A Cat's Tale (8 page)

Evangeline
sneered. “Perhaps I should have Carl cut back on your rations.” She glared at
Josie. The werecat dropped her gaze and did her best to vanish. “I think maybe
I’ll have cat for dinner instead of wolf.” Her tone signed Josie’s death
warrant.

Josephine
shook in outright terror. Jared would do his best to intervene but there wasn’t
much he could do if Evangeline decided to drain her. Even her wolf had limits.

“Mistress,”
Jared said. He stepped between Josephine and Evangeline. His wolf rose, dark
and powerful and seductive. “Evangeline,” he said, speaking as a lover did. He
made eye contact and had her. The vampire gazed at him as if bewitched.

“Don’t
waste your time with the cat,” Jared said. “Come to me. I need to feel your
touch.” He extended his hand, coaxing the vampire through the bars.

Josephine
stiffened and bit back a caterwaul. Abruptly, she was in the grip of a
green-eyed monster, ears flat and tail twitching. She knew—
knew
—it was
all for show, but she longed to gouge the vampire’s eyes out. She wanted to
rush over and claim Jared—
mine, mine, mine.

“Open
the cell door,” Evangeline commanded.

Carl
stirred and seemed about to argue. “Let me fetch the cattle prod,” he said. “And
the shotguns.”

The
vampire glanced at her servant, irritated and impatient. But Evangeline
retained enough sense of self-preservation to agree to the safety precautions.
She waited until her servants were in position, shotguns held at ready, and
then she entered the cell.

Evangeline
rushed Jared. She seized the werewolf and pulled him into an open-mouthed kiss.
Jared was already bare-chested; his shirt had been shredded in a bathroom
skirmish days before. The vampire clawed at his pants, ripping open the buttons
of his fly. The blue chiffon dress tore at the hem.

“Evangeline,”
Jared managed, allowing the vampire to shove him toward the cot. Evangeline
finished stripping his jeans. Jared had to resist…not to resist. Josephine’s stomach
churned and nausea besieged her as she crouched, helpless, watching while the
vampire mauled Jared.

Evangeline
pushed Jared into a sitting position on the cot and kneeled between his open
thighs. Evangeline shoved his legs further apart and flashed fang, bending to
sink her teeth into the femoral artery along his inner thigh.

The
wolf’s mouth twisted in a silent snarl and his eyes turned solid gold. Jared
seized Evangeline’s hair with his hand, forming a fist. His cock was flaccid.
Features twisted with hatred and disgust, he turned his gaze to Josephine and
pinned her with his topaz eyes.

Evangeline
drank her fill and finally rose from her crouching position between Jared’s
thighs. The vampire wore a rapt expression and her unseeing eyes failed to register
her victim’s misery and lack of physical interest.

“It’s
true—werewolves are ambrosia,” Evangeline said to no one in particular. Her
human servants did not dare respond. Carl opened the cell door for his mistress
and stood aside as she passed. Josephine fancied even Carl appeared disgusted
and uncomfortable with her depravity.

After
Evangeline departed, Josephine remained crouched on the cold cement floor, too
sick with guilt to move. Jared lurched to his feet, ignoring the blood flowing
from the bite wound on his thigh. He staggered into the bathroom and retched in
the toilet.

How
many times had she reacted in a similar way to such a vicious violation?

Crawling,
Josephine followed him and shoved the bathroom door shut behind her. She found
him beside the toilet, kneeling with his forehead against his knee. Hand
shaking, Josie reached out to touch him and stopped, unable to complete the
act.

“Just
worshipping the porcelain goddess,” Jared said. He looked up and his misery
made her weep. “Don’t cry, pussycat,” he said. “Not worth it.”

“Submissive
behavior hurts you.”

“Not
exactly.” He shook his head. “I’ve observed it enough, though usually from the
top-down perspective. I understand it well enough to fake it.”

“You’re
an amazing actor.” Josie sighed in despair. Her hands touched his arm,
withdrawing twice before settling against his clammy skin.

