Hunting the She-Cat (7 page)

Then he nuzzled her there. Heavens.
“No. No. No,” she moaned, shaking her head.

Still, his tongue took her, demanding
her response. She yelped, then whimpered a wordless plea that he
end the waiting, the wanting more.

“Now. Now?” she asked.

“Good. From, ‘no’ to ‘now’ so quickly.
I’m pleased with you. I will reward you for that.”

“Huh.” She resented his power over
her.

But instead of claiming her fully with
his body as she expected, he went back to touching her with his
magical tongue.

“Mmm. Mmmm. Er. This is … so wrong. We
… don’t know each other this well. Not at all.”

“You know enough. Now stop talking.” He
rose over her and sought to mate with her now. Welcoming him, she
sank back into him, helping.

“I have a fiancé.”

He bit her hard on the shoulder,
punishment for talking at a time like this, she knew. “No. You
chose me over him. Last night. He knows it. I know it.”

“Nonsense. I … made no such
choice.”

“You stood in front of me and warned
him away.”

Inexorably, he pulled her even tighter
in his hovering embrace. She inched back into him, allowing it,
wanting him to complete their joining. Soon.

But she shook her head, meaning to
indicate that no she had not warned Bronson away. Her face took on
a mulish look. She knew it.

“Do not lie to yourself. You know
exactly the moment I speak of.”

“I … ”

“You did.”

Lugar raised his head, alert to sound
from beyond the door.

“Misha? Mish? Are you home in there?” a
man’s voice came from the woods, the backyard.

She caught her balance and came to her
feet at once.

“G’Ram.” Lugar said, then growled his
frustration but stepped away from her.

From his dour glowering look she
gathered he’d just used a highly valued and expressive swear word,
on a par with ‘god damn it’ or the ‘eff’ word. She felt his pain.
Sexual frustration beat at her, throbbed in her blood. She closed
her eyes and strained for control. She wanted nothing more than to
tell Matt to come again another time.

“Who is the male that calls your
name?”

“Matt Red Bird. My adopted cousin. Be
nice. I think of him as a brother. “Shift.”

“What?” he asked. “Oh. Of
course.”

They shifted back to human shape
together. The unusual speed of the process jarred her, made her
slightly sick to her stomach and caused her joints to ache a
moment. As a beginner at this, she’d learned to take it slow and
easy, to allow her metabolic system to realign to the second form.
It was safest to do so as she fell asleep at night. No after
affects that way.

Straightening his clothes Lugar shoved
the female back and looked out the widow panels in the
door.

“Four people. Two males, two females.”
Something about the formation they kept as they walked the stone
walk made him think of the cats they’d encountered. Her friends.
“G’Ran.”

“What?” Her gorgeous eyes looked into
his, then out the window. Then back.

“Your pride is here.”

“My? Oh, God. They’re
shifters?”

“Damn right they are. You didn’t
know?”

She had her eyes squeezed
shut.

“Right. I guess you didn’t. How have
you survived without me, female? Hmm?”

“Arrogant jerk,” she muttered but her
eyes watched the people approach.

The male voice came again, “Brought you
some food, little sister. Can’t have you go hungry.”

Opening the door, she yelled, “I have
company, Matt. Can’t just go away, can you?”

“Nah, can’t so it. Dad wants to see if
you’re okay. Won’t stay long. Come out in the yard to greet us,
will you.”

“They know you’re here.”

“Of course they do. We met
already.”

She stiffened and drew herself up. “No.
No. No. You’re mistaken, I’m sure you must be.”

All this she said in a little rush of
doubt.

“Whatever.”

Matt and the others were standing in
the clearing, politely waiting for them.

“Dad sends love and food but was too
tired to walk up here with us.”

Lugar stepped out after her and came to
stand beside her. His blood buzzed with frustrated desire. With
half a reason he’d fight the intruder. The two males were tall,
dressed in casual attire. But they had long blue-black hair of the
indigenous American people. And there was a suspicious warning look
in the one she called Matt’s eyes. The one that did the talking for
the group. The alpha in his father’s stead.

“Hey, I’m Tayan,” said the other man.
He raised a hand that carried groceries in a cloth bag with a
long-necked bird and the wording The Nature Conservancy on it. “We
did not mean to intrude.” Dad’s worried about his
not-so-little-anymore niece here. His sister’s daughter is of great
importance to our family. We look after her when she’s in our home
area.”

A lot of veiled meaning and Lugar got
most of it. Territory. Females must be protected and
defended.

The first spokesman, the one called
Matt smiled in a flash of teeth meant to charm.

“I see,” Lugar said.

“She forgets to eat,” one of the
females said. “I’m

Diwa, by the way.” She tossed her inky
black hair over her shoulder.

“Never has brought home a stray male
before though.” The second female stepped closer; still walking,
she seemed to be mounting an inspection of him, getting too close.
He growled but stood his ground.

“Ooooh. Possessive and guarded, are
you? My name is Galilahi. I like to be called Gali. Now you need to
know this, our Misha will not respond well to that macho stuff.
She’s an independent working woman. I like it myself,” she winked
and smiled seductively, saying all this with a predatory gleam in
her large, brown eyes.

Unable to stop himself, Lugar took
Misha’s elbow and shoved her behind him. His haste made him clumsy
and rough, she had to catch her balance. Why, he wasn’t sure, but
the second female did not love her as the others did. Little
affection in her look, but jealousy drifted from her like scent.
Envy could be a powerful and dangerous emotion if not
controlled.

