King of Cats

1

Pink Petal Books Pink Petal Books, an imprint of Jupiter Gardens Press, publishes romance novels where the relationship is primary. It doesn’t matter if you want to read super erotic or sweet inspirational books. Pink Petal Books believes that love is a beautiful thing, no matter what form it takes. For more information about Pink Petal Books visit http://www.pinkpetalbooks.com/.

Additional Titles by the Author

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Permission is granted to make ONE backup copy for archival purposes. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

King of Cats ISBN# 978-0-9820050-3-3 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Copyright © JESSICA QUINN, 2008 Cover Art ® 2008 by CELIA KYLE Edited by JUDY BECHTLE Electronic Publication Date: October 2008 This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Jupiter Gardens Press, Jupiter Gardens, LLC., PO Box 191, Grimes, IA 50111 For more information to learn to more about this, or any other author’s work, please visit http://www.pinkpetalbooks.com/

2

King of Cats Jessica Quinn

PPB

3

Chapter One Melody Young pulled back out into traffic and hit the autodial function on her cell phone headset to call the shelter. “Paws and Claws No-Kill Shelter, this is Rita. How may I help you?” At work early again. Thank goodness. “Rita, this is Mel. I’m on my way in to work with a hit-and-run case. Male cat, about fifteen pounds, domestic shorthair with Abyssinian coloring. Blood around the muzzle, probable fracture of the left rear leg, possible internal injuries. Some SOB swerved to hit him while he was eating road kill. Is Brian in yet?” “He just walked in the door, Ms. Young. I’ll let him know he’s got a patient,” Rita told her. “Oh, and someone sent you flowers.” “Put them on my desk. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Hopefully, this little guy can hold on that long.” She hung up and drove, a frown of irritation furrowing her brow. Flowers? What the hell? Jason broke up with me three months ago. I don’t think he’s trying to get back in my good graces, not after what I said when I caught him in bed with that silicone-inflated bitch in our apartment. She reached up to shove an errant lock of fire-red hair out of her eyes, the sun shining into her slate-blue eyes. Gonna be a busy day. I’ve got two people coming in after lunch looking to adopt a dog, and that meeting with the shelter inspector at eleven, and that new volunteer coming in this afternoon to start work. She spared a moment to look down at the carrier on the front seat. She could still hear the cat breathing inside—a good sign, one she hoped meant that the asshole hadn’t hit the cat very hard. She arrived at the shelter in just under the fifteen minutes she had promised Rita and came around the side of her car to retrieve the carrier, her steps brisk as she carried it inside. Rita sat at the reception desk as always. Last week’s blonde dye job had been replaced with jet-black layered over royal blue. She’s going to have no hair left if she keeps dyeing it every week, Melody thought, grimly amused. But it’s her hair. If she comes in bald, I suppose she wouldn’t have to worry about ticks or fleas. “Brian?”

4

“The surgical room is prepped, Mel,” Rita told her. “He’s almost ready to go.” “Good.” She set the carrier on the corner of Rita’s desk and opened its door, gently easing the rangy tomcat out of it. The blood on his muzzle had dried—a good sign, since he hadn’t continued to bleed—and he yowled at her again. With a hopeful smile, she carried the protesting animal into the shelter’s pre-op room. Angie Rodriguez, the shelter’s veterinary nurse, was inside, already waiting with everything needed to get the injured cat ready for his treatment. “I think he’s a stray, maybe even feral; he’s got no collar or tags, and no flattened-down area in the fur around his neck to mark that he ever wore them,” Mel warned her. “I don’t know if he’s eaten in the last 24 hours, but it’s likely.” Brian Evans turned from the sink, finished washing up, and grabbed a pair of latex gloves out of the box at the side of the counter. “Let’s have a look at him, then.” Gently, Mel unwrapped the towel from around the cat, one hand cupped gently around his shoulders to keep him from trying to bolt. No doubt he’s scared to death, poor thing. And I’m sure the smell of rubbing alcohol and other chemicals in here aren’t helping him any. The bronze feline sat patiently as Brian and Angie examined him. The vet and nurse poked and prodded carefully for other broken bones or swollen, hot, tender areas that would indicate internal bleeding. At last, Brian straightened up, a trace of exasperation on his weathered features. “This cat’s fine.” “What?” She looked down at the cat and then back up at Brian in disbelief. “What about the blood on his muzzle?” “It’s probably from that road kill you told Rita he was eating,” he shrugged her question off. “His leg’s fine. The rest of him, too. But since I know you’re going to want to keep him at the shelter until we can find a home for him, I’ll make time on my schedule after lunch to give him his rabies, FeLV, and feline distemper vaccinations. I don’t have anything on my slate tomorrow, so I’ll put him on the schedule to be neutered.” “All right…” she muttered, bewildered. I saw that leg! Even if there was nothing else wrong with him, it was broken. I didn’t imagine it…

5

“Why don’t you take him out to one of the volunteers and get him cleaned up?” Brian said soothingly. “He’s probably got fleas, like most of the strays we’ve seen this summer.” The older man smiled amiably. “I’m not saying you’re losing it, Mel, but we all know you’re under a lot of stress. Have you thought about taking some time off? Maybe you care too much, and you focus so much on what’s going on here that it can muddy your thoughts. If you took some time off, a day or so for yourself to relax and unwind, you’d be sharper when you come back.” “Stephen Merritt won’t take any time off, will he?” she asked acridly. With a sigh, she scooped the cat up, holding him firmly to her chest, one hand under his rear legs as she carried him out of pre-op. None of the volunteers that usually helped around the shelter had arrived yet, and none of the permanent staff who had stayed on in the last few months could be spared for something as simple as giving a cat a bath. Brian and Angie needed to get ready to spay a mixed-breed terrier someone had dumped on their doorstep yesterday. Her latest litter of pups was whining in a box next to her. Rita was already taking the first of the day’s calls asking if someone could drop off an animal they couldn’t care for any more. Shit. Not even 8 A.M. yet, and we’re already busy. Not surprising, really. No one who has to give up a pet they love, for whatever reason, wants to take it to a shelter that might have to put the animal asleep in three days because they have too little space and too many animals. “C’mon, cat. I haven’t been in charge here so long I’ve forgotten how to give you a bath.” The cat purred, snuggling closer to her and kneading her breasts with his paws. She snorted, glad his claws were sheathed for now. They wouldn’t stay that way once she got him near the tub of water. The smile on her lips as she headed into her office long enough to grab her favorite pair of heavy leather cat-washing gloves disappeared as she saw the enormous vase full of blood-red roses on her desk. The lush scent filled the room, drowning out the usual smells of antiseptic, cat food, and litter box. Mamie, the elderly Persian sleeping on the couch in the corner looked up with sleepy eyes as she tucked the Abyssinian under one arm, then plucked the card attached to the vase with ribbon with her other hand. Dear Melody—

6

I’m looking forward to the day you finally say ‘yes’ to my proposal. I don’t think it’ll be very long now. Donations have dropped off, haven’t they? It’s a simple fact of life; people want jobs more than they care about a bunch of strays. Every other home and business owner on the block has been smart enough to take the payout I offered them and move. We break ground for the casino in just three weeks. I have full confidence that I won’t have to delay that date by even a day. Be smart. Take the money I’m offering you. You can always open a new shelter somewhere else with it. Kisses, Stephen Merritt

Cold rage churned in the pit of her stomach, making her more than a little nauseous. Why can’t he just leave us alone? Despair warred with the anger at the thought of the possibility of losing the shelter. With deliberate care, she turned and put the Abyssinian down on the couch. He sniffed Mamie and mewed at her. Mamie cracked open one bleary eye again and mewled back, then hopped gingerly down from the couch and headed slowly out the door. “Don’t feel like sharing, eh?” she snorted. “Well, neither do I, and Mr. Merritt will just have to learn that the hard way.” With a shake of her head, she grabbed the vase, holding it at arms’ length as though it was a disemboweled rat despite the weight of three dozen roses, heavy crystal, and the water inside. Rita was still on the phone when she marched out to the front desk and deposited the vase onto her desk with a thud. “Get rid of these ASAP, will you?” Mel asked. “I don’t care if you take them to the nearest cemetery or throw them in the dumpster, but I don’t want to see them when I come back out here.” Rita nodded and Mel turned and marched back into her office to retrieve their latest guest for his bath. The bronze-furred cat was nowhere to be seen when she stepped back into her office, and she frowned. Hiding under the couch, maybe? Most folks would be surprised at how many cats learn to recognize the word ‘bath’. She took a few steps forward, shutting

7

the office door behind her without a glance back so he couldn’t get out that way, and knelt down on the floor to peer under the sofa. “You don’t really want to let the old man neuter me, do you, sweetheart?” came the purring voice from behind her. A tan, lithely-muscled arm wrapped itself around her waist even as she half-turned, ready to scream. The eyes she found herself staring up into were copper-gold, brighter than any she’d seen outside of contact lenses. Long, straight, golden-bronze hair spilled over impossibly wide shoulders, gone the color of butterscotch from the summer sun. The broad, hairless chest was equally muscular and tapered downward to a trim, narrow waist, lean hips and a very nice— Oh. My. God. He’s completely naked. Before she could force a scream past her parted lips, he grinned roguishly, eyes twinkling, and swooped in, mouth closing over hers. His tongue speared straight into her mouth to tangle with hers, his lips roaming possessively over her own. A flush of heat shot from her lips all the way down to her groin, igniting an ember of liquid flame there that slicked her panties. Eyes wide, she watched the stranger’s nostrils twitch, almost as if he could smell her arousal, and even as she turned the rest of the way to face him, he lowered her to the floor. Her nipples had gone hard enough to cut diamonds, pressing achingly against the white lace bra she wore. He undid the buttons on her blouse with eye-watering speed, fanning the lapels of the shirt open. “Wait, no!” she gasped, pulling free for a second. Her knees went weak, and she swallowed hard at the rush of heat through her body, consumed by a white-hot lust she hadn’t felt since…well, ever. Jason never made me feel like this! Something hot and hard nudged her thigh and she glanced down, stifling a gasp at the sight. His erection was huge, large enough to nudge the soft flesh of her belly. He leaned in close before she could get a better look, arrowing in to nip her shoulder and the side of her throat. She could feel his hands slip below her waist, working to undo the button and zipper of the slacks she wore, and she grabbed his hands, temporarily stilling them.

