Cat on the Fence (7 page)

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said, biting the corner of her lip
in that sexy way she did whenever she was conflicted. God, he wanted her so bad
it hurt. She gripped him in her fist for a moment but then she let go and
gently pushed him off her lap. “I should put on some clothes.”

“Right,” he mumbled. He sat upright, allowing her to get to
her feet. He turned his head the other way while she was getting dressed and
tried to think about puppies and kittens to calm himself down.
Kittens.
If
he knocked Karabi up, would they have babies or kittens? Then the thought of
the
process
of knocking her up excited him even more. So much for his
usual standby of baby animals to calm himself down. He tried thinking about
dead puppies and kittens instead.

“Got anything for me to put on?” he asked.

“I’ve got your clothes from Friday night in that closet over
there. But first we need to think this through. We can’t just open the door and
walk you out of here. Non-shifters don’t know about us. What if someone sees
and asks why you are here instead of in your office? How will you explain why
you’re wearing the same clothes you did to the ball?”

Alex mulled this over for a minute. “Can you get the tiger
out of here?”

“Not easily. They would expect me to put you in the den with
the other tigers, not walk you out of here.”

“Where do they think the tiger came from?”

“Some exotic dealer, breeder or smuggler.”

“Okay—what if my ‘owner’ came by to retrieve me?”

“Maybe. But we’d have to be careful not to get this ‘owner’
in serious trouble for illegal animal trafficking.”

“This is crazy.” Alex shook his head. “I don’t even know why
this is happening. Explain it to me again please—why am I a tiger?”

“You’re a Werecat. A human-cat shape-shifter.”

“But why?”

“You were born this way,” Karabi said. “When’s your birthday?”

“July thirty-first.”

“You’re a Leo. Mine’s August ninth. And chances are, at
least one of your parents was a shifter.”

“How long does this last?”

“Does what last?”

“This being a Werecat thing.”

“It’s not a thing. It’s what you are.”

Alex shook his head. “No. I can’t be a tiger-man-thing. I’m
a businessman, a professional. I can’t be a fucking Were anything.”

“Sorry, but that’s what you are.”

“But it doesn’t make sense.” Alex ran a hand through his
hair. “Gah, I’m not even that much of a cat person.”

Karabi laughed. “Well, you are quite literally a ‘cat
person’ now.”

“This is just crazy.”

“Yeah, I imagine this is all rather alarming for you.”

“So how did I get in here? Why am I injured?”

“You don’t remember anything that happened on Friday night?”

He turned to look at Karabi. “Oh I remember everything. The
elevator ride up. You and me in that window box thing…”

“I’m talking about after that,” she said. Her face looked as
aroused by the intimate memory as he was feeling.

“I remember experiencing my body and senses changing, right
before I was going to come. I left the building and transformed. My memory is a
little fuzzy after that but I think I was running around, confused. Then there
were wolf-men attacking you.”

“Werewolves,” Karabi said.

“Okay, so there really are Werewolves too?” Alex shook his
head and rubbed at his forehead. All of this was simply nuts. “Why were they
after you?”

“I honestly do not know,” she said. “That was my first time
encountering Werewolves.”

“Hopefully it was the last time for both of us. I don’t like
them one bit.”

“That was apparent,” Karabi said. “You really hurt one of
them. But that’s how you got injured, and I had you brought here to get medical
attention.”

“Ah, I see.” Then Alex remembered he was still naked. “So
what do I do now?”

“Do you think you can shift back to a tiger?” Karabi asked.

Alex winced. “I have no idea how I did it the first time.
I’d been stuck like that for three damn days.”

“Well, you can’t stay in here like this. Anyone else who
comes in here will be looking for a tiger.”

“I don’t even want to try to shape-shift into that animal
again. Besides, I need to get back to work.”

“What if you suddenly shift again while in the middle of a
meeting? It happens when you’re first starting out. You need to master shifting
first.”

“Shit.”

“Maybe you should call in sick.”

“I’m still a contractor. I don’t have any sick days.”

“Then tell them you have food poisoning, and that due to the
vomiting and diarrhea you’d think it best if you work from home for a couple of
days. I already laid the groundwork for that story, so it should be pretty
plausible.” She grabbed his clothes out of the closet and tossed them to him.
“Your phone’s still in your pocket.”

