by E A Price
The snake looked up and hissed at her.
“Let go of him, snake!” shouted a voice behind her.
She spun to see a tall, thin man aiming a gun at Marcus.
“Don’t hurt him!” shrieked Ling putting herself in front of the gun.
Marcus roared as he shifted and let go of Brent, allowing his limp body to drop to the ground. Marcus pulled Ling behind him and snarled at the wavering human aiming the gun.
“Randy,” wheezed Brent, “it’s fine, it’s just a misunderstanding.”
The man called Randy flicked his eyes to Brent. “Are you sure?”
“He’s my date’s boyfriend,” explained Brent croakily.
“Well, that explains everything!” said Randy in exasperation. He dropped the gun and fell to the ground to check on Brent.
Marcus spun and placed his hands on Ling’s shoulders. “What are you doing here?” he demanded through gritted teeth.
“It was a blind date my mother…”
He growled, “I turn my back for two seconds and you…”
Ling silenced him with a kiss; he tried to resist and be angry, but he couldn’t. He defied any man not to melt on the spot from a kiss like that, not that he’d allow any other man a chance to test out her kisses…
She drew back and beamed as her panda yipped. “I take it you forgive me.”
He tangled his fingers in her hair. “Yes, I do, and I’m sorry I reacted that way.” His beast finally settled now that he had her back in his arms.
“It’s fine, I don’t blame you and I won’t lie to you again. But I promise, nothing happened with Myron and no way in hell was anything going to happen on this date. Nothing. At. All. I’m only here to please my mother, and most of the time I was just talking about you anyway.”
Marcus pulled her flush against his naked body. “It’s okay, I trust you.” Or at least he was trying his best to get to that place.
He’d been over and over what happened since the moment he left her earlier. He thought about what she said, and she was right; outside the motel room they hadn’t been embracing, they’d been struggling. He’d just assumed the worst. He hated himself for assuming the worst of her, but maybe, in time, he would be a better man.
He’d spent an hour watching her tracking dot on his laptop, and when he saw it move, he couldn’t help but follow. He’d watched the pair of them and listened with relief as Brent admitted he was gay. He heard Ling recite what had happened with Myron and Marcus knew he had overreacted. He had thought to leave it there and go home, with the plan that he would visit Ling in the morning, but the damn human went too far and actually put his hands on Ling. The second it happened, Marcus saw red and knew he had to break it up.
“You okay, Brent?” asked Ling, not moving a muscle from her snuggly embrace.
“Yep, I take it this is your boyfriend?”
"Fiancée," corrected Marcus.
Ling nodded as best she could as Marcus clutched her tightly. She looked Randy up and down. “Is this your boyfriend?”
Brent let out a raspy chuckle. “Yep, Randy this is Ling, my date for the night, and her fiancée, Marcus. Guys, this is my boyfriend, Randy.”
Marcus looked between the two of them. “Ah, nice to meet you both.”
Randy threw up his hands in exasperation. “How is everyone so calm about this?”
Marcus fixed him with a penetrating gaze as his snake rumbled. “Says the man who aimed a gun at my mate.”
“It’s just a tranquilizer gun,” Randy muttered. “I was just hanging back to make sure nothing happened on this damn ‘date.’”
Ling rubbed her cheek against Marcus’ chest. “Don’t worry, there was absolutely no seducing going on between either of us.”
Brent stood up with the help of Randy; he gazed at his boyfriend adoringly. “Randy works with the big cats. He’s amazing.”
Ling smiled. “Aww, it’s like we’re on a really strange double date.”
Randy rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to spy, it’s just when Brent told me you were coming here…”
“Don’t apologize!” cried Ling. “I don’t blame you, and hey, Marcus is here too. Actually, come to think of it, how did you know we would be here?”
She pulled her head back to look at him curiously.
Marcus shrugged slightly. “I put a tracker in your purse.”
Ling blinked at him. “You… you what?”
“I put a tracker in your purse,” he told her nonchalantly. “I was worried that you might, I don’t know, get kidnapped, and I needed to make sure I could find you.”
