by S. E. Smith
Pushing the memories away, she straightened and smiled at where Tina sat stroking a damn chicken that thought she was a dog. For a brief moment, she could see a little of Teri in Tina’s beautiful brown eyes. Reaching across the bar, she squeezed Tina’s arm in reassurance. Their family might be small and somewhat dysfunctional, and decidedly strange, but there was one thing about it that no one could deny… they loved each other, fiercely.
“She’s out there kicking ass is where she is,” Pearl replied in a soft, confident voice. “If I were you, Tina, I’d be feeling more sorry for whoever has gotten in her way.”
Pearl released a sigh of relief when she saw the twinkle come back in her youngest granddaughter’s eyes. Looking around the bar, Pearl let her eyes survey it. She had inherited it from her former boyfriend. She had never married. After her experience with Teri’s father, it was as if a wall of ice had encased her heart. She had met Rodney when she was forty-five and they had been together for almost ten years before he died. He hadn’t been perfect, but he had been a good man and she had cared deeply for him.
“I hired a couple of guys to handle the bar and the kitchen,” Pearl commented as she picked up a tray of clean glasses from under the counter.
Dismay flashed across Tina’s face. “Did you interview them first?” she asked with a frown, setting Ruby down on the floor when she started to wiggle. “Did you get a background check on them? Drug test? Anything, before you gave them the job?”
Pearl flashed a grin over her shoulder as she pushed the door to the back kitchen opened. “Of course not, that is what I have my accountant for,” she chuckled before the swinging door closed behind her.
*.*.*
“Accountants are supposed to handle finances, not human resource,” Tina grumbled before she dropped her head and laid her forehead on her folded arms that were lying on the bar. A low groan escaped her. Pearl was dynamite at running the bar, but she had about a fifty-fifty rate of picking the right employees.
“Make that ten percent okay and ninety percent totally awful,” Tina groaned under her breath.
The sound of the door opening behind her forced her to raise her head. Turning on the stool, her eyes widened when she saw the silhouette of two large men in the doorway. The sun pouring in behind them cast a dark shadow over their features. They were both too muscular to be Craig, who weighed in at over three hundred and fifty pounds, and was more of a round, cuddly teddy bear than a lithe tiger.
Dismay coursed through her when the men stepped into the bar and the door closed behind them. With the blinding light cut off, she could finally see them clearer. Her eyes locked with the man standing in the front. His dark brown eyes had hints of gold in them. Tina resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she saw the slightly elongated pupils. All he needed was to have a tail coming out of his ass to complete his costume.
Her eyes swept down his tall frame covered in as much black leather as her grandmother. Her gaze finally returned to his face and she released an inelegant snort as she slid off the bar stool. The frustration of the last week snapped at this final straw.
“Great!” Tina growled under her breath. “Pearl has hired a couple of male strippers this time. So much for all my efforts to pull The White Pearl up into a classier joint.”
“Pearl!” Tina snapped as she glared in distaste at the man staring at her with wide, almost shocked, deer-in-the-headlight eyes. “The guys you hired are here. I’ve got work to do. You handle them. Come on, Ruby, we’ve got work to do.”
She didn’t bother to turn when she heard the swinging door opened as Pearl walked back into the main part of the bar. Instead, she focused on retreating to the office located down the hall. Pausing long enough to make sure she didn’t slam the door on Ruby, she snapped the door to her office close with a resounding thump before she turned and clutched her fists into a ball. Leaning back against the door, she emitted a small scream before counting to ten.
“I really wish I was a violent person,” she finally muttered as she opened her eyes and stared at her neatly organized desk before she glanced wearily at the plump hen that was scratching at her blanket in the corner. “I could really use smashing something right about now to help relieve my urge to kill my grandmother.”
Tina shook her head at Ruby. The chicken just sank down into the small nest she had made in the blanket and closed her eyes. For a moment, Tina wondered if she could live off the fresh eggs Ruby was laying if she quit her job. Deciding she couldn’t, she sank down into her chair and tried to forget the startled dark eyes of the man in the other room. Something told her it was going to be a very long day.