8

“Who…who the hell are you?” she gasped, desperately trying to maintain even a thin façade of sanity against the sensations that swirled turbulently through her hungry flesh. He grinned again, wide, licking his lips, those emerald eyes hot with desire. “Don’t you know, sweetheart?” he teased, sliding one finger under the waistband of her panties and drawing a fiery line from her left hip to the right. “After all, you were the one who saved me when that car hit me.” It made no sense whatsoever. She spent half a second trying to puzzle out the mystery behind his words; then his mouth sought hers again. With waning determination, she grabbed his hands—again— pulling them away from her pants. She could hear the stranger making a deep rumbling sound in his throat and chest. It took her a second to realize what it meant. Purring. He’s purring. “Goddammit, I said no!” The sound died away and he pouted, looking more than a little disappointed that she had insisted. “Who the hell are you?” she murmured, sitting up abruptly. The grin that stretched from ear to ear on his lips was an infectious one, making her want to smile back at him. “Oh, sweetheart, don’t tell me you don’t know?” he said, sitting up as well. He stretched slowly, hands clasping together and arms reaching up, pulling every delicious muscle taut…she realized she was staring and forced herself to look away. “Of course I don’t know!” she snapped, scowling. “I don’t make a habit of almost having anonymous sex with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who shows up naked in my office.” “Ty,” he corrected her. “Tybalt Felix. And you should know who I am—you saved my life this morning.” “What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded. He sighed, shook his head, and turned, looking at her amusedly. The curve of his ass, the lean muscles in his thighs—they all caught her eye.

9

Even as her eyes went wide and she recoiled, he began to change, shrinking in size like a melting Popsicle. Silky golden-bronze fur sprouted from every pore as his limbs reshaped, claws appearing like curved needles at the end of his hands and feet, a mouthful of sharp fangs appearing where normal human teeth had been before. And when he was finished, she saw the same Abyssinian that she had rescued from the highway this morning. She knew her mouth was gaping open as he changed back, and she likewise knew she couldn’t help it. “I have to be dreaming,” she muttered as he shifted, returning once more to the form of the gorgeous stranger. She realized abruptly that she was still halfnaked. Blushing, she scrambled for her clothes, pulling on her bra and hooking it before she yanked her blouse back on. “No dream,” he said cheerfully. “Magic.” She stared at him blankly and he sat back down, taking her hands in his. “Maybe your mother read fairy tales to you when you were a child?” “Um…sure,” she said. “Did she ever read you ‘Puss in Boots’?” “It was my favorite story,” she admitted, wondering where he was going with this. “Puss was my far-distant ancestor,” he told her. “But the story that ended up in the fairy tale books isn’t actually how things went. The ogre that my great-great-greatgreat ancestor supposedly killed, the one that could turn into any creature, small or large, who Puss is said to have tricked into becoming a mouse, so he could eat him? That ogre was actually an ogress, and a beautiful one, at that. So instead, he seduced and married her. All their descendants have been able to change shape like she could.” “I…” What the hell can I say to that? Seeing is believing, isn’t it? He changed, right in front of my eyes, and I can’t write it up to hallucinations caused by brain tumor or drugs, or something done with movie special effects, now can I? “It’s a lot to take in, I know,” he purred, getting to his feet and pulling her up to hers. “But you did more than just save my life. You see, any time you read accounts of witchcraft from the Middle Ages, you’ll read that they could also change shape into

10

animals. But there were always warnings; if you stayed in an animal’s shape too long, you could forget you were human, and you might never be able to return to human form.” “And that’s what happened to you?” she asked carefully. “Right!” he beamed. “I changed one day to—”Incredibly, he blushed. “—ah…there was a woman in the same apartment complex I lived in who I wanted to get a better look at.” He carefully moved on to a less controversial topic. “The cat’s shape is my favorite.” He sobered a little. “Actually, the magic has weakened a lot since the old days, so it would be a little more honest to admit that the cat’s form is the only one I can take. Since the magic originally came from the ogre’s blood, and all the descendants since then have bred with humans, not more ogres, it gets progressively weaker with each generation. Just another form of evolution. My father could be a cat, a dog, a deer, a crow, and a handful of other creatures, but I’m limited to one form. I suppose if I ever have children, they won’t be able to shift at all.” “So it’s the magic that allowed you to heal all the injuries you received when that car hit you? I saw you clearly. I know you were badly hurt.” He nodded. “I’m lucky that way. Ogres heal with incredible speed. It’s one of the reasons it was so hard to kill them. I’m not quite that indestructible, but I do heal much, much more swiftly than normal animals or people.” “I see. Handy talent to have. I was thinking you’d used up one of your nine lives just then—“ Before she could complete the sentence, there was a hesitant rap at the door. “Just a minute!” The stranger—Tybalt—stood in the middle of her office watching her speed-dress with an amused expression, and she glared at him. “Change back to your cat form!” she growled softly. Can’t exactly tell him to put his clothes back on, since he doesn’t have any. And how am I going to deal with that? When the beautiful cat had settled itself on the couch once more, tail twitching, she marched to the door and opened it.

11

Rita stood there, peering nervously into the room, face red with embarrassment. “Is everything okay, Mel?” she asked cautiously. “I didn’t realize when the flowers came who had sent them, or I would have told the courier to take them back.” “It’s fine, Rita. I guess I got a little more worked up over that jackass Merritt than I should have. What’s up?” she sighed. Rita made a face. “Uh…that jackass is on the phone and wants to talk to you,” she said, obvious reluctance at being the bearer of bad news written on her face. Melody snorted in disgust. “Fine, I’ll take the call in here.” Rita nodded. “Don’t’ forget that Frank Bell is coming by to conduct the yearly inspection later.” She returned to her desk. Melody shut the door firmly, locking it before heading to her own desk to sit down. She still tingled all over. When she glanced over at the couch, the cat looked back at her. He winked, then ran his tongue lasciviously over his muzzle. She shivered, glanced down and saw the ‘Hold’ light on the phone was lit up. With a frown, she picked up the phone. “Hello, Mr. Merritt,” she greeted him resignedly. “What do you want?” “Why, hello, Ms. Young. Glad to talk to you again. I hope you’re doing well?” “I’m fine. Get to the point.” “Not at all,” he chuckled. “I was wondering if you got the flowers.” “I threw them out,” she said, gaining a moment’s satisfaction when he sighed in exasperation. “You’re being unnecessarily stubborn, Ms. Young,” he chastised her. “I realize you’re reluctant to sell because your mother opened the shelter, but with the money I’m offering, you could open another shelter twice the size of your current place. Won’t you think of the poor cats and dogs going homeless—or being put down in the county A.S.P.C.A.?” “You don’t give a damn about these animals,” she snarled, “so quit trying to pretend you do. The only thing driving you is greed. You’re not doing this out of the goodness of your heart, because you’d have to have a heart for that to be true.”

12

There was a moment of silence and then he sighed. “I really am beginning to lose my patience with you, Ms. Young,” he said flatly. “You really don’t want that to happen. I’ll increase my offer by another twenty-five thousand. Think about it…but don’t think about it for very long. Time is running out.” She slammed the phone down back into its cradle before he had a chance to say another word and promptly burst into tears.

13

Chapter Two The cat rose and leapt from the couch. He was a man before his feet hit the floor, changing more swiftly than before, coming to her side to slide an arm around her shoulders. “What’s wrong?” It took her a moment before she could gain enough control of her emotions to answer him. She grabbed a handful of tissues from the box on the corner of her desk, wiping away her tears, her face flushed and hot. “That bastard,” she choked. “He’s trying to take away everything that’s ever given my life meaning, the only thing I have left from my mother.” His expression was bewildered, and she knew he didn’t understand. “This place,” she indicated the building they stood in with a wave of her hand. “My mother built it and ran it until she died. We’re an animal shelter; we take in cats and dogs, and give them homes until someone adopts them. Most animal shelters in the city can only keep specific animals for so long; if a particular cat or dog isn’t adopted by someone after, say, four weeks, then they have to put them to sleep to make room for new animals coming in. We don’t do that. We’re a no-kill shelter.” “They kill them?” he asked, his expression deadly serious. She nodded. “We don’t. It means we only have room for so many animals, but we’d always done very well with our adoption rate until about three months ago.” She sighed, crumpling the tissues up and tossing them into the trash basket. “That was Stephen Merritt on the phone. He’s a real estate developer who got it into his head— coincidentally, about three months ago—that this spot along the river would be a good place to build a casino. It’s got a great view of the Arch, it’s right on the riverfront, downtown near all the high-end hotels and shops and restaurants—perfect for tourist business. He’s set to make a lot of money if he succeeds, and he’s purchased and torn down most of the old houses and businesses that used to surround the shelter. The St. Louis waterfront area was pretty run down until about ten years ago, and high crime rates used to be a problem, but the police have cracked down in the last year or so, and there’s been a lot of revitalization since then.” He frowned. “Rebuilding. Renovations.”

14

“I understand,” he said mildly. “According to the date on the calendar on the wall behind you, I’ve been wandering around as a cat for the last sixteen months.” He chuckled. “The lease on my old apartment probably ran out. I’ll have to give the landlord a call later and see if I can get my belongings back. Let’s hope he didn’t throw away all my things when he had me evicted.” The smile on his face vanished quickly and was replaced with a thoughtful expression. “Come to think of it, I’m probably on a police missingpersons list.” “I’m sorry. “ She knew the words were inadequate, but the situation was so completely unlike the normal, day-to-day “emergencies” that she had to deal with at the shelter that she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. How do you react when you learn someone’s just lost everything that meant anything to them? Clothes, furniture, family photo albums, car--the thought is mind-boggling. He doesn’t seem as upset about it as I would be, but I doubt he sees it as a joking matter. An idea occurred to her and she acted on it quickly, knowing that if she thought too deeply about it, she would talk herself out of it. “You’re more than welcome to stay at my place, if you want. I live alone, so I don’t have any roommates you’d be upsetting.” “I appreciate that.” The heated look in her eyes was enough to make her shiver. And there’s the other side of having him stay at my place for awhile. The scenery can’t be beat! “Anyway, my mother died five years ago, and I took over running the shelter then. Because she built this place, I refused to sell it to Merritt when he started coming around and making deals with all my neighbors to buy them out.” Her tone was bitter as she finished. “I promised my mother before she died that I’d keep this place going. But I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to keep that promise.” Ty pulled her into his arms. “I understand, now.” He bent close to kiss away the last few tears on her cheeks, his lips tracing trails of fire along her soft, pale skin. “No more crying. I’ll help you.” “You have no idea how much that means to me. It’s been hard, trying to keep this place open the last few weeks. But I admit I can’t figure out how your gift, amazing as it is, is going to be of much use.” 15

He grinned. “You might be surprised,” he promised. “Now. Since I’d like to spend at least a few hours as a man before changing back into my other form to do some sneaking around, I need a favor.” “If I can.” He gestured at his naked form. “I can’t walk around like this in public. Can you get me something to wear? After all, eventually I’m going to have to go use your restroom, and I don’t want to shock your staff when I leave your office to find it.” He wrinkled his nose. “And now that I’ve got my mind back, I absolutely refuse to use a litter box.” She laughed, the sound only a little sad, and nodded. “There’s a department store a couple of miles down the strip. I can go grab you some jeans and t-shirts, and a pair of sneakers.” “That’ll do fine.” Ty grabbed a piece of scratch paper off her desk and wrote down his sizes. His stomach growled and he laughed. “And something to eat would probably be a good idea, too.” She smirked. “Oh, so the bowl of Meow Mix in the corner isn’t good enough for you anymore?” He grinned and swooped in to kiss her again, his lips claiming hers as thoroughly as the first time, his tongue once again awakening the insistent fire that had flared through her slender form not an hour earlier. His hand came up to cup her face tenderly, his thumb tracing along the edge of her cheek. Before she could push him back, however, he released her, reaching out to wipe a smudge of coral lipstick from the corner of her mouth. “No,” he answered softly. “I don’t care for Meow Mix. Tender Vittles—or better yet, broiled salmon—tastes much better.” She laughed, his humor catching, and rose from her seat. “All right. I’ll probably be gone about an hour. Try not to make too much noise in here while I’m gone; I’d hate for Rita or Angie or Brian to come in and find you here.” “If I hear someone coming, I’ll change,” he assured her, making a face at the thought. “But I really need to spend at least a few hours as a man. I don’t want to jump right back to being a cat and forget who I am all over again.”

