A Cat's Tale
Page 8
“When did you decide to play Russian roulette with my life?” she demanded. “Seven days ago?”
He turned his head and looked up at her. “Tonight, when Carl told me about the vampires who would accompany him and that he wanted out,” Jared replied. His answer had the ring of honesty.
“I knew then I had a chance to get you out, so I improvised. If they thought you were dead then there was no reason to lock the cell behind me. The wound was severe but not lethal. I know how to bite without striking a major artery.”
She sucked in a sharp breath and tightened her grip on his throat. “You trust your judgment that fucking much that you’d risk my life?”
Jared met her eyes and never blinked or wavered. “Yes.”
Her confidence faltered. Tears resurged along with doubt and fear and desire. She despised her weakness and his strength. Damn it! Damn him! She needed something more than this wolf’s unshakeable confidence in his own judgment and ability.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she asked, furious with him again. She allowed the tips of her claws to pierce his throat opening eight pinpricks, each shedding a single drop of blood. Abruptly, the werewolf’s entire body tensed as he took her threat seriously this time.
He shook his head once. “There’s only this,” he said. He braced and waited to see if she’d rip out his throat.
“This…this…What is this?” Her claws sank deeper and he flinched, sucking down a hard breath. Beneath her hands, his pulse raced. Still he waited, and finally, she understood.
This was dominance and submission. He was a wolf; he was Alpha. And he had rolled onto his back, offering his eyes, his throat, and his life to an unpredictable Siamese cat. Josie had seen what submission to Evangeline had cost him—how it made him feel. He had endured the vampire’s blood rape for Josie’s sake.
Her breath exhaled in a whoosh and she removed her claws from his throat, settling her palms against his bare chest. Josephine did not surrender her position astride him. “I betrayed you twice; you got me once bad,” she said. “Can we be even now?”
The tension bled out of Jared’s body. “I forgave you days ago. Can you forgive me?”
“Maybe,” she said. She had already forgiven him but had no intention of telling him that. He could suffer for a while first. He had it coming.
“Josie,” he scolded. Those topaz eyes allowed no evasion.
“I need for you to be sorry! Not right.”
His head tilted forward. “I’m so damn sorry I hurt you, Josie, I don’t have the words.”
She blinked back tears. “Fine, I forgive you.”
He smiled. “Can you trust me again?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She glanced to where the cars were parked. “Were you going to leave me?”
“No. I was going to call my pack, regroup, get some new clothes, and then find you,” Jared said. “I figured I’d give you some time to cool off and then try to apologize. To explain.”
“You were walking away,” Josephine said, choking on grief and uncertainty. “I thought you were leaving me.”
“Josie.” He met her gaze. “I wouldn’t leave you like that. You matter too much to me.”
“Honest?” Josephine marshaled a smile. She despised her own whininess, the part of her still living inside a cage.
“Honest.” He grinned. “Besides, walking off was just a ruse to draw you out. I was getting tired of sitting there.”
“Oh!” She smacked him on the chest. “Don’t pretend for a second that I’m predictable.”
“Not for a second.” His smile turned to laughter, and she joined him, laughing until she gasped for air. Their humor was short-lived but she breathed easier afterward.
“What next?” Josephine asked.
“How are you feeling?”
The question took more courage to pose than Josie possessed. The reality of life outside of a cage wasn’t something she’d fully grasped or considered just yet. She searched her heart and found both fear and hope for the future…with him.
“I’m frightened.” She felt uncertain and fragile. The world was a huge scary place after three years in captivity. Jared, a complete stranger and a werewolf she’d known for a week, represented her only link to the outside world. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“I don’t want you coming with me because you have no other options. That’s just another cage,” he said. “I’ll take you wherever you want, help you get settled. Or I can give you money if you want to go on your own.”
His offer hurt more than she’d have thought possible. Either he wanted to be rid of her or he believed she couldn’t stand him. Her emotions were battered, and her body exhausted. She could not expend any more energy on these games.
