Cat's Paw

Cat O’ Nines 5: Cat’s Paw Lia Connor All rights reserved.

Copyright ©2008 Lia Connor

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ISBN: 978-1-60521-041-4

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Editor: Margaret Riley

Cover Artist: Reneé George

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Cat O’ Nines 5: Cat’s Paw Lia Connor Cat Fight! The four Gatos siblings have returned with their Catkind mates for a final showdown against their nemesis, Rafael, and Rafael’s patron, a Catkind female named Anuetta. Anuetta thinks she’s got the tigers by their tails, but she doesn’t count on the mighty strength of a family fighting for their loved ones and their home. She definitely doesn’t expect the Gatos sisters and brother to show their inner felines. It’s winner take all on the former site of the Gatos bar. The line’s been drawn in the ashes, and the claws are out!

Prologue Hidden among the ruins of Gatos, Rafael lay in wait for the Catkind and their human mates to come home. The stench of burned plastics and the thick choking wafts of ash gagged him when he breathed, even through the kerchief he’d tied around his face. He would have spat if not for the kerchief. They were unnatural. Abominations. Animals were animals and men were men, and these Cats went against nature by walking, talking, like humans -- pretending they were equals. Nasty putos shouldn’t even be allowed to breathe the same air as humans. Rafael had laughed as loud as everyone else when they’d first heard what they thought were crazy lies about cats on two legs who spoke with the voices of men. But when he’d seen his drinking buddy’s belly laid open by claws after a run-in with one of the Cats after dark, Rafael quit laughing. And when there had been no justice, he’d grown angry. They should have put that Cat down same as they did any dog who bit a person. Had they? Hell, no! The detective, a piss poor excuse for a cop if you asked Rafael, said Jerry’d gotten what he deserved. So what if he’d had had a few too many? So what if he’d pulled a tiger’s tail? Did that give the animal any right to cut him up? Idiot cop. Rafael had wanted to check him for pointy ears and a tail. Pah! So since no one who should have helped him get revenge would lend a hand, not even his buddies -- cowards, all of them, pretending they weren’t afraid when they nearly pissed their pants every time an alley cat ran by -- Rafael had taken it upon himself to kill every Cat he could find.

Lia Connor

Cat O’ Nines 5: Cat’s Paw

-6-

There were others who supported him. One of those was someone Rafael would never have thought would want the Cats wiped out -- one of their own. One who didn’t like the Cats going into the human world any more than Rafael did. Her name was Anuetta, the future Queen of the Cats. Ha! As if animals had kings and queens. Rafael snorted, disgusted. He would just as soon have put a bullet through her ugly head as anything else, but she’d offered him enough money to keep him in ammo and knives for as long as he wanted to hunt. And better yet, she’d set him on the trail of the nastiest Cats out there, the ones who planned to weasel their way into the human world and stay there. He agreed to help her because in doing so he helped himself, and he took her money and her intel. When he was done and all the Cats were dead, then he’d cut her into pieces. Even if she hadn’t offered him anything, Rafael would have killed these Cats for free. They’d dared to take human women for their own, calling them “mates.” Perversion! They’d been clever, Rafael would give them that. Avoiding him, walking out of traps that should have caught them as easy as rats. Tony, the weakling, had even hit him when he’d burned Gatos. That was an offense Rafael would not forget soon. The Cats had to die to pay for what they’d done. They could not be allowed to taint the human race. And Rafael would be the one to send them to hell. He crouched behind a guerilla blind made of crumbling, burned wood. The remnants of Gatos after his little bomb had done its work. Though the stink offended him and he resented hiding in ashes, Rafael knew he would never get another chance like this. The Cats, filthy Cats, and the family they’d stolen, were coming home. Anuetta had promised him they were all on their way and would be meeting up this morning. Rafael had liked the sound of that. Put them all in one place, instead of scattered around like cracker crumbs, and pick them off. Easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Those Cats and their perverted humans were as good as dead. Rafael’s lips curled back over his teeth as he watched them from his hiding place.

Lia Connor

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-7-

From the North came the oldest Gatos sister, the bitch Gabriella. Always thought she was too good for anyone, that her shit didn’t stink. Looked at Rafael like he was something she’d scraped off her shoe. High and mighty, hah. Riding back to the ruins of her home on the back of a lion, with a jaguar loping beside them. Who did she think she was? He’d teach her better manners. From the West came the Gatos brother, useless, not worthy of being called a man at all. Tony let his snot sisters run ragged over him, took what they dished out and never stood up to them. If they’d been Rafael’s women, they’d have learned after a few slaps how to stay in their place. Figured that Tony would have taken up with the lowest of the Cats, a clown-patched calico and a gray tabby. Disgusting. Tony needed to learn how to be a real man. From the East came Lucia, walking as tall and proud as if she owned the world, two tigers, one white, one orange, guarded her on either side. Ha! Rafael sneered at her. He knew Lucia. A whore, a party girl. He guessed now she really would spread her legs for anyone who talked pretty to her. Maybe he’d keep Lucia for a while. Let her make it up to him on her knees. Finally, from the South, came Marnie. At the sight of this Gatos sister, carried in the arms of a panther who had the balls to walk on two legs, followed by one of the wild Servals, Rafael ground his teeth until a chip of one molar cracked off. Not even the pain stopped him from imagining wrapping his hands around Marnie’s neck and choking her. She carried his child, and she had let her body be polluted with repulsive Cat jism. She’d pay, more than any of them, for what she’d done. Rafael watched, repulsed, as the Gatos family and their Cats came together in front of the ruins, so close he could almost reach out and grab them. Not yet, though. He wanted to see what they were up to before he struck.

Lia Connor

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-8-

So far, all they’d done was hug and weep on one another, tears and snot everywhere. The humans, anyway. The Cats, they were warier, eyeing one another and keeping their distances, but they were civil. Gabriella was the first one to collect herself. She sniffled and pulled her hair out of her face. “Whoever did this has to pay.” “Rafael,” Marnie said, earning her another dollop of his hate. “Rafael,” Lucia said. Forget keeping her, Rafael decided; he didn’t even want her sucking his cock. She would die, too. “Rafael,” Tony added. “Spineless dick. And whoever he’s working with. They all have to pay. But first we need a safe base of operations. The old Spanish mission.” “That’s not far,” Gabriella commented, agreeing for everyone. Bossy bitch. “About ten miles, as the Cats run.” “Better hurry,” Gabriella said, turning around in a half-circle. Her nose twitched and she frowned. “There’s something wrong here.” “You mean besides our home being burned to the ground?” Lucia demanded. Gabriella dealt her a stern look. “You know there’s worse out there. Rafael and whoever’s backing him won’t stop this crazy hunt. We’ll get to safety, get some food and some water, and some sleep, and in the morning we’ll make our plans. Everyone agreed?” “It’s as good a plan as any,” Marnie said. She sniffled, teary-eyed. “I didn’t think I’d ever see any of you again.” Rafael rolled his eyes. Weepy women! Idiots. Gabriella kissed Marnie on the cheek. “We’re together again. That’s what matters.” She turned to her Cats. “Tony and his mates can lead the way. We’ll ride behind. Marnie in the middle, Lucia bringing up the rear with her tigers. Vamanos!” Rafael was already making plans as the bunch of them ran away. He knew exactly where the Spanish mission was, and he could easily lead Anuetta there. Then he’d have her pinned down, too, and he could kill them all at once. Perfecto.

Lia Connor

Cat O’ Nines 5: Cat’s Paw

-9-

He pulled the cell phone Anuetta had given him out of his hip pocket and pressed talk. Before the sun went down tomorrow night, he would be the only one left alive, and that was exactly what Rafael wanted most.

Chapter One Derek surveyed the small corner of the old Spanish mission he had chosen for himself and his mates. His opinion of Tony had risen when he’d seen Tony had known enough to provide the triads with their own personal space. Catkind liked their privacy. “I’ve stayed in worse.” Whether it was a reflection on their status or not, Tony had given them what Derek considered to be the finest of the choices, pointing them toward the wine cellar. It was a good den, the stone dry, the air cool and redolent of old wines. He nodded to Benjamin, still in panther form and still prowling about the cellar, checking all the doors to assure its safety. As for himself, he sat cross-legged on the cobbled floor and began poking through the small wooden beer crate crammed with food and water. Though he kept his hands busy with sorting through dried beef jerky and bottles of spring water, he kept his eyes firmly fixed on Gabriella. His mate was angry, and Derek knew Gabriella well enough by now to understand that all Hell was about to break loose. Benjamin finished his investigations and shifted from panther to man in a single fluid motion, black fur rippling away to form smooth muscle and long, firm limbs. He stood by Derek’s side, wise enough to stay out of Gabriella’s way. Not smart enough, unfortunately, to keep his mouth shut. “Things could always be worse.” Oh… shit. Derek knew that had torn it even before Gabriella whirled to face them, ablaze with all the wrath of a mother cat whose kittens had been attacked. “Worse?” she hissed, surging forward. Though several inches shorter, she had no problem getting up in Benjamin’s face, jabbing her finger at him. “Tell me how it could be worse! Gatos burned to the ground. All of us under attack. Hiding in a cellar like rats!”

Lia Connor

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- 11 -

Benjamin didn’t give way to her fury. “Your family could be dead. That would be worse.” Gabriella snarled at him, the richness of the growl as deep and feral as any Catkind female’s cry of indignation. Derek thought she was going to claw his eyes. “I should never have left with you. If I had stayed --” “If you had stayed, then Marnie and Tony and Lucia wouldn’t have known to be careful, and Rafael would have killed them.” Derek closed his eyes tightly, groaning under his breath. “You knew about Rafael? You knew my family was being hunted? Son of a bitch!” Gabriella flung herself at Benjamin. He caught her wrists easily and held her far enough away not to do any damage. “We only heard about it this morning, before we made the decision to come back,” Derek said, rising to his feet. He approached his mates from behind, coming close enough for the heat of his body to warm Gabriella’s fine, dark honey-colored skin. He combed his human fingers, tipped with Catkind claws, through the black silkiness of her hair. She spat over her shoulder at him, another uncannily perfect Catkind noise. Derek put her newfound speech abilities aside for future consideration. “I should have been here to protect them,” she insisted. “What’s done is done,” Derek said. He wound his arms around her waist and stroked the smoothness of her belly. “Calm down. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I didn’t know Rafael was out there when we chose you, and when we carried you away it was to keep you safe. Blame us if you want to, but I would rather you save that fight for when you see the whites of Rafael’s snake like eyes.” Gabriella tried, half-heartedly, to shake him off. “He’ll pay,” she muttered. “And don’t think you’re out of the fire yet, Catnip. I’ll strip the prickles off your cock if he lays a finger on any of my family.” Benjamin winced. Derek managed not to shudder. A woman as fiery-tempered as Gabriella not only could carry out that threat, but would.

Lia Connor

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Perhaps he’d be better off reminding her of how much she enjoyed his cock and change her mind about neutering him. Helping her shed her clothes, he stroked downward, over the nest of curls covering her pussy, and slid his finger inside. Chuckling against her shoulder when he felt her wetness, he thanked whatever powers were out there for a mate who was lusty in all ways. Gabriella huffed, switching her hips. She moaned when Derek’s finger slipped fully inside her and he added his thumb, fucking her with his hand while he worked her clit. “Stop trying to distract me.” “Why? Is it working?” Benjamin slowly lowered Gabriella’s hands, though he kept a firm grip on her wrists, and pulled her closer. His hips rocked, pushing the solid length of his hard-on to Gabriella’s mons. Derek began to purr. He scissored his fingers wide, opening her for Benjamin’s cock. “She’s wet as a spring rain,” he murmured to Benjamin, but in Gabriella’s ear. “Give her a good ride to make up for the cold bed.” Gabriella arched, crying out when Benjamin entered her. Derek switched his attention to her breasts, pinching and twisting her full nipples. He rubbed his rigid erection against the sweet curves of her full ass, slipping between the cheeks and humping her while Benjamin fucked her hard, fast, and deep. “You’re still in trouble,” Gabriella said, gulping for breath. Her lips were slack and her eyes half-shut with carnal bliss. “Harder!” “As the lady commands,” Benjamin gritted out. He dropped his head to Gabriella’s shoulder and rocked her. Derek sped his own thrusts, returning one hand to Gabriella’s clit to massage the swollen bit of flesh. She cried out, a high pitched wail, and clamped down on him -- and Benjamin -- as she came, writhing like the cat she was, sandwiched between them. She smelled so good, salty and female. Derek jerked back and spilled over her ass, painting her with his come, while Benjamin bit her shoulder and emptied his seed inside.

