Cat Refuge

by Liza O'Connor

  Just then, the door burst open and Barry was held down on the table by two nurses. One rammed a needle into his rear. They held him still until he relaxed, then carried him out of the room.

  ***

  “Ms. Nelson, are you all right?” Carl asked from the observation room.

  Catina had moved into the farthest corner.

  “Yes.” She looked up at Carl. “You shouldn’t have dared him to come in. You knew what would happen.”

  “I didn’t dare him. He was simply bringing you a drink.”

  She repeated his exact words. “Then take her a coffee, Barry. But I’m not going in to retrieve you, so I strongly suggest when the mood hits you, you get control of yourself and get out of there.”

  Catina stared up to the mirror. “Except he couldn’t, could he? If you hadn’t gotten those nurses, he would have raped me. His career would have been over, and it would have been your doing.”

  How the hell had she heard what he had said to Barry in the hallway? Was he bugged? He left the room and posted a guard—forbidding any entrance. He then walked down to security, demanding they run their scanners on him.

  “You’re clean,” the guard assured him.

  “Are you sure?”

  Obligingly, the guard ran the wand up and down him again. “As a whistle.”

  Carl returned to the medic ward. Hopefully, Jason was awake by now. He needed to understand what the hell was going on with that woman before he allowed anyone further access to her. When she called on the phone, she had said Jason had told her to call. She claimed Jason and a man named Winston were hurt and needed help. Carl had given her escort and clearance to the Gateway. Now he wondered if he had been rash in doing so. The Gateway fronted as a Medi-mart but had on-site surgeons capable of handling almost any crisis or, if needed, plastic surgery. It also had the best surveillance and counter surveillance equipment available, three interrogation rooms and a suite of secured rooms in the basement.

  Through the Gateway, they processed hundreds of people who needed new identities, sometimes first saving them from near death occurrences before giving them a new face. Third world dictators, Russian ex-patriots, ex-Mafia bosses and the like had come through the Gateway. It was not the place for a disruptive force like Catina Nelson. So why had Jason told her to call here? Why didn’t he ask for the nearest general hospital?

  He was relieved to find Jason awake when he entered the room. The nurse cautioned him not to stay long and then left them alone.

  He studied the bandage wrapped around Jason’s shoulder. “A few inches to the center and you would have been dead.”

  “I know. I’ve no doubt his aim would have been dead center had Catina not called out just as he pulled the trigger,” Jason said. “How’s Winston?”

  “He’s alive. The doctors are a bit at odds on how to repair the leg. Not much flesh left to work with. You want to tell me what happened?”

  Jason sighed. “I left him, Carl. I was so distracted in rescuing Catina, I forgot Winston entirely. I was halfway down the mountain when I remembered he was still up there. God! To forget him like that. I don’t know how it happened.”

  “That lady was in the car?”

  “Yes, of course…”

  “Then I understand exactly how it happened. I’m surprised you could even remember you had a friend with her about. She messes with your mind.”

  “I know. Her pheromone levels are off the chart. We need to keep her isolated until we can abort her pregnancy.”

  “Abort the child?”

  “If she carries to term the thing within her, she’ll die.”

  “The thing? Do you mean the child?”

  Jason closed his eyes and sighed. “Carl, you’re going to think me insane when I tell you this, but I’ve got to try, because without your help, we are all in serious danger.” He took a breath and told his story.

  Carl listened in stunned silence. Had he not experienced the woman himself, he would have called the nurse and demanded a sedative for his friend, but despite the insane impossibility of what Jason told him, he did believe him. For one thing, it was the only explanation that actually fit all the evidence at hand, including what had attacked Winston.

  “So, this thing is still out there?”

  “Yes. But with his sister dead, he will undoubtedly come after the cub.”

  “Does he know of this place?”

  “No…but he found his sister without knowledge of her location. Their hearing is very acute.”

  “So, I’ve discovered,” Carl replied.

  “They may also have other sensory awareness that we don’t possess.”

  “How do we kill it?”

  “Shoot his hands and feet.”

  “No, the cub. How do we kill it without killing the woman?”

  “I don’t know. If the cub senses danger, he will leave the womb.”

  “What do you mean ‘leave the womb’?”

  “I mean it will rip open her stomach and crawl out before we have the chance to save her.”

  Chapter 26

  By evening, Carmella had located over two hundred tubes, but little else.

  “It makes no sense that the remainder of your craft disappeared. What would make it do that?”

  The Warrior considered this for a moment. “I don’t know. Once I left it, I couldn’t get back in, so I moved on. When I returned a month later, it was melted.”

  “Could water be to your metals as acid is to ours?” she speculated aloud while she studied a tube. Placing two tubes end to end, she was stunned to see a spark of light within. “Jeez, these things still have power inside.”

  The Warrior shrugged. “I never found them useful on the ship. I can’t imagine I will find them useful now.”

  “If I could take these to a fiber optics lab, I might be able to determine their purpose.”

  The Warrior laughed. “And where might this lab be located?”

  “In Washington DC.”

