Cats Meow (7 page)

Sometimes life sucked!

Chapter Eight

Rebecca hid out in the office she detested,
pacing from one end to the other. No doubt about it—the morning outing with
Micah shook her up and proved they had to get rid of their supervision. She had
to be alone with him, free to touch him. Hold him and be held. Sooner the
better.

The time had come to take action.

But what?

How could she get him out of a top-secret
facility that they locked down tighter than a duck’s butt?

He’s the father of my child. I can’t just
leave him in that cell.

Yeah, and he also turns into a ferocious
lion with sharp claws and huge teeth. Oh, and don’t forget that enormous cock.

Hah, as if she could forget that!

Tingles raced along her spine, but she refused
to contemplate sex with so much at stake. She had to get him out of here first.
Last night she’d found a cabin to rent. She had the keys in her purse. Her
plans were coming together so what exactly was she waiting for?

By now the security team would have filled
Weltman in on the morning’s events. Would it be enough to convince him the lab
environment was counterproductive to his goals?

Her father’s voice flowed through her mind
offering a swift kick in the ass.
You’ll never find out with your head stuck
in the sand, Rebecca. Stand tall and show them what you’ve made of.

Yeah, since when did she hide from adversity?
The general had taught her to be strong and face challenges head-on. He’d be
ashamed of the way she was behaving.

Rebecca squared her shoulders, steeled her
spine and stormed out the door. Her heels beat out a steady rhythm as she moved
down the hall. She didn’t pause or give Weltman’s assistant the chance to say a
word, she charged right by and into his office.

A guard she had not met shot upright from a
chair in front of the desk and turned to face her.

“Rebecca,” Weltman gasped, startled by her
bold entrance. “That will be all, Martha. Please close the door,” he told his
assistant.

Weltman stood and extended a hand toward the
guard. “Kyle Slater, this is Dr. Rebecca Southerby, the
zoologist working with Lasiter.” Weltman turned to her. “Rebecca, this is Kyle,
head of security here at the lab.”

They didn’t shake hands, the man merely
nodded then followed Weltman’s example and returned to his seat. She looked him
over and made a quick assessment. Everything about the dark-haired stranger
screamed military, from his quick response to the way he held himself.

Instead of sitting, she planted her hands on
the desk and leaned in, forcing Weltman to lean back. She would not be able to
intimidate him, but the position gave an impression of authority and power.
She’d take any advantage she could get.

“This isn’t working!”

He sighed heavily. “Kyle and I were just
discussing this morning’s session.”

She kept her focus on Weltman, ignoring the
other man. “Then you understand the situation. Being locked up in a cell and
under constant guard here at the lab has impeded making any real progress. I’m
going to have to take him offsite.”

Weltman sprung to his feet and leaned forward,
got right in her face. His heated breath washed over her, the smell of onions
from his last meal turning her stomach. But she didn’t back down and refused to
flinch.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“He won’t hurt me, Gabe. He’s had plenty of
opportunity. If anything, Micah has displayed protective behaviors toward me.
The lion is too keyed up here. He won’t let Micah take complete control in this
atmosphere.”

“No. He could turn on you.”

She softened her tone and gave the appearance
of relaxing her stance. “I know cats, Gabe. That’s why you hired me. Working
with him here, I won’t be able to produce the result you’re after. Allow me to
work with him from home and I can help Micah get control of the lion.”

Weltman dropped back in his chair. He frowned
then made brief eye contact with the guard. From the corner of her eye, she saw
Slater nod.

“She’s right. He won’t hurt her.”

Holy shit, this is going to work. Because
of Slater.
She wondered if he knew Micah and was
possibly a friend.

“I want results, fast.” Weltman rubbed his
temple and sighed. “How long?”

She shrugged. “Two weeks for him to fully
adapt to the lion and master its instincts. Maybe less. It’s hard to predict
since I’ve never worked with anyone like him before.”

“He is unique. Our first success.” He leaned
back in the chair, fingers steepled, and remained silent for several long
moments. He seemed to reach a decision and pressed a button on his desk.