Lia Connor

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Derek held onto Gabriella to stay upright. What a woman. What a perfect mate. His Gabriella, his Empress. He would conquer armies if it meant keeping her happy, let alone wiping out one maniac human, no matter how dangerous he might be. Come morning, he’d go on the hunt. Rafael wouldn’t live to see another day. Then, at last, they would claim their rightful place and lead the Catkind into the new world. All of them, side by side. It would be a good day.

*** “It’s a good place,” Marnie said, grateful for any spot to rest that was out of the sun and the dry, painful desert heat. Josh helped her strip out of her road weary jeans and lowered her to the nest Tracey had made for her out of the blankets Tony -- or Tony’s own Catkind -- had thought to leave for them. “Comfortable?” Josh rumbled, nudging the blankets an inch this way and an inch that, smoothing down wrinkles and hovering over her like a mother hen with one chick. Not that she’d ever say such a thing to Josh. Marnie wasn’t cowed by his pride and would no longer tell a man only what a man wanted to hear, but neither would she be ungrateful for someone taking such pains to make sure she was happy. What kind of idiota would protest being waited upon hand and foot from time to time? Marnie had discovered that she liked being pampered and treated like a princess. Rafael would never even so much as hand her a pillow if he had been here with her. Gracias a Dios that he was not! Troubled by thoughts of Rafael, Marnie rested her head on her arm. “I’m fine,” she said, forestalling the question she saw coming in the wrinkle of Josh’s brow. Josh huffed. He rested his broad, scarred palm over the curve of her belly. “And your kitten?” She was still too early to have felt any movement, but when she considered the state of her body, nothing seemed wrong. “Healthy,” she replied, certain it would be the truth.

Lia Connor

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Josh softened. He ran the rough pad of his thumb over her cheek. “A fighter, like her mother.” “A woman of strength,” Tracey added, joining Josh at her side. He knelt by her, caressing her calf. “A princess in waiting.” “It could be a boy,” Marnie teased them. “Prince or princess, it doesn’t matter,” Tracey said with a shrug. “He, or she, will be cherished.” Tears formed in Marnie’s eyes. She sniffled. Seemed as if all she’d done these past few days was weep -- that was, except when her two Catkind mates saw to making her happy with their kisses, their touches, and their gentler lovemaking. “Don’t cry,” Josh said, sounding panicked. He dropped to his side and put his arm over Marnie, hugging her to him. “Men,” she said with a small laugh. “Why are men so afraid of tears?” Josh grumbled under his breath. More open, Tracey grinned at him, daring him to take exception, and said, “Tears scare Josh because they make him feel helpless.” “I am never helpless,” Josh growled, raising on one elbow. “I can defend Marnie against this pestilent Rafael. I’ll have his head on a stick in front of Gatos and he will never hurt her again.” Tracey scrunched his nose in feigned disgust at Josh’s arrogance. Though he lashed the old mission’s stone floor with his tail, thwap-thwap-thwap, the arm he wrapped around her was taut with anger she knew to be aimed at Rafael, not Josh or herself. “I’d rather toss him in an arroyo and start chucking in firecrackers first.” “Done,” Josh agreed. He hesitated. “How’s your back?” Tracey shifted as if uncomfortable. He’d taken a blast of shrapnel protecting her. Seeing her worry at the question, he kissed her gently and began to purr. “Catkind heal quickly,” he reassured, the words meant for Josh as well. “I’ll be fine.” “But for now?” Marnie queried, still dismayed at his suffering pain for her sake. The strong woman she was learning to be wanted to throw an explosive in that arroyo

Lia Connor

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with Rafael, and be the one wielding the machete to slice off his head. He would pay for hurting her Catkind. “For now, I’ll live,” Tracey promised, snuggling closer. He flicked a glance over her at Josh, who rumbled his deeper purr and shifted nearer to Marnie on her other side, his bulk between them and the crumbling entrance to their private den. His intent was clear: he would protect both of them. Marnie raised herself high up to kiss Josh, lingering on lips that knew how to please a woman but were only now learning how to smile again, and craned her neck to seek out Tracey’s kiss as well. “And my family?” she asked. “What’ll happen to all of us?” “Once Rafael is dead? We’ll show you worlds you never dreamed of.” Tracey tucked Marnie’s head under his chin. He placed his hand over her belly, lacing his fingers with Josh’s. “Whatever it takes to keep you and your family safe, we’ll do it. I promise.” “I swear to this, too.” Josh pillowed his pale head on her breasts. A pause went by before he continued. “I have never been a father before, but I will be best I possibly can for this kitten. I don’t care who sired her. She will be my daughter.” He snorted. “And yours too, Tracey; I know what you were going to say.” “Our daughter,” Tracey corrected, curling and uncurling his paw over Marnie’s belly, kneading her with the gentlest of touches. “Or our son. I know what you were going to say, Marnie.” “I want it to be a girl, too,” Marnie whispered. She hid her face against Josh’s strong chest so she wouldn’t cry again. She was the luckiest of women. Two strong men who had saved her life and healed her heart. Two fathers for her baby, two lovers who would never betray her, who would stand by her side until the end of time. Rafael had no chance against the Catkind, and Marnie was glad. The puto deserved everything he had coming to him. And if she had anything to say about it, she would be the one to put the final bullet through his small, twisted, black heart.

***

Lia Connor

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“Tony, sit down. You’re making me dizzy pacing around the room at ninety miles an hour.” Samaelle rolled her eyes. “And when a Catkind tells you to quit prowling, you know you’re overdoing it. Come get comfortable with us.” She thumped her pillow, which happened to be David’s furry, tabby-striped belly. He grunted and tugged playfully at her hair as payback. She snagged his tail and tweaked it. Tony cast a glance at them, half-grinning despite the cloud of worries that hung visibly over him. “Too much energy,” he explained, shaking out his hands. “It’s never been like this with us.” Still sensitive from the romp she’d teased her men into once the Gatos family had been settled in their separate dens in the old mission, Samaelle shivered with pleasure as David ran his hand down her bare arm, tickling her soft calico fur. She’d given up on trying to say the right thing at the right time -- besides, she’d learned that most of the time, the blunt truth was what Tony needed to hear. The truth from someone who saw him for who he really was, anyway. A strong man who kept the peace, held his tongue, but was neither a weakling, nor insignificant. The delicious ache between her legs proved that much. She growled playfully, kittenish, still able to feel his thick cock piercing her deeply. Honestly, if Tony had one fault, it was that sex didn’t turn him into a sleepy, dopey bundle of afterglow when he was done. No, he could run races if he was in a jittery mood, money shot of a lifetime or not. Clearly, she hadn’t worn him out enough. Lucky for her, she didn’t mind following the “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” school of thought. She rolled to her side, aligned with David, and raised one leg, hooking it backward over both of David’s. The new position left her exposed, her swollen labia framed by her legs. Catkind bless all men and their immediate attraction to a pretty… pussy. Tony halted in his incessant pacing and stared at her, eyes darkening with sexual hunger. Encouraged, Samaelle cupped one breast and lifted the full, tender weight, offering herself to him.

Lia Connor

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And if he didn’t take her bait, well, she had no problems with somersaulting over David’s back and putting him on display. Tony fell to his knees like the drop of a hat when it came to appreciating David’s cock. That was the problem, actually. Constantly hungry as she was for Tony, Samaelle did have to admit it would be all too easy to treat him as a cock on legs, and that wasn’t the case at all. She’d lost her heart to this big, gentle human who treated her and David, lowly alley cats, as if they were a queen and a king. Samaelle dropped her pose and held her arms out to Tony instead, inviting him to rest with her instead of sweetly tempting him to sink himself in her sex. “Come here,” she crooned. “Lie with me. With David.” Tony heaved a great sigh. To Samaelle’s relief, he obeyed, kneeling and then rolling into her arms. Ever the gentleman, he pulled her to him so she could be comfortable. Samaelle went with it, happy to give him comfort any way she could. She thought she knew what was really bothering him. Not the destruction of Gatos, and not that rat-faced Rafael, deadly though the vermin might be. “No one’s turning their nose up at you,” she murmured, petting him. “Look at all you’ve done for them. You’ve found safe housing for all of us, brought us food and water and blankets, and made sure we’re all safe. You’re the man of the family. They respect you. They love you. All of them.” Tony shook his head. “Sometimes I think I’m always going to be the afterthought,” he admitted. Anger infused his voice. “Never again, Samaelle. I won’t be overlooked or taken for granted.” “Nor should you be,” David added, stretching his arm over Samaelle to grip Tony’s arm. He jostled Tony, man to man. “They do see your worth. No matter what, you’ve always been their brother.” “Gatos --” “No one blames you for what happened to Gatos,” Samaelle soothed. She wound her tail around Tony’s leg and lashed his foot lightly with the tail-tip, tickling him until he laughed. “Lighten up on the gloom. Tomorrow is another day. The sun’ll come out…”

Lia Connor

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“Out here in the desert, you can be sure of it,” David interrupted dryly. Samaelle swatted him. “And you’ll see how things have changed. Cross my heart.” Tony remained quiet for a moment, grinding his jaw. “Even if they don’t, I’d rather be an outcast with the two of you anyway.” Samaelle couldn’t resist kissing her prince, her Tony. “I know you would. But you won’t be. It’s a new age, Tony, and you’ll be a king among men.” She tossed her hair. “And I will be a queen.” “You already are,” Tony said, abruptly rolling Samaelle on her back. His weight heavy atop her, he took her mouth with a ferocious kiss, tasting her deeply. Delighted, Samaelle squealed. She wrapped her tail around his leg and tugged, flipping them over so she could ride astride. David came along, straddling Tony and positioning himself behind Samaelle. Tony’s cock, hardened and ready for action, prodded the soaking opening of her sex, as did David’s from behind. “Let’s work out a little tension,” Samaelle teased, sinking down on Tony’s cock. Quick as lightning, David penetrated her at the same time, their cocks stretching her unbearably, wonderfully wide. Samaelle came in an instant, caterwauling her ecstasy to the tiled Spanish roof. Yippee-ki-yay! With men like Tony on their side, what could possibly go wrong in the upcoming battle? The alley cats were going to shine.

*** Lucia only waited long enough for the single door to their temporary den to shut firmly before she dragged her nails through her hair, gripped her head, and screamed with frustration. Jomei was with her in a flash, clapping his hand over her mouth. Infuriated, Lucia bit his palm, nicking the skin with one Catkind fang -- the reason behind her upset state of mind. Jomei hissed in annoyance and pain but refused to let go. She stomped on his instep to see if that’d work. Nope. He cussed like a sailor on shore leave, under his breath, and stood as if he’d been planted there. Temporarily

Lia Connor

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defeated, Lucia glared at her tiger over the breadth of his hand and snarled. Even when muffled by flesh, it sounded pretty darn threatening even to her. Jomei’s eyes went wide with momentary alarm. “Orion?” “No. Not until she agrees to keep quiet.” Orion seated himself on a crate neatly stacked in the corner of what looked to have been some long-ago priest’s prie-dieux. Though old enough to crumble and redolent of decades of Mexican sun, the stone walls surrounding them were cool. A blessing, considering that Lucia was hot enough to melt. “It is very well for you to say so,” Jomei retorted. “You are not the one in danger of permanent scarring.” Lucia screwed her face up tight, rolled her eyes, and forced herself to relax. Jomei watched her warily. Lucia stared back, level and calm, while tapping one foot. “Will you behave?” Jomei asked, not letting up on his guard. Lucia drew a cross over her heart and glanced around pointedly. She wouldn’t lie in a mission, of all places, abandoned or not. “I am certain I will regret this,” Jomei muttered before taking his hand away. No fool, he stepped back fast and only just avoided Lucia’s fist to his stomach. “I might have told you that would happen,” Orion rumbled, chuckling quietly. “Our Lucia will never lack for fire. What has upset you so? As if I need to ask.” Lucia rounded on Orion, jabbing her finger at him. “Where do I begin? Do you want a list? I could write it down.” “Telling me what aggrieves you so will do.” Orion raised his hand. “Quietly. Please. Shouts will do no one any good. If you are loud enough, then the rat-faced Rafael will hear us.” “As if I care; if he gets close enough I’ll give him an earful too --” Lucia stopped, mouth falling open. “Excuse me? Rafael is here?”

