Cat on the Fence

Tatiana
Caldwell

By the Tail, Book Two

The last thing Karabi wants after dumping
her clingy boyfriend is a new relationship. She’s a Werecat shifter and
romantic involvements with normal humans are challenging, to say the least.
However, her clashes with the frustratingly hot new guy at work, Alex, are
tinged with a lust that’s impossible to ignore.

Alex throws professionalism out the
window the first time he gets Karabi alone, sexing her up atop Willis Tower.
But unbeknownst to them he’s a “Late Bloomer”, a Werecat whose powers haven’t
manifested until adulthood. As their first sexual encounter reaches climax he
shifts uncontrollably.

Suddenly Alex is thrown into the
dangerous world of Werecats and Rabid Werewolves. With each passing day his
sexual voracity increases but unfortunately so does his feral nature. To give
Alex the help he needs, Karabi must face the Pride and play by their rules—both
of which she’s fiercely rejected.

A Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s
Cave

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my friend Reena. You showed me
that one can be their own person, free of the bounds instilled upon them in
their upbringing, without forgetting or denying who they are or where they came
from.

Karabi slammed the door behind her as soon as she stepped
into the apartment. She strutted right past Rao’s glare and went straight to
the coat closet. With pretend icy indifference she took off her snow-covered
wool coat and hung it up, avoiding direct eye contact with her boyfriend. She
knew that any moment now the paranoid, possessive, neurotic side of him was
about to rear its ugly head. And she really wasn’t in the mood for it.

“Where have you been, Karabi Minstry?” Rao locked the door,
then turned toward her with his arms crossed. The fact he was using her full
name meant he was highly pissed.

She responded in a calm but firm tone. “I told you this
morning I was going out shopping and to dinner with Felicia after I was done at
work.”

“I called you three times.”

“Actually it was more like twenty.”

“No, it could not have been more than ten.”

She arched a brow and side-eyed him. “But you can agree that
it was way more than just three, right?”

“It wouldn’t have had to be more than
one
if you
would have answered. Or at least returned my call.”

“Maybe if you would have left it at just one, I would have
called you back.” Karabi sat down on the couch and pulled off her black
faux-suede boots, revealing the navy-blue, pink and gray argyle socks she was
wearing. She couldn’t help but smile to herself a little as she wiggled her
toes. Those socks were thick and fuzzy and came all the way up to her knees
underneath her jeans—which were so well-worn they were fraying at the cuffs—but
oddly enough she’d always felt sexy in them. In fact she’d felt sexy all day,
until she encountered Rao’s slew of missed calls and messages on her cell.
There wasn’t a damn thing Karabi Minstry found appealing about a possessive
boyfriend with seemingly nothing better to do than dial her almost twenty times
in a six-hour span. She knew she shouldn’t be as annoyed by it as she was. She
should have been used to it by now. Rao
always
did this whenever she
hung out with someone other than him. Didn’t matter who it was. She could have
been out with her mother and he probably would have been just as upset. That
was, if she were still talking to her mother.

“I was tending to the lion cubs at the zoo today and so I
turned my phone off like I always do whenever I’m working with the animals. I
didn’t remember to turn it back on until after Felicia and I were at the
restaurant, and that’s when I saw all of your messages. By the time I’d
listened to your third voice mail I was too annoyed to call you back.” Karabi
had also turned her ringer off right then and there.

He shook his head. “Are you serious? That’s your
explanation?”

“You know I hate feeling as if I’m being checked up on like
that.”

“Well, you know I hate it when you don’t answer or return my
calls.”

“Which we just established I won’t do if I feel as though I’m
being pestered for absolutely no reason whatsoever.” She grunted. “The
solution? Don’t pester me, and I’ll call you back. Problem solved.”

“That’s not fair, Karabi.” Rao came into the living room and
sat on the loveseat across from her. “You were not answering while you were out
with your ex. What was that supposed to make me think?”

Karabi shrugged, then picked up the remote control. “Why
should it make you think anything? It was just two friends hanging out. Felicia
knows I’m in a relationship with you and she respects that.
I
respect
that. And I trust that you know I respect it. So I don’t see the problem.” She
turned on the television and leaned back against the couch. The program on was
about models and fashion, which were topics Karabi could not possibly care less
about, but she was going to watch it anyway. Any distraction from her complete
annoyance at her boyfriend was welcome.

Rao went over to the television and turned the volume all
the way down. When he turned to face her his nostrils were flaring. “We’re not
done talking about this.”