Ling furrowed her brow. Part of her wanted to be mad, and tell him it was an invasion of her privacy, yet a larger part was just too happy to care. She knew which side her bouncing beast came down on. “I guess that makes sense…”
Marcus held his head up and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”
Ling twitched her nose. “No, what?”
Marcus scanned the area, looking at the various animal enclosures. “It smells like camel and marijuana.”
He carefully disengaged himself from Ling and strolled over to the camel enclosure. The others followed, looking at each other inquisitively.
Marcus stared at each camel in turn. “How many camels does the zoo have?” he asked Randy and Brent, without taking his eyes off the animals.
“Four,” replied Randy, “why?”
“Do you notice something odd about the camels in this enclosure?” His snake snapped his jaws excitedly.
Randy, Ling and Brent stepped forward to take a look. Ling slapped her forehead. “There’s five camels in there!”
Marcus’ lips curled upwards. “Exactly.”
He shimmied up the iron fence and jumped inside. One of the camels started making a bolt for the door to the enclosure. Marcus leapt at the camel and shifted to his snake, hissing furiously as he wrapped himself around the camel’s neck. The camel staggered around, unsuccessfully trying to dislodge the massive boa constrictor.
Randy and Brent watched open-mouthed as the camel melted away to be replaced by, a tall, gangly man. Ling whistled and cheered Marcus on.
Marcus eventually loosened his grip and shifted back to human. He caught Norman’s arm and twisted it round his back; Norman let out a loud yelp.
“No more running,” growled Marcus.
Ling clapped, and Marcus gave her a modest smile. She elbowed Randy and motioned for him to go and let Marcus out of the enclosure.
Marcus marched Norman out and stood holding the squirming, naked camel shifter. Ling snapped her fingers. “Oh my god! You know what this means?”
Marcus looked at her blankly.
“It means Madame Valeria was right! She said he would be with his own kind!” squealed Ling.
Marcus groaned and muttered some unrepeatable words.
He installed the camel in the back of his car, carefully handcuffing him and giving him a towel to cover himself. His snake hadn’t liked his mate seeing another man naked at all.
Ling agreed with that; she definitely didn’t enjoy it either, but she was rather disappointed when Marcus pulled on some clothes. She asked him whether he would cover up Michaelangelo’s David? Or Van Gogh’s sunflowers? Or that weird clocks painting that Dalí did?
He kissed her nose and told her she was adorable.
They said goodbye to Brent and Randy; Marcus was keen to get the camel into police custody, toot sweet. He couldn’t wait for him to be somebody else’s problem.
Ling thanked Brent for a lovely evening and enthusiastically said the four of them should do it again sometime.
Marcus drove Ling back to her parents’ house. She had tentatively suggested she go back to her house, and Marcus belatedly remembered that he hadn’t even told her about the fire. She was more than a little upset, but Marcus soothed her. He told her to stay at her parents while he dispatched the camel to the cops. Then he would collect her and take her back to his apartment. That c
heered her a little; she was dying to see where he lived.
They talked a little about the wedding; Marcus agreed that he too wanted something small and quick. The sooner, the better in his opinion. His snake agreed wholeheartedly; tomorrow would be fine for him.
When they finally arrived at the house, Marcus gave her a lingering kiss while Norman grumbled. She watched and waved from the porch as he drove away. Her panda couldn’t wait for him to return. Ooh, she was going to have a quick shower, and then shimmy into some sexy underwear. She couldn’t wait to see his face. Maybe that was all she'd wear while they were driving to his place...
Ling turned and unlocked the door, but froze as her little animal growled. She sniffed the air; the faint scent was vaguely familiar. Then something heavy hit her head, and everything faded to black.
Chapter Nineteen
Good fucking riddance!
The camel was finally in police custody and no longer Marcus’ problem. He had the nerve to ask if Marcus would re-bond him; Marcus didn’t bother to answer that.