Lia Connor

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Orion nodded, smooth as the surface of a becalmed pool. “He was at the ruins of Gatos and followed from there. He is not half the tracker he would like to think he is. I had his scent right away.” “But -- but –” Lucia sputtered, gesticulating wildly, finishing up by pointing in the general direction of outside. “Why are you sitting here? Go, finish him!” “No.” Orion changed position, crossing his legs tailor-style and draping his tiger’s tail over one rock-hard thigh. He propped one elbow on his knee and explained. “We do not yet know who supports him. A madman such as he could not manage to hunt us all without outside assistance.” Lucia’s previous wrath at having her suspicions confirmed that Rafael had indeed assaulted both her sisters and her brother returned in a hot, incandescent rush. She threw herself at Orion, who rose fluidly and caught her by the wrists. He lifted his chin, pointedly looking behind her. Momentarily, Jomei’s solid, tigerish body pressed to hers, trapping Lucia between them. “Let me get this straight,” Lucia seethed. “You’re using us all for bait, yes? Does that sound about right?” Orion regarded her without apology. “I do what is necessary. Rafael is not the real threat.” “Bombs and fire are a damn good threat if you ask me!” Lucia would have tried to kick him in the shins, but perhaps anticipating that, Jomei wrapped his tail around her right leg and held it in place. Orion did the same with her left leg, effectively immobilizing her. Lucia tried, and failed, to restrain a shudder of carnal excitement at this display of her two tigers’ strength. Dampness began to gather in her sex. Orion’s nostrils flared briefly, the only sign that he had caught her scent immediately. “We neutralized him easily when he tried to attack you before. Should he be foolish enough to launch an assault tonight, I will put him down.”

Lia Connor

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His high-handed nonchalance infuriated Lucia. To her dismay, however, instead of blasting him, tears gathered in her eyes. “He wants to hurt my family. I can’t let that happen. Not again.” “And what do you propose to do about it?” Lucia fought and won the battle to keep her tears under control. She took a deep breath, reaching for the new, growing rage of a Catkind woman inside her and forcing it into a new shape. Her ears stretched and elongated into feline points. Her nails became claws. Where she had tucked it inside her unaccustomedly baggy jeans, her tail lashed her calf. She opened her mouth, the sharpness of her fangs nicking her lip. It was with a Catkind woman’s snarl that she replied, her voice deeper and huskier, “I think you know what I want to do.” “And I cannot allow it,” Orion replied gravely. “Not allow? Allow this, puto!” Lucia struggled against her tigers and accomplished nothing. They held her without so much as a hint of difficulty, though Jomei wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his cheek to hers, purring soothingly. Lucia reacted instinctively, the fight draining out of her with his rasping purr filling her ears. “You’re fighting dirty,” she muttered sulkily. “No fair.” “I know.” Jomei gave her ear a delicate lick, his raspy tongue tickling the strange new shape. “You must calm yourself, Lucia.” He cradled her as he explained, “We could neutralize Rafael tonight, yes. Easily. But then whoever supports him will escape unharmed. They will find a new Rafael to bark at our heels and harry us to death. We will only win this battle if we discover who is so against the Catkind’s entry into the human world.” Lucia stubbornly persisted in trying to have her say. “Then tell the others. They should know Rafael is watching us. If he attacks them and they are not prepared --” “Shh.” Orion bent forward to nuzzle the nape of Lucia’s neck. “Each of your sisters -- and your brother -- are denned up with two Catkind apiece. He has no bombs with him, no explosives. I would have smelled those, and I did not.”

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“Does he have a gun, smartass?” “Yes,” Orion said, mouthing his way up beneath her chin. Lucia moaned, not wanting to let her body have its way. They were such dirty fighters, her tigers. “He cannot get close enough to shoot without my hearing him approach. If he dares, then you have my word that I will kill him.” “We are all safe for tonight,” Jomei assured Lucia, one of his furred hands traveling up to cup her breast and one sliding downward to toy with her sex, pushing past her labia but not inside, where the hunger to be filled threatened to consume her. “I promise.” “Your fragrance is delectable,” Orion rumbled, bending to rasp his tongue around one tingling nipple. “Let us worship you.” Lucia gritted her teeth. She wanted nothing more, but… “No,” she said, pushing at him. “Not until my family is safe.” Orion looked at her, blinking in surprise. “You are still in heat,” he said, joining Jomei in coaxing her pussy open. He slid two fingers inside Lucia, drawing a sharp gasp from her. His thumb skated over her swollen clitoris, tempting her almost beyond what she could bear. “You need this. You will burn up from the fever if you do not satiate your needs.” Lucia tossed her hair and lifted her chin defiantly. “How long can I hold out?” Orion clearly hadn’t expected the question. “A day, perhaps? Possibly two.” “Good.” Lucia bared her fangs at Orion. “Then I will not let you have me until my family is safe. You have one day, maybe two, to get the job done.” “You can’t be serious.” Lucia roared, a true Cat’s roar that thrilled her from head to toe. She rippled with the ecstasy of it, not caring who heard -- not that they wouldn’t put it down to any of the other Cats here; Samaelle, most likely. “I am.” Orion looked over her shoulder, presumably sharing dubious glances with Jomei. “And if we are not successful before your heat drives you mad?” “What will happen then?” Lucia asked.

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“I do not know. It has never gone so far with any Catkind female I have known.” “Then you’re about to find out.” Lucia bucked between them. This time, they let her go. She stood on her own two feet, a little shaky in the legs, her cunt burning with the loss of friction and fullness and her belly twisting from her denied orgasm -- but she stood firm. “But…” Orion surged closer. “But what?” She put her hand on his chest, pushing him back. “If you warn my family of the danger, then I might relent. I don’t like there being secrets between us.” “Don’t you?” Jomei whispered behind Lucia. He ran a long caress down her body, trailing a path all the way from the tip of her shifted ear to the base of her lashing tail. “Then why have you not told them about the changes in you?” Lucia shuddered. “That’s different.” “Really? How so?”

Chapter Two Irritated, his already frayed temper ready to snap, Rafael slapped at the coating of sand that had accumulated on his legs. The damned stuff got everywhere, down his jeans and in his boots, gritting and grating and driving him loco. He itched with impatience, the urge to hurl himself into the mission with guns blazing almost uncontrollable. He had more than enough bullets to take care of every sorry, filthy Cat and the humans they’d tainted. Ten minutes’ work if he took them by surprise, and this would be done with. Rafael had reached for the sawed-off he carried with him, only recently acquired from a black-market dealer but already a favorite, caressing the stock, when a buzzing in his pocket warned him of an incoming call to his cell. Only one person -- thing -- had this new number. His contact. The Catkind who wanted these abominations dealt with as much as he did. Rafael wrestled the cell out of his hip pocket and pressed it to his ear, already hissing, “They’re all in one place. An old mission, falling apart. Easy pickings. I’m going in.” “No,” his contact replied in icily perfect if strangely accented Spanish. “You are not. You will remain where you sit and keep watch.” “Like hell I will,” Rafael scoffed. “I can finish this, and I don’t need your permission.” “Fine. It’s a lovely evening to commit suicide. I do hope you enjoy your futile death.” “Bitch.” “Yes,” she replied, amusement rich in her voice. “I am. Queen Bitch. When I rule the Catkind, there will be no need of men such as you. Perhaps I should let you attempt this fool’s launch after all. You could tidy yourself away for me.”

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“Ha! You need me.” “Do I?” Rafael could almost hear her smirking. “I know where they are. I have their coordinates, thanks to you. I know their names, and I know their weaknesses. What use would I have for you except to hold a gun?” Rafael seethed silently. “Have you quite finished with acting like a spoiled child?” she asked. “Yes? You are hot tempered, Rafael. You are a risk. It is your recklessness that has elongated what should have been a simple task.” “Then why didn’t you do it yourself?” Rafael snapped, anger making it difficult to see and hear. “Because there is always more than one way to skin a cat.” She laughed, musical and mean. “And because Cats do love to play with their food.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “It means I know that once these renegades are dead, you plan to kill me. What kind of fool would I be if I did not plan to kill you first?” “Then why should I help you?” “Because,” she said, her tones silky, “you want them dead as much as I do, or more, and without me you will fail, Rafael. Again.” Rafael fumed in silence. He didn’t take this kind of shit from anybody, not from men or women and he’d be damned if he would take it from a Cat. “Fuck you,” he spat after a moment. “You show your disgusting hide around here and I’ll kill you first. And then they’re mine.” “Once again we return to the futility of your intentions.” “Futile, my ass. They don’t have a clue that I’m here --” “No? The two tigers you described. Do you know their names?” “What? Fuck, no. Why would I want to?” “Know thy enemy,” she murmured. “Their names are Orion and Jomei.” Rafael spat into the sand. “So what?”

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“I propose a truce,” she said, ignoring his question. “A temporary accord. I will allow you the pleasure of bloodying your hands with the renegades, and you will continue to keep watch on them until I arrive.” “You’re coming here?” “I am. These are the conditions of the truce. All the weaponry you want, not just now, but after the renegade Cats are done. Money is no object. I will keep you as a rich man, an honored noble, for the rest of your days. You may hunt whatever you like and kill whatever you please.” “What’s the catch?” Rafael demanded, instantly suspicious. “No catch at all,” she replied silkily. “I simply want you to wait until I arrive before attacking or doing anything else stupid, anything besides watching them and reporting any changes.” “Why?” “Because Orion and Jomei have broken their promise to mate with me.” Rafael snorted messily, disgusted. “You think this isn’t enough reason to want them dead?” She hissed at him. “Tell me, Rafael. Does it not bother you to think of a Cat sticking his dick in a woman who carries your baby in her belly?” “That whore can go to hell for all I give a damn.” “Then what about your child? Does it not burn to think that if they had their way, your son would grow to manhood calling two Cats ‘father’?” Rafael stilled. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Do you start to understand?” she asked him, her tone telling him she knew the answer. “Yes? If you wait for me, then I will restore your honor by flaying the pelts off her mates while they are still alive. And you will have the pleasure of doing the same to Orion and Jomei.” “And Marnie herself?” He’d planned to kill her, too, but perhaps he should keep her until his son was born, and then…

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“She’ll be yours to do whatever you want with. The rest die with no questions asked.” Rafael squeezed his hands into fists. “And if I don’t do what you say?” “If you choose not to obey me, then you will surely perish when you attempt to slaughter eight Cats by yourself. And I will take Marnie, and keep her prisoner in my courts, and when your son is born, I will keep him as the least of the lowest slaves.” Something went pop in Rafael’s head. “Bruja,” he spat. “I can do it, Rafael. Do not push me on this. If you agree to this truce, we both get what we want. If not…” she trailed off. She had his nuts in a vise and she knew it. Damn her! “This fight is personal for both of us,” she said, almost gentle. Pitying. Loathsome. “At first, I cared only for eliminating the renegades. Now, I wish to bloody my claws with those who have betrayed me personally. I think you can sympathize.” Rafael gritted his teeth, fiercely glad of the pain. He forced himself to let go of his sawed-off shotgun. He couldn’t take the chance of his son being enslaved to her, kept as a pet for the Cats. His son. That changed everything. “When will you be here?” he asked, wishing he was a rattlesnake who could strike at her and bite. “By morning,” she replied. “Stay where you are and keep an eye on them. I will not join you in that spot. I will contact you with my coordinates.” “Why?” “Because to divide is to conquer,” she replied. “I will tell you more when I have arrived, but I believe you will like what I have planned.” “Tell me now.” “Patience. I will contact you again when the sun rises. Are we agreed on the truce, then?” Rafael loathed her. “Yes.” “Good.”

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“Yes. Bitch.” “Call me Anuetta,” she mocked. “Anuetta, Queen of the Cats.” The cell disconnected, leaving Rafael alone with the sand, the night, and a burning hatred that devoured him from the inside out. Tomorrow, there would be blood.

*** Gabriella slept restlessly, sandwiched between Derek and Benjamin. They gave her space to toss and turn, mumbling complaints but never waking enough to protest or ask her to lie still. When she dreamed, it was of her family. Lucia, so flighty, hiding something now. Gabriella was sure of it. Lucia had never worn long sleeves or baggy jeans in her life. Marnie, in the shadow of danger so terrible Gabriella could not comprehend it. Tony, darkness simmering under his calm, reliable surface. Terrible days were upon them. They stood poised on the greatest rise or the furthest fall, and they would look to her as the oldest to lead them. It was up to her. And so Gabriella slept, pride warring with fear warring with a thirst for vengeance.

