Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella

by Georgette St. Clair

  Belle hit his arm, giggling and blushing red. “Shut UP! That was one of my most embarrassing moments ever.”

  “Why? It’s true. We both are blessed with excellent rear ends. Why not admire the view?”

  He reached up and untied the straps of her dress, and yanked it down, revealing her small, round breasts. Then he pulled it down further, and the dress fell to the floor, puddling around her feet.

  He pulled her to him, and then fell over backwards onto the bed, dragging her with him. She was on top of him, and his thick erection bulged through his loincloth.

  Quickly he fumbled with the loin cloth and then it fell away, freeing his rigid cock. She lay on top of him, reveling in the feeling of his hard muscles against her soft body, the flesh of her stomach molding around his rock-hard cock.

  He reached up and cradled her face in his hands as she brushed her lips over his, teasing him with a kiss and then moving away when his lips parted.

  She felt his shaft jerk with arousal, and slid her body against it, reveling in his groan of pleasure.

  Then she moved up higher and brushed her lips over his again. This time when she tried to pull away, he grabbed her head and held it in place.

  “Oh no you don’t,” he murmured against her lips.

  And he kissed her hard, tongue thrusting into her mouth, claiming her in no uncertain terms. His tongue slowly swirled around hers and probed deep, and she moaned into his mouth as he moved ever so slightly underneath her, just enough to rub his cock against her heated flesh.

  Then before she knew it he’d rolled over, pinning her beneath him and staring down into her eyes. His silky hair cascaded over his broad shoulders, locks of it sweeping against her skin, and she caressed it, running her fingers through its softness.

  He smiled, and glanced over at the nightstand. “What have we here?” he said, grabbing a pair of handcuffs off the nightstand.

  Before she could protest, he’d cuffed her hands to the headboard.

  “You are going to lie there and let me please you,” he informed her. His tone was stern but his eyes twinkled warmly.

  “I…I am?”

  “Yes, you are. As your mate, it’s my duty and my pleasure to bring you pleasure.” Then he reached over to the nightstand again and grabbed a bottle of oil. “Honey flavored lubricant. Mmm. Tasty.” He dribbled a line of it down her flat stomach, in circles over her nipples, and then between her legs.

  She moaned as he began licking it off, his tongue moving in circles around her nipples, sucking hard on each one, then scraping them with his teeth.

  “Oh,” she whimpered. “Yes.”

  He nipped at her left nipple gently, and she cried out.

  “Say you’re mine,” he commanded.

  “I’m yours,” she moaned.

  “Forever.”

  “Forever,” she agreed in a hiss of pleasure as he began kissing and licking his way down her stomach. When he reached her navel, he kissed it and dipped his tongue into the tiny well, and she gasped, her breathing growing faster and faster. Then he was between her legs, his tongue running along the seam of her lips before he spread them open with his fingers and probed, exploring the folds and breathing in her scent.

  Heat crackled through her and she whimpered, legs parting, desperate for sweet release.

  “Not yet,” he murmured, as if reading her mind. “We come together.” And then he dribbled a generous portion of the lubricant on her pussy and began massaging it into her sensitive skin. He slid his fingers inside her slick, wet tunnel, and she whimpered, feeling herself tighten eagerly around them.

  “Please,” she begged. “Please make me come…”

  He reached over to the nightstand, grabbed a condom packed, ripped it open, and slid it onto the length of his shaft as she watched impatiently.

  Then he moved up to lie between her legs, and the head of his cock nudged between her wet folds and pressed against the tiny entrance.

  “Yes,” she moaned, and with a thrust of his hips he slid several inches inside her.

  “Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he breathed into her ear.

  “I love it. I want more. I want you,” she begged, and he thrust again, and there was a sharp lancing of pain and then a delicious sense of rightness, of fullness. He began moving rhythmically, hips pistoning as he slid in deeper and deeper, pumping in to her.

  She could feel the heat building inside her, a hot ball of pleasure collecting in her groin, below her navel, and as his breath grew faster and harsher, she wrapped her legs around his back and arched her back, moving in rhythm with him.

