by Unknown
His naked chest pressed against hers, and his considerable weight held her down. Arms pinned above her head, Josephine could only sob and scream as his crotch pressed against her pussy. Through the denim, she felt his straining cock. He was huge, hard, and primal. She waited for him to finish undressing, for penetration, for the inevitable violation that never came. He remained rigid above her. His breath was short and labored, and his entire body dripped with sweat.
Eventually, she dissolved into tears, and he rolled off her, apologizing. “I’m sorry, Josie. I need for that bitch to believe I’m using you. My scent must be on you.”
Josephine turned away from him and pressed her face against the cold tile. Her heartbroken sobs echoed through the small bathroom. What he had done, cruelty following kindness, was so much worse than any torture Evangeline had ever devised. Josephine knew she wasn’t strong enough or brave enough to survive him. If she couldn’t be rid of him, he’d do worse than kill her. He’d break her.
Day 2
The next evening found Josie curled on the hard floor of the cell because she had refused to share the uncomfortable cot with Jared. After the incident in the bathroom, the werewolf’s behavior had reverted to laidback and flippant. He offered her food, which she refused. He attempted to engage her in small talk, which she ignored. He had shown his true colors; she would not buy into his deception again.
“How long have you been here, Josie?” Jared asked with transparent irritation. Repeated failed attempts to engage her in conversation seemed to be wearing down his patience.
Boredom was the enemy of any cat. Josie glanced his way, tired of staring at the water stain on the wall. “Three years,” she said with a flick of her ear. “Maybe longer; it’s hard to keep track of time.”
Jared stretched his arms and back. Muscles and joints popped as he worked out the kinks. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
Josie blinked against more tears and shook her head.
“No family? No friends?”
She bit her lip. “Werecats are like werewolves. We’re born, not bitten. I was born feline; I don’t remember my mother. I spent the first twenty years of my life with a sweet old lady from Pensacola. I knew what I was, but I was content to spend most of my life as a cat. I only shifted when I wanted to open a door or get into the fridge. I made sure my owner never saw me change. She thought there was a ghost in her house.”
Jared chuckled and grinned. “That’s so you, Josie Cat.” He paced the length of the enclosure once, stretching his legs. His movement brought him too close to her.
Jared sank to a crouch. “How did you get here?”
It was more personal information than she had ever meant to share but then no one had ever cared enough to ask before. She found herself answering against her better judgment. “One day I was kidnapped by vamps and then sold to Evangeline. I’ve been her blood pet ever since.” She stopped. “Until recently, that is. She’s done with me now.”
Disgust crossed Jared’s mobile features. “Have you been alone the entire time?” he asked. “Or have there been others?”
Josie shot him a sharp, hateful glance. Trust the wolf to sniff out the topic that hurt the most. “There was another cat when I got here,” she informed him. “He’s gone now. Evangeline killed him.”
Jared did not take the hint. “What happened to him, Josie Cat? What happened to you?”
Josie’s fur stood on end and her tail lashed. His ability to penetrate her defenses angered her beyond the point of caution. “I know your secret,” she hissed. Taunting him was the height of stupidity, but he refused to leave well enough alone.
Jared cocked his head to the side, regarding her with an intent stare. “Which one would that be?” he asked, ironic and dangerous.
“You’re not a submissive wolf, Jared. Any fool can see it.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked. Jared’s body had grown stiff and he towered over her.
The sounds of approaching footsteps cut their confrontation short. “Josie, don’t tell,” Jared warned, intimidating her with his topaz stare.
Evangeline entered the confinement area with Carl and two of her other minions. Josephine flew at the bars and gripped them with both hands. “Mistress, please, let me out.”
The vampire regarded Josephine with disdain. “Why on earth would I do that?” she asked. “Frankly, I’m surprised to find you still alive, Josephine.” She sniffed and then smiled. “The wolf has been making good use of you, I see.”
