“Who wants to come home with me and be treated like a baby?” I asked when all logic failed me.
For a second, the kittens all fell quiet. One that hung onto the edge of the box fell over. Then they all fell down. They all gathered in the center of the box. Perhaps the answer was none of them wanted to venture away from their families and I couldn’t blame them if that was the case. A little kitten would make a great companion for Nic but I wasn’t literally going to kidnap one that didn’t want to come home with me. Maybe other shifters who didn’t speak cat could work like that but I couldn’t imagine hearing about how I kidnapped them every day for as long as the cat lived.
“Imagine if Nic learned to speak cat from our claiming vows and found out we kidnapped a kitten against their will. He wouldn’t like that very much,”my cat said, shifting my eyes to his so that he could look out and get a clearer picture.
The kittens peeked little looks at us and soon it was clear they were having a meeting about who, if anyone, should go. The mother cats had their heads together too. I prayed they wouldn’t veto the idea. Then a little orange kitten with a white splotch on his chest, tail that curved into a question mark, and the samebig green eyes as the tom stepped apart from the huddle. He waddled over to the side of the box and hopped up to grab the top. I held out my hand for him to sniff. He did so, fell down, and went back to the huddle. One by one each of the kittens came to sniff me. If anything they might’ve been more thorough than I was.
When everyone had finished and they huddled together one more time, the first kitten with the question mark tail came back over. It was clear that he’d made his choice because as soon as he came to the edge he ran back to bite the ear of one of his littermates one last time.
He let out a mewl that was clearly a ‘help me out.’ So, I did. He waddled over to one of the calico mollies and nuzzled her. That was his mother. My heart broke a little watching them say goodbye but I was almost positive that they’d see each other again someday. After all, eventually I’d take Nic to meet my family and we’d never leave our small companion at home.
When all the goodbyes were said, Raiel promised to come back for the others once the sun was up and I shifted back into my cat form. The kitten’s eyes grew to saucers as he took in my curved teeth. A second later, his claws dug into my leg as he climbed up to ride on my back. We made quite the trio on the way home and if anyone spotted us in the shadows the reputation of the ghost cat as a sadistic killer was surely ruined.
Chapter Fifteen
Nic
Moonscale London
I woke up with a warm lump on my chest. I blinked as the heat radiated through my shirt and vibrated my breastbone. What small creature had managed to sneak into the house and dared to make a bed of a dragon.
“Probably not a mouse,”my dragon chuckled.“Not with our big, strong cat around.”
I sniffed the air, unwilling to open my eyes just yet. The couple of days that had passed since I found Jon’s paw on my doorstep had stretched into eternity. Grief clung to some quiet, kind place in the back of my mind. A place where bad guys were somehow redeemed at the last minute. In my heart of hearts, I knew Jon would’ve gone through with it. He hadn’t loved me. Not at any point. But he knew I loved him with my whole being.
A big, warm hand smoothed my hair away from my face and I found myself smiling despite the warring emotions inside me.
“Open your eyes and see your third courting gift,” Beal whispered in my ear and pressed a soft kiss to my temple.
“Did you bring me a rat? That would be so very catlike. All I smell is cat,” I said, sniffing the air again.
The tiniest mew whispered through my bedroom followed by little claws digging into my chest as if some tiny creature was determined to tenderize me for a meal of dragon steaks. I opened one eye. An orange kitten stared at me with big green eyes. He kneaded his little feet into my chest again as if he might start rooting around for milk any moment now.
“I’m not meant to eat this, am I?” I asked, hoping to not run snout first into any more weird customs.
“I’d hope not. I think he’d go down scratching all the way,” Beal said. “You seemed so defensive when you pointed out that the cats were safe when they were rescued from their feral colonies, I thought you might like one. He consented to being your companion. I would’ve asked you first, but the courting gifts are traditionally a surprise. So, now I ask you—”
I turned my head to look at him and he stopped speaking as if he expected me to say something.
“Ask me?” I said after he didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“Do you find me worthy to be your mate throughout all the days of your life?” he asked, meeting my eyes.
“I will but I have one condition,” I said.
“And what’s that?” he asked, all the playfulness gone from his words.
“No more body parts. Unless it’s like a deer leg, I don’t want body parts. I won’t say not to take them from other people but I will say I don’t want to walk into the kitchen ten years from now and find like a wolf tail or a raccoon’s face on the table, okay?”
“The face? Really?” Beal laughed. “Sadistic. I like it.”
“Not on my table and not for me,” I shook a finger at him, but the kitten grabbed it and started to make biscuits on it.
“I understand,” he grinned. “I do. Really. You have an image to uphold, and you can’t be giving press conferences with me holding up raccoon faces and wolf arses in the background.”
“That and babe, if you tell me that you killed someone, I’m going to believe it.”
“You do realize I didn’t kill Jon and Chard, right?” he asked.
