing? She stopped dead in her tracks. Was there a big cat in the alley with those Werewolves? She turned around and headed back to the alley as she spoke into the phone, telling the zoo guards that she suspected a wild animal attack on Jackson between Wells and Franklin Street, and that they needed to send wildlife control right away.

  When she made it back to her alley she saw a tiger and a Werewolf fighting, a second wolf hobbling on the ground and a third wolf charging the tiger. Her nose picked up the scent of something else strange nearby. Another Cat? She peered on top of the roof of the building next to them and could barely make out a hooded shadow. But she could see when it pulled out a gun just before it fired a warning shot straight into the air. The two wolves dropped the cat and went running off, and the injured wolf scampered away as quickly as he could, with the shadowy figure bounding after them. The tiger gave off one last threatening roar before falling to the ground and going completely still.

  Karabi’s heart sank. She could not take the sight of an injured cat, stray or not. There was no time to wait for wildlife control. She ran over to the animal and kneeled down to examine him. He was definitely a tiger but no ordinary one. She recognized the scent immediately. He was a Were. Where had he come from? He was bleeding profusely and breathing heavily.

  “It’s okay, big guy.” Karabi pulled off her scarf and pressed it against the wound on the cat’s side. “I’ve got you.”

  The tiger opened his eyes and looked up at her, sad and pained, and she gasped at how steel-gray and familiar they were. Then the striped beast gently put his paw in her hand—as if to hold it—and chuffed in contentment, and she was almost certain.

  This injured Werecat was Alex McClellan.

  Chapter Six

  Karabi watched the tiger in his sleep. Fortunately his wounds weren’t too severe. She had given him a thorough check as soon as they’d brought him into the zoo’s recovery room three days ago, stitched and bandaged him up, given him some antibiotics and pain meds. It was a good thing they had the big-cat experts onboard helping Musaka and Kimba. Karabi had everything she needed. She’d insisted on taking care of this animal by herself in an isolated room, much to the chagrin of the already stressed and overburdened medical staff, but they had given in to her passionate demand. Karabi couldn’t risk Alexander transforming back into a human in front of them. The scandal that would cause—not to mention the feathers that would be ruffled amongst the Pride—would be not be good.

  If this really was Alex.

  After the attack in the alley, animal control had shown up, ready to capture a wild animal. They’d sedated the tiger, lifted him into the wagon and allowed Karabi to sit in the back with him. She’d used the opportunity to cover the tiger with a blanket and kept whispering to him to remain in feline form, hoping he would hear and understand if he was indeed who she thought. When he didn’t respond with even the movement of his head or a twitch of his whiskers and just stared back at her with the dazed look of an injured and drugged kitty, she wondered if she was right about this animal’s identity after all.

  That was on Friday, over forty-eight hours ago. It was now Monday and the tiger was still just a tiger—albeit an unusually large one with gray eyes that seemed to possess extraordinary intelligence. He was confused and scared, and although he eagerly drank water, he seemed reluctant to eat. Whether this tiger was a shape-shifter or not, if he didn’t eat more soon he wasn’t ever going to get better. Meanwhile, Alexander McClellan was still missing. It was getting late in the morning and he hadn’t shown up to work yet. Very unusual for him and not a good look.

  Karabi told the Operations Manager, Kevin, that Alex had gotten ill at the ball from something he’d eaten and she suspected he was still sick and just hadn’t managed to call yet. She was sure he’d call soon, she’d told Kevin. She quietly hoped one of two things would happen today—either Alex would be calling them any minute to say he was actually lying in some hospital bed somewhere…or this cat really was Alex and he would be feeling well enough to shift back to human, with some coaxing from Karabi, any minute now.

  And Karabi was really hoping scenario number two was the correct one. Before animal control had come to the scene on Friday she’d hurried back to collect the clothes she’d found in the Willis Tower elevator and outside on the ground. When she found the phone in the pants pocket and checked it, she discovered that it was indeed Alex’s phone. So if this cat wasn’t Alex—just too injured to shift back to human form—then Alex might be somewhere in serious trouble and she hadn’t the foggiest idea of where to look or who she would go to for help.

  She’d kept the tiger sedated most of the weekend. Every time he woke he was famished. He’d start to devour the food she’d laid out for him but soon he’d freak out and swipe and roar angrily at the dish as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just eaten. The other staff members would come running to see if she needed help, worried that this “stray” was a danger, and each time she’d quickly sedate the beast and convince them that she had a handle on it.

