She nodded, locking gazes with him for a moment before lowering her head. No! She didn’t have to look away anymore. Not with Malcolm out of the picture.
He reached for her hand, taking his time like before, twining their fingers together in a loose hold before tugging her along. They went through the doorway and down a long hall, the sounds coming from the homeless crowd growing less and less with each step forward. He stopped in front of a door with no name or label to indicate what it hid.
Brand ran a hand through his hair, frustration etched on his face as well as in the tensing of his muscular frame. “I don’t really have anywhere else to put you right now, Simi. I don’t want to put you in one of the main rooms. The noise…the overcrowding… I think that’ll drive Cougar and you crazy.”
She hadn’t planned on getting any real sleep anyway. She only wished for a warm place. For one night. To perhaps feel…safe. Why is he being so nice to me? Singling me out?
With a sigh, he unlocked the door and opened it. She went in and absorbed what the space had to offer, trying not to think too much about the reasons for his overly kind gesture. Her mind raced, but she was too tired to be analyzing anything. The small room was sparsely furnished, with a large couch, TV and stand, and a small coffee table dominating most of the area. Through an open doorway near the corner closest to where Simi stood, she could make out a bed that had Cougar immediately thinking comfy and inviting.
“It’s my apartment when I stay here. I’ll take the couch. You won’t have to worry about anything, little one, I swear it.” The words jumbled together, one into another, and she took a moment to decipher their meaning.
She nodded. “Cougar likes it.” Simi turned around to face him, his body filling the doorway. “And I do too.” A couple of small steps brought her before him, then an easy shift of her muscles had the two of them hugging. Arms resting around his waist, she did her best to do what her body asked: to let go and relish this embrace of her own making. To not be the victim anymore. Stop overthinking and open her heart, just a crack, and show this kind stranger who the real Simi was. “Thank you.”
Something touched the top of her head, lips or fingers or both, and though she and Cougar didn’t care which, Simi was proud of herself for not stopping Brand from doing it. He held her tighter against his solid frame, his erection pressing into her. She didn’t push into it, but she also didn’t shy away, either. And for her, not running away like a scaredy-cat felt like something of an accomplishment.
Brand released her and stepped back before turning her around and marching her farther into the room. “The bedroom’s through there. You can probably scrounge up something to sleep in. And I’ve got more food in the mini fridge. I’ve gotta go and help supervise for a little while, so just keep the door locked.” He turned her around again, this time to face him. “You scream for anything, and I’ll come to you, okay? No one has a key to this room but me, and I’ll yell through the door before I open it, all right?”
She nodded, staring at his glittering eyes, imagining that his need to protect her was projecting from them. “Okay,” Simi replied.
Brand moved his head in agreement. “Good. Eat, watch TV and get some rest. I shouldn’t be but a couple of hours.” He moved away from her and headed back toward the door. He stepped into the doorway, but before leaving, he turned back to her, and said, “Take care of yourself, little one. I can’t believe I’m saying this to you, but you’ve—” Brand sighed “—you’ve become…uh…important to me, and I’m not really sure why.”
Then he suddenly left the small apartment, the soft click of the lock engaging trailing after his rushed departure. She hurried to the door, ear pressed against the thick wood, listening to his retreating footsteps—her sense of safety quickly dissipating the farther away he got. She double-checked the lock to make sure it really was secure.
Confident that it was, she pushed away from the wood and twirled around to admire her new surroundings. Considering where she’d been for the past few weeks, this was paradise. Heaven on Earth. She shuffled through the living room, hand trailing over the fabric of the worn couch. Even that seemed like it was a luxury.
Simi padded into the bedroom and stopped in awe. And it wasn’t the bed that had her drooling where she stood. No, she and Cougar both rejoiced at the area connected to the bedroom. Holy crap, it was a bathroom. A great, glorious bathroom, complete with the most inviting garden tub. Cougar couldn’t swim in it, but she could at least bathe in some nice, hot water and splash around a little.
