Sakaria noticed him looking and blushed. Pulled some hair over the imperfection.
“Earring accident,” she explained quickly. “Bad place for a piercing.”
Des nodded. It seemed like something he would have seen, but maybe not. Funny how Foxy had injured her ear also. He opened his mouth to say so when she lowered her voice and moved closer, causing all thoughts of ears to fly out the window. “I’m sorry about the other night, Des.” She tilted her head to the side and the cat ears wobbled slightly. “You accept my apology?”
“Yes,” he said immediately. “But can I ask you a question?”
Her face immediately became guarded. “What about?”
He lowered his voice too. “You and me. Can we… you know, take this further?”
“I don’t know.” Her expression was unreadable.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” She was killing him with her “I don’t knows” and “I’m not sures”. He wanted answers from her that she wasn’t giving. “I want to take you home and have you stay the night.”
“You want to take me home? What am I some stray c—” she stopped. “Some stray off the street?”
“Of course not. I want you to wake up in the morning with me.” He reached out and touched her wrist. “That’s all I’m asking.”
“I can’t. I told you I can’t.” She crossed her arms across her chest.
“But…”
“Listen, Des,” she placed a hand on his arm. “I’ll be right back, okay? I have to find Julie and tell her something.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
“Ten minutes.” She walked off, her little kitty ears perched crookedly on her head.
She never came back.
* * * *
Sakaria splashed water on her face and avoided her own eyes in the bathroom mirror. Who was she kidding? Did she actually expect to walk off into the sunset with this straight laced guy? Enough with the dreaming and the imagination. She blotted her face with a tissue and checked her watch. She had a few hours left to walk on two legs.
Everything was in place for Julie to smoothly transition in as owner of Café Dolce. The letter to her parents explaining the truth. She would simply disappear. That would be best. She flicked off the light and made her way to the back door of Ryan’s house, slipping out to her car.
At home she paced back and forth, resisting the urge to shift, even thought she so badly wanted to. This was her last time as a human, why not live it out as she should? But still she paced and paced, watching the clock tick by until she couldn’t control herself. What’s an extra few minutes? Why not just do it now? She went into the bedroom to make sure the bed was made, when she saw it. So much for listening to Will. Time to bring out the big guns. What could she lose?
Sakaria stripped off her clothes, took one last look around and shifted. She picked up the object in her mouth and hit the cat flap with a determined whack as she left.
* * * *
Desmond tossed his car keys on the dining room table, not caring that they skittered across the polished cherry wood surface and landed on the rug below. What had he done to chase her away? There was always something. Maybe his job was too boring. Maybe he talked too much about the cat? But she asked him about it, right? Speaking of which…
“Foxy!” He searched for the cat under the sofa, chairs and finally under the bed. He even opened all the closets in the house just in case she had accidently gotten closed in.
“Foxy!” He went into the kitchen and got his answer. The chicken salad was still in the bowl. She hadn’t been back since last night.
Desmond sat down on the sofa, defeated. He’d lost a girl and a cat on the same night. What a memorable Halloween.
He went to his room and began snatching off his clothes to get ready for bed when he heard the cat door.
“Foxy? I thought something had happened to you.” At least the cat came back, he thought. He didn’t totally lose out.
The brown streak of fur ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, dropped the object out of her mouth. A fat cardinal bird.
He stared at it, disbelieving what his mind was telling him. But yet it made sense.
The cat made a sound, a loud, stretched, yowling sound that surprised him with its intensity. She batted at the cardinal and it jumped, its black glassy eyes fixed on him. Foxy fixed him with a probing stare, her tail flicking and switching in the air about her. She opened her mouth and he watched her ears rotate backwards…
The ear with the notch in it.
Everything fell into place. The friend’s cat and the cat toys, the dreams that weren’t dreams, and the cardinal.
Foxy made a tiny, encouraging meow.
Couldn’t be, but it was the only way anything made any sense. Or else he was simply going insane.
“Sakaria?”
* * * *
The coldness whooshed across her scalp as the shifting rushed through her. It was much stronger this time and somehow deeper as though she could actually feel her mitochondria flowing and changing. The shift done, she crouched naked on the bedspread blinking at the colors she could now properly see. Quickly, she pulled the quilt up and around her and chanced a look at Desmond’s face.
His eyes were wide, a not unexpected reaction to a cat morphing into a woman before one’s eyes.
“Hi,” she said, pulling the quilt closer around her. “Uh, surprise? Happy Halloween?”
He blinked. Twice. Stared at her. “I don’t believe it. Even though I saw it.”
“Desmond…”
He continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “But on the other hand it makes perfect sense. You’re a cat. I mean, why not, right?” He laughed. “Perfect sense.”
“Are you all right?” Sakaria felt slightly panicky. She was glad the curse was over, but Des seemed a little nutty about the whole thing. Understandably so, but she hoped he’d come to terms with it. “I know it’s a shock.”
Des sat down next to her on the bed, his eyes fixed on her as if he expected something else to happen. “I just thought you were married. Had a secret baby. Or were a serial killer.” He paused. “That last would have been a little farfetched.” He smiled faintly and shook his head. “But a shape-shifting cat is not something you run across every day.”
Eyes narrowed, Sakaria shot him a look. “I think you’re making fun of me now.”
