Shifter

by Jennifer Reynolds

  Chapter 8

  ~~~Dimitri~~~

  Watching her leave the room is painful, even when a part of me can’t help but look at her ass as she moves. Yep, I am starting to lust after my…um…owner. It’s sad but true. She has started letting her guard down around me, wearing nearly see-through t-shirts and nightgowns around the house without shorts or pants. The treadmill and the small amount of weight she has lost since she started using it are starting to give her a more positive self-esteem. Not a lot, but with each week that passes, she appears a little happier.

  The more she works out on that thing, the more she sweats, the fewer the clothes she wears. I still haven’t seen her fully naked, which has more to do with me than her. As much as I would love to see what shade of pink her nipples are or find out if she shaves or not, I have tried to refrain from sneaking a peek. I leave the room when she changes clothes and avoid the bathroom when she bathes. She used to shut the door when she was in there, but she rarely does that now.

  Luckily, she still does it when she has to do other things. She is human, and just like any other human, she has to do such things. The first time I smelled her I wanted to be disgusted, but then I remembered she scoops mine up every day without complaint, so I programmed myself to forget about the smell. The first time I used that retched box, I tried to magic away my mess. It didn’t work.

  She doesn’t leave her bedroom door open when she pleases herself. For that, I am grateful. I don’t think I could stop myself from going in there then. I have yet to get a cat boner from her, but the man inside this cat form has had too many lustful thoughts about her. I don’t have perfect control. I do like to sit outside her door while she is alone and listen to her soft moans. They drive me crazy and send strange sensations through my body. I feel my skin ripple and my bones stretch as if my human body is trying to break free to get to her. I’m not completely sure if I will still feel this way when I’m human, but I hope I do. Her cries of pleasure stir emotions in me I have never experienced before.

  The same sensations flow through me when I listen to how her breathing gets all harsh and fast when she is walking. This coupled with the way her body glistens with sweat and her breasts bounce makes me beg every god in the heavens to make me human. The bastards never answer.

  Devan hasn’t been by since he dropped off the flyer, and I thought she had forgotten about him until I saw that look on her face earlier when Mave knocked on the door. I had wanted to scratch the woman’s eyes out when I saw her. I wanted to hurt her even more when I realized that Abby was crying over the possibility of losing me. I can’t believe she cried over me. No one aside from my mother has cried over me. I’ve never made a woman cry. I have pissed a few off a time or two, but never made one cry.

  What I can’t figure out, is why Mave still wants me? I don’t have much in the way of a life with Abby. Granted I’m not dead as I am sure she had meant for me to be. Still I’m not human and am no closer to getting my human body back than when she first cast me into this form.

  “What are you up to, Doc?” I ask, the movements of the two women catching my eye and dragging my attention back the present. For the first time since Mave sent me here, I can truly sense something different about the doctor. I had an idea she wasn’t human, but my powers had taken a bigger hit than I thought if I hadn’t been able to sense how powerful she is until now.

  Despite how manly I proclaim to be, I have to admit that fear ran through me as I watched Abby leave the room. I stand up as if to follow her, but Dr. Smith grabs me gently by the scruff to hold me back and continues petting me in a reassuring way. When Abby leaves the room, the doctor rounds on Mave.

  “I don’t know who you are or what kind of game you are playing, but if I find out that this cat is something more than the cat he is supposed to be, I will turn you over to the Council.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Mave retorts, looking a little shocked at Dr. Smith’s outburst.

  “Oh, I think you do. You’re a witch, not a very strong one, but a witch nonetheless. I can smell the magic on you.”

  “Look, I don’t know what you think...”

  Mave’s words catch in her mouth as the doctor removes her lab coat. Her back is to me, and I can see two long splits in the shirt she is wearing. In one effortless movement, long gray wings spring from her back. She is an Angel. I had heard they walked this planet, but I had never seen one. Dr. Smith’s body glows slightly. I discover quickly that this is due to her anger.

