Here Kitty, Kitty! (30 page)

“Dude!  The new shoes.”

Nik and the lion looked up to see a group of women calmly watching them.  In fact, someone had pulled out a bag of chips and started sharing.

Angie reached down and brushed the top of her shoes.  “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get cat hair off anything?”

She shook her head, grabbed some shopping bags and headed toward the house.  “See you ladies later.  I’m exhausted.”  She turned on those gorgeous heels, “And don’t forget.  All of you are coming to Sara’s birthday party.  Right?”

A small woman, who smelled like lion but based on her clothes and height alone just couldn’t be, nodded, “Absolutely.”  She looked at Sara.  “Perfect time to solidify the truce, don’t ya think?”

“Sure.  Whatever.  Wanna see the bikes?”  Sara walked off toward the garage, female lions and wolves following behind her.

Miki started to follow, but Angie called her from the front door.  “Get your ass up here, Kendrick.”

“I wanna go…”

“No.  Because apparently we have no impulse-control during this breeding process when it comes to that mouth, now do we?”

Stomping around the male lions, wolves, and tigers at her feet, Miki headed up the stairs, “I can’t tell you how much I hate that fuckin’ psychotherapist voice you put on.”

“Well, when one is dealing with a nut…”

The door slammed close behind the two human females while the shifter females disappeared among the motorcycles.

The males stared at each other, eventually withdrawing claws and fangs from vital organs.  A little blood spilt but not much.

Nik wondered what they’d do next.  Fighting seemed kind of wrong now that the females had a pact.  But he didn’t have to wonder or worry long.  A small group of deer ran past heading deep into Pack territory and they all took off after them, leaving him and Conall.

Conall, not about to leave his mate alone with lions swarming over his territory, turned and trotted back into the house.  Nik, however, had no such worries.  Angie seemed to have quite a way with handling cats.  Hell, she handled him, didn’t she?

No, he had other plans for the delectable Ms.  Santiago.  And they definitely involved those shoes.

He trotted around to the back of the house.  She’d left the window open, so he took a step back and jumped.  He cleared the windowsill easily, landing without making a sound.

He turned toward the bed and she was already there.  Waiting for him.  Naked.  A sheet pulled up between her legs and covering her chest.

And the shoes.  She still had on the shoes.

She watched him quietly, inhaling a deep breath.  When she released it…it came out as a sigh.

He growled. 
Teasing hellcat
.

***

Angie watched tiger-Nik stand at the foot of the bed staring at her.  When she sighed, she thought for sure he’d shift and tackle her by now.  But he didn’t, he just kept staring.  But once again the mere thought of Nik was making her all squirmy and hot.

Suddenly Nik did something he’d never done before around her.  He closed his eyes tight, bared his fangs, and stuck his tongue out.  It had to be one of the top five most ridiculous things she’d ever seen and she would have laughed, but Nik’s head dipped down, flipped the sheet up and he crawled under it and onto the bed.

She felt his furry head rub against her leg, then slowly move up.  Drawing his long body against hers.  But as he moved up her body, he shifted and Nik’s rough fur turned into hard flesh.  By the time he pulled himself out from under the sheet, he was back to being human and looking as gorgeous as always.

He kissed her nose, her chin.

“What,” she asked carefully, “was that look on your face just before you got under the covers?”

“I was tasting your scent.  It’s just a thing tigers do.”

“Eeeew.”

He took the sheet wrapped around her chest between his teeth and tugged it down until her breasts were bare.  He nuzzled one and licked the other.

“So tell me, Sugar.  What have you been up to today?”

“I think I saved the world…and bought new shoes.”

“A girl who knows what’s important…I do like that.”  He kissed the valley between her breasts, easing himself down her chest.

Angie stretched like a big lazy cat, her hands grasping her headboard.  “Do you like my shoes, Hillbilly?  The salesman said I looked fabulous in them.”