*** Marnie slept peacefully, curled snugly between Tracey and Josh. Though the night was warm, she didn’t mind their heavy, furry limbs that draped protectively over her, their hands laced together over her belly. In her dreams, Marnie lay on her side on a blanket spread over soft grass, eating juicy citrus fruits while she watched Tracey loping past in his jaguar form, carrying a small, bright-eyed girl on his back. She clung to his fur with her tiny fingers and laughed for joy. Josh approached them in his Serval shape and nudged Tracey with his nose, demanding his turn carrying their daughter. Then, behind them, Rafael’s narrow, ugly face appeared as he burst from a blind of tangled vegetation. He ran for the Cats and for her child, knives in both hands, his mouth twisted with rage.

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Her daughter screamed -And Marnie woke with the same scream pouring from her, soaked with cold sweat.

*** Tony could not sleep at all, though he lay with his head pillowed on Samaelle’s lush breasts and with David’s tail wrapped around both his legs, twined in and out. Their even breathing, chests rising and falling almost in unison, did not comfort Tony, but kept him awake. How could they be so calm? They knew how much danger they were in, all of them. They had almost died at Rafael’s hands once before. Tony wasn’t stupid, though many people thought differently. He understood the way a squirrelly mind like Rafael’s would work. Even if neither Samaelle or David had been able to sense his presence, Tony knew Rafael had to be out there somewhere. There could be no way he’d resist a chance to target them once they were all together. Rafael might not be stupid enough to attack with someone still awake, though, and so Tony refused to let himself fall asleep. He stayed on guard, his ears peeled, until suddenly, without realizing he’d dozed off, he found himself dreaming of running through a jungle with Samaelle and David, all three laughing together and tumbling in a pile of tangled limbs and sweet, sweet kisses…

*** Lucia slept soundly, and dreamed of grooming herself from head to toe with lazy rasps of her feline tongue. She watched her sisters and her brother, noble Cats now, playing with their cubs and their mates. She smiled in her sleep, and didn’t move an inch all night long.

Chapter Three The day had a sense of finality about it. Lucia had never been one to think about more than the next party, the next shopping trip, the next pretty man who’d smile at her and coax her on his lap. Her life had changed in countless ways since she had met her royal tigers. Had it only been so short a time ago? Loose, black curls slid smoothly over Lucia’s bare shoulders as she shook her head. Maybe someone had made a wish for her to live in interesting times. The same wish for all her family. That make sense. But would she trade what she’d won -- or her two loyal tigers -- for the life she’d had before, even if the only danger they’d known back then was the occasional drunk who’d guzzled down one too many and refused to leave at closing time? No way on earth, nor in heaven or hell. Lucia double-checked to make sure no one was watching. No? Good. They’d all still be asleep. Probably they should have woken far earlier, but they were all exhausted, worn out from running for their lives, and the desert had seemed calm enough since Lucia had woken an hour before dawn and prowled around the old mission. She had some private time left, and she meant to make use of it. She took her hair in both hands and shaped a loose knot on the back of her head, high up, like she’d seen in pictures of dancers. They were slim and willowy where she was curved at breasts, waist and hips -- but she’d bet now that she had changed, not even a trained mistress of the ballet had her newly natural grace. Morning sun glistened over her nude body, shadowy under her full breasts and glistening off her smoothly shaved legs. This was something a male Catkind wouldn’t

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know, of course, and that Samaelle kitty seemed to spend all her time in half-shifted form -- woman-shaped, walking on two legs, but covered in her Catkind calico coat -but stubbly legs itched when her tiger fur grew in. Inhaling a deep breath, Lucia planted her hands on her hips and lifted her face toward the rising sun. She closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of the new light. She didn’t have to do this to start the transformation process, no, though Jomei had suggested it was like a kind of meditation. Lucia didn’t know about that. She just liked to saturate herself with sunlight. With her mind quiet, her thoughts smoothed blank, and her body suffused with pleasure, Lucia let go of her humanity. Silky tiger’s fur glossed over her limbs, changing caramel-hued smoothness to crisp black-and-gold stripes. Her ears grew points and otter-slick fur, repositioning themselves higher on her head. She opened her mouth, as if to drink down the sunlight, and traced the tip of her tongue over her sharp feline fangs. She shuddered as if she was coming -- Dios mio, it was almost better than sex -- at the sense of utter freedom and ecstasy that came from letting her inner Cat out to play. She wouldn’t be half as happy if she had thought any of her family were watching. Lucia’s happiness tempered slightly. Jomei had argued for her telling them; Orion had argued against. Herself, she was undecided, especially now. The thought had occurred to Lucia that if she could change, then they all could, and that would make their battle so much swifter in its surety and vengeance. It would have been why they in particular had all called to Catkind in search of mates. Perhaps her grandmother, who seemed to know far too much and whom many had called a witch, a bruja, had passed this down their genes. Who knew? Did it matter where they’d gotten it as long as they had it? Lucia thought not. As she stretched out one slender arm and turned her hand front to back, admiring the soft pads of her fingertips and flexing her slender, wickedly sharp claws, she could see, in her mind’s eye, how gorgeous her family would look as shifted Cats. How proud they would all be running together with their mates in one triumphant pack.

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But what if they were horrified by her changes? What if they looked at her and were afraid, or called her “freak”? To mate with a Cat was not the same as accepting that one was not entirely human themselves. Lucia had come to it easily, herself, but she couldn’t and didn’t expect the same of the others. She didn’t want her blood family to reject her. She couldn’t bear it if they hated her, and thought she’d die if they were afraid of her. So for now Lucia kept it all to herself. Only for this hour, and maybe the next. Because once Rafael was in their sights, she planned to change shape and go after him herself, sharp in tooth and red in claw. Then, she’d go after whoever had Rafael’s back and rip them to shreds, too. No one tangled with her family -- not and lived to tell about it. Lucia’s roar was still a small one, more of a kitten’s snarl than a mature Catkind’s voice. Still, she arched her back and roared at the sun, raising her arms to welcome the day. Come what might, whatever the cost to herself, she’d make up for all her wrongs to her sisters and brother. Today, she would be a warrior queen.

*** “Magnificent,” Orion murmured, safe in his hiding place with Jomei, as ever, by his side. He wound his tail around Jomei’s waist, pulling him snugly to his side. He ached with horniness and was sure Jomei would be no better off. For their mate to deny them sex was sheer madness, or so he had thought until now. “Clever Lucia. Do you see what she’s doing?” “I do not think she understands completely,” Jomei said quietly. “That does not matter right now.” Orion could see for himself, and marveled at his mate’s instinctive cunning. She channeled her powerful heat into the effort of transformation, forcing her recessive genes to the forefront and demanding that they do as they were told. She would achieve full transformation before long if she kept this up. If she did not go mad from the animal’s need to mate, that was. Orion worried for her.

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“Our Catkind kin should know about this,” Jomei insisted, as he had done several times before. “And do you think Anuetta knows?” “I hope not.” The short fur on the back of Orion’s neck stood up. “She would triple her efforts to slaughter all our mates if she did.” “Who is to say she has not already?” Jomei pointed out. Orion grumbled under his breath. “We are sure it is Anuetta?” Jomei pressed. “What if our guess is wrong?” “It is not a guess. Anuetta is our foe. She has been against us from the start, beginning with the eldest sister and her mates.” “We only discovered Lucia to be our mate and broke our contract with Anuetta days ago,” Jomei said. “Indeed. She planned to be Queen all along, though, did she not? A racial purist, and the cleverest of Cats. She would have seen this coming and followed Derek and Benjamin from the start.” Jomei wrinkled his nose, clearly troubled. “And what would she have thought when we left to seek our own answers to the riddle of the renegades?” “I do not want to think about it. Enough to say that in her eyes, we signed our death warrants when we left the courts.” Orion sighed. He had loved his wild home. Still, he had other, pressing concerns, and had to divide his time between them. He nudged Jomei firmly. “Come. We have much work to do.” “It is time to gather our kin together, then?” Jomei queried. He looked as wary as Orion felt. Cats of different stripes did not always gather peaceably. What other choice had they? “It is time,” Orion agreed. He turned reluctantly away from the sight of their mate in her new tigerish glory and, with Jomei loyally following, left as silently as he had approached, Lucia none the wiser that they had ever come to watch her in the first place. The day had a sense of finality to it. The battle was nearly upon them.

***

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Tony stopped at the entrance to the old mission, shaking out his aching arms and stretching his legs. He’d drawn and carried enough water from the ancient well, still sweet once he’d cleaned the shaft, for all of them to drink throughout the day, and even enough for his sisters to wash. He only had two buckets, and even for a man accustomed to hauling kegs of beer and flats of bottles, the work tired him. “You look exhausted,” Samaelle said, pouncing him from behind and dropping a butterfly kiss on his cheek. She looked as fresh as a sage flower, bright and perky. “Why didn’t you ask anyone to help? I would have lent a hand.” Tony shrugged. Samaelle rolled her eyes and kissed him again, slow and lingering. “Winning their respect means not playing the part of a servant,” she informed him, her lips brushing his with each syllable. “It means speaking up when you have something to say. You’re not weak. God knows a man who makes love like you has enough oomph to lead an army.” She socked him in the bicep. “So go prove it already!” Tony wrinkled his nose at her, albeit with a grin. “You’re impossible.” “Don’t they say you should do seven impossible things before breakfast?” she asked saucily, switching her tail and batting her eyelashes at him, way over the top, trying to make him laugh and then reach for her to enjoy some morning delight. If only he had the time. “Sorry,” he said, catching her delicate calico hand and raising it to his lips in an equally dramatic gesture. “Tonight.” “See?” Samaelle looked proud instead of piqued at being deferred. “That’s how to do it.” “We don’t have time for me to haul my balls out and play leader right now.” Tony scruffed up his hair. “No, we don’t,” she agreed. “But one small step at a time, yeah?” She pointed past him, directing Tony’s gaze to Gabriella, who’d positioned herself in the center of the mission’s tiny chapel, sorting through the sticks and stones and broken glass he’d brought from Gatos to use as weapons.

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As he watched, Gabriella shook her hair out of her face and stood, wielding a long slat of wood like a quarterstaff. Tony saw nobility, powerful womanhood, and most of all pride in her stance. He knew that look. It was Gabriella when she was about to take control and start ordering everyone around as if she knew best, and only she. Tony’s jaw tightened. Samaelle laid a gentle hand on his arm. “I’m not saying attack her,” she warned. “All I’m saying is you should remind her that the soldiers are just as important as the commanders. Maybe more so.” She pushed him lightly, snaffling the water out of his hands. “I am going to have a bath, and you should too. You smell like a horse.” “You’re not the freshest flower in the garden, yourself. As for horses, you sure as hell didn’t mind riding me like one last night,” Tony retorted. Samaelle’s lips curved in a naughty smile. “I know. Do I ever know.” She turned her back on him, flirting with sweeps of her agile cat’s tail. “Tonight, I said.” “I know. Consider this a sneak preview,” Samaelle tossed her hair over her shoulder as she sauntered away. “All you have to do is show her you’re her equal, Tony. You already know it. Now it’s time she does, too.”

*** Gabriella tested the heft of a long, sharp chunk of glass in one hand and a narrowish spear of wood from the Gatos sign in the other. If they only had some rope, or some electrical tape, she thought they could make a decent spear. Maybe more than one. Firm footsteps alerted her to someone’s approach. She looked up, squinting through the bright morning sunlight, and spotted Tony. Her heart warmed with affection as well as the relief she felt every time she saw another member of her family alive and healthy. Although Tony looked like he was in one heck of a bad mood. Gabriella prickled with annoyance. They didn’t have time for this nonsense.

