Here, Kitty Kitty (Shadowcat Nation)

by A. Star

  The evening ended with another kiss that made her veins boil before going to their own rooms to sleep.

  Living by her instincts for most of her life, she trusted them now when she felt no reluctance for the speed at which tomorrow’s event would come. It felt right, and she was going to go with that feeling. It would keep her alive, she knew, and now it seemed like it would make her happy as well.

  Until, that is, she checked her email.

  Natasha made it as far as Romania, but she was found.

  Irina felt the heat from the kiss fade away, and fast. Natasha had gotten out of the country and they still hunted her? These were tenacious, cruel people. She didn’t even know anything about them, except they were obviously well connected and well funded. And there had to be some “in” into the underground lines of communication the preternatural kept between each other.

  Her only comfort—such as it was—was that Romania was not so far from Russia, while the United States was considerable. She would be okay here. With a marriage license, she could change her name. As long as they couldn’t get into immigration records... On that, she’d just have to hope.

  It took her a long time to fall asleep that night.

  In the morning, she managed to pull herself together and not think about Russia, Romania, or Natasha. She couldn’t afford to. If she let on that something was wrong, Gareth would want to know what and she couldn’t tell him. Because to let him know that would mean telling him the rest, and she didn’t imagine he’d ever believe her.

  Given it was an early enough hour, she dressed casually and made her way down the hall to Gareth’s bedroom. The man who would be marrying them here on Gareth’s estate would be coming in the late afternoon, so they had the morning. Irina was not superstitious or even religious (she was, after all, an abomination to your average follower of the church) so she had no qualms about knocking on the door of her intended the morning of the ceremony.

  From within, she heard Bobby call, “Enter!” Gareth’s sharp admonishment of, “Bobby!” followed shortly thereafter, but Irina smiled and walked in.

  Gareth was twitching his shoulders in a way, she’d noticed the day before, he did after just getting into the chair. He had on pants and a button down shirt, but his tie hung undone around his neck and his feet were bare.

  “I am sorry to intrude,” she said with a faint smile.

  “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride to be seen the morning of the wedding?” Bobby teased.

  She chuckled. “I think we are in special circumstance, don’t you?” The assistant grinned, but Gareth was frowning. “Bobby, could you excuse us?”

  He paused, looking between them. “Well, I was gonna help with Gareth’s shoes and socks...”

  “I can do this,” she said. “Please?”

  Bobby looked at Gareth, who seemed less than thrilled with the idea, but he took Irina’s side and left, in a bit of a hurry to avoid his boss’ gaze. Irina walked over to where he sat, taking the socks and shoes from the bed and kneeling before his immobile lower limbs, beginning the process. “You look unhappy to see me. You are not worried it is bad luck, are you?” she asked, head tilted.

  He shook his head. “No, and I’m not unhappy to see you,” he admitted, although still seemed...reluctant somehow. “It’s just, well, this isn’t exactly my best side.”

  Irina’s brows knit again as she tried to decipher what he meant, but then it dawned on her as she pulled a pant leg down over his sock. “If I am to be your wife, this is not a side to hide from me, yes?” Pulling on the second sock, she looked down. “If we’re not careful, you may well tear open my leg with these claws here.” Lifting her eyes to gaze at him through her lashes, he stared at her for a moment. The question in his eyes was clear, wondering if she realized the implications of what she said: the implication of intimacy.

  Her smile, she hoped, showed that she knew.

  With his shoes done next, he seemed to snap out of his fugue and began tying his tie but she had him out of sorts now—much to her amusement—and his fingers tangled in the fabric. She leaned up, still on her knees, bringing her closer to him, and put her hands over his to still them and take over their efforts. As their skin touched, that comfort and warmth filled her again. Anxieties still threading through her mind were quieted.

  Distracted as she was by his gaze and what passed within it, she almost tangled his tie up as badly as he had, but she caught herself and righted it. Then she smoothed it down, her hand touching his chest and lingering there for a moment. “There,” she said quietly. “At least you are presentable.”

