Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella (4 page)

“You collared her? You dare?” he
roared.

Quickly he grabbed the collar with
both hands and with superhuman strength, ripped it open and flung
it on the ground.

Belle fell into his arms, gasping with
relief and frantically rubbing at the stinging skin on her
neck.

“Well, isn’t this touching,” Raymond
sneered. “You’re going to pay for this in ways you can’t even
imagine. Now give me back my fiancee, and I’ll be on my way. You’re
going to die for this, of course, but if you back off now like a
good doggie I’ll at least spare your family.”

“You’re outnumbered, you mangy
fleabag.” Axel’s eyes glowed amber and his fangs descended. His
facial features melted and lengthened, forming a snout, and his
voice was deep with rage as hair sprouted on his body.

Raymond’s fangs descended, his ears
grew pointed, and his voice came out in a sibilant hiss. “I’m
outnumbered here, but you can’t take out all of us without losing
half your packmates. And believe me, when I get back home, there’s
no power on earth that will save you. I own half the politicians
and law enforcement in this state.”

“He’s right,” Lucas said. “He can
destroy all of us. I told you –“

His words cut off when Axel swung on
him with a snarl, and he shrank back submissively, crouching low to
show his surrender.

“You bought her for $50,000? I can pay
you back the money,” Axel said, voice shaking with barely
restrained rage.

“But I don’t need $50,000.” Raymond’s
smile was repellent. “I need a wife. And I’ve chosen her. I paid
for her, fair and square, and I’ll have her – or your entire pack
will die. Slowly.”

“There must be something that you
need,” Axel said, desperately.

A thoughtful look crossed Raymond’s
face. “Hmmm…there is one thing I need, which I’ve never been able
to get on my own.”

Raymond looked at Belle speculatively.
“I’d let you keep her, in exchange for The Stone of
Truth.”

“Done,” Axel said promptly. “Where do
I find it?”

“Oh, don’t speak so fast. The stone is
possessed by Griselle.”

Raymond watched Axel’s face twitch,
with a satisfied smile. Griselle was a legendary and reclusive
enchantress. She hoarded rare and magical artifacts imbued with
power, and she refused to sell them for any price except to a few
select buyers. Many people had tried to break into her house and
steal from her. None had returned.

“I will come to your house to retrieve
the stone 48 hours from now. If you don’t have it for me by then,
you will hand her over to me…or I’ll erase your family down to the
last cub.”

He turned and climbed back into the
limousine, slamming the door.

“I’m so sorry that I got you involved
in all of this,” Belle moaned. She and Axel were sitting on the
couch in the living room of his grandparents house, a white
colonial house set on a dairy farm near town. The other members of
his pack were in the kitchen, talking in low tones.

“It’s not your fault. Eat more,” Axel
urged. His grandparents had made them a tray of sandwiches, and
she’d already devoured three.

“I don’t want anything to happen to
you and the pack. I think the best thing for me to do is go with
him.” She quailed as she said it, but it was true.

Approaching Griselle was incredibly
risky. Griselle was known to sell her magical charms only through a
select few dealers, and she’d never accepted an offer from anyone
else who approached her, no matter how outrageous the sum. And
stealing from her? A suicide mission.

“Go with him? Never. Over my dead
body.” Axel’s eyes flared with anger at the thought. “I’ve called
my parents. They’re filing a complaint with the Shifter
council.”

“But they’re wolves. The panther
shifters might not give it much weight. Especially when the
complaint is against someone like Raymond Charucki.”

“It’s true, but the shifter councils
have been looking for a way to improve relations between the packs
and the prides, so maybe that will help. And my parents are not
without influence. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything
happen to you.”

Belle stared down at the floor
mournfully. “I’m worried about Agnes. One way or another, my family
are going to take this out on her.”

“I’ll make my grandparents keep an eye
out for her,” Axel promised.

“Aren’t they upset with me? I
overheard them talking. I know they tried to talk you out of going
out there and confronting Raymond.”

He nodded somberly. “They did, but I
told them I was going out there with or without them.”

“Axel! That would have been suicide,
to confront him alone! Promise me you’ll never do that
again.”

“I can’t promise that.” He turned to
her and took her hand in his. “I can’t let anything happen to you.
Don’t you feel it?”

When his hand wrapped around hers, she
felt hot shivers travelling through her body, straight to her very
core. Her heart beat faster, and her throat went dry. She stared
into his beautiful eyes, which were brown like melting
chocolate.

“What do you feel?” she asked him in a
low voice.

“That sense of rightness. That sense
that we’re meant to be together.”

“That we’re meant to be…mated? Can
that even happen, with a panther and a wolf?”

“It’s happening.” He took her hand and
placed it on his broad chest, pressing it up against him. She could
feel his heart pounding through his t-shirt, and her fingers
tightened. Then he placed his hand on her chest, and she left out
an involuntary gasp as a wave of heat swept over her.

“See?” he said to her. “I’ve felt it
for years. I always wanted to get closer to you. And I’m so sorry I
didn’t know how your aunt and uncle were treating you; I’d have
stepped in long ago.”

“Nobody knew. I always kept quiet
about it. What was the point in speaking up, especially before I
turned 18 and could move out on my own? It’s not like anybody would
listen, anyway. They practically own this town.”

They sat there for a minute, quietly,
feeling the rhythm of their beating hearts. Belle could swear that
her hearts and Axel’s were beating in sync, pulsing together in
perfect rhythm.

“I won’t let you go,” Axel said,
looking into her eyes. “Ever. Whatever it takes.”

He reached out and cupped her chin in
his hand and bent down to claim her lips with a kiss. His mouth was
soft and warm, his tongue moving inside her mouth, probing
deeply.