  The Warrior shook his head. “You’ll not be seeing Washington DC again, my inquisitive rabbit. While I do find your company most stimulating, I also grow hungry.”

  She looked at him in shock. “You would rather fill your stomach than to possibly learn where you came from and if there are more like you?”

  The Warrior smiled, his sharp teeth removing any sense of friendliness from the action. “Instead of begging for your life, you chide me for a lack of curiosity. You are so different from Dr. Taylor. Tell me, are others like you or Dr. Taylor?”

  “We are all different, but I would say in general we are a curious species. Even Dr. Taylor crossed half a continent to seek you out.”

  “Is that what he says? He came upon us by accident while looking for the white crystals you call diamonds. The entire time he was here, he filled the air with the stink of his fear. I would have removed his disgusting presence the first night, had I not found his mind so much more intelligent than my tribesmen. And now you come, and I find that Dr. Taylor was a mere chimpanzee compared to you. So, I ask, in our truth for truth, are you the norm or special?”

  “I believe I am a bit unusual.”

  The Warrior studied her for several moments. “I believe you are. It’s a shame you are so small.”

  “Yes, I suppose I’m hardly worth eating.” She continued to study the tubes.

  He softly laughed. “I had another purpose in mind.” He studied her closely, wondering if her clever mind would derive his purpose.

  “Mating?” She set down the tube and looked at him.

  He smiled at the correctness of her response. “Yes. But you are so small the act of mating might kill you.”

  “And the alternative is being eaten alive?” She rose and walked towards him, unbuttoning her shirt and letting it fall on the ground.

  He did not move until she was completely naked. “In all my years, I have never had a woman come to me willingly.”

  She tilted her head. “That is odd. Given the pheromones your species e
xudes, I would have expected all women to be willing.”

  He remained seated on the grass and slowly reached out to her. He let his hand run over her exquisitely beautiful yet unbelievably small body. His hand span was wider than her waist. He pulled her to him and pressed his face into the softness of her breasts. “Why do you smell like this?”

  “Smell like what?”

  “Like honeydew vines.”

  “It’s probably the lotion I used to repel bugs.” She laughed. “Odd that my bug repellant turns out to be an alien attractant.”

  Her sense of humor confused him. “Do you understand what is going to happen?” His face looked dark and serious.

  “You are going to mate with me. Despite my unfortunate size, you like my mind.”

  He smiled. “I like your mind very much.” Then he frowned, “but this body…”

  Her eyes saddened. “You do not like it?”

  “It is beautiful, but it is like a child’s plaything, much too small. I do not see how you will survive the mating.”

  She looked at his loincloth. “Are you that much larger than human men?”

  He pulled aside the loincloth for her inspection.

  “It is large, but not so large that I think it will harm me.”

  “It is not as a man that I mate.”

  “As a panther?”

  He nodded.

  She frowned. “Cats have a barbed penis.”

  He nodded. “I will give you blood before we begin, but I fear I will rip you beyond healing. It has happened before, with women much larger than you.”

  She considered this. “It is clear you can achieve arousal in your current form. Have you ever tried to mate in human form?”

  “No, it has never occurred to me to try.”

  “Then I suggest an experiment.” She straddled his erection and lowered herself upon it, grateful that his pheromones had activated her body sufficiently to soften and lubricate her.

  He allowed her to move at her own pace up and down upon him until her gentle teasing was more than he could bear. When he felt he was about to explode, his giant hands grasped her small hips and he drove himself deep into her repeatedly. He heard her scream just before his body exploded his sperm inside her. He felt her body go limp. Biting his finger, he forced it into her mouth. “Drink.”

  At first, she did nothing, but then a soft pressure formed about his finger and, as she lay still, impaled by his organ, she suckled him like a tiny child. He did not dare pull from her, fearing his member was the only thing that held back the hemorrhaging within her. Yet, the evening was coming fast. The native beasts would be attracted to the scent of blood that oozed around his member and dripped upon the ground.

  Holding her tightly against himself, he rose from the ground, and returned to the river. Unable to leap, he waded in the rapid currents and walked to the rock in the center. Holding her against him with one arm, he pulled himself onto the rock.

  Safely on his rocky island, he checked to see if she had survived the journey. The water had chilled her to a dangerous level. He reopened his wounded finger and reinserted it into her mouth.

  She pulled it out of her mouth. “How much can I safely take from you?”

  “I have known bigger mosquitoes,” he assured her, placing the finger back in her mouth, curling his arms about her to keep her warm.

  The sensation of her suckling, wrapped so deeply in his arms, aroused him and he gently moved inside her. When he did not sense any pain or bleeding as a result, he increased his movements until once again his sperm released. When he relaxed from the stimulating experience, he studied her beautiful face resting peacefully against his chest. Her heartbeat was strong and her breathing good. Whatever he had injured in their first mating appeared to have healed with the aid of his blood.

  She slept now, so he left her in his lap. It was a strange sensation to have a woman impaled upon his penis for his continual pleasure. As a cat, he would mate and leave. But as a man…he could enjoy her throughout the night, simply by moving her up and down. He had never thought of mating as a man before. He wondered if the results would be as successful. A mating as a cat always resulted in pregnancy, if the woman survived the mating.