“It’s boring in here,” Jared said with a shrug. “Can I have something to read?” The werewolf’s audacity was unbelievable. Josephine did not dwell on it. She could smell his anger and knew he intended to kill her.
“Mistress, please, I beg of you. The wolf hasn’t been honest with you. Just let me out—” The werecat clung to the bars, prepared to beg on her knees if necessary.
Evangeline regarded her and sneered. “I’ll admit, I’m intrigued to hear what you have to say. Do you have a secret, Jared? What do you think Josephine has to tell me?”
Jared had not moved from where he stood. “I can’t say, but it’s probably a lie. As far as I can tell, she can’t be trusted,” he said with a chuckle.
“She is a treacherous creature. Come, Josie, let’s hear it,” Evangeline said.
“Let me out of the cage first, please,” Josephine begged. Her fear of the unpredictable werewolf was greater than for the familiar vampire. Evangeline might be moody and cruel, but at least she was a known quantity.
“Open the cell, Carl,” Evangeline said with a small gesture.
Carl opened the cell door and grabbed a fistful of Josephine’s hair. He held the cattle prod ready to keep the werewolf at bay. Josie scrambled from the enclosure, and Carl locked the door behind her. Josie cowered at the vampire’s feet.
“Let’s hear it,” Evangeline demanded.
“Take off my collar first,” Josephine demanded. Removed from Jared’s reach, she moved on to her next highest priority. The collar represented a constant threat to her life.
Evangeline’s lips compressed. It was clear the vampire had not yet eaten and her patience was thin. However, she bent to work the combination lock on the cat’s collar. Josephine had spent endless hours playing with the antique lock, spinning the numbers in an attempt to find the right code. The vampire removed it within seconds.
Josephine gasped and reached for her bare throat, feeling matted fur where the collar had encircled her neck. It was exhilarating to have the heavy weight removed. She felt able to breathe again for the first time in weeks.
“What is he hiding?” Evangeline demanded.
“Jared is a dominant wolf. He’s not his pack’s Omega at all,” Josephine blurted out, casting a quick glance at the werewolf. With a start of fear, she found him standing much closer to the bars than before. He was within arm’s reach of her.
Evangeline arched her fine brow. “Really,” she said, casting a skeptical glance at the werewolf. “Jared, what do you say?”
Jared rolled his eyes. “You’d think she could come up with something more creative.” He leaned against the bars and offered his arm. “Would it please you to feed, Mistress?” He spoke with exactly the right amount of humility and submissiveness. His entire body language communicated sensuous indolence; he was pure seduction.
Evangeline beamed, both distracted and pleased. The vampire wrapped her hands around the werewolf’s arm and tilted back her head, mouth opening as her fangs extended. She bent forward, burying her fangs in his muscular arm.
Jared grunted and turned his head to the side to conceal his expression from the minions across the room.
While Evangeline fed, Jared stared at Josephine with malevolent topaz eyes. He froze her with his gaze, and she discovered green and red specks within the golden irises. Josephine’s terror escalated with each passing second, leaving her trembling.
Evangeline finished and used a handkerchief to dab at her mouth, wiping away a small
amount of blood. She smiled at Jared with girlish adoration. Jared maintained a demur stance at odds with his blatant masculinity.
“Carl, bring Jared reading material,” Evangeline instructed. “Find out what he likes.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Carl said.
“Can I please have my cat back?” Jared asked, keeping his eyes lowered in an ingratiating manner.
Josephine shook her head in silent denial. Evangeline did not even look at the werecat. “Carl, put her collar back on.”
A wail of denial rose from Josephine as the human servants surrounded her. She got in a couple good scratches before a solid kick to the stomach left her doubled over. Before she recovered, Carl snapped the hated collar back on Josephine’s neck.
“Let this be a lesson to you,” Evangeline said. The vampire extended an open hand toward Josephine. The collar about Josephine’s neck glowed white hot, and excruciating pain lanced through her body. It felt as if the vampire were ripping her apart from the inside. Josephine screamed and grabbed for the collar, making a futile attempt to be free.
