by CatNip (lit)
CatTales
CatNip
A dangerous drug dubbed CatNip is about to be released on the market. Adonis Cervantes, a new leader for the ominous drug cartel has risen from the ashes to reclaim a deadly throne. New horrors are about to be unleashed on the Imatu, an already dwindling race of shifters. Courageous action must be taken if these threats are to be neutralized.
Meanwhile, Craig and Lynx, childhood friends and government operatives for COBRA find themselves embroiled in a battle they never saw coming. Their plans will be changed again when the mysterious Leo Lascaux enters the picture. Leo could very well alter everything Lynx and Craig think they know about each other and about themselves.
Will the secret world of shifters survive? Will there be a king of the jungle left when the world stops shifting? Who’ll come out on top?
Genre: Menage a Trois/Quatre, Parnormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 93,744 words
CATNIP
CatTales
Mynxe L. Silles
MENAGE AND MORE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage and More
CATNIP
Copyright © 2010 by Mynxe L. Silles
E-book ISBN: 1-60601-917-1
First E-book Publication: November 2010
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of CatNip by Mynxe L. Silles from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
On a personal note from Mynxe:
Cat-burglars will be captured and neutered or spayed.
Don’t make me use my claws, hiss! You’ve been warned.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Mynxe L. Silles’ livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Silles’ right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
I am eternally grateful for my editors: Dina, Devin, and Deanna. Thank you. I’d also like to thank Alison C. and Christina C.
Jinger Heaston, the incredible cover artist for CatNip, I bow to your brush, thank you.
A special thanks to everyone at Siren’s for helping CatNip shape-shift into a reality. ;)
To my Hubba-Hubba, children, and loving family, thanks for your patience, support, and love. You inspire everything I do.
Moe Allen, closest friend and my favorite author – thank you. Some prayers are answered.
Linda, I love you, lady. Step-Dad, I love you 2.
Larissa, Niki, you both amaze me and are sisters of my heart.
Lisa, I’m very blessed to have you in my life. Do tell Susan and Liz not to read this one - at work. ;) Reuben and Andy - think Austin Powers. Just behave, fellows. J
Picard, my poetic friend, here’s my Enterprise. Enjoy.
Samson, this book should take your mind off math for a while. ;)
To Mama Shawn and the lovely ladies from Polk Moms, you rock, thanks for sharing your kind hearts. Soon please - LNO!
To all my wonderful friends - thanks!
And I dedicate CatNip to you, dear reader, whoever you are. I hope it brings you the pleasure I had writing it.
Oh, and to Leo, Lynx, and Craig ~ keep ‘em coming!
Bisous balise,
Mynxe L. Silles
CATNIP
CatTales
Mynxe L. Silles
Copyright © 2010
Prologue
“Bite my ass!” Lynx hissed.
“Better watch out, or I just might,” Leo growled.
Her indignant gasp turned to a purr as he made good on his threat.
Chapter 1
Damn! Lynx was going to kill him. Craig smoothly slid his body, rock-hard and ready, closer to the gyrating, unbelievably lithe form in front of him. But Lynx, of the lithe, sinuous body, wasn’t having it. She was too hot and slippery. She danced out of his grasp, snaking away to the pulsing beat of Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer.”
Sweat beaded his lips. His cock throbbed like it was being squeezed by an adrenaline fist. It pulsed hard and fast. His mind fought for restraint and reason, but desire fevered his blood.
Had he ever been this turned on, this needy, this overcome with lust at the mere sight of anyone? His arousal had spiked through the roof, the roof being his body. His self-control was past being tested at the moment.
Still, Lynx shimmied in front of him like fire itself, hot as flame. One could almost see the ashes and smoke as she incinerated everyone close enough to see her. Dirty dancing didn’t come close to what she was doing on that dance floor, with her fuck-me eyes and wickedly wanton body. Her long, golden-brown hair fell in lush waves down her back, and like a living thing, it stroked her as she undulated.
Hell, that silky white halter top she wore barely concealed those hard, little nipples of hers. Craig couldn’t help but lick his lips as he visualized covering them with his tongue instead. Not that Lynx’s red leather mini-skirt contained her perfect ass either. No, because there was no containing an ass that moved like that. He could only imagine cupping those rounded orbs of flesh in his hands before he sank into the writhing little mynx.
Distracted, Craig’s eyes followed Lynx. She swayed to a primal beat. Long, sensual hair bounced above the sweetest rear cheeks he’d ever seen. It was a wild, wild tango. Her sexy legs
kept time to the heated rhythm, her head flung back in pure ecstasy as she moved on the hard floor. The other dancers swirled past, behind, as close to her as they dared.