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Since it was clear to her that Tony had something to say, Gabriella waited for him to arrive and spit it out. As he approached, she kept her mouth shut, though she had to bite back a murmur of surprise at how he had changed in a few short days. He stood taller, looked stronger, and held his head high. How strange. She’d always thought of him as a boy, but not now. Now she saw him for what he truly was: a grownup and a man. He might still be the strong, silent type, but it was apparent now that if someone tangled with him, Tony wouldn’t keep his mouth shut or turn the other cheek. Tony had become a warrior. Gabriella hadn’t been too fond of Samaelle when they’d met the day before, but now she began to reconsider her opinion of the calico. Nothing got the lead out of a man like a strong, wise woman. She rose as Tony reached her, looking him in the eye. “Mi hermano. Como esta?” He didn’t reply in Spanish. “We need to talk.” Gabrielle refused to step back. She spread her hands. “Then talk. Or, if you want, help me put these weapons together.” “No. Not yet.” Tony studied her, his eyes dark. “Tell me honestly, Gabriella. When this is all over, I’ve heard your lion and your panther saying you’ll be an Empress.” “So they tell me, too.” Gabriella shrugged. “It’s a title, that’s all.” “Titles have meaning,” Tony reminded her. “And I won’t have one.” “Says who?” Gabriella retorted. She understood where this was going. “Tony.” She caught his hand. “I am still su hermana. I always will be. I have been too proud in the past. I know this.” She’d taken the wind out of Tony’s sails, she saw, but he still held his head high with the pride of an Aztec soldier. “Is that an apology?” “For not taking you as seriously as I should have in the past? Yes. It’s also a promise. If I’m going to be called Empress, then you can be a… a…” Dios mio, Gabriella

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didn’t know hierarchy from a hole in the wall. “You will be a King, at least. Or Emperor yourself.” Tony stared at her. “You’re serious.” “Of course I am.” She swatted the back of his head, then gentled to pat his cheek. “You are the man of this family, Tony, and without you we would have fallen apart a long, long time ago. Don’t think I don’t know that. You are the heart of Gatos, and you mean the world to me. To Lucia and Marnie, too.” She grinned, showing her teeth. “Now, hermano. Want to pick some weapons?” Her brother cracked a disbelieving smile. “And here I was set to argue for hours with you.” “You wouldn’t have had to. Maybe a week or so ago, yes, but I’ve changed as much as you have. Enough of this. Truce?” She put out her hand. Tony shook on it. “Can I be battle commander?” “Only if you managed to save your G.I. Joe camo pants from the fire.” “Oh, come on, I was six when I got those,” Tony protested, though he was laughing. He tugged her hair. “Fine, fine. Battle Commander Tony. Weapons, sir?” Tony blazed a smile at her that made Gabriella proud. He had changed, oh yes, as she had changed, and her pride in her family knew no bounds. Gabriella could sense changes in the wind, and she liked them. After today, they truly would enter a new era. A far, far better one. Battle Commander. It had a good ring to it.

*** Marnie sat tailor-style on the ground by the mission’s old well, drinking pure, sweet water from a clay cup Tony had found and filled for her. He was a good brother. A good man. She rested her weight on one hand propped behind her, turning her face to the sun as the last drops trickled down her throat.

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Nestling the cup in the sparse ground cover beside her, Marnie rested her hand on her belly. Barely a baby bump as yet, but she sensed the new life thriving inside her. What a world it would be born into! If she had one wish, it would be for Tracey or Josh to have sired her child. The thought excited her, and though she loved this baby no less as a part of her, she tingled with anticipation of the next, a half-Catkind, half-human. Would it be Serval or Jaguar? Perhaps both at once. Catkind had litters. She smoothed her palm over the swell of her belly, singing absently, “Duérmete mi niña, duérmete mi amor… duérmete pedazo de mi corazón.” Sleep, my child, sleep, my love, sleep, piece of my heart. Forgive me for what I must do. Perhaps it was a mother’s intuition, but now that her dreams had reminded her of Rafael’s madness, she knew in the depths of her heart that there was no way Rafael would not demand ownership of her child. He would be extra-crazy in his fight against them, and that would put her sisters and brother in greater danger than they might otherwise face. Marnie’s heart tightened with fear even as she reinforced her decision. No one would understand what she meant to do, not her sweet Tracey or her gruff Josh, not her blood family, nor their mates. But if it kept them safe -- if, perhaps, it even prevented this fight -- then she would do what she had to. As soon as no one was looking, Marnie would slip off alone and let Rafael find her. She would allow him to take her, and placate him with great big lies about his masculinity. He always fell for those. She would distract him and make untrue promises to lull him into smug complacency, until he’d leave her family alone. And when he had sunk so far as to forget the fight, she would kill him. With her own two hands, if she had nothing else. There was a story in her Abuela’s Bible that she recalled right now, one she had always loved. Judith, who dressed herself in her finest to charm her way into Holofernes’ tents, where she slaughtered him. How afraid this Judith must have been… but she’d done it, and she’d ended a war.

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Marnie exhaled a long sigh. It didn’t matter how afraid she was. She was done with hiding behind others. If she could end this, she would. If she failed, and she died… ay, she didn’t want to think about that, but she begged her child’s forgiveness all the same and sang it sweet lullabies as she made her plans in the sun. “Ese niña quiere que lo duerma yo, dormir en mis brazos y en mi corazón.” This child wants me to lull her, to sleep in my arms and in my heart. In the richness of love, Marnie found her courage.

Chapter Four “What are they doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did your mates tell you to leave them be?”

“As if I was laundry they could cast aside.”

“It’s not like them.”

“No,” Gabriella said, speaking over the low hum of conversation from her sisters

and brother. She eyed their Catkind, gathering together at the far end of the courtyard from where Benjamin had asked her to stay while he met with his breed. She’d bristled, sensing a dismissal in his request she didn’t like at all. It seemed that the same had happened with all of them, although even as she strode toward the gathering, the calico Samaelle cast uncertain looks over her shoulder at Tony. Samaelle bit her lip, as if she didn’t much like this herself and was worried about how Tony would respond to this unexpected segregation. They were up to something. Gabriella just didn’t know what. She didn’t think she’d like it when she found out what was going on. Hmph! She looked to Tony for his opinion. “Well?” “Looks like a council of war to me,” Tony replied without hesitation. “The Cats are making plans on how to play.” “Without us?” “So it seems.” Tony scowled. “Samaelle doesn’t like it.” “She’s your biggest fan, and she’s a woman. She probably has better sense than to think they should huddle up and start planning alone.” “I know she does. Samaelle’s sharp.” Gabriella liked the pride in Tony’s voice. “And David?”

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“Hard to tell sometimes with him.” Tony shot her a sideways look. “Does it bother you at all that one of my mates is a man?” “Should it?” Gabriella raised one shoulder. “Does it bother you at all that all three of your sisters are shacking up with not one but two men who aren’t human?” “Point taken.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest and stood straighter. “If they think they can leave us out of this, they have another thing coming.” “They wouldn’t,” Gabriella said, dismayed. “I bet they would,” Lucia chipped in. “Men! No offense, Tony.” “None taken,” Tony replied dryly. “They must think it’s for our own safety,” Marnie said, whispering as she always used to, as if she felt small and uncertain. She offered them a weak smile. Gabriella assessed her baby sister, worried. Something pinged at her radar, a sense of uneasiness, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was wrong. “I think we’ve proven we can fight,” she said instead. “Maybe not with claws and fangs --” Lucia flinched. Gabriella glanced curiously at her, making a brief second’s worth of eye contact before Lucia turned away. Her radar pinged again. Before she could ask -- Lucia was far easier to challenge -- Tony glanced at Marnie and Lucia in turn, and shook his head. “Wait and see what’s up first. Make sure we’ve guessed right. Then, if we have to give them a piece of our mind, we will.” He bared his teeth in a ferocious grin. “All for one, yeah?” “And one for all.” Gabriella planted the spear she carried firmly in the Spanish mission’s earth. “And ass-kickings for every Catkind who thinks this is the way to keep us safe.”

*** “Are they still watching us? Yes, Samaelle, I am talking to you. I know you have not taken one eye off your Tony this entire time,” said Orion. Samaelle grudgingly gave him her full attention. “It’s a bad idea.” “So you say.”

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“I do, and I’m not backing down on it. It doesn’t make sense to leave them out of this. The humans are our mates. It’s their fight as much as ours. More. This Anuetta bitch destroyed their home.” “None of us have a home to go back to,” the pale Serval Josh muttered. Samaelle’s hackles raised. “Is that a slam against alley cats?” “For Pete’s sake, no, it wasn’t. Shut up, Josh.” The Jaguar Tracey, who in his human form looked to Samaelle like a fresh-faced college kid, elbowed his Catkind mate. “Do you agree with this putz?” Samaelle demanded, deliberately insulting the purest-blooded Catkind of them all. Ha! What did blood matter now? Tiger or not, in line for the throne or not, Orion and his white tiger Jomei were no better than any of the other renegades. Tracey sucked his lower lip between his teeth and bit at it thoughtfully. “Yes and no. They should be safer here while we scout Anuetta.” “Sure, great, but when Rafael comes sneaking in the second our backs are turned? What then?” Samaelle snapped, frustrated. “He won’t. Anuetta will keep close tabs on him, and that means keeping him in her sights. He’ll be with her, or near her, and we’ll take care of him too,” said Derek, standing straighter than a Catkind’s human form properly allowed. Samaelle knew his pride had been severely stung by Orion and Jomei’s presence, that he’d planned to set himself up as an Emperor once the gap between their world and the human’s world was breached. Well, there was no saying he couldn’t. But he wasn’t now and would never be the boss of her. Or David. Or Tony. Or any of the Gatos family. Samaelle twitched her tail. “I think you’re wrong.” “Then you will not go with us to find Anuetta?” Samaelle opened her mouth to respond with a sharp no! Before she got the word out, David pinched the base of her tail, hard. She snapped about to glare at him and

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saw the pleading in his eyes. He knew something she didn’t, then. He often did. And he was asking her to please go along with Orion’s plan. Oooh, she didn’t care for this at all. If it had been just she and he, she’d have demanded he spit out whatever he knew right then. But with the others present… “Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll go with you. But,” she added, holding up one finger, “I want to get one thing straight before we set off. One thing made clear now, or I won’t fight at all, and you need every set of claws you have, so don’t try and put me off.” They accorded Samaelle the respect due to a Catkind female and listened, though some looked grouchier than others about it. Samaelle squared her shoulders. “I want an accord between our breeds.” “Excuse me?” Jomei and Benjamin asked the question at the same time, blinking at her as if she’d spoken in Swahili. “You heard me. We’re setting out to form a new world order, right? Then I want your assurances, all of you, that once we’ve taken care of Anuetta and her ilk, nothing like this will happen again. No ‘I’m better than you because I have a pedigree’, blahblah-blah.” “I had thought that was understood by all,” Orion surprised her by answering right away, sounding confused. “I have given up my throne. I am a common Cat now. As are we all.” Derek startled Samaelle further by nodding his agreement. “I know what I said before,” he warded off her question. “Titles are titles. We’ll all be kings -- and queens. Equals.” Samaelle’s heart pounded with excitement and hope. “Agreed,” she said, putting out her fist. Although some didn’t look like they knew what to do at first, after Tracey bumped knuckles with her, the others followed suit. She could have danced for glee, and now she was feeling that good gung-ho let’s-go-kick-some-ass vibe. Samaelle still thought their mates should be allowed to go with them, though, so she added one more proviso. “I’m in. As long as we tell them what we’re up to first. Agreed?”

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The men exchanged glances with varying degrees of approval and resignation. “Agreed,” they replied. Samaelle threw her head back and laughed for joy. I am woman. Hear me ROAR!

*** “Excuse me? You want to say that again?” Lucia was angry enough that the heat in her face prickled with an almost painful sting. “Si, repeat yourself. I know I can’t have heard you right the first time?” Orion looked as if he wanted to pass his hand over his face and growl with frustration. “It is not complicated, Lucia.” “Oh, so now you’re treating me like a dummy, is that it?” Lucia hissed, the sound more animal than she’d intended. She gasped and reeled herself back in. The urge to change shape and hurl herself at Orion was almost too strong to resist, and the effort of tamping down the desire left her too shocked to speak. Tony took over for her, his handsome face darkly angry. He stepped up to Lucia’s side and raised his head, proud and fierce. “You’re not leaving us behind.” “We will. We are,” Orion replied. “It is for your own safety. Why is this such a concern?” “Because I’m not a damned weakling!” Tony spat at him, fisting his hands. Lucia recovered. “And neither am I. Or Gabriella. Or Marnie. So you can take your ‘for your safety’ B.S. and shove it where the sun doesn’t --” “That’ll be hard out here,” Tracey murmured. Without looking at the Jaguar, Josh elbowed him hard enough to make Tracey oof. Flashing an apologetic grimace at Orion, Tracey tried to pacify Lucia. “Anuetta. She’s a Cat. It’ll take Cats to fight her. She won’t respect humans -- she loathes them -you -- and she won’t think twice about killing you. She’ll think it’s fun. She’ll enjoy it. Or worse. She’s smart enough to think about snagging you during the scrap and using you as leverage against us.” Lucia seethed. At her side, Tony fumed.

