Bad Kitty (6 page)

"I'm going to stay here
tonight
,
if you
don't mind. There's no way to gauge how her body will respond to
this treatment and I might have to take a whole new approach. I'll
set up a bed on the couch." He picked up his bag and strode from
the room without a backwards glance.

Rafe smiled. Simon always
had his back even when he was pissed. He didn't enjoy exerting his
will over his friend but there were times when showing control was
necessary. They might look like humans most of the
time
,
but they
weren't. The wolf was never far from the surface and many of their
actions were driven by animal instinct. Any sign of weakness from
an alpha left the door open for another to come in and challenge
him. Simon might not have been up for the
challenge
.
but
they'd fought over less in the past.

Rafe paced the floor to the opposite side of
the room. He needed some distance between what had happened with
Simon and the woman lying in his guest bed. He pulled back the
curtains and stared into the dark. Twilight had turned to
pitch-black hours ago and he hadn't even noticed. The moon shone
near full from high above the tree line. They were getting close to
the full moon and the pull of that washed over his skin. Another
week and the leadership would change. Normally on a night like this
he'd be out on a run, chasing rabbits and other game on a hunt with
other pack. The sexual draw of the moon didn't help matters much
either. He already had sex on the brain long before he'd stumbled
into Tanner's little party in the woods.

Ever since the Alpha had allowed Tanner to
join the pack there'd been trouble. He'd been injured in a hunting
accident with several other shifters that had left him homeless and
desperate. Never a good combination for a strong alpha male with an
attitude problem. Instead of embracing the new pack, he'd spent the
last six months fighting them. Even Burke, the Alpha, had seemed to
grow weary of his belligerence. Unfortunately Tanner was an alpha
himself, which made it especially difficult for him to submit to
other's ways without a fight. Rafe seemed pretty certain the
challenge from Tanner would be coming any day now. And now he was
facing the very real possibility that a mate bond had begun to form
with a feline. And not just any feline either. She'd been captured,
possibly fair and square, and the bastard wouldn't simply stand by
and let Rafe keep his new possession.

Acid burned in Rafe's stomach as he thought
of Tanner or any of his hard ass buddies laying a hand on the woman
in his bed. He'd see them all dead before it happened like
that.

A soft rustle of sound drew his attention
from the window and to the bed across the room. The pretty little
shifter stirred under the mountain of blankets that Doc had left
her under.

"What's going on? What happened?" Her voice
was barely a whisper but Rafe heard her with no trouble. One of the
many benefits of acute shifter senses.

He eased his body next to her on the
mattress and she immediately recoiled in the opposite
direction.

"Easy
,
little cat. I'm not planning to
hurt you."

"Already hurt. Skin is on fire. What did you
do to me?"

The biting sarcasm gave
Rafe hope. If she had the energy to get feisty with
him
,
then surely
she had the fortitude to survive. Although the flushed color of her
skin and sweat across her brow let him know she wasn't out of the
woods yet. Her body still raged with fever. "Not me. I only found
you like this. You don't remember anything?"

She turned her dark green gaze on him and he
felt himself sinking into the warm depths. For a few seconds he
held his breath while he watched her pink tongue poke from her
mouth to lick her lips. "Hurts so much," she whispered.

"You need to shift," he insisted.

Her eyes grew wide with obvious alarm he
didn't quite understand. "Can't."

"Sure you can. Don't worry about me, I've
pretty much already figured out the truth."

Her small gasp confused
him. He'd given her no reason to be alarmed. "You're safe
here
.
I swear.
You can shift and none from my pack will get past that threshold
unless I allow it."

A breath later her nostrils flared and her
eyes widened even further. He watched the recognition dawn across
her features as she figured out her predicament.

"Wolf," she hissed. Despite the jagged cut
across her left check she managed to scowl at him in a familiar
amount of disgust. It wasn't easy for their clans to get along.

The air in the room
shifted, pulling him from his thoughts and the pungent scent of
fear filled the space around him. The impulse to react flooded
through him as he fought to remain perfectly still. Her fear called
to him. The wolf whined in his head. If she so much as moved he'd
have to chase her and prove his dominance over her. The wolf would
allow nothing less. Fortunately for them both, the harsh scent of
her pain overrode the fear. Rafe shook his head to clear his
confusion and focused on her emotions. She was in agony and the
longer she laid there
,
the worse it got.

"Forget the wolf. I can handle him. Shift,"
he demanded.

"I can't," she cried.

A lone tear escaped the corner of her eye
and tore at Rafe's senses. He didn't understand why she wouldn't
shift and this feeling of helplessness made him feel like shit. "I
promise. No one will hurt you. But if you don't shift soon you
won't heal and then you'll end up dead in my house. So far beyond
the treaty line none of your kind will come looking for you. Is
that what you want? To die among us wolves?" His voice had a hard
edge to it, more so than probably necessary, but he needed her to
obey.

"Promises are nothing but lies."

Despite not knowing her at all, her response
pissed him off. He'd offered her his protection and he wasn't
accustomed to anyone not taking him for his word. A renewed flare
of arousal rushing through his blood caught him off guard. The
contradiction of the entire situation fueled the need for her
trust. Her compliance became paramount. The wolf demanded it.

"I don't lie. You may not
be in safe territory
,
but as long as you're in my house you
are
safe." He tried to speak softly
but her pain affected him as well. Instead he snarled at
her.

"Hate the fucking safe zone anyway," she
choked. "I would rather die."

"Strong words from a woman now lying on her
death bed."

"Fuck you. I didn't ask you to save me," she
spat.

"Don't tempt me," he
warned. She had a mouth on her that riled him to no end. Unbidden
images flooded his mind with a multitude of things she could do
with such a filthy mouth. He growled, probably more at himself than
her
,
but she
didn't know that.