The werecat’s shoulders slumped and she crossed her arms, sliding backward and off Jared. “Whatever you want,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”
He sat up. Rough arms halted her retreat and hauled her back. Jared placed Josie on his lap and wrapped his arms around her, creating a cage and a sanctuary. “If it’s up to me then I’m keeping you. Josie Cat, you’ve turned my whole world upside down in just a week and I very much want you to stay,” he said, pure male in his assertion of his rights.
Josie stiffened her spine and her resolve. “I want more than to be some werewolf’s fuck toy,” she told him, narrowing her blue eyes. “As if it’s a step up from being a vampire’s blood donor.”
His hands framed her face and did something he hadn’t done in their week together: he kissed her. His lips were full and firm. Her wolf kissed with his heart and his soul, transforming it into a simple act of honesty. Desperate to believe it was real, Josie grasped at his chest with her hands, kneading the solid muscle of his pecs.
Jared broke contact and nuzzled the side of her face, still more wolf than man. His gaze reflected a powerful, scary devotion. “Josie, you’re so much more to me than that.”
Josephine already understood that Jared put more stock in actions than words, but it also created uncertainty. She needed to believe it could be real.
“No more secrets? No more lies?” Josephine asked.
Jared hesitated to answer and the look on his face set off alarms. “Oh no,” she moaned, fighting down a tide of panic. “What else? What aren’t you telling me now?”
Jared exhaled, slow and hard, so his nostrils flared. “I don’t want to scare you away.”
Josephine opened her mouth but before she made a reply, a tsunami of energy engulfed her, the same as she’d experienced before but a thousand times more powerful. The air crackled, causing her fur to rise, her skin to tingle, and her entire body to vibrate.
She fell against Jared’s chest, gasping for air. A connection opened between them. The metaphysical link gave her a window straight into his heart. She knew him—his unshakeable self-confidence, his sense of honor and fair play, his protectiveness and playfulness, and even his wicked humor and horniness.
“What is that?” Josephine demanded.
“That’s the mate bond,” Jared explained. “Wolves mate for life. It’s your guarantee that I could never act against you or harm you in any way.”
She trembled and stared at him with great rounded eyes. “How did this happen?”
His lips twisted in a sardonic smile. “I’m not sure. At some point along the way, my wolf chose you. By the time I figured out what had happened, we’d already had sex and sealed the bond.”
He stared at her with that uncanny perception, no doubt reading her fear and apprehension. “You don’t have to be afraid, Josie. You can walk away any time you want. You’re not a wolf.”
“What about you?” Josephine asked. “What happens to you if I leave?”
His mouth set in a grim line; his eyes were sorrowful. “If you leave, I’m screwed. Wolves mate for life. There will never be anyone else who can replace you in my heart or in my bed.”
The truth of his words resonated through the connection. Feeling ill, Josep
hine looked away and then back at him. She bit her lower lip. “I don’t want you to be bound to me, Jared. You’ve already lost enough of your freedom because of me.”
The tension around his eyes eased. “The mate bond is a choice made of free will, Josie. I chose to tie myself to you, even if I wasn’t consciously aware of doing so at the time.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. She refused to blink and shed them. “Will you let me go?”
His vast hurt and disappointment reached her through their empathic bond. “Yes,” Jared said, and he meant it.
“Josie, I’d love for you to stay with me, because I believe together we have something real, something worth fighting for. But more than that, I want for you to be free. If that means you want a job or to drive or to fly, then I’ll do whatever I can to help you. Even if it means letting you go.”
She stiffened in disbelief, and then turned into him, safe within his arms. Josie thrust her face against her wolf’s neck, nipping at his throat with sharp teeth. Her great big badass werewolf. A purr of pleasure erupted from her chest.
“Okay, then,” she said, “I guess being a werewolf’s fuck toy isn’t so bad.” She loved him. She couldn’t say it yet. Maybe she didn’t need to thanks to an unshakeable bond and unlimited trust. Besides, she was sure that he knew.
Her wolf threw back his head and roared with laughter. Then he climbed to his feet and gathered her in his arms, carrying her…wherever. So long as they wound up there together.
About the Author
Melissa Snark is a resident of Northern California, where she lives with her husband, three children, and three cats.
Visit Melissa at
www.melissasnark.com
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