Conri (2 page)

Sarai had just cut the last of her fill and was
turning back to the cave when she heard a scream. The scream was not a human scream
but of a very large cat. She froze in her spot, scanning her pre-dawn
surroundings. She took a tentative step forward and another scream ripped
through the morning.

“Sarai!”
Her attention
snapped toward the cave, Stella was standing in the opening- scanning,
scanning,
scanning
for her. She took off running. She
couldn’t drop the booty from the tree, so her gait was off. But if those large
cats were out, they were hunting and she didn’t know if human was on the menu.
She had to quiet her friend before she drew their attention.
“SARAI!”

Stella’s voice carried and the scream of cat answered.
“Shut-up!”
Sarai hissed. She was almost there, “Oh my
God, oh my God...” She could hear Stella’s mantra. Her friend was freaking out.
She heard her friend take a deep breath, saw her mouth open, Sarai dropped the
wood and sprinted.

“Keep quiet!” Sarai half whispered half yelled as she
neared her friend. Stella’s eyes popped to Sarai and she clamped her mouth
closed. She pushed her friend inside the cave and kicked a few logs away from
the belly of the fire. The fire sparked but then settled into a glow. Drawing
her friend deeper into the cave she wrapped her arms around her. It was colder
without the fire, but it was also safer.

“Why’d you put out the fire?”

“Safer.” Sarai whispered in her friend’s ear. “We
don’t want to draw attention to us.”

They waited. The only
sound for long
moments were
Stella’s tempered breathing. Sarai’s muscles began to relax
until the faintest crunch drew her attention back to the yawn of the cave.
No, no, please let them pass.
But luck
was not in their favor.

A shadow passed in the backdrop from the glow of the
fire and Stella whimpered. Sarai held her tighter.
 
There was nothing she had, save the small
hatchet, to protect her from what beasts lingered outside their makeshift home.
Well, that wasn’t true.

Sarai surged forward and grabbed the end of a log that
had rolled away from the fire. She stuck the red tip back in the fire and
stirred. “I thought you said we didn’t want to draw attention?” Stella
admonished.

“That was before they found us. If we’re stuck so are
they. And even if we aren’t on the menu tonight, tomorrow- when hunger sets in-
we will be.” She brought the burning red out and blew on it. Fire erupted and
Sarai held the end out from her in triumph. The shadow moved into the cave and
Stella gasped while Sarai gaped.

The cat was larger than any “big cat” she had ever
seen. This beast would give a lion pause.
It’s
white
fur was spotted with tan, grey and tiny black splotches. Its large yellow and
green eyes stared at her as she held the torch out. The cat’s, or leopard Sarai
was now pretty sure, back was almost to her stomach and from there up the
leopard could almost look her in the eye... that is if she let it get close.

She swung the torch back and forth and made
threatening sounds. She was terrified and if memory served her right- animals
could smell fear. But maybe if she made herself appear to be a predator too the
cat would get confused and leave her be in a greater interest of saving its own
hide. But to her horror that cat didn’t shrink away from the fire, it mimicked
it- dodging left and right with opposite of each swing, as if it were timing
its spring to make sure the fire was swinging away. Sarai stopped swinging and
started jabbing. This time the cat stepped back, hissed and then darted from
the cave.

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been
holding. “Is it gone?” Before Sarai could answer three shadows crossed the
cave. “We’re in deep shit.” Was all Sarai could say before three huge leopards
waltzed in like they owned the place....maybe they did?

Sarai opened her mouth to scream at the animals. The
only thing she could think to do was stoop to their level and meet feral with
feral. But before she uttered a guttural sound one of the leopards dipped to
the ground, rolled from shoulders to tail, growled-groaned and stood as a man.

Sarai didn’t have to look to know that Stella had
passed out. Sarai felt herself teetering on that perilous ledge.
“
Wha
...
Wha
...
who?”

“Are you all right?”

“Am I all right? NO! I just saw a cat turn into a man,
I am NOT all right.”

Sarai was suddenly dizzy. The white crystal blue of
the cat-man’s eyes were intoxicating and unreal. She felt her world pitch.
I will not pass out. I will not pass out.
God do not let me pass out. What will this man do to me if I pass out and can
not protect myself
?
 
Just as Sarai
felt the first tingle of hyperventilation one of the other cats bent to the
ground, shivered from head to tail and stood a man.
 