  He began to say something, then cleared his throat when nothing came out. “You should get ready,” he finally managed.

  “Trying to get rid of me so soon?” she teased.

  “No,” he said dryly, but she just smiled. “I have some things to take care of before the justice of the peace arrives.”

  A brow cocked. “You are working? This morning?”

  His frown looked initially annoyed, but then a little abashed under her intent gaze. If he thought his annoyance would move her from any opinion, he had misjudged her and was going to be sorely disappointed. “A few things that couldn’t be rearranged,” he explained, “because I hadn’t been planning to get married today.”

  “Fine,” she relented. “I will leave you to it.” She leaned forward and kissed him again, enjoying the flash of heat and the feeling of...rightness that came with it. Smiling, feeling almost a little dizzy, she got to her feet and returned to her room.

  “So, my telling you again that you’re a lunatic will probably have the same effect it did last time, right?”

  Gareth frowned at Cade, wondering what his problem was now. After all, it wasn’t like a wedding was any surprise. “I thought you liked her,” he said before checking his tie self-consciously in the mirror. Just looking at it made him think about how it had felt when she leaned towards him to fix it, the way it felt like something that had been missing wasn’t missing anymore...

  Cade sighed. “I do,” he said. “She’s a lovely girl, and obviously very bright and funny and all those wonderful things. I’m not disputing that, but don’t you think you should give it a little more time before actually cementing things? You’ve got three months from the legal perspective. Don’t you think it would be the smart thing to do to take some of that time to be sure of your decision?”

  “Smart, I’m sure it would be,” Gareth said, turning away from the mirror to face his long-time best friend. “But she doesn’t make me want to play it smart. What will change by more time in person than from the time we’ve already spent talking?”

  “You did manage to keep a pretty big secret from her in that time,” Cade just had to go and point out, making Gareth wince. “What if she’s got one too?”

  Gareth sighed. “Have you had any inkling that she is?”

  “No.”

  “Then shut up.” Gareth huffed. “She’s here and makes me feel things that no one ever has, even Marianne.”

  Mention of Gareth’s once-upon-a-time-fiancée brought Cade up short. It was written all over his face, and Gareth understood why. He never spoke of her. It was too sharp a wound, even all this time later. He’d been head over heels for her in college and ready to marry her as soon as they graduated, but after she’d dumped him after the accident... He didn’t think he’d ever feel those things again. Didn’t think he could love someone like that again, but what he was feeling around Irina blew that out of the water. If he’d been ready to wed Marianne for what he felt back in college, then he was ready to do so again and a lot quicker.

  Truth was, he’d known it before she’d flown over. His reaction to her physical proximity, both emotionally and physically, just sealed it. It had scared him at first with its intensity, but now he felt it like a quiet need deep inside.

  He couldn’t risk something taking her away from him, especially not something as fickle as the government and INS.

  “You’re
sure about this?” Cade asked, his dark face somber. He’d always looked out for Gareth, after all. In school, he’d watched his blind side when Gareth was quarterback, and after, he’d taken an almost brotherly responsibility for his wounded friend. Later in business... Well, the list went on.

  “Cade, there’s no one’s opinion in the world I trust as much as yours, but for my gut and my gut is saying to go for it, and now.” He sighed. “If I’d listened to my instincts ten years ago, I wouldn’t have gotten in that car and I’d still be walking.”

  The lawyer’s face narrowed as Gareth hit his second we-don’t-talk-about-it topic in just a few minutes. It had to show his friend how serious he was about this. And apparently it did, because Cade’s broad shoulders sagged with a sigh as he held his hands up. “I concede,” he said. “So where’s your maid of honor, we should go get you married.”

  Bobby walked in like he’d been summoned, sporting a sedate suit with a colorful flower in the lapel and a grimace for Cade. “I heard that,” he tossed in the lawyer’s direction as he went to pin a similar flower on Gareth. “Just for that, you don’t get anything nice for your lapel.”

