“Yuck,” I told it, taking a sip of the bitter coffee. “I hate coffee.” The cat snorted and shook its head, sending its ears flapping from side to side. “No offense,” I added, with a chuckle.
I stayed silent for a while, sipping my nasty coffee, and trying to figure out what I was going to do. The cat eventually settled in by the fire, not once having gotten up to check out the rest of the house. I didn't want to traumatize it by taking it upstairs with me, but I didn’t want to leave it alone either. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to sleep easily with my latest bookkeeping still fresh in mind, so I grabbed a novel that I had been reading and settled in by the fire with the cat.
~~~****~~~
Something jolted me out of a sound sleep. I sat up, disoriented. Where was I? Oh, the chair by the fire. I must've fallen asleep watching over the cat. The animal in question was no longer by the fire, and I smiled in relief. I heard a thud from upstairs, and rolled my eyes. No doubt the cat had just knocked something off the table. Now I remembered why I didn't like the things. I groaned and stretched. I hoped it hadn’t knocked any of the accounting around. I had a whole stack of precariously balanced receipts, and would be pretty pissed if they got all messed up. I had a cramp in my neck, and my lower back hurt from falling asleep in the chair. I had a wicked throbbing going on in my collarbone, too. I stood and rotated my arm to ease it, wondering just how long I had been asleep in the chair. A quick check of my phone showed that it had been several hours, and now was nearly morning.
With one last stretch, I got ready to go find the cat, when I heard the sound of footsteps crossing the floor above me. I froze. Cats didn't make that sound. Humans did. There was someone in my shop!
I stared up at the ceiling in horror, as if I could see through it. I waited with bated breath for another sign that I wasn't alone. Sure enough, the sound echoed again. Someone was moving, rather quickly, around in my bedroom. I heard the unmistakable sound of one of my squeaky drawers opening and closing, followed by another set of human footsteps.
“Who's there?” I shouted. “I'm calling the police!” As I spoke I rushed across the shop to the stairway. A chill ran through me, as a distinctly human shadow appeared against my open bedroom door, and then pulled back out of sight. “Hey! I said who’s there?!”
There was an immediate silence. I waited, as if expecting whoever had broken into my shop to answer me. I reached for my phone and discovered I had no service, just my luck. I was pretty sure I could make an emergency call without service, not that I ever tried it before. I dialed 911 and was rewarded with a busy tone. Seriously? Who even had busy lines anymore? I looked around for a weapon and grabbed a knife from behind the counter.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket, brushing against my keys as I did. Wait a minute, how the hell could someone have even gotten in here? Never mind the fact there was a raging blizzard outside, but my doors were locked! I surely would have heard if one was forcibly opened. I hurried over to the front door to check. My mother read somewhere that it was a safety thing to have doors that could be locked from the inside with keys, and I had yet to replace her annoying locks. Sure enough, my front door was securely locked and deadbolted, and the only key was safely tucked in my pocket. There was no way someone had come in from the front. Was it the back? Did I forgot to lock the door when the cat came in? I headed over that to that door, keeping an ear out for any sounds from the story above me. Like the front door, the back door was securely bolted with a lock that could only be opened with a key, and that same key was resting safely in my pocket. I now recalled locking it when I was feeding the cat. There was no way anybody could have come in the back.
Meanwhile, not a sound from upstairs. I moved nervously to the stairway, clutching my knife. I knew I had heard human footsteps, and there was no way that shadow had been anything but human. So what the hell was I going to do? There was no way out from upstairs, except to come back down. All of the windows in the shop were louvers, too small for a person to climb out of. Not that I expected anyone to climb down from the second floor.
