Nathan began to purr involuntarily. Oh no you don’t, he threatened his inner animal. Don’t you go taking over again! He concentrated his thoughts on how frightened Sofia must be and channeled his energy to comforting her. He sighed with relief when the itch to shift went away and his desire remained on the edge of barely checked.
He looked directly into her brown eyes once she fully opened them. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
She stared at him, shaking her head and shrugging. “I’ve been better. Was I… Did I really just turn into a big-ass cat?”
“Yes,” he laughed and nodded. “You did.”
“So you’re telling me I’m, like, a what now—a Werewolf? A Werecat? Did I get bitten?”
Nathan wiped his smile and shook his head. “No. It doesn’t work like that with us.” He contemplated explaining further but he imagined it’d be a lot for someone to take in all at once. Especially someone as refined as her. He cleared his throat and pointed at the tray he’d brought in. “There’s a sandwich, fruit and water here on the table for you. May not be the most glamorous meal for a queen, but I had no idea when you’d be able to eat so I got something that could sit a bit.”
She shifted and looked uncomfortable. “What the hell is going on? What am I doing here?”
“You were attacked while you were jogging near the camp where you and I were to meet.”
“Yes. A leopard attacked me.”
“Right, and I stopped him.”
“No, a mountain lion attacked the leopard, and that’s what stopped it from killing me.”
Nathan bowed his head as if introducing himself. “Yes, that was me, shifted. Justin Finland is the name of the one who pounced on you and tore your clothes. He’s a bit of a hothead and a lot of an asshole but he wasn’t exactly trying to kill you.”
She blinked a few times. “The mountain lion was—you? Who… Who or what the hell are you, really?” She moved from his lap and grabbed the blanket off the floor and wrapped it around herself then stood up and headed toward the wardrobe. “What are all of you? What is all of this?”
He chuckled a little. “I really am Nathan Dawson, a sales manager at DodgeTech. All of us here are shape-shifters, from all over the country, even a couple of international folks. We Werecats can take on the form of a human and one of the big cats, like a cougar, lion or tiger. We’re all part of the Pride, which is sort of like a fraternity in some ways. We meet up once a quarter in different places around the country. Someplace private, where we can be ourselves.”
“So the one that attacked me, that you call Justin, he’s here also?”
“Yes.”
“I see.” She frowned at her clothes and back at him. “Why did you strip me? He didn’t tear up everything I had on completely.”
“Anything left on you would only have been uncomfortable for you when you shifted. And also probably would have gotten further ripped as your body changed form.”
She opened the wardrobe and stared inside at what she recognized as her purse and suitcase. “Where are we?”
“In a hidden cave on Mount Diablo.”
“Why am I here? And if this is my suitcase in here with my purse, how did it get here?”
“You’re here because between hitting your head and your newfound condition, you needed someplace safe to rest.” He got up and moved toward Sofia. “I found your hotel key in your purse. Went there, grabbed your things. I took the liberty of checking you out of your room so you don’t have to worry about—”
“You did what?” She frowned and swung around. The blanket slipped down a bit to reveal the bouncing of her breasts with the movement. “If you could take the time to go through my stuff, find out where I was staying and go all the way to my hotel, why didn’t you just take me and leave me there?”
He had to put forth effort to keep his focus on her face. “You’ve been unconscious for over thirteen hours now.”
“Thirteen hours?” Her brows rose and she twisted her mouth. “Why didn’t you take me to a doctor?”
“One of the members here is Dr. Cassandra Kennedy. She took good care of you.”
“I could have had good care at a hospital, too.”
“You’re safer here.”
“How in the hell am I safe hidden in here with a bunch of crazy cat people?”
“No one here’s going to harm you. I wouldn’t let them.”
“I’m already harmed, in more ways than one!” She shook her head and rolled her eyes, throwing up her palms.
He put his hands up and patted the air. “Don’t get all worked up now, Sofia. You need to relax for a bit, and eat something. Let’s talk so I can help you understand.”
“I’m not sure I want any more of your help,” she spat. “You’ve even infected me with whatever it is you have that turned meinto one of you cat-shifting-things.”
He took a deep breath, licked his lips. “We didn’t do this to you, Sofia.” He spoke slowly, carefully, knowing this might be a hard truth for her to accept or to even understand. For a long time, he hadn’t understood it about himself either. “You were already like us, long before you ever met me. And just like the rest of us, it’s highly probable you were born a Werecat.”
Chapter Five
Sofia snorted, grabbed her suitcase and attempted to pull it out of the wardrobe. It took some work—every muscle in her body ached, as if she just finished mountain climbing with her bare hands. “Born? I’ve never in my life experienced anything like that before yesterday.”
“Let me get that for you,” Nathan said. He reached into the wardrobe, grabbed her purse and suitcase and carried them to where she’d been sitting. “You’re what we call a Late Bloomer. Most of us learn we’re shifters right around puberty when we accidentally shift for the first time. I was fourteen. ‘Wet dreams’ took on a whole new level of complexity and embarrassment, let me tell you.” He laughed and as she imagined what that might be like, she couldn’t help wanting to chuckle as well. But she had some serious questions.