“Thanks.” Alex got dressed and dialed Kevin’s number. He put
on his best sick voice and told Kevin he hoped to be back in the office by
Wednesday. He looked at Karabi, who nodded in affirmation that Wednesday was a
good choice. “Now. How are we getting me home?”

“I’m thinking,” Karabi said. “We need a plan to sneak you
out of here.”

“Great,” Alex mumbled.

His whole worldwas in complete chaos. He’d just
found out he was some kind of freaky shape-shifter, the woman he was falling in
love with was part cheetah and now he was putting his chances of making this
job permanent at risk. Plus he had to sneak out of his own place of work.

Alex sighed as he began putting on his boxer briefs. What
the hell else could possibly go wrong?

“Wait, don’t put on your clothes just yet,” Karabi said. “I’ve
got a plan.”

Alex halted with his underwear halfway up his legs. “Already?”

“Yup,” she said. Then she told him her plan for his escape.

When she was done explaining it to him he eyed her with a
mixture of awe and amusement. “Wow, you’re quick with escape plans. You do this
kind of thing often?”

She smirked. “No, I already had three days to think about
how the hell I was going to get you out of here if that tiger really was you.”

“Still, I’m impressed,” he said. “There’s just one problem
with your plan. It requires me to shift a few times. But I don’t have a handle
on this whole shifting business just yet.”

“Okay, so let’s try to get that down right now.”

“Right.” He stood and she couldn’t help but visually admire
him. “It’s not right that I’m still naked and you’re not,” he said.

She smirked. “You’re the one who needs to change forms back
and forth, not me. Now try to transform.”

“How do I do that?”

“Think ‘cat’.”

Karabi watched while Alex squeezed his eyes tight and
pinched his lips together. The expression on his face made her giggle.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“You look like you’re trying to take a poop.”

“I’m trying to concentrate.”

“You’re making it harder than it needs to be. Just let it
come naturally. Feel the cat within you.”

He closed his eyes again and took long, deep breaths,
opening and closing his hands in and out of fists. But several minutes went by
and he didn’t transform.

“This isn’t working,” he grumbled.

“Are you trying to imagine yourself as the Cat? Can you see
yourself looking from behind the eyes of the tiger?”

“Yes, I’m doing that. Nothing’s happening. I don’t even know
why this approach would work anyway, since that’s definitely not what I was
thinking about the one and only time I did change to the tiger.”

“That night of the masquerade,” Karabi said, nodding
thoughtfully. “What were you thinking when that started to happen?”

Alex tilted his head down and raised his brows at her
mischievously. “About not coming in your hand.”

Karabi’s face grew hot and there was a tingle of excitement
between her legs as she again vividly recalled the moments on The Ledge just
before Alex dashed off. “Any idea what about that interaction would have made
you go Cat?”

He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. I mean, the whole thing
was reallyfucking hot. A little scary because we were so high up.
Exciting because we were right there, in a public building, and we could have
been caught at any moment. But I didn’t care, because I really wanted you. I
mean,
really
wanted you.”

“Hmm.” Karabi considered this. She knew the feeling he was
talking about. Wild. Frisky. Daring. Bold. Mischievous. Everything a cat was.
She’d felt these things whenever she was with Alex too. In fact she was feeling
them right now. But they didn’t make her want to shift. She reflected back on
her own early transformations. When Karabi was first learning to shift she was
an awkward teenager going through puberty. She’d been informed of what she was
and had been prepared for her Cat’s arrival, and when the time had come for her
she had weeks to master shifting. But Alex didn’t have that kind of luxury. He
needed to fully acquaint himself with shape-shifting right now, or at least
partially. The next work shift would be starting within an hour and she had to
act on the plan soon, otherwise they were going to be trouble.

There was only one thing Karabi could come up with that
would deliver quick results. It’d triggered Alex to shift to tiger in the first
place and apparently encouraged his return to human.

She took him by the hand and led him over to the table. He
looked at her in confusion but complied.

“Kiss me,” Karabi commanded.

Alex’s left brow shot up. “I’m not sure this is the right—”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down
toward her and shushed him with her mouth. It didn’t take long for him to fall
into the groove. Within seconds they were locked in a passionate embrace,
sucking each other’s faces, drinking each other’s kisses until both were sloppy
drunk with lust. They went on like that for a full minute before she pulled
away from him, her lips full and tingly.