I debated whether or not I should give the person another chance to come down the stairs or if I should try to sneak up quietly. There weren't a lot of places to hide up there, but I really didn't want to be wandering around, poking my head around corners either. Before I could make up my mind, the cat came tearing down the stairway at full speed. I tightened my grip on the knife. Had whoever was up in my bedroom scared the cat downstairs? It raced across the room to the front door. Then, to my utter shock, jumped up and grasped the doorknob with both front paws. It started frantically biting at it and kicking the door with its back legs. Then, it dropped down, ran to the storage room door, and proceeded to do the same thing.
“Calm down, kitty, it's okay,” I said, keeping a wary eye on the staircase. “You don't want to go out there, kitty cat. It’s still snowing, you’d just freeze to death.” The cat came racing back in and then jumped on the window ledge, and began biting at the crank that opened the louvers! To my surprise, it actually managed to turn it, just a little bit, and cracked the windows open!
“I don't think you can fit out those, kitty,” I said. It was a pretty big cat. “And there's a screen on the other side,” I muttered. I couldn’t believe it knew how to open the windows! That certainly explained where it came from though; it must have escaped from someone’s house or hotel room.
The cat sat down by the front door, fixed me with a firm stare, then threw back its head, and yowled. I actually jumped back as the ear-splitting wail filled the room.
“I'm sorry, cat! You can't go outside! I hate these stupid things,” I muttered, as it let out another yowl. “I didn’t save you, just to let you go running back outside to freeze to death. And,” I added, kicking myself for letting the cat distract me. “there’s someone upstairs!” I clutched my knife tighter.
The cat stood, and then darted from side to side, as if uncertain what to do. Then, it sat back down, looked at me again, and let out another yowl. Well, this one was more of a plaintiff, sad meow, than a yowl.
And then a voice echoed inside my head.
‘I'm sorry, please try not to panic.’
Chapter Three
Cambry
I watched the human looking frantically around for the source of the voice. I considered clarifying that it was me who had spoken, but he'd see that soon enough.
I closed my eyes, and concentrated on my human form. I had roughly two minutes left until sunrise, but it wouldn't make a difference. The freaking doors were locked with a key from the inside. Who had doors like that?! I could manage to unlock most doors in cat form, but not if I didn't have the key in the first place. I knew that I couldn't just change back at sunrise, dodge around the human, and hide upstairs all day. I had initially gone upstairs, hoping to escape out a window or off a balcony, or something. The windows up there were no good, I couldn't fit through the tiny louvers. The human was asleep downstairs, so I risked shifting, and rifling through drawers, trying to find the key for the downstairs doors. Panic overtook my need for stealth, and it wasn't long before the human obviously heard me.
Now, however, sunrise was too close. There was no way I was getting out of here through either of the doors, and probably not the windows. The human obviously wasn't going to let me out, either. I decided to change back a couple minutes early, as it would be a lot less painful for me, and less traumatizing for the human, than if I was forced to shift against my will. I wasn't entirely sure when the shift started, but I knew the moment the change became visible, as the human looked at me and stepped back in alarm.
“What the hell?!” he demanded, taking another step back.
I tried to reassure him, but it seemed that I had already shifted too much to speak telepathically. “Sorry,” I said again. It came out a semi-terrifying meow. Abruptly, I shot up off the floor and to my full human height. He nearly fell over himself, scrambling back away from me. At last, it was over.
�
�I am so sorry,” I said. “Don't be afraid.” Belatedly, I realized that I was naked, and quickly cupped my hands in front of myself. “I won't hurt you!”
“You… you were… how…”
“I know this must be really freaky for you,” I said. “I promise, I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I got stuck out in the blizzard, and I just happened to find your door. I have a hotel room, and as soon as the snow stops, I'm gone and you'll forget all about me.”
He kept gaping at me. “Is this really happening?”
“Yes, but I'd really like if we can just pretend it’s a dream.” Great. My first day of my year away and I had already let a human see me change. Maybe I should find another town…
“Hang on, you’re just going to leave?”
“I… yes?”
The human glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you telling me that you're not here because of… fate?”
“… No?”
