Prince of Cats (12 page)

The throng of C
ats surrounding the room waited tensely
…
eagerly
for her response. 

Scanning the room, Neomee lifted a quivering hand to her throat and stepped back to look at Bray. 
Her finger’s slid under the collar that bound her and s
he cou
ld feel the bruising on her throat
where
Bray had choked her days earlier
. 

Recognition flashed across Bray’s face, he knew the instant the thought entered Neomee’s mind.  Trust.  Neomee didn’t believe she could trust
him
. 

He
grabbed her
roughly by the
arms and pulled her into him hard, “Listen to me, you will not be able to take the pain.  I swear to you the pleasure will quash any humiliation you might feel, I swear it.” 

Too late.

“PAIN!”  Ne
om
ee shouted to the Priest.  “I choose pain.”

Bray never released his grip on Ne
om
ee, but turned to glare at the Priest, “I won’t allow it!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Bray.  She has made her choice.”  The Priest smiled with giddy anticipation.  “But I’ll make you this offer my
child
.”  The Priest snapped his fingers and several
Cats
leapt on Bray, they had his wrists, ankles, and throat tied in an instant.  Bray growled a
low
feral sound
as he struggled against his restraints.

“Stop!  What are you doing to him?”
  Neomee made to
run to Bray, but was restrained by
two Cats.
  Without his warm strength at her back she suddenly felt vulnerable and frightened.

“It’s simply a matter
of
safety
.  You see when
a
C
at chooses his mate, he would die before letting that mate be harmed.  In this instance, Bra
y,
or
rather
his Cat as it would seem,
has chosen you as his mate and whil
e he has not yet consummated his
intentions
, he is indeed
bound
to you
,
soul to soul by his choice.
  Meaning he would rather fight us all and die here today than
watch you take the punishment you’ve chosen.
  But as you have chosen it, he must endure it as must you.
”

“You can’t do this,” Bray growled
, “she is mine and cannot be harmed.”

The Priest slid beady eyes to Hondo.  “It is sworn that she committed the act prior to being bound.”

Hondo nodded once in confirmation.

“
She was not your mate, b
ut merely a slave.  Therefore, m
a’at governs and not the law protecting mates.  She’ll be punished like the slave she is!”

Ne
om
ee stared at Bray.  She watched his muscles
bunch
and strain
as he struggled against the
strength
of the five
Cats
that held him bound in place.
 

Bray was glaring at the Pr
iest with a look that was
all fury
.  Neomee wondered if the Priest spoke the truth.  C
ould Bray’s display of rage
truly be directed at the Priest and
Bray’s own
brothers simply because they sought to punish her?  They had just
met, how could his
protective instincts
be so strong? 

Neomee
bit her lip as she let her eyes scan the massive expanse of his broad chest and let her eyes slide down his frame then back up only to see that he’d frozen in place as he watched her assessing eyes. 
She
exhaled a breath that she hadn’t even realized she’
d
been holding.

“As I was saying, I will make you an offer.” 
The two Cats holding Neomee released her as the Priest approached. 
The Priest deftly stalked up behind her and lifted a handful of her hair up to his nose.  Inhaling deeply, he smi
led at Bray
as
Bray growled in
vicious
response. 

“My offer is this.  When you decide you can no longer take the punis
hment, all you need to do is
scream for mercy.”

“And when I scream for mercy the pain will stop?”

“Yes, but your punishment will not. 
You will then receive the pleasure…and
I
will be the one to give it to you.”

Bray’s massive roar split the air.   It startled the Priest and he stumbled back.

“Touch her Priest and you die!” 

Annoyed and embarrassed the Priest stalked back to his altar, “It is her choice.
  She is not your mate yet!
  She chose the pain and if she can’t take it then she’ll get the pleasure.
 
My
pleasure
.
”
  The Priest licked his lips as he devoured Neomee with his
eyes
, “And it
will
be my pleasure.”

“
I’ll kill you!”  Bray forced through his clenched teeth.

“She has attempted to escape, she should be put to death.” 
Hondo
shouted from his place among the Cats.

The Priest raised his hand and dismissively shooed away
Hondo
’s comment, “Her fate has been decided.”

Chap
ter 12

He’d failed her! 
Bray kept playing the thought over and over as he watched her tremble in terror standing with the Priest
at her back
sniffing her hair. 

I’m going to kill him the instant I’m free!
  He jerked against his brothers that held him.
  Why hadn’t he waited
for Madu to get off shift before tracking her down
?  A
t least then he’d have an ally in the room.
  His eyes roved over his brethren Cats and remembered their faces.  They too would pay once he was free.