He looked down at her with half-lidded eyes. “That was
nice,” he said as she got up from the table, then turned him around and made
him sit up on it instead. “Maybe if we keep that up, I’ll be distracted enough
to—ah!”

Karabi pulled off her pants and panties and mounted his bare
lap. She didn’t take him inside her, just had him pressed up against her so he
could feel her sex against his. She crushed her breasts against his chest and
stared into his eyes as she pumped her hips, humping him, egging him on.

“Karabi…” He said her name with a moan. She put her finger
to his mouth to shush him and continued to rub her slit up and down the length
of him. He was so hard, so smooth, so thick and long. Karabi dipped her hips
down and around in a circle, rubbing him between her labia and against her clit
at the same time. Her breath came out in short pants. He gripped her bottom,
squeezing it, while she grinded upon him.

“Let me fuck you,” he said in a strained whisper.

“No,” she said. “You don’t get to come.”

“You’re so hot and wet. If I don’t come, I’ll go crazy.” His
voice was a gravelly plea.

“Go crazy,” she said. “Get wild. Let the tiger loose.”

“This is torture. I don’t know if this is going to work for
me.”

It’s working for me
,Karabi thought as she
pressed even harder against Alex, moving faster, increasing the friction. Soon
she was shaking, her pussy contracting and her body convulsing with her orgasm.
It was only a mild one but it was good. She’d needed the release.

Apparently it was what Alex needed too. “Ah!” His
exclamation turned into a roar and soon he was shifting. By the time Karabi’s
orgasm subsided she was lying on top of a huge tiger whose erection was
thumping against her ass.

Karabi grinned. “Good job. You ought to know, however, that
slapping me with
that
while we’re in mismatched forms is highly
inappropriate.”

Alex moved his tail and swatted it repeatedly against the
side of her thigh.

She twisted her mouth into a scowl. “Now you’re thumping me
with
two
of your Cat appendages. So wrong.” She tried to get up but Alex
crossed his huge paws behind her back, holding her to him, and gave the side of
her face two long, tender licks with his big, rough tongue.

Karabi felt her own Cat stirring inside her. She squealed
and squirmed, swatting at his nose. “Stop it, Alex, let me go!”

He released her and she slid off him and got to her feet.
She scrunched up her nose at him. “Werecat rule number three, or something like
that—there is no hanky-panky in mismatched forms!”

The tiger playfully slapped his paws in the air at her.
Karabi laughed. “I’m not too fond of rules, either,” she said. “Now, try to
change back to human.” Tiger Alex made a sound very similar to a whine. She
scratched him under the chin. “Come on, you can do it,” she said. But when a
few minutes went by and she still had a purring striped beast on the table, she
had to get creative again. She unbuttoned her shirt and lifted up her bra,
letting her boobs plop out. She jiggled them in front of Alex. “Become human
for me, and I’ll let you play with them.”

Within seconds he was a man again, sitting up on the table
and reaching for her breasts. She swatted playfully at his hands and laughed.
“Well, then. It’s quite clear what motivates you, isn’t it? The man and the
Cat!”

Alex shrugged. “I never said I was a complicated guy. Now
give me my reward.” He reached out and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her
toward him, when there was a knock at the door. They both jumped in alarm.

“Quick, turn back into the tiger. No one can see you like
this.” She hurriedly jumped into her panties and pants, and buttoned back up
her shirt.

“Gah, I still need more practice!”

“Better consider this the test, and do your best. Think
about how you felt when you just shifted. Think about how much you want to come,
but you can’t.”

“Well, that’ll be easy enough to do. All right then. Here
goes.” Within a few seconds Alex transformed back into the tiger, then nodded
at her before pretending to sleep.

Karabi beamed at him proudly, then scooped up his clothes
and shoes and stuffed them into a duffel bag before running to unblock the
door.

When she opened it, zoological veterinary technician Frank
Smith looked at her and then into the room with wide eyes. “Everything okay in
here?”

Karabi nodded, combing at her hair with her fingers.
“Everything’s fine. The tiger woke up to eat a little bit ago, but then got
pretty rambunctious. I gave him another mild sedative, so he’s good now.”

“Good,” Frank said. “So none of the other zoos or
institutions on our list have lost a tiger, and no one is reporting any missing
exotic animal fitting this description. Looks like we just got ourselves a new
addition.”