“So, you expect me to believe – after all that stuff I was telling well, you about cats showing up whenever something big happens in my life – that this is a coincidence?! And that a cat showing up on my doorstep minutes after I finish finding out that my shop is going under, not to mention that cat then turning into a human, is a total coincidence too? You're not here to deliver some earth-shattering news or help me save my coffee shop?”
“Sorry?” I offered. “This really is just a… an accident?”
We stared at each other in silence. Me, feeling like an idiot that I had just let this happen. And him, well, glaring daggers at me. You'd think he'd be more upset about the fact a cat had just turned into a human in front of his eyes, than the fact I wasn't there to help save his coffee shop. Wait a minute: coffee shop? Coffee shops weren’t exactly out of my realm of expertise. I looked around, finally taking stock of where I was. I was so relieved to not have frozen to death, then so frantic to escape before sunrise, that I really hadn't thought about where I was, aside from the fact that there was a human here. I was indeed in a coffee shop. And, judging from the numerous pictures of cats hanging up, one that wasn't all that dissimilar from my own.
“Why is your shop failing?”
His glare intensified. “Now you care?”
“I was about to freeze to death,” I pointed out. “And I was kind of freaked out about you seeing me change but, if it's still snowing I can't exactly go anywhere... So, I figured I’d ask.” It may not have been fate, but maybe I could do something constructive during my year away, like help out someone. It was only fair, considering that he saved my life. As I thought about it, I reached up and rubbed at a sore spot on my shoulder, before rotating my arm and stretching.
“Doesn't matter,” he muttered.
“Look, if you can get past the ‘I’m a cat’ thing, I'm in town for the next few months… And I know a thing or two about coffee shops.”
“Really?” He sounded skeptical, but hopeful.
“Actually, I own a coffee shop down south.”
“You do?”
I nodded. “It's called Felines and Fine Grinds.” I wouldn't say it was exactly a world-famous shop, but it was pretty well known.
Nevertheless, I was surprised when his eyes flew open in recognition. “You own Felines and Fine Grinds?!” he demanded.
“You've heard of it?” I said, stupidly.
“That's the shop my mom went to! The one that inspired her to open this place!” His look of shock turned into one of anger. “You own the shop that inspired this one, and you're telling me you're not here to save it?”
“That’s not why I came here,” I confessed. “But, now that I know you have a coffee shop that’s in trouble… Well, I do know how to manage a successful one.” For some reason, I felt compelled to help the human. Never mind that I was here to get away from a coffee shop; ideas were already forming as I looked around. “I’d like to help.”
“How long are you here for?” he asked, skeptically.
“A few months.”
“Long vacation.”
“It’s more of a uh… sabbatical.”
The human raised an eyebrow with a frown. “From a coffee shop?”
I chuckled. “It’s a long story. The important thing is that I’m here for a few months and willing to help you.”
“I do need help,” he admitted grudgingly. Then, he laughed. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Cambry.” I extended a hand to him. “Cambry Silvanus.” His eyes dropped briefly, reminding me that I was naked. I cleared my throat and angled my hips away from him. I sometimes forgot that humans usually weren’t as comfortable with nudity as shifters.
He looked embarrassed, but nodded gratefully, before grasping my hand. “Louis Tabie.” His hand was warm in mine; I was almost sorry when he let go.
“Nice to meet you. I – tabby?!”
Louis rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched into a fond smile. “One b, and an ie.” The spelling correction rolled off his tongue with ease, and I had a feeling he had this conversation a lot, especially considering the feline nature of his café.
“I like it,” I chuckled. “And thanks, by the way, for saving my life, I owe you one.”
He smiled and gestured around. “Help with my shop and I’ll call it even.” His eyes flicked down again briefly. “I don’t suppose you can um… conjure yourself some clothes?”
“Sorry, no.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “What can you do? Is turning into a cat it? Not that turning into an animal isn’t pretty uh… unique in its own right.”