  ***

  Carmella awoke in the morning feeling warm and contented. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find herself still straddled upon the Warrior’s member, wrapped securely in his arms.

  “Have we been like this all night?” She tried to stand and pull herself off of him.

  “Yes.” He grasped her waist and pulled her down firmly around his member. “I find it pleasant.”

  “Have you been erect the entire time?”

  “Yes. However, it takes a short while for my sperm to regenerate, so we have only mated sixteen times.”

  She blinked several times taking in his words. “You mated me sixteen times while I slept?”

  “Yes, well the first time you were injured, so you slept while your body healed. After that I became more careful.”

  She was not on birth control pills, so in all probability, he had impregnated her. She needed time to come to terms with what this meant. “May I get up and relieve myself now?”

  With reluctance, the Warrior released his grip upon her and let her rise. His member felt cold and lonely without her. He did not like this sensation at all! Somehow, she had gone from a small meal to what he most desired in the world. He crossed the water with her, so he would be nearby in case danger arose.

  When she returned from her task, she gathered her clothes from where she had dropped them.

  “No.” He pulled the clothes from her grip. “I like you as you are.”

  “Well, I can’t go around naked, wearing nothing but my boots.”

  “Why not? There’s no one around but me.”

  “Because I am not accustomed to it. My people wear clothing.”

  He pulled her to him, lifting her up so her face was level to his. “You have no people —only me. Now straddle my waist. I will have my manhood within you.”

  ***

  He moved swiftly through the jungle despite the additional eighty pounds he now carried. Only on occasion would he stop his progress and push her deep upon him as he released more sperm inside her.

  He had traveled for most of the morning in this manner when she insisted to be let down.

  “Why?” he asked holding her securely against him.

  “My legs and arms hurt. I need to walk on my own for a while.”

  He lifted her off his member and set her on the ground. She almost fell when she first tried to walk.

  “You will grow accustomed.”

  “Did you bring my clothes with us,” she asked in distress, seeing he had not.

  “You will grow accustomed,” he repeated.

  He left her in a tall tree as he went in search of food. When he returned, he found her dressed in leaves attached to a vine about her waist and neck.

  “You look like a bush,” he laughed, plucking the leaf that covered her right breast, and then plucking the one covering her left.

  An hour later she was sitting on his member again, all the leaves plucked from the lonely vines that twined her waist and neck. Her arms entwined about his neck as she moved up and down upon him. When she had succeeded in bringing him to ejaculation, he rewarded her with his bloodied finger, while he enjoyed the raw strips of antelope flesh he had killed that day. He did not try to feed her meat. He knew her body craved his blood to nurture the cub within her.

  He had not told her she carried his cub, because she might then inquire why he continued to mate, if the mating was already successful. As a cat, he mated only for impregnation. If a female already carried his seed, he would not mate her again. To do so was a waste of sperm and effort. Yet, as a man, he found pleasure in the mating which did not diminish just because the reason for mating was fulfilled.

  Neither did he mention the other life she held within her—the human embryo—already planted when sh
e arrived. It would only cause her sorrow. By the second or third month, his cub would undoubtedly kill it, so there was no need to tell her about a child she could not possibly save.

  “If you allow me to start a fire, I will cook some of that meat,” she suggested as he leaned her back, so he could lick away the blood he had dribbled upon her chest when he consumed his meal.

  “I prefer it raw.” His tongue rolled over her nipples, teasing them into tight knots.

  “But I prefer it cooked.”

  “But I feed you with something much better.”

  “Can I live on it?” she asked. “With nothing else to eat?”

  “For humans, it is the blood of life. You will be stronger than you ever thought possible.”

  She laughed. “Will it make me grow?”

  He pulled her to him, nuzzling her neck. “I like your size. You fit me nicely.”

  She stroked his hair and looked into his dark cat eyes. “Why did you carry me away from the tubes?”

  He did not reply. He rocked her up and down upon him.

  She placed her hand on his chest and resisted the rocking of her body. “Answer me,” she said softly. “Don’t you want to know more about who you are?”

  He stopped. “I know who I am. I am the Warrior.”

  “But where are you from? Why were you on that ship?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You have piqued my interest in the topic.”

  “Then why did you take me away from the tubes?”

  He stared at her doe eyes for several minutes. “For the same reason, I continue to mate with a female already carrying my cub. Because I enjoy you.”

  She paused, assimilating what he had said. “I don’t understand,” she finally responded.

  “You are having my cub. I can sense his presence.”

  “That I understood. What I don’t understand is how the tubes would interfere with you enjoying me.”

  “You wanted to return to a lab in Washington DC.”

  She nodded. “I understand why you would fear other people learning about who you are.”

  The Warrior could have told her it was not the other people that concerned him but losing her. However, he did not want her to know the power she now welded. “If you are satisfied with studying the tubes on your own, I can arrange that, I suppose.”