“Yeah, well I’m thirty-three years old, and I went through a pretty normal puberty quite some time ago. Why is this just now happening to me?”
“It’s hard to say for sure, since we’ve encountered so few Late Bloomers, but the going story seems to hold true for you. Being subjected to the pheromones of other shifters at the same time you are in heat triggers it. Now the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak.”
She quirked one brow up high. “In heat?”
“You know what I mean—ready to mate. Horny.” He grinned. “You’re especially horny.”
She scoffed at his presumptuousness. “Maybe on the plane I was especially turned on, but right now I’m—”
“Still ovulating,” he interrupted her with an odd smile on his face. “And still just as attracted to me as I am to you.”
“And you know this because?”
“I can smell your pheromones.”
Sofia turned away, her cheeks burning hot, and went to sit next to her bag. All of this would certainly explain a lot. Even her animal-like magnetism to him on the plane. When she pushed aside her embarrassment and allowed herself to examine her newly enhanced senses, she could smell that his pheromones were also on high. He was horny. Just as horny as the others out there fornicating with each other.
“Is this why you guys meet up once a quarter? To have one big monster-cat orgy?” She unzipped her suitcase and dug through it, grabbing underwear and clothes.
He chuckled and moved to sit next to her again. “In a way yes, but it’s more than that. The purpose of the retreat is to spend time with our kind, free to be who we are, to run wild with nature. The nightly Mating Ritual is just one aspect of it.”
“And you do this for two weeks every quarter?”
“It’s only two weeks for the second and fourth quarters. For the odd quarters, we only do one week.”
“That’s still, like, six weeks of vacation a year. Where the hell do all of you guys work that you get that
much time off?”
He snickered. “Unlike who you work for, there are companies that believe in a work-life balance. I’m telling you, look up my company, DodgeTech, sometime. I know one of the human resource managers pretty well. I could hook something up for you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said as she shuffled aimlessly through her belongings. It was hard to maintain her focus while she was so aware of him. Of his scent. Of his need. “So why aren’t you out there with them?”
“I went to go get your stuff for you, so you’d be more comfortable here.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a red switchblade that she recognized as hers and dropped it into her bag as he continued. “You woke up earlier than I expected—they said you’d probably sleep through the night. I wanted to be here when you came to, so that you wouldn’t be alone when you shifted for the first time, but apparently I was a little late. I’m sorry.”
Holding the blanket up by her armpits, she picked up a pair of blue lace panties and bent forward, sliding them over her feet and up her legs.
“You might not want to bother with getting dressed,” he said. “The first few transformations are involuntary, until you learn to control it. Would hate to see you ruin more of your clothes.”
“So what am I supposed to do, just hang out around here naked?”
“Only until you master shifting. No one here would care, you know. In case you haven’t noticed, everyone out there is naked right now.”
She glared at him. “I am not about to sit around all day buck-ass naked under a dirty blanket.”
Nathan laughed heartily at this, his eyes gleaming with play. “Okay, the truth is, there’s a dress hanging up in the wardrobe with snaps all the way down on both sides, especially made for transforming in. So the worst you’d have to do is go commando. Unless you’d rather go naked, which would be fine with me.”
She scoffed and dropped her undies back into the bag before heading to the wardrobe again. “I don’t understand. How could this have happened to me? To you? All of you?”
“Nothing happened,so to speak, as far as we know. It’s just who—or what—we are.”
“But why us? What do we have in common?”
“The only thing the majority of us have in common is that we were born under the zodiac sign Leo. But even then, there are some exceptions. Like you, for instance.”
Sofia did the math in her head. She was born two weeks prematurely, on July fourteenth. She was supposed to be born a Leo although she was actually a Cancer. Fascinating.
“And you already knew I was one when we were on the plane?”
He shook his head. “No. I suspected, but I wasn’t completely sure. Even before I, um, touched you, you slightly had the scent. It got stronger after your orgasm, but I’d thought I was imagining it. At the time, you had me rather…distracted.” He licked his lips and Sofia felt a little flutter in her tummy at the mention of their sky-high adventure. “All I knew at that time was that you were beautiful, and that I was instantly drawn to you.”
Growing warm all over, she smiled softly and brushed her hair back. She spotted the brown cotton dress in the closet that he spoke of. It was short-sleeved and would stop above her knees. It wasn’t exactly glamorous and it would be a little chilly if she went outdoors in it, but it would be better than going naked or risking destroying more clothes. She removed it from the hanger. “So why did Justin attack me?”
“I guess by the time you came to the mountain to meet me, you’d already been triggered and you were fully on. In your current state you’re like a living Perfume De Sex for a Tom. Justin got a whiff and somehow got the idea you were intentionally enticing him, and that you liked it rough.”
“A ‘Tom’?”
“It’s just a term for an adult male Werecat who’s ready for sex.”
She smacked her lips. “That’s all it takes for one of you to decide to sleep with someone? You like how they smell?”
Nathan laughed. “Yes, for some of us, some of the time.” He sat upright and locked his eyes dead-on with hers. “But the list of reasons why I want to sleep with you is far longer than that.”
