by C. D. Gorri
Tate ignored the pounding of Cat’s heart in her chest as he extended his arm and led her across the pavement. He refused to note the sparkle in her eyes, the breathy laughter that escaped her parted lips, and her overall excitement that smelled to him like orange zest and rose petals.
The flash of a camera surprised him as they walked through the decorated gym doors and he nearly growled out loud. Cat’s hand on his arm was the only thing that stopped him.
Her hand was warm through the sleeve of his tux. It felt good there. Too good. He looked down at Cat and she smiled at him. A dazzling bright smile. Oh damn! This was not going to be easy.
Later that night.
The bonfire roared around them and Cat felt as if her feet hadn’t touched the ground all night long. This was the best night of her young life.
For the first time ever she felt feminine, beautiful, and free, truly free. Tate had whirled her and twirled her all around the dance floor until she gasped for air. Just like a dream! A wonderful, fantastic dream. And she didn’t want it to end.
They got invited to go down to the beach with some of her classmates for an after prom party. And Cat had jumped at the chance. Anything to make the night last.
She didn’t notice the chilly night air or the clouds that had gathered. All she noticed was the man next to her and how he made her feel. As if her heart was singing inside of her chest.
Tate danced with her and only her all night. He held her in his arms. He smiled and laughed at her jokes. He made her feel special in every way possible.
To her mild annoyance, he was very, very respectful. His hands never wandered. Not an inch. No matter how desperately she wanted them to. Still, she had a wonderful time.
He was gorgeous to look at, intelligent to talk to, and oh, that smile. Her heart skipped a beat every time she saw that dimple winking at her on his right cheek. And the way everyone had stared at him when they walked in!
Cat had to work overtime to keep in control. She almost snapped at one or two of the girls who had brazenly strutted up to him and asked him to dance. But there was no need.
One look from his black eyes had sent them running. He could be cruel she realized, but that was okay as long as it wasn’t directed at her.
To her, Tate had been kind, funny, and courteous all night. A little too courteous, but she had a plan to change that. Finding her courage, she decided there was no time like the present.
She pulled him by the hand until he stood up and wiped the sand from his very nice backside. He took a swig of the warm beer someone had handed them and put it back down before raising an eyebrow at her.
“What’s up, Cat?”
“You’ll see,” she laughed and pulled up the hem of her dress, kicking off her shoes as she did so. She raised an eyebrow at him, mimicking his own questioning expression.
“Race ya!,” she yelled and then she was off.
Cat sped alongside the dunes kicking up sand as she ran and jumping over the tall grass that grew there. She could hardly catch her breath. She was so nervous. Anxious maybe.
“What the heck? Cat!,” Tate followed her across the sand and wondered if the half a beer she had went to her head.
He doubted it since most Werewolves had such a fast metabolism that alcohol had little to no affect unless taken in mass quantities.
He didn’t know what she was up to. He just wished he had taken the time to remove his dress shoes before he ran after her. It didn’t matter for long. She had stopped running.
Underneath an old rotting dock, down by the edge of the water. That was where he found her. The waves were loud as they crashed into the nearby rocks and sand and Tate realized they were out of sight of everyone else. He ran a hand through his hair. His chest was heaving and not from the exertion of following her.
“Cat, what are you doing? Watch out! Your dress. It’ll get all wet.”
Cat stopped when they were far enough away from the crowd and the music that they were nothing more than a hum in her sensitive ears. She turned towards Tate, her chest very near to bursting. This was it. This was the where and when. She reached behind her, biting her lower lip as her hands moved.
“Cat? What are you-”
Tate couldn’t finish his thought. He heard the sound of her zipper being lowered and he froze like a deer in headlights.
She wouldn’t, would she? He didn’t have a chance to talk or even to think. A second later, it was too late.
The beautiful blue confection that was Cat’s prom dress fell to the compacted sand in a soft whoosh that sounded much louder to his supernaturally heightened ears.