Chapter 5
Viper stood frozen just inside the door. His eyes staring blindly down the now empty corridor where the human female had disappeared. He stumbled a step forward when he felt a hand push him between the shoulder blades.
“You’re blocking the way,” Bahadur muttered as he stepped around Viper. “What is this place? He reminds me of some of the drinking establishments back home.”
“It is called a bar,” Viper murmured distractedly.
“Who the hell are you and what do you want?” The older female asked as she stepped around the bar. She was drying her hands on a white cloth as she studied them. A part of him registered that this must be the one Riley called Grandma Pearl. If that was so then the other one must be…
“Silence female, we are here to take you with us,” Bahadur stated with a wave of his hand toward the corridor. “I will take this one. You get the other.”
Somewhere in the back of Viper’s mind a small warning bell went off. He blinked several times as he tried to figure out what it was he should remember. Fragments of Riley telling him about her grandmother… Warnings of… His head turned to look at where the older woman stood still, watching them through narrowed eyes.
“Riley said the old woman was vicious,” Viper warned as Bahadur started toward her. “Proceed with caution.”
Bahadur glanced over his shoulder at Viper with a look of disbelief. “Vicious? She is old, human… and female! I could take her with my eyes closed.”
“Yeah, well hun, I’d keep them open if I were you,” Pearl’s cold voice injected. “You’re going to need it to see where you’re running.”
Both men turned to look at Pearl again. This time, a look of doubt came into their eyes when they saw that she had a weapon pressed firmly against her shoulder. The barrel of the weapon was short, but the two holes at the end promised that whatever came out of it was guaranteed to hurt.
“Salt,” Viper muttered. “Riley says she shoots salt, so that it does not harm a person.”
Bahadur’s lip curled. “I told you that she is harmless,” he replied. “Get the other female.”
“Tina!” Pearl yelled at the top of her voice. “Code Red! You sorry ass sons-of-bitches. What have you done with my granddaughter?”
Viper raised his hands up. He jerked his head to Bahadur when he glanced at him to do the same. Bahadur released a sigh and folded his arms across his chest instead. Viper knew he should have refused the Curizan Admiral when he suggested he come with him.
“My brother has taken her as his mate,” Viper stated, taking a step closer to the bar. “She belongs to him now. He has sent me to retrieve her sister and her vicious grandmother. You are the one called Grandma Pearl, yes?”
His hands slowly lowered when he saw the slight lift at the corner of Pearl’s lips. Smiles were good. Females who smiled were happy. They did what a male wanted them to do when they were happy.
“Where is Riley?” The woman asked again. This time she said it in a slow, measured tone. “Who are you?”
Bahadur released an impatient sigh behind him. “Just take the female,” he said impatiently. “I wish to go find me a female to fuck. Adalard has already gone to find the one Ariel made him promise to see. You can explain all of this to them once you have them contained on the ship.”
“Ship,” Pearl snarled. “White slave t
raders. I’ll show you what happens when you mess with a St. Claire, you arrogant prick!”
Viper fell back a step when he heard the clicking sound of the weapon in Pearl’s hands. His cat was hissing a warning at the same time that Bahadur must have realized that things were not what they seemed. Exasperated with both the Curizan and the old woman, Viper turned to order Bahadur to wait outside.
His cat’s loud hiss of warning exploded through his mind at the same time as his ass lit on fire. The burning scent of an explosive stung his nose and his ears rang as the weapon in the female’s hands discharged. The impact pushed him into Bahadur.
His wide, surprised eyes collided with the astonished gaze of Bahadur. He opened his mouth to admonish the Curizan when his ears caught the sound of another click. In his mind’s eyes the vision of two barrels formed, warning him he was about to feel the wrath of Riley’s grandmother again. Fury poured through him and he gripped Bahadur’s forearms and twisted just as the second charge resonated across the room.