He could come just watching her dance.
A guttural burst of gunfire sure wasn’t the climax he dreamed of. The sound ripped through the club. Naturally, panic ensued.
Next thing he knew, visceral screams echoed through the room as dancers and lounging bar-hoppers began a mass exodus. Craig quickly scanned the area for the shooter, but there was no time to spare. Chaos had already erupted.
Moving with unnatural speed, Craig made a grab for Lynx. Hair tangled his grip of Lynx’s arm, but he managed to pull her through the smoky club. He adeptly maneuvered them through the panicked throng towards the back exit.
They swung past the emergency exit door and headed for his black Mustang. “Get in!” he said tersely as they reached it.
“Well, then, would you please let go of my arm and hair, Mr. G.I. fucking Tarzan,” Lynx said sweetly.
His Lynx, he was discovering, could cuss up a blue-streak that would make a sailor blush. Who knew?
“Sorry,” he mumbled. He got in and hurriedly started the car.
Lynx just glared at him as she hopped in and slammed the door. Craig winced.
“What did you do that for you, you Neanderthal? What? Are you a fucking caveman? That was my hair you grabbed!” Lynx’s eyes could’ve spit fire. They looked about as big as hazel saucers, and they blazed with green and gold highlights. He wanted to stare into them and…
Okay, so, he forgot the question.
Why bother to answer? “My, my, that’s some temper you’ve got, little minx.” He never could resist teasing her. “Now buckle up, it’s the law,” he ordered as he gunned the engine. Lynx muttered something that sounded suspiciously like more expletives under her breath. Craig ignored it.
Rubber burned as he spun out of the parking lot. All Craig’s systems were still on red-alert. He wasn’t wasting the time to explain anything to Lynx until she was well out of harm’s way. Luckily, the club was close to the highway.
What had Captain Slater been thinking? he wondered.
Why would the Captain allow Lynx to go there to cut her teeth on this job? Craig knew Lynx wasn’t necessarily untrained, but truly experienced she wasn’t, either. And he’d be damned if he would watch her die in front of him.
“Some bastard shooting things up and ruining my fun,” Lynx spat out as she seethed in the seat beside him. At least she couldn’t very well hop out of the car at the speed he was going. “I could’ve had him.” The look she sent him smoldered with defiance.
“Just a few more minutes and Crawley would’ve been putty in my hands.”
Her statement set off a trigger of lust and jealousy. It twisted through him like a vise of raw fury. Craig growled. It came from deep in his throat.
“Would he now?” he asked softly. “Or maybe you were just the next course on the slime ball’s buffet. Foolish and beautiful women mysteriously disappear around slime like him every day.”
The look Lynx shot him when she answered nearly had his cock exploding in the tight confines of his Levi’s.
“Oh, so I’m foolish and beautiful? You’re just a cocky, over-protective, brainless fool, Craig Marozi!” Lynx fumed and rolled her expressive, slanted cat-eyes at him. “So that’s why you couldn’t keep your eyes in your head or off my ass to save your fool life. Right?” Lynx turned her face away. Now, she was ignoring him.
Craig grinned. Lynx might not be Irish like her adoptive parents had been, but she could sure get pissed off quickly. Her temper was still Irish. Still, the thought of Lynx’s beloved but deceased parents sobered him. He shook his head and concentrated on driving. It was far better to think about getting back to base safely.
About twenty miles down the road, relieved they weren’t being followed, Craig turned into the next 7-Eleven. He was low on gas. He needed to get back to base. It was where they’d wait for word of what they needed to do next, since the bar set-up had been shot all to hell. Craig rubbed a hand through his hair, frustration knifing through his mid-section like a dull blade as he pumped. Back on the road again, his thoughts turned to the fuck-up the evening had turned into.
Damn it, this wasn’t how he’d imagined the evening going. He hadn’t realized the captain had already turned Lynx loose. If she was meant as bait for the team’s next mark, he should’ve been told. He’d been woefully unprepared for Lynx tonight. Her seductive, sensual moves on the dance floor had certainly baited him. He wasn’t at all sure he liked Lynx having any part of the undercover sting on Crawley.
Hell, he had practically grown up with Lynx. She was one of his best friends. Plus, she was his friend Daniel’s younger sister.
He had only recently returned home, and what a shock that’d been. The gangly sixteen-year-old Craig remembered Lynx to be had grown up. And out, he could see that. He had missed her transformation, too, thanks to some dangerous assignments and a few harrowing years.
Now Lynx was full of a woman’s vitality. She had the irresistible female curves to match, too. But apparently, Lynx had also developed a fiery tongue. Images of where Lynx could best put her fiery little tongue to use danced through his head.