  But today she needed him to wake without causing a commotion. Karabi gently nudged the tiger until he lifted his head, stretched out his front legs and yawned big and wide. Then he stared at his splayed paws in what seemed to be utter confusion before jerking upright and quickly backing into a corner of the room. If she didn’t know better she’d say this cat was terrified of himself. Could it be possible that Alex didn�
�t know he was a Werecat and had never shifted before Friday?

  Carefully Karabi approached him. She had a sedative ready just in case, hidden in her lab coat pocket, and slowly, carefully, kneeled down before the snarling beast.

  “Please, don’t freak out. Listen to the sound of my voice. It’s me, Karabi. Do you recognize me?” She spoke softly, sweetly. The tiger kept his gaze on the floor, refusing to look up at her, growling and swaying his head from side to side.

  She reached out and rubbed the tiger’s back. He winced but did not try to stop her or attack. “Alex… Is that you? I really need to know. If you are Alexander McClellan, please nod your head.”

  The cat finally looked up at her and stared for a moment. She waited, holding her breath. The tiger moved his head up and down so subtly that she wasn’t sure whether it was a nod or not.

  “Is that a yes?”

  He moved his head up and down again, a little more affirmatively this time. However Karabi still wasn’t fully convinced, so she tried another approach. “If you are Alexander McClellan, wink your left eye at me.” When he complied she added, “Now your right one.” When he successfully responded to both commands she dove into his furry body and wrapped her arms around his thick neck, hugging him tightly.

  “Oh thank goodness—I’ve been so worried that you were out there somewhere, sick or hurt or killed!” She must have squeezed too tightly because the tiger growled irritably. But then he rubbed his head against her chin once she loosened her grip.

  “Is this your first time being in Cat?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you know that you were a Werecat?”

  He shook his head.

  Karabi bit the side of her lip. Most Werecats shape-shifted into their Cat for the first time after they hit puberty. The hormones that helped to transform their child’s body into that of a sexually mature adult also provided the ability to transform their human body into their Cat one and then back again. In high school she’d heard a little bit about Werecats that didn’t gain the ability to shape-shift until much later—some not until their twenties, or thirties, even a few not until early forties. They were called “Late Bloomers”. Some had no clue they were shifters at all until after their first surprising transformation, triggered by an encounter with the sexual hormones of another Werecat. Karabi made a mental note to find out more about Late Bloomers when she had some time.

  “Listen, Alex, I need to know if you can change back to human. If so, you need to be very careful about the place and time you do it. The authorities are already trying to figure out where your tiger came from, thinking someone illegally smuggled you in or that you escaped from a circus or some other zoo. And everyone’s wondering where human Alex is.”

  The striped cat shook his head and started to roar.

  “Shh, quiet,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else coming in here. Do you know how to shape-shift?”

  He shook his head again.

  Karabi sighed. “Maybe it’s a good thing that you can’t shift. I need you to stay in this form until I can figure out a plan to explain a missing tiger.” Cat Alex continued to move his head from side to side as if distraught. That was when the idea came to Karabi. She got up, locked the door and pushed one of the shelves in front of it, just in case someone tried to come in before she was done.

  She stripped off her clothes and then stood in front of the tiger. He stopped shaking and looked up at her naked body, wide-eyed.

  “You’re not alone in this, Alex. Watch.” Karabi shifted. Once she was fully cheetah she pranced around the room in front of Alex, letting him see that this wasn’t a trick. She went over to him, rubbed her nose against his and licked the white fur beard that framed the bottom half of his face. The whole time he sat still, quietly watching her.

  Karabi felt a conflicting mixture of embarrassment, relief, fear and excitement. When was the last time she shifted to Cat in front of someone else? Alex’s cat species was much larger than hers but she didn’t mind. He was so big, warm, soft, gentle mannered…and a little bit broken. She couldn’t help but nuzzle up against him. It felt really good to let another person see the other half of her true self again. Especially this person.

  She transformed back to human and sat next to him, not caring that she was still completely nude. She rubbed her fingers on the top of his head and scratched between his ears. He pushed his head against her hand, reveling in the touch. Soon he was lying on his back with his large head in her lap and all four paws up in the air. Karabi laughed at him.

  “You’ve got this part of being a cat down already,” she said. She scratched at the fur underneath his chin, then moved her hands along his firm, fuzzy chest. Down lower still until she got to his stomach. She patted and scratched at his belly and he squirmed happily on his back, extending his spine fully to allow her full access.