  “Aren’t we pissy today,” Cade murmured.

  “Children, do we have to do this now?” Gareth chastised.

  Bobby stopped whatever retort had been threatening on his lips and then smiled at Gareth. “I just want things to go well. It might be a small affair, but it deserves to be a nice one,” he said, casting one more derisive look at Cade. “Everything is ready. Just waiting on you now, boss.”

  “Boss, huh?” Gareth smirked. “Bucking for a raise?”

  “It’s your wedding night.”

  It took Gareth a moment to get that and when he did, he almost blushed, which was embarrassing in its own right. Instead, he didn’t reply and gave the smirking faces of the other two an admonishing look before wheeling his way out of the room.

  There wasn’t far to go, but it was enough to get away from the snickering behind him.

  In the library, which had the best floor space for this sort of thing, there was only the justice of the peace, a kindly older gentleman that Gareth greeted with a polite smile and shake of the hand before settling into his spot, Bobby and Cade just behind him.

  A few minutes later, Sandra walked in. She hadn’t been in Gareth’s employ as long as Bobby, but long enough to be grinning like a cat as she walked in and Irina came in right behind her.

  The room got hot and close. Despite having felt that several times now, he wasn’t used to it yet. Didn’t know that he ever would be. Didn’t know that he ever wanted to be. Her long frame was drawn out in the elegantly simple dress. She bore no flowers and had just a basic upsweep of her pale blonde hair, yet she was radiant. She walked in, fair skin rosy, and smiled at him. He nearly melted out of his chair.

  “Friends,” the justice began as Irina took her place beside him, “we gather today...”

  Their lips were still pressed together, electricity crackling between them so loudly that Irina couldn’t believe the others didn’t feel it, as the justice pronounced them husband and wife.

  She was married. The thought managed to weave its way through her otherwise occupied thoughts as she forced herself to pull away and straighten. Gareth smiled and his sternly angular features just lit up with the expression, and she subconsciously vowed to do everything possible to make him smile as often as she could.

  Finally remembering there was a world outside, she looked around to see smiling faces, even Cade, and lots of shaking of hands.

  The whole group adjourned to the dining room where a catered meal had been laid out, waiting to be devoured. Everyone had as much interest in talking as eating and it was a while before the food was whittled away.

  “So, Mrs. Kendrick,” Bobby said with a grin, “when can we start redecorating the house? It’s just dreadful, isn’t it? I really think that we could do with a much needed update to all this darkness and grim decoration.”

  “Hey,” Gareth snapped, though not too harshly, “I happen to like it.”

  Bobby rolled his eyes. “You would. It’s dark and dour.”

  Irina ignored their adolescent exchange, seeing the familiarity and fondness in it, and laughed lightly. “I think I will finish settling in before I worry on how it looks,” she said. “And then I will do nothing that my husband does not consent to. After all, we both live here now, yes?”

  “Oh, you’re not going to be any fun,” Bobby said, but without rancor. Irina wondered if he was actually capable of the emotion.

  “See?” Gareth said, wrapping his hand around hers. “She’s on my side.”

  Bobby snorted. Everyone else laughed.

  Before she knew it, time had passed and evening had come. It was dark outside once everyone left. Sandra didn’t live on premises and returned home to her young daughter, and Cade went home to whatever he had waiting on him. Bobby lived in, but excused himself once everyone else had and the newlywed couple was left on their own.

  What followed was a strangely not-awkward silence as they left the dining room and made their way to Gareth’s room, which she realized would be their room.

  She shut the door behind them, turning and leaning back against it as he wheeled around to face her. Their eyes met but neither moved for a long moment, just soaking in the powerful connection that happened every time they looked one another in the eye. She felt her tiger purring just beneath her skin, wanting to press her flesh to his and feel that next connection. To inhale his scent until there was nothing else, so she could feel that warmth and affection.