“Of you? Never. I promise you that.” He appraised her briefly. “You hair looks longer.”
Sakaria closed her eyes. Opened them. “Are you even processing this?”
“I knew people who talked to dogs and cats. Maybe they knew something.” He stopped. “How did this happen? Did you eat something? Offend an old person? That’s usually how these spells are cast.”
“I guess I offended this guy...” She told him the entire story, including the visit to Will’s house.
“You threatened to scratch his balls? That’s vicious, Sakaria. And you seem so sweet.” His eyes twinkled in amusement.
Sakaria shrugged her bare shoulders in mock contrition. “What else could I do? He was being obstinate.” She touched his arm. “I would never, ever, do anything like that again.” She held up her hand. “I totally promise.”
“Good to hear.”
There was silence for a moment. Nervousness made Sakaria’s stomach churn. Why wasn’t he saying anything?
Then, “You know, you could have told me sooner.”
She sighed. “It’s not something you can just come out with.”
“But I told you I was an insurance claims processer right away. I think being a shapeshifter is a hell of a lot more interesting.”
Sakaria burst out laughing. “You’re serious?”
“Had I known, I certainly wouldn’t have taken you to that place where they had the fish tank.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Only that she had kept excusing herself for the ladies room to stare at the fish. “Just a slightly embarrassing.” Sakaria held up her thumb and forefinger a
half inch apart.
“Hey,” he pulled her toward him, quilt and all. He brushed her hair off her shoulders and kissed the bare flesh. “You never have to be embarrassed. It’s over. You’re here, I’m here, you and me… that’s all that matters.”
He kissed her lips before she could answer. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to finally relax into his embrace, relieved that the heavy burden she had been carrying was lifted. His hands tugged at the quilt she held around her. “Let me see you.” He cupped her breasts in his hands and kissed her neck as he gently thumbed her nipples.
Arousal overtook her almost immediately; she went from being slightly afraid of his reaction to her situation to being on the brink of climax. His caresses ignited a fire in her that hadn’t been present in their previous lovemaking.
She moaned and squirmed on the bedclothes as he took one of her nipples in his mouth and began sucking it slowly, making lazy circles round the hardened flesh with his tongue and nipping at the tip with his teeth.
His hands stroked the length of her body, gently teasing and caressing her flesh. Kissing her navel, he slid a hand between her damp thighs and brushed his fingers against her clit. A trill of excitement jolted through Sakaria’s body, causing her to jump and let out a small squeak. Her fingers danced encouragingly across the top of his head.
“Desmond, please,” she begged, although she didn’t know what she was begging for.
“Shhh,” he told her. He leaned in close to her mound, blew lightly on her pussy, then flicked his tongue across her clit.
Sakaria whimpered, arching her back to bring her pussy closer to his mouth. Every fiber of her body was on fire, her consciousness focused solely on his tongue on her clit.
The pressure began to build in her lower belly as he relentlessly swept his tongue back and forth across the sensitive bud.
“Desmond,” she gasped. His fingers pressed into her and he twisted them gently. Sakaria lifted her hips again toward his mouth, shamelessly fucked his fingers. She placed her hand, none too gently, on the back of his head silently begging for more, lost in the erotic sensation.
He increased the pressure of his tongue on her clit slightly, enough to send her orgasm shooting through her. Like a balloon popping, she exploded, delicious tremors vibrating over her entire body.
Desmond placed his hand on her still trembling belly, traced designs around her navel. He kissed her neck then her lips. His eyes were full of hot lust and that excited her. She kissed with a fervor that she couldn’t have imagined she would feel about anyone.
He gripped her so tightly that she nearly lost her breath. She ran her tongue up and around his ear, then licked his neck. His sweat was salty and she could smell his bright woodsy scent. She squirmed under him, rubbing her wet, aching clit against his cock.
“Don’t do that,” he warned her, kissing her neck. “You’re going to make me go off.”
“Then stop being selfish,” she whispered hotly in his ear. “Give me what I want.”
He laughed softly and lifted her hips. Slowly, he slid into her until he was buried to the hilt.
Sakaria closed her eyes, abandoning herself to the feeling. She wrapped both legs around his waist and pulled him more tightly against her, sighing her ecstasy.
“You like it,” he asked, moving within her.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I love it.”
“Good.” He stroked her with his dick, holding her hips so that he hit the sensitive spot.
Sakaria shivered as the sweet, aching tension started to build. She chased the sensation, clenching her pussy walls around him and moving her hips with his rhythm. In what seemed like no time, she shuddered and trembled beneath as she reached her climax, her pussy spasming around his cock.
Desmond gripped her hips more tightly, groaning in his throat as he thrust into her. He came in a rush, kissing her roughly as he shuddered against her.
They lay in each other’s arms, gasping for breath. Sakaria glanced over at the clock. Twelve fifteen. Well done, she thought. Hopefully, dude got that part right at least. No more ‘be the cat’.
Just as she thought that, the familiar tingling started in the tips of her fingers. Not as strong as usual and she easily pushed the urge down without a thought. But still…
“Desmond?”
“Yes,” he yawned.
“Do me one favor,” she said, snuggling closer to him.
“Anything,” he brushed the hair back from her face. “Anything and it’s yours.”
“Don’t close up the cat door,” she murmured and fell asleep.
The End
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