Tearing her attention away from the prized tub, she took in the rest of what the apartment had to offer. There was a large dresser against one wall, and a washer and dryer stacked against another. By all appearances, Brand basically lived in an efficiency apartment at the shelter. She nibbled her lip, wondering if she could take advantage of the bath and washer and dryer. Mostly the really nice tub. One she hadn’t had the use of in quite some time, making her want to bathe that much more.
Screw it. Strange place or not, she took what the man had said at face value and sprang into action. Simi dug through dresser drawers and found something to change into before starting a small load of laundry, and then blessedly went to the bathroom, but more importantly, the bathtub.
She took a quick shower first, getting the grime of the streets off of her skin and out of her hair, scrubbing until the water ran clear. Simi’s hair was a deep gold, mimicking the color of Cougar’s fur, and now that she was clean, she could see hints of that shade returning as the marvelous feel of water cascaded over her.
With the dirt washed away, she filled the tub with hot water, steam wafting from the surface, tempting her. Cougar purred and paced and impatiently waited, delighted by the prospect of clean water gliding all over her skin and fur. Oh, yeah. Simi felt the same way.
One foot at a time, she slipped into the heat, allowing it envelope her before letting Cougar out to play. Magic shimmered and danced around them, the glitter and sparkle of power, signifying the change, overtaking her human form. There was no distress…simply joy. Elated at being released after so much time in confinement, at being finally set free.
Malcolm never let her shift. He didn’t allow her to do anything. Unless it was to please him. Oh, at the beginning of their relationship, it’d been different, she supposed. When she was young and impressionable, when he’d managed to convince her she was going to be his. And sadly, to her detriment, she’d accepted him…like a doe-eyed, little girl. Cougar’s instincts be damned. Hell, as if she’d even had the choice.
Then came the hitting and the name calling and everything else no woman or animal should ever have to live to endure… She could only look back and thank god that though she was with him, the two had never formed that special bond of true mates. Never marked one another with the bite.
Simi had dealt with all the punishment he could dish out. Until she’d hit her boiling point. It was either death by his or her hands, or leave and give themselves a second chance. She chose to fight.
Oh, but Cougar…poor Cougar hadn’t been out in so long. It wasn’t fair for her to be cooped up like that. Her animal was meant to be wild and free, not kept in a cage.
Fur rippled through her skin and her body reshaped, taking her animal and bringing it forth, letting it have a bit of happiness in this sorrow-filled world of theirs. Simi’s consciousness melted away as Cougar’s sprang out into the open.
Before long, Cougar had all the control, the power, and Simi let go, floating to the back of Cougar’s mind, watching her animal play and slap at the water. Cougar rolled over and over, slipping and sliding against the fiberglass tub, tail flinging droplets of liquid all over the bathroom floor. Simi laughed, indulging in her animal’s joy, not caring about the mess she’d be cleaning up later.
Cougar was over the moon. It’d been years, if not their entire lifetime, since they’d been this genuinely happy. Because they weren’t under Pride’s rule…or the tyrannical control of that so
n of a bitch named Malcolm.
Cougar listened to her thought, then went back to playing, dunking her head beneath the surface, only to come up and shake it free of the bathwater. Again and again Cougar did this, frolicking, milking it for all its worth.
A noise. A shuffle. Something caught Cougar’s attention and the fear came roaring back. Cougar growled and hissed, sensing what Simi could not.
Quietly, so quietly, Cougar left the tub, water dripping all over the floor, waves lapping at the edge of the tub in the wake of her exit. The cat crept forward, nose scenting, processing, cataloguing—everything. The air conditioner kicked on, and it didn’t take long before the smells contained in the room wafted to her keen nose. Then it was there…she caught the scent, the source of the sound.
“Well, my dear. It seems as though you’ve fucked up here, doesn’t it?” the voice she despised with all of her heart and soul preceded the man who now stood at the bathroom doorway.