“Oh, yeah.  They’re nice.  Now let’s see if they look any better on my shoulders…”

Chapter
Nineteen

“Forget it.”

“Come on, Zach.  For me.  Please?”

“No.  Way.”

“Then do it for Sara.  It’s her birthday.”

“Not if her life depended on it…and it doesn’t.”

Angie looked at Nik.  He smirked and she knew he wouldn’t be any help.

“Please.  Just put it on.  It will not only be a gift for her…but for you.  Trust me.”

“You know, compared to her…,” he glanced at Miki, who immediately gave him the finger.  “…I’ve actually liked you.  But this…this is asking too much.”

Well, cajoling wasn’t working with the wolf.  “Put it on, or I get the bat.”

Zach looked down at her.  “I’d take a bat to the head any day over this.”

Angie growled. 
Damn, uptight, pain-in-the-ass wolves
.

***

Nik had never seen a man fight so hard not to put on a cowboy hat.  And Angie had tried everything short of oral sex.  Of course, if she’d done that, he’d have to kill Zach and every wolf within a three-thousand-mile vicinity.

The short, Asian she-wolf who Ban seemed truly fascinated with lately pushed through the swinging doors, “She’s coming.”

At her wits end, Angie went for her last resort.  She slammed the heel of her Prada shoe into Zach’s instep.

“
Ow
!”

She slammed the hat on his head as Sara strolled through the door.  They all turned, Angie stepping in front of a bent over Zach.

“Happy birthday!”

Sara broke out into a stunning grin.  One look at it, and Nik completely forgot about the scar on her face.  It meant nothing next to that dazzling smile.

She looked at the kitchen table covered in a full birthday breakfast, including waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and anything else the catering company could think of since none of the wolves seemed comfortable with the idea of cooking.

“You guys!  This is so sweet!”

She turned as Zach stood up straight.  The black cowboy hat still firmly on his head.  His face red with embarrassment and blinding anger.

Sara’s breath caught and Nik could smell her lust from ten feet away.  “Oh…my.”

“Happy birthday, girl!”  Angie hugged her friend.  “From me and Mik.”

Sara nodded at her two friends, but didn’t take her eyes off Zach.  She swallowed.  “Uh…thanks.”

Angie smiled, “You’re welcome.”

Zach watched Sara walk up to him, “Look, Sara.  Before you say anything…”

She cut him off by grabbing his sleeveless black T-shirt in her hands and yanking him to her.  Then she slammed her lips against his.

Angie, apparently feeling pretty damn haughty, crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Nik.

He shook his head.  Man, he loved that woman. 
Crazy hellcat that she is
.

Sara peeled herself away from Zach, but kept her grip on his shirt.  “You guys get started.  We’ll be back.”  She hauled him out of the kitchen.

Miki leaped off the counter, causing Conall to have one of his near–heart attacks.  He sensed the man would have a lot of those around his slightly off-center female who had begun to grow on Nik like a fungus.  She was just so dang wacky.

“Well, we won’t be seeing them until the party tonight,” Miki laughed.

“Yup.  Which gives us time to get everything organized.”  Angie had taken over the party since she got back.  And no one seemed to mind.  She told them what to do and, dogs that they were, they went and did it.

Leaning against the counter, Nik watched Angie as she pulled out a notepad covered in all her notes for the party and her cell phone off the counter.

She had complete control at the moment.  He loved when she had complete control.

“What about my breakfast, Sugar?”  Angie froze, the phone clutched in her hand.  Her heartbeat sped up and she barely hid the panting.  “I haven’t eaten yet.”

She glared at him at the same time her lust punched him in the head.

Miki stepped between them.  “Hello, Hillbilly.  Table full of food.  Or make your own damn breakfast.”

Conall grabbed her arm.  “Come on, Miki-baby.  Let’s make sure the backyard is ready for tonight.”

