Prince of Cats (10 page)

Her
joyous
celebration was
cut short as she was thrown to the ground from the force of her collision with a wall that seemed to appear from out of nowhere.  With the wind knocked out of her, Neomee peered into the darkness trying to make out shapes.  Her blindness was alleviated when a Cat ran up from behind her, torch in hand. 

Still sprawled on the ground, Neomee stared up at the Cat in shock.  He paid her no attention as he leaned forward over her sprawled body with his torch extended.  Instantly, light flared to life as the Cat lit a torch on the wall she’d just run into.  It was no wall. 
Bray glared down at her
now holding a blazing torch in his hand
.

“Trying to escape?”

“Uh, no
Master
!  I uh…I
-I
was delivering a package for the Priest.”  Neomee quickly surveyed
the ground and found her bundle
lying against a wall.  She grabbed the package and stood, dropping her eyes, “Uh…Master.  Excuse me, the Priest wanted this package delivered immediately.  It is of the utmost urgency.”  No one moved.

“Ha!”  Shouted the Cat that stood behind her, “Her lie confirms your belief Prince.”

“No Master, I wouldn’t
..
.”

Angrily, Bray grabbed her chin and forced her eyes up, “Never lie to a Cat.”  His warning, the same as he’d given her earlier, reverberated through her brain.

“Master please!”  Neomee’s plea came out breathy.

“We should punish her.”  A third Cat she hadn’t noticed standing behind Bray
grinned at her devilishly from the darkness, the flame illuminati
ng only his exposed teeth, canines
lengthened.

In fear, Neomee backed up, right into the Cat that stood behind her, “Yes.  Let’s punish her.”  The Cat purred in her ear. 

Neomee jerked out of his embrace and glared from one Cat to the other.

“No.”  Bray growled, “I’ve got other plans.”

C
hapter 10

Neomee’s heart was racing.  As Bray retrieved something from his waistband,
she
made to back away from the trio but was grabbed by the Cat blocking her e
xit.  Her
breathing was harsh as Bray held up the retrieved item. 

What is that?  A belt? Too small.  A necklace?  It’s too thick.
  The other two Cats
hissed their anticipation
.
  The Cat holding
her
in place grabbed her chin fi
rmly
and forced her head
up, exposing her satiny throat
while his other hand clamped about her waist holding her in place. 

As Bray approached, the smile
that
touched
his lips
slid from his face.  He was murmuring something unintelligible. 

Neomee squirmed in her captor’s embrace.  “What is that?  What are you going to do?”
  Her heart hammered
in her chest.  For the first time since her childhood she was legitimately terrified. 

Bray kept on murmuring in his foreign tongue. 
His nostrils flared and he lifted his hooded gaze to stare at her.  “It won’t hurt lily.”  His eyes flashed to the object then back to her, “It makes you mine.” 
He held the circular item up in front of Neomee, and she decided she
’d
had enough. 

His? 
She
dropped her bundled and
jerked back
with all her might,
elbowing the Cat holding her in
his
ribs.  She heard a crunch followed by a groan as she lifted her foot to stomp on his.  The Cat droppe
d his hands and Neomee rolled around him and sprinted
from the trio.  Fleeing at lightning speed down the corridor, a chill crept down Neomee’s spine as she heard Bray’s unmista
kable laugh, “She wants to play!
”

Three roars filled the air, but Neomee didn’t dare stop.
She flew through the catacombs, leaping over fallen stones and banging her shoulder as she took a corner too quickly. 
She was
getting further from the doorway that led out of the temple, but with three crazed Cats on her tail, she didn’t
have a choice
.  Her mind raced as quickly as her feet,
What was that thing?  What were they going to do with it
… to me
?

Complet
e
ly
lost in the tunnels,
the fact didn’t stop her from
running
.  In the nearly black tunnels,
she turned every corner she could find in hopes of losing the Cats and crisscrossing
her scent in an effort to confuse them
.
  Her breath coming in painful pants, Neomee turned another dark corner and ran five feet down the corridor before she collided with a stone wall.  This time she knew it was a wall as it offered no warmth.  Quickly she stood and felt along the wall hoping to find an opening. 
She found none.

Damn it, trapped!

Neomee turned to retrace her escape down the tunnel when she saw a large black shadow cross the end of the hall.  She covered her mouth with a trembling hand and slid down the wall and scooted as tightly as she could fit into the corner.  
Please pass me by, oh Amon, please!
 

The shadow that crossed the end of the tunnel reappeared and was now slowly stalking towards her.  She didn’t move or make a sound as the figure came to within a foot of her and stopped. 

“Something else you shouldn’t do?” Bray’s voice cut through the darkness, “Run from
a Cat
.” 

Neomee slowly stood
on shaking legs.  If she was going to die, it wasn’t going to be huddled in a cowering heap before the Prince of Cats.