Jared surged against the bars, creating a resounding clash as his full weight struck steel. “Mistress, please—”
Evangeline turned her attention to Jared, and Josephine’s pain stopped. Panting, the werecat went limp. “I want to kill her myself,” Jared pleaded.
“An admirable desire, my wolf,” Evangeline said. “Carl, give Jared his cat.” With a flip of her hand, the vampire departed.
Always obedient and efficient, Carl dragged Josephine to the cell. “Ought to kill her and get it over with,” Carl advised Jared. Forcing the werewolf back like a lion tamer with a chair, Carl wielded the cattle prod before him and backed from the cell. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked it.
“Yeah, well, I like to play with my food,” Jared replied. “Get me some sports magazines, some porn, and a copy of Shakespeare’s works, okay?”
“Shakespeare seems a mite highbrow for a wolf,” Carl said. He dropped Josephine to the ground. She welcomed the cold cement to the human servant’s cruel touch.
“What can I say, I’m trying to better myself,” Jared quipped.
He did not come close to Josephine until the servants departed. She shrank from him, quivering with fear and loathing. She hissed when he touched her but lacked the strength to lash out and was forced to endure his examination.
Jared checked her for injuries and inspected the collar before he picked her up off the floor. “Josie, Josie,” he said, settling her against his chest. “What am I going to do with you?”
Josephine turned her face to the side in an act of passive resistance. Tears trailed along her cheeks and down her neck to the hated collar. Jared’s gentleness was a form of torture. The waiting was destroying her. “Just get it over with,” she said, once she was strong enough to lift her head.
He carried her into the bathroom. She supposed he wanted someplace easy to clean up afterward. Or maybe he liked privacy for the act. He set her down on the counter next to the sink. As he reached past her to the faucet, Josephine got in a clean swipe at his face. Her claws gouged four parallel incisions across his cheek from below his eye to his jaw.
A snarl erupted from Jared; his lips peeled back in a bold show of teeth. His wolf rose, and those topaz eyes turned on her with restrained violence. He grabbed her arms, capturing and pinning her against the countertop. Josephine fought but he was too strong. “I ought to rip out your throat and eat you alive,” he said. “That makes twice now that you’ve betrayed me.”
He imprisoned her wrists with one hand and positioned her so he stood between her parted thighs. Josephine wailed and struggled as his muscular body surged against hers. He pressed his chest to her breasts and then released her wrists. Once freed, she gouged his shoulders, leaving deep scratches, as he buried his face against her throat.
Josephine waited. She waited for his teeth to rip out her jugular. Maybe he intended to take her body first. She waited for the inevitable violence and abuse she knew must be coming—it was all she had ever known. With a tired sigh, Jared turned his head to the side and rested his bloody cheek against the top of her head. His breathing was deep and steady and his touch comforting.
“I don’t understand,” Josephine said, crying again but for different reasons. It had been far too long since another person had held her.
“You’ve been abused, Josie,” he said. He lifted his head to look down at her; already his cheek had begun to heal.
As she gazed upon the bloody scratches, Josephine cringed with guilt. Thank God she had missed his beautiful eye.
“I realize it’s going to take time to win your trust, but time is the one thing we don’t have a lot of. You’re the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen, and I admit I want you, but not like this. If something ever happens between us, I want you to want me too.”
Josephine opened her mouth to apologize, but the words got stuck behind a mountain of mistrust. This might be another game. Once he’d won her trust, then he would kill her. It was a scenario all too easy to imagine.
When she made no reply, Jared grunted, conveying disappointment. “Hold still a second,” he said, reaching for her throat. Josephine remained motionless, submitting to his touch. She felt his fingers on the collar, turning it, fumbling with the combination lock.
“Got it,” he said, and the collar came free in his hands. He grinned. “I was paying attention when the vampire took it off.”
Josephine stared at him in disbelief and reached up to feel her bare throat. Then, Jared snapped the collar back into place, closing the lock before the cat had a chance to react. She gazed at him in absolute hurt and disbelief.