She stood there before him, barefoot in the sand, in nothing but a pair of white silk panties. The soft moonlight hit her body through the gaps in the wooden slats of the dock revealing all of her perfection in a sensuous play of shadow and light.
Tate gulped loudly. Twice. His eyes drank her in like a man dying of thirst. When he finally spoke his voice cracked like he was still a pup. Green and wet behind the ears. But damn, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“Um, Cat,”
“Tate?”
“You, um, dropped your dress.”
Cat’s heart pounded in her chest like thunder. Louder than the waves even. She knew he could hear it, but she wondered if it sounded like it was going to bust his eardrums the way it did to her?
She had never done anything so forward before. But this was it. She was leaving for college soon and she knew that she wanted this more than anything in the world.
She wanted him more than anything in the world. Since she was just a pup following him and Rafe around. It had always been him.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. She stood there against the rough support beam, frozen in place. She was just about to lose her nerve. Then he stepped forward. His scent filled her nostrils, sea air and pine trees. Tate stood close enough to touch her, but his hands remained stubbornly at his sides.
His eyes though, his beautiful dark eyes seemed to caress every inch of her from the tip of her golden head to her sand covered toes. He leaned forward and Cat exhaled the breath she was holding. She swayed on her feet. The wanting was nearly her undoing.
Their heads were close then. So close that she tasted his breath on the air. It was heady and sweet and Cat had never felt quite like that.
Any memory of stolen kisses with other boys fell far from her mind. This was the one she had waited for her entire life. This was the culmination of every silent wish, every sweet daydream, every yearning ache of her young heart.
Cat’s skin buzzed in response to his strength and energy. It seemed to vibrate in the air. It touched her skin, filled her nostrils, and made her blood sing.
Tate leaned in. His full lips brushed hers in a whisper of a kiss that was so fragile she felt like glass. One wrong move and she would shatter completely.
His lips were so soft, Cat sighed into them. He pressed his body against hers and she clung. Following him wherever he led. Never had anything felt so good.
Her heart thundered inside her chest. Nothing else mattered in that moment. Just them. The entire world seemed to spin out of focus and fall away from her. Tate became her only reality.
He moved his lips to her neck, then her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw his closed in concentration. God, he was beautiful to watch.
His dark head was bent in such a way that she saw the slight movement of his tongue under his sweet lips against her skin. She was so pale against him.
Tate was bronzed and hard, like some ancient Greek warrior statue. But he was alive and warm. So very warm, she shivered and goose bumps broke out along her skin.
But Cat wasn’t cold. This was pure reaction. A sigh escaped her open mouth and her head fell back as she moved into him. Closer, mmm, need to get closer.
Delicious. Tate’s brain was in overdrive. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around what was taking place. This was Cat. Little Cat. But damn, she tasted every bit as deli
cious as he always thought she would.
Fresh and clean, sultry sweet with a hint of salt. Her skin was all smooth pink and gold. She was flushed in the moonlight. Ready and willing and too sweet to resist. This is Cat.
Tate trembled as he reached out with his work callused hands. He couldn’t help himself, it was as if he needed to touch her. To posses her. Mine, his Wolf growled in his mind’s eye.
He brushed his finger tips over the tender slopes of her breasts. God, she was so damned soft. Cat purred as he stroked his hand back and forth across her hardened peak. He bit back his own moan as he leaned down and kissed her.
Honey, she was honey in his mouth. His tongue snaked around her soft skin, licking, nipping, kissing her soft flesh. He knew he was getting in over his head when she grabbed at his long hair and pulled him closer.
It took all his strength to draw back from her sweet body. The hazy look in her ice blue eyes made him want her so damn bad. He knew he could never stop if he did what she wanted him to. Her body language, heck, even her scent was begging him to finish what they had started. And if he was honest with himself, he should acknowledge that he wanted her like mad.