Anger rolled from them in
thick waves, filling the room with tension. Along with
it
,
Rafe added
some shift magic, allowing some of his features to change and
elongate. Hair grew on his face. His teeth lengthened. By God she
would obey him.

The woman in front of him didn't cower in
fear. Instead she bared her teeth and hissed.

Mate.
His inner wolf thought it again
.

No. Unacceptable. He refused to believe what
the wolf insisted on. He waited and hoped. If only she backed away
or made a move...

Rafe lifted his head and howled. The sound
rattled the furniture in the room as well as the windows.
Frustration coiled inside him and then she moved. Her magic reached
out and brushed him. He jumped to his feet and curled his lips at
the golden colored cougar now residing in his bed. The woman had
disappeared and the cat had taken over. He should have been
offended at the sight of her but instead his erection grew. Rafe
started forward until a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Don't."

His friend had returned and now tried to
stop the wolf from taking what he thought belonged to him. Fuck
that. He shook from the man's hold, prepared to fight anyone who
tried to stop him.

"Look at her," Simon whispered. "She can't
take you on."

Rafe forced himself to
stand still and examine the gorgeous feline. Light tawny hair
covered a compact solid body. His gaze froze on one of the gashes
still oozing dark blood. Her chest fell and rose in rapid
succession
,
as if
she was struggling to catch her breath. With her distress more than
evident, Rafe's wolf began to settle, albeit with a whine of
protest.

"She didn't heal."

Simon moved beside Rafe but apparently knew
better than to get too close to the feline just yet. Not only did
he have to worry about her fighting him, but Rafe's wolf was still
on edge and wouldn't tolerate another man touching her in his
heightened state of agitation.

"No, not completely. Some of the minor
scrapes and cuts look better but the poison did a number on
her."

Rafe turned to his friend. "Will she
recover?"

Simon nodded and lowered his voice to barely
audible. "She's not going to die but I'm afraid she's not going to
be the same." He nodded his head to the door and indicated for Rafe
to follow him.

He turned back to the
woman. Her ears were pinned back to the top of her head and he
swore he read pain and distrust in her gaze. Not that he had to
rely on his intuition or sight. Her scent told him all he needed to
know. She carried so much anger
,
but it simply masked the pain she clung to.
Whatever her story was, it was certainly more than he'd seen thus
far.

He shut his eyes tight and forced the wolf
to back down. The muscle in his jaw twitched as he regained control
and his features returned to human. He'd have time later to press
her for details. For now she needed to rest and he needed answers
from Simon.

#

Kitty watched the wolf disappear through the
door and chuffed out a hard breath. She held her defensive position
for a few seconds longer before she collapsed onto the bed,
shifting back to human. The strain to hold her feline form had
consumed the last of her energy reserves.

The doctor had tried to
lower his voice on her verdict
,
but they'd known no matter how low he spoke she
would overhear every word with her supernatural hearing. Kitty
rolled to her uninjured side and sought a comfortable position, an
impossible feat. Thanks to her shift, the fire burning inside her
wounds had dulled to a steady simmer. Of course, she wasn't about
to admit that her shift had been a direct result of the alpha wolf
demanding her submission. Asshole.

The magic of the feline, however, never
ceased to amaze her, even if her ability was the complete opposite
of everyone else she knew. Still, the troubling observation that
her body wasn't healing as easily as it should weighed heavily on
her mind.

It wouldn't take much to listen in on what
the two men in the other had to say about her condition, but she
tuned out the noise and rested her head on her hand. She already
knew these were no ordinary wounds and while they might heal, they
would leave her irreparably damaged.

Fucking feline bitches.

Anger pumped through Kitty's blood as she
relived the scene outside the supposed safe house over and over.
They'd lain in wait for her and probably would have killed her had
she not managed to break loose. What troubled her even more was the
uncertainty of whether or not the attack had been clan sanctioned.
Just because the guardian had offered her a reprieve didn't
guarantee the council would accept his recommendation as the last
word. Most of the clan believed the public hearings were final and
that all council decisions were made public. Little did they know
her father had pulled their strings so many times and usually got
whatever he wanted.

While her father had declared her useless
and largely ignored her presence, Kitty had spent much of her time
listening and observing everything that went on around her. Like
her father, many of the council elders liked to take matters into
their own hands and in private. Their decisions were often brutal
and archaic, not to mention secret.

Unfortunately her escape
from the felines had not gone as well as she'd hoped. Landing in
the middle of wolf territory had left her well and truly screwed.
Her memories of what happened after that still remained rather
fuzzy but she did remember the three male shifters who'd nearly
attacked her. Unfortunately, how she'd ended up here in
his
house eluded
her.

Rafe. She heard the doctor saying his name.
The image of his ruggedly handsome face floated through her memory
where it had been imprinted the first time she'd seen him. Kitty
struggled to recall all of the details. Somehow she'd ended up in
his arms and he'd carried her here. That much she knew for certain.
But there was something else about him... Something in her brain
she felt she should remember. The knowledge burned into her as
steadily as the poison.

Determined to discover more about him, she
glanced around the room. The small bedroom, while sparsely
decorated, had a light and airy feel to it. From the cream colored
walls to the light oak hardwood floors, she got the impression the
space was designed to make a guest feel relaxed and comfortable.
There wasn't much more than the double bed she laid on, a small
dresser across the room and a nightstand next to her. There was a
door next to the dresser that she assumed led to a closet. In the
far corner stood a gorgeous full-length mirror, antique from what
she could tell. Her gaze admired every curve and carving in the
wood surrounding it. She would love to have such a pretty piece in
her home. A moment later, reality intruded and she remembered all
too clearly that she no longer had a home. Even the shitty safe
house Kane had offered her had slipped through her grasp.