Marcus felt himself smiling; the python was behind bars, the camel was out of the way, he was free to spend some uninterrupted time with his mate. His snake seconded that.
He was a little put out that Derrick Meyerson, the python was denying having ever made an attempt on Ling’s life. According to the python he had no idea who Ling even was. But if the python hadn’t been trying to kill her…
His phone rang and he answered, hoping it would be Ling. He was more than a little disappointed to find her mother on the other end.
“Marcus!” cried Fang, her voice trembling.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded fiercely.
“We came home from the opera to find the front door wide open and traces of Ling’s blood on the porch. Something’s happened!” Fang whimpered.
Marcus let out a loud roar. “I’ll find her.”
He hung up and rushed to his car. He grabbed his laptop and immediately started trying to track her. His beast was rumbling in fury, but he didn’t have time to get angry or panic. He needed to find her, and he needed to save her. Pronto.
*
Her panda whined as Ling slowly regained consciousness. Her blurred vision started to focus, and she was a little surprised to find herself in a fairly swanky apartment. Not just any apartment. Myron’s apartment. She should know; he’d brought her there enough times. He’d pretended he was living there after breaking up with his wife, but in reality, he was just using it for their dirty trysts.
God, being there made her feel so cheap.
She tried moving and found herself tied to a chair. Oh lord. Her panda mewled at her to move, to do something, but Ling was too groggy.
She remembered being driven home by Marcus; he gave her a scintillating kiss and then she was on the porch of her parents’ house. She was about to step inside when she smelt something familiar. Please, don’t let Jacinta have done this.
As if on cue, the leggy gorilla shifter sauntered into the room. “Ah, you’re awake,” she said, unconcernedly.
“Jacinta?” Ling blinked as pain shot through her head. That was one hell of a blow to the head. “What… what’s happening?”
Jacinta harrumphed. “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to go.”
Ling frowned. “Go? Go where?” Home, she prayed.
“I’m afraid I have plans for my bastard of a husband and you feature in them quite prominently.”
That didn’t explain anything. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve decided to frame my husband for murder – your murder.”
Ling stared at her, and even her panda was quiet. Was she joking? She tried a hesitant smile. “You’re kidding, right? This is just a way to punish me for sleeping with your husband.”
“Maybe that was partially true when I first started trying to kill you. But now I’m over it, and I’ve decided to kill you for an entirely different reason.”
Ling felt like she trying to put together an impossible puzzle. “First started? How long have you been trying?” She still wasn’t convinced it wasn’t one big joke.
“Oh, not long, it started after Myron left me. He’s cheated on me with a lot of fluffy, idiotic young women like you, but for some reason he thought you were different.” Jacinta looked her up and down, a sneer smothering her thin lips. “Personally, I don’t see it, but he packed his bags and left me a week ago. He said he was in love with you and wanted to marry you.”
Jacinta snorted. “At first I was devastated, and all I could think was that I had to get you out of the way, so Myron would come back to me. You, however, have not been easy to kill.” She gave Ling a disapproving glare.
Her panda growled. “I’m sorry?” offered Ling sarcastically.
“I find it hard to believe you’re even still standing. I mean, I put poison in the food in your refrigerator; I put a toxic amount of chlorine in your pool; I attached a bomb to your car, and I set your house on fire. For goodness sakes – you have more lives than a cat!”
Ling licked her lips. Nope, just lucky apparently, until now anyway. The food and the pool were news to her. She’d thrown the food out and thankfully she wasn’t much of a swimmer at the best of times.
“Do you know how much trouble you’ve given me?” asked Jacinta with a martyred look. “Oh, and by the way, that pearl necklace Myron gave you belonged to my grandmother. It belongs to me, so I took it back.”
Her panda huffed. “Look, I’m sorry Jacinta, I swear, Myron told me you were getting a divorce, and I promise, we haven’t been together since you found out about us in Paris.”
“Oh, I believe you. You seem like a nice woman, I doubt you would purposefully try to break up my marriage. And I doubt that you would want to have anything to do with him after the way he treated you.”