“Good thing we just got an influx of funds, then,” Karabi
said.

“Indeed,” Frank continued. “I’ve got orders to put him in the
den with the other tigers to see how he gets along. We could use a male for
breeding, and this one’s got quite the strong sperm count.”

Karabi eyed Cat Alex and smirked.
Why am I not surprised?
she thought.

* * * * *

Alex drew back his ears and slightly opened his eyes so he
could look up at the man who’d just entered the room. It was so odd to have to
look up at people—Alex was used to being the one looking down at almost
everyone.
Sperm count! What does this guy know about what’s happening in my
testes?

“How do you know about this male’s virility?” Karabi asked
the very question on his mind.

“I got a sample and tested it myself last night while you
were sleeping in the chair over there,” he said.

Alex cringed.
Ugh! What the hell?
He was further
grossed out when he found himself considering licking his own testicles. Karabi
threw a quick glance his way and he caught the silent amusement in her eyes.

“I see,” she said.

Frank picked up the chart on the tiger and turned over the
page, frowning. “You didn’t put anything down on here about the wounds that
were inflicted upon him.”

“I didn’t get a chance to update the paperwork, but the
wounds appear canine,” Karabi said. “Probably some dog or another wild or
exotic animal.”

“But his blood tests are clean?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’d like to put him in the tiger den now, to get him
acclimated with the habitat and the tigresses in there. With your permission to
do so, of course.”

“Sure,” Karabi said, biting the corner of her lip. “I’ll do
that once his sedative wears off.”

Frank shook his head. “It’d be better to move him now while
he’s partially under than when he’s up and angry, right? Plus, your shift is
over, why don’t you go on and get some rest? You haven’t gone home in days.”

“No, I’m fine. Really.”

“I insist,” Frank said.

Karabi sighed and nodded. “Okay, let me say goodbye and get
my things,” she said. “I’m falling in love with this one!” She approached the
table and bent down over Alex, wrapping her arms around him with her face close
to his ear as if embracing him.

“We’ve got to enact the plan now,” she whispered ever so low
but his ears picked up the words clearly.

Shit
,Alex thought.
I’m not sure I’m ready
yet!
He shook his head and whimpered a little.

She rubbed the back of his neck and whispered again, almost
as if she heard his thoughts. “I know we didn’t get to practice a couple of
times, but we don’t have much choice. You can do this.” She patted him on his
butt, right by the tail. He thumped it at her.

Karabi stood and turned back to Frank. “Need my help getting
him into the den?”

“No, I just sent a text to John and David asking them to
come in here. You go and enjoy your time off, Miss Minstry.”

She nodded and grabbed her purse, coat, laptop bag and the
duffel bag stuffed with Alex’s clothes. “All right, I’m heading out of here,”
she said. “Make sure you take good care of my new tiger friend.” She eyed Alex
and nodded before turning to leave.

Operation “Tiger Escapes Zoo” was officially on.

Alex closed his eyes and waited, counting five minutes in
his head, giving her enough time to sneak into the nearby men’s room and plant
the duffel bag there and then leave the zoo gates. He was amazed at how well he
could hear her footsteps outside the door, walking down the hall.

When the five minutes were up he lifted his head but Frank
was looking through the fridge over by the door. Alex had to wait another few
agonizing minutes until the doctor went into the connecting door to enter the
den to feed the tigers.

As soon as the man stepped out of the room, Alex moved
quickly but quietly off the bed and over to the door. He was amazed at how easy
it was to sneak while a Cat—even a gigantic one. He closed his eyes and thought
about fondling Karabi, which was something he could only do while in human
form, and quickly found he had a hand and fingers. He quickly unlocked the
door, opened it and peeked out. Not seeing or hearing anyone else nearby, he
shifted back into Cat and bounded down the hall to the men’s restroom.

“When the vet tech comes in is when you can make your
escape,” Karabi had said. “Give me five minutes at least first, to set things
up and head out of the zoo to my car. Shift from Cat to human when he isn’t
looking, open the door and go running down the hall as a Cat as fast as you
can. Go to the staff restroom right at the end of the hall and then hide in the
last stall and turn back into a man. I’ll put your clothes in there so you can
get dressed. If anyone follows the tiger in there, they won’t find a tiger and
will think he jumped out of the window I left open and go looking.”