She finally lifted her head off Carmen’s belly and smiled wearily at her aunt. “Go ahead. I’ll see about getting Uncle Hiram’s car back to him.”
“I’ll follow you out and drive you back,” Carmen volunteered. “I need a few new cockerels anyway.”
Carmen ran a chicken farm. However, these were not the common chickens that were raised for food and eggs, but rather, rare breeds eagerly sought out by collectors and fanciers. She had briefly branched into pigeons but didn’t care for them as much as she did chickens. Cass thought the whole thing was hilarious. Especially when she had dropped by the farm unexpectedly one day and had found Carmen in the backyard being followed around by her four laying hens. The chickens had cackled and clucked along behind her like the village gossips.
Kevin nodded his acceptance and carefully herded Sophie to the door. “Call me later,” he said, with a meaningful look at Dar.
Cass groaned when the door shut behind them. “I’d ask how this day could get any worse, but I know exactly how much it’s going to suck.” She gazed down at Dar, a little worried about how long he had been unconscious. “When is he going to wake up?”
Carmen sighed. “I wouldn’t be in such a hurry for that to happen, sugar,” she mumbled under her breath.
Cass glared at her. “You don’t have to stay, you know,” she muttered resentfully. “And, it’s not like this is my fault! How the hell could I have expected this?” she added, nearly in tears.
A low groan broke into their conversation and Cass looked down at the supine man worriedly. “Dar, honey? Can you open your eyes?” she asked, brushing his hair off his forehead.
His eyes peeled open for a moment and then closed again. “It wasn’t a dream,” he mumbled. “You still have a tail.” His voice was rough and scratchy. He jerked his head away from Cass’s hand.
She backed away, crushed by his rejection of her touch. She crawled to Carmen and curled up against her legs. Her cousin touched her shoulder in silent support.
They both watched him without saying anything.
Dar kept his eyes closed as he tried to absorb his morning. His body beat out a throbbing tempo of pain that made it hard to concentrate. His mind shied away from just why he hurt all over.
Not that he’d be able to avoid it forever. Finally, he pried his eyes open. Cass was staring at him with huge, golden brown eyes; a sandy brown tail curled in her lap and small furry ears peeked out of her hair.
The woman standing behind her also had a long plume of a tail waving gently in the air. Unlike Cass, it was obvious that she was part fox. Rich russet hair fell around her shoulders, almost hiding her small, pointed ears. Dainty little fangs flashed at him when she smiled tentatively. He turned his gaze up to the ceiling and stared at it, swallowing convulsively. Okay, he thought to himself, my girlfriend has a tail and a carnivore rabbit for an aunt. “Where’s your aunt?” he asked in a rusty voice. Was she hiding behind a corner, lying in wait to attack him again?
“My cousin Kevin came and got her,” Cass replied in a subdued voice.
“Who’s the kitsune?” he asked.
“Kits-what?”
“Fox,” he muttered, still not looking at her. He couldn’t. His life was different, but nothing like this. Although, a tiny little voice popped up. They look sexy like that! Just the way I like! He slapped the voice around.
“My cousin, Carmen.” Her voice trembled a bit.
Well, good! I’m feeling a bit shaky myself, he thought grouchily to himself. “I’m going home now,” he announced, rolling off the couch and standing up. He scrambled for the sheet as he belatedly realized that he was naked under it.
Gathering the tattered shreds of his dignity around him, he scooped up his clothing and stalked into the kitchen to dress. He pointedly ignored the silent women.
Cass looked up at her cousin, who shrugged. “At least he’s not flipping out,” Carmen blurted out hopefully.
“I guess so,” Cass said woodenly.
Minutes passed without the women speaking. Finally, Dar emerged from the kitchen. He didn’t say anything as he strode to the front door.
Cass scrambled to her feet and followed him. She froze in place when he suddenly spun around to face her.
He jerked when he saw how close she was, but quickly recovered. “Rikki. You’re a mongoose, aren’t you?”
