Piece of Tail (2 page)

"The thing about it is…” Gina began.

"Seriously? This is a ‘thing about it is’ story? Shit, I need popcorn for this.” Blaze hopped from the couch and disappeared through the entryway to the kitchen. Moments later she heard Tasheka and Sam laying into the tabby half-were about letting men take advantage of her, how Jack the half-Russell Terrier couldn't possibly love her. It didn't seem to matter that the man in question lived in the house, surrounded by cats, just to be with Blaze.

Gina knew her friend wouldn't be returning anytime soon. Just her luck. Right when she needed someone to confide in about this whole half-were mingling in the human world thing, her confidant was taken hostage by the old people.
Ugh!
She needed air. Maybe wandering through the city would help her mind settle. She wasn't much for the whole exercising thing, but she just couldn't be hemmed in by brick walls any longer today. Yeah, her muscles would be kicking her ass in the morning, but desperate times and all that.

Gina rolled to her feet and went back to her townhouse. By the time she reached her floor, she was just a smidge out of breath. If smidge equated to holy-shit-I'm-dying, that is. After the climb, she had every intention of collapsing on her bed for a while, but since it was occupied by Teague, Blaze's cat, it didn't look like that'd be happening any time soon.

She stared at the fluffy orange tabby, turning her head this way and that as she watched him clean himself. He pointed one back leg to the sky, toes spread, while he folded in half and dug deep.
If only…
Sometimes, she really wished she could fully shift, if only for the flexibility.
Possibilities…

Turning from the clean-conscious cat, Gina exchanged her ratty t-shirt for a jersey dress from her closet. It managed to cover just a smidge more than the shirt, but it also had a built-in bra. The bra didn't keep the girls entirely contained, nothing short of an eighteen hour monstrosity could do that, but at least she wasn't swaying in the breeze any longer. She slipped into a pair of comfy flip-flops and glanced at Teague once more.

Dang, what she wouldn't give… She sighed. Well, if she couldn't “handle” things herself, at least she had some new spank bank material. Seeing Patrick and Daniel side by side had made her want to purr. It didn't matter that moments later she'd broken Daniel's hand. Up until that point, the picture those two made had been perfect. Ha, so much for that.

Downstairs, Gina exchanged her flip-flops for cute, heeled strappy sandals in the laundry room. Thoughts of purring with Patrick or Daniel, or Patrick
and
Daniel, or even being the filling of a Patrick/Daniel sandwich had her wanting to look a little more cute and a little less frumpy.
Mission accomplished.

She stepped into the cool air, embracing the chill as it whipped through her thin cotton dress. This was what she needed. Even if she was stuck in the middle of a cement jungle, developers couldn't destroy the cut of the wind as it whipped around all the buildings. It reminded her of home, of being free. Not that she wasn't free now, it was just different.

The human world with all its own set of beliefs. None of which were true, some of which were entirely illogical. She snorted. Like clothes. But, considering she couldn't manage a full shift like the rest of her pride, she was stuck in the half-were house until she could learn to live with the squishy humans.

When she was “invited to leave” her pride, she'd been even worse than she was now. As a teen, it'd been cute to prance around with her tail out, freaking out the ‘mans and causing general havoc. It'd all been fun and games until old Mrs. Wilenheim had gone and had a heart attack.

Coincidentally, that was also around the time of her twenty-fifth birthday. Gina wondered if the old bat hadn't died if anyone would have even noticed that she couldn't fully shift. Nah, they would have figured it out eventually. Sure, being the daily entertainment and gossip source for the town had won her years of leniency, but scare one old woman to near-death and all eyes were on her.

Weres
were up in arms (and tails) about her behavior and before she knew it, she'd been branded with that ugly eye of Ra ankh thing that Sekhmet loved and was parked on Tasheka's front step at Half-were house. Nah, it didn't matter that there wasn't a law that the non-shifting halfsies had to be banished, but her pride had had enough and off she went, new icky brand and everything.