Lynx interrupted his reverie with something mightily akin to an indignant hiss. Evidently, the little minx still wasn’t too tickled with his heroic rescue of her earlier.
As he drove, Craig’s thoughts dialed back to the day he’d returned to base after a long, difficult mission. Later that day, Captain Slater had introduced Lynx as the newest member of their team.
COBRA was an elite team that consisted of highly trained government operatives. COBRA’s operatives were adept at covert warfare and government investigations of a secretive nature. At the news Lynx had joined COBRA, Craig had been so surprised he’d nearly choked. Daniel’s little sister working with them! Wasn’t that just like her? Lynx had been his and Daniel’s shadow as a kid.
He would never forget the mischievous look in Lynx’s eyes that day, either. Lynx, he knew, had gotten a real thrill out of shocking everyone. Even her big brother Daniel hadn’t known she’d been planning to sign on. Craig would never have thought Lynx the type to join COBRA. She was like a little sister, his shadow. She was the tomboy he’d loved to tease. Hell, he could remember pulling her pig-tails.
Boy, those were the days. What he wouldn’t give to pull her hair now.
But now, Lynx was in COBRA. COBRA was code for Covert Operations Black Regiment A. There were several different teams with COBRA training. However, theirs was the only one classified A, an exclusive class. They were the best of the best in the field, and they were always the ones who went deepest undercover.
“Marozi.” Lynx’s voice, not much more than a seductive whisper, curled around his frontal lobes, delicately lingered in his ear, and was gone.
Was his mind playing tricks on him? He could’ve sworn he’d heard it. Craig looked over at Lynx, who had since curled up as much as possible and fallen fast asleep. It was a long drive back to the base. Kneading his temple with weary fingers, Craig resolved to get a good night’s sleep, too, when they returned.
If he was hearing voices now, this whole situation with Lynx was really getting to him. He really needed a good night’s sleep and nice long chat with his partner, Daniel, her big brother. Maybe then he could make some sense of everything, maybe even forge an acceptable game plan.
Yes, that’s it, Craig told himself as he turned into the gates to their crew’s compound on base. That was just what he needed. Tomorrow, he’d worry about taming Lynx, the little wildcat lightly snoring beside him.
~ CatDreams ~
As the early morning’s light shafted in through the windows, Lynx felt herself slowly coming awake. She stretched and yawned lazily, although her first impulse was to curl back up into a cat-like roll. She could sleep through the morning.
A small groan to the right of her pricked her ears. Lynx p
rocessed quickly. She wasn’t in her bed at home. Alert now, she sat up. Lynx tried to place which direction the groan had come from. Another light sound occurred, the sound of someone twisting and turning restlessly in sleep, and Lynx became aware someone was on the cot there. The cot was to the far right of her.
She began to recall the events of the night before. So, Craig had brought them back to base versus taking her home. Well, it was closer and perhaps safer. Another light groan came from Craig’s direction. Lynx lightly padded over to the cot Craig occupied. Perhaps he had been hurt? Maybe in her temper last night she had not realized it? Guiltily, Lynx quietly moved to the small chair near the window by his bedside, hoping to ascertain what, if anything, was wrong with him.
He slept uneasily. Craig rolled again from his stomach to side to back. He never opened his eyes, obviously in the throes of some dream or another. As he turned fully over, the sheets twisted and then visibly tented over Craig’s abdomen.
Lynx tried unsuccessfully to suppress her body’s answering jolt of awareness. Oh, but she was wide awake now. The mere sight of Craig, somnolent and suffering from an arousing dream, had her hand burning to reach out. She just wanted to touch what lay spiked beneath the tangle of sheets.
She could see Craig’s maleness was not in question. Even with the cover afforded by the sheets, Lynx couldn’t exactly miss his straining erection. That particular part of this man’s anatomy was impressively large. Apparently, Craig did have a thing or two to be cocky about. Knowing she should move away but unable to turn her eyes away, she watched, mesmerized.
But Lynx couldn’t tear her eyes away when Craig’s rock-hard length pulsed, and she heard his breathing shift. Craig’s wet dream had sucked her in. Her eyes roved up and down his muscled shoulders and biceps. He had an exceptional face. Even half shrouded in the shades of early morning light and darkness, the sensuality of Craig’s features amazed Lynx.
Craig had those high cheekbones and to-die-for lips. The beginnings of stubble delineated his unshaven face. He had a strong chin and a high, graceful forehead above. His grey-blue eyes were sinfully sexy, though they were now closed in sleep. Yeah, he had a face any woman would want, and many men would envy.