“What are you doing that for?” Misha
demanded in a voice only for his ears. “This is my family. I trust
them completely.”

He forced himself to allow her to step
away from him and go to greet the others. “I don’t know them well
enough to trust any of them.”

She gave him an exasperated look before
pulling away and running to them.

“It’s been so long since I saw you
guys,” Misha called to them, smiling and laughing. “Come here. Hugs
needed.”

They rushed around her, hugging,
laughing, all talking at once. Lugar stood off and
watched.

The second female took part in the
greetings, but watched him through it all. A look of feminine
challenge filled her eyes. He had a sinking feeling she was going
to make his life hell.

Chapter Seven

“So what are your intentions toward our
girl?”

Matt leaned against the brown granite
counter with a beer in his hand and appeared to be watching the
others as they put away the groceries.

“I came to take her home,” Lugar
answered frankly.

Matt Red Bird halted with his beer
halfway up to his mouth and looked into Lugar’s eyes. “Now hell,
you say.”

“You know where her home
is?”

Matt’s expression tightened. He knew
something.

“Shit. We’ve always known she was not
from around here. Hoped she’d stay with us when her time in the
city was over. When?”

“I haven’t talked her into it
yet.”

Matt laughed in a humorless disgusting
know it all way, shaking his head, enjoying this admission. “I’m so
not surprised, man. I’d wish you luck but my loyalties are with
Mish. Whatever she wants we want.”

“That’s as it should be.”

“Listen, lookouts tell us there are
more of your kind on our ridges today.”

Lugar looked at him in surprise. “How
do you know they are my kind?”

These woods are like a small town
community, we know all the other wildlife. These are large cats,
like something bred in the jungles of South America or the plains
of Africa. Not your local native North American cat.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Not as many as the last time your kind
came here.”

“You have memory of the last time our
kind came?”

“We have stories told late at night
when the young sleep. But then everyone knows how stories grow with
the telling of them.”

* * * *

“You can not stay here
tonight.”

He leaned back in the recliner lifting
his arms over his head, staring at her. Gix, the little traitor sat
in his lap, fully relinquishing his alpha animal role to
Lugar.

“Why not? I will keep you
safe.”

“From whom? You?”

He shrugged and a sexy light came in
his eyes. “Maybe not from me. Here. Take my chair.”

“Your chair?” she asked, highly annoyed
that he’d claimed her own favorite chair and then kindly offered it
back to her.

“The chair. Take the chair female. I
make no claim on your furniture.”

“Fine.”

“Your brothers brought meat, I will go
to the kitchen and prepare something for you to eat.”

Her mouth fell open. “You? You will
prepare a meal for us?”

He waved a hand. “In our culture the
male hunts the meat and cooks it for the female. An old respected
ritual.” He held out a hand, searching for words. “Providing for
her needs is crucial to our continued survival as a
species.”

Holding her gaze, he nodded in a
salute. That’s what it was, a salute.

“Hmpf.” For some reason the word
‘needs’ brought back the steamy episode in the mudroom on the rugs.
Heavens, the heat of it still scorched her. Without thought, she
picked up a magazine and fanned herself briskly. She should demand
he leave. Go sleep in the trees or a cave. Instead, she watched him
work in her kitchen. The way he’d said ‘keetchen’ indicated the
word was unfamiliar to him and reminded her he just might be from
some other world as he’d said he was.

At the moment, he seemed to be having
no problem finding what he needed. He paused every now and then as
though he sniffed the air to locate items, herbs and
spices.

At that moment, he looked up. “You like
your meat rare?”

She sighed. “Of course.”

At that, he smiled as if they shared a
bond.

“Sit.” He had a hand around her wrist
like a vice. She’d made to get the plates.

“You’re so serious, a woman might think
this was some kind of wedding ceremony.” She laughed. He didn’t
join her in the humor.

“A courting ceremony would not be far
from the truth of it.”

“It is more important than paperwork.
More so than verbal promises. I take action for you in feeding
you.” His eyes grew serious, dangerous. “I ask you to always judge
me by my deeds and not my words.”

“Fair enough. As long as the deeds do
not involve murdering me in my sleep.”

He jerked his gaze to hers in shock.
“If I were to kill you, she-cat, it would be done with honor, with
your full knowledge.”

“Oh,” she said, laughing before she
continued, “that’s alright then.”

“You laugh at my code of
honor.”

“Well, no. I suppose so, yes. But only
the way you worded it.”

“Even with a hundred year cycle of
study, I do not understand the nuances of your language and
culture.”

“Neither do we. Tell me about
Eliava.”

She’d changed the subject. But he was
gratified she wanted hear more of her homeworld. Still deeply
offended she might worry he’d kill her in her sleep. If she’d
proved evil and in need of destruction, he would’ve allowed her the
knowledge of it. He’d have told her the truth.

“Where will I sleep tonight?” he asked,
needing to know.

“Uh, I … well--”

“Where?”

“You will sleep in the guest bed in the
loft area. There.” She motioned above their heads.

He had not expected her to invite him
to her bedding spot, but he’d hoped. At least she had not said
outside.

“There is a phone up there. Call me on
my cell phone if you have trouble finding towels,
something.”

“Sellaphone?”

“They’re new since your …
our….”

“…
tigon were here last,” he
finished for her.

“Wireless telephone. Convenient.” She
gave him her number.