  Then the heat exploded like a supernova, and liquid fire rushed through her veins. Her muscles contracted convulsively around his cock, squeezing it hard, and he cried out, a guttural cry in her ear as he joined her in ecstasy.

  After his body finished shuddering, he grabbed the key to the handcuffs from the bedside and quickly unlocked them, then gathered her into his arms.

  Belle nestled up against him, a low purring rumbling in the back of her throat.

  “Mine,” he murmured contendedly into her hair.

  Chapter Eight

  “So you think she’ll give us the stone of truth?” Axel asked around a mouthful of sausage.

  They’d spent the night together in Griselle’s den of iniquity, and Belle had lost count of how many times Axel had brought her to ecstasy. Her whole body ached and throbbed, but in a delicious, satiated way.

  She could still feel the soreness inside her where Axel had penetrated her, but it was starting to fade.

  The bear shifters, still in human form, had come to fetch them in the morning, leading them out to a room where a dining room table was laden with plates of food.

  “Of course she will,” Belle said, shoving half a pancake dripping with syrup into her mouth. She was ravenously hungry.

  “You are questioning my word?” Griselle’s voice rang out behind them.

  They both turned in their seats, startled.

  “How does she do that?” Axel whispered to Belle.

  “I’m a witch, remember?” Griselle smirked. She strode over to them, and held out her hand. “Necklaces, now.”

  Belle and Axel both took off their necklaces and dropped them into her outstretched hand.

  She held out a leather pouch, which she handed to Belle. Then she bent down and whispered in Belle’s ear. And a smile bloomed across Belle’s face, a smile of relief and understanding.

  * * *

  Raymond Charucki’s limousine pulled up in front of the home of Axel’s grandparents right on time…followed by a dozen other vehicles.

  Men begin pouring out of the vehicles, until there were easily fifty of them standing on the property of Axel’s family.

  They were met by as many werewolves; packs from all around Montana knew about the situation and had gathered on the farm of Axel’s grandparents.

  Belle stood on the front steps of the farmhouse, clutching the small leather bag in her hand, stomach quailing with unease. She hated that all this hostility and tension was because of her, she hated that Axel’s family was threatened because of her…but she had to see this through. And today was part one of the game plan.

  After all of his bodyguards had climbed out, and stood glaring and bristling at the werewolves, Raymond climbed out of his limousine and walked up the steps. Axel stood next to Belle, his hand resting protectively on Belle’s shoulder.

  His father Troy, and half a dozen uncles, stood lined up next to him, glowering.

  Nobody carried guns. Shifters scorned them, and considered relying on them a weakness.

  “I see you bought reinforcements,” Axel sneered.

  “After I was illegally ambushed and brutally assaulted by you and your gang, I felt I had little choice,” Raymond snarled, baring his fangs.

  “Assaulted, you liar? I’ll show you assault…” Axel’s voice rolled out in a growl, and he stepped forward, shoulders rolling up and ears quickly sharpening to a point. Ra
ymond quickly followed suit, hissing like a cat.

  “Enough!” Axel’s father bellowed as he stepped in, his face dark with anger.

  Panthers and wolves were glaring at each other, fists clenched, growling, rumbling with rage.

  “Hey!” Belle yelled at the top of her lungs. Everyone turned to stare at her.

  Belle climbed down the steps and stood in front of Raymond, stifling a shudder as his greedy eyes roamed her body. She held up the leather bag; when he held out his hand, she quickly upended the bag and dumped the stone into his hand.

  The small, gray chunk of stone had a single white stripe running through it. Raymond looked at it suspiciously.

  “It doesn’t look like much,” he said.

  Then he turned to one of the panthers standing next to him and pressed the stone against his cheek.

  “Did you have sex with my mistress Marion?” he demanded.

  “Yes, I did,” the panther said promptly, then gasped in horror and took a step back. It was too late for him. Raymond’s hand slashed through the air, claws extended, and the offending panther’s eyes bulged wide, as a crimson spray spurted through the air.