16

She nodded and grabbed her purse, then leaned in close to press a kiss against his mouth, more than a little surprised at her own daring. God, I want him! “Be back as quick as I can.” Once she’d shut the office door behind her, she paused a moment to talk to Rita at the front desk. “I’m going out for a bit,” she said. “I should be back well before Frank Bell gets here for his inspection.” “Whatever you say,” Rita said, though she looked doubtful. “Is everything okay, Mel? I thought I heard you crying in there…” Melody gave her a grim smile. “Merritt was an ass on the phone. No big surprise there. He upped the price he’s offering, and it’s hard to keep telling him no when I know it’s getting difficult to keep up with things around here.” Rita shrugged. “Neither I nor Angie nor Doc Evans really need the money all that bad, Mel. Both Angie’s husband and mine make good money. And you know the doc could retire at any time; he helps out here because he wants to help the animals, not because his retirement fund is low.” Melody nodded. “And right now, that and the fact that we still get volunteers coming in to help out on a semi-regular basis is maybe the only thing keeping me sane,” she confessed. “Okay, I’m out of here.” And she headed out the door. ~* * *~ She returned to the shelter about ten minutes before the inspector, Frank Bell, arrived, long enough to hand Ty the bag of clothes she had purchased and the sack of cheeseburgers from a nearby fast food joint. Then she escorted the inspector around the shelter itself while Ty ate and got dressed, showing Bell the area where the animals were kept, the operating room and other medical facilities, and their storage areas. Rita went over the last six months’ worth of records with him, all up to date, and Bell asked his usual questions. “I notice you don’t have as many staffers as last time I was here,” the inspector mentioned. He nodded toward the teenage girl who had showed up just after lunch, and 17

who was in the middle of giving a bath to a mixed-breed cocker spaniel. “Do you only have the one volunteer right now?” “No, we’ve got half a dozen others,” she reassured him, then blinked as Ty came out of her office and headed toward the area at the rear of the shelter where the other cats were kept. “For instance, Mr. Felix just joined us today,” she improvised smoothly, hoping that Bell didn’t see the startled look Rita shot her. “He’s especially good with the cats, and they like him a lot, too.” “I see,” Bell replied, making a note on the form on his clipboard. “All right, then. That was my only real concern; you know state law requires you to have a minimum number of staff on hand in proportion to the number of animals you take in.” He flipped up the top copy of the form and initialed something, then flipped it back down and signed at the bottom. “Just let me notarize this and you can have a copy for your records. Here we go. All finished.” She waited patiently as he dealt with the paperwork and gave her the necessary forms before going on his way. Rita was patient enough to wait until Bell was gone before turning to her with one arched brow. “Mr. Felix?” she asked curiously. “New volunteer. I met him at the Laundromat a few weeks ago and we started talking while our clothes were in the dryer. I told him he could come in any time he liked if he wanted to help out.” The woman grinned. “I’ll have to start doing my laundry in your neighborhood. He’s cute.” “That’s an understatement.” It took everything Melody had not to grin; she settled for winking at her friend. “I’d better go see what he’s up to back there.” “Is he going to stick around for a while, or is he going to run off once he realizes volunteering at a shelter means cleaning out litter boxes rather than just playing with the animals” Rita asked curiously. “We’ve had a lot of volunteers show up for a day and then never come back when they saw it involved real work.” “I think he’ll do fine,” Melody answered. “And he really does know cats well, almost like he can read their minds.” 18

Rita snorted and turned to file the forms the inspector had left with them, and Melody headed back to the area set aside as a playroom for the more socialized cats at the shelter. She passed the examining room, where Brian and Angie were prepping the abandoned terrier for surgery, and found Ty in the cat room, filling the food bowls. “You surprised me when you came out of my office,” she told him, grabbing the broom to sweep up the inevitable little crumbs of kibble that the cats left on the floor. “Sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t sure that the man wandering all over your shelter wasn’t going to come into your office, too. I decided it made more sense to pretend like I belonged here in the first place.” He set aside the scoop he’d been using lowered the snap-on lid of the plastic container. “That’s all right, I think fast.” She admired the rolling sweep of muscles in his arms and shoulders under the thin green cotton t-shirt she’d gotten him. Broad shoulders, tapering waist and the way the jeans she’d picked out hugged his ass and muscular thighs brought all the heat of their first touch a few hours ago roaring back to the surface. Her pussy tingled, and she could feel herself getting wet at the very sight of him; he turned, slowly, and she could see his nostrils flare to catch the enticing scent. A low, hungry growl rose from the pit of his throat and she shivered as he came forward, carefully taking the broom from her hands and leaning it against the wall before drawing her into his arms. “You know that all I’ve wanted to do from the moment I first saw you is take you in my arms and make you moan, right?” he purred, his voice low and sensuous. A ripple of need surged through her, tightening her nipples into tiny pebbles; every nerve in her body ached for him, shivering where his fingers rested on her hips by the waistband of her slacks. “What, even in the middle of the road with your leg hurting?” she quipped weakly, trying not to get carried away. Not at work! Not where anyone—including an underage volunteer, who would certainly talk about it to her parents—can walk in and find us. Dammit, I’m better than this. I can control myself! I’m not some blushing virgin. “Even then,” he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her. His teeth closed gently over her bottom lip, tugging on it a little before releasing it to nip lightly at her tongue. 19

She moaned, and he bent lower, his tongue tracing a scorching path from the base of her jaw down to the hollow pit at the center of her throat. He reached down with one hand to slide the hem of her blouse out of her slacks, lifting it up and slipping one hand underneath the pale fabric. He brushed a thumb over the crest of her left nipple, stiffened to a tiny peak under her lace bra, and she squeezed her eyes shut, a groan torn from her. His erection stretched the crotch of the new jeans he wore, pressing painfully against the denim, the bulge grinding against her hips. One of the cats trilled softly from a few feet away and she grimaced, opening her eyes to glance down at the little animal’s curious gaze. There was nothing in all the world she wanted more than to lock the door and just give in, but she knew better. “Please stop,” she panted, reaching out to capture his hands. He went still. “Not here. I have to work with these people every day. I don’t want to lose someone’s respect by having them walk in on me in the middle of something.” She winced as one of the cats came over to stretch up to her knee and mew. “Especially when we’d be swarmed the second we got our clothes off.” He sighed and let her go. “I know you want me, sweetheart. I can smell it.” “I do,” she admitted. “More than I’ve ever wanted a man in my life. You make me ache all over.” He grinned. “You’re gorgeous and you know it. You make my head go crazy, make it hard to remember that I’ve known you less than a day.” The grin disappeared and he hmmph’ed. “But I like to think I’ve got better control over my own animal instincts than to screw like an alley cat here and now.” “You’re too pretty to be an alley cat, sweetheart,” he purred, reaching out to brush a stray tendril of coppery hair away from her face. “All right. I can wait. There’s a time and a place for everything, and maybe here isn’t the best place for this, no matter how much I want you.” He leaned in close again, his breath warm and clean on her face. “But don’t think I can wait very long.” She swallowed hard as he turned away and went to grab the first of the cats’ water bowls and carried them over to the sink to refill them. “So how do you propose to help me with my problem?” He set the bowl down and grabbed another one. “Merritt’s no different from any other rich, powerful man, and my family’s been dealing with those since Puss’ time. They 20

don’t get to their lofty position by luck alone. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t have deep, dark secrets he’s been hiding, and those secrets are his weakness. We expose those and he won’t have time to bother you any more. He’ll be too busy trying to save his own ass.” The cats clustered around his ankles, following him back and forth from the sink as he filled their water dishes, but never once did he trip over them. She admired his steady grace as he worked, marveling at how quickly he had adapted to things here. “And you’re going to find out those secrets?” He paused to flash her that roguish grin. “It’s one of the things I do best. Have you ever known a cat that didn’t go out of its way trying to figure out what everyone else was doing?” “Then you need to be careful,” she warned. “You know what they say—“ “Curiosity killed the cat,” he finished for her. “But satisfaction brought him back.” His grin deepened as he stood there, the look on his face so blatantly horny it made her heart catch a beat. “And believe me, I intend to be satisfied.” She shivered, but persisted. “And how do you think you’re going to find out whatever it is he might be hiding?” she asked. “I doubt he’s going to spill the beans in front of you.” He lifted one finger, waved it back and forth as if protesting. “Oh, he wouldn’t say anything in front of a stranger, but in front of a cat?” He looked smug. “Who cares what a cat hears? They don’t understand what people say, and it isn’t as though they can repeat it to anyone.” She had to admit he was probably right. “But how are you going to get in where you can hear what he might have to say?” “I haven’t figured that part out yet,” he admitted. “But I’ll find a way. I take it he has an office?” “Downtown. Not far from the Adam’s Mark hotel. It’s a little stand-alone building.” She knew she had the exact address, somewhere among the piles of mail on her desk. She still had all the letters he had sent her from the very first offer for the property. “I don’t have the address memorized, but I can find it for you.” 21

“Good. So we go back to your office and find his address. Then I can go later tonight, when it’s dark and have a look around.” “Won’t that be dangerous?” she asked, worried. “I doubt it. A night watchman is no problem. Who’s going to see a stray cat as a threat? Even if he’s got guard dogs, I’m faster than they are.” His smile was meant to be reassuring, and mostly succeeded. “He’ll probably have a good electronic security system, but there are ways around that. They put alarms on the doors and windows, but no one bothers to put alarm sensors on air vents that are too small for a human to squeeze through, up on a roof too high for a man to get up on. But most buildings downtown have all those lovely, ornamental, climbable trees, and they’re usually tall enough that I can use them to reach the roof.” “Oh.” It occurred to her that this was a perfect example of why daring thieves who got into hard-to-crack places in the movies were called cat burglars. “Well, let’s hope he doesn’t have security cameras set up around the place.” “I’ll burn that bridge when I cross it,” he joked. His teasing tone and obvious confidence was enough to calm her a little. “I take it he’s not hard up for money?” She shook her head. “His overhead is probably ten times what I pay here, but it isn’t like he can’t afford it. He’s made a lot of these kind of deals in the past, and he’s swimming in cash.” It was hard not to be bitter. She didn’t envy Merritt his riches, but not for the first time, she wondered angrily why he’d had to pick this particular spot for his casino. After all, he could have chosen any nice stretch along the riverside and left her happily alone. Ty crossed the few feet between them and drew her into his arms again. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. When I get done with this prick, he’ll wish he’d never met you.”