“Yeah, but…”

He dragged the tiny woman out the kitchen as the rest of the wolves grabbed food and left.

Backing Angie against the freezer door, Nik grinned, “I do like that dog.”

***

Angie dragged Nik’s cousin Cleatus out of the DJ booth.  “No offense, hon, but I think we’re done with ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ ”  Four times being three times too many.

Besides, she had to do something.  Miki had finally gone for her gun.

She shoved the DJ in the booth.  “Get to it,” she snapped in German.

As she walked away, sweet,
sweet
Tech music flowed around her.  She looked at the bar were Miki decided to get in some time pouring drinks and saw her friend put the gun back in its holster.  Cleatus had no idea how close he came…

Angie turned and moved back through the crowd.  She couldn’t believe how big this party had gotten.  Pride and Pack representatives from around the country making an appearance.  The word was out.  The truce was on and the war was over.  At least the war between the Pride and the Pack.  The Hyenas had become unbelievably quiet, which made everyone a little nervous.  But Angie knew Sara and Victoria made the right decision to let Leucrotta live.  If they killed her, they’d have only made her a martyr.  This way she came off as she truly was…a really bitter bitch who needed to get the fuck over it.

To be honest, when the Packs and Prides began showing up, she worried.  They didn’t speak and they watched each other with open hostility.  But she didn’t count on the Vorislavs.  The whole bunch of them showed up except for One-Eyed Grandma.  Angie had no doubt Broyna was back in her little shack raising the dead for her own amusement.

But young Cleatus jumped into the DJ booth, amped up “Sweet Home Alabama” and that was it.  What started off as a nice little birthday party, turned into a full-blown hootenanny.  Especially when some Pack from Tennessee showed up.  The Smiths or something.  They’re name may have been plain but these people really knew how to party.

After that, Angie spent the rest of the time making sure the food was on hand, the liquor was plentiful, and that Miki didn’t annoy the hell out of someone.  Thankfully, Conall was ahead of her on that and tossed her tight ass behind the bar.  Once back in her element, Miki was fine.  But at some point she’d need a break and she hoped Conall was on top of that as well.

Angie cut over to the barbeque pit.  “Hey, Bobby.”

“Hey, darlin’.  You’re lookin’ gorgeous this evenin’ as always.”

“You are such a dirty little sweet talker,” she flirted.  Bobby was a wolf from her home town and one of the nicest guys she never dated.  She motioned to the food.  “Are we doing okay?”

“I was a little worried when Sheridan ordered two more cows, but after watching those tigers eat…I see why.  So far, so good, though.”

“Good.  Get me on the walkie-talkie if you need me.”  She’d insisted everyone working the party tonight have either a headset or walkie-talkie.  They had no idea what a Nazi she could be when it came to running a party.

Moving away from the barbeque pit, Angie tried to find Sara.  Nope.  They still weren’t here.  Hours since the Alphas locked themselves in their bedroom. 
Hours
.

She walked up to a few of the Pack standing with Alek and Ban.  “Someone has to go get them.”

“Are you fuckin’ high,” Kelly barked out with that disturbingly gravel-like voice.

“Forget it,” some wolf named Billy Dunwich added.  “No one’s goin’ up there when those two are fucking.”

Angie looked at Alek and Ban.  She gave them her best alluring look.  “Guys?”

They snorted.  “Not on your life, Santiago,” Alek shook his head.  “I’d rather start eating Vegan.”

“I’d set myself on fire first.”

Man, since she started fucking their brother the two of them had been less and less cooperative.

When she was about to go kick their bedroom door down her damn self, Sara appeared.  Zach followed behind.  She’d made him wear the hat, but he really looked too worn out to care.  Sara, however, didn’t look tired at all.  Clearly her night was just getting started.

Angie stalked over to her.  “Where the hell have you been?”

Sara smirked, “Do you really want full details on that question?”

She didn’t need full details.  The teeth marks all over her friend’s neck told their own story.