It was too much, was the third to transform
the same way? This is utterly impossible. Sure she liked a good paranormal
story, had herself gotten lost in the story of one or two over the years- but
this shit didn’t exist in real life- IT JUST DIDN’T!

“Sire, I believe this one is about to...” Sarai didn’t
hear the last of his sentence; she was out before she hit the floor.

*

Sarai woke to being jostled about.
Oh no, what are they doing to me
? She
barely slit her eyes, trying to get an idea of where she was, what was going
and who was doing the jostling. But the first thing she registered was warmth,
she felt so warm. Warm enough that she wanted to snuggle closer and let them do
to her what they will. The second thing she registered was the stiffening of
the body she was nestled against.

“You’re awake then?” The man said over the noise of an
engine and high speed air.
 
Sarai opened
her eyes all the way, looked around and, “Careful female.” She was on another
ATV. Damn if she didn’t hate it and love it. She never wanted to go snow-duning
again. But right now she loved it because that meant she wasn’t in the cave
anymore.
 

“Where am I?”

“We are but a mile from our home.”

Our
?
“How long have I been out?”

“Almost two hours.”

“Two hours!” Sarai wanted to sit up but she already
felt like she was unsteadily perched on cat-man’s lap. She didn’t want to risk
falling off.

“We did not know where you reside and how long it
would take. We made a choice to bring you here instead. Be still, no harm will
come to you.”

Yea,
fat chance
.
She was in the arms of the man with the white-blue eyes
and just a moment ago, no nearly two hours ago, he had been a giant leopard. If
he was taking her to his home, it was either to eat her or worse. She had to
get to Stella and they had to find a way to escape.

She was not going to let herself or her
friend go
from the frying pan and into the fire... or
whatever comparable metaphor for the cold. She had to think straight, she had
to keep her wits about her, she had to...

“You should rest. We will be there within thirty
minutes.”

She had to rest. Sarai closed her eyes again, she
didn’t want to admit that she did feel a little safe in his arms; albeit just
the fact he was his own sauna.
 
As she
slipped under again, she had a vague feeling that her captor-
rescuer,
was sniffing her hair.

The next time Sarai woke she was in the comfort of a
bed... a bed? She shot straight up and looked around. The room was modest. It
was perfect for a man who lived off of the land in Northern Alaska. Not exactly
what she would have expected from a man who was also a giant cat. The bed was
large, probably king sized. The dresser and armoire were heavy pieces of wood
that, in her apartment in downtown Fairbanks would have taken up half of the
apartment, but were well balanced in the space. There was little else. No
paintings, no nick-
nacks
. It was just warm stone
walls and lush carpeted floors.

Ok, so she might have wanted to wiggle her toes in the
carpet just to see how plush it really was. But before she could swing her legs
over the edge of the bed the door to the bedroom opened slowly. Sarai scrambled
to the head bored and pulled the covers to her chin. She quickly glanced under
the covers before repositioning them under her chin; they had removed her
jacket and shoes but the rest of her clothes were still intact. That was a good
start.

If she had expected her blue-eyed man-cat she was
disappointed. The figure that moved into the room was a sprite of a woman. She
was five foot one-tops, she maybe weighted hundred pounds fully clothed and
soaking wet. Her dark hair was pulled back and secured into a long pony-tail.
But when she turned toward Sarai and looked up Sarai gasped as the girl- woman
smiled; her eyes were wheat yellow.

“Didn’t mean to startle
ya
.”
The girl said as she brought a trey forward. “I
was told you were asleep and I should check on you to see if you had major
injuries.”

Sarai relaxed at the idea that the one attending to
her was a woman, but then not so relaxed that the woman had yellow eyes.
“Are... are you...”

“A snow leopard?
Yea.”
The woman-girl glanced behind her and then back at
Sarai. “Don’t freak out. I won’t hurt you.” The girl opened her mouth and
fangs.... FANGS!
extended
from her human canines. Her
features took on a very cat like roundness but just as quickly as she was cat,
she was human; her body never deviating from human.

“By God, can you all do that?”

The woman- girl shook her head.
“Only
the powerful ones.”
The woman girl motioned with the trey and Sarai
nodded, throwing back the covers. “My name is Lilly, it is short for Lillianna.
My sister and I... my sister
Andrae
, short for
Andraeanum
, we come from good breeding.” Lilly begins to
apply some salves to Sarai’s superficial cuts.

“So what, you work as a maid here, even though you are
of good breeding?”

