Cat Scratch Fever; Blue-Collar Werewolves V

by Buffi BeCraft

  He groaned and buried his head against her neck. Triumphantly, the head of his penis bumped her where she most wanted it to. He pressed into her, the thickness delving into her sensitive folds gently, as if he would hurt her. Naomi growled, biting his shoulder hard in punishment. “Now!” With a single buck he slid home, the thrust filling hurt more with pleasure than the small prick of pain that she instantly forgot.

  “Are you okay?” he pulled back, worry lacing his eyes until she slapped his shoulder; irritation put a bite in her tone.

  “Are you going to do this?” she wriggled, needing him to move. To thrust. “or just crouch there?”

  He stared at her, mirth filling his eyes until a smile and a chuckle escaped. The movement made her gasp. “Yeah. Let’s do this.” He pulled out, thrusting deep enough to bump her deep inside. Naomi shuddered out a breath of pleasure. Capturing her wrists he pulled them over her head, and ducked down, keeping up the rhythm that dragged the thick head of his penis in and out, each movement driving her closer to another chance at nirvana. Matthew nipped at her collarbone, the golden glow of his eyes telling her how much he enjoyed watching her underneath him.

  Soon his breath caught and his rhythm lost pace. Naomi wormed her wrists free to wrap them around his neck drawing him close as his tempo pounded into her without cease. This was what she wanted; she knew she felt him grow larger inside. His breath rasped as he groaned, his hands finding and gripping her hips as he pounded harder. Suddenly, Matthew threw back his head, his cry of release spiraled her off into oblivious heavenly pleasure.

  When she floated back to earth, Matthew was already sliding to the side, pulling her close. He froze. “Where did all those women go?” he whispered. By shape shifter standards, her Leo was a bit of prude.

  Naomi laughed, feeling a bit evil. “They’re playing the next hand.” When he started to jump up, she laughed and pulled him back down. “They left Matthew.”

  His eyes stayed on the hall with suspicion, “When?”

  “Late enough to hear your declaration of devotion and early enough to miss the show.

  “Oh.” Laying back, he trailed his fingers over her arm. “So, who’s home did we just christen?”

  “Mine.” He glanced down at her curiously. Naomi laughed. “You know, I had a life before I was captured.”

  “I know that.” His voice rose as if he were trying to convince one of them. Naomi smiled knowingly. “I do. I just…” he waved a hand in the air, then sighed. “thought you were staying in the house.”

  She pressed kiss to the shoulder she was resting her head against. “I was. When Daria and the clan came, they brought my RV. Among other supplies.” She burrowed deeper into the cradle of his arm. “Years ago, we had a falling out. A couple of years ago, Daria and I had plans to meet back up. Only I never showed. She found my stuff and took care of it.”

  “You’d been captured.” He finished for her and Naomi nodded.

  “They say that the goddess told them to come. They even have a temple cat of their own.” When he remained silent, she shifted to look into his face. “I’ve heard some of the others with similar stories.” When he still said nothing, she nudged him. “Matthew?”

  Slowly he turned to look at her; one finger traced the cat’s eye and shield tattoo on her breast. “What do you want me to say? Bastet’s been busy with phase one of her master plan.” So was Anubis, but he refrained from saying so.

  “Bastet? A plan?” he answered her question with a mumbled affirmative and closed his eyes. “Matthew! You can’t just tell me that the goddess Bastet is up to something, then go to sleep. What plan?”

  “Why not?” God, he was tired. He cracked one eye and his words slurred with exhaustion. “Sorry sweetheart; I’m sure there’s more to this mate thing than amazing sex, but I’m wiped.”

  “Matthew!” she shoved at his shoulder, frustrated when he didn’t budge. “What plan?”

  “To make it right. Unite the clans. Save everyone.” He turned and curled up next to her, pulling her deeper into his arms as sleep tugged him further under. “Anubis knows more. But he’s tricky. Hard to unnerstan…” with a soft snore her mate fell asleep. Naomi frowned. They’d had sex, but he was right, there had to be more to the ‘mate thing’. She was sure of it. Curling up next to Matthew, she laid a hand on his heart.