22

Chapter Three Melody unlocked the door to her apartment, glad to be home for the night. Ty strolled in behind her, his stride as cocky as if he owned the place. She shut the door behind him, locked it, and tossed her purse on the coffee table in front of the couch. They had stopped on the way home for dinner, cheap and greasy fried chicken that was about all she could afford these days; eating out wouldn’t benefit her checkbook any, but after the day’s events, she was too stressed to even think about cooking. Ty came up behind her as she slipped her shoes off, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. “You’re tense,” he murmured, his breath tickling against the back of her neck like a feather. “Lots to worry about,” she said, nodding stiffly, trying to push away the thoughts of Merritt and the casino, as well as the shelter’s other woes—dwindling supplies of antibiotics and other medications, a dog brought in this afternoon with the worst case of mange she’d ever seen, a cat dumped at their doorstep that was so malnourished and dehydrated it had died before they could even get a needle into it for a saline drip. She was used to the usual highs and lows of the shelter trade, but lately there had been far too many lows and almost no highs at all. “Then sit and let me fix that.” He guided her over to the couch and eased her down into a sitting position, then began to knead the tight muscles of her neck and shoulders. She closed her eyes and tried to relax into the sensuous warmth and strength of his touch, feeling the tendons and muscles unknot ever so slightly. “Mmmm. That feels good,” she murmured, feeling him unclasp the thin golden necklace she wore and set it aside, then resume his careful ministrations. His touch was gentle without being too weak, firm without being painful, and she let herself melt into his hands, a shiver running through her. As the pain and tension drained out of her slender frame, heat began to kindle in its wake, swirling along the curves of her hips, waist, and breasts. She moaned, arching back against him, and his hands stilled for a moment. 23

“Don’t stop,” she whimpered, and heard Ty chuckle as his fingers slid up the slim stem of her neck to slide through the flowing strands of her scarlet hair, fingertips dancing along her scalp in loose, easy rhythm. He knew exactly how firmly to press and where, chasing away the headache that had been building at the base of her skull, at her temples, and along the meridians of muscle that swept up from her spine to curve up and over the top of her head. She sucked in a breath as the pain dissolved under his attentions, and the release only added to the exquisite heat building everywhere else. Without pausing to think twice, Melody turned and wrapped her slender arms around his broad shoulders, pulling him down to sit on the couch next to her so his head could rest against her chest. One hand lifted to stroke his silken bronze mane, wanting only to touch him as he had been touching her. His arms came up and locked around her waist and shoulders, and he slid down to kneel on the floor next to her, nuzzling his face deeper into the soft curves of her body, eyes closed to seek out her scent and heat. She crooned to him as he took a deep breath, visibly trying to keep control of himself. He ran his fingers through her fiery hair before reaching up to brush his face against hers, exactly like a cat, his flesh warm against her skin. His fingers were unbuttoning her blouse before she realized it, but she didn’t even think of telling him to stop as he slipped the cream-colored shirt down her arms. A second later, his hands slid downward to undo her slacks, then let them drop aside. Left only in panties, she kicked them off as well. She writhed against him, completely nude, and reached down to unzip his jeans, in a hurry now to make sure he was as naked as she. Ty pressed his face against the smooth, heated flesh of her belly, the stubble on his cheeks and chin sending little shivers through her. Melody shuddered as he parted his lips to scrape his teeth against the taut skin of her abdomen, causing giddy little ripples to eddy through her stomach and slide down to her pussy, instantly wetting her labia with cream. Her nipples peaked to an almost painful hardness at once and he grinned at her gasp, unhooking her bra and tossing it aside before fastening his mouth over one of her tight pink peaks. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, feeling the muscles ripple as he suckled, his tongue circling the little bud in slow, hot circuits. She could smell the sweet scent of her own juices as he nibbled at the curve of her breast, his mouth sliding slowly from one

24

proud, perky globe to the next. She groaned and released her grip on his shoulders, flopping back on the couch, heart jittering like popcorn in a pan. His eyes glowed in the dark, flashing with luminescence as he gave her nipple one last soft kiss and then leaned back, pulling her legs up over his shoulders before bending forward again. She was glad, now that she hadn’t quit her usual routine; her mound was neatly shaved into a Brazilian, the brick fur only a little darker than that on her head. When his mouth closed over her heated core, her hips bucked, a low whine emerging from her lips. His tongue flicked her clit, slowly at first, and then faster. She clawed the couch cushions, head thrown back, trembling with every lick and thrust. When his tongue finally speared down into her pussy, lapping at her cream, she could no longer contain herself and exploded, the inner walls of her channel contracting tightly in absolute ecstasy. It was a few moments before her pulse and breathing had slowed enough for her to lift up on one elbow to gaze at him, glassy-eyed. Ty pulled her up against him with a soft, rippling growl, his eyes blazing like melting pennies. She could feel the hardness of his cock pressed against the slick petals of her vagina, ready to burn its way to her core. “You said earlier today to wait, and I did. But I’m done waiting," he growled hungrily, the admission ripped from the depths of his soul. In answer, she arched against him once more, plastering her body against his, and covered his mouth with her own. She nibbled at his lips, her tongue darting out to taste him, and his lips parted to meet her tongue with his. She felt the muscles of his back slide and ripple under her spread fingers, his heart pounding fiercely within the cage of his chest as he reached up with one hand, threading his fingers through her crimson locks. Ty groaned and Melody ran one hand down to the small of his back, feeling the vibrant thrum of muscle and flesh each time he moved. Her hand dropped even lower, cupping his buttocks, pulling his hips closer against hers. She felt him shudder, the feeling like an earthquake going through him, and a harsh, wordless sound escaped his lips. “Last chance,” he grated. “Tell me to stop, and I will.” It was clearly difficult for him to say the words, and she shook her head. Is this what a female cat feels like when it’s in heat? No wonder they scream! “No,” she whispered. “I want this. I want you. I want you inside me. I want everything you have to give me…right down to the last drop.” She couldn’t remember ever 25

feeling more hungry, more horny, and she knew the only thing that would make that blistering need fade was his cock, buried all the way to the hilt inside her. Still standing, Ty clasped her hips in both hands, lifting her up as she settled her own hands on his shoulders. He lowered her smoothly and she parted her legs, impaling herself on his rigid cock with a ragged moan. He slid easily into her wet pussy, nothing impeding the upward thrust of his erection until their hips met as he buried himself completely within her. The movement of his hips stopped completely for a moment, their eyes closed, his whole body quivering. Melody realized that his breathing had slowed, almost stopped, Ty still sheathed deeply within her tight flesh. It was hard to think rationally, but she could only marvel at the amount of strength it took to hold her there, standing unsupported rather than against a wall or laying down in bed or on the couch. Then he began to move, and the very idea of clear thinking fell away, replaced by bliss. Her pussy molded itself around his surging cock as if it had waited for this moment her whole life. She gasped as he reached the end, the head of his penis bottoming out against her cervix, and then slid back, taking up that oldest of rhythms. She squeezed her eyes shut in mindless bliss as he bent his head, his tongue sliding over her sensitive nipples in long, slow circles. The movement of his hips neither ceased nor slowed, and she lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, holding on for all she was worth. The pumping of his hips was coming more and more swiftly, a river of sensations pouring through her. “Oh, god,” she hissed, teeth gritted tightly together. “Yes…fuck me…please fuck me…” The sting as he sank his teeth into her shoulder—hard enough to leave little crescent-shaped dents, but not hard enough to draw blood—tore a ragged groan from her. She responded by digging her nails into his back, dragging her fingers down from shoulder blade to waist, hands criss-crossing to leave an uneven scarlet X against his tawny flesh. He threw back his head and roared as he gripped her hips and pumped. She rode him without coherent thought, drowning in the maelstrom of ecstasy breaking over her like a tsunami, hands braced against his shoulders as her orgasm exploded throughout her. Spasms of rapture fired through her nervous system, sweat slicking her pale flesh, full breasts bouncing, her own azure eyes narrowed to unseeing slits as she came.

26

His growl as her cream gushed forth to soak his cock and balls was deeper than thunder; her heart hammered in her chest as she finally opened her eyes to look down at him. His fingers dug deeply into her hips, guiding her back and forth against him, his thick shaft burying itself over and over inside her more swiftly with every second that passed. At last, he roared again, and she felt him erupt, his hot seed filling her. She slumped forward against him and he carried her through the living room, eyes glowing in the dark as he headed down the hall to her bedroom. He didn’t bother flipping on the light, but carried her over to the bed, lowering her gently down and then climbing in next to her, until he pulling her close to cradle to his side. “Worth waiting for,” he rumbled, his voice deep and husky with passion. “Oh…god, yes,” she mumbled drowsily, little ripples of ecstasy still gliding through her, exhausted from the long day. The endorphins circulating through her system were lulling her to sleep, and she knew if she went to bed this early—it couldn’t be later than 8 P.M.—she’d be up far too early in the morning. But it was impossible to fight any longer, and with a last sigh, she fell asleep. ~* * *~ Mine. She looked so innocent in his arms, the worries that had furrowed her brows earlier erased in sleep. Ty smiled and bent down to press a soft kiss against her forehead. Although he had plans for the rest of the night that didn’t involve sleep, he could afford to spend a few more minutes here just watching her; he was in no hurry. I didn’t think when I went hunting this morning that I’d end the day in the arms of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, he mused. Then again, I wasn’t thinking like a man this morning…I was an animal, with no more sentience than any other alley cat… He hadn’t needed the first spears of sunlight that thrust up over the horizon to see the rabbit as it began its terrified dash across the highway, but the dawn’s light didn’t hurt his vision, either. The tip of his tail had twitched in the second before he leapt after it, the morning’s new rays turning his bronze fur golden. The scent that had filled his nostrils enticed him onwards; he had been chasing the rabbit for most of an hour, toying with it, anticipating the meat that would soon be filling his belly. 27