Lilly looked up at Sarai and started laughing. “No! I
requested to attend to you. I wanted to see the human the King brought back
with him!”

“The- I’m sorry what?”

“Conri- he is the king of our people, this is his
domicile and you- pretty human lady- are his guest.”

Sarai dropped her head into her hands, “Guest or prisoner?”

Lilly’s hands stopped their ministrations- “You are
most certainly a guest. King Conri said if there is a break in the storm they
will see you home if you wish. But....”

“But?”
Sarai’s head snapped up.

She chewed her lower lip, her fangs nothing but normal
teeth. “Your companion, Stella....”

Sarai shot forward, almost nocking Lilly over. She was
at the door before Lilly’s voice stopped her- “She is getting along nicely with
the others.”

“What do you mean?” Sarai turned but Lilly was
standing next to her. She hadn’t heard her move. Lilly reached for the handle
and the door swung open.

“See for yourself.”

*

Lilly lead her down a long hallway that was all very
castle like; stone walls, a runner, a smattering of exquisite paintings.
 
The hallway forked in several places leading
to more halls with more bedrooms. She was going to get lost if they had to make
too many series of turns. Luckily the hall was the main path to a grand room; a
room that could house an army, a room that was clearly the dining room.

In this room was a very long solid wood table, it
could have easily sat thirty people. No not people, cat-people.
 
Right smack-dab in the middle of the table
were three cat-men and one friend.

Stella was more than ‘getting along nicely’ she was
throwing her head back with laughter, swooning over the handsome men who
surrounded her, and flirting. Sarai’s jaw dropped.

“I told you,” Lilly said and Sarai could hear and
almost feel the triumph.

Sarai marched over and tapped Stella on the shoulder.
“What are you doing?”

“
Rai
!
Oh I am so happy to see you are feeling better. Let me introduce you...”

“You know who these men are, right?” Stella looked at
Sarai, her eyes glowing with mischievous intent.

“I most certainly do,” her voice was almost a purr.
“This is Flynn- he is captain of the guards and unmated. This blonde bombshell
is Core- also unmated- second in command and the one you tried to set on fire.”
Stella giggled as the men chuckled good-naturedly. “This little kitten next to
me,” She patted the leg of a very young looking man. Sarai decided he was a man
by the sheer bulk and height, but he was definitely young. “He’s a kitten
because he has just reach the age of maturation- you could be mated now, can’t
you pussy cat.” Stella’s voice was mocking as she ruffled his dark hair. “His name
is Kellen. And these, my dear friend, are my new friends.” Stella beamed at
her.

“Were all three of you there yesterday- today... what
day is it?”

“Yesterday.”
Core offered,
“It is afternoon on Sunday. And no we were not all there. I was there and you
did try to set me on fire, but of course I forgive you for that... Probably
would have done the same thing myself had the roles been reversed.
 
There was one scout, two huntresses, two
trackers and of course- the king.”

Sarai didn’t know how to handle this. She wanted to go
home. She had work to be at tomorrow and a life to live. She did not want to be
stuck here with these man-cats!

A commotion through the large archway drew her
attention. The three men stood as if someone screamed ‘fire’. Stella leaned around
Kellen to get a glimpse of the commotion.

“Send for the healer!” A man was barking orders.

“The healer is in the birthing chambers mi’ Lord.”
Lilly was rushing forward.

“Then fetch the nurse-maid!”

“Ebba is helping Darma. The only one left is...” Lilly
stopped as the King froze in place.

“Damn it! She will have to do, she is all we have and
Delilah has been injured.” The man barking the orders looked right at Sarai and
her lungs collapsed. Conri, the Leopard King, was the man who had held her for
four hours as he
ATV’d
across icy terrain. As much as
she didn’t want to be here she owed him.

“I’m a doctor!” She spoke up and all eyes went to her.

“It’s true.” She heard Stella confirm from behind her.

“Come here!” The King demanded and on stiff legs Sarai
obeyed. Once in front of the King she looked up and up.
Damn he’s tall
. Sarai looked into white blue eyes. “Can you help?”
He demanded as he pointed to the mess that was Delilah.

Sarai looked at the extensive injuries- “I can try.”

“Do not try human. Fix her, save her or I can not
protect you from her mate.”

Sarai looked up at the King, his ebony hair had come
lose from its tie, and it was a frayed mess. “I can do it.” The King held her
eyes.
 
He only nodded as he motioned for
the bearers of Delilah to move forward.
“To the infirmary!”