  “Sleep well, my love.” She whispered. “Because tomorrow I’m holding you to your pledge.” Now that she had him, she wasn’t giving him up to woman or wandering.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Morning dawned early, bright, and with a fully aroused male in her bed, which kicked her own libido into high gear. Later, drifting in the afterglow of some truly amazing sex, she wondered how she’d gone so long without being interested. Then again, surveying the lean planes and hollows of Matthew’s body as he stretched in the small confines of the RV bedroom area, she felt a rush of desire all over again. She’d never had such a good reason to want before.

  He leaned against the doorframe, for a change unselfconscious about his nudity, and smiled at her with as much simmering lust as she was probably giving off. His eyes were back to their calm and steady brown. “Ready for the day?” She’d much rather spend it in bed and shifted suggestively. Matthew chuckled, reaching for a stack of folded men’s clothes someone had slipped inside while they were sleeping and picked a pair of boxers. “Uh-uh. I’ve got to get running.” The view of his neat rounded backside as he bent to slip the underwear on was almost worth covering up his assets.

  Naomi sat up, alert now to the nuances of his mood. “Why? Where are you running to?”

  “I’m behind. Need to replace my phone. Find out what happened to my car. Arrange for movers to pack my house.” He shook out a crisp new pair of jeans as she crawled to the edge of the bed. “Do a meet and greet of the other supernatural races in the area.” Naomi was a bit disappointed when he didn’t visibly react to her blatant sexual invitation.

  “Sounds like you have a list.” She watched as he pulled a t-shirt on and buttoned a denim shirt over it. He leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss and she caught a hint of gold edging the brown of his eyes.

  “Yes. Several lists.” He kissed her again, though she could tell his attention was not fully on her. He felt…unsettled. Matthew sat on the bed to slip on socks and footwear then twisted to tumble her underneath him. A roguish glint gleamed in his eyes. “I’m an anal retentive pencil pusher at heart.”

  Naomi rocked against him, reveling in the feel of his weight on her naked body. “So where do you keep these…lists?”

  “Mmmm.” With a final deep kiss that left her body humming and her toes curled, he left the bed.

  “Well?” she grumped from the bed and dragged a sheet over her nakedness.

  “Well, what?” she could hear him thumping cabinets open and closed. “Where’s the coffee?”

  “I like tea. You can add coffee to your lists.”

  Matthew laughed and came back to the bedroom area one last time. The humor faded from his demeanor as he looked in at her. “I need you to do something for me?” at her raised eyebrow and a slight tug downward of the blanket, his mouth quirked but he shook his head. “Don’t leave without someone you trust to watch your back. Nathan or Brandon—.”

  “I have Jillian.” Matthew didn’t look convinced at her toting out one of her rivals as protector. “I also have Daria and the clan.”

  “I’ll run it by the guys.” His chin bobbed in a nod to himself. She could practically see him jotting down mental memos. “They’ll have sized up everyone.”

  “Matthew!” Naomi sat up. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need someone to follow me around.”

  “You’re the Lia. That means you could be a target.”

  Naomi waved the concern away. “A target for what? Trigger happy humans?” her playful mood dissipating, she pulled the blanket away and moved around the small space to get dressed.

  “You are a political figure for a new society. Ther
e will be backlash.”

  She pulled a sundress over her head and dug around in the built-in dresser for underwear. She shook her head. “I don’t think so. No one thinks the cat clans are important enough to learn our ways.”

  His voice strained with extra patience as his mood darkened. His eyes turned a greenish hazel. “Why do you think Brandon and Nathan are around all the time? To see if I lose it?”

  She couldn’t think of an answer fast enough. “No.” She reached for him even as she saw her delay was a slap in the face.

  “I see.” His arm fell from its resting point on the door frame.

  “Matthew.” He drew himself up, a remote stranger, and avoided her touch. “Matthew wait. That’s not what I meant. I just never thought about it before.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head. “My request stands. You are the Lia. Queen of all the cat clans, whether they want one or not. Don’t leave without someone who can handle him or herself in a fight.”