  “Listen to me, little girl,” she says through tightened lips. “I’m not some mere human you can ignore and talk down to as if I am beneath you. I could take your life right here and now and the Goddess wouldn’t even blink. Or worse, I could strip you of your powers.”

  As I watch the two women, I test my abilities. I call out to Mave to see if she can hear me. She doesn’t flinch at my words or the doctor’s wings. I try to say something to the doctor, but she doesn’t seem to notice me either. Giving that up, I try entering Mave’s mind. This works, a little.

  She is trying to reach me. “You shit,” she is thinking. “What did you do? How could you do it? My curses are golden. You should have stayed a flea-bitten rat. You should be dead by now. Instead, I hear through the supernatural grapevine that your pack is looking for you in this area. How could they know where you are? Someone had to have sensed you. Not them of course, or they would have known exactly where you are. Sam, it had to have been Sam. She’s always playing the role of goody two-shoes.”

  I pull out of her head shortly after that, thinking of Sam. I should have known it was Sam. She could scry for me. That’s how they knew where to look for me. Because I’m not in human form, they can’t pinpoint my location, but they can pinpoint the general area. This means that they are still looking for me. This cheers me up greatly.

  The last threat made by the Angel causes Mave to flinch and take a step backwards. The treat doesn’t stop her mouth from running though. “That’s my cat. I want him back. Now.”

  “If he is your familiar, why isn’t he going to you? Why doesn’t he look like the one you described to me? I smell a little power on him, but not enough for him to belong to a witch. He isn’t yours. You don’t own him. Therefore, I have to assume he was a human or some other being you have cursed. Since curses such as those are forbidden, I have to turn you over to the Council. Do you still claim him?”

  “No. He’s not mine,” Mave says, backtracking as a look of fear floods her face. “As I said, mine is solid amber, dark amber. He can’t be mine.” She says this with defeat in her voice that gives me great pleasure.

  “Good, now get out of my hospital before I smite your ass.”

  In a flash, Mave is gone.

  “She’ll be back for you, you know that, right?” I don’t immediately realize that the Angel is talking to me. “I lied when I said she wasn’t a very good witch. She is. I didn’t even sense you were anything supernatural when you first came in. Can you tell me what you are?”

  Begrudgingly, I meow.

  “I don’t know if you are answering me or just being a cat.”

  I meow again, but again she can’t decide if it is a reaction to her words or not.

  We stare at each other for a long moment. I feel her open her mind to me, and I can enter it, but I can’t communicate with her. I can read her thoughts, though. She is wondering if I’m a shifter or a were, but I have no way of telling her which is right. She assumes I have to be one or the other or some other witch’s pet in order for a witch to have cursed me into this form.

  She is leaning toward another witch’s animal because she isn’t able to sense my humanity. This is due more to Mave’s powers than my lack of humanity. Mave has damn near turned me into a housecat. My own innate powers have been the only thing to stop her. The larger I get, and I believe the closer I get to Abby, the more my human and shifter self is taking control. I might even be able to shift back into a human soon.

  “Sh
e won’t come here. Not again. But there is nothing to stop her from going to Abby’s,” she finally says, giving up on trying to communicate telepathically with me.

  She is right. As soon as we get home, Mave will come for us. I don’t have the power to protect her.

  “Abby is human. I wish she was something more, but she isn’t. She will not be able to protect herself or you. That is why I’m giving you these,” she says, going over to a drawer and pulling something out of it. Turning to me, she holds up a bag of cat toys for me to see before sticking them down inside the carrier and turning back for me.

  “Those are special cat toys. Hide as many as you can throughout the house. Hide them well that way Abby won’t find them and throw them away and to keep Sebastian from eating or destroying them. They can’t hurt him if he does, they would just lose their power. I can’t tell you what is in them, but rest assured as long as you have them in the house she can’t come near you. Others can, so beware.”