She nodded jerkily, reaching out to touch him. He quickly stepped out of range.
Her hand dropped and she looked at the floor, feeling miserable.
“I’ll call you,” he said abruptly, turning to leave.
“Dar, you can’t tell any ‑‑”
He cut her off. “Yeah, I figured that out on my own, thanks. Not,” he added bitterly, “that anyone would believe me.” The door slammed behind him like an exclamation mark.
Cass stood there, feeling bereft. “I’ll call you. Yeah, sure, that’ll happen,” she said to her cousin in a tear-choked voice.
She heard Carmen approach and she hugged Cass in a silent offer of comfort and moral support. “You don’t know. He just might,” Carmen offered softly. “At least he didn’t run away screaming.” She rubbed Cass’s back soothingly. “Do you want me to stay?”
Cass shook her head. “I’ll be okay, but thanks.”
Her cousin hugged her again and then quietly took her leave.
Cass curled up on her couch and cried softly. It felt like her whole life had gone to hell in a hand basket. Or, since an insane rabbit was involved, was that an Easter basket?
So, still leaking tears, she did what every girl does when the sky caves in. She called her daddy.
Chapter Eight
Dar let himself wearily into his apartment, locking the door automatically behind him. He trudged into his bedroom, stripping off his bloodstained clothing as he went. When he reached the bathroom, he drew a hot bath and dropped a bar of antibacterial soap into the water so he could soak and, hopefully, avoid any nasty infections.
Once the water turned cloudy, he climbed in, hissing as the hot, soapy water stung his myriad of bites and scratches. Submerging himself, he stayed under the water as long as long as he could hold his breath.
After a few more dunks, he finally fished out the soggy bar of soap and rested against the back of the tub. He half wished he had brought a glass of wine with him. It was still early, but he figured that he had earned it.
It wasn’t every day a man found out he was sleeping with a were… Were what? Mongoose? Bloody hell! Who the hell ever heard of a were-mongoose! Or even a were-rabbit for that matter. She should have warned me, he thought savagely. He quickly quashed that thought. Like she’d tell me. The average Joe on the street would think she was smoking crack and lock her ass up in rehab. Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t have just up and announced it.
I bet Jonathon knows, he groused silently to himself. Oh, for God’s sake, he mentally berated himself, you’re getting pissy because he might or might not have known before you? You’ve got bigger problems right now, halfwit. Like if you’re going to turn into a flesh eating rabbit with the next full moon.
He froze as pictures of demonic rabbits chasing deer flashed through his head. That would suck, he decided.
He resolutely turned his attention to bathing and ducked back under the water again.
He hated to think what the harsh soap was doing to his hair, but it had to be done. Idly, he debated going to the hospital and getting a tetanus shot, but decided to skip it since he didn’t want to answer the questions that would come with the shot. Would a tetanus shot even help anyway? he pondered absently as he gently scrubbed his body.
After a long while, he finally drained the tub and took a quick shower to wash his hair and rinse off the soap residue.
Then, naked, he padded into the bedroom to do what men had been doing about women problems for years.
He called his mother.
* * * * *
Several hours later, Cass was still thinking about the conversation she’d had wit
h father.
“Tell him everything, baby girl,” he had advised her. “If he’s the man for you, he’ll deal with it. Hell, I should know. Your mother scared the crap out of me, but I wasn’t letting her get away from me.”
She sighed as she changed into her nightclothes. The soft cotton shirt and shorts were comforting against her skin. It had been a long day spent moping and debating whether she should call Jonathon over and talk to him or not.
In the end, she had decided against it.
It was tempting, though. She tried not to compare the two men, since it wasn’t fair to either of them. Jonathon had the advantage of growing up with her and Dar… Poor Dar had been tossed into the tiger pit blindfolded.
Besides, Jonathon was probably busy wooing his new lady and having a hysterical friend descend on him would definitely put a damper on things. It sucked, though, because she could really go for a hug right about now.