  Afraid of the damage she had done, Naomi sat on the bed. The flimsy nothing underwear slowly unfurled as she opened her fist. Their first fight. Now there was an auspicious beginning if she ever saw one.

  * * * *

  Matthew took his coffee, found a notepad and pen, and headed to his bedroom to make some phone calls from the landline. All the while, the unsettling feeling that something was up niggled at the base of his neck. He’d woken with the feeling prodding him to get to work today, as if Bastet breathed down his neck.

  His newly acquired people needed him and to be able to help them best, he needed to get things in order. Still, he half expected the cat goddess to appear and demand what the delay was in bringing her people back to their glory days. Not that Matthew could do that much. He at least expected to bring some unity to the cat clans. At best, he hoped to give them the kind of loyalty and stability that he’d witnessed the Pack beta offering Brandon.

  Arranging for a mover to take care of his things was simple. Tracking down his car involved a little more work, but eventually he located it in an impound yard where it had been towed. BioPet had declared it abandoned. The bastards. They didn’t waste any time covering their insane and twisted butts.

  He winced at the outrageous storage fee, wrote down the address and contact information to get back with them on arrangements for picking up the vehicle. Last, he began the involved process of calling the bank and explaining that his wallet was stolen, had fallen very ill, and this was the first he could contact them about replacement bank cards.

  The story sounded incredulous to his own ears, but the customer service rep was happy enough to help once he supplied his social security number, his pass code, address, phone number, shoe and underwear size.

  He looked up at the plate of sandwiches dropped on his makeshift work area made from a couple of TV trays. Nathan tossed him a soda. “You coming out anytime soon? Or are you going to brood all day?” Matthew looked at the clock. Three o’clock. Ouch.

  “I’m getting my life back in order.” He took a bite of sandwich and a hit of the soda. He’d stopped drinking the coffee once it’d gone cold and used the excuse of work to avoid talking to anyone, especially Nathan, who was proving as intuitive as he was helpful to Bastet’s overall plan.

  “You need to get out.” The panther was also a pain in the ass. Matthew met the suggestion with a grunt and a glare. Nathan’s face split into a grin as he pushed off his knees into a standing position. “Well, too bad Leo. ‘Cause you have your first real meet with one of your peers in about an hour.” Matthew just about choked. He slugged down soda and waved at Nathan to explain. “Jared Morgan, the fairy local leader, wants to meet you for bar-b-que at The Pulled Pig. It’s neutral ground.”

  “I was going to make contact myself.” He wasn’t ready for this. He still had to lay the ground work. Find out more about the others. At the very least, he needed to be able to take care of his own needs.

  “Morgan’s a fairy, not Galaxar the E.T. He did all the contacting.” Nathan’s flash of smile wasn’t as cheery as attempted. “Besides The Pulled Pig makes first class bar-b-que.”

  “Tell me about him.” Matthew could only stomach one sandwich. Setting the plate aside, he tried not to let his mind wander back to the argument with Naomi. It didn’t matter if she trusted him or not. Time would prove whether he was decent management material for the cats. “What role does he play?”

  “Morgan keeps to himself, but likes to stick his toes in everyone’s pool.” Brandon strolled into the room, his supernatural hearing having picked up the question. His greenish brown eyes assessed every nuance of the room for potential danger. “He has loyal subjects in the police department, sheriff’s department, the city council, and any other branch of local government.”

  “That’s handy.” Matthew shuffled his paperwork together, and looking around the room, decided that in lieu of a desk and filing cabinet, his top dresser drawer would have to do. He neatly moved aside clothing to make room for his notes, then closed the drawer. “So this Morgan is a politician of sorts.”

  Brandon snorted. “No. He’s a feudal lord, with connections and enough magic to level a major city.”

  Matthew paused, not knowing how to digest the information. How did one dress and act with a fairy lord? “Then why is he asking to meet with me?” Was he being viewed as a contender for territory? Already, Matthew felt defensive of the small house and land that felt like home, more so than his house in Dallas ever had.

  “Because he likes the food?” Nathan’s joke fell flat. Seriously flat.