His eyes swept back to Neomee. 
I should have let her go
.  She’d be free now instead of preparing
to endure
punishment.
  Guilt ate at him.  He’d known she was up to something and he’d chased her down.  It was his fault she was about to be punished for her attempted escape
, an  escape
he’d brought to attention
. 

Watching her lift her chin in an attempt
to be brave he only felt worse.  She
could have accepted his consummation of his claim to her but she’d refused and the refusal had his inner Cat snarling in demand for him to force her submission.
  She didn’t trust him and it was his own fault.  He’d scared her, hurt her and now he’d chased her down and hauled her before the Priest to accept punishment. 
What kind of man am I?
  Self loathing washed over him in waves and it was so overwhelming that he had to twist it into hatred for the Priest and his fellow Cats because he knew that if he recognized it for what it was he’d implode. 

He was
a
Cat
and as such
he knew that they were
held to higher standards.  They were the judge of the word, the keepers of the people, the guardians of the temples.  It was they who were expected to uphold the law.  So why did he feel like the lowest form of life for what Neomee was about to undergo. 

He roared and
surged forth in a burst of emotion-invoked strength.  It wasn’t enough.  The Cats holding him had felt his muscles tense only a fraction of a second before he lashed out.  It was all the time they needed to brace and hold tightly to his splayed arms and legs. 

With little else to do he roared again.
  He could make threats, but without the ability to act on them they were useless.  Instead, he’d wait.

***

Neomee’s
heart raced
.  S
he was terrified but fought with every fiber of her being again
st
the useless emotion.  She’d learned years ago that fear did nothing
but make punishment worse
. 
What’s more, s
he knew the
other
C
ats would smell it and think less of Bray for having selected such a coward as a mate.
  Why she should care what they thought of him she didn’t know, but she did.
 

She slowly walked
to Bray and he stilled at her approach.  Placing one hand on his cheek, Neomee pulled his ear down to her lips.
  For some inexplicable reason and in the midst of her terror, she had to know.
  “Tell me Bray, why does
Hondo
despise you so?”
  She remembered Hondo from the dining hall.  He’d been the one to challenge that Bray didn’t have the right to be bound.

Bray pulled back just far enough to meet Neomee’s
gaze.  “It doesn’t matter!
”

“It matters to me.”

Bray hesitated trying to guess Neomee’s logic at such a question at this most inopportune moment.  Exhaling resignedly
,
Bray
looked from Neomee
to Hondo, his eyes igniting with sparks of hatred
before
he spoke
.  “He feels that I am responsible for the death of his
sister.  She was murdered by thieves who snuck into the temple
. 
I was on guard that night. 
He’s never forgiven me.”
  His eyes darkened violently before sliding to lock on hers.  “She was my mate.”

Shocked at the revelation,
Neomee held Bray’s gaze before sliding her hand down the smoothness of his cheek.  “
You were mated?”

“Yes, a long time ago.”

Neomee looked over her shoulder at Hondo.  “When somebody hurts or fails to protect someone you love it hurts very much.”  The icy look Hondo was giving her sent a shiver down her spine.  She looked back at Bray, “Men’s hatred is often soothed by revenge.”  She sighed, “
Thank you for not allowing Hondo to kill me in the catacombs as he’d wanted
.”  Neomee
lowered her eyes and bowed her head
before turning and walking to the guard holding the whip. 

Bray had no idea what she was up to, but knew that he didn’t like it in the least. 
He
saw Neomee’s lips move as she spoke to the
whip man.  The whip man looked down at the whip then up at th
e Priest.  The Priest nodded and then t
he whip man handed the whip to Neomee who took it and
looke
d
across the room to
Bray. 
She
never took her eyes from
him
as she approached
Hondo
and held t
he whip out to him.  Tearing her
eyes from Bray,
she
looked up
at
Hondo
and spoke too softly for Bray to hear.

As
she
walked to the altar now rigged with two ropes held by two
Cats
, Neomee offered, “The pain I can take, humiliation I will not.”

The Priest
,
offended by Neomee’s nonchalance
,
sneered at her approach.  “Oh I promise you
my
child
;
you’ve never experienced a pain like this.”

She
glared at the Priest
from the veil of her sooty lashes.
“
You have no idea the
pain
I’ve experienced
.” 

With her back to the gallery for the
ir
viewing
,
Neomee
slipped her arms out of her gown and let the top fall down to her belted waste
, exposing her bare back
.  She heard the rumble
from the
Cats
as the
y
whispered among themselves
,
and
she
heard Bray’s
unmistakable
deep growl. 

Confused, the Priest crossed the altar to stare at Neomee’s back
, his mouth falling open
. 

The smooth
gold
en tone
of
her skin was marred by deep, wide
,
white
,
criss
crosses. 
The
dozen whip scars
that disfigured her flawless skin were a testament to her words.  She could endure the pain
.