Cougar growled low, eyes narrowed, fangs bared. Malcolm. He’d found them, and now that he had, she wondered if he were there to kill them or to take them back to their hellhole. But how in the hell did he get in here? It really didn’t matter now, because the fact of the matter was…she knew this day would come. She also knew that if nothing else, Malcolm was a driven man. Fueled by rage and hate. So, did she really expect something like a door and a lock to keep her safe from him?
Knowing their time on the run might be ending, Simi and Cougar both began to mourn. Grieve the lost chance to get to know the stranger with a kind heart. Brand. And what about Wolfie? Suddenly, Simi realized what she’d been pushing away all evening. The freedom of choice. And with that, she chose to fight, to stay where she was and be a slave no longer. She’d be damned if she was just going to roll over and submit. Or run away again, for that matter. Especially not for Malcolm.
“You’ll have to be punished, bitch.”
The derogatory name, the way he said it with such animosity, laced with unmatched bitterness, sent goose bumps rising along her skin. So unlike Brand. Not even close. Brand was gentle—his words were full of promise. Malcolm was nothing but a threat, like the devil incarnate, born of anger and hate.
Cougar pounced, using her weight to push through to the bedroom, shoving him flat on his ass. Bounding for the living room in search of more space to better fight, she squared off against Malcolm, claws digging into the cheap carpet, readying herself for combat, a battle to the death if need be. She’d do her damnedest…fight him tooth and claw. Cougar wanted to roll in Malcolm’s blood when he was dead, show everyone that she’d defeated this evil man, once and for all. Simi tried to reason with her, told her to focus, not wanting her to get too ahead of herself.
“This way, is it, cunt?” The man smirked. And now Simi, who was supposed to be the rational one, wanted more than anything to rip his face off with her bare hands. Control shifting back to Cougar, their buried anger came boiling to the surface. And now, beast and human wanted not just to hurt him, but kill him for what he’d done to them.
Malcolm jerked the tails of his shirt out of his jeans and tugged the pale blue button-down up and over his head, tossing it aside. He kicked his shoes off next, the snooty leather loafers she’d always hated. Animals weren’t meant to wear animals. Would he want to make a cougar rug out of her next?
His pants and the rest soon followed, leaving him naked and exposed. Cougar braced for combat. Prepared herself to pounce, to rip him to shreds with her claws, to break his neck with her strong jaws. Cougar was free, and Malcolm didn’t have the control over her as he did over Simi. Cougar and she could be long gone before anyone would be the wiser. But what about Brand? She’d be on the road again, hungry and alone. Though, no longer afraid…and the man who defiled her no longer alive.
Malcolm couldn’t search for her—stalk her—if he were dead. Cougar had the urge to strike the man down. Hostility gnawing at her, driving her mad. Still, Simi wanted only to defeat, possibly maim, but not to end his life. Not for Malcolm, but for her and Simi, to stay and claim Brand for their own and make him theirs.
After having listened to Simi’s reasoning, though it pained her to do so, deep down, in the recesses of Cougar’s mind, from where Simi voiced her concern, she reluctantly acquiesced, knowing they had to be better than him. That they wouldn’t stoop down to his level. Felt that fighting and winning was the only logical choice for the two of them.
Then the glitter surrounded him, the mists of magic encircling his human body and forcing it to change its shape, to release and bring forth Malcolm’s beast.
And become Bear.
The shift was over in seconds, and the towering animal now stood where Malcolm’s human form had been. It roared at her, baring its teeth, dripping with saliva, eyes displaying the rage he harbored. It circled, growling deep, and she circled with him. Cougar accepted the challenge, taking slow, measured steps. She stayed low to the ground, claws digging into the cheap carpet, inching forward with caution in every step, making sure she had solid footing if the beast were to strike. When the animal struck.
Bear lumbered through the room, pacing left to right on its large, clawed feet. Cougar stayed alert and ready as she mimicked his movements, waiting for Bear to make one mistake, for the animal’s skill to be overtaken by its anger, enabling her to catch him off-guard.