  A gash yawned open in his neck, and he fell back as his life’s blood pumped from his carotid arteries. He crumpled to the ground, gurgling, but Raymond had already turned away, tucking the stone into his pocket.

  “Apparently it works,” he said coolly, then he shot an ice cold glare at Axel. “I won’t forget this,” he said, and then turned and strode back to his limousine.

  Belle’s stomach twisted in a knot, and she grimaced in horror as the panther on the ground spasmed one final time and then went still.

  And now for part two, she thought determinedly.

  One week later…

  “Are you sure you’ll be all right in there?” Axel asked, lines of tension wrinkling his forehead.

  “It totally sucks that you can’t have anyone in there supporting you,” Agnes added.

  She’d been fired the day that Belle had been kidnapped by Raymond Charucki. Axel’s grandfather had stepped in to hire her, at Belle’s urging, and now she was working on their dairy farm.

  Now they were standing inside the headquarters of the Shifter Council, in downtown Billings. Belle had filed a complaint against Raymond Charucki, and he was obligated to appear to answer the charges. The seven members of the council, and the moderator, were inside waiting for the proceedings to begin.

  Axel and Agnes weren’t permitted inside, since they weren’t panthers. He was clearly unhappy about letting her go in by herself.

  “I’ll be fine. You know what’s going to happen in there,” Belle said, praying that she was right. That Griselle had told her the truth about the Truth Stone and its hidden flaw.

  “It’s not fair that he can bring in people and you can’t,” Agnes groused. Raymond had showed up with half a dozen bodyguards and three lawyers. Belle would face him alone. There wasn’t a panther shifter attorney in the state who’d dare represent her and face Raymond.

  “Life’s not fair. But remember, I have one huge advantage,” Belle said. They both nodded; they knew the secret of the stone.

  Belle had demanded that the proceedings be televised live, as was her right. Because of Raymond Charucki’s power and prestige, and his reputation, shifters from all over the country were tuned in, watching raptly.

  Belle squeezed Axel’s hand for support, then turned and walked through the big double doors that led into the room where Raymond and his cohorts were waiting, seated in a row of chairs on the right side of the room.

  The moderator stood at a podium with a microphone, facing the seven council members who each represented different shifter territories throughout the state of Montana.

  The audience was packed with newspaper reporters, radio reporters and television reporters, and curious panther shifters here to see the spectacle. There were also a dozen shifter members from the Enforcement Brigade, who dealt with all legal matters pertaining to panthers. They stood against the wall in their uniforms, arms folded, faces stony.

  Raymond leveled an ice cold look at Belle as she walked in, and despite herself, she shivered. There was murder in his eyes. If Griselle was wrong about the Stone of Truth, Belle was dead. And so were all of her friends.

  No pressure at all, she thought, as her breakfast churned in her stomach.

  The meeting started with the moderator reading Belle’s accusation against Raymond kidnapping, assault, illegal collaring, illegal arranged marriage.

  Then Raymond’s attorney stood up and angrily denied the charges, in tones of utmost contempt. He called Belle a promiscuous, scheming liar who’d tried to trap Raymond into marriage and was bitter at being rejected. He praised Raymond to the heavens, describing in pious tones his contributions to charity and the many businesses he owned.

  Belle endured his barrage of insults calmly, standing with her hands folded and her gaze cast meekly downward. She waited until he was finished, and then she spoke.

  “I have the right to question the accused,” Belle said.

  Raymond glowered at her contemptuously, and then strode up to a wooden chair which faced both the audience and the television cameras.

  Looking at the moderator, he swore to tell the truth to all questions asked of him.

  You have no idea, Belle thought.

  As soon as he sat down, Belle walked up to the podium and the moderator stepped aside.

  She stood on her tiptoes to reach the microphone. Without preamble, she looked at Raymond and asked him “Did you kidnap me and threaten to torture me and my best friend if I didn’t marry you?”