She climbed into bed and turned off the light and tried to sleep.
Something woke her in the middle of the night.
Tantrum, lying on the other pillow, stiffened. He growled a deep-throated warning at her and then jumped off the bed.
Oh, you picked the wrong house on the wrong night, Sir Hiss, she thought angrily. She threw the coverlet aside before she slid silently out of bed and tiptoed to the open door soundlessly. Once there, she became as still as stone and listened to the rustling downstairs.
Tantrum eased past her and down the stairs.
Cass let her mongoose half merge with her. Sandy brown hair sprouted over her body like grass. Her vision sharpened until the night-dark room looked like it had been wreathed in gloomy daylight. Sleek muscles bunched and firmed under her skin.
Her ears swiveled to pick up every noise.
The intruder appeared to be talking to himself. She couldn’t understand any of what he was saying, though. The language wasn’t like anything she’d ever heard before. Once she finished shifting, she eased forward again. She knew that just seeing her was going to startle the thief. The three-quarters mongoose look wasn’t attractive by any stretch of the imagination, but it was her strongest form
Too bad it made her look like a snaggle-toothed lab mutation.
She scampered down the stairs on all fours and blended into the shadows.
The snake man paused and looked around nervously.
Cass chortled in her head. She had been counting on him being able to detect heat keenly, so she had stopped over a heat vent in her floor. Apparently, it had worked. She watched as he pulled on a pair of black gloves and opened a strange looking bag.
Why wasn’t he wearing gloves when he came in? she wondered curiously. I wonder if Granpa will vacuum seal him for me, she thought, as a tantalizing whiff of snake scent teased her nostrils.
Her first clear sight of him was surprising. Like her, he was in a three-quarter change. Although, he did it much better than she did. He looked like a perfectly formed humanoid lizard. She sniffed delicately. The strange scent she had picked up last time was there too. What the hell does this guy eat, anyway? she wondered as she suppressed the urge to sneeze. A little snuffle still escaped
That small sound was enough to attract his attention. They both froze and stared at each other from across the room.
Cass tensed into a quivering mass of coiled muscle as they continued to glare at each other.
Minutes passed as they waited for the other to break the stalemate.
He broke first by reaching into his pocket.
Cass didn’t wait to see if he was pulling a gun. She launched herself at him using the wall as a springboard.
He dove out of her path and pulled a long slender tube out of his pocket. Before she even finished landing he was pointing it at her. A long slash of green flashed out and she spun to the side, just avoiding being hit by it.
She hit a decorative table and stumbled off balance. Quickly recovering, she turned to face him.
Another beam of green light hit her full in the chest and her nerve endings screamed in agony. Her body spasmed and she crumpled to the floor.
The smell of burning fur filled her nose and then everything went black.
Chapter Nine
Dar leaned on the doorbell again and then followed up by knocking.
He knew she was home. Her car was still blocked in the driveway by the car her aunt had driven.
“She better not be avoiding me,” he muttered to himself.
He knocked again and then rang the doorbell several times,
Minutes passed and she still didn’t answer. Maybe she’s in the shower. He seemed to recall a window around the back of the house she liked to leave open during the day and decided to check and see if it still was. Then he remembered the break in and also decided that if the window was open he was going to chew her ass out.
Sure enough, it was wide open. One of the curtains had blown out of it and was swaying in the light morning breeze.
He glowered and scrambled in. Standing, he brushed some dust off his slacks and added cleaning and dusting to his ass chewing topics. Looking up, he froze. The hamster cage had been torn apart. Multicolored bits of broken plastic littered the room, liberally laced with wood shavings. “Cass! Where are you?” he yelled, running toward the stairs. He spun around as a low moan sounded from a corner. He spied her crumpled form lying in a heap on the floor and ran to her.
“Cass? Baby?” Carefully, he lifted her head and shoulders and cradled her against his chest. He patted her all over to see if she was badly hurt.