Unexpectedly, the solid door swung open, crashing against the wall before slowly easing back, stopped only by the presence of Brand’s large body there. Bear rolled up on his hind legs, posturing against the new threat. Cougar took this opening and pounced, razor-sharp claws slicing through fur, skin and bone. And she couldn’t help but relish the deafening roar of outrage and pain that radiated from her injured prey.
She then quickly darted back on instinct, just out of the beast’s reach and steadied herself, waiting for the counterattack that was sure to come. Thick, dark, beautiful blood flowed freely from the wound she’d inflicted. Cougar growled at her accomplishment.
Cougar could feel the protective rage and power pouring from Brand and his wolf, their still new, but unmistakable bond growing strong with each passing moment. From the corner of her eye, she caught Brand’s movements, limbs freeing themselves from cloth, his garments discarded and tossed to the wayside.
No. This was her fight. Hers alone.
Cougar wasn’t going to let Wolfie do what was destined to be hers. She needed to defeat Bear, show him she wasn’t the weak, frightened woman he used to know. No longer the subservient girl he could manipulate into thinking that she could never do any better than him.
Bear’s gaze was fixed on the shimmering ball of magic that was Brand, the wounded animal’s blood dripping and soaking the floor beneath him, flesh shredded from Cougar’s strike. Why isn’t he fighting back?
Brand’s change complete, Wolfie stood there as if he were not only proud, but also angry. Thick, beautiful fur, black as night, covered him from snout to tail. The eyes she’d previously admired now glowed bright with hatred. Rage.
Bear was squarely focused on the new threat, leaving himself open to an attack from Cougar, yet again. And so she didn’t hesitate, didn’t think, ran on pure instinct and adrenaline as she pounced on her overgrown prey, her sharp teeth cutting through Bear like butter, claws gaining purchase in his hide for another attack, piercing and driving as deep as she could, aiming to inflict the most damage to his internal organs as humanly—no—cougarly possible.
Bear reared and roared, pain and anger combining into a sound she’d never heard uttered from another beast. He bucked and jerked, as if trying to send Cougar flying, but she wouldn’t relent. He’d hurt her so much in the past there was no way she was giving up that easily. Beaten her. Bloodied her to unconsciousness. Fucking raped her. Too many times for her to correctly remember. On the memory of being violated on countless occasions, flashing back to the disgusting, evil grins on his face after he was through assaulting her, Cougar suddenly became hysterical. And Simi knew there was n
othing she could say to her to stop her animal from her frenzy.
Fuck Bear. He was going to die. Today. Now. Simi felt Cougar’s rage mix with her own anger, and the hesitancy she’d felt before, on whether or not she’d end Malcolm’s life, was all but forgotten now. Pure emotion reigned supreme. Cougar was an animal, after all.
Wolfie snarled and darted at Bear’s legs, biting, injuring the poor excuse for a man, even further. First Wolfie, then Cougar, withdrew from the wounded beast. Blood coated the carpet, the flood of slippery fluid soaking into the fibers. Bear swayed on his feet for a few seconds, then dropped down to his four paws, rocking back and forth, sounding of utter anguish.
Cougar felt no remorse as she attacked again, seeking death for Bear with her final strike. Leaping through the air, she opened her jaws, sinking her teeth hard and deep into the animal’s neck with all the pent-up rage boiling over for one, single purpose: to kill the bastard, the primary source of her Hell on Earth. She clamped down with crushing force, snapping his neck, ending his life in that instant.
She waited, crouched over Bear, breathing heavy, the distinct tang of blood filling the air. She listened. No heartbeat. No life. The beast was dead, finally out of her life forever. No more running, no need to live afraid. It seemed that in the end he was more bark than bite, or Simi was tougher than she’d ever given herself credit for. Whatever it’d been, combined with unleashing Cougar from her cage, had all but sealed Bear’s fate. Though she never would’ve thought it, he had been no match for her.
Suffering & Salvation Page 2