  She places me in the carrier and, as she is shutting the door, she takes in a breath and says, “If you are a shifter or were or some other immortal creature and you get a chance, tell Abby what you are. Because of your situation it will be in the best interest of both of you if you tell her.”

  I meow.

  “I hope that is a meow of understanding.”

  She takes me to the front desk were Abby and Jody are waiting.

  “Everything taken care of out here?” Dr. Smith asks the receptionist.

  “Yep,” Jody says, handing Abby the adoption papers as the doctor hands me to her.

  “Are you sure about this?” Abby asks, holding up a few forms.

  “Yes, no one has come forward to claim him, except for that nut job. I think whoever placed him on our doorstep didn’t want him or couldn’t afford to take care of him. There is no sense in waiting any longer,” Dr. Smith says.

  “Thank you very much. I am glad to finally call him mine.”

  “So are we. Oh, I gave him some toys. Just a little treat for all that he has been through today.”

  “That was kind of you,” Abby says, giving the doctor a puzzled look. “Though he hasn’t been through anything today. Not really. I mean aside from leaving the house and coming here, and nothing has happened to him here. The entire day has been downright weird, though.” She says this last part to herself, and the doctor smirks.

  She lets me out of the box as soon as we walk into the house. No sooner than she opens the door of the carrier, I step out of it with the bag of toys dangling from my mouth. I feel stupid, but I’m determined to do as the Angel asked.

  “You are a strange kitty,” she says, laughing at me. She takes a seat in the floor in front of me and opens the bag. The moment the multitude of toys hit the floor and began rolling and making noises, Sebastian comes running. He bats a few around, chases some, and tackles others. I, on the other hand, look at him with annoyance, pick one up, and walk off.

  “What, you too good to play in front of us,” she calls after me, laughing as I disappear around an armchair.

  Yeah, like I would ever stoop to chasing jingling balls. Dr. Smith said to hide the toys, but where? She wasn’t specific in if they had to be near windows or doors, just that they had to be in the house. I stop in the kitchen doorway and look back at Abby.

  “I’m not going to follow you. You can play in peace.” She chuckles again at my odd behavior before rising and going to the bathroom to shower. She hadn’t had time with all that was going on to wash the sweat from her body. Thinking of this gives me pause, and I’m tempted to sneak into the bathroom. She’s left the door wide open, and I can hear her moving around in there. I divert my path in order to poke my head into the bathroom.

  Kicking her shoes off, she is about to bend over to pick up her socks when another knock comes at the door. “Son of a…” she starts to say, walking passed me as she goes back to the living room.

  Shit. She is here. I can sense her evil presence. I hope that doctor was right. I hadn’t had time to do anything with the toys. I run and hide one behind the fridge and kick one down the ac vent in the living room and in the washroom, then rush to her side. I cut Abby off at the sofa by placing myself in her way. She stops and looks down at me while the knock comes again. I look up at her and place one paw tentatively on her leg, my way of asking her to pick me up so that I can stand with her against Mave.

  “You are becoming needy rather quickly.” She bends down, picks me up, and nuzzles my neck. I purr before I can stop myself.

  You have no idea, I want to say, letting my cat-self show her how much I worry for her in the only way it knows how. I have never voluntarily let her pick me up, and most times when she tries, I leap away from her. I can’t help it. Every time she does, she cradles me to her breast. I can’t take being that close to her breasts. Right now, though, my mind doesn’t fully register their soft fullness. I’m too tense in anticipation of what is about to happen. That woman is dangerous, and I don’t want you anywhere near her.

  Abby peers through the peephole to see that it is the redhead again and says, “This bitch is starting to get on my nerves.” She fishes her cell out of her pocket, punches in nine-one-one, and holds her finger over the green call button. Bracing herself for another round with Mave, she opens the door and asks, “What do you want now?”