One arm, shoulder, and part of her neck were covered with short brown fur, and there was a huge hole in her shirt with scorched edges. The skin under the hole was bright red, like she had been sunburned. Her tail lay limply under her and little furry ears peeked out of her hair.
She moaned again softly and he patted her cheek. “C’mon, baby, wake up.”
Dear God, he could have lost her. Suddenly, yesterday’s events seemed trivial as he realized that she could have been killed last night. He never would have seen her smile again or hear her make a snarky remark about one of the exes.
Then he realized that he would have done anything, given up everything for just one more day with her.
He loved her.
It was deep and true, now that he knew what it was he was feeling. All of the other emotions, the other concerns just faded away in comparison.
Now he understood why his mother stayed on Oracle Island and endured the distrust and stares. For his father, Andre, and then for him after his father died.
He’d do the same thing for Cass.
Even put up with her crazy Aunt Sophie.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss against her cool lips. “Wake up, baby. Show me those pretty brown eyes.”
Cass sighed softly and her eyes fluttered open. She coughed twice and then groaned, curling away from him and cradling her chest. “Dar?” she mumbled in a rusty voice.
“I’m here, baby. Do you need a doctor?” He pulled her carefully into his lap, mindful that her tail didn’t get kinked under her.
She shook her head. “I couldn’t stop him. Hit me with some kind of weapon and knocked me out,” she whispered, still sounding groggy. She tried to crawl out of his lap.
He tightened his hold until she stilled again. “It looks like you put up a hell of a fight.” The living room looked like a war zone.
“No, I barely got started before he took me out,” she replied, sounding stronger all the time.
He checked her chest again. The red burn was fading quickly. He pressed his mouth against her temple. “Jesus, baby, you scared me. I thought I’d lost you when I saw you like that.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “You came back,” she said in a wondering tone.
He flushed. “Yeah, well, I just needed some time to think.” He paused for a moment. “And, I called my mom. She chewed my ass.”
Cass giggled weakly. “I called my dad.”
He had to gri
n at that admission. “Maybe we should introduce them,” he suggested impishly.
“God, no! They’d gang up on us.” Cass sat up and looked around the room. “What a mess. It doesn’t look like he took anything, though. I got my ass handed to me by Sir Hiss. My family is never going to let me live this down.”
She climbed out of his lap, and he put a hand on her hip to steady her as he stood as well. Looping a supporting arm around her waist, he walked slowly with her as she inspected the carnage.
After half an hour of searching, she sat down on the couch and stared at the wreckage of her hamster cage. “He stole my cat. And my hamsters.” She sniffled. “Why did he take my babies?” she wailed. “Is he gonna eat them?”
Dar grimaced. That’s disgusting, he thought to himself, but wisely didn’t say it out loud. He had a hunch she would hit him. “I don’t know, babe,” he said instead. He had to agree with her assessment, though. The only things that appeared to be missing were the animals. “So, uh, why do you call him Sir Hiss?”
Cass sighed and rested her head tiredly against the back of the couch. “Because I thought he was like me. A shifter, but now I’m not so sure. His weapon wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before and he was quite a bit faster than me.” She slid him a sidelong look. “I’m one of the fastest animals in my family.”
It was the first time she had brought up the subject of her abilities.
Dar cleared his throat. “So, uh, you’re a mongoose.” She had gotten rid of the fur and animal parts as soon as she had started walking around. He kinda liked them though. Maybe Cass would… He squashed that thought. Time and place, Dar.
“Yes,” she replied warily.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” she repeated.
“Yeah. Okay. As in I’m okay with it, and anytime you want to eat my snake you’re welcome to do so.” He followed up that outrageous statement with a winsome smile.
Cass gaped at him for a moment before grabbing a pillow and flogging him unmercifully with it.
Dar laughed as he dodged the blows and finally yanked the pillow out of her hands and tossed it to the floor. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her softly. “Don’t scare me like that again. My heart can’t take it.”
Over the Wall Page 10