Jared
forced an ironic smile. “I was a theater major in college. I love Shakespeare.”

“I
hate seeing you like this,” Josie whispered, fighting a new wave of tears.

His
face turned toward the outer cell. “Being close to that walking corpse—” He
shuddered and his entire body convulsed. “Letting her touch me like that…I’d
rather die than be violated like that again.”

“Raped,”
Josie supplied. She knew the right word; she understood the feeling well.
Evangeline had fed on her for years. Daily. She knew what it meant to be raped
of her blood.

The
wolf’s expression turned murderous. “Is this how you feel about me?” Jared
demanded.

The
question came from so far out in left field Josephine could only gape at him. “I—what?”

“Yesterday,
you came onto me to ingratiate yourself,” Jared ground out. “To make sure I won’t
leave you behind. I knew it and had sex with you anyway. Hell, I took advantage
of you, as if you haven’t lost enough to this hellhole already. You must hate
me, Josie.”

“Jared,
I—” She balled her fists. “Why did you submit to her? You could have torn her
limb from limb. The shotguns aren’t loaded with silver bullets. They’d hurt but
they wouldn’t kill you.”

“You
might have been killed in the crossfire,” Jared said. “I couldn’t take the
chance.”

“Whenever
Evangeline bites you, you look at me,” Josephine continued to speak with an
excess of nervous energy. “With so much hatred and—No, please don’t interrupt.
Let me finish. Every single time, you’ve stared at me as if you wanted nothing
more than to kill me…”

Her
voice broke and tears flowed. She hiccupped. “I just don’t understand you,
Jared. I know you blame me for getting you captured. How can you hate me one
second and protect me the next? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“I
don’t hate you, Josie Cat. Hell, I don’t really blame you for getting me into
this. Much. Though, an apology at some point would be nice,” Jared said with
smirk. In the face of Josie’s pain and confusion, his misery was forgotten. His
gaze was calm, cool, and confident. “I hate
her
. I only stare at you to
remind myself why I’m not ripping out her heart.”

A
hand crushed the already broken heart that life had shattered years before.
Josephine tilted forward and pushed her face into Jared’s throat. His hands
rose in surprise but he opened his arms to take her in.

“If
I could do it over, I’d have asked for your help in that bar. At the time, it
wouldn’t have occurred to me that such a thing was possible,” she said. “I’m so
sorry I got you into this mess, Jared.”

His
grip on her tightened. “It’s okay,” Jared said and, for the first time,
Josephine believed him. He eased away enough so she could see his face. His
smile was crooked. “Meeting you has been worth it.”

His
sincerity left her speechless. Tears filled her great blue eyes and a lump
filled her throat.
No one
had ever valued her above their own welfare.
No
one.

“Jared,
how I feel about you,” Josephine began and Jared stiffened. She tightened her
grip on him, clinging with small strong hands. “I think you’re giving me too
much credit. I wasn’t thinking about anything but teasing you and when it
happened it was like—” The best damn thing in her miserable life. “I’m not
sorry, Jared.”

Smiling,
he gathered her into his arms and rose from the dirty floor. “Then I’m not
sorry either,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

It
was too much honesty—this overload of intimacy—and way more than any cat could
handle all at once. But she might never have another chance. “Jared, if I had a
hero you’d fill out his blue jeans just fine,” she said.

He
laughed. “Thanks, I think. Speaking of blue jeans, I want to put my pants on.”
She slid down his body to stand and he peered at her. Those unblinking topaz
eyes looked straight into her soul. “Are you done being scared that I’ll leave
you?”

“You
won’t leave me,” Josephine said. “I trust you, which scares me way more than
dying.”

Day
7

“What
time is it?” Josie asked, taking a nice long stretch on the cot. The werecat lifted
her head; her blue eyes were hooded.