  “I want my cat.” Mave is standing there with her hands on her hips in the tightest black skirt and top I’ve ever seen a prostitute wear, not that I’ve seen many prostitutes, but you get the picture. She looks every bit the bitch she is. I hiss at her.

  “I don’t have your cat. You know I don’t have your cat. Now leave.”

  When Mave doesn’t move, Abby says, “No. Well then, I’m calling the police.”

  She raises the phone, preparing to hit the call button when Mave steps forward, then stops before crossing the threshold with an angry look on her face. She looks as if she isn’t able to physically come into the house. The Angel’s charms worked.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Abby asks, looking at the woman who is obviously struggling to move forward.

  “I…can’t…move,” Mave stammers.

  “What’s with the vampire routine? If you’re trying to scare me or something, it isn’t working. I don’t believe in that shit. Besides, its full daylight outside.”

  Mave snarls like a rabid dog.

  Abby rolls her eyes.

  I’d laugh at the sight of her if I could.

  I’ll get you, you stupid bastard, she screams in her mind as she turns to me, and I hear her. The moment Abby opened the door, I entered Mave’s thoughts, but until then she hadn’t directed anything my way. She had been cocky at first until she hit the barrier. I mentally call her a bitch, but she doesn’t seem to notice. The cat equivalent of my laughter comes out in a hiss, and I swipe a claw at her.

  “Just leave before I have you arrested,” Abby says, stepping back further into the house, preparing to close the door.

  “This isn’t over.” Mave says this directly to me.

  Abby looks from me to Mave and back again. “You’re insane,” Abby says a bit shaken by Mave’s behavior. “And yes, it is. Dr. Smith has your name and information. I can get a restraining order on you quick, and if you so much as lay a pinky finger on me I’ll press charges so fast your red hair really will look like flames whipping in the air. Now go.” She raises the phone again and starts to hit the button.

  Mave whips around and marches down the driveway.

  I watch her go, and watch Abby’s sister pull up with her kids. Great.

  “That’s all I need is a house full of screaming kids.” This is the first time I’ve ever heard Abby speak of her nieces and nephews this way.

  I think the arrival is perfect. I’m usually indifferent to the kids but their presence today will benefit me. I have been trying to think of a way to slip one of those toys onto Abby that way when she leaves the house she has protection. Dr. Smith hadn’t said it would work tha
t way, but I’m praying it will.

  Abby never un-does something the kids do. If they put a sticker on something, that sticker stays until it comes off on its own. If they hide a toy somewhere, even if it is in the freezer, it stays there until the next visit when one of them usually remembers it and removes it or she will remind them of where it is. Which is perfect. I can slip one in her purse or on her key chain and it will stay there for at least a few weeks.

  Chapter 9

  ~~~Abby~~~

  “Abby, is it not?” a voice behind me asks.

  I jump and spin around fast nearly dropping the handful of junk mail I had pulled out of my mailbox. The voice is masculine, but I have been so on edge since the redhead that for one second I’m scared she has come back.

  “Are you all right?” Devan asks, moving off the street that runs through the center of my neighborhood and onto the sidewalk. He comes to stand close to me. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I’m fine. I just…I just had a bit of a problem a few weeks back, and I thought you were my problem coming back. Sorry.”

  “What kind of problem did you have?” he asked, sounding honestly worried for me.

  “Some crazy woman lost her cat and even though neither of my cats look like hers, she is insisting that one of them is hers. I know I sound crazy, but it is a crazy situation. I can’t even believe I’m stuck in it. Some people truly need lives. And you know what the kicker is; the woman is beautiful, not at all the type you would picture as being one of those crazy cat people. I mean, she can have a different man every night of the week, why she is obsessed with a damn cat is beyond me. If I looked like that, I probably wouldn’t even own any cats. I wouldn’t be that lonely.” Shit. Shit. Why did I just say all of that? Because I’m stressed, scared, and rambling, that is why. I focus on his face to see if I have completely freaked him out, but he only smiles at me.