“Master, I was afraid is all.” The darkness lent a strength to Neomee’s voice that she didn’t actually feel. 

Bray stepped closer and Neomee’s body was pressed tightly between the wall and his massive frame. 

In their proximity, she
could feel and practically hear the steady thump of his hear
t
beat as his hot breath
whispered over her hair.  She
held up her hands and
placed them palms down on hi
s chest to shove him from her, but he didn’t move an inch. 

Bray
chuckled at her attempt, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek in the darkness while the other found her slight waist and pulled her closer into him as he smelled her hair, “Mmm, you smell good enough to eat.”

Neomee’s hands still
resting on his chest, she made to shove him away again, “Master, I should get back to my sta
tion.  The f-festival has begun, I may be needed.”

Bray leaned down to nuzzle her neck, “Oh, you
are
needed.”

There was no mistaking his intent.  Struggling
to
keep her pulse under control,
she sh
oved at his unrelenting frame.

A rumble grew deep in Bray’s chest as he slid a large hand up Neomee’s satiny throat, catching her chin in his hand and holding her head in place.  Neomee tried to pull back, but with the wall so tightly at her back and Bray crushing her into it she had no room to move.  She felt a
cold band slide behind her neck and didn’t know what was happening.

“Please Master, don’t!” Neomee tried again to pull free from his grasp, but his grip was iron clad.
  “Bray!”

Bray hissed
long and deep
as he closed the band around her throat, clicking it in place.
  For some unknown reason
, Neomee’s knees gave out and
she
began to
slid
e
down the wall
. 
Bray grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into him, holding her body up with his strong arms.

“
A-are you going to kill me
now
?”  Neomee raised her chin defiantly, annoyed with herself at the telling catch in her voice.

“No.  I have no intentions of killing you
lily
.”

“I do.”  Another Cat appeared at the end of the corridor
.

I
nstantly Bray
release
d
Neomee and
shoved
her
behind him
as he
growled at the intruder
.
“
Her life will cost
you yours Hondo.”

Neomee couldn’t see over the massive expanse of Bray’s back, but had he not been blocking her she doubt
ed
she’d make out anything
in the
thick
darkness that blanketed the catacombs.

“You of all people know the rules Bray.” 

Neomee could hear foot
steps approaching and felt the tension rising with each step
.

“
A slave attempting to escape must be put to death.”

She
heard the unmistakable sound of a
knife
being unsheathed before Bray argued, “She is no slave.  We are bound.”

“You lie!”  Hondo utter
ed something
before Neomee heard many footsteps approach
ing. Many torches lightened the darkened catacombs and
Neomee
took advantage of the light by peering around Bray’s shoulder to discover
a very large, very angry Cat standing six feet in front of Bray.  Hondo, she assumed, was surrounded by four
other Cats
.

Wordlessly, Bray stepped aside and
pulled Neomee in front of him keeping his hands clamped tightly on her upper arms.

Hondo inhaled sharply, anger flashing across his face as he glared at the collar she wore.  “This changes nothing.  She still attempted escape.”

“It changes everything, and you know it.” Bray challenged.

Neo
mee stood on trembling legs and wondered how they managed to hold her weight
.
Amon, they’re going to kill me!

Bray left her side to approach Hondo, “We are bound Hondo, she cannot be harmed.”

Neomee silently prayed that
there was truth in Bray’s words
eve
n
as her mind
begged
for her to invoke some form of self-preservation.
Before she
could conjure up a back-up plan,
Hondo
shouted, “MA’AT!”
and the Cat
standing
beside him
cast a
thick woven
net that
covered
Neomee
,
the
weight of
it dropping
her to
the ground. 

Bray
’s roar echoed through the tunnel
s
as
Hondo and the other Cats backed away
. 

“If you will not allow her to be killed than I demand that she go before the Priest.”
Hondo
sneered
at Bray, “You know you must comply.   It is
m
a’at, it is
our law.”

Bray
turned and
s
co
oped
Neomee
up, net and all,
and
threw her over his shoulder
before crossing to
stand in front of Hondo.  The two Cats glared at each other wordlessly before Bray turned with Neomee
and exited the tunnels.

Once above ground, Bray turned his head to
say
over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, I won’t let them kill you.” 

At his revelation, Neomee’s fight instincts kicked in and sh
e began struggling in his hold.  If this was her one chance at escape, she was going to take it.  The arm clamped around her thighs tightened and her struggling waned as s
he
was
carried
into the
temple’s
altar room.

The room was used for ritual, sacrifice
, and punishment.  S
he didn’t want to be involved in any of the three
.
  She tried to kick her legs free but was awarded with
a hard
swat on her ass
that made her gasp.

“Damn it lily
, be still.”  Bray
set her down so she stood on her own two feet
and he slowly peeled the too heavy net from over her
.