Bad Kitty (10 page)

Her stomach roiled with the truth. The wave
of resulting nausea took over and Kitty dropped to the floor and
pounced on the toilet only seconds before she vomited, losing what
little she had in her stomach. Agonized thoughts filled her brain
as she considered how hideous she must be. It didn't take a mirror
to know the pockets and rivulets that now lined her cheek presented
a horrifying image. This couldn't be right. She'd forced the shift
long enough to initiate the accelerated healing process so these
scars made no sense.

Kitty struggled to her feet and stood in
front of the sink staring at the blank wall for a moment before she
turned on the water and dipped her head to the open stream. She
swished the water back and forth while she struggled to make sense
of the facts right in front of her. With her mouth rinsed, she
turned off the faucet and took several steps backward until her
back slammed into the wall. From there she slid to the floor and
pulled her legs to her chest. She gulped air and worked hard to
calm her racing heart before it beat out of control, but the scent
of her wolf surrounded her. He was on her skin, on the clothes and
she disgusted him. Kitty cried out as the despair embedded deep.
The sight of her scarred arm made her skin crawl until she wanted
to rip the offending flesh from her body.

They'd literally turned her into the hideous
creature they accused her of being. They'd ruined the only thing
she had going for her. Kitty lifted her head and roared, an
unsettling screech that lifted her to her feet. She was damaged
goods. Disgusting, horrific, and no longer good for anything. Just
like her father had predicted. To someone like Rafe she'd be
nothing more than a pity fuck.

The last thought broke something inside her
and rage unlike anything she'd ever experienced whipped through her
blood. With another cry of anguish she reached for the cabinet
above the commode and ripped it from the wall. Tiny pieces of wood
and ceramic showered down around her. Before all the pieces fell to
the ground, she turned and ripped the towel bar from the wall and
flung it where the mirror should have hung. She hissed and
screamed, barely noticing that her eyeteeth poked her bottom lip
until it bled. In an instant the tiny space morphed into a caged
confinement and fresh desperation to escape rode Kitty's brain.
With the full strength of the shifter, she threw the bar into the
glass door of the shower, shattering it into a thousand tiny
pieces. Jagged edges of glass rained down around her as she stood
rooted to the floor until the last piece landed at her feet.

She fled from the tiny room and tried to
regain her bearings. Instead of being smart and running for the
outer door and the freedom she needed, Kitty thrashed through the
room pulling everything from the walls and tables and flung them to
the ground. Anger so hot and red filled every vein inside her body.
Fully extended claws dug into the soft bedding and tore the
material into one tiny strip after another. Her snarls and hisses
filled the room, as did her blood as she jumped from one corner to
the other.

In the midst of her rage the door burst open
and Kitty pounced on the intruder. A vicious growl erupted from
Rafe's mouth, distracting her from her mission for a mere moment.
She recovered quickly and abandoned her attack on the man, going
back to taking her wrath out on the bedroom. She spied a small club
chair in the corner and sprang in its direction. With no effort at
all she hoisted the bulky piece of furniture over her head and
threw it in the direction of the door.

Rafe ducked and the chair crashed into the
wall, splintering into several pieces before falling to the ground
in a mangled heap.

"What the hell is going on? Stop this
bullshit right this second," he ordered.

Kitty managed to ignore his command despite
the constant pull in her brain to do as he said. Why wasn't there a
mirror in this whole damn room? She twisted and turned and narrowed
her eyes at the door that Rafe currently blocked.

"Don't even think about
it
,
hell cat.
You've done enough damage and you're even crazier than you look
right now if you think I'm letting you tear the rest of my home
apart."

She hissed and curled her back. Her feet
shifted from side to side. One bite that's all she needed and he'd
be out of her way forever. Blood lust rose inside her.

"So help me God, if you jump I will tie your
ass to the bed and you won't get free for a week."

The menace in Rafe's
threat barely penetrated the haze of anger that fueled her
movements. He'd taken the mirrors away and now stared at her with
such obvious animosity it stole her breath. His eyes scanned her
scarred face and arm while his lip remained curled in disgust. If
he wasn't going to let her out
,
then she wasn't going to sit by and let him gawk
at her like some sort of freak. If he wanted freak, she'd give him
freak.

She lifted her claws and angled them across
her rippled and reddened flesh. The tip of one claw pierced the
skin and blood oozed from the wound.

"What are you—?"

Before he could finish the question she
started to rip and the wolf flew at her in a blur of muscles and
fur. There was no time to react before he tumbled her to the bed
with her arms pinned to her sides. With his full weight pressing
her into the mattress, Kitty could only take short breaths. Well
trained in escaping capture, she sagged into the bed, her muscles
going lax. A few moments later she tested his grip and tried to
slip loose. Rafe responded by growling low in her ear and
tightening his hold on her wrists.

"I warned you."

In another blur of motion he produced short
lengths of rope that he used to fasten one wrist to the headboard
while pinning her lower half with his legs. Sweat broke out on
Rafe's brow and Kitty found herself more captivated by the beads of
sweat sliding down the side of his face than the fact he truly was
tying her to the bed. She studied his face, admiring the angular
set of his jaw, the muscle that twitched where he gritted his
teeth, and the small dimple in his chin. The urge to nip the
indentation flared bright and hot inside Kitty. The firm set of his
lips may have indicated concentration to anyone else but to her it
was like an invitation to taste his determination, an impulse
almost impossible to ignore.

With enormous restraint she focused her
attention lower. This close, with his body crushed to hers, she
marveled at the hard planes of his chest and abs as they pressed
into her. Some of the rage she'd been experiencing channeled in a
different direction as his touch made her skin tingle. She breathed
deep, memorizing his scent even further. The only word she could
associate with him at the moment was wild, which directly
conflicted with the controlled way he'd behaved every step of the
way since she'd met him.