Then to top things off, Tash seemed to always look for her mistakes and hound her to no end about all of her fuck ups, past and present. She felt pigeonholed as the one half-were who always did wrong. She'd expected that type of treatment when she first moved in, but it'd been years. Years. After all this time, she wasn't sure she'd ever adapt enough to move out on her own and have a life with a white picket fence and two point five, possibly furry, children.

Ah, well, best she just accept it. Especially since tweedle-Meg had left her to build her own fur-less life and tweedle-Blaze was busy breaking the bed slats all the freakin’ time, she was stuck at Half-were house by her practical lonesome. Bitches.

Gina turned the corner at the end of the block, making her way toward the park. It'd be a long walk, but maybe surrounding herself with the city's version of nature would improve her mood a little. Or at least get her mind off of the tall, lean Patrick and his equally gorgeous built-like-a-brick-wall lover. Hmm… Apparently, her walk hadn't done all that much in distracting her from imagining the two men engage in wild monkey sex with her in the middle. Pity. Or not.

Twenty minutes and aching thighs later, the park was in sight.
Finally.
Not only did her legs twinge and twitch in odd places, but her feet were on fire as well. The park had not been that fantabulous of an idea after all.

She walked the perimeter, searching for a place with few people and lots of shade. What had started as a cool day quickly turned hot with the amount of time she'd spent in the sun. Even with the olive skin she'd inherited from her Greek papa and Italian mom, her body heated and she could practically feel her skin burning.

She spotted a bench on the other side of the park, shrouded in shadows from the trees, but empty. Perfection. Instead of walking the perimeter further, she decided to cut through the park. Single-minded in her destination, she ignored the families and couples enjoying the day. Annoying little beasts, humans, whatever. They had each other to keep them company and she had… no one. The thought of living in half-
were
house alone, but not, churned her stomach.

For so long it had been her and Blaze, then her, Blaze and Meg. Now, it was just… her. Sure, there were other half-
weres
who'd been put out by their prides. The reason? They were unable to shift into their feline counterparts and maintain the furry fun. But Gina had always been in her own little world and hadn't bothered getting to know the other residents. She sighed. It was probably time to become sociable again, dammit.

Halfway across the park, still lost in thought, her heel sunk down into a fresh mound of dog shit.
Well, lovely.
And then, to make matters worse, the mangy mongrel who'd probably deposited the lovely mound of crap started barking and growling not far from her. Strangely, it almost sounded as if the barks were growing closer. She brushed aside the thought as she wiped her heel on the grass, trying to rid her shoe of the dog poop.

"Andy.
Andy.
Andy,
no
.” The barking continued and Gina assumed the man was having a hard time calming his pooch. “Andy! Ma'am, don't run!"

Gina swung her head toward the man, but her view was full of the huge fucking beast barreling toward her, teeth bared, barking and snarling. Not run? Not likely. Damned dog, beast, thing looked like it could bite her ass in half. Fuck that.

Gina ran, hard and fast. The snarling giganto beast was on her ass, nipping at the hem of her skirt. She picked up the pace and thanked Sekhmet she'd inherited some snow leopard traits. Like speed. Speed was a good mother-fucking thing with a big ass dog trying to eat her in a very bad way.

The heel of her shoe snapped off and she cursed, but didn't break her stride. Instead, she allowed the shoes to slip off her feet without interrupting her pace. Being barefoot would help with the climbing she was about to do anyway. She couldn't outrun the beast forever. She eyed her original destination and selected a tree that looked big enough to support her.

A few feet from the tree and she leapt straight into the air, looping her arms around the branch she'd targeted and pulled her feet just out of biting range. She struggled for a few seconds, getting comfortable in her new perch. Then, she blew a raspberry at the fucking beastie while he jumped and barked at her from below.

The dog's erstwhile owner finally jogged up and snared the beast's leash, berating the animal while he tried to pull it under control. This is when it dawned on Gina that perhaps the park hadn't been the best place for a half-were cat shifter to come… with the dogs and all that.

"Andy, wait ‘til Daddy hears how bad you were. Bad dog.” The man tugged on the leash and smacked the dog's rump. “Bad."

The dog turned its attention to the stranger, still shrouded by the branches protecting her from the beast below. Somehow, the voice sounded vaguely familiar. An ex? Naw, she never went for dog people. Too much pet/people drama to be had.