Caught up in the hunt, there was no warning blare of horns, no squeal of brakes— only the sudden loud rumble of a car’s souped-up engine, and the briefest flash of pain at impact—and then blackness. I got lucky, he thought, carefully beginning to extricate his arm out from underneath Melody’s shoulders. The car could have hit me much harder, dead-on, and then, quick healer or not, I probably wouldn’t have survived. Luckier still to be rescued by the one who found me… The smile on his face was gentle as he rose from the bed and stretched. I don’t care what I have to do when this business with Merritt is all over, but I won’t lose her. She’s accepting my nature remarkably well. Most normal humans would have done everything they could to pretend I was lying, regardless of what they saw. That only makes her all the more special. He retreated the way he had come, pausing in the bathroom to clean up from their lovemaking, his and hers, that mingled on his flesh. When he was done, he didn’t bother getting dressed, only searched around until he found paper and a pen in the coffee table’s drawer. The note quickly took shape on paper. Melody— Going out to check up on those things we discussed earlier today. With luck, I’ll be back before morning, but if I’m not, don’t worry. If you’re ready to leave for work and I haven’t gotten back yet, bring my clothes with you to the shelter, just in case. I hope you sleep well, and with any luck, this won’t take long, so I can wake you up properly. Ty

He left the note on the coffee table, pinned down with her purse, so she would be sure to see it. He paused only long enough to make sure the lights in the apartment were all turned off, and then he padded on silent feet over to the living room window. It opened without a sound, and the night air was warm and redolent of the scent of the river, muddy and humid, as it came drifting inside. A crabapple tree, no more than twenty-five feet tall, grew from its spot outside the window. He grinned and shifted, his form changing effortlessly, then crouched on the windowsill, gauging the direction and

28

speed of the wind before leaping out onto the tree’s nearest branch. The smell of early spring apple blossoms swirled around him, petals raining down to litter the sidewalk like snow as he made his way from branch to branch before finally dropping down to the sidewalk itself. Now…Merritt’s office is this way. Tail held high, he sauntered off down the street, headed for his destination. ~* * *~ The numbers next to the door of the neat brick building matched the address that Melody had given him and Ty allowed himself a smile. It had taken an hour to make his way from her apartment building to Merritt’s office, less time than he had feared, and even allowing for an hour inside and an hour’s dash back, that was still plenty of time to return to her side, slide in between the sheets with her, and wake her in the morning by nibbling on her neck and seeing where things went from there.. He slunk around the building, frowning as he realized the only plants left behind by the landscapers were a few short ornamental rose bushes in the front by the entrance. That’ll make it harder to get to the roof. The front and back doors were, of course, firmly locked, and because the office building was only a single story, there was no fire escape to climb. The windows were plate glass and not designed to open. Before he could contemplate his next step, he heard a car nearing. Instinctively, he ducked under the rose bushes, hiding as a sleek red sports car pulled up in one of the building’s front spaces and parked. The woman who emerged was beautiful enough, in an exaggerated men’s magazine sort of way: bleached blonde hair, eyes the color of a robin’s egg, and a lush hourglass figure that strained at the seams of the short black skirt and low-cut sapphire silk blouse she wore. She pranced up the sidewalk toward the front door on high stiletto heels, and a thick, eye-watering cloud of perfume wafted around her. Ty watched as she reached into the tiny purse she carried and pulled out a set of keys. She works here. Perfect. He waited until she had inserted the keys into the lock and opened the door, then shut off the alarm, before strolling out from under the bushes to

29

twine around her ankles and purr. Let’s hope she likes cats. This won’t work if she’s phobic or allergic. “Ooooo!” she cooed, the high-pitched tone enough to make him wince. “Aren’t you gorgeous?” She bent down and picked him up, and he suffered himself to be draped over her breasts, already able to tell from their unnatural size that they were no doubt enhanced by silicone. “Come on, kitty. I think I left my cell phone in here today before going home.” She giggled as she sashayed into the building, heading down the hall toward the main office. “It’s all Stevie’s fault. Just can’t keep his hands to himself until we’re done for the day.” Oh, beautiful! She’s Merritt’s secretary. Ty settled down, purring as she flicked the light on in the office and set him down on her desk long enough to look around. If I can just convince her to keep me as a pet, I can get her to take me with her to the office in the morning and eavesdrop on her private conversations with her boss, read her email while sitting on her lap, and go through the files while she’s in the bathroom. It’ll mean not getting back to Melody tonight, though. The thought pained him; he wanted nothing more than to return to her tonight, spend the night with his arms wrapped around her, but she was in trouble, and he had promised to help. This ruse gave him the in he needed. “There it is!” the woman squealed, pouncing on the small red cell phone lying on the floor under the desk. She opened the phone to check it, then tucked it into her purse with a pleased smile. “Now. Would you like to come home with me, kitty? I have plenty of tuna I could share with you, and I really think you’d like my place, so long as you behave.” He purred and rubbed up against her ankles again, and she scooped him up, chattering at him in sugary tones as she shut off the light, carried him back down the hall, reset the building alarm system, and locked the door. The red car awaited, and when she set him down on the passenger’s seat, he consoled himself with the thought that, after the next few days, he would never need to spend a night away from his Melody ever again.

30

Chapter Four

His body was tawny leather, lean and perfectly-proportioned, his hair a river of honey-bronze silk almost to his hips, his eyes gleaming copper stars in the darkness of the room. He was erect and Melody drew in an awed breath as he bent and climbed into bed, lowering himself over her, supporting his weight on his knees and hands as he began to kiss her pale flesh. His mouth wandered from her throat down to her breasts, pausing to tease each rosy crest, suckling there until they had stiffened with desire. His weight settled a little as he reached out to caress her, his hands sweeping tantalizingly up her curves, then down. She felt slow heat coil in the pit of her stomach, building with every feathery touch. His cock brushed against her thigh as Ty slid her knees open, raining tiny kisses down over her breasts and throat, poised to sheathe himself in her, waiting only for her word— Melody blinked and opened her eyes to sunlight streaming in through half-slitted blinds. “Damn.” Just a dream. Not that I can’t make it real… Her body ached with need and she rolled over with a wicked grin to wake him— —and found the other side of the bed empty. “What the hell?” With a mutinous pout, she tossed back the covers and sat up, the delicious urgency that had fired the molten core of her pussy already beginning to cool. “Ty?” she called, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and stalking into the bathroom. Not here. Maybe he’s in the kitchen making breakfast? Coffee and bacon and buttery toast and perfectly scrambled eggs would be great… He wasn’t there, either, but even as she turned, she spotted the note pinned down on the coffee table with her purse. Her pout metamorphosized to a frown as she slid it out from under her purse and read it. “Great. Just great,” she muttered. She understood what he had done, why he had gone—it was no more than they had discussed, after all. But I was really looking forward to a repeat of last night. I… She gnawed the tip of one 31

thumb as she headed back to her bedroom to grab a fresh change of clothes, then started the shower. It isn’t just the sex, although that was certainly the best I’ve ever had. It’s the way he treats me…like he actually cares. Can he care? I mean…is he a man that can change into a cat, or a cat that can change into a man? And let’s keep in mind there’s some ogre blood in there… Her lips curved into a faint smile as she stepped under the hot spray. Ogres. Anyone heard me say such a thing, they’d lock me up and throw away the key. She showered, dressed, and had breakfast quickly—microwave oatmeal rather than the bacon and eggs she’d been hoping for—then gathered his shoes and clothing, snatched up her purse, and headed out to the car. I care for him. In the space of knowing him for one day, I’ve come to…hell, why dance around the truth? I think I love him…fairytale magic, ogre blood, and all. I don’t want to let him go. She stumbled across no injured cats or dogs on her way to the shelter this morning, a fact she was glad of. As she pulled into the shelter’s parking lot, she realized that there were two black-and-white city police cars pulled up in front of the door, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe. Feels like my heart has decided to rip itself free of its moorings and go for a walk up my throat and out of my body. Trying hard not to panic, she parked and got out of her car, leaving the bag with Ty’s clothes in the back seat. Is this about Ty? Has someone figured out what he can do? Or is it something else, something just as bad? “Are you Ms. Young?” One of the uniformed officers asked as she crossed the lot toward where three of the police stood questioning Angie, Rita, and Brian. “That’s right. What’s going on here, officer?” “I’m afraid you’ve had a break-in, Ms. Young. Dr. Evans here went with one of my officers to try and figure out what was taken. It looks like someone stole all your veterinary medications—oh, and your computers, too.” The lump in her throat suddenly took a dive-bomb into her gut, and she took a deep breath, trying not to throw up. “Were the animals hurt?” she asked, her first concern always for the cats and dogs in their care. “Well, they’re shaken up, but it doesn’t look like any of them were harmed,” the officer reassured her. “I’m pretty sure what we have here is a junkie looking for animal

32

tranquilizers so he can get a cheap high. And he probably took the computers to pawn them for tomorrow’s fix. I’m sorry. We’ve drawn up a list of the missing items, and I’d like you to look them over before you head inside to check the list against what you see. If the list is accurate, I’m going to need you to sign here, and then I can give you a copy of the list and the report for your insurance provider.” A junkie? When we’ve been so lucky up until now? We’ve never been broken into before. Sure, people drop their pets off here all the time when we’re closed, despite the fact that it’s illegal to just dump their animals, but they know that way they don’t have to pay any fees. She bit her lip and took the list and clipboard he offered her, scanning the listed items with eyes that burned with desperate tears. This wasn’t a junkie. This was Merritt. It had to be. When she had finished looking over the list, one of the other officers escorted her inside to survey the damage. The police had almost finished evaluating the crime scene, although one of the technicians was still taking photographs for evidentiary purposes. Another was putting up yellow ‘Crime Scene – Do Not Trespass’ tape everywhere. Rita’s desk was a disaster area. Whoever had taken the computer hadn’t stopped there. He had ripped open every drawer as if searching for other things to steal. He had also swept everything off the desktop—blotter, the little jar of pencils and pens, the framed photo of Rita with her husband, the ‘In’ and ‘Out’ baskets full of mail, receipts, and blank adoption forms. The water cooler in the corner had been kicked over, and the nearly full bottle of water had drained all over the floor, soaking into the indoor/outdoor carpet and the molding at the base of the walls. The officer led her down the hall to the room where they kept the veterinary medications. The lock had been chiseled out of the door and lay on the floor a little down the hall. Inside, boxes had been opened, jars and bottles of pills taken, and the small halfsized refrigerator that they used to store the medications that they needed to keep cool had been stolen as well, along with everything inside it. Someone had punched holes in the walls with a tool, most likely a crowbar. Melody blinked away tears, not wanting to cry in front of the officer, and took one last look around the shelter. The computer in her office was missing as well, and her desk had suffered the same sort of damage. Mamie was nowhere to be seen, and for one heart33