Until now...

Kitty tugged on her wrists and some of the
fear and anger resurfaced. She hissed. He truly had tied her to the
bed like he'd warned. At least the man followed through on his
threats. Not many did these days. All her life it had been one
promise or threat after another. She'd met far too many cowards in
her clan, including and especially her asshole father. He'd wasted
a brilliant mind with a weak will. His breeding obsession had been
the death of him. A flash of anger washed over her at the
memory.

"Let me up," she demanded

"I don't think so." Rafe's
answer sounded gentle
,
but Kitty didn't miss the hint of steel underneath his drawl.
Instead of pushing away from her the infuriating man straddled her
hips before he pushed up, leaving her lower body as trapped as her
hands. "First you're going to tell me what's got you in such a
snit."

Kitty's face flushed hot and she bit her
tongue. "Snit? What the hell is a snit? I'm not some junior league
wolf pretending to be human. I don't know what kind of women you're
used to but cougars don't do snits!" She knew the sarcasm and
hysterical tone did little to help her case but the man had already
made his opinion of her clear and this... this was too much.

A slow smile crossed
Rafe's face. "Damn
,
woman. What does it take to shut you down? Less than
forty-eight hours ago you were knocking at death's door and now you
look like you'd kill me if given half the chance."

"Damn right," she snarled. "Survival of the
fittest, wolf. It takes more than a mangy dog to put me down."

A dark cloud passed over his face seconds
after she realized she'd gone too far. Her original intention to be
cooperative simply to get his guard down had slipped away for
good.

He bent forward, placing his nose a mere
inch from hers. "I'd think twice before hurling any more insults my
way. I've done nothing but offer you help, something I'm certain
I'll pay for later. So the least you could do is be grateful."

Kitty laughed, a dark and twisted sound that
would send a normal man running. Since Rafe didn't budge he was
obviously far from normal. "I don't need your pity."

He licked his lips. "I
don't do pity. I am
,
however
,
curious about what it is you need?"

"My freedom," she demanded.

His gaze only wavered for
a second but Kitty didn't miss the direction. He'd glanced at her
wrist
,
reminding
her of the tattoo she now bore that confined her to the neutral
zone. Just another fun reminder of her father and his
schemes.

"No." His one word answer said it all.

Kitty tore her gaze from his and turned the
scarred side of her face away from him. "What do you want from me?
Haven't you had your fill?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? All
I've done is help you and in return you've trashed my house and
lied to me."

Exhaustion began to creep over Kitty. This
conversation was leading nowhere. The big black pit of despair
beckoned and it was hard not to give in.

"I didn't lie." She'd done enough lying in
her lifetime and she was done. If people wanted to hear the cold,
hard truth. Fine. From now on they'd get the truth.

He stared down at her, his
gaze never wavering. "Yes, little cat
,
you did. You don't need pity nor
do you
need
freedom. So what is it you
need
from me?"

Her stomach jumped. They were on a slippery
slope. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk anymore." She
rested her head into the pillow, only sensing Rafe's withdrawal.
She waited for him to leave her but he didn't. Instead his fingers
grasped her chin and turned her to face him. Kitty squeezed her
eyes closed and prayed the threatening tears wouldn't fall.

"What happened?"

She wasn't sure where to
start. How much did he need to know? She eyed him warily. The
steely strength and genuine interest nearly undid her resolve.
Kitty inhaled, sifting through his many layers of
scents
,
waiting
for the basic essence of the wolf to offend her. Something
tightened inside her chest and a surge of fear constricted her
airways. "It doesn't matter. What's done is done."

"It does matter," he insisted.

Kitty waited several heart beats, hoping
he'd move on to another subject. But apparently he had the patience
of a saint and the silence between them killed her resolve. "I
deserved this."

"Bullshit."

She cast her gaze down. No way could she
look in his eyes and say it. "It's true. I've been a rotten,
conniving bitch most of my life who cared about only two things. Me
and getting away from my father. I was never truly part of the clan
and the women who did this were only paying me back for all the
shit I did to them in one big way. Their justice may have been
harsh and outside the law, but it doesn't mean they were wrong..."
Her voice trailed off.

"You know what? I don't care what you did,
or how awful it was. Poison is the coward's way. If your accuser
can't stand up and challenge you fair and square then they aren't
worth the dirt under your paws."

Kitty fought the tears welling over her
eyes. Rafe was completely different from what she expected.

"Is that why you felt compelled to trash
this room?" He swiveled his head in the direction of the bathroom.
"And in there as well?"

She followed the direction of his gaze and
at the sight of shredded toilet paper and towels littering every
surface the pain of her deformation returned. Without thought, she
tried to lift her hand and touch the marred side of her face to
only encounter her hand trapped by his rope.

No matter. She no longer
needed to touch it to feel.
Ruined
. There was no other way to
call it. Ruined on the inside and now on the outside.

"You took away the mirrors. It made me
mad."

A heavy sigh escaped Rafe a moment before he
turned back to face her. "You're still healing. You need to give
the wounds time to heal before you go worrying about how they
look."

Another dark laugh burst forth. "Oh that's
rich. The sight of me is so repelling you can't bear to look at me
so you figure I shouldn't have to see either." Her voice rose
several octaves. "Let me the fuck loose right this instant. It's
time for me to leave." The hairs rose first on the back of her neck
and then across her arms and legs. Her teeth and claws elongated
seconds before she hissed violently in his direction.

"Calm down." He leaned
forward and pinned her arms to the bed. "I have no problem looking
at you, wounds and all. What should bother me
,
however, is the cougar inside you,
but for some reason even that doesn't turn me off."