Shit. What had I been thinking offering to help with his shop? An innate magic that protected us would erase his memory of the cat incident, but that seemed to be the whole reason he trusted me. It was going to be tough to hang around and let some of his memory fade, while making sure he let me be involved in the shop. If I left for a while he’d forget me entirely, and there was no way he’d accept my help after that.
“I can’t uh… answer that,” I said. The less I told him about shifters, the faster his memory would go, and the harder it would be for him to get it back. Of course, if I told him he’d lose his memory, he’d be able to resist. I bit back a sigh; that complicated things even more. Surely, he wouldn’t take my non-answers without pushing back. “You’re human, you know?” I hoped he’d leave it at that.
His glare faltered a bit, and he shrugged in acceptance. “Should’ve figured. I guess you probably have to keep it a secret.”
“Sorry.” My slightly insincere apology turned into a yawn. “Excuse me.”
“You must be tired, after all… that.” Louis shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot. “Let me get you some clothes and uh… why don’t you get a little sleep? I’m afraid the only place to sleep is my bed…”
I was about to decline the offer to use his bed – I had a hotel room, after all – but instead of protesting, I heard myself say, “That would be great, as long as you don’t mind.”
His brow creased a little, as if he did mind, but he only nodded. “Go ahead.” He gestured for me to follow and led me upstairs. “I guess you’ve already been up here…”
“Sorry, I was looking for the key, so I could get out; I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Louis gave me a sideways glance, clearly recalling that I had been a cat not too long ago. “Why were you so desperate to get out, anyway?”
I didn’t want to keep reminding him of the ‘cat’-astrophe, but I knew I couldn’t just ignore all of his questions either. “I can only stay a cat for a certain amount of time,” I said vaguely. “I was trying to get out so that I wouldn’t change back here. I’d have to uh… wait to change again, and didn’t really have anywhere to hide as a human.”
“Makes sense. I mean, as much sense as turning into a cat can make…” He shook his head slightly at the thought, then began to dig through his dresser. “Here.” He held out some clothes. “Make yourself at home.” Louis gl
anced around his room. “And thanks for not totally trashing it… it actually looks mostly like I left it.”
“I tried not to disturb too much. You’re welcome.”
With a nod, he left me alone. For the first time since shifting back, I realized it was really cold in the café. I quickly pulled on the clothes. Louis was quite a bit smaller than me, and his boxers were hardly comfortable. I kicked them off and decided to just go without. I wasn’t planning on being away from my hotel room for that long anyway. The sweatpants must have been baggy on him; they just barely reached the tops of my ankles. They probably looked a bit funny, but the waist was loose enough to work. Like the pants, my borrowed t-shirt was probably one of his larger ones. In fact, it was even big on me. There was an image on the front of a cat drinking coffee with the caption The Caffeinated Cat – Port Canard, ME. Ah, must have been some extra stock. I was usually up to my ears in unpopular sizes.
Fully dressed, I slid back the generous pile of blankets and climbed into the bed, staying on top of the top sheet. My whole body relaxed as the blankets fell back around me. I was pretty sure it had been at least forty-eight hours since I last curled up in a bed. The bus ride from Half Moon took hours, and I hadn't even touched my hotel bed yet.
I rubbed my face against the pillow, as if I could just envelop myself. There was something about near-death that made everything seem better. I doubted the bed was really that heavenly, but it felt sinking into a cloud. It even smelled incredible. I buried my nose in the pillow, inhaling. What was that scent? There was coffee, of course. I knew from experience that the scent permeated everything in the café. But this was something more…
I caught myself purring, and laughed. My brush with mortality sure had me freaked out. I was lucky as hell be alive. Lucky, that I managed to find my way to the coffee shop. I laughed again, and rolled over to relieve the pain caused by pressing my shoulder into the mattress. Luck didn't even begin to cover it! No wonder Louis thought that it was fate.
Espresso for His Omega Page 2