"Ma'am?” The dog growled. “Andy, no. She's a friend.” The dog quieted, but glared up at her. She stuck her tongue out, causing the dog to growl again. “Dammit, Andy. What am I gonna do with you?"

What am I gonna do with you?
The way he said it really did sound familiar. True, she'd heard those words often enough from Tash and Sam back at Half-were house, but she was sure she'd heard them with that same drawl…
Oh. Shit.

"Patrick?” She buried her face against the tree branch supporting her and wished for the ground to open up and swallow her, and the tree, whole.

She heard him step closer, but refused to look up, down, whatever. “Gina?"

Yup, her day just got hella worse. She waved at him with one hand, but didn't raise her head. “Yeah, it's me. How you doing this evening?” She didn't give him a chance to respond. “Good? Good. Me, I'm just trying not to die of embarrassment or be eaten by Dogzilla here. How am I doing? Oh, wait, still alive. Damn. Better luck next time. If you'll just wander off with the radioactive dog, I'll crawl down from the tree and then keep going once I find a big enough rock to hide under. Thanks, see ya."

She tightened her grip on the branch, arms and legs wrapped around the smooth bark, and waited for Patrick and the devil's spawn to leave. They didn't.

"Gina, get down from there. Andy, so help me, you will not get any steaks ever again if you don't behave."

She peeked through her lashes to see the dog's response. It stared at Patrick for a moment before flopping to the ground with a sigh. Steaks.
Huh.

"He's not going to go feral on me again?"

Patrick shook his head. “He didn't go feral on you, Gina. He just got… excited. Now, crawl down. Unless you like showing the whole damned park that you're not wearing panties."

He growled the last few words. Well, she thought she felt a nice cool breeze. But he acted as if she was personally affronting him by her lack of undergarments and that she was showing her bare ass.

Adrenaline still coursed through her veins from her chase so it didn't take much to get the inner kitty to play nice and help her out of the tree. A quick shot of her
were
strength and she landed on the ground with nary a sound, four feet from the nasty animal Patrick called a dog.

Patrick ran a hand through is light brown hair, making it a rumpled, but sexy, mess. “I'm really sorry about Andy acting up like that, Gina. He's usually a gentle dog."

She eyed the animal in question. Two hundred pounds. Easy. Dog just didn't seem like a good enough descriptor for the animal. Beast had been more apt. “Uh huh.” She held her ground, not wanting to incite the animal's snarly wrath again and used her “I'm talking to a little kid” voice. “Why don't you keep a nice tight hold on him while I hunt down my shoes? M'kay?"

He shifted to block her path. Several feet separated them, but she stood frozen. “You're bleeding, Gi.” She glanced down and realized that her venture up the tree hadn't been without collateral damage.

"I'll be okay—"

Patrick cut her off. “Let's just get you to the house and I'll come back out for your shoes. You broke one anyway so it's not like you're walking home. Daniel or I will take you home once we've got you taken care of. How does that sound?” He phrased it as a question, but she didn't imagine he'd take no for an answer.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Most of what she'd heard was “blah, blah, Daniel, blah, home".
Yum!
Daniel and Patrick and home. She may have actually sighed. Aloud. Complete with dreamy look on her face and everything.

Which Patrick took as agreement on her part. Before she could object (as if she would) he had an arm wrapped around her shoulders and placed his other behind her knees. He scooped her off the ground and walked toward one of the gates out of the park.
Whoa, baby.
Patrick was packing some serious muscle beneath his clothes and the fact that he picked her up without a problem just proved his strength. Considering her weight (and she did… daily), scooping her from the ground as if she was light as a feather just proved to her that he should be in a Mr. Universe competition or something. Okay, maybe Mr. Universe was going too far, but damn, the man had muscles. With her curves upon curves upon curves, she wasn't delusional when it came to her size or weight, but somehow, Mr. Pick-me-up made her feel petite. Small even.

Gina didn't waste time pretending to be shocked or upset by his handling. Instead, she slipped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer. Gay or not, Patrick was a hot hunk of man and her body responded in kind.