stopping moment, she was afraid something terrible had happened to the elderly cat. “Mamie?” A tiny, half-stifled mew came from behind her desk, and she moved the overturned office chair out of the way and found the ancient Persian hiding under her desk. With a sound that was almost a sob, she scooped the arthritic cat up in gentle arms and carried her out of the office, not wanting to have to look at the devastation for one minute longer. Back out in the parking lot, she let Rita hold Mamie while she signed the inventory list, anger warring with despair churning her stomach into a sickly mess. “Is there anything else we need to do, officer?” “No, ma’am,” the young man answered. “We’ll be checking the pawn shops for your computers and minifridge. Dr. Evans was able to find the forms in your records with their file numbers, so we’ll be able to tell your equipment from anyone else’s. The drugs, I’m sorry to say, are probably a write-off. We think the break-in took place a little after midnight last night, and I understand the ones that need to be refrigerated have probably spoiled by now. The others, well…to be honest, I wouldn’t count on getting them back.” He’s not going to believe me. But I have to try. “I don’t think it was a junkie that committed this break-in, officer…Stuart,” she finished, glancing at his nametag. “Or, at least, I don’t think he did it on his own.” The officer arched a brow, pulling his notepad back out to add her new words to the evidence. “You know who did this, ma’am? A former employee with a grudge, or something?” “No,” she said reluctantly, waving her hand at the rows of homes with ‘Sold!’ signs on them, and the shops that had already been torn down. “Stephen Merritt’s getting ready to put a casino in this neighborhood. Everyone in the area has sold their property to him but us. He called and told me yesterday that I wouldn’t like the consequences if I didn’t accept his offer. I think he’s behind this, that he’s trying to force us out of business.” The look in Stuart’s eyes was skeptical. “I see. Do you have any proof, Ms. Young?”

34

She sighed. “The last time I spoke to him on the phone, he said I wouldn’t like the consequences if I didn’t sell to him,” she confessed. “And he sent me flowers, with a note that said pretty much the same thing. But I got angry at his threats and had them thrown out.” What else do I have for evidence? I could show him the letters from Merritt with the offer for the shelter, but that by itself proves nothing. “Rita, you threw out the flowers like I asked you to?” Her friend nodded apologetically. “I can go check the dumpster, but I think the garbage truck came by this morning.” The officer gestured for one of the others to go check the dumpster and waited until the man came back shaking his head. “Well, Mr. Merritt’s a respectable businessman, ma’am,” the officer said. “I think if he was prone to those kind of tactics, he’d be in jail already. And I think I should warn you that spreading rumors like that about him is probably legally actionable as slander. You might want to be careful; if he found out about what you just told me, he could sue. And I’d be required to testify about what you’ve just said. You’re doing good work here. I’d hate for you to do anything to jeopardize that.” “I understand. Thank you, officer,” she said dully. He nodded and they gathered up their gear, heading for their cars. Melody turned to go inside, trying to keep the tight, heavy pain she felt roiling in her chest from spreading. The sight of the desolation that met her eyes again when she went back inside felt like a kick to the stomach. “Mel…” Rita began, but Melody waved her words away. “You don’t have to say it. We don’t have the money we need to replace the drugs and missing equipment, and we can’t stay open without it. Even if we could convince the state to let us keep nothing but hard-copy records, we can’t run a shelter with none of the medications we need—antibiotics, sedatives, analgesics.” She took a deep breath. “That’s it. Merritt’s won. We’ve lost.” ~* * *~ Ty settled into the plush cat bed underneath the secretary’s desk. I’ve slept in worse places, he decided. The bed had come straight from a pet store, along with a new litter box, a new food bowl, water bowl, half a dozen toys (including a catnip mouse that 35

he detested, because it made his head all fuzzy), and a neon-pink collar with hideous pink rhinestones. “Now you just stay down there and shush,” the woman he’d gone home with last night whispered to him, peering down under her desk where he sat curled up in the bed. He’d learned more than a few things last night; her name was Sindee, she hated Mexican food, and the drapes most definitely did not match the curtains. She had arrived early at the office to sneak him in, and thus far, he had proved to be the most docile, tractable, and obedient feline ever seen under the sun, scratching neither furniture nor walls and making neither sounds nor messes. He could hear people coming in as the workday began, settling into their places throughout the building. Draftsmen and designers took their places at their drawing tables, receptionists answered phones, and the mailroom guy came around with his cart. So far, so good, but where’s the boss? I’m going to be pissed if I went through that bubble bath last night and Merritt doesn’t show up today. Barely had the thought entered his head when the sound of another car entering the parking lot reached his ears. Eight-cylinder engine, but not a muscle car. Something fast, stylish, and foreign. I smell rich executive, exercising his prerogative to come in late to work! When the door that cut Merritt’s office off from the rest of the building opened, Ty purred. I love being right. The man looked to be in his fifties, with an expensive suit, a tie the shifter would have bet was raw silk, Italian leather loafers, a bulletproof briefcase, and the middle-aged paunch that went with all of the above. His hair was iron-gray, receding at the temples, and his nose and cheeks were a roadmap of veins that pointed to a lifetime of habitual drinking. His blue eyes were bloodshot, but still sharp enough to catch Sindee’s gaze as he swept through her office on the way to his own. “I want coffee and today’s papers, and I want them before my first appointment gets here,” he barked at the girl, who looked both startled and hurt by such cavalier treatment. “Right away, Mr. Merritt,” she mumbled, rising from her seat. I don’t think she’s used to doing much real work, Ty observed, waiting until she was occupied at the coffee pot before slinking out from under the desk toward the door. Merritt stood looking out the window behind his own desk, hands curled into fists at his sides. Ty took the 36

opportunity to steal into the man’s office and hide under the credenza that supported the big-screen TV in the corner. Tucking his tail around his legs, he curled up into a ball and listened. There was just enough of a gap under the sideboard’s front to sit and watch as Sindee brought in the coffee and the two newspapers that Merritt had wanted. “Good. Now call Dawson and tell him I need to reschedule our ten o’clock appointment. And then, I want you to go out to the same florist’s shop I had you call yesterday and have another three dozen roses delivered to the same address. No card. Ms. Young will know who they’re from.” The gloating tone in the man’s voice made Ty’s fur bristle. “But couldn’t I just call the order in?” Sindee asked plaintively. Merritt rounded on her with a snarl. “Do what I said!” She ran. Ears flattened to the back of his head, Ty watched Merritt suspiciously. What the hell are you up to? It’s obvious from the way she reacted that this isn’t how you usually treat her. He wanted to growl, low and threatening; it was the cat in him responding to Merritt’s attitude. Instead, he stifled the urge and listened, staying perfectly still except for the twitching tip of his tail. Less than five minutes after Sindee had left, Merritt’s cell phone rang. The heavyset man pulled it out and flipped it open. “Yes?” he demanded peremptorily. “I did what you asked. I trashed the place. Took the drugs, the computers, everything I figured I could fence, and wrecked the rest.” The voice was unfamiliar, and a little difficult to hear at the distance, but his sense of hearing was much better in cat form, and he knew he would be able to eavesdrop on the entire conversation, so long as no background noise interfered. “You didn’t harm the animals?” Merritt asked. Ty realized the fur on his haunches had just risen. He hired someone to trash the shelter! That dirty bastard! “Nah, just like you said. Didn’t want it to look any different from any of the other burglaries committed by junkies every day. So when do I get my money?” 37

“Tonight. Meet me at the vacant lot at Gratiot and Papin Street at ten this evening. There’s fences all around the place, which means no one’ll be able to see us.” “I’ll be there,” the other man said, and the phone went dead as Merritt hung up. The satisfied smile on his face made Ty want to rip him to shreds, but he knew that was a bad idea. The police would simply look for the most likely suspects, and Melody, given the trouble at the clinic lately, would be likely to end up rather high on that list. Killing him would be doing him a favor. Better to beat him at his own game. I’m willing to bet that Melody has a camera of some sort. Merritt took a sip of his coffee, then grimaced and marched out of the office, cup in hand. Ty slipped out of the room behind him, happy to use the distraction of cold coffee to make his way out of the building and head back to Melody. ~* * *~ It was late; she had locked the shelter up for the day, and the others on staff had gone home for the night. A fresh batch of roses had arrived this afternoon, but there was no card, making them useless as evidence. Bastard. I bet he knew I’d throw the first batch away, and knew I’d call the cops to show them these if there was a card with them. After five, six, seven and eight o’clock had all come and gone, she had given in and had a pizza delivered for dinner. Her stomach had been growling since six-thirty, and although she would have preferred to have dinner with Ty, she didn’t want to put it off any longer and end up light-headed or even pass out. A scratching sound at the window caught her attention and Melody looked up, brightening as she saw the dark golden-furred cat waiting patiently. She went to the window, sliding it up to let the cat leap down from the sill. “There you are!” she murmured softly, shutting the window before she went to shut her office door. “Where have you been all day? Did you find anything out? Look at what Merritt did to this place!” Ty smiled at her as he shifted back to human form, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her into a warm embrace. “Oh, I found out plenty, sweetheart,” he purred, leaning in close to nuzzle her neck. “He hired someone to trash the shelter to drive you out of business.”

