Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella (7 page)

The small, gray chunk of stone had a
single white stripe running through it. Raymond looked at it
suspiciously.

“It doesn’t look like much,” he
said.

Then he turned to one of the panthers
standing next to him and pressed the stone against his
cheek.

“Did you have sex with my mistress
Marion?” he demanded.

“Yes, I did,” the panther said
promptly, then gasped in horror and took a step back. It was too
late for him. Raymond’s hand slashed through the air, claws
extended, and the offending panther’s eyes bulged wide, as a
crimson spray spurted through the air.

A gash yawned open in his neck, and he
fell back as his life’s blood pumped from his carotid arteries. He
crumpled to the ground, gurgling, but Raymond had already turned
away, tucking the stone into his pocket.

“Apparently it works,” he said coolly,
then he shot an ice cold glare at Axel. “I won’t forget this,” he
said, and then turned and strode back to his limousine.

Belle’s stomach twisted in a knot, and
she grimaced in horror as the panther on the ground spasmed one
final time and then went still.

And now for part two, she thought
determinedly.

One week later…

“Are you sure you’ll be all right in
there?” Axel asked, lines of tension wrinkling his
forehead.

“It totally sucks that you can’t have
anyone in there supporting you,” Agnes added.

She’d been fired the day that Belle
had been kidnapped by Raymond Charucki. Axel’s grandfather had
stepped in to hire her, at Belle’s urging, and now she was working
on their dairy farm.

Now they were standing inside the
headquarters of the Shifter Council, in downtown Billings. Belle
had filed a complaint against Raymond Charucki, and he was
obligated to appear to answer the charges. The seven members of the
council, and the moderator, were inside waiting for the proceedings
to begin.

Axel and Agnes weren’t permitted
inside, since they weren’t panthers. He was clearly unhappy about
letting her go in by herself.

“I’ll be fine. You know what’s going
to happen in there,” Belle said, praying that she was right. That
Griselle had told her the truth about the Truth Stone and its
hidden flaw.

“It’s not fair that he can bring in
people and you can’t,” Agnes groused. Raymond had showed up with
half a dozen bodyguards and three lawyers. Belle would face him
alone. There wasn’t a panther shifter attorney in the state who’d
dare represent her and face Raymond.

“Life’s not fair. But remember, I have
one huge advantage,” Belle said. They both nodded; they knew the
secret of the stone.

Belle had demanded that the
proceedings be televised live, as was her right. Because of Raymond
Charucki’s power and prestige, and his reputation, shifters from
all over the country were tuned in, watching raptly.

Belle squeezed Axel’s hand for
support, then turned and walked through the big double doors that
led into the room where Raymond and his cohorts were waiting,
seated in a row of chairs on the right side of the room.

The moderator stood at a podium with a
microphone, facing the seven council members who each represented
different shifter territories throughout the state of
Montana.

The audience was packed with newspaper
reporters, radio reporters and television reporters, and curious
panther shifters here to see the spectacle. There were also a dozen
shifter members from the Enforcement Brigade, who dealt with all
legal matters pertaining to panthers. They stood against the wall
in their uniforms, arms folded, faces stony.

Raymond leveled an ice cold look at
Belle as she walked in, and despite herself, she shivered. There
was murder in his eyes. If Griselle was wrong about the Stone of
Truth, Belle was dead. And so were all of her friends.

No pressure at all, she thought, as
her breakfast churned in her stomach.

The meeting started with the moderator
reading Belle’s accusation against Raymond kidnapping, assault,
illegal collaring, illegal arranged marriage.

Then Raymond’s attorney stood up and
angrily denied the charges, in tones of utmost contempt. He called
Belle a promiscuous, scheming liar who’d tried to trap Raymond into
marriage and was bitter at being rejected. He praised Raymond to
the heavens, describing in pious tones his contributions to charity
and the many businesses he owned.

Belle endured his barrage of insults
calmly, standing with her hands folded and her gaze cast meekly
downward. She waited until he was finished, and then she
spoke.

“I have the right to question the
accused,” Belle said.

Raymond glowered at her
contemptuously, and then strode up to a wooden chair which faced
both the audience and the television cameras.

Looking at the moderator, he swore to
tell the truth to all questions asked of him.

You have no idea, Belle
thought.

As soon as he sat down, Belle walked
up to the podium and the moderator stepped aside.

She stood on her tiptoes to reach the
microphone. Without preamble, she looked at Raymond and asked him
“Did you kidnap me and threaten to torture me and my best friend if
I didn’t marry you?”

“Yes, I did,” Raymond said, and then
gasped in shock…as did the rest of the room.

“Objection!” Raymond’s lawyer shouted,
lunging forward.

“You can’t object to your client
answering a question, you fool,” the moderator snarled.

Raymond attempted to stand up, but the
moderator barked, “Sit down! You know the rules! She has the right
to question you.”

Raymond sank back in his seat, sweat
beading on his forehead. He glanced frantically at his attorney,
who gestured helplessly. His bodyguards shifted unhappily on their
feet. The rules of the council were strict, and with so many eyes
watching them, there was nothing they could do.

Belle continued relentlessly. “Did you
pay my aunt and uncle $50,000 so they’d sell me to you for an
illegal forced marriage?”

“Yes, I did.” Raymond gasped again,
and clapped his hands over his mouth. He scrambled to his feet, and
the moderator banged on the podium with his gavel.