“If I leave it off, the vampire will figure out that I’m deceiving her,” Jared explained with an ironic smile. He backed away from Josephine. “Somehow, I think you can be trusted not to tell Evangeline I know how to take it off. I’m getting out of here, Josie. You can bet your sweet tail on it,” he said.
Somehow, she believed him. Abruptly, Josephine realized the enormity of her mistake in trusting Evangeline instead of Jared. She wanted him to be the real deal; she needed to trust her attraction to him. But it was impossible. She had betrayed him twice. He had no reason to take a back-stabbing cat with him when he left.
“How the hell am I supposed to trust you?” Her own outburst caught Josie by surprise.
Jared stared at her with unblinking topaz eyes. “You think it’s any easier for me, pussycat?”
Day 3
It was a day much like the one before in the werewolf’s cell. Hours passed like molasses. Carl brought Jared fast-food that he then shared with Josephine. Evangeline returned when the sun set. Jared flirted and submitted; the vampire fed and left in a hurry.
“I’m bored,” Josephine said, pacing the floor. The cloying heat and humidity made her fur damp. She never felt clean no matter how many hours she devoted to grooming.
Jared looked up from his magazine and heaved a sigh. The werewolf straddled the single chair, leaning with his chest against the back. His skin glistened with the sheen of sweat, emphasizing the corded muscles of his throat and arms. “At least you’re still alive to be bored.”
The cat swung on him. “You think that’s some sort of consolation?”
Jared smirked. “Why don’t you come over here? I could do with a quick snack.”
“You’re all bark, no bite,” Josie snapped. Her ears flattened, but she no longer believed he’d eat her. He wasn’t above taunting her with it though.
Jared’s sultry chuckle caused her fur to ripple and her tail to kink. “I’ve got plenty of bite.” His teeth snapped together, mocking a bite.
His provocative teasing only earned him a tail smack across the lower jaw. With lightning quick reflexes, he caught the tip between two fingers. The scent of his arousal was thick on the air; his gaze smoldered as it lingered on her tail and backside. “I can think of ways to pass the time.”
Damn him. Josie snatc
hed her tail away before her wanton nature got her into more trouble than she could handle. But, ooohhh, how she’d love to throw caution to the wind. She’d bet one of her nine lives that her big bad wolf would be worth the ride.
Fuming, Josephine sat on the cot opposite Jared. Out of desperation, she decided to try a different tactic. “Where are you from?”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why? Do you need more information to sell to the vampire?”
Her ears flattened. “Fine,” she huffed. “You were the one who wanted to talk yesterday.”
“Gee, I wonder what could’ve changed.” Jared’s sarcasm was sharp and pointed.
Josie’s ears flattened further, and she sighed, falling silent. She needed his goodwill and seemed to have destroyed any chance of obtaining it through her own machinations. She wanted so much more from him than simple kindness.
Remarkably, Jared relented. He tossed his magazine into the pile of reading material Carl had provided. “Roanoke, Virginia.”
Josephine’s ears sprang forward. “Why were you heading to LA?”
His lips curved into a smirk. “You could say I had an important engagement.”
His private joke irritated Josephine. Her tailed lashed, but she refused to succumb to the temptation to pursue it.
“Wouldn’t it have been simpler to fly to LA than drive?”
He licked his lips. “I have a thing about airplanes.”
“Oh, really? Are you scared?” Josephine taunted.
Jared snickered. “Scared of damaging the airplane while it’s ten thousand feet in the air? Oh, yeah, I’m scared.”
The man was impossible. “Are both your parents werewolves?” she asked. He had spoken of his family with affection. Maybe he would open up if she worked from a different perspective. And it worked like a charm.
“Just my mom; my dad is human. They retired to Florida a couple years ago to operate a boat charter service for scuba divers.”
“Do you have any littermates?”
Jared snorted and grinned. “I’m an only child.”