Cat dropped her hands to her sides. She didn’t know what to do, what she was allowed to do. She had never been kissed like that before and she knew right then that the boys she had tried a kiss or two with had absolutely nothing on the man in front of her.
The world spun around and around when his mouth was on hers. She felt dizzy, alive, insane and so very good that she never wanted him to stop. She smiled and lifted her hands to his face. Serious, he was so serious.
Cat pulled him down to her mouth and they kissed again. This time he lifted his lips and ran them down her neck and shoulder, then down again to her aching breasts. Her nipples tightened and she purred again, wanting more, wanting him. She hardly noticed the sound of her dress being pulled back up over her body.
Tate raised his head just as Cat’s eyes flew open. He was dressing her?! Her cheeks burned with humiliation. She felt a tear pour down her cheeks, and she bit back a sob. She would not cry!
She felt as though her heart had been ripped open, but she would not cry. That she promised herself. She grabbed the dress from him and tried to pull away, but his arms were like iron.
“Cat we need to talk. Don’t run.”
“Talk? About what? I just offered myself to you and you rejected me. What’s to talk about?”
“It’s not that easy, Cat, come on, look at me.”
Despite her best efforts, another tear spilled down her face. She shook her head as a nervous laugh escaped her lips. Would the shame ever go away? Why wouldn’t he just let her leave?
She struggled against him, but Tate refused to let her go. She managed to wipe her cheeks and shake her head as she yanked the zipper closed. Heat burning her cheeks so hot she must look like a beacon in the night! No matter which way she moved his iron grip held her squarely in front of him.
She threw herself at him. Like a slut. Like her father had said she would. Zev often called her an “easy mark”, he said she would be just like her mother. Those words cut her, but never so much as now. Because maybe he was right.
“Look, Cat, I know you have a crush on me, but I didn’t know-”
“Crush? You think this is some little crush? Tate, is that true?,” hope sparked in her chest. If she could only make him see, it would all be okay.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Cat, it’s okay.”
“No, you see, it’s not. I don’t have a crush on you. I love you! I always have, Tate. And you have to feel something for me too! I mean, you asked me to prom, you never even looked at me before, but you asked me so I know you feel something too-”
Tate just couldn’t listen to this. Confessions of love from his best friend’s baby sister? No way. No how. He knew what he had to do. She would hate him for it, but it was for the best. For both of them.
“Cat! Come on! Stop lying to yourself! I’m only here because Rafe asked me to take you! I didn’t want to go to your prom, I mean, do you think I’d need some high school girl to go out with? Come on, Cat, think! Years of watching us in those woods and you really believe I want this? I mean look at you, hardly more than a kid in dress up for God’s sake!”
“Go to hell!”
The slap surprised her as much as it did him. Her hand stung with the force of it as she ran back to the bonfire. She was careful to slow down before her supernatural speed was noticed by anyone.
She caught up with a group of girls she had English class with. They were heading out and offered her a ride. Cat readily accepted. There was no way she wanted to drive back with her date! Heck, she never wanted to see Tate Nighthawk ever again!
Tate stood there helpless as she stormed off towards the bonfire. He figured he’d just take her home, but she was gone before he made it back. He could feel his cheek swell and imagined the angry red mark that still stung. She packed one heck of a punch for a female, his face was on fire and it was minutes later. He figured he deserved it.
He had never felt so low, but it was better to be cruel now than to let her carry on. At least that was what he thought. He’d talk to her again when she calmed down. He’d explain about why he could never have anything to do with someone as pure and good as Cat. Tate was bad news. She’d see it was for the best.
“Damn it!”
Only he never got the chance to explain. Cat skipped out on her graduation ceremony. She left home days later to begin her classes at her college. She was enrolled in the all female St. Elizabeth’s College at Convent Station, New Jersey.
Zev thought his daughter was being industrious and Rafe, well, he had asked Tate only once if anything had happened between him and his sister.