“Guall’s balls!” Bahadur hissed as the pellets of rock salt hit him across his back, buttocks, and lower legs.
“Riley said her grandmother was vicious,” Viper snapped as he glanced over Bahadur’s shoulder at Pearl St. Claire.
“Well, don’t use me as your bloody shield!” Bahadur retorted.
Viper’s eyes widened when he saw the older female pull another weapon out from under the bar. This one looked more menacing than the last one. “Look…”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Bahadur’s body stiffened in surprise. Viper started to grab the Curizan as he began to collapse in his arms, but a sharp thud and an annoying sting made him look down. The blurred image of a dart embedded in his shoulder startled him. Turning his head in slow motion to look at where it came from, he saw the shape of a huge male standing in the corridor that Riley’s sister had gone down. The human male was holding a slightly different type of weapon in his hands than Pearl had used.
I… should… have… listened… to Riley, Viper thought as he slid down into a numb darkness, a shiver of unease coursing through him as Riley’s grandmother’s words translated into his brain.
“Hot damn! Who needs the police when you have animal control as your bouncer. Good shot, Tiny.”
*.*.*
“You should call the police,” a soft voice hissed. “Let them deal with this.”
“What? And lose the only chance we have to find Riley? Not in this lifetime. The police couldn’t find their ass in a butt-wiping contest,” the familiar voice of the old woman known as Pearl replied. “No, I’ll get the information we need even if it means removing their balls with a nut cracker.”
“Yew, Pearl, give a guy a break,” a deep, masculine voice complained. “Just the thought is enough to make mine hurt in sympathy.”
Viper blinked several times to clear his vision. He bit back a silent groan when he realized he was lying on the floor of a small room. His eyes landed on Bahadur’s still face. He tried to move his arms, but they were tied behind his back. His feet were also bound and there was something sitting on his chest. Glancing down, a low hiss escaped him when he saw a red feathered creature trying to remove one of the fastenings on his vest. The damn thing paused, but didn’t stop.
He was about to say something when Bahadur’s eyes popped open. Vibrant color swirled in his eyes warning Viper that the Curizan Admiral was pissed. A low snarl escaped him at the same time as Bahadur moved in a blur of speed.
“Bahadur, no!” Viper growled.
Rage surged through Viper and he snapped the restraints as if they were nothing more than a piece of string. The movement sent the creature pulling at his fastening flying with a burst of red feathers and loud clucking. Viper ignored it as he rolled and jumped to his feet in time to see Bahadur wrap his arm around the curvy figure of Tina St. Claire. His cat, fearing the Curizan would hurt the female, released a loud, feral snarl. He could feel his cat fighting to get free.
Mine! It hissed. Kill Curizan. My female.
Viper vaguely heard Pearl’s loud expletive even as he leaned forward, allowing the change to come over him. Bahadur, realizing that Viper had lost control cursed and thrust the human female away from him. He called on the energy around him and formed a shield just as the powerful cat, easily the size of one of Earth’s prehistoric Sabretooth tigers, attacked.
The force of the huge, black tiger hitting the energy shield knocked Bahadur back against the wall of the small office. Viper snapped his sharp teeth at Bahadur’s neck. His claws raked at the shield the Curizan had hastily formed.
“Control your damn cat, Viper,” Bahadur snarled. “I’m on your side.”
The solid black tiger released a vicious snarled and snapped again. The shield weakened briefly when the tiger swept his tail under it and wrapped around one of Bahadur’s ankles. With a swift jerk, the tiger pulled the other man off balance.
“Goddess’ blood, Viper,” Bahadur snapped as he fell.
Viper’s cat roared in triumphed when Bahadur’s shield slipped and his claws encountered the Curizan’s leather vest. He was just lowering his head when he felt the familiar sting in his left hind quarter. Whipping his head around to attack the huge human male that had shot him the first time; instead, he found his gaze locked with a pair of very frightened, but very determined brown eyes. His back legs collapsed as the drug in the dart took effect.
Viper felt his body rolling to the side as Bahadur pushed him off of him. Viper tried to raise his head, but already he could see the dark edges around his vision. He blinked as he studied Tina St. Claire. Her legs were slightly parted and she was biting her bottom lip as she held the weapon that fired the red darts between the palms of her hands. He had never seen anything more… beautiful.
My mate, his cat purred.
Guall’s balls, Viper thought hazily before darkness swept over him again. I’m going to kill Vox for this.
“Your turn, sweetheart,” Pearl voice echoed through his head right before he heard Bahadur’s curse fade away.
Chapter 6
Tina stared glumly at the male lying on his side in the cage that Tiny had brought in from the back of his truck. They had placed this one in the big animal cage while they had locked the other in the hall closet. Luckily, it was still early. The bar wouldn’t be opening until four today.
Pearl was handling the beer delivery while Tiny guarded the closet door across from the bathrooms. They had wiggled the cage into Tina’s office since it was easier, and about as far as any of them wanted to move the big cat… man… whatever he was. Tiny had given her his dart pistol, but warned her he only had one dart left.
“They aren’t going to be happy if they know I done used four darts,” Tiny complained. “I’m only supposed to use them in cases of emergency.”
“Well, I think this qualifies as an emergency, Tiny,” Pearl snorted. “Take my shotgun. I’ve reloaded it, this time with buckshot.”
“I got my own gun,” Tiny said with a shake of his head. “You keep it, Pearl.”
“Tina, you okay watching that one?” Pearl asked, nodding her head at the huge black cat snoring in the cage. “I can watch him if you want, hun.”
“No,” Tina said as she glanced up at her grandmother. “I… I think I hear the beer guy. You always handle the deliveries. I’ll be fine.”
“Shoot him if he tries anything,” Pearl ordered as she stepped up and ran her hand over Tina’s hair. “I’m proud of you, girl. You did good.”
Tina tilted her head against her grandmother’s hand. “Thanks, Grandma,” she whispered.
The only time Tina ever referred to Pearl as Grandma was when she was scared. Tina discovered at a young age that the kids wanted to know why she was living with her grandmother and not her mom and dad. Riley still referred to Pearl as Grandma Pearl, but by middle school Tina had dropped it and just referred to her as Pearl.
Except when I’m scared, she thought as she stared at the huge male c
urled up in the cage. And this definitely qualifies for one of those moments.
Pearl and Tiny hadn’t been in the room when the man who turned into a cat, turned back into a man… or whatever in the hell he was called. Was there such a thing as a Werecat? She wondered vaguely.
“You are very beautiful,” a deep voice said, startling her back to the present.
Tina couldn’t help the scowl that darkened her face. It would appear guys were the same, no matter what they were. They all thought a few sweet words and a girl was supposed to roll over and lose all her brain cells. She had enough of that over the years to last her a lifetime.
“No, I’m not letting you out,” Tina replied before he could open his mouth. “So don’t bother asking. And…,” she added, raising her hand and showing him the dart gun. “If you try to get out, I’ll shoot your ass again.”
*.*.*
Viper grunted as he stiffly sat up, well, tried to sit up. He had to bend over at an uncomfortable angle so his head wouldn’t hit the thick bars at the top. His nose wrinkled at the faint smell of another creature that clung to the cage. His legs were bent at an odd angle as well, making his entrapment a very unpleasant experience.
“Is it possible to at least open the door of this… cage?” He asked with a look of distaste on his face. “It is a little cramped in here.”
He watched as one delicate eyebrow rose and a hint of a smile curved her lips. Smiles were good. Well, they were supposed to be good. He decided he would give her one of his most charming. The females on his world, including his own mother, could never resist it.
Giving her a lopsided grin, he flashed his sharp teeth at her. His head bounced off the top of the cage when he felt the thud of another dart striking him in the chest. Looking down at it, he raised his hand to wrap his fingers around the thin cylinder and pulled it out of his skin.