“Yes, sir?” The assistant’s voice wafted
through a hidden speaker.

“Martha, call down to communications and have
someone bring a company phone for Dr. Southerby.” After
disconnecting, he sat back and stared at her. She maintained eye contact and
projected an air of competence. Difficult as she found it, she remained silent,
waiting him out. She didn’t have to wait long.

“Okay, but there will be a few conditions.”

She bit her tongue to hold back a
triumphant shout. “Of course.” She’d agree to anything.

“The phone will be programmed with my
numbers, home and work, as well as Kyle’s. You will arrange a schedule and
check in with him.”

“Do not miss a call, Dr. Southerby.” Kyle’s
voice was low with menace. “It will take less than ten minutes for my team to
overtake your house.”

She’d pegged him as a hard-ass, by-the-book
soldier, but he was enabling her to get Micah off the premises. It didn’t fit
his character and confounded Rebecca. Hell if she’d turn down his assistance,
though. And she wasn’t about to tell him she had no intention of taking Micah
to the house provided for her by Nanotech and make it easy for them to
interfere.

Watch yourself with this one
, her father’s voice warned.
You don’t know who he has alliances
with or if he’s working toward a completely different agenda of his own.

She played it naïve, the use of his first
name intended to portray a relaxed attitude and hide the fear causing her heart
to race. “I won’t miss a call, Kyle. Lord, your men would give my elderly
neighbor a heart attack.”

When she glanced back at Weltman, he
coughed to cover an evil grin. “We’d hate for that to happen.”

Yeah, right!
She bet it would just break his shriveled black heart.

“Since we don’t know how the subject will
respond to leaving the compound, he will be given the same light sedative that
worked for his first trip outside.” Weltman glanced down at his gold watch.
“Give my men an hour to get him ready then pull your vehicle around to the
loading dock.”

She hated the idea of them sedating Micah
again, but had no reason to object without tipping her hand.

“Thank you.”

“If all goes well with Lasiter, we have plans
for inducting several more subjects into the Predator Project. I have high
hopes for a female soldier and plan to try a hybrid DNA cocktail with her. When
she’s been injected, I want you working with her exclusively.”

He planned to alter more unsuspecting
victims? A woman? Jesus! The evil bastard was so crooked they’d have to screw
him into the ground when he died.

She didn’t have the luxury of worrying
about other test subjects right now. She had to focus on her immediate goals.
Waiting an hour to see Micah again would be hard. There was so much she wanted
to tell him. But copying the files from her computer would keep her busy. She’d
need every bit of documentation to deal with any medical issues that developed.

After the phone had been delivered and programmed,
Slater cautioned her once again.

“Do not miss a call, Doctor.”

She didn’t need her father’s warnings to
know Slater represented serious danger and was someone she didn’t want to cross
swords with.

“Believe me, I won’t.”

* * * * *

“I’m telling you, the old man has lost it!”
Tom stomped down the hallway.

Jack shook his head. “I can’t believe Slater
agreed to this bullshit. They’re going to get the doc killed.”

Slater?
Micah
figured they had to be talking about Kyle Slater, one of the men he’d had handpicked
when approached for names to lead security at a new facility. He didn’t believe
in coincidence.

With Slater working behind the scenes, he
might have a prayer of getting out of this alive. He filed the information away
for later and continued listening to the two morons talk as if he couldn’t hear
them.

“Why the hell would the doc take him home with
her? The lion could turn on her at any time.”

“Fuck if I know. Doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, let’s get this over with and shoot him
up. It will take at least ten minutes for the sedative to take effect.”

Jack unlocked the door and warily approached
where Micah sat on the cot. The idiot talked to him as if he were mentally slow
or something.

“Okay, Lasiter. You’re getting sprung so don’t
give us any trouble.”

“Do I look stupid to you?”

Jack stopped and seemed to consider, lowering
Micah’s opinion of him another notch. Resting his forearm on his thigh, he held
his arm still for the injection. Tom swabbed the skin then jabbed the needle
into his vein none too gently.