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To the right and a few paces away, Gabriella looked not angry, but intense, and thoughtful. She gazed at her Derek and Benjamin with an expression Lucia couldn’t interpret. Almost as if she knew something Lucia didn’t. Lucia opened her mouth to call Gabriella on that, then shut it with a snap. She wasn’t what you’d call religious, but Dios mio, if she dared yell at Gabriella for keeping secrets then she knew she’d be struck down by lightning. To the left and a few paces away and almost behind them, only just visible at the edge of Lucia’s peripheral vision, Marnie stood with her face downcast and her thin shoulders visibly taut with uncertain fear. Lucia could see leaving Marnie here, maybe with Gabriella to protect her. But not all of them. She wanted to fight, and she saw that Tony burned to join the battle as well. “We’re going,” she said firmly, facing the assembled Catkind without fear. “You can argue about it all day long but I’m not changing my mind.” “Lucia --” Orion’s jaw worked, a tic briefly appearing in his cheek. “It is not open for discussion.” Lucia snorted. “And what’ll you do if we follow you anyway?” “Tie you to the mission door,” Orion replied without a trace of humor, deadly serious. “You are not coming after Anuetta with us. We will not risk you. We have all agreed on this. End of discussion.” He cut a horizontal swath through the air to sever the conversation. “David.” Tony sounded hurt. “You’re going along with this? You? That’s all the credit you truly give me?” The gray tabby Cat gazed back at Tony, blank-faced, passively emotionless except for a small twitch of apology in his shoulders. “This is a matter for Cats. Orion’s not wrong.” Tony’s lips twisted down at the betrayal. “Samaelle?” he asked next. “Not you, too.”

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Samaelle wouldn’t look back at him. She said nothing. The other Catkind, though, all nailed her with pinpoint-sharp stares. If there wasn’t something going on there, Lucia would eat an agave plant without salt or lime! “Nature, red in tooth and claw,” Gabriella spoke up abruptly. She’d planted her homemade spear point-first in the earth and started twirling the shaft between her palms. “Go.” Lucia, along with Tony, rounded on her, gaping. Marnie shivered and looked at the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Lucia blurted. “You don’t want to join the fight?” Gabriella shrugged and held her tongue, quiet. Too quiet. Lucia’s suspicions rose, piqued. This was not like Gabriella at all, neither in her passivity or her silence. Something else was up here, very different to Samaelle’s silence. In fact, given the tiny, well-hidden gleam in Gabriella’s eyes, Lucia would eat a second agave with habaneras on top if Gabriella didn’t have something wicked up her sleeve. Tony must have seen it too, for he turned his back on the Catkind with a loud grunt and faced his oldest sister. “Go,” he said to the Catkind without letting them see his face and his growing, wicked intrigue. “Have fun. Send a postcard. Weather’s great, wish you were here, damn, it’s lonely sleeping alone for the rest of my life --” “Tony, that’s not fair,” David said, calm as ever. “I don’t think you mean it.” “No? Orion, Jomei… do you remember our own bargain?” Lucia taunted, deliberately releasing a fraction of her iron control that kept her maddening need to mate in check. Wetness immediately dripped from her sex and slicked her thighs. She thought she heard Jomei moan under his breath when the aroma reached him. She clamped back down on her arousal, breathing a little shakily, and tucked her hair behind her -- still human -- ears. Lucia had had an idea of her own. Dangerous? Oh, yes. Terrifying? Even more so. But… it would be the best way of all for the Gatos family to win back their pride, and show those Cats that humans were tougher and more resourceful than they were

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given credit for. They should already have known that; well, time for a pointed reminder. “Go,” Gabriella repeated, standing straight and tall as a legendary warrior queen. “Don’t look back.” And the Catkind went, Samaelle glancing over her shoulder as if wanting to stay but in the end, following her brethren. Leaving the Gatos family behind. Lucia flexed her hands. She could feel the change rippling under her skin. Almost there, almost. Gabriella twirled her spear, watching the horizon. “Do the rest of you think they’re wrong in assuming Rafael will be with this Anuetta bitch?” Tony made a rude noise. “No kidding.” Marnie took a step backwards. Lucia fought to control her breathing. She couldn’t let rip all at once; she’d scare them. “So he’ll come after us, you think?” Gabriella asked Tony. Tony took a doubtful look at Marnie. “Probably.” He sounded gentler as he said, “We have something he’ll want to get back more than anything. As soon as the Cats are too far away to come back in time, he’ll come in with guns blazing.” “Then we’ll be ready for him,” Gabriella replied, hefting her spear. “We have the weapons, and there are other things we can do --” “Like this,” Lucia interrupted. She let go of her iron-clad control, sliding the gates up slowly. “Ay! Look what I can do.” The silky tiger’s pelt flowed over her arms and down her legs; her ears repositioned themselves, and she lashed her new tail. Gabriella shocked Lucia. Instead of flinching back or gaping in horror, she blazed with pride. “I thought so. Ha!” Marnie boggled at Lucia. “How did you learn to do that?” “It’s in my blood. In all of us, I think, passed down from our Abuela.” Lucia had never felt so alive. “I can teach you. It’s so easy. Just like flipping a switch in your head.”

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Tony bared his teeth, so fierce that by rights he should already have grown sharp Catkind fangs. “And then we take Rafael when he stumbles in?” “Oh, yes.” Lucia purred. “We take him to pieces. Are you with me?” They were. All of them. Even Marnie, who shook and laughed with some kind of relief Lucia didn’t understand. “Then let me show you how to do it,” Lucia ordered. “Stand side by side and turn your faces to the sun…”

Chapter Five The Cats fell into a V-shaped formation as they prowled up the desert, shifting fully to Cat form for the added protection of their leathery paw-pads against the scorching sands. Orion took the lead, with Jomei at his left and, surprising them all, Samaelle at his right. Samaelle seemed no less confused than the others when Orion nudged her firmly into place and though he bared his fangs at her when she took a swipe at him, refused to back down. Derek and Benjamin came directly behind, far enough apart for them not to be able to speak with twitches of whiskers, tilts of their heads and wrinkles of their nose, yet close enough to all the Catkind, every nerve on edge, that Derek knew if he tried to broadcast his thoughts to Benjamin, they’d be heard by all. Yes, Orion’s mental voice rumbled directly to him. Derek snarled quietly. Smartass. It is how I have kept my skin for this long, Orion replied, dry as the desert they padded over. If you have something to say, I suggest you share with the class. Derek huffed and pawed angrily at the sand. Since you asked, then I will. They’re up to something. Our mates. Of course they are, Orion replied, seeming surprised only that Derek hadn’t known for sure. Why else do you think I was so rude? I would not insult my mate’s honor or strength -- Lucia is a fierce woman -- without good reason. Benjamin’s tail switched, lashing the sands. Why don’t you share now? What’s your plan? Our mates have great strength, Orion replied. That helped a fuck of a lot, didn’t it? Derek rolled his eyes and sneezed in distaste. Could you be any more vague, king-boy?

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Orion growled back at him. Watch your tone. All of you, stop, David broadcasted, sounding weary. Save your strength. We will need it for Anuetta. I don’t like this, Samaelle spoke up. We aren’t sure Rafael is with Anuetta. What if separating us is exactly what they want? I am sure that it is, Orion replied, unruffled as a glassy lake. Samaelle jerked to a halt. Are you crazy? We have to go back! No, we do not. Our mates are more than capable, said Orion. They have what it takes to defend themselves. And they need to, David added. They have their own honor to regain, and their pride to restore. Putting Rafael down like the dog he is will satisfy the debt. Samaelle meowed pitifully. But they’re in danger. Orion doubled back to bump shoulders with her. So are we all. This is war. The avoidance of a larger war, David clarified. One battle to decide which way the tide turns. He loped forward to nuzzle Samaelle. Why so afraid? You know how tough Tony is. What he’s capable of. And our Gabriella, Benjamin chimed in. And our Marnie, Josh growled. She is strong, strong as iron beneath the fears that sometimes trouble her. And Lucia is tougher than nails, Jomei added, for the first time. Samaelle heaved an unhappy breath. Orion stopped in front of her, sitting on his haunches, enormous tiger’s bulk blocking her way. Something more than their safety bothers you. What is it? Samaelle tried to avoid his gaze. If you are keeping secrets, and if they may put us all in danger… Orion trailed off, his threat clear nonetheless. Kittens, Samaelle admitted.

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Derek pulled up short, as did Benjamin and Jomei and Tracey and Josh and especially David, who was the one to address Samaelle. Kittens? Yours? He swallowed. Mine? Or Tony’s? Both, I think. Now that she’d made her statement, Samaelle’s tongue was loosed. And not just mine. Men! You couldn’t tell? Marnie, yes, we all knew about her, Derek replied slowly, confused. Samaelle shot him a filthy look. But you didn’t know about Gabriella. She curled her lip at Orion, deliberately sneering. And you didn’t know about Lucia, either. Orion gaped at her. All of our mates? All of them? Every female among us, Samaelle confirmed. I’ll risk myself. I’m not afraid for me. I’m tougher than I look, and I am a Catkind through and through. My kittens are safe. But Gabriella’s and Marnie’s and Lucia’s? Human women lose their babies so easily. I’ve seen it before. If Rafael attacks them then it’s not just your mates at risk. Derek couldn’t believe it when Orion barked a Catkind laugh. There is something you should know about our “human” mates, Samaelle. They -­ An unexpected roar startled all twelve Catkind into turning instinctively to their left. Derek hissed, a rumbling snarl following fast afterwards. He didn’t recognize the female Catkind poised atop a sandy rise, far enough away to be out of pouncing range but not so far that he couldn’t see the mocking amusement rippling through her. This had to be Anuetta. How… interesting, she purred. Kittens, hmm? It’s a very good thing, then, that Rafael has gone after them. Don’t bother running back. You’ll be too late. Tracey surged forward, roaring. Orion cuffed him, and stood firm. I know. We would be. But there is something you should know. Something I was about to tell my brethren, and our sister. His massive jaws parted in a mocking, triumphant Catkind laugh. Our mates are not human. Not completely. Derek’s lion jaw dropped. He shouted, in time with ten others, WHAT?

***

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Gabriella reclined in the warmth of the sun, her face still tilted toward the sky, basking in the light that felt somehow different. Better. Soothing her, making her want to purr. And why not? In her new Catkind shape, to think was to do, and she released a trilling purr that sounded like human giggles. “Good, isn’t it?” Lucia sprawled across the way from Gabriella, braced on her hands behind her, paddling her foot-paws in the sand. “I think we’ve all gone crazy,” Tony said, turning his newly furred hands to and fro, as if he still couldn’t quite believe it. “Good crazy?” Tony grinned. “The best.” Marnie trilled her agreement. Gabriella let herself look as much as she wanted to at her family. Ay! Families surprised you sometimes. When Lucia had taught them how to access their inner Cat, all Gabriella’s shock had washed immediately away in the overwhelming sensation of rightness. This was a missing piece of their lives they had never known to look for. Until now. The Catkind in their blood drew them closer together still, and Gabriella fiercely rejoiced in that. And yet there were still some surprises. Gabriella had thought, when Lucia demonstrated how to let go and let the inner Cat out to play, that they would all be the same as her, a tiger, gleaming golden-orange and striped with black and white. Not so! Perhaps it was that they all had different fathers; she didn’t know for sure. Tony, to the West, was tawny and lithe. A bobcat, Gabriella thought, not an African lion like Derek, but powerful and dangerous in his own way. Marnie, for her part, had become a snow leopard. Beautiful, her eyes compellingly blue and her paws dainty, but her teeth sharp and deadly. Lucia, a tigress.