  Silently, she came forward and knelt in front of his chair, leaning up to kiss him. It started softly enough but enflamed in just moments until they were all but devouring each other, fingers tangling in hair and gripped scalps so that neither could get away as they plundered the feeling between them.

  After several moments, she tore away, gasping for breath. Chest heaving in her pretty dress, she kept their eye lock as she undid his tie and tossed it away, tearing open his shirt with a popping and flying of buttons. Her palms touched the skin of his chest, covered in a scattering of coarse hair, but it was the skin she wanted. She soaked the feeling in, like there was a new channel open now between them.

  “I suppose,” she began, breathlessly, “I should’ve asked sooner, but...” Her smile was equal parts sheepish and wanton. “Can you...” The sentence didn’t need to be finished.

  He smiled ruefully, stroking her jaw line with the pad of his thumb in a way that made her close her eyes and whimper softly. “I can, with some...help, which Bobby was optimistic enough to arrange for me.”

  Irina’s eyes flashed open and she grinned like the cat who got the canary. “Remind me to thank him,” she breathed before surging into him again, breasts pressing against his chest while her mouth again locked onto his. Desperate to revel in the heat.

  The next time they broke apart, it was him that did it. “Irina,” he groaned as she ran her hands from his neck to his chest and back again. “It’s not going to be like...with other men.”

  Still gasping for air, she smiled. “It’s all right,” she said sincerely and then led the way to the bed.

  Gareth was awake before Irina the following morning, and long before he actually needed to get up, but he didn’t mind. He felt better than he had in a very long time. He smiled down at the tangle of blond hair across his chest, thinking about the night before...and he grinned, amazed by the woman asleep beside him.

  After his injury and after Marianne had ditched him, he didn’t think it’d ever be like it had been. Not that he’d been celibate for a decade, but close to it. It was just never the same, but last night?

  Oh, last night, it had been better. He could hardly believe it and found himself waiting to wake up a second time, alone in his bed, with all this having been a dream. But it wasn’t. She was here, and it was...almost too good to be true, but he refused to let that thought linger too long.

  Idly, he
found his gaze drifting to the floor where his underwear lay. She had actually torn the cotton in her haste to get it off. Quite a woman.

  As if his thoughts had wakened him, she moaned softly and lifted her head. Her gaze apparently followed his as she rested her chin on his chest. “Sorry about that,” she said, her accent thicker than usual in her sleepy haze.

  “No, you’re not,” he teased, lifting her face and leaning forward enough to kiss her.

  She smiled and her face lit up with light and affection.

  If she made him feel any more, he was going to have a stroke.

  “Do you have to work today?” she asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” he admitted. “There are a series of meetings that I have had scheduled for months and I can’t rearrange them. I would if I could.”

  She nodded and pressed her cheek against his skin. “It is alright,” she said. “I will make do for the day.”

  He stroked her hair gratefully and they lay like that for a while until he finally said he couldn’t linger any longer. Calmly, she climbed out of bed and started to help him with the difficult parts of his morning, just as Bobby would, without complaint or even question. She did it completely naked too, which was probably what kept him from being embarrassed. Who could think about embarrassment with bare breasts swaying before him?

  They went down to breakfast together and she wore his robe, not caring who saw or who wondered. He had to admire her confidence. Bobby set food on the table, grinning like an idiot, but an idiot with wisdom enough to keep thoughts otherwise to himself.

  Gareth had said his work would keep him late, because it was calls across time zones, so that meant she had a window of time.

  From the guest room, which she figured would only be “hers” for a little while longer, she looked into the hallway. Seeing there wasn’t anyone around, she slipped back inside and locked the door.

  It was dark and the moon was rising, making her skin itch. It was the full moon and it called to her. The song of the lunar siren beckoned the tiger, who had been kept at bay far too long now. She stripped out of her clothes and left them on the edge of the bed, opening the window and removing the screen before willing the change upon her.