She stifled a laugh and looked directly at him for the first
time since she’d gotten home. “What else is there to say?”

“How about an apology, for one? For intentionally leaving me
to worry?”

She recoiled. “I won’t apologize for not giving in to you
harassing me while I was out. You just can’t stand the idea of me spending time
with anyone other than you.”

“No, I’m just not completely comfortable with my girlfriend
being so busy while alone with her exes that she can’t be bothered to answer
when I call.”

“Ex, not exes, Rao. Just one. You’re acting as if this is
something I do all the time.”

“You did it
ten times
today. That’s plenty enough for
me to be upset about it.”

Karabi sighed and rolled her eyes. This was exactly why she
didn’t like to do serious relationships, even though she was almost thirty
years old. Male or female. Older or younger. Platonic or sexual. Religious or
atheist. Indian, like her, or not. Eventually they
all
got
over-possessive, overprotective and overbearing.

She’d been with Rao for almost two years now. Longer than
any other romantic relationship she’d had this far. She’d even given him the
key to her apartment a few weeks ago—something completely uncharacteristic of Karabi.
But she’d grown unexpectedly quite fond of the tall, thin but well-defined
butterscotch-colored man with thick, jet-black waves of hair. He’d been
persistent in his pursuit of her and extremely romantic in gesture. Plus he was
highly intelligent. Rao Chaudhuri had founded a successful IT consulting firm
and spoke three different languages fluently, and Karabi was a sucker for
intelligence, patience and passion.

“This is silly,” Karabi said. “There’s nothing for you to be
upset about in the first place.”

Rao looked at the ceiling as if searching for a clue there. “You
were out with your ex, Karabi! It’s got to be in the book of relationship rules
or somethingthat you don’t ignore your significant other’s call while
you’re out alone with a former lover.”

Karabi winced and cringed inwardly. There was that detested
word.
Rules
. A lifetime of serious personal baggage came bubbling to the
surface. “Please don’t talk about
rules
when addressing your
relationship with me, Rao. My life is not a game, there are no fucking rules.
You know I hate that kind of thing.”

He put up both his hands in a peace offering. “I know, I
know… Sorry about that. Look, the point I am trying to make is that I have a
very valid reason to be upset.”

“No you don’t, Rao. You’re making a much bigger deal out of
this than it is. This isn’t about Felicia being my ex at all. You get like this
whenever I go out with
anyone
. Remember right before Thanksgiving break,
when I went out for drinks and pool with my boss and coworkers? You called me
five times that night. And around Halloween, when I stayed at the zoo past
normal hours to hand candy to trick-or-treaters, and then stayed later to help
clean up afterwards? I had seven messages from you when that night ended.
Seven!” She threw up seven fingers in emphasis. “People in normal relationships
do things with other people all of the time, Rao. And believe it or not, some
people actually turn off their phones while they are busy. It shouldn’t be this
hard for you to understand that.” She flicked her hand in the air as if to
physically dismiss the subject.

“But it’s different with you. You’re bisexual.”

She lowered her eyes at him. “And?”

“You’ve had sex with some of your female friends.”

“So what? I’ve had sex with some of my male friends too.
That doesn’t mean I have to
always
have sex with them. Being bi doesn’t
mean I can’t hang out with anyone without having sex with them.”

“How would I know what it means, when you are so secretive
about it? You never invite me to hang out with you and Felicia, and you don’t
answer when I call. How can I not worry that you still are having sex?”

Her jaw dropped. “Really, Rao? You’re really worried that I’m
fucking other people behind your back?”

“Not other people exactly—just other women, maybe.”

“Why would you think that?” She was bewildered.

He shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? I can’t exactly give you
whatever it is you get from women.”

“And you think that’s what I want?”

“I think you don’t really know
what
you want, Karabi.”

Karabi moaned in frustration and buried her face in her
hands. So there it was. After all this time, he didn’t trust her. Simply
because of her sexuality. It didn’t have anything to do with whether or not she
answered her phone—he’d obviously already had it in his mind that she couldn’t
really be faithful.

Ouch
.
Now Karabi could admit that she either
was, or at some point had been, many things. Afraid of commitment. A loner.
Promiscuous. Lustful. But never, ever had she been dishonest or accused of
being a cheater.

That hurt.

That was also the final straw. Now she was going to have to
really
be the bad guy. She hated to have to do it but enough was enough. When she
lifted her head to speak, her tone was somber. “I think you should go back to
your own place.” It was a good thing now, she realized, that she hadn’t agreed
to him breaking the lease on his apartment.