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And as for herself? Gabriella couldn’t have been happier. Black, sleek, strong, she had the body of a lion yet was as dark as night. As far as she knew, there hadn’t been any beast like her in a very long time. Her form was ancient. She could feel it in her bones. “We could go further,” Lucia said, rolling up to her knees and brushing off the light coat of sand clinging to her striped fur. She moved so fluidly, so gracefully, and Gabriella knew she had acquired the same ability. “This is only halfway. But I think we could, if we wanted, go the rest of the distance. Take on full Cat shape.” “Should we?” Gabriella asked. Any advantage to their favor when Rafael showed his face would be terrific, and judging by the amount of tension building in her gut, she knew it wouldn’t be long now. “Better not,” Tony said. “We’d have more power and be able to run faster --” “And crush his windpipe with our jaws,” Lucia muttered. “--but this way, we have hands.” He shrugged. “And if it turns out that we need that extra boost, we can surprise him.” Marnie’s laugh bubbled up, pleasing Gabriella. It was so good to hear her baby sister laugh! Especially wonderful after Marnie’s abrupt retreat into terrified timidity at the mission. “You don’t think he’ll mess his pants already when he sees this?” She held up her downy hands as she rocked with mirth. Tony got to his feet, mussing Marnie’s hair as he did so. He stretched tall, raising his hands to the sky. “I feel like I could run forever.” Though still giggling, Marnie made a face. “Not me.” She laid her hand over her belly, seeming more rounded in Catkind form. She frowned at the swell. “Ay. Cats don’t take as long, do they?” Gabriella sputtered in amusement. “Looks like they don’t! Stay like this much longer and you’ll pop.” Marnie dashed a pawful of sand at her. “You should talk!” Gabriella shook the sand off. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

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“You and Lucia.” Marnie tilted her head. “Have you been snacking lately? You look --” “Mierde,” Tony swore. “All of you!” Gabriella exchanged baffled looks with Lucia, who shrugged. And when Lucia moved -“Mierde!” Lucia echoed, in perfect unison with Gabriella. They both stood, Gabriella matching Lucia move for move, and compared the new shape of their bodies. When Marnie rose to join them, all three were a perfect match. “Dios mio,” Lucia murmured, hand clapped to her mouth. Her lips began to twitch. When she lost it, whooping with laughter, Gabriella couldn’t hold her mirth in and joined in, Marnie echoing them. Tony looked as if he’d just seen three ghosts. “I don’t know about you, but it only makes sense to me,” Gabriella informed her sisters. “As much sex as I’ve had over the past couple of weeks?” “Only takes once,” Lucia replied. “Bet I’ve had more than you.” “You might be surprised at me, too,” Marnie chimed in, sparkling with mischief. “Ay! Sisters, huh? We do everything together. Why not this as well?” “You,” Tony sputtered. Gabriella patted his shoulder. “Such a man. It’s natural. Besides,” she said, a wicked thought sparking in her mind, “Given how Cats are, I wouldn’t be surprised if your Samaelle -- ay, don’t faint!” She grabbed at Tony, who had staggered slightly. He recovered and pushed her away -- gently. His eyes were huge, white showing around the brown of his irises. “This changes everything,” he rasped, closer to a bobcat’s bark than a human’s speech patterns. “Yes, it does.” Gabriella caught up her spear. “It gives us more reason than ever before to see this done. Rafael at our hands, and I trust our Cats to have done with their Anuetta and her plans for genocide.” “It can’t be that easy,” Tony said, dubious.

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“Yes, it can,” Gabriella retorted. “You take out the leaders, and their followers crumble. It’s how the best armies win. With these two gone, we’ll be able to live our lives. We’ll be the bridge between the worlds, our entire family of twelve.” “A lot more than twelve. How many kittens in a litter?” Lucia asked. “Dios, don’t say things like that,” Tony groaned. It seemed to be all in fun now, though. He jostled Gabriella’s shoulder. “All right, sister. What do we do? Wait until we see the whites of his eyes, and pounce?” “Mmm. No need to wait that long. As soon as we catch a whiff of him, attack.”

“I like that plan!” Lucia enthused.

Marnie had been quiet. Gabriella turned to her, admiring her sister’s snowy

white coat and the new strength in her stance. “You know, I had planned to sacrifice myself,” Marnie said quietly. Gabriella hadn’t known, and she could have kicked herself for not suspecting it - yet hadn’t she been honoring Marnie’s new courage by not considering the option? “And you’ve changed your mind now?” she asked, casting no blame. “I have. He won’t touch me. Or my child. We are family, and we’re not his to harm. Not ever again. I --” Marnie stopped, raising her muzzle. She inhaled deeply, and exhaled, new purpose and determination settling over her like a mantle, becoming at once fiercer than any mother animal in defense of her blood. “There,” she whisperpurred, pointing to the mission, her claw extended. “He’s hiding around the back. Watching us. I can smell him. He’s here.”

Chapter Six Anuetta hadn’t expected to hear anything surprising about their mates, and she most certainly hadn’t been prepared for the news that their mates were not completely human. David pawed the sand, relishing the faint flinch, the half-second of surprise he’d detected when Orion delivered his bombshell. Samaelle and his brethren, except for Orion and Jomei, were all equally shocked, though, which cut their advantage in half. David himself didn’t know exactly what Orion had meant, or how he knew, or if it was the truth at all. He thought it was not a lie. When he remembered Tony’s scent, he wondered if there hadn’t been a hint of something more than ordinary about him, a spice of Cat in his blood. It made sense. It made David want to rear on his hind legs and roar with savage pride. And he did, surging up and loosing a mighty snarl that shocked Anuetta further. She wouldn’t have expected that from an alley cat. The balance of power shifted yet again, firmly on their side, for now his brethren and Samaelle had had a chance to regain their focus while Anuetta was further rattled. She tried to recover, even going to far as to disdainfully lick her shoulder. What difference does it make? she mocked. Human, not human, they are still lesser creatures. Easy to hunt as mice. Easier to kill. You should have listened to that mutt female. Rafael is with them. Rafael will snap them up and cut them down. As I will slaughter all of you. Here. Now. Our mates can fight with tooth and claw now, Anuetta, Orion taunted her. They are fierce. They are Catkind, and they are carrying our bloodlines forward. Anuetta recoiled. Blasphemy! Half-breeds? You revolting -­ Survivors, David corrected her, reveling in his power over Anuetta and the old guard who had kept his kind repressed for so long. We are the future. You are the dead past. Your regime is over.

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Never! she hissed, her fur bristling. Yes! Who is with you now, Anuetta? Who has the balls to challenge us? Derek demanded, pacing forward. I had the courage to break away, as did my brothers and my sister. The others remained to molder away. They knew they had no chance. Orion confirmed it. We will live on, and they will die off. He shook his ruff and roared, deep and full-throated. You have one chance to surrender, Anuetta. Give up this foolishness, bow your head, and you may live. And if I don’t? Then you die, Orion said. He paced forward, heavy-footed on the sand. Choose, Anuetta. Choose now. Anuetta lowered her head and lunged at them, silent, swift, and bloodthirsty.

*** “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Marnie sing-songed, pacing forward with the sure and certain grace of a queen. Power flooded her limbs, tingling in her fingers, her claws thirsty for the taste of vengeance. “Afraid to face us, Rafael? Afraid to face me?” she goaded. Her sisters and brother followed her, almost soundlessly, all agreed in silent accord that though they all had a claim on Rafael’s blood, Marnie had the greatest right to take this kill. The animal nature in Marnie salved the sore places still remaining in her soul, and gave her strength she’d never dreamed of, not even when she had found her two Catkind mates. “Ra-fa-el,” she crooned, mocking him with her sweetness. “What’s the matter, fraidy-cat?” Rafael lurched into sight, staggering around the side of the mission. Marnie’s lip curled in scorn. This was what she’d been afraid of? A skinny, rat-faced human with no more glory in his heart than a lizard? Busy fumbling with stuffing a wad of cloth in the mouth of a half-empty whiskey bottle, his hands shaking around a cheap plastic lighter, Rafael hadn’t looked up at her - at them. When he did, the puling wretch went whiter than the moon, and dropped his

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shoddy Molotov cocktail. “You -- you --” he stuttered. The sharp tang of urine fouled the air as he wet himself at the sight of Marnie and her Gatos family in their new shapes. “No. No, you can’t --” “I think we have some unfinished business.” Marnie prowled forward, enjoying his terror. “I seem to remember your splitting my lip and calling me a useless waste of skin, you coward.” She came close enough to smell his fear, and even now, his black-hearted loathing. There was no redemption for a man like Rafael. So be it. “Here, kitty, kitty,” Marnie crooned, dropping into a crouch. “One thing to remember, Rafael? Payback is a bitch.”

*** Anuetta was no fool; she would have known this was hopeless and that she had lost before she charged them. Still, Jomei felt pity for her as he and his Catkind kin easily surged in a circle around her, trapping her with no hope of escape. She snarled at him. I want none of your pity. Especially not yours. You were born without balls. You’re not a male. You’d rather sniff around Orion’s ass than -Lucia thinks differently, Jomei replied, understanding that answering back was what she’d wanted. It didn’t truly matter. She could not distract all of them. She could not escape. And he had his amends to make, for he’d abandoned her and severed their mating bond. He had had no choice; the true bond with Lucia superseded their formal tie, but it would have been hard on her. I do not pity you, but I am sorry for this. Anuetta sneered. Save your breath. Jomei shrugged a tiger’s shrug. What was done, was done, then. He had nothing left to say. Orion took over for him, nosing Anuetta’s haunches. Do you yield, queen that would have been? No! She snapped at Orion, nearly catching his throat in her jaws. Orion loosed a roar. His tail whipped the sand.

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I might have told you a few things to look out for when it comes to a woman scorned, Samaelle growled. Her mate David head-butted her -- gently -- in the side. Jomei watched Orion manage, with a great effort, to control his tigerish temper. One. Last. Chance. Anuetta, do you yield?

*** “Get back!” Rafael staggered, falling on his ass in the dry weeds and the dusty sand. Marnie paced steadily forward. “No,” she said, carrying her head high. “Don’t you want me anymore, Rafael? I thought I belonged to you. That I was your slut to do with whatever you wanted.” She paused, pretending to think. “Isn’t that what you told me time and time again?” Rafael tried to scramble backward. Pitiful, he was. Not a real man at all. And ay, what a mess he’d become. Unshaven, puffy black eyes, a swollen nose, broken teeth, and craziness in the twist of his features. “Puta,” he spat, mean as a snake to the last. And, because he was apparently just that stupid, he sneered at her. “Knew you were nothing but a pussy on legs.” Gabriella growled, warning them of her intentions to rip him open. Marnie held out a hand to stop her. She wanted Rafael to know exactly what he was losing. Every last bit of it. She laid her hand on her belly. “This is your child. You are aware of that, si?” Fresh madness flared in Rafael’s eyes. He tried to get up. “Yes. Mine. You come with me, bitch.” “And do what?” Rafael hadn’t expected the question. He gaped at Marnie, searching for words. “So you can lock me up in a room somewhere until you get your child?” Marnie asked, resuming her progress forward. “I know you, Rafael. You would do exactly that. Let me die, take the child, and then turn him into a little you. Twisted and bitter, an enemy to women, and raise him to kill Cats. Yes?” Rafael glared at her, his dark stare full of loathing, and didn’t deny it.

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“You’ll never get the chance now.” Marnie knelt by Rafael’s side and pressed her hand to his throat, pushing, letting him feel the tips of her claws. “And I want you to understand that a woman brought you down. How’s that taste, Rafael? How’s it burn you deep inside to know that I killed you?” Rafael slithered his tongue over his split lips. “Don’t be so sure of that,” he said. A hot line of pain sliced along Marnie’s side. “Knife! He’s got a knife!” Tony roared. Rafael laughed, loud and insane. “Move another step closer and she’s dead.” He leered at Marnie. “Now how’s that make you feel, bitch?”

*** I do not yield! Anuetta sat on her haunches, tail curled around her, elegant as a statue of an Egyptian cat goddess. She raised her head haughtily. Kill me. Orion looked at his new pack, led by none, but who looked to him now as the decider of Anuetta’s fate. She deserved death. She had done her worst to instigate a war between the Catkind and humans. She had sent Rafael to harry them and to hurt them and their mates. Had nearly managed to kill them all in their turn. If she had the chance, Anuetta would do the same thing again, and would learn nothing from her mistakes. She would destroy the remnants of the once-proud Catkind in her zealotry for racial purity. Orion could not abide that. He drew back his paw, ready to deliver the killing blow. Anuetta snapped forward, almost faster than Orion could track her, jaws open wide, striking at his throat --

*** Marnie laughed. She couldn’t help it, despite the pain from the minor wound -Rafael hadn’t done worse than scratch her and draw blood. It would have sent the old Marnie into a terrified faint. It’d take more than that to scare her now. But as she’d hoped, her merriment confused Rafael. “I mean it,” he blustered. “I’ll kill you.”

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“In your dreams,” Marnie said. “Goodbye, Rafael.” She pressed down hard, crushing his windpipe. It was over.