Sofia lowered her gaze from his piercing green eyes and found herself ogling his defined chest. His pectorals were lightly dusted with fine, dark hair, and a narrow trail traced the center of his torso from the top all the way down past his loosely fitting pants. Every fiber of her being wanted to rip off those pants, lose her blanket and crush her breasts against that chest while she straddled him.
But what was she thinking? It was crazy to want him, crazy to be wanting anything sexual right now. He was a freaking Werecat, and apparently she either really was one too or she was being taken for a walk down to looneyville. Either way, it was all insane.
She sighed heavily. Using the open door of the wardrobe for cover, she dropped the blanket and slipped the thin garment over her head. Once she was dressed, she closed the wardrobe and glowered at Nathan. “I did not come here to engage in some strange human-beast orgy in a dark cave, Nathan.”
He drew back and furrowed his brows. “I’m not suggesting you participate. Honestly, I’d rather not see you involved with anyone here who isn’t me.”
“Rather not?”
“Well, as much as I’d like to, I can’t exactly stop you from sexing anyone else if you wanted to. It’s always the female’s choice. If a queen wants multiple lovers, the men are expected to cooperate and share.” But even as he said this, his fists clutched tightly and his eyes narrowed with a carefully restrained rage.
“What’s a ‘queen’?”
“It’s what we call female Werecats who are of fertile age.”
“You seem angry.”
“Sorry, it’s just that… I don’t really like the idea of sharing. I’ve shared before, I mean, but—I’d really rather not with you.”
Sofia leaned against the wall, studying Nathan carefully. “But what if I don’t want to have sex with you?”
He looked hurt. “You want to choose someone else other than me?”
“I mean—what if I choose no one? What if I just want to leave here and go back about my business?”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Sofia, I need you to understand that, please. You don’t even have to stay. You are not a prisoner here. But you are a recently triggered Late Bloomer, and the adventure’s just getting started—you might want someone who knows what you’re going through nearby to guide you right now. And I’d really like you to stay with me.”
Sofia closed her eyes and tilted her head upward as she leaned back against the cold stone wall. Staying with Nathan sounded good. She could get more explanations about what was happening to her, find out what this was all about, get to know him better. Her body and heart were telling her that everything would be okay, that she wasn’t alone with this affliction and there were others who could help her through it. But logically it was all too incredible. It was hard to wrap her mind around the idea that she was suddenly a shape-shifter, that all of them were. Perhaps it’d be wiser to get out of there and head straight for a hospital and ask for a brain scan. She stood there without responding, conflicted about whether to stay or flee.
He interrupted her deliberation. “What are you thinking?”
“That I shouldn’t be even be on this mountain.”
“So why did you come to the mountain?”
She blushed. “For more of you, of course. You piqued my curiosity, and no one’s done that in a long, long time.” Their eyes met briefly and she quickly added, “But I’m not so sure whether or not that is a good idea anymore,” before he got his hopes up too high.
“Why not? Because we’re Weres?”
“Because I still don’t know even one lick about you. Or myself, apparently.”
“Just say the word and I’ll gladly give you licks to get to know. No need to stop at just one, though.”
The way he was looking at her, Sofia believed he would. And she believed she wou
ld enjoy every second of it. There was no denying the chemistry between them. But this just didn’t seem like the right time. She still had so many questions about her newfound condition, about him, about the others. “I’m not quite comfortable with any of this yet. How about for tonight we just sit here and talk, okay?”
“Yeah. Let’s do that,” he said, nodding. “Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to everyone and we’ll get you started on learning the basics.”
Sofia winced. “Can it be just the two of us? Someplace private and, like, not here? I would really prefer not to have anything to do with any of the others just yet.”
His brows furrowed together briefly, but then he gave her a sympathetic smile. “Okay. In the morning we’ll go out and put a little bit of distance between ourselves andthis cave for a few days, just you and me, and work on getting you used to shifting and stuff.” He removed the bracer from his arm and rubbed the skin underneath.
Noticing the feline teeth impressions, Sofia winced. “I’m sorry I bit you.”
He quirked a smile at her. “It’s nothing, just stings a little.”
“Should we call the doctor to take a look at it?”
“Nah, didn’t even break the skin. A superficial wound like this will heal easily the next time I shift to Cat and give it a few licks,” he said. “Come on, sit down and eat. You’ve got to be hungry.”
He sat at the table and patted the ground next to him.
Sofia was absolutely starving. The sight and smell of the tuna sandwich, fruit and glass of water were positively tempting. Letting her stomach call the shots, she sat beside him, shaking slightly.
She took a swallow of the water and a big bite of the sandwich when she noticed Nathan sitting there with his eyes closed tight and brows furrowed, as if concentrating hard. He looked hungry.
“Do you want some?”
He nodded but didn’t open his eyes. “Oh god, yes I do. But not unless you’re willing and ready to give it. You go ahead and eat, get your strength back up first. Don’t worry about me, I can calm myself in the meantime.”
“Calm yourself?”
CatOutoftheBag Page 4