Lying was futile for Werewolves and since Rafe would one day be Tate’s Alpha he figured keeping secrets would be unwise. Tate sighed heavily and sat down one day the following week.
He told Rafe what had transpired between him and Cat the night of her prom. He managed to leave out some of the more personal details. That was one discussion that he wished he could have avoided.
Afterwards Tate felt vindicated, angry, and saddened because Rafe agreed with him. He was not good enough for the younger sister of the heir to the Macconwood Pack.
Not good enough. Never good enough. It didn’t matter anyway.
Cat was gone.
CHAPTER 1
Present day.
Cat panted as she chased the perp down the slippery sidewalk of downtown Main Street in Maccon City. He zigzagged between parked cars and even managed to upend a trash can, but Cat was fast. Really fast.
Stupid friggin’ kid! Did he think she would just give up?
She blew back the strands of hair that came undone from her French braid as she ran. She hated complicated hairstyles. But it was the only way to hold back the blonde waves that she kept at shoulder length. She guessed she was sentimental about it, but hey, it was her hair. She’d cut it when she wanted to and not a minute before!
“Oh, come on!”
The kid decided to take off down a dark alley. Just great! Cat’s partner was lagging further and further behind. Heck, she had no choice. She couldn’t wait for him! Cat gritted her teeth. She had been told by her boss that she was not supposed to engage with a perp unless she had the proper back-up.
One glance at her partner and she knew the kid would get away if she waited one more minute to chase him. Cat had no choice. She took off after him, her lips curled into a predatory grin. The chase was the best part of her job and she wouldn’t even break a sweat.
“Hey girlie, where ya goin’? Wait up, will ya!”
She shook her head as Carl wheezed behind her. He should probably consider hitting the gym a little more and the donuts a little less. She should try to find a gentle way to bring that up next time they had a moment.
Not to mention the fact that he needed to be corrected about using outdated and inappropriate nicknames for her. Girlie.
Doll. Sweet cheeks. Was he serious?
She was jogged from her musings when the scent of gun metal reached her sensitive nostrils. Cat exhaled sharply. She listened as Carl clumsily withdraw his gun from his hip holster and then started after them again.
Damn it! She shook her head. There was no need for guns. The kid wasn’t armed. He was angry, scared, and judging from his crime, hungry.
The alley curved into a dead end behind an old empty warehouse and Cat slowed her pace. She held up her right hand so her partner would see she had spotted him. Though “spotted him” was a loose term.
Her acute hearing had actually picked up on the erratic beating of the kid’s heart. He was petrified. And he was muttering something under his breath. She focused on what he was saying. Hmm. It sounded like he was praying.
“Hey look, just come on out, nice and easy. There’s nowhere for you to go. Listen up, you got caught, it’s not the end of the world, just come out slowly, with your hands where I can see them,” Cat tried reasoning with the boy.
He couldn’t be more than seventeen years old. A street kid, from the looks and smell of him. He probably hopped the bus to the shore looking for easy pickings. But he was out of luck.
It was way too early for vacationers. Still the dead of winter and a cold one at that. Most of the retail stores and restaurants were closed until spring.
She couldn’t imagine how desperate he’d have to be to try and rob the local Qwik-E-Mart. The owner, Mr. Taggert, had the place wired with top of the line security cameras linked directly to his cellular phone. He even posted a sign warning would be criminals.
He saw the whole thing play out while he was in the men’s room. He dialed 911 before the kid even made it out of the front door.
Mr. Taggert estimated about twenty dollars in goods were taken along with the cash. The kid had filled every pocket he had with beef jerky, soda cans, a couple of bags of peanuts, and candy bars.
Cat waved Carl further back, his heavy breathing was interfering with her ability to hear the perp’s heartbeat. And she could tell a lot from a person’s heartbeat.
A good Werewolf could tell a person’s emotions and state of mind from sight, sound, and scent. Cat was a good Werewolf. And a good cop.