“Ten
minutes after the last time you asked,” Jared said with a glare. Waiting,
waiting, waiting…It was driving them both insane. “Since there’s no clock, I
have no means of knowing the exact time any better than you.”

“Mrrow,”
Josie growled. “Someone has his boxers in a twist.” She turned over and then
turned her head in the direction of the stairs. The werecat’s big ears made her
hearing better than his.

“Don’t
wear any,” Jared informed her even though it wasn’t necessary. She knew the
state of his underwear—or lack thereof.

Jared
stopped his restless pacing to listen. The werewolf had stalked the length of
his cell for hours through the late afternoon. The footfalls overhead were
heavy and human, preceding Carl into the room.

The
human servant carried a folded stack of clothing and a small brown paper bag
sat perched atop the pile. “That cat still alive?” he said in what had become
his customary greeting.

“For
now,” Jared replied. “I’ll eat her before the party, so don’t worry about
bringing dinner.”

Carl
chuckled. On the bed, Josie hissed and puffed up, ears flat and tail lashing.
Jared did not smell fear; it was just for show. They were a team instead of
rivals.

“Here,”
Carl said, offering the stack of clothing through the bars. Jared shifted,
uneasy because it was a casual gesture, very unlike the man’s usual caution.
After a slight hesitation, Jared accepted the clothing, quelling the desire to
reach out and snap the other man’s neck.

“I’m
supposed to dress up?” Jared surmised, inspecting what he had been given. It
wasn’t much: black leather pants, black boots, and a studded black collar. The
paper bag contained personal grooming supplies, including a bottle of body oil.

“Evangeline
wants you to oil up nice ‘n shiny for her guests,” Carl said. Then he stopped,
about to say more, but hesitating.

“Yeah?”
Jared said.

Carl
glanced over his shoulder. “Look, I have a pretty good idea what’s gonna happen
tonight. I’ve served her for years but my situation isn’t much different from
yours. We’re just on opposite sides of the bars.”

Jared
stared at the man, keeping his expression flat. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing,”
Carl said, “except, please don’t kill me tonight when you take Evangeline down.
I have a daughter in Nogales. I’d like to go stay with her and her family.
Start over doing something decent. Maybe be a janitor or a mechanic. Please,
let me live. I’m keeping my mouth shut.”

“As
soon as I’m upstairs tonight, clear out. Leave the party, get out of town, and
don’t look back. I won’t follow you,” Jared said. He allowed his wolf to rise,
displaying the natural cockiness he’d been hiding for the last week. The human’s
face drained of blood and he cowed in instinctive response.

Carl
nodded, backing away. “You won’t ever see me again.”

“After
tonight, you’d better hope so,” Jared said.

“Tonight,
there will be two vampires with me when I come to escort you upstairs. They’re
supposed to help keep you under control.”

“Okay,
thanks,” Jared said, filing the information away. He watched the other man
leave and then turned to Josie. The werecat sprang off the cot.

“Was
that smart?” Josephine demanded, rushing at Jared with concern. Her hands
grabbed for his chest. “What if he changes his mind? He could betray us!”

“He
won’t,” Jared said.

“How
can you be sure?” she asked. The cat was close to hysterics.

Jared
sighed and set the clothes and bag aside. He placed a hand on either side of
Josie’s face and gazed into her eyes. “Trust me,” he said. “Trust my instincts.
Can you do that?”

Her
breathing grew steady and even as she calmed. Her lips twitched and her tail
followed suit. She wanted to argue with him but nodded and resisted the impulse.

“Good
girl,” he said, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Come into the bathroom
with me?”

“What
happens next?” Josephine asked. She reached up to grasp his arms, settling her
fingertips against the inside of his wrists. She hadn’t consented to accompany
him and he didn’t want go through their usual production. Not tonight.

“Josie,
please.” He kissed her neck below the ear and then her throat above the
jugular. Her fur felt velvet soft beneath his lips. “I need you to trust me.”

Her
eyes narrowed with suspicion. “See? Talk like that makes me trust you less.”