  “Come back to me, Alex,” she said softly as she rubbed him. “You need to control your shifting. Think about being human. Think about coming back to me. I can’t kiss you while you’re Cat. It wouldn’t be as much fun to pet you all over like this as it would if you were a man, either.” She let her hand slip farther down his abdomen, teasingly close to his penis but never going all the way there.

  Suddenly he began to transform. Karabi continued to rub his belly until there was a nude man in her bare lap looking up at her, with sultry gray eyes underneath thick, dark brows. His curls were a messy pile of lushness on his head and he had three days’ worth of sexy, masculine stubble. Karabi carried her gaze down to take in his well-defined shoulders and arms, a chest that wasn’t too chiseled but still nice and fit, and adorned with light tufts of hair at the very top and a long strip that traced down between his pectorals and stopped at his bellybutton. His abs were also fit but with just a tiny bit of flab at the bottom that she playfully tugged at right now. She smiled softly at the discovery that his bellybutton was an outtie. His body tapered nicely to his waistline, which at the moment was dominated by his growing erection. She tried not to stare too hard at it but it was a beautiful cock—circumcised and curved slightly forward. Brown hair dusted his thighs and slender calves.

  He was absolutely gorgeous. She’d known before that he was hot but damn! Karabi would have thought that the fact she’d already had sex with Alex would make seeing him naked not that big a deal. But boy was Alex’s body a big deal. She was turned-on just looking at him lying there.

  She swallowed hard. “Good job,” she managed to say.

  Alex followed her gaze to his dick, then back up at her with raised brows. “On the hard-on?”

  Karabi snorted. “No, on the change back to human.”

  “Oh,” Alex said. “That was all your doing.” He glanced at his erection and tilted his head. “Well, they are both all your doing.”

  Karabi’s heart swelled in her chest. Who was she kidding? She adored this man. She stared down at his slightly parted mouth and licked her lips, so wanting to press them into his. But she was naked at work, where there was supposed to be an injured tiger in the room with her, not an undressed purportedly missing coworker with a massive erection. Priorities, Karabi. It was highly inappropriate to be so turned-on right now.

  * * * * *

  “How are you feeling?” Karabi asked him.

  “Confused as fuck,” Alex said. He truly was confused. And scared, fascinated, aroused, sore, enamored, awed. He didn’t know whether to scream out in terror, run out and call for help or flip Karabi over and bang her like animals do in the wild. But all he could do for the moment was laugh in complete bafflement. “I’ve got so many questions.”

  “Ask them,” she said.

  He blinked a few times. His head was in her lap, the side of his face right against her mons pubis, which she’d shaved into a neat little triangle. When looking up at Karabi he got a full view of her underboobs and erect, caramel nipples. She was looking down at him with long lashes and heavy eyelids, her dark hair flowing past her shoulders and stopping at the tops of
her breasts. Her fingers were drawing circles on his stomach and his hard cock was straining toward her.

  He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, uncertain where to even start. At the moment he didn’t know if he was coming or going. Literally. “Am I dead?”

  She laughed. “No, you’re alive and well.”

  “But I was a tiger.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you were a cheetah, just now.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “Neither of those things seem incredibly strange to you?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve known I was a Werecat all of my life. But I was a little shocked to discover that you are one too.”

  “Just a little shocked, huh…” he echoed her. He found himself staring at the way her breasts moved while she spoke. His hips bucked forward almost involuntarily, his cock aching for those fingers to trail down lower and touch it. “That-that thing you’re doing with your fingers right now?”

  “Rubbing your tummy? You want me to stop?”

  “No. I’m-I’m not sure,” he stuttered. “Um, I mean, it feels really good.”

  Karabi continued to rub him. “You’re a Cat. Of course it does.” Her voice was thick and heavy with her own emotion and she looked as if she was in some kind of an aroused trance herself.

  He breathed in hard. “No. I mean I really like it.”

  “I know.”

  “I mean I like it too much.”

  “So you do want me to stop?”

  “No, I don’t want you to stop,” he said. Down, tiger,he tried to tell himself. This was a serious situation. He needed to get out of there, not get off. But after three more circles of her fingers near his pelvis he could feel his composure completely slip away. “But I’m really fucking turned-on right now. I know you’re just trying to comfort me but we’re naked and you—you’ve got these pheromones going—” He growled and grabbed her hand, forcing it on his erection.