She felt as if she were melting into
him, and her lips parted, opening wider to accept his kiss. He
tasted sweet and warm, and his hand cradled her face, strong and
gentle at the same time. Heat ran through her veins, and the rest
of the world vanished; it was just the two of them together with no
fears and no worries, nothing but the rhythmic beatings of their
hearts and his hot, delicious kiss.

Footsteps in the hallway made Belle
start, and she pulled away from Axel with a low moan of desire.
Axel looked her straight in the eye, his gaze burning with
intensity. “I swear to you I will die before I let anything happen
to you,” he said in a low, husky tone.

Belle’s hands clenched in her lap.
That’s exactly what I’m afraid will happen, she thought. I couldn’t
live with myself if I caused harm to come to him.

Axel’s family was polite to her, but
wary. One of his cousins insisted on giving her some of her old
clothes that she’d outgrown, but that fit Belle’s petite frame
perfectly. Belle donned a pretty white halter dress and
sandals.

They ate dinner outside that night,
and talked about the weather and how good Axel’s grandfather’s
barbecue sauce tasted and Axel’s nephew who’d fallen out of the hay
loft and broken his arm, and everything except the forbidden
topic.

Raymond Charucki.

After dinner, Axel went to help his
grandfather clean up the barbecue grill, and Belle began clearing
plates from the picnic tables.

Suddenly she sensed someone standing
by her side. A tall, slim woman with long straight black hair,
clearly related to Axel. Belle vaguely remembered that she’d been
introduced to her earlier as Harriet.

“You’re putting us all at risk,”
Harriet said, in a low, angry voice.

Belle winced, stacking up the plates
and quickly dumping them into a nearby garbage can.

“I know. And I’m so sorry,” she said
quietly. “I didn’t know Axel was coming to rescue me. I didn’t mean
for anyone to be in danger because of me.”

“Well, we are. You didn’t have to come
here. You could have said no to Axel and just gone with that
shifter. He’s a panther, you’re a panther…you belong with him, not
here.”

“It’s not that simple,” Belle
protested, her heart sinking.

She should have known that a werewolf
pack would never accept her.

“You’re being very selfish. If Axel
tries to claim you as his mate, he’ll have to give up any hope of
being Alpha of his pack,” Harriet continued her face
angry.

“I – I don’t- I didn’t think-“ Belle’s
eyes stung with tears and her breath caught in her throat as she
backed away from her as Harriet advanced on her.

“Oh, you thought, all right. You were
only thinking about yourself,” Harriet snarled.

A loud growl of anger sounded right
behind her ear, and she spun around to see Axel standing behind her
and Harriet.

“That’s enough! Shut your mouth,
woman!” Axel roared, and the other werewolves all stopped in their
tracks, turning to stare at them.

“You do not speak for me, or for this
pack. Who I mate with is none of your business. Just know this: it
will never be you,” Axel snarled.

Harriet’s face twisted into a mask of
anger, and she turned and stalked away.

Axel spoke in a loud voice. “Belle is
under my protection, and that will not change! Anyone who has a
problem with her, has a problem with me. You have something to say
about it? I’m right here.” He glowered at the group, who all
quickly turned away and went back to what they were
doing.

“Isn’t she related to you?” Belle
asked, puzzled.

“Distant cousin,” Axel scowled. “She’s
always made it clear she wanted to get closer to me. I never had
any interest. I’m sorry that you had to hear that.”

“I’m causing problems between you and
your family,” Belle said miserably, staring at the
ground.

He took her hand in his, and with his
free hand slid his fingers under her chin and tipped her head up to
look at him.

“You are not causing problems with me
and my family. That was one person. Everybody else is sympathetic
to your plight. The idea of a forced marriage to a monster is
horrifying to everybody here. Yes, they’re worried, but we’re
taking steps to fix this situation. Understand? You are here as my
guest, under my protection, and this is where you’re meant to
be.”

Belle nodded, but she could feel worry
choking her. Was it really possible that she’d cost Axel his
position as Alpha in the future? He’d been nothing but kind to her,
and she felt as if she’d brought nothing but trouble to him and his
entire pack.

Around midnight, Belle was in the
spare bedroom they’d let her stay in, when she heard the phone in
the kitchen ring. She slipped from her room and padded down the
hallway to listen to what was being said.

Axel’s grandfather was talking on the
phone. And while she couldn’t make out individual words, she got
the gist of it.

The panther shifter council wasn’t
going to intervene.

Her heart sank.

She went back to her room and found a
piece of notepaper in the desk next to her bed, and quickly
scratched out a note to Axel.

“I’m going to deal with Griselle
myself. Do not follow me,” she wrote.

Around five a.m., she made her bed,
and left the note lying on top.

She opened the bedroom window, and
shed her pajamas. Grabbing a white peasant-shouldered dress from
the bag of clothes that Axel’s cousin had given it to her, she tied
it loosely around her neck, and shifted into panther
form.

With one graceful leap, she was out
the window and on the soft grass. Quickly, she headed into the
woods. Griselle lived in a home carved into a mountainside; she
could reach it in a couple of hours.

The chill of the night air felt
delicious on her fur, and the scents of the forest flooded her
nostrils. Rich animal smells, loamy earth, sweet pine…all her
senses were heightened in her animal form.

She ran, and ran, and ran,
effortlessly, tirelessly, her paws thudding against the dirt, her
tail lashing behind her.

She stopped to drink from a clear
running stream, her pink tongue curling the water into her mouth
and pouring it down her parched throat.

Then she rubbed up against a tree,
giving her fur a good scratching and purring in pleasure, before
she took off again, crossing the stream in a single long
leap.