Finally, as the sedative raced through his
blood, they left him alone with his fuzzy thoughts.

He’d actually been thankful for the drugs on
his first trip outside. The cat had clawed at his skin,
fought to be released, yearned to run and hunt. Once he’d shifted, keeping
himself in check had been a true test of his mettle. But he’d done it, with
Becca’s help. She had become his strength, reason and purpose. With her at his
side, Micah felt like Superman.

Becca.
God,
he couldn’t wait to get her alone, somewhere private and fuck her senseless.

He vividly remembered the sweet flavor of
her arousal. Had dreamed of it often since their night together. The hot, tight
grasp of her pussy sucking at his cock. Her soft mewls of pleasure as she rode
him to completion.

Jesus, he couldn’t get out of the lab soon
enough. He had to hold her, skin to skin, without any barriers as he had that
night.

He had been sated and sleepy when she’d
started a sensual assault on his body with her pouty lips, warm tongue and agile
fingers. She’d straddled his hips and slid down his cock, enveloping him in the
damp heat of her pussy. She’d felt like heaven. Hot, wet, tight—a damp silken
fist with nothing between them.

He’d felt everything. Every flutter of her
walls, all the intense heat. Sensation had overwhelmed higher thought. He’d
uttered a protest, made a cursory attempt to stop her and get a condom, but
he’d been too far gone.

The way she’d moved above him blew his
mind. At first tentative and unsure, but once she found her rhythm, she rode
him smooth as a barrel racer—hard, fast and with natural grace.

And she’d ridden him bareback.

A shiver of remembered ecstasy raced
through his body. His mind floated along on a wave of memories until the guards
came back, securing his hands and ankles. There was no fight in him, no
motivation to fight, as they all but dragged him through the hallways then
waited at a doorway, watching for her car.

* * * * *

Soon as the car pulled up behind to the
loading dock a door opened and Micah was led out by Tom and Jack. The idiots
had him chained at both the wrist and ankle.

Muttering the vilest curses she knew, Rebecca
jumped out of the car and stormed over to confront the guards.

“Take. Them. Off.”

Jack glowered at her. “You don’t know what he’s
capable of.”

“He’s done nothing to deserve being treated
like a criminal.” She took in Micah’s dilated eyes and slack expression. “Besides,
you’ve got him too doped up to be capable of anything.”

“Lady, you’re nuts,” Tom said. “It won’t come
as a surprise when I read in tomorrow’s paper that you were mauled to death. I
can’t believe Weltman is going along with this bullshit.”

She refused to back down or be intimidated.
Rebecca moved closer, going toe to toe with the man, although the effect was
somewhat diminished by having to tilt her head back to make eye contact. “The
chains were not your first mistake, but underestimating me just may be the one
you most regret.”

For his next mistake, Tom put his hands on
her, grasped her upper arms and shoved her out of the way. Surprised by the
sudden move, she stumbled, twisting her ankle.

Son of a bitch thought he could manhandle her?
She hated the testosterone-fueled male belief that just because they were
stronger and bigger men could push women around. Well, not her. Nobody shoved
her around and got away with it.

Size does matter
—one
of many lessons she’d learned from her father. Larger opponents required more
space to maneuver so she moved in close. The big idiot grabbed her again.

Rebecca allowed her lips to spread into a
sultry grin. The distraction worked, drawing his attention to her mouth. That’s
when she struck, hard and fast. She brought the thick heel of her shoe down on
top of his foot. The pain delivered was sufficient to break his grasp and throw
him off balance.

Tom wasn’t letting it go. He tried to maneuver
her into a position where he’d dominate. Then his arm started to cock back.

Oh, hell no!

After years of having sparred with her father’s
troops, instinct kicked in and she reacted without stopping to consider the
consequences. Rebecca grabbed Tom’s shoulders. Using momentum and her body
weight, she pulled on his shoulders while thrusting her knee into his groin.

He didn’t go down and started gathering his
strength to strike back. She threw a sharp right jab, clipping the corner of
his jaw.