“So… so what are we doing here?” Maybe it was just the head injury, but everything was so freaking confusing.
Jacinta clucked her tongue before letting out a small roar. Her gorilla was trying to push her way out. “Haven’t you been paying attention? I need to kill you in order to frame Myron for your murder.”
“But why?” Her panda yowled furiously. Her thoughts suddenly turned to Marcus. Was Jacinta really going to kill her? Would she never see her mate again? Jacinta couldn’t do this now, not now that she had found Marcus, not now that she was…
“Twenty-five years I’ve been married to my husband!” cried Jacinta, cutting through her thoughts. “All these years I’ve been faithful to him, and I’ve put up with affair, after affair, after affair, because I was so sure he still loved me. But then he just upped and declared he loved you instead. I thought it was just an infatuation, that if I killed you, you’d be out of the way, and he’d come back to me.”
Her face had become a little dreamy before she turned sour. “But after you rejected him today, he made it clear that he wasn’t going to come back. He was going to find some other young bimbo, and start all over again. That’s when I decided enough was enough. Myron had to pay.”
Ling began twisting against her bonds. It had finally sunk in that Jacinta really wasn’t kidding.
“You know, I did consider killing Myron,” said Jacinta, conversationally, “but I decided this would be much worse for him. A nice, juicy life sentence would just suit him. I feel that a sentence of twenty-five years would be about right, a little poetic justice to match the life sentence of our marriage, don’t you think?”
“Please, Jacinta, if you let me go now, I’ll forget this ever happened.” Ling flicked out her claws and started worrying the rope.
The gorilla ignored her. “So, easy peasy, I shift and tear you apart and people will assume it was Myron. After all, this is his apartment, and he did leave me for you. Everyone will just assume that he couldn’t bear to live without you; he couldn’t bear the fact that you’d taken up with a slimy snake.”
“He is not slimy!” she cried indignantly. Okay, maybe she was focusing on the wrong thing.
/> Jacinta’s eyes flashed, and tufts of black fur started pushing through. Crap, Ling had to do something to distract her, or she was going to shift and go ape-shit!
Ling wracked her brain. “What about your scent?” she cried out.
Jacinta shrugged. “I had a shower with some scent-covering shampoo before I picked you up. Then, when you’re dead, I’ll rub some of Myron’s clothes and aftershave over you. Some of my scent will probably still linger, but the cops will just think that was because my scent lingers on Myron. I am still his wife after all.”
Jacinta let out a hollow laugh and Ling cringed. She really had thought of everything.
“You see, all those failed attempts to kill you have been very helpful. I’ve learnt from my mistakes,” Jacinta told her proudly.
Oh, whoopee! Good for her! “Are you really sure you can do this? Kill another person, I mean.”
Jacinta smiled coldly. “I’ve been trying for days, besides it’s too late to back out now. Plus, I’m a gorilla; we don’t let pathetic, little vermin like you stand in our way.”
“I’ll scream,” threatened Ling trembling.
“Go ahead, the other occupants of this building are either on vacation in Europe or back home with their wives. Apparently, Myron wasn’t the only middle-aged fool using this building as a love nest for his whore.”
Jacinta advanced on her. “Now, hold still and this won’t be too painful… I’m guessing anyway, either way, I don’t care.”
Ling growled as her panda tried to push forward. After working her way through the rope with her little claws, she jumped up and scratched at Jacinta’s face. The gorilla shifter howled and clutched her blood streaked head in her hands.
Ling fled the room and ran to the front door. She yanked at it, but it wouldn’t budge. Her blood ran cold as the animalistic roar emanating from Jacinta’s direction floated her way. She tore her clothes off and ran to the bedroom. Quietly, she slipped into the closet and shifted to her panda. She climbed up to the top of the closet and hid amongst some bed linen.
She quivered as she heard Jacinta, who had also shifted to her beast, tearing through the apartment. The panda closed her eyes and made herself as small as possible as she heard the heavy beast lumber into the bedroom.