38

“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” she said, wilting in dismay. “I’d hoped you’d learned a little more than that. It does me no good if I can’t prove it.” “Of course we can prove it!” he said cheerfully, and his lips closed over hers. She melted into the kiss, the fires he had kindled last night blazed to life immediately, and felt her nipples go as hard as if he had rubbed them with ice. She moaned into his open mouth and he slid a hand down toward the waistband of the skirt she wore. She caught his hand before it could go any further. “Please. Like I said yesterday, not here.” He frowned, but pulled his hand back, favoring her with a smile that danced between solemnly sincere and teasing. “All right, I’ll behave.” She shook off the befuddlement his kiss had roused in her. “What you said about him hiring someone to trash the shelter. You can prove it?” she mumbled. “Absolutely. I ran into his secretary last night while skulking around the building in cat form, trying to get inside. She fell in love with me at once—of course—and adopted me. It was easy to pretend to be lonely this morning and convince her to take me to the office with her. I was able to listen in on a phone call he received this morning. He’s supposed to be meeting with the man who trashed your office this evening at ten, so he can pay him for his work.” “Oh, that’s wonderful!” she exclaimed, hugging him tight. “Or…well, I mean…not wonderful that he trashed the place, but wonderful, what you found out.” He chuckled. “I promised I’d help you, didn’t I?” he asked, his arms tightening around her. “I never lie and I never break my word, sweetheart. And I’m never, ever going to leave you.” She went still as the import of his promise sank in. He won’t leave me…and he says he doesn’t lie or break his word… It was more than she could have ever hoped for or dreamed of, and this time, she kissed him, feeling the heat from the bulge in his jeans where it pressed against her. Hot sparks shot from her pussy up to her nipples and back. She caught his hands in hers when he reached for her again, forcing him to stop for a moment. “We need to call the cops.” Damn it. I tell him to stop, then kiss him. I need to quit with the mixed signals. 39

He arched a brow. “Won’t the police showing up just chase Merritt away?” he asked. He was right, of course, and she bit her lips, trying to think of what to do next. He eased his hands gently out of her grasp. “There’s just one thing we’re going to need,” he said as he began unbuttoning her blouse, a wicked grin on his lips. “And what’s that?” “A camcorder.” She arched a brow. “A camcorder?” “To film Merritt’s meeting with the person who broke into your shelter,” Ty explained, easing her pants off. Well, hell. At least everyone’s gone, and the doors are all locked. She reached down to wrap her fingers around his shaft, eager to have him inside her again. No one’s going to be walking in on us. And I want him as bad as he wants me, no matter how much I try to keep my business and personal lives separate. Good thing I didn’t take myself off the Pill when I broke up with Jason! Melody thought. The last thing I need is a baby, shapechanging or not—or worse, to give birth to a litter of kittens! He rose again, sitting back on his heels, and ran one hand down her body, from her shoulder all the way down to her thighs. Then he leaned forward, kissing the slopes of her breasts, his fingers tracing gentle, random patterns on her stomach. Melody shivered, taking a deep breath, and slid her hands up his arms, feeling the muscles rippling under his smooth, sleek skin. She admired the clean sweep of his limbs, the gleaming silk of his dark golden hair, and the liquid flex of his muscles as he towered over her. His cock beckoned her, and he bent again, his lips covering one of her stiff nipples. She gasped, feeling his hot, wet tongue teasing and flicking the stiff crest, and one of his hands slipped down her body, questing at the soft fleece at the mouth of her pussy. She shuddered, and one of his fingers slid into her moist cavern. A gasp was torn from her and her hips lifted to meet the delicious invasion; his thumb began to tease her clitoris, worrying it back and forth gently. She bucked against his fingers, moaning, and Ty smiled, then withdrew his dripping finger and descended, sliding into her with one

40

languid movement. She wrapped her arms around him as he began to move, pulling nearly all the way out, then sinking into her again. She tossed her head back and forth, as if to reject the rapture that was swiftly rising in her again, but it could not be denied. As his head dipped again, his mouth drawing in one of her nipples, she cried out, ecstasy rocketing through her. Her inner muscles convulsed, squeezing him like a velvet vise, and he felt the quakes emanating from her innermost core. At last, she slumped, laying limply beneath him, still able to feel his rigid erection buried to its hilt inside her. He smiled, kissing the corner of her mouth and her cheeks, then nuzzling her throat and ears. He took her wrists in one hand, stretching her arms above her head and holding them lovingly trapped, then began to move within her again. She arched against him in mockstruggle, her body rubbing against his, and he twined his legs between hers. She could see his buttocks tense and relax as he pumped his hips and she freed one hand, running it down along his shoulders. His back was tense under her fingertips, sweat beading in a fine dew, and he thrust, his face contorting as his own climax ripped through him. His muscles locked and he froze as his member began to spurt hot, sticky fluid into her tunnel. He finally collapsed, rolling to the side, drawing her into his arms. His sculpted features were sleepy with bliss, and she snuggled close to him, basking in the warmth of his body. “I need to get going so I can be there on time,” Ty said at last, sitting up and stretching. “I’m going with you,” she insisted. “Do you even know how to work a camcorder?” He frowned. “How hard can it be?” “That’s what I thought,” she snorted. “And the police won’t take your word alone.” “It could be dangerous,” he warned her. “Merritt doesn’t know me, but if he sees you, he’ll recognize you—“ “Then we make sure we aren’t seen,” she said firmly, climbing to her feet. He sighed and rose as well, shaking his head. “Are you always going to be this stubborn?” “Count on it,” she replied. “Come on, let’s go home. We should shower before we go.” 41

Chapter Five

Gratiot was one of the main thoroughfares cutting through downtown St. Louis from north to south. The vacant lot on the corner of Gratiot and Pepin stood across the street from a tavern and a park. A sign on the wooden fence around the lot promised that a new bank would be opening on that corner in six months. The trees that had once filled the lot had been cut down. The deep networks of roots dug out and hauled away. At the far edge of the lot, a crane stood parked alongside a bulldozer, a dump truck, and a pair of jackhammers meant to break up the cracked concrete of the old parking lot. “Is this entirely wise?” Melody whispered to Ty as they crouched down in the deep bed of the dump truck. Ty shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” She checked the camcorder, which she had fitted with a zoom lens and a fresh tape. They had arrived over an hour early, pausing only to run through a fast-food drivethrough on the way over, and they had finished dinner in hiding. The empty burger wrappers and fry boxes had been stuffed into their bag, left behind in the car parked five blocks away where Merritt wasn’t likely to spot it. Melody hunched down at the sound of a car approaching the lot. As the car slowed and then parked, she tensed. Ty reached out to rest one hand at the small of her back, the gesture oddly comforting. By easing upward a little, she could peer at the lot through the back window and front windshield of the dump truck, enough of a screen that no one was likely to see them. She wished the sound system on the camcorder was a little better. The microphone was not as good at picking up quiet sounds, like conversation, at a distance as she would have liked. If I have to get closer to tape what they’re saying... She grimaced at the thought and peered through the double layer of windows as footsteps approached, gravel crunching underfoot. “Not Merritt,” Ty whispered into her ear, his voice so soft as to be almost inaudible. “Must be his stooge.” The man stopped at the center of the lot and cast a cursory glance around. He was under six feet, thin and wiry, with a dark crop of stubble shading his jaw line with greasy, 42

lank dark hair. He wore stained, faded jeans and a heavy metal t-shirt under an old denim jacket, and steel-toed construction boots covered his feet, making his stride heavy and graceless. The sound of another car pulling up across the street was almost imperceptible, and Melody sucked in a slow, silent breath as she saw Merritt emerge from the black luxury car. He crossed the street without looking in either direction, a fine film of perspiration on his brow under the radiance of the streetlights. He pushed his way through the gate in the wooden fence and locked it behind him, then made his way across the lot toward the other man, his Italian leather loafers finding less certain purchase on the gravel. “Did you bring the money?” the other man asked bluntly. “Shut up for a second,” Merritt hissed. “Did you look around to make sure we were alone?” The thief rolled his eyes. “Did you tell anyone you were coming here, man?” “No, of course not. But you can never be too careful. Construction isn’t set to start here for a couple of days, but that doesn’t mean the site manager couldn’t have come out here to look around.” The other man waved a hand casually toward the equipment. “Not a lot of places to hide, man. Can we just get this over with? I’ve got bills to pay. If I don’t get some cash fast, my legs are going to get broken. I owe five grand for the last Cardinals game.” Merritt sneered. “It’s stupid to be betting on baseball games with the Mob when it’s perfectly legal to hit the casinos,” he said, reaching into his blazer and pulling out a thick, unlabeled envelope. “Banned,” the other man replied. “They figured out I was counting cards at the poker tables and tossed my ass out.” “Good to know,” Merritt snorted. “I’ll make sure to have your picture posted at the door when my casino opens this fall.” “Prick,” the thief spat, snatching the envelope out of Merritt’s hand and pulling it open to count it. 43

“It’s all there,” Merritt said, sounding bored now. “It’s worth every penny of the ten thousand you asked for the job. It would have cost me a hell of a lot more if the bitch who runs the shelter had accepted my offer. But it didn’t look like she was going to, which means I wouldn’t have been able to start construction on schedule. That could have potentially cost me millions a day.” “Then you got a bargain, didn’t you? I should have asked for more.” “You got what you were worth,” Merritt snapped. “I figure you’ve sold off the electronics by now, but what about the drugs you took from the shelter?” “In the trunk of my car,” the man said, jerking his thumb toward the beat-up Pontiac parked across the street. “Not much of a market for animal tranquilizers among the folks I know. You have to be really hard up for a high to take those.” Melody’s heart soared. I might still be able to keep the shelter open after this, she thought hopefully. “Dump them” “Whatever you want.” The thief shrugged, stuck the envelope into the inside pocket of his denim jacket, and turned to go, then stopped, peering toward the dump truck. Shit! Melody jerked down, a second slower than Ty, as Merritt’s voice floated over the lot. “What’s wrong?” “Thought I saw something over there, man,” the other man replied. “A light, maybe?” Melody glanced down at the camera, frowning; no lights were shining or blinking on it. Ty turned toward her, his mouth shaping words that she could read silently. The moonlight shining off the lens, maybe? Or light from the street lamp? “All right, come on out of there,” Merritt’s voice came from much closer, and she shivered. The heavyset man in his stiff, expensive shoes had somehow managed to get near the truck without the sound of the gravel under his feet giving him away. A click echoed across the empty lot, and she recognized the sound of a gun being cocked.