  “Yes, I did,” Raymond said, and then gasped in shock…as did the rest of the room.

  “Objection!” Raymond’s lawyer shouted, lunging forward.

  “You can’t object to your client answering a question, you fool,” the moderator snarled.

  Raymond attempted to stand up, but the moderator barked, “Sit down! You know the rules! She has the right to question you.”

  Raymond sank back in his seat, sweat beading on his forehead. He glanced frantically at his attorney, who gestured helplessly. His bodyguards shifted unhappily on their feet. The rules of the council were strict, and with so many eyes watching them, there was nothing they could do.

  Belle continued relentlessly. “Did you pay my aunt and uncle $50,000 so they’d sell me to you for an illegal forced marriage?”

  “Yes, I did.” Raymond gasped again, and clapped his hands over his mouth. He scrambled to his feet, and the moderator banged on the podium with his gavel.

  “Sit down, or I will have the Enforcers sit you down,” the moderator snapped.

  Half a dozen panther shifter Enforcers strode up to Raymond’s chair, surrounding him. He glared at them, and sank back in his seat.

  “Did you find me held prisoner, tied down and naked, with a copper collar on my neck, in my aunt and uncle’s house?”

  “Yes, I did.” He choked the words out, face reddening. The audience buzzed with fury.

  “Did you then threaten to cut my face with a copper knife, and then take me out of the house to your limousine using threats of force?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did you plan to murder me for my inheritance after I gave you the cubs you wanted?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  The audience was shouting, his bodyguards were shouting…the moderator pounded furiously on the gavel.

  “This is highly irregular,” Shifter Council Member Rosemary Dover cried out. “I move we adjourn immediately.” Several of the other council members began nodding vigorously.

  “How many council members are secretly on your payroll?” Belle cried out quickly.

  “Four,” Raymond said, and the room broke into pandemonium.

  “How much do you pay Rosemary Dover to always vote your way?” Belle screamed over the din.

  “One million dollars a year!” Raymond howled, and desperately tried to squeeze his lips
shut with his fingers.

  Rosemary and three other council members leaped from their seats and scrambled over each other in a desperate attempt to flee the room. The enforcers swarmed on them, restraining them quickly with copper handcuffs.

  When the moderator finally managed to restore order, Belle turned to the television cameras.

  “Raymond agreed not to kidnap me and force me into marrying him if I got him a little artifact called the stone of truth. But when I gave it to him, I forgot to read him the warning label. Once you touch the Stone of Truth, its effects last forever. Everyone who touches the stone of truth with their bare skin is compelled to tell the truth to any question asked of them…forever.”

  And that was why Griselle had been so willing to let Belle give the stone to Raymond.

  Chapter Nine

  “Are you happy, my love?” Axel growled into Belle’s ear.

  “No. I’m ecstatic.”

  Axel had his arms wrapped around Belle’s waist, as they stood on his grandparents porch and watched the sun sinking into the horizon in a lake of fire.

  “I can make you even happier.” He ran his tongue over her ear and she shuddered in pleasure.

  “Get a room!” Agnes cried out. “Jeez, Belle, you went from virgin to hussy in like no time flat.” But she was smiling as she said it.

  Lucas, sitting on a rocking chair on the porch, winked at Agnes. She winked back. The two of them were dating, but Agnes insisted it was nothing serious, and it probably wasn’t. Agnes went through a lot of men. Belle doubted Lucas would be heartbroken; some day he’d want to settle down with a shifter.

  Raymond had been taken into custody right after the council hearing, and police were questioning him relentlessly. He was revealing where bodies were buried, and the names and bank account numbers of every politician and police officer he’d ever bribed. The death penalty was a certainty for him.

  Belle’s aunt, uncle and cousins had been arrested for their part in the forced marriage scheme, and Belle, using money from the trust fund that was finally going into her bank account, had retained a lawyer to sue them for misuse of her inheritance. All of their assets were frozen, and they were likely to lose their home, farm, and store…as well as face lengthy prison sentences.