*** Samaelle had been ready for this. She knew exactly what a treacherous twat like Anuetta was capable of, and the second Anuetta struck, Samaelle flashed between her and Orion. She collided with the other female, knocking Anuetta off balance and on her back, soft belly exposed and paws in the air. Anuetta gaped at her, momentarily breathless, not understanding how she’d failed. Who’s a worthless mutt now? Samaelle inquired sweetly as she sank her claws deep in Anuetta’s throat. Anuetta died without a sound. Behind Samaelle, the male Catkind were silent as the grave. She looked over her shoulder to see them staring at her, some with shock, some with amazement, and some with awe. David bellowed out a roar of triumph and ran to Samaelle, rubbing her with his jaw, purring in urgent bursts. Samaelle! he shouted. Samaelle! Samaelle! Samaelle! The other Catkind joined him in a rowdy clamor, shouting fit to deafen them all, celebrating their victory. Samaelle! Samaelle! Samaelle!

Victory! Victory! Victory!

The Catkind whooped with laughter and tackled each other, rolling like kittens, sparring. David stayed by Samaelle’s side, grooming her with long, tender licks. Samaelle thought she could have burst from pride. We did it. I did it. It was over.

*** “Is he taken care of?” Tony nodded, brushing the dust and dirt off his arms. He’d insisted on being the one to carry Rafael’s sorry carcass away, and he’d taken great pleasure in dropping him in the desert. This far out, where not even tourists came and where any locals would

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wisely steer far clear of anything that reeked of danger, no one would see or give a damn about the dead man. The buzzards would pick him clean. Good riddance to bad rubbish. “He won’t bother any of you again,” Tony said, taking his proud place beside his sisters. Regal Gabriella, fiery Lucia, powerful Marnie. He no longer thought himself small or insignificant beside them. They were family, and together they were mighty. “Look!” Lucia shouted, pointing toward the horizon. “Do you see?” Tony raised his eyes, and saw the most welcome vision of his life -- and after what they’d just been through, that was saying something. Eight Cats, racing on four paws each, barreling their way home to their mates. He raised his voice in a victory call, shouting at the top of his lungs, welcoming them back.

They’re alive! Josh exulted, shoulder-checking Tracey. Tracey bared his fangs, but in a Catkind grin, not in a threat. They are! I can smell rat’s blood. Rafael must be dead. I know he is, Josh roared, triumphant. As they galloped closer, he yelped. It’s true! What Orion said -- it’s true. Look at them! Tracey hadn’t doubted Orion’s claim, but now that he saw it with his own eyes -their mates, standing tall and triumphant in the halfway form between full Catkind and human shape, tails whipping exuberantly and muzzles raised in howls of welcome. He put on a burst of speed he hadn’t known he was capable of and was the first to reach the Gatos family, jumping up to put his paws on Marnie’s shoulders and lick her face. She laughed, gleaming with excitement, and hugged him around the neck. All around them, the others, who hadn’t been far behind at all, were greeting their mates with the same enthusiasm -- though all were gentle, careful not to harm their growing futures.

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Tracey drank in the gorgeous sight: Gabriella kneeling between her golden Derek and dark Benjamin, ruffling their manes and kissing first a coal-black and then a sunyellow muzzle, their purring deafeningly loud. Samaelle shifting fluidly to halfway form and, leaping on Tony, wrapped her legs around his waist and her tail around his legs, taking his head in her hands and kissing him breathless while David wound around and around, head-butting Tony with loud meows of approval. Lucia tweaking her proud mates’ ears and accepting their lavish, loving licks, grooming her and nuzzling every inch of her they could reach. Josh, next to him, shifting to halfway form and lifting Marnie, chuckling at her squeal of delight. Tracey shifted shape just so he could have the pleasure of saying it. “Welcome home!” “Welcome home!” they shouted back. Home. Gods of earth and sky, but it was good!

Epilogue As the sun went down over the Mexican desert, there was a celebration in the old mission fit to frighten the priests. No tequila, no samba, just men, women, and victory. And it was good.

*** “All by yourself, eh?” Tony guided Samaelle with both hands at her waist, lifting her as if she was as delicate as a flower, partly to tease her, and partly because of how infinitely precious she was to him. He poised her over his erection, teasing her soaking pussy, breathing in the rich, female scent of his mate. “Me, myself, and -- oh -- I!” Samaelle exulted, sliding home on Tony’s cock. She arched her back and moaned, clamping greedily down around him. “So good, so good.” Impatient, she rocked forward, slapping his hip as she would a stallion. “Move!” “Sounds like she’s in a hurry,” Tony said, drawing out the game by turning to share kisses with David. “Mmm. She always is.” David’s rough, raspy tongue stroked over his even as David slid his hand down Tony’s torso. He flicked his nail briefly over Tony’s tightlydrawn sac, then glided up to thrust his finger in Samaelle’s pussy beside Tony’s cock. Samaelle wailed and beat her fists on Tony’s chest. “Two on one! Not fair!” She rocked more urgently. “Give it to me like I’ve earned this,” she demanded, rising and falling, fucking herself instead of waiting for Tony. David slid a second finger inside Samaelle, and then a third. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and keened. For his part, Tony’s hips cleared the bed, his body aflame from the wet heat and snugness of Samaelle’s pussy, and the manipulations of David’s clever, clever fingers. “You’re a devil,” Tony gasped. “Both of you. Diablos.”

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“Mm-hmm,” David murmured, licking his ear. He ground his sturdy erection against Tony’s leg, humping him without shame. “My turn next.” Tony couldn’t answer. He was too busy bellowing, shaking the rafters with the volume, and coming inside Samaelle. He soaked David’s hand, spurting once more when David sank his teeth in Tony’s arm and shuddered, coating Tony’s leg with bursts of slippery stickiness. “I’m definitely keeping you,” Samaelle panted, trying to steady herself on one shaking arm. She bent down to kiss Tony; Tony caught her by the back of her head and plunged his tongue inside her sweet mouth. When she withdrew, he grinned at her, floating on the languid exhaustion of his orgasm. “Good,” he said. “Because I’m not letting you go. Either of you.” David purred. “So say we all.”

*** Marnie stretched her hands over her head, straining back for something to grasp and hold to keep her grounded. She rippled, undulating from head to toe, quivering with the urgency of her rising need. Snuggled in tight between her legs, Tracey wouldn’t let go, and wouldn’t stop. He pumped his fingers in and out of her pussy, gliding on the slickness of her cream, his thumb working her swollen, almost-too-sensitive clitoris. He spread her folds wide open and dragged his tongue up to the apex, greedily drinking. She sobbed with relief when Josh dropped by her side, his climax already come and gone, sprayed over Tracey’s fully healed back, the wetness drying in Tracey’s fur. He caught her hands and let her clamp down while he kissed her, teasing her with timed licks inside her mouth even as Tracey mimicked the darts of his tongue in her pussy. Josh smoothed his hand over her belly, growling in a way that sounded possessive. “Queen,” he said huskily, stroking her. “Our Queen, and no one else’s. Ever again.” Marnie nodded, her appetites consuming her. “Tracey!”

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He snapped his head up to grin at her, his nose and chin shiny-wet. “Yes, my lady?” “Fuck. Me,” she ordered. “The lady’s wish,” Tracey replied, moving fluidly to his knees. He grasped her calves and raised her legs to drape over his hips. She locked her ankles behind his back as he thrust home, so deep she thought he’d never go back. Blindly, she shook off Josh’s hand and felt her way up his furred thigh, bulging with strong muscles underneath, and found his hardening cock. She took him in hand and stroked as steadily as she could, hungry for the pleasure of their coming at the same time. Her Catkind men groaned in unison. “Almost there,” Tracey panted, fucking her harder, deeper. “God, you -- what you do to me, to us --” Josh bit Marnie’s lip, pulling it tight between his teeth. Dios mio, how she loved that they played rough with her! She was no fragile flower. Not now -- not ever again -she was a Cat Queen -Marnie howled, fiercely dominant and writhing as she came, clamping down on Tracey. The chain reaction set first Tracey and then Josh off, leaving nothing but pure pleasure -- and, even better than that, hope. No, not hope. Surety. This was her life now, and it would only get better every night. She laughed, reaching to pet her men. “Ay. I’m keeping you.” Josh licked her lips for her. “Good.”

*** Lucia stood tall above her two Catkind kings kneeling below her, worshiping her body and celebrating her spirit. “Kinky,” she giggled as Jomei washed the arch of one foot with his tongue. He slanted a dark glance up at her, then lifted her leg with one strong hand under her knee -- Orion immediately rose to his feet behind her to keep her balanced -and sucked her toes, one after another, between his lips.

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How’s that? he asked, using the mental speech she was already beginning to understand as clearly as if they were speaking out loud. He tickled the underside of her toe with his teeth, prickling, amazing. Kinkier? Is it enough for you? “You know it’s not,” Lucia brazened, writhing back against Orion, all the better to enjoy the slick pressure of his engorged phallus rubbing in the cleft of her ass. “I want your cock in me. Get up.” “What about me?” Orion rumbled, preemptively sliding into her wetness from behind, a hard, sharp thrust that left Lucia gasping, breathless. “What about having this in you?” Lucia struggled to recover. She laughed. “Both of you. I want both.” Jomei, on his feet before her now, licked a path up her throat, making her moan. “How?” he asked. “Smart cats.” She tweaked his ear. “You’ll figure it out.” Jomei looked back her, at Orion. His lips quirked devilishly. Lucia was about to ask what they were up to when she figured it out. Orion withdrew completely, his cock replaced seconds later by Jomei’s sliding slickly to the hilt, his balls slapping her perineum. No sooner had he entered her than he slid out, replaced by Orion, and on and on, sharing her back and forth. “Oh -- my -- God,” Lucia wailed, rising too high, so fast. “Dios mio, don’t you stop, don’t you ever stop --” Jomei and Orion penetrated her at the same time, the squeeze far too tight, splitting her open, stuffing her full. Each buried their head in one of her shoulders, mirroring one another, spurting inside and overflowing, thick strands of pearly come cascading down their legs and hers. Lucia’s eyes rolled back into her head. This? This was the best any woman could ever ask for in any lifetime. And to think she’d been afraid of Cats for so long! Ay! She let Jomei and Orion carry her weight as she relaxed bonelessly between them, still spitted on their cocks. “Si,” she murmured, blissed out. “Hope you don’t mind,” she said, “but I’m taking you home with me. I’m keeping you.”

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Jomei and Orion chuckled in harmony, nuzzling her throat with gruffly sweet kisses. “Good,” Jomei said. “Your plans are our own. We will be keeping you, too,” Orion added, biting her scruff for good measure. Lucia mewed, contented at last.

*** Satisfied in every way imaginable by her lion and her panther, Gabriella rested between them, one hand on Benjamin’s chest and one on Derek’s. Her noble Catkind, victorious warriors, were already as close to sleep as made no difference. Gabriella, almost dreaming herself, tugged sleepily at their chest hair and then relaxed, releasing a long, well-pleased sigh. All was right with her world. Her family was together, safe, happy -- very happy, from the caterwauling that had rocked the mission that night -- and had already quadrupled in size. What would it be like when they had who knew how many kittens rolling and tumbling underfoot? Oh, their futures would not all be candy and sunshine, Gabriella knew that. They had a world that didn’t understand their kind and many who would fear them to face. But with canny thinkers like Jomei and David and charismatic leaders like Derek and Benjamin, with noble soldiers such as Josh and Orion, and such adorable lovers as Tracey and such powerful women as Samaelle, her sisters, and Gabriella herself -- why, the world wouldn’t stand a chance. They stood on the brink of a new world, one ripe with possibilities, and filled to the very brim, no, spilling over with love, passion, and abundant richness. They would rebuild Gatos, for a start, and turn it into a safe haven for the Catkind who wanted to join them. A neutral territory for pure humans to meet with them. A home for those who, like she and her sisters and brother, were more than ordinary humans. There had to be others like them out there. Many, many others… Ay, such plans! So much work to be done! But… tomorrow. Si, it would all wait for the morning. For when she really got down to it, for Gabriella, family was what mattered most. And as she snuggled between Benjamin and Derek and knew her family to be

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safe and snug around her, Gabriella thought she might be the happiest woman in the world. She had found happiness, and she would keep it. And tomorrow they would begin to rebuild Gatos. Together. As a family. Gatos. Their livelihood, their heritage. Clever Abuela, to hide the truth in plain sight. Gatos would be what it was always meant to be -- a place for both humans and Catkind to come together.

Lia Connor Lia Connor supposedly lives in the South, but her job takes her almost everywhere but there. Her laptop is her best friend as she travels. She’s thrilled to be working with Changeling Press. She loves to write about BBW’s, hot, hot, hot threesomes and were-animals. Lia would love to hear from you. You can contact her at [email protected]. Visit her web page at http://margaretriley.com/lia.html