“Sit down, or I will have the
Enforcers sit you down,” the moderator snapped.

Half a dozen panther shifter Enforcers
strode up to Raymond’s chair, surrounding him. He glared at them,
and sank back in his seat.

“Did you find me held prisoner, tied
down and naked, with a copper collar on my neck, in my aunt and
uncle’s house?”

“Yes, I did.” He choked the words out,
face reddening. The audience buzzed with fury.

“Did you then threaten to cut my face
with a copper knife, and then take me out of the house to your
limousine using threats of force?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you plan to murder me for my
inheritance after I gave you the cubs you wanted?”

“Yes, I did.”

The audience was shouting, his
bodyguards were shouting…the moderator pounded furiously on the
gavel.

“This is highly irregular,” Shifter
Council Member Rosemary Dover cried out. “I move we adjourn
immediately.” Several of the other council members began nodding
vigorously.

“How many council members are secretly
on your payroll?” Belle cried out quickly.

“Four,” Raymond said, and the room
broke into pandemonium.

“How much do you pay Rosemary Dover to
always vote your way?” Belle screamed over the din.

“One million dollars a year!” Raymond
howled, and desperately tried to squeeze his lips shut with his
fingers.

Rosemary and three other council
members leaped from their seats and scrambled over each other in a
desperate attempt to flee the room. The enforcers swarmed on them,
restraining them quickly with copper handcuffs.

When the moderator finally managed to
restore order, Belle turned to the television cameras.

“Raymond agreed not to kidnap me and
force me into marrying him if I got him a little artifact called
the stone of truth. But when I gave it to him, I forgot to read him
the warning label. Once you touch the Stone of Truth, its effects
last forever. Everyone who touches the stone of truth with their
bare skin is compelled to tell the truth to any question asked of
them…forever.”

And that was why Griselle had been so
willing to let Belle give the stone to Raymond.

“Are you happy, my love?” Axel growled
into Belle’s ear.

“No. I’m ecstatic.”

Axel had his arms wrapped around
Belle’s waist, as they stood on his grandparents porch and watched
the sun sinking into the horizon in a lake of fire.

“I can make you even happier.” He ran
his tongue over her ear and she shuddered in pleasure.

“Get a room!” Agnes cried out. “Jeez,
Belle, you went from virgin to hussy in like no time flat.” But she
was smiling as she said it.

Lucas, sitting on a rocking chair on
the porch, winked at Agnes. She winked back. The two of them were
dating, but Agnes insisted it was nothing serious, and it probably
wasn’t. Agnes went through a lot of men. Belle doubted Lucas would
be heartbroken; some day he’d want to settle down with a
shifter.

Raymond had been taken into custody
right after the council hearing, and police were questioning him
relentlessly. He was revealing where bodies were buried, and the
names and bank account numbers of every politician and police
officer he’d ever bribed. The death penalty was a certainty for
him.

Belle’s aunt, uncle and cousins had
been arrested for their part in the forced marriage scheme, and
Belle, using money from the trust fund that was finally going into
her bank account, had retained a lawyer to sue them for misuse of
her inheritance. All of their assets were frozen, and they were
likely to lose their home, farm, and store…as well as face lengthy
prison sentences.

“Axel, may I speak to you?” Axel’s
father walked out onto the front porch.

Axel turned to face him.

“I’d like to speak to you alone,” he
added, but as Belle started to step away, Axel’s arm tightened
around her waist.

“Whatever you’re going to say to me,
she can hear. She is my mate,” Axel said calmly, meeting his
father’s eyes.

“Do you realize what that will
mean?”

“I do. I will not be
Alpha.”

At Belle’s sharp intake of breath, he
added, “Father, you and I both know that it’s for the best. I know
the Alpha position traditionally goes to the oldest son, but not
always. And I think we both know that I’m not suited for the
position.”

His father stared at him, clearly
unhappy.

“Think about it, Father. I’ve got a
temper. I’m not the least bit political. I speak my mind without
thinking about the consequences; I know this. You and I have
clashed over it, and you’ve told me a million times that an Alpha
can’t act the way that I do, and you’re right. But it’s my very
nature, and I can’t change it. And even if the position of Alpha
were perfect for me, it wouldn’t matter, because I’ve found the
woman that I love, the woman I’m fated to be with, and that matters
more than anything.”

His father swallowed hard, and nodded.
“You’re right, Axel. It takes a big man to admit what you just
did.”

Axel turned to Belle. “Now that you’ve
heard that, you know there’s nothing holding us back.”

He fished in his pocket and pulled out
a ring with a glowing white stone on it. “This arrived in the mail
yesterday, with a note from the witch Griselle. She said it’s a
wedding gift. It’s a charm which guarantees fertility and healthy
cubs.”

Belle gasped.

“Axel, are you sure? Really sure? If
we mate, we could have a mixed litter. Panthers and wolves. We
could literally be the parents of cats and dogs.”

He took her hand and kissed the back
of it.

“I’m counting on it. Belle Simmons,
love of my life, will you marry me?”

Tears filled her eyes and streamed
down her face. It was happening so fast, but it felt like fate,
like the way her life was meant to be.

“Yes, Axel, I will marry you,” she
said, and he slid the ring onto her finger.

It fit perfectly.

The End