  “Probably because he’s allies with Adam and he wants to check out what he might be up against.” Brandon’s words evoked a mental collage of every fantasy and horror werewolf movie he’d ever seen. Wizards and bow toting elves leveling the countryside while werewolves ripped his small encampment of refugees apart. His whole world had been broadened in ways that he’d never imagined and what was still unknown was more than a little unnerving. The movie generated images chasing through his mind brought a little shiver along Matthew’s skin. What was he supposed to do?

  “Order the potato salad,” Nathan answered the question he’d unknowingly voiced. “Cole slaw at The Pulled Pig is kind of watery.

  Outside, Matthew paused. Was it possible that there were more people than yesterday? There had to be more than a hundred people, some scattered, and others in family units. All paused to take note of the Leo. Being watched so closely was unnerving; he had to lock down the sensory overload from those he’d developed connection with.

  A small girl dressed in pink overalls, hauling a large furred and bonneted creature on her shoulder, hurried over to stop directly in front of Brandon. Enchanting, Jolie, sent a beam of sunshine his way as she alternately jiggled and patted her burden. “Hello Uncle Mattchew. Daddy.” she smiled at them both. “Do you like my baby, Ramses?”

  “Hello yourself, Jolie.” He fought to keep the laughter out of his voice for the cat’s sake. Ramses ignored them all. “You might want to be careful though. Cats aren’t known for their patience.”

  Jolie tipped up her impudent nose. “My baby likes his pretty hat.” She shifted the cat so that she could rub noses with him, then kissed Ramses on his nose. “Don’t you?” The cat made a strangled sound that she took as an affirmative and flashed a gorgeous smile back at her father. “See?”

  Turning her attention back to her ‘baby’, Jolie shifted him back to her shoulder and scanned the area with a little frown wrinkling her forehead. “Well, bye Daddy, Uncle Mattchew. I hafta find my baby’s daddy. He ran away again.” A rich aroma wafted on the wind, smelling of a psychic using her gifts. Several steps away Jolie stopped and turned back. “Oh, yes. You hafta be careful of tigers so you can watch my movie with me.” Jolie made a ninety degree turn. She pointed a small finger at a thin boy carefully skulking around the back of a short RV. Matthew had to admit, the kid was good. He hadn’t seen him. “Tie! Don’t you dare sneak away. It’s your turn to hold the ba
by.”

  The boy froze, his mouth agape. Noting that the kid seemed to be wearing the same clothes as yesterday, with the same dirt smudges as before, Matthew made a mental note to check on the boy’s mother. Too late to run, Tie accepted his fate and walked beside the little girl, his thin frame towering over her. After a moment of thought, she accepted his refusal to take the growling cat from her. Matthew met Brandon’s proud gaze with amusement.

  “Wow. She certainly knows what she wants and goes after it.” Matthew laughed.

  “Yes, she does.” Brandon’s pride was very evident, though his expression sobered. “She and the boys enjoyed meeting the kits today.” Or in Jolie’s case, terrorizing them into obedience. His niece would grow into a woman of rare and powerful talent, nurtured by people who would encourage her development.

  Matthew nodded, feeling a combination of triumph and concern that Brandon would choose to bring his family here. It was a statement to the wolven Pack that Brandon picked the cats over them. He didn’t know or understand what Brandon’s relationship with Adam, Diana, and the rest of the Pack was, or even the reason for Brandon’s decision, but if Mack the tank of a wolven from last night was any indication, they missed their missing Pack members. He’d meant what he said about Brandon not burning his bridges, but the selfish part of him was happy that he’d brought Karen and the kids to this side instead of going back to the wolven.

  “You know, we don’t always have to take your truck.” Nathan glanced at a far more economical car. Personally, Matthew had some ideas of trading his car in for a truck sort of like the big monstrosity that Brandon liked to tool around in, but kept his opinion to himself.

  “In that sardine can?” Brandon snorted and pulled out his keys. When the panther would have balked, Matthew dropped his arm over his shoulder and steered him toward the truck.

  “Come on. You can tell me about who you think will be good security for Naomi instead of driving.”