He lowered his head and voice. “Come on now, Karabi. How
about we just sleep on it? Maybe we’ll both be in a better mindset to discuss
it tomorrow.”

“No, I don’t think you’re understanding me. I think we
should take a break.”

His brows furrowed together and his mouth gaped open. “What?”

“We should go on a break. I could really use some space. I
think you could too.”

“But—why?” he asked. “Do you want to see other people?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with other people, Rao. This
is about you and me, no one else. You want me to be someone I am not. And I’m
feeling…smothered and untrusted.”

Rao moved to sit next to her on the couch, taking her hand
in both of his. “It’s not that I want you to be someone you’re not, it’s that I
want you to be truly honest with me. Always.”

She pulled her hand away, frowning. “If you think that I’ve
been anything other than honest with you, then you do not know who I am. Not
even after two years. Which is exactly why we should end this.”

“So do you mean—take a break for a little while, or break up
as in…forever?”

Karabi took a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly through
pursed lips. “I don’t know. I can’t speak on forever. We’ll see, I guess. But
for now, yes.”

He shook his head repeatedly. “No, Karabi, don’t do this. I’m
sorry, I—”

“No need to be sorry, Rao. It is what it is.” She stood and
went over to the door. “It’s late. I have to be at work early tomorrow, and I’m
very tired. You should get your toothbrush, razor and whatever else you need
that’s here and go home now.”

She waited there while he pulled himself off the couch, got
a plastic bag out of the kitchen and went into the bathroom. He came out a
couple of minutes later and grabbed his coat from the closet. He plodded to the
front door and paused to look at her, his eyes big and heavy like a sad puppy’s.

“Karabi.” His bottom lip trembled. “I don’t want this.
You
don’t really want this.”

His hurt washed over her, singeing her own pain. Why was she
such a sucker for cute things in need? She closed her eyes and swallowed down
the sensitive part of her that craved to play nurse to all the wounded, and
worked to channel her inner lioness. “It’s not even about what I want or don’t
want, Rao. To be honest, I think what’s more important right now is the fact
that this is not what I
need
. I don’t need complication, I don’t need
restriction and I don’t need rules. I do need my independence back for a while.
We both do. So let’s start the new year off with a clean slate.”

“Karabi—”

She opened the door and gestured for him to leave. “Good night,
Rao.”

He reluctantly left the apartment and she closed and locked
the door behind him, pausing to lean against it for a moment as she tried to
gather her composure. Had she been the bad guy tonight? She wasn’t sure but her
heart felt heavy. As stoic as she could come off sometimes, she never enjoyed
hurting anyone. But ever since she’d given him that key a few weeks ago the air
had gone thin and the walls of her world began closing in. Expectations.
Restrictions. Obligations. Limitations. She felt like one of the big cats in
her zoo and tonight’s dispute had been the lock clicking on the door to the
cage.

Back and forth she paced the living and dining areas of her
apartment, fighting with her emotions. She was a little sad and somewhat offended
but mostly angry. Angry she’d gotten so deeply attached to Rao. Angry she’d
allowed the relationship to progress at a pace that she’d known all along was
far too fast for her liking. Angry at the possibility that maybe she simply
wasn’t built for love, just for passionate-but-short-lived flings.

In a way, Rao was right. Karabi wasn’t
completely
honest
with him. There was one thing she kept hidden from him. From everyone. And most
of the time even from herself. She raked her hand through her long, thick black
hair, mumbling under her breath. Her pulse was racing and her ears were burning
hot, and she could feel the paranormal meltdown that her stress was bringing
on. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, concentrating on remaining in
human form. Times like this she wished she drank alcohol.
Let it pass
,
she demanded of herself.

But she couldn’t let it pass. All of the conflicting
feelings she’d kept bottled up inside were bursting to come out. It had been
too long since she’d shape-shifted, too long since she’d let the Cat out. When
she found herself kitty-crying—that mix between a wail, a growl and a purr—she
knew the Cat was coming. Karabi turned off the lights, quickly took off her
clothes and tossed them on the couch. Sure enough, within seconds her bare body
grew tan fur all over it, and her hands and feet morphed into paws with claws.
In less than a minute the transformation was complete and she paced over to the
large windows of her apartment’s living room. It was the twenty-second floor
and it was too dark for anyone to see a big cat standing in front of the window.
She gazed at her reflection in the glass. She was in full-on cheetah mode—whiskers,
four legs, spotted fur coat, the whole nine.