44

Ty sought out her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, love,” he murmured softly. “I’ll get us out of this.” He set the camera down, still running, and then climbed up out of the truck’s bed. “Who the hell are you?” she heard Merritt growl, and then recoiled as the other man’s head peeked up over the bed of the truck. “Hey, there’s someone else back here.” “Come on out, slowly or I shoot your friend,” Merritt snarled, his tone growing uglier by the second. Melody realized she trembled and tried to control herself, but it was difficult. She crawled to the rear of the bed and slid down, coming around the side of the truck. Merritt grimaced when he saw her. “Ms. Young. Why am I not surprised?” Whatever kind of gun it was, it looked very big, very ugly, and very dangerous. Merritt sighed, the sound of a man who feels harassed by the unfolding events of Fate. “You heard everything, didn’t you?” The thief, who had climbed up into the bed of the truck, hopped back down, now holding the camcorder in his hand. “They recorded us, man,” he said, starting to sound uneasy. “I think this is over my head, man. I’m outta here.” He handed the camcorder to Merritt and turned to go. “Well. At the risk of sounding like a villain from a James Bond movie, Ms. Young, I’m afraid you know too much.” Merritt sighed, glancing from Melody to Ty. “And your friend, too.” “No!” Melody shouted. “Leave him alone.” Merritt rolled his eyes, aiming the gun at her. A low rumbling sound reached her ears, savage and feral, and for a moment, she thought another car had started up somewhere close. Then, she realized Ty was growling. The thief had hurriedly half-crossed the vacant lot when Ty began to change. The transformation was lightning-fast, but it wasn’t the small, cute Abyssinian that stood between Merritt and Melody when the alteration was complete. Instead, Ty towered over 45

the developer, bronze fur sheathing the rippling muscles of his frame. Three-inch talons sprouted from his paws, and his tail lashed angrily. His hind legs had changed to the retrograde legs of a jaguar or panther, and the muzzle that was all that remained of his once-handsome features was filled with teeth sharper than needles. The transformation had added three inches to his height and easily fifty pounds of muscle to his frame, and Melody stared, stunned by the new change. His clothes strained along the seams, buttons popping on his shirt, the clothes grown newly tight on his larger frame. Burning copper eyes fixed the older man with a glare that promised death. Merritt screamed and his finger tightened on the trigger. The bullet slammed into the left side of Ty’s chest, just above his nipple, and out his back as he leaped forward, slapping the gun out of Merritt’s hand with his open palm, leaving no claw marks on the man’s flesh. Merritt screamed again and promptly wet himself, then fainted, his eyes rolling up in his head before he hit the ground. Ty stopped, one hand coming up to cover the ugly hole the gunshot had made, and winced, blood oozing out through his fingers. “Oh god,” Melody pleaded. “Don’t die. Please, Ty…” Her words fell on empty air as Ty tumbled to the ground in a graceless heap, panting. Melody screamed and dropped to her knees next to him, placing her hands over the wound in a vain attempt to prevent him from bleeding to death. This can’t be happening! “Ty, please,” she sobbed. “I love you! Don’t die…” “Love you too,” he grunted, breathing heavily, voice guttural and not at all human, distorted by the shape of his mouth and throat. “Didn’t know…I could change into…that.” “Keep talking. Stay with me,” she moaned. For a moment, she thought wildly of fumbling in her pocket with blood-slick fingers for her cell phone. But to do so, to dial, she would have to take at least one of her hands off his wound, and that might be enough to kill him. In the distance, she heard a siren, one of the hundreds whose wail rose in the city every day, and blindly she prayed it was headed her way. I could run out into the street, try to flag it down...but what if he dies in the minutes that I’m gone? “I can’t lose you!”

46

He found her hand and squeezed it gently, pain limning the features of his face as he slowly changed back to human form. “Not…going to lose me that easily, sweetheart,” he gritted out, blood staining the t-shirt she bought him. “I heal fast, remember?” Though sweat spangled his brow, the pain in his eyes was fading, and she could no longer feel hot blood gushing out underneath her fingers. The siren grew clearer, closer, and she realized it belonged to a police car, not an ambulance. She cursed, almost dizzy with fear and grief and rage at Merritt, who lay unmoving where he had fallen, the gun still in his hand. The world around her blurred, and she blinked away tears. Ty reached up with a blood-smeared hand to wipe them away. “Hey. None of that.” He slowly slid her hand away from the wound on his chest and sat up stiffly as brakes screamed in the street outside the vacant lot, and blue-and-red light splashed between the slats of the wooden fence. “I’m here for the long haul, Melody. You’re not going to get rid of me now.” “Freeze!” the shouted order was enough to make her flinch, and she lifted her empty hands slowly into the air. Ty did the same, wincing as he raised his left arm above his head, the wound still sluggishly oozing blood. The uniformed police officer that had burst through the gate in the fence approached them cautiously, his firearm trained on them. He crouched warily, gun still pointed in their direction, to nudge the weapon in Merritt’s hand away from the fallen man with the toe of his shoe. Then he reached for the radio mike attached at his shoulder. “Dispatch, I need an ambulance down at the vacant lot at Gratiot and Pepin. I have an adult Caucasian male, mid- to late twenties, with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. Victim is still conscious and aware. I also have an adult Caucasian male in his mid- to late fifties, unconscious, no visible wounds.” “Roger that, Car 221. Ambulance on the way,” the answer crackled back over the radio. He replaced the mike on its hook and glared at them. “What the hell’s going on here?” “My name’s Melody Young, sir,” Melody began. “This is Ty Felix, a friend of mine.” She said the word unflinchingly, and Ty shot her a pained smile. “I run the Paws and 47

Claws Animal Shelter down on Chouteau Avenue, near Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard. That man—” she gestured to Merritt, “—is Stephen Merritt. He’s a land developer who’s been buying up real estate in that neighborhood, intending to put a casino in there. I’m the last one left, and I wouldn’t sell to him. Our shelter was broken into this morning, and our computers and veterinary medicines all stolen, and everything else was trashed.” Think fast. Time to improvise. The officer listened as she explained about ‘overhearing’ the thief’s call earlier in the afternoon. Can’t exactly tell him Ty was hiding in Merritt’s office “disguised” as a cat. She gestured at the camcorder and continued. “We made arrangements to come down and tape them so we could take the evidence to the police and—” She trailed off at the disgusted look on the officer’s face. “The tape is in there,” she finished meekly. “You’re lucky you’re not dead, ma’am,” the officer snapped. “Why didn’t you just call the police?” He gestured at one of the other officers. “Ben, grab the camera and tag that for evidence.” “Well...” Her stomach roiled uneasily. “I tried to tell the officer who answered the break-in call at the shelter this morning about my suspicions that Merritt was behind it and he pretty much ignored what I said. Worse, he said Merritt could sue me for slander.” “Hmph,” the officer muttered. “You’re still lucky no one got hurt worse.” Before he could continue, Merritt groaned, his hands and eyelids twitching. The officer holstered his weapon and pulled the handcuffs off his belt, rolling Merritt over and cuffing his hands behind his back even as Merritt’s eyes opened. “What—” Merritt began groggily, and then his eyes went wide as he spotted Ty, bloody but alive. The older man’s scream made the younger officer flinch, and he hauled the cuffed man roughly to his feet. “No! Him! Shoot him! Arrest him! He’s a monster! I saw it! He’s a werewolf!” The officer blinked, taken aback, and then scowled. “Great, a nutcase.” He sighed. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be made available for you at no cost. Do you understand these rights as I have said them to you?”

48

Merritt howled again, bucking and heaving against the cuffs. He tried to rip free of the officer’s hold, making it impossible for the policeman to search him or even wrestle him to the ground. The ambulance pulled up in front of the vacant lot, with another police car right behind it. Melody suppressed a grin as she saw the thief that Merritt had hired in the back of the police car, hands cuffed behind him and a sullen expression on his face. Several other police officers hurried across the lot to where the first was trying to subdue Merritt. One of them finally pulled out his canister of Mace and gave the older man a shot right in the eyes. He went down, gagging and choking, eyes red and watering as the EMTs crossed the lot with a stretcher. After the arresting officer had bundled Merritt into the back of his car, he came back and made Melody re-tell her story, taking painstaking notes. “I’ll want you to come down to the station first thing tomorrow morning and sign your statement,” he told her. “There’s no question of pressing charges. Even if you chose not to, the state will no doubt want to prosecute.” “Oh, we’re pressing charges, all right,” Melody said, watching as the paramedics cut Ty’s shirt off. They washed and surveyed the bullet wound, and looked relieved to be able to inform Ty that it was ‘just a flesh wound’. The ugly hole had shrunk in size from something as large as a half-dollar, located near the heart, to a gash smaller than a dime, which had healed so completely that the sore that remained was located nearer his underarm. The exit wound had healed completely, and she tried not to smile when they tried to figure out the flattened slug that fell out of his cut-away shirt. They gave him a shot of antibiotics to prevent infection, and an injection for the pain before bandaging the wound. “He would have killed me,” she murmured at last, once the police had moved far enough away that they would not overhear. “You saved my life.” He kissed her. “There was no way I was going to stand there and let him shoot you,” he said. “What life would I have without you at my side?” She blushed and he lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss.

49

“Even so. Thank you.” She was aware that the words were inadequate beyond description. “First you saved my shelter, and then you saved my life.” Sometimes, she reflected, it was a pain in the ass that the English language had so many words for the unimportant things and so very few for the things that really mattered, like gratitude and love. Across the street, a pair of police officers had used the thief’s keys to open up his car and search it. A yell rose up from one of them as they discovered the veterinary drugs stashed in the trunk. She held Ty’s good hand and watched as they called the discovery in. “There, you see?” Ty purred, “Vindication. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be back at the shelter getting it ready to re-open, and Merritt will be in jail.” “Most likely, he’ll be out on bail,” Melody said wryly, having a fairly realistic idea of how the justice system worked after years of despairing over the newspapers. “He can afford the best attorney available. They’ll bargain the charges down and he’ll get off with a fine, most likely.” Ty frowned and she lifted his hand and returned the kiss. “I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. But even so, considering how slowly the courts work, I’ll have plenty of time to get the shelter back on its feet. The resulting bad publicity will kill the casino deal.” She smiled at him, only a little weary, glad that it was all over. “We’ve won.” He rubbed his cheek against the side of her face, purring. “Then, since we seem to be done here, I think we should go home,” he said softly, too quietly for the officer or the paramedics to hear. His eyes blazed hungrily. “We can stop along the way to get something to eat, since my body needs nutrients to heal itself, and then...” He trailed a finger lazily from one cheekbone down along her collarbone before stopping, “...I think it’s time to celebrate.” She shivered. “And then what?” she asked. He took her hands in his and drew her into his arms, wincing only a little at his wound. “I told you, sweetheart…I’m not going anywhere. I love you. I’ve never said that to a woman before...and I never will again.” She met his gaze, trembling, as he bent close for a melting, core-tingling kiss. “Don’t you understand, Melody? You walked into a fairy tale…and this is your happily ever after.”

50

About the Author Jessica Quinn loves writing stories about strong, sexy women and the men who love them. She also loves reading, the paranormal, poetry, Celtic music, folklore, and herbalism. When not writing, she can be found curled up with a book, a movie, her cats, good hot cocoa, or all of the above. She draws inspiration from her degrees in English (Literature) and Criminal Justice, her martial arts classes, and her husband, who looks as if he could grace the cover of a romance novel. Website – http://www.jessicaquinn.com/

51

PPB Pink Petal Books, an imprint of Jupiter Gardens Press, would like to invite you to explore the entire Jupiter Gardens, LLC family. Don’t forget to sign up for our reader’s loop where we have monthly giveaways, chats, and more! Information can be found on the Pink Petal Books’ website. Jupiter Gardens, LLC – http://www.jupitergardens.com/ Pink Petal Books – http://www.pinkpetalbooks.com/ Jupiter Gardens Press – http://www.jupitergardenspress.com/ Thank you for